I found this online at Bush and Cheney Suck .com and just had to share.
This illustrates the best that the Republican party could come up with in the previous two presidential elections. Is it any wonder that there is a greater power behind this clown who is laughing at the American people? What is even sadder is that the Democratic party could not find anyone better.
We are doomed, I tell ya, doomed.
George W. Bush Resume
Past work experience:
* Ran for congress and lost.
* Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
* Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
* Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago Cubs.
* With fathers help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.
Accomplishments- Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union. Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.
* Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments as president--
* Attacked and took over two countries.
* Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
* Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
* Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
* Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
* First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
* First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
* First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.
* After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
* Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.
* In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.
* Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
* Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
* Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
* Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
* Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
* Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
* Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
* Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
* Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
* Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
* My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.
* Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).
* First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
* Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
* First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
* Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
* Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
* Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
* Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
* Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
* Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
* First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).
* All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
* My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
* Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
* First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
* First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
* First US president to establish a secret shadow government.
* Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
* With a policy of 'dis-engagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
* Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
* First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
* Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
* Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
* Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.
* Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.
* In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.
* Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
* In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.
* Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Records and References
* At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
* AWOL from National Guard and Deserted the military during a time of war.
* Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
* All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
* All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
* All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
* Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public review.
* For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (They can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)
Wow! His family must be real proud.
I want to thank Kelley Kramer at BushandCheneySuck.com for compiling this list and I can't wait to see what this fool is going to add to his resume next.
Resume by kelley_kramer@yahoo.com http://kelleykramer.blogspot.com/
Thanks to Kelly Kramer, BushandCheneySuck.com was the fist site to post this resume on line.
For an additional treat, check out the Wikipedia entry for George Walker Bush.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Is the U.S. becoming a fascist state?
I have read several blogs and webpages concerning this subject lately and I have to admit the authors of these sites present some very compelling evidence to show that our government is indeed becoming fascist.
This is an extremely scary prospect that needs to be closely examined. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, considering myself scholarly enough to tackle this question but as an American I feel deeply compelled to take heed of some very serious warning signs.
One of the blogs I have read is Vermont Commons, in particular, an article entitled “Speaking Truth to Power: The End Of America--The Police State Is Right Here, Right Now” shows the 10 steps to becoming fascist.
All of these actions took place to convert Germany from a democratic to a fascist state during Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s and because history does have a habit of repeating itself, I am in agreement with many others that these steps need to be scrutinized to see if this conversion can happen here.
As you go down this list, make note of anything that can be attributed to America today:
• Invoking an external and internal threat
• Establishing secret prisons
• Developing a paramilitary force
• Surveiling ordinary citizens
• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
• Targeting key individuals
• Restricting the press
• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
• Subverting the rule of law
Can anyone deny that these steps will lead to fascism?
Can we deny that any of these things have taken place during George W. Bush’s term as president?
Let’s examine each one.
• Invoking an external and internal threat
George has been warning us for how long now that if we pull out of Iraq then the terrorist will follow us and we will fight them in our streets. Does anyone really believe his threat?
The Bush administration has repeatedly linked Iraq to the attack on the World Trade Center and we were told repeatedly and insistently that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, against proof to the contrary. Enough people believed these blatant lies that they gave him the go ahead to commit our troops over there, ostensibly to search for them. Saddam had nothing to do with bombing the World Trade Center nor did he have weapons of mass destruction.
• Establishing secret prisons
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at Soviet-era compounds in at least eight countries in Eastern Europe. This is in addition to Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. This has all been verified by current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.
See this article for further information.
• Developing a paramilitary force
My understanding is that a paramilitary force is not part of the regular armed forces of any nation but looks like them in their training, equipment and organization. In other words they look, act, and feel like a military force but aren’t considered ‘regular’ army. For example the Nazi SS was paramilitary. They were an elite security force operating in tandem with the regular German army.
The U.S. did create a paramilitary force of Iraqi militiamen to confront insurgents in Iraq while the regular U.S. military performed their duties. But I don’t think this is the same thing.
Can a private security force such as Blackwater USA be considered a paramilitary force? Not in the strictest sense. And because the U.S. ‘hired’ them to assist the military to act as bodyguards, can this be considered ‘developing’?. I am not convinced that private security forces meet the criteria for this step.
The CIA does have a paramilitary force.
So this could meet this criteria.
• Surveiling ordinary citizens
Oh yeah. Everyone who pays attention knows about this.
• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
See Surveiling ordinary citizens
• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
Just look at Guantanamo and remember that this is the first administration since the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II to enact special laws for a specific ethnic group. Non-citizen young Muslim men are now required to register and subject themselves to interrogation. Many hundreds have been arrested and held without trial or access to legal assistance--a violation of one of the pillars of American democracy: habeas corpus. In Guantanamo Bay, where it is said that they are now preparing execution chambers, hundreds of foreign nationals – including a 13-year-old and a man who claims to be 100 – have been kept for several years in a limbo that clearly contravenes the Geneva Convention.
• Targeting key individuals
See Surveiling ordinary citizens
I am not certain about what is meant by ‘key individuals’. Maybe terror suspects can be considered key.
• Restricting the press
Mainstream media is doing this themselves, or are they being coerced or threatened behind the scenes? True, they are not being restricted as far as not being allowed to report on certain aspects of daily life in the U.S. or government but you have to go to alternative news sources to get the whole story about what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Mainstream media is definitely painting a rosier picture than what the alternative news sources are.
I began questioning the mainstream media during their reporting of the Vietnam war and it turned out I was correct to do so. Only after the war was over did I learn more about what was really going on. Maybe this could be attributed to national security but I have always hated it when someone hides behind that reason for not exposing the whole truth.
• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
Florida student tasered by campus police at a political rally.
This one has nothing to do with Iraq or terrorism but why did the police insist on tasering this guy while John Kerry was saying he would answer his questions? This is just a very small sample of the police state we are currently living in. If you think this is inflammatory of me to call our nation a police state then look at all of the cases where police brutality charges have been dismissed or swept away by the very police departments who have the biggest interest in not going forward with them. Look at all of the police shootings that have been deemed ‘justified’ and the officers allowed back on the streets. There is no such thing as an ‘independent’ review board when it comes to investigating the police.
We have witnessed police brutality and shootings on video and still the officers involved go unpunished. Police state, hell yes.
• Subverting the rule of law
The Senate recently gave Little Bush ‘temporary’ expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants. The purpose of a court warrant is to involve an impartial judge so that citizens rights are not abused. Bush considers this requirement as a stumbling block to his freedom.
Can we truly trust this man to make a determination as to who is and who is not a terrorist? Since he lied to us about Iraq being a terrorist state out to destroy the U.S. and got us into an illegal war it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that he can ‘see’ terrorism anywhere in the world, including right here in the U.S. among our neighbors. Perhaps you or perhaps me. What is to stop him? Don’t even think that common sense has anything to do with it because that train left a long time ago.
What about all of the instances where he has evoked 'executive privilege' to get around a law to get what he wants or to protect one of his ‘cronies?
After examining these requirements for fascism for myself, I am not convinced we are in a fascist state, yet. We are on the precipice because no one can deny that all of the earmarks are certainly there. And, even though we are so dangerously close, there are too many other factors in play that will not allow this nation to fall under that evil ‘ism’.
Another blog that deserves mention if only because it highlights some of the dangers we face from having George Walker Bush as our president is this one. This blog goes a little deeper into identifying why King Bush Jr is such an insidious threat to our freedom. The blog deserves to be read by every American, free-thinking or otherwise.
There are others, there certainly is no shortage of what could be called ‘conspiracy theorists’ and I hesitate to label all of them so harshly, because this term is gaining a negative, lunatic connotation. But when there are so many people saying the same thing, coupled with the fact that we as a nation are becoming more and more apathetic about what our government leaders are doing, I think we owe it to ourselves to at least look into it.
I have been watching politics for many years, hence my general cynicism and skepticism about all political motives, and until just recently I haven’t really ‘seen’ what is happening to us. Now that I have opened my eyes I do not like what I see.
This administration is the most radical government in modern American history. George W. Bush’s ideologies, or rather the true ruling junta behind him, have become so pervasive and well-accepted that the main stream media doesn’t even realize that they are now a part of it.
There is no doubt that Little Bush has damaged this countries psyche, but, in the final analysis, I think we are a strong enough nation to withstand even his bungling attempt at leadership.
This is an extremely scary prospect that needs to be closely examined. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, considering myself scholarly enough to tackle this question but as an American I feel deeply compelled to take heed of some very serious warning signs.
One of the blogs I have read is Vermont Commons, in particular, an article entitled “Speaking Truth to Power: The End Of America--The Police State Is Right Here, Right Now” shows the 10 steps to becoming fascist.
All of these actions took place to convert Germany from a democratic to a fascist state during Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s and because history does have a habit of repeating itself, I am in agreement with many others that these steps need to be scrutinized to see if this conversion can happen here.
As you go down this list, make note of anything that can be attributed to America today:
• Invoking an external and internal threat
• Establishing secret prisons
• Developing a paramilitary force
• Surveiling ordinary citizens
• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
• Targeting key individuals
• Restricting the press
• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
• Subverting the rule of law
Can anyone deny that these steps will lead to fascism?
Can we deny that any of these things have taken place during George W. Bush’s term as president?
Let’s examine each one.
• Invoking an external and internal threat
George has been warning us for how long now that if we pull out of Iraq then the terrorist will follow us and we will fight them in our streets. Does anyone really believe his threat?
The Bush administration has repeatedly linked Iraq to the attack on the World Trade Center and we were told repeatedly and insistently that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, against proof to the contrary. Enough people believed these blatant lies that they gave him the go ahead to commit our troops over there, ostensibly to search for them. Saddam had nothing to do with bombing the World Trade Center nor did he have weapons of mass destruction.
• Establishing secret prisons
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating al Qaeda captives at Soviet-era compounds in at least eight countries in Eastern Europe. This is in addition to Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. This has all been verified by current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.
See this article for further information.
• Developing a paramilitary force
My understanding is that a paramilitary force is not part of the regular armed forces of any nation but looks like them in their training, equipment and organization. In other words they look, act, and feel like a military force but aren’t considered ‘regular’ army. For example the Nazi SS was paramilitary. They were an elite security force operating in tandem with the regular German army.
The U.S. did create a paramilitary force of Iraqi militiamen to confront insurgents in Iraq while the regular U.S. military performed their duties. But I don’t think this is the same thing.
Can a private security force such as Blackwater USA be considered a paramilitary force? Not in the strictest sense. And because the U.S. ‘hired’ them to assist the military to act as bodyguards, can this be considered ‘developing’?. I am not convinced that private security forces meet the criteria for this step.
The CIA does have a paramilitary force.
So this could meet this criteria.
• Surveiling ordinary citizens
Oh yeah. Everyone who pays attention knows about this.
• Infiltrating citizens’ groups
See Surveiling ordinary citizens
• Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
Just look at Guantanamo and remember that this is the first administration since the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II to enact special laws for a specific ethnic group. Non-citizen young Muslim men are now required to register and subject themselves to interrogation. Many hundreds have been arrested and held without trial or access to legal assistance--a violation of one of the pillars of American democracy: habeas corpus. In Guantanamo Bay, where it is said that they are now preparing execution chambers, hundreds of foreign nationals – including a 13-year-old and a man who claims to be 100 – have been kept for several years in a limbo that clearly contravenes the Geneva Convention.
• Targeting key individuals
See Surveiling ordinary citizens
I am not certain about what is meant by ‘key individuals’. Maybe terror suspects can be considered key.
• Restricting the press
Mainstream media is doing this themselves, or are they being coerced or threatened behind the scenes? True, they are not being restricted as far as not being allowed to report on certain aspects of daily life in the U.S. or government but you have to go to alternative news sources to get the whole story about what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Mainstream media is definitely painting a rosier picture than what the alternative news sources are.
I began questioning the mainstream media during their reporting of the Vietnam war and it turned out I was correct to do so. Only after the war was over did I learn more about what was really going on. Maybe this could be attributed to national security but I have always hated it when someone hides behind that reason for not exposing the whole truth.
• Casting criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”
Florida student tasered by campus police at a political rally.
This one has nothing to do with Iraq or terrorism but why did the police insist on tasering this guy while John Kerry was saying he would answer his questions? This is just a very small sample of the police state we are currently living in. If you think this is inflammatory of me to call our nation a police state then look at all of the cases where police brutality charges have been dismissed or swept away by the very police departments who have the biggest interest in not going forward with them. Look at all of the police shootings that have been deemed ‘justified’ and the officers allowed back on the streets. There is no such thing as an ‘independent’ review board when it comes to investigating the police.
We have witnessed police brutality and shootings on video and still the officers involved go unpunished. Police state, hell yes.
• Subverting the rule of law
The Senate recently gave Little Bush ‘temporary’ expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants. The purpose of a court warrant is to involve an impartial judge so that citizens rights are not abused. Bush considers this requirement as a stumbling block to his freedom.
Can we truly trust this man to make a determination as to who is and who is not a terrorist? Since he lied to us about Iraq being a terrorist state out to destroy the U.S. and got us into an illegal war it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that he can ‘see’ terrorism anywhere in the world, including right here in the U.S. among our neighbors. Perhaps you or perhaps me. What is to stop him? Don’t even think that common sense has anything to do with it because that train left a long time ago.
What about all of the instances where he has evoked 'executive privilege' to get around a law to get what he wants or to protect one of his ‘cronies?
After examining these requirements for fascism for myself, I am not convinced we are in a fascist state, yet. We are on the precipice because no one can deny that all of the earmarks are certainly there. And, even though we are so dangerously close, there are too many other factors in play that will not allow this nation to fall under that evil ‘ism’.
Another blog that deserves mention if only because it highlights some of the dangers we face from having George Walker Bush as our president is this one. This blog goes a little deeper into identifying why King Bush Jr is such an insidious threat to our freedom. The blog deserves to be read by every American, free-thinking or otherwise.
There are others, there certainly is no shortage of what could be called ‘conspiracy theorists’ and I hesitate to label all of them so harshly, because this term is gaining a negative, lunatic connotation. But when there are so many people saying the same thing, coupled with the fact that we as a nation are becoming more and more apathetic about what our government leaders are doing, I think we owe it to ourselves to at least look into it.
I have been watching politics for many years, hence my general cynicism and skepticism about all political motives, and until just recently I haven’t really ‘seen’ what is happening to us. Now that I have opened my eyes I do not like what I see.
This administration is the most radical government in modern American history. George W. Bush’s ideologies, or rather the true ruling junta behind him, have become so pervasive and well-accepted that the main stream media doesn’t even realize that they are now a part of it.
There is no doubt that Little Bush has damaged this countries psyche, but, in the final analysis, I think we are a strong enough nation to withstand even his bungling attempt at leadership.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Pay people to have kids? What???
Hillary Clinton wants to give $5,000 to every baby born!?! This woman has lost touch with reality.
Someone needs to leash her. Is this what a real Democrat looks like? She cannot possibly be seriously considering this ludicrous idea.
I think I just heard all of the other presidential hopefuls breathe a sigh of relief.
