Some thoughts from a liberal

But We are so Much Safer

2007-05-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

From the NY Times

The Iraq war, which for years has drawn militants from around the world, is beginning to export fighters and the tactics they have honed in the insurgency to neighboring countries and beyond, according to American, European and Middle Eastern government officials and interviews with militant leaders in Lebanon, Jordan and London.

Some of the fighters appear to be leaving as part of the waves of Iraqi refugees crossing borders that government officials acknowledge they struggle to control. But others are dispatched from Iraq for specific missions. In the Jordanian airport plot, the authorities said they believed that the bomb maker flew from Baghdad to prepare the explosives for Mr. Darsi.

Mr. Bush continues in his long line of failures. If it were not for Daddies bucks and connections he would probably be a homeless bum.

The Idiot Speaks

2007-05-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

The ass hole in charge gave a speech today on Iraq. He said that things will get worse over the summer. That the insurgents will kill more innocent civilians in an attempt to influence the government.

In other-words:
A. The surge is not working and is not going to work.
B. The longer we stay there the more people will be killed.

Having said this he then says we have to stay.

Apparently in his world 1 + 1 = 3. But nobody ever said he was the brightest bulb in the room.

Pro-Lifers choose death over life again

2007-02-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

Once again the Republican "pro-life " people prove that they are anything but pro-life. In Texas the governor signed an executive order that makes mandatory the cervical cancer vaccine. Now the Republicans and their conservative allies are trying to fight the order. The argument is again that without the fear of death the girls are more likely to have premarital sex. Once again these people would rather see people die than have sex. It also shows that they have no faith in the moral values that they teach their children. Apparently all their children are sex addicts who with out the fear of death would hump anything that moves. It does not matter what their church says or what the parents say, they are no match for sex. The kids are apparently unable to develop moral values, they can only respond to fear. The conservatives and the republicans are only concerned with imposing their order on other people. It is a matter of control, not morals.

Thank God

2007-02-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

Tornados rip through Florida on Friday morning. Predictably there was a news article in which the person said that he thanked God that he was alive. So this leads to a few questions.

1. What did the 20 people who died do to piss God off that he let them die?
2. Why did God allow the tornado to destroy his house?
3. Why did God send the tornado?
4. If he did not send the tornado, why did he not dissipate it or send it off in some harmless direction?

On another issue , Troop surge, my previous blog said that I did not count the Iraqi troops because I thought they were useless. This in from the NY Times

"American officials have said the new plan will take time, but new concerns emerged Sunday about the readiness of Iraqi military units that are supposed to work with the roughly 17,000 additional American soldiers who will be stationed in Baghdad under the plan, which President Bush announced last month.

Iraqi and American military officials said the command structure of the Iraqi side had still not been resolved, although the plan is supposed to move forward this coming week.

Naeem al-Kabbi, the deputy mayor of Baghdad and a senior official loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, the powerful cleric who heads the Mahdi Army, said he believed the plan had been delayed “because the Iraqi Army is not ready.”"

Troop surge

2007-01-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Once again Bush demonstrates his stupidity. He wants to up our forces in Baghdad by 30,000. Now the surge last July did not accomplishing anything, but what the hey. Of course this surge will be much bigger than last time. Then it was only about 1600 troops. But consider this.

New York City has a population of approximately 8,000,000. They had 590 murders in 2006. There are 38,000 police officers.

Baghdad population is 7,400,000. There were 14460 murders in 2006. There are presently 13,500 troops in Baghdad. If they get the 30,000, then there will be 43,500 troops. In other words there will only be 5,500 more troops in Baghdad then there are cops in NY.

Now, the old ratio was 10 support troops for each combat troop. I'm sure with the outsourcing of some jobs (KP and whatever else) this ratio has improved. I also know that not all 38,000 NY cops are directly fighting crime. Still it seems to be ridiculous to expect the troops to pacify a city in turmoil when it take 38,000 to maintain a peaceful city.

I do not mention any Iraqi forces because they are more likely to be part of the problem then part of the solution

Paying our Debt

2006-12-21T16:11:00.000-08:00

The war that was to cost a few billion dollars is projected to consume most of the 160 Billion that the armed forces are asking for in 2007. Now i have always disagreed with this war and would be happy to get the troops home tomorrow. However, this is not going to happen. One thing I hate even more is not paying for the things I am responsible for unless it is a gift. The debt we are passing on to further generations has not been okayed by them and we have no right fostering our costs onto them. I suggest we institute a freedom tax. This tax should be on gross income and calculated to pay for our war. If you do not want to call it a freedom tax, then call it a patriot tax. Everyone needs to write their congressman, senators, and the president to encourage them to initiate this tax. Let us show our support for the troops by actually supporting them with something else besides hot air.

