Without doubt the big story of the day is the Supreme Court’s decision that BushCo cannot deny due process to anyone whether American citizen or alien. In short, the decision means that BushCo’s actions have been UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Even this heavily right leaning Supreme Court could not bring itself to lean so far right as to give the Amerikan Executive branch the power to imprison people – any people no matter where they come from – on a whim and without access to legal assistance.
It is shameful, though, that the vote on this issue was so close. This is an issue that any second year law student should be able to think her way through. All four justices who dissented in this ruling ought to be held accountable for it. Judge Scalia’s comments in his dissent were so disrespectful of the rule of law that his right to a seat on the court should be challenged. Only one justice (Samuel Chase in 1805.) has ever been impeached in the history of the country. In his case the effort was politically based and so failed. In this case, though, Scalia’s contempt for the Constitution of the United States is clear enough for me. Of course it won’t happen. It takes a majority vote of the House of Representatives and subsequent conviction by two-thirds of the Senate. You couldn’t get that many votes on the theory that water is wet with the bunch of jerks we have running the country right now. It might all hinge on what the definition of “is” is!!
BushCo, though, must now face the fact that this hard right leaning Supreme Court has called its hand three times on the issue of the rights of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay. (The first time the court found against the administration’s policy of trying detainees without representation in military tribunals, BushCo pushed a law through that enabled the process. The court declared that law unconstitutional, too.)
President Shrub says they will abide by the ruling even if he doesn’t agree with it. dick Cheney says nothing, as usual, but there can be no doubt that he sits smirking in his office in the deep conviction that they will be able to finish their term in office without taking any action at all as a result of this finding.
In the meantime, the reputation of America is enhanced in the eyes of the world by the fact that the court ultimately showed the integrity to pass this judgement.
Here at home, though, we need to continue to recognize that there is a large and strong effort on the part of the far right to undercut the Constitution in order to ensure for the super wealthy the continued right to unbridled power. Right here in Missouri, we have been subjected to that kind of arrogance lately in the words and actions of our own Speaker of the House, Rod Jetton. What is it besides arrogance that leads a man to say, in regard to the village law he sneaked through the Legislature that, “This is still America, and if you want to put a junkyard in and you buy the property, it’s your right. And if a guy doesn’t want you, he could have bought the property.”
Those are the words of a man who is convinced that might is right and who cares not a whit for the rights of anyone but himself and his powerful cronies. Those are the words of a person who thinks that anyone less ruthless than himself doesn’t have or deserve any rights at all. (Incidentally, those are also the words of a man who has to leave office due to term limits. The “Village Law” is one of the side effects of those term limits. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain by helping his buddy, Robert Plaster get what he wanted.)
Also, those are the kind of words that constantly pour out of people like dick Cheney and poor dumb little George W. Shrub whose silver spoon has kept him from ever having to think anything through or to recognize that not everyone was blessed (or cursed, take your pick) with the sheltered life he has led. It’s easy to be ignorant and arrogant when your every need is anticipated and catered to.
Finally, Dennis Kucinich’s effort to have them all impeached has gone forward though none of the pundits give it any chance for success. The pundits, though, are as guilty of arrogance and ignorance as BushCo. This was clearly illustrated by the MSNBC poll taken yesterday asking whether or not respondents favored impeachment for BushCo. The response was overwhelming. Out of over 700,000 respondents 86% voted in favor of impeachment.
This wasn’t a controlled poll, but with that heavy a response it seems apparent that the majority of Americans want out of Amerika and back to America. With 86% in favor of impeachment and 68% in favor of getting the hell out of Iraq, how is it that BushCo still reigns and our sons, daughter, nieces, nephews and grandchildren are still risking their lives every day for a lost (nay, non-existent) cause?
Answer – a terribly irresponsible Congress. Next fall, let’s vote for anybody who has never been to Washington. If we fail to jerk a knot in the Congressional tail, we will be the next three time losers no matter whom we elect to the presidency.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
THE IMMACULATE IMPEACHMENT?
Broward Politics (http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2008/06/impeach_bush_wexler_says.html) has posted a story about Florida Democratic Representative Robert Wexler signing on to Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment of George W. Bush read yesterday on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The story itself didn’t light my fire. After all, I think it is disgraceful that both houses of Congress have not been up in arms against this administration since the beginning of its push for war in Iraq. What interested me most was the progression of comments.
The first responders were so familiar I had to check to make sure I wasn’t reading a blog comments section of the Springfield News-Leader -- pure hard-line vitriol including attacks on Obama (with plenty of despicable plays on his name) as a Muslim Jew-hater.
