Amendment One
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment Two
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment Three
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment Four
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures , shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue , but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment Five
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment Six
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment Seven
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment Eight
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment Nine
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment Ten
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Palin Pick Is Shocking
A recent headline from Politico: "Palin electrifies conservative base", is appropriate because it's shocking to the rest of us.
The shear cynical pandering of McCain to Hillary Clinton supporters by the selection of a conservative, christian, woman is breathtaking in its ham-fisted transparency.
The fact that Hillary's supporters voted for Hillary, not because she is a woman, but because she is, Hillary Clinton, and just happens to be a woman, is completely lost on McCain, re-enforcing Obama's allegation that, "McCain just doesn't get." It brings to mind a famous retort in the 1988 Vice Presidential debate. "Governor Palin, you're no Hillary Clinton"
The fact, that it has energized McCain's radical right wing base, solely because she falls into their narrow political ideology, having nothing to do with the real issues facing country, is another reason to take a long serious pause.
The base of the Republican party has spawned most of the problems this nation must overcome. It is directly responsible for the erosion of the Constitution with its tortured christian ideology.
Its stubborn opposition to the rights of gays, is only one example; the fact they want a Constitutional amendment that denies rights unalienable, to the rest of society, is not only unchristian, it is un-American, and it is unconstitutional.
On a strictly practical level it is truly shows that McCain's judgment is clouded at best. The man is 72 years old and by the time he takes office will be 73 years old. He has castigated Obama for his inexperience and has repeatedly said, his (McCain's) experience and judgement is why we should elect him.
The fact that he may very well die in office and leave the country in the hands of a woman who's sole experience is being a small town major and the governor of a sparsely populated state is truly insulting. And mind numbingly irresponsible, for a man of his so called "experience and judgment".
The reality is that Palin's sole qualifications and the reasons she is on the ticket, are: she is a, conservative, christian, woman who hunts and loves guns.
Can you say, desperate pandering?
I for one miss the John McCain who was more interested in his Nation's welfare than his own political fortunes.
The one that stood up to the christian right,
the one that rejected their influence in American politics,
the one that railed at the corruption of lobbyist,
the one that called for and end to pork barrel spending,
the one that castigated the republican attack machine,
the one that called for an end to negative attack ads.
Remember him John?
I do. I liked him, at one time, I would even have voted for him.
Commentary:
It is time that America gets back to selecting a President based on the issues and the common "wants" of the Nation, not on, a narrowly defined, radical, theologically* based political ideology that will destroy the Constitution and in the process the country we love.
We are a democracy, not a theocracy, they just don't get the difference.
We are all created equal not just the self-righteous chosen few.
The shear cynical pandering of McCain to Hillary Clinton supporters by the selection of a conservative, christian, woman is breathtaking in its ham-fisted transparency.
The fact that Hillary's supporters voted for Hillary, not because she is a woman, but because she is, Hillary Clinton, and just happens to be a woman, is completely lost on McCain, re-enforcing Obama's allegation that, "McCain just doesn't get." It brings to mind a famous retort in the 1988 Vice Presidential debate. "Governor Palin, you're no Hillary Clinton"
The fact, that it has energized McCain's radical right wing base, solely because she falls into their narrow political ideology, having nothing to do with the real issues facing country, is another reason to take a long serious pause.
The base of the Republican party has spawned most of the problems this nation must overcome. It is directly responsible for the erosion of the Constitution with its tortured christian ideology.
Its stubborn opposition to the rights of gays, is only one example; the fact they want a Constitutional amendment that denies rights unalienable, to the rest of society, is not only unchristian, it is un-American, and it is unconstitutional.
On a strictly practical level it is truly shows that McCain's judgment is clouded at best. The man is 72 years old and by the time he takes office will be 73 years old. He has castigated Obama for his inexperience and has repeatedly said, his (McCain's) experience and judgement is why we should elect him.
The fact that he may very well die in office and leave the country in the hands of a woman who's sole experience is being a small town major and the governor of a sparsely populated state is truly insulting. And mind numbingly irresponsible, for a man of his so called "experience and judgment".
The reality is that Palin's sole qualifications and the reasons she is on the ticket, are: she is a, conservative, christian, woman who hunts and loves guns.
Can you say, desperate pandering?
I for one miss the John McCain who was more interested in his Nation's welfare than his own political fortunes.
The one that stood up to the christian right,
the one that rejected their influence in American politics,
the one that railed at the corruption of lobbyist,
the one that called for and end to pork barrel spending,
the one that castigated the republican attack machine,
the one that called for an end to negative attack ads.
Remember him John?
I do. I liked him, at one time, I would even have voted for him.
Commentary:
It is time that America gets back to selecting a President based on the issues and the common "wants" of the Nation, not on, a narrowly defined, radical, theologically* based political ideology that will destroy the Constitution and in the process the country we love.
We are a democracy, not a theocracy, they just don't get the difference.
We are all created equal not just the self-righteous chosen few.
The Death Of America
I just receive an e-mail from my oldest sister. It's subject line was: 'Am I The Only Guy That's Fed Up? Frankly that's a question I've been asking myself a lot over the last four years.