Global Warming

2006-12-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Senator Inhofe does not believe mankind is causing global warming. This is a bit strange because he says the debate is being driven by fear. Since this is one of the two pillars ( Fear and Hate) of the Republican party , I would have thought he would have embraced it.

However, he is against it. He brings forward groups of scientist that also oppose the idea. My son says that they are all paid by the energy companies and are tainted. I am not positive, maybe mankind is not causing damage. But here is a thought.

People are against abortion ( I'm sure Inhofe is anti-abortion). Why because they say we are killing a human being. Now, no one can say that a fetus is human, that it has a soul, or will even reach term. The argument is that it is better to err on the safe side and not abort.

We have invaded Iraq. Why did we invade Iraq? Well, we thought that they had WMD's and we did not want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. So we decided to err on the side of safety and invade.

Now we have global warming. The consequence of which are much more dire than abortion or WMD's. The current theory says if we do not act soon we will reach a tipping point. At that time there will be nothing that we can do. So perhaps it is time to err on the side of safety again.

Insanity

2006-12-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

A favorite current option for Iraq is to increase troop levels to train Iraqi's to handle their security.

One definition of insanity to to keep repeating the same behavior and expect a different outcome.

Feb 2005 - -Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said about one-third of Iraqi soldiers and police are capable of fighting Shi'ite or Sunni insurgents. Myers said the U.S.-led coalition has trained 125,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers.

"About 40,000 can go anywhere in the country and take on any threat," Myers told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. "That does not mean the rest of them aren't useful."

July 2005 - WASHINGTON — None of the 10,000 American-trained Iraqi troops in western Iraq are yet capable of fighting the insurgency without U.S. support, but some should be ready by next year, a senior U.S. commander said Friday.

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson (search), in charge of the 30,000 U.S. forces in western Iraq, said he is encouraged about prospects for stabilizing a region that has been among the most troubled in the country.

Nov 2005 - BAGHDAD, Nov. 15, 2005 — The U.S. military said today that more than 112,000 Iraqi police and nearly 100,000 Iraqi troops have been trained and equipped so far. While the numbers seem impressive, the greater concern is whether those Iraqi forces are capable of effectively securing their country.

Today's report from the Pentagon says only one battalion — about 700 Iraqi troops — has reached level one, meaning the soldiers can operate independently. 19

October 2006 (AFP) - Iraq's newly-minted army will be ready to take over the security of the war-torn state from US and allied troops by late next year or early 2008, Iraq's oil minister said during a visit to Australia.

Getting What you voted for

2006-12-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like the supreme court is going to march backwards into time. I hope all those people, especially the minorities are happy with the decision. By those people I mean all those who minority people who voted Republican. Perhaps I am wrong and this is a good thing, but I think not. I also wonder how they will fill magnet schools. If a school is over subscribe why is it any different in discrimination to discriminate by where you live and not by color. I guess the only fair way is to go to a lottery system. This may be a good thing for the Democratic party. If the court continues in this direction and the Democrat's can make the public see that the court is a result of the Republicans. Perhaps we will end up with another forty years of Democratic control. Better yet the Republican party could disappear and some third party come into play.

GOP party of Fisical Reponsibility and Small Government --NOT

2006-12-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well the new GOP dominated legislature in Florida is about to convene. In true GOP tradition, they have created two new positions. These positions, of course, do not have a typical Florida salary. No, they are $120,000 and $100,008 jobs. Who is getting these jobs - two long time Republican allies. Who created these jobs - Marco Rubino who faults steady growth in the size of government. In typical GOP double speak they say that it will actually save money. The reasoning is that the taxpayer will have a friend on their side? With friends like this who needs enemies.

Rubino says they are needed to train all the new house members. So in the past who trained them? Rubino says this will help maintain the institutions memory. I think that was part of what the voters were trying to get away from with term limits.

Phillippines and Iraq

2006-11-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Philippines were ceded to the U.S. in 1899 by the Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War. Meanwhile, the Filipinos, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, had declared their independence. They initiated guerrilla warfare against U.S. troops that persisted until Aguinaldo's capture in 1901. By 1902, peace was established except among the Islamic Moros on the southern island of Mindanao.

The first U.S. civilian governor-general was William Howard Taft (1901–1904). The Jones Law (1916) established a Philippine legislature composed of an elective Senate and House of Representatives. The Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) provided for a transitional period until 1946, at which time the Philippines would become completely independent. Under a constitution approved by the people of the Philippines in 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines came into being with Manuel Quezon y Molina as president.

On Dec. 8, 1941, the islands were invaded by Japanese troops. Following the fall of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's forces at Bataan and Corregidor, Quezon instituted a government-in-exile that he headed until his death in 1944. He was succeeded by Vice President Sergio Osmeña. U.S. forces under MacArthur reinvaded the Philippines in Oct. 1944 and, after the liberation of Manila in Feb. 1945, Osmeña reestablished the government.

The Philippines achieved full independence on July 4, 1946. Manuel A. Roxas y Acuña was elected its first president, succeeded by Elpidio Quirino (1948–1953), Ramón Magsaysay (1953–1957), Carlos P. García (1957–1961), Diosdado Macapagal (1961–1965), and Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965–1986).

Under Marcos, civil unrest broke out in opposition to the leader's despotic rule. Martial law was declared on Sept. 21, 1972, and Marcos proclaimed a new constitution that ensconced himself as president. Martial law was officially lifted on Jan. 17, 1981, but Marcos and his wife, Imelda, retained broad powers.

In an attempt to resecure American support, Marcos set presidential elections for Feb. 7, 1986. With the support of the Catholic Church, Corazon Aquino declared her candidacy. Marcos was declared the official winner, but independent observers reported widespread election fraud and vote rigging. Anti-Marcos protests exploded in Manila, Defense Minister Juan Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos defected to the opposition, and Marcos lost virtually all support; he was forced to flee into exile and entered the U.S. on Feb. 25, 1986.

It took 2 years to subdue most of the Phillippines, another 15 until we let them have some form of local control, another 18 years of mostly local control and a final 11 years until independence. Forty six (46) years from start to finish. Yet 26 years later they returned to martial law and it took them 14 years to regain their democracy. Plus during this entire time the Islamaic Moros have been a problem. Remember that the turn of the century did not have the sophisticated armys and communications of today. Also this was an island country, so little help could come from the outside. If it took so long and was so hard to do in the Phillippines, what is the real chance of it happening in Iraq.

"Pro-Life administration" once again proves their hypocrisy

2006-11-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

When is a citizen of the United States not a citizen. The rule is if you are born in the US then you are a US citizen unless you are dealing with the Department of Health and Human services. Then you are not a citizen unless you have more documentation and therefore are not eligible for medicaid. Seems that a child's life is only important to the pro-life group ( or at least this administration) as long as it is not born. Once born then they do not want to spend a penny on it. I guess by virtue of it being born it is no longer innocent, which confuses me. If the fetus is a human being and you believe the doctrine of Original sin than the fetus is not innocent. Also if your perfectly will to let the child be denied medical care immediately after being born, what is your objection to abortion? Most "pro-life" people are not pro-life, they are anti abortion. They believe in capital punishment in-spite of the fact that there have been many condemned men who were innocent. They believe in war in-spite of the fact that many innocents are killed. Life certainly is not so precious to the "pro-lifers" who do not believe in any form of gun control or in Florida where you no longer have to retreat before using deadly force.

Rumsfeld thinks we do not understand the war

2006-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

Rumsfeld has left us saying that the American public does not understand the war. I guess he is still living in a fantasy world. Let us take a look at the record.

Rumsfeld - Iraq has WMD's and is an immediate threat.
Critics - Iraq has no WMDs and is not an immediate threat .

Reality - Iraq had no WMDs and was not an immediate threat.

Rumsfeld -0
Critics -1

Rumsfeld - The war will be over in at most 6 months.
Critics - It will Take Years

Reality - it has been years

Rumsfeld - 0
Critics -2

Rumsfeld - It will take only about 100,00 troops
Critics - It will Take 400,000 troops

Reality - While we can not be sure more troops would have done the job, history and simulations suggest that at least 400,000 troops would have been necessary. Certainly 135,00 was to small.

Rumsfeld - 0
Critics - 3

Rumsfeld - We are establishing a democracy in Iraq.
Critics - They are in civil war with no signs of an effective democracy in sight.

Reality - They are in a civil war with no signs of democracy in sight.

Rumsfeld - 0
critics - 4

Rumsfeld - The US is safer with us in Iraq than with us out of Iraq.
Critics - The US is in more danger by our actions in Iraq.

Reality - According to our intelligence groups survey we are in more danger. We are disliked by a larger percentage of the world then ever before and the war in Iraq is creating more terrorists then it is killing.

Rumsfeld - 0
Critics - 5

So nothing Rumsfeld has espoused has any bearing on reality but we are the ones who do not understand? One begins to suspect that Rumsfeld is not taking all his pills. Or , perhaps, he is taking too many happy pills.

Republicans live in a state of denial

2006-11-06T22:54:00.000-08:00

To vote Republican one must be in a state of denial. The operating phrase is My mind is made up, don't confuse me with facts.

On the subject of security -

The Republicans took over the House in 1994 - 7 years before 9/11
The Republicans took over the Senate in 98 or 2000 - 2- 3 years before 9/11
The Republicans took over the White House Jan 2001 - 9 months before 9/11
Cheney acknowledges defense cuts began on his watch
Other Republican defense cuts.
Rumsfield wants small but quick military.
First they fight against Homeland security then they go for it but hire incompetents.

Yet they supposable are better than the Democrats. 9/11 happened on their watch not the democrats.

on the subject of budgets

The two biggest budget busters - Reagan and Bush II both democrats.
Who cut the income tax rate which mainly helped the rich - Reagan
Who doubled the Social security tax ( both a regressive tax and a payroll tax affecting mainly the poor and middle class) - Reagan

Richard Nixon belonged to which party? (hint it begins with an R)

Spiro Agnew belonged to which party? ( Hint it also begins with an R)

Delany & Foley belong to which party?

The Republican party endorses torture.

This congress has the poorest record of any in our history.

The Republican Party says we fight in Iraq so as not to fight here. In other words they have no problem using innocent Iraqis, including women, children and pregnant women as human shields.

The republican party says we must stay until their is a democracy in Iraq. Is that 1 year, 2 years, 20 years. Or are we waiting until our dead reach some number, like 56,000 in vietnam.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Mr Bush lies as always

2006-11-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Mr. Bush keeps trying to tie the war in Iraq with the war on terrorism. He keeps saying we were not in Iraq when we were hit by the terrorist on 9/11. He is lying as usual. He lies in two ways. The first is that we were in Iraq on 9/11. We never left after the first gulf war. There were no ground troops but plenty of planes. Remember the no fly zones.

The second way he lies is by tying 9/11 with Iraq. While we were still there, the terrorist were not. They did not come until after we invaded with too little troops.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

We Listen to our Generals

2006-11-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

The administration continues to play the refrain - We listen to or generals and run the war according to them not politics. Well their actions do suggest that half of that is true. They do listen to their generals. As soon as one suggests that more troops are needed they either force an apology or fire him. This is an improvement of their previous position which was to fire or force an apology from a general if he said anything about the war not going right. Just because every general that has contradicted the administration's stance has been right does not mean that they have to listen to them. Why change 6 years of policy just because it is not working.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Fearless Leader Speaks

2006-10-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday fearless leader spoke. He is no longer going to stay the course instead he is going to stay the course. At least as far as I can figure it out. At most he will add more troops if the generals say they need it. Two things wrong with that. First there are no more troops so he would have to increase rotation or take troops from other areas. Secondly he has made it quite clear that anyone who disagrees with the political decision on troop levels will be fired. So I do not see any real difference in strategy here.

He has set a timetable of events that should happen but refuses to say what will happen if the timetable is set. He says this will allow Iraq and the US to measure victory. Again I'm not sure what this means. in a way there were always timetables. We have been told that when the Iraqis step up we will step down. Various dates and events have been mentioned as to when this will happen. None of them have worked. This strategy is the old Vietnamization strategy which did not work then and is not working now.

Nothing else has changed, Bush still refuses to pay for his war. Cheney stills believes that water boarding is ok even though we sent Japanese to jail after WWII for the same behavior. I guess we owe them an apology and reparations. Of course Dick still believes the war is going very well.

More and more this looks like Dumb and Dumber III.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Even The John Birch Society

2006-10-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

They also believe that the new terror bill is an attack on the constitution.

My Son is Voting Republican

2006-10-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

My son says he is going to vote for the Republicans because they have ideas which is better than no ideas. While I do not believe that the Democrats have no ideas, I firmly believe that no ideas is better than what the Republicans have to offer. I wrote this in reply to his blog.

The republicans have great ideas

Like the terrorist bill they just past. It does not bother them at all that we sent men to prison after WWII for doing things in that bill. Nor does it bother them that the things in the bill were declared crimes against humanity.

The there is the bigoted stance on gays. Here is an idea, If you don't like gay marriage don't marry one and don't attend the weddings.

Then there is their war on terror which creates more terrorist everyday. Seems a little counter productive to me.

Then there is the fact that they do not want to pay for any of this. Instead they want to make sure the nation gets itself hopelessly in-debt to foreign nations. I'm sure Communist China has our best interest close to their heart. Tax and spend beats the hell out to borrow and spend. Besides the great increases in government and government spending have been under the Republicans.

Then their is their anti-union stance and gutting of the anti-trust laws. I'm sure it is a great idea that in the "right to work" states ( republican double speak for the right to be fired for no reason at all) you can be fired for having the wrong bumper sticker on your car.

And yes let us mention Terry Shrivo where they proved that they are tremendously interested in interfering with your private lives. Perhaps they will install bedroom cams to ensure that you are not doing anything illicit in your bedroom.

Then there is the fact that in 10 years in power the have managed to raise corruption to new heights and have poisoned any chance of nonpartisan politics.

Having ideas may seem like a good thing but remember Hitler also had ideas.

To this I would add his social security plan.

His plan to cut medical for the veterans.

His plans to degrade the environment by allowing more pollutants.

His plan to ignore global warming,

His plan to step down when the Iraqis step up.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

The Cowardly Way - Fighting them there so as not to fight them here

2006-10-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was watching the news and they had some politician on who was running for office in Florida. He answered the question about Iraq by saying that we had to fight them there so that we would not be fighting them here. Aside from the asininity of the statement (think Madrid and London) it is a tremendously cowardly thing to say. As the women at the White House press briefing asked Mr. Snow -

"Did anyone ask the Iraqis if they wanted to be at the center of the war on terror?"

Remember that the terrorist were not in Iraq before we got there. So the politicians was basically saying that he does not care how many innocent Iraqis die to prevent any American deaths. I would definitely say that using innocent people as shields is a cowardly act. But that fits in with our new motto.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

A thought on Public schools

2006-10-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

I read today about a school in the pan handle of Florida that was doing an outstanding job with their students. Guess what, It was a public school. Now I can not vouch for other states but here in Florida private schools do not have to live up to the same standards as public schools. I also can not remember ever reading a story where these private schools have excelled in the long run. Now I am not talking about the schools that charge an arm and a leg or want your first born. I am talking about the ones that take the same tax money that the public schools get and operate on that. To the best of my knowledge they are neither that profitable or successful at educating children. So you have to ask yourself the million dollar question.

If the Republicans are against shoveling money at social problem because they say it does not work. Why are the backing these private schools? It appears they are as hypocritical in this issue as in most. Their real agenda appears to be the destruction of public education. I can only guess that they resent the money they spend on educating other people.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Another blow to workers

2006-10-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

Once again the Republicans have struck a blow against workers. They have ruled that if you can assign work you can not be in a union. I'm sure this will also lead to any overtime pay being taking away to. This is part of the republican move to make you competitive, or in other words, to go back to sweat shop. they will probably not be happy until they bring back indentured servitude. Why the common workers vote for them is beyond me. This is like the right to work laws. That is republican double speak for the right to be fire for any reason or no reason at all. People have been fired from jobs because they had the wrong political parties bumper stick.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some Election day thoughts

2006-10-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well, election day is drawing never and while I hope the Republicans will lose their shirt, there is no guarantee that that will happen. Given the utter failure of the Republican party it is amazing that there is a doubt. They have proven themselves a immoral as anybody else. In fact they are poster boys for the saying
"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"

Yet people will still vote for them. Iraq is the utter disaster that many of us , including Bush I and Dick Cheney, predicted. But still people will vote for them.

Afghanistan may not be going so well. But still people will vote for them.

We have massive deficit spending. But still people will vote for them.

The Republican party is rocked by one scandal after another. But still people will vote for them.

The Republican party turns it back on the Constitution by authorizing torture, show trials, and indefinite detention. Yet people will still vote for them.

The Republican party ignores terrorism and the worst attack on our country happens. Yet people will still vote for them.

Intelligence agencies say that the policies of the Republican party have caused us to be less safe. Yet people will vote for them.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

The Terrorist Win Again

2006-09-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

The house and the senate handed another victory to the terrorists yesterday. They passed a bill that will allow torture and show trials. The Republicans and some Democrats have shown that they have no respect for people. I do not know if it was done for political reasons or fear. I do know that they have made things worst. Fearless leader says we are there to promote democracy. How exactly are you promoting democracy when you adopt the tactics of the old Soviet Union? How exactly are you promoting democracy by abandoning some of its fundamental concepts? We are fighting a war of ideas and seem to be doing our best to lose it.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the bedrocks of our society. We are at our best when we attempt to live up to the ideals embodied in those documents. I still hold with them that their truths are universal. I believe they are the main reason that there have been so few terrorist attacks in the US. Now we are in the process of saying that these truths are only for US citizen and then not all the time. We are saying to the world that our values are not as important as the illusion of safety. We are saying to the world that we are no different than the other nations out there.

There is an old saying that action speaks louder than words. Think about what our actions say about us when we invade a country because we are scared. Think about what our actions say when we deny people fundamental right.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some correspondence with my senator

2006-09-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Radulich:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about the treatment and prosecution of terrorist combatants captured in the global war on terror. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.

This war, which is unlike any other conflict our nation has fought before, has presented our country with many unprecedented and difficult choices. In particular, the debate surrounding the proper treatment and prosecution of captured terrorists has focused our attention on the fundamental problem of how to balance our desire to treat all people with proper dignity with our need to prevent future terrorist attacks.

This is a crucial debate. The strength of America depends on the preservation of our values. At its core, our society respects the dignity of every human life. Our nation can never support the use of torture, even when dealing with truly evil enemies. All sides of this debate agree that torture is unacceptable and that basic human rights must be preserved and protected at all levels of our government and military. We also agree that terrorists who are detained in this war should be afforded an appropriate legal process. However, terrorist detainees simply cannot and should not be afforded the same rights and process that our citizens enjoy in our courts.