Finally, though, the more temperate and left-leaning citizens began to take over the discussion. The one quoted below, though, stood out for me:
“Wait a minute!!! You mean, if Bush and Cheney both get impeached, we'd have a new, female president, and it wouldn't be Hillary? What would that do for the election? Its probably too late to finish before election takes place, so Pelosi would be number 44, and wouldn't be in office for long.
Congress would lose a senior democrat though, and the Dems already feel confident they have the election, so there is nothing for the party to gain by impeaching the lame duck.
It would take a democrat of principle, one who put rule of law above party politics, to pursue impeachment. And of course, they are a minority in DC.”
In a nutshell, this person was able to sum up the best argument against ideo-illogical hard headed hard-line Repulsicans who constantly maintain that W is the finest president since George Washington. The bottom line is that no one has anything to gain in terms of a political coup by impeaching this bunch of criminals. Therefore, taking that action at this point is purely an act of principle.
It is no surprise, then, that the articles were filed by the most principled man in the Congress. Sadly it is also no surprise that a man like Mr. Kucinich has no chance of being elected president in a country that is so generally unprincipled that couldn’t recognize a man of moral character if he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven from the capitol dome.
It is also an interesting notion that a double impeachment – the only acceptable kind in our circumstance – would result in swearing in a female president. What a great twist of fate! Let’s do it!!!
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
The story itself didn’t light my fire. After all, I think it is disgraceful that both houses of Congress have not been up in arms against this administration since the beginning of its push for war in Iraq. What interested me most was the progression of comments.
The first responders were so familiar I had to check to make sure I wasn’t reading a blog comments section of the Springfield News-Leader -- pure hard-line vitriol including attacks on Obama (with plenty of despicable plays on his name) as a Muslim Jew-hater.
Finally, though, the more temperate and left-leaning citizens began to take over the discussion. The one quoted below, though, stood out for me:
“Wait a minute!!! You mean, if Bush and Cheney both get impeached, we'd have a new, female president, and it wouldn't be Hillary? What would that do for the election? Its probably too late to finish before election takes place, so Pelosi would be number 44, and wouldn't be in office for long.
Congress would lose a senior democrat though, and the Dems already feel confident they have the election, so there is nothing for the party to gain by impeaching the lame duck.
It would take a democrat of principle, one who put rule of law above party politics, to pursue impeachment. And of course, they are a minority in DC.”
In a nutshell, this person was able to sum up the best argument against ideo-illogical hard headed hard-line Repulsicans who constantly maintain that W is the finest president since George Washington. The bottom line is that no one has anything to gain in terms of a political coup by impeaching this bunch of criminals. Therefore, taking that action at this point is purely an act of principle.
It is no surprise, then, that the articles were filed by the most principled man in the Congress. Sadly it is also no surprise that a man like Mr. Kucinich has no chance of being elected president in a country that is so generally unprincipled that couldn’t recognize a man of moral character if he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven from the capitol dome.
It is also an interesting notion that a double impeachment – the only acceptable kind in our circumstance – would result in swearing in a female president. What a great twist of fate! Let’s do it!!!
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BLESS DENNIS KUCINICH
'President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.' Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution 09 Jun 2008 Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich took to the House of Representatives floor on Monday evening to introduce a 35-count resolution to impeach President [sic] George W. Bush. Kucinich claimed Bush "fraudulently" justified the war on Iraq and misled "the American people and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so as to manufacture a false case for war." "President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office," Kucinich said.
Reference: http://www.legitgov.org/
AMEN!!
And thank you Dennis Kucinich - the man who should, but never will, be president. This country is just too twisted to elect a man as straight as Dennis.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Reference: http://www.legitgov.org/
AMEN!!
And thank you Dennis Kucinich - the man who should, but never will, be president. This country is just too twisted to elect a man as straight as Dennis.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Monday, June 9, 2008
THE IMPENDING INVASION OF IRAN
For months I have been noting but generally ignoring all the notices of an impending invasion of Iran. Many months ago, I even gave a little talk on the question of whether or not such an invasion was likely. My conclusion was that I wasn’t seeing strong enough evidence to conclude that it was. I’ve always reserved a little spot in my thinking for the possibility that it would become a reality, though, and now it looks to me like the pressure for it is building to the boiling point.
What convinced me? – The fact that Israel has now begun a public push for it. For a long time now, Israel and the US have been joined at the hip. In the early years of Israel’s existence their cause was glorified, and no one I knew questioned that position. The more I understand about the middle-East, however, the more I come to wonder how much influence the western world’s interest in establishing control in the middle-East had over Britain’s decision to hand part of Palestine over to the transient Jews who first settled the land we know as Israel. It had certainly become to hot for the Brits, so they undoubtedly saw some advantage to having a grateful population in a new nation as an ally in the region. Wish I knew more about that. Maybe I ought to do some research!!
