A Landslide Victory for President Barack Obama. This is a Center-Left Nation.

332 Electoral Votes. 3 Million more Popular Votes and rising. Ohio, Virginia, Florida and all the other true battleground states. Five of the last Six Presidential Elections have been won by Democrats.

This is a Liberal Country. A Center-Left Nation.

We need to hammer that home to every day to combat the lies of Faux News and Toxic Conservative Radio, which will work to undo the clear liberal mandate handed to President Obama.

But, President Obama faces big challenges now.

First up is Sequestration and the "Fiscal Cliff". Centrists and Republicans will demand Austerity and point to the big divide in the American populace as necessitating The Grand Bargain.

The American People just overwhelmingly rejected The Ryan Buget and the politics of Austerity. We are tired of 30 years of the Republican Economic model of Pissing Down Our Back and Telling Us it's Raining Prosperity. This is a clear mandate to eliminate the Bush Tax Cuts and Reaganomics.

We said No to the Right-Wing model and President Obama needs to say No. The President doesn't need to move halfway to meet the Republicans.

The Grand Bargain is giant screw-job for the Poor and Middle Class. We need to resist, resist, resist. No  cuts to Medicare, No reductions to Medicaid, No stealing Social Security for degenerate Wall Street gamblers to flinch.

We need tighter and further regulations on Wall Street. We need to re-empower the SEC. We need to readopt a Financial Transaction Tax to curb the rampant speculation and Hedge Fund gambling associated with Wall Street. President Obama needs to stand next to Senator Elizabeth Warren as she battles for the American People against the Vultures.

The American people did not vote for cuts they voted for much higher Taxes on Millionaires and Billionaires, the elimination of tax subsidies to Oil Conglomerates, effective collection of taxes on Giant Corporate tax cheats, and fair taxes on Capital Gains and Income made by investments.

We need to impose tariffs on foreign made crap, let's make IPhones here in the United States,  and punish the Wal Marts and Bain Capital which make money drowning the American manufacturing base and off-shoring jobs.

The Housing Market is still a shambles. Getting out from under the rubble of the Bush Housing Bubble and Republican Recession is going to take time. Austan Goolsebee stated, we have 5 million vacant houses and $700 Billion in negative housing equity. Housing is huge problem.

Next is getting us out of Afghanistan and actually Reducing our Foreign Empire and bloated Warmonger Budget. We need to close bases around the world, we need to scrap wasteful spending on a blue water Navy, we need push to reduce the Drone Campaign. We need to cut the fraud, waste and abuse of the DoD by $500 Billion.

Our involvement in Libya needs to be questioned. And I don't mean Benghazi. Benghazi and Libya are part of a Covert CIA Operation. Republicans aren't going to delve too deeply into it because the more they expose in their baseless partisan witch hunt the more blowback they will create for US abroad and for Republicans within the Intelligence Community.

But, Congress does need to step up and take back control of Military involvement overseas. This is a huge problem as Presidents have expanded their control and played word games to get around the power to declare War invested in the Congress. But, this Congress and previous ones are also culpable because of the Trillions they've given to profligate warmongers and because they are afraid to stop paying to the DoD and Pentagon.

Right now is a time to take a few celebratory victory breathes. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work to get America going away from the policies which aid only the Wealthy and Powerful and make this a country reflect the Liberal Ideas that the American people hold.

Update:
This rejection of the Right-Wing went further than just President Obama's landslide. Republicans Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Tommy Thompson, Denny Rehnberg were all decisively defeated in the Senate. Elizabeth Warren trounced Tea Party darling Scott Brown. Two of the biggest incendarity Republican bomb throwers, Allen West and Joe Walsh, were kicked out of the House. While the straight talking Alan Grayson was voted back in by a 2-1 margain.

Empire! Iran! Rising Gas Prices! Rampant Oil Speculation! WAR!

"You remember that old song? Bomb, bomb, bomb, Bomb Iran..." - Republican Senator John McCain.

What's the point of having a Standing Army if you're not gonna use it!

The War Machine is rumbling. The Military-Media-Industrial-Congressional Complex grew accustommed to the massive theft of wealth during the Bush Presidency. With President Obama ending the Iraq War and pledging to end the Afghanistan War the Warmongers are chomping at the bit for another War.

The Libyan Intervention was the Way the American People want US Military power utilized. A coalition, no American deaths, an realizable goal, removal of the dictator, short time span.

But, the chicken hawk Neo-Cons and Right-Wing Warmongers want full involvement in foreign entanglements because Wars are how they maintain power and engorge themselves on the Federal Budget.

If you'd like to know where the new deficit, which sooooo worries Republicons, came from, look to the Middle East. Bush's Robin Hood in reverse gift to his Base accounts for a portion of the problem but the Deficit was born in the DoD, raised and grown in Afghanistan, Iraq, HOA, and the satelittles of the American Empire. Over the last 11 years there's 11 Trillion Dollars lost to the coffers of the Warmongers.

What the American people are experincing is Empire destroys people. Not just abroad but at home. The Western Romans learned this in the 400's CE and the British learned this lesson in the late 19th century. We can't have a social safety net and a world-spanning Empire.