Her idea is that the money will be kept in an account for the child until the child is 18, at which point they can do what they want with it.
My first thought was that there will be, first, a huge population boom in anticipation of this ‘free’ money giveaway, next, a huge increase in the number of welfare cases because people can‘t think far enough into the future to realize they can’t support all these new kids and thirdly, a huge increase in our taxes to pay for it and all of the new schools that will be needed to continue ‘teaching’ what passes for the half-assed education we have been given in order to work in meaningless service jobs because politicians like Hillary Clinton have forced all other businesses overseas because of the higher taxes needed to pay for stupid plans such as this. But then again, maybe she is just farming for future votes.
Was she maybe, I don’t know, sleep walking when she uttered this ridiculous plan? Maybe she was drinking and this errant thought just accidentally slipped out.
I keep trying to rationalize how any adult, grounded in reality, could phantom this idea as having a chance of working.
She thinks she is living in some idealistic world where everyone can be trusted to leave that money alone until the perfect moment in time when it will be withdrawn and ‘wisely’ spent on his or her future.
What about parents who start popping babies out one after another in hopes of getting that money for themselves? I can just see it now, some selfish, unscrupulous parent with a fabricated ‘dire situation’ will find an equally low-life lawyer (just throw a rock and it will bounce off of one and hit the other) who will convince a liberal, bleeding-heart judge that the parent ‘owns’ the account because of parental rights over the child and therefore should have access to it immediately. And there goes your ‘plan’ Hillary.
Here is something else I can see the politicians do, all in the name of ‘helping’ us, once this plan goes into effect, there will no longer be any reason for Social Security, because, after all, the government already gave us money that we was expected to nurture and invest into a sizable golden nest egg that will make each and every one of us independently wealthy. This way the politicians can keep all of the tax money for themselves.
Hillary thinks that such an account program would help Americans get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.
Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. I am shaking my head in disbelief at your naiveté. You are so out of touch. ‘Tradition of savings” huh? Well, maybe those people who were lucky enough to be born into a family that had the ‘extra’ money, after paying bills, could afford the luxury of a “tradition of savings”. But for the rest of us, here in the real world, we could only dream of having enough money to save. Incessantly nagging little things like rent, clothing and food expenses kept getting in the way of that dream.
Do you honestly believe that if you plant this ‘seed’ money into everyone’s bank account that they will magically begin having ‘extra’ money to add to it and therefore reinvigorate this nostalgic ‘tradition of savings’ that you speak of?
You really have no clue about how everyday, common working people live their lives.
If people had the inclination to save, or had any left over after paying their monthly survival bills, they would already be doing so.
The reason very few people save for the future is because they want everything now. They have no clue what it is like to go without, because their parents (those who know what it is to actually work for a living) have given them every thing they want, usually out of a misguided and destructive notion that their kids should have more than they did. These people have no respect for money and have no real idea of what it is to work for it and scrimp and save for it. Plus, credit is so damned easy to get that coupled with their desire to have the world now they get trapped into that credit ‘black hole’ of ever-increasing-interest-rates and ever-decreasing-principal-pay-down that they will never be out of debt. In addition, everything costs so much more than in the days of yore when the ‘tradition of savings’ was in its heyday.
If you really want to do something in the way of fiscal responsibility figure out a way for everyone to practice money management and how to not live beyond our means.
Oh, and Hillary, at bit of advice, stop throwing more money at problems thinking that will solve anything. What we really want is someone who will actually fix problems through good, solid legislation without increasing our taxes. You politicians are already way overpaid for what little you provide us. I think the time has come for you to actually earn your salaries before forcing us to pay you even more.
And, seriously, of all the hair-brained, lame, stupid, asinine ideas I have ever heard from any politician this one tops the list.
Someone needs to leash her. Is this what a real Democrat looks like? She cannot possibly be seriously considering this ludicrous idea.
I think I just heard all of the other presidential hopefuls breathe a sigh of relief.
Her idea is that the money will be kept in an account for the child until the child is 18, at which point they can do what they want with it.
My first thought was that there will be, first, a huge population boom in anticipation of this ‘free’ money giveaway, next, a huge increase in the number of welfare cases because people can‘t think far enough into the future to realize they can’t support all these new kids and thirdly, a huge increase in our taxes to pay for it and all of the new schools that will be needed to continue ‘teaching’ what passes for the half-assed education we have been given in order to work in meaningless service jobs because politicians like Hillary Clinton have forced all other businesses overseas because of the higher taxes needed to pay for stupid plans such as this. But then again, maybe she is just farming for future votes.
Was she maybe, I don’t know, sleep walking when she uttered this ridiculous plan? Maybe she was drinking and this errant thought just accidentally slipped out.
I keep trying to rationalize how any adult, grounded in reality, could phantom this idea as having a chance of working.
She thinks she is living in some idealistic world where everyone can be trusted to leave that money alone until the perfect moment in time when it will be withdrawn and ‘wisely’ spent on his or her future.
What about parents who start popping babies out one after another in hopes of getting that money for themselves? I can just see it now, some selfish, unscrupulous parent with a fabricated ‘dire situation’ will find an equally low-life lawyer (just throw a rock and it will bounce off of one and hit the other) who will convince a liberal, bleeding-heart judge that the parent ‘owns’ the account because of parental rights over the child and therefore should have access to it immediately. And there goes your ‘plan’ Hillary.
Here is something else I can see the politicians do, all in the name of ‘helping’ us, once this plan goes into effect, there will no longer be any reason for Social Security, because, after all, the government already gave us money that we was expected to nurture and invest into a sizable golden nest egg that will make each and every one of us independently wealthy. This way the politicians can keep all of the tax money for themselves.
Hillary thinks that such an account program would help Americans get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.
Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. I am shaking my head in disbelief at your naiveté. You are so out of touch. ‘Tradition of savings” huh? Well, maybe those people who were lucky enough to be born into a family that had the ‘extra’ money, after paying bills, could afford the luxury of a “tradition of savings”. But for the rest of us, here in the real world, we could only dream of having enough money to save. Incessantly nagging little things like rent, clothing and food expenses kept getting in the way of that dream.
Do you honestly believe that if you plant this ‘seed’ money into everyone’s bank account that they will magically begin having ‘extra’ money to add to it and therefore reinvigorate this nostalgic ‘tradition of savings’ that you speak of?
You really have no clue about how everyday, common working people live their lives.
If people had the inclination to save, or had any left over after paying their monthly survival bills, they would already be doing so.
The reason very few people save for the future is because they want everything now. They have no clue what it is like to go without, because their parents (those who know what it is to actually work for a living) have given them every thing they want, usually out of a misguided and destructive notion that their kids should have more than they did. These people have no respect for money and have no real idea of what it is to work for it and scrimp and save for it. Plus, credit is so damned easy to get that coupled with their desire to have the world now they get trapped into that credit ‘black hole’ of ever-increasing-interest-rates and ever-decreasing-principal-pay-down that they will never be out of debt. In addition, everything costs so much more than in the days of yore when the ‘tradition of savings’ was in its heyday.
If you really want to do something in the way of fiscal responsibility figure out a way for everyone to practice money management and how to not live beyond our means.
Oh, and Hillary, at bit of advice, stop throwing more money at problems thinking that will solve anything. What we really want is someone who will actually fix problems through good, solid legislation without increasing our taxes. You politicians are already way overpaid for what little you provide us. I think the time has come for you to actually earn your salaries before forcing us to pay you even more.
And, seriously, of all the hair-brained, lame, stupid, asinine ideas I have ever heard from any politician this one tops the list.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Follow up: Police leave victims behind
I just read a CNN story connected to an earlier story about police officers who left the scene of a car accident in which they failed to properly search for two survivors.
Darius Moore says he feels vindicated after listening to police dispatch recordings that he says prove his story about a car crash that killed two of his closest friends.
Fine, I would feel vindicated as well.
Moore, 17, was driving a 1994 Chevrolet Caprice early September 15 when it careened through a guardrail and into a ravine, killing 18-year-olds Brandon Smith and Dominique Green and injuring himself and 17-year-old DeAndre Anderson. None was wearing a seat belt, Moore said, and all were thrown from the car.
Moore said he and Anderson, bleeding from their injuries, pleaded with police who arrived at the crash scene that their two friends were missing. Police said Moore and Anderson told officers they may have dropped Smith and Green off before the crash.
Moore said he doesn't agree with the Lake County, Indiana, coroner's office finding that Smith and Green died instantly.
"I'm angry at police because I thought they could have found my friends, and they probably would be alive today if [police] had just done their job," he said.
"I just don't believe that they checked," Moore said. "My friend Brandon Smith's father went down there and checked and found them in five minutes, so I don't know why [police] couldn't do the same."
So far, I am in agreement with Moore on these points.
But, here’s a piece of truth that Darius Moore has to accept even if he did just gloss over it. He alone was responsible for his friends being thrown from that vehicle because he was the driver, not the police, not anyone else. He got behind the wheel of that vehicle after drinking, he alone pushed that accelerator to force that vehicle over the speed limit. The police did not do any of this.
You cannot know when a tire is going to blow but you sure as hell know it is a possibility if the tire is in poor condition. Every driver is responsible for knowing if their tires are in good shape or not.
The police have their culpability to answer for just as does Darius Moore. Mr. Moore, you have to accept your responsibility in this tragic accident in that only you could have prevented it. Do not try to push off your part in this tragedy just because the police gave some doubt as to whether or not your friends might still be alive if they had done a more thorough search.
Moore denied police claims that both surviving teens had been drinking. He said "there was no alcohol in the car."
Mr. Moore, your blood alcohol test proves you were drinking, true there may not have been any alcohol in the car, but do not try to say you were not drinking when a blood-alcohol test proves otherwise. You are underage and the fact you was drinking proves you are not above cheating, so be careful with trying to play the victim here, sir. Accept your responsibility. You want to act like an adult then by God do it completely.
Another thing, there is no way that a vehicle would roll as many times as this one did causing this much damage if you was only accelerating at the ‘mind-numbing’ speed of 30-40 miles per hour. We are not stupid. This is a bald faced lie on your part sir in a desperate attempt to take the blame off of you. Again, be a man and accept your responsibility in this.
"A lot of people tell me that it wasn't my fault, that there was nothing that I could do," said Moore, a senior at Gary's West Side High School. "I realize that it wasn't my fault, but sometimes I feel like it was -- it really wasn't -- but it's just how I feel sometimes."
This is pure BS. People, take responsibility for your actions. This is why our society is so screwed up, because people like you want to have your fun but don’t want to take responsibility when your brand of fun ends up in a tragedy. The only part of “what a lot of people” tell you is true is that there was nothing you could do once the tire blew. But you sure could have done other things that would not have set up the situation for this accident to happen.
It was your fault Mr. Moore. I am sure you did not think you was going to harm your friends but you did intentionally put your friends in harms way by driving that vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, by driving over the speed limit (I know you are not innocent of this), and by not taking better care of that car by having good, safe tires on it. All of these things puts the blame squarely on you.
Stop acting like a victim here and stand up.
Darius Moore says he feels vindicated after listening to police dispatch recordings that he says prove his story about a car crash that killed two of his closest friends.
Fine, I would feel vindicated as well.
Moore, 17, was driving a 1994 Chevrolet Caprice early September 15 when it careened through a guardrail and into a ravine, killing 18-year-olds Brandon Smith and Dominique Green and injuring himself and 17-year-old DeAndre Anderson. None was wearing a seat belt, Moore said, and all were thrown from the car.
Moore said he and Anderson, bleeding from their injuries, pleaded with police who arrived at the crash scene that their two friends were missing. Police said Moore and Anderson told officers they may have dropped Smith and Green off before the crash.
Moore said he doesn't agree with the Lake County, Indiana, coroner's office finding that Smith and Green died instantly.
"I'm angry at police because I thought they could have found my friends, and they probably would be alive today if [police] had just done their job," he said.
"I just don't believe that they checked," Moore said. "My friend Brandon Smith's father went down there and checked and found them in five minutes, so I don't know why [police] couldn't do the same."
So far, I am in agreement with Moore on these points.
But, here’s a piece of truth that Darius Moore has to accept even if he did just gloss over it. He alone was responsible for his friends being thrown from that vehicle because he was the driver, not the police, not anyone else. He got behind the wheel of that vehicle after drinking, he alone pushed that accelerator to force that vehicle over the speed limit. The police did not do any of this.
You cannot know when a tire is going to blow but you sure as hell know it is a possibility if the tire is in poor condition. Every driver is responsible for knowing if their tires are in good shape or not.
The police have their culpability to answer for just as does Darius Moore. Mr. Moore, you have to accept your responsibility in this tragic accident in that only you could have prevented it. Do not try to push off your part in this tragedy just because the police gave some doubt as to whether or not your friends might still be alive if they had done a more thorough search.
Moore denied police claims that both surviving teens had been drinking. He said "there was no alcohol in the car."
Mr. Moore, your blood alcohol test proves you were drinking, true there may not have been any alcohol in the car, but do not try to say you were not drinking when a blood-alcohol test proves otherwise. You are underage and the fact you was drinking proves you are not above cheating, so be careful with trying to play the victim here, sir. Accept your responsibility. You want to act like an adult then by God do it completely.
Another thing, there is no way that a vehicle would roll as many times as this one did causing this much damage if you was only accelerating at the ‘mind-numbing’ speed of 30-40 miles per hour. We are not stupid. This is a bald faced lie on your part sir in a desperate attempt to take the blame off of you. Again, be a man and accept your responsibility in this.
"A lot of people tell me that it wasn't my fault, that there was nothing that I could do," said Moore, a senior at Gary's West Side High School. "I realize that it wasn't my fault, but sometimes I feel like it was -- it really wasn't -- but it's just how I feel sometimes."
This is pure BS. People, take responsibility for your actions. This is why our society is so screwed up, because people like you want to have your fun but don’t want to take responsibility when your brand of fun ends up in a tragedy. The only part of “what a lot of people” tell you is true is that there was nothing you could do once the tire blew. But you sure could have done other things that would not have set up the situation for this accident to happen.
It was your fault Mr. Moore. I am sure you did not think you was going to harm your friends but you did intentionally put your friends in harms way by driving that vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, by driving over the speed limit (I know you are not innocent of this), and by not taking better care of that car by having good, safe tires on it. All of these things puts the blame squarely on you.
Stop acting like a victim here and stand up.
U.S. steals money from immigrant
Pedro Zapeta, living and working in this country illegally for the past 11 years, has managed to put together $59,000. That is an incredible amount of money to collect on a minimum wage salary of $5.50 an hour.
He has been working six days a week, often more than the eight hours a day we Americans consider a standard working day, with one goal in mind. That goal was to earn enough money to buy land, in his native Guatemala, and build a house for his mother and sisters to live in.
Most Americans would have given up on this dream a long time ago under these conditions and bitched and complained about the wages every step of the way.
You have to agree this is a hard working man dedicated to his dream. An individual that any business would be privileged to employ.
Once he felt he had enough money to realize his dream he quit his jobs, stuffed his hard earned cash into a duffel bag and went to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and into the jaws of American bureaucracy.