As you are aware, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the procedures used to prosecute terrorist combatants must comply with U.S. statutes and the terms of the Geneva Conventions. As a result of this ruling, Congress has undertaken the task of passing legislation clarifying the procedures under which terrorist combatants are prosecuted and setting clear guidance on the treatment these individuals receive while they are in U.S. custody. By setting clear standards, this legislation will protect U.S. personnel from prosecution for war crimes based on vague and conflicting international interpretations of our militaryâ€™s requirements under the Geneva Conventions. However, the legislation does not attempt to redefine the terms of the Geneva Conventions.

As we consider these procedures, we must balance two very important American principles: security and liberty. Our country must respect the human dignity of all individuals, but we must also remember that the terrorist combatants that have been captured have been engaged, in varying degrees, in an ongoing, violent and destructive war against the United Statesâ€”a war in which the terrorists do not differentiate between civilians and military personnel. Therefore, it is important that these combatants are tried in congressionally approved military commissions that afford a fair and reliable prosecution that is consistent with our nationâ€™s character and national security interests. I believe the legislation crafted by the Senate, which has been carefully negotiated between the White House and the Congress, will do that.

Please know that as we continue to debate critical issues in the war on terror, I will keep your concerns in mind. Again, thank you very much for sharing your opinions with me. If you have any additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. In addition, for more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Mel Martinez
United States Senator

My response

In your answer to me you say this is a war like no other conflict before. May I remind you that the German's kill 6 million civilians just to kill them. The Vietnam war was guerrilla war. The Philippines took something like 12 years of guerrilla war to subdue them. The various indian wars this nation has undertaken.

This is not about terrorist, this is about what kind of people we are. Do we no longer believe the words of the Declaration of Independence

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-"

This nation was conceived as a noble experiment. Are we to turn our back on it and say we are no different then the terrorist. Are we to demonstrate to the world that we no longer believe in good, that the only thing we believe in is power. Are we to scream to the world Might makes Right.

I personally am not religious but I keep hearing how we are a Christian nation. Exactly how do you square Christian values with torture?

I would also like to know how you spread Democracy by denying it to the very people you want to adopt it?

Last but not least I would remind you of your oath of office.

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

Notice it says the constitution, not me, not the government, not the land. In a choice between safety or the constitution, you are bond by your oath to support the constitution.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Bush - Clueless or Lying

2006-09-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

As usual our fearless leader made a complete ass of him self. We have not left Iraq since the 1991 war. Both physically ( no fly zones) and politically (sanctions). And the nonsense that he does not use 9/11 for political purposes, pure bulls**T. It is the only reason he pays any attention to 9/11 at all. He knows that he would be nowhere without 9/11.

But to get back to why the terrorist attached us. Does anybody remember what Bin Laden wanted in the beginning? Let me refresh your memory. He wanted us out of Saudi Arabia home of the holy city Mecca. Why were we there? To protect the nations against Iraq and provide support for the troops that overflying Iraq. So take your choice fearless leader is clueless or is lying. Personally I would go with both.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some thoughts on the Flag

2006-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was walking through a park in St. Petersburg today and saw I war memorial. Part of the memorial was an ode to the flag. I read it, choked up and then thought that what they should be rhapsodizing is the constitution. There has been much ado over flag burning lately and how it insults those who died for it.

I fervently hope nobody died for the flag. I hope that those who died fighting for this country fought to sustain the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Those who wish to ban things like flag burning are the ones disgracing the nation and dishonoring the dead. Much like the committee on un-American activities is the most un-American institution, those who wish to ban expression are the ones seeking to dishonor this country.

THIS IS NOT A PERSON YELLING FIRE IN A CROWDED THEATER. We have allowed the Nazi party to march in a jewish community and in the pass have allowed the KKK to march. I personally find O'Rielly, Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter highly offensive, dangerous and extremely anti-American. Should we band them?

If you ban flag burning, do you ban wearing it as clothing? Is having the flag on your butt anymore disrespectful than burning it? What about waving it a concerts? Do we find it more respectfully to wave the flag for commercial profit? How does that honor the dead?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Eat S**t and Die

2006-09-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

I happen to flipping through the channels the other day and was passing the Glenn Beck show. He was showing a moslem girl ( about 12?) who was voicing the opinion that Mr. Bush was an evil man and that he should die. He was apparently using this as an example of how corrupt their culture was.

I would think that this was more a dog bites man news item. Most of the world hates Mr. Bush. Most people I talk to who dislike the man are of the opinion he should eat s***t and die. He has done so many things wrong it is incredible. He is a disgrace to this nation, his office and the idea of America. Anybody who think water boarding is not torture should try it. We preach we are a nation of laws and then hold people indefinitely with a trial or even charging them.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

New Attacks on our freedom's

2006-09-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

When Social security was inaugurated, there was a big argument about it becoming our national number. When the law was enacted there was a provision that the number would only be know to three people; your job, you and Social Security. The only people who could use it for identification was social security. That lasted until the 70's. Now everybody knows it and it has become your national number.