At any rate, it is certainly clear that these days the US and Israel are joined at the hip and marching in lockstep on middle-Eastern policy. When Israel wanted us to settle Iraq down, we (thanks to the neo-cons) complied by invading. When we wanted to settle Lebanon down by taking on Hezbollah, Israel complied by standing in for us to avoid alarming the whole region over widening US aggression.
Now we have reached a point where both countries are openly pressing for invading Iran, and that’s what has my knees knocking.
For months, it was just BushCo who were rattling their swords and shaking the bushes trying to stir up sentiment for expanding the war into Iran. dick Cheney has been pushing for it publicly for at least two years. Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has played into his hands several times with his stupidly defiant rhetoric, and his country’s insistence on continuing a nuclear development program without allowing complete monitoring by the international community hasn’t helped.
The end result is that people in the US largely perceive Iran as a dangerous enemy – just as they saw Saddam Hussein as a dangerous enemy. Throw in the John Wayne attitude of BushCo’s backers and you have a formula that certainly could give rise to an invasion.
There is no question that BushCo has long been ratcheting up the pressure for an invasion, but Israel has now come out for it, too, and that is the impetus that makes me fear that it may soon become a reality. Here are some of the notices I have received lately that make me tend to believe that:
***********************************************************************
'Unavoidable' attack on Iran looms, says Israeli minister 06 Jun 2008
An Israeli minister has said an attack on Iran's nuclear sites will be "unavoidable" if Tehran refuses to halt its alleged weapons programme. In the most explicit threat yet by a member of Ehud Olmert's government, Shaul Mofaz, a deputy prime minister, said the hardline Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "would disappear before Israel does".
'The window of opportunity is closing.' Mofaz sees Israeli attack on Iran 06 Jun 2008 Israel will attack Iran if international diplomacy fails to rein in Tehran's nuclear program, Shaul Mofaz said. "If Iran presses ahead with its plan to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The window of opportunity is closing," the Israeli transportation minister, a former defense chief, told Yediot Acharonot on Friday. "The sanctions are not effective. To stop the Iranian nuclear program, an attack is inevitable."
Boogeyman Iran messing up US-Iraq pact
Posted By Travis Sharp to Iraq Insider at 6/06/2008 11:30:00 AM EST
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said yesterday that recent Iranian criticism of the potential U.S.-Iraq long-term security agreement is "deliberately intended to make the negotiation difficult."
Watch out for the scary Iranian boogeyman!
Crocker's Iran-blame-gaming might make sense if Iraqis really wanted the pact to go through and it was only Iranian meddling that was obstructing negotiations. But that is assuredly not the case.
• Iraqi civil society groups oppose the agreement.
• The majority of the Iraqi Parliament opposes the agreement.
• Moqtada al Sadr opposes the agreement. While some U.S. officials consider him a thug, let's not pretend that he is not an extremely influential actor in Iraq. Even Petraeus has taken to referring to al Sadr with the honorific term sayyid.
• Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim opposes the pact.
The letter from the Iraqi Parliament released this week by Rep. Bill Delahunt was not only signed by Shiites, some of whom may legitimately be sympathetic to Iran. Signatories included representatives aligned with parties that have Sunni members, such as the National Dialogue Front, Iraqi Accord Front (Al-Tawafuq), and Iraqi National List. Members of the Kurdish block also signed the letter.
Hey Crocker: Does Iran exercise magical mind control over Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds? You know, the Sunnis and Kurds who are deathly afraid of Iranian encroachment into their country.
Does Crocker think it possible that maybe, just maybe, Iraqis are capable of thinking for themselves, and oppose the U.S.-Iraq pact on its merits? It seems the Bush administration has so internalized the concept that America knows what's best for the people of Iraq that it no longer sees Iraqis as sovereign individuals capable of making rational decisions.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: If the WMD boogeyman was the "one reason everyone could agree on" in the buildup to the Iraq invasion, Iran has become the new boogeyman of choice for this administration.
************************************************************************************
The pact that Travis Sharp is referring to in the last article has been the subject of this blog for the past week, and represents, I believe, a major sticking point in the craw of the entire middle-East. If the US succeeds in forcing it through, the situation inside Iraq will worsen as more and more sects pull away from the puppet government BushCo has created there. At the same time Iran, Syria and perhaps others will up their defenses in the belief that the US will act on the permission the pact gives us to use Iraq as a platform for launching attacks on other countries.
If the pact doesn’t go through I think it will be essential for the UN to step in with peace-keeping forces to replace US influence. If that doesn’t happen, watch for heightened sectarianism, increased Iranian influence and the rise of more conservative Islamic figureheads with the end result being a militaristic, fundamental Islamic government.
