Past Time to Act

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY SENATORS AND CONGRESSMAN

Dear Political Leader:

Americans have made arguably the most disastrous political mistake in our country’s history. This is now very obvious to anyone except perhaps the blindest political dogmatists.

We’ve abrogated unprecedented powers into the hands of a very obviously unfit president who is manifestly unqualified to handle them. The mistakes and disasters perpetrated by this man and his aides pile one on top of the other daily. George W. Bush is in total denial and out of touch with all reality. He ignores the advice of any and all knowledgeable experts. He invariably reverts to his own hidebound, faulty and twisted conclusions, which are consistently wrong and very often blatantly illegal. So far he has been allowed to do so.

The incalculable damage George W. Bush is causing will resonate down through succeeding generations of our nation’s children and grandchildren. Our political leaders of all persuasions, must step forth to fulfill the obligations of their offices, to preserve and protect our nation and people. Partisan dogma must not come before your sworn duties to our country.

This loose and dangerous cannon must be removed from any and all positions of authority and as quickly as possible. I call on you now as a patriotic American political leader to have the courage to step forth to discharge your sworn responsibilities to our nation and people.

I urge you to please act now! Delay now threatens the very foundations of our country and democracy.

Very Sincerely,

Your Constituent

(For the sake of our country, I urge all citizens to write or fax something similar to your senators and congressman)

Can My Mother Be A Lying Whore?

What if you awoke one morning to realize that your mother and your grandmother were nothing but lying whores and had been for decades? And, since the day you were born you had kept them on this shining pedestal in your mind. Would you be upset?

What if they even reluctantly admitted to being lying whores ‘well, maybe just a few times, but I only did so because I always had only your best interests foremost in mind." Would you still be upset?

Well yes, I am very upset! I am now finally, fully waking up to the fact that my country is nothing more than a big, fat, lying whore, and has been for decades. My very own country whose honor I have defended by force of arms and made many sacrifices for!

Let me lay out some of the dirty linen that causes me to feel this way. Some common threads run through these garments, and they are:

These things usually happened under Republican administrations (but, not invariably);

These things ALWAYS had CIA involvement - invariably;

The ultimate benefactor of these things is invariably “Corporatism”;

These things featured armed ‘death squads’ to deal ‘extralegally’ with opponents by means of summary executions;

The ultimate victims of these are always the common people and their rights;

The victim country usually sits on some sort of natural resource wealth;

“Defending against Communism” was always cited as the reason for US support of repressive, right wing regimes until the ‘defeat’ of communism. Afterwards, the boogeyman has been the ‘defeat of terrorism’.

The most disturbing aspect is that a popular, usually democratically elected government, is invariably replaced by a repressive, right wing government (often a dictatorship) which favors big money interest exclusively;

EXAMPLE: 1953, IRAN; Eisenhower administration: The CIA planned, sponsored and executed a coup to oust Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq's and install the repressive Reza Shah Pahlavi

EXAMPLE: 1954, GUATEMALA; Eisenhower administration: The CIA planned, sponsored and executed a coup to oust the populist & democratically elected government of Jacabo Arbenz Guzman and install the repressive Castillo Armas as dictator. The United Fruit Company was the corporate instigator of the coup as they controlled the railroads, electric utilities and most of the best land in the country. Over 200,000 people died in the aftermath of this coup.

EXAMPLE: 1959, CUBA; Eisenhower administration: Fidel Castro led a popular revolution to overthrow the repressive, right wing Fulgencio Batista regime supported by the mafia and big money interests in the US. Under Eisenhower, the CIA began a 45 year campaign to oust the Castro government which continues to this day. Castro ultimately embraced communism to successfully defend his country against the CIA sponsored attacks on his country.

EXAMPLE: 1973, CHILE; Nixon Administration: The CIA planned, sponsored and helped execute a coup to oust the democratically elected government of Salvadore Allende. Dictator Augusto Pinochet was installed and assumed draconian powers. Allende was murdered during the coup along with many aides. Under Pinochet’s rule thousands of his opponents ‘disappeared’. Henry Kissinger’s involvement resulted in an international warrant being issued for his arrest.

EXAMPLE: 1981, EL SALVADOR; Reagan administration: The CIA trained & sponsored ‘death squads’ to aid rich landowners maintain control over the peasantry. 75,000 killed;

EXAMPLE: 1982, Nicaragua; Reagan administration: The CIA sponsored a ‘revolution’ (which ultimately failed) using 'proxy terrorists' (Contras) against the popularly elected government of Daniel Ortega. Over 50,000 persons were killed.

