Mr. Obama, End These Wars.

Barack Obama is an important man, and we are lucky to have him as our President in these turbulent times.  He is a great communicator, seems to believe in diplomacy and conflict resolution, and appears to be an honest man.

Obama, however, is not nearly as important as the movement that elected him. A growing number of Americans, many of them young people, realize that the United States is destroying itself. As a nation, we have been ignorant too long. We have refused to see both sides of the story for too long. We have repeated the same violent, hard-headed, bloody mistakes FOR TOO LONG. In recognition of this, the people of this country made a loud statement demanding a new course.

It is hard for me to understand how further inflaming the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan reflects the change the people of this country have clearly demanded. It is hard for me to understand how keeping 50,000 troops garrisoned in Iraq until the Rapture or whatever reflects the change the people of this country have clearly demanded. We are worse than broke, we are severely in debt and spiraling out of control, and yet we perpetuate the follies that have broken us!

Leaving aside the popular demands for change, our foreign policy is self-defeating as currently executed. As long as American foreign policy employs imperial violence, we fan the flames of extremism across the globe. We cannot defeat terrorism with terrorism. And make no mistake: airstrikes that scare the shit out of innocent people and leave them missing limbs, children, homes, and jobs amounts to the same thing as terrorism. We cannot defeat Al-Qaeda, or the Shadow Army, or the Council of United Mujahideen, or the Taleban, or Hamas, etc, militarily alone!

Success against terrorism will only come when the conditions that facilitate violent extremism are addressed, the roots of the problem. Violent extremism is a symptom of poverty, oppression, and hopelessness. We cannot blow up terrorism. We cannot blow up poverty, oppression, and hopelessness. I understand that many of you, especially those who favor soundbites and seductively simple “solutions,” think that we can blow these things up. You are wrong, and your stubbornness is dragging us all down with you. We are paying for your ignorance, dearly.

So what can America do? Obviously we cannot ignore the proliferation of violent extremism. To repeat myself, the first thing we can do is stop fueling it. Another thing we can do is build roads and schools, feed and clothe the poor, and act as an HONEST broker for peace in the world. Dust off those bibles, Torahs, and other holy books you are all so fond of: there’s lots of helpful hints in there! Skip over the fire and brimstone, we’ve got enough of that already.

Mr. Obama, I do not envy anyone who stands up to or threatens the priorities of the Military Industrial Security Establishment. It is dangerous to stand up to such powerful people, whose capabilities are so advanced that we probably would not understand them even if we were aware of them. It is, however, your job. You took an oath to protect the Constitution and the American people, from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC. Did you mean it?

If we still live in a democracy then the people tell the government what to do, not the other way around. For far too long the government of this country has been dictating to its people what we will do, as a nation. How well has that turned out? Take a look around you.

I will be writing a more thorough piece on this shortly. For now, I’ll leave you where we began: Mr. Obama, end these wars. End. These. Wars.

McCain = Hypocrite

Watch David Letterman press a stuttering, stammering John McCain about his associations with G. Gordon Liddy. Once again, entertainment shows are picking up slack from mainstream media in regards to asking hard questions of the Republican candidates. A little background on Liddy:

A protege of notorious former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Liddy participated in the burglaries that led to the Watergate Scandal and President Nixon’s resignation. He said that listening to Hitler speak “made [him] feel a strength inside [he] had never known before.” He has despicably given tips on how to kill law enforcement agents who wear body armor (“Head shots, head shots…. Kill the sons of bitches.”) He has plotted to assassinate journalists. Liddy also planned to kidnap anti-war protesters at the 1972 Republican National Convention.

As recently as last November, McCain went on Liddy’s radio show. Liddy greeted him as “an old friend,” and McCain said “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family.” “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.” (This paragraph from Wikipedia)

Watch McCain squirm.

A couple points I’ll make. First off, why haven’t most of you heard about this guy and McCain’s connection with him? Because the Obama campaign, commendably, has been focusing on the issues that matter to Americans. In stark contrast to McCain’s desperate, shallow tactics, Obama’s campaign knows that fitness for the presidency is more important than McCarthyist witch hunts.

Next point. McCain’s connection to Liddy is actually much worse than Obama’s to Ayers. Obama and Ayers served on a bipartisan board of a foundation together. Obama has never been shown to have praised Ayers, while McCain recently praised Liddy’s “adherence to the principles and philosophies that make our nation great.” Which principles are those, John McCain? Subverting democracy with political burglaries? Repressing dissent? A total, Cheney-esque lack of respect for the rule of law?

That’s hardly what makes this country great, and I dare you to defend such a man. If I was a McCain supporter, I’d be very concerned about my candidate. He seems to be reverting to a childlike emotional state. He is frequently at a loss for words (“Zero?”), exerts much of his effort attempting to conceal his bubbling rage, and is unable even to deliver a coherent response to Letterman’s inquiry.

What are the Republicans’ best hopes for winning this election?
1) Economic, Natural, or Terrorism-Related Disaster that leads to the institution of Martial Law after the declaration of a National Emergency.

2) Barack Obama is captured in Iran having gay relations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

3) The success of tried-and-true Republican voter-suppression tactics and electronic election theft, like that of the Bush Administration in Florida 2000 or Ohio 2004.

Personally, I believe it will be a Herculean task for Obama to beat the electoral fix. Obama will need resounding victories to overcome GOP vote manipulation that has successfully (illegally) delivered two Presidential elections and effectively suspended Democracy in America. But he can do it. He can do it because WE can do it. We can give Obama such an honest, huge margin of victory that the fix won’t work. Let’s do it!

quick question:

quick question: why are ‘the daily show’ and ‘the view’ the only people asking hard questions?

feel free to answer in the comments section…

Dear President McCain

Dear President McCain,

Have mercy.

-me.

Why Did the FISA Vote Matter?

Earlier this week, the Congress passed the so-called “FISA Update” legislation that the Bush Administration had been demanding for months. For those of you not familiar, FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The original bill, created some 30 years ago to curtail unconstitutional government spying, forced the Executive Branch to get court-approved warrants for surveillance. This oversight has been key in maintaining the Constitutional rights of Americans from unwarranted spying. It has just been gutted.

In addition to allowing the Executive branch to gather vast amounts of information without oversight, it also grants immunity from civil prosecution to major telecommunications firms who cooperated with illegal government spying programs over the last eight years. This means that Americans who were illegally spied on have no civil recourse to the courts.

There is much anger and outrage at this abrogation of 4th Amendment rights and the unconstitutional Retroactive Immunity for the corporations that illegally cooperated with the Bush Administrations pre-9/11 warrantless spying. Oftentimes, the media portray this outrage as coming solely from the far left, and suggest that there is much ado about nothing. This video of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Senator Russ Feingold explains, very clearly, exactly how much damage has just been done to the checks that rein in the power of the Executive Branch.

Don’t Buy It.

As you may be aware, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has just published a book about his experience working for the Bush Administration. Like many others, he is attempting to make money by sharing his insider account of this twisted period in American history.

How ironic! He was paid exorbitantly to lie to the American press and the American people about the momentous goings-on during the Iraq war; now he will likely be paid exorbitantly for telling us the truth!

How many times did I watch this man lie through his teeth? Like so many Americans, I sat and listened to this man insult my intelligence making assertions that were, even at the time, demonstrably false. And now he wants to come clean, and be paid handsomely for it?

The truth is too little, too late. What distinguishes an honest person from a dishonest one is whether they are honest WHEN IT COUNTS. Forgive me for resorting to base language, but Scott McClellan:

Fuck. You.

I’m not going to buy your book. And I’m going to ask anyone who reads this to do the same. All of the juicy revelations, if there are any, will be reported on the internet. If you can’t find them in the mainstream media, there are plenty of blogs that will share the information for free. I beg you, do not support this man’s duplicity.

I’ll close with a message to those of you who may work in the deception industry. Your lies, though they may seem a routine part of your job, are extremely damaging. They undermine the ability of the American people, nay, the people of the world, to understand the events that affect them so direly. Without accurate information, we are all fools fumbling in the dark. Without accurate information, we are all doomed.

You work at Fox News? You work for the Bush Administration? Quit. Don’t give notice. If you have a conscience, quit tomorrow. Or become a whistleblower! There are laws to protect you from retaliation by your hopefully-soon-to-be-former-employer. By performing your function as a cog in this vicious, lying machine, you damage us all.

One of my favorite Old Testament quotes:

“Lord, it is not the death of sinners You seek, but that they should turn from their ways and live.”

Amen.