Tonight I was visiting a friend of mine, form long ago, who I know is a devout republican and true to our history we tried to solve the world’s problems during our short time together. It was more interesting to me than before this time (we haven’t talked much in the last 10-15 years) beacuse I was pretty sure that the level of destruction done by the Bush administration on government – which is the one part of their “trickle down” theory that’s actually trickling down, the destruction – would have swayed his thinking a bit. Boy was I surprised! These guys are steadfast – there’s not much that is going to get their attention. This particular person is successful to the degree that I don’t believe the impending collapse of the economy will cause anything more than an annoyance to him – meaning no matter how severe it gets for payday to payday people like me, he’ll be comfortable. Yet, as a businessman, he is feeling the “pinch” and will be affected to some degree. In the course of our short discussion (we essentially agreed to disagree – as usual – some things just don’t change :o) I asked him where his information was coming from and he answered Fox “News” (the quotes are mine for obvious, I hope, reasons).

Now, I’m not one to fool myself into thinking there is any “news” out there these days. When I watch Keith Olberman I know I’m watching somewhat the antithesis of Fox. What appears to be the major difference is that Olberman is not participating in the caucus meetings with Democrats as many of the republican “water carriers” do. But, make no mistake, his bias is obvious and “left.” That all being said, my conversation tonight just reinforced even more to me that President Obama needs to hire a “special prosecutor” and it needs to be a non-partisan one to investigate the last eight years of the Bush administration. Those who have broken the law need to face the appropriate consequence for their actions. And if it would make the republicans happy – the investigation should include members of both sides of the isle in Congress. Someone should “audit” every member of Congress and those who are “dirty” should be identified and removed from office. On the back of my car is a bumper sticker that says “Enough is Enough, vote Democratic.” Many people misunderstand what that means from my perspective. GW Bush was in office for six years and the Congress didn’t investigate one thing he did – they went along lock step with every proposal he made and in concert with Bush put us in the terrible position we’re in today.

My bumper sticker went on my car in early 2006. I actively participated in the “movement” to throw the republicans out of congress that year. Since then the Democratic party has been trying to get money from me to no avail. I have been totally disappointed in the work of the Democrats during the last session of Congress and so I’m not a big fan of theirs either. For Nancy Pelosi to “take impeachment off the table” when everyone knows that George Bush and Dick Cheney have committed “High Crimes and misdemeanors” was contrary to her oath of office as far as I’m concerned. For heaven’s sake, they both admitted to wiretapping millions of Americans without warrants. That should have been enough right there, without getting into the lies that got us bogged down in Iraq, the outing of a CIA agent, the torture (again, admitted to by Bush et al), and the forged memo implying that al Qaeda was somehow “connected” to Saddam Hussein. And Harry Reid just goes the other way anytime a Republican threatens a filibuster. Wouldn’t it be interesting if he actually forced the republicans to do a filibuster – like give them a month to talk about something – force them to do their obstruction in front of the public eye.

I really think there’s some kind of “code” among Congressmen like the one between Doctors and Lawyers. It is almost impossible to get a Doctor to testify against another Doctor – except in the most extreme circumstances and the same goes for lawyers. I still remember Ted Stephens sad “goodbye” from the Senate and all the “boys” sticking up for him, despite the fact he was convicted of 7 felonies for obstruction of justice and fraud. And to listen to Larry Craig almost start crying as he mentioned how much he was going to miss Ted about made me gag. You remember Larry Craig, the guy who was leading the republican fight against “gay rights” taking the “wide stance” in a Mineapolis airport bathroom known for homosexual encounters – in bathroom stalls no less! Eeuuuuuugh! These Senators put on a good show for the CSPAN cameras, but when it comes to making a stand that is for the benefit of the people of this nation – it looks more like a country club to me than a body that I can trust to look after my best interests.

If Barrack Obama holds the leaders of this nation to a level of accountability that commands respect from the people maybe we can take the first step to get out of the mess we’re in. I mean, not only the Bush administration, but his own administration. No more stonewalling Congress as they are doing their constitutionally mandated oversight, and no more free pass for anyone who has taken the oath of office to defend the constitution when they violate it. The message that has been sent to the people of this nation is that we are NOT a nation of laws – we are a nation of men and the strong survive and the smart people get as much as they can while they can. One thing my friend and I could agree on tonight (I think) is how corrupt the system is when no matter who seems to be in office – either as an office holder or a staff member – they obscenely enrich themselves once out of office – as lobbyists for corporations they were enacting laws for or in some other capacity. My friend used the example of Bill Clinton – he was essentially broke when he left the White House, and in eight short years he had earned enough money for his wife to be able to “loan” her campaign 13 million dollars. There are countless stories of Senators, Congressmen, their wives, and their staffs, making millions as lobbyists for the very companies they were introduced to while in office – we’re not talking about “Pocket Change.” For me, that’s the type of “change” I just can’t believe in!

There are so many things I want to write about, for example the conflict in Gaza, the continued economic meltdown, the wars, but today George W. Bush had his final (I HOPE!) press conference and, while I only heard exerpts from it, I heard enough to have to focus my remarks (again) on him. I have to start by asking, how on earth did this baffoon ever get elected to be president of the supposed most powerful nation in the world? It is actually embarrassing to me watching him in public. I believe this is because I feel such a level of connectedness to this country that I just can’t believe this guy is supposed to represent me. He can’t even put his sentences together properly, which you would expect from our “Chief Executive.” Tonight, I heard him make some incredibly STARTLING comments!

