"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" - he'll see some familiar faces

On my Friday, December 4 post about the impotency of the CBC, I commented to my Blog Sister Cinie:

"But let me see, what results have we gotten from them so far? Obama & Co; More war; fucked up health care reform; record unemployment and home foreclosures; homelessness; fatter Wall St. cats; continued disparity in crack and cocaine sentencing (Hell, IL has a brand-spanking, new, super-max prison that's been sitting empty for about 8 years, just waiting for new residents!); more separate and unequal, corporatized education, etc. , etc."

I was talking about Black and Brown U.S. residents at the time.  But I'd heard the story about the new digs - twice on NPR - around Thanksgiving time and had filed it away under - "Keep an eye on this shit":






I should've known then, that this was coming.  It had the Changeling's often-alluded-to, "pragmatic" fingerprints all over it (Me, I just call it throwback House Negro behavior):

• Closing Gitmo by January was huge plank in his campaign.  Thomson had been built, and lay vacant - for eight years.  Lights on, nobody home (pun intended) - taxpayers - of whom there are less and less due to the economy - are paying the minimum, $1 million dollar per year price tag.  That had to have been in his three-year-Senator-from-Illinois mind when he made the closure "guarantee" - or should have.  Just had to figure out a way to head-fake the Republicans and "REAL" Americans about bringing Gitmo detainees on U.S. soil  (Am I giving him too much credit?). 
• Once in, he faked right, convincing the Pacific island nation of Palau to take 17 non-combatant Uighurs "at $11.7 million for each detainee" (according to the WSJ) and sending four non-combatant detainees to Bermuda, pissing of the UK (and China who's saying, "What?  No "extraordinary rendition" for us considering all that debt of yours we hold?).  But so what if Bermuda's a British territory?  They're so close, they feel like ours!  Besides, I'm sure he figured he could pimp Gordon Brown just as well, if not better than Shrub pimped Tony Blair (based on Brown's popularity to date, I'd say that was a safe bet).  And just to make sure the stage was set, he rubber-stamped Shrub & Co.'s indefinite, preventive detention with an Executive Order which gave him the added benefit of getting around the Keystone Cops in Congress.
• Then, as if on cue (as noted in the Guardian piece above), global NIMBY mutterings (even from Palauans) got louder - and rightfully so, seeing as we started this shit!:

Critics accuse Obama of dumping a sensitive problem in the middle of nowhere rather than accepting that the US should take responsibility for prisoners it has abused.

According to the Associated Press, the United States has contacted about 100 governments, but has not been able to persuade any country to take the 50 detainees cleared for transfer.
Britain and France have accepted one each...

• And then - he faked left.  With a Glinda-like wave of his magic wand, he clicked his ruby red slippers thrice, bringing jobs home to Illinois residents, a double-fisted "Screw you!" to the Republicans and "REAL" Americans, an arrogant - "Call me irresponsible now!" - to the global community and oodles of pats on the back from the Kool-Aid Kids who again, are conveniently forgetting that, just like Shrub, he's continuing human rights violations about which the Constitution is very clear - HE'S STILL LOCKING PEOPLE UP WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE THEY'VE COMMITTED A DAMN CRIME - ONLY HE'S DOING IT HERE!!

Nobody does it better than Glenn Greenwald when it comes to this topic.  In his Welcome to Gitmo North, he said succinctly:

Critically, none of those moved to Thomson will receive a trial in a real American court, and some will not be charged with any crime at all. The detainees who will be given trials won't go to Thomson; they'll be moved directly to the jurisdiction where they'll be tried. The ones moved to Thomson will either (a) be put before a military commission or (b) held indefinitely without charges of any kind. In other words, they'll have exactly the same rights -- or lack thereof -- as they have now at Guantanamo.

But Glenn, it's all brand-spanking-new and junk!!!  Shouldn't they just be tickled pink??  Pardon the snark, but mark my words, that's what plenty of his supporters will be saying.  In the letter to which Glenn linked from the Changeling's Administration (Hillary included) to Gov. Quinn, please DO note how the "change agents" cover their asses in the first paragraph - too funny! 

And that conveniently-delivered-today list of answers to (what seems to me, some hastily drawn-up) questions from Mark Kirk (R-IL) representing the "Illinois delegation" is pretty priceless too.  I'll bet you a nickel they never got a reply from the Big House in less than 30 days - EVAH (as Cinie would say)!!!

One thing's for sure, if our high-and-mighty attempts at imperialism overseas hasn't pissed off those who would fly planes into buildings on U.S. soil enough, this surely ought to get their motor running. Just sayin'...