Is This America ?????

We really don’t have what you’d call “political prisoners” here in America; at least not yet. But I’m sure that’s what some might consider Lt. Col. Barry Larkin. who was released from prison Friday. (May 13, 2011) Larkin is an Army physician who refused orders to Afghanistan, claiming those orders were illegal.

Larkin’s actions are based on his belief that Barack Obama, the person giving the order, isn’t actually the president because he’s not an American citizen. Yes, he’s a “Birther”.  But he’s not just any “Birther”, he’s one that was so sure of Obama’s Kenyan origin that he was willing to spend six months in Leavenworth rather than to deploy under Obama’s command. (He actually served five months)

The Larkin case leaves me officially divided against myself.  From my military experience I can distinctly remember being told that if you believe an order to be illegal you must first carry out that order. Only after the fact can you question or report the order.

So do I think Larkin should have spent five months in the brig ? Legally, I’m afraid he had to. Did I want him to ?  Absolutely not, because I agree with him. Does that make me, or anyone agreeing with Larkin, a crazed, lawless, anti-Obama, government hating, right-wing nut-ball ??

Let’s say it does. Suppose Obama is actually a legal citizen.  If he is, why is so much of his personal life still sketchy, questionable, or unavailable.

During the “George W Bush Years” there was no shortage of jokes recounting his academic history as a “C” student.  Just what you’d expect from an country that thrives on daily, cheap, easy insults of it’s public figures. It’s fun, and it’s legal; at least for now.

Though the Bush jokes were kind of humorous, if there would’ve been even the slightest probability that President Bush might actually have been using multiple Social Security numbers for much of his life, would that be reason to laugh ? If there would have been such a possibility wouldn’t “60 Minutes” have been all over it ? Yes !!

Wouldn’t ABC, CBS, and CNN have investigated if there had been evidence that Barbara Bush, mother of the President, had ever possessed multiple Social Security numbers ?? Definitely Yes !!

If there had been a scintilla of suspicion that Bush’s grandmother, could have at one time had easy access to expired Social Security numbers, and just might have acquired them for future personal use, wouldn’t MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, even now, be referring to the Bush clan as a “Crime Family”. Yes !!

Of course, we know Bush was a “C” student because his academic records, as is the practice in America, was freely accessible to the American public. So why wouldn’t Bush and his staffers, knowing full well he was a “C” student, not try to hide his academic record ?? Could it be because the public had a right to know ?? Yes !!

Had Bush attended three different colleges, including two Ivy League schools, and refused to provide a transcript from any of them, wouldn’t it be natural to assume that at best, he was hiding them because he was a “C” student ? Yes !!

Wouldn’t it be perfectly logical to believe that hiding three sets of transcripts from three different schools would hint at far more than a lackluster academic performance ? Yes !!

If President George W. Bush had insisted that all of his personal papers as Texas Governor were irrelevant to the current debate and had them sealed, wouldn’t the New York Times cover it “front page above the fold” for at least two consecutive weeks. More than likely !!

If George W Bush had been a state senator from the Midwest, and refused to allow any of his votes to be
placed into the public record. Wouldn’t those highly intelligent ladies on “The View” have pilloried him as a secretive, power-mad Nazi ?? Of course they would’ve, and they’d have been right to do so !!

Had George W. Bush fiercely campaigned on transparency, and then, upon election, forbidden perusal of his medical records or even his passport wouldn’t EVERYONE be more than a bit alarmed ? Ahhh, I hope so !!

If, as president, George W. Bush had spent millions of dollars on politically motivated lawyers to dissociate him from his actual life history, wouldn’t gathering clouds of possible scandal have been insinuated every half-hour on Headline-News ? No question about it !!

But, if George W. Bush had been a black, Democrat with questionable foreign ties and Marxist parents, wouldn’t it have been politically incorrect, to not continuously praise him as an historic, post-civil rights, egalitarian reformer, who only wanted nothing more than to fix America and unite the world ? Yes ! Definitely ! Of course !!

If George W. Bush had been able to use the line “My mother was from Kansas, my father from Kenya”, wouldn’t it have been socially unacceptable, narrow minded, jingoistic, xenophobic, not to mention out-right brutish, to ever, EVER, not recognize him as the greatest president in the history of America ??? Yes !! Right On !! Exactly !!

Seems like Lt. Colonel Larkin just might have been a political prisoner after all !! As a matter of fact, I’m suddenly feeling like one myself. It feels much better being a right-wing nut-ball.