Let’s start with the most startling of all. Tonight George W Bush eliminated all the guesswork about Dick Cheney’s arrogant admission about a week or two ago that he (Cheney) authorized torture of prisoners in the “War on Terror.” After listening to Cheney I thought, well now he has to be prosecuted for this because it’s a clear war crime. Keep in mind, Cheney willingly admitted to authorizing waterboarding as a means of “enhanced” interrogation. Tonight, Bush joined Cheney in this incredible admission to authorizing war crimes. Now, I’m assuming that during his last eight days in office Bush is going to pardon anyone involved in this action, although I’m not sure whether or not he can pardon himself. However, this should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention during the past four plus years. Everyone knows that the orders for the torturing came right from the White House, but when you’ve got people who lie with the regularity of these folks, I suppose the question would be do you want to try to prove they were lying during a prosecution. But that problem has now been solved, because in their arrogance they admitted doing this in front of national TV cameras.

If you’re reading this blog I don’t suppose you ever believed that those 5 or 6 lower level Army “grunts” who are serving time for Abu Ghraib were actually the ones who came up with the ideas of how to deal with those prisoners (now, if Bush pardons himself do you think he will pardon the soldiers doing time for following his orders?). To me, it has been one of the more grievous parts of an occupation full of grievousness that underlings such as Lindy England are serving time in Leavenworth for following the orders of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. And these guys (Bush et al) have no conscience whatsoever in letting these lower level people take the fall for them. When you look at the complete body of work from Bush and company this should be no surprise. They have shown no sign of conscience in the war, the Katrina fiasco, outing a CIA agent, the destruction of our economy, in anything. True to his incompetence, today while trying to spin his administration as something besides a total disaster George W Bush admitted to commtting war crimes.

Now, there’s more – but I have to add here that today Bush really put President Elect Obama on the spot. If you’ve read any of my earlier posts you know the significance I am putting on Obama allowing an impartial investigator to look into all the allegations of lawbreaking by the Bush administration. He is showing signs of weakness in this regard, making comments like “I want to look forward and not backward.” I have stated my position that this would be a huge mistake – but now it would be HUGER! (I made that word up :o) If Obama looks the other way once he has placed his hand on the Bible and pledged to uphold the constitution and enforce the laws of the land, he is putting himself and his administration in the same company as the administration he is succeeding. I REALLY HOPE HE DOESN’T DO THIS – I WILL ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK! If Obama doesn’t have the fortitude to take on this battle he shouldn’t have taken on the job of President of the United States! I don’t know what he’s thinking, but this is the “Change we voted for!” Enough already! Not only should the torture that has been admitted to be investigated and prosecuted where appropriate, but also the many other areas where Bush/Cheney over-stepped their “bounds” – THERE HAS TO BE A FIRM STAND AGAINST THE IDEA THAT THE PRESIDENT IS ABOVE THE LAW!

Getting back to Bush’s press conference. Here are some more incredible things that were said today. Bush said that the FEMA response to Hurricane Katrina was “not delayed.” This coming from the man who was on vacation and didn’t even do his “photo op” for two days after the storm was over and who has eight more days in office while a huge portion of New Orleans remains in ruins. I suppose if your goal is to eliminate the poor sections of town then their response has been appropriate. Bush continues to claim that historians will view his “surge” as some kind of military genius move in Iraq. Well, first of all, that would have to presuppose that historians are going to give a favorable view to the invasion in the first place (in my mind the chances of that are approaching zero the more info that comes out about the manipulation of intelligence and information) and, secondly, it would presuppose that there is some kind of “peace” in Iraq. Granted, the violence is “down” but I don’t believe the Sunni/Shia problem has been addressed let alone solved. I’m sure Bush believes that when we pull out of Iraq and when the eventual battle between factions in Iraq presumes (not that it’s not going on now – we just don’t have anyone reporting on Iraq anymore) the new administration will be blamed. I just have to say hogwash to that – there are a lot of ways to explain the reduction in casualties for Americans in Iraq (one is that we bought off the insurgent Sunni’s so that they would take care of al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for us) and once Moqtada al Sadr returns in about two years, the Sunni/Shia conflict is going to re-emerge if not before then. The bottom line – Bush’s misadventure has destablized Iraq and the entire region and there is no way he’s going to be able to rewrite history on that one.

Bush also tried to blame the economy on his “predessessor.” That would be, of course, Bill Clinton – and republicans have been busy blaming Bill Clinton for just about everything since well before Bush took office, so this one wasn’t too much of a surprise either. Bush said something like “I came in during a recession and I’m leaving during a recession – with five years of prosperity in between.” Well, this just confirms his ignorance regarding economics – which is no surprise to those of us who have been watching this guy closely for the past eight years. EVERY indicator of the economy is significantly down today compared to when he took office. He did not come into office during a recession. He came into office on the tail end of one of the greatest periods of prosperity in the history of this country. Once it was clear that his tax cut policy was inevitable, the stock market started to tank and by the time he initiated the policy the recession was in its infancy. HIS TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH WERE AND ARE A HUGE DISASTER (If Obama was wise he’d repeal them immediately upon taking office)! We struggled through the eight years of Bush’s presidency on a false economy – everything built on borrowing and leveraging and borrowing some more. Not only did the Bush administration deregulate, they appointed people who wanted to destroy the very agencies of government they were put in place to manage. AND THEY DID A GOOD JOB OF DESTROYING THEM.