But, the small cadre of Elitiest bastards who profit off of warfare don't care what the ramifications are for the country and hundreds of millions of Americans because the privations and the horror of war never, ever touch them.

Mitt Romney - “We should not cut any funding from our base Department of Defense budget. That should not occur. And I would apply the $600 billion [in cuts] that were anticipated being imposed upon the military, I would take those and apply them to other parts of the federal budget. One of them, of course, would be to take something like Medicaid, which is our health care program for the poor.”

Vulture Mitt makes money off of sending your children to war and then denying you healthcare. Remember Mitt Romney's sons are too important to fight and face death in War they are helping Mitt become President.

But, they constantly have to sell war to the people. So, Iran is constantly a year away from the Bomb. And we have a terrorist appeaser, crypto-muslim in the White House.

President Obama isn't going to give the War Machine the war it wants with Iran. So, he must go.

But, with the economy improving and the smears of Right-Wing bigots unable to sway voters how to accomplish this? Simple ramp up the War talk on every Right-Wing Propaganda network and let Oil speculators bring down the economy with their gambling. And bam either another pliant Right-Wing rube or a vicious Vulture Capitalist will be ensconced in the Presidency and the Crusade shall continue!

No One Cares

Black water keeps rollin' on past just the same ~ The Doobie Brothers, Black Water

President Obama has been forced to deal with rampant active Corporate Negligence and Disinterest which caused a major, perhaps The Major ecological disaster in American History. And whom does he have to thank? Most of the fault lies with soulless Corporate "Persons", BP, Transocean and Halliburton who are more concerned with their profits than the Death and Destruction they visit upon the world. But, Republican 'The Free Market does everything better than Government' Punk Ass Bitches share a sizable portion, although Republicans always blame god for their fuck ups.

But, listen up Barack some time very soon you need to end the Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Whole Lie of Neo-Conism is the Fight'em There so we don't Fight'em Here. Besides the fact that no NeoCon has ever "Fought", ever humped a pack, shit in a hole in the sand, ducked mortars in a Hot Zone or ever even served in the military this "reason" is constantly undercut by the continued Terrorist attacks here in America. And it doesn't matter how "well" you prosecute their wars Barack because unless you are willing to keep troops Over There in perpetuity, they will declare you weak or a Terrorist yourself. In fact #6 on the New Conservative Heresy test declares Unending Wars are a necessary condition of Dogmatic Faith. The NeoCons demand this from their Teabagged and Battered Republican Voters because they know Unceasing Death=Unending Profits for them.

The reason the US Military is in embroiled overseas is to protect our Empire for Business. Those selfsame Corporate Persons more interested in their bank accounts than the entire Gulf of Mexico also don't care about VBIEDs, PTSD, suicides or the thousand little deaths and regrets suffered by those fortunate enough not to spill their heart's blood in the desert.

NeoCon Frank Gaffney: "It is regrettable that they had to die, but I believe they did have to die."

The US Military has more often than not been used for Imperial Colonization and the enrichment of the Plutonomy.

This how Corporate Plutonomy views the Military. This is why Plutocrats seek to get Republicans in Office. Republicans dutifully send the Military hither and fro and then convince their troglodyte followers that any hint of pulling back from Empire is unmanly, ungodly and unamerican and the Democrats are cowed by vocal warmongers and continue the Wars for Chicken Hawk Cowards, Thieves and Scoundrels.

Related:
Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Feels like Suicide
War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning ~ Talk by Chris Hedges hosted by The Real News Network
Disposable Soldiers ~ Joshua Kors, The Nation

The Marines Leave Iraq

"Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it and it is vital to the security of our country," ~ George W. Bush

On 01/23/10, the US Marines transferred Anbar Province over to the US Army and are heading home after 7 years of Operations in the area.

And while I am still firmly against the Iraq War, and do not believe any so-called victory is worth the price we paid, I salute my brave Corps Brethren.

The Marines who served prior, during and after my time in Iraq accomplished an incredible feat through sheer guts, intelligence, determination, training and perseverance despite the best efforts of the Bush/Cheney Neo-Con chicken hawks and Democratic cowards who sent them over there to make money for the War Profiteers.

Sadly because Conservatives have no intention of going to war they view the Marines and Soldiers as little more than wooden tokens on a RISK like game board. And many Marines bled their heart's blood into the desert for no good reason. And those that made it back to the States physically have left a part of their souls in the Middle East.

For some Marines never really come home. They suffer, unable to readjust to regular life in the 1st CIV DIV. Many take their lives.

Why? Because Dick Cheney and the Republicans (and then the Democrats) couldn't be bothered to deal with bureaucratic mismanagement and spend time helping those they sent into harm's way. But, that's to be expected from Republicans. Republicans are Cowards who hate the Troops and view them as raw meat. To be ground up serving Republican interests and advancing the Republican Party.

The Republican Party especially likes when soldiers die because Conservative Chicken Hawk Cowards, like the grave robbers and fakes they are, put their evil ideology, into the mouths of the dead for whom they have no right to speak.

Championing War, with no intention of fighting, and Using the dead are core Conservative Principles.

And they even give talks highlighting their cowardice: "Join the UMass Republican Club for yet another lively and edifying political discussion on the costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war." Because all that The University of Massachusetts Amherst Republicans and "rising star in the conservative intellectual movement" Jonah Goldberg are saying is Give War a Chance... You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time.

Related:
Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Feels like Suicide

Obama is Winning Afghanistan

So says General Stanley McChrystal.

"Have you done it? Have you turned the tide?" Diane Sawyer asked the General.

"I believe we're doing that now. I believe that we have changed the way we operate in Afghanistan. We changed some of our structures and I believe that we are on the way to convincing the Afghan people that we are here to protect them. We've been at this for about seven months now and I believe we've made progress," he told Sawyer.

But, the Punks and Hypocrites on the Right are in a trick bag if Obama's Strategy works in Afghanistan after 7 months when Super America Defenders Bush and Cheney allowed the situation to languish for 8 years. They'll have to figure out a way to undercut the President and downplay the news while not attacking McChrystal.

So, the bigoted vegetative Obama Haters will get their dander up and bellow, Obama doesn't say War on Terror enough! and Why did Obama wait so long? or We're succeeding despite the Chicago Machine and ACORN! and Sarah Palin would have gone over and subdued the Al Qaeda guys because jesus choose her!

Because the Punk Ass Bitches, Bullies and Chicken Hawks on the Right have to lie, lie, lie to convince the American People Obama loves Terrorists in order to realize their goal which is Republican Control of Government. That's all they care about, they don't care about protecting America, or the rights of americans or religious freedoms or pollution, all the REMFpublican Party wants is to regain control because then they can undercut programs to aid the poor, remove taxes from the Corporate Masters and murder Americans.

That's the 3 Things Republicans love to do: Funnel Taxes to the Rich, Screw the Poor, Murder Americans.

However, I don't necessarily agree with General McChrystal. 4GW warfare is an ebb and flow and has the nasty habit of flaring up time and again after an area is "pacified". And I would rather leave Afghanistan to the locals than sacrifice one more American for the Dollars flowing to the Makers of Death and Destruction.

When is it no longer Bush's Fault?

Pouting Republican Supporters are petulantly stomping about the blogs and holding their breath demanding to know when Bush's Untouchable Record of Utter Failures will be ignored and the Terrorist Punk Ass Bitch Right can heap all the blame for the wrecked and woeful state of the Nation onto Obama.

Here's a deal when Punk Ass Bitch Republicans take Responsibility for the shameful disaster of 9/11 then we can mention Obama's failures in 2009.

"We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term..." ~ Bush Spokesliar Dana Perino.

"We inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history," ~ Mary Matalin.

"What he should be doing is following the right things that Bush did, we had no domestic attacks under Bush," ~ The Mayor of New York City on 09/11/01, Rudy Guiliani.

However, as long as the Right Wing Cowards and Hypocrites keep claiming Bush Kept America Safe while the Twin Towers fell and the Pentagon burned then all the tea bags in Boston can't cover the Republican Record of Dismal Failure so continue to hold your breath you petulant Punk Ass Bitches...

The only people who support the Republican Party are War Profiteers, Punks, Chicken Hawks, Hypocrites and the Actively Ignorant and Violently Stupid...

Related:
Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Revisionist Republicans are Evil Incarnate

Where is the Conservative and Republican Rush to enlist?

I haven't heard about the mad rush by Young Republicans (YR's) or Young Conservatives (YC's) to fill the slots needed by ISAF Commander General Stanley McChrystal to win in Afghanistan. The YC's resistance and fighting here on American Colleges is too important and the YR's are too busy fighting here on the home front against Islamo-Hitler to finish the job Superhero Bush and Ditherless Cheney began 8 years ago. Or maybe all the slots were filled by ethnic minorities while they DeLay'ed and by other Americans in tough financial straits or lacking health coverage?

Well, you can't expect the gutless flabby Chicken Hawk Punk Ass Bitch Republicans to actually fight! They merely goad people on and leave the fighting to be done by others.

Perhaps, secretly, the Chicken Hawks agree with US State Department Official Matthew Hoh (and former Marine) who resigned his position in Zabul Province because of opposition to continuing the Afghan War. Hoh stated in his resignation letter, "I find it specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and sacrifice form our young men and women in Afghanistan" and "I do not believe any military force has ever been tasked with complex , opaque and Sisyphean mission as the U.S. military has received in Afghanistan." But, Chicken Hawk Punk Ass Bitch Republicans will publicly call for more troops and more war if they think it will help their political aspirations all the while harboring no intention of ever putting their pasty asses in the fire.

Rough stuff excerpted from The Usual Suspect at Rucksack to Backpack: Walk With Me In Hell

To my ungrateful generation,

This world is full of people who demand respect without earning it. That's a commodity that I can no longer afford to give away freely. If I haven't earned someone's respect by now, then I never will, and that's fine. The more I think about it, the more I realize that you have NOT earned mine. Thought you had it for free? I can't believe you're still alive when some of the best men I'll ever know died in someone else's country. As far as I'm concerned, this ain't your land anymore. We earn our keep. You'll always be below me now, not because of what you haven't done, but because of how you conduct yourself despite what you have not done. Don't dare try to cheapen what we go through. Come experience it for yourself.

