Will the Hypocrisy Never Cease (or Even Slow Down)?

In a brilliant speech delivered at the American Legion convention earlier today, our oblivious "President" continued to deliver unabashedly hypocritical messages regarding Iran in what should be considered yet another piece of his administrations ramp-up to another unprovoked invasion. Bush had the (well, what is the right word? Audacity? Gaul? Arrogance? Plain ol' Thickheadedness?) to state that, and I quote, "Iran has arrested visiting American scholars who have committed no crimes and impose no threat to their regime," while accusing Iran of attempting to destabilize (like it's freaking stable) Iraq. Coming from a man who authorized the torture and extraordinary rendition of citizens of other sovereign nations without criminal charges and who has also made it possible for American citizens to be detained indefinitely without charge, his statement seems...confusing. I mean, America has been arresting and detaining people who have committed no crimes and pose no threat to our regime for going on 6 years now, but apparently it's unheard of that someone else might do the same thing. In fact, it's so out of line that we might just have to bomb them back to the stone age. I'm hoping that none of the countries where we've been frivolously arresting people feel the same way, or we might be in line for a suicide bombing or two here pretty soon.

I also find it funny that Bush accuses Iran of providing Iraq and the Taliban with weapons, when the weapons they've been fighting with this entire time were provided mostly by....whoops, the United States! Yup, a nice portion of those tax dollars we paid in the 80's to provide Saddam with weapons during his war with Iran and to help out Osama and the Taliban during their war with the USSR also paid for the lives of many US troops during the current occupations. But, you see, it's only bad when other people give those countries weapons. When we do it, it's just fine. Oh, not that we have any evidence that Iran is doing what we accuse them of doing, by the way. Notice that in all the attacks and accusations against Iran going around in our government right now, those doing the accusing and attacking don't actually provide concrete evidence, or in fact, any evidence at all. "We don't have any evidence, but we're damn sure it's those Iranian bastards!" Hmmmmm, is it just me or is this starting to sound like Saddam's WMD's all over again? Oh, it sounds EXACTLY like that, you say? Perhaps you're right.

Now, let's ride a little bit further on the hypocrisy train, shall we? Notice that Bush says "I want our fellow citizens to consider what would happen if these forces of radicalism and extremism were allowed to drive us out of the Middle East. The region would be dramatically transformed in a way that could imperil the civilized world." (they aren't civilized over there, by the way) I also want you to note that he makes no mention of the fact that we've just granted over $50 BILLION total in military aid to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. So, didn't we just GIVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the "forces of radicalism and extremism?" Check out what the governments of the aforementioned countries have been up to, and...yeah, you'll have to agree. I mean, hmmmm, is there any possibility that one of those countries might eventually turn around and use all those weapons against us during a conflict with the US? I guess it's never happened before, not like almost every other time we've done it or anything, so we should be OK. Hypocrisy in general sickens me, but when it comes on such a grand scale and costs our country thousands of lives and BILLIONS of dollars, it's just exponentially worse. In fact, I can't write about this anymore right now.

Death to the dishonorable.

Flour-based Terrorism

Remember to watch out for any suspicious...flour. Thank God the Connecticut Police were there, or else we could have a had a genuine Fun Run on our hands:

“You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,” she said. “It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We’re thankful it wasn’t, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out.”

I mean, seriously, who hasn't seen flour used to mark a trail for a race? I love that "there were a lot of resources that went in to figuring that out." Hooray, more of our tax dollars at work!

I know that next time I see someone buying flour or chalk in a grocery store, I'll immediately be calling the cops, and you should too. We can't have people participating in physical activity if we want to keep this nation free from the grasp of those terrorist bastards.

Iran: The New Iraq?

Now that 30 is the new 20, White is the new Black and Thursday is the new Friday, is Iran indeed the new Iraq? With rumors of the Bush Administration planning to add the Iranian Republican Guard to it's list of "terrorist organizations," that certainly seems to be the case. Remember how the administration got the public ramped up for Iraq? The biggest piece was the connection of Saddam Hussein with 9/11, something hammered in to us day after day by Bush & Co. (or is it Cheney INC.?). Remember how many times you heard the words "terror," "terrorist" or "terrorism?" Thousands. No matter whether you paid attention to the real news or got your information from sound bytes, you were constantly bombarded with those three words, and all nearly always in connection with these three little words: "Saddam" "Hussein" and "Iraq." Outside of the usual affections of Empire, I can't think of any reason invading Iran might be something the Government (not to mention "We the People") would even consider, but those in power don't seem to see anything wrong with it. Even "Democratic Frontrunners" Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama won't back down from the idea, nor will they even condemn it.

As for the mass media, the last bastion of the "liberal left," surprisingly most don't have much to say on the issue. Unless, of course, you count our beloved FOX News. I kind of thought it would be funny if a video like this existed, but now that one actually does, I'm not sure how I feel about it (notice the subtle connections between the invasion of Iraq and the future invasion of Iran):



Ignore the petition at the end, because if you know how things work you know that no matter how many people sign it, those who run the media will report whatever they like, in whatever way they please. But I do want you to note the close resemblance of the pre-Iraq footage to what can now be considered the pre-Iran footage. If it quacks like a duck, and smells like a duck, and looks like a duck, and feels like a duck...well, you get the point. In my estimation it is only a matter of time before networks like CNN are "intimidated" in to jumping on the band wagon, just like they have been doing for the past 7 years with every little thing you can imagine. I've got an idea; this time let's not listen to them! And remember, no matter what they do, the current administration is coming in to their home stretch and they can only hurt us so much until the next election (assuming there is one at all, which is a whole other chilling story in itself). In 2006 "We the People" got angry enough at Congress and the Senate to basically completely shift the power structure, so even though the new power structure did exactly the same thing as the old one, we should take heart in the fact that we can still at least somewhat control by whom we are governed. The extreme facets of Democrat and Republican are not the only choice that we have, and since they both seem to do the same thing anyway, perhaps it's time for you to consider actually analyzing who you are voting for instead of the (R) or (D) next to their name.