What we have left is more than a simple recession. This meltdown could gather more steam if Obama doesn’t push the exact right “buttons” and turn into Great Depression II. And Bush said tonight that “nobody saw this coming.” I can tell you for sure why that is so absurd. I am just a school teacher and I saw it coming. I put all my money (what little I have) in a “safe haven” two years ago. I’ve been telling my fellow teachers and staff members to get ready for a “big one” for over two years. Most of them thought I was nuts, but they don’t think so any more. Bush has virtually doubled the national debt in eight years. It took over 200 years to get to the point we were at when he took over (and the sad thing is that of the 5 or 6 trillion that was there when he took over his Dad and Ronald Reagan were responsible for about 80% of that!) and he didn’t even count the money spent on Iraq in the figures – which was about a trillion dollars at last count. While his claim about recession is fantasy this is fact: Bush inherited a $250 Billion surplus and he’s leaving a $1.2 Trillion deficit – now that took some doing!

For some reason Bush still thinks the United States is viewed in the world with respect. He thinks that “some people don’t like me” – I wanted to throw my shoes at him when I heard him say that. Earth to Bush, about 75% of the American people don’t like you – and in the world community the number goes up. I absolutely will not miss his babbling answers to questions, I have not been this anxious for anything – his leaving office – than anything I can remember in my lifetime. Barrack Obama, you’re on the spot! If you let this guy and his cronies walk away into the sunset to continue their efforts of rewriting their legacy you will lose enough political capital to seriously damage your presidency. This IS a nation of laws and not men. George Bush and Dick Cheney have thumbed their noses at our constitution for eight years. WE ARE ALL SUFFERING IMMEASURABLY BECAUSE OF IT. I supported you throughout the campaign – even when you voted for the FISA law granting immunity to the telecom companies (you promised me in a letter from your campaign that you would fix this wrong once in office). I gave you money when I didn’t have any money to give. President Obama, please don’t tell me George W Bush is above the law!

Let me start out tonight be saying that I’ve finally figured out how to see if anyone has happened onto this site, and to my surprise several people have. Of course, everyone is anonymous to me, but so far no one has ventured to make a comment. Just so you know, if you happen to be the occasional visitor tonight, comments would be welcomed – even if you think I’m nuts! I’m going to continue writing because it makes me feel a lot better as I look at a world that seems to be pretty much self-destructing right before our eyes. While my Christian friends write everything that is happening off as us being in the “end times,” I seem to take the approach that it’s time for many of us “baby boomers” who spoke out during Viet Nam and then retreated to the peaceful life of the middle class to start speaking out again. We kind of stood back and watched, sometimes with a feeling of helplessness, as the “Reagan revolution” has attempted to destroy what we learned to take for granted after the protests of the sixties and seventies.

I still remember the day when I was confident that the Congress was watching what was going on in the White House, when the news media actually had journalists working for them (Walter Cronkite, Edward R Murrow, etc), and when working class people could raise a family on one income. Without getting into too much nostalgia, this little part of the blogosphere (keep in mind, I still haven’t participated in what would probably be called the real blog, so I’m assuming this is a blog because my service provider set it up for me :o) is my way of speaking out. It helps me to collect my thoughts so that when I’m in conversation with someone who watches too much Fox, I have a better grip on the “ammunition” I use in an attempt to bring them to their senses. My co-workers think I’ve read too many books lately in my attempt to make up for all the years that I just watched as republicans were stealing our government, our tax dollars, and our standing in the world right out from under our noses.

So, I’m going to continue to speak out, with most of my “speaking out” probably coming from this site. My point: feel free to argue with me, agree with me, or a combination of the two. Probably the vast majority of my posts have related in some fashion to my disgust of George W Bush and those in the upper echelon of his administration, most notably Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, David Addington, Alberto Gonzales to name a few. I opposed the Iraq invasion from the day it was first publicly discussed and, as I look back, I believe I would have given Bush more respect had he continued pursuing Osama bin Laden until he was captured and either killed or brought to justice. I’m not sure what grieved me more; taking the focus off of bin Laden – the mastermind behind the attack on Manhattan and the Pentagon, or the invasion of Iraq. I saw Viet Nam all over Iraq right from the first day it was mentioned. I still remember Dick Cheney, on some national TV show, predicting we would be greeted as “liberators.” And Donald Rumsfeld saying the “war” would take, “maybe six days, six weeks, I don’t think six months.”

These guys were so obsessed with the huge oil reserves sitting under Iraq and how much money they could make by controlling them that they didn’t take the time to figure out what they were getting into. There are many books about this war and one of the common themes, no matter who the author, is that the Bush administration had virtually no plan for an occupation. They figured that the Iraqi’s would be so glad to get rid of Saddam that they would just do whatever we wanted them to do (I guess). Considering Bush had no idea about the thousand plus year conflict between the Shia and Sunni Arabs, the results have not been surprising. The really sad thing about all this (well, once you get beyond the incredible toll on lives of actual living human beings from all the countries involved) is that bin Laden couldn’t have scripted things any better from his standpoint. George W Bush did the same thing with this war, with the “war” in Afganistan, with our government, and with our economy that he has done with everything else he has touched, from a business standpoint, in his life. HE SCREWED IT UP!

I could never figure out how the republicans could have nominated him in the first place. And, of course, I then have to add that how in the world could “We the People” vote him into office – a man who has been consistent at only one thing – failure – in his life? But, of course, at some point history will prevail and we will find out the truth about that 2000 election. And I’m at this point not even complaining too much about how he stole his way into the White House, because Al Gore’s first “decision” as the democratic nominee wasn’t too impressive either. Can you imagine if Joe Lieberman had been the Vice President and then ran for president in this last election? That would have meant that we just put off the disaster for eight years. So, in a way, the way it worked out was just getting this incompetence out of the way. Now, hopefully, we can start looking at what our nation has REALLY been doing on the world stage and tackling the huge task of restoring what people like me consider the “American Dream.”