Roll the dice, take a chance card. Spin the wheel, sit for a spell and let the Russian Roulette begin. Let's do some time in the meat grinder together, THEN you can open your mouth. Until then, you're cattle with an inflated ego and unfounded opinions. Empty, vapid, soulless byproducts of bad TV and shitty rap music.

There's more via the link. But, that's a coarse hard bitten assessment of the hidden costs of war which Punk Ass Bitch Chicken Hawk Republicans conveniently leave out of the ledger of bills due. Hopefully, The Usual Suspect doesn't let his experiences exact too much of a toll on his soul. So I bid him remember those Thespians of Great Renown and their view on (The Bright Side of) Life:

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life... ~ The Bright Side of Life, Monty Python

Related:
Operation Yellow Elephant: Not as tough as his name and mouth imply

Obama: End the Wars and Earn Your Prize

While Obama hasn't done anything as cool as invent Dynamite, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

I hope the Award is earned by Obama and he pulls us out of Afghanistan and Iraq. If Obama is able to extricate us from both of Bush's Wars of Money Transfer he'd have go down as the greatest president. Because despite the rhetoric of the Right the goal of Bush's Wars has always been transferring Trillions of Dollars into the coffers of those who profit on Death and Destruction and who Control the Federal Government.

I always felt The Strategy of Getting (Getting In, Getting Bin Laden, Getting Out) would have been a better choice.

I'm optimistic but only cautiously so... I hope Obama is strong enough to get us out of the Wars, in which, Bush and his Controllers treated Soldiers as RISK gameboard pieces. Little wooden tokens easily placed on the map and easily removed when killed.

But, besides the cost in dollars and more heart-wrenchingly in lives, it's the millions of little pains and evils which accompany the survivors home and are suffered by their families. Because that's the true cost of wars; the suicides, the divorces, the arguing, the fights, the drinking, the drugs, the small crimes the shattered dreams, the pain...

Update:
Remember how the hatred for Obama isn't based on Race? Well, yes it is: Flabby Chicken Hawk Coward Jonah Goldberg asks if Kayne West could attend the ceremony.

Erick Erickson of Red State, who would rather disband Police Forces* than allow them to Unionize, declares the Noble Prize has an affirmative action quota.

*- This needs expanding. About 130 Macon Georgia Police Officers want to unionize. For such temerity, Erickson stated: I’m thinking I’ll have the City Attorney draft me legislation to dissolve the police department and contract with the Sheriff to provide public safety services. Erick Erickson hates people and wants them to die. In that regard he is a typical Right Winger Punk Ass Bitch.

Afghanistan = A Bag of Smushed Assholes

“If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.” ~ Sergeant Christopher Hughes when asked if the mission was worthwhile.

Bush handed Obama a shit-filled leaky plastic bag of a mismangled war in Afghanistan. Deaths have been on the rise the past two years, including the cold blooded murder of two American Soldiers by an Afghan National Police Officer.

With COIN and most guerrilla wars the campaign remains at a low simmer for years with the occasional flare up. The Insurgents only real goal is to remain alive. They do not have to conduct any operations and the occasional successful attack on the occupying force is enough to bolster their recruitment or morale while trying to provoke the occupiers into a poor heavy handed response. Insurgencies end when the occupier leaves or begins colonization of the region.

If an occupier does colonize an area the attempt can become a mass migration and displacement (The Magyars into European Hungarian plain, the Normans into Sicily, The Europeans into the Americas, The English into Australia),
Or succeed for a few years or centuries (The Berbers into Spain, the French into Indochina, the Chinese into Tibet, The English in India) and then become reversed and the conquerors leave behind a sizable minority.

Most of the recent extended 4GW conflicts of the post-world war 2 world stem from repeated colonization attempts, e.g. Ireland, Israel/Palestine, and The Balkans.

Afghanistan has always been a crossroads of empire and warfare, especially the last 30 years; following the failed Soviet attempts at subjugation of the region, the Warlord battles of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Dostum, the Taliban gained control and waged campaigns against the ethnic minorites of Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara in the country, until the US and Coalition forces invaded in response to the Terror Attacks of 9/11.

Any way, 8 years later, I don't know what the mission in Afghanistan is today and the Troops in Country don't know either. I don't think Obama knows either. It's not as if we're trying to diminsh the ridiculous growth of poppies flooding the world with Heroin, but, we have set up a Government, which conducts Bush-esque fair democratic elections, killed thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists, Taliban supporters and innocents, and brought back corporations to the region and revitalized infrastructure during the 7+ years we and ISAF occupied the area. Sooooo, now why are we staying? And what would be the point in adding 50,000 more troops as General McChrystal requests?

"You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time"... Uber-Patriots Sean Hannity and R. Limbaugh are attacking Obama on his strategy in Afghanistan. They demand to know his plans, they demand he listen to General McChrystal! The pure unmitigated gall, the lack of compunction of these Chicken Hawks is what I've come to expect from the cowardly Punk Ass Bitches of the Right.

