I’ve been writing on this site since my frustration with the Bush/Cheney administration (beginning with the invasion of Iraq) boiled over to the point I had to find a place to vent.  It turned out that cyberspace was the place – I didn’t know much about it and felt my writing could be my personal journal – no one would be the “wiser” – because I didn’t anticipate anyone finding it.  As it’s turned out, MANY people have found this place and that reality has further motivated me to continue writing (or should I say “venting”) in this “blog.” (honestly, I didn’t know what a blog was when I started – this Word Press format was simply available to me from 1and1.com with whom I had purchased a domain so that I could have my own email address.

That all being said, over the course of time – if you’ve read many of my posts – I’ve been pretty consistent in my “bashing” of the republican party (in particular) and the surge to the “right” in America (generally).  My biggest problem with the republican party (despite my almost complete disagreement with their agenda) has been what I perceive to be their “base.”  That is, my impression is that the leadership of the republican party has, for many years now, been able to count on a block of voters “come hell or high water” to support their agenda almost exclusively due to the issue of abortion.  This group, of course, is often referred to as the “Religious right.”  On many occasions, I’ve referred to myself as part of the religious “left.”  I’ve stated many times that I can’t understand how any Christian would be able to support a party that openly supports corporate welfare while “bashing” those Jesus would refer to as “the least of these” in what often ends up being perceived as a racist agenda. (among many other issues as well)

For example, many on the “right” scoff at the issue of “Climate change,” while their financiers continue to encourage republican legislators to support deregulation when it comes to the environment.  The leaders of the republican party have been almost, it seems, obsessed with somehow abolishing what they refer to as “Obamacare” (The Affordable Care Act which has made medical insurance available to almost 20 MILLION people as I’m writing this) without a single proposal (that I’ve seen) for a better alternative (like “Medicare for all” – for instance).  They have supported policies that make it harder and more expensive for those who want higher education to achieve those goals and, at the same time, policies that have almost encouraged our manufacturing base to moved overseas.  Additionally, they’ve made it almost routine for corporate interests and the ultra wealthy to “stash” huge amounts of their wealth in tax free “havens” in places like the Cayman Islands while, at the same time, CONSTANTLY trying to reduce the taxes of the “top 1%” who they consider the “job creators.”  The result of this one issue, in my mind, is that the “middle class” in America is shrinking and the “working class” – what I call the “blue collar” worker – is being (and has been) under valued.  Since the days of Ronald Reagan (if you’ve been around this site you know I’m not a fan of Reagan) shareholders and executives have been over valued and workers are unimportant (in the larger scheme of the “free market” right wingers).

Then there’s issues such as abortion.  I don’t disagree with those in the “pro life” movement that life begins at conception.  To me that is an un arguable FACT.  I would NEVER encourage anyone to get an abortion (unless, of course, the mother’s life was in danger).  However, to me, the issue is MUCH more complicated than it’s presented in right wing political circles.  How can I be pro-life and not support free pre-natal health care for women who are in poverty?  How can I support “pro-life” and not support health care for the mother and the child after the child is born?  How can I not support early childhood education for children born in poverty?  How can I support cuts to programs like food stamps and low income housing and expect moms who have unwanted pregnancies to be able to care for their child?  And, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango, why are there a lack of consequences for the father of the children in unwanted pregnancies.  I find it interesting (and, disgusting) that most of the people who I’ve heard ranting about abortion – and, sometimes in the most bizarre fashion – are right wing republican MALE politicians.  It bothers me deeply when right wing MALE politicians use this issue to “gin up” their conservative “base” who have no idea what else they get when they vote for these people.

The reason I’m bringing this all up is because I managed to listen to about 30 minutes of Pope Francis’ address to the joint “meeting” of congress on 9/24/15.  With the exception of the Pope’s kind of veiled references to “life” and “the family” (I was presuming – “reading between the lines” – he was referring to “gay marriage”) I thought I could have been listening to Bernie Sanders!  My first thought was, “I’ll bet Fox “news” will be apoplectic over the Pope’s speech and then Rush Limbaugh came to mind and I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of attack the Pope would receive from the lead “Ditto head” of America.  Well, thanks to either Media Matters or the Daily Kos I was able to get footage of the response of both Fox and Limbaugh along with some other people that I didn’t quite recognize.  And, the response was HARSH.  Now, keep in mind this response was coming from the very people who’ve been USING the Christian community since the early eighties to get FILTHY RICH and undermine our government to the point where they have almost “free reign” on their abuses of our economy EVERY DAY.  They didn’t care at all for the actual GOSPEL of Jesus being presented pure and simple by the Pope.