President Elect Barrack Obama has an incredible challenge as he takes over the “reins” of our government. I’m feeling that he’s not going to do the “right” thing and select an independent prosecutor to investigate ALL the misbehavior of the Bush administration, and the result of that will be that the republicans will feel this is a temporary setback for them as they are on the outside looking in at the White House. Remember, they still control the media, and that is not likely to change anytime soon. They will continue to operate as they have as long as the Democrats allow it, and everything I’ve seen points to more of the same in regards to Democrats cowing down to Republicans. As far as I’m concerned, the Republicans have virtually destroyed our government. We don’t need to compromise with them on the legislation designed to fix things. They will continue to feed their lies to the air waves and the Democrats will continue to be manipulated as we go forward. I’m certainly not going to “go after” Obama before he gets into office, but I’m seeing some things that are putting up red flags for me.

While Obama is working to “fix” the economy and, hopefully, while he brings our troops home from Iraq and Afganistan, here are a few things that should be investigated. First, due to the amount of human destruction, let’s start with Iraq. Just the fact that there is clear evidence that the White House ordered forged documents to be strategically placed in Bagdad to support the invasion is enough for me to say that all the lies should be investigated. Add to that, the no-bid contracts to corporations directly connected to Rumsfeld and Cheney (and, of course, large Republican donors) – where billions were spent and work was never done or services were never rendered – these should all be investigated. As Franklin Roosevelt so aptly stated, there’s nothing worse than a war profiteer. Secondly, The warrantless wiretapping is a huge infringement on our constitution. At the bare minimum, we should know what has happened and who authorized it. If we allow our constitution to be shredded, the terrorists have basically prevailed. And the torture; everytime they tortured someone it’s as if every person in this country was culpible. We have to face up to what it means that our leaders think they can get away with actions that caused us to put Japanese leaders before the Hague after WW II. Dick Cheney has admitted on national TV that he participated in the authorization of this and hinted that Bush was involved as well (which we all know he was) yet no one seems to want to hold them accountable. ARE WE A NATION OF COWARDS??? (I could go on – outing a CIA agent, refusing subpeonas, fraud in the Wall Street “Bailout” to name a few)

I will be continuing to write my thoughts on this little part of the blogosphere and, again, if you happen by, I invite your comments whether in agreement or not. It would be kind of fun to have a dialogue. And if you’re one of my republican friends (I have a lot of republican friends – proof that God really does have a sense of humor) go ahead and defend yourself. You Republicans really showed me something in this past election. A lot of you really did vote for McCain/Palin, which only proved to me that Republicans don’t take qualification into account when they are deciding on who to vote for. In fact, it’s almost like being unqualified is the requirement. That thought would reinforce the rumor that whoever is controlling the Republican party is remaining invisibly in the background. But seriously, you couldn’t do better than a 72 year old who was more intellectually challenged than Bush and a woman whose claim to fame will probably be her appearances on Saturday Night Live (although some people I’ve talked to are actually pushing for Palin in 2012 – boy wouldn’t that give me a lot of ammuntion to write about!)? Even if you’re a Republican, it’s nice to know that someone is stopping by once in a while!

This morning on my way to work I listened to President Elect Barrack Obama’s speach intended to prod the new congress into acting swiftly to pass his “Stimulus” package in order to get our economy “moving again.” As usual, it was a smooth, well organized speech. And I truly wish him well, as all Americans should, because I agree with him that inaction could be disastrous beyond our imagination (my interpretation of his words). There were, however, a couple mini “red flags” as I listened to the speech. First, I’m really tired of politicians trying to scare me into thinking what they’re saying is “life or death.” Now, in the case of our economy, Obama may very well be correct, and I don’t want to find out if he’s not correct (although, one way or the other we will). Based on the mandate he has, I believe at the bare minimum Congress needs to pass the legislation he wants and then we can decide the level of his wisdom based on the ensuing results. That being said, I really hope he doesn’t continue the policy of framing every request for political decision making on fear. I know what he’s thinking – he’s trying to head off the normal oppositional stonewalling that has been a hallmark of the US Senate for as long as most of us can remember – no matter which party is in control. The minority party uses the threat of filibuster to manipulate legislation that ultimately emerges from the Senate.

My thought is: stop with the fear mongering, present ideas based on their worth, and if the republicans threaten to obstruct good legislation through filibuster, let them do so. Let them make specktacles of themselves right in front of the American people (personally, I believe if they actually had to filibuster – if you’re not sure what that means, it is an “endless” debate that prevents an up or down vote on legislation in the senate – it would never go past Thursday, because these republicans won’t let anything get in the way of their weekends!). Don’t use the tactics of the people we just threw out of office in order to get legislation passed. Please think in terms of the long haul! Yes, things are really messed up and everyone knows it’s because of the greed, corruption, and incompetence of the Bush administration (well, I shouldn’t say everyone – the people who have taken the time to figure out what has gotten us to this place know this). We can’t continue to let these people control what’s happening in our government – especially from the minority position in Congress.

This brings me to my second point. I believe the size of the tax cut proposed by Obama is intended to get republican votes and there is ample evidence that it will have little impact on the real problems we’re facing as a nation. I hope I’m wrong here (that Obama is placating republicans by offering an increased tax cut), because if you’ve read any of my previous posts on this site you know that I want to take the republicans on head first, so to speak. They have virtually destroyed our government. We do not need to listen to them at this point. “Throwing in” a significant tax cut to make republicans happy is the last thing we need to be doing right now. I agree with all the talk about creating jobs rebuilding the infrastructure of this nation. That would be wise investment that would give something back to our children who we have been borrowing from for years. WE CAN’T SOLVE A PROBLEM CAUSED BY BORROWING THROUGH MORE BORROWING! And I’m making a distinction between borrowing and investing. The tax cut is borrowing – the rebuilding of our country’s infrastructure is investing – we will have something tangible to show for the money spent for years to come.

George W Bush inherited a 250 Billion dollar surplus which he threw away in his first couple months in office. He is leaving Obama a deficit for fiscal year 2009 (Obama has little control over the first year’s deficit) of what has been estimated at $1.2 Trillion and I’m pretty sure that is before taking into account money wasted in Iraq and the so-called TARP program where Henry Paulsen managed to funnel almost half a trillion to his buddies on Wall Street. Additionally, the national debt has more than doubled under Bush’s “watch” (that’s right, in 8 years he’s put us in debt more than the total debt from the previous 200+ years! Ouchee) Good Americans are losing their homes and jobs by the millions – so I understand that Obama is probably a bit shell shocked. You’ve heard the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” Well, he ran (volunteered) for this office and now the reality that he’s taking over under arguably the worst circumstances for any President Elect in our nation’s history must certainly be settling in. I have to say that from what I’ve seen, Barrack Obama seems to have the temperament and the intellectual capacity to handle the job, if anyone does. But, I’m really hoping he doesn’t over-estimate the value of cozying up to republicans in the process. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF REPUBLICANS AND WE VOTED FOR CHANGE!

So Please, President Obama (I’m going to start calling him that as of right now, because GW Bush has already been AWOL for a couple months and these last two weeks of his term may be critical – we really do need a leader right now) don’t cave in to the republicans. TAKE THEM ON – STRAIGHT UP – IF THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES! If you want to do the fear mongering – please do it in the caucus meetings – just give us the facts and I believe we will support you. By that I mean, tell us what the result will be should your proposals be enacted and leave it at that. We all know what the result will be if something drastic doesn’t happen soon and if republicans block your proposals. And don’t cave to these republicans. Let them filibuster till the cows come home if that’s what they think will work for them. We don’t need to burden the already burgeoning debt with more tax cuts. As I’ve said in earlier posts, I believe you should immediately impose a 50 cent per gallon gas tax to discourage consumption of gas and to encourage energy alternatives along with the immediate repeal of the Bush tax cuts that the upper crust of this country didn’t need in the first place and don’t need now. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and others in their category will do just fine with 3% or so less at the end of each year. This would shrink the deficit instead of widening it. And we will have then made a statement that we are all going to pull together, not only as we rebuild the foundation of this great nation, but also as we change how we go about “business as usual.”

At some point we need to quit borrowing our way out of every problem – and as far as I’m concerned we might as well start doing it now. I really like President Obama’s commitment to a “bottom up” approach in an attempt to fix the disaster he’s inheriting. I just don’t feel the need to do it in a way that panders to republicans. They have made their statement loud and clear – they want to destroy our government. They have been very good at this and they almost succeeded – but we have thrown them out with the hope for “real change.” As we go through the difficulties of the next few years trying to recover from the damage caused by George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of their cronies we have to make a complete “split.” As much as I would like to get another $1000 handed to me from the government, I honestly don’t see where it’s going to do much to solve the problems we’re facing for the long term. The money needs to be invested in a way that creates jobs and leaves something of value behind and additionally the decisions made need to be a clear break from the immediate past. So, again, I’m asking President Obama to make decisions based on core democratic values and don’t even leave the impression that he’s compromising positions based on the threat of republican obstructionism. Please, don’t give us another tax cut just to get republicans to vote for the stimulus package!

The last few days as I’ve been driving around experiencing what I call my “quiet time,” time to contemplate everything from my own spirituality to the issues of the day that seem to drive my posts on this so-called blog, I can’t seem to get it off my mind that there’s still an illegal occupation going on in Iraq. We have somewhere close to 140,000 troops still in “harm’s way,” and there are close to 200,000 mercenaries – usually referred to as “contractors” – on the US payroll participating in this occupation. The one thing that is clear about the Iraqi and American populations, the one thing they have in common, is that they don’t want the American troops in Iraq anymore. Of course, the multi-national corporations who wanted this “war” in the first place and the politicians who do their bidding, would like this occupation to go on indefinitely. I’m sure the prospect that the United States is not going to control the Iraqi oil reserves after we “leave” is very unsettling to GW Bush and his associates, but I digress.

As I was driving home tonight after a meeting with some friends I heard a quote from a member of NPR, a black journalist named Juan Williams, who stated that the Iraqi people don’t appreciate all we’ve done for them. It’s statements like that from members of the supposed “Main Stream media” that just drive me nuts. These guys are speaking to untold millions of Americans and unfortunately many people assume they have a clue about what they’re saying. I don’t know if they say stuff like this on purpose, or if they really just are “lazy” as some have pointed out and don’t do the research necessary to make competent remarks. Now, I realize that one could just say that I just have a difference of opinion with Mr. Williams, but the evidence to the contrary is so overwhelming that I believe either these people believe the propoganda they’ve been fed by the Bush administration (that in itself, in my mind, would be heresy for a reporter that has any kind of integrity) or they’re part of the propoganda “machine” on purpose. Either way is bad and represents, to me, why this nation is in danger of being reduced to an after thought on the world “stage.”

