Albuquerque Tribune: "We The People Should Rage" ('Where Is Your Outrage?')

[Hissyspit]

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/aug/22/commentary-we-people-should-rage

Commentary: We the people should rage
Yes, impeachment should be on the table. But it won't as long as we shrug off this administration's arrogant misdeeds.

Marcel Harmon
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I'm outraged - again.

I recently finished reading Seymour Hersh's piece in the June 25 New Yorker on Army Gen. Antonio Taguba's investigation and resulting report regarding the Abu Ghraib scandal.

In the third to the last paragraph, Hersh quotes Taguba as follows:

"There was no doubt in my mind that this stuff (images from Abu Ghraib) was gravitating upward. It was standard operating procedure to assume that this had to go higher. The president had to be aware of this."

- snip -

How many times have I heard people say nothing will get done and it will be a waste. How many times have I let my own outrage fizzle as the day-to-day issues of life take over - the all-encompassing daily grind, our culture of consumption and mind-numbing 24/7 mass media. All act as a distraction to the benefit of those in power. And the growing divide between the haves and have-nots only magnifies our day-to-day struggle, further distracting us from the bigger picture.

The corporate sector implicitly and explicitly promotes this for its own benefit, via corporate lobbying and huge political donations to both Democratic and Republican candidates.

- snip -

Our resulting role as the aggressor and the extreme mismanagement of the war have taken the lives of U.S. and coalition soldiers, private contractors and countless Iraqi civilians. It has cost us more than $500 billion, greatly reduced our standing in the world, functioned as a prime recruiting device for terrorists across the globe and arguably made the world a less safe place.

So where is your outrage?

- snip -

This administration, through its placement of woefully unqualified individuals in charge of FEMA, its failure to grasp prior warnings and its lack of a quick initial reaction, greatly bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf region.

Where is your outrage?

This administration's misrepresentation of scientific data for its own agenda - its utter disregard for science - has delayed a proper U.S. response to global warming. It has stymied stem-cell research, marginalized the position of the surgeon general and might severely affect the recruitment of young people into the sciences for years to come.

Where is your outrage?

MORE

[Generator]

1. Well yes

I don't know where the outrage is..

I Love New Mexico though-went there this year for the first time-now my favorite state next to Oregon!

[BeHereNow]

5. Las Cruces...de Mesilla...

One of my favorite places on earth.
BHN

[msongs]

2. outrage is totally alien to congressional democrats - blather is in right now nt

[AndyA]

3. The outrage will happen...

When:

1. Bush removes American Idol from TV (terrorists on that show, dontcha know...)

2. Gas is $5/gallon

3. Thousands of pets die from poisoned pet food from China and the FDA does nothing about it, because they don't have the funding.

Or basically, anything that has a direct impact on *THEM* personally. That will get Americans outraged over what's going on.

[thunder rising]

4. The only outrage left is dangerous outrage...

I could not possibly attend a protest and offer my head as a landing spot for a billy club. I think I would have to get even. Sorry, it's just me.

[antigop]

6. I don't know about you, but my outrage meter has been on overload for some time. n/t