EXAMPLE: 2002, Venezuela; GW Bush administration: The CIA instigated and sponsored a coup against the populist, democratically elected government of Hugo Chavez. The CIA defines the government as ‘technically legal’ but as a ‘democratically elected dictatorship’. The CIA coup was briefly successful but failed after two days. Chavez has since been a major thorn in the side of the US government, and particularly the GW Bush administration;

EXAMPLE: 2003, Iraq; GW Bush administration: The CIA has long been involved in Iraq, first as a friend to the Saddam Hussein dictatorship, and more recently as a counter to Islam influences. GW Bush’s administration used false excuses to mount a unilateral invasion of Iraq which then became a part of his ‘Global War On Terror’ which is ongoing. Perhaps as many as 700,000 and possibly more have now died;

EXAMPLE: 2004, HAITI; ; GW Bush administration: The involvement of the CIA, the IRI (International Republican Institute [John McCain]), and the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) ultimately resulted in the kidnap and removal from office of Haiti’s popularly and democratically elected president Juan-Bertrand Aristide. A repressive, right wing government with expatriate Gerard Latortue at it’s head now rules in his place.

And, of course there are many other examples too, both great and small, but the most common thread is the international war of US monied interests against the rights, freedoms and lives of the common people throughout the world. ECONOMIC domination is the ultimate and only real goal. "DEMOCRACY" is given plenty of lip service, and propagandized to the hilt. However the truth is in the actions my country actually does in the name of all of us.

And, that’s how my own country, that bulwark of freedom and standard bearer for democracy throughout the world, actually defends and dispenses democracy throughout the world!

Yes, I am very upset!

Other sources:
CATO INSTITUTE
INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE

“A State of National Emergency”

Augusto Pinochet of Chile died on December 10,2006

Pinochet came to power in Chile in 1973 by overthowing the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in a CIA sponsored coup d’etat when Richard Nixon was president of the US. Pinochet set up a draconian right-wing military dictatorship which lasted from 1973 until 1990. After 1990, Pinochet became 'Senator for Life' and head of the Chilean Army.

Salvador Allende was the first democratically elected socialist/marxist president in the world. Republican President Richard M. Nixon would not tolerate his prescence in the western hemisphere and sponsored multiple efforts to remove him from power culminating in Pinochet’s coup. Allende was killed during the coup. Pinochet claimed Allende ‘committed suicide’ (by shooting himself multiple times with a machine gun). Many of Allende’s aides were executed during and shortly after the coup d’etat.

Following the coup thousands of Pinochet opponents ‘disappeared’ forever as Pinochet’s military junta consolidated rule with draconian, unilateral powers under a ‘state of national emergency’. State sponsored killings and torture became normalized under the junta which tolerated no opposition.

Click here for a chilling photo essay documentary of Pinochet’s time.

I wonder if a “State of Siege” or “National Emergency” is anything like a “Global War on Terror”?

An Insane Presidency?

What can you do when your country's president is certifiable?

In the United States we have no method to address an insane president except to assess the his 'Inability' to discharge his duties. Impeachment is reserved for "Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" - which seemingly will also fit this president in spades.

We can only hope the leaders of all political parties can and will find the courage to confront our current presidential insanity before it’s too late. George W. Bush, the omnipotent, all-knowing 'War President' is in total denial and has proven manifestly unable to accept any advice or opinions contrary to his own, no matter the source.

This From the San Francisco Chronicle:

‘Much of Washington is looking at President Bush as a man standing on quicksand in Iraq, refusing the branch offered by his father's friend to save his presidency and the country from a historic blunder.’

‘Bush looks at history, too. A day after the release of a grim assessment of the war by the Iraq Study Group, headed by James Baker, a close friend of Bush's father who served as secretary of state for President George H.W. Bush, and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton, Bush conceded the need for tactical shifts, but he left it to those who follow him into the Oval Office to decide whether to leave Iraq.’

‘ "Will we have the resolve and confidence in liberty to prevail?" he asked. That question is "not going to face this government ... because we made up our mind. We've made that part clear. It'll face future governments. There will be future opportunities for people to say, 'Well, it's not worth it. Let's just retreat.' " ‘

Our War President is quickly losing even his most vociferous supporters:
‘ "Late Thursday, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who voted for the war, became the latest member of the president's party to leave his side when he slammed the entire Iraq enterprise in a scathing Senate floor speech.’

‘ "I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day," Smith said. "That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that anymore." ‘

Molly Ivins offers some very sage advice, saying "The first rule of holes is, when you find yourself in one, stop digging." Because of Bush's implacably stubborn stupidity, he is now certain to go into history as our nation's biggest presidential fool ever, leaving his horrendous mess for others to clean up. Trouble is, many of our young people will continue to die because of his insane, sophomoric hubris.