I’m going to start my explanation of why this type of reporting bothers me so by saying people are STILL dying every day in Iraq due to the conflict that we essentially set ablaze. It’s true that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, but the world is full of tyrants in societies that we don’t understand. What Saddam did was provide a bit of stability in one of the most unstable parts of the world. Since “Mission Accomplished” we have lost over 4000 troops in Iraq and the last count I heard put the Iraqi death toll at over 600,000 and maybe as high as a million – far worse than anything Saddam ever did to his people. The reason the figures are estimates is because our press has basically stopped reporting on the war. Our economy is in the tank and therefore the Iraq war is no longer front page news. Our so-called main stream media has evidently bought into the idea that the “surge” worked and we’re “winning” in Iraq. To me, this is almost beyond absurd and it is evidence as to how much our media is controlled by members of the Bush administration. This lull in “news” is allowing Bush, Cheney, and others to try to rewrite history as they exit Washington and it gives the republican “attack machine” time to regroup and prepare itself to attack President-Elect Obama as he pulls our troops out – presumably with the idea of blaming him for the US “losing” this war.

Well, we lost this war the day we started it. The statistics are so overwhelming as to the folly of this action that it is amazing to me that as a nation we have allowed our media to manipulate the reality of what has happened. I’ll just lay it out briefly: First, as stated above, over 4000 of our best men and women have given their lives for an act of adventurism by a group of politicians who have profited handsomely from the fiasco – that is treason in itself – war profiteering (by the accounts I’ve read both Cheney and Rumsfeld over $100 million a piece as of about 4 years into the “war” – just to mention a couple of the culprits). Secondly, tens of thousands of our troops have been injured to varying degrees and are receiving abominable care once back in the states. The Bush administration didn’t even support the GI Bill that was passed by the recent Democratic Congress as a belated act to demonstrate REAL support for our troops. Thirdly, close to a million Iraqi’s are dead from this occupation (as previously mentioned) and subsequent insurgency (remember – we unleashed the insurgency so don’t blame it on the Iraqi’s), and estimates are that 4 million Iraqi’s have been externally displaced – meaning they are outside of the country and another 2 million are internally displaced – meaning inside the country’s boundaries, but out of their homes and communities. Combining these three groups with the million or two Iraqi’s wounded gives you approximately one-third of the Iraq population either dead, wounded, or displaced from this “war.”

I don’t know how you could make any kind of a claim for “victory” with statistics like that staring you in the face (remember, we’re supposed to be defending Iraq). But wait, it gets better (or worse depending on your perspective – I have a tendency toward sarcasm): The United States military has been stretched so thin that it is literally “reeling” from almost 6 years of “quagmire” in this nation full of people who have hated each other for thousands of years and are going to continue hating each other long after we leave. This war has been a catalyst to the near bankruptcy (or bankruptcy depending on how you look at that) of our nation’s economy – exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted when he attacked the World Trade Center on 9/11. Remember bin Laden, well, he’s still at large and in fact maybe even stronger than when he originally attacked us. We couldn’t have done him a bigger favor than to get “bogged down” in Iraq. His goal was to get us “bogged down” in Afganistan, but we actually were about to capture him and put an end to al Qaeda when Bush/Cheney “took their eyes off the ball” and pulled our resources out of Afganistan and put them in Iraq. It’s almost as if they were thinking what’s best for Osama – unbelievable to me – yet our media is still talking about “victory” in Iraq – because they can’t get beyond the lying propoganda machine of the republican party and the Bush administration.

Worse still, we have made Iran a “player” on the world stage. Just what all our “friends” feared in the middle east was a resurgent Iran, and the end result of our occupation in Iraq will be some kind of unification of the Shia in Iraq with the Shia government of Iran. I realize that many people point out that the Iraqi’s hate the Iranians, but I firmly believe that theory stems from the fact that Iraq’s Sunni minority has ruled the country for years and the real “divide” is a Sunni/Shia divide that will ultimately put the Shia in Iraq and Iran in control of the largest oil reserves in the world (a combination of the reserves of the two countries). Additionally, with a resurgent al Qaeda and an empowered Shia Iraq/Iran the possibility of more conflict in the middle east is measurably higher not lower – and we are therefore less safe and not more safe as some in the Bush administration and the media would have us believe. I’m sure the monarchies in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other countries along with the dictatorial countries which are allied with us are not feeling too stable at this moment.

This gets me back to the comments of Juan Williams that the Iraqi’s don’t appreciate what we’ve done for them. Well, that just isn’t too surprising. In fact there aren’t many Americans left who appreciate what we’ve done for them. At this point most Americans are settling in with the reality that it will take years to undo the damage from this invasion, if we can somehow manage to do it – I mean what is it going to take to “fix” Iraq? I don’t know – one third of the country is dead, wounded, or displaced – that is HUGE! And I haven’t even brought up the damage to the infrastructure. Our occupation has certainly not solved the Sunni/Shia problem and we can’t stay there until all the “bad guys” have been killed or imprisoned. OUR OCCUPATION HAS DESTROYED THEIR COUNTRY AND IT’S DESTROYING OURS! It would be nice if people like Williams would do their “homework” and tell the truth to the American people so that we can move on in an appropriate manner. Quite naturally, if we don’t hold the “culprits” who orchestrated this abomination accountable it will make forgiveness by Iraqi’s to Americans even more difficult – but it’s not hard at all to understand why the Iraqi’s wouldn’t appreciate what we’ve done for them – IT IS UNIMAGINABLE! Comments such as those by Juan Williams makes it clear to me that without a free, courageous, and responsible press the United States is becoming a second rate nation!