It is understandable that airport security would, upon seeing this much cash in a duffel bag, think this is a drug runner. Albeit a very foolish drug runner for allowing cash to be so easily spotted. I’ll bet they got ‘real excited’ about busting an international drug ring and not allowing such a brazen criminal as this to sneak through ‘their line’.
Once Pedro showed them his pay stub receipts to prove that he earned the money, did they let him keep it. No! They sent him to U.S. Customs so he could legally declare the money under federal guidelines.
Did U.S. Customs help him declare the money so he could go on his way. No! They confiscated it for themselves! His attempts to explain his intentions fell on the deaf ears of a bunch of hard-nosed bureaucrats who obviously thought it best to take the adversarial role of believing he was a hardened criminal trying to pull something over on them. Instead of considering that he was telling the truth and simply giving him the proper form to fill out so he could keep his money and go on his way they decided to be criminals themselves. He has the proof that he earned that money and the U.S. government certainly does not need it.
Apparently, according the manner in which U.S. Customs handled this situation, if you are an illegal immigrant and you don’t speak English and you don’t understand America’s laws then you are an easy source of income for them.
U.S. Customs inspectors see their share of smuggling activity and they know all of the little tricks that smugglers use to sneak money past their scrutiny. Pedro Zapeta did not try to sneak this money past them nor did he try to deceive those inspectors in any way. Those inspectors know in their gut that Pedro Zapeta is not a drug smuggler. They know he simply did not understand that this money must be declared and they took advantage of him. They threw him into the teeth of the American legal system with a callousness that only a cold-hearted bureaucrat could muster. They should feel shame for their lack of compassion and for maintaining such a hardened stance toward this uneducated immigrant.
His own words sums this up: "They are treating me like a criminal when all I am is a working man," he said.
This is theft, pure and simple and the federal government found a way to get uglier still.
American citizens, upon learning of Pedro’s plight, donated $10,000, which sits in a trust in his name.
Federal prosecutors, the very people who should be trying to return the stolen money to him, instead offered him an underhanded, highly inadequate deal. In a typically underwhelming moment of ‘generosity’ they will ‘allow’ him to keep only $10,000 of his hard earned money and only $9,000 of the $10,000 that was donated in his name. They offered this with two stipulations, that he leave the country immediately and not talk publicly about what happened. Shame is running amok in the federal government! The audacity of these people knows no boundaries.
Ladies and gentlemen of the United States this is your federal government representatives at work, behind closed doors. They think it is okay to first tax his measly minimum wage income, then take that hard earned income from him because he did not know he had to fill some one page form and then use lawyers to kick him out of the country with only a small portion of it as long as he doesn’t tell the public about it.
This sounds like the behavior of backroom crime bosses.
Now an immigration court judge told him he has to leave the country by the end of January 2008.
Zapata’s response to all of this "I am desperate. I no longer feel good about this country."
The thing that all illegals need to learn from this is to send your money back home as soon as you earn it or the federal government will take it all from you.
Once again our government representatives have shown the world how petty and ugly they can be.
Way to go federal government for representing us so poorly and making yet another enemy of this country. Once again you shame us all with your uncaring, nonchalant treatment of the poor, uneducated, illegal immigrant.
CNN reported this story by saying some ‘mistake’ had been made. I did not read anything in this story that could be considered a ‘mistake’. I saw only wanton greed by an ever increasingly heartless government that doesn’t give a damn about the rights of a poor hard working man trying to make a living.
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro Zapeta to believe in the hype that he can come to America and earn his own way if he works hard enough?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro Zapeta to believe that once he earned his money that our federal government would not find it fitting that they should take it all away from him?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ that Pedro Zapeta did not try to hide the money better from security at that airport?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for U.S. Customs officials to assume Pedro Zapeta was a criminal?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for U.S. Customs officials to not give Pedro the necessary form to allow him to keep his money and therefore actually believe his story along with the proof that Pedro was not lying to them?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for the federal prosecutors to offer to pay Pedro off to keep him quiet about their crime?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro not to accept that obvious bribe?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro, who knows the money is rightfully his, to stay and try to fight for it as any red-blooded American would do?
This is an awful lot of questions raised by a story from the most ‘trusted’ name in news.
Yet another question: don’t you think CNN should have worded the title of this story more truthfully, such as ‘U.S. government once again screws over the working man’?
All of these federal people work for us and I say give that money back to him and allow him to go home and fulfill his dreams. He worked hard for it and should not be punished because the U.S. government did not deport him before he was able to earn that much money.
He has been working six days a week, often more than the eight hours a day we Americans consider a standard working day, with one goal in mind. That goal was to earn enough money to buy land, in his native Guatemala, and build a house for his mother and sisters to live in.
Most Americans would have given up on this dream a long time ago under these conditions and bitched and complained about the wages every step of the way.
You have to agree this is a hard working man dedicated to his dream. An individual that any business would be privileged to employ.
Once he felt he had enough money to realize his dream he quit his jobs, stuffed his hard earned cash into a duffel bag and went to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and into the jaws of American bureaucracy.
It is understandable that airport security would, upon seeing this much cash in a duffel bag, think this is a drug runner. Albeit a very foolish drug runner for allowing cash to be so easily spotted. I’ll bet they got ‘real excited’ about busting an international drug ring and not allowing such a brazen criminal as this to sneak through ‘their line’.
Once Pedro showed them his pay stub receipts to prove that he earned the money, did they let him keep it. No! They sent him to U.S. Customs so he could legally declare the money under federal guidelines.
Did U.S. Customs help him declare the money so he could go on his way. No! They confiscated it for themselves! His attempts to explain his intentions fell on the deaf ears of a bunch of hard-nosed bureaucrats who obviously thought it best to take the adversarial role of believing he was a hardened criminal trying to pull something over on them. Instead of considering that he was telling the truth and simply giving him the proper form to fill out so he could keep his money and go on his way they decided to be criminals themselves. He has the proof that he earned that money and the U.S. government certainly does not need it.
Apparently, according the manner in which U.S. Customs handled this situation, if you are an illegal immigrant and you don’t speak English and you don’t understand America’s laws then you are an easy source of income for them.
U.S. Customs inspectors see their share of smuggling activity and they know all of the little tricks that smugglers use to sneak money past their scrutiny. Pedro Zapeta did not try to sneak this money past them nor did he try to deceive those inspectors in any way. Those inspectors know in their gut that Pedro Zapeta is not a drug smuggler. They know he simply did not understand that this money must be declared and they took advantage of him. They threw him into the teeth of the American legal system with a callousness that only a cold-hearted bureaucrat could muster. They should feel shame for their lack of compassion and for maintaining such a hardened stance toward this uneducated immigrant.
His own words sums this up: "They are treating me like a criminal when all I am is a working man," he said.
This is theft, pure and simple and the federal government found a way to get uglier still.
American citizens, upon learning of Pedro’s plight, donated $10,000, which sits in a trust in his name.
Federal prosecutors, the very people who should be trying to return the stolen money to him, instead offered him an underhanded, highly inadequate deal. In a typically underwhelming moment of ‘generosity’ they will ‘allow’ him to keep only $10,000 of his hard earned money and only $9,000 of the $10,000 that was donated in his name. They offered this with two stipulations, that he leave the country immediately and not talk publicly about what happened. Shame is running amok in the federal government! The audacity of these people knows no boundaries.
Ladies and gentlemen of the United States this is your federal government representatives at work, behind closed doors. They think it is okay to first tax his measly minimum wage income, then take that hard earned income from him because he did not know he had to fill some one page form and then use lawyers to kick him out of the country with only a small portion of it as long as he doesn’t tell the public about it.
This sounds like the behavior of backroom crime bosses.
Now an immigration court judge told him he has to leave the country by the end of January 2008.
Zapata’s response to all of this "I am desperate. I no longer feel good about this country."
The thing that all illegals need to learn from this is to send your money back home as soon as you earn it or the federal government will take it all from you.
Once again our government representatives have shown the world how petty and ugly they can be.
Way to go federal government for representing us so poorly and making yet another enemy of this country. Once again you shame us all with your uncaring, nonchalant treatment of the poor, uneducated, illegal immigrant.
CNN reported this story by saying some ‘mistake’ had been made. I did not read anything in this story that could be considered a ‘mistake’. I saw only wanton greed by an ever increasingly heartless government that doesn’t give a damn about the rights of a poor hard working man trying to make a living.
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro Zapeta to believe in the hype that he can come to America and earn his own way if he works hard enough?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro Zapeta to believe that once he earned his money that our federal government would not find it fitting that they should take it all away from him?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ that Pedro Zapeta did not try to hide the money better from security at that airport?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for U.S. Customs officials to assume Pedro Zapeta was a criminal?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for U.S. Customs officials to not give Pedro the necessary form to allow him to keep his money and therefore actually believe his story along with the proof that Pedro was not lying to them?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for the federal prosecutors to offer to pay Pedro off to keep him quiet about their crime?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro not to accept that obvious bribe?
Does CNN think it was a ‘mistake’ for Pedro, who knows the money is rightfully his, to stay and try to fight for it as any red-blooded American would do?
This is an awful lot of questions raised by a story from the most ‘trusted’ name in news.
Yet another question: don’t you think CNN should have worded the title of this story more truthfully, such as ‘U.S. government once again screws over the working man’?
All of these federal people work for us and I say give that money back to him and allow him to go home and fulfill his dreams. He worked hard for it and should not be punished because the U.S. government did not deport him before he was able to earn that much money.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Unsafe vehicles and drivers
Darius Moore, 17, of Gary Indiana, was driving while intoxicated on the night of September 15, 2007 when one of his tires blew out. He was also driving well over the speed limit.
All three of these factors combined to create a tragedy that is repeated far too many times. A tragedy that could have been prevented and will haunt him the rest of his life. He alone is responsible for the deaths of two of his friends.
As tragic as it is for him to live with his memory forever, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the negligent deaths of two individuals who left grieving families behind.
His carelessness and disregard for common sense affected a lot of people in a very negative fashion.
The police verified he had been drinking by field sobriety tests. His own admission verified the tire blew out. The fact that his vehicle rolled approximately 15 times attests to the high rate of speed at which he was driving.
All three of these factors could have been prevented by him, Darius Moore.
We have all been told for far too long about the inherent dangers of drinking and driving. We have seen the pictures. Many of us know families who have suffered as a result of this social evil. There are many bodies in the cemetery who thought they could safely drink and drive. Each one of them convinced themselves that no one else knew what they were talking about concerning their drinking and driving. They each thought they were the exception to all the ridiculous talk and scare tactics to get people not to drink and drive.
Darius Moore has no good excuse for being behind the wheel of that vehicle that night.
Hopefully MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and every other group that purports to be against drunk driving will do more than just talk and see to it that this individual is put away for his crime. Some of you will say he made a terrible error in judgment. This is not good enough to let him off. Every drunk driver makes a terrible error in judgment. This is exactly what needs to be addressed.
We can no longer go soft on these individuals for their crimes because they still are not getting the message. They are not convinced of their limitations under the influence. Much more needs to be done.
Even without adding the reaction-time stifling effects of alcohol to the mix, far too many drivers think they can safely drive at excessive speeds. Sure they can get away with it as long as nothing unexpected ever happens. There are a lot of things outside of their control that can happen, like a tire blows out, a dog runs across the street, another car swerves into their path, they focus too long on that text message they just have to send while driving, the car in front of them stops suddenly because the car in front of them stopped suddenly, etc. When you are driving above the posted speed limit you drastically shorten your stopping distance and therefore your margin of safety meaning you purposefully make it impossible to react in time. The result is your vehicle swerves suddenly from the excessive brake pressure you just applied, one of your tires blows due to the excessive weight of your vehicle being exerted on it, your vehicle then rolls over, you then are seriously injured or killed along with everyone in your vehicle and anyone who is in your path.
Somewhere in the U.S. these scenarios happen on a daily basis. Why do you think it cannot happen to you?
Why doesn’t anyone else take these facts seriously? These are not just exaggerations of what could happen but probably never will. This is not just some scare tactic to get you to slow down. The fact that they have happened should be enough for every driver to use more caution on the road. When you are driving you are responsible for the safety of everyone around you, not just yourself and your passengers.
Back to the accident involving Darius Moore, as far as the tires are concerned, if they were in bad enough condition to blow out then they should have been repaired or replaced. Does anyone take the time to check the condition of their tires or any other part of their vehicle before they are forced to after they break down? Why not? Again, your safety and the safety of everyone around you depends on your vehicle being in a safe enough condition to drive.
Did Darius Moore make the decision to spend money on alcohol instead of repairing or replacing worn out tires? Of course, he will tell you it wasn’t his fault. It never is. It is always some factor out of his control. But the truth is, there was a greater chance of that tire being worn out and needing attention than just coincidence that it blew out while he was drinking and speeding.
People are not taking seriously enough the fact that each one of is responsible for the safety of everyone around us on our roadways. No one respects the fact that we alone can cut the number of traffic accidents if only we would obey traffic laws and keep our vehicles in safe working order.
I would like to feel safer on the roads I travel. I would like for my family to be safe on these roads. I do not feel safe when some fool comes rushing up behind me and tailgates because by driving the speed limit I am not moving fast enough for him.
I do not feel safe when some fool is dividing their attention between the road and a cell-phone conversation or text message that could be, should be, taken care of while parked.
I do not feel safe knowing there are fools who disregard the fact that drinking slows their reaction time and judgment and as a result I could die for it.
All three of these factors combined to create a tragedy that is repeated far too many times. A tragedy that could have been prevented and will haunt him the rest of his life. He alone is responsible for the deaths of two of his friends.
As tragic as it is for him to live with his memory forever, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the negligent deaths of two individuals who left grieving families behind.
His carelessness and disregard for common sense affected a lot of people in a very negative fashion.
The police verified he had been drinking by field sobriety tests. His own admission verified the tire blew out. The fact that his vehicle rolled approximately 15 times attests to the high rate of speed at which he was driving.
All three of these factors could have been prevented by him, Darius Moore.
We have all been told for far too long about the inherent dangers of drinking and driving. We have seen the pictures. Many of us know families who have suffered as a result of this social evil. There are many bodies in the cemetery who thought they could safely drink and drive. Each one of them convinced themselves that no one else knew what they were talking about concerning their drinking and driving. They each thought they were the exception to all the ridiculous talk and scare tactics to get people not to drink and drive.
Darius Moore has no good excuse for being behind the wheel of that vehicle that night.
Hopefully MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and every other group that purports to be against drunk driving will do more than just talk and see to it that this individual is put away for his crime. Some of you will say he made a terrible error in judgment. This is not good enough to let him off. Every drunk driver makes a terrible error in judgment. This is exactly what needs to be addressed.
We can no longer go soft on these individuals for their crimes because they still are not getting the message. They are not convinced of their limitations under the influence. Much more needs to be done.