Let us hope saner heads can somehow prevail to get this madman removed from power and into prison where he belongs. Perhaps there he can receive the therapy he needs.

The Neo-Conservative Coup in the United States

The United States has three branches of government, namely the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch. The theory is that each branch of government has it’s own separate powers and acts as a check on the others, thereby insuring that no particular group may gain overall control. No one ever foresaw that the three branches might one day act in concert to indiscriminately discard American values and freedoms in wholesale lots.

However history will now show that in the year 2000, Neo-conservatives in the US engineered a ‘coup’ by means of a de facto consolidation of nearly complete power in the executive branch. This was accomplished first by judicial interference in the presidential election of 2000 which effectively abrogated the wishes of a majority of voters in the country to install the losing candidate in office. The further consolidation of powers was then greatly aided by a friendly majority in Congress eager to give the new president everything he wanted.

Cowed by the consolidation of power, a fearful and complacent media quickly fell in with the party line. By doing so the media defaulted in their historically resposible traditional role as mitigators of policy and events. Major media thereby made themselves little more than lap dogs and cheer leaders for the administration.

Then along came 9/11, one of America’s greatest tragedies in history. But it was also a political windfall for the executive branch which quickly capitalized on the paranoia and fear of many Americans. And, at first most Americans were grateful, feeling the country had a ‘strong and decisive’ leader to steer the country through the perils of uncertainty and perceived danger. Even the president’s opponents quickly fell in line to support him.

It soon became apparent to many however, that the administration had seized on this golden opportunity to further consolidate their grip on power, Suspicions that lies, fraud and deceit had been freely employed by the administration soon proved to be established fact. Nonetheless, the president’s hold on power was now so strong he could, and did, demand the most unreasonable of power and control in his broadly and heroically proclaimed “Global War on Terror”, and he established himself as the “War President”. The American president surrounded himself with willing sycophants who parroted his line no matter what. Those who did not agree soon left the administration.

It did not seem to matter that the administration freely violated international laws, constitutionally guaranteed rights or employed torture in their 'war' campaign. All criticism from home and abroad was summarily dismissed as ‘irrelevant’ as the administration led our country into a foreign policy debacle which will have consequences for decades if not generations. Civil rights and limitations on dictatorial powers first promised in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago are being ignored wholesale. Basic rights achieved for all Americans by our founding fathers over 230 years ago are now airily dismissed as ‘not consistent with national security’.

There has been little restraint on this president or his administration. Nothing is ever heard from either the judicial or legislative branches of government except even more support for the executive. The president does as he and he alone decides and sees fit, rightly or wrongly, and mostly he’s been egregiously wrong. The US Congress has abdicated to him the total and complete power to make war at his whim, and he appears to be a very whimsical individual indeed when it comes to war.

Although it is now glaringly apparent the president has been nearly 100% wrong since 9/11 and throughout these conflicts, the few voices raised in opposition are most notable for their loneliness, and as cries in the wilderness. The almost complete, and resounding silence is the defining mark of the abdications of all responsibility by the other two branches of government. Few persons from either the legislative branch or the judicial branch have the courage or willingness to fulfill their responsibilities.

This Congress and this court will go down in history as the most ineffective, and worst in history - the ones who gave away our hard won rights and freedoms. They will not be alone however, as they will be accompanied by this president. Today our country is surely and sorely in dire need of our wise, heroic and courageous leaders from the past!

The Intellectual Presidency

Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates told a senate confirmation committee hearing today that the US is ‘not winning’ the war in Iraq. Gates said, "What we are now doing is not satisfactory." When asked directly by Senator Carl Levin if the US was winning the war, Gates replied: "No, sir."

"Our course over the next year or two will determine whether the . . . next President of the US will face a slowly but steadily improving situation in Iraq and in the region or will face the very real risk, and possible reality, of a regional conflagration." he said.

When reporters asked President Bush about Gates’ remarks before the committee, he responded, “Huh! How’s about that? I sure didn’t know that. Rummy and Uncle Dick are always telling me how good things were going over there in Eye- rack and just to let them handle things. I had no idea - I mean I heard some rumors and stuff but you know how that is. Say, you haven’t seen my Ipod have you? I don’t know what I did with that thing - maybe one of those darned twins grabbed mine.”

“Anyhow listen, that’s how come I been talkin’ about ‘stayin’ the course and all that, ‘specially since Unka Dick told everyone the war was in the final throes and all a while back. I mean I figured he knew what was going on, ya know? Lookit, you’re supposed to listen to your advisors and top people doncha? Now, where is that Ipod?”