Sometimes I have felt a profound sense of isolation and a burgeoning anger about the growing list of deliberate assaults on the Constitution. Don't people understand what peril we are facing? Don't they care? Where's the outrage?
For the repeated unchecked desecration of the Constitution.
For the Suspension of the Fourth Amendment.
For the Invasion of a country that posed no threat to America.
For the torture of prisoners of war advocated by no less than the Vice President.
For the arrest and open-ended imprisonment of SUSPECTED terrorist.
For allowing a pervasive atmosphere of corruption to exist in Washington without a word of moral outrage.
For hiring cronies so incompetent an American city was left to languish like in a third world country.
For sending American troops into harms way without proper armor and equipment.
For allowing war profiteering with no bid contracts.
For allowing innocent civilians to be slaughtered by federally funded private mercenary paramilitary.
For trying prisoners of war by secret tribunal rather than by trail in open court with.
For suspending the writ of habeas corpus.
For squandering 10 billion dollars a month on an unjust war for oil, while America's infrastructure crumbles.
I am by temperament an Independent, and I have voted both Democratic and Republican over the years, but, I was unable to stomach the profound radical changes that the Republican party made since the implementation of the Contract with America by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay in collusion with an intolerant, radical religious right.
Some notable, long time Goldwater Conservatives have spoken out, including Mickey Edwards and John Dean, and Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower, but, for the most part the majority of Republicans seem to have ignored these egregious excesses and continue to rationalize them, spin them or worse they have embraced them. They remind me of the "good Germans" after WWII that disavowed the consequences of their own complicity.
While people are trying to focus on "the real issues" like the economy and the spin doctors are trying to distract them with "bogus issues," like gay marriage, there is in my mind only one issue, that supersedes all other issues, the survival of the Constitution and this nation as a democratic republic.
For me the most alarming aspect's of John McCain's campaign have been: 1. His embrace of the Bush's negative attack machine, headed by Karl Rove that helped Bush get elected with some of the most scurrilous ads in American political history, i.e Swift Boaters. 2. The fact that he now employees a legion of lobbyists to run his, "straight talk" campaign the same lobbyists he once disavowed. 3. The fact that he has been pandering to Bush's radical base who authored the extreme positions that have eroded this country's Constitution and replaced it with their own twisted ideologies.
The next election is a watershed event, this country has come to a crossroads of profound importance, it will decide wether America remains a democratic republic or becomes a one party nation, an of oligarchy of a few rich powerful men and its corporate financiers, that prizes their own power over the rights of the people.
McCain's embrace of these dangerous left over remnants of the malignant Bush Administration are a clear sign that the same players will survive and the assault they started will continue. Nothing else will matter if he is elected.
Far from being the Change We Need McCain is, the Past We Must Reject Forever!
Sometimes I have felt a profound sense of isolation and a burgeoning anger about the growing list of deliberate assaults on the Constitution. Don't people understand what peril we are facing? Don't they care? Where's the outrage?
For the repeated unchecked desecration of the Constitution.
For the Suspension of the Fourth Amendment.
For the Invasion of a country that posed no threat to America.
For the torture of prisoners of war advocated by no less than the Vice President.
For the arrest and open-ended imprisonment of SUSPECTED terrorist.
For allowing a pervasive atmosphere of corruption to exist in Washington without a word of moral outrage.
For hiring cronies so incompetent an American city was left to languish like in a third world country.
For sending American troops into harms way without proper armor and equipment.
For allowing war profiteering with no bid contracts.
For allowing innocent civilians to be slaughtered by federally funded private mercenary paramilitary.
For trying prisoners of war by secret tribunal rather than by trail in open court with.
For suspending the writ of habeas corpus.
For squandering 10 billion dollars a month on an unjust war for oil, while America's infrastructure crumbles.
I am by temperament an Independent, and I have voted both Democratic and Republican over the years, but, I was unable to stomach the profound radical changes that the Republican party made since the implementation of the Contract with America by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay in collusion with an intolerant, radical religious right.
Some notable, long time Goldwater Conservatives have spoken out, including Mickey Edwards and John Dean, and Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower, but, for the most part the majority of Republicans seem to have ignored these egregious excesses and continue to rationalize them, spin them or worse they have embraced them. They remind me of the "good Germans" after WWII that disavowed the consequences of their own complicity.
While people are trying to focus on "the real issues" like the economy and the spin doctors are trying to distract them with "bogus issues," like gay marriage, there is in my mind only one issue, that supersedes all other issues, the survival of the Constitution and this nation as a democratic republic.
For me the most alarming aspect's of John McCain's campaign have been: 1. His embrace of the Bush's negative attack machine, headed by Karl Rove that helped Bush get elected with some of the most scurrilous ads in American political history, i.e Swift Boaters. 2. The fact that he now employees a legion of lobbyists to run his, "straight talk" campaign the same lobbyists he once disavowed. 3. The fact that he has been pandering to Bush's radical base who authored the extreme positions that have eroded this country's Constitution and replaced it with their own twisted ideologies.
The next election is a watershed event, this country has come to a crossroads of profound importance, it will decide wether America remains a democratic republic or becomes a one party nation, an of oligarchy of a few rich powerful men and its corporate financiers, that prizes their own power over the rights of the people.
