If you’ve been on this site before it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that I’m pretty disgusted with the Republcan party.  What I’m not sure that I’ve made clear is my belief that we need a viable Republican party.  I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and I remember finishing our conversation (he’s a Republican) by telling him that the Republican party is headed for oblivion unless they can repudiate these fringe crazies who are taking “free speech” to the breaking point.  Recently I’ve heard more and more of the vile rhetoric that is polluting the airwaves – mostly coming from some people who are unbelievable to me.  And, people like my friend just assume that some of them are always telling the truth.

 For example, he’s convinced that the media really does have the so-called “liberal bias” that the Republicans have included as a main theme in their propoganda campaign since the early 80’s (despite the fact that 90% of the radio airwaves are controlled by conservatives and the media conglomerates that control the TV airwaves are concentrated mainly in Republican leaning “hands”).  Their theory, I’m sure, is that if you repeat something over and over enough times and in enough places, people start to think “It must be true.”  Worse than that, these heinous liars start to believe their own lies after a while – which just makes them more vile.  I think some of them – who are essentially calling for the “death” (I heard one of them use that term tonight as I was driving home from work) of President Obama, actually consider themselves patriots.  What is happening is the groundwork is being laid for an actual fight for what this country stands for.  These people are overt racists, they hate gays and lesbians, they have a vicious campaign going against immigrants (despite the fact each and every one of them are immigrants), they think women were put on this earth to produce babies, and they believe the United States of America has taken over the role of God’s Chosen people from the Israeli’s.  Additionally, it seems they haven’t read past the Old Testament and they get their “jollies” by dreaming about America using its tremendous military strength on any country in the world that doesn’t bow down to us.

The bottom line: these people, in my view, are nut jobs.  The problem is that many of them are right at the top of the Republican party.  How people who have any sense of decency (last night I wrote about how I just can’t understand h0w anyone who believes in Jesus Christ could stomach this bunch) can be associated with this crew in any way is beyond me.  Rush Limbaugh is bad.  The guy is a prolific liar, he is a right wing crazy, he could care less about the average American citizen – in fact, as everybody who’s paying attention knows, he’s rooting for our President to “fail.”  I’ll get to some of the other ones in a bit – but think of that – openly rooting for our President to fail.  Take my friend, for instance.  He’s in danger of losing his job because of the terrible economy and the cuts which are going to devestate the Public Education system (we’re teachers – and despite what some right wingers think – we work really hard to teach people’s children and we’re very committed to what we do) – yet he is just beginning to realize that the reason he’s losing his job (and his wife possibly losing hers) is because of the massive greed of these Republicans over the past 30+ years.  And, he still listens to Limbaugh and for some reason buys into the lies.  I wonder how people who will be financially destroyed if Obama fails (that’s most of us) could not repudiate someone like Limbaugh.

To me, worse than that, Limbaugh is a prime time racist – and, it’s coming out in “spades” as he watches a “Negro” lead this nation out of the abiss he and his cohorts got us into.  All he cares about is being able to continue laughing all the way to the bank – HE COULD CARE LESS ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE – although, I actually think he’s getting fired up over all the attention he’s getting as the de-facto head of the Republican party.  I don’t think he cares if the Republican party fails, to be honest with you – IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM!  And, based on what I’ve been hearing, he’s not the worst one.  Tonight, I heard for the first time a guy named Michael Savage – who I’ve heard about, but never actually heard his shpeel – and b0y, this guy seemed worse than Limbaugh.  He was making a racist, inciteful rant about immigration in the U.S. and I couldn’t stand to listen to it for more than a few seconds.  Then there’s a guy named Glenn Beck who was talking about actually killing Michael Moore – it was gruesome and over the edge – I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THESE GUYS GET AWAY WITH THIS STUFF OVER THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES.  Last night I mentioned how I had listened to Bill O’Reilly fumegate against a guy he called a mass murderer because he did late term abortions (for, I later learned women who’s babies had died or who’s life was in jeopardy because of cancer) and essentially incited one of the fringees into murdering the doctor.