There was never a word against Bush's utter colossal failures, gross negligence and incompetence in fucking over America, Afghanistan and Iraq. His failures were points of pride for these Toxic Pukes. They spent the entire time attacking Democrats and adhering to the IOKIYAR mantra. Obama has no idea what to do with the Afghan War but to his credit is taking time to meet with Advisors and analyze the Bag of Smushed Assholes he inherited from Bush. But to the Punk Ass Bitch Conservatives and REMFpublicans Obama's to blame for not immediately doubling down and supporting the mantra of War Today, War Tomorrow, War Forever!

Self-Hating Veterans

You know who you are! The nasty and brutish vets who voted for a Hussein!

As the shift in voting patterns moves more people towards the Democratic Party and away from the insane Republicans, efforts are made to proclaim the vast majority of veterans are still republicans, this recent gallup poll shows veterans are more likely to be Republican, than the general public, but 62% identify themselves as Democrat/Independent. While it is fatuous to declare the parties have no difference whatsoever, I agree with words of Gore Vidal (“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.") and Bill Maher (The Democrats are what the Republicans used to be).

Today the Democrats occasionally support progressive liberal issues but, most often kow-tow to the Corporate Power which controls this Nation and uses the government and veterans to enrich their off-shore bank accounts.

But, perhaps today there is a chance as The Pimp and The Prostitute Liz Dick continue their Media Tour, young vets will move away from the Pro Human Pain and Suffering Right Wing Chicken Hawks and towards the progressive liberal self-hating views of Pat Tillman and afford the poor and the middle class a chance to do something with their lives other than be allowed the Freedom to protect the property of the rich.

To all the Veterans out there... Ooh-Rah.



I add this here because I forgot one of principle problems with the Pro Human Pain and Suffering Republican America of today. Ideology trumps all in their eyes. Because of this veterans who do not hold to conservative ideals are ignored or ridiculed. Therefore, ignorant conservative fanatics ensure The Veterans of Foreign Wars supported a non-veteran Peter Roskam over Tammy Duckworth, a wounded veteran of a foreign "war" for political office. Or vehemently defend their decisions to support Saxby Chamblis over Max Cleland. One of the two went to Vietnam and was severely wounded one received 4/5ths the number of deferments Dick Cheney received.

Update:
This comment by Wile E. Quixote sums up nicely the current Conservative/Republican, a cowardly chicken hawk who more than willingly talks tough and ensures others go to fight for him/her. The Republican Party, the Party of Deferments:

American conservatives have less than zero credibility on military matters. Rush Limbaugh dodged the draft. Dick Cheney got five deferments during Vietnam (he needed five because he lost two of them for drunk driving). George W. Bush pulled strings to get into a champagne squadron of the Texas Air National Guard. Mitt Romney fagged off to France to be a missionary for a couple of years (All of the Mormons I knew in the Army did their two year missions and then once they were done, enlisted. Guess that never occurred to Mittens). Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Michael Steele, Michael Savageweiner, William Bennett, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Rudy Giuliani, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Max Boot, Jonah Goldberg, William Kristol, John Podhoretz, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, are there any prominent conservatives under the age of 70 who have ever signed up, taken the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, put on a uniform and served their country?

The Legacy

"Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information. It is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control. One wonders it is still practiced." ~ Jean Luc Picard

Watching the "warped frustrated old man" Dick Cheney who is "more machine now than man, twisted and evil" frantically defending his warcrimes has been illuminating. Cheney is even so desperate he's pimping out his own daughter to equivocate on Torture.

Cheney's Torture message incorporates several avenues of attack: What was authorized wasn't Torture, but even if it was the Democrat Party knew about it too, however we only used the tougher methods on a select few and despite everything the methods protected America from future attacks.

Part of the Cheney defense strategy is if Torture hearings would threaten to bring down Pelosi and Reid (and other Democratic Party members) then the Dems and the NBC championed, Moveon.org backed, Soros Funded Liberal World Wide Conspiracy won't be willing or able to investigate the matter fully.

This is actually a fairly solid plan as the Democrats probably wont be willing to move forward unless they have built up enough of a wedge in people's minds that Pelosi and other Democratic members of congress were not given the full information or were actively kept in the dark about the depth and nature of the methods.

Another line of the Torture defense strategy comes when Liz Cheney opens her mouth and Dick's (words) come out. We only used the methods on select few. However, this part undercuts the idea that the methods used helped to protect America. When raids are done and insurgents rounded up it's very difficult to identify them. They don't have social security numbers, many don't know their birthday, there were no fingerprint databases so it's possible after a raid on a VBIED warehouse that some HVT was there and got picked up with the rest of the lower level chaff. He won't speak up and confess because he's hoping to be detained for a short period of time before being released.

Therefore it is only prudent that we must Torture every single prisoner of war. How will we know, know conclusively, one of those terrorists we captured did not just recently meet with UBL in Damascus after having planned the next 9-11 unless we water board him?

Underlying all the Torture talk is this message from Cheney: Attempt to bring me down for warcrimes and I will destroy America. It's the MAD gambit. The Republicans and their Toxic Allies will work ceaselessly to turn the regular Americans against one another, fragment society and cheer on another terrorist attack.