McCain's embrace of these dangerous left over remnants of the malignant Bush Administration are a clear sign that the same players will survive and the assault they started will continue. Nothing else will matter if he is elected.
Far from being the Change We Need McCain is, the Past We Must Reject Forever!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
What Maverick?
McCain's "Maverick" image is largely a myth. Consider his voting record, which supported the President 95% of the time. If going against the grain 5% of the time makes you a "Maverick" in the Republican party then I'd say its a bar that's more illusion than anything based in reality.
Even that 5% difference, has become suspect. Since he began running for president, he has disavowed the 5% percent of the issues that earned him that reputation in the first place.
McCain has backpedaled on the tax cuts he said were irresponsible in time of war, and now wants to make them permanent.
McCain cosponsored a bipartisan immigration bill, and now wants to build a useless fence instead of punishing the companies that break the law by hiring illegals.
McCain went on record rejecting the Republicans negative attack machine, now he has hired the same attack machine headed by Karl Rove that helped Bush get elected with some of the most scurrilous ads in American political history, i.e Swift Boaters.
McCain has railed against the influence of lobbyist on Washington politics and now employees a legion of lobbyists to run his, "straight talk" campaign.
McCain speaks with pride about the noble men who serve this nation in time of war and proclaims himself a veteran for veteran's, but, refused to support bipartisan legislation to reform the GI bill, motivated by the desire to keep GIs enlisted for a greater length of time.
McCain's policies far from being a change are the same tired old policies we have lived with for the last eight years years, policies that are proven failures.
Far from being the Change We Need McCain is, the Past we Must Reject!
Even that 5% difference, has become suspect. Since he began running for president, he has disavowed the 5% percent of the issues that earned him that reputation in the first place.
McCain has backpedaled on the tax cuts he said were irresponsible in time of war, and now wants to make them permanent.
McCain cosponsored a bipartisan immigration bill, and now wants to build a useless fence instead of punishing the companies that break the law by hiring illegals.
McCain went on record rejecting the Republicans negative attack machine, now he has hired the same attack machine headed by Karl Rove that helped Bush get elected with some of the most scurrilous ads in American political history, i.e Swift Boaters.
McCain has railed against the influence of lobbyist on Washington politics and now employees a legion of lobbyists to run his, "straight talk" campaign.
McCain speaks with pride about the noble men who serve this nation in time of war and proclaims himself a veteran for veteran's, but, refused to support bipartisan legislation to reform the GI bill, motivated by the desire to keep GIs enlisted for a greater length of time.
McCain's policies far from being a change are the same tired old policies we have lived with for the last eight years years, policies that are proven failures.
Far from being the Change We Need McCain is, the Past we Must Reject!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up?
Remember Lee Iacocca, the VP at Ford credited with the birth of the Mustang, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from their death throes, and the owner of the famous quote 'Lead, follow, or get out of the way'? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
Lee Iacocca writes: (quote)
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned 'Titanic' I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope; I believe in America .... In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this:
'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough." (end quote)
No Lee, you're not the only one that's fed up, welcome to the fight!
If you would like to order Mr. Iacocca's book here is the link to his web page. Lee Iacocca
Make a 'real contribution' by sending this to everyone you know and care about......our future is at stake!
Lee Iacocca writes: (quote)
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned 'Titanic' I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope; I believe in America .... In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this:
'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough." (end quote)
No Lee, you're not the only one that's fed up, welcome to the fight!
If you would like to order Mr. Iacocca's book here is the link to his web page. Lee Iacocca
Make a 'real contribution' by sending this to everyone you know and care about......our future is at stake!
You Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time...
Michelle Obama rocks, her kids rock, her husband rocks. But you'd never know it by listening to the pundits of the right. It seems they filter every thing through a lens peculiar to their own invention. Their rabid view is so cockeyed it distorts everything. Black is white and white is black. They label things that are good evil and things that are evil good. They willfully take things out of context and twist them with an almost gleeful delight in their own cunning and clever remarks aimed at deceiving as many people as they can with false, illogical and misleading reasoning. They cannot even give grudging credit when credit is due.
That leads me to wonder, are their distortions just an innocent misperception or are they a deliberate attempt to conceal a hidden agenda? If the former is true, then I'd
have to ask, why do they go to such extremes to twist everything. Why diminish an inspiring speech and continue with the same false accusations that somehow Michelle Obama is angry and unpatriotic? Why call a bill that strips away fundamental constitutional rights the Patriot Act. Why set up a separate secret prison system throughout the world to detain, and interrogate by use of torture?
Its far too deliberately lopsided, and sinister in its implications to merely be a real misperception or a fundamental disagreement over policies. Other countries do that, not the United States. The consequences of such abhorrent behavior undermines the very ideals on which this country was founded and rips at the bedrock of its morality and decency.
You may be put off by that term fascism and a comparison between America and Germany but, the definition of fascism is: a collaboration between corporate interests and governmental powers that suppresses opposition and criticism while emphasizing an aggressive nationalism colored by racist overtones. So the question is does the shoe fit? I submit the following:
In pre war Germany there was massive governmental effort under way to strip certain groups of their rights all the while keeping their real intentions hidden, so their intended victims would not panic before they could build their death camps. They had an unhealthy alliance with arms manufacturers and industry in general.
