America is Nearing Dictatorship. The Truth Hurts.

You can feel the pendulum swing to the left. As with any society, the morals, values and political thought go from right to left with stunning regularity. The keywords that people like to use, “blow-back”, “backlash” and the like, all cover this phenomenon. The world has gone through this periodically in its history. Governments that swing too far to the left or right, invariably move back to the center. Sometimes, as in the case of Germany, the wild excesses of the 1920”s and early thirty’s left people longing for “traditional” values, but the blow-back of the move to the left, brought in a tyrannical right wing dictatorship that had to be removed by war.

What I see in this country is the same in reverse. Our experiment with right-wing leadership has caused many Americans to reconsider their values and their political stance. While many Americans wanted a strong, moral national government, they were not prepared for what was to come as Bush and Cheney delivered to the American people an almost fascist type of government that took the nation to wars of conquest and abrogated the populations civil rights and their protections under the United States Constitution. We now are faced with a government that the people no longer want, and no longer trust, with powers that have not been seen since our own Civil War.

Now, the pendulum is swinging left. Most Americans are disenchanted and more than that, they are fearful of what this government will do next. We are effectively shielded from information that historically came from the press, as it has also caved-in to the far right in its reporting. The Internet is the only viable way to get uncensored information about what is really taking place. Americans are now getting their news and information over the web.

Insofar as information is still coming to Americans, we are still privy to what our government is doing in our name. Most Americans abhor this war in Iraq and don’t want a replay in Iran. Most Americans want us to leave the area, and the protests are growing larger with the passing of time.

The problem we face in bringing the pendulum back to the left is that the two political parties in power are run by corporate entities that abhor the left and feel that these ongoing wars that we are engaged in feeds their “bottom line”. As long as these entities sponsor and finance these politicians, we will never get a government that respects individual liberty or respects the wishes of the people.


So therefore, what are Americans to do? We could start a citizen’s lobby that identifies those corporations that support the right and funds their political coffers. Their hold on the media outlets is so complete that we receive not news, but government “spin”. Case in point the Iranians supplying the Sunni’s with “Explosive Formed Penetrators” (EFP’s) that are supposedly coming from Iraq, when in fact, according to many in Iraq are coming from our supposed “allies” Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. Until we have an honest free-flow of information, the population will trust our government less, each time we find that we have been lied to.

The pendulum will continue to swing to the left. The government, in an attempt to quell dissent will get more and more radical with each passing day. We are caught between a government that is intent on spinning a web of deceit, and a population that has grown weary of the lies and distortions. We are headed towards a confrontation that we haven’t seen since the Vietnam debacle. This administration is worse than the Nixon Administration and has far more power to abrogate the Constitution. We live in perilous times, not just because of the wars, but primarily because the American People have given up so many rights since the attacks of 9/11. It will take a knowledgeable, well informed public to reign in a government that is responsible not to the American people, but to itself and its corporate backers.

Voting has become a kind of coronation of those picked by corporations. We have very few examples of politicians that revile the status quo. Those that do are maligned by the press as “Fringe Left” candidates. This is anathema to our supposedly “representative republic”. It will take a courageous people to throw off the yokes of influential corporatist’s and a government that ignores the will of the people. The solution is ours to pursue. It will not be easy, but saving a representative form of government never is, after it has been hijacked by unprincipled people.

This is the way I see it.

Bush Lies Again!

The Administration is lying to us again. Have we come so inured to their lies that it doesn’t matter anymore? Do we just shrug our shoulders and go on with our lives, unmindful of the things they are saying that will surely bring another military debacle? The lie now is against the Iranians. The Bush administration has said repeatedly that the Explosive Formed Penetrators that make up the “new” generation of IED’s in Iraq have come from Iran. They have even claimed they have serial numbers! If so, why haven’t we seen them?

Pepe Escobar in his yet to be released book, Red Zone Blues that I reviewed here said this of Iran and the EFP’s:

“Iran of course can be very persuasive, holding up some tasty cards up its sleeve- such as hard-earned intelligence directly implicating the Saudis in training the Sunni Arab muqawama (resistance) in Iraq on explosive form penetrators (EFP’S), which the Pentagon foolishly insists come from Iran. Everyone in Iraq knows it is operatives from “axis of fear” allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt-and also Pakistan-who have provided the Sunni Arab guerillas in Iraq with technology and training on improvised explosive devices and EFP’s.” pg. 79.

So who is telling the truth? Ask yourself whom you believe, Escobar who has spent years in Iraq un-embedded and in the mix of the Iraqi people, or George W. Bush who gave us the WMD’s that brought us to war with Iraq in the first place?

Enough of Bush and Company! If the Democrats fail to impeach over this, than throw them out with the Rethugs, to do anything less is to be an accomplice to genocide

Let The Liberal Party Change America!

I usually don't write anything on this blog because the Liberal Party has been quite dead for awhile now. I plan to change that. Therefore I submit to all liberal/Progressives to at least consider where the Democratic Party has brought this nation with the help of the Republicans. We have no free media that is not corporate controlled. We still do not have "Clean Elections " without the stigma and bias of corporate contributors. We are falling into a type of fascism that has not been seen since 1924 when Benito Mussolini turned Italy over to the corporate sector that controlled the country until it was liberated by the Allies.

I am calling on all, rich, poor, black, white whatever, to break free of the Democratic Party. Not to leave and give it to the "Blue Dogs", but to at least think of a third party that really expresses the reality of the world and domestic situation without those "ties that bind" that the Democrats now have. A party that is not an AIPAC puppet. A party that knows the mass media is controlled by the same people that will "Dumb Down America" to keep the citizenry from thinking outside the box. A party that has no ties to corporate boardrooms and antiquated policy. A party that represents "The New Left" that in another time and place would have been smack in the center of mainstream America.

This is a call to your own conscience. Do you want to run the entire world like our government wants now? If the Chinese or the Russians, the Russians, who by the way are making a dramatic resurgence, wanted to land troops on the West Coast while North Korea let loose with their artillery on the South, we would have nothing to greet these troops with except the Police and some broken National Guard units. This is where the behavior of this administration, along with the culpability of the Democrats have gotten us.

Yes it it a cruel world at times. National Defense should be a priority, but subjugating other nations should not. It can also be a world where we meet those we disagree with halfway. It can be a world with free exchange of ideas. That is the best defense against totalitarianism. We need to work within the framework of civilized nations and leave this "go it alone" mentality in the trash bin of history and be an equal partner with other nations of the world.

You can choose to stay with the Democrats and keep troops all over the world and sell off your country, one industry at a time, or you can at least consider a third party. Right now this is nothing, but it could be the way we get back to reality.

Contempt of Congress; About Time!

I received an e-mail from Congressman John Conyers office today stating that he was going to introduce a bill in the House as soon as the calendar was open. This bill would formerly charge the administration with “Contempt of Congress” for not giving Congress the material on the firings of the Assistant US Attorneys that had been requested last summer. The letter is here:

Dear Timothy,

I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the status of the contempt of Congress resolution in the House of Representatives.

As you may know, the Judiciary Committee passed a resolution before the August recess holding the White House and Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for their failure to provide documents and appear before the committee as legally required by subpoena.


The information we have received to date from the Justice Department from our U.S. Attorneys investigation indicates the White House played a central role in the firing of the nine federal prosecutors. Yet, the White House has stonewalled and consistently refused to cooperate with inquiries into this matter.

At the heart of our investigation is the evidence uncovered suggesting that the nine U.S. Attorneys were fired for politically-motivated reasons, while others may have been retained because they were pursuing partisan investigations.

We have also discovered that job candidates' political contributions and affiliations were considered in hiring decisions for nonpartisan positions in the Department of Justice. Our job has been made more difficult by apparent misleading testimony from the Attorney General and other Department of Justice officials.

This politicization of our judicial system cannot be tolerated. Our citizens have a right to expect that federal prosecutions will be conducted in a fair and nonpartisan manner.

There are many steps we can take in this confrontation with the White House. Some are more extreme than others. What we must first do is get the facts that show who made these decisions in the White House. Only once we have this evidence can we adequately pursue justice.

What is now required is for the House to pass this contempt of Congress citation and pursue legal action against the White House and Harriet Miers for their failure to meet the requirements of the subpoenas. Hopefully this contempt of Congress resolution will soon have a vote on the floor of the House. I am not prepared to allow this administration to operate above the law.

Thank you for your continued support for a better democracy.

Your Friend,

John Conyers, Jr.

I wrote in my last article “A Most Important Time in American History” that Congress do just this type of work. That this administration could disregard Congress, and refuse the forwarding of material that Congress requested is a crime unto itself. It is about time that our Congress does the oversight work that our Constitution says it should. To do anything else is also against what this nation stands for. Our Judiciary as it pertains to the Attorney Generals office should be completely transparent and dedicated to the rule of law, not partisan and acting on the whims of the executive branch. Now that Congress has said that they will act, it’s time to hold “their feet to the fire” and to make sure that they don’t disregard this blatant act of criminality.

This is how I see it.

A Most Important Time in American History

Bush seems to have realized that he and his war policies are making not only the Democratic leadership in Congress increasingly angry, but that the people of this country have just about had it with him. His nomination of Michael B. Mukasey, a man that is not part of Bush’s inner-circle, is a testament to the fact that he realizes that the Presidency is not the all-encompassing “unitary” branch of government that he once believed it was. It’s about time that this President realized that the executive branch is only one of three equal branches of the Federal government. He should have known that from grade school, but unfortunately Bush was one of those children that were “left behind” that he so often speaks of.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the Senate would not consider the nomination until the executive branch forwards the documents that the committee subpoenaed. In fact, Senator Leahy wrote a statement to that effect on August 20th of this year. He had said in the past that he would try to issue a “Contempt of Congress” citation to Vice-President Cheney if he failed to deliver documents relating to the NSA’s illegal wiretaps, so far he has yet to make good on that promise. This is the first paragraph of Senator Leahy’s statement:

“Today was the deadline for the Administration to comply with the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas for documents related to the legal justifications for and President’s authorization of the warrantless wiretapping program. The Administration failed to adequately comply, despite our granting an extension of more than a month past the original return date. The Administration has produced no documents, no adequate basis for noncompliance, no privilege claims, and no complete privilege log.”
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200708/082007.html

So why haven’t we seen contempt of Congress citations issued to the executive branch? It has almost been a full month since the administration failed to meet the deadline imposed by the Senate. On his own website, the Senator has this statement; “Sen. Leahy, therefore, has no hesitation in condemning the President for secretly and systematically violating the law.” Now the Senator states that he will not allow the confirmation of Mukasey to continue until he receives these documents. This is a far cry from the contempt of Congress citation. If he allows the confirmation hearings to move forward, then with all of his bluster and his threats, the good Senator from Vermont will have proved himself to be just another spineless Democrat that has failed to exercise their oversight responsibilities under the United States Constitution.

The time to ease the pressure by the people of the United States has not yet arrived. The demonstration in Washington on the 15th of this month was only a beginning. We have so far, accomplished nothing in the way of reigning in this administration. I sincerely believe that we have caught Bush’s attention, but without a Congress that will do what they have been charged to do under the Constitution, we cannot stop the demonstrations and the public outcry. This could well be the most important few months in the history of this nation. This President, along with his Vice-President, has us on the road to another foreign adventure, this time with Iran. This country can ill-afford another misadventure in the Middle East. We have wasted enough of the taxpayer’s money and needless deaths of our soldiers along with the deaths of a million Iraqi’s on a war predicated on a lie. It is apparent that we cannot trust this administration to tell the American people the truth. How can they expect us to complacently go along with another war based on the same lies that they told us about Iraq? This is just commonsense. It doesn’t take an expert in foreign affairs to understand that Iran poses no significant threat to the people of the United States.

There is a mass rally scheduled for September 29th at Washington DC. If you need more information you can head over to http://www.warresisters.org/demos.htm and check that site out. They have information on bus tickets, housing and events that will take place during the demonstration. They also have flyers and leaflets that you can download and print. This seems to be very well coordinated and they have on their site a number of demonstrations and vigils that you can attend in your home state listed at the site. The group that runs the site is “War Resisters League”.

It is not just the specter of war with Iran that American’s should be concerned about. While it is essential that we don’t attack another nation as we did in Iraq, the threat to America goes much deeper than this. We are seeing “By the People and for the People” become just another quaint axiom that came from another time and means nothing in today’s world. We can’t afford to let that happen. Too many Americans have let the federal government run amok with no congressional oversight and more importantly, with not much input from the American people. This must stop if we want to keep some semblance of democracy. The government works for the people, not the other way around.

This is how I see it.

Follow the Money (Who Owns Your Govenment?)

I’m going to get off the subject of the Iraq War and back into my favorite subject which is campaign finance. My short tenure as Chairman of the Liberal Party of America was an experience that enabled me to understand how politics works in this country. This knowledge was the reason that we struck our tents as fast as we put them up. It is unfortunate that we abandoned the LPA, but it was inevitable that we would have to, better sooner than later before too many people put their time and money into something that would never had succeeded at the time we embarked on that short journey.

In order to get a good understanding of a candidate, it really isn’t necessary to actually listen to their campaign speeches and to read their campaign literature. The candidates when speaking on the trail will read one of a few speeches that they have given many times, it all depends on the group that they are speaking to. When a candidate speaks to labor, they will read their labor speech. If they are talking to a group of low-income, working class people, they will pull out their “I’m one of you” speeches. I’m not going to belabor the point, I’m sure that you understand. No, the best way to understand a candidate isn’t to listen to them, the best way to truly understand where a candidate stands on issues is to look at who is putting up the money that funds their candidacy. It’s pure commonsense, no group or corporation is going to fund anyone unless it is in their best interests.

“Many of the campaigns have played up the notion that most of their donors give small contributions. What they have not emphasized is that, in raw dollar terms, the big donations are vastly more important to the campaigns' bottom lines.” (www.opensecrets.org)

In order to underscore my point, let us take a look at who financed George W. Bush in his first bid for the White House:

Total
Agribusiness $2,636,625
Communications/Electronics $3,332,700
Construction $4,102,856
Defense $180,775
Energy/Nat Resource $2,871,473
Finance/Insurance/RealEstate $15,884,159
Health $4,138,608
Lawyers & Lobbyists $6,648,851
Transportation $2,381,474
Misc Business $8,215,460
Labor $39,294
Ideology/Single-Issue $2,522,715
Other $10,720,550* Opensecrets.org

Now, let’s look at the second campaign in 2004:


Agribusiness $4,923,904
Communications/Electronics $5,536,891
Construction $8,834,129
Defense $819,358
Energy & Natural Resources $4,771,016
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $33,844,215
Health $10,733,645
Lawyers & Lobbyists $12,944,701
Transportation $4,834,343
Misc. Business $20,625,735
Labor $41,290
Ideological/Single-Issue $1,729,485
Other $29,091,633*(opensecrets.org)

What is interesting here isn’t who donated, what’s interesting is that all of the donations actually more than doubled, except for labor. If you take this at face value, even accounting for inflation, why was it so much more expensive to run the second time as an incumbent? I’m not nearly done yet. Looking into who gave what to whom, there is an 800 lb. Gorilla in the living room, see if you can pick it out before I get to it.

John Kerry had his share of corporate benevolence, as did Al Gore. Kerry’s donation by sector looked like this in 2004:

Agribusiness $785,831
Communications/Electronics $9,566,711
Construction $2,201,633
Defense $366,870
Energy & Natural Resources $725,767
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $14,055,247
Health $6,882,290
Lawyers & Lobbyists $23,370,438
Transportation $722,416
Misc. Business $14,769,296
Labor $352,448
Ideological/Single-Issue $737,502
Other $31,167,837

Does anyone see a pattern here? Who makes up these “sectors” that the Center for Responsive Politics calls them? Agribusiness is identified easily enough, Cargill, ADM, Ralston-Purina and all of the agricultural companies fit nicely there. The others sound cut and dry, but are they? Not really, the communication/electronic sector crosses over into defense, as do many others on the list. I don’t believe that there is any nefarious reasons here, its only because it is difficult to group any enterprise under a single banner. I do wish however, that the finance, insurance and real estate sector could have been separated into three different sectors. I believe that the three are so intertwined, with a few corporations holding controlling interests in the three different areas of publicly owned corporations, that separating them wouldn’t be honest, therefore they are grouped together. The way around this would have been to call the sector “banking”. In fact, the largest contributor to Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, John Edwards and Mitt Romney is Goldman Sachs, the investment banking firm. The truth is that Goldman Sachs has, since 1990, contributed $26,414,065.00 to political campaigns. The firm has delivered over $311,000.00 to Obama’s campaign alone. While Goldman Sachs might be the top contributor, there are many other banks that contribute mightily. Citigroup is one of the top contributors to Chris Dodd, John McCain and Hillary Clinton to the tune of $420,880.00, with the lion’s share going to Clinton.

I could go on all day about the banks that are bankrolling the presidential candidates from both parties. (No pun intended). I won’t because after awhile the numbers become meaningless. I will report that since 1990, investment banks have contributed $177,739,858 to political campaigns. Credit Unions $17,533,968, Finance & Credit companies $48,986,139, Savings and Loans $18,234,312, Securities and Investments $473,725,275, venture capitalists $42,080,653 and Hedge funds a paltry $8,173,223 (since 2002). That adds up to $786,473,428. That’s a lot of money!

Now picture yourself with your contribution to your favorite candidate, the one that promises he will represent you in the White House or the Senate or the House. Think of your $100.00 donation in your sweaty palm ready to lay it down for your principles. Than think of the “finance, insurance and real estate sector” that has given close to a billion dollars that they admit to. Who do you think is going to be represented here? Just remember, when you hear the “conspiracy nut” raving about the bankers controlling the Federal Government, just remember what you read here today. The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

That’s the way I see it.

Thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics and their web-site Opensecrets.org for the information provided.

War's Causualty: The Truth

You’re doing a heck of a job Davie, you too Crock. (“Whisper to the people; “’Ol Crock, he’s a good man, he just doesn’t understand that you have to tell the Iraqi’s what they want to hear, instead of scaring them with negative stuff”, wink, wink, nod, nod).
That “report” was the whole ball of wax. The United States of America is making “progress”. We have been making “progress” for a long time now. I guess you could say we are a “progressive” nation. I guess you could say anything. Most people involved in the decisions of this war have done exactly that, said anything and everything. The amazing part of this is that anything that has been said about our efforts in Iraq has already been said and it hasn’t made any difference at all. This war is what it is and any effort to change the reality of the war makes no difference at all. You can’t change reality by denial, no matter how you package it. Someone should just come out and tell George that “progress” isn’t being made by simply saying so.

Can you believe that I have been reduced to writing about something that any child should have learned as one of his or her first lessons in life? Why do I feel compelled to write this? I imagine that the reason I feel that I should is because it is glaringly obvious that GWB doesn’t understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Reality hasn’t been an icon of the Bush Administration since the beginning, but actually witnessing a four-star General rearranging facts and figures to paint an assessment of an occupation that is tenuous at best, into something it is not, reminds me of old Superman comics and the “Bizarro World” issues.

That small minorities of Americans believe the reports and the propaganda doesn’t surprise me. You will always have those that will defend the President on the principle that he is the President and should have the support of the people. The same goes for those that disagree with him because he is from a different political party than they are. The part of this entire debacle that is unfolding, isn’t the people that agree or disagree with the report, it is the way that the mainstream media gives the statements made by Crocker and Petraeus weight by failing to question their assertions.

Frankly, I am embarrassed by the need to write this. I am embarrassed by this need I feel to actually ask the major news venues why they are treating this “report” as if it were “news”. I am also mystified over the major networks treating this “dog and pony show” as something that has any degree of veracity. This reminds me of the day that Colin Powell committed moral suicide with his Powerpoint Presentation at the United Nations.

Why is it that seemingly intelligent and otherwise moral people will allow themselves to be used by this President? What makes someone whom has spent his or her entire life in public service commit seppuku in plain view of the entire world? Is it all about money? Is it about power or conviction? How could anyone hold the conviction that occupying Iraq is important enough to flush his or her entire life’s work down the toilet? Looking at this from the opposite perspective, could I be so wrong in my opinion that being in Iraq is morally reprehensible and against every moral precedent that we hold dear? I have never seen anything like this. I remember Vietnam as if it were yesterday. The arguments made then were as ridiculous as the ones made today, but even the networks in that time reported both sides. The reporting might have been skewed, but the anti-war side did get more than video clips of arrests.

If this is the case, if we are not being shown both sides of the story, then why are we fighting in Iraq? It can’t possibly be for freedom. If we were a free people we would be getting both sides of the war debate. Bush says we are fighting for our “freedom”. How can we fight for something that we don’t possess? Since the beginning of this “war”, it has been the freedom of American citizens that has been under attack. Since the first plane flew into the WTC, our rights have been steadily taken away from us. What purpose does that serve? The American people seem to be willing accept this, yet we protest the erosion of democracy in Russia and China. Why?

The media outlets, in order to get their license to operate, must devote a portion of their airtime to the “public good”. This was at one time strictly enforced. I believe that it should be enforced again. Time should be given to the anti-war movement. The MSM is not giving both sides of the argument. The American people should also start paying attention. If people ran a business like they run this country, they would be filing for bankruptcy.

The General and the Ambassador should be ashamed of the things they have told the American people. We are not making “progress”. How can you possibly make progress in an occupation? American forces will occupy Iraq until we decide to end the occupation. We are not fighting for their freedom, nor are we fighting for ours. We are there so that we project American power in the Middle East. The rest of the administration’s rhetoric is nonsense.

Until the MSM, politicians, the administration and everyone else starts talking in plain terms about the situation, we will continue to skirt this issue and this needless occupation of a sovereign state will continue. We didn’t “surge” we escalated. We aren’t fighting a “war” we are continuing an occupation. We are not fighting for anyone’s freedom, we are fighting for an American presence in the region. The terrorists are not going to “follow us home”: they are already here. They live in the White House.

This is the way I see it.

War

You’re doing a heck of a job Davie, you too Crock. (“Whisper to the people; “’Ol Crock, he’s a good man, he just doesn’t understand that you have to tell the Iraqi’s what they want to hear, instead of scaring them with negative stuff”, wink, wink, nod, nod).
That “report” was the whole ball of wax. The United States of America is making “progress”. We have been making “progress” for a long time now. I guess you could say we are a “progressive” nation. I guess you could say anything. Most people involved in the decisions of this war have done exactly that, said anything and everything. The amazing part of this is that anything that has been said about our efforts in Iraq has already been said and it hasn’t made any difference at all. This war is what it is and any effort to change the reality of the war makes no difference at all. You can’t change reality by denial, no matter how you package it. Someone should just come out and tell George that “progress” isn’t being made by simply saying so.

Can you believe that I have been reduced to writing about something that any child should have learned as one of his or her first lessons in life? Why do I feel compelled to write this? I imagine that the reason I feel that I should is because it is glaringly obvious that GWB doesn’t understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Reality hasn’t been an icon of the Bush Administration since the beginning, but actually witnessing a four-star General rearranging facts and figures to paint an assessment of an occupation that is tenuous at best, into something it is not, reminds me of old Superman comics and the “Bizarro World” issues.

That small minorities of Americans believe the reports and the propaganda doesn’t surprise me. You will always have those that will defend the President on the principle that he is the President and should have the support of the people. The same goes for those that disagree with him because he is from a different political party than they are. The part of this entire debacle that is unfolding, isn’t the people that agree or disagree with the report, it is the way that the mainstream media gives the statements made by Crocker and Petraeus weight by failing to question their assertions.

Frankly, I am embarrassed by the need to write this. I am embarrassed by this need I feel to actually ask the major news venues why they are treating this “report” as if it were “news”. I am also mystified over the major networks treating this “dog and pony show” as something that has any degree of veracity. This reminds me of the day that Colin Powell committed moral suicide with his Powerpoint Presentation at the United Nations.

Why is it that seemingly intelligent and otherwise moral people will allow themselves to be used by this President? What makes someone whom has spent his or her entire life in public service commit seppuku in plain view of the entire world? Is it all about money? Is it about power or conviction? How could anyone hold the conviction that occupying Iraq is important enough to flush his or her entire life’s work down the toilet? Looking at this from the opposite perspective, could I be so wrong in my opinion that being in Iraq is morally reprehensible and against every moral precedent that we hold dear? I have never seen anything like this. I remember Vietnam as if it were yesterday. The arguments made then were as ridiculous as the ones made today, but even the networks in that time reported both sides. The reporting might have been skewed, but the anti-war side did get more than video clips of arrests.

If this is the case, if we are not being shown both sides of the story, then why are we fighting in Iraq? It can’t possibly be for freedom. If we were a free people we would be getting both sides of the war debate. Bush says we are fighting for our “freedom”. How can we fight for something that we don’t possess? Since the beginning of this “war”, it has been the freedom of American citizens that has been under attack. Since the first plane flew into the WTC, our rights have been steadily taken away from us. What purpose does that serve? The American people seem to be willing accept this, yet we protest the erosion of democracy in Russia and China. Why?

The media outlets, in order to get their license to operate, must devote a portion of their airtime to the “public good”. This was at one time strictly enforced. I believe that it should be enforced again. Time should be given to the anti-war movement. The MSM is not giving both sides of the argument. The American people should also start paying attention. If people ran a business like they run this country, they would be filing for bankruptcy.

The General and the Ambassador should be ashamed of the things they have told the American people. We are not making “progress”. How can you possibly make progress in an occupation? American forces will occupy Iraq until we decide to end the occupation. We are not fighting for their freedom, nor are we fighting for ours. We are there so that we project American power in the Middle East. The rest of the administration’s rhetoric is nonsense.

Until the MSM, politicians, the administration and everyone else starts talking in plain terms about the situation, we will continue to skirt this issue and this needless occupation of a sovereign state will continue. We didn’t “surge” we escalated. We aren’t fighting a “war” we are continuing an occupation. We are not fighting for anyone’s freedom, we are fighting for an American presence in the region. The terrorists are not going to “follow us home”: they are already here. They live in the White House.

This is the way I see it.

What is the Truth on Iran?

The old saying “There are two sides to every story” may have been true throughout the ages, however in this day and age there are more than two sides. You have the government take, what you see, and the truth. They are rarely one and the same. The most blatant and deceitful lie nowadays is being told about Iran. Last month, I heard General Pervez Musharraf tell Wolf Blitzer that Iran is “cooperating” with Pakistan in their operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban. During the same week I heard Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Malaki that Iraq and Iran have “good” relations and that Iran is helping in the fight against al Qaeda.

On that same note Hamid Karzai and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President met on August 15th , with Karzai describing Iran and Afghanistan as "two brother nations with common interests, cultures and histories", he told reporters: "The present condition of the region demands more exchange and negotiations between Tehran and Kabul. In this trip economic cooperation, especially over Iran's participation in Afghan development plans, will be discussed."

President Bush, with an excellent record of telling the truth to the American People, told us however, that Iran is supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda. Look folks, my elevator may not go all the way to the top on some things, but somebody is definitely “misstating” the facts. Either Iran is helping to fight al Qaeda or its helping and arming them according to the White House.

In this case you have three different leaders of three different nations, telling the world that Iran is a “solution” in fighting al Qaeda, a Sunni organization that calls for the eventual destruction of all Shiite Muslims. On this note, it seems just a little odd that al Qaeda and Shia Iran would lock lips with each other while the leaders of all three nations that are currently fighting insurgencies led by al Qaeda are telling the world that Iran is helping in the war on terrorism.

Why would Afghanistan’s Karzai lie to the world about Iran helping them when the Taliban and al Qaeda and the Taliban are shooting at his troops and NATO and US Forces? That would be a stupid thing for him to claim if it weren’t the truth.

The Guardian, in a story about the Karzai-Ahmadinejad meeting said this of Iran:

“Iran gave Washington informal help in overthrowing the Taliban government following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. Months later, Mr. Bush killed any prospect of a thaw in relations by labeling Iran as part of the "axis of evil", along with Iraq and North Korea.”

Now we have Bush shouting fighting words about Iran in Australia and Iraq that the they are behind al Qaeda’s so-called resurgence in the world. If you can take that at face value, than I have a nifty little bridge back in Brooklyn that I can sell you.

Despite US suspicions, Iran, which has one of the world's highest drug-addiction rates, argues it has legitimate interests in combating the influx of heroin and opiates from the Afghan poppy fields. There are also at least 2 million Afghan refugees in Iran. The issue has caused recent tensions after Tehran forcibly sent around 100,000 back to Afghanistan, arguing that they were illegal migrants and a huge drain on the Iranian economy according to the Guardian.