In any case, it is hard to believe that BushCo’s objectives of a permanent Amerikan presence in Iraq and the spread of their brand of democracy throughout the region will ever come to pass. BushCo’s cause may be lost, but we can’t count on the neo-cons to accept that loss, fold their tents and get the hell out of Dodge.
The one thing you can be sure of is that they will continue goose stepping with Israel towards an explosive clash with Iran. Heading that off at the pass may be the biggest challenge for our new president – provided we don’t invade before the election.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
What convinced me? – The fact that Israel has now begun a public push for it. For a long time now, Israel and the US have been joined at the hip. In the early years of Israel’s existence their cause was glorified, and no one I knew questioned that position. The more I understand about the middle-East, however, the more I come to wonder how much influence the western world’s interest in establishing control in the middle-East had over Britain’s decision to hand part of Palestine over to the transient Jews who first settled the land we know as Israel. It had certainly become to hot for the Brits, so they undoubtedly saw some advantage to having a grateful population in a new nation as an ally in the region. Wish I knew more about that. Maybe I ought to do some research!!
At any rate, it is certainly clear that these days the US and Israel are joined at the hip and marching in lockstep on middle-Eastern policy. When Israel wanted us to settle Iraq down, we (thanks to the neo-cons) complied by invading. When we wanted to settle Lebanon down by taking on Hezbollah, Israel complied by standing in for us to avoid alarming the whole region over widening US aggression.
Now we have reached a point where both countries are openly pressing for invading Iran, and that’s what has my knees knocking.
For months, it was just BushCo who were rattling their swords and shaking the bushes trying to stir up sentiment for expanding the war into Iran. dick Cheney has been pushing for it publicly for at least two years. Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has played into his hands several times with his stupidly defiant rhetoric, and his country’s insistence on continuing a nuclear development program without allowing complete monitoring by the international community hasn’t helped.
The end result is that people in the US largely perceive Iran as a dangerous enemy – just as they saw Saddam Hussein as a dangerous enemy. Throw in the John Wayne attitude of BushCo’s backers and you have a formula that certainly could give rise to an invasion.
There is no question that BushCo has long been ratcheting up the pressure for an invasion, but Israel has now come out for it, too, and that is the impetus that makes me fear that it may soon become a reality. Here are some of the notices I have received lately that make me tend to believe that:
***********************************************************************
'Unavoidable' attack on Iran looms, says Israeli minister 06 Jun 2008
An Israeli minister has said an attack on Iran's nuclear sites will be "unavoidable" if Tehran refuses to halt its alleged weapons programme. In the most explicit threat yet by a member of Ehud Olmert's government, Shaul Mofaz, a deputy prime minister, said the hardline Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "would disappear before Israel does".
'The window of opportunity is closing.' Mofaz sees Israeli attack on Iran 06 Jun 2008 Israel will attack Iran if international diplomacy fails to rein in Tehran's nuclear program, Shaul Mofaz said. "If Iran presses ahead with its plan to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The window of opportunity is closing," the Israeli transportation minister, a former defense chief, told Yediot Acharonot on Friday. "The sanctions are not effective. To stop the Iranian nuclear program, an attack is inevitable."
Boogeyman Iran messing up US-Iraq pact
Posted By Travis Sharp to Iraq Insider at 6/06/2008 11:30:00 AM EST
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said yesterday that recent Iranian criticism of the potential U.S.-Iraq long-term security agreement is "deliberately intended to make the negotiation difficult."
Watch out for the scary Iranian boogeyman!
Crocker's Iran-blame-gaming might make sense if Iraqis really wanted the pact to go through and it was only Iranian meddling that was obstructing negotiations. But that is assuredly not the case.
• Iraqi civil society groups oppose the agreement.
• The majority of the Iraqi Parliament opposes the agreement.
• Moqtada al Sadr opposes the agreement. While some U.S. officials consider him a thug, let's not pretend that he is not an extremely influential actor in Iraq. Even Petraeus has taken to referring to al Sadr with the honorific term sayyid.
• Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim opposes the pact.
The letter from the Iraqi Parliament released this week by Rep. Bill Delahunt was not only signed by Shiites, some of whom may legitimately be sympathetic to Iran. Signatories included representatives aligned with parties that have Sunni members, such as the National Dialogue Front, Iraqi Accord Front (Al-Tawafuq), and Iraqi National List. Members of the Kurdish block also signed the letter.
Hey Crocker: Does Iran exercise magical mind control over Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds? You know, the Sunnis and Kurds who are deathly afraid of Iranian encroachment into their country.
Does Crocker think it possible that maybe, just maybe, Iraqis are capable of thinking for themselves, and oppose the U.S.-Iraq pact on its merits? It seems the Bush administration has so internalized the concept that America knows what's best for the people of Iraq that it no longer sees Iraqis as sovereign individuals capable of making rational decisions.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: If the WMD boogeyman was the "one reason everyone could agree on" in the buildup to the Iraq invasion, Iran has become the new boogeyman of choice for this administration.
************************************************************************************
The pact that Travis Sharp is referring to in the last article has been the subject of this blog for the past week, and represents, I believe, a major sticking point in the craw of the entire middle-East. If the US succeeds in forcing it through, the situation inside Iraq will worsen as more and more sects pull away from the puppet government BushCo has created there. At the same time Iran, Syria and perhaps others will up their defenses in the belief that the US will act on the permission the pact gives us to use Iraq as a platform for launching attacks on other countries.
If the pact doesn’t go through I think it will be essential for the UN to step in with peace-keeping forces to replace US influence. If that doesn’t happen, watch for heightened sectarianism, increased Iranian influence and the rise of more conservative Islamic figureheads with the end result being a militaristic, fundamental Islamic government.
In any case, it is hard to believe that BushCo’s objectives of a permanent Amerikan presence in Iraq and the spread of their brand of democracy throughout the region will ever come to pass. BushCo’s cause may be lost, but we can’t count on the neo-cons to accept that loss, fold their tents and get the hell out of Dodge.
The one thing you can be sure of is that they will continue goose stepping with Israel towards an explosive clash with Iran. Heading that off at the pass may be the biggest challenge for our new president – provided we don’t invade before the election.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Thursday, June 5, 2008
BUSHCO STRIKES AGAIN
I’ve written before about the agreement BushCo is trying to push through the Iraqi parliament to extend the US influence in Iraq long term. Today, though, I learned about another provision of the agreement that gives scares me even more.
You’ll remember that the agreement seeks to replace the UN resolution authorizing intervention in Iraq with an Iraqi/US pact for co-governance that ultimately places a lot of decision-making authority in Amerikan hands. That in itself , as Riley would have said, is a revolting development, but the newly revealed provisions are even scarier.
An article on Gulf News.com (http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10218150.html) reveals that the agreement also provides for permanent Amerikan bases in Iraq, control over armament contracts, and – you’d better sit down for this one – the right for Amerika to use Iraqi bases as a jumping off place for attacks on any nation perceived to be acting against the interests of Iraq or the United States of North America.
Make no mistake about this. It follows right in the goose steps of The Project for a New American Century as presented to the Bush campaign’s foreign affairs committee in September, 2000 in their paper, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”. (For a more complete discussion of this paper, see my blog archives for “Mission Accomplished – The Neo-Con Legacy” published on January 24, 2008. I checked my old reference for that paper in an attempt to give readers a reference to it here, but it is no longer accessible. Maybe they have finally caught so much flak for it that they decided to remove it from public access.)
It all boils down to the equation of Amerikan foreign policy with Israeli foreign policy as a result of which we find ourselves embroiled in Iraq. If this agreement is accepted by the Iraqi government, we will find ourselves even more deeply mired in the region and very likely guilty of attacking more Middle-Eastern nations in the name of “spreading democracy”. The intended outcome, of course, is to extend Amerikan control while ensuring that Israel remains the only nuclear power in the region with the ultimate goal being Amerikan/Israeli military dominance as well as power over the production and distribution of oil.
If it happens, the Palestinians can expect a few more generations of Israeli oppression, the Lebanese can expect to live in a war zone while we attempt to eradicate Hezbollah, and both Syria and Iran can and will expect to be invaded in the name of protecting “peace” in Iraq. Just what the plans are for Saudi Arabia and other Middle-Eastern states, I do not know, but the bottom line for America will be continued outrageous expenditures on war, continued loss of integrity throughout the world, and a horribly over-burdened military that will ultimately put us at greater risk of more attacks on American soil.
All told, a typically SNAFUed outcome just like that of every policy this administration puts in place. We had better entangle them in legal proceedings at home before they destroy us with their actions abroad.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
You’ll remember that the agreement seeks to replace the UN resolution authorizing intervention in Iraq with an Iraqi/US pact for co-governance that ultimately places a lot of decision-making authority in Amerikan hands. That in itself , as Riley would have said, is a revolting development, but the newly revealed provisions are even scarier.
An article on Gulf News.com (http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10218150.html) reveals that the agreement also provides for permanent Amerikan bases in Iraq, control over armament contracts, and – you’d better sit down for this one – the right for Amerika to use Iraqi bases as a jumping off place for attacks on any nation perceived to be acting against the interests of Iraq or the United States of North America.
Make no mistake about this. It follows right in the goose steps of The Project for a New American Century as presented to the Bush campaign’s foreign affairs committee in September, 2000 in their paper, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”. (For a more complete discussion of this paper, see my blog archives for “Mission Accomplished – The Neo-Con Legacy” published on January 24, 2008. I checked my old reference for that paper in an attempt to give readers a reference to it here, but it is no longer accessible. Maybe they have finally caught so much flak for it that they decided to remove it from public access.)
It all boils down to the equation of Amerikan foreign policy with Israeli foreign policy as a result of which we find ourselves embroiled in Iraq. If this agreement is accepted by the Iraqi government, we will find ourselves even more deeply mired in the region and very likely guilty of attacking more Middle-Eastern nations in the name of “spreading democracy”. The intended outcome, of course, is to extend Amerikan control while ensuring that Israel remains the only nuclear power in the region with the ultimate goal being Amerikan/Israeli military dominance as well as power over the production and distribution of oil.
If it happens, the Palestinians can expect a few more generations of Israeli oppression, the Lebanese can expect to live in a war zone while we attempt to eradicate Hezbollah, and both Syria and Iran can and will expect to be invaded in the name of protecting “peace” in Iraq. Just what the plans are for Saudi Arabia and other Middle-Eastern states, I do not know, but the bottom line for America will be continued outrageous expenditures on war, continued loss of integrity throughout the world, and a horribly over-burdened military that will ultimately put us at greater risk of more attacks on American soil.
All told, a typically SNAFUed outcome just like that of every policy this administration puts in place. We had better entangle them in legal proceedings at home before they destroy us with their actions abroad.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
DR. KING’S DREAM
Last night Barack Obama announced that he had passed the delegate milestone and declared himself to be the Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
Hillary Clinton made no concession, though earlier in the day she did indicate that she would consider accepting an offer to run as vice-president. The wondrous thing about all this is that no matter which Democratic candidate received the nomination, the result is historic.
The result is also heartening to those of us who believe that our country suffers every time the short sighted, grab-it-all-now, America-first-and-only, to-hell-with-anybody-who-believes-otherwise Republicans wield their power. Our hope is that the Democrats, who have repeatedly dashed our wishes against the rocks of political expediency will, this time, truly deliver on their promises of service to the citizens of the US and the world by not shuffling those promises to the back burner and succumbing, once again, to the ambitious powers that be.
My hope is that Barack Obama will bring to his presidency the same kind of moral strength the Jimmy Carter brought to Washington. Local right wingers hold that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was a laughable waste, but that’s just one more sign of the enforced ignorance brought on by totally partisan non-thinking.
Carter was as close to a truly moral man as any that ever held the office. He brought with him a great intelligence and a deep understanding of the risks our history as unbridled consumers and polluters pose to our own future. At this point in history, it is crucial for some president to take office with a drive to deal seriously with the dangers humankind poses to the well-being of the planet.
The Republican party has made it clear through their every act, right down to the Bush “Clean Air Act” that enables rather than curbs air pollution, and refusals to act – note the many years of denial of global warming and the lack of action even after admitting it’s real -- that the economic growth of Wall Street holds primacy over any concerns for the environment.
That leaves a mile wide opening for the Democrats to step up to the plate and lead the nation into its potential place as the world’s leader in green technologies – obviously the planning and manufacturing wave of the future and the potential savior of our economy as well as our environment.
If Jimmy Carter were coming into the presidency right now, I have no doubt whatever that this would be the direction he would take. My hope is that Obama’s pledge of change and claim to innovative leadership will take him in this direction, too, and that all those young voters who have united behind him are prepared to step forward in eagerness to serve their nation in a new way.
We just passed through the Memorial Day week-end; our nation’s traditional day of recognition of the sacrifices made by the men and women who have given their lives in military service to their country. Every year, we go through those same motions and every year we willingly send more young men and women into danger in that service.
And just as regularly, I go through the same process of wishing that we would spend as much effort in honoring those who have served their country through their lives rather than their deaths.
John Kennedy and Sergeant Shriver gave us a way to serve by creating the Peace Corps. My hope then was that the Peace Corps would actually become the force for peace its name implies. Obama could lead the young people of our nation back in that direction and make that dream come true, too.
In my lifetime, I have witnessed both the strength of Martin Luther King’s dreams and the power of Robert Oppenheimer’s nightmares. For the most part, the leaders of our nation have embraced the latter. My deepest wish is that Obama, the embodiment of Dr. King’s dreams, might lead us toward the use of our strength rather than our power and give coming generations the same level of reverence for service by the living as past generations have reserved for the dead.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Hillary Clinton made no concession, though earlier in the day she did indicate that she would consider accepting an offer to run as vice-president. The wondrous thing about all this is that no matter which Democratic candidate received the nomination, the result is historic.
