Liberal Party of America

Bases in 130 Different Countries

2009-03-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Do We need a Viable Third Party?

2009-03-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

If you believe we need a viable third party to counter the two-party duopoly, just leave a comment here with your e-mail address and you will be contacted.

Transparency

2008-11-23T11:55:00.001-08:00

The nightmare of the Bush Administration that brought us eight long years of neo-con rule is almost over. I can honestly say that the United States was closer to losing its way than I have ever seen it in my lifetime. When I say “losing its way” I’m talking about operating outside the rule of law, and having our government basically ignore its responsibility to be honest with the American people and to at least consider the American people’s wishes in its decisions both foreign and domestic.

I’m not naïve. I realize that our nation has often ignored the wishes of the American people and has operated outside the rule of law many times, not only in recent history, but throughout our history. I believe at times it was necessary and I also believe at times, it was not. As I get older, and as revelations emerge as to what has transpired over the years about specific events, I understand to a greater extent how many times our government has kept information from its people, and how many times our government has lied to the people. Sometimes I believe it may have been in the best interests of the nation, and sometimes it was not. In fact, there were times that the government acted illegally and recklessly, and made decisions and performed actions that were definitely not in the peoples best interests. At times these things were done out of a genuine desire to do the right thing in the long run, and sometimes they were not. Either way, we are still here with our representative form of government, somewhat injured, but nevertheless, intact.

If we look at what has transpired during the last eight years in an honest, forthright manner, I believe that our nation has been extremely fortunate that we didn’t lose all of our rights after the savage attack on the Constitution by Bush/Cheney, Addington, Gonzales and all the others that seemed to believe that government administration belonged to the people of privilege. This was reflected by the obvious distain they held the Middle Class in by ignoring labor laws and refusing to increase the minimum wage for nine years until they couldn’t pass up a compromise in estate taxes that the Democrats offered.

Nothing happens in Washington for altruistic reasons. To believe otherwise is to ignore the obvious. When I mention this in conversation, or I write about the lack of morality displayed by those in government, I am reminded that it has always been this way. I maintain that because it has always been this way, it should be expected, and that the government continues to operate not because of its corruption, but in spite of it. I’m sure everyone would agree that if corruption was eradicated, the cost of government would be lower, and that the system would be much more efficient. I am told that this is wishful thinking. All governments throughout history had some level of corruption and that stopping corruption is impossible. While I agree that this is the case, I also believe that reducing the level of corruption is entirely possible. The problem is that before any problem can be corrected, the problem must be recognized and diagnosed. In medicine, the doctor cannot cure a patient no matter how many cures science had discovered. Unless it is acknowledged that the patient has a certain disease or condition, they cannot be effectively treated. The knowledge of how a patient contracted a disease may help to cure the disease, but it is not absolutely needed in most cases, it is usually enough to know what disease is that someone has in order to treat it.

The very same principle applies to government corruption. Transparency is absolutely essential in order for the public to oversee our political process and operations. It’s just commonsense when you think about it. Unless you have all the information available, supporting a certain piece of legislation or a policy, solving problems or offering constructive ideas, voicing opposition or suggesting alternatives all become very difficult. The truth is that we need all the information we can get in order to participate in government. Just as those that occupy a position in government rely on being fully informed, citizens should also demand that they are provided all the information they require. All too often, we hear that certain information cannot be shared with those outside the government because of “national security” issues. When Congress requested that they be briefed on Presidential Directive 51 (Continuity of government), the executive branch refused to honor the request due to “national security issues”. I’m sure that more than a few Congressmen and Senators’ are eligible to upgrade their security clearances in order to be properly informed. This one reason, “national security” has been used far too often in order to keep information away from government officials and the public alike. Therefore, in the interests of “national security”, and also in order to appraise those that feel they need more information than the government is willing to part with, I am offering a few suggestions.

Suggestions for the Obama Administration on Transparency in Government

1. Establish an Office of Transparency in Government (OTIG).

The Federal Government should set a policy whereby members of the government, both State and Federal, as well as American citizens themselves, can access all manner of information to include, but is not limited to proposed legislation, sponsors and co-sponsors of legislation, promises made in furtherance of legislation, campaign contributions from interested parties to any pending or recent legislation, political appointments of government officeholders or Federal workers, gifts to Federal employees or officeholders, visits or meetings with corporate representatives or lobbyists, employment of family members or appointments to corporate or private industry boards or advisory councils or groups. In addition, all officeholders and Federal employees must disclose their investments in order to determine if there is any conflict of interest between business interests and official duties. Scholarships and educational grants to family members, officeholders or Federal employees and any other potential conflict of interest issues must also be disclosed.

2. The Office of Transparency in Government (OTIG) shall exercise final

Determination of information access.

The office will determine if information will be withheld from Federal employees

Because of national security considerations. If there is a reasonable determination

information should be classified, the office will determine what can be disclosed

in order that the interested party has all of the information that can safely be

disclosed.

3. The Office of transparency in Government (OTIG) insures that the media

receives all information on new or pending legislation and any information that the Secretary believes should be disseminated involving operations of the federal government.

There also will be a meeting of an oversight council of members of the OTIG to determine if there is any other information that should be disclosed that the Secretary has not released or has missed.

4. The Office of Transparency in Government (OTIG) will report to the Attorney

General (AG) and be free of Executive Branch control.

This is a watchdog agency and will be relatively free from political or partisan control. The employees of OTIG will be subject to transparency itself and any possible conflict of interest will be disclosed immediately. If there is any redundancy in the Federal system, the OTIG will determine jurisdiction and responsibility for decisions. (This is in case any Federal agency rules differently on release of information).

These are some ideas that I believe will restore precious integrity to the Federal government. Of course, all of these ideas are only a guideline that came off the top of my head, I’m sure that there are many issues that an agency such as this would cover that I missed. I think that this is an idea that is long overdue. Transparency in government is essential if we are to keep our representative form of government. The demise of newspapers, smaller and fewer news outlets have caused the information flow and coverage about the workings of the government in Washington to decrease. Independent journalists that write about politics in Washington could use an agency such as this. Independent journalists work on a shoestring budget, yet they have never been as important as they are at this juncture in our history.

The people of this country need to understand who is behind legislation and they also need to know where any future conflicts of interests and possible trouble spots may occur. The people need to regain a measure of trust in government. This could go a long way to promote these things.

The Liberal Party of America

2008-02-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

I am sending out feelers on about starting back this party with Senator Mike Gravel as our party's candidate. This means that we will work with the Gravel team as well as have our own. What we need is people from every State to chair the State and get petitions signed. Then we need to incorporate. The third step is to have a convention, we can have an e-convention. If I could get enough people that have had it with the two corporate parties and ineffective third parties that don't really conform to being "Liberal" or "Progressive", we could, along with Senator Gravels Team, organize and be effective by election day.

This could be a dream, but one that I would willingly go for. I believe that there are enough people that are dissatisfied with the situation politically that we could actually pull this off. If Unity '08 makes Mike Bloomberg their candidate, or the GOP splits because of McCain, this could be a four party race.

Anyone interested? You only live once, might as well do it trying to do what you believe in. Take a look at the platform in this blog, it was taken off our old website. All is subject to change when and if we have a Convention. BTW, Check out the videos.

That's the way I see it.

Mike Gravel for President

2008-02-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

Today I formally announce our endorsement for Senator Mike Gravel for President of the United States of America. Senator Gravel is the candidate that is closest to the views held by The Liberal Party of America. He is a genuine Peace Candidate and he is for the working people of the United States. No other candidate is as well qualified as Mike Gravel to lead this nation in these perilous times.

"Get Out Of Our House!" An Idea Whose Time Has Come!

2007-12-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

Some say that the government of this nation is not at all responsive to the people. They say that most politicians are “professional” politicians that are firmly entrenched in “The System” in Washington that causes the Representatives of the people in Congress more interested in how they can be re-elected than how they can do the best for their constituents. This doesn’t make the Representatives necessarily “bad”, but it does lead to people putting their own self-interests over the interests of the people that they represent.

We see this in campaign donations by corporations that have no vested interest in the district the Congressman represents. We see corporations give money to Congressmen that do have an interest in the District. Either way, corporations do not really carry “personhood” and therefore under the First Amendment have no real guarantee of freedom of expression. They would like you to believe that in 1886 there was a dispute between a railroad, and that in that dispute they gained “personhood”, but that is not true, The court actually ruled against the railroad, but from a court reporters notes, they maintained they won the case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Personhood_Debate.

Whether or not you believe that corporations should have “personhood” or not, we can all agree that the money they give to politicians that make a career in the House of Representatives is a clear signal to the American people that many of our Congress people have interests that don’t coincide with the interests of the people they represent. The two-Party system in this country has caused stagnation in legislation that is needed to cure this nation’s problems. The constant partisan in-fighting has caused many good pieces of legislation to die in committees because there is no chance of these bills being passed because of the gridlock of the House. The politicians with their “special interests” won’t let these bills see the light of day.

There is an organization called “Get Out Of Our House” (GOOH pronounced “GO”) that is trying to bring ordinary folks into the House of Representatives and unseat all 435 members of the House. The political partisanship and the ineffectiveness of The House of Representatives in representing ordinary citizens is the reason this group exists. They are being led in part by Tim Cox who was on my radio show www.blogtalkradio/liberalpro.com last night. Tim is a computer engineer who once worked for Dell. He decided that this nation should come up with a different way to choose how the people should be elected to represent their districts. Tim got problem-solvers together and through brainstorming and looking at data across the nation, they decided that the two-party system is just not working.

They now have a website, www.goooh.com where people can join just by giving their e-mail address. Once they have joined they can choose to get involved by filling out a questionnaire and actually submitting their name to run for Congress. They are given 100 questions and the answers will be given to a group of 10 people that belong to GOOH in their district and through elimination based on the answers that they give on the questions, two people will be selected to run. This will happen according to Cox, throughout the 50 States and there will be a fund managed by GOOH to pay for their candidacy. This fund will come from the $100.00 fee given by all that want to run, and by donations from the web. This is an excerpt from their Website:
“Through GOOOH's Candidate Selection Sessions, you and your peers will select the candidate in your district that best represents your district's views. GOOOH will then fund the national election campaigns of all 435 candidates (one from each district) to run against the party politicians competing for each district seat. Because GOOOH is a process for selecting representatives (not an agenda-based party platform), we expect a very liberal candidate to be selected in San Francisco and a very conservative one in Colorado Springs -- but it will be up to the GOOOH members in each district to decide”.

This is one of the most novel ideas that I have ever heard of in my life. Could you imagine what we could accomplish without the Democrats and the Republicans fighting over every piece of legislation? Could you imagine what Congress would look like with ordinary people instead of professional politicians that are beholden to the “special interests”? The great thing about this is that after you fill out the questionnaire on how you will vote on specific issues, is that you are beholden to it. GOOH members are only allowed two terms and must be represent their districts and not their political party. I believe that this is an idea whose time has come. Check out their website and see it for yourself. With a Congressional approval rating of 17%, this Congress may well see this organization as a threat.

That’s the way I see it.

Write Your Congressman. Right.

2007-10-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Every time we see something wrong, every time we have our freedoms compromised, every time we see American youth dying in uniform to protect the wealth and power of the rich, we are told to “write our Congressman”. I have been hearing the same thing, over and over again until the litany is etched upon my very soul. “Write your Congressman”, “sign this petition”, and every organization that asks you to sign this petition to nowhere, at the end of these plaintive calls for help, they ask you to donate to their cause so that they can send out more letters and buy advertising that sends the same message, over and over again, “write your Congressman”.

First of all, I’m not sending a god damned dollar to any group or organization that asks me to “Write my Congressman”. You can write your Congressman until your fingers are bleeding and your tongue is crimson from paper cuts from licking the envelopes but it won’t do any good. You can call these people, write to them, and send a video if that what floats your boat, and it still won’t do any good. These people, in case you haven’t noticed, are not going to do anything! The faster you understand this, the faster we can promote real change in this country. The Democrats have failed us over and over again. If they were a sports team, you can bet that after not winning a game in a decade, that ticket sales would be non-existent. Only the most die hard fans would attend their games yet the Democratic Party continues to sell out to a loyal fan base, meanwhile they continue to throw their games. God forbid we organize a real political party for the liberal/progressives that continue to support a party that want nothing from us but money and votes… but not our input.

I saw Chris Dodd today on “The View”. This is the only candidate that is mainstream that admits the Constitution has been gutted. Let me ask you how this was accomplished? Did the Republicans have every seat in the 109th Congress, or did they do it with full cooperation of The Democratic Party? Yet Americans continue to dutifully head to the polls and vote for the Republican or Democrat that conduct their elections with corporate campaign funds and with the tacit approval of the same people that brought you the Iraq War. Is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Until the American People “get it” they will continue to do just this.

So keep on “Writing your Congressman” and keep on seeing them do just what they wish to do. Listen to the same old tired politicians telling you the same old excuses month after month, year after year. This nation has a gross national product (GNP) of 12.5 Trillion dollars. Sit there on your couch and watch year by year one trillion dollars migrates from the poorest 96 million households to the wealthiest 13 thousand households. The rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer and nobody in Congress does anything about it. It must be our fault that we find it harder and harder to pay our bills.

So the next election, go vote for the corporatist of your choice and when you find that Congress can’t override a veto, or your complaints fall on deaf ears along with a note that says thanks for writing, think of what you read here today. I can see the people wondering why we are still seeing body bags in Iraq in 2013 when the Dem front runners have already told America they have no intention of pulling our troops out. Still we have Progressives supporting Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Don’t whine and cry when nothing changes. Don’t underestimate the power of those 13,000 thousand households that have a vested interest in seeing this war continue. Don’t blame anyone but yourself when we finally go down that path of war with Iran in our desire to control the resources of the entire Middle East or when we finally prod the Russians and Chinese to go to war with us.

Support your political party of your choice. It doesn’t matter which one, there are only two, and they are both right of center. You may as well vote Republican; at least you won’t feel as deceived when they go against everything you believe, better the enemy you know than the one that you don’t. God forbid liberal/progressives break from the herd that is heading for the cliff.

That’s the way I see it.

Everything Starts with You

2007-10-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

I have been reading heartfelt and sincere pleas to Al Gore to run for President. Some of these of these articles that try to tap into Al Gore’s “conscience” seem more like prayers than reasons why he should enter the race. I have read “open letters” to Gore and articles that predict the future with Al Gore at the helm would bring America back from a spiritual and moral abyss. Sometimes, when I read these things I get a knot in my stomach and I shake my head in wonder. Have the people in America fallen to a point where they are looking for a new “messiah” to lead them out of the desert and into the “promised land”?

While I might be mixing up Jesus with Moses, the basic message of these letters and articles remains the same. It seems as if Americans have lost their moral compass and feel that the sainted Al Gore will lead us back from certain doom, and the tone of these pleadings remains the same; “Please reconsider and save America”.

The facts are that no one person can save America. No “savior” is going to be sent by the creator to lead us out of the valley of death. The savior that everyone expects to appear, whether it’s Al Gore, or Dennis Kucinich or God forbid, Hillary Clinton, is not going to “save” this country from the reckless and militaristic path to destruction. The facts are that the “savior” that everyone in this country seems to be waiting for is in the mirror looking back at you.. You heard that right. The person that will bring this nation back from moral bankruptcy is you. Don’t expect that someone is going to descend from heaven (in this case Hollywood) and put things “right” again. That can only happen when you decide that something must be done, and knowing that, you pull yourself out of your comfortable cocoon and you go ahead and do the things that are necessary to change the course of history.

When I write the word “you”, I mean you and you and you. I’m talking about every American that realizes that we can no longer proceed with our lives pretending that “somebody” will magically appear and do all the hard work that is required to change the way things are. That my friend is a kind of wishful thinking that won’t change a thing. The only way that change can be brought about in a system that has the deck stacked against the average American citizen is through hard work and perseverance. When everyone tells you that you can’t change the way things are, you must understand that change starts with one person at a time. Bobby Kennedy once said;

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

These aren’t just the words of a great man; those words are the formula for change. Change will only come if people want it bad enough. The truth is that if you can’t change the way things are, maybe you didn’t want it bad enough.

Think of what may come to be and imagine that your worst fears have materialized. Think of our country doing the unthinkable. Think of America using nuclear devices on Iran, and then on Syria. Think of the consequences. Go one step further and think of the White House declaring martial law and imagine the Army in the streets or worse yet, paid mercenaries doing their bidding. Think of the sanctions that other nations would direct towards the United States and international travel forbidden. Think of being forced to have a national ID in order to purchase anything and the things that they would be teaching your children in school. Maybe these things will never happen, but then again, what if they did? Then imagine yourself asking the question over and over in your head; “What could I have done to stop this?”

God forbid that you should ever have to ask yourself that question, but if you did, what would you answer that question with? Would you have an answer? If you had a do-over, what would you have done differently? Take a moment and put yourself in that hellish nightmare of a scenario and ask yourself that question. Once you have figured out what you could have done differently, go out and do it as if you had been given that second chance. Act as if God in all his wisdom, or anything that you regard as a power greater than yourself, had given you a do-over, than do it as if your life depended on it. Want to know something? Your life or what you perceive and have grown accustomed to as your life, just may depend on it.

Like the old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” We are indeed living in interesting times. What we do today determines what our future will be tomorrow. Don’t count on anyone to save you from what may come. You are the only one that can decide to change things from what they are. You can’t make anyone else decide to change things. The only one you can convince to change things from what they are now is you. Do the things that you can do to make a difference, whether it may be talking to others, or to collect money for a candidate that you believe in, or attending a demonstration or organizing a grassroots group, you can do something. Bobby Kennedy also said this:

“It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task”.

He wasn’t wrong, and if you believe you can make a difference or at least try, neither are you.

Corporate Donations are Now Favoring the Democrats

2007-10-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

The fix is in. It is now official. The corporate powers-that-be have officially sanctioned the Democrats in the 2008 elections. According to The Center for Responsive Politics and their Campaign Finance website “Open Secrets”, the political gift giving program for the “own your own politician” has turned to the left. Democrats now get more of the corporate “manna” than the Republicans.

So where does that leave the corporations? Have they finally become aware of the evil mechanizations of Darth Cheney? Have they finally decided to follow the good side of “the force”? Hardly, in reality the corporate kingmakers have seen the writing on the wall and are now doing “damage control” on their swiftly sinking ship. The ship seems to be listing so badly, that instead of trying to repair a ship that surely has a date with destiny at the bottom of the political sea, they are climbing aboard another ship that seems a bit more seaworthy.

This will obviously be greeted with shouts of joy from diehard Democrats that can’t see the forest for the trees. They don’t seem to understand that they are just trading one type of dictatorial power for another one. The saddest part of this story is that now they will be controlled by the same forces that control the Republicans (not that they weren’t controlled by the corporate boys before). Now it is official. There is more to this than meets the eyes however, so let us get to the putrid mechanics of this political swicheroo.

