Updates and Backdates

Update: Adam Kokesh had his hearing yesterday. Accused of protesting the war while wearing a uniform, Kokesh was faced with the possibility of having his Honorable discharge reduced to Other than Honorable. The result would have been difficulty finding employment and loss of Veterans Administration privileges. What the commission ultimately did was give Kokesh a General discharge. He will retain his privileges and probably not be significantly impaired in his searches for employment.

It was probably the lightest punishment the commission felt they could mete out. After all, they must have felt they had to do something in order to fall short of underwriting his protest of the war, but it is certainly not a ringing note of approval for the war, either.

Update: Two Guantanamo Bay detainees were relieved of charges yesterday by American judges who said that they did not fit the definition of an illegal combatant as they would have to be in order to be tried in this court. Is this affront to humanity also finally going to come apart at the seams?

Update: In its Nation/World section yesterday, the local paper posted an article headlined, “Congress sidestepping pork rule”. The upshot being that the Democrats who took over Congress declaring that they would open the legislative process to the sunshine and eliminate pork barrel spending are ignoring their own rules. Or, even worse, twisting them so that they can attach “earmarks” for their pet projects after bills have moved far enough through the legislative process that the pork cannot be effectively challenged.
So much for the honest government promise the Democrats used to buy our votes.

Backdate: In cleaning up my ragged computer files yesterday I came across the following article. Please note the date and consider what has changed in the last five years –

11/20/02 I awoke this morning again obsessed with the state of affairs in our country. I believe that the U.S. is entering the darkest period of its history. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that President Bush enjoys a 70% popularity rating according to polls.

I believe that Bush is the greatest danger to American and world freedom on the face of the earth today. His eager rush to war with Iraq when combined with the passage of the War Powers Act and the Homeland Security Act set the stage for not only world-wide aggression, but also for unprecedented internal exercise (read abuse) of power. Other acts have also granted power while removing checks and balances. The Justice Department has been given the power to invade the privacy of American citizens in ways that were banned in the seventies.

I was raised as a deeply patriotic American. A believer in America’s role as the savior of freedom and justice on the European and Asian Continents in WWII, I could never before hear the Star Spangled Banner and watch the flag rise without a spine-tingling, nearly tear producing surge of pride and awe. Now I wonder if I will ever again see it without a chilling shiver going up my spine and thoughts of our imperialistic abuses of our power.

The America I saw in my prior mind’s eye was a nation dedicated to peace and justice throughout the world. Over the years, I have noted many instances of our breaking away from that ideal – Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Iran-Contra, post-Desert Storm. I never thought during any of those wrong-headed abuses of power, though, that I would see the day when the American Congress would hand away its control over a President’s desire to declare war on another sovereign nation nor agree that the Executive Branch should have the power to “preemptively” strike at another country.

I would not be in such despair over all of this if the people were not in support of it. I can’t understand and am shamed by their willingness to see this country degenerate into the world’s meanest bully. What a horrible comparison to the shining strength of a country willing to use its power to free the rest of the world from the tyrannies of WWII.

George Bush could not more clearly state his disdain for American heritage if he publicly defecated on the flag.

America has the nuclear power to blow away every nation on earth in a day. Now we want to use our military might to attack any country our president sees as threatening – regardless of the fact that they could no more than ruffle a hair on our national head. Even 9/11 was minor compared to the devastation we have wreaked and are poised to wreak on the rest of the world. I read yesterday that for every American who died on 9/11, we have killed 500 Iraqi children with our blockade of that country.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Today Mr. Bush’s popularity level is around 30% at best. One poll listed 88% of American citizens as against the war. So what is BushCo’s reaction? Why, hold the course, of course. To hell with what the people think or want. What’s important is what King George took office to do.

Isn’t it time we ran this tyrant and his sycophantic (or is it psychopathic) followers along with him. While we’re at it, let’s run the Democrats out, too, and start over. Is there a Populist in the house?

Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR