What Ever Happened to the Word "Ahead"?

Ever since Bush's press secretary Dana Perino began a campaign of using the word "forward" the media, politicians, pundits, have put aside the word "ahead" and used forward. This is not the first time it has happened--remember the word "appropriate"?

Torture: It's O.K. If It Works?

Those Republicans defending the former Bush Administration contend that Torture was O.K. because it worked; revealing terrorist plans and personnel. There is a helatious slippery slope here for it could then be said that rubber hoses worked in eliciting confessions from dangerous criminals, that the rack worked, thumb screws worked, red hot pincers worked.

They also contend that waterboarding was legal and not torture, yet Japanese soldiers were convicted of using waterboarding, that waterboarding was considered then to be torture. The Spanish Inquisition also used waterboarding to elicit confessions of heresy and sins. We don't hold them up to be model citizens.

They also contend that torture is merited in cases where large numbers of Americans are in danger of attack. How is that determined and by whom. How many Americans need to be in danger before torture is employed? Does that mean we will have professional torturers in the wings to be employed in cases of imminent attack?

When something is accepted it is easy to justify other actions; the proverbial slippery slope becomes something commonly used.

The Media: Why Don't They Just Call It Propaganda?

It seems the Media, Newspapers, TV News, and the like, has an aversion to calling what political strategists, pundits, Think Tanks, Radio Commentators, politicians spew out for what it is: Propaganda. All the parts are there--name calling, labels, glittering generalities, bandwagon, extrapolation, juxtaposition, straw man arguments, The Big Lie, and general logical fallacies to make points for or against their positions. Instead of the word Propaganda they use such euphemisms as "spin", commercial messages, etc. They take the seriousness out of disinformation and thought control attempts by using euphemisms. When you consider billions of dollars are being spent to develop disinformation and its dissemination "spin" just does not describe adequately the message.
Rush Limbaugh is a professional Propagandist hiding behind the label "Entertainer". One of his chief propaganda techniques is "humor", which is nothing more than ridicule of the opposition--in his case "Liberals". One of his famous labels was "FemiNazis". It is reported that Rush Limbo accepted a $400 million contract to continue his propaganda campaign.
It is time that a search light be aimed at the problem of propaganda and call it for what it is and those who deal in it against the Public's interest.

Why We Need an Investigation of the Bush Administration

Nixon, Reagan, Walker Bush, G.W. Bush all perpetrated crimes against the Constitution and the American People. Shadow governments, illegal government operations, criminal activity, unconstitutional acts, acts against humanity, and much much more. Their excuse--to protect Americans and America. Unpatriatic acts for patrioutism sake.
It needs to stop before it becomes "precedent". When a Presidential administration succeeds in a criminal act the next administration expects to be able to do the same, only more so. Nixon stated that when a President does something "illegal" it is lawful.
The following Republican administrations established illegal operations headquarters right in the White House and when confronted destroyed all the documents pertaining to the operations and blatantly lied to cover up.
The G.W. Bush administration wiretapped American citizens with impunity, engaged in institutionalized torture, invaded another country without cause, and imprisoned American citizens without due process of law. All of this under the assumption that it was legal because the President and administration said it was legal, and where there might be arguments against the justification lawyers were brought in to write up legal justification for the acts. All of this smacks of what the Nazis in Germany did to justify their heinous acts.
All of these activities need be brought to light and measures taken to prevent future similar acts, for not to do so is to threaten our Democracy.

What Is the Republican's New Message?

The Republican's has made much of their new message designed to attract more voters but all it is is more Propaganda. New slogans, old ideas wrapped in new wrappings, more attacks on the Democrats, and the like. They fail to realize Propaganda fails when ideas are proven wrong.
The Republicans present themselves as being "Real Americans", patriotic, exemplars of what their forefathers held as being American, protectors of American ideals, "little government", and the like.
For eight years they have borrowed and spent, institutionalized torture, engaged in illegal wiretapping of American's communications, suspended habeas corpus, ignored due process of law, engaged in an illegal war (Iraq) for fuzzy reasons, and much much more.
Until these issues are addressed honestly Republicans will fail in their attempts to present a new message people will believe.