One reporter persisted in questioning why the president didn’t have a better grasp of the situation in that war torn country saying, “Mr. President, with all due respect, just about everyone else in the country has been well aware the war is going badly and our losses are mounting . Don’t you pay attention to the daily briefings and stay up to date on vitally important things like that?”

“No sir I don’t,” said Bush. “Unka Dick and Rummy was handling all that stuff so’s I won’t be bothered with it. I turned it all over to them ‘cause they’re ‘sposed to be the experts. That’s what us presidents do you know, we delegate. Sure, I’ve seen some of those alarmist TV reports and heard a few rumors and all that, but you know how that liberal dominated media is. Karl and them try to keep me shielded from all that stuff so I can concentrate on being President.”

“Heck, they say even the homeless people and bag ladies probably know more about that war from reading week old wet newspapers than I do. Guess you could call me ‘informationally challenged’ since I don’t have time to read anything unless it’s condensed down to easy words and has lot’s of pictures and all. I’m the War President you know and I’m pretty busy. Now, where did that thing get to?”

“But, Rummy though, he was ‘sposed to know better. If he hadn’t resigned I’d a probably had to fire the old boy if Unka Dick told me to.”

The above is satire and a parody - except some of the quotes are verbatim!

An Unbelievable Administration of Tyranny

Man, oh man, oh man.

Who would believe this could ever happen in our country - the good ol’ US of A, that bastion of freedom and democracy and ‘innocent until proven guilty’?

Who can believe that our own US government now acts terrifyingly like Darth Vadar’s minions on the Galactic Empire’s Death Star? Who can believe that our version of the Galactic Empire now apparently has no compunction with torture, illegal imprisonment, violation of the most basic of human rights and outright contempt for constitutional guarantees of freedom?

If you want to get your knickers all knotted up, just take a look at the present “Dark Side of the Force” as exemplified by the current administration’s campaign against one Jose Padilla, an American citizen born in Brooklyn, NY.

Padilla was arrested as he stepped off an airplane in Chicago on May 8, 2002 as a 'material witness'. Then, on June 9, 2002, two days before District Court Judge Michael Mukasey was to issue a ruling on the validity of continuing to hold Padilla under the material witness warrant, President Bush issued an order to Secretary Rumsfeld to detain Padilla as an "enemy combatant," and Padilla was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina without any notice to his attorney or family - and thereafter held incommunicado for almost two years.

Padilla has been held - illegally according to legal scholars and the US Supreme Court - since his arrest. He was denied access to legal counsel for almost two full years. Then, when it looked like he would have to be released, the administration in a 'legal maneuver' (talk about your oxymorons!) changed course and had him indicted as a ‘civilian' by a Florida grand jury for alleged crimes totally different from those he was being held for by the military.

General info and history of the Padilla case can be found here. Even the arch conservative Cato Institute has compellingly serious issues with the Padilla case.

And, if you think you have the stomach for it, have a look at this article from the NY Times of today. It does not matter if Padilla is innocent or guilty - no human being should be treated this way under our constitutional 'guarantees'. If the government has the evidence, the man should stand trial. If they have only suspicions and suppositions, he must be released. For otherwise, there could stand you or I at the whim of this administration.

James Madison, in Federalist No. 47, put it most succinctly: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

We must free our country from the yoke of it's present tyranny, whatever it takes.

Rumsfeld Still Player on Defense

Rumsfeld may still be running defense behind the scenes

Washington, DC 12/4/06 (Rioters News Service) President Bush addressed the issue of the Iraq war today in a morning press conference which was also attended by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The president said he is seriously considering several recommendations made by Rumsfeld concerning the war. Rumsfeld recommended a ‘major adjustment’ in Iraq saying current actions are ‘not working well enough or fast enough.” Rumsfeld made his recommendations in a memo published Sunday in the New York Times.

“I realize that Rummy has been wrong about the war pretty much 100% of the time so far.” said Bush. “But lookit see, that’s really to our advantage. Just by the pure laws of averages he’s bound to get something right sooner or later. And, I’m betting on this being the time.”

“And that congressional bi-partisan study group on the war is just that.” the president said. “A study group, like a bible study group. We won’t be paying any attention to them since we already know best and can't let ourselves be distracted by any of those smarty pants so-called experts.”