Let us gaze at the top ten donors. This might raise a few eyebrows:

1 Act Blue $3,151,038 100% Dem 0% GOP Solidly Democratic
2 Goldman-Sachs $1,656,954 71% DEM 29% GOP Strongly Democratic
3 Citigroup Inc. $1,582,857 63% Dem 37% GOP Leans Democratic
4 JP Morgan Chase & Co. $1,171,720 68% Dem 32% GOP Strongly Democratic
5 AT&T Inc. $1,094,144 45% Dem 55% GOP On the fence
6 UBS AG $1,068,953 62% Dem 38% GOP Leans Democratic
7 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $947,815 98% Dem 2% GOP Solidly Democratic
8 Laborers Union $924,500 91% Dem 9%GOP Solidly Democratic
9 Morgan Stanley $923,850 62% Dem 38%GOP Leans Democratic
10 Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union $904,000 97% Dem 3%GOP Solidly Democratic

Take out the Unions and the Democratic Organizations and we are left with what else, the bankers. Surprised, don’t be, they were the largest donors to the Republicans for the last 16 years. As Bob Dylan sang; “You just want to be on the side that’s winning”. The fact is, Goldman Sachs has been the largest political contributor to political races in history. The rankings from 11-20 are Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Comcast Corp, Akin, Gump et al, American Bankers Assn, Air Line Pilots Assn, Ernst & Young, American Federation of St/County/Municipal Employees, American Assn for Justice. Of these, only The American Bankers Assn, and Ernst & Young give more money to the GOP. Merrill Lynch is hedging their bet with an even number to both.

So what does all of this mean to the average American? Well to begin with, it means that your paltry contribution means squat. If your credit card debt and the spine-numbing late fees and fines are driving you to bankruptcy, don’t expect anyone to be in your corner. In fact every corner that every American owns has no supporters in it, save family and friends.

Let’s look at who the corporate guys are supporting these people in their campaign bid. These are the top ten in the House of Representatives:

Rangel, Charles B (D) $2,089,597 Democratic member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee

Hoyer, Steny H (D) $1,514,912 House Majority Leader in the 110th Congress

Gillibrand, Kirsten E (D) $1,393,205 House Armed Services Committee

Clyburn, James E (D) $1,292,435 House Committee on Appropriations

Pelosi, Nancy (D) $1,290,490 Speaker of the House

Kirk, Mark (R) $1,270,405 House Appropriations Committee

Tsongas, Niki (D) $1,266,974 New to Federal Elective Seat.

Klein, Ron (D) $1,264,593 House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services.

Boehner, John (R) $1,182,683 House Committee on Education and the Workforce, House GOP Leader

Murphy, Patrick J. (D) $1,127,818 House Armed Services Committee

In the Senate, the top ten candidates by contributions:

Watts, Mikal (D) $4,991,752 Former Democratic Fundraiser listed by news sources as “One of the Biggest Influence Peddlers in Washington”.

Durbin, Dick (D) $3,805,220 Senate Appropriations Committee

McConnell, Mitch (R) $3,327,263 Senior member of the Appropriations, Agriculture and Rules Committees.

Franken, Al (D) $3,278,313 No Record

Levin, Carl (D) $3,226,226 Armed Services Committee

Coleman, Norm (R) $3,191,705 Foreign Relations Committee

Cornyn, John (R) $3,121,962 Armed Services Committee

Pryor, Mark (D) $2,869,693 Armed Services Committee

Baucus, Max (D) $2,755,382 U.S. Senate Committee on Finance

Dole, Elizabeth (R) $2,592,765 Armed Services Committee

Isn’t it a coincidence that out of twenty Congressmen and Senators that six are on the Armed Services Committee, six are on appropriations committees, and ALL have significant influence on appropriations in general (except for two new candidates for office)?

These members of Congress have significant clout. The corporate political machines know this and will cross party lines and ideologies in order to guarantee that they can conduct business as usual in Washington in the years to come. Nothing will change, although outward appearances will make it seem as if the playing field is being leveled. Anyone that does their homework can see that the deck is stacked in corporate America’s favor. The old saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same” is very appropriate in this day and age.

Let’s see how these corporate puppets vote on bills and amendments that come their way. Charles Rangel, with his seat in Harlem, needs campaign donations like Brittany Spears needs to get herself pregnant again. He’ll use that money to spread his influence around Congress by donating to other Congressmen’s campaign coffers as Steny Hoyer did in 2006 that insured his House Majority Leader’s post. We can keep a scorecard on their voting. Pick one politician and when that person scores 10 votes that benefit his or her corporate sponsors, you yell BINGO and get instantly screwed.

Seriously though, this is no joking matter. We need corporate money out of political campaigns yesterday. Those that look at the Democrats and see saviors need to look again. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. Maybe a third party that doesn’t take corporate money is a great idea whose time has come. You won’t get these good ‘ol boys to change the rules.

That’s the way I see it.

Thanks to The Center for Responsive Politics and their website "OpenSecrets.org" for the information used in this article.

Congress Proposes that Bush gets a Do-Over and they will Forgive and Forget the Spying on American Citizens

2007-10-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

We all know about Watergate and the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon that was brought to light by the media, most notably The Washington Post. We all remember that William Jefferson Clinton was also involved in a scandal with a young White House intern by the name of Monica Lewinsky. In both of these scandals that plagued the Presidencies of these two men, it was the media and the oversight of the Congress that looked into the allegations and eventually found the truth behind the rumors.

It doesn’t matter if you believed that the incidents that caused the media and Congress to investigate and that eventually led to the resignation of Nixon and the Impeachment vote in the House of Bill Clinton were the correct thing to do. What matters is that these scandals along with the laws that were broken were addressed, and action was taken. The very idea that the office the chief executive gives the holder of that office immunity from prosecution if laws were broken was clearly shown to be untrue. The laws that govern the people of this nation also pertain to the individuals that hold the office of President.

Just over seven years later, we find another President that believes his office is immune from prosecution for violations of the law. The difference between Nixon, Clinton and Bush, is that the media put Congress under great pressure to act after the facts of their complicity were uncovered. Almost everyday the media would expose another detail of their complicity in the scandals that they uncovered. There were hundreds of editorials and hundreds of opinions by people in the media demanding that they be prosecuted without regard to their position in the government. Things have changed significantly in the last seven years.

We now have a President that when confronted with allegations that laws have been broken, refuses to comment. When faced with corruption in his administration and allegations that he had deliberately side stepped certain laws that were put in place to safeguard the privacy of American citizens, he refuses to release information to the Congressional Committees that are in place to conduct Congressional oversight of the Executive branch. I am referring to Bush’s decision to ignore the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)court and conduct surveillance of American citizens by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Most people are aware that this administration bypassed certain “procedures” in order to conduct electronic surveillance on American citizens. In this respect, the media did a fair job of reporting the details, but only after months of sitting on the story. In the case of The New York Times, it took them almost two years to break the story after they had possession of the facts in the case. The NYT claimed that it didn’t want to jeopardize an ongoing Federal investigation. You can read about the entire sordid affair that was published on “Counterpunch”; http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12172005.html. In this article, Risen and Lichtblau's (Times reporters) story comes the shameful disclosure:

“The White House asked the New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.”

It is absolutely amazing that this has still not been resolved even though the story first appeared in December 2005. In fact, the President has been “stonewalling” Congress ever since. Senator Patrick Leahy issued a subpoena to President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Harriet Miers (Consul to the President). This subpoena was issued in June with a date of July 18th for the compliance date. The date was extended to August 20th, but as of this time, the Executive branch has still not responded to the subpoenas. You can read Senator Leahy’s statement about the non-compliance here: http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200708/082007.html
Think about this, thousands of Americans have been put under electronic surveillance by an executive branch that has decided to circumvent the law that was in effect at the time they chose to do this. The media reported on it but certainly it did not take precedence over stories about celebrities and other stories that did not have the kind of implications that this story had.

The President, the Vice President and the White House consul all ignored a Federal Senate subpoena, the same kind of subpoena that forced President Clinton to testify under oath to Congress and which later led to his impeachment for lying under oath about the relations he had with Monica Lewinsky. The threat of subpoenas also led to Richard Nixon’s resignation rather than to testify in front of Congress. Meanwhile, this President openly defies Congress about illegal spying on American citizens and it gets about fifteen minutes in the Mainstream Media. Is there something wrong here?
Yesterday the Democrat-led Congress introduced new legislation regarding the FISA Court. Instead of ordering this President to respond to Senator Leahy’s subpoena, they have done nothing but propose that the Executive branch follow the pervious FISA requirements for electronic surveillance and if he agrees, they will hold him harmless for all the acts that he committed by not following the law in the first place, as long as he admits to what he has done. You can see a synopsis of the legislation here; http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/09/house-introduces-new-fisa-legislation.

Is this a joke? It seems as if the Congress has said lets forget about everything, follow the law and tell us what you did and we’ll forget about it. Where is the media on this? What would they have said if Nixon had a chance for a do-over? Could you imagine? Could you see Congress telling Nixon that if he admits to the break-in at Watergate and promises he won’t do it again, then they will not hold him accountable? Could you imagine the media’s reaction if they told Clinton to leave the girls alone, admit you copped some sex and we won’t prosecute you and stop the impeachment proceedings? The media would be screaming its lungs out! Where is the media now?
In fact where are the all of the Democrats that believe in Congressional oversight? It seems that for all their talk about the Constitution and the rule of law, they are doing nothing. This President has gone completely overboard when it comes to violating the rights of the American citizens and Congress does nothing except propose legislation that lets him off the hook. Meanwhile the Democrats proudly display their Presidential candidates around and tell the American people that we need a change in Washington. That is so true. The biggest and the best change we could possibly see in Washington is for the Congress to do its job. Even today, Congress with a Democratic majority seems to be worse than the Republican Congress that preceded it.

That’s the way I see it. We need volunteers to carry petitions to get The Liberal Party of America on the ballot.

The Media Has Failed the American People!

2007-10-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

What is a representative republic? The United States claims to be one. We also claim to be a democracy according to George Bush who, by his own admission, wants to “export” democracy to other nations of the world. I would ask Mr. Bush this question, how can we export something to other nations that we don’t possess? If democracy were a commodity that we had a surplus of, we could export it. Unhappily that is not the case in this country. The sad truth is that the United States is woefully lacking that commodity. The underpinnings of a true democracy is the free flow of information and the transparency of government. We have no free flow of information and the government shrouds itself in secrecy.

Witness the media of this nation that refuses to tell the American people the truth about anything. The majority of news in this country is centered not on the world situation in which our government is waging wars of aggression against other nations, but on celebrity stories of failed marriages, drunken escapades, and bad parenting. The media refuses to cover anything of real importance.

There are so many examples of the media deliberately refusing to cover issues of the utmost importance to the American people. They refuse to cover the North American Union is which our government has fostered an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States that basically incorporates these three nations into one and effectively erases from the Earth the United States of America as a sovereign nation under The Constitution. Why has the media not covered this? Do they believe that it is of no importance to the American people that our nation and form of government is being negotiated away by an administration that hasn’t even reported what they are doing to our own Congress? How can this happen without coverage by the press and the rest of the media?

Our government is supposed to be “by the people and for the people”. The only access we have to our government’s decisions and policies is through the media. When it becomes clear that the media no longer reports on the truth of what our government is doing in the people’s name, we have no representative form of government. Unless the people have access to information on what is happening, the government has no limits on its power. This isn’t the only instance of the media failing to do its job in this country.

When Osama Bin Laden was taken to a hospital in Pakistan on September 10, 2001, the Army of Pakistan guarded his hospital to insure his safety while the next day four airliners were hijacked. The Pakistani secret service, the ISI provided the money to the ringleader of the hijackers Mohammed Atta. It is a documented fact that the head of the ISI in Pakistan, ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad, wired $100,000.00 to Atta. That week Ahmad was in Washington meeting with Secretary of State Rice and members of the CIA. This story was reported by The Times of India on October 9, 2001, yet American newspapers and television networks made only casual mention of it on NBC’s Dateline and the story was never followed up by anyone inside the mainstream media. According to the India Times: “Top sources confirmed here on Tuesday, that the general lost his job because of the "evidence" India produced to show his links to one of the suicide bombers that wrecked the World Trade Centre. The US authorities sought his removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 was wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of Gen Mahumd.”

Why hasn’t there been an independent investigation of this by the so-called “news” media? In other reports dealing with 9/11, Secretary of State Rice was asked if she knew that there were al Qaeda operatives working inside the United States with plans to hijack an airplane and fly it into buildings inside the U.S. She responded, along with the President and Vice-President, that they had no prior knowledge of that type of information. Yet, it was proven that the President in his daily briefing on September 8, 2001 was told exactly that. This briefing has been declassified and released, yet the media never investigated why all three had lied about ever having the information.

There are other things that the media will not cover. Where is the footage of the war in Iraq? The American people are shown snippets of film in and around Baghdad when a member of Congress or other dignitary visits, but where is the footage of the dead that line the streets every morning due to the carnage by rival militias the night before? Why did the story on Haifa Street reported by CBS reporter Lara Logan only appear on their website, and this was only after she begged that it be shown on websites on the internet?

Some other things that the media neglects; Senator Leahy (Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee) declared that President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Harriet Miers refused to hand over documents and testify in front of the Senate oversight committee about the NSA wiretapping after they had been subpoenaed by the Senate. To deliberately ignore a Senate subpoena is a crime, yet the media refuses to follow the story. If this had been seven years ago and William Jefferson Clinton had ignored a Senate subpoena, it would have made front page news. This is something that all Americans should be thinking about.

Our news media has not done its job for years. Most people that want real news must either turn to the internet or get news from foreign media or from progressive news sites. The majority of people in this country don’t bother and what they learn from the major news networks is criminally short on content, especially when it comes to the truth about what their government does. There was no reporting on the demonstrations in Washington in September against the war. Unless people had been there the majority of people would never know that there were a hundred thousand people demonstrating. The media doesn’t report on the “First Amendment Zones” that keep protesters away from events so that their protests go unnoticed.

How long will the American People continue to let the media trample on their right to know what is really happening in their country? When will the media finally report on the things that matter? Without a free and uncensored media, we have no democracy. Maybe it is time for the networks to stop their senseless babble and do what they are paid to do. Unless the situation changes, we will have no recourse but to behave in a way that they can’t help but cover. There are still enough Americans that value their freedom that they will fight to keep it. One of those freedoms is our right to know the truth.

The Media Has Failed the American People!

2007-10-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

Americans No Longer Question Authority

2007-10-07T23:42:00.001-07:00

Have we passed the point of no return in this country? Has the right engineered such a change in our laws that nothing can be done to bring the country back from an Orwellian State that exists to serve the oligarchy and has stripped the common man of his basic unalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Has the Federal government become so powerful that it can imprison people for dissent? Can this government really designate anyone it wished a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer and prosecute him or her without the benefit of due process? Have we really come to this point?

Some believe we have. There are some that honestly believe that America has no safeguards for civil liberties. These people believe that the right of free speech and the rights guaranteed us under the Constitution have been replaced by new laws that abridge our expectations of privacy, our right to dissent, and our right to challenge our government in a court of law to be decided by a jury of our peers.

These concerns are everywhere. I see them in articles, in e-mails, in telephone conversations and in the media. If this has indeed taken place, how was it done? Has the global war on terrorism taken such a priority in this nation that it now infringes on our personal freedom? If this is the case, can we ever get back what we have lost?

I believe that these questions are important and that we should all be asking them. I also believe that we should all be asking the question that if this is the case, how we as a people can change the situation. We should all be engaged in taking a reality check.

We should be asking ourselves if this government really needs the power that we seem to have ceded to them. We should be asking if the government really needs the authority to monitor our phone conversations, our e-mails and our mail. We should also be concerned about the laws that have been passed that require every citizen to have a national ID card. We should be asking the question why would it be necessary for the Federal Government to have the power to search our homes without our knowledge or without us being there because they say that they have information that indicates that we “might” be terrorists or terrorist sympathizers without having to show evidence of that belief because they claim it is “sensitive” in nature and could jeopardize “national security”.

The point I am making here is that the government has indeed overstepped its authority. The people that worry about whether or not we have reached the point of no return are asking a reasonable question. Have we turned into a police state? You tell me. Many Americans claim that the question is not important because they have nothing to hide. From my perspective that comes from 57 years on this planet, we all have something to hide. There is no one that lives that doesn’t have secrets that they would rather not be exposed. There is not a person alive that has not broken some law at sometime in their lives. No human being on Earth is untouchable. This is not opinion, it is a fact.

Now is the time to reflect on what one of the greatest patriot and statesmen in American history once said. Benjamin Franklin said “Those that would give up their freedom for a little security shall have neither freedom nor security”. This statement carries more weight and meaning now than it ever has, at least in my lifetime. When the government can do what it will, whether it be to tap your phone or to search your house without a signed warrant from a judge that has been given probable cause to issue a warrant, we have no rights. Thus we have indeed become a police state by the very definition of the words.

Will we have the chance to rectify the situation and put this nation back on track as a nation that obeys its own Constitution and thus the rule of law, or is it too late? It becomes too late when our leaders no longer talk about the civil rights that we have lost. When the citizenry is unconcerned and the leaders that are elected by the citizenry don’t examine the constitutionality of laws passed hastily by people that were afraid of things that they didn’t understand and voluntarily gave up their rights, it is doubtful that without a discussion of these freedoms lost, that we will ever get them back.

The two political parties that govern this nation do not seem as if they are in the least bit concerned that Americans have given up their rights against illegal search and seizure, the expectation of privacy in their communications, or the right to due process which is the right to be told what they are being charged for, the right of representation by a lawyer, the right to a speedy trail, and the right to be judged by a jury f their peers. If you are suspected of terrorism or of aiding a terrorist, you no longer have these rights. It doesn’t matter if you were born here or if you are an immigrant. The only thing that matters is that you are suspected by people that don’t have to tell you why they suspect you.

The major Democratic candidates and the major Republican candidates are not questioning these things. The laws have already been passed and the mechanisms in place. Meanwhile the people are silent and compliant. Have you ever wondered how the Nazi’s were allowed to subjugate the German People? You need not wonder any longer. It has happened to the American People now too. The terrorists have won. If like President Bush claims, they hate us for our freedom, they need hate us any longer. We have no freedom to hate us for.

America is Under Attack from Within!

2007-10-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

I want to preface this article with this; I am really not in the mood to write this. Usually something hits me and I run to the keyboard and offer up what’s on my mind, and it gives me a kind of relief that I got it off my chest and whatever I was angry about isn’t eating my guts alive. This is different. For days now I have been in a funk that is just unbelievable. I feel hopeless and betrayed not only by my own government, but also by the people that I encounter in my daily life.

What I want to say here, no, what I have to say here, is that this country, our very way of life and everything we ever stood for, is under attack. It isn’t “Radical Islam” that is attacking the very fabric of our society, it’s the people running our government, our media, and the people in the shadows that run the corporations and the banks, along with the so-called “think tanks” that make policy. We in the United States are under attack from so many different sectors that it is almost impossible to point your finger at anyone that is taking this nation down the sewer of fascism. You have the right wing of the Republican Party, the right wing of the Democratic Party. Then you have Fox and CNN and ABC, MSNBC and a host of other media that won’t step on the toes of their corporate sponsors. Then you have the Federal Reserve that is run by a private corporation that lends the government their own money at interest and a few families that own America grow exponentially richer by the day.

Then you have these groups like this new group “Freedom’s Watch” that is one of the greatest oxymoron’s in history. These are right wing radicals that believe nothing for individual freedom that started their organization with a paltry 200 Million dollars from sources they don’t dare to identify. The people that run this organization are former White House staffers. Freedoms Watch is described in Wikipedia:

Freedom's Watch is an advocacy group in part run and supported by former officials of the Bush administration. [1] The organization states that its goal is "educating individuals about and advancing public policies that protect America’s interests at home and abroad, foster economic prosperity, and strengthen families." [2] The Freedom's Watch website states, "Those who want to quit while victory is possible have dominated the public debate about terror and Iraq since the 2004 election. Freedom's Watch is going to change that."

In case you want to know who is behind them here is a list of executives and donors:
The Washington Post lists the following members and donors for Freedom's Watch:

* Bradley A. Blakeman (president, a former deputy assistant to George W. Bush).
* Ari Fleischer (board member, former Bush press secretary).
* Matthew Brooks (board member, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition).
* Mel Sembler (donor, former ambassador to Italy who helped finance the 2000 Florida recount battle).
* John Templeton Jr. (donor, board member of the Templeton Growth Fund and financier of Let Freedom Ring).
* Sheldon Adelson (donor, CEO Las Vegas Sands Corporation and the third-richest American in Forbes magazine's rankings last year).
* Kevin E. Moley (donor, former U.S. ambassador to international organizations in Geneva, and a senior adviser to Dick Cheney during the 2000 campaign).
* Howard Leach (donor, CEO Leach Capital and former ambassador to France who also helped fund the Florida Recount).
* Anthony Gioia (donor, head of Gioia Management and former ambassador to Malta).
* Richard Fox (donor, co-founder of the Republican Jewish Coalition).
 Gary Erlbaum (donor, owner of Greentree Properties).

Quite a list of Who’s Who in American Fascism. This is just one of the groups that want to make sure that the Progressive/Liberals are shut out of mainstream society. Their website looks like the “Mission Accomplished” banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln when Bush made that ridiculous speech that “Combat operations are over in Iraq”. See it here and tell me if the symbols and colors aren’t right in line with a fascist ideology.
http://freedomswatch.org/ .

Even as we speak the right is spinning tales about Iran in preparation for an attack. One must wonder whom exactly will that attack benefit? Will it benefit the American people when the straits of Hormuz are shut down and gas rises to four bucks a gallon? When are forces are spread so thin and our men are exhausted from fighting one tour after another in a combat zone what exactly do they hope to gain? Meanwhile Bill Kristof and the demonizers on FOX TV spread misinformation at the speed of light while the other networks soft-shoe it so they won’t antagonize their corporate sponsors, the average American that doesn’t read liberal/progressive websites believes that Iran is where Satan reigns supreme.

I recently attended a Move-On meeting right here in the belly of the beast, South Carolina. I met people that are genuinely concerned about the same things that I am concerned about. The only difference between them and I is that I was born and raised in New York and I really don’t give a damn what people think about me. These people at the meeting were afraid to speak to their neighbors and friends about the policies of our government for fear of being ostracized. The Baptists here give sermons about the evils of Islam and our “duty” to combat our enemies. This isn’t endemic to South Carolina, not at all… it’s rampant across the Midwest and the rest of the South to include Texas. This nation is under attack from the extreme right and they are winning.

The most noteworthy thing that I took from the Move-On meeting was that we should not “confront” those against the war, but to speak gently. How do you speak gently to a population that believes wee are “helping” the Iraqi people when in fact we are committing genocide there? This is why I didn’t want to write this article. I have been so angry for so long that the anger is starting to turn inward. Unless people get their head out of their ass and start to make some noise, not on Progressive websites, but in the Newspapers, in noisy demonstrations, by boycotts and by telling the truth to their family and neighbors we are going to lose this fight, and believe me when I tell you this is the fight of our lives.

Trying to be civil isn’t the way we are going to shape this nation’s destiny. We are outgunned, and outnumbered, not to mention the fact that we are out-resourced. Just about the only way we are going to turn the tide in this country is by screaming the truth in the ears of anyone that will listen. The time for politeness is over. It’s time that we make our presence visible and meaningful, even if it takes getting arrested over and over again. This is a fight that we cannot lose, for if we lose this fight we lose our freedom and we lose everything that is good about America. Once I was a career soldier in our nation’s Army, now I am a career activist against all that is wrong with our nation. Ten years ago I was left of center. Today I am part of “The Radical Fringe Left”. My views haven’t changed, the nation’s views have changed, I’m the same man, and with the same beliefs I always had. I will work with Move-On, or any other Progressive Americans to change people’s views, one mind at a time. To do anything else is to turn my back on my country, for if ever my country needed me it is now. America needs you too.

That’s the way I see it.

Use Economic Sanctions Against Our Own Government

2007-10-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

When good people are called by their conscience to stand against an evil that they perceive to be done in their own names and do nothing, than they are complicit in that evil. To do nothing in the face of genocide and the destruction of an innocent country’s infrastructure, and to turn the other cheek while your government fosters anarchy in a land where they do not belong, makes you complicit. To allow children to beg in the streets for food because the men in the city or village have been taken away by those that support endless war for finite resources makes you part of the problem. We are all Americans, and by letting this happen to the people of Iraq, we are all complicit in some degree or another.

You can say that you have tried to stop this carnage. That is not enough. You can say you are against our government’s policies and that too is not enough. You can say that you have supported every initiative to leave Iraq but we are still there, so evidently that too is not enough. Our government, as criminally complicit in terror as anyone that has attacked us, is now trying to make the case in attacking another nation, this time Iran. It matters not whether the people want it, it is a matter of a government that desires conquest over diplomacy, war over peace, death over life.

The answer lies in the hands of all Americans. The way to end this war is not an easy one to take and is fraught with danger to our loved ones and to us. Still, the only way to get this government to listen is to speak with a voice that drowns out their objections. The only thing that this government seems to care about is money. Money is what allows them to continue their nefarious business around the globe for world domination and resources.

There are ways that we can take the money out of their hands. One way is to get the politicians that vote for funding this war out of the government. That includes Democrats as well as Republicans. We need to send an unmistakable message to Congress that we will no longer condone funding the war of aggression against another nation. We can also refuse to buy products that are advertised on the mainstream media that supports the government “spin” on this war. We can stop the economy by buying second hand products including refurbished appliances, automobiles and other products that will cause the government to re-think their world policies by sinking the profits of those that support them. We can refuse to use our credit cards and only buy what is absolutely necessary.

This is an economic sanction brought against our own government by our own citizens. To blithely spend money that supports the war effort makes each and every one of us complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Putting our hard-earned money back into the economy so that the government can build the machines of war with a seemingly unlimited budget fosters the use of aggression. We can still support our merchants by buying reconditioned products. To live in a society of planned obsolescence for the products we buy new, causes not only money to feed the military, but encourages our industries to do more of the same.

There is an old saying; “Evil happens when good men do nothing”. This is something we can all do. The money you save from refusing to buy new products that feed our military industrial complex could be used to help people with nothing, or you could donate that money to organizations that want to stop our current course.

This is the way I see it.

America is Nearing Dictatorship. The Truth Hurts.

2007-09-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-09-28T06:23:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-09-24T15:55:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-09-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-19T07:03:00.001-07:00

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?)

2007-09-13T21:02:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-12T17:10:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

What is the Truth on Iran?

2007-09-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-09-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

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.

This is a Movement People, Don't Ever Doubt it!

2007-08-31T08:47:00.001-07:00

What’s good ABOUT America? I’m so tired of hearing what’s bad. I know what’s bad. What is bad is that the pharmaceutical Companies, the Defense Contractors, the Insurance companies and the behind the scenes bankers’ control our governmental polices which are bleeding the middle class to death. Our government is destruction bound, using every resource they have in their arsenal to kill other human beings. Politicians are just that, politicians that just aren’t listening to the middle class, at least from the liberal/progressive side. I don’t think they are listening to their own base. I’ve heard many a Republican say that we are heeded for disaster, internationally, domestically and economically.

So what’s good? My wife told me this morning that we are a “service economy, that we don’t produce anything and the first sector to go in bad economic times is the service sector”. I beg to differ. Industry is still alive, if not well in this country. We still produce more airplanes, cars, computers and heavy machinery such as earth moving equipment than any other nation in the world. (I shouldn’t have mentioned this, once the bankers read what I’ve said they’ll outsource all of that too).

What’s good about this country is that there are still people that care and want to change it for the better. Whatever we have become, there is always the chance that we can turn the direction that this nation is taking around, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. I know that the Democrats and their refusal to stand up to the Administration dismay many. I feel that too. I’m sure many are just as disgusted by the top front runners, backed by corporate money (not Hillary?) wiping out the field by gaining all the “face-time” on the MSM. I have been watching this with interest, watching how people respond to pure crap that Hillary spews. She recently went to Yearly Kos and proclaimed that she is a “Progressive” oh pleeeaze! She’s about as progressive as Dick Cheney.

I listened to John Edwards recently. Let’s face it, unless there is a big upset in the Democratic Primaries, Gravel and Dennis are toast. I hope I’m wrong. Let’s see. I’ll be voting for Dennis if he starts picking up steam, If I’m wasting my vote in the SC Primary, I’ll go for John Edwards. I’m beginning to like what he’s saying. He said that he doesn’t accept corporate money and he recently said that the insurance companies, the big pharmaceutical companies run America and it’s got to stop. OK John, you got me so far, I’m listening…

What’s right about America is the people you love that live here. What’s right is our ability to question authority. What’s right is what’s coming in September. This is the start people. This is the second time I’ve done this, like many of you out there. I see the anti-war progressive movement clarifying and melding into a force to be reckoned with. I saw the same in the early 70’s. This General Strike 9/11 is only a “baby-step”. It has to start somewhere. Let’s use this opportunity to make a statement. Let’s use it as practice for bigger and better ways to express our frustration with a Deaf Congress and a sick out-of-control Executive branch.

We can express our contempt for Bush and Cheney in September by attending the rallies and stating rallies in every city for the people that can’t make it to NYC or DC! This is what’s right with America. These rallies aren’t “sponsored” by Boeing, Prudential or PPA (the Pharmaceutical Partnership of America). The people of America sponsor it. It’s a grassroots partnership of Americans that want to be heard. That’s what’s good about our country! This is a movement, don’t doubt it for a minute! Unless something alters the current reality, this movement will grow larger and larger until there are demonstrations in every city, every town. There will be a permanent display of the anti-war movement that the mainstream media can no longer ignore. This movement will be an in-your-face, do or die expression disgust with this administration and with Congress and their do nothing attitude. If we accomplish nothing, at least we can show the rest of the world and this government that we won’t blindly accept authority when the policies go against everything we believe.

It takes Americans time to get angry. I mean really angry. They are getting angry now. I hear it day in and day out, and remember I live in South Carolina, the belly of the beast. So remember the good things about this country. Don’t dwell on the bad. Believe me, we’ll change that sooner than later.

That’s the way I see it.

Today is All We Have

2007-08-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today is all we have. Tomorrow, whatever your expectations, may simply never come. Today is all be have brothers and sisters. Some of us have done this twice now. We have seen two leaders that have refused to take this nation out of quagmires that kill our young. The best and brightest come home crippled, while the children of our leader suck out of the proverbial silver spoon, courtesy of the US taxpayer and the lobbyists. It’s the same as before. Life goes on.

All we have is today. Today could be the beginnings of a new tomorrow, or…it could be just another day, it’s all up to you. Today you could prepare for the General Strike on 9/11. Its important that you do this for all we stand for. You can decide that it is just not your way. You can believe it won’t work. You may be afraid to lose your job. Think about what the consequences will be if it doesn’t make a significant impact. That will be another victory for the neo-con hard-liners. It will show the country that we are not willing to stand up for what we believe. Are you ready to say that? I’m not. I don’t think you want them to hold this over our heads. We must make this happen. All you must do is nothing. Stay home and catch up with friends. Take a sick or personel day. Don’t fill up, don’t drive, don’t buy a goddamned thing.

Today is all we have. This President could declare martial law at the slightest provocation. There are more gun owners in the United States according to Rueters than any other country in the world. U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said. India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people. Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals. Only about 12 percent of civilian weapons are thought to be registered with authorities. (Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited).
Does he really want to declare martial law?

Today you must believe that we can make a difference. Working within the system isn’t working. Our plaintive cries fall on deaf ears as the politicians blithely walk around with there own agenda. We must work outside of the system. There are mass rallies for September 15th in New York City and Washington DC. I will be in New York. Where are you going to be. Think about that today. If you can be there, please be there. It will be a part of your life forever. I’ll never forget the march on Washington by the Vietnam Vets Against the War organized by John Kerry. This could be bigger than that. Let the MSM ignore this! Please, try to come, we need everyone, so desperately. Today is a day you could decide to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Think about it.

Today is a good day to be alive. It’s a good day to plan what you are going to do this September. We know that this kind of behavior by our government can’t go on. The torture of prisoners, the lies about 9/11, the taking of our liberties, the right to search our homes without a warrant if we are labeled a “terrorist” or a “terrorist supporter”. The Patriot Act, The FISA Laws where they can read your e-mails and monitor your phone calls, The Military Commissions act of 2006 that condones torture to “organ failure”. The Elimination of Posse Comitatus that lets Federalized Nation Guard Troops be used as Law Enforcement at the whim of the President without the approval of the Governors of the States affected (Revamped Insurrection Act). Does the government think we are going to have an insurrection? Do you? Not today thank God.

That’s why we need everyone to support these events I just mentioned. We want to do this peacefully. We need to make an impact. We need all of you. Every single one of you. Today is all you have. You can choose to use today to make for a better tomorrow.

That’s the way I see it.

Should We Start Again?

2007-08-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've had a poll on this site for more than four months. 77% said that the Liberal Party should start again. I'm willing to join and help. I need participation. If you want to become involved, e-mail me at timgatto@charter.net. I'll get back to you. Peace Out.

Votes

2007-05-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

I put this voting poll on the top of The Liberal Party of America blog just to see if anyone believes that we should stat the party up again. As you can see, the turnout wasn't outrageous but over 80% of the respondents believed that we should. I think we should give it a try but we are going to need officers and we are going to need State and an Overall Chairman as well as a Party Secretary.

If there is anyone with a hankering to get into politics, well here's you chance. I don't know how long this is going to take or what the procedure should be so if anyone wants to post some advice go right ahead. I no longer wish to chair this party, in fact I don't even know if I want to devote too much time to it. I am recovering from heart surgery and working too hard at anything isn't that appealing. However, if I see this thing taking off, I might get involved even if I say I don't want to. At my age you begin to understand yourself better.

I have documents that used to be the platform, I have information about where the party has its credentials posted. There is not that much to it. If people join this party, they can feel free to change the name or do what they wish. If I get no response, it only means that people would love to see a liberal party of America, but that they really don't want to get involved. That's OK too.

Be Part of the Solution

2007-03-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

LPA: Today I toyed with the idea of trying to re-ignite the Liberal Party of America. So far I’ve had more hits than at anytime since the party was formed and had a blog. The party used to have a website that was absolutely stunning, but when we dissolved the party, we dissolved the website.

The number of hits today shows me that people are searching for anew party. In fact many of our hits were from search engines that had “Liberal Party” or “Liberal” in the field. I believe that this is indicative of the way that Americans are feeling. The Conservative right wing fundamentalists had their chance to live up to their “contract with America”. Like almost any organization, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The wishes of right wing conservatives became the wishes of politicians and their biggest supporters, and that is corporate America. In particular Big Oil, Defense Contractors, Insurance Companies and Medical Companies.

The corporations we need to focus on were the corporations that make up The Military Industrial Complex they talked about decades ago. The future is now, and we know who the enemy is. Recent statistics confirm that less than 10% of the population control more than 90% of it’s wealth. That is a statistic that Americans cannot live with. We have families where the primary breadwinner is working full time plus has a part-time job paying low wages, just to make ends meet. We have students attending college that statisticians say will be in debt until their 30's to pay for their education. Meanwhile the Republican government has cut student loans partly to finance this unnecessary war in Iraq.

We have spent over $410,000,000,000.00 (Billion) dollars on a war we are still not winning. The American people are tired of the war and feel that they were duped into supporting the war in the first place. The Democrats promised that they would raise the minimum wage and yet they have been outfoxed time and time again by the GOP. It doesn’t seem to matter who is in charge; the rich keep getting richer and the poor seem to lose more every year. Even healthcare has been put on the back burner in some families in order to buy food to put on the families dinner table. This isn’t just happening in Mississippi or Arkansas, it’s happening everywhere.

Education, Health Care, Job Growth (meaningful jobs, not minimum wage opportunities at Wal-Mart) and the Nation’s infrastructure have suffered under this administration. Even our rights guaranteed by the Constitution have been practically gutted. The Democrats promised action on these issues when they ran for seats in Congress in 2006. They have yet to make good on their lofty promises. What will the result of the peoples dissatisfaction be? Are they going to vote Republican next election and go from bad to worse? In reality the people have no real alternative. The only alternative is another political party to put the fear of the people back in government again. Both political parties know that with multi-million dollar House and Senate races and Billion dollar Presidential races, that a third party would have a hard time getting off the ground.

I want to say this; with the help of the internet and the tools available to politically minded people, it is no longer unfeasible to start a third major political party. People reading this might ask what it is that I am up too. What I am up to is to get a liberal/progressive political party started in the United States. Do I want to continue as chairman...no. I am recovering from open-heart surgery and I can’t devote the time and energy (I could be a good cheerleader). Do I think we can field candidates in political races in 2008? Maybe we can, if the office in question has such bad candidates that we have to run somebody, it’s not out of the question. We can however, control a voting bloc that could tip the balance in many elections. If a Democratic candidate is so unacceptable we could endorse a Republican Candidate, or a Green Party Candidate. The possibilities are endless.

This idea of starting a new political party should fill people with enthusiasm. This is a chance to start something pure and new. This is a chance to become a voice in government and possibly take the power away from the families and consortiums that now run our Federal government. This party is going to need leaders. It’s going to need a Party Chairman, a Vice Chairman a Secretary, State Chairmen. The list could go on for pages. What we need right now is an exploratory committee. We need people to get together and chart a path for this new party. I would be willing to join that committee in a limited capacity. It stands to reason that the people who volunteer for these posts would be the temporary leaders of this new party.

The time has really come. I know that Americans are disenchanted with what has been happening in politics. This is a chance to do something about it. Bemoaning the fact that the politicians in Washington are not working for the people won’t change the way things are. The only way to change things is by action. Just by signing up to be on the committee, or telling your friends about The Liberal Party of America will be some kind of action. The only thing these people in Washington understand is strength in numbers. We can do this if we have the will. We must do this, if not for ourselves then for the generations of Americans to come. It has to start somewhere, sometime. Let it start here and let it start now. Things won’t get better unless we make them better.

Do the Liberals Need A Party?

2007-03-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

LPA: The recent victory of the Democrats in the last election should have been the death knell of The Liberal Party of America. Instead of being the death knell however, it seems as if the call for a third party has become more pressing than ever. It seems that no matter what we say to the Democrats (by we I’m talking about the Liberal/Progressives) , they don’t seem to be listening. There is a Progressive Democrat caucus in Congress, but they are small in number compared to the mainstream Democrats. The mainstream Democrats are hardly discernible from the mainstream Republicans.

What is a liberal? That question has been asked and answered by John F. Kennedy when he accepted the Liberal Party of New York’s nomination for President. Liberal was not such a polarizing word back in those times. Lately the word liberal has lost some of it’s negative charge because of the failings of the conservative right, that have shown people in this country how close to fascism they can get. During the Rights “glory days” they have managed to gut our rights under the Constitution, invade a sovereign nation and foment a civil war there that we are still involved in four year later, and set up a “unitary power of the executive branch” that considers itself to be above the law.

You would think that the election of a Democratic Congress would pave the way for impeachment, but before Congress was even seated in Washington the leaders of the Democrats sat with this President and then declared that “impeachment is off the table” to the consternation of the people that helped vote the Democrats into power. Many people thought this was a clever ruse by Democrats that would surely lead to investigations of people in the administration that would lead to impeachment. This has not happened either. What will it take for the Democrats to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the crimes of this administration? Now we are involved in a scandal that involves the Attorney Generals office. Unbelievably, The White House is being tied to the dismissal of eight Federal Prosecutors that seem to have been fired for political reasons.

How long will it take to convince Pelosi and Company that we need a stronger system of checks against this “Unitary Power” of this executive branch? Many Americans are wary of our own government and even the relationship between Democrats and Republicans is suspect. After a Republican Congress has enacted The Military Commissions Act of 2006 that takes away Habeas Corpus and leaves the use of torture open for discussion, The Patriot Act that allows the government to search your house without a warrant and many other laws and “signing statements” that cloud the issue of where your civil rights end and where the governments jurisdiction begins goes directly to the heart of The Bill of Rights that have almost been rescinded.

Maybe the idea of a third party that has political clout is called for. Maybe The Liberal Party IS just what the doctor ordered or maybe another party could carry the message that the American people are fed up with politics as usual in Washington. The corporate PAC’s that donate to political campaigns have just about become the “deciders” of who gets to run for office, and who doesn’t. Most American have become disgusted with the way Corporate politics are played in Washington and many States have voted for “Clean Money Elections”. This is something that Congress should be doing on the national level. We can’t afford another George W. Bush sitting in the White House. Right now I believe that we will be lucky to get him out of Washington when his term is up. With so many of the peoples rights usurped by all the laws passed in the last six years, we will be fortunate to keep our Republic intact.

Is it time for a third party? This is something that the people must decide. As an American you must ask yourselves if you are willing to sacrifice your freedom for the idea of security? Is this security real or is it imaginary? Are these terrorists that hate us around the world so powerful and omnipotent that we must give up our privacy? Do you want your government engaging in torture? Do you believe that we need to spend 350% more than our nearest competitor on military spending? Do you believe we need military bases in over one hundred countries? Do you want to spend you children’s inheritance on controlling the middle east?

Both political parties are saying yes to the questions that I just asked. Make no mistake of the fact that many of the goals the Republicans have are the same as the Democrats. The time of the two party system has long been at an end. The biggest question you must ask yourself is if you are happy with whom you get to vote for when you go to the polls and vote. For too many years we have had the lessor of two evils. All of the candidates that have won in the primaries have been well connected with corporate funding. How long do you want this to go on? Are you satisfied that we have people running that have “The Right Stuff”?

The choice is yours to make. You can either beg for a place at the table with the Democrats, or you can be a part of something bigger. The Liberal Party needs leaders. The Liberal Party needs voices. Even if we could represent a bloc of voters, we still would be more effective than trying to make our voices heard independently. I believe that it’s time for change. I believe you think it’s time for a change. Together we can make that change. Why wait?

This ElectionI will Be Voting Democrat

2006-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

This election I will be voting for Democrats. I am not a Democrat, I was once, but after seeing how campaign financing really works, disgust overcame me and I tried to start a third party. Of course, the effort failed, I had no idea of what I was doing, maybe another time. Meanwhile, I just want to write about a few things that I believe are important enough to mention before we decide on who we are going to vote for, or whether or not to sit home and forget about going to the polls.

First of all, the idea of not voting in this particular election should be discarded. The thought of Republicans controlling the House and the Senate again would be too detrimental to America. The Republicans have proved to the nation that they are ineffective lawmakers. They have the Presidency, the House and the Senate, and they still couldn’t get anything done. Instead of trimming government, as the Republican mantra states, they have built the largest Washington Bureaucracy since the Roosevelt years. The Department of Homeland Defense is a huge white elephant that was politically motivated, and poorly planned, and now eats tax dollars faster than the government can appropriate them. It is a bureau of redundancy. Just about everything that makes up the DHD is duplicated in another department of the government. This massive entity could have been averted by putting the NSA, or the CIA as the oversight agency responsible for making sure that all agencies were on the same sheet of music, and cooperating with each other. Instead of making one agency more powerful than the other agencies so that somebody was running the show, the administration saw fit to enlarge government by creating this unwieldy monster.

The Republicans not only gave us a more government, they also saw fit to deprive Americans of their “certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This government has seen fit to negate Habius Corpus. This is the right of the accused to face his accuser and be presented with the evidence against them, and the right of the accused to stand trial and defend themselves against the charges, and the right to a speedy trial and to know how long they will be held. It started with the Magna Carta back in 1215, when the King was grabbing Lords and throwing them in dungeons. They also call it “due process”. In reality, it is the cornerstone of human rights. I have seen this administration throw it away as if it were excess baggage. Americans should know that if the government designates anyone, even an American citizen a terrorist, that you can just “disappear”. You may be “rendered” and taken aboard a charted jet with no markings, and taken to a country that allows torture, and be tortured. This is a “gift” from your government.

That isn’t all. The United States also has decided, with help from this Republican-led Congress, that the Geneva Conventions, the rules of warfare that I learned in the Army, are open to our interpretation. No longer can I give my name, rank and service number and expect any country not to torture me for information. Because of the actions of our government, it is now perfectly acceptable for other countries to interpret the Geneva Conventions the way that they want to. Quid pro quid. John McCain, himself a prisoner of war, should be ashamed of himself. The reason he is alive today is because of the Geneva Conventions. Many people say that other countries don’t follow them anyway. Some people kill other people. Should we make murder legal too?
The list goes on. The Federal minimum wage. Stuck on $5.15 since 1997, and Congress has yet to raise it. Why? Does it cost the “Republican base” too much to pay people a living wage? Here again I hear people say that only kids will work for minimum wage, it isn’t a real issue. That is a “lie of convenience”. I worked for a year for the Florida Workforce. I saw the refuse to put the “real” wages in the field on the computer program that averaged wages in Charlotte County. If the wage was under $8.00, they put the wage in the “remarks” column. When I went to my Republican State Senator to complain, I was told that there is no “whistleblower” protection for Florida State workers, to do so at my own risk. I didn’t speak up, and I should have. I was terminated anyway, with no reason, a month before my probation was up anyway. I could care less, I’m just pointing out that plenty of people besides kids are working for minimum wage. They are probably working more than one job too.

This prescription drug benefit for Medicare is a giant scam. If you don’t need many drugs, then fine. If you need a great deal of drugs for a catastrophic illness, then fine. If you are like most people and only spend a couple of grand for drugs, you are footing the bill. It is a bad benefit, poorly planned and poorly executed. The Republican political ads even have the nerve to point out here in South Carolina that certain people (Democrats), voted against the prescription drug bill. I would have voted against it too.

Congressional oversight has been non-existent. I blame both parties for this. This “Unitary Executive Branch” authority is not in any Federal law. “Bush has used presidential "signing statements" - statements issued by the President upon signing a bill into law -- to expand his power. Each of his signing statements says that he will interpret the law in question "in a manner consistent with his constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

When President Bush signed the new law, sponsored by Senator McCain, restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees, he also issued a Presidential signing statement. That statement asserted that his power as Commander-in-Chief gives him the authority to bypass the very law he had just signed. (Jennifer Van Bergan: Findlaw 01/09/06)

Where is the Congressional oversight when this president refuses to obey the letter of the law? He is in reality, using a line-item veto, which is illegal by the way, on laws that he doesn’t want to adhere to. The total number of “signing statements” by all Presidents before King Bush was 322. This President issued 435 in his first term alone! Where was congress when he was busy usurping their authority?

Hurricane Katrina. Need I say more? Where was the Federal response when it was needed? This administration was thinking about conquering the world while our own people were drowning in New Orleans. We responded to Pakistan’s earthquake better than we responded to New Orleans. This was despicable. Congress did nothing. “Old Brownie” was doing a particularly good job, until public outcry forced the President to fire this man. His background was as a horse auctioneer. Was that the qualification to head FEMA? Still, Bush vetoed Congress when they decided that there should be a qualification description for all similar posts. The President claimed that it “tied his hands”.

These are some of the reasons why I am going to vote for the Democrats in this election. You can call it number 1 in a series of articles I plan to write. I don’t believe that OPEDNEWS has the space to putt all the reasons in one article. I just want you to remember, I don’t make this stuff up.

America Is Losing it's Liberty; Should We Dissolve The Party?

2006-09-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

LPA: Should there even be a Liberal Party of America? There was a time when we had a pretty good start. It seems that this party is just about as dead as a doornail. In recent weeks, we have seen this Right Wing Fascists eliminate Habeus Corpus, and trick the Democrats for not fighting his plan to abrogate The Geneva Conventions by putting up a war hero (Who has betrayed his country) and two other "moderate" Republicans to initally declare themselves against the proposal, only to go into a back room, shake hands and come out telling everyone "we have reached a compromise". A compromise on what? The right to abrogate the Geneva Conventions and take out the cornerstone of Human Rights and the basis of Liberty? What do these people take us for?

I guess that they take us for idiots, and I guess that the people in The United States are idiots. They must be. They have sold out our basic law on evidentury proceedure that was intiated in the Magna Carta! I guess that was a weeks worth of good work for the Nazi Party of America, still calling itself the GOP. The "other" party, the demo-somethings won't be around too much longer, and either will we. We have failed to bring some sort of conciousness to America. Everyone seems to be asleep. I'm going to take a few weeks off and think about moving out of this country. It's getting to the point where it's not safe anymore.

Since 1215 The Magna Carta has said that a person must be charged to be held and that the person that is held must be given a opportunity to present a defense and be told how long they will be held. The government has done away with that. Is everyone allright with this? Do you all understand what's been done here or don't any people in this country care?

If you are picked up and it is said that you are a terrorist, even if you are not, you, under the law, can be held for as long as the government wants to hold you, and you can't defend yourself and you don't have to know how long they will hold you. Remember that the next time you get pulled over. Trust your government to do the "right" thing, they always do, don't they?

How to Join The LPA

2006-08-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

LPA: If you are reading this, you might be asking yourself, how can I join the Liberal Party of America? It's not hard. You do not have to give up your current party affiliation to be a part of this new hope for our country. The reason for this, is because we are not yet a fully registered political party. We would be, if we had the membership. If you ever desired to be on the ground floor of a great new movement, here is your chance.

Before you commit, you might want to check out our website. Click at the blue highlighted area, and it will take you to liberalpartyamerica.org. At this website, you may read about issues that we are trying to address, and our mission statement. Read this carefully, as this is what our party stands for. After yiu read this, and you still want to become a member, and work for Campaign Reform, and other issues that we care deeply about, such as our involment in the middle east, and National Health Care as well as many more issues, just drop an e-mail to the webmaster under "Contact Us". We will get in touch with you, and explain how you can be a part of this.

We take our mission seriously. We believe that this country needs new and progressive, moderate leadership. We believe that our nation is being divided by political parties that have gone too far to the left AND to the right. We need a common ground that we all can agree on. This is the reason we exist. This is also the reason that we are seeking members that care about the future of our nation. Come with us and become the voice of moderation, in this time of extremes. This can't happen without hard work from people like you and I. Don't count on things changing on their own. This nation is becoming more divisive by the day. Be a part of putting our nation back together again, and making the The United States whole again.

Twenty First Century "Common Sense"

2006-08-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

LPA: As this country nears it’s mid-term elections, we see a country that is taking a definite swing to the left. History has shown us, especially throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that general public consensus, moves like a pendulum, taking swings from the left to the right and then from right to left. It has been a constant shift, and in more ways than one, a good thing. The nations that move too far to the right, or too far to the left, seem always, to find themselves in turmoil that ultimately leads to violence and bloodshed. So this pendulum swing should be regarded as a good thing, not something extraordinary or dangerous.

The point that this Party would like to bring out is this; the Democratic victories that are expected in these upcoming elections, should not be regarded as the definitive move to the left. The real truth in this twenty first century, is that the Democratic Party is not the Democratic Party of the twentieth century. This is a sad, but realistic assessment. The shift from the far right Neo-Conservative movement to the Democrats, is a good thing, but is definitely NOT a shift to the left. The Democrats, actually, are still at this time, in my humble opinion, just a degree to the right on the pendulums’s swing.

Why do I say that? It is because of the way that campaigns are funded. It takes an extraordinary amount of money to finance a winning campaign. That kind of money doesn’t come from grassroots support as the Democrats are now claiming. The fact of the matter, is that it comes from corporate campaign donations. That along with union donations, organizational donations, and private citizen donations, make up a political parties war chest. The alarming part of this, is that the corporate donations are the largest part of the take. With corporate donations, certain favors must be returned in order that more corporate donations continue. This line of reasoning is just common sense. It is also common sense to realize that corporate agenda’s do not (except in rare cases) favor moving too far to the left. Corporations do not like to pay taxes, nor do they really like to pay out health benefits and retirement benefits to their workers. In this capitalistic nation, the bottom line for corporations are profits. Most corporations do not see these things as profitable.

There are really three ways that we can put this nation on the right track. The first, is to change the nature of corporate thinking. Healthy, happy employees are much more productive than disgruntled, stressed employees. To educate corporations and change the current way of thinking, would be in the nation’s best interest. Some corporate boards already are on board with that line of reasoning, and it has shown that enlightened corporations have better workers, thus increasing the bottom line. The second way to change is to install a national healthcare system that is funded by corporate taxes, along with personal taxes. This would take the onus off the corporations to provide healthcare in an environment that charges excessive premiums for healthcare coverage. This is hard to do, because many healthcare providers are also corporate donors to political campaigns. It is hard to take someone’s money, and then legislate against them. The third way, is to stop corporate donations altogether, This would be true campaign reform. It would allow our elected officials to operate on an equal footing, and also allow for legislation for the greater public good, instead of for the corporate good. This too is common sense.

Another way to send a message to the elected representatives in this country, is to join and back the Liberal Party of America. We want to change the way the political game is played in this nation. We stand for true campaign reform, and a happy, healthy workforce, along with a nation that encourages it’s public officials to legislate for the public good, instead of corporate interests This too is common sense.

There likely will really never be a third party. Either the Liberal Party of America will replace the Democratic Party that has fallen victim to corporate interests, in the same way the Republican Party had, years earlier, or the Democrats will wake up and smell the coffee and push for true campaign reform before the population of this nation realizes what is happening and replaces the Democratic Party with The LPA or another party that is working in the peoples best interests instead of corporate interests. Time will tell.

We are asking you to pass along this article to anyone that cares about the quality of their lives. We want the people of The United States of America to know that there are options to the status quo. The more support that we can muster, the more power we will have, by making our endorsement of candidates matter on this nations political landscape. We will endorse the candidates that most closely support our vision for the future. We will try, as we grow in power politically, to support those that endorse true campaign reform. If we cannot influence the political parties that are now the only real powers in this country, the Democrats and the Republicans, we will field our own candidates, and through grassroots support, we will fund our political races, but we will never accept corporate political donations. Think about this article. Think about what we are presenting. We are giving the people of this nation a real choice, not just the better of two evils. This is twenty First Century "Common Sense".

First Connecticut, Now The Nation

2006-08-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

LPA: The defeat of Joe Lieberman at the Democratic primary in Connecticut is a small victory in a larger war. The idea that a politician can completely disregard the wishes of a majority of his constituents is nothing new. The politicians in this country have been doing it for years. The war in Iraq is just a symptom of what is really going on in this nation, .The majority of the public do not support it, it was started on half-truths and outright lies, and the administration has not been held accountable. Meanwhile the tragic carnage in Iraq goes on, now turning into a civil war which our country unwittingly fostered, by invading a country that had not harmed the United States and had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Joe Lieberman supported that war. The people of his party that defeated him at the polls did not. The sad thing about all of this, is that the end has still not played out. Joe Lieberman will run as an independent, and because of the number of registered independent voters in that state, he could still win the election. The fact that he lost the primary is still a victory for all the people that worked together to defeat a man that refused to accept the will of the voters. Senator Lieberman has accused the people that defeated him of being the “fringe” of the Democratic Party, the “left” as they refer to it. The “liberal left” is what they call the activists that want a change to true representative government. The supporters of Senator Lieberman are blaming the bloggers for stirring dissent within the Democratic Party.

That is the one of the most ignorant statements that I have ever heard. Dissent is not caused by people writing against a candidate. The dissent is already there for the writer to comment on. Blaming his loss on “liberal left blogs” is akin to blaming the loss of an election to unkind editorials in a newspaper. Senator Lieberman holds himself up to be a “uniter” in a Washington that is rife with partisan politics, but when he portrays himself as a victim of “The Radical Left” he is just as much a divider as the people he claims to fight against.

The Liberal Party of America is not endorsing any candidate. Ned Lamont is a multimillionaire that used a large part of his own funds to win the Primary. While some may call that admirable, we see it as another example of how the wealthy can buy their way into Congress. We are not saying that Mr. Lamont is a bad person because he is wealthy, we may endorse him when the time is right, what we are saying though, is that our elected officials should not need millions of dollars to run for office. If that is the case, than we will only have the very wealthy representing all Americans in Congress. We do not believe that the founding fathers drew up the Constitution to return this country to the rule of the aristocrats. We do not believe that the haves should rule over the have-nots. We believe in equality under the law and equality in our elected government. The only way that we will have equality in our political representation is through real and meaningful election reform. Elections should not be bought by individuals or corporations. To have corporations pour billions of dollars into our political campaigns make them “super-represented”. Then our nation becomes a corporatocracy. That is very close to fascism.

We have seen how the will of the people can take a Senator’s own party away from him for not listening to the will of the people that elected him. Now we must take our government back from the PAC’s, lobbyists, the mega-rich, and the corporations that are now in control of both houses of Congress. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an American issue. Just as with Global Warming, the time to act was yesterday.

Real Campaign Reform and True Democracy

2006-07-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

LPA: If you are a blogger, or a student, or someone who just wants to get a message out that you believe is really important, where would you go to do this? If you had a fantastic way to change the way that we do business politically in the United States, and it would mean, if your idea was ever adopted, or even heard, that once again we could bring politics, and elections down to a individual choice instead of corporate and PAC influence that renders our individual vote meaningless, if you could do this, would you consider it a good thing?

If you could take votes that affect the way we do business, away from the business lobbyists, and the way that we market drugs, away from the pharmaceutical lobbyists, and the way that we fuel our homes and automobiles, away from the oil lobbyists, would you consider that a good thing? If everyone in the country had access to good medical care would you consider that a good thing?

If you said no to all of the questions that I asked above, then just stop reading right here, because obviously you are a politician, a lobbyist, a major political party official, employed by the oil companies, or a medical insurer, or you are just a misanthrope that hates his fellow man, and loves to watch the reality shows on TV where the person who does the dirtiest, nastiest things to the other contestants wins.

The Liberal Party of America was founded in order to be able to bring a fresh, new way of looking at things to the people of this country. I have found, that the people that are the hardest to talk to, are the very people that call themselves liberal. I have also found, that if you are not affiliated with either the Republican Party, or the Democrats, that it is almost impossible to get your point of view heard anywhere on the Internet. I think that the Liberal Party of America has made some inroads, but we have yet to be represented by a link to any liberal or progressive blog on the blogosphere because we are not a mouthpiece for The Democratic Party. We have no rich, well connected friends, and we don’t give money to anyone to say anything nice about us.

