The Conservative World Is a Scary Place

An example of scary is the new proposal of heavily fining pimps and sending them to jail for ten years, the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for getting "smutty" over the air waves, and other measures meant to "puritanize" America and the world. If the Conservatives were the Paragons of virtue that they would have everyone believe they were that would be one thing but they are worse, at least in numbers, than their Liberal counter-parts and are being hypocritical. What we don't need is a government turned "Morals Police", looking in every supposed dark corners for smut and immoral deeds.
Then there is Dictator WannaBee George taking on authority he doesn't have; all with the blessings of an Ultra-Conservative bunch in the Congress. In my lifetime I saw part of the rise of Nazi Germany and it bothers me greatly to see the trends that are taking place in the U.S., where Capitalism is acting out at its worst. We once had a government that more or less listened and represented the citizenry but no longer. Unfortunately our only weapon is the vote but that is more or less a stacked deck when you consider all the money that is spent creating Propaganda. Then there are the bogus voting machines that leave no paper trail.

Trivializing the U.S. Constitution

When you read the Amendments one cannot help be struck by their meaning and purpose. Great thought and purpose went into the Amendments and now a bunch of yahoos want to trivialize the document for political gain! How would banning gay marriage and making it illegal to burn the flag stand up to Freedom of Speech, Right to Bear Arms, and the like? The documents purpose was to guarantee freedom for the people, not take away rights and give power to the government. Gay marriage and protests are social issues which should be left out of the Constitution.

WMDs in Iraq--Oh My!

Follow the yellow brick road, smoke and mirrors, grabbing at straws--the Republicans will go to any lengths to get out from under the mantle of guilt they have created about WMDs in Iraq--or I should say the lack of them. In case anyone has forgotten--we were under immanent threat from Iraq and their WMDs; remember the Mushroom Cloud and Smoking Gun? But any old armaments with the whiff of chemicals or a yellow powdery dust will do to create doubt in the Public's minds about the Republican's guilt of taking us to war without provocation or solid reason. Then there are all the lies about drones and biological trailers. The public is still not getting the truth--just more of the same old lies or Propaganda Ploys. We wont get an honest government until we, the People, demand one. In the meantime Politics takes the place of representation and we continue to get war, out of control unregulated Capitalism, an invasion of illegal aliens from all over the world, poor wages and lost jobs......It's up to us to end all this nonsense and until we do we will continue to get the government we deserve.

The U.S. Is a Sitting Duck

Everyone, it seems, has angst about where the terrorists will strike next; airlines, ferries, tall buildings, drinking water, gas attacks--all the while not really concerned about our real vulnerablilities. For instance, oil refineries. Did you know that if 25 of our largest refineries were disabled that 37% of our gasoline, diesel, capacity would be knocked out. That would destroy the U.S., literally. It takes billions of dollars and years of construction to build a large refinery and if a few were knocked out that would have a catastrophic impact on the economy and our ability to function as a nation. Hard to do? Nope.
Twenty-five pickup trucks loaded with three to five men, with 3 to 4 of them handling RPGs loaded with Armor Piercing rounds and High Explosive rounds--one to puncture fractionation towers and storage tanks, the other to set off any oil or compounds that might not ignite right away--first drive up to the gate and blow it, then drive in to blow the place up--all within a few minutes.
Without oil the U.S. is a sitting duck.
Other targets may seem "scarey", but the real danger is a loss of oil, whether in depletion (we are down to 21 billion barrels--we use 7 billion a year) or destruction of our refineries. Even one or two destroyed would be devistating as many of our refineries service local or regional areas, which would be particularly devastating to a region and stressful to other regions as they try to make up the loss if a refinery or two would be lost.
Fortunately the terrorists lack real abilities to do us harm and sensible security measures have discouraged them from any large scale attack, but sloppy border control and a lack of cooperation from the Mexican government is a real threat to our security. If thousands of pounds of drugs can get across RPGs and terrorists can too.

War in Iraq--Revisited

After watching some of the speeches and Propaganda being put out on both sides my initial response is--Where in the Hell are their Brains? Yes, we went into Iraq without a solid valid justification, in other words someone wasn't being honest to us, the Public. Yes, support for the troops is a good thing; but does "support" have to mean getting more troops getting killed, maimed, or brain-dead? One side or the other is trying to paint the other into a corner for political reasons. Is politics a good way to support the troops? How about some "real" debate, like using facts instead of emotional ploys. What are the facts?
Well, for one the Muslims do not want Crusaders on their doorsteps and running their lives and picking governments for them. Democracy does not jibe well with Islam--fact two. Fact three--any withdrawal plan is going to be messy, no matter how long we wait to do it and no matter how many Iraqis we train. Fact four--we are fighting ideas, not just people. Take Christianity for instance. The Romans and others tried to stamp it out and it just got stronger. Our efforts to stamp out a fundamentalist form of Islam may be just as fruitless. One thing for sure our continued support for Israel and our growing presence in the region will just fan the fires of dissent rather than diminish it. Al-Qaeda is an idea, not just a group of terrorists. We have learned nothing from VietNam--there too we were fighting an idea, not just guerrillas. The Vietnamese wanted their own country free from outsiders and they got it; despite all the billions of dollars of armaments we dropped on them.
The administration cannot Propagandize their way out of this mess because we just don't understand what we are up against. Like quick-sand, the more we struggle the more we get stuck. There will never be an "ideal" time to get out--just a contrived one.