The reality is that we have a bigger terrorist problem inside our boundaries than outside them.  Hate groups have doubled since Obama took office – these are white supremicist groups who despicably are connected to the right wing Christain movement (which better condemn these guys – ALL OF THEM – INCLUDING THE TV AND RADIO PERSONALITIES I’M DISCUSSING – AND SOON!) and, in some cases are calling for succession from the union (places in the south and Alaska – uh, hello Sarah Palin – and Todd) and/or insurrection!  The rest of us had better wake up – AND SOON!  Many of these groups are arming themselves to the hilt.  They hate the idea of a Black President, a Latina Supreme Court justice, a Black Attorney General, and one state after another giving civil rights to gays and lesbians – ESPECIALLY MARRIAGE.  As I said last night, they would rather a woman who was carrying a dead fetus carry it to term, even at the risk of her own life, than having a medical procedure which is low risk and allows her to reproduce in the future if she so desires.

I have been speaking out for months now on the importance of our leaders having the courage to enforce the laws of the land against those in the Republican party who are thumbing their noses at it.  Dick Cheney is going around admitting to one crime after another as if he knows the Democrats won’t do anything about it.  Karl Rove and Harriet Meiers refused to respond to subpoenas during the final years of the Bush administration – and nothing was done about it.  GW Bush started illegal wiretapping Americans possibly before 9/11 and the Democrats don’t have the nerve to do anything about it.  Cheney outed a CIA agent – everyone knows this – and the Democratic Congress doesn’t have the nerve to investigate this.  And now, the leaders of the Republican party are openly inciting violence toward the extreme fringe of their supporters and assuming free speech allows them to suggest the murder of our President, and it seems like the Democrats still don’t get that at some point they’re going to HAVE TO STEP UP AND FIGHT THESE GUYS.

These Republicans remind me of sixth graders (that’s the grade I teach).  Let me give President Obama, Attorney General Holder, and the Democratic Congress (some more – I’ve been here before) advice – I guess that means they’re not listening to me (surprise, surprise :o) or I wouldn’t have to tell them this again.  Just like a sixth grader, these Republicans only understand “black and white.”  Now, if you’re not too with it, I’m not talking in racial terms here – I mean you can’t “beat around the bush with them.” (no pun intended)  They have to understand that if they break the laws they are going to jail – SIMPLE AS THAT!  What you’re teaching them is that you don’t have the guts to put them in jail – so they are just going to continue breaking the laws of the land – and they are going to push their rhetoric until this country explodes at the seems – and then blame whatever happens on you – THE PRESIDENT AND THE DEMOCRATS!  Now, I hope the bulk of the American people aren’t so stupid as to believe them, but they are trying to insure that you fail – both President Obama and the Democratic Congress.  The time to fight back against these thugs is RIGHT NOW!

About two months ago the new head of Homeland Security came out with a report saying that there was a significant internal threat from small cells of “terrrorists” and “fringe elements” in our society that had the potential for violence.  Of course, like with everything else that comes from the government, the Republicans attacked this as being insulting – because it was pointed out that many of these groups are affiliated with the “Right Wing fringe.”  Well, by reacting in a defensive way, the leaders of the Republican party virtually admitted that the report was true – and it was about them.  Well, since that report has come out there has already been two cases of right wing whackos committing high profile murders.  The first case was the doctor I wrote about last night and the second was an attack on the holocaust museum, of all places (well, many of these hate groups are anti-jew), in which a Black security guard was gunned down by a renowned white supremist.  What is it going to take before President Obama and the Democratic Congress take this internal terrorism seriously.  Are we going to have to have a war on terror inside the boundaries of the United States of America?  At the beginning of this post I mentioned that we need a viable Republican party – it could put a stop to all of this very quickly.  However, what we have is a vile Republican party which is leading this nation to disaster!

Last Sunday I was sitting in Church and my Pastor gave what I thought was a very relevent and profound sermon (of course, if you go to Church, you know that everyone “hears” things differently – which I believe is what is motivating me to write this evening). The part which really struck a “bell” with me was when he talked about the tendency of “Christians” to be at the head of the pack (my phrasing) when it comes to hypocricy. The way he framed his discussion was by asking everyone who had “Accepted Christ” to remember the time it happened and where they “were at” when it happened. Then he asked us to think of the time between then and now when theoretically we would be growing as Christians. What happens at that point for many, he hypothesized, is that Christians are so committed to what has worked for them, they forget where they were at when it all started – leading to them wanting everyone to feel like they do. So, instead of becoming “Righteous” which is the goal, they become self-righteous and thus hypocritical – having a difficult time remembering where they were “at” when it all began.