Are we really going to let Congress get away without countering this Administrations wild and convoluted lies about Iran in this seemingly run-off for another war? Little has been said about Iran’s participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a body created by Russia and China to address regional security, foster economic integration, and counter US influence in central Asia. Nations that have partnerships with the nuclear nations of Russia and China wouldn’t seem to be an “easy” target. Nations in coalitions tend to support each other, militarily as well as economically.

Congress needs to pass a joint resolution to stop Bush and Cheney from starting a war with Iran. This isn’t just something that would be a good thing, I see it as a critical step that Congress must take in order to make sure the entire Middle East and maybe the world doesn’t suffer the consequences of a much wider and deadlier war.

Presidents must realize that the power to wage war is the responsibility of Congress, not the executive branch. If a nuclear strike were launched against us, that is one of the few times that a President can retaliate; an invasion or starting of hostilities would be other exceptions. This President will take any and all measures to convince the American people that Iran is funding and supporting the terrorists that are fighting us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush has lied so many times that his credibility level is about at the same level as whale-s**t, and that’s at the very bottom.

That’s the way I see it.

Why Aren't The Candidates Talking About Our Civil Liberties?

Odd, maybe a little paranoid, or just come right out and tell me that I’ve been reading into what this administration has done to the Constitution and our civil liberties and then tell me I’m right on the money. I watched Bill Clinton on Larry King last night. He had a lot to say, but none of what needed to be said. He talked about the war, he talked about the other candidates and of course, he talked about his new book and Hillary. I still like Bill Clinton, I wish he had talked about the very thing that most Americans fear: the loss of our rights under the Constitution.

The War, Larry Craig, and everything else in-between is fodder for discussion in this nation. What’s not however, is the way that the Constitution has been usurped by the Patriot Act. The basic liberties that Americans have always expected and enjoyed have been replaced by a document that gives the Federal Government far more power than the framers of our constitution had envisioned. The people, consistently frightened by a plethora of “terrorist attacks” that have never come, have given this administration far more power than any preceding it.

Nobody is talking about the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that gives the green light to “interrogations” to the point of organ failure, and the Insurrection Act (revamped) that gives the Federal Government control of the States National Guards for “police duties” in violation of Posse Comitatus. Nobody is talking about the new FISA Act that lets the Government tap our phones and read our e-mails.

Some people are reporting that the government has set up “free speech zones”: walled areas away from Bush and Cheney and no MSM coverage, far away from where they might be speaking. I don’t know about you, but I find this behavior by the government against the 1st Amendment. Why are all the Presidential Candidates not talking about this?

Where is John Edwards on the new powers of the Federal Government? Is he another that can’t wait to occupy “The Unitary Presidency” or does he want to scrap all of the underpinnings of a de-facto dictatorship, which, in reality is where we are headed unless we can turn these laws around. Remember that the citizens of this country are not the ones that must be muzzled and watched. Yet, every time the Federal Government enacts another law to fight this “war on terror” our basic liberties and freedoms are eroded. We have to have passports to go to Mexico and Canada. They want us to carry “Real-ID” that has all our information and is tied into a central database and quite possibly contain an RFID chip so they can tell where you are at all times. Is this something out of a science fiction book or what?

So where are all of our “Defenders of the Constitution”? The only one I hear raising hell is Ron Paul. How about you John Edwards, why is the government watching the people instead of watching for “the bad guys”? Are you and Biden and Obama and the rest comfortable with the status quo? You can bet Mike Gravel isn’t happy about it, but the MSM won’t give him a chance to express it. Dennis Kucinich should start making some noise about our civil liberties being expunged if he want’s to make a dent in the polls.

People are scared. They are scared and also becoming angrier by the day. People can only be afraid for so long. It’s the old “flight or fight” response. After the fear comes anger. You can feel it in conversations with ordinary Americans you talk to on the street. One of the biggest comments I hear is “Why are they doing this to us? I’m not al Qeada!” Why indeed is the operative question of the day, why indeed?

This is the way I see it.