Many of us have become more than frustrated at the Democrats’ perennial habit of shooting themselves in the foot. They have an unmatched record of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Are they really such incompetent idiots? Inclined as I am to be convinced of this, I’m compelled to consider an alternate view.
If I may, I’d like to suggest a possible method to their madness. Here's what I believe is the Democrats’ real platform.
They want McCain to win.
Stay with me here. The future hopes and aspirations of the Democratic Party lie in a McCain Presidency.
And it’s not just for Hillary’s ambitions for 2012 either. It can’t be that simple, but close.
If the Democrats actually let the debacle in Iraq work in their favor in retaking congress, maybe they have a grander vision.
First they allow McCain to steal the election. As if they would resist! And then they watch idly as the economy collapses, and chaos quickly grows pandemic. As all hell breaks loose, the Democrats will feebly try to pin the whole mess on the Republicans. Simple, right?
Unfortunately the Republicans will have been in power long enough to convince the American sheeple it was all liberalism’s fault.
Then the Democrats will announce their new "shift to the center" (somewhere to the right of Reagan) so the nation can move on, in the spirit of unity. Meaning we will continue the corporate/Republican agenda.
Halliburton will be granted exclusive privatization of our highways and infrastructure. Citizens will be charged a users’ fee to be conveniently deducted from their paycheck, savings, or IRA.
Blackwater’s Homeland Security Service will cruise the streets and randomly pop into citizens’ homes for their unannounced Patriotism Inspection. Everyone will agree they feel safer.
If the Blackwater Contractors deem it necessary, books, music, and home computers will be cleansed of unpatriotic material and the owners will be sent to Camp Goodling for re-education.
Bipartisan success will be trumpeted from the White House and Americans will all contentedly return to their couches. There they will have the luxury to watch their choice of over two hundred and thirty Fox channels on TV.
They will be told in a fair and balanced way that life has never been better in America.
And they will believe.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
August Surprise
It’s no surprise that Americans have no clue about the conflict in the former Soviet state of Georgia. As far as the corporate American media is concerned, all we need to know is whatever George Bush and their anointed future president John McCain tell us.
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," Bush said. With a straight face, even. If that one didn’t make you burst out laughing at the utter hypocrisy, then you are dismissed. There is nothing for you to read here, or anywhere else for that matter.
McCain denounced Russia by claiming, "In the 21st century nations don't invade other nations." God help us if we’re as stupid as they think we are. If that isn’t the finest slice of Orwellian doublethink, well I haven’t seen it.
Then Johnny (There-Will-Be-More-Wars) McCain adds this little nugget. “We are all Georgians.” What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do we all need to pick up our rifles to go defend the barricades in Tbilisi?
For years McCain’s neocon foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann was a lobbyist for the Georgian government. So that would make Johnny Bomb Bomb the perfect impartial observer to enlighten Americans about Georgia, right?
Aren’t we awake enough to see yet? How the hell do we still allow these neocons into our political process?
Americans have no concept of what conflict of interest is anymore. That has been demonstrated more than enough times by now.
The comments from these Republican thugs and warmongers almost make me sympathetic to the Russians.
Of course, the real victims are the innocent civilians. Again. Even when it’s between two dictators, we can’t let a conflict go by without taking sides and making things worse.
The American people are told poor little Georgia is a pro-western democracy, that has been mercilessly and without provocation, invaded by the former evil empire. Yes, a democracy sort of like ours. McCain’s good friend, with the name Johnny hasn’t learned to pronounce yet, is their kind of guy. President Saakashvili has been accused of falsifying elections. Many have claimed Saakashvili used his position as incumbent to skew the vote in his favor, that opposition supporters were intimidated on polling day and the count was fraudulent. Maybe this is why Johnny says we are all Georgians.
In their version of democracy, much of Georgia’s 4.5 million population say that they have not felt any benefits yet. Many say that Saakashvili shows scorn for democratic freedoms and the rights of ordinary people.
So what else, besides defending Republican style democracy, makes us so passionate about protecting Georgia? Why, oil, naturally. Yes, there’s a pipeline running from the Caspian Sea through Georgia. OUR pipeline, no doubt. Well, not only ours. Israel has a huge interest in it as well. I guess that thickens the plot, eh? US and Israeli military contractors and advisors are on the ground as we speak. No doubt there are mercenaries salivating for blood and profit in this one, too.
None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who has been watching this region. Saakashvili has been lulled into thinking we have his back for his military assault on the citizens of South Ossetia.
Many think this may be the big neocon October surprise for the upcoming US election. What a perfect international crisis to scare voters into voting for McCain. Here we go again.
Unfortunately, real people suffer when these monsters play their power games. What about the residents of South Ossetia? Why are they becoming pawns in this cruel contest?
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the people in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia live in a strange state of geographical limbo. They have nothing in common with Georgia and are closer to Russia. The South Ossetians are kin and kindred to their fellow North Ossetians inside the Russian border. The people in South Ossetia, as well as those in Abkhazia, speak Russian, use Russian rubles, work in Russia, vote in Russia, have Russian passports, and the elderly even collect Russian pensions.
South Ossetians have been striving for independence for years. South Ossetia and Abkhazia both broke away from Georgia in savage fighting when the Soviet Union disintegrated.
In 1990 South Ossetia tried to break from Tbilisi’s rule. After hundreds of people were killed, Russian peacekeepers were deployed in South Ossetia in 1992 as part of an armistice deal with Georgia.
Tensions increased when in 2006 Russian Army officers were detained in Georgia on spying charges. Russia then imposed sanctions on Georgia.