The only way we can build our country back to some semblance of our perceived past glory (or at lest financial stability) and independence is by working together, and putting people in office who will work for us instead of fighting over petty labels and thinking we've won just because the party labeled "ours" is in control. Both sides have a lot to offer, but currently the majority of people from both factions are corporate bootlickers and pawns who care more about the money others stuff in their "war chests" than about what's best for you and me on a Thursday night in August. The proletariat still hold the power of numbers, and if we don't want them to take that from us, we need to use it. Let's get off the oil train and realize that it's not worth the trillions of dollars it's cost US over the years. Let's stop policing the world and doing things because other countries want us to, and start doing what's best for us. If we follow this president and his administration blindly in to Iran just like we did with Iraq, I fear our time is shorter than we think. Whatever you can do to prevent it....DO IT.

Also, if you'd like to see an example of why it is a HORRIBLE idea to invade Iran (much like it was a HORRIBLE idea to invade Iraq, but that's nether here nor there) , start watching this Daily Show 5:42 in. Simply brilliant. The Obama interview is simple politicking, but the "America to the Rescue" bit is exceptional and, sadly, ALL true:



Let's wake up.

Our Tax Dollars at Work

With the skyrocketing national debt and the weak dollar, one might think that there might be more of a resistance to things like giving Israel another $30 BILLION to help load them up with weapons. Seeing as how they already posses nuclear bombs and one of the most powerful/sophisticated army's in the middle-east (all backed, powered and provided by America, mind you), maybe we could cut down on the "Military aid" huh? Oh, and a nice fat cherry on top: 74% of that money is required to be pumped right back in to the American Military-Industrial Complex. Well, that's certainly not suspicious at all, is it?

And if that wasn't enough, an American company recently fleeced the Government out of over $20 million mostly due, it seems, to a lack of any oversight:

It's like people forget, when they see numbers like that, that it's OUR money they're throwing away, not theirs. Is this what you want the taxes you pay to support?

And the beat goes on....

The Idiocy of Republicans and Democrats

Of late, I've been thinking heavily about the idiocy of both parties. Not only have they both strayed far from their traditional values (everyone's a centrist or a "fundamental" extremist these days), but with an election looming in the near future, both parties have decided to completely ignore candidates who espouse their core values. Those candidates? Republican Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Democrat Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). Both speak truth to power on the current issues of the day, both were smart enough to vote against the Iraq War Resolution, the USA PATRIOT Act (both times) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Both have level-headed views on abortion; Kucinich is pro-choice and Paul is pro-life, but believes strongly in the separation of church and state (remember that one, everybody?) and would leave the issue for individual states to decide. How can you disagree with that? Paul is also anti-income tax and anti-Federal Reserve, recognizing both to be illegal and un-American. Kucinich is no friend to the Federal Reserve, but he does hold the true "liberal" idea regarding the income tax. Though I disagree with the tax myself, I would much rather see the system that Kucinich envisions, one where all are taxed equally, as opposed to our current system where the poor and middle class pay out a larger percentage of their income than the rich. Paul is a true conservative and a genuine constitutionalist, which we have not seen in office for perhaps 200 years. Kucinich is a true liberal who has a proven election record against Republicans, which I tend to doubt we've ever seen in office.

So, why aren't these two the front runners? Why isn't the talk about a Paul vs. Kucinich battle in '08? The simple fact is that people who call themselves Republicans and Democrats have forgotten their true values and beliefs. We have become so polarized as a nation that the only thing we find important is Winning. As a Democrat (for lack of a better word) I saw firsthand over the last year plus that a party change will do absolutely nothing for the country overall. I voted Democrat up and down in '06 and urged others to do likewise. So what happened? Sweeping Democratic victories! And what's happened since? Not a damn thing. We've watched our Dem dominated House and Senate kowtow to Bush and Co. on every issue under the sun, puffing up their chests for a fight at first, only to deflate faster than a balloon that lands on a porcupine's quills when the going got tough. NOTHING has changed. In fact, things have gotten even worse. Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, is that what we really want as a country? Continued acquiescence to a power elite bent on money, power and Empire? It's certainly not what I want, and if you're not in the tiny percentage of rich bastards who've run things since before most of us can remember, I doubt it's what you want either. If you are a true Republican or a true Democrat, Paul and Kucinich must be the only choices in '08. Look at what both men are saying. Look at both of their voting records. How can you deny it? We have a chance to change the face of American politics, and we have that chance right now. If you call yourself a true member of your party, and a true advocate of the America our forefathers dreamed of, but find yourself backing Clinton or Giuliani or Obama or Romney or Dodd or Thompson or any of those others who are backed by the same people who have bankrolled countless previous "leaders," look at what's going on, look at what they say and how they've voted, and change your mind. The time for change is now, and we must take advantage of it or continue to suffer the consequences of political extremism. Can we survive that? Let's not find out.