Even without adding the reaction-time stifling effects of alcohol to the mix, far too many drivers think they can safely drive at excessive speeds. Sure they can get away with it as long as nothing unexpected ever happens. There are a lot of things outside of their control that can happen, like a tire blows out, a dog runs across the street, another car swerves into their path, they focus too long on that text message they just have to send while driving, the car in front of them stops suddenly because the car in front of them stopped suddenly, etc. When you are driving above the posted speed limit you drastically shorten your stopping distance and therefore your margin of safety meaning you purposefully make it impossible to react in time. The result is your vehicle swerves suddenly from the excessive brake pressure you just applied, one of your tires blows due to the excessive weight of your vehicle being exerted on it, your vehicle then rolls over, you then are seriously injured or killed along with everyone in your vehicle and anyone who is in your path.
Somewhere in the U.S. these scenarios happen on a daily basis. Why do you think it cannot happen to you?
Why doesn’t anyone else take these facts seriously? These are not just exaggerations of what could happen but probably never will. This is not just some scare tactic to get you to slow down. The fact that they have happened should be enough for every driver to use more caution on the road. When you are driving you are responsible for the safety of everyone around you, not just yourself and your passengers.
Back to the accident involving Darius Moore, as far as the tires are concerned, if they were in bad enough condition to blow out then they should have been repaired or replaced. Does anyone take the time to check the condition of their tires or any other part of their vehicle before they are forced to after they break down? Why not? Again, your safety and the safety of everyone around you depends on your vehicle being in a safe enough condition to drive.
Did Darius Moore make the decision to spend money on alcohol instead of repairing or replacing worn out tires? Of course, he will tell you it wasn’t his fault. It never is. It is always some factor out of his control. But the truth is, there was a greater chance of that tire being worn out and needing attention than just coincidence that it blew out while he was drinking and speeding.
People are not taking seriously enough the fact that each one of is responsible for the safety of everyone around us on our roadways. No one respects the fact that we alone can cut the number of traffic accidents if only we would obey traffic laws and keep our vehicles in safe working order.
I would like to feel safer on the roads I travel. I would like for my family to be safe on these roads. I do not feel safe when some fool comes rushing up behind me and tailgates because by driving the speed limit I am not moving fast enough for him.
I do not feel safe when some fool is dividing their attention between the road and a cell-phone conversation or text message that could be, should be, taken care of while parked.
I do not feel safe knowing there are fools who disregard the fact that drinking slows their reaction time and judgment and as a result I could die for it.
Police leave victims behind
Police in Gary Indiana are not very good at searching an accident scene for bodies. Or, is it that they just don’t care enough to do a thorough search? Or, did they even do a search?
Arthur and Samantha Smith went through the pain of loosing their son as the result of a, senseless and totally avoidable, automobile accident in the early morning hours of September 15, 2007.
According to the driver, Darius Moore, and a surviving passenger, DeAndre Anderson, there were four people in that vehicle when it left the road and landed in a ditch on its side. 911 tapes verify their stories that they repeatedly told police there were two others in the vehicle that could not be accounted for. Police say they searched the area for the two missing passengers and could not find them, so the police left the scene.
As if losing their son wasn’t tragic enough, Arthur Smith found the bodies of the two missing passengers himself, hours after the police had given up and left. The bodies of his son, Brandon Smith, and Brandon’s friend, Dominique Green, were found within 50 feet of the accident.
The police could not have possibly searched for these victims. If they say they did then they are admitting that they are sloppy at it and re-training is in order. How can you train someone to care enough to do a thorough search for victims at an accident scene? You have to already have the desire to. If these guys are not motivated enough to search for their fellow human beings who could be alive and depending on them for their survival then they have no business caring a police badge.
Did these sworn protectors decide that these victims were not worth the trouble to do a thorough search, for whatever reason? Did they not believe there were two missing passengers?
Did these two survive the initial accident only to bleed out praying someone would find then in time to help them? These are questions that can not be answered now, thanks to the police.
The medical examiner states that they died "instantaneously" of blunt force injuries that were "non-survivable." That statement, the way it is worded, is pure ‘cover your ass”. Of course he is going to say the injuries were “non-survivable”. But now there is a specter of doubt in the parents minds. No parent should ever have to spend the rest of their lives with that haunting doubt. There is also doubt in the minds of anyone who knows that it is not uncommon for the police to lie to cover their ass from liability suits.
A lot of time and money has been invested in training these police officers and when it came time to put that training into effect this is all the public gets? That money was wasted.
Gary officials asked the Lake County sheriff to conduct an independent investigation of the accident, and Gary police also are investigating. In addition, the Smiths have hired their own representative to conduct an independent autopsy on their son's body.
Guess which one of these groups will come up with the most trustworthy results?
Lawyers everywhere are slithering out of the woodwork at the smell of settlement money and notoriety in this case.
It is a damn shame that relations between police and community have degraded to the point that we cannot trust what the police will tell us. I hate being this cynical, but history has shown us that they will lie to protect themselves. And they always cover for each other, from the judges, to the lawyers, to the police chief, to the captains, on down to the guys in the squad cars and the very people they are sworn to protect, the public, ends up loosing.
In the end, these police officers will not get anything resembling punishment. They will all go on as if nothing ever happened. From this experience they will learn that they can get away with doing this again in the future when a similar situation arises. Why? Because they will stand together to cover for each other and there is no way a police force will fire multiple police officers when there are so few to replace them. This has become a sad fact of life.
Maybe one of the officers will feel some humanity to the family and the community and his conscience will force him to step up and identify the one or others who did not deem it necessary to actually look for the survivors. But this is too much to ask for. This also is a sad fact of life.
We do appreciate the fact that these brave individuals put their lives on the line for us everyday. Very few people (not nearly enough) step up to go onto our crime ridden streets for our protection. But when it comes time to help a family find their son after a tragic accident the very least these police officers can do is try.
Charges should be brought for the following:
1) leaving the scene of an accident without helping the survivors, any member of the general public would face charges for this;
2) leaving bodies laying around and doing nothing to care for them, again any member of the general public would face charges for this;
3) contributing to the deaths by not doing something to help, again any member of the general public would face charges for this;
4) dereliction of duty.
These officers are also responsible for the further erosion of public trust.
Arthur and Samantha Smith went through the pain of loosing their son as the result of a, senseless and totally avoidable, automobile accident in the early morning hours of September 15, 2007.
According to the driver, Darius Moore, and a surviving passenger, DeAndre Anderson, there were four people in that vehicle when it left the road and landed in a ditch on its side. 911 tapes verify their stories that they repeatedly told police there were two others in the vehicle that could not be accounted for. Police say they searched the area for the two missing passengers and could not find them, so the police left the scene.
As if losing their son wasn’t tragic enough, Arthur Smith found the bodies of the two missing passengers himself, hours after the police had given up and left. The bodies of his son, Brandon Smith, and Brandon’s friend, Dominique Green, were found within 50 feet of the accident.
The police could not have possibly searched for these victims. If they say they did then they are admitting that they are sloppy at it and re-training is in order. How can you train someone to care enough to do a thorough search for victims at an accident scene? You have to already have the desire to. If these guys are not motivated enough to search for their fellow human beings who could be alive and depending on them for their survival then they have no business caring a police badge.
Did these sworn protectors decide that these victims were not worth the trouble to do a thorough search, for whatever reason? Did they not believe there were two missing passengers?
Did these two survive the initial accident only to bleed out praying someone would find then in time to help them? These are questions that can not be answered now, thanks to the police.
The medical examiner states that they died "instantaneously" of blunt force injuries that were "non-survivable." That statement, the way it is worded, is pure ‘cover your ass”. Of course he is going to say the injuries were “non-survivable”. But now there is a specter of doubt in the parents minds. No parent should ever have to spend the rest of their lives with that haunting doubt. There is also doubt in the minds of anyone who knows that it is not uncommon for the police to lie to cover their ass from liability suits.
A lot of time and money has been invested in training these police officers and when it came time to put that training into effect this is all the public gets? That money was wasted.
Gary officials asked the Lake County sheriff to conduct an independent investigation of the accident, and Gary police also are investigating. In addition, the Smiths have hired their own representative to conduct an independent autopsy on their son's body.
Guess which one of these groups will come up with the most trustworthy results?
Lawyers everywhere are slithering out of the woodwork at the smell of settlement money and notoriety in this case.
It is a damn shame that relations between police and community have degraded to the point that we cannot trust what the police will tell us. I hate being this cynical, but history has shown us that they will lie to protect themselves. And they always cover for each other, from the judges, to the lawyers, to the police chief, to the captains, on down to the guys in the squad cars and the very people they are sworn to protect, the public, ends up loosing.
In the end, these police officers will not get anything resembling punishment. They will all go on as if nothing ever happened. From this experience they will learn that they can get away with doing this again in the future when a similar situation arises. Why? Because they will stand together to cover for each other and there is no way a police force will fire multiple police officers when there are so few to replace them. This has become a sad fact of life.
Maybe one of the officers will feel some humanity to the family and the community and his conscience will force him to step up and identify the one or others who did not deem it necessary to actually look for the survivors. But this is too much to ask for. This also is a sad fact of life.
We do appreciate the fact that these brave individuals put their lives on the line for us everyday. Very few people (not nearly enough) step up to go onto our crime ridden streets for our protection. But when it comes time to help a family find their son after a tragic accident the very least these police officers can do is try.
Charges should be brought for the following:
1) leaving the scene of an accident without helping the survivors, any member of the general public would face charges for this;
2) leaving bodies laying around and doing nothing to care for them, again any member of the general public would face charges for this;
3) contributing to the deaths by not doing something to help, again any member of the general public would face charges for this;
4) dereliction of duty.
These officers are also responsible for the further erosion of public trust.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Humanity shows its ugly side
The latest fiasco in Iraq, involving Blackwater USA, serves to illustrate the downward spiral of depravity that humanity is taking. Another example is Abu Ghraib.
Those individuals involved in these two atrocious incidents validate to the world that we are a violent nation bent on destruction.
Sure, we have laws and rules against this kind of behavior but that seemingly does nothing more than merely indicates civility, because when individuals are placed in situations such as these people were, well, just look at the results. If we did not have this tendency to ‘devolve’ into violent beings then these two situations would not have turned out as they did.
There are many other examples of mans inhumanity to man.
Another example is how easy it is for religious groups to kill other religious groups because they don’t worship God as zealously as they do.
Saddam Hussein ordered the slaughter of anyone who defied him, the Myanmar government killed monks because they stood up to their repressive regime, Hitler killed Jews just for being Jews, Pol Pot killed millions for trying to better their own lot in life.
Americans killed Indians because we wanted their lands. We enslaved people for our own financial gain. The list goes on throughout history and involves every country that has ever been touched by human rule.
Human rights are being trampled on in every nation. The blame cannot be placed only on the nations leader who is derided as a sociopath. We are all becoming sociopaths. There is a basic flaw in the human psyche that has been loosed onto humanity that needs to be identified and repressed.
You see it every time you are in your car on today’s highways. The car riding on your rear bumper sees you as nothing more than an obstacle that is blocking their path. They don’t give a second thought that you are driving the posted speed limit and have every right to. They flip you off because you are in their way. It doesn’t concern that person that you are a human and could be seriously injured or killed if they run you off the road for slowing them down.
It has become too easy for the common man, the everyday Joe who is under so much pressure to just get by, to resort to violence if he feels he has been wronged. This behavior did not use to be this common.
The easy availability of handguns is directly related to the rising murder rate and only serves to facilitate our uncivilized, downward slide into de-evolution. But the problem runs much deeper than the accessibility of handguns. There is always something that can be used as a weapon.
People kill each other out of simple greed, jealousy, or perceived disrespect. People kill each other over material things that are valueless compared to human life.
Human life is devalued every year, every month, every day by people who have no respect for themselves. Gangs live by a rule that dictates if anyone ‘looks at you wrong’ or ‘dresses wrong’ or is ‘in your hood’ then that person should die. What the hell is this all about?
It has become too easy to objectify each other. Too many people have forgotten that we are all in this together and should work together to make life more beneficial for each of us instead of only looking out for number one.
Once you objectify a person, making them seem less than human, it becomes easier to kill them, to steal from them or force them to work for you. You can, at that point, forget that they are flesh and blood, made of God’s flesh, that they have family, that they suffer pain just as you do.
Insurance companies demand their monthly payment on time to keep active a legal document that they know is meaningless when you need it the most. Look no further than the Hurricane Katrina victims to see this in practice.
Big oil companies purposefully hold back oil in order to artificially drive up prices of a commodity they know we will pay ever higher prices for.
Corporate executives raid our retirement funds for their own personal use knowing they will be long gone when it comes time for us to collect and we discover there is no money.
Politicians line their own pockets with our tax dollars knowing we can do nothing about it and if they get caught the punishment isn’t enough to prevent others from doing it.
Our president lies to us to send our husbands, sons, and brothers into harms way so his wealthy cronies can get richer from lucrative pentagon contracts.
People are becoming more and more ruthless everyday. We are becoming immune to the damage we cause others in our quest to get what we want.
What can we do about it? Each person has to find it in themselves to stop behaving like the world owes them as if they are more important than anyone else.
We have to forgive past transgressions and move on. Or we could just kill everybody for wronging us and simply start over.
Which is the best way? I’m pulling for humanity to straighten out before it is too late. We each have the power to make this world a place worth passing on to our kids. And it takes each and every one of us to make that happen. We can’t just put the responsibility off onto someone else.
Have you ever noticed that children have the ability to get along with other children without regard to race or socio-economic background? If you have ever ‘allowed’ your children to be around children from other socio-economic backgrounds then you would see that they do get along quite well. It is only once they become adults and start seeing these superficial differences that the world changes. This is where adults do a great disservice to their children and ultimately to themselves. This is a sure sign that the problem is within us, just as the solution is.
Those individuals involved in these two atrocious incidents validate to the world that we are a violent nation bent on destruction.
Sure, we have laws and rules against this kind of behavior but that seemingly does nothing more than merely indicates civility, because when individuals are placed in situations such as these people were, well, just look at the results. If we did not have this tendency to ‘devolve’ into violent beings then these two situations would not have turned out as they did.
There are many other examples of mans inhumanity to man.
Another example is how easy it is for religious groups to kill other religious groups because they don’t worship God as zealously as they do.
Saddam Hussein ordered the slaughter of anyone who defied him, the Myanmar government killed monks because they stood up to their repressive regime, Hitler killed Jews just for being Jews, Pol Pot killed millions for trying to better their own lot in life.
Americans killed Indians because we wanted their lands. We enslaved people for our own financial gain. The list goes on throughout history and involves every country that has ever been touched by human rule.
Human rights are being trampled on in every nation. The blame cannot be placed only on the nations leader who is derided as a sociopath. We are all becoming sociopaths. There is a basic flaw in the human psyche that has been loosed onto humanity that needs to be identified and repressed.
You see it every time you are in your car on today’s highways. The car riding on your rear bumper sees you as nothing more than an obstacle that is blocking their path. They don’t give a second thought that you are driving the posted speed limit and have every right to. They flip you off because you are in their way. It doesn’t concern that person that you are a human and could be seriously injured or killed if they run you off the road for slowing them down.