The “Change We Need” is enormous and, as I’ve stated in previous posts, I believe the “rubble” from 8 years of George W Bush will be showing its ugly head for years to come.  It is going to be very difficult to get out from under the mess and it is going to take a considerable amount of time.  Everyone needs to be realistic about the challenge that lies ahead.  Of course, the first thing to accomplish is to make sure there is no mistaking that the republican “mantra” of “trickle down” economics is at an end.  What has been happening is more like “trickle up” and the wealth of the richest nation in the history of the world has been funnelled up to a small number of mega-millionaire-billionaires.  Dealing with this problem should be high on the list of places to start for the incoming Obama administration.

Bill Clinton managed to bring the American budget into balance, but many of the decisions he made have had a lasting downward effect on the working people of America.  The reason I bring this up is that his economic policies are often mentioned as suggestions as to direction for the new administration.  I would submit that would not be the “Change We Need.”  Clinton was a significant supporter of “Globalization” which has led to, what I consider, out of control behavior on the part of so-called multi-national corporations.  We are fast losing what is left of our manufacturing base and companies are outsourcing every aspect of their business they can.  There seems to be little left of the sense of patriotism and loyalty that were part of major corporations back in my youth.  In the 60’s and 70’s it was not unusual at all for people to spend their entire careers working for the same company.  And blue collar workers could work their career at one place, purchase a home in the process, and put their children through college.

What we have evolved to are companies that are constantly combining with other companies as a way to eliminate workers, reduce benefits for workers, and keep workers on edge worrying about whether or not they will have a job tomorrow.  It is not uncommon for “customer service” to be provided by call centers in India, Pakistan, the Phillipines and many companies are constantly moving manufacturing to the country with the cheepest labor and the lowest taxes.  In fact, many US corporations are moving their headquarters to foreign countries in an attempt to reduce or eliminate the need to pay US taxes.

Now, many might say that all of this is just good business.  It surely has been in the eyes of American politicians (of both parties) that have allowed themselves to be bought off by these corporations in the form of huge contributions while they say it is only natural for corporations to focus on the bottom line and their stockholders.  The main example that comes to my mind is Halliburton, the oil services corporation which was led by Dick Cheney prior to his eight years as Vice President and benefitted to the tune of billions in no-bid government contracts just in Iraq during the occupation.  At the first sign they were going to be investigated for fraud in relation to these sweetheart deals seemingly coming direct from the White House Halliburton moved their headquarters to Dubai freeing it from the obligation to pay taxes to the US government from which it was gaining billions of dollars.  STOPPING THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR IS A GREAT PLACE TO START for the “Change We Need.”

Multi-national corporations have minimal liability for their actions and they are acting with no regard to the people and the nation which provides the base for them to operate profitably.  The whole mindset has to change in how we look at this as a nation.  The other day I forced myself to watch a debate on a similar topic on Fox “News.”  The person representing the “Conservative” viewpoint said something like: “If we force these companies to pay taxes and act responsibly (my interpretation) they will move offshore.”  Well, my thought is let them move offshore and our government needs to re-institute tariffs that ultimately lets these companies know that if they are going to do business in this country they are going to participate in the economic health of the “commons.”  That is to say, they are going to pay their fair share of the expense of paying for a functioning national economy.

I have already suggested the importance of raising the gas tax and repealing the “Bush taxcuts” as ways to generate revenue and support the changes necessary for the US to address as we move forward.  I have also made my thoughts clear about the need to investigate the corruption and lawbreaking of the Bush administration (in fact, any lawbreakers in Washington) in order to make it clear that “business as usual” has changed in our government.  I believe another important “first step” is to make sure that we deal with the abuses of these multi-national corporations which have acted like they are more important than our government.  They are funneling millions to our politicians and expecting a free ride in return.  It is time for us to expect these corporations to be willing to act with a sense of patriotism for the right to do business in this country.  I believe if they decide to go elsewhere because they don’t want to pay taxes or operate responsibly – someone else will fill the void.  If Halliburton wants to be located in Dubai let them do business in Dubai!

Well, 2009 has finally arrived and it’s only 20 days until the administration of President Elect Barrack Obama takes over the reins of the United States government. I’m honestly not sure which is more significant – the arrival of Obama or the departure of George W Bush. It’s a new year and I’m trying to be positive in my thinking, but the reality of the past eight years is close to overwhelming. The damage of the Bush years is so huge, I believe we will be feeling it for many years to come. There will continue to be additional “foopahs” discovered as time goes by where George Bush’s administration, either purposefully or through utter incompetence, have set back the fortunes of this great nation beyond what for me is conceivable. I like to compare his damage to some of the folly that came from the mouth of Donald Rumsfeld while he was still Secretary of Defense and screwing up our foreign policy in Iraq. At the end of one of his diatribes he concluded with words resembling: “There are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns,” that is to say there are problems we haven’t discovered yet.

Well, I just couldn’t find words to put it any better than that. I really want to look ahead and think in terms of the ideas that might foster some kind of positive result as we, as a nation, try to pull ourselves out of the scrap-heap that Bush/Cheney is leaving behind. THIS IS GOING TO BE HARD – and, as I’ve said many times, we will not be able to do this by strictly “looking forward.” The republicans have not been defeated yet. Complacency on the part of President Obama and the Democratic party in regards to the Republicans will be disastrous. These guys are not going to want Obama to succeed “For the good of the country” because if he succeeds, they won’t be back in office for maybe a couple generations. So, tonight I want to attempt to both look ahead and behind at the same time. That is to say, take a look at some “redirection” that might address the changes needed to get this nation headed in a morally acceptable direction and that doesn’t “gloss over” what has fueled the downward spiral which has resulted in the present set of disastrous circumstances.