The Nazi deliberately obfuscated their real intentions and were careful to conceal them with carefully worded edicts, by, first denying the rights of the victims to own property and then "resettling them in ghettos" (imprisoned them) and then putting them in "labor" (death) camps. Their use of euphemisms to conceal the truth were rampant.
At the same time their propagandists Gerbbels would demonize their intended victims by labeling them to dehumanize them. Gays were degenerates, Jews were sub human parasitic vermin, intellectuals were decadent elitists whose books and thoughts needed to be eradicated, in fact anyone that opposed them was labeled and thus marginalized. They were all to be gathered, imprisoned and finally exterminated.
There are many other parallels I find disturbing on many levels, between Nazi fascism and a uniquely American variety of fascism. There is a blind fanatical allegiance to the party line and its ideology. There is no room for disagreement, if you disagree you are no longer the loyal opposition raising a legitimate point of view, you are a traitor.
There is a deliberately generated paranoid atmosphere (the war on terrorism) that breeds fear and offers its inner circle of leaders control over others with unnecessary secrecy. There is the propagation of a false, fanatical jingoistic and machismo patriotism based on a pride of strength, linked solely to our military prowess. For example we can muscle and bully others without regard for the consequences. Germany invaded other nations with impunity. They expressed a marked naive assumption that other nations will bow to our obvious superiority without contention and welcome us as liberators.
There is an incestuous relationship between the branches of government and corporate interests. The energy companies wrote the energy bill for the country, now we are faced with soaring gas prices and a uncertain future while the energy companies and governmental officials line their pockets and ordinary citizens wonder why?
They then promote ineffective and unrealistic solutions that only continue their stranglehold on natural resources without solving anything. T. Boone Pickens said bluntly and truthfully, "we cannot drill our way out of this current energy crisis".
Here is a short list of other fascist similarities:
The right wing have corrupting ties to corporate interests that are at best unethical.
The energy companies were invited into Dick Cheney's office and there they wrote the energy policies for this country. They have deregulated industries allowing rampant greed to decimate this country's economic well being.They have weakened and undermined governmental Agencies to such a degree that they no longer work. Corporate lobbyist have been caught in numerous scandals including bribery of elected officials.
The right wing mollifies this nation with the same kind of confusing rhetoric adapted by the fascist of Germany. "The war on terrorism" is a cover story, the truth is this country was sucker punched by people living in mud huts. The invasion of Iraq was really a pretext for controlling oil in that region of the world.
The right wing has exaggerated that threat to implement their politically motivated foreign policies. Namely that we can impose democracy on others through military force.
The right wing has the same fascination with new technology and its adaption for militaristic uses. We are the biggest and the baddest and can do anything we want.
The Right wing willfully distorts the truth and hides behind a curtain of secrecy.
This administration is the most secretive administration in history even more so than during WWII.
The right wing uses flawed logic and false arguments to justify its actions.
The Neocon view is that might is right and damn anyone who thinks otherwise.
The right wing deliberately labels gays as deviants and wants to deny them of their unalienable rights. They seek to exclude gays from their rights by constitutional amendment.
The right wing imprisons, tortures its so called enemies without benefit of due process.
Rendition as its euphemistically called is an ugly fact defended by no less than the Vice President.
The right wing spies on its citizens under the pretext of an external threat that far exceeds the real dangers. It has gutted the fourth amendment with warrant-less wiretaps while protecting the mega rich telecoms.
The right wing invades other countries based on evidence that on its face is manufactured. Mobile chemical labs that didn't exist, WMDs that didn't exist, meetings with terrorist that didn't happen, etc.
The right wing has admitted that it seeks to create a one party system that is never challenged. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay openly declared that intent and almost made it a reality.
The right wing is authoritarian in their administration of the government to the point of being dictatorial. They continue to hold the congress hostage to their demands through tedious wrangling over procedural issues. They punish those who challenge them.
The right wing has packed the judiciary branch with politically like minded jurist that have undermined the Constitution. They have packed the Supreme court with politically motivated jurist in order to advance their narrow political agenda. They fired federal prosecutors en-mass that disagreed with their political agenda.
The right wing has ignored the Constitution that says the Congress has a duty to oversee the Executive branch.They used false claims of Executive privilege and ignored the lawful subpoenas to testify before congress.
The right wing executive has assumed powers beyond his constitutional authority.
In direct violation of the ninth amendment that says no branch of government or government official can assume powers that are not specifically granted in the Constitution.
The right wing has a nearly a complete monopoly on the American media and their control most of the information channels. They continue to spout the same old lie that the media is liberally biased even though the media is controlled by right winged corporate ideologues. The air is saturated with well paid rabid talking heads; Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity & Colmes, O'Reilly, Beck and that is just a small example of the power they exert.
I could go on, but, if you are somewhat reasonable I think you'd agree that the similarities are at least striking. Even some traditional conservative thinkers are alarmed by the dangerous turn the ultra radical right wing of their party have taken. They have taken us down a path, that I think most Americans agree, is not the direction, this nation should not be headed.