The result is also heartening to those of us who believe that our country suffers every time the short sighted, grab-it-all-now, America-first-and-only, to-hell-with-anybody-who-believes-otherwise Republicans wield their power. Our hope is that the Democrats, who have repeatedly dashed our wishes against the rocks of political expediency will, this time, truly deliver on their promises of service to the citizens of the US and the world by not shuffling those promises to the back burner and succumbing, once again, to the ambitious powers that be.
My hope is that Barack Obama will bring to his presidency the same kind of moral strength the Jimmy Carter brought to Washington. Local right wingers hold that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was a laughable waste, but that’s just one more sign of the enforced ignorance brought on by totally partisan non-thinking.
Carter was as close to a truly moral man as any that ever held the office. He brought with him a great intelligence and a deep understanding of the risks our history as unbridled consumers and polluters pose to our own future. At this point in history, it is crucial for some president to take office with a drive to deal seriously with the dangers humankind poses to the well-being of the planet.
The Republican party has made it clear through their every act, right down to the Bush “Clean Air Act” that enables rather than curbs air pollution, and refusals to act – note the many years of denial of global warming and the lack of action even after admitting it’s real -- that the economic growth of Wall Street holds primacy over any concerns for the environment.
That leaves a mile wide opening for the Democrats to step up to the plate and lead the nation into its potential place as the world’s leader in green technologies – obviously the planning and manufacturing wave of the future and the potential savior of our economy as well as our environment.
If Jimmy Carter were coming into the presidency right now, I have no doubt whatever that this would be the direction he would take. My hope is that Obama’s pledge of change and claim to innovative leadership will take him in this direction, too, and that all those young voters who have united behind him are prepared to step forward in eagerness to serve their nation in a new way.
We just passed through the Memorial Day week-end; our nation’s traditional day of recognition of the sacrifices made by the men and women who have given their lives in military service to their country. Every year, we go through those same motions and every year we willingly send more young men and women into danger in that service.
And just as regularly, I go through the same process of wishing that we would spend as much effort in honoring those who have served their country through their lives rather than their deaths.
John Kennedy and Sergeant Shriver gave us a way to serve by creating the Peace Corps. My hope then was that the Peace Corps would actually become the force for peace its name implies. Obama could lead the young people of our nation back in that direction and make that dream come true, too.
In my lifetime, I have witnessed both the strength of Martin Luther King’s dreams and the power of Robert Oppenheimer’s nightmares. For the most part, the leaders of our nation have embraced the latter. My deepest wish is that Obama, the embodiment of Dr. King’s dreams, might lead us toward the use of our strength rather than our power and give coming generations the same level of reverence for service by the living as past generations have reserved for the dead.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Monday, June 2, 2008
POLITICAL GARBAGE
I can’t believe that the local paper chose to publish my fluff blog about the great drug bust after ignoring most of what I consider the meaningful stuff. Of course the edited out my comment about how spending so many resources on tracking down marijuana growers is such a total waste from the git-go.
************************************************************************
But, that’s water under the bridge. Let’s talk about the garbage in the water!
The big story in Missouri yesterday was the expose on Rod Jetton’s involvement with the secretive passage of the “village” law. The more I see and hear about Jetton, the more I think that he epitomizes the garbage in the water of Amerikan politics. The guy’s arrogance is brazen and abrasive.
A highly prized friend of mine recently lent me a wonderful book titled, “The Earth is Enough” in which the narrator describes the political divisions within his family – Republicans on his father’s side and Democrats his father called ‘those people’ on his mother’s side – summing the whole thing up in three paragraphs:
“Socialists,” my father said in describing my mother’s family, “It’s people like them, people who have no desire to get ahead, people with a work ethic rather than a profit margin, that give people like us, people who are working their asses off to get it over on the other guy before he gets it over on us, a bad name.”
My father’s people were for God, America, and progress at any price, just as long as it didn’t cost them anything. They believed that America was the greatest nation on the face of the earth and they were willing to take on any other nation that didn’t feel the same way. They were honorable, courageous, decent folk who believed passionately that there ought to be a law given them and their kind more happiness, more prestige, and more power than those who weren’t their kind.
“Republicans,” said my mother, the word vibrating deep in her throat like a death rattle.
It seems to me that the division he described so succinctly is at the heart of the mess our country is in right now. The notion that money and power are the keys to success and that anyone who believes otherwise is a fool has become endemic.
The most sickening aspect of it is the ability of both sides to project their worst characteristics onto the other side and blast them for it.
“If you’re their buddy,” Jetton spouts, “You get your project. If you’re not their buddy, you don’t.”
Who is he talking about? – planning and zoning commissions. Planning and zoning commissions operate according to rules and regulations passed by county boards to control inappropriate building and usage practices. They have nothing to do with the kind of good ol’ boy system Jetton used to slip his buddy Robert Plaster’s village law under the table. The result of which was that his buddy, Bob, got his project.