It has become too easy for the common man, the everyday Joe who is under so much pressure to just get by, to resort to violence if he feels he has been wronged. This behavior did not use to be this common.
The easy availability of handguns is directly related to the rising murder rate and only serves to facilitate our uncivilized, downward slide into de-evolution. But the problem runs much deeper than the accessibility of handguns. There is always something that can be used as a weapon.
People kill each other out of simple greed, jealousy, or perceived disrespect. People kill each other over material things that are valueless compared to human life.
Human life is devalued every year, every month, every day by people who have no respect for themselves. Gangs live by a rule that dictates if anyone ‘looks at you wrong’ or ‘dresses wrong’ or is ‘in your hood’ then that person should die. What the hell is this all about?
It has become too easy to objectify each other. Too many people have forgotten that we are all in this together and should work together to make life more beneficial for each of us instead of only looking out for number one.
Once you objectify a person, making them seem less than human, it becomes easier to kill them, to steal from them or force them to work for you. You can, at that point, forget that they are flesh and blood, made of God’s flesh, that they have family, that they suffer pain just as you do.
Insurance companies demand their monthly payment on time to keep active a legal document that they know is meaningless when you need it the most. Look no further than the Hurricane Katrina victims to see this in practice.
Big oil companies purposefully hold back oil in order to artificially drive up prices of a commodity they know we will pay ever higher prices for.
Corporate executives raid our retirement funds for their own personal use knowing they will be long gone when it comes time for us to collect and we discover there is no money.
Politicians line their own pockets with our tax dollars knowing we can do nothing about it and if they get caught the punishment isn’t enough to prevent others from doing it.
Our president lies to us to send our husbands, sons, and brothers into harms way so his wealthy cronies can get richer from lucrative pentagon contracts.
People are becoming more and more ruthless everyday. We are becoming immune to the damage we cause others in our quest to get what we want.
What can we do about it? Each person has to find it in themselves to stop behaving like the world owes them as if they are more important than anyone else.
We have to forgive past transgressions and move on. Or we could just kill everybody for wronging us and simply start over.
Which is the best way? I’m pulling for humanity to straighten out before it is too late. We each have the power to make this world a place worth passing on to our kids. And it takes each and every one of us to make that happen. We can’t just put the responsibility off onto someone else.
Have you ever noticed that children have the ability to get along with other children without regard to race or socio-economic background? If you have ever ‘allowed’ your children to be around children from other socio-economic backgrounds then you would see that they do get along quite well. It is only once they become adults and start seeing these superficial differences that the world changes. This is where adults do a great disservice to their children and ultimately to themselves. This is a sure sign that the problem is within us, just as the solution is.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Ahmadinejad told us a lot
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in responses to questions from Columbia University president Lee Bollinger yesterday, told us that he does not have a clue on how to be a world leader.
He told us that he is in denial. He told us he is a conspiracy theorist. He told us he is a history revisionist.
He told us that he would rather rely on subterfuge than to be forthright in defending his view points.
He told us that he must be a puppet president because there is no way a person with his obvious lack of knowledge of the world can get elected president of any nation without someone pulling some strings behind the scenes. Whoops, wrong! Americans are suffering through that type of presidency right now, so scratch that argument.
He told us that his style of governing is to cover up any problems with propaganda.
He denies there are gays in his country. Can you imagine? He must think he has eradicated them all so he is convinced that statement is factual.
He denies who was behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but so does Bush. Bush thinks Saddam Hussein had a hand in it.
He denies the Holocaust ever happened. What is the reason why he does not believe the Holocaust took place? How would he benefit if the Holocaust never happened? Is he against anything that backs Israel? Is he for anything that backs Nazi Germany? Can the reason really be this simplistic?
"If the Holocaust is a reality of our time, a history that occurred, why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives?" he asked. What kind of research would he believe? Witnesses and survivors are the only ‘research’ that can be undisputed. If he wants his people to research this horrible chapter of world history given his propensity to reshape facts to meet his agenda the world would never know what really happened. And what other ‘perspective’ is there? These people were victims of orchestrated genocide by a raving, maniacal, sociopath. The only ‘perspective’ that counts is that the rest of the world witnessed it. Where was he?
He claims "Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom." The ‘highest levels of freedom’ in his country do not come close to America’s standard of freedom. Does he think we can’t see through this?
He sounds like a travel agent ‘Come visit our perfect utopia, talk with our people, freely. Enjoy our perfect society, ignore the secret police following you everywhere.’
He has made statements in the past suggesting Israel be politically "wiped off the map," though he insists that can be accomplished without violence. He suggested that their status should be determined by a free election. Wow. I am stunned. How about the rest of the world hold an election to determine if Iran should exist?
He also told us that Iran has a very long way to go if they ever want to be accepted as equals of the United States of America.
He told us that he is in denial. He told us he is a conspiracy theorist. He told us he is a history revisionist.
He told us that he would rather rely on subterfuge than to be forthright in defending his view points.
He told us that he must be a puppet president because there is no way a person with his obvious lack of knowledge of the world can get elected president of any nation without someone pulling some strings behind the scenes. Whoops, wrong! Americans are suffering through that type of presidency right now, so scratch that argument.
He told us that his style of governing is to cover up any problems with propaganda.
He denies there are gays in his country. Can you imagine? He must think he has eradicated them all so he is convinced that statement is factual.
He denies who was behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but so does Bush. Bush thinks Saddam Hussein had a hand in it.
He denies the Holocaust ever happened. What is the reason why he does not believe the Holocaust took place? How would he benefit if the Holocaust never happened? Is he against anything that backs Israel? Is he for anything that backs Nazi Germany? Can the reason really be this simplistic?
"If the Holocaust is a reality of our time, a history that occurred, why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives?" he asked. What kind of research would he believe? Witnesses and survivors are the only ‘research’ that can be undisputed. If he wants his people to research this horrible chapter of world history given his propensity to reshape facts to meet his agenda the world would never know what really happened. And what other ‘perspective’ is there? These people were victims of orchestrated genocide by a raving, maniacal, sociopath. The only ‘perspective’ that counts is that the rest of the world witnessed it. Where was he?
He claims "Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom." The ‘highest levels of freedom’ in his country do not come close to America’s standard of freedom. Does he think we can’t see through this?
He sounds like a travel agent ‘Come visit our perfect utopia, talk with our people, freely. Enjoy our perfect society, ignore the secret police following you everywhere.’
He has made statements in the past suggesting Israel be politically "wiped off the map," though he insists that can be accomplished without violence. He suggested that their status should be determined by a free election. Wow. I am stunned. How about the rest of the world hold an election to determine if Iran should exist?
He also told us that Iran has a very long way to go if they ever want to be accepted as equals of the United States of America.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Bush thinks threat is the only answer
Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski likened U.S. officials' saber rattling about Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions to similar statements made before the start of the Iraq war.
"I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq," Brzezinski told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.
Do not let these paranoid fools get away with this again. Their irrational reasoning goes like this: if Iran is building nuclear reactors that can produce cheap energy and the residue from that production can be used to make bombs then they must be planning to make bombs. This creates an atmosphere in which Dick Cheney’s special brand of paranoia thrives. It has been proven that he believes it is best to do a ‘pre-emptive’ strike against any perceived threat against us instead of waiting for proof. George W. Bush has proven that he will allow himself to be led down any path by anyone close to him even if that path leads the U.S. to an illegal war. Together, this pair of weak-minded, warmongering, paranoid fools is the absolute worst thing to ever happen to this country. Cheney’s paranoia and mistrust only serves to illustrate that he himself is not trustworthy. You cannot trust someone who does not trust anyone. They are loose cannons. And as such should never have been allowed into this position of power.
Henry Kissinger, the former national security adviser and secretary of state under President Nixon, does not doubt Iran's alleged ambitions. "I believe they are building a capability to build a nuclear bomb," Kissinger told CNN. "I don't think they're yet in a position to build a nuclear bomb, but they may be two or three years away from it."
Sure they are building a ‘capacity’ to build a nuclear bomb. That same capacity is required to build a cleaner source of energy, too.
Earlier this month during a televised speech asserting that U.S. troops should not be immediately withdrawn from Iraq, President Bush said, "Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region."
This statement is an insight to Bush’s paranoia and for what he has planned for the future of that region. His real fear of Iran dominating the region is that they will get to it before the U.S. does.
George W. Bush, and his puppet masters, want that region to be controlled by the U.S. because of its strategic ability to protect access to oil reserves.
These scheming old men believe that if the American people can be made to believe that Iran has nefarious reasons for building nuclear power plants then the U.S. will have the backing of the American people to build military bases in the region to ostensibly repress Iran’s military when the real reason is to allow the U.S. to have some control over that oil.
We have no proof that Iran is striving to make nuclear weapons. We have only the paranoid fear of a couple of zealous old men sitting in the Presidents office conspiring about how to get the American public behind their own nefarious schemes.
Rest assured Iran wants more weapons and they want to beef up their military. Who wouldn’t with the most powerful nation in the world breathing down their necks threatening them with their military?
George W. Bush, and his cohorts, does not have a clue about what to do after Iran stood up against the International Atomic Energy Agency and refused to stop building nuclear reactors. Bush takes this resistance to bow down as an act of aggression against him personally. So his cowboy mentality causes him to react in the only comfortable way he knows and that is with more threats of violence. He is too blind to see that this makes him an even bigger fool.
Iran does not want war with the American people. Bush and Cheney need to keep rattling their sabers in order to force their way into a position of controlling that area. If war with Iran will put the U.S. in that position sooner then I have no doubt that the cowboy and his sidekick will go for it.
We cannot believe what these guys tell us about the war in Iraq. We can’t even belief the main stream media about what is going on in Iraq. The media is being manipulated to paint a rosier picture of what is truly taking place there and we need to remain vigilant about reaching out to alternative media sources to get the full picture.
If we don’t have the guts to impeach these lunatics then we can at least turn our backs to their lies and let them know we cannot be blindly led into yet another war.
"I think the administration, the president and the vice president particularly, are trying to hype the atmosphere, and that is reminiscent of what preceded the war in Iraq," Brzezinski told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.
Do not let these paranoid fools get away with this again. Their irrational reasoning goes like this: if Iran is building nuclear reactors that can produce cheap energy and the residue from that production can be used to make bombs then they must be planning to make bombs. This creates an atmosphere in which Dick Cheney’s special brand of paranoia thrives. It has been proven that he believes it is best to do a ‘pre-emptive’ strike against any perceived threat against us instead of waiting for proof. George W. Bush has proven that he will allow himself to be led down any path by anyone close to him even if that path leads the U.S. to an illegal war. Together, this pair of weak-minded, warmongering, paranoid fools is the absolute worst thing to ever happen to this country. Cheney’s paranoia and mistrust only serves to illustrate that he himself is not trustworthy. You cannot trust someone who does not trust anyone. They are loose cannons. And as such should never have been allowed into this position of power.
Henry Kissinger, the former national security adviser and secretary of state under President Nixon, does not doubt Iran's alleged ambitions. "I believe they are building a capability to build a nuclear bomb," Kissinger told CNN. "I don't think they're yet in a position to build a nuclear bomb, but they may be two or three years away from it."
Sure they are building a ‘capacity’ to build a nuclear bomb. That same capacity is required to build a cleaner source of energy, too.
Earlier this month during a televised speech asserting that U.S. troops should not be immediately withdrawn from Iraq, President Bush said, "Iran would benefit from the chaos and would be encouraged in its efforts to gain nuclear weapons and dominate the region."
This statement is an insight to Bush’s paranoia and for what he has planned for the future of that region. His real fear of Iran dominating the region is that they will get to it before the U.S. does.
George W. Bush, and his puppet masters, want that region to be controlled by the U.S. because of its strategic ability to protect access to oil reserves.
These scheming old men believe that if the American people can be made to believe that Iran has nefarious reasons for building nuclear power plants then the U.S. will have the backing of the American people to build military bases in the region to ostensibly repress Iran’s military when the real reason is to allow the U.S. to have some control over that oil.
We have no proof that Iran is striving to make nuclear weapons. We have only the paranoid fear of a couple of zealous old men sitting in the Presidents office conspiring about how to get the American public behind their own nefarious schemes.
Rest assured Iran wants more weapons and they want to beef up their military. Who wouldn’t with the most powerful nation in the world breathing down their necks threatening them with their military?
George W. Bush, and his cohorts, does not have a clue about what to do after Iran stood up against the International Atomic Energy Agency and refused to stop building nuclear reactors. Bush takes this resistance to bow down as an act of aggression against him personally. So his cowboy mentality causes him to react in the only comfortable way he knows and that is with more threats of violence. He is too blind to see that this makes him an even bigger fool.
Iran does not want war with the American people. Bush and Cheney need to keep rattling their sabers in order to force their way into a position of controlling that area. If war with Iran will put the U.S. in that position sooner then I have no doubt that the cowboy and his sidekick will go for it.
We cannot believe what these guys tell us about the war in Iraq. We can’t even belief the main stream media about what is going on in Iraq. The media is being manipulated to paint a rosier picture of what is truly taking place there and we need to remain vigilant about reaching out to alternative media sources to get the full picture.
If we don’t have the guts to impeach these lunatics then we can at least turn our backs to their lies and let them know we cannot be blindly led into yet another war.
Freedom of Speech belongs to everyone
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is visiting the U.S. It is what foreign dignities do. It is especially what dignitaries of countries who are at odds with the U.S. should do. Our dignitaries should visit their country as well. All of these dignitaries should get together and talk things out. We should never have another war with any nation without taking the time to sit down and talk and clear the air of all unfounded and malicious rumors about war.
Why not let the man speak at Columbia University? What do you think is going to happen? Is he going to be able to ‘charm’ Americans into agreeing with him that we should “wipe Israel off the face of the Earth” as he espouses? Do you think we are so ripe for brainwashing that after his speech we will also believe that the “Holocaust was a myth”?
Those people who oppose an open forum with people of a differing point of view are not only cowards but show that they have no faith in the American public’s ability to see through hateful rhetoric. Certainly, and unfortunately, there are weak-minded Americans who might believe what he has to say, just as there are free-thinking Iranians who do not believe what he says.
At a protest to prevent Ahmadinejad from speaking, New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind said Ahmadinejad "should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God's sake." This statement illustrates the close-minded and repressive thinking that tries to shutdown free speech. It is the statement of a hate-mongering idiot. This fool believes his point of view is the only one that matters and that anyone who does not agree with him should be arrested. He is an enemy to any free society.
If we truly believe in the foundation that our forefathers based the Bill of Rights on, then those rights belong to ‘everyone’ no matter their nationality. These rights are inalienable, just as our forefathers reasoned. They are not inherent ‘only’ for Americans, but to everyone. We, as mere humans, do not have any right to withhold them from any single person or nation.
We owe it to ourselves and our future to hear what leaders of all nations have to say, even those who oppose us in their beliefs. I would argue that it is especially important to invite those of opposing views. Let them see that we are not afraid of their ideas. Let them see that we are of a stronger mind and that we are united in our belief system and cannot be swayed from over 200 years of freedom by someone who preaches a different message.