And that is The Legacy of the Bush/Cheney Presidency. The Destruction of America.

Bush and Cheney will have accomplished a feat the Nazis, Soviets, Southern racists, Bill Ayers, all failed at; The Destruction of America.

Onward and Upward with Prayer

We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world. ...and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world. Senator Albert J. Beveridge, In Support of an American Empire

The video of the Army chaplain evangelizing has caused a stir. It's showing Americans and the world that the US military has been taken over by evangelical fanatics who want to follow the words of She Who Shall Not Be Named, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to christianity."

Of course, the zealots have reared their heads and reacted. Rawwwr the Beast shouts! This endangers the Troops! Al Qaida Television selectively edited the video! Christian Fight Pilot specifically makes these points at his blog in defending the actions of the chaplain.

Christian Fight Pilot, however, like the chaplain is arguing in bad faith. And as opposed to being vindicating as he believes I think the unedited version is actually more damning. It shows the unbroken flow of conversation it shows the chaplain teaching the soldiers how to break the spirit of the general order while not breaking the letter of the order. It's proselytizing by stealth.

Listen to the words of not only the chaplain but the SSG to wit:

"Be careful how you do it", "There are ways to win people to christ", "You can not proselytize but you can give gifts", "You share the word in a smart manner", "Be smart about it", "If you make it a gift and walk away from it..."

But CFP gets puffed up with righteous holy zeal. His main point is soldiers can express their belief. This is a protected right in the military!

Missing, of course, the whole issue. This isn't some academic debate, this isn't occurring in the vacuum of a classroom where the dialectic is turned to the subtleties of the immaculate conception and how many angels bellow forth from the muzzle of a Ma Deuce. This talk of bringing people to the christ is coming from the mouths of those who are ubiquitous through out the land holding guns and controlling the streets.

Anyone who has been in the military can attest that religion is crammed down the gullets of the every member. You can't attend a large formation (a welcome home, a sendoff, or a promotion) without having a chaplain issue the call to prayer.

Admittedly it's not as bad as the Lt Colonel Hensley, the chief of the U.S. military chaplains in Afghanistan, declaring:

"The special forces guys -- they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.

The spreading the faith from the barrel of a gun. Which is how the faith was spread anyway, through violence, force, rape, murder and destruction.

This whole incident could be passed off as a rogue chaplain if it wasn't for the large amount of evidence which indicates this is not "a few bad apples" but part of a pattern; disgusting Air Force Cadets confronting non-evangelicals with Cult-esque Shame Circles to browbeat them into accepting the "true" faith, the comments I've highlighted and the unacceptable boot camp religious brain-washing 'God's Basic Training'! The First Strategic Objective of which is to: Evangelize and Disciple All Enlisted Members of the US Military. And the last: Change Continents for Christ. Transform nations of world through the militaries of world.

"Well you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

The Republician Insurgents

The "honorable" Pete Sessions declared the Republican party is going to become the Taliban. At least he's admitted with whom the GOP shares their ideology. The GOP is akin to a organization which banned kite flying, measured the length of men's breads in public, oh and murdered thousands of people who disagreed with their religious extremism.

Some great vignettes from Pete:
"If they do not give us those options or opportunities then we will then become insurgency of a nature to where we do those things that are necessary to making sure the American public knows what we think the correct answer is."

"Insurgency we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban ... And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."

Wasn't it a scant few years back when the declarations were You're either with us or against us? And Republican Extremists were declaring The Jihad upon those who dared question them?

Sadly, this is mere window dressing. All the protestations by the GOP over the Stimulus and the Democratically controlled government is the flip side of the same coin, wherein the Dems complained about Republican spending. We are privy to the squabbling by the two aristocratic families vying for control over the American Kingdom.

However, The GOP is just extra upset a few more scraps are falling from their banquet table and making it to the poor instead of going to it's rightful owners the manufacturers of Death and Destruction. After all the GOP and it's Janissary's understand the Poor are poor because they lack values and ethics.

The Worst Crime (the Shoe Thing)

Every Nation-State makes the removal of the Government the Worst Crime. Even being charged meant imprisonment, conviction meant a slow tortured death. The brutal case of Damiens in 1757 being one of the best recorded. In the United States, even threatening the life of the President (or those in the Succession) can lead to a fine and a maximum imprisonment of 5 years.

This is good, a civil society can not abide having people going around issuing or proclaiming death threats to anyone.

But... But, removing a nation's Government and killing it's citizens is exactly what happens during war. Individuals under the direction of Tipsy Canoe accomplished the removal and deaths of members of the Iraqi government, including the "elected leader". Along the way, innocent individuals were killed.

Usually the venerable Just War Theory is raised, but with Iraq a strange heresy was created by Dick Cheney when he morphed the Just War Theory into his 1% Doctrine - supposedly if there is a 1% chance of a threat facing the United States, military action is called for - which according to Ron Suskind became the foundation for invasion of Iraq.

So the Smoking Gun/Mushroom Cloud Raison d'etre was invoked. And Iraq was invaded sans War being declared.

Why is the overthrow of a government, not to mention the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, acceptable when a government claims it is, but unacceptable for the individual?

