According to the dictionary the word convoluted means: “twisted, coiled, intricately involved.” I point this out because – and I’m really not trying to beat a “dead horse” here, but – the Republican party is on a constant convoluted mission to derail the Presidency of Barack Obama. These guys could care less about what is best for this nation – THEY ARE GOING TO TRY TO UNDERMINE EVERYTHING OBAMA DOES! They have this way of totally disregarding reality, the truth, justice, etc. in their plan to somehow convince the American people that Obama is a socialist – or better yet from their perspective – a communist, in fact, I’ve even heard the word “facist” thrown around lately by Cheney and company. This last absurdity, of course, is quite interesting because Cheney himself has tendencies that reminds one of fascist dictators from years gone by.

I’m pointing this out because I continue to believe that we are at war, but the main war this nation is “hinging” on is the war “within.” And the sooner President Obama agressively pursues this war the better for all Americans. The war is being waged by people like Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, essentially the remnants of the diminishing Republican party. They are betting everything they have on Obama’s demise – in fact, I feel they would almost celebrate if something bad happened – maybe like a terrorist attack similar to what was allowed to happen during the Bush years. I put it that way, because to listen to Dick Cheney, they kept us “safe” for the “last 7 1/2 years – of course, he’ll never mention that 9/11 happened on “his watch” and should have been prevented if only Dick, George, and company weren’t “asleep at the switch.” These guys are carrying on a campaign trying to convince the American public that we should be torturing people, that the war in Iraq was in response to 9/11 (I think Cheney has said this enough that he actually believes his own lie), and that President Obama is making us less safe by “talking” to our “enemies.”

These guys (the Bush disciples) have been operating on fear for as long as I can remember. President Eisenhower warned us all about the “Military Industrial Complex” over 50 years ago. And, I’m sure that the Cheney’s and Limbaugh’s would call Eisenhower a lousy liberal. These guys have made incredible fortunes by playing against the fears of the American people. The sad thing to me is that their strongest constituency is the “Christian Right.” These people, of all people, in my view, should not be vulnerable to the “fear card.” If one believes in Christ and trusts that “He is in control” then what is there to fear? I honestly don’t get it. Our government has been manipulating Americans with fear in a way that seems to go under the radar. In the process we have developed this huge Military, which we seem to think should be policing the whole world – or at least the places where there’s lots of natural resources which might benefit our economy. When anyone tries to stand up to their nonsense, they immediately brand them as weak, or as traitors, or – in Obama’s case – socialist.

And, I can tell you that I’ve always considered myself a conservative in many ways, and I’m not happy about a lot of what Obama is doing. It feels to me that he’s leading our economy right back into the Wall Street “corner” where we all feel dependent on the success of these companies which Henry Paulsen declared to be “too big to fail” and Obama seems to be on the same “bandwagon.” However, there are some obvious differences although they are not as radical as the Republicans would have us all believe. They are showing themselves to be only interested in power and bilking the system for as many of our tax dollars as humanly possible. That is one reason I’m disappointed in Obama’s reaching out to them. I believe President Obama should “steamroll” the Republicans while he has the political capital and put as many of them “out to pasture” as possible. For example, Dick Cheney should be in Jail. I can’t think of another way to put that. I listened the other day as President Obama was explaining his plan for the prisoners presently being held at “GITMO.” In his explanation he referred to the fact we are a nation of laws and that he is bound to faithfully execute the laws more than on one occasion during his speech. I couldn’t help but think as I was listening to that – WHAT ABOUT TORTURE? Isn’t President Obama bound by our system of justice to prosecute those who have broken the law – NO MATTER WHAT? To me, it was just a bunch of hypocrisy coming from the other direction. Letting the thugs off is INDEFENSEABLE!

President Obama is being set up by the Republcans. They are throwing the perverbial s#*@ against the wall – not even hoping it will stick – but, in my view, plannning for all the “I told you so” sound bites down the road when the first disaster strikes. I’m a school teacher and one of the first lessons teachers learn is to be proactive instead of reactive. I honestly don’t believe Obama is being proactive by placating Republicans. We know that several of the top people in the Bush administration, including Bush himself, violated our laws and COMMITTED WAR CRIMES. I still find it umimaginable that I’m constantly feeling like I need to give President Obama advice about this. He can’t let Dick Cheney continue to run around bragging that he broke the law and daring Obama to “do something about it.” I believe President Obama “Should do something about it!” Now Cheney has his daughter out there defending torture. If we are less safe than we were after 9/11 TORTURE is the main reason why.

Tonight I heard a sound bite from Newt Gingrich suggesting that the American troops were in favor of torture – THIS IS ABSURD! Every person that I’ve talked to – 100% – who’s in the military says they hate that we are doing torture. What happens when they get captured. How are we going to condemn another country who violates the Geneva Conventions when we are leading the way. The reason for the Geneva Conventions was to prevent dictatorial, sadistic countries from violating the human rights of detainees – AND HERE WE ARE AT THE FRONT OF THE PACK! The Republican party is bankrupt and needs new leadership. We need two parties to make our system work. I’m no more in favor of total Democratic rule than I was of total Republican rule. It’s just that with Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney at the head of the party, the Republcans are in danger of becoming an afterthought. There wish – that something bad would happen to Obama – is not going to get them back in power. President Obama could do them and us a big favor by encouraging the prosecution of illegal torture – therefore getting Cheney out of the spotlight, and possibly Limbaugh with him. And we can look for more moderate Republicans who might be able to appeal to a larger number of Americans – like for instance – Colin Powell. I don’t think he wants to get into politics, but he could be a transforming figure for Republicans if he will continue to take the battle to Cheney and Limbaugh. I believe Powell “gets” that this is war going on internally with the right wing Republicans – and I wish I felt the same about Obama. Maybe President Obama is taking a more subtle approach to dealing with these guys than I would – I can always hope – but, as long as Dick Cheney is on the TV stations he hasn’t had to face up to the crimes he’s committed (remember, he even allegedly ran a “death squad” out of the Vice President’s office). While it’s true Cheney is no longer torturing “enemy combatants,” he’s busily torturing the rest of us with his lies!