They have used guile and subterfuge and misled many Americans by imparting a false impression of patriotism which cloaks their motives. They use the lie that any taxation is anathema. They said the economy would flourish and that wealth would trickle down. The truth is the average American is struggling and the wealthy have flourished, the truth is wealth has not trickled down, but it has bubbled up and benefited only the rich.
If you're not rich you should not be buying their lies, they view ordinary people with contempt as ill-informed, uneducated, rabble, unfit to govern ourselves and who they can manipulate at their whim. They are the true elitists.
It is time to become informed. It is time we wake up from our complacency. Its time we take back this country. It is time we change direction.
That leads me to wonder, are their distortions just an innocent misperception or are they a deliberate attempt to conceal a hidden agenda? If the former is true, then I'd
have to ask, why do they go to such extremes to twist everything. Why diminish an inspiring speech and continue with the same false accusations that somehow Michelle Obama is angry and unpatriotic? Why call a bill that strips away fundamental constitutional rights the Patriot Act. Why set up a separate secret prison system throughout the world to detain, and interrogate by use of torture?
Its far too deliberately lopsided, and sinister in its implications to merely be a real misperception or a fundamental disagreement over policies. Other countries do that, not the United States. The consequences of such abhorrent behavior undermines the very ideals on which this country was founded and rips at the bedrock of its morality and decency.
You may be put off by that term fascism and a comparison between America and Germany but, the definition of fascism is: a collaboration between corporate interests and governmental powers that suppresses opposition and criticism while emphasizing an aggressive nationalism colored by racist overtones. So the question is does the shoe fit? I submit the following:
In pre war Germany there was massive governmental effort under way to strip certain groups of their rights all the while keeping their real intentions hidden, so their intended victims would not panic before they could build their death camps. They had an unhealthy alliance with arms manufacturers and industry in general.
The Nazi deliberately obfuscated their real intentions and were careful to conceal them with carefully worded edicts, by, first denying the rights of the victims to own property and then "resettling them in ghettos" (imprisoned them) and then putting them in "labor" (death) camps. Their use of euphemisms to conceal the truth were rampant.
At the same time their propagandists Gerbbels would demonize their intended victims by labeling them to dehumanize them. Gays were degenerates, Jews were sub human parasitic vermin, intellectuals were decadent elitists whose books and thoughts needed to be eradicated, in fact anyone that opposed them was labeled and thus marginalized. They were all to be gathered, imprisoned and finally exterminated.
There are many other parallels I find disturbing on many levels, between Nazi fascism and a uniquely American variety of fascism. There is a blind fanatical allegiance to the party line and its ideology. There is no room for disagreement, if you disagree you are no longer the loyal opposition raising a legitimate point of view, you are a traitor.
There is a deliberately generated paranoid atmosphere (the war on terrorism) that breeds fear and offers its inner circle of leaders control over others with unnecessary secrecy. There is the propagation of a false, fanatical jingoistic and machismo patriotism based on a pride of strength, linked solely to our military prowess. For example we can muscle and bully others without regard for the consequences. Germany invaded other nations with impunity. They expressed a marked naive assumption that other nations will bow to our obvious superiority without contention and welcome us as liberators.
There is an incestuous relationship between the branches of government and corporate interests. The energy companies wrote the energy bill for the country, now we are faced with soaring gas prices and a uncertain future while the energy companies and governmental officials line their pockets and ordinary citizens wonder why?
They then promote ineffective and unrealistic solutions that only continue their stranglehold on natural resources without solving anything. T. Boone Pickens said bluntly and truthfully, "we cannot drill our way out of this current energy crisis".
Here is a short list of other fascist similarities:
The right wing have corrupting ties to corporate interests that are at best unethical.
The energy companies were invited into Dick Cheney's office and there they wrote the energy policies for this country. They have deregulated industries allowing rampant greed to decimate this country's economic well being.They have weakened and undermined governmental Agencies to such a degree that they no longer work. Corporate lobbyist have been caught in numerous scandals including bribery of elected officials.
The right wing mollifies this nation with the same kind of confusing rhetoric adapted by the fascist of Germany. "The war on terrorism" is a cover story, the truth is this country was sucker punched by people living in mud huts. The invasion of Iraq was really a pretext for controlling oil in that region of the world.
The right wing has exaggerated that threat to implement their politically motivated foreign policies. Namely that we can impose democracy on others through military force.
The right wing has the same fascination with new technology and its adaption for militaristic uses. We are the biggest and the baddest and can do anything we want.
The Right wing willfully distorts the truth and hides behind a curtain of secrecy.
This administration is the most secretive administration in history even more so than during WWII.
The right wing uses flawed logic and false arguments to justify its actions.
The Neocon view is that might is right and damn anyone who thinks otherwise.
The right wing deliberately labels gays as deviants and wants to deny them of their unalienable rights. They seek to exclude gays from their rights by constitutional amendment.
The right wing imprisons, tortures its so called enemies without benefit of due process.
Rendition as its euphemistically called is an ugly fact defended by no less than the Vice President.
The right wing spies on its citizens under the pretext of an external threat that far exceeds the real dangers. It has gutted the fourth amendment with warrant-less wiretaps while protecting the mega rich telecoms.