And, I think what really scares them the most is that MILLIONS (probably BILLIONS) of people on this planet LOVE this Pope.  I’ve been trying to tell my republican friends (Christians) that the republican party is turning off more people to the Gospel of Jesus than those of us who are believers can encourage to get “turned on” by His teachings.  It kind of humored me listening to Limbaugh and various Fox “news” hosts calling the Pope names that have recently been aimed at our sitting President.  The most common name I heard was “Socialist.”  Well, as that is their major “talking point” of attack toward Bernie Sanders, maybe this address from the Pope will really have a positive transforming affect on this nation.  If people could just watch the video of Limbaugh as he almost fiies out of his chair ranting against the Pope maybe more would get the picture of what a disgusting person he really is.  In fact, I decided I should let you watch this – so, if you want to see the response of all these people who’ve been using Jesus to get rich over the past 35 years and what they think of the actual Gospel of Christ – click HERE.

I’m going to end this here – my point tonight is that I loved what I heard from Pope Francis – he reads the Bible similarly to me and I hope the “conservatives” in America will FINALLY wake up to the reality that the republican party has been using you for many years to pilfer the taxpayers of this nation out of TRILLIONS of dollars of wealth.  And, as the saying goes, “greed has no bounds” and they will not stop until “we the people” stop them.  In America, the “traditional” way to stop them would be at the ballot box.  We (progressives and conservatives alike) will be much better off when people like Rush Limbaugh and corporate interests that align with Fox “news” no longer have an audience large enough to support them on the mass media.  The closest thing to Pope Francis in American politics is Bernie Sanders!  Does anyone besides me find that ironic?

The final irony – it was announced today that John Boehner, America’s Speaker of the House, – who presumably was the one who invited the Pope to speak (I believe Boehner is a Catholic) resigned his position in the House (not just as speaker) the day after listening “up close and personal” to the Pope’s remarks.  I have to wonder if Mr. Boehner had a tough night sleeping trying to reconcile his own record with the remarks of the leader of his faith.  The thought went through my head that maybe Boehner is really a devout Catholic, as I’ve heard him referred on occasion, and he does actually have a conscience.  Who knows, one member of the republican party, knowing in his heart the wrongs he’s inflicted on this nation, repenting – that one thing in itself could end up ensuring that the Pope’s message has a monumental and enduring legacy on this nation. (I’m not holding my breath – but, we can always hope!)

I’m just about finished with my second time through “Angler” by Bart Gellman about the Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney.  I guess I have to read books twice to really get an idea of what I think – I also just finished “The Family” by Jeff Sharlett a second time.  The result of all this is that I’m more convinced than EVER that the present day republican party needs to come to an unceremonious end.  The EXTREME right influence on this party is beyond the “pale” and the simple fact that Cheney is still allowed to even speak publicly tells me either the rank and file republicans have no idea what Cheney did as Vice President, or they still support him and, like him, have no conscience.  Either way, America needs to purge Cheney, those in the “Family,” and people who think like these guys from the “mainstream” of politics.  These people believe in authoritarian government that has a foundation built on fear and despises (secretly, of course) our representative democracy.