The reason that I am telling you this is because you read the liberal blogs and keep up with the latest progressive trends, all you are really hearing is the same old trash that everyone else is talking about, but in a new package, sometimes with a few swear words thrown in to make it seem that you are reading a real “radical,” “cool,” and “cutting edge” blog that gives you the real lowdown on things. Well, you are not. All you are reading is the same Democratic crap with a liberal title on it. The Democrats have no more interest in changing the “Status Quo” than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney want you to believe we have a threat like Global Warming to worry about. Nobody in American politics, especially the people that belong to the two major political parties, wants to upset the proverbial apple cart.

If the Liberal Party of America could outline a plan that would give this country campaign reform that would really reform the way campaigns are being run, and the way politicians are bought and sold like the talking heads that they are, and have it in such language that anyone with a high school education could understand it, wouldn’t you support it? Our plan makes it impossible for any wealthy family, corporation, or movement to influence the winners. At the same time this would guarantee fair and transparent elections, would you be interested? I believe that you would. Think of a country that uses all the resources at its disposal to help its citizens and those people that are less fortunate in the world.
The Liberal Party of America is going to unveil a Campaign Reform proposal like no other: the corporations, and the major political parties, and the richest families in the world will do everything in their power to stop our proposal from seeing daylight. Don’t believe me, you don’t even have to trust me, just read the proposal that we are going to present to Congress AND to the American people. We must present this directly to you, for if we do not, the politicians will kill it. I can assure you of that fact. Please check in from time to time. We will try our best to make this proposal as public as we can, but we will be lucky to get it off of our own web site. Please stay tuned.

The Coming War Debate in The House

2006-06-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Liberalpro :The Washington Post reported today, that due to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the President’s “heroic” trip to The Green Zone in Iraq with 25 lbs of body armor wrapped around his frame, (body armor that most soldiers “on the ground” don’t have) that the time is right for a political debate in Congress, about this war.

The Republicans want the Democrats to “put up or shut up”. They feel cocky now that al-Zarqawi is dead, and their mentor actually went into the belly of the beast. They feel that they have some “political capitol” and they are going to spend it. So now they want a dog and pony show in Washington to show how damn patriotic the Republicans are, and how wrong the Democratic (and some Republican) congressmen are. They are trying to show how the Republican Conservative Right has fought this war for the sake of American security and Iraqi freedom.

Let me help Americans put this in perspective if you would be so kind to let me. We have a government that has had so many setbacks that they are far too numerous to put in this article. The entire country of Iraq is still a war zone after more than three years of hard fighting. We have spent over $288,000,000,000 (billion) dollars on this war. A good portion of it going to contractor’s such as Haliburton, without any substantial result, or actually being even close to finishing their projects. Over 2,600 American soldiers dead, and over 150,000 Iraqi dead and wounded (civilians). They have a civil war raging in their country between the Shia and everyone else. The government is more closely allied with Iran in terms of religion and culture than it is with the U.S. The Iranians are predominantly Shia too. Iraq is covered in blood and it’s population suffers under fighting between the US Army, The British Army , The Iraqi Militias, The foreign insurgents, and the so-called Iraqi self-defense forces. It is quite clear that to be an Iraqi in today’s world is to be in a precarious situation to say the least.

So they want to debate in the House about the war. The politicians that vote against the war will be looked on as not being “on board” with our national interests. The politicians that vote for it, will be seen as patriotic and “in-line” with the will of most Americans. That is what the Republicans are trying to do here. They are again trying to make it an us against them, partisan issue. A political issue. Certainly not a moral issue, if they tried to use it as a moral issue, they would lose the vote, hands down. This is a last ditch attempt to keep the Republican Party alive, after this President has made just about every mistake that a leader could make in his years in the White House. From his “Axis of Evil” speech to his “Bring it On” speech. From the outing of Valerie Plame, to the NSA wiretaps on American citizen’s. From the rise of the price of oil to the fall of American influence in the world, this president has done nothing right.

Now the Republican’s want to push this war debate into the halls of the house, so that they can show the American public who the real traitors to this country are. Don’t buy it. The people that got us into this mess are the people who are the real traitors. Remember “Mission Accomplished!” ? Remember Bush flying onto the deck of that aircraft carrier in his flight suit, calling attention to the few months he served in the Air National Guard while they paid “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” to lie about Sen. John Kerry? Don’t let them sell you on this war for profit and power. The real Patriots are the people that voted against this fiasco.

Let me tell you why I feel that I can say what I’m saying with a clear conscience. What I feel gives me the right to say what I believe. I have two letters of Appreciation from The US Army. One from a General, and one from a Colonel, thanking me for volunteering to come out of Army retirement to volunteer to serve in Afghanistan. I would do it again. I won’t fight in Iraq. We have no business in Iraq. Don’t let these NeoCons that never put a uniform on make you believe that we do. It seems that men who never went to war, are the ones that glorify it. War is a measure of last result, not a political tool to be used by fools.

The sad thing about this vote in the House, is that many Democrats that are against this war will vote for it again because they don’t want to seem as if they are out of step. They will put aside their personal convictions in order that they don’t stand out. These are the politicians that made me lose faith in the Democratic Party. These are the same people that forced me to start The Liberal Party of America, that is the only alternative to politics as usual in this county.

So come with us and help us to change the Status Quo. This country deserves better, This country deserves “statesmen, not Politicians” Remember, “Liberal Values are American Values”. America is a good country. Don’t let these politicians pull her down. If it’s not our job, than who’d job is it? The politicians in Washington? Don’t believe it. Trust me, I’ve seen this movie before. Last time we lost 58,191 dead and missing, to prove just how wrong they were.

A Call for Support

2006-06-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

LPA: We are in the process of filing papers in order to register our political party with the various state and Federal agencies that require us to do so. If anyone that reads us, or supports the Liberal Party of America can help us in this endeavor, or knows of someone that can, feel free to get back to us at our website:
http://LiberalPartyAmerica.org .

We feel that the time is right to take an active part in the political landscape of our country. To sit on the sidelines and armchair quarterback, is not what we want to do. If you would like to be a part of the solution, and join us, please contact us on our website. This is an opportunity to be a part of something that may change the world. We don't believe that American values are a thing of the past. The very things that brought the Colonials to the First Continental Congress are still alive in 21st century America. The politics, and the politicians that are in Washington today do not reflect the reality of the way most Americans think. The so-called silent majority that they claim to represent, is no more than a blank check for them to wage war in our name, to tax middle class America out of existance, to deny health insurance to over 50% of Americans, and to fill the coffers of the richest companies in the world on the backs of American citizen's.

We really believe that "Liberal Values are American Values". The far right has distorted the word liberal to mean everything they are afraid of. The true definition of liberal is:

Liberal: 1a. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attititudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry. b. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad -minded. c. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism. d. Liberal Of, designating, characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britian, Canada, and the United States. 2a. Tending to give freely; generous: as in a liberal benefactor.

Now is this a definition of a person that is weak on defense? Is this a person that wants a world government at the expense of our freedom? Does this word mean a tree-hugger that is out of touch with reality? No. It means that liberals are open to new ideas. It means that we are broad-minded and lovers of personal freedom and liberty.

Tell the people that preach hate and Dogma, that you won't stand for it anymore. Let us retire these politicians that have a different face for every different occassion. Let us find Americans that want to elect "Statesmen, not Politicians". Help us to help America.

Politicians and Iraq - Make Them Act Now

2006-06-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

LPA: This is an attempt to alert American citizens to what your political parties are trying to do, and how they are going about influencing you. The last three years have seen an illegal, immoral war, launched against a country that had no designs on the United States of America, and posed no immediate threat to our basic security or welfare. The United States government, with approval and consent from both major political parties, brutally invaded Iraq and to date have killed upwards of 35,000 Iraqi citizens and almost 2,500 American soldiers.

This war has cost the American taxpayer over $277,000,000,000.00 dollars. That number is billions, not millions. We are still involved in this war with no end in sight, and with our government proclaiming no viable exit strategy. When we entered this unlawful war, we were fighting against the Iraqi Army. Since defeating the Iraqi Army, we have created a vacuum in which belligerents from across the Muslim world have poured into, and we now are fighting many different factions that are partly Iraqi, and partly terrorists from other countries than Iraq. We have a military force in Iraq that is undermanned and badly equipped. Many soldiers that are serving in combat roles in that country, are on their third and even fourth tours of duty there.

The American government is side-stepping this issue, by creating issues that will distract Americans away from this illegal, unjust war, that we are definitely losing. They are bringing up issues such as immigration, same-sex marriages, and other issues to take the focus off of this war. Don’t be fooled by the two major political parties. Don’t let the Democrats tell you that it is a Republican mistake, the majority of Democrats in the House and Senate voted for this war. They are as culpable as the Republicans.

The Liberal Party of America wants the citizens of the United States of America to be aware of what the politicians are doing. We are asking that you hold your elected representatives responsible for the death and destruction that they are bringing to this area of the world. We want you to support our soldiers and demand that our government provide them with body armor and armored vehicles , and the number of soldiers that are needed to bring this sad chapter of American history to an end. We are asking that you hold your elected officials responsible for this travesty, and to remember them at the election booth, and send this administration, and these politicians in Washington a clear message that American citizen’s will no longer put up with military adventures overseas, unless The United States is threatened with a clear and present danger.

There is no way to convey how important this message is. We urge you to e-mail this message to your Congressmen and Congresswomen and to your Senators and to the President, as well as your friends and family. Don’t let our government side-step this all important issue, and let it turn out to be another Vietnam where over 56,000 soldiers lost their lives for a military misadventure.

We are not including the military operations in Afghanistan. There we are facing an enemy that is a clear and present danger. We might have brought those same elements to Iraq. We need to solve this problem in Iraq now, and not let the politicians in Washington defray this problem until 2008. Support out troops. Demand an accounting in Washington. Demand that our government face it’s responsibilities and either end this war that is going nowhere, or win it and bring our soldiers home.

NOW IS THE TIME

2006-05-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

LPA: What have the two major political parties done for you lately? The Republicans (with help from the Democrats) have gotten us into a mess in the middle east that has made our country seem a little like the Third Reich, and the Democrats haven’t done a damn thing, except sit there and watch a right wing fundamentalist conservative wiretap American citizens and deliver “signing statements” that allow him to ignore any law passed that he doesn’t want to subscribe too. We have seen the country ignore our citizens along the gulf coast that were devastated by a tremendous hurricane, we have seen the oil companies make record profits while Americans pay over $3.00 a gallon for fuel, and we have seen our basic freedoms become eroded by the “Patriot Act” that is definitely not an act written by anyone I would call a patriot.

So we have seen a needless war, our basic rights curtailed, CIA spies outed by their own government for political purposes, and what has the opposition party done? Nothing of any consequence. It is hardly surprising since they are all cut from the same cloth. Most of them are wealthy, many are attorneys, and you can’t tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat without a D or an R under their names on the television screen. I don’t know about you, but people that I know are more than just a little sick of government run by the latest popularity poll.

I was a Democrat. I was a Democrat when being a Democrat meant something. I saw Al Gore turn his back on Bill Clinton and tried to run on that wonderful personality that he cultivated while Vice President. I was not surprised when he lost to a neocon from Texas in a stolen election while winning the popular vote. Why he turned his back on the man who had the highest approval ratings of any President is beyond me. These are the same Democrats that let George W. Bush send our youth off to a war nobody wanted or understood. They still don’t do anything about it.

There are a few good Democrats, just as there are a few good Republicans. I empathize the word few. We will be looking at the records of the politicians running for office, and we are going to be very vocal about whom we support and whom we don’t, and why. This is a heads-up to people that believe that it’s going to be business as usual. We didn’t start this party just to write articles and bemoan the plight of American politics. We are asking the citizen’s from all parties for your support. We intend to make a difference in the years to come. We are The Liberal Party of America. We believe that Liberal Values are American values. We don’t believe that liberal is a word to run away from. We don’t believe that the two political parties are too much different from each other, although they would like you to believe it. We want our country to be governed by statesmen, not politicians that change their views with the latest poll.

Come and help us deliver our government back to the people, and take it out of the hands of political machines. Give us your feedback and help us to become the watchdog of American politics. If we can’t find someone to endorse, give us the power to run our own candidates. This country needs a fresh new political party. Go to our website at liberalpartyamerica.org and read our platform. Read our unofficial blog at liberalpro.blogspot.com to better understand our views. Become part of the solution, and let us together, rid ourselves of the problem. The problem is our two party system the way it stands. We have to have an alternative. We are the alternative. We are the party that subscribes to Jefferson, MLK, JFK, Adlai Stevenson, and all the other statesmen that called themselves LIBERAL. Help us to bring America back to the international community of nations. Help us to make the U.S.A. a country that you can be proud of.

Taxes, Taxes

2006-04-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

LPA: The way the tax system in America is formulated, the people who pay the most tax are the people who make the most money(sometimes). This is generally an accepted practice throughout history. The tax cuts that President Bush called for went mostly to the rich because it was a straight percentage across the board. The more tax you paid, the higher your savings. OK, fair enough. I think it could have been structured so that the huge middle class could have benefitted more from the tax cut, but let's face it, that's what Republicans are all about. They represent the wealthy, and are supported by the wealthy, so they cater to the wealthy, there is no surprise in this.

The things that needs immediate attention are very simple to understand and justify. If a publicly held company is not making a profit, or the company is just about breaking even, then why should it's corporate executives make millions of dollars? If the company is a private concern, then it's nobody's business, but a publically held company should come under government scrutiny. It's not fair for an investor to see his or her investment go into the pocket of a CEO or some other administrator while the company is going down the road to ruin. These "Golden Parachutes" and ridiculous perks and salaries should be tied to how much the company is making. If the company is making windfall profits then by all means reward the people that led it there. If the company is going belly-up, why pay these suits that are responsible for running it into the ground? Why should the CEO of a company that is in the red make 32 million dollars a year? Is that fair for the shareholders? In my view, 32 million or 20 million is too much to pay anyone for anything, but when a company can't pay it's bills and goes into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it cost's the government money to help bail these companies out. I don't think it is fair for the shareholder, or the taxpayer to help these people to mantain thier yacht club memberships and pay off the mortgage for their mansions.

Another thing is the capital gains tax. If I buy a house and pay 20 years, or 5 years on a house and it appreciates, or I have a business that I worked hard to get going and sell it at a profit, why then should I cut the government into almost half of the profit? Why even try to make a profit if I have to share that much with the government? We need more incentive to get people to invest and grease the wheels of industry. This Republican "Trickle-down" theory of cutting income taxes doesn't work. The more money most people make, the more they have in their portfolio. The majority (there are exceptions) of the wealthy didn't get wealthy by sharing it with others.

Basically I'm just pointing out that the tax codes have to and must be changed to reflect the reality of today's world. The incomprehensible laws that have piled one atop the other, make it almost impossible to operate anything without the assistance of a CPA and tax professionals. Even if one could afford it, the possibilities of violating the myriad of laws and regulations put people on very shaky ground. There is a better way. The better way is revising the tax code based on logic rather than self interest. To bring an independant committee of business people and economists. The way to change the tax codes is to keep the politicians out of it until it comes to a vote, and then if a compromise can not be reached, to bring it to a referendum to the American people. That is the only way that we are going to fix this broken economic model. This is the only way to make it fair for everyone. This is the right thing to do.

Are We Becoming Nazi America?

2006-03-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

Liberalpro: Has anyone noticed the neocon incursions into our homes? Has anyone noticed the glamorizati0n of the military, law enforcement agencies and any other governmental organizatation that carries a weapon. The perpatrator is eight times out of ten, a male, with a middle eastern accent, or a black man who was "left out of the system" and in one case out of ten, an average white guy, just to keep the scales of justice right, and to add some suspence to a show.

Look at the shows on the networks. We have "The Unit" which actually promotes the military breaking the law and ripping the constitution into tiny little pieces. We have a million CSI's and I myself have witnessed more autopsies than the average doctor. We have Hi-Tech this and that on the History Channel, we have NCIS, Cops, America's most Wanted, and more everyday. We have movies coming out of Iraq at an average of two a month. The networks are saturated with plots against the US, Government Agencies run amok, and the star of almost every one of these shows is the agent with the biggest weapon.

In reality, I don't care what people watch. When I was younger and more impressionable, we had shows like M*A*S*H and All in The Family and other shows that were anti killing and death. Now we have shows on television and the movies that make the case that if you kill somebody who disagrees with you, well then, it's OK. So when this generation grows up and weapons sales quadruple, don't blame it on the family that has both the mother and father working to pay for the basic nessesities of life, blame it on whomever is glorifying the right to shoot people that disagree with the government. Blame it on this whole American mindset towards violence. Remember, this is coming from a man who spent a career in the military, so get that notion of liberal pacifist, tree-hugger out of your mind.

The terrorists that blew up the World Trade Center did much more than kill almost three thousand people and wipe out some good real estate for a few years. They forgot the old maxim that violence begets violence. They also turned this nation into what is rapidly becoming "Nazi America". This is something that we as Americans can stop from happening. This is the biggest threat we face at this time. We are a nation that is founded on the principles that are written into the American Constitution. When we drift away from that, we become just another country, in a maze of countries that are fighting for supremacy, as if that notion really existed.

Global Warming, Business, and the end of Civilization

2006-03-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

LPA: The Liberal Party of America believes that it is a moral travesty that 2% of the population control most of this planet's wealth. These are the same people that don't want the majority of people to know that this planet is faced with the prospects of global warming, and that unless something is done about it in the next ten years, then in fifty years, we will have reached "The point of no return" and that the planet will face things like the jetstream stopping and therefore bringing another Ice Age to the Northern Hemisphere in the space of 15 years, or the Ice caps melting and the resulting rise in sea levels will completly cover all of our coastal cities as well as Florida and Louisiana, or probably both the rise of the oceans and the Ice Age together.

This will occur during severe and numerous hurricanes and cyclones, droughts, and terrible storms. This is not science fiction, it is science fact. Our own government agencies have been censored from giving the American people the facts. This is because things like implementation of things such as the Kyoto Protocals will cost American business money. Money that they do not wish to part with. Woldwide conglomerates do not want the people of the world to know this, else they try to stop it, costing these companies trillions of dollars.

It is the top 2% of the world's population that will kill not only the other 98% of the world, but eventually themselves. Civilization will fall and if anyone survives, we will be thrown back to the stone age. The Hopi Indians say that this has happened many times before. They claim every twenty thousand years. Maybe they are right. All we can see now is that the American government censors any real information about global warming. The immorral part and the shame of it all, is that more than likely, the sheep who make up the other 98% of the world's population will let them do it. You can be one of those sheep, or you can write to your elected officials and demand that the White House stop censoring our own governmental agencies reports.

LPA Statement on The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

2006-03-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

LPA: When President Bush defends his violations of our basic freedoms because of this "War on Terror" that the administration has deftly manufactured, he also brings up the fact that this "War" will be a long and costly one. He also uses the argument that presidents in time of war have suspended Habeas Corpus and violated the Fourth Amendment. This is not a valid argument and
LPA would like to point out that:

1. This is not a war that has been declared and legitimatized by the Congress of the United States according to the law of the land under the Constitution.

2. The forces of Iraq did not pose a "Clear and Present Danger" to the United States or its citizens.

3. The proper protocol involving international disputes as provided for in the United Nations Charter and UN Security Council Resolutions were ignored.

