The Danger of Playing Fair

President Obama is at peril in the early stages of his presidency by thinking he can forge a new paradigm for politics in this country by playing fair and building consensus with the Republicans. He is right that Americans' want a return to civility in politics, but he should be wary, because he is at risk of looking weak which will be exploited to the fullest by the far right.

That's because their agenda has not changed and the radical right are still a ruthless bunch of paid corporate stooges. Far from not having a clue about what the American people think or want is of little concern to them, they have something more important an agenda.

In power or out makes no difference to them their single minded purpose is to replace the political system in America. The radical right are fascists and their goal is a new world order with the rich and powerful owning all of the world's resources, which they are very close to accomplishing. George W. Bush gave us subtle hints when he referred to an "ownership society" and a New World Order. His grandfather Prescott S. Bush* was an admirer of Hitler and he supported him financially. There is evidence that he even plotted to overthrow the government of FDR. The plot came to an end when Major General Smedley D. Butler** - USMC (Ret) blew the whistle.

In office the radical right stacked the deck in favor of the military industrial complex that profits from an endless war on terror. The radical right enrich the power elite by giving them unfair advantage in owning the natural resources of the world in the form of oil leasing rights at a fraction of their value, the same is true with regard to the timber rights, resources that rightfully belong to the Nation are in the hands of a few rich "owners". Have you noticed that only the super wealthy can even afford to run for office anymore.

In earlier administrations they funded the right wing death squads of South American dictators in exchange for their countries natural resources. In office the radical right passed bad law, after bad law that undermined the fundamental rights that were once guaranteed by the Constitution.

They approve torture and kidnapping at the highest levels of government. They started wars that kept the office of President at a perpetual level of Commander-in-Chief which by definition gives him expanded powers he does not possess in times of peace.

Their last act, the bailout, was to rob the American taxpayer and keep them enslaved for generations to come. The banks that were given billions of dollars, with no strings attached was a reverse socialism, that was taken from the poor and given to the already rich. Have you noticed that the banks that received this windfall have not started lending again and some heave even expressed that they have no intention of doing so in the near future.

When out of power the radical right use the checks and balances provided by the Constitution to stall critical legislation and hold nominees hostage. They lie outright and with a boldness that is audacious and breathtaking. Their strangle hold of the Mainstream Media, that regurgitates whatever will suite their aims and ambitions. They make monumental controversy out of trivial events that keep America distracted from their real agenda.

Their paid media jackals who were silent during the Bush administration even amidst his most flagrant abuses of power were in full attack mode before Obama even took office, some went so far as to blame him for the financial collapse. They have instituted an Obama watch and plan to make his every move an ordeal that will grind him into irrelevancy just like they did to Bill Clinton.

Some on left in this country think that the right doesn't get it. I even held that view for a brief time, but, have since come to assign the right with more sinister motives. Trust me the radical right get it, they wrote the rules of the game, which is there are no rules for them, just the other guy that gets in their way. I am afraid we are the ones that don't get it and we won't wake up until it is too late.

Obama is already being undermined by the Generals and Secretary of Defense Bill Gates in regard to his promise to leave Iraq in sixteen months.

My advise, is to fire them like Truman fired MacArthur because the danger of playing nice is that your opponent never will, the radical right view you as a stumbling block one more obstacle they need to deal with in order to achieve absolute control.

Remember the Republican leadership said they wanted to achieve a single party that had perpetual control of the government. If that sounds vaguely like Hitler's Nationalist Socialist Party you are correct, because under the thin veneer the radical Republican right is fascist at its core.

The real danger of playing fair is that you don't know who you are playing with.

Someone once said, "The devil’s greatest trick is to make men believe he does not exist."

Maybe the radical right's greatest trick is make us believe they don't get it. It wouldn't be the first time playing dumb has been employed as a successful strategy.

Our only advantage is understanding who they really are, and that we outnumber them 1,000,000 to 1, that's why they use the politics of divisiveness, and wedge issues, it keeps us fighting each other instead of focusing on them and their real agenda.

* http://republican.meetup.com/boards/thread/3317707
** http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/COA404A.html

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!