Even tonight, I happened to watch a show on MSNBC and there was Cheney, in a little blurp pulled from CNN (I think) showing Dick Cheney being asked his view as to whether Joe Biden should challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.  First of all, of course he would encourage that, because the last thing Cheney or any republican wants to see is Hillary Clinton running as the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.  Secondly, why would what Dick Cheney thinks be important to anyone.  The man should, by all measures, (reinforced as I read through “Angler”) be in JAIL!  The list of his CRIMES is long and, as I’ve stated on this site many times, President Obama’s refusal to allow accountability to fall on Cheney (and others in the GW Bush administration) was a paramount BLUNDER.  I’m guessing that Cheney is smart enough to avoid travel in places like France, Spain, and other European countries who actually respect the rule of law when it comes to “leaders.”  According to the Geneva Conventions (not to mention our own laws and international laws) Dick Cheney is clearly a WAR CRIMINAL.  (And, I suppose, you’d have to include GW Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, David Addington, and others in that category)  This does not even consider the UNLIMITED felonies committed as Bush/Cheney PURPOSELY violated the FISA law – each violation being a FELONY.  Really, for my republican friends out there who say, “prove it” – read this book, among others.  There’s a boatload of evidence supporting just these two areas of criminality – the authorizing of TORTURE, and the illegal wiretapping of UNTOLD millions of American citizens.  (and, to that I say, if you think I’m wrong, let’s have the investigations that should have taken place shortly after President Obama moved into the White House and took the oath of office to FAITHFULLY UPHOLD THE LAWS!)

As I’m reading “Angler” I do get more of a sense of sympathy for “the decider” – ie GW Bush.  Although, as he himself was quoted as saying, “The buck stops here.”  The reality is that Dick Cheney was DEFINITELY working on the “Dark Side” – with much of his misbehavior done behind Bush’s back – Cheney was quoted as saying he didn’t want to burden Bush with some of the decisions (that Bush evidently didn’t care to be involved in – YIKES!).  When you read this book and realize that Cheney, after vetting almost every important republican in the country – telling each one they were on “The short list” of 3 or 4 in consideration of the Vice Presidency he would soon claim himself – then “threw” Governor Keating of Nebraska “under the buss” in effect ENDING the governor’s political career – and, at the same time, sending an unwritten message to all the other “candidates” that “I’ve got your deepest secrets” as a way to gain unanimous backing of the Bush/Cheney agenda – well, you get the point (I hope).  The man is RUTHLESS (and, that’s the nicest way I can put it).

Cheney was not only dishonest with the republican leaders who he “vetted” for the VP job, dishonest with the American people as he strong-armed this nation into Iraq, dishonest in issues like the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, (and I could go on, but you get the point) but Cheney (most deviously – and disgustingly) was TOTALLY dishonest with George W Bush.  I’ve NEVER been a “fan” of Bush, but, as I’ve stated many times on this site, (despite the republican creed of wanting our present president to “FAIL”) I truly wanted President Bush to succeed.  When they left the White House I believed (and still do) that George W Bush was the WORST president, certainly in my lifetime, and very likely ever.  I believed then, and believe today (and, history is regrettably proving me correct) that the invasion of Iraq was the most disastrous decision made by a president in the history of this nation.  Who knows what the final toll of the damage caused by that decision, and the number of people killed, uprooted, and who had their lives totally destroyed – in so many almost incalculable ways.  Additionally, Hurricane Katrina has left a legacy of lives destroyed that could have been possibly saved that will probably never be fully calculated; the lax regulation that led to the financial meltdown in the final days of Bush/Cheney also has left damage that, while somewhat correctable, will probably never be measurable as far as the true number of people who had their lives completely turned “upside down” due to that fiasco.  During Bush/Cheney there was one “fiasco” after another.

As I read “Angler” it’s easy to see why so many people were assuming it was “De-fact o” President Cheney as that administration “unfurled.”  George W Bush really did consider himself “the decider” and he relied on a hierarchy of “underlings” that was pretty much the brainchild of Dick Cheney himself.  Incredibly, we had a Vice President “stocking” all the important positions of government with his own “cronies.”  Once the Bush/Cheney regime was “up and running,” there wasn’t much to get in the way of what Cheney wanted.  Incredibly, even in instances where President Bush was not in agreement with Cheney (ie, the second tax cut), Cheney slyly went behind the President’s back, and through his connections in the House, manipulated the process so that in the end he got what he wanted and President Bush had no idea he’d been “snookered” by his own Vice President.  As I’m reading this book again, I keep saying to myself, “incredible” that there would be someone so self serving and arrogant that he could manage to get himself to such a position.  And, it’s even more incredible to me NOW that, with all the evidence out there (for anyone willing to find it) that actual “news” outlets would give this guy ANY kind of platform to spew his venom.  Seriously, the “media” is supposed to be “The fourth estate” – meaning, the final “check” for “we the people” in our constitution’s plan of “checks and balances” to prevent people like Cheney from gaming the system.  The idea that we should be a WAR MONGERING nation is a view held be a few Americans (clearly Cheney is one of them), but “we the people” should be informed as to the reality of people like him before we’re asked to take his word as something that has ANY credibility.  I’m actually guessing that, by now, George W Bush is aware of what Cheney was doing (I’m pretty sure he can read – he should read “Angler”) and I would be surprised if they are still even on speaking terms.