In true FU style, Jetton also said, “It’s still America and if you want to put a junkyard in and you buy the property, it’s your right. And if a guy doesn’t want you, he could have bought the property.”
If that’s not a clear statement that the little guy doesn’t matter, I never saw one. Couple that with the description the article provided on the way the “village” law was slipped through the Congress and the slime just gets slipperier and stinkier. Why does Missouri vote this kind of scum into office?
**********************************************************************
The big story in today’s paper was printed as a little one. In three short paragraphs stuck in the last page of the Nation/World section it is headlined, “Spokesman: Iraq will protect sovereignty” the story told in sparse detail how the Iraqis are fighting against the BushCo proposal for the US to take over the UN’s security role in Iraq.
That proposal, of course, is the long term pact Bush has been trying to slip through binding the US to long term troop presence in Iraq. It’s the central reason his administration tricked the country into this war in the first place, and but it is facing significant in-country opposition.
It isn’t just al Sadr’s group that’s against it, either. There are significant groups of both Sunnis and Shiites who are standing their ground against giving the US permanent footing in their country. This issue is becoming another wedge between the people of Iraq and the government emplaced by the coalition (read BushCo).
The fight over this issue in Iraq is much, much bigger than the three paragraphs the paper has allotted to it, and if the American press winds up taking precedence over the Amerikan press, we will be hearing more and more about it as time goes on.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
************************************************************************
But, that’s water under the bridge. Let’s talk about the garbage in the water!
The big story in Missouri yesterday was the expose on Rod Jetton’s involvement with the secretive passage of the “village” law. The more I see and hear about Jetton, the more I think that he epitomizes the garbage in the water of Amerikan politics. The guy’s arrogance is brazen and abrasive.
A highly prized friend of mine recently lent me a wonderful book titled, “The Earth is Enough” in which the narrator describes the political divisions within his family – Republicans on his father’s side and Democrats his father called ‘those people’ on his mother’s side – summing the whole thing up in three paragraphs:
“Socialists,” my father said in describing my mother’s family, “It’s people like them, people who have no desire to get ahead, people with a work ethic rather than a profit margin, that give people like us, people who are working their asses off to get it over on the other guy before he gets it over on us, a bad name.”
My father’s people were for God, America, and progress at any price, just as long as it didn’t cost them anything. They believed that America was the greatest nation on the face of the earth and they were willing to take on any other nation that didn’t feel the same way. They were honorable, courageous, decent folk who believed passionately that there ought to be a law given them and their kind more happiness, more prestige, and more power than those who weren’t their kind.
“Republicans,” said my mother, the word vibrating deep in her throat like a death rattle.
It seems to me that the division he described so succinctly is at the heart of the mess our country is in right now. The notion that money and power are the keys to success and that anyone who believes otherwise is a fool has become endemic.
The most sickening aspect of it is the ability of both sides to project their worst characteristics onto the other side and blast them for it.
“If you’re their buddy,” Jetton spouts, “You get your project. If you’re not their buddy, you don’t.”
Who is he talking about? – planning and zoning commissions. Planning and zoning commissions operate according to rules and regulations passed by county boards to control inappropriate building and usage practices. They have nothing to do with the kind of good ol’ boy system Jetton used to slip his buddy Robert Plaster’s village law under the table. The result of which was that his buddy, Bob, got his project.
In true FU style, Jetton also said, “It’s still America and if you want to put a junkyard in and you buy the property, it’s your right. And if a guy doesn’t want you, he could have bought the property.”
If that’s not a clear statement that the little guy doesn’t matter, I never saw one. Couple that with the description the article provided on the way the “village” law was slipped through the Congress and the slime just gets slipperier and stinkier. Why does Missouri vote this kind of scum into office?
**********************************************************************
The big story in today’s paper was printed as a little one. In three short paragraphs stuck in the last page of the Nation/World section it is headlined, “Spokesman: Iraq will protect sovereignty” the story told in sparse detail how the Iraqis are fighting against the BushCo proposal for the US to take over the UN’s security role in Iraq.
That proposal, of course, is the long term pact Bush has been trying to slip through binding the US to long term troop presence in Iraq. It’s the central reason his administration tricked the country into this war in the first place, and but it is facing significant in-country opposition.
It isn’t just al Sadr’s group that’s against it, either. There are significant groups of both Sunnis and Shiites who are standing their ground against giving the US permanent footing in their country. This issue is becoming another wedge between the people of Iraq and the government emplaced by the coalition (read BushCo).
The fight over this issue in Iraq is much, much bigger than the three paragraphs the paper has allotted to it, and if the American press winds up taking precedence over the Amerikan press, we will be hearing more and more about it as time goes on.
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
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
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