Now they want to enact a bill that says you can not vote without a picture ID. It has passed the House and I'm not sure of it's status in the Senate. The democrats are against it because they think it will cut into their voters more than it cuts into the republican voters. The courts have knocked it down as unconstitutional in two states.

I'm against it because I see it as one more step down the slippery slope to a true national ID card that will have to be carried around all the time. That just doesn't sound right to me. It makes me nervous. The NRA does not want us to register guns because they are afraid that the government will then use that list to restrict or take away guns. How having a national card will be used in the future,I can not say. I do know that I do not want to find out.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Vanishing Iraqis

2006-09-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Iraq People:

Population:
26,074,906 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40% (male:5,293,709; female:5,130,826)
15-64 years: 57% (male:7,530,619; female:7,338,109)
65 years and over: 3% (male:367,832; female:413,811) (2005)

Median age:
total: 19.43 years
male: 19.35 years
female: 19.51 years (2005)

Number of Iraqis that left Iraq 2003 - 2005

1.3 million as of 2005 5% of the 2005 population (ABC World News)
800,000 left in 2005

I guess they do not think we are winning the war.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some Religious Thoughs

2006-09-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

I hesitate to write this since this will enhance the stereo type that all Liberals are godless, but what the hell.

Why do all religions worship such small and petty gods?

I mean all these gods require man's help to do anything. They require prophets to come and teach us how to worship them. I quess the gods do not have time to come and show us themselfs.

God may have destroyed the walls of Jerhico but he required human trumpetters. He also required Joshua to destroy his enemies. I quess god did not want to soil his hands with killing them himself.

He lead his people from bondage in Egypt. No wait, that was Moses. Apparently he was unable to free the people without Moses help. Of course he did kill all the first born of Egypt which is strange that he would commit mass abortion.

Then there is the issue of all theses rites associated with religion. Apparently they need all this worship to survive. What other reason can there be? After all they supposable can see into our hearts and if that is the case then there need be no rites to show our piety. If they require our worship how mighty a god are they?

Here is an experiment that you can try. Get out of bed in the morning and wait for god ( not you or another human) to dress you. Try to go to work without you or another human getting you their. Hell, try to do anything without you or another human actually doing it.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some thoughts on conservatism

2006-09-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

con‧serv‧a‧tive /kənˈsɜrvətɪv/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhn-sur-vuh-tiv] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

1. Why would anyone want to be considered a conservative given the great conservative parties of the past - Tories, Confederate States of America, KKK, Know nothing party?

2. Given that every republican since and including Reagan have totally betrayed conservative principles, why do they keep voting republican? Is it because they are too chicken to nominate a third party candidate?

3. Exactly what have conservatives ever done for this country? Not universal suffrage, not civil rights, not the declaration of independence, not the constitution, not the bill of rights, not social security, not preparing for WWII, not the Marshall plan.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Some thoughts the day after 9/12/06

2006-09-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

I did not see The Path to 9/11. I still do not believe a docudrama this close to the event and a midterm election was appropriate, but at least in theory this is a free country. Of course if people were not so gullible it would not really matter. When my son was very young I stressed over and over again not to believe what he saw on TV or in the movies. I even stress that the news was to be viewed skeptically. I probably ruined GI Joe for him since I always stressed that you cannot throw that much ammunition around with out killing and maiming people.

In other Dog bites man news

Mr. Bush says that if we do not defeat terrorist now the will nuke us in the near future. He continues to spout the main stance of the Republican Be afraid, very afraid. He seems to be of the idea that a bullet can defeat and idea. In other words he is, as always clueless. Take his latest jag of comparing the war on terror with WWII. This much better than when he compared it to the crusades but totally wrong. In fact given that we are now saying our mission is to bring democracy to the Mideast, the crusades is probably a better comparison. Certainly a comparison to the cold war is better than WWII. What Mr. Bush is trying to do is link this to the last good war to improve his ratings.

But let us take his comparison. What exactly is the same? Pearl Harbor and 9/11? Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack (inadvertently since we were suppose to know about the declaration of war ahead of it). Bin Ladin had declared war on us well before 9/11. Bush and company were notified that there would be some sort of an attack well before 9/11. The attack on Pearl Harbor created a real security crisis, while 9/11 was incidental. By that I do not mean that it was not a major tragedy, something that we should always remember and do what we can (within the constitution) to avoid in the future. I mean that at no time was it a threat to the security of the US. Bin Laden was never going to overthrow our government or destroy our 200 million plus people. Bin Laden has no battleships, no million man army, no railroad guns, NO NUKES, no air force, no tanks, and no aircraft carriers. In short he has no means to bring down the US without our compliance. It is Bush, not Bin Laden, who has decided to infringe on our rights with warrentless eavesdropping. It is the Parks commission, not Bin Laden, that is keeping people out of the Statue of Liberty.

Where are the bond drives, draft, taxes, and scrap metal drives of WWII? If this is the same as WWII, why have we not turned our entire economy over to a war economy?