Now, of course, as with all sermons I may have heard what I wanted to hear, but just the same what I heard has motivated this particular posting. I think the other part of the motivation comes from my frustration of being a believer in Jesus Christ and feeling a sense of disgust with many people involved in the political process who profess to be followers of Jesus (which, of course, would include the Bush/Cheney crew from the previous administration – and many of those who are making inciteful remarks about our new President Barack Obama). I have been frustrated for many years that the so-called “Christian Right” has made up the base of the Republican party essentially on one issue – abortion. And, what many of them are doing with that issue is despicable as far as I’m concerned. Of course, after 30 years of this affiliation (Republicans and Christians) Roe v Wade is still on the books and I’m convinced the leaders of the Republican party are just fine with that because it keeps these one issue voters “on board.”

And, the worst part about this, is that most of these voters have no idea what they’re voting for when they vote for some of the Republicans they support. I mean, how can a true Christian support Rush Limbaugh, or Newt Gingrich, or Dick Armey, or Tom Delay or any other of the leaders of the Republican party who claim to be for “family values” while in their “real lives” they are doing things that should make any believer of Jesus get on their knees and pray for them. Jesus, of course, (and everyone knows this) was a friend of the poor and downtrodden, he was not a violent person nor did he espouse violence – in fact, he said; “what you do for the least of these, you do for me” speaking of the poor, sick, and hungry. I can’t imagine him torturing people, having people murdered (ie Cheney and his “death squad”), starting wars, violating laws, and I could go on. In fact, the Republicans who claim to be “Christians” remind me more of the Pharisees as depicted in the New Testament – the people responsible for the cruel execution of Jesus. These people were more interested in preserving their own interests than in the spirtual well-being of the citizens of that era, at least according to the Bible that we as Christians read.

Some of the results showing their ugly “heads” during this time of crisis in America coming from the “Christian Right” are very unsettling. Here’s some of the things I’ve heard. Let’s start with Chuck Norris – more well known as “Walker, Texas Ranger” from his TV days – insinuating that there are thousands of cells of right wing extremists ready to “take back our government” through violence. That is clearly sedition and he is a strong supporter of Mike Huckabee, a leading Republican politician who I have not heard disavow himself from Norris to this day. Then there’s the group of Christian leaders which includes Dobson, Robertson, Eric Prince of Blackwater (now Xe), and Jerry Falwell before he died among others who were planning essentially a coup de tat when Clinton was in office according to a book I read on Blackwater – and believe me Blackwater is much more of a threat today than it was 10 years ago. Additionally, according to the Sourthern Poverty Law Center Hate groups have doubled since the election of our first African American President and many of them have their roots among Christian right wing zealots. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave off with the anti-abortion groups who are obviously getting more violent all the time.

I have to preface my remaining thoughts by saying that I am not a supporter of abortion. I wish no one would ever have to have an abortion. I believe there can be no doubt that life begins at conception. A couple realities for me (I’ve been around for a while) – before Roe v Wade abortions were common place. I thank God that I’ve never participated in one, but I still remember when I was in college in the 60’s how people I knew were paying $75 for an abortion – and some people seemed to think it was a form of birth control. It was all in the “back rooms” and there was little discussion about it publicly – until Roe v Wade. That was what ended up “fusing” the Conservative Christians with the Republican party and spawned some of the anti-abortion groups of today who have gone way over the edge in their fight against this practice. The reality to me, is that repealing Roe v Wade will not stop abortions – it will only put women who decide to have them in more physical jeopardy than already exists. I guess for some Christians they think it would serve them right. I believe the issue is way more complicated than that. I have two daughters and I’ve always prayed they would never have to make that choice – but the reality is that should it happen it would be their choice and they would have to live with the consequences (and I would be there to support them). But, it gets worst than that.