In November of 2006 South Ossetia overwhelmingly endorsed its separation from Georgia in a referendum. Georgia then accused Russia of provoking war.
In 2008 South Ossetia asked for independence. We know how well that was received. No independence and no democracy for South Ossetia.
Finally on the night of August 7, 2008, just in time to be in the shadow of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Saakashvili ordered an all-out military attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The aerial bombardments and ground attacks were primarily against civilian targets. These included residential areas, hospitals and the university. The city was largely destroyed and around 1500 people were killed.
In response, Russia sent in tanks and troops to ”protect” the separatists.
So why did they continue to advance further into Georgia? I guess it’s all just a game for the evil empires. I don’t know.
What I DO know is this. As Johnny Bomb Bomb postures as the next great American war president, we are NOT all Georgians!
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," Bush said. With a straight face, even. If that one didn’t make you burst out laughing at the utter hypocrisy, then you are dismissed. There is nothing for you to read here, or anywhere else for that matter.
McCain denounced Russia by claiming, "In the 21st century nations don't invade other nations." God help us if we’re as stupid as they think we are. If that isn’t the finest slice of Orwellian doublethink, well I haven’t seen it.
Then Johnny (There-Will-Be-More-Wars) McCain adds this little nugget. “We are all Georgians.” What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do we all need to pick up our rifles to go defend the barricades in Tbilisi?
For years McCain’s neocon foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann was a lobbyist for the Georgian government. So that would make Johnny Bomb Bomb the perfect impartial observer to enlighten Americans about Georgia, right?
Aren’t we awake enough to see yet? How the hell do we still allow these neocons into our political process?
Americans have no concept of what conflict of interest is anymore. That has been demonstrated more than enough times by now.
The comments from these Republican thugs and warmongers almost make me sympathetic to the Russians.
Of course, the real victims are the innocent civilians. Again. Even when it’s between two dictators, we can’t let a conflict go by without taking sides and making things worse.
The American people are told poor little Georgia is a pro-western democracy, that has been mercilessly and without provocation, invaded by the former evil empire. Yes, a democracy sort of like ours. McCain’s good friend, with the name Johnny hasn’t learned to pronounce yet, is their kind of guy. President Saakashvili has been accused of falsifying elections. Many have claimed Saakashvili used his position as incumbent to skew the vote in his favor, that opposition supporters were intimidated on polling day and the count was fraudulent. Maybe this is why Johnny says we are all Georgians.
In their version of democracy, much of Georgia’s 4.5 million population say that they have not felt any benefits yet. Many say that Saakashvili shows scorn for democratic freedoms and the rights of ordinary people.
So what else, besides defending Republican style democracy, makes us so passionate about protecting Georgia? Why, oil, naturally. Yes, there’s a pipeline running from the Caspian Sea through Georgia. OUR pipeline, no doubt. Well, not only ours. Israel has a huge interest in it as well. I guess that thickens the plot, eh? US and Israeli military contractors and advisors are on the ground as we speak. No doubt there are mercenaries salivating for blood and profit in this one, too.
None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who has been watching this region. Saakashvili has been lulled into thinking we have his back for his military assault on the citizens of South Ossetia.
Many think this may be the big neocon October surprise for the upcoming US election. What a perfect international crisis to scare voters into voting for McCain. Here we go again.
Unfortunately, real people suffer when these monsters play their power games. What about the residents of South Ossetia? Why are they becoming pawns in this cruel contest?
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the people in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia live in a strange state of geographical limbo. They have nothing in common with Georgia and are closer to Russia. The South Ossetians are kin and kindred to their fellow North Ossetians inside the Russian border. The people in South Ossetia, as well as those in Abkhazia, speak Russian, use Russian rubles, work in Russia, vote in Russia, have Russian passports, and the elderly even collect Russian pensions.
South Ossetians have been striving for independence for years. South Ossetia and Abkhazia both broke away from Georgia in savage fighting when the Soviet Union disintegrated.
In 1990 South Ossetia tried to break from Tbilisi’s rule. After hundreds of people were killed, Russian peacekeepers were deployed in South Ossetia in 1992 as part of an armistice deal with Georgia.
Tensions increased when in 2006 Russian Army officers were detained in Georgia on spying charges. Russia then imposed sanctions on Georgia.
In November of 2006 South Ossetia overwhelmingly endorsed its separation from Georgia in a referendum. Georgia then accused Russia of provoking war.
In 2008 South Ossetia asked for independence. We know how well that was received. No independence and no democracy for South Ossetia.
Finally on the night of August 7, 2008, just in time to be in the shadow of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Saakashvili ordered an all-out military attack on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The aerial bombardments and ground attacks were primarily against civilian targets. These included residential areas, hospitals and the university. The city was largely destroyed and around 1500 people were killed.
In response, Russia sent in tanks and troops to ”protect” the separatists.
So why did they continue to advance further into Georgia? I guess it’s all just a game for the evil empires. I don’t know.
What I DO know is this. As Johnny Bomb Bomb postures as the next great American war president, we are NOT all Georgians!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Corporate News Network Watchdogs
Waiting for the interview, the nervous job applicant could have been quietly reassuring himself with these thoughts, “I have the education, experience and dedication to the rule of law. Since it is not a political appointment, I am more than eligible for this position.”
That would be when White House liaison for the Justice Department Monica Goodling, fresh out of Pat Robertson’s law school, would ask him some questions.
"What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?"
“Serve Bush?” The startled job seeker may have replied. “I thought that I would be employed by, and in service to, the people of the United States.”
Pursing her lips with displeasure at the response, Ms. Goodling would give him another chance.
“Why are you a Republican?”
At this point the job candidate might think he was in the wrong building and check to see if he was really at the Justice Department.
While he was leaving, his name was plugged into a data search, along with key words and phrases such as “guns,” “homosexual,” “sex,” “Florida re-count,” and “abortion”.
The better qualified candidate was always dumped in favor of the politically correct one. Loyalty always trumped competence.
If this sounds familiar, the identical “affirmative action” system was used for filling jobs in the critical early days of the Iraq occupation. It sure worked out well there, didn’t it?
What has happened to the United States Department of Justice?
It was being transformed into a politicized law enforcement agency. No longer was its mission to fairly enforce federal law; it was now in business to enforce the will of the ruling Republican Party. Their mission was now being directed by “Bush’s Brain”, Karl Rove and the sleazy Alberto (I-Don’t-Recall-Remembering) Gonzales.
The effects of this corruption were becoming more visible than ever.
U.S. Attorneys were fired for investigating and prosecuting crooked Republican politicians like California Representative Duke Cunningham. They were fired for not investigating trumped up voter fraud allegations targeting Democrats.
Rove was pushing for the framing and jailing of former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman so the Republican would win.
Attorney Generals Ashcroft, Gonzales and Mukasey were keeping the Department busy blocking oversight of the Administration’s numerous wrongdoings.
Eventually Democrats gained the majority needed for congressional investigation.
After poor Al Gonzales proved incapable of remembering anything at the hearings, it was Monica’s turn.
“I believe I crossed the lines, but I didn’t mean to,” she told the committee.
When asked how often this type of hiring practice occurred she said, “I don’t think that I could have done it more than fifty times, but I don’t know.”
I hope you’re as reassured as I am. She “didn’t mean it,” around fifty times. That’s OK then, I guess.
This sordid tale is now all detailed in a Justice Department Inspector General’s report now released.
I bet the liberal media is going to take up this issue with a renewed zeal for the truth, and launch a series of probing follow up investigations, right?
Let’s look at what CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, from the “most trusted name in news,” had to say last week.
“The United States Justice Department is supposed to enforce U.S. laws, but a new investigation suggests that the Bush Administration may have violated those laws when it hung out the ‘help wanted’ sign at the Justice Department.”
We are told the investigation “suggests” they “may have” violated laws. There’s some tough, hard-nosed reporting for you. Or would that be brown-nosed reporting? The Corporate News Network could not admit the report STATED they DID VIOLATE the laws.
This isn’t the only case of right wing bias or editing going on at CNN lately.
On July 25th the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing investigating White House abuses of power.
Several people went on record testifying to the Bush Cartel’s long list of malfeasance and treachery.
Here are sample comments from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
But I ask, would impeachment be a vehicle to restore life and vitality to the delicate system of checks and balances, which is the hallmark of our Constitution and which this administration has shattered--aided and abetted by the do-nothing, Republican-controlled, rubber-stamp Congress which failed to exercise its constitutional responsibility to oversee the operations of the executive branch of our government?
Warrantless wiretapping of Americans; torturing and kidnapping and detaining numerous prisoners, foreign enemy combatants, prisoners, whatever they could be classified as; the fact that we have become a severely surveilled population now with the abuses of the Patriot Act--all done under the cloak of government secrecy. Political spying; the attacks on academic freedom; the politicization of the Justice Department; selective prosecutions--so many areas fertile for inquiring by this Congress.
As you see, very serious issues were brought up; issues that could be easily viewed as highly relevant to the preservation of our Constitution.
Come on, liberal media, show us the outrage! Shine your light of journalistic integrity on the hopes of freedom loving Americans.
Oops, here comes Campbell Brown of CNN’s Election Center. That’s all right, just because her husband is Bush loyalist Dan Senor, former deputy press secretary, and spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, I’m sure she will be as fair and balanced as Senor’s new employer, Fox News.
Ms. Brown begins, "Believe it or not, there was a congressional hearing today about impeaching the president," adding: "It was all stagecraft, though." Brown introduced CNN correspondent Erica Hill by saying, "Tell us about this piece of Kabuki theater, Erica."
Hill explained: "From the beginning it was pretty clear this was all just stagecraft, for what one Republican lawmaker deemed impeachment light."
"The Democratic leadership made it clear impeachment is not on the table at this hearing today for two reasons. Not only is there not enough time left in President Bush's term, but also they know any real impeachment hearings at this point could cause a major backlash."
Thank you, Erica. We sure would hate to see the Constitution’s pesky and unpatriotic impeachment provision intruding here at this point in history. Please assure us that the President isn’t too concerned about this theatrical stunt.
She obliges, "As for the president today, clearly, not too worried about this hearing. He was in Peoria, Illinois. As you can see here, kissing babies, smiling, taking pictures."
That’s a relief. Now if Campbell could just wrap this all up and put it into perspective for us, we can focus on more important things.
She closed the report by saying: "All right. So this is really just stagecraft, not to mention a real waste of taxpayer money and Congress' time."
Wonderful. It’s a good thing we have watchdogs like you and your husband, making sure we don’t waste any taxpayer money in Iraq, too.
Americans can now move along. There’s nothing to see here, folks.
Say, let’s watch that clip again of McCain saying Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election.
That would be when White House liaison for the Justice Department Monica Goodling, fresh out of Pat Robertson’s law school, would ask him some questions.
"What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?"
“Serve Bush?” The startled job seeker may have replied. “I thought that I would be employed by, and in service to, the people of the United States.”
Pursing her lips with displeasure at the response, Ms. Goodling would give him another chance.
“Why are you a Republican?”
At this point the job candidate might think he was in the wrong building and check to see if he was really at the Justice Department.
While he was leaving, his name was plugged into a data search, along with key words and phrases such as “guns,” “homosexual,” “sex,” “Florida re-count,” and “abortion”.
The better qualified candidate was always dumped in favor of the politically correct one. Loyalty always trumped competence.
If this sounds familiar, the identical “affirmative action” system was used for filling jobs in the critical early days of the Iraq occupation. It sure worked out well there, didn’t it?
What has happened to the United States Department of Justice?
It was being transformed into a politicized law enforcement agency. No longer was its mission to fairly enforce federal law; it was now in business to enforce the will of the ruling Republican Party. Their mission was now being directed by “Bush’s Brain”, Karl Rove and the sleazy Alberto (I-Don’t-Recall-Remembering) Gonzales.
The effects of this corruption were becoming more visible than ever.
U.S. Attorneys were fired for investigating and prosecuting crooked Republican politicians like California Representative Duke Cunningham. They were fired for not investigating trumped up voter fraud allegations targeting Democrats.
Rove was pushing for the framing and jailing of former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman so the Republican would win.
Attorney Generals Ashcroft, Gonzales and Mukasey were keeping the Department busy blocking oversight of the Administration’s numerous wrongdoings.
Eventually Democrats gained the majority needed for congressional investigation.
After poor Al Gonzales proved incapable of remembering anything at the hearings, it was Monica’s turn.
“I believe I crossed the lines, but I didn’t mean to,” she told the committee.
When asked how often this type of hiring practice occurred she said, “I don’t think that I could have done it more than fifty times, but I don’t know.”
I hope you’re as reassured as I am. She “didn’t mean it,” around fifty times. That’s OK then, I guess.
This sordid tale is now all detailed in a Justice Department Inspector General’s report now released.
I bet the liberal media is going to take up this issue with a renewed zeal for the truth, and launch a series of probing follow up investigations, right?
Let’s look at what CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, from the “most trusted name in news,” had to say last week.
“The United States Justice Department is supposed to enforce U.S. laws, but a new investigation suggests that the Bush Administration may have violated those laws when it hung out the ‘help wanted’ sign at the Justice Department.”
We are told the investigation “suggests” they “may have” violated laws. There’s some tough, hard-nosed reporting for you. Or would that be brown-nosed reporting? The Corporate News Network could not admit the report STATED they DID VIOLATE the laws.
This isn’t the only case of right wing bias or editing going on at CNN lately.
On July 25th the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing investigating White House abuses of power.
Several people went on record testifying to the Bush Cartel’s long list of malfeasance and treachery.
Here are sample comments from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
But I ask, would impeachment be a vehicle to restore life and vitality to the delicate system of checks and balances, which is the hallmark of our Constitution and which this administration has shattered--aided and abetted by the do-nothing, Republican-controlled, rubber-stamp Congress which failed to exercise its constitutional responsibility to oversee the operations of the executive branch of our government?
Warrantless wiretapping of Americans; torturing and kidnapping and detaining numerous prisoners, foreign enemy combatants, prisoners, whatever they could be classified as; the fact that we have become a severely surveilled population now with the abuses of the Patriot Act--all done under the cloak of government secrecy. Political spying; the attacks on academic freedom; the politicization of the Justice Department; selective prosecutions--so many areas fertile for inquiring by this Congress.
As you see, very serious issues were brought up; issues that could be easily viewed as highly relevant to the preservation of our Constitution.
Come on, liberal media, show us the outrage! Shine your light of journalistic integrity on the hopes of freedom loving Americans.
Oops, here comes Campbell Brown of CNN’s Election Center. That’s all right, just because her husband is Bush loyalist Dan Senor, former deputy press secretary, and spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, I’m sure she will be as fair and balanced as Senor’s new employer, Fox News.
Ms. Brown begins, "Believe it or not, there was a congressional hearing today about impeaching the president," adding: "It was all stagecraft, though." Brown introduced CNN correspondent Erica Hill by saying, "Tell us about this piece of Kabuki theater, Erica."
Hill explained: "From the beginning it was pretty clear this was all just stagecraft, for what one Republican lawmaker deemed impeachment light."
"The Democratic leadership made it clear impeachment is not on the table at this hearing today for two reasons. Not only is there not enough time left in President Bush's term, but also they know any real impeachment hearings at this point could cause a major backlash."
Thank you, Erica. We sure would hate to see the Constitution’s pesky and unpatriotic impeachment provision intruding here at this point in history. Please assure us that the President isn’t too concerned about this theatrical stunt.
She obliges, "As for the president today, clearly, not too worried about this hearing. He was in Peoria, Illinois. As you can see here, kissing babies, smiling, taking pictures."
That’s a relief. Now if Campbell could just wrap this all up and put it into perspective for us, we can focus on more important things.
She closed the report by saying: "All right. So this is really just stagecraft, not to mention a real waste of taxpayer money and Congress' time."
Wonderful. It’s a good thing we have watchdogs like you and your husband, making sure we don’t waste any taxpayer money in Iraq, too.
Americans can now move along. There’s nothing to see here, folks.
Say, let’s watch that clip again of McCain saying Obama would rather lose a war than lose an election.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Reich Wing Rant Rebuttal
I'm sure you've all seen these forwards clutter your inbox.
The radical right sure does love passing their rancid little clods of mental excrement around, don’t they? I was recently entertained by such a piece. Isn’t it rather quaint when they try to be imaginative? Let’s take a short trip through a narrow mind and see how the loyalists of the Reich think. Hold your noses if you must. We'll fumigate and sanitize later in my response.
***
The following 'speech' was written recently by an ordinary Maineiac [a resident of the People's Republic of Maine]. While satirical in nature, all satire must have a basis in fact to be effective. This is an excellent piece by a person who does not write for a living.
The speech George W. Bush might give:
Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.
I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.
Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners.
And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets.
Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.
We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me.
Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Now some of you morons are considering another and more evil Clinton for president !!!! Go figure that one!! She wants to take your kids away and let the 'Whole Village' raise them! i.e. governmental indoctrination . Look this one up you dumb asses!
The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nucular ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nucular weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel.
Did you sleep through high school?You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.
That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.
Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.
In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.
I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again.
Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars ofAmerica fall.Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi, Clinton, or Obama is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she or he does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.So that's it. God bless what's left of America.Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.
PS - You might want to start learning Farsi, and buy a Koran.
***
Gosh, my feelings should be hurt. Am I a stupid moron or an idiot? Maybe. But, I AM amused.
Am I the only one who thinks the funny parts of this are not the "satire" he thinks it is?
There are plenty of authoritarian personality Neanderthals like this one. That’s why America is being bought and sold like cheap Chinese plastic ware, with the remaining desolation wasting away into the dark horror of a police state.
Some goose-stepping, illiterate fascist is worried about Iran using “nucular” weapons against us, and he’s calling US the morons. So was it Rush or Fox Propaganda that told him about the Iranian “terrorist who says he's going to destroy us”?
As long as blaming “faulty intelligence” is a good enough reason to go to war, he must be ready to invade Iran by now, and maybe Canada as well.
I suppose nobody told him that his hero has already bombed innocent, and maybe non-innocent, people in our “nucular ally” Pakistan.
He thinks homeowners with plummeting property values and soaring heating costs are enjoying a great economy.
He lectures the “whiners” about higher demand around the world causing the skyrocketing gas prices. Demand, unlike the cost per barrel, has NOT gone up 500% since 2000. Big Oil is sucking up record profits while controlling the supply in the US to keep prices where they want them, all while we the people give them even more tax breaks.
And speaking of “we the people”, how does some Bush-worshipping fool believe he comes off as more patriotic than real Americans who value the Bill of Rights?
I suppose it’s by the same vapid ignorance he displays when he tells “noisy idiots” that offshore and ANWAR drilling will solve our problems.
I don’t suppose he would listen to lifetime Republican T. Boone Pickens saying “I’ve been an oil man my whole life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.”
He’s right about, “you actively support those who help the enemy,” but not in the way he thinks. The enemies of the Fourth Amendment are both Democrats and Republicans, who gave Bush and his corporate cronies the “legal” FISA cover-up for their crimes.
He and his fellow pathetic neocon koolaid drinkers are the real enemies of the Constitution, along with everything else our country was founded on.
No wonder he thinks being a good American means hating MOST other Americans.
Sieg heil, my small minded maniac. You’ve had your temporary victory over reason and freedom. But, watch out! They may try to sneak back up on you.
-Dave Dubya
The radical right sure does love passing their rancid little clods of mental excrement around, don’t they? I was recently entertained by such a piece. Isn’t it rather quaint when they try to be imaginative? Let’s take a short trip through a narrow mind and see how the loyalists of the Reich think. Hold your noses if you must. We'll fumigate and sanitize later in my response.
***
The following 'speech' was written recently by an ordinary Maineiac [a resident of the People's Republic of Maine]. While satirical in nature, all satire must have a basis in fact to be effective. This is an excellent piece by a person who does not write for a living.
The speech George W. Bush might give:
Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.
I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.
Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners.
And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets.
Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.
We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me.
Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Now some of you morons are considering another and more evil Clinton for president !!!! Go figure that one!! She wants to take your kids away and let the 'Whole Village' raise them! i.e. governmental indoctrination . Look this one up you dumb asses!
The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nucular ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nucular weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel.
Did you sleep through high school?You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.
That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.
Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.
In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.
I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again.
Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars ofAmerica fall.Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi, Clinton, or Obama is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she or he does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.So that's it. God bless what's left of America.Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.
PS - You might want to start learning Farsi, and buy a Koran.
***
Gosh, my feelings should be hurt. Am I a stupid moron or an idiot? Maybe. But, I AM amused.
Am I the only one who thinks the funny parts of this are not the "satire" he thinks it is?
There are plenty of authoritarian personality Neanderthals like this one. That’s why America is being bought and sold like cheap Chinese plastic ware, with the remaining desolation wasting away into the dark horror of a police state.
Some goose-stepping, illiterate fascist is worried about Iran using “nucular” weapons against us, and he’s calling US the morons. So was it Rush or Fox Propaganda that told him about the Iranian “terrorist who says he's going to destroy us”?
As long as blaming “faulty intelligence” is a good enough reason to go to war, he must be ready to invade Iran by now, and maybe Canada as well.
I suppose nobody told him that his hero has already bombed innocent, and maybe non-innocent, people in our “nucular ally” Pakistan.
He thinks homeowners with plummeting property values and soaring heating costs are enjoying a great economy.
He lectures the “whiners” about higher demand around the world causing the skyrocketing gas prices. Demand, unlike the cost per barrel, has NOT gone up 500% since 2000. Big Oil is sucking up record profits while controlling the supply in the US to keep prices where they want them, all while we the people give them even more tax breaks.
And speaking of “we the people”, how does some Bush-worshipping fool believe he comes off as more patriotic than real Americans who value the Bill of Rights?
I suppose it’s by the same vapid ignorance he displays when he tells “noisy idiots” that offshore and ANWAR drilling will solve our problems.
I don’t suppose he would listen to lifetime Republican T. Boone Pickens saying “I’ve been an oil man my whole life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.”
He’s right about, “you actively support those who help the enemy,” but not in the way he thinks. The enemies of the Fourth Amendment are both Democrats and Republicans, who gave Bush and his corporate cronies the “legal” FISA cover-up for their crimes.
He and his fellow pathetic neocon koolaid drinkers are the real enemies of the Constitution, along with everything else our country was founded on.
No wonder he thinks being a good American means hating MOST other Americans.
Sieg heil, my small minded maniac. You’ve had your temporary victory over reason and freedom. But, watch out! They may try to sneak back up on you.
-Dave Dubya
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Same Old, Same Old
Over a hundred years ago the United States decided to flex its ambitions for empire building. After decimating the native populations in near genocidal wars, Uncle Sam scanned the horizon for new conquests.
Sam saw a lot of Spaniards in juicy little foreign hot spots sitting ripe for resource exploitation.
All Sam needed was a good excuse to start up the new war for glory and empire. As luck would have it, in 1898 the battleship USS Maine happened to be anchored in port in Havana. Kaboom! There was a massive explosion and the ship went down, killing many American sailors.
The cause of the blast was later found to be accidental, but the Spanish were conveniently blamed.
The Hearst corporate media cheered, "Remember 9-11...er the Maine!"
And very much like our neo-con imperialists of today, who eagerly anticipated the 9-11 attacks to trigger their war for glory and empire, the budding military industrial complex urged President McKinley to declare war on Spain.
Interestingly, both triggers for the Iraq War and Spanish American War had nothing to do with the countries we attacked. We wanted war and that’s what we got. And since God is always on America’s side, who cares about the little details?
After we whipped the Spanish we moved in to occupy the newly “liberated” Philippines. Imagine our shock when we were not actually greeted as liberators. We occupied their country and began to impose our rule on them. Of course we generously offered to set up a friendly and compatible government that suited US interests.
Well, son of a gun, those Philippine ingrates went and started an insurrection against us. Soon over four thousand American troops were dead.
The American imperialists were shouting “Stay the course”, or whatever the equivalent phrase was a hundred years ago. It doesn’t take much imagination to infer that those Americans who didn’t share the enthusiasm for the counter-insurgency were probably called appeasers, or un-patriotic, or other applicable contemporary appellations.
But patriotism took another form, too.
There was a courageous American writer who stepped forward to fill the vital role of conscientious dissent.
That man was Samuel Clemons. Here is what Mark Twain had to say about this particular foreign misadventure.
“There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it -- perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands -- but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector -- not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now -- why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.”
"A quagmire," he says! Why that..that LIBERAL!
We can imagine what Republicans would have to say to Mr. Clemens if he were here today. “They hated us for our freedom! We had to fight the Philippine Insurgents over there so we didn’t have to fight them over here in our towns and cities! Why do you hate America?”
It never ends.
Sam saw a lot of Spaniards in juicy little foreign hot spots sitting ripe for resource exploitation.
All Sam needed was a good excuse to start up the new war for glory and empire. As luck would have it, in 1898 the battleship USS Maine happened to be anchored in port in Havana. Kaboom! There was a massive explosion and the ship went down, killing many American sailors.
The cause of the blast was later found to be accidental, but the Spanish were conveniently blamed.
The Hearst corporate media cheered, "Remember 9-11...er the Maine!"
And very much like our neo-con imperialists of today, who eagerly anticipated the 9-11 attacks to trigger their war for glory and empire, the budding military industrial complex urged President McKinley to declare war on Spain.
Interestingly, both triggers for the Iraq War and Spanish American War had nothing to do with the countries we attacked. We wanted war and that’s what we got. And since God is always on America’s side, who cares about the little details?
After we whipped the Spanish we moved in to occupy the newly “liberated” Philippines. Imagine our shock when we were not actually greeted as liberators. We occupied their country and began to impose our rule on them. Of course we generously offered to set up a friendly and compatible government that suited US interests.
Well, son of a gun, those Philippine ingrates went and started an insurrection against us. Soon over four thousand American troops were dead.
The American imperialists were shouting “Stay the course”, or whatever the equivalent phrase was a hundred years ago. It doesn’t take much imagination to infer that those Americans who didn’t share the enthusiasm for the counter-insurgency were probably called appeasers, or un-patriotic, or other applicable contemporary appellations.
But patriotism took another form, too.
There was a courageous American writer who stepped forward to fill the vital role of conscientious dissent.
That man was Samuel Clemons. Here is what Mark Twain had to say about this particular foreign misadventure.
“There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it -- perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands -- but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector -- not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now -- why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.”
"A quagmire," he says! Why that..that LIBERAL!
We can imagine what Republicans would have to say to Mr. Clemens if he were here today. “They hated us for our freedom! We had to fight the Philippine Insurgents over there so we didn’t have to fight them over here in our towns and cities! Why do you hate America?”
It never ends.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Dear Senator Obama
Like many of you, my wife and I called both of our senators to plead for a no vote on Bush’s new FISA bill.
Mrs. Dubya also emailed the Obama people with the earnest request that the senator do the right thing.
Here is the reply from Obama and his campaign staff.
-----
Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting us and sharing your strong feelings about this important issue. Please find a statement from Senator Obama below.
We appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Obama for America,
----
Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.
That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.
After months of negotiation, the House passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future.
It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I voted in the Senate three times to remove this provision so that we could seek full accountability for past offenses. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.
It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.
-------
I had to respond with this open letter to Barack Obama.
******
Dear Senator Obama,
Thank you for wanting to protect our lives and liberty. As far as your support for the FISA bill is concerned, let me just say you've done a “heck of a job”.
There is nothing in the new FISA law that stops Bush from continuing everything he has been doing. It allows illegally obtained surveillance to be used as evidence against American citizens.
What you are saying is "Trust them. They will monitor themselves by their hand picked Inspectors". Yeah, that's the ticket.
Just like the Office of Professional Responsibility in the Justice Department has yet to catch one errant lawyer. And if it did find any misconduct, it would, of course, be their little secret. And their required annual report has just come for fiscal year 2005.
Yes, we can trust them... to do what they do.
And you are also saying "Trust me, I'll take care of the secret operation later as I see fit...if I am elected"
I have another idea. Let's trust the Bill of Rights.
Senator, few would argue that you are not a brilliant man. Voting for the FISA bill was a reasoned calculation and an intelligent political move. I think I understand the motivations for your vote. What I do not see is the wisdom of it.
You have allowed them to get away with crimes! Any time they, and you, Senator, speak of the rule of law; you will be tainted by the hypocrisy of your elitist double standards. No one else in America has the luxury of bending the law to fit their wrongful behavior.
Sadly, you have also lost the opportunity for desperately needed leadership in defending our Constitution.
The day will come when you may find yourself sharing the same sense of shame as Colin Powell feels for his pre-invasion war mongering at the UN. You will share the disgrace of abetting the crimes and rogue presidency of George W. Bush.
I had wished that you would not be reduced to selling your soul for the job you seek. I had once, briefly, held onto the hope that you would keep it.
You probably know that having a soul, or a conscience, is not necessary to be president. The current gang in the White House has proven that, at all our expense.
Undermining the Fourth Amendment is the kind of change George Bush believes in.
Removing the corporate foxes from the public’s henhouse is the kind of change most Americans believe in.
I continue to hope that it is your desire and goal that the United States will once again have a government of laws and not of men
Hopefully yours,
Dave Dubya
******
Mrs. Dubya also emailed the Obama people with the earnest request that the senator do the right thing.
Here is the reply from Obama and his campaign staff.
-----
Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting us and sharing your strong feelings about this important issue. Please find a statement from Senator Obama below.
We appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Obama for America,
----
Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders.
That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past.
After months of negotiation, the House passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance - making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future.
It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I voted in the Senate three times to remove this provision so that we could seek full accountability for past offenses. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act.
It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.
-------
I had to respond with this open letter to Barack Obama.
******
Dear Senator Obama,
Thank you for wanting to protect our lives and liberty. As far as your support for the FISA bill is concerned, let me just say you've done a “heck of a job”.
There is nothing in the new FISA law that stops Bush from continuing everything he has been doing. It allows illegally obtained surveillance to be used as evidence against American citizens.
What you are saying is "Trust them. They will monitor themselves by their hand picked Inspectors". Yeah, that's the ticket.
Just like the Office of Professional Responsibility in the Justice Department has yet to catch one errant lawyer. And if it did find any misconduct, it would, of course, be their little secret. And their required annual report has just come for fiscal year 2005.
Yes, we can trust them... to do what they do.
And you are also saying "Trust me, I'll take care of the secret operation later as I see fit...if I am elected"
I have another idea. Let's trust the Bill of Rights.
Senator, few would argue that you are not a brilliant man. Voting for the FISA bill was a reasoned calculation and an intelligent political move. I think I understand the motivations for your vote. What I do not see is the wisdom of it.
You have allowed them to get away with crimes! Any time they, and you, Senator, speak of the rule of law; you will be tainted by the hypocrisy of your elitist double standards. No one else in America has the luxury of bending the law to fit their wrongful behavior.
Sadly, you have also lost the opportunity for desperately needed leadership in defending our Constitution.
The day will come when you may find yourself sharing the same sense of shame as Colin Powell feels for his pre-invasion war mongering at the UN. You will share the disgrace of abetting the crimes and rogue presidency of George W. Bush.
I had wished that you would not be reduced to selling your soul for the job you seek. I had once, briefly, held onto the hope that you would keep it.
You probably know that having a soul, or a conscience, is not necessary to be president. The current gang in the White House has proven that, at all our expense.
Undermining the Fourth Amendment is the kind of change George Bush believes in.
Removing the corporate foxes from the public’s henhouse is the kind of change most Americans believe in.
I continue to hope that it is your desire and goal that the United States will once again have a government of laws and not of men
Hopefully yours,
Dave Dubya
******
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Who Cares?
Has anybody noticed what's in the news today? Or should I say, what's NOT in the news today? Neither of today's online editions of the New York Times nor the Washington Post had an article on Bush's new FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) victory. Yesterday most of the same people who swore to protect, defend and uphold the Constitution overwhelmingly betrayed it.
The Bush Administration and its corporate telecom buddies have succeeded in snatching their get out of jail free card from Congress.
It's the new American way. Break the law, and then bully your way to make it legal retroactively.
This is troubling in many ways.
It is more than possible that a significant number of the surveillance targets of the Administration are Democrats. J. Edgar Hoover proved this to be a useful tool of the American Reich. That could account for such a massive rollover.
And of course, there's all that telecom money going into the politicians' re-election funds.
Maybe the American people learned about this travesty by watching the news on television.
Or more likely they did not.