4. The United States has no right to unilaterally intervene in the affairs of other sovereign nations, whether to “democratize” them or not. Indeed, as a signatory of the UN Charter, the United States is legally bound to respect the territorial integrity of all Member-States of the United Nations. Ironically, the administration wishes to “export democracy”, when in fact it seeks to dismantle the fundamentals of our own representative democracy and our republic’s constitutional form of government.

LPA also stresses the point that we are not including the Afghanistan conflict in this article. These are two very different conflicts. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda and other Islamist terror groups did pose a “Clear and Present Danger” to the United States and its people. If the President and his administration wanted to do things correctly, they could have gone to the UN after 9/11, when there was great sympathy and respect for the people of the United States. At that pivotal time, the President could have easily won a formal Declaration of War against the nation of Afghanistan.

We have seen this administration take us down the road of international intervention in that is unprecedented in the post-war history of the United States. The war in Vietnam was also unlawful, but the government of South Vietnam although a pawn of the West, did invite the United States and other countries to help them to fight a communist insurrection that was aided and abetted by the Soviet Union, the Peoples Republic of China, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. There was no such call for intervention from anyone in Iraq. What is more, there were no links between Iraq and Al-Qaeda and far more reason to pressure countries like Saudi Arabia for their financial and moral support of radical Islamist terrorism.

The Liberal Party of America believes that the Bush administration has manipulated the facts and that a war of aggression was instigated by this government and is illegal under the Constitution, and binding International Law. We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urge that this conflict be turned over to the United Nations before it evolves into an Iraqi civil war that will have been caused by United States intervention and its faulty (or consciously manipulated) intelligence. The so-called facts and premise for the war in Iraq has been repeatedly refuted by senior intelligence, diplomatic and administration officials.

In order for the United States to avoid being seen by the rest of the world as an international criminal state, this matter must be relegated to the Security Council of the United Nations.

The reason for this is clear. Since our incursion into Iraq, no matter which side you believe or what you may think about the morality or legality of it, it has brought that country to almost complete devastation. The crumbled infrastructure, and now the attacks on Sunnis by the Shia and vice-versa have brought the nation to ruin. The bloodshed and the tens of thousands of lives lost in this escapade now threaten to surpass even the ruinous rule of Sadaam Hussein. This is not what the people of the United States of America wanted when we sent our troops into that country. The time to stop the death and destruction is now.

This is the policy of the Liberal Party of America and we believe that all Americans need to write to their legislators and demand that the situation in Iraq be brought to the UN Security Council immediately, to stop the needless bloodshed which tarnishes the image of our country, our core values, and daily destroys innocent life.

A Nation Divided

2006-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

LPA: As the Chairman of The Liberal Party of America, I would like to take this occasion before the President's State of The Union Address to pose some questions to the American people themselves. We all know what has happened in this country since the terrible events of 9/11, but I don't think that while we talk about security and defeating terrorism, that many Americans have given the thought of real citizenship in this country, anymore than lip service. This might be a very sarcastic thing to say, but I would like my fellow citizen's to see some of the things that have transpired through non-partisan eyes.
First and formost, this has become a divided, hateful nation, with people believing politics over principles. I have watched our elected leaders use the war on terrorism as a political tool to advance their agenda's and all that this behavior has led us into, is a world that is more insecure and perilous than it was at the height of confontation during the cold war. At a time when the nation should have come together, I have seen it pulled apart by those on the extreme right and the extreme left. Most folks in the country have political ideals that lie somewhere in the middle. Yet I see no statesmen emerging to try to pull us together, only power hungry politicians of both parties trying to drive a wedge into common interests that are shared by both parties. This is why The Liberal Party of America was founded in the first place. We are not winning the war on terrorism, we are only letting these terrorists pull us farther apart. We need to go back to what the Constitution framed in it's on unique way, that this country is a country with checks and balances. That no one branch of government should have power over the other branches of government. That we all have certain unalienable rights that cannot and should not be taken away by anyone, not by the President, not by the Congress, and not by the Judiciary.
We can see everyday that the primary argument is not for the welfare of the people of the Unites States of America, but for the welfare of special interests that have slowly but surely sapped the respect that the average citizen has historically had for our elected officials. We have seen our President use his office to push for a right wing agenda that has not been authorized by any laws that have been passed by Congress. When American's ask under what authority the President is acting, we hear shadowy statements such as the Unitary Presidency. Where in the Constitution does it talk about the Unitary Power of The Executive Branch?
The fastest way for our country to fall, is to not rise to the terrorist threat because we are too busy either trying to grab power, or too busy trying to stop others from grabbing power during a national crisis. This administration should be investigated by a special prosecutor and the President should be subject to impeachment if the results of the special prosecutor has found that any laws have been broken.
This is a time when all Americans from every party should stop and think about what it is we want the future to hold for America. We can have a nation divided among its people, and a nation derided by other nations for it's failure to consult and act in consort with our traditional allies, or become a responsible democratic nation that lives up to the one person, one vote principle and works within the framework of a world community to solve the problems that are before us. America can only do this if every citizen votes, if every citizen becomes aware of what is happening nationally, and globally. This is a new era, an era where all nations are interconnected by global economics. This is not a world in which one country can act unilaterally as The United States has been doing since the turn of this century. We have to understand that this country has to start working in the framework of an interconnected world, or be a pahriah that ended it's influence by fighting amoung itself.

Hamas a Surprise?

2006-01-30T04:12:00.000-08:00

LPA: This is not an article to gloat, but I knew Hamas was going to win that election, and I never left my living room in Florida. What does that say for our government in Washington? I mean what do we pay them for? Maybe you people forgot, but they DO work FOR us, not the other way around. They coundn't even get this right. I wasn't going to say anything, but when I saw "Condi" Rice tell the NY Times that nobody saw it coming, I almost slapped myself. I mean am I living in a dream world here?
Did nobody see it coming when they found no WMD's in Iraq? Did nobody see it coming when the government found out that foriegn nation's don't like the idea of being occupied by another power no matter how good the intentions are? Did nobody see it coming when a Category 4 (near 5) hit New Orleans and put "The Chocolate City" underwater for weeks? When ARE they going to see something coming. You right wingers forget the biggest one of all. They didn't see it coming when four jets were hijacked out of our own airports and used top kill almost 3,000 people. They also didn't see it coming when almost 2300 soldiers died and almost 17,000 wounded came back from the middle east.
Frankly, for me, the next three years can't go by fast enough (If I make it that long). I can't understand why Americans put up with this nonsense from a government that can't function. If I saw it coming by reading the paper and getting on my computer and reading the foriegn press, then why didn't they? Because they have a terminal case of political blindness. They don't see what is really going on, they see what they believe is going on, what their "advisors" tell them is going on. That has been the way Washinton has operated since "W" got there. Maybe it's time he started to read the newspapers and watch the news instead of relying on advisors that tell him everything he wants to hear.

A Matter of Principle

2006-01-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

LPA:I watched CBS Nightly News tonight, and I was a bit puzzled about what I was hearing. I listened to a report that Hamas, the Palestinian terror network, was running against Fatah, the other Palestinian terror network, that is now a political party, in the Palistinian elections. I remember growing up and hearing about Fatah (I believe the newspeople called it Al-Fatah) back in the day. I remember how the Isreali People had to live under the constant threats of Yassar Arafat and the Fatah movement and the knowledge that any day the Isreali State might cease to exist.
Now I hear that we have just given two million dollars to this very same organization to try to make sure that the election is not swept by Hamas. Bob Shieffer even told me that if Hamas wins, that the US will pull all it's foriegn aid from the infant Palestinian State. That is a hard one for me to swallow.
First of all, aren't we fighting for Democracy a few hundred miles away in Iraq? Secondly, aren't we fighting for the new Iraqi government to support inclusion? That is, the inclusion of the Sunni's along with the Shia and the Kurds? Now isn't that what Democracy is all about? Why are we paying a former terrorist organization two million dollars of American taxpayer money, to help it win over another terrorist organization that istrying to include itself in the political process, when just hundreds of miles away, we are trying to promote what we are trying to prevent in Palestine? Now do you understand why the Arab world and Television stations like Al Jezerah get confused with American political agendas? Am I crazy, or does there seem to be something wrong with the scenario that I just laid out for you?
If we are to support Democracy, we don't just support Democracy when our guy wins. That is the Neo-Con version of Democracy. We support Democracy, irregardless who wins. George Bush has a "best buddy" in Russia that is playing Neo-Con Democracy. King George seems to think that it is OK. As long as the side that we are betting on is winning, than democracy is OK. If the side that we don't want to win, looks like it might win, then doing things that don't turn out to be nessessarily democratic is OK. That is the right wing Republican way of doing things. This is the way that they operate.
We, as American, must ask the President... No, DEMAND THAT THE PRESIDENT supports our democratic ideas as spelled out in our constitution, or resign from office. This is a situation that we, as a country cannot endure. The very image of The United States is at stake. We are a country that was built on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. When we disregrard these principles continuosly, we become something other than the country that our founding fathers wanted us to become. We become a dictorial empire. I do not believe that the people of the United States want to be part of a Dictatorial Empire.
This is just another example of the mismanagement of our government by the far right. The American Liberal Party calls for an investigation into this abuse of foriegn policy. As much as I might side with our Isreali friends, and detest Hamas as an organization, you can't have one set of rules for this situation, and another set of rules for just about the same situation a few hundred miles away with different players. We either promote Democracy or we don't. If we can't promote Democracy in Palestine, we shouldn't try to promote it in Iraq. This is an issue of princple and also a moral issue, and the Bush administration is failing on both counts.

Oppose Alito's Confirmation

2006-01-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

LPA:It will probably come as no surprise that some of the people in the Liberal Party of America oppose the nomination of Judge Alito to be confirmed to sit on The Supreme Court. I respect Judge Alito, and feel that he has worked hard to get as far as he has, coming from an average middle class family. Although I admire the man and I feel that he is a testement to hard work and tenacity, his opinions as an appleate Judge of The Third Federal Court in Pa. have shown him to be overly zealous in upholding the rights of the majority over the minority. In too many cases, Judge Alito has shown an intolerance toward legitimate complaints of the average working Americans against the bigotry and intolerant attitudes of those with money and affluence. In almost all cases of racial bigotry, Judge Alito has ruled against the plaintiff.
His decisions on the Appellate court are not the only thing that are disturbing about Judge Alito's record. Besides his lack of sympathy or empathy for the little guy, he also sides with people that argue that the executive branch has lost too much power over the years. I have read articles in too many places of his need to defend this "Unitary Executive Theory" and that is a clear invitation to usher in a dictatorship of the executive branch. That in itself does not sit well with my idea of government.
I believe that Judge Alito would be a deciding vote for the far right in every case that came before the court. I believe that the way that the Supreme Court is at this moment, that the addition of Samuel Alito would be a rubber stamp for the far right to challenge any and all liberal measures thjat the court has upheld over the past few decades, including a woman's right to choose on abortion. We as Liberals must let our Seantors know that we oppose the nomination of this Judge to The Supreme Court. A phone call, or an e-mail to all the liberal leaning Senators of both parties is clearly in every Liberal's self interest in a fair Supreme Court.

Gore Returns

2006-01-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

LPA:Al Gore delivered a speech yesterday, that could have been taken from the pages of our website, or our blog. He reminded Americans that this President, does not have the authority to circumvent the very court that was established to give him the authority that he needed to authorize the NSA wiretaps on American citizens. He did not have to resort to beaking the law by not informing them. What Mr Gore had to say was no different than what we have been writing about since the New York Times exposed this betrayal of the trust that Americans put in their president. What was important to me, was the way he delivered the speech. Gone was the old Al Gore who could put you to sleep wiithin the first 2 minutes of uttering the first word, and in his place was a dynamic speaker, who had the courage, to stand up to the Washington Neo-Con gang, and tell it like it is in a forceful common sense way.
We applaud the speech that Mr. Gore delivered yesterday, and we will continue to watch the things he says, and does in the future. I'm sure that his presidency being stolen from him by political criminals with no scruples radicalized him, but maybe that was just what he needed to become the Al Gore that we see today. Somebody with a clear vision of what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution, and wrote the seperation of powers by the three branches of government into law. He spoke eloqently yesterday about that very subject, and here is where I give credit where credit is due. From my own perspective, I believe that Al Gore is coming into his own, as a man, and as a politician, and maybe someday a President that we can trust to bring back the principles that were set forth by the men who wrote our constitution. Let us wait and see what the future brings.

Join Our Party

2006-01-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

LPA:It's over two weeks into 2006. So far the political world hasn't changed much from 2005. The thing that gets my attention, is how the coverage of the Abramoff Scandel was big news one day, and miniscule news the next. There is a reson for that of course, just as there is an underlying reason for most things that happen in the world. Sometimes, we just don't know what the reasons are. This time however, we do know why the Abramoff story has headed towards the rear of today's "news". It's because BOTH major political parties (In case you come from another country, or planet, that means the Republicans and Democrats) are involved up to their collective necks. We want the American people to know and understand that this is not a partisan issue. The Democrats will try to look blameless, but BOTH political parties grabbed that money as fast as they could deposit the checks.
Is THIS what you want to belong too? Do you want to campaign for people that consistantly put their own interests above the American People's interests? This has been going on for decades now in America. Have you seen very many "average" guys run for political office? Last year I lived on the eastern coast of Florida and I saw the "coronation" of Kendrick Meeks as his mother's replacement in congress. I didn't see any of my neighbors running for that spot. I never hear of anyone I know running for anything. Everytime I see a politician, 99 times out of 100, they are well connected, both in business, and in politics.
There was an exception, I have to admit. Bill Clinton wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was an American success story. He worked his way up from being dirt poor, to the highest office in the land. Maybe that's why the Republicans hated him so much. He was the most investigated President that ever held office, Clinton was so busy dodging claims of corruption that I can't believe he found the time to run this nation. The other thing about those investigations that the taxpayers paid millions for, was that they didn't find a thing thgat he did wrong, except that mistake with his intern. Could you imagine what he could have accomplished if he didn't spend so much time fighting to keep his job? That was the Republican machine working for the citizen's. That is business as usual in Washington. We have become so used to that kind of "business as usual" that we really didn't see anything wrong with it. That why I'm writing this article. Folks, there is something wrong with it. There is something wrong with our whole political system. If you can't see it, then start a subscription to some news magizines, read the papers, and quit spending so much time in Wal-Mart.
This nation is facing a grave national crisis. It's a crisis of conscience. Most people have stopped participating in government. There are two reasons for that. The first one is because they feel that it's too time consuming and that they probably wouldn't make a difference, the second is that they don't know how to get involved. I would like to believe that the primary reason is the second reason that I just mentioned. If you feel like you are one of the people in the second category, I've got just the thing to get you going.
Join our party.
Join our party.
Join our party.
We are not "Big Shots" that won't listen to what you have to say. We are ordinary Americans like yourselves that have had it with "business as usual" in Washington. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired. We want to change the way our country is being run. The days of the big, impersonal political machine running the goverment are numbered. We stand with the people and are with the people because we are the people. We are not red or blue, Democrat or Republican. We are for common sense, working for the common good. We have not ever, nor will we ever, take a dime from any lobbyist or PAC or corporation. Can any other political party say that? Don't you wish that campaign finance reform was really campaign finance reform, instead of mixed up laws that nobody can understand except the lawyers? (And most of them can't figure it out). That was intentional. It's like President Bush calling the repeal of most environmental legislation "The Fresh Air Act". What is this, a big joke on the people of the United States? Look, I'm not making this stuff up.
Join out party.
Join our party.
Join our party.
If you do, it won't be business as usual in Washington. If you do, you will scare the hell out of the Republicans and the Democrats. If you do, you will save yourselves from the machine politicians that could care less about the average American like you and I. If you do, we could get the world to look at us as a legitimate government that represents the will of the American people instead of a superpower, imperialistic state that they are afraid of.
Join our party.
Join our party.
Join our party.
Do it for your family. Do it for yourself. Do it for your Country.

A Constitutional Crisis Like No Other

2006-01-12T11:13:00.000-08:00

LPA:The initials of this party were shown in orange. We also are printing this aricle in bold letters. The reason for this is because we too, are going to a threat-level scenario, the same way that Homeland Security does. We feel that our democratic system of government is at an "elevated" threat level. This is important enough to also bring it to your attention in bold letters. This is our message to all American Citizens;

What Are "Unitary Powers" That The Executive Branch of Government Refers To?

I have been following the Senate hearings on the confirmation of Judge Alito, as have many Americans. I am sure that many Americans, like myself, have wondered, or openly asked, because of the number of times that the phrase popped up; just what are these "Unitary Powers" that they mention? Besides that phrase, what are "signing statements" and doesn't every President say a few words before a bill is signed into law? I decided, before I wrote anything positive or negative about the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito, to check further into these two terms. What I found out was very disturbing, if not frightening. I would also ask you to read an article that I wrote just yesterday on "Liberalpro" . (http://liberalpro.blogspot.com ) entitled "Time is Getting Short Mr. Bush" and at that time I knew less than what I know now about this "Unitary Executive Power" that I refered to in the article. I called it a "theory" in yesterday's article. How naive I was just one day ago.
I am going to quote an article from FindLaw's commentary:

What Does the Administration Mean When It Refers to the "Unitary Executive"?

Dr. Kelley notes that the unitary executive doctrine arose as the result of the twin circumstances of Vietnam and Watergate. Kelley asserts that "the faith and trust placed into the presidency was broken as a result of the lies of Vietnam and Watergate," which resulted in a congressional assault on presidential prerogatives.

For example, consider the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which Bush evaded when authorizing the NSA to tap without warrants -- even those issued by the FISA court. FISA was enacted after the fall of Nixon with the precise intention of curbing unchecked executive branch surveillance. (Indeed, Nixon's improper use of domestic surveillance was included in Article 2 paragraph (2) of the impeachment articles against him.)

According to Kelley, these congressional limits on the presidency, in turn, led "some very creative people" in the White House and the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to fight back, in an attempt to foil or blunt these limits. In their view, these laws were legislative attempts to strip the president of his rightful powers. Prominent among those in the movement to preserve presidential power and champion the unitary executive doctrine were the founding members of the Federalist Society, nearly all of whom worked in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan White Houses.

The unitary executive doctrine arises out of a theory called "departmentalism," or "coordinate construction." According to legal scholars Christopher Yoo, Steven Calabresi, and Anthony Colangelo, the coordinate construction approach "holds that all three branches of the federal government have the power and duty to interpret the Constitution." According to this theory, the president may (and indeed, must) interpret laws, equally as much as the courts.
(copyright 1/9/2006-Findlaw)

Now as I read that, it scares me to see that the executive branch of the Federal governmnent can (and must) interpet laws, equally, as much as the courts. Now, what would our Conservitive friends in Congress think if President William Jefferson Clinton decided that, yes...this is a premise that I can adopt in my Presidency. What would be the effect of that in the Republican Party? Do you believe that they would stand with President Clinton as he waved his hand and dismissed Special Prosecutor Starr because it interferred with his prosecution of the war in Kosovo and Bosnia? The hearings aldo mentioned the "Signing Statements" that the administration used in conjuction with the "Unitary Executive" doctrine. What are these all about, and why are they so important? Again I quote from FindLaw's:

President Bush's Aggressive Use of Presidential Signing Statements

Bush has used presidential "signing statements" - statements issued by the President upon signing a bill into law -- to expand his power. Each of his signing statements says that he will interpret the law in question "in a manner consistent with his constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

Presidential signing statements have gotten very little media attention. They are, however, highly important documents that define how the President interprets the laws he signs. Presidents use such statements to protects the prerogative of their office and ensure control over the executive branch functions.