The right wing invades other countries based on evidence that on its face is manufactured. Mobile chemical labs that didn't exist, WMDs that didn't exist, meetings with terrorist that didn't happen, etc.
The right wing has admitted that it seeks to create a one party system that is never challenged. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay openly declared that intent and almost made it a reality.
The right wing is authoritarian in their administration of the government to the point of being dictatorial. They continue to hold the congress hostage to their demands through tedious wrangling over procedural issues. They punish those who challenge them.
The right wing has packed the judiciary branch with politically like minded jurist that have undermined the Constitution. They have packed the Supreme court with politically motivated jurist in order to advance their narrow political agenda. They fired federal prosecutors en-mass that disagreed with their political agenda.
The right wing has ignored the Constitution that says the Congress has a duty to oversee the Executive branch.They used false claims of Executive privilege and ignored the lawful subpoenas to testify before congress.
The right wing executive has assumed powers beyond his constitutional authority.
In direct violation of the ninth amendment that says no branch of government or government official can assume powers that are not specifically granted in the Constitution.
The right wing has a nearly a complete monopoly on the American media and their control most of the information channels. They continue to spout the same old lie that the media is liberally biased even though the media is controlled by right winged corporate ideologues. The air is saturated with well paid rabid talking heads; Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity & Colmes, O'Reilly, Beck and that is just a small example of the power they exert.
I could go on, but, if you are somewhat reasonable I think you'd agree that the similarities are at least striking. Even some traditional conservative thinkers are alarmed by the dangerous turn the ultra radical right wing of their party have taken. They have taken us down a path, that I think most Americans agree, is not the direction, this nation should not be headed.
They have used guile and subterfuge and misled many Americans by imparting a false impression of patriotism which cloaks their motives. They use the lie that any taxation is anathema. They said the economy would flourish and that wealth would trickle down. The truth is the average American is struggling and the wealthy have flourished, the truth is wealth has not trickled down, but it has bubbled up and benefited only the rich.
If you're not rich you should not be buying their lies, they view ordinary people with contempt as ill-informed, uneducated, rabble, unfit to govern ourselves and who they can manipulate at their whim. They are the true elitists.
It is time to become informed. It is time we wake up from our complacency. Its time we take back this country. It is time we change direction.
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time". —Abraham Lincoln—
Monday, August 25, 2008
What Evil Lurks In The Hearts Of Men?
The cruelty of the Taliban in Afghanistan was an appalling spectacle, with its public executions for minor slights against the Quran. It was guided by the narrow intolerant views of men called Ayatollahs. In their fervent, fanatical and absolute adherence to the literal interpretation of the Quran they turned Afghanistan into an absolute hell. Their religious pronouncements in the form of fatwahs were absolute and binding. They had the power to call for the assassination of writers like Salman Rushdie that they say blasphemed Islam.
While the rise of that particular expression of Islamic fundamentalism was obviously abhorrent to Americans sensibilities and its sweeping disregard of individual freedom, as it was much noted in the press, a less obvious, more insidious and even more disturbing rise of narrow-minded religious inspired intolerance was under way in this country by Fundamentalist Evangelicals.
The assault on the American Constitution by these so called Fundamentalist Evangelicals has been relentless over the past several decades and they now form the base of the Republican Party. Their narrow, literal interpretation of the bible is the basis of their socially conservative political agenda. And just like their Islamic counterparts they heaped derision and contempt on anyone who disagrees with their narrow political social agenda.
They are the driving force behind the movement to change our Constitution to overturn Roe vs. Wade and a women's' right to choose, to prevent the marriage of gays, protected under the fourteenth amendment, the criminalization of burning the flag, protected under the first amendment, and forcing prayer in school, which violates the separation of church and state.
In their twisted logic they and they alone are the keepers of all things good and righteous. Gays are labeled as a deviants undeserving of equal protection and bereft of rights that are unalienable to the rest of society. They rail at abortion and applaud the death penalty. They are jealous in guarding their expression of free speech in school, in the form of prayer which they would impose on believers and non-believers alike, but, say that free speech does not extend to those who would burn the flag as a statement of political protest.
Such socially driven assaults on the Constitution are not new, and notably there is only one such amendment that was added (the eighteenth) to the Constitution and that was ultimately repealed. (by the twenty-first).
The bedrock of this country is the protection of its citizens from the over-reaching intrusion of government into our daily lives.
The Bill of Rights protects the freedoms of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom of assembly; the freedom to petition; and prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; cruel and unusual punishment; and compelled self-incrimination.
The Bill of Rights also prohibits Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the Federal Government from depriving any person of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness or property, without due process of law.
In Federal, criminal cases, it requires indictment by grand jury for any capital or "infamous crime," guarantees a speedy public trial with an impartial jury composed of members of the state or judicial district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy.
In addition, the Bill of Rights states that "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other(s) (rights) retained by the people," and (the ninth) reserves (gives) all powers not granted to the federal government to the citizenry or States.
In other words if its not enumerated in the Constitution, the assumption and rule of law require that the people(s) rights supersede any denial of rights by the government. The government cannot say because its not enumerated you don't have the right. The presumption is exactly opposite you inherently and automatically in fact do have all and any rights not enumerated. For example the right privacy which is not specifically enumerated.