Out-Of-Control Capitalism

Capitalism, if not regulated, is a tyrannical force and a danger to Democracy, just as much as any fascist government would be. A good example of this is what you can see around us today. Capitalism, for many years, has strived to control our government for its advantage and in recent years has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams. The Party mostly to blame for this has been the Republicans but, the Democrats are nearly as guilty.
Taxes used to be paid by the wealthy and upper-classes, but ever since the early 1900's that responsibilty has been passed more and more onto people who, at best, are just barely able to get by.
The battle for control of labor has gone to the Capitalists and all you ever hear nowadays is Capitalist Propaganda. The majority of the people seldom hear the truth and any facts that are presented are so hidden by the Propaganda Noise that the truth doesn't stand a chance to be assimilated.
The Capitalists are very clever in presenting their messages--music, well modulated voices, flashy images--every 10 minutes, for 3 minutes, you get Propaganda of some sort that sells you sex-enhancement, or how wonderful the oil companies are, and.... So-called "News" for the most part is just Propaganda for the Capitalist Masters who control the Media. Only a few "News" shows gives the public anything close to the facts.
It is time for a Revolution! We need some hard-nosed realists, without blind affiliations to Parties and Philosophies. People who believe in representing our Citizens, instead of having Agendas that bows to Capitalistic Internationalism.
This "feast" taking place on the Middle Class is about done. By "feast" I mean wringing out every dollar and political advantage that importing cheap goods and exporting labor can accomplish. That "feast" has about run its string and the free ride is about over.
So far both the Republicans and Democrats are dishing out the same old non-representative garbage. They just don't get it. Do we get it?

Who Is to Blame for Haditha?

If anyone were to poll the GIs about why they are in Iraq it is my guess the majority of them would say because the Iraqis had something to do with 9/11 and that they were fighting terrorists that want to destroy the U.S.
The next question is where are they getting such ideas? The answer to that would be the propaganda being fed to them through their commanders in the field and by the Bush Administration--how many times has Rumsfeld gone over to give rousing speeches for instance? Even GW Bush has gone over to give pep talks about the war on terror.
Ethics of warfare isn't the problem--hyping the war is the problem. To a lot of GIs it is pay-back time and many view all Iraqis, including women and children, as the enemy.
If it comes to a question of a GI getting killed versus women, childen, and other non-combatants, it will be one or all of the latter who gets killed.
Watching GIs react to bombs or shells hitting their mark brings to mind a hard fought football game. It seems like that is what the war is all about--a game; with all the trappings of bands, banners, and awards. A lot of people are trying to make this war something it isn't. It started with lies, it continues with lies, and it will probably end with lies.

The Race Card

You seldom see any Hispanics, that are promoting amnesty for illegal aliens, pass up the use of the Race Card, or any emotional aspect for that matter. The two things missing in the debate are facts and logic.
As far as "racial profiling" goes I don't see many blond white guys sneaking over the Mexican-U.S. border; and that is the main border being used by illegals to invade our country.
We are at war and that calls for some bending of the rules--if you believe the Bush administration about a "war" going on and National Security being a high priority.
But National Security is of a different form in the case of amnesty for illegal aliens. They don't belong here no matter how hard they work for pay. They are working for themselves, not for some grandiose scheme to help the U.S. economy or American employers; like some would have you believe. We are being invaded by a people different than the rest of us.
Some proponents for amnesty are quite honest that the "battle" is about a Mexican take-over of lands "they" feel is rightfully theirs--Atzlan I believe they call it.
How come no one is pointing that out. I'm sure there are many Hispanics feel the same but are being more prudent not to voice their ideas about a Hispanic take-over.
I'm not against Hispanics at all. I've traveled in Mexico and found the people to be great--I just have a desire to keep the U.S. non-Hispanic for the most part. I lived in California for 25 years and have watched many areas turn into Hispanic ghettos, which tend to spread out more and more as the years go by. They become havens for illegal Hispanics and only encourage more and more to come and live. They do not belong here. That is the point everyone is ignoring. They didn't come here by getting into a "line", fill out papers and wait like everyone else who wants to work, become citizens, or whatever.
Rounding them up is not the answer but enforcing laws against lawbreaking employers would do much to solve the problem of illegal working residents. Also, going after businesses owned by illegal aliens would get rid of many illegals doing landscaping and construction on the side.
The government should be sued for all the harm it is doing by not enforcing our laws and are not protecting the American people.
We are being invaded by a foreign power, they just aren't using guns against us. It's still a hostile take over, they are just smiling at us as they do it.
One harm not being mentioned is all the billions of dollars being sent out of the country south. That is a drain on the U.S.--I'll leave it others to figure out all the ramifications of that; but it is also a serious issue to consider.