Presidents also -- since Reagan -- have used such statements to create a kind of alternative legislative history. Attorney General Ed Meese explained in 1986 that:

To make sure that the President's own understanding of what's in a bill is the same . . . is given consideration at the time of statutory construction later on by a court, we have now arranged with West Publishing Company that the presidential statement on the signing of a bill will accompany the legislative history from Congress so that all can be available to the court for future construction of what that statute really means.

The alternative legislative history would, according to Dr. Christopher S. Kelley, professor of political science at the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, "contain certain policy or principles that the administration had lost in its negotiations" with Congress.

The Supreme Court has paid close attention to presidential signing statements. Indeed, in two important decisions -- the Chadha and Bowsher decisions - the Court relied in part on president signing statements in interpreting laws. Other federal courts, sources show, have taken note of them too.

President Bush has used presidential signing statements more than any previous president. From President Monroe's administration (1817-25) to the Carter administration (1977-81), the executive branch issued a total of 75 signing statements to protect presidential prerogatives. From Reagan's administration through Clinton's, the total number of signing statements ever issued, by all presidents, rose to a total 322.

In striking contrast to his predecessors, President Bush issued at least 435 signing statements in his first term alone. And, in these statements and in his executive orders, Bush used the term "unitary executive" 95 times. It is important, therefore, to understand what this doctrine means. (FindLaw copyright 1/9/2006)

When I read this, I can appreciate that the President of The United States of America, and The Liberal Party of America, are not looking at the Constitution of The United States of America, in the same way. I believe that this President, along with his inner circle, do not believe that the Constitution is really the law of the land. I believe that they feel that, because they operate the Executive Branch of government, that they, and they alone, have the power and the legal means to circumvent the Constitution in ways that they can justify by delaring that we are at war, and that they are somehow blessed with extraordinary powers to maintain the "security" of The United States. This line of thinking is wrong and unjustifiable. This kind of thinking is the same kind of thinking that the Presidident used to circumventThe McCain Anti-Tortue Bill when he used a signing statement that said:

"The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, In a manner consistant with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."

So, in effect, The President, not only decides that he does not have to follow this law, but he presupposses that his will, and the will of Congress, are one in the same. This is also a view that is rejected in it's entirety by The Liberal Party of America.

We are indeed replaying history. The President and his minions are approaching (if they haven't already crossed) the Rubicon, and the Senate and The House of Representatives are, along with The Supreme Court, are the only thing stopping us from losing our Democracy. Thomas Paine said in Common Sense:

"In America, the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other."

I believe that in the very core of my being. To think otherwise would make me less than an American. These are trying times. We have an enemy that wants to defeat the very thing that the executive branch is trying to take away from us. The rule of law, and our government that has existed for so long. The reason for that is because of the system of checks and balances that our founding fathers built into our Constitution. To let Osama Bin Laden or any other henchman of death, take away our freedom, so that we can defeat them, is a defeat in itself. We are a nation that can do both, fight the war against tyranny, while keeping and nourishing our democracy. To do it any other way, would be to turn our backs on the men that made this country what it is; a beacon of hope to the entire world. To do less would be treason, for even if we defeat our enemies, and lose our freedom in the process, we become something else, something that isn't American, something our Founding Fathers would be ashamed of. Even if we win this war and lose our freedom, we have lost. We can't let that happen, and if The Liberal Party of America has anything to say about it, we wont let that happen.

Scandal In Washington Again?

2006-01-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

LPA:Again we hear of scandal in Washington DC, and we have become almost immune to the news. Time after time, day after day, we hear of payoffs, pork-barrel subsidies, and now we hear of lobbyists paying off our elected officials with golf club memberships, yachts, and junkets accross the planet for themselves and their families.
If you are a Democrat, then you probably got have gotten an e-mail from the DSCC telling you to contribute to the Democratic Party, so that they can clean out the evil Republican politicans in the 2006 elections. What they fail to mention, is that there are more than a few Democrats throwing Jack Abramoff's money at the first charity that will take it. Does that surprise you? Probably not. The truth of the matter is that I don't believe any of these allegations are surprising anyone that has kept up with politics for the last few decades. The only thing I find surprising, is that they had gotten so bold about it, that they hardly tried to cover their tracks. I believe that many of the Washington gang had done it for so long, that they thought of it as business as usual. I saw Newt Gingrich on CBS News, talking with Bob Schiefer how the politicians had violated not only the law, but their contstituents trust for them to uphold the laws that they helped to legislate. Hearing the former Speaker of The House who resigned, rather than face public scrutny for his personal infidelities, reminded me of Tom Delay promising a "Republican Revoulution" that would bring American values back to Washington in 1995. You can't tell the politicians from the criminals without doing an NCIC background check anymore. It doesn't really matter whether they are Washington insiders or outsiders, because it doesn't take any of them long to learn the ropes. They deny everything until the indictments start rolling down the corridors, then they get all teary-eyed and tell us how they didn't know what they were doing. I remember trying that line on my Dad a few times. I found out it was better to just admit it and take the consequences. It only made things worse to act like I didn't know right from wrong. Especially when it was my Dad that taught me in the first place.
This is one reason we decided to start this New Party. I can't trust any political Party on their platform, or their people anymore. I saw Clinton being castigated since the day he took office. He was the most investigated President that we ever had. I remember the Special Prosecutor Starr, hounding him for every deal he ever made as a businessman or a lawyer and came up with nothing. This President has lied to the American people almost everyday that he's held office, but I see no Special Prosucutor asking where the Weapons of Mass Destruction are. I see no congessional commitee investigating him fror wiretapping Americans in full violation of the Constitution. Where is the oversight on this administration? The only time I hear criticism is when the Democrats are e-mailing me for contributions. Meanwhile I now hear that Iraqi deaths are estimated to be around the 100,000 mark. How many people have to die before anyone asks why we are there in the first place?
No, it doesn't surprise me that Jack Abranoff was paying off politicians under the guise of a "lobbyist". There are many things that are happening in this country that are far worse than that. It is about time that the American people take back their government in Washington by sending those that aren't doing what they were elected to do, home. The only way we can do that is by defeating these political elite at the polls. That is why we are here. That is why the American people will be hearing from us more and more, with each passing day. The time to act is now. We can't do this alone. It has to be an American movement. It starts not with just a new political party, but a new American spirit. It starts with American Values that our forfathers taught to us. It starts with looking back to the past, and taking the things that Jefferson, and Washington, and Adams, and all the other forefathers of our country taught us, and applying it to today's world. It takes rememembering Eisenhower's last speech about the military-industrial complex. It takes remembering the word's of JFK when he told us "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". It takes American men and women to stand up for to stand up for not what is just convieniant or expediant, but for what is morally right. To stand up, not for what someone tells you is right, but what you feel is right. It is time to listen with not just our ears, but with our hearts.

Have a Liberal New Year!

2006-01-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

LPA: Happy New Year to all. 2005 was not a good year for Liberals as a whole, but the last two months of the year were somewhat exiting. The Liberal Party of America was formed, and now we have a place to hang our hats (If you want to call it that). We welcome all Liberals that are tired of the machine politics of both the Democrats and Republicans, to join with us to make 2006 a swing to Liberalism in America.
Another good sign is that we now have Liberal Party members in California, the most populous state in the country. We hope that Californians will support our Liberal goals. They have had a rough time of it out there as far as political processes go. It seems that money and celebrity status have been the driving force in State politics, and I'm sure that the Liberals in that great state will be glad to have a place to focus on the real issues that are before our country.
We will be adding to our platform and our overview in the next few days. We acually are ready to endorse (or support) a few candidates around the county. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, please post them in the comments section. We are a VERY small party that is just getting organized, so any input from you will be welcomed and considered. This is a democratic party, with no solid entrenched leadership , so please feel free to get involved and help us in our decision making processes.
Meanwhile, have a great holiday today, and think about some of the things that you want the party to focus on in 2006. Together, we can bring some change to this country that for too long now, has been run by corporations, and the military-industrial complex. Let this year be the year that we take America back from the rightist elite, and put it back in the hands of it's citizens.

Lowell P. Weicker Jr.

2005-12-19T06:44:00.000-08:00

LPA: This Party on numerous occassions has stated that we will probably never field a candidate of our own, rather, we would just edorse a candidate that most closely matches up with our party platform. Today, after a small caucus with some of the people in the party, we have decided to not only endorse a potential candidate, but if he would agree to run under the party banner we would do that. The name of this article gives you the man, now let us give you the reason.
Lowell P. Weicker Jr. is a Liberal. We are Liberals. Joesph Lieberman, despite what he says, is not a Liberal. He is a Neo-con, dressed in a Democrat's clothing. We don't particularly care for the way he has supported his President at every opportunity he gets. We have written articles about it, so it is no surprise to us that that elements of The Conneticutt State Democratic Party want another Democrat or Independant to run against Lieberman. We do too.
That's why we would nominate him to be The Liberal Party of America's first candidate for public office. I'm sure that Former Governor-Senator Wiecker realizes that all we have to give him is a handshake at this point, but I beleve that with the proper type of campaign, that disenchanted Democrats, and Liberals that have been on the sidelines waiting for the anti-liberal hysteria to die down in this country, see and believe that the day is ripe for us to get back in the race, that they will contribute time and resources to make this happen.
If anyone knows Senator Weicker, or knows how to get in touch with him, please write TheLiberalPartyofAmerica@comcast.net. We would be grateful. Also, if you would contribute to his campain(don't send any money yet), please indicate this in the comments at the bottom of the article. This will probably not go anywhere, but it's worth a try! Thanks from the people here at the party.

TO ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS:

2005-12-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

LPA: Below is a model resolution against "The Patriot Act" taken from the American Civil Liberties Union for use by local communities to adopt, in order to take a stand against our constitutional rights being denied to American citizens in the name of "proctecting us from terrorism". The Liberal Party of America supports the abolution of the Patriot Act in it's entirety, and urges every citizen, regardless of their political affiliation to demand that the Federal government cease and desist from taking away our basic freedoms that were written into the United States Contitution to stop this very thing from happening. We also would appreciate all citizens to urge Their local Officials to adopt this resolution as quickly as possible in order to give support to the United States Senators that are so resolutly trying to defend our liberty against those that would take it away from us.

If you support this resoulution then call elected officials and your Federal Congressional Delegation from your state.

DRAFT RESOLUTION
Model Local Resolution to Protect Civil Liberties
WHEREAS the City of _______ is proud of its long and distinguished tradition of protecting the civil rights and liberties of its residents;
WHEREAS the City of _______ has a diverse population, including immigrants and students, whose contributions to the community are vital to its economy, culture and civic character;
WHEREAS the preservation of civil rights and liberties is essential to the well-being of a democratic society;
WHEREAS federal, state and local governments should protect the public from terrorist attacks such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, but should do so in a rational and deliberative fashion to ensure that any new security measure enhances public safety without impairing constitutional rights or infringing on civil liberties;
WHEREAS government security measures that undermine fundamental rights do damage to the American institutions and values that the residents of the City of _______ hold dear;
WHEREAS the Council of the City of _______ believes that there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation of liberty -- Americans can be both safe and free;
WHEREAS federal policies adopted since September 11, 2001 , including provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) and related executive orders, regulations and actions threaten fundamental rights and liberties by:
(a) authorizing the indefinite incarceration of non-citizens based on mere suspicion, and the indefinite incarceration of citizens designated by the President as ?enemy combatants? without access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the federal courts;
(b) limiting the traditional authority of federal courts to curb law enforcement abuse of electronic surveillance in anti-terrorism investigations and ordinary criminal investigations;
(c) expanding the authority of federal agents to conduct so-called ?sneak and peek? or ?black bag? searches, in which the subject of the search warrant is unaware that his property has been searched;
(d) granting law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access to personal medical, financial, library and education records with little if any judicial oversight;
(e) chilling constitutionally protected speech through overbroad definitions of ?terrorism?;
(f) driving a wedge between immigrant communities and the police that protect them by encouraging involvement of state and local police in enforcement of federal immigration law;
(g) permitting the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chatrooms, political demonstrations, and other public meetings of any kind without having any evidence that a crime has been or may be committed;
WHEREAS new legislation has been drafted by the Administration entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA) (also known as PATRIOT II) which contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers, many of which are not related to terrorism, that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights, as well as disturb our unique system of checks and balances by:
(a) diminishing personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority,
(b) reduce the accountability of government to the public by increasing government secrecy,
(c) expanding the definition of ?terrorism? in a manner that threatens the constitutionally protected rights of Americans, and
(d) seriously erode the right of all persons to due process of law
WHEREAS these new powers pose a particular threat to the civil rights and liberties of the residents of our city who are Arab, Muslim or of South Asian descent; and
WHEREAS many other communities throughout the country have enacted resolutions reaffirming support for civil rights and civil liberties in the face of government policies that threaten these values, and demanding accountability from law enforcement agencies regarding their use of these new powers;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF _______:
1. AFFIRMS its strong support for fundamental constitutional rights and its opposition to federal measures that infringe on civil liberties.
2. AFFIRMS its strong support for the rights of immigrants and opposes measures that single out individuals for legal scrutiny or enforcement activity based on their country of origin.
3. DIRECTS the Police Department of the City of _______ to:
(a) refrain from participating in the enforcement of federal immigration laws;
(b) seek adequate written assurances from federal authorities that residents of the City of _______ and individuals in the custody of the City of _______ who are placed in federal custody will not be subjected to military detention; secret detention; secret immigration proceedings; or detention without access to counsel, and refrain from assisting federal authorities obtain custody of such individuals absent such assurances;
(c) refrain from engaging in the surveillance of individuals or groups of individuals based on their participation in activities protected by the First Amendment, such as political advocacy or the practice of a religion, without particularized suspicion of criminal activity unrelated to the activity protected by the First Amendment;
(d) refrain from racial profiling. The police department shall not utilize race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin as a factor in selecting which individuals to subject to investigatory activities except when seeking to apprehend a specific suspect whose race, religion, ethnicity or national origin is part of the description of the suspect;
(e) refrain, whether acting alone or with federal or state law enforcement officers, from collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious or social views, associations or activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business or partnership unless such information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities, and there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct;
(f) refrain from: engaging in video surveillance unless the police have reasonable suspicion that the subjects of the video surveillance have or are about to commit a crime, establishing a general surveillance network of video cameras, deploying facial recognition technology or other unreliable biometric identification technology within the City of _______;
(g) provide advance or simultaneous notice of the execution of a search warrant to any resident of the City of _______ whose property is the subject of such a warrant, and refrain from participating in a joint search with any law enforcement agency absent assurances that such notice will be provided to such individuals during the search;
(h) refrain from undertaking or participating in any initiative, such as the Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS), that encourages members of the general public to spy on their neighbors, colleagues or customers;
(i) refrain from the practice of stopping drivers or pedestrians for the purpose of scrutinizing their identification documents without particularized suspicion of criminal activity;
(j) report to the City Council any request by federal authorities that, if granted, would cause agencies of the City of _______ to exercise powers or cooperate in the exercise of powers in apparent violation of any city ordinance or the laws or Constitution of this State or the United States;
4. DIRECTS public schools and institutions of higher learning within the City of _______ to provide notice to individuals whose education records have been obtained by law enforcement agents pursuant to section 507 of the USA PATRIOT Act;
5. DIRECTS public libraries within the City of _______ to post in a prominent place within the library a notice to library users as follows: ?WARNING: Under Section 215 of the federal USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56), records of the books and other materials you borrow from this library may be obtained by federal agents. That federal law prohibits librarians from informing you if records about you have been obtained by federal agents. Questions about this policy should be directed to: Attorney General John Ashcroft, Department of Justice, Washington , DC 20530 ?;
6. Directs the City Council Chief of Staff to:
a. Transmit a copy of this resolution to Senators _______ and __________, and Representatives _________ accompanied by a letter urging them to:
support Congressional efforts to assess the impacts of the PATRIOT Act
monitor federal anti-terrorism tactics and work to repeal provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT and other laws and regulations that infringe on civil rights and liberties
ensure that provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act "sunset " in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
take a lead in Congressional action to prohibit passage of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, known as "Patriot II "
7. DIRECTS the City Manager to seek periodically from federal authorities the following information in a form that facilitates an assessment of the effect of federal anti-terrorism efforts on the residents of the City of _______:
(a) The names of all residents of the City of _______ who have been arrested or otherwise detained by federal authorities as a result of terrorism investigations since September 11, 2001; the location of each detainee; the circumstances that led to each detention; the charges, if any, lodged against each detainee; the name of counsel, if any, representing each detainee;
(b) The number of search warrants that have been executed in the City of _______ without notice to the subject of the warrant pursuant to section 213 of the USA PATRIOT Act;
(c) The extent of electronic surveillance carried out in the City of _______ under powers granted in the USA PATRIOT Act;
(d) The extent to which federal authorities are monitoring political meetings, religious gatherings or other activities protected by the First Amendment within the City of _______;
(e) The number of times education records have been obtained from public schools and institutions of higher learning in the City of _______ under section 507 of the USA PATRIOT Act;
(f) The number of times library records have been obtained from libraries in the City of _______ under section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act;
(g) The number of times that records of the books purchased by store patrons have been obtained from bookstores in the City of _______ under section 215___ of the USA PATRIOT Act;
8. DIRECTS the City Manager to transmit to the City Council no less than once every six months a summary of the information obtained pursuant to the preceding paragraph and, based on such information and any other relevant information, an assessment of the effect of federal anti-terrorism efforts on the residents of the City of _______;
9. DIRECTS all public libraries to have a policy that ensures the regular destruction of records that identify the name of the book borrower after the book is returned, or that identify the name of the Internet user after completion of Internet use;
10. ADVISES all persons in local businesses and institutions, and particularly booksellers, to refrain when possible from keeping records which identify the name of the purchaser, and to regularly destroy such records that are maintained, in order to protect intellectual privacy rights; and be it
11. DIRECTS the City Manager to transmit a copy of this resolution to Governor ____, and appropriate members of the State Legislature, accompanied by a letter urging them to ensure that state anti-terrorism laws and policies be implemented in a manner that does not infringe on civil liberties as described in this resolution;
12. DIRECTS the City Manager to transmit a copy of this resolution to President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft; and be it
13. FURTHER RESOLVED that the provisions of this Resolution shall be severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this Resolution is declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to the Constitution of the United States or of the State of _______ or the applicability thereof to any agency, person, or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Resolution and the applicability thereof to any other agency, person or circumstances shall not be affected thereby

Why We Exist

2005-12-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

LPA: Today I was accused of helping the Republicans by creating a "splinter group" that will only split Democrats. Well, let me say this on the record, unless the entire political world changes, and the United States of America actually starts to care about what our so-called "leaders" are doing, we will just let the Democrats and Republicans destroy this country.
I know, and you know, that The Liberal Party of America doesn't really carry much weight. Still, we will continue to make our position known. Both major political parties in this country treat the American people like sheep. The President admits he made a mistake in Iraq and caused over 200,000 causualties by lying to the country and spent almost a trillion dollars of the peoples taxes, and our children's future, on a lie, and his poll numbers actually rise. Why?
Because the country has lost it's way. This country is acting as if it stands for nothing. It invades another country, kills it's people, kills our own soldiers, and nobody cares. The Democrats don't care. The Republicans are behind it, and the majority of the people are more concerned about their credit card balances than they are about politics. We can't field a National candidate for President, we know that. We probably couldn't get a dog catcher elected. But we can stand up for what we believe in, and if enough people believe that this country stands for honest government, if this country believes that doing what is right, instead of doing what is profitable, then people will come to this party, and we will grow, and we will make a differance by endorsing those candidates that most closely represents our political view.
People need not leave the political party they are registered in, and lose the right to vote in those party primaries, but if people want honest, moral government, than they will comment, they will write, and they will bring this Liberal Party of America to the forefront, so that we may make a difference by making candidates seek our endorsement.
The only power is the power of numbers. If we can get enough Americans to speak with one voice, and join us in bringing a national conscience back , that knows the difference between right and wrong, then you will join with us. The same people that believe that Armed Force is there for defense and not aggression, will come with us. The same people that know that taxes should be levied for the national good, and not to line the pockets of huge multi-national companies that spend millions on political action committess and outright bribes to politicians, then those people should come with us.
The people that believe in the status quo, should look at themselves in the mirror and just stay where you are, and accept responsibility for doing what is comfortable, not what is right.

