"W"axing Nostalgic

I admit at times I grow nostalgic for the Bush years. Oh, don't get me wrong: George Bush may very well stand at the worst president in U.S. history. However, back in those days, my "liberal" friends agreed with me that indefinite detention, the Patriot Act, illegal wiretaps, catering to the interests of the wealthy, increased governmental secrecy, letting those guilty of war crimes walk free while persecuting/prosecuting whistle-blowers, kill lists, drone attacks, unauthorized invasions of foreign countries, appointing conservatives to cabinet positions, fabricating disasters in order to enact regressive policies--O the list is seemingly endless--were bad, wrong, indecent, immoral, etc., etc.

Back in the good old days, we routinely demonized Bush & Cheney as evil incarnate for their right-wing extremist policies. Hell, everybody, even the media, joined in & it was allowed--unless you were Hugo Chavez addressing the U.N.  For some reason, that was seen as inappropriate.  Yet now that we have elected & re-elected a Democrat as president, I've come to feel rather lonely in my opposition to these policies that Obama not only continues, but in many cases has expanded upon.

For instance, drone strikes kill untold numbers of innocents.  This number is untold because 1) those records are classified & 2) the manner in which the U.S. designates one as an enemy combatant.  Sorry--I'm still living in the past.  Obama no longer uses the outdated Bush term "enemy combatant."  Today, we kill "militants," which the government defines as "any military-aged male in a strike zone" until it can be proven otherwise.  So if you or a loved one has been killed by a drone attack, call Jacoby & Meyers.  Otherwise, shut the fuck up & stay the fuck dead.  That's not me talking--that's the official U.S. position!

Given that Obama, no doubt in a nod to his liberal base, signed the NDAA into law in order to avoid charges of nationalism in the use of drones, I'm struck--not by drones, though the NDAA does allow that--by the sexism inherent in such a designation. How could the president praised by progressives for the Lilly Ledbetter Act support such blatant sexism? Is it fair to exclude people on the basis of gender? Also, isn't it just as unjust to discriminate on the basis of age? Shouldn't anyone that a drone kills be considered a militant, regardless of gender, age, or national origin? 

Am I the only one who thinks this is wrong?  It seems fairly obvious, as a basic human right, that every man, woman & child drones kill should be considered a militant.  We the people--in this great nation of the people, by the people, for the people--have seen the enemy & sure enough, Mr. Pogo, he is us.             

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