Why not let the man speak at Columbia University? What do you think is going to happen? Is he going to be able to ‘charm’ Americans into agreeing with him that we should “wipe Israel off the face of the Earth” as he espouses? Do you think we are so ripe for brainwashing that after his speech we will also believe that the “Holocaust was a myth”?
Those people who oppose an open forum with people of a differing point of view are not only cowards but show that they have no faith in the American public’s ability to see through hateful rhetoric. Certainly, and unfortunately, there are weak-minded Americans who might believe what he has to say, just as there are free-thinking Iranians who do not believe what he says.
At a protest to prevent Ahmadinejad from speaking, New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind said Ahmadinejad "should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God's sake." This statement illustrates the close-minded and repressive thinking that tries to shutdown free speech. It is the statement of a hate-mongering idiot. This fool believes his point of view is the only one that matters and that anyone who does not agree with him should be arrested. He is an enemy to any free society.
If we truly believe in the foundation that our forefathers based the Bill of Rights on, then those rights belong to ‘everyone’ no matter their nationality. These rights are inalienable, just as our forefathers reasoned. They are not inherent ‘only’ for Americans, but to everyone. We, as mere humans, do not have any right to withhold them from any single person or nation.
We owe it to ourselves and our future to hear what leaders of all nations have to say, even those who oppose us in their beliefs. I would argue that it is especially important to invite those of opposing views. Let them see that we are not afraid of their ideas. Let them see that we are of a stronger mind and that we are united in our belief system and cannot be swayed from over 200 years of freedom by someone who preaches a different message.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Another cop is acquitting over shooting
Okay, this just pisses me off. But it is business as usual in this de facto police state we live in.
A San Bernardino County jury acquitted a former sheriff's deputy of attempted voluntary manslaughter for opening fire on an unarmed, off-duty Air Force police officer after a high-speed chase last year, a brutal shooting videotaped by a bystander and aired nationwide.
What the hell is wrong with these jurist? I saw that video and this cop obviously shot his victim in cold blood while trying to comply with the cops order to get up.
I wonder what the story is behind him no longer being on the police force. Was he fired for this action? He definitely does not deserve to be there. Although he does have the right mentality, from their point of view.
Here is the background in case you didn’t see it:
Back in January 2006, San Bernardino County Sheriffs Deputy, Ivory John Webb Jr., 46, while on duty, opened fire on an unarmed, off-duty Air Force police officer after a high-speed chase.
The victim, Elio Carrion, 23, was the passenger of the vehicle and ended up on the pavement, on his back, in the aftermath of the car crashing into a block wall. This next part was caught on video. Webb was standing over Carrion, with his service revolver pointed at him, ordering Carrion to get up. Now, let’s take a moment here to ask some critical questions. First of all, after someone had hit a block wall as the result of a car accident, do you think that person would be coherent enough to understand what you are saying to him? Secondly, wouldn’t your medical training tell you that a person in this situation just might cause further injury to himself if he moved around? This officer Webb, in my humble opinion, is not exhibiting any humanitarian concern or basic intelligence.
Remember, police officers are supposed to ‘protect and serve’? This is their motto, they put it on their police cruisers, they are supposed to be guided by this principle. This guy, obviously missed that whole humanitarian side of his training. And he must have also skipped his medical training.
At this point, remember this is on video, Carrion is attempting to get up, as ordered, and he is telling Webb that he means him no harm and “OK, I’m getting up”. While Carrion is attempting to comply, Webb opens fire on him at point blank range. He must not have known the video camera was on him.
Does this guy sound like a stellar example of what a police officer represents?
I remember learning, at the time of this original story, that Webb had been previously suspended under suspicion of another suspicious shooting. Of course, he was acquitted of all charges that time too. Big surprise. He is a cop after all.
These cops can only get away with this fascist behavior as long as cowards like these jurors are going to continue to not prosecute a clearly malicious shooting just because the shooter was a cop.
A San Bernardino County jury acquitted a former sheriff's deputy of attempted voluntary manslaughter for opening fire on an unarmed, off-duty Air Force police officer after a high-speed chase last year, a brutal shooting videotaped by a bystander and aired nationwide.
What the hell is wrong with these jurist? I saw that video and this cop obviously shot his victim in cold blood while trying to comply with the cops order to get up.
I wonder what the story is behind him no longer being on the police force. Was he fired for this action? He definitely does not deserve to be there. Although he does have the right mentality, from their point of view.
Here is the background in case you didn’t see it:
Back in January 2006, San Bernardino County Sheriffs Deputy, Ivory John Webb Jr., 46, while on duty, opened fire on an unarmed, off-duty Air Force police officer after a high-speed chase.
The victim, Elio Carrion, 23, was the passenger of the vehicle and ended up on the pavement, on his back, in the aftermath of the car crashing into a block wall. This next part was caught on video. Webb was standing over Carrion, with his service revolver pointed at him, ordering Carrion to get up. Now, let’s take a moment here to ask some critical questions. First of all, after someone had hit a block wall as the result of a car accident, do you think that person would be coherent enough to understand what you are saying to him? Secondly, wouldn’t your medical training tell you that a person in this situation just might cause further injury to himself if he moved around? This officer Webb, in my humble opinion, is not exhibiting any humanitarian concern or basic intelligence.
Remember, police officers are supposed to ‘protect and serve’? This is their motto, they put it on their police cruisers, they are supposed to be guided by this principle. This guy, obviously missed that whole humanitarian side of his training. And he must have also skipped his medical training.
At this point, remember this is on video, Carrion is attempting to get up, as ordered, and he is telling Webb that he means him no harm and “OK, I’m getting up”. While Carrion is attempting to comply, Webb opens fire on him at point blank range. He must not have known the video camera was on him.
Does this guy sound like a stellar example of what a police officer represents?
I remember learning, at the time of this original story, that Webb had been previously suspended under suspicion of another suspicious shooting. Of course, he was acquitted of all charges that time too. Big surprise. He is a cop after all.
These cops can only get away with this fascist behavior as long as cowards like these jurors are going to continue to not prosecute a clearly malicious shooting just because the shooter was a cop.
Taser use up, too high
What the hell is the story behind the increased use of taser guns?
This article concerns a wheel-chair bound woman who died after being repeatedly shock by police taser guns.
This article is about a sheriffs deputy who ‘subdued’ an autistic boy using a taser gun.
This article states that a man was acting erratically, so he was tasered.
Why is it that when a cop appears on a scene, any scene, his or her mind set is such that everyone should immediately submit to the full power and control of the police force without question? If anyone ‘steps out of line’ then the cops training immediately sets him on a direct course of action to ‘subdue’ the ‘perpetrator’. It does not matter if that ‘perpetrator’ is a 56-year-old woman in a wheelchair or a 15-year-old autistic kid. To the ‘cop mind’ they are ‘perpetrators’ and should, by God, kneel down ‘to my unrelenting and unquestionable authority’.
Seriously, come on guys, how about using a little more restraint and control over yourselves? Especially against invalids.
Now, I’m not a ‘bleeding heart liberal’ but people do need to be treated with more respect than you guys are being programmed into give out.
My earliest memory of knowing for a fact that police do over-step their bounds as peace officers was in San Diego, California. A homeless man held off six police officers on the side of Interstate 15 with a cement trowel. Can you believe it? A cement trowel. And these guys, in their infinite cops imagination that only they can see, saw this as a ‘deadly weapon’ and they shot him multiple times. Of course he died from his wounds. And of course they went unpunished. I lost a lot of respect for police officers on that day.
Trust me when I say to cops everywhere, when people call for help they do not expect you to taser or kill everyone who doesn’t bow immediately to your authority. They expect, no demand, discretion and judicious use of these weapons. That’s right, they are not toys, they are weapons.
You need to learn the ‘customer service’ mentality and keep your ‘cop mode’ on hold until needed. You need to learn when to ‘turn off’ the cop voices inside your heads and become human again. If you would rather show up with the ‘cop mode’ switched on then you should go back for retraining.
This story is about a guy who just wanted to get to his home after a hurricane hit and tried to pass a police barricade. Guess what happened? They tasered him, in front of his kids. Now I ask you, was this really necessary? I don’t think so.
This article concerns a wheel-chair bound woman who died after being repeatedly shock by police taser guns.
This article is about a sheriffs deputy who ‘subdued’ an autistic boy using a taser gun.
This article states that a man was acting erratically, so he was tasered.
Why is it that when a cop appears on a scene, any scene, his or her mind set is such that everyone should immediately submit to the full power and control of the police force without question? If anyone ‘steps out of line’ then the cops training immediately sets him on a direct course of action to ‘subdue’ the ‘perpetrator’. It does not matter if that ‘perpetrator’ is a 56-year-old woman in a wheelchair or a 15-year-old autistic kid. To the ‘cop mind’ they are ‘perpetrators’ and should, by God, kneel down ‘to my unrelenting and unquestionable authority’.
Seriously, come on guys, how about using a little more restraint and control over yourselves? Especially against invalids.
Now, I’m not a ‘bleeding heart liberal’ but people do need to be treated with more respect than you guys are being programmed into give out.
My earliest memory of knowing for a fact that police do over-step their bounds as peace officers was in San Diego, California. A homeless man held off six police officers on the side of Interstate 15 with a cement trowel. Can you believe it? A cement trowel. And these guys, in their infinite cops imagination that only they can see, saw this as a ‘deadly weapon’ and they shot him multiple times. Of course he died from his wounds. And of course they went unpunished. I lost a lot of respect for police officers on that day.
Trust me when I say to cops everywhere, when people call for help they do not expect you to taser or kill everyone who doesn’t bow immediately to your authority. They expect, no demand, discretion and judicious use of these weapons. That’s right, they are not toys, they are weapons.
You need to learn the ‘customer service’ mentality and keep your ‘cop mode’ on hold until needed. You need to learn when to ‘turn off’ the cop voices inside your heads and become human again. If you would rather show up with the ‘cop mode’ switched on then you should go back for retraining.
This story is about a guy who just wanted to get to his home after a hurricane hit and tried to pass a police barricade. Guess what happened? They tasered him, in front of his kids. Now I ask you, was this really necessary? I don’t think so.
Is history repeating itself?
I found this essay on the website What Really Happened. My skin crawled with goose bumps from reading it. After reading it a second time I knew that I had to draw as many people’s attention to it as possible.
The essay draws a chilling parallel between Hitler and George W. Bush that I, quite frankly, had always just shrugged off as hyperbole and exaggeration.
Everyone, I repeat, everyone owes it to themselves to read this essay before forming any opinion on this very evil and derogatory comparison. Try to pick the essay apart as the ramblings of a paranoid and delusional mind. I have tried. I cannot. The facts are verifiable and truthful to the point that it scares the hell out of me.
The apathy and gullibility of the German people of the 1930’s as compared with the apathy and the gullibility of the American people of today is astonishing.
The state of the German Republic of the 1930’s as compared to the state of the American Republic of today is uncanny.
The request for ‘temporary’ powers George W. Bush made, and was granted, in order to fight ‘terrorism’ is an eerie correlation to the request for ‘temporary’ powers Hitler made, and was granted, in order to fight ‘terrorism’ of his day.
You really need to read this essay.
My hope is that the historical events of the American people is different enough from the historical events of the German people of the 1930’s that this history can not repeat itself.
There are many events in the history of mankind that have been repeated. All documented and verifiable. True, no two events ‘flow’ exactly the same, and it is more unlikely that any two chain of events will ‘flow’ exactly the same, but don’t you think it would be best to make certain that this horrendous chapter in human history does not have a chance to repeat itself?
The essay draws a chilling parallel between Hitler and George W. Bush that I, quite frankly, had always just shrugged off as hyperbole and exaggeration.
Everyone, I repeat, everyone owes it to themselves to read this essay before forming any opinion on this very evil and derogatory comparison. Try to pick the essay apart as the ramblings of a paranoid and delusional mind. I have tried. I cannot. The facts are verifiable and truthful to the point that it scares the hell out of me.
The apathy and gullibility of the German people of the 1930’s as compared with the apathy and the gullibility of the American people of today is astonishing.
The state of the German Republic of the 1930’s as compared to the state of the American Republic of today is uncanny.
The request for ‘temporary’ powers George W. Bush made, and was granted, in order to fight ‘terrorism’ is an eerie correlation to the request for ‘temporary’ powers Hitler made, and was granted, in order to fight ‘terrorism’ of his day.
You really need to read this essay.
My hope is that the historical events of the American people is different enough from the historical events of the German people of the 1930’s that this history can not repeat itself.
There are many events in the history of mankind that have been repeated. All documented and verifiable. True, no two events ‘flow’ exactly the same, and it is more unlikely that any two chain of events will ‘flow’ exactly the same, but don’t you think it would be best to make certain that this horrendous chapter in human history does not have a chance to repeat itself?
Hired guns and outlaws
Blackwater U.S.A. is a mercenary security force made up of ex-military commandos, ex-police officers and civilians hired to protect corporation and government employees around the world. They are hired bodyguards trained to kill and incapacitate.
Blackwater U.S.A. has been paid millions of dollars by the U.S. government, our tax dollars, to protect U.S. civilian employees and contract workers because the U.S. military force is not large enough to do it themselves. The American people do not want us in Iraq and therefore cannot raise a sufficient military to finish what was started there.
Blackwater's duty, as it is with any private organization, is first to their own organization, and secondly to whomever hire them.
It is inevitable that there will be a few men in every organization who will go beyond the legal guidelines to do their job. Individually, they will feel 100% justified in their actions. To the greater society they are immoral, unconscionable murderers.
The fighting in the streets of Iraq is the same terrorist tactics that took place in Viet Nam. This alone is the only correlation that can be drawn to that war. The enemy does not wear readily-identifiable uniforms. They blend in very well with the civilian population and are protected by their civilian supporters. Frustration among U.S. military and civilian security forces runs high due to this single fact. In a hostile situation such as Iraq with its day-to-day street fighting there are bound to be civilian casualties. This is the whole idea behind terrorist tactics, to force the aggressors to be perceived as murderers so that terrorist groups can tell the world ‘look at America, they come into our country and kill our civilians, they are blood-thirsty murderers, we must all rise up against them'. If the fighting was here in the U.S. the terrorist could not use this tactic.
However, since the U.S. government is the leading cause of why these terrorist groups are in Iraq, the U.S. government alone can put an end to it.
I have no faith that whatever we are are trying to accomplish in Iraq is ever going to come to fruition.
There is no valid reason for the U.S. to continue its participation in this struggle between two thick-headed, narrow-minded groups who think they are the only ‘chosen’ people who are allowed to occupy this planet. They are fed only by the deeply ingrained hatred for one another based in centuries old need for retaliation. To attempt to alter the course of the history of these people is pure folly.
Their only ‘crime’ against the United States is that they have vast reserves of oil that Americans want to feed their out-of-control and insane desire to own the most gas-guzzling, environmentally-damaging vehicles on the planet. Our appetites for fuel consumption cannot be curbed by higher gas pump prices. Our appetite for faster, ever bigger vehicles cannot be slowed down by threat of draining the well dry. We are convinced that there is always some way to hang on to those oversized vehicles, no matter how much fossil fuel they burn. We will fight tooth and nail to hang on to this foolish need to dominate this planet, as witnessed by the war in Iraq.
If we had been more reliant on alternative fuel sources these past six years this war in Iraq would not have taken place. If auto makers would stop making vehicles that can reach speeds far above the posted speed limits of ‘every’ American roadway we could take a giant leap forward in producing alternative-energy vehicles and lessen the threat to this planets oil resources that are needed for other machinery besides automobiles.
Corporations, and therefore individuals, are getting filthy rich from money made from the blood spilled in Iraq, over oil. Good Iraqi citizens have been uprooted from their ancestors homes, over oil. They have lost family members to random bullets fired by mismanaged, over-zealous security forces who would rather ‘kill them all and let God sort it out’, over oil.
This illegal war is based on the fact that spoiled, arrogant Americans cannot control their lustful need to, not just ‘have everything’, but also to ‘control everything.’ Our hunger for faster cars, our drive to be #1, along with our petty and selfish need to ‘answer to no one’ causes the rest of the world to stand back, shake their collective heads and frown in disgust at how pampered and petulant we have become.
We need to refocus our energy policies from one of killing people and destroying lives for the domination of oil reserves that will eventually be depleted, to a policy of alternate energy sources that is healthier for our planet and ultimately healthier for us. In adopting this new policy we might even be able to show the rest of the world that we are not as selfish and greedy as we have been showing ourselves to be. No. That would be asking for too much.
In the meantime, back in the real world, America and Blackwater U.S.A. are not above man’s law, and they certainly are not above God’s law. By protecting these individuals from prosecution their protectors are placing themselves against these laws and as such should be prosecuted as well. But then again, George W. Bush has lived against the law since he took office so what’s new, right?
Blackwater U.S.A. has been paid millions of dollars by the U.S. government, our tax dollars, to protect U.S. civilian employees and contract workers because the U.S. military force is not large enough to do it themselves. The American people do not want us in Iraq and therefore cannot raise a sufficient military to finish what was started there.
Blackwater's duty, as it is with any private organization, is first to their own organization, and secondly to whomever hire them.
It is inevitable that there will be a few men in every organization who will go beyond the legal guidelines to do their job. Individually, they will feel 100% justified in their actions. To the greater society they are immoral, unconscionable murderers.
The fighting in the streets of Iraq is the same terrorist tactics that took place in Viet Nam. This alone is the only correlation that can be drawn to that war. The enemy does not wear readily-identifiable uniforms. They blend in very well with the civilian population and are protected by their civilian supporters. Frustration among U.S. military and civilian security forces runs high due to this single fact. In a hostile situation such as Iraq with its day-to-day street fighting there are bound to be civilian casualties. This is the whole idea behind terrorist tactics, to force the aggressors to be perceived as murderers so that terrorist groups can tell the world ‘look at America, they come into our country and kill our civilians, they are blood-thirsty murderers, we must all rise up against them'. If the fighting was here in the U.S. the terrorist could not use this tactic.
However, since the U.S. government is the leading cause of why these terrorist groups are in Iraq, the U.S. government alone can put an end to it.
I have no faith that whatever we are are trying to accomplish in Iraq is ever going to come to fruition.
There is no valid reason for the U.S. to continue its participation in this struggle between two thick-headed, narrow-minded groups who think they are the only ‘chosen’ people who are allowed to occupy this planet. They are fed only by the deeply ingrained hatred for one another based in centuries old need for retaliation. To attempt to alter the course of the history of these people is pure folly.
Their only ‘crime’ against the United States is that they have vast reserves of oil that Americans want to feed their out-of-control and insane desire to own the most gas-guzzling, environmentally-damaging vehicles on the planet. Our appetites for fuel consumption cannot be curbed by higher gas pump prices. Our appetite for faster, ever bigger vehicles cannot be slowed down by threat of draining the well dry. We are convinced that there is always some way to hang on to those oversized vehicles, no matter how much fossil fuel they burn. We will fight tooth and nail to hang on to this foolish need to dominate this planet, as witnessed by the war in Iraq.
If we had been more reliant on alternative fuel sources these past six years this war in Iraq would not have taken place. If auto makers would stop making vehicles that can reach speeds far above the posted speed limits of ‘every’ American roadway we could take a giant leap forward in producing alternative-energy vehicles and lessen the threat to this planets oil resources that are needed for other machinery besides automobiles.
Corporations, and therefore individuals, are getting filthy rich from money made from the blood spilled in Iraq, over oil. Good Iraqi citizens have been uprooted from their ancestors homes, over oil. They have lost family members to random bullets fired by mismanaged, over-zealous security forces who would rather ‘kill them all and let God sort it out’, over oil.
This illegal war is based on the fact that spoiled, arrogant Americans cannot control their lustful need to, not just ‘have everything’, but also to ‘control everything.’ Our hunger for faster cars, our drive to be #1, along with our petty and selfish need to ‘answer to no one’ causes the rest of the world to stand back, shake their collective heads and frown in disgust at how pampered and petulant we have become.
We need to refocus our energy policies from one of killing people and destroying lives for the domination of oil reserves that will eventually be depleted, to a policy of alternate energy sources that is healthier for our planet and ultimately healthier for us. In adopting this new policy we might even be able to show the rest of the world that we are not as selfish and greedy as we have been showing ourselves to be. No. That would be asking for too much.
In the meantime, back in the real world, America and Blackwater U.S.A. are not above man’s law, and they certainly are not above God’s law. By protecting these individuals from prosecution their protectors are placing themselves against these laws and as such should be prosecuted as well. But then again, George W. Bush has lived against the law since he took office so what’s new, right?
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Watchdog group releases list of corrupt members
CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions, released a list of corrupt members of congress yesterday. Evidently, they have done this twice before making this the third annual release. This list is made up of the ‘most’ corrupt members of Congress. I am sure there are other corrupt members who have managed to escape this groups close scrutiny.
The group placed their list on their website beyonddelay.org, along with each members’ transgressions, as analyzed in light of federal laws and congressional rules, which, in their words, “documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress”.
“Every year CREW creates this compendium of corruption to expose and hold accountable those members of Congress who believe they are above the law,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said. “With the third edition of Beyond DeLay it has become abundantly clear that many public officials believe that the rules don’t apply to them.”
Members of the Senate:
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)*
Members of House:
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)*
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)*
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)*
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)*
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)*
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)*
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)*
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)*
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)*
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)*
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
Dishonorable Mention:
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
* These members, according to the group, are already under federal investigation.
That is a seriously long list for individuals who are supposed to be looking out for American citizens well-being.
Voter apathy is way too high, and it is individuals like this that feed the belief that no matter who we vote into office we are going to ultimately get screwed so why bother voting.
The American public is tired of putting people into public office who think that ‘voter trust’ is a license to financially better their own lives ahead of Americas best interest. You are put into ‘public’ office to advance the causes of the American citizenry, not to further your own selves at our expense. It does not matter how you justify your actions to yourselves or your constituents, if the American public looses as you gain then you are a corrupt public official and as such should be banished from holding any public office.
Please, curb your greed and put America first.
I applaud CREW’s effort to take on the responsibility to force oversight of these elected officials. Hopefully, those other members who read this list will think twice and check their conscience before committing any act that thickens the cloud of moral bankruptcy that hangs over the head of every American politician.
Let’s help this group further its efforts. If you find your representative on this list write them a letter. Be courteous and respectful of the office and inform the person that you learned of their transgression through CREW’s list and that you will not tolerate their behavior. Remind them of your power to vote against them in the next election. We may not have the power to predict who will go bad once they are in office but when we learn of those who did do bad then we do have the power to replace them.
For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565 or nseligman@citizensforethics.org.
The group placed their list on their website beyonddelay.org, along with each members’ transgressions, as analyzed in light of federal laws and congressional rules, which, in their words, “documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress”.
“Every year CREW creates this compendium of corruption to expose and hold accountable those members of Congress who believe they are above the law,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said. “With the third edition of Beyond DeLay it has become abundantly clear that many public officials believe that the rules don’t apply to them.”
Members of the Senate:
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)*
Members of House:
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)*
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)*
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)*
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)*
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)*
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)*
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)*
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)*
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)*
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)*
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
Dishonorable Mention:
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
* These members, according to the group, are already under federal investigation.
That is a seriously long list for individuals who are supposed to be looking out for American citizens well-being.
Voter apathy is way too high, and it is individuals like this that feed the belief that no matter who we vote into office we are going to ultimately get screwed so why bother voting.
The American public is tired of putting people into public office who think that ‘voter trust’ is a license to financially better their own lives ahead of Americas best interest. You are put into ‘public’ office to advance the causes of the American citizenry, not to further your own selves at our expense. It does not matter how you justify your actions to yourselves or your constituents, if the American public looses as you gain then you are a corrupt public official and as such should be banished from holding any public office.
Please, curb your greed and put America first.
I applaud CREW’s effort to take on the responsibility to force oversight of these elected officials. Hopefully, those other members who read this list will think twice and check their conscience before committing any act that thickens the cloud of moral bankruptcy that hangs over the head of every American politician.
Let’s help this group further its efforts. If you find your representative on this list write them a letter. Be courteous and respectful of the office and inform the person that you learned of their transgression through CREW’s list and that you will not tolerate their behavior. Remind them of your power to vote against them in the next election. We may not have the power to predict who will go bad once they are in office but when we learn of those who did do bad then we do have the power to replace them.
For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202.408.5565 or nseligman@citizensforethics.org.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
John David R. Atchison, child predator
Another low-life, scum-bag federal employee who abused our trust. This guy is an assistant U.S. attorney from the northern district of Florida when he was caught by an undercover police officer posing as a mother offering her 5-year-old child to Atchison for sex.
According to authorities, Atchison made contact with a detective working undercover for the Macomb County Michigan Sheriff's department's.
In deposition, detectives said Atchison suggested the mother tell her daughter that "you found her a sweet boyfriend who will bring her presents."
The undercover detective expressed concern about physical injury to the 5-year-old girl as a result of the sexual activity. Detectives said Atchison responded, " I am always gentle and loving; not to worry, no damage ever, no rough stuff ever. I only like it soft and nice."
The undercover detective asked how Atchison can be certain of no injury. He responded, "Just gotta go slow and very easy. I've done it plenty," according to detectives.
Atchison, a member of the Florida bar association since 1984, lives in Gulf Breeze, Fla., near Pensacola.
He is president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, a youth athletics organization.
He described himself online as a family man. His wife is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School.
The Macomb County Sheriff's Department and the FBI were a part of the investigation.
This story was posted on commongate.com on September 18, 2007.
According to authorities, Atchison made contact with a detective working undercover for the Macomb County Michigan Sheriff's department's.
In deposition, detectives said Atchison suggested the mother tell her daughter that "you found her a sweet boyfriend who will bring her presents."
The undercover detective expressed concern about physical injury to the 5-year-old girl as a result of the sexual activity. Detectives said Atchison responded, " I am always gentle and loving; not to worry, no damage ever, no rough stuff ever. I only like it soft and nice."
The undercover detective asked how Atchison can be certain of no injury. He responded, "Just gotta go slow and very easy. I've done it plenty," according to detectives.
Atchison, a member of the Florida bar association since 1984, lives in Gulf Breeze, Fla., near Pensacola.
He is president of the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, a youth athletics organization.
He described himself online as a family man. His wife is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School.
The Macomb County Sheriff's Department and the FBI were a part of the investigation.
This story was posted on commongate.com on September 18, 2007.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Americans: ‘fatter and dumber’
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel made this statement on an online Democratic candidate forum yesterday, Sep 13, 2007. He said that American people are getting fatter and dumber.
He may not win any votes making this statement, but he is absolutely correct in his assessment. I will take this opportunity to add two other adjectives that immediately come to mind, ‘Apathetic’ (which is why politicians can get away with the crap they do) and ‘Lazy’ (which is why immigrants have gained such a foothold in the U.S.). There are several others but I will spare you my take on the full picture of what we have become.
Look around you and make your own honest assessment of your fellow Americans, and yourself.
What is the percentage of overweight people around you? Do you see more overweight people than you did, say, 10 years ago or even five? How many people do you know who exercise regularly? How many eat balanced diets? How many eat at fast food restaurants? Are you overweight? Do you exercise regularly?
Ask high school level questions of those people you know. How many people can do math beyond simple addition and subtraction, without using their fingers? Multiplication and, especially, division really tax most peoples minds. How many people can tell you who our first three presidents were? How about geography, how many people know what the capital of Pakistan is, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or even where these countries are? These countries are part of current events so it is not unfair to ask these questions.
How many people do you know punctuate their speech with these words: “like” and “you know” and “kind of” and “sort of”? Here’s an example, “I was, kind of like, blah blah blah, like, sort of blah blah, you know?” High school English teachers everywhere cringe when they hear high school graduates speak like this. But then again there are more and more high school teachers speaking like this too. Have they given up and just going with the crowd to get along? Do they realize they have lost the battle to educate kids who see no real reason for going to school other than the fact that they are forced to be there. Or is it that this is what they have been exposed to all their lives and therefore this is all they know of how to speak?
Seriously, our overall education has been going down the tubes for a very long time. Kids don’t see the importance of learning anything from school. It is up to the parents to instill in them the need to learn everyday, everything they can about everything. How many parents really care about education? Very few. Their only incentive to go to school is to get it over with so they become adult and do ‘fun’ adult things, like drive their own car, and drink legally. These are not very lofty goals. These kids have no idea what it means to be an adult. They see their parents go through the routine of leaving in the morning to go to work somewhere and then there is food on the table and they get clothes to wear and they might get an allowance for some menial job around the house. But they don’t really know the real reason for an education.
How many people do you know actually pick up a newspaper or browse the internet for real, meaningful news of current events? I am not talking about the entertainment section or the fashion news or sports. I’m talking real life hard hitting facts about the state of our world and nation that affects each and everyone of us. How many people turn to a radio for other than the latest top musical hits, this being the only reason they ever turn on a radio?
How many people turn on the television for any real news? Actually this question is unfair, because there is nothing worth learning on commercial television. Even the news programs have turned to an entertainment slant. The only exception is Public Television and they have to beg for money to keep them going. In general, television has become a vast wasteland of meaningless entertainment geared toward the lowest common denominator. The number of commercials have become obscene. Advertisers have become obnoxious in their attempts to sell us inane, meaningless crap that none of us really need, especially new cars. Have you seen the proliferation of ‘reality’ shows? This concept is one of the biggest piles of dung that television has ever produced. And the fact that they are so popular goes a long way toward telling just how dumb we Americans have become.
How many people do you know actually vote? And of those people, how many make informed decisions about a candidate or issue based on what they read and not what they accidentally heard in a ‘sound bite’ on the radio news at the top of the hour while waiting for their music to come back on?