About a week and a half ago a doctor in Wichita Kansas was murdered in his church by a right wing “Christian” extremist (and I honestly don’t know how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can rationalize murder). Now, I had heard some of the inciting against this doctor by people on TV – for me, mainly Bill O’Reilly who called the guy a mass murderer. The doctor was performing so-called late term abortions and, of course that sounded repulsive to me – but, I had no idea what that meant. After his murder I found out a bit more about what the guy was doing and why he was doing it. He, evidently, was one of only three doctors in the US willing to do this procedure. And, it turns out, not because others didn’t think it was appropriate, but because of the backlash they would face should they do it. Some of this doctor’s patients came from the most prestitgious medical schools and clinics in the country. Most of the abortions he was performing were in circumstances where the fetus was already dead and, of course, the mother’s life was in jeopardy should she carry the fetus to full term. And, why would you want a woman to have to carry a dead fetus to full term? Wouldn’t the fact her baby was dead be bad enough? Almost all of the rest of the late term abortions involved women who had contracted cancer during their pregnancy and they needed chemotherapy to save their lives which would presumably kill the fetus – so this doctor would do the procedure in order to save the mother’s life. I have to say that if my wife was pregnant and I had to make that decision – well, there’s the rub, I wouldn’t have to make that decision, I’m a man – she would have to make the decision and I’d have to decide whether or not to support her. I WOULD SUPPORT HER – In fact, I believe I’d encourage her to save her own life. The only other instance I heard about regarding this doctor was a fetus which had no brain and was going to be born dead, so this doctor did the procedure to spare the mother the additional trauma of giving birth and then watching her baby die almost immediately.

I remember when Bill Clinton was President, there was a bill which would have banned so-called “Partial Birth abortions” which he would have signed had the Congress included a provision to protect the life of the mother. At the time, I didn’t understand why they couldn’t agree to that, and to this day – especially with what I’ve learned lately – I still don’t understand why they can’t agree to that. I believe that virtually all of the late term abortions are for reasons which will save the life of the mother. In the case of the doctor who was murdered, there had to be another doctor agreeing that the mother’s life was in jeopardy for him to perform these procedures, so this wasn’t the flippant operation Bill O’Reilly led me to believe it was.

This leads me to my final point (I really hope what I’m writing this evening is cohesive) and that is the rhetoric of some on the “Christian Right” is inciting zealots in a way that should be unsettling to all of us. Not only in the case of this doctor, but on the political front there is a lot of unsettling news (some of which I mentioned above). I came of age in the time when JFK and RFK were assasinated along with Martin Luther King. I never thought I would see the day when I would have to worry about that kind of stuff happening again, but I also didn’t think I’d ever see a repeat of the Viet Nam war (actually, I believe Iraq could end up being worse). I listened to John McCain and more specifically Sarah Palin during the last election rile up their crowds with some vile dishonest rhetoric while members of the audience were shouting “Kill him” regarding Barack Obama. This rhetoric has not subsided and it’s taking an ugly racist tone (if you don’t believe me – listen for a while to Rush Limbaugh [I hate to encourage anyone to do that] or Newt Gingrich or any of the other Republicans who are presently at the head of that pathetic party and you’ll quickly see what I mean – that is, if you recognize their “code”). I don’t agree with everything Obama is doing (see some of my earlier posts) but I can tell you with all confidence that this nation will crumble to its knees if something untoward happens to him.

I’ve already been calling for legal action regarding many of the Republican “thugs” who broke laws indiscriminantly during the Bush administration and tonight I’m doing the same regarding those who are inciting their base. They should not be allowed to spew these words which are essentially encouraging their fringe elements to do something stupid without consequences. Inciting violence is not “Free Speech!” I’m looking forward to the day when Christians quit supporting right wing thugs because they falsely believe that these guys are going to end abortions. As I said above, people are going to have abortions no matter what the law says. In fact, I agree with President Obama, the focus should be on creating a climate where there is progressively less demand for abortions. We, as Christians, should be supporting policies and politicians who are focused on the “least among us.” We should be true to the teachings of Jesus (if you don’t understand what I’m talking about, read the book of John in the New Testament). Republicans have led us into an endless and unwinnable war, they’ve destroyed our economy (unless you’re in the “rich” category), they have ruined our moral leadership in the world by openly endorsing torture, they are fighting every policy change that the people want – including health care and energy reform, and they are inciting violence at every turn regarding President Obama, Gays and lesbians, and abortion doctors among others. I honestly don’t see how someone who believes in what the Bible says can reconcile all that.