But, to answer my own rhetorical question, Governments, including the vaunted US one, grant themselves an exclusive Monopoly on the Use of Force. Allowing themselves the ability to circumvent laws at their whim. Occasionally this backfires and the pawns of that government rise up, but the US has little fear of that because it has evolved the greatest System of Controlling it's citizens seen in the history of the world.

The idea the State should be the sole arbiter and controller of force is very old but was given a political-philosophical coating by Thomas Hobbes in Levithan. Hobbes describes the creation of the Sovereign to whom and from whom all rights and powers derive. Bush, Cheney clearly hold to the Hobbesian view of the Sovereign. According to Hobbes, once placed in power the Sovereign can do no wrong and can commit no crime, nor can he commit an injustice. His actions can not injure his subjects because what is good for the Sovereign is good for the people.

This is evidenced by Bob Woodward's assertion Bush told him, "I'm the commander – see, I don't need to explain – I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation." ~ Bush at War

So, who cares how many American subjects died when they did have to die? Who cares if the subjects don't like the Iraq Occupation? So what if Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until the US invaded? Who cares about Illegal Wiretapping? Who cares about Signing Statements? So what if we do Torture? So what if the Sovereign lies? These actions are taken in defense of the Leviathan and as such the actions of the Sovereign are by axiom not illegal.

But, of course, real world actions have real world consequences. And while Ole Tipsy Canoe may believe his lies and is on a whirlwind tour to claim he kept America safe, including saving the largest "skyscaper" in Los Angeles. So, while excepting that whole 9/11 thing and the Amerithrax attacks others, especially those in the ravaged country of Iraq, seem to have a dimmer view, hence the Shoe-Throwing Attack. And Bush's clear ignorance is on display when he states, "I don't know what the guy's cause is..."

The bigger problem than Bush is the mess he leaves us with. Tipsy Canoe has allowed The United States to inherit the role of the Latter Roman Republic in Mesopotamia. Ahmed Chalabi used the US the way the Satraps and Deposed Princes of the fragmented Seleucid Empire called upon the military might of Rome to gain the throne. Of course, after civil war and repeated invasions by the Armenians and Parthians and Ptolemaic Egypt, Rome eventually took direct control of the Middle East. The results of the Roman entanglement in the Middle East (the creation of christianity and the unfortunate rise of islam) are the building blocks for the problems still facing the world today.

Despite all his crying Bush's actions have really only managed to "keep us safe" from prosperity, worldwide respect, and medical advances. But as the Sovereign, he views himself as absolved or rightly above and beyond punishment for crimes, which if perpetrated by an individual, would result in a sentence far worse than having two shoes thrown at them.

The Dow went down by 400 points Obama's to blame!

To announce there should be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone esle. - Theodore Roosevelt

I recall the Bush supporters and warmongers calling anyone, who dared speak up to point out illegal behavior, traitors and calling for arrests and death for treason. It's going to be awesome the next 4 years because now their guy is on the outs. I expect all of a sudden they, the Real Americans, will see themselves holding up all that is good against the evil tide of Socialism and be forced to stand up to the evils and excesses of the US Federal government. Soon the words of Teddy Roosevelt will be highlighted upon their blogs as they predict and ascribe everything evil under the sun to the islamo-marxist milieu created by Obama's ascendancy.

Flopping Aces points out the following occurred since Obama was elected: I’m disappointed that the nation will have to endure this quisling-in-chief for four long years. Today the Dow sank below 400 erasing gains, yesterday hamas rocketed Israel and a chill wind blew in an overcast, rainy day in Philly. A sign of things to come?

Steven Den Beste predicts the following: My comments follow in bold.
2. The US hasn't suffered a terrorist attack by al Qaeda since 9/11, but we'll get at least one during Obama's term. I guess the Amerithrax attacks and the DC Sniper don't count as terrorism...

3. We're going to lose in Afghanistan. Because Bush won Afghanistan already?

4. Iran will get nuclear weapons. There will be nuclear war between Iran and Israel. (This is the only irreversibly terrible thing I see upcoming, and it's very bad indeed.) Joe The Plumber knows Israel!

CDR Salamander: Also, we should all bask in the glory that to much of the Muslim world that knows their Sharia - we just elected and apostate to Islam as our President. We now have waiting for us in the new year the most Leftist government this nation has seen arguably in 70 years... Tune in, turn on, drop in like a Daisy Cutter. The Democrats now have to govern. They will show themselves. You now have your liberty and Constitution to defend. Attack their policies. Attack their proposals.

Moonbattery: There are people lowdown enough to know in advance who and what was elected yesterday, and to have voted for the Moonbat Messiah anyway. What they have done to this country is beyond forgiveness.

But an ultra-radical leftist like Obama could not be elected in a center-right country, or even a center-left country, without a great deal of deception.

Sadly, I guess the real fear is Nation of islam brownshirts will soon be knocking on the door of every pro-Americans' home to take their guns and force them to convert. Meanwhile, Obama will sign a Nuclear Arms deal with Iran who will then destroy Israel. And pass the 100% tax on all Americans making $1 USC a year and placing people into collective farms to begin the glorious transformation of America into The USSA.