There are people who can recite sports stats about all of their favorite athletes and cannot tell you who our vice president or speaker of the house is. There are people who can tell you the names of every person their favorite celebrity has ever screwed or screwed over but can’t tell you why we are exploring outer space. And there are way too many people who think that looks count for more than anything else. Unfortunately, these very same people get into positions of hiring people and hire only ‘pretty’ people or sexually promiscuous people who are under-qualified for the position while the person who has spent their life educating themselves for that position go unrewarded and under-valued.
These are all basically intelligent people, they just don’t see any reason to apply themselves beyond what they need to get by on a daily basis. Those people who do have a genuine desire to get an education are already so far ahead of those who just go through the motions but things have gotten so bad that even education does not guarantee you success.
Why do we need to know current events? Why should we be as healthy as we can be except to satisfy our own narcissistic reasons? All you have to do to get a job is ‘look good’ and ‘suck up’ to the right people. Then when you are in the door, all you have to do to ‘climb the ladder’ is to ‘look good’ and ‘suck up’ to the right people. This is very cynical, I know. But I have been bypassed during my working life by these people and I know many others who have been as well. Education does not have as high a value as ‘looking good’ and ‘sucking up’. Just look at Hollywood to see what I mean. You get the vast majority of those people away from their cue cards and their writers and see just how under-educated and shallow these people really are.
Let’s face it America, we are getting fatter, we are getting dumber. It is a fact that only we can change. Do we have the drive to make that change? Sadly, I don’t think so. And this is where those other two adjectives I spoke of earlier, “Lazy” and “Apathetic”, come into play. If we had the drive to keep ourselves fit and well educated we would not have let ourselves go in the first place. I challenge everyone to prove me wrong but I’m not going to bet on it happening.
He may not win any votes making this statement, but he is absolutely correct in his assessment. I will take this opportunity to add two other adjectives that immediately come to mind, ‘Apathetic’ (which is why politicians can get away with the crap they do) and ‘Lazy’ (which is why immigrants have gained such a foothold in the U.S.). There are several others but I will spare you my take on the full picture of what we have become.
Look around you and make your own honest assessment of your fellow Americans, and yourself.
What is the percentage of overweight people around you? Do you see more overweight people than you did, say, 10 years ago or even five? How many people do you know who exercise regularly? How many eat balanced diets? How many eat at fast food restaurants? Are you overweight? Do you exercise regularly?
Ask high school level questions of those people you know. How many people can do math beyond simple addition and subtraction, without using their fingers? Multiplication and, especially, division really tax most peoples minds. How many people can tell you who our first three presidents were? How about geography, how many people know what the capital of Pakistan is, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or even where these countries are? These countries are part of current events so it is not unfair to ask these questions.
How many people do you know punctuate their speech with these words: “like” and “you know” and “kind of” and “sort of”? Here’s an example, “I was, kind of like, blah blah blah, like, sort of blah blah, you know?” High school English teachers everywhere cringe when they hear high school graduates speak like this. But then again there are more and more high school teachers speaking like this too. Have they given up and just going with the crowd to get along? Do they realize they have lost the battle to educate kids who see no real reason for going to school other than the fact that they are forced to be there. Or is it that this is what they have been exposed to all their lives and therefore this is all they know of how to speak?
Seriously, our overall education has been going down the tubes for a very long time. Kids don’t see the importance of learning anything from school. It is up to the parents to instill in them the need to learn everyday, everything they can about everything. How many parents really care about education? Very few. Their only incentive to go to school is to get it over with so they become adult and do ‘fun’ adult things, like drive their own car, and drink legally. These are not very lofty goals. These kids have no idea what it means to be an adult. They see their parents go through the routine of leaving in the morning to go to work somewhere and then there is food on the table and they get clothes to wear and they might get an allowance for some menial job around the house. But they don’t really know the real reason for an education.
How many people do you know actually pick up a newspaper or browse the internet for real, meaningful news of current events? I am not talking about the entertainment section or the fashion news or sports. I’m talking real life hard hitting facts about the state of our world and nation that affects each and everyone of us. How many people turn to a radio for other than the latest top musical hits, this being the only reason they ever turn on a radio?
How many people turn on the television for any real news? Actually this question is unfair, because there is nothing worth learning on commercial television. Even the news programs have turned to an entertainment slant. The only exception is Public Television and they have to beg for money to keep them going. In general, television has become a vast wasteland of meaningless entertainment geared toward the lowest common denominator. The number of commercials have become obscene. Advertisers have become obnoxious in their attempts to sell us inane, meaningless crap that none of us really need, especially new cars. Have you seen the proliferation of ‘reality’ shows? This concept is one of the biggest piles of dung that television has ever produced. And the fact that they are so popular goes a long way toward telling just how dumb we Americans have become.
How many people do you know actually vote? And of those people, how many make informed decisions about a candidate or issue based on what they read and not what they accidentally heard in a ‘sound bite’ on the radio news at the top of the hour while waiting for their music to come back on?
There are people who can recite sports stats about all of their favorite athletes and cannot tell you who our vice president or speaker of the house is. There are people who can tell you the names of every person their favorite celebrity has ever screwed or screwed over but can’t tell you why we are exploring outer space. And there are way too many people who think that looks count for more than anything else. Unfortunately, these very same people get into positions of hiring people and hire only ‘pretty’ people or sexually promiscuous people who are under-qualified for the position while the person who has spent their life educating themselves for that position go unrewarded and under-valued.
These are all basically intelligent people, they just don’t see any reason to apply themselves beyond what they need to get by on a daily basis. Those people who do have a genuine desire to get an education are already so far ahead of those who just go through the motions but things have gotten so bad that even education does not guarantee you success.
Why do we need to know current events? Why should we be as healthy as we can be except to satisfy our own narcissistic reasons? All you have to do to get a job is ‘look good’ and ‘suck up’ to the right people. Then when you are in the door, all you have to do to ‘climb the ladder’ is to ‘look good’ and ‘suck up’ to the right people. This is very cynical, I know. But I have been bypassed during my working life by these people and I know many others who have been as well. Education does not have as high a value as ‘looking good’ and ‘sucking up’. Just look at Hollywood to see what I mean. You get the vast majority of those people away from their cue cards and their writers and see just how under-educated and shallow these people really are.
Let’s face it America, we are getting fatter, we are getting dumber. It is a fact that only we can change. Do we have the drive to make that change? Sadly, I don’t think so. And this is where those other two adjectives I spoke of earlier, “Lazy” and “Apathetic”, come into play. If we had the drive to keep ourselves fit and well educated we would not have let ourselves go in the first place. I challenge everyone to prove me wrong but I’m not going to bet on it happening.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
What is the real goal of this Iraq War and who is behind it?
Why are we still in Iraq? Why did we go there at all? Was it really to remove Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction? If that was the case then we have no business being there because there are no weapons of mass destruction.
Was it to remove Saddam Hussein from power? Mission accomplished, lets go home and resume our lives.
Was it to get control of Iraq’s oil resource for our own use? Not going to happen. Lets go home and work on alternative sources of energy like we should have been anyway.
Was it to fight terrorism? The only reason there are terrorist in Iraq now is because the U.S. brought them there by attacking Iraq. Let’s go home and protect our borders better and fight them here. I guarantee you they will not have the same will to fight us on our own turf.
Was it to show the world that we are truly the only world power and the rest of the world should recognize us for it? That isn’t working because if we truly are the only world power then we would have ‘won’ in Iraq by now.
Was it because war times have historically strengthened the U.S. economy by putting more Americans to work? Look around, we are losing jobs to cheaper foreign work forces. So, I don’t think that goal was achieved.
Was it so George W. Bush could ‘avenge’ his father for not taking out Saddam during the first Gulf War? Maybe he will some day decide to be candid enough to actually admit that there is more truth to this part of the story that he has ever let on.
As an American citizen, I am deeply confused about why we are there and why we stay.
The politicians and generals have all lied to us about how the war is progressing, all you have to do is read alternative news sources and listen to the troops who have actually served there to know that is true. Since they are lying to us about what is really happening there, they want something out of this war than what they are leading us to believe. Traditionally, 'winning' a war results in us marching away as the victor while people shower us with thanks and goodwill for relieving their suffering from the dictatorial rule of some madman. That, clearly, is not what is happening in Iraq. Therefore, a different goal has been set for Iraq.
The Pentagon, Haliburton, all of their subsidiaries and all of the other U.S. based contractors are making a lot of money off of this war. Profits they could not have dreamed of during a peace-time economy. As is usually always the case, if you follow the money trail you will learn the real reason behind why people in power do what they do.
Before this war started, Bush's handlers did not have an exit strategy. They did not plan for one because they knew there would be no exit. Why? One reason is that they planned to build military bases in Iraq to control the Middle East. This would extend America’s role of policing the world. If you are going to be the world’s police force you have to have police stations throughout the world.
Another underlying reason for not leaving is because of the oil reserves there. Bush's cronies at Haliburton and others would continue to make profits.
Just look at the fact that we still have military bases in Europe and Japan almost six decades after World War II. The U.S. does not give up strongholds easily. We will stay in Iraq indefinitely.
U.S. military and foreign policy does not account for the possibility of helping Iraq gain democracy and then leaving them to ‘sink or swim’. The U.S. military and foreign policy is to conquer and control. This alone is why the Middle East will never give up fighting the U.S. on their soil. The Middle East belongs to them, they will fight for it until their dying breath.
This policy of ‘American internationalism’ believes that we should dominate the world economy. Adherence to this policy will lead to the downfall of American power. Bush is stretching our grip too far. We should take a lesson from the Roman empire. They tried to stretch their control over the entire known world and their civilization fell apart. If we continue on this same path we will duplicate their fate.
The Pentagon budget is increased every year at the detriment of the U.S. domestic economy. Our educational system is suffering, our healthcare system is suffering, our citizens are suffering, except for Bush’s millionaire cronies who are profiting from this insane need to stretch U.S. control around the world.
Bush is currently working to expand the global missile defense system. This is the ‘big gun’ that will be used to back his idea of the Americanization of the world.
Our military has been undergoing the transformation to a police force long before George W. was inserted as president. The basis for this policy was born from a document drafted in 1992 by the defense department when, current vice president, Dick Cheney was defense secretary. That document saw the United States imposing its will and keeping world peace through military and economic power. When leaked in final draft form, however, the proposal drew so much criticism that it was hastily withdrawn and repudiated by the first President Bush.
The greatest danger that springs from the U.S. becoming the world’s police force is that all of our financial power and military might will be dedicated to maintaining that role. Once we become the world’s police force all our allies will back away and redirect their spending on domestic issues.
George W. Bush certainly did not campaign for this type of foreign policy while running for president but he has been doggedly pursuing it ever since. He is being led by conservative groups and he is only their ‘mouthpiece’. This says a lot about American politics today. The big lesson here is that it does not matter which person we the voting public elect as president, it is the groups behind the scenes who really decide this countries policies and we never have a say on who populate those groups.
Was it to remove Saddam Hussein from power? Mission accomplished, lets go home and resume our lives.
Was it to get control of Iraq’s oil resource for our own use? Not going to happen. Lets go home and work on alternative sources of energy like we should have been anyway.
Was it to fight terrorism? The only reason there are terrorist in Iraq now is because the U.S. brought them there by attacking Iraq. Let’s go home and protect our borders better and fight them here. I guarantee you they will not have the same will to fight us on our own turf.
Was it to show the world that we are truly the only world power and the rest of the world should recognize us for it? That isn’t working because if we truly are the only world power then we would have ‘won’ in Iraq by now.
Was it because war times have historically strengthened the U.S. economy by putting more Americans to work? Look around, we are losing jobs to cheaper foreign work forces. So, I don’t think that goal was achieved.
Was it so George W. Bush could ‘avenge’ his father for not taking out Saddam during the first Gulf War? Maybe he will some day decide to be candid enough to actually admit that there is more truth to this part of the story that he has ever let on.
As an American citizen, I am deeply confused about why we are there and why we stay.
The politicians and generals have all lied to us about how the war is progressing, all you have to do is read alternative news sources and listen to the troops who have actually served there to know that is true. Since they are lying to us about what is really happening there, they want something out of this war than what they are leading us to believe. Traditionally, 'winning' a war results in us marching away as the victor while people shower us with thanks and goodwill for relieving their suffering from the dictatorial rule of some madman. That, clearly, is not what is happening in Iraq. Therefore, a different goal has been set for Iraq.
The Pentagon, Haliburton, all of their subsidiaries and all of the other U.S. based contractors are making a lot of money off of this war. Profits they could not have dreamed of during a peace-time economy. As is usually always the case, if you follow the money trail you will learn the real reason behind why people in power do what they do.
Before this war started, Bush's handlers did not have an exit strategy. They did not plan for one because they knew there would be no exit. Why? One reason is that they planned to build military bases in Iraq to control the Middle East. This would extend America’s role of policing the world. If you are going to be the world’s police force you have to have police stations throughout the world.
Another underlying reason for not leaving is because of the oil reserves there. Bush's cronies at Haliburton and others would continue to make profits.
Just look at the fact that we still have military bases in Europe and Japan almost six decades after World War II. The U.S. does not give up strongholds easily. We will stay in Iraq indefinitely.
U.S. military and foreign policy does not account for the possibility of helping Iraq gain democracy and then leaving them to ‘sink or swim’. The U.S. military and foreign policy is to conquer and control. This alone is why the Middle East will never give up fighting the U.S. on their soil. The Middle East belongs to them, they will fight for it until their dying breath.
This policy of ‘American internationalism’ believes that we should dominate the world economy. Adherence to this policy will lead to the downfall of American power. Bush is stretching our grip too far. We should take a lesson from the Roman empire. They tried to stretch their control over the entire known world and their civilization fell apart. If we continue on this same path we will duplicate their fate.
The Pentagon budget is increased every year at the detriment of the U.S. domestic economy. Our educational system is suffering, our healthcare system is suffering, our citizens are suffering, except for Bush’s millionaire cronies who are profiting from this insane need to stretch U.S. control around the world.
Bush is currently working to expand the global missile defense system. This is the ‘big gun’ that will be used to back his idea of the Americanization of the world.
Our military has been undergoing the transformation to a police force long before George W. was inserted as president. The basis for this policy was born from a document drafted in 1992 by the defense department when, current vice president, Dick Cheney was defense secretary. That document saw the United States imposing its will and keeping world peace through military and economic power. When leaked in final draft form, however, the proposal drew so much criticism that it was hastily withdrawn and repudiated by the first President Bush.
The greatest danger that springs from the U.S. becoming the world’s police force is that all of our financial power and military might will be dedicated to maintaining that role. Once we become the world’s police force all our allies will back away and redirect their spending on domestic issues.
George W. Bush certainly did not campaign for this type of foreign policy while running for president but he has been doggedly pursuing it ever since. He is being led by conservative groups and he is only their ‘mouthpiece’. This says a lot about American politics today. The big lesson here is that it does not matter which person we the voting public elect as president, it is the groups behind the scenes who really decide this countries policies and we never have a say on who populate those groups.
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