These Republicans love to funnel money into the multinational corporations, because they know they will get such an incredible return for their “investments.” They’ve set up our system over the last 30+ years in a way that is allowing these businesses to flourish (in fact, at the first sign of trouble, here came Henry Paulsen and George W Bush with the government checkbook for all these “too big to fail” corporations). Of course, what they don’t like to mention is the amount of money these corporations are “donating” to the “cause.” And, of course, you won’t see a lot of argument from the Democrats because, while they get less money, they still get enough to guarantee the big corporations won’t be short on capital when things get really tough.

Then you have President Barack Obama, aside from the things that I believe he should be doing which he’s not, making a trip to the Middle East and essentially telling like it is FOR ONCE in one of the more profound speeches I’ve heard by an American President on foreign soil. I’ve listened for forty years as our politicians beat around the bush (no pun intended) regarding some of the foreign nations which seem to depend on us for leadership – especially nations located in the Middle East – where we desperately need to rebuild our credibility. And, of course, during the administration of GW Bush, there was absolutely NO LEADERSHIP regarding foreign governments at all. With the exception of Great Britain and a few minor nations, the Bush administration was busy destroying the “moral high ground” that the United States had enjoyed for the past 20 years or so. For example, despite his transgressions in Nicaraugua, even Ronald Reagan had a reasonable following in the international community. And George HW Bush had managed to wait until he had a widespread coalition prior to pushing Saddam out of Kuwait in the first Gulf War in 1991. Bill Clinton had been hailed as a hero around the world during the last few years of his Presidency. George W Bush nearly ruined ALL OF THAT!

Along comes Obama and you have people listening to him from all “corners” of the globe – with one exception – and I’m sure you can guess what that one exception is. You’re correct – THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! These guys are unbelievable. Obama could solve the economic problems left to him by GW, he could create peace in Iraq and Afganistan, he could capture Osama bin Laden, and I could go on – MY POINT – It wouldn’t matter what he did, you’d have these Republican thugs calling him the most egregious names I can think of. And, you wonder if they’re trying to incite some idiot as they did with the Doctor in Witchita. THESE GUYS HAVE TO BE STOPPED! I wish I could get that point across to President Obama. All he would have to do is encourage the investigations that are totally called for. There is a large number of Americans who still believe that GW and Dick didn’t do anything wrong – because they listen to and/or watch Fox “news.” And, these people are listening to “journalists” who they trust call Obama names that are unthinkable to me – even for someone with a genuine disagreement (like me) THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM.

First of all, their rhetoric isn’t that of the normal opposition party. They are trying, obviously, to rile up the fringe crazies in this nation. From one after another calling Obama a traitor, a socialist, a communist, a fascist, a racist, a President who’s making us “less safe,” and more. The other day I heard Rush Limbaugh say on his radio show (I REALLY HATE TO LISTEN TO THIS GUY, BUT I FEEL IT’S MY CIVIC DUTY TO AT LEAST KEEP UP ON HIS VILE RHETORIC IN A SMALL WAY) that “It’s really bad to be a white male in America right now.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And, so far, I haven’t heard the outrage that comment should inspire – FROM ALL QUARTERS! The truth is that the Republican party is like the Country Club which was forced to allow in a couple token Blacks (hence Michael Steele and Judge Thomas) but in reality hate anyone of color. They can’t stand the idea of “submitting” to the authority of a Black man. More than hating the idea of another woman on the Supreme Court, having a Latina Woman makes it exponentially worse – to the point that they are making utter fools of themselves in public EVERY DAY.  And they are REALLY STRUGGLING to keep their racist beliefs covert.

I’m sure the moderate Republicans hope Sonia Sotomayor gets confirmed by the Senate soon so that these idiots get off the front pages of what’s left of the newspapers in this country and the highlights of the network news programs on TV.  They not only hate the idea of a Black President, but then, on top of that you have Sotomayor,  a Woman (Ok, I know that’s obvious) and to them, far worse, a Latina Woman.  These guys continue to marginalize themselves, and it appears that Obama is willing to just let them continue to do so. However, I will tell you why I disagree with his strategy – there are at least two good reasons I can think of right off the top of my head. First: It is highly likely that there will be some sort of crisis within the next year – either a downdraft of the economy, an attack of some sorts, or something along those lines. These Republicans are betting the farm on that happening and they view that as their only opportunity to get “back in the saddle” so to speak. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO SHUT UP ON THEIR OWN.  They need to be prosecuted for their misdeeds before their wish has a chance to come true.   Second: These guys keep coming back like a bad dream. If they are not put to rest, you can be guaranteed that some of them will be doing the same things we’re harping about again down the road. For example, it’s not good enough for President Obama to say “We no longer torture people.”  If we don’t hold them legally responsible for their actions, TRUST ME, this stuff will happen again!