Corporate media TV hardly covered this destruction of the Fourth Amendment any better. They found an old story about a murdered white girl to be more important and vital to the nation's interest. The same formula works every time. Isn't America better off now that we know who didn't kill that little girl?
The FISA capitulation is a sad indication of what Obama would do if he somehow wins the election. (I still believe the fascists will steal the presidency again.) Obama would be pressured by his own party to stay on the corporatist reservation. He will be pressured by the Reich wing to continue expanding the police state. If Obama is elected and wants to keep his job, he will have to be a company man. He will be a corporatist or face consequences.
The corporate media will be the pit bulls dogging him to comply with their masters.
We can only hope Obama can delay the fascist bastards. I don't know how he can reverse the damage, especially if the Bush Administration's crimes are not called out as crimes. The new FISA is all about covering up and "legalizing" Bush's crimes of illegal wiretapping. And congress is covering up its own complicity as well.
You say FISA is only about snooping on foreigners? So we can trust them, right?
THEY ARE CROOKS!
The best case I see is revocation of some of Bush's worst directives, and maybe appointing moderate Supreme Court nominees. This is, now more than ever, of crucial importance.
The creeping fascism is becoming institutionalized and will follow its track unless it is disclosed and checked.
Bush's cronies illegally hired only loyal right wingers into the Department of Justice. US Attorneys were fired for not following the Reich wing political agenda. The Justice Department is dragging their feet when it comes to Rove, Meirs, and others' contempt of Congress. It is corrupted for a long time and we cannot expect much "justice" from them.
Loyalty and unaccountability are apparently their only rules.
It's bleak when 90% of the Republicans and 50% of the Dems are going along with the police state agenda.
It's only more difficult when the corporate media are in cahoots with the corporate government. They will suppress the obvious truth of the criminal behavior. With their "fair and balanced" style they give the lie as much time as the truth. Then they suggest that the truth must be "somewhere in the middle". Journalism is dying under the thumb of right wing corporatism. Propaganda is now their business.
The media NEVER say Bush committed crimes. As if his bloody eternal war is not evidence of his war crimes...
The indifferent lack of reporting on the FISA sham only helps prove that big media are also in bed with the telecoms. And big business is in bed with the government. There you have it. Combine this power with aggressive militarism and that's fascism, by definition.
And do American citizens even care?
Are we too stupid, intimidated and complacent as a population?
Are Americans no different than the “Good Germans” of the 1930's?
*****
Update:
The Washington Post earlier featured a FISA article, but was buried away from the headlines. Stories were posted later at both the New York Times and Washington Post.
But again, who cares?
The Bush Administration and its corporate telecom buddies have succeeded in snatching their get out of jail free card from Congress.
It's the new American way. Break the law, and then bully your way to make it legal retroactively.
This is troubling in many ways.
It is more than possible that a significant number of the surveillance targets of the Administration are Democrats. J. Edgar Hoover proved this to be a useful tool of the American Reich. That could account for such a massive rollover.
And of course, there's all that telecom money going into the politicians' re-election funds.
Maybe the American people learned about this travesty by watching the news on television.
Or more likely they did not.
Corporate media TV hardly covered this destruction of the Fourth Amendment any better. They found an old story about a murdered white girl to be more important and vital to the nation's interest. The same formula works every time. Isn't America better off now that we know who didn't kill that little girl?
The FISA capitulation is a sad indication of what Obama would do if he somehow wins the election. (I still believe the fascists will steal the presidency again.) Obama would be pressured by his own party to stay on the corporatist reservation. He will be pressured by the Reich wing to continue expanding the police state. If Obama is elected and wants to keep his job, he will have to be a company man. He will be a corporatist or face consequences.
The corporate media will be the pit bulls dogging him to comply with their masters.
We can only hope Obama can delay the fascist bastards. I don't know how he can reverse the damage, especially if the Bush Administration's crimes are not called out as crimes. The new FISA is all about covering up and "legalizing" Bush's crimes of illegal wiretapping. And congress is covering up its own complicity as well.
You say FISA is only about snooping on foreigners? So we can trust them, right?
THEY ARE CROOKS!
The best case I see is revocation of some of Bush's worst directives, and maybe appointing moderate Supreme Court nominees. This is, now more than ever, of crucial importance.
The creeping fascism is becoming institutionalized and will follow its track unless it is disclosed and checked.
Bush's cronies illegally hired only loyal right wingers into the Department of Justice. US Attorneys were fired for not following the Reich wing political agenda. The Justice Department is dragging their feet when it comes to Rove, Meirs, and others' contempt of Congress. It is corrupted for a long time and we cannot expect much "justice" from them.
Loyalty and unaccountability are apparently their only rules.
It's bleak when 90% of the Republicans and 50% of the Dems are going along with the police state agenda.
It's only more difficult when the corporate media are in cahoots with the corporate government. They will suppress the obvious truth of the criminal behavior. With their "fair and balanced" style they give the lie as much time as the truth. Then they suggest that the truth must be "somewhere in the middle". Journalism is dying under the thumb of right wing corporatism. Propaganda is now their business.
The media NEVER say Bush committed crimes. As if his bloody eternal war is not evidence of his war crimes...
The indifferent lack of reporting on the FISA sham only helps prove that big media are also in bed with the telecoms. And big business is in bed with the government. There you have it. Combine this power with aggressive militarism and that's fascism, by definition.
And do American citizens even care?
Are we too stupid, intimidated and complacent as a population?
Are Americans no different than the “Good Germans” of the 1930's?
*****
Update:
The Washington Post earlier featured a FISA article, but was buried away from the headlines. Stories were posted later at both the New York Times and Washington Post.
But again, who cares?
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