When awakened for questioning during the press conference, Rumsfeld fleshed out his earlier memo with several additional comments. “For one thing,” said Rumsfeld, “you can’t allow the enemy to get the idea he’s got you on the run, even if you actually are on the run and well on the way to losing your war. You’ve got to make the enemy believe you’re in it for the long haul even if it’s costing you billions of dollars and thousands of American lives. That’s an imperative. Planning doesn’t have a thing to do with it. That’s what has always driven our war policy so far.”

“In fact if we have to,” the former secretary went on to say just before he went back to sleep, “we need to throw even more billions of dollars and thousands more lives at this war. It is vital to keep our war profiteers happy too you know as they are very important cogs in our war machine. We will not allow ourselves to be held accountable simply due to the lack of equipment, or armor, or ammunition or anything else. You fight a war with the army you have you know, not the army you wish you have.”

When reporters questioned Rumsfeld’s handling of the war and the downward spiraling turn the war seems to have taken under his leadership, he flared at them asserting that he did what he believed to be right saying, "I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said, and needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."

President Bush said he had “the fullest of confidence in Rumsfeld’s war doctrine and always had and always would.” He remarked, “I am well known for being loyal to my own staff and people even if it kills thousands of our young American men and women. After all what are our military cannon fodder for if you can’t use them up and waste them in battle when you need to? It’s not like it’s our own children fighting the war after all.”

Bush disclosed that he will himself become involved in personal diplomacy in the middle east as a new ‘ presidential strategedy’.

“I will use my widely recognized verbal and people skills to bring all the contentious parties together. I know my talents will prevail in the long run and eventually and sooner or later. To show my personal bravery, I will put my own safety on the line to accomplish this mission, just so long as those filthy ragheads are willing to come to Washington and undergo a strip & complete body cavity search so we can disarm them before letting them off the airplane.” the president said. ”As you know, I respect all parties in this conflict. I am a uniter and not a divider.”

Press secretary Tony Snow closed the meeting early so that the President could make a previously scheduled tee time with oil company executives.

The above story is satire and a complete parody on current events.
Many of the quotes however, are verbatim!

Alaska's governor Misbehaves to the Last

The Red State of Alaska's Governor Frank Murkowski Abuses His Constituent's Trust Until the Last Possible Moment!

“Frank never saw a tree he didn’t want to cut, an acre he didn’t want to mine or a drop of oil he didn’t want to pump.” That’s what they say about Alaska’s outgoing Republican governor Frank Murkowski who leaves office on Monday December 4, 2006. Murkowski who spent 21 years in the US senate before retiring to run for governor four years ago is widely known for his ‘development, development at any cost’ stance. He has been an avid supporter of any large scale development project almost no matter what or where. Very little else seems as important to him.

So, perhaps it’s no coincidence that before the last election he carried the second lowest approval rating of any US governor (21% as compared to Robert Taft, Republican of Ohio’s 19”). Perhaps it’s also no coincidence he finished third in a three-way race for the the Republican nomination for governor for the next term either. Now, he’s just an exceedingly lame duck has-been who will leave office having failed pretty much across the board as governor. Suspicion is that he had it his way so long as a senator that when he was faced with actually doing something, like running a state, he failed miserably.

Several notable acts Murkowski is noted for: 1): The nepotism of appointing his own daughter to fill the remainder of his senate term on his retirement from the senate, and, 2): Ramming thru the purchase by the state of a jet aircraft for his use over the objections of the Department of Homeland Security, Alaska’s state legislature, and the opinions of the people of the state, and 3): His support for two infamous ‘bridges to nowhere’ in Alaska, so-called budgetary ‘Earmark” items to be paid for by the taxpayers of the United States. It may also be no coincidence that one of the bridges will exponentially increase the value of 30 acres of land owned by the governor’s wife on an island near Ketchikan. In fact, Murkowski is so determined that bridge will be built he has already directed the state to award the contract for ‘approach roads’ to access the bridge from the island end.

But maybe nothing is so iconic and emblematic of Franks’s pigheaded obstinacy as his last minute effort to award a contract to build a road north of Juneau. He admits the main purpose of the $30 million road is to benefit a privately owned gold mine. The mine projects a working life of ten years and will employ 225 persons. The state of Alaska will spend $133,333,33 of taxpayer money for each and everyone one of those private industry jobs, or $13,333,33 per job per year.

In order to bring the cost of the road down to the state’s budget it was necessary to omit two bridges and convert the the specifications for the road to a gravel ‘pioneer’ road 18’ wide. Thus the state will end up with $30 Million dollars worth of three disconnected gravel road segments in the wilderness - over which two lawsuits have already been filed and with more sure to come.

Just what part of ‘running a state for the benefit of the citizens’ does the governor not get? And, with 'friends' like Frank running things, who can afford any enemies?