The case for prosecution

We're in the final week of the eight-year nightmare that has been the Bush Administration. Most Americans are glad to see him finally leave, allowing us to begin the healing process. Bush, on the other hand, will amble off to a comfortable retirement, having learned few lessons from his toxic term in office. Those of us on the left, who called for his impeachment a few years ago are now asking whether Obama will investigate, much less prosecute Bush and his associates over possible war crimes.

There are two main reasons why investigating and, if necessary prosecuting members of the Bush Administration. First, we need to ask ourselves what kind of nation we are. Are we a nation of laws, a nation that works with other nations to foster justice and democracy around the world? Or are we an empire whose maintenance justifies any action?

Second, If we decide that things like torture and the elimination of basic civil liberties are acceptable for the President to use, do we draw a new line that the President can't cross or do we leave the door open for a dictatorship down the road?

We know that the USA under Bush committed war crimes. Bush admitted it. Cheney admitted it. CIA Director Michael Hayden admitted it. Books have been written about it.

Cheney in recent interviews has been not only unrepentant, his admissions are essentially daring Congress to go after him. Cheney is betting that they won't. This will establish a precedent that future Presidents who want unlimited power can hide behind.

Some congresspeople like John Conyers want to investigate. The media, who were on the bandwagon all along, naturally wish it would all go away.

Obama and the Democrats had an epic win. Republicans are arguing amongst themselves and Karl Rove's Permanent Majority is rubble. But these people are like weeds that can't be killed. They never give up. Just like Cheney and Rumsfeld learned at Nixon's knee, loyal young Bush stormtroopers, like this guy, will wait, and have their time again.

Bush's legacy

From MSNBC, comparing when Bush took office to today:

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Then: 4.2% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2001)
Now: 6.7% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2008)

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
Then: 10,587 (close of Friday, Jan. 19, 2001)
Now: 9,015 (close of Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009)

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (1985=100)

Then: 115.7 (Conference Board, January 2001)
Now: 38.0, which is an all-time low (Conference Board, December 2008)

FAMILIES LIVING IN POVERTY
Then: 6.4 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 7.6 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent numbers available)

AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
Then: 39.8 million (Census numbers for 2000)
Now: 45.7 million (Census numbers for 2007 -- most recent available)

U.S. BUDGET
Then: +236.2 billion (2000, Congressional Budget Office)
Now: -$1.2 trillion (projected figure for 2009, Congressional Budget Office)

Not to mention two unjustifiable wars, the destruction of habeas corpus, letting New Orleans drown, ruining the environment and on and and on. Chimpy says history will judge and he's right about that. I just wish I could see how he'll be portrayed 200 years from now. Less than two weeks to go.

Happy New Year

We're doin' it our favorite way. Dick Clark on TV with the sound off, the KCSM New Year's special on the stereo and the cats for entertainment.

Happy Xmas. War is hopefully almost over

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, sung by 11-year-old Gayla Peevey in 1953.

World's smallest aquarium

MIT has created a planktonic ecosystem on a microscope slide. They're using it to study the carbon cycle in the oceans and they wanted to focus on plankton without all the other creatures getting in the way. It's the perfect new conversation piece for our downsized economy!

Photo credit: Donna Coveney

Why we are here

Via Palaeoblog there's an interesting paper by a father and son research team out of Finland that considers why life arose. Not why-because-God-was-bored why, but why an assemblage of chemicals on an infant planet became flora and fauna.

The reason is due to entropy. In this case, the entropy being the reduction of energy differences between chemicals on early Earth. It's like when you put a hot object next to a cold object. The hot object warms the cold one, and the cold object cools the warm one until they're the same temperature. Since the sun and the Earth's core were (and are) pumping energy into the system, the reactions between chemicals and the chemicals themselves got steadily more complex until they fit our definition of life. Physorg gives a more thorough description here.

Creationists will go nuts over this because they make two points. One is that life is ultimately a series of reactions that can be described by thermodynamics.  The other is that life didn't arise by an event. It became what we describe as life gradually by simple reactions growing in complexity.

In a nutshell, we're here because life was brewed. Like beer.

Can we haz January yet?

Now that the election is over, I don't have as much to get riled over, so I'll have to find something else to blog about. Of course, our economy's collapsing due mostly to Republican policies, so if I lose my job, that should give me fodder. I'm not in imminent danger of that. Yet.

So, pretty much like everybody else, I'm taking care of holiday business and trying not to spend too much and looking forward to this season's big day, January 20th. I scheduled the day off and will be watching the inaugural on TV. Most likely saying "buhbye dickhead," over and over, louder with each drink. And I will drink.

41 more days.