This might seem insignificant to many, but I believe that a subject of national importance should be integrity. Let me kind of rephrase that so that the people I hang out with will better understand; lying by politicians. Most of my friends, and should someone actually be reading this – keep in mind that I’ve been voting for 0ver 40 years and you had to be 21 when I cast my first vote – just so you know what my friends might look like, can remember that back in the seventies there were actually some politicians that didn’t lie all the time. Now, I’m going to place the blame on this significant change on the Republican party, but please don’t misunderstand me – I believe by today’s standards finding any politician from either party who doesn’t routinely lie is a tough challenge. But, let me take you back to Watergate. For those of you old enough to remember this fiasco, it was the result of the Nixon administration (Republican) acting like an organized crime syndicate (sound familiar?). What was significant to me, as I looked back on that time, was that there were some members of Nixon’s “team” who were willing to tell the truth, which is ultimately what brought it down.

Additionally, the congress was made up of some people who actually had some “cohunas.” They knew something was wrong and they went after it as if it was important to send a message that the President was not above the law. This was the time period when the FISA legislation that George W Bush basically disregarded was passed – with bi-partisan support – because Congress understood the importance of its “oversight” role and the members seemingly took a different view of their pledge to defend the constitution upon taking their oath of office than today’s Congress. Another significant part of that memory was the fact that the “culprits” of Nixon’s administration openly castigated the people who told the truth about what was going on as “traitors.” The one who I remember the most was G Gordon Liddy, who is still spewing his vile garbage to this day – and probably has a larger republican audience today than he had then. And if you’ve never listened to the stuff that comes out of Liddy’s mouth, you really need to Google him and either listen to or read some of his trash before you’ll fully understand me. The heart of the Nixon administration felt that lying and cheating were just part of the “game” and that politics was about nothing more than power.

A few years later we got Ronald Reagan. You know, the nice grandfatherly like figure who was going to “cut taxes and balance the budget.” Well, if you’ve been paying attention at all to where our government is right now – you can give Reagan a lot of credit for that. He was famous for saying that “Government is the problem, not the solution.” Aside from the fact that Reagan’s economic ideas have led us collectively to the poor house, it was under his “regime” that we had “Iran/Contra.” This was another organized crime like scheme for republican insiders to be able to have another secret war – this time in South America – directly against the will of Congress. We got another group of excellent liars from this fiasco, among them the most famous would probably be Oliver North – whom republicans have managed to lift up to heroic status, despite the fact he was convicted of lying to Congress on several occasions. And, of course, they either turned their collective backs or pardoned anyone involved and I guess by this time the Democrats had pretty much lost their spine – being a “liberal” was a dirty word in those days and there weren’t too many willing to stand up for what was right. To make matters worse, when Bill Clinton entered the White House he chose to look the other way (as I’m afraid Obama is going to do with GW Bush and Company) and all these criminals resurfaced again after the Supreme Court installed the second Bush administration.

So, lying was an accepted practice and didn’t face much opposition, once George W Bush moved into the White House. And, as we all know, he and his cronies have taken it to another level. The part about this that bothers me the most is the willingness of my Christian friends to accept it as business as usual in Washington. When the clergy that are supporting Presidents (and I believe they should be focused soley on their churches and the souls of those attending them) are willingly lying and saying it’s OK because the ends justify the means – THEN WE’VE GONE WAY TOO FAR. When lying felons (Ollie North for example, or G Gordon Libby) are lifted up as heroes and become filthy rich because people think their lying was justified – then our whole sytem of government is in the crumbling stage.

Therefore, in my attempt to look both forward and backward at the same time with an idea for helping us move on to a better society, I believe this is a good place to start. President Obama, as he has done, could stake a moral claim to this issue very easily. The first way he could do this is to direct his new attorney general to clean up the legal “waste” of the Bush administration – most of which has been built on lies. Alberto Gonzales was so pathetic when he was testifying in front of Congress that it was embarrassing. EVERYONE KNEW HE WAS SPEWING ONE LIE AFTER ANOTHER! What was even more embarrassing and disgusting, to me, was that nothing was done about it! What kind of message did that send to the people of this great nation? It seems to me the message was that it’s OK to lie. And Dick Cheney is still lying us, or seemingly so as he tries to redirect history while packing his bags to get out of the Vice President’s residence, into the Iraq war – 5 years after everyone figured out it was a built on lies.

Republicans are lying about the economy, some going to the incredible extent to blame our pending depression on Obama over a month before he actually has any authority (even I couldn’t believe that one). I could go on and on, the lying has become routine in Washington, and the Republicans are un-apologetic about it. I just finished a book called “The Wrecking Crew” by Thomas Frank where Republican insiders like Grover Norquist and Tom Delay brag about lying and boast about how weak the Democrats are – which is one thing I can agree with them on. These guys should be in jail – especially Delay – he’s another criminal that somehow has managed to maintain a celebrity status despite a long line of dishonest dealings.

Once Obama has set in motion the legal remedy for the past dishonesty, he needs to claim the future “High ground.” He needs to do this in a way that lets all Americans know that no one in his administration, including the President himself, is above the law and that lying will not be tolerated. Of course, that will require leadership on Obama’s part – the best way he can challenge the presiding viewpoint that all politicians lie, is to set the correct example himself. I believe it’s great that he wants to work “across the isle” and his goal is national unity, but it will never happen if he doesn’t do these two things I’ve pointed out here. President Obama must prosecute the past liars and facilitate honesty in politics through his own behavior. For anyone who might read this and think I’m being totally naive here, I can only tell you that the direction we’re headed is toward third world status. There is, of course, more to “The Change We Need” than honesty in government, but that would be a great start!