Reading The Fine Print: Republican Platform

While Sarah Palin was speaking words that thrilled the Republican faithful I started reading the words in the Republican Platform. It is full of exagerations and some outright lies. the following are direct quotes from the document along with some of my first reactions:

"To protect our servicemen and women and ensure that America Armed Forces remain the best in the world, we affirm the timelessness of those values, the benefits of traditional military culture, and the incompatibility of homosexuality with military service."
(all men are created equal except for the following...)

"That is why our reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was so vital, and why the Democrats' opposition to it was so wrong."(It gutted the fourth amendment)

"Supporting Our Heroes: Republican leadership, from the presidency to the Congress, has given America the best-manned, best-trained, best-equipped, and best-led military in the world." (McCain voted NO for new GI Bill. It was pushed through by the Democrats)

"That is a radical change from the late 1990's, when national defense was neglected and under-funded by the Clinton Administration." (Clinton proposed the biggest military spending boost since Reagan)(Rumsfield under Bush pushed for massive cuts in military manpower)

They (the 9/11 attacks) should have put an end to the Democrats' naive thinking that international terrorists could be dealt with within the normal criminal justice system, but that misconception persists. (secret military tribunals without habeas corpus...star chambers...indefinite imprisonment...no jury)

We must develop and deploy both national and theater missile defenses to protect the American homeland, our people, our Armed Forces abroad, and our allies. Effective, layered missile defenses are critical to guard against the unpredictable actions of rogue regimes and outlaw states. (re-implementation of star wars a and a re-ignition of the cold war mentality...Russia threatened to aim nukes at Europe in response)

To be successful international leaders, we must uphold international law, including the laws of war,and update them when necessary. Our moral standing requires that we respect what are essentially American principles of justice. In any war of ideas, our values will triumph. (the treatment of prisoners of war don't count we can ignore the long established Geneva Convention...we can imprison, torture and try them by secret military tribunals)

State Department Reform
Advancing America's values should be the core mission of every part of the federal government, including the Department of State. America's diplomatic establishment must energetically represent our country's agenda to the world. We propose a thorough reform of its structure to ensure that promotions and appointments are based on performance in supporting the nation's agenda. Our diplomats must be the best our country has to offer, and America's diplomatic abilities must be an integral part of
America's national security system. (this wreaks of radical christian double speak basically they only want radical christians and want to appointment and promote based on a narrow religious values test) (Radical religious intolerance is a the heart of most major human conflict it is why the founders insisted on a neutral secular form of government...it is why most people of their age fled their countries of origin—religious persecution)

Commentary:
The culturally driven ideological attacks that continue to undermine the Constitution have not abated. And that the radical religious far right will not rest until they take away the rights of those they find repugnant to their self-righteous views.

They will continue those assaults until America votes to put an end to them or until America succumbs.