Tom Tomorrow: "And So It Came To Pass..."

[kpete]

[redwitch]

1. Brilliant!

Let's all print this out and send it to the White House.

[FSogol]

2. K & R. n/t

[kenfrequed]

3. This is exactly what I wanted to have happen.

Seriously, rather than fixing the problems, ending the war on terror, we get a continuation with an extra speech with President Obama seeking to create a new indefinite detention system...

[phantom power]

4. *sigh* -- reminds me of the "peace dividend" we were all gonna get post-cold-war

[russspeakeasy]

26. Thanks for the realism...

[whatchamacallit]

5. Nothing will change but the bogeymen and the rationale

and someday after all the chanting "USA USA!" and " I want to marry a hot navy seal!" dies down, we will realize we fucked ourselves with blind faith in a corrupt, evil system. :thumbsup: :hi:

[leeroysphitz]

7. Yup. The boogyman ruse been working just fine for the American aristocracy since the 30s

Why would they change it now?

[Art_from_Ark]

25. The bogeyman ruse was around before that

For example, beginning in the 1890s, or maybe earlier, there was the "Yellow Peril", which lasted through the end of World War II. That was overlapped by the "Red Menace" and its variations which started in the 1910s and lasted through most of the 20th century.

[leeroysphitz]

6. Should I be laughing or crying? n/t

[deutsey]

35. That's how I feel.

Like the Che FC, btw. :-)

[Divernan]

8. I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't allow that.

... Dai ... sy, ... Dai ... sy ...

(From 2001 - A Space Odyssey)

[kpete]

9. very fitting

peace, kpete

[Fuddnik]

10. (WHAP!!) Homie don't play that.

Homie the Clown. (Not to be confused with Stinky)

In Living Colour.

[JTFrog]

11. "So did the leader close Guantanamo?"

He signed an executive order to do so.

Why is the blame never placed squarely at the feet of Congress where it belongs?

Oh right....

Obama bad... Obama bad... Obama bad...

[Divernan]

13. That was a Democratic majority Congress

Obama wasn't "bad" (your word). He was simply not able to take control of and lead his own party on this important issue.

[OnyxCollie]

16. People would rather believe fairy tales

that irrational haters are not seeing the good things (Did we paint an Iraqi school today? Oh, wait. That was bush.) than face the reality that Obama/Democratic party aren't going to do shit about ending wars (Don't say "We're withdrawing troops!" There were already more contractors than troops there before the withdrawal.); prosecuting bushcheney (Paging Mel Martinez...); or restoring civil rights (Retroactive immunity and blanket warrants for everybody!)

[Jakes Progress]

28. "not able" Those are your words.

I think they describe this administration very well.

[obxhead]

14. And instead of for fighting for the cause of that executive order,

he decided to sign another executive order to continue the tribunals as previously scheduled.

*sigh*

[Cali_Democrat]

18. Obama himself signed an executive order creating a system of indefinite detention

[A Simple Game]

21. I hate to do this, but imagine GWB is still president.

Now imagine he wants to close Guantanamo.

Do you see Guantanamo being closed?

I do!

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Congress would have cooperated if it were GWB

Because nobody ever fears looking weak on National Security by supporting a Republican President. Remember, Nixon could go to China, whereas a Democrat could not have.

That said, it's a cartoon for fuck's sake and while I defend the President on most of these things, the commentary in this is pretty apt.

[gratuitous]

12. Just an innocent bedtime fable

And why would the leader of the nation-state squander precious political capital on any of this, anyway? It wouldn't play with the merchant class who fund the re-election campaigns, so war must go on, prisons must remain filled, and all that crap like bridges and schools can just go hang.

[abelenkpe]

15. Excellent. nt

[defendandprotect]

17. OBL gone, but a TON still with us -- Obama pushing Tade, Oil and Nukes -- !!

And Global Warming marches on unacknowledged --

With what's going on with weather we should be converting every gas driven

car to battery -- or solar --

but we continue to live the fairytale -- !!

[Demeter]

19. It's only a story---or is it a dream? Or maybe a platform for the right candidate!

[truedelphi]

20. I was just thinking today how much the DLC would hate

The reincarnated candidates of the past:

including RFK, Martin Luther King, FDR, etc.

If any of those three could come back, the leaders of the DLC would be more scared than if Bin Laden rode down an elevator with them to the dark and deserted DC parking lot.

[badgerpup]

22. K & R...

...and WISH...



:kick:

[leeroysphitz]

23. A penguin with retro sunglasses is reading a bed time story to a talking boxer?

[Skittles]

32. and making sense, too

*yikes*

[Frank Cannon]

33. Blinky is actually a Boston terrier

I mean, come on.

[provis99]

24. now we can move on to a Cold War with the Chinese.

America always needs an enemy.

[Jakes Progress]

27. K&R Ah. To live in that make-believe land.

[Zorra]

31. What a wonderful world it would be. nt

[DirkGently]

30. Excellent.

[WillyT]

34. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[davidthegnome]

36. He doesn't have the power

to accomplish those things. So we can only hope that he uses what power he does have to accomplish what good he can. We've got nearly half of our uneducated population screaming "socialism!" regarding the HCR bill that is no where near socialist. In fact, the HCR bill (what some refer to as Obamacare) is something that Republicans might well have passed themselves - remember Romney in MA? It is a federal mandate that enriches insurance companies - but there are good things about it, in spite of that. No more denial based on pre-existing conditions, vouchers for those who cannot afford health care. The possibility that states can and will adopt their own single payer programs.

Closing Guantanamo would have been great - but it's not going to happen under any administration. Not until the public outcry against it is great enough to make Washington DC sit up and pay attention. The feeling among our politicians is that while innocents may suffer in such a place, the information they get out of it - the imprisoned and thereby relatively tamed terrorists makes it all worth it. There are many among the American population and in government that feel that torture is just fine and dandy because it may save lives that would otherwise be lost. Breaking the enemy into revealing their plans.

I can't say that's entirely faulty logic. I can say that it will encourage our enemies to act in similar and even worse manners than we do. I can say for certainty that we will harm more innocents than true enemies or terrorists. I can say that based on our questionable methods of interrogation we will get far more useless info (even outright lies) than actual intelligence.

Ending the war... you know, I did expect Obama to keep his word in regards to Iraq - and to some extent he has done so. Yet I'm not fooled for a minute into thinking that 50,000 troops remaining are there entirely for support purposes. Afghanistan and the escalation of that conflict hasn't surprised me in the slightest, Obama did say he would step up the fight there. While eliminating Bin Laden was a symbolic victory, it does not end the conflict. Do we want to leave now - pull all of our resources and troops from the area? I think we did that after the Soviets were pushed out of Afghanistan. I think it created new generations of terrorists and young people who grew up to hate America.

I don't think we should have gotten involved in the ongoing war to begin with. I think we should have focused on catching or eliminating Bin Laden and leaving it at that. I think almost everyone here knows that the invasion of Iraq was foolish and unjustified.

All that said, Obama simply - cannot - do some of these things that we would like. He doesn't have the votes from congress or the Senate, he doesn't have the overwhelming support of the American people (at least not in such a way that they are marching in the streets and calling offices and raising all manner of hell to show it - which would be necessary).

While the cartoon is amusing and somewhat ironically true, our issues both at home and abroad are far too enormous for any one man, be he President or King, to solve alone. He's saddled with fools and sycophants, flatterers and corrupt, greedy, corporate owned politicians. He is not immune to corporate influence himself.

A little good has been done... but it is not enough. Until we, as a Nation, are ready to BE the change we demand, we will not get it.