Conversely anything the federal government does that it is not permitted by the Constitution is unconstitutional because all powers not given explicitly to the federal government are reserved to the people or the states, according to the Tenth Amendment.”
When I was young, before the age of television we listened to the radio, there was one program in particular that made an impression on me, it was The Shadow.
At the opening of the program a deep sinister voice would always ask; Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? And then answering his own question the announcer would say, The Shadow knows!
The Shadow was a vigilante who used his power of hypnotism to cloud the minds of ordinary men and render himself invisible before the evil doers.
What brought this to mind was the recent one hour interview of Barrack Obama and John McCain by Pastor Rick Warrens and his question, Does evil exist? And what should we do about it?
McCain was rather simple and direct in his answer; We should defeat it! And named Islamic terrorism as the transcendent evil facing us.
Obama was more thoughtful and introspective and in part of his answer he cautioned that in confronting evil we should take care not to do evil in the name of trying to do good.
It touched on a the Christian idea of the duality of human nature. We are at the same time, the devils we fear, and the angels we want to be, something I fear that was completely lost on the host and his audience.
The point is, that in America, no one can take these unalienable rights away, like the Islamic Fundamentalists did in Afganistan, not the God that bestowed them in the first place, or the self righteous American Ayatollahs that claim to represent Him on earth.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? God knows!
While the rise of that particular expression of Islamic fundamentalism was obviously abhorrent to Americans sensibilities and its sweeping disregard of individual freedom, as it was much noted in the press, a less obvious, more insidious and even more disturbing rise of narrow-minded religious inspired intolerance was under way in this country by Fundamentalist Evangelicals.
The assault on the American Constitution by these so called Fundamentalist Evangelicals has been relentless over the past several decades and they now form the base of the Republican Party. Their narrow, literal interpretation of the bible is the basis of their socially conservative political agenda. And just like their Islamic counterparts they heaped derision and contempt on anyone who disagrees with their narrow political social agenda.
They are the driving force behind the movement to change our Constitution to overturn Roe vs. Wade and a women's' right to choose, to prevent the marriage of gays, protected under the fourteenth amendment, the criminalization of burning the flag, protected under the first amendment, and forcing prayer in school, which violates the separation of church and state.
In their twisted logic they and they alone are the keepers of all things good and righteous. Gays are labeled as a deviants undeserving of equal protection and bereft of rights that are unalienable to the rest of society. They rail at abortion and applaud the death penalty. They are jealous in guarding their expression of free speech in school, in the form of prayer which they would impose on believers and non-believers alike, but, say that free speech does not extend to those who would burn the flag as a statement of political protest.
Such socially driven assaults on the Constitution are not new, and notably there is only one such amendment that was added (the eighteenth) to the Constitution and that was ultimately repealed. (by the twenty-first).
The bedrock of this country is the protection of its citizens from the over-reaching intrusion of government into our daily lives.
The Bill of Rights protects the freedoms of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom of assembly; the freedom to petition; and prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; cruel and unusual punishment; and compelled self-incrimination.
The Bill of Rights also prohibits Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the Federal Government from depriving any person of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness or property, without due process of law.
In Federal, criminal cases, it requires indictment by grand jury for any capital or "infamous crime," guarantees a speedy public trial with an impartial jury composed of members of the state or judicial district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy.
In addition, the Bill of Rights states that "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other(s) (rights) retained by the people," and (the ninth) reserves (gives) all powers not granted to the federal government to the citizenry or States.
In other words if its not enumerated in the Constitution, the assumption and rule of law require that the people(s) rights supersede any denial of rights by the government. The government cannot say because its not enumerated you don't have the right. The presumption is exactly opposite you inherently and automatically in fact do have all and any rights not enumerated. For example the right privacy which is not specifically enumerated.
Conversely anything the federal government does that it is not permitted by the Constitution is unconstitutional because all powers not given explicitly to the federal government are reserved to the people or the states, according to the Tenth Amendment.”
When I was young, before the age of television we listened to the radio, there was one program in particular that made an impression on me, it was The Shadow.
At the opening of the program a deep sinister voice would always ask; Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? And then answering his own question the announcer would say, The Shadow knows!
The Shadow was a vigilante who used his power of hypnotism to cloud the minds of ordinary men and render himself invisible before the evil doers.
What brought this to mind was the recent one hour interview of Barrack Obama and John McCain by Pastor Rick Warrens and his question, Does evil exist? And what should we do about it?
McCain was rather simple and direct in his answer; We should defeat it! And named Islamic terrorism as the transcendent evil facing us.
Obama was more thoughtful and introspective and in part of his answer he cautioned that in confronting evil we should take care not to do evil in the name of trying to do good.
It touched on a the Christian idea of the duality of human nature. We are at the same time, the devils we fear, and the angels we want to be, something I fear that was completely lost on the host and his audience.
The point is, that in America, no one can take these unalienable rights away, like the Islamic Fundamentalists did in Afganistan, not the God that bestowed them in the first place, or the self righteous American Ayatollahs that claim to represent Him on earth.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? God knows!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Fools Rush In and Idiots Follow
The continuing misadventures of the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policies have brought to fruition another blunder with possibly major consequences, the re-ignition of the cold war.