Then let us talk prisoners of war and war criminals. During WWII we treated German and Italian POW’s better than we treated blacks in our country. After the war the war criminals were tried in an open court before the whole world. Care to contrast that with our current treatment of POW’s and war criminals?

Did we defeat fascism? If you mean that we defeated the Axis powers, then you bet we did. If you mean that fascism was no longer capable of overthrowing a modern nation, absolutely. If you mean that we removed fascism from this planet, absolutely not. There still many people who see Hitler as a hero. We have all heard of white power and Aryan groups. The fact that they have not committed a major act of terrorism is most likely because they have a greater grasp of reality then the radical Islamic.

More dog bites man news.

The pentagon started that major drive in Baghdad last month and reported that they had cut the violence in half. Turns out that they did not need more troops to do this, all they needed was a sharp pencil. They accomplished the reduction by not counting whole categories of violence that they had previously counted. This administration continues to prove out the old riddle –

How do you know the administration is lying?

Answer – Their lips are moving.

Face The Nation 9-10

2006-09-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today I was watching Face the Nation on CBS and the final 5 minutes is always Bob Schieffer orated on something, usually the topic of the program. Today, of course, was on 9/11 and how safe the nation is. At the end he told how when he was speaking after 9/11 and mentioning the heroes, some stood up and said couldn't the hijackers be considered heroes- they were willing to die for a cause. Bob Schieffer reason that they were not heroes because they killed innocent people. While I agree they should not be considered heroes, I disagree with Bob Schieffer on why.

I disagree for three reasons. The first being that if that is the criteria, then al those people who flew in WWII could not be considered heroes. Carpet bombing certainly killed many civilians and many of them were children. I am certain some of them were pregnant women. In modern war it is virtually impossible not to kill civilians. Our weapons are too powerful.

The second reason is that there is no such thing as innocent civilians( excepting people under say 10 years old) in today’s world. I nations economy is as important as it's armed forces. The end of the cold war was basically a race to see who would go bankrupt first - the US or the USSR. Given that then we are all a part of the war machine. All soldiers in our own way.

The third reason is that we are a democracy. In theory, at least, we are the government and therefore responsible for it and the actions of the armed forces. That being the case we are all legitimate targets.

The reason I believe that they should not be considered heroes is because they were mercenaries. They did not die just to advance the beliefs or to save other people. They did it because by doing it they would automatically go to their version of heaven. The only differences with paying them money are that people will do more really stupid things for beliefs and it is a lot cheaper.

Path to 9/11

2006-09-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today I received a missive from the Democratic party to protest ABC's Path to 9/11. They contend that it incorrectly puts the blame for 9/11 on the Democrats by showing scenes that not only did not happen but are directly opposite of what did happen. As much as I hate to condemn unseen, I did send an email to Eisner protesting. I did this for two reason.

The first is that this close to election day I considerate it bad taste to show a partisan docudrama on 9/11. I have no objection to the movie "World Trade Center", in fact I thought it was a great movie( My only bitch is that in the movie the two marines were white while in real life one was black. This is mainly a problem because of the big hubbub that was made over the the picture of the flag raising that included a black when there was none.). I intend to see United 93.

The second is the sheer absurdity that the Democrats can be blamed for what happened. The house and the senate have been under Republican control since 1994, the Presidency since 1/1/2001. It is the Republicans who are always saying they want to cut the budget ( except of course corporate welfare). It is this president who decided that China and Iraq were the big threats and ignore the terrorist.

Remember this - less than 300 people ( which includes Oklahoma) have died under a Democratic president as a result of terrorism. Over 6,000 have died under this president and the number continues to climb. I can not recall a lot of terrorist attacks under Clinton world wide ( excluding Israel). There have been a great many under this president and more happening everyday.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Florida Election 2

2006-09-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

I worked the elections yesterday. For a brief time I had hoped that things had changed. From the few people who said anything on their way out I thought, maybe America had changed. Then I read today's paper and our local bigot had won the republican nomination for State senate. Granted it was only Republicans but still. In other new(or should I say non news) Bush was gave another speech saying fear everything.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken

Florida Election

2006-09-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm watching regular TV and there by getting a lot of political ads. The republicans are up to their usual tricks of emphasizing the two main legs of the party Fear and HATE. But I also notice one other thing - They are Regan Republicans not Bush Republicans. Not sure what they mean by this.

Do they mean that they are out to bust unions? (air traffic controllers)
Do they mean that they want to cut taxes for the rich while doubling taxes on the working man ?(Social security, a regressive payroll tax was doubled)
Do they mean they want to break the law (Iran-contra)?
Do they mean they want to run huge deficits? (Second biggest increaser of national debt- Bush II is the first)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt - We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Republican Party - Fear everything

American Motto - Old - Land of the Free Home of the Brave
New - Land of the spied upon Home of the Chicken