If we don’t stop these Republicans in their tracks, they will be spewing their venom indefinitely and I don’t even want there to be a chance that I have to write about my government torturing people again. Also, I can virtually guarantee you that if they somehow get back into power, some of the subtle little Presidential directives that get overlooked during this time of economic crisis will come back to haunt us. The next time around they will have a much firmer grip on the ability of dissenters to speak their minds. Keep in mind that President Obama has NOT STOPPED THE DATA MINING OF OUR PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS. There are already countries around the world using the technology developed under Bush’s regime to stifle dissent in their countries by wiretapping massive numbers of phone calls and email messages. Remember George W Bush gave himself the authority to call just about any American citizen an “enemy combatant” and throw them into one of the secret prisons located who knows where and without the right of habeous corpus – essentially “throwing away the key.”

I’ve said this many times on this website that the only way to stop these thugs is through the courts. And the prosecutions MUST start right at the top. We all know that Bush and Cheney both authorized war crimes, because they admitted to as much right on national TV. I SAW BOTH OF THEM ADMIT TO THIS WITH MY OWN EYES. Cheney is guilty of so many crimes that he feels prompted to go on the offensive and enlist the services of Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Savage, and others (I really don’t know them all, because the only one I can manage to listen to for even a minute or so is Limbaugh because I make myself do it) in a major propoganda scheme to intimidate President Obama from pushing for investigations. I guess what Cheney and the Republicans are saying is that if there are investigations they will not go quietly. I SAY THAT’S EVEN BETTER! I’m disgusted with the lack of courage being shown by the Democratic Congress. And, as impressive as Obama has been on his foreign policy speeches and actions along with many of the domestic initiatives he’s put forth, to me he’s just as un-impressive in his timid response to these thugs.

I’m not sure if he thinks they will physically attack him if there are investigations, but I believe he’s more vulnerable by putting the investigations off. And just think what “clout” he would have in challenging the human rights abuses in other countries if he set the example that it is not tolerated in the US.  Everyone knows that our CIA has been acting like the Russian KGB for the past eight years (or possibly longer – read “Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein) and our leaders have authorized their behavior. For Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz (is she running for office? I’ve listened to a couple of her “rants” and she’s REALLY GETTING THE FACTS MIXED UP) to be claiming that waterboarding is not torture flies in the face of long standing legal principles and the “facts” as given by everyone I’ve heard talk about it who has experienced it. I guess the fact that we’ve prosecuted foreign troops AND OUR OWN TROOPS in the past for doing exactly that is lost on them. If Dick Cheney wants to defend the legality of Waterboarding, let him do it in front of a judge! President Obama can put an exclamation point on his own rhetoric from his trip first to Egypt and then to Auschwitz by demonstrating that we truly are a nation of laws and not men, and human rights violations in the United States of America – FOR ANY REASON – will not go unpunished!

It has finally sunk in to me that President Obama may have a “backdoor” strategy designed to “usher in” self-destruction for the “Limbaugh wing” of the Republican party. I really wasn’t intending to write about this tonight, in fact, I wasn’t intending to write at all, so hopefully I can REALLY keep this one short. I did notice as I logged in tonight, that this will be my 140th post. So, I will either have a bunch of “I told you so’s” down the road, or – more likely – like the “real” journalists do, I’ll have a bunch of inconsequential comments that mean nothing and nobody cares about. The main thing for me is that I have a place to “vent” as I suffer through 21st century politics in the United States of America. And, believe me, I’m thankful to be a citizen of this great nation – it’s just hard for me to handle the reality of where we have “gone” despite our high ideals, in basically my adult lifetime.

I think the reason MANY of the “Baby Boom” babies such as myself feel so indignant that our country chose the route of torture in the so