It seemingly started the opening night of the Beijing Olympics, out of the blue, Russia invades poor little Georgia without provocation, at least that is how its being portrayed by most western news sources. But, what is not being widely reported is the fact that Georgia invaded its neighbor South Ossetia first, with the tacit encouragement and support of the United States. And that this story, has roots in events that have a history.
It seems the moron in the White House has been pushing for a ring of defensive missiles (remember Star Wars) in country's that surround Russia for well over a year now, against Russia's strong objections.
"George W Bush said Tuesday there was an "urgent" need to deploy a missile-defence system to Eastern Europe. Bush has aggressively pursued a long-range ballistic-missile- defence system. His administration announced plans earlier this year to deploy 10 missile interceptors to Poland and a radar tracking site to the Czech Republic.
The controversial plans have angered Moscow, which views the system as a threat to its nuclear deterrent and has not ruled out targeting the potential bases in Eastern Europe". Published on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 by EarthTimes.org
Plus, the White House has been quietly but, actively meddling in the region by helping build up Georgia's military and actively pushing for Georgia's admission into NATO, (in an emergency meeting, just prior to the invasion of South Ossetia by Georgia), all the while encouraging Georgia to keep Osettia from rejoining the Russian Federation, which the majority of Osettians wanted. When Georgia invaded Osettia, Russia went to the defense of Osettia and invaded Georgia.
Without missing a beat or with any sense of hypocrisy, George Bush, who started an unjustified war of aggression, against Iraq, invading and occupying it, pronounced that Russia’s conduct as” unacceptable," and demanding withdrawal of Russian forces, which Russia sent into Georgia to protect the population of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from the invasion by Georgia, that had already killed citizens and peace keepers alike, that destroyed property and had driven tens of thousands from their homes.
And of course the Republican nominee, straight-talking John McCain, making the hypocritical and self-righteous remark that; "Nations don't invade other nations in the 21st Century", the same guy who fully supports the unlawful invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Why you may ask yourself would Bush do anything so foolish? As in most matters in which George Bush takes aggressive action, oil is a factor in some form. Iraq sits on some of the richest oil deposits in the mid-east and Georgia has made itself available for a pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan then across Georgia to the Black Sea, a major Bush goal, carrying oil from Azerbaijan and former Soviet Republics in Central Asia, produced in large part by U.S. oil companies, to Western markets that by-pass Russia.
The question is: How many people is this President willing to kill for cheap oil? And how many of us will continue to follow this moron or his presumptive heir apparent John McCain without regard for the consequences of such a reckless and belligerent foreign policy?
It seemingly started the opening night of the Beijing Olympics, out of the blue, Russia invades poor little Georgia without provocation, at least that is how its being portrayed by most western news sources. But, what is not being widely reported is the fact that Georgia invaded its neighbor South Ossetia first, with the tacit encouragement and support of the United States. And that this story, has roots in events that have a history.
It seems the moron in the White House has been pushing for a ring of defensive missiles (remember Star Wars) in country's that surround Russia for well over a year now, against Russia's strong objections.
"George W Bush said Tuesday there was an "urgent" need to deploy a missile-defence system to Eastern Europe. Bush has aggressively pursued a long-range ballistic-missile- defence system. His administration announced plans earlier this year to deploy 10 missile interceptors to Poland and a radar tracking site to the Czech Republic.
The controversial plans have angered Moscow, which views the system as a threat to its nuclear deterrent and has not ruled out targeting the potential bases in Eastern Europe". Published on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 by EarthTimes.org
Plus, the White House has been quietly but, actively meddling in the region by helping build up Georgia's military and actively pushing for Georgia's admission into NATO, (in an emergency meeting, just prior to the invasion of South Ossetia by Georgia), all the while encouraging Georgia to keep Osettia from rejoining the Russian Federation, which the majority of Osettians wanted. When Georgia invaded Osettia, Russia went to the defense of Osettia and invaded Georgia.
Without missing a beat or with any sense of hypocrisy, George Bush, who started an unjustified war of aggression, against Iraq, invading and occupying it, pronounced that Russia’s conduct as” unacceptable," and demanding withdrawal of Russian forces, which Russia sent into Georgia to protect the population of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from the invasion by Georgia, that had already killed citizens and peace keepers alike, that destroyed property and had driven tens of thousands from their homes.
And of course the Republican nominee, straight-talking John McCain, making the hypocritical and self-righteous remark that; "Nations don't invade other nations in the 21st Century", the same guy who fully supports the unlawful invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Why you may ask yourself would Bush do anything so foolish? As in most matters in which George Bush takes aggressive action, oil is a factor in some form. Iraq sits on some of the richest oil deposits in the mid-east and Georgia has made itself available for a pipeline from the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan then across Georgia to the Black Sea, a major Bush goal, carrying oil from Azerbaijan and former Soviet Republics in Central Asia, produced in large part by U.S. oil companies, to Western markets that by-pass Russia.
The question is: How many people is this President willing to kill for cheap oil? And how many of us will continue to follow this moron or his presumptive heir apparent John McCain without regard for the consequences of such a reckless and belligerent foreign policy?
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