I’m convinced that the TORTURE, the illegal wiretapping, the outing of a CIA agent, the obscene tax cuts (aimed at the wealthiest among us), the politicizing of the Justice Department, just to name a few of the places Bush/Cheney et al went over the legal “lines,” were essentially due to the “leadership” of Dick Cheney and his lawyer David Addington.  I believe they felt that “if the president does it (or authorizes it – even if he doesn’t know what he’s authorizing) it must be legal.”  Those are the famous words of Richard Nixon that were proved UNTRUE during the Watergate era – and, Barack Obama, by blocking the investigations into the illegal activity of Bush/Cheney et al, set the groundwork for future presidents who are as arrogant as Cheney to believe in the “unitary executive” to the point of some form of authoritarian government that is anathema to the way MOST of us every day Americans think.  I mentioned the book “The Family” above, and I can assure you there is a small and very RICH and POWERFUL faction in America who believe almost exactly as Cheney and, to me, they are even scarier because they make their claims in the name of Jesus Christ.  As I read about Cheney and the “Family” I’m reminded of a book I read about Dietrich Bonhoffer, a great German who gave his life trying to rid Germany of Hitler during WW II.  In the early part of the “Socialist Democratic” takeover of Germany (The Third Reich) it was the conservative Christian community that provided the “blind” support of the Nazi movement.  Many think it couldn’t happen here.  Personally, I’m not so sure.

That is the very reason, I believe, that I’m so passionate about encouraging my Christian brethren to abandon their “blind” loyalty to a republican party which is anything but Christian.  I’m now re-reading “Chain of Command” by Seymore Hersch which pretty much corroborates what Gellman wrote in “Angler.”  It simply throws in Donald Rumsfeld and some of the Generals who were involved early on at Gitmo into the “TORTURE” picture.  I’ve read several books that have focused on the American’s treatment of “enemy combatants” (many simply people in the wrong place at the wrong time) since 9/11, and it’s clear that the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Addington et al “regime” chose to ignore the laws of human rights as they led our nation into TWO “open ended” conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Most people know by now that the invasion of Iraq was simply a manifestation of the desires of those involved in the so-called “Project for a New American Century.”  This group of right wing “conservatives” was pressing for an invasion into Iraq during the Clinton years.  9/11 was used as the “excuse” (the “Shock” in the words of Naomi Klein) allowing them to proceed in their quest for Iraq’s oil (and, whatever else they had in mind).

The end result of all of this is a much more unstable world and a United States that is more divided than, certainly, any time in my lifetime (and I’m a WW II “baby”).  Today is the 14th anniversary of 9/11 and I remember George W Bush having a united nation behind him as he sent our forces into Afghanistan to eliminate (one way or the other) Osama bin Laden and his cohorts in Al Qaeda.  I even remember nations around the world standing behind us and offering support (including Iran).  Bush/Cheney chose to throw all that good will away and take a disastrous course (into Iraq) that has turned Americans against each other even more-so than, in my view, during the Viet Nam era.  Regrettably, as mentioned above, untold PEOPLE around the globe suffered, have suffered, or are suffering because of this disastrous decision and the United States “image” has suffered possibly irreparably.  (Certainly, if “we the people” elect another “right winger” in 2016 the damage could be permanent – and, remember in today’s world the economy is global)  It should be clear that I don’t believe we need anyone affiliated with the Bush/Cheney administration involved with present day decision making, but, the last thing we need is Dick Cheney giving his voice on national TV regarding today’s foreign policy issues.  The only time Dick Cheney, the “Angler,” should be publicly defending his record is before a judge.