Renewing The Patriot Act

2005-12-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

LPA: The Congress today, during a committee meeting on renewing the most blatant attack on our Constitutional Rights that we as a nation have ever had to endure, has called for a compromise between the Democratic and Republican parties, that will enable the government to spy on anyone without a warrant whenever they choose. The headines on FOX NEWS were:
"Feingold Threatens to Filibuster Patriot Act".
Thank God that we have Senators like Russ Feingold. This Liberal Party of America will endorse Feingold for re-election, no matter who he runs against in any election, because of his freedom loving, common-sense, and loyalty to the United States of America and it's constitution.
"I will do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this Patriot Act conference report, which does not include adequate safeguards to protect our constitutional freedoms," said Sen. Russ Fiengold, D-Wis., who was the only senator to vote against the original version of the Patriot Act.
Also to be extended for four years are standards for monitoring "lone wolf" terrorists who may be operating independent of a foreign agent or power. While not part of the Patriot Act, officials considered that along with the Patriot Act provisions.
"We believe this conference report will not be able to get through the Senate," said a group of six senators, including Feingold, who have been working against the emerging deal. They said they will not support it in any form.
The other senators are Republicans Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
It takes 60 senators to overcome a filibuster in the 100-member Senate.
But the American Civil Liberties Union, immediately denounced the deal, calling on lawmakers to reject the legislation because it intrudes too far into the privacy of innocent Americans.
"This sham compromise agreement fails to address the primary substantive concern raised by millions of Americans, as well as civil liberties, privacy and business organizations and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and in both chambers," said Caroline Fredrickson, the ACLU's Washington legislative office director.
We here at the LPA call on all freedom loving Americans, to call and write their Congressmen and Senators, to recall this repugnant fascist law that the neo-cons call "The Patriot Act". Which is an oxmoron, for it's anything but.

Our Symbol

2005-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Mustang As The Symbol Of The Liberal Party of America

We Will Make A Difference As Liberals

2005-11-30T03:24:00.000-08:00

LPA: I've been asked by a few well-intentioned people, why are we starting a new political party? They have told me that we have enough political parties in America, and anyway, there are only two that really have a chance of getting a candidate elected.
If you think in terms of today only, then they are right, but the world, or even this country, doesn't only live for today. Hopefully it lives for tommorrow, next month, next year, and god-willing, longer than that. Time changes things, changes people, I know that it has changed me. I'm not the man I was ten, even five years ago, maybe I'm different than I was yesterday. What is the old maxim? "Time waits for no one?" I believe that. I also believe that time waits for no political party. The parties either change with the times, or they will be vanquished to the ash heap of history.
Look at the political parties that have come and gone in our country. We had Federalists, Whigs, Tories, Democrat-Republicans, Bull Mooses. We still have over twenty different political parties right now, and, more than likely, a thousand others that people have never heard of. They come and they go. Those that don't catch the spirit of the people, go by the wayside. The biggest downfall of a political party though, is when they try to be all things to all people. When a political party does that, they lose their identity.
That is what has happened to the Democratic Party. In this period of America's history, you can't tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat except for the backround colors they use on their political posters. A Republican is red, and a Democrat is blue. That's it, that is the whole difference, the whole magilla as they say. You can listen for hours to a politician making a speech, and at the end of the speech, a coin toss would be a better indicator of which political party he or she belongs to than trying to equate what they said to any party platform. I believe that the major parties should just join forces and go back to being Democrat-Republicans. The only difference between the parties are the personalities.
If the only difference between the parties are personalities, then a presidential race is more akin to electing a prom king or queen that the leader of the most powerful nation on earth. We might be better off if we made the elections a reality show and gave them chores to do, with the best candidates winning the election. I have actually heard from people that they voted for George Bush because he had a nicer smile than John Kerry. I think that the smile was so important because the election had no real substance. During the debates, the two actually agreed with each other, more than they differed. That meant that the American people really didn't have much of a choice. Both men had nothing in common with the average American citizen that works from paycheck to paycheck. Why should they? The elections are financed by people with exactly the same backrounds as the candidates. People that are so far removed from the working class American that it's almost an event when they actually have to interface with a common working man.
Who let this happen? We all did. We let the Democratic Party go from being the party of the people, to the party of the dissillusioned rich. Unions have become big business themselves. Politicians have become celebraties, and government has become a way to pay off your richest benefactors from the sweat of the working class. Who represents the working class in the United States? Until November 15th, 2005 nobody did. Now we do. The Liberal Party of America. That is our promise. We will keep our promise. It is the only right thing to do. Help us restore a representative government to The United States of America.
We don't want your money. We want your time. We want you to think about what we are saying. The money part comes later, if we ever get into a position to field a candidate and win. Right now, we need to put the Democratic Party on notice. We need to tell the republican Party that there is now a mainstream party that gives people with liberal ideas a choice, instead of listening to the conservative hate mongering that we have been listening to for the last twenty years.
Liberal is not a four letter word. I am proud to be a liberal. I am proud to be a member of the Liberal Party of America. We would like you to stand beside us. Add a comment at the bottom of this article or write us at:

The Liberal Party of America
Post Office Box Coming Soon

We will send you an information packet, and ways that you can become involved in our movement to bring America back to its roots. We appreciate your help.

Euthanasia

2005-11-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

LPA: Euthanasia should be legal if a patient has no medical chance of recovering from an illness. We believe that it is not the province of government to legislate morality. The right to take one's own life when faced with a painful condition that will certainly end in death not be taken away from that person. To do otherwise is wrong and immorral as well as cruel.

Unions

2005-11-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

LPA: It is difficult to know where unions belong in this new century. They have been a flashpoint between different ideologies. Unions have proven to be very beneficial at times, and very detremental at other times. They have a very good side and a very bad side. Unions carry with them, just by their very nature, a two-edged sword.
When a union moves in the right direction, it brings the workers higher wages, benefits, and job security. It gives the workers power that before unionization, they never had. When a union moves in the wrong direction, it ceases to benefit the workers, costs the workers money to belong to the union, and does nothing for them. We know about sweetheart unions that have more in common with management than with the worker, and these unions will do almost anything as long as it benefits the union. WHEN A UNION STOPS WORKING FOR THE WORKER, AND WORKS FOR ITSELF, IT BECOMES A PARASITE. WHEN A UNION WORKS FOR THE WORKER IT CAN BE A GODSEND. Either way, unions need to be very diligent when it comes to ethical issues, as they can be a tool for good or evil as almost no other organization can.
The businesses in states that allow unions the privilage to run union shops, are having difficulties in meeting union demands. All too often, pay and benefit demands are more than the bottom line can allow and some unions are difficult to work with, so the businesses either go under, or exist marginally. In other states (right to work states) the pay scales are barely above the poverty line and benefits are hard to come by, but businesses, not fearing retaliation from the unions, flock to these states because of the cheaper labor. In both cases, people suffer.
We are realists and we realize that there has to be a better way for business, and unions to operate. Since these situations affect the nations GNP, intervention by the Federal Government is warranted. There should be a union oversight board, as well as a business oversight board that act in tamdem to produce arbitration that is fair and equitable to both business and unions. It makes common sense when an agreement cannot be reached at the union-management level. We support binding arbitration, and oppose the so called right-to-work statutes in some states. We believe that the workers should be paid an honest wage for an honest day's work. We also believe that if we can't work for a moral compromise that benefits both the labor and management sides, the nation suffers.

War

2005-11-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

LPA: The Liberal Party of America does not believe that The President has the power to bring the nation into a protracted state of war, without a declaration of war, approved by the House and the Senate. The authorization of the use of force measure should have a time frame. If within that time frame, either the President has accomplished his objectives, or he must go back to the Congress for another Authorization. We do not believe that the authorization of the use of force should be enough to bring this country into a long protracted war, with no clear cut goals or strategy, similar to what happened in Vietnam and Iraq.
Also, this country should not be free to wage wars of aggression, or "pre-emptive" wars on a country that may, or may not, attack us. We believe that there must be clear, incontrivertable proof, that a war is imminent. A war should not be used as a political weapon. It should only be waged when it is a measure of last resort and the vital interests of the United States are theatened. We do not believe that we should fight "wars of liberation" or any other war, unless the situation that is contemplated would affect the national security of the United States and it's citizens. We belive that becoming involved in a war that was unjustified, or immoral, should lead to the impeachment and imprisonment of the President of The United States of America. Lives should not be put at stake to bolster a failing Presidency, or to take the spotlight off another problem. War should be a measure of last resort. It is too easy for a nation that has the largest war machine in history to use force indiscriminatly.
While we realize that events in the world today move very fast, and the government might not have time to consult Congress or to ask for a vote from both houses of Congress before it acts, a full accounting of the incident should be brought to light as soon as possible. Also, at this time, the President should be held accountable for any acts of war he or she deemed nessesary.
One of the prime reasons for the existance of this political party is to help stop the meaningless carnage that the United States has been involved in in the last half of the twentieth century, and the beginning of this one. We believe that the use of military force should be made more difficult and only when diplomatic and economic measures have been exhausted, and the situation causes grave danger to The United States of America.

The Right to Bear Arms

2005-11-22T06:32:00.000-08:00

LPA: The term "Liberal" is often used by the NRA and other pro-gun lobbys to portray a person or group that is determined to outlaw guns. This is a misnomer. We agree with the NRA that the Constitution gives us the right to bear arms. This is a fundemental right of every American. The old clever maxim "If they outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns" is very true.
Guns ownership is a personal decision that an individual should make, not his government. There are many good reasons to own firearms. People use them for hunting, sport shooting, and self-protection. We don't believe that a person should have a fully operational field artillary weapon, or a machine pistol that is accurate at a range of three feet and can shoot a thousand rounds a minute, these have no use in legitimate sport. They are only meant for killing. If a person is a legitimate gun collector, and agrees to some kind of oversight of a gun collection, then even owning assault weapons could be allowed with justification. The Liberal Party of America is a political party that interpets out constitution as a template of our values. It has worked since this country has been founded, and we see no reason to tamper with it. We do stipulate that gun ownership carries with it, the responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of minors, and that the people that own weapons should face very swift and harsh judgement, should they ever neglect the responsibilities that go along with owning a weapon.

Health Care

2005-11-22T06:08:00.000-08:00

LPA: Health care is one of the most important issues facing each individual in the United States. Too many people have no health insurance, and it is almost immposible to pay for a surgical proceedures, or a long illness from savings. Most individuals that have no health insurance end up in bankruptcy court, or they die of their illnesses, or they remain sick and or crippled. A family with very limited income can get medicaid, and a family with a large income can purchase health insurance. The vast majority of citizens that make up the middle class must rely on their employer for health coverage. Rising health care costs are making it difficult for employers to pay this premium for their workers.
National heath care could be an answer. If a company will not provide health care for their employees, then an addidional tax can be levied on them and that tax can be directed to a national health insurance fund. Health care is not a luxury item meant for the extremely poor, or the extremely wealthy. It is a right that all Americans should have by virtue of paying taxes. If health care cannot be guaranteed for it's citizens, then the state should not have the right to tax it's people. If the state can use its tax base for military weapons, covert operations, aid to impovershed nations, and other programs, it can provide health care for it's citizens. This is a moral issue that can't be ignored. It is incumbent on the government to provide basic health care for those that support it, the people.
The Liberal Party of America supports a national health insurance program that is uniformly administered throughout the country. It should be a federal program, paid by Federal dollars. We will support the candidates from either major political party that support national health care. It is the right thing to do.

Crime and Drugs

2005-11-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

LPA: The "War on Drugs" is the longest, costliest war in American history. It is also a war we are losing. The drug war has provided more paychecks to more bureaucrats, law enforcement officers, attorneys and judges than any program in our history. It has also made criminals out of otherwise, decent, law-abiding citizens. There are as many drug offenders in prison as there are rapists and murderers. There are people serving life sentences for possessing marijuana weighing less than a pound. It has made millionaires out of drug runners, and widows out of peace officers wives. Just as many people use drugs now, than did at the inception of the war on drugs.
There is so much that can be done to stop the lives that are being ruined. There is so much that can be done to stop the taxpayers money from being washed down the drug enforcement sewer. New laws providing treatment to habitual offenders, and community service for first time offenders. The legalization of drugs should be left up to the individual states. Any profit from drugs should be heavily taxed and used for treatment programs and educational programs in schools that teach the ramifications of drug use instead of scare tactics. More emphathis should be placed on drug use as a medical problem and a social problem, than as a law enforcement problem. Money that is spent on chasing drug runners could be better spent on homeland security and health care. We not calling for complete decriminalization of all drugs, just a more balanced, sensible view on a problem as old as mankind itself. We believe that you can't legislate morality. Morality is taught, not legislated.

Military Service

2005-11-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

LPA: Military service is one of the most honorable, patriotic, and selfless things that a man or woman can do for their country. Military service should be an honor, and people that serve should be respected, not just on Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, but everyday of the year. As much as military service should be respected, it should not be compulsory. It should be a choice a person makes, but rarley an obligation. The only time military service should be an obligation is in a situation of dire emergancy, when the choice of defending your country, or not defending your country is really not really much of a choice at all. When Congress authorizes the draft by a two thirds motion, than the draft should be supported.
In order to make military service more appealing and in order for to repay veterans for serving their country by putting their life on the line, a free education should be guaranteed after completion of service. Medical care should be provided to the veteran at no cost to them. Home loans should be granted to veterans. A veteran should never go hungry of homeless unless he or she refuses help from the government. The Veterans Administration should be one of the last government agencies to face budget cuts in lean economic times.

Reproductive Rights

2005-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

LPA: This is a first segment in the platform of our political party. The Liberal Party of America supports a woman's right to choose what should be done with her body. We neither promote, nor condem abortion. The facts of the issue are central to the soul of the party. You cannot legislate morality. Morality is a very subjective thing. My morality may be different than your morality. The question is also answered by the history of abortion. The fact is, if a woman wants to abort the fetus she carries, she will, whether it is legal, or not legal. We feel that if abortions are going to be performed, it is better for everyone that the proceedure be done under medical supervision rather than in a back alley. There are some issues of morality that are black and white, some issues that are right or wrong. In the case of a woman's reproductive rights, that should be left up to the woman in question. The government should not be the arbitrator of morality in this instance.

We Are Losing Our Freedom

2005-11-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

LPA: The Patriot Act is being overhauled. Key elements are in front of Congress to be made ongoing. One of the most sinister elements of the Patriot Act, the right of the FBI to look into a person's medical records, or for an internet provider to turn over it's logs, or for a bank to give copies of personal bank statements, or libraries to show what books and media you are checking out, this is all being done without a warrant from a judge, and over 30,000 of these have been done this year. All of this information about you can be turned over to the FBI without a written order of a judge. The person that turns it over to the FBI is forbidden by law to tell you, or anyone, that this has been done, because that is against the law. In other words, you can have your whole life investigated by the government, and not even know about it.
This is all being done in the name of "National Security". If the government doesn't care for a new political Party such as the Liberal Party of America, it can go into my medical charts, my bank statements, my computer and any other place it can gather information, much like the Gestapo, or the KGB or any other secret police unit, anywhere in the world.
The New York Times had an editorial called "Return of the Patriot Act". You can read it in the issue of November 18, 2005. We hope that you read it, and contact your Represenatives and try to get this attack on your civil liberties stopped. This is not a drill. You really are losing your freedoms. What will be next in the name of freedom? The right to assemble? The right of free speech? Is my e-mail being read by Agent Smith? Is Yours? It is your duty as an American citizen to help stop the government from eroding our civil rights under the guise of patriotism. Don't let them make this a permanent law. Don't let them do this at all. Please value your privacy. The freedom you save my be your own.

JFK's Definition of a "Liberal"

2005-11-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

LPA: From John F. Kennedy's acceptance speech of the New York Liberal Party Nomination, September 14, 1960. Read the entite speech at :http://www.cjnetworks.com/~cubsfan/whatis.html

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal"? They mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and it's members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

I Feel Honored to Call Myself Liberal

2005-11-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

LPA: When Sue Gamble asked me to help her with this endeavor, I was thrilled. The idea of starting a new political party is to me, a giant responsibility. I have no idea of how we will start, or where we will go with this. I don't know how or when we will field any candidates for office or just endorse the best candidates. I suspect that if this party takes off, that we will field our own candidates once we have enough support to not be spoilers for an election. I talked with Sue and told her that if in the future, we would never run a candidate in the way that ruined John Kerry's chances in 2004. That was a miserable move in my opinion. Nader knew he didn't have a chance in hell of winning that election. Still, he wanted to make a point and feed his own ego by taking votes away from somebody that might have saved us from looking like the Third Reich in many countries eyes.
I also told Sue Gamble that I would keep my ties to the Democratic Party. They are the only viable alternative to the Neo-Conservites that the Republicans have been courting for the last decade. I believe that this country is at a great point in history. It will either go wildly to the right, or the pendulum will swing back towards sanity. I would like to believe that the Liberal Party can help move the pendulum in that direction. I believe that if we work hard enough, and if enough people can stand up to the right and join with us, we can make a difference, and take back our country from the hijackers, without causing a crash. I believe that together, we really can make a difference.

What is the Liberal Party of America?

2005-11-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

LPA: The Liberal Party of America is a party that believes that "all humans are created with certain inalienable rights, amoung them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". That is the basic tenant of the U.S. Constitution, and it is the basis of our political party. The only reason a nation is allowed to war upon another nation is when the above rights are violated and it affects The United States and it's citizen's. We are not the world's police force or a world government.
We also realize that except for personalities, that there is not a large divide between the Democrats and the Republicans. The two are almost the same, reaching toward the same voting blocs. We are liberal. We believe that the government should have little say in our day to day lives, as long as what we do, does not trample on the rights of others. We do not judge anyone by the lifestyle they choose, as long as it does not hurt anyone else. We do not believe that the Federal Government should set standards in our schools, these are individual state responsibilities. We do not believe that the government should be influenced by religion. We believe in the strict seperation of church and state. We do not believe that the government is the shepherd of morality. Morality is decided by individuals. The government is created to enforce the law of the land. All laws should be enforced equally, it is not the government's province to decide which laws should be enforced and which laws won't. That leads to tyranny.
These are our founding principles. They are based on the United States Constitution.