The Inevitability of Control

Unable to hide anymore Old Tipse Canoe emerged and has asked Congress to provide 700,000,000,000 in bailout monies.

It's time we started counting in Astronomical numbers. We could use Astronomical Units (1AU=93,000,000) for the Bailout. Bush asks for 7500AU would no doubt cause little consternation amongst the people and Bush wouldn't need to induce confidence in the economy with such pabulum; "People are beginning to doubt our system, people were losing confidence and I understand it's important to have confidence in our financial system."

With this being an election cycle The Two Parties have both sent forth minions to convince the people the problems were caused by the other side of the Coin. The problems stem from the US system itself and when a Government becomes the monstrous behemoth, which the US system has devolved into, it eventually finds itself in the position of taking over all functions of life.

The US was originally set up as a thinly veiled attempt to re-create Feudalism with the the Lords (Congress) having significantly more power than the King (President). The original Articles of Confederation failed because of the lack of fast means of communication and travel and thus the difficulties which arise in controlling individual Feudal Republics (States).

Over the existence of the Federal Government, as with all such creations, individuals in positions of authority and power expanded and enlarged their spheres of influence and control. So immediately after the Federal Government was born in 1789, Alexander Hamilton in his position as Secretary of the Treasury, convinced enough of his fellow Lords to impose a new tax. And in order to collect the revenue the military sent forth with the added bonus of imprinting upon it's subjects the Power which must now be accorded a strong Federal Government.

Of course, like all nations in the Industrial Age, the Landed Nobility faced the problem of the new rising influence of the Noueve Riche, the Captains of Industry. These men in the 1800's did not consider themselves inferior and as the powerful Merchants and Bankers had done in Europe during the late Middle ages and Renaissance they began to exert and accord to themselves powers and privileges normally reserved for the Old Aristocracy.

Government and Industry have struggled for control of the Apparatus of Control. Fortunately in America, the Military has allowed itself to not slide into the easy stance of Kingmaker. This is the problem which beset and destroyed the Old Roman Republic and then the Western Roman Empire. The Military of the Byzantine Empire often determined the Basileus.

The Byzantine Empire history was well known to the Founding Fathers who sought to emulate it's greatness in many respects commerce and learning whilst curbing the negatives, interence warfare and religious strife. And with an eye to the future;

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

they sought to stave off the eventual decline and fall of their new Feudal Republic.

Of course, not possessing the Asimov Discipline of PsychoHistory, the Founding Fathers could not totally foresee the rise of the peasantry. However, those who have inherited the mantle of Government have easily subsumed and controlled the rising lower classes by absorbing them into the false two party Dichotomy, through unions, use of religion and the hobgoblins of fake issues (gay marriage) designed to convince the great majority of the people in the US that the Two Parties (one coin) are all that stands between them and oblivion.

Vice President Cheney's use of Power and the Strong Unitary Executive Arm of Government is actually not unprecedented. In fact it's a fairly well established position in political philosophy. Cheney and Bush both hold to the idea of Sovereign as espoused by Hobbes. In Leviathan the powers ascribed to the Sovereign are unlimited and extend to all spheres and represent Total Power. In Hobbes' system unlike the later ideas of Locke and Rousseau, once the citizens have chosen their Sovereign the have no more political power. And the Sovereign can act in any way he desires including tyrannical behavior. I can think of no more clear example from Cheney to illustrate this than his "So?"

We the People are pawns for the controlling interests of the Nation. Members of Industry and Government have profited for centuries upon the backs of Americans, passing laws, creating rules of education, diverting the attention of the people with bread and circuses, undermining basic understanding and starting wars at home and abroad in order to ensure the power and wealth of this land will be in the hands of the few.

Know The Real Enemy

Listen up. Zach, Tom, Tim and Brad get it. Know the Real Enemy.

"I suspect some of the police may actually even be fans of Rage Against the Machine. I suspect some of the police come from working class and middle class backgrounds like we do and like you do. I suspect the Cops here today have much more in common with this band, with you people than with the people of the RNC." - Tom Morello addressing the People

The Controllers of this Nation do not represent you, they don't like you. You are to be controlled, You are to be used for their interests, You are to submit to their will. You are their cog in the machinery of War and Industry.

When Johnny NEVER Comes Marching Home Again, Hurrah! Hurrah!

From the Ebullient Rachel Maddow.



"Do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?" Matt Lauer.

"No, but that's not too important," John McCain said. "What's important is casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine."

But, no the government isn't into the Imperial Empire Business. Because we don't keep territory. Nope! Never have! Never ever!

The lie that America isn't an Empire is one that continues to be sold to every generation. Read the disgusting comments by Marine General John Kelly,

"We as Americans can be proud of the kind of people we are as we have never retained a square foot of any country we have defeated. We possess no empire. No man or woman call us master, as we have never subjugated any society."

Yeah, tell it to the Marines.

Update:
HOT DAMN! I figured out why McCain doesn't want to leave Iraq ever! It comes from the Johnny Comes Marching Home lyrics:

And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home

As we all know teh gay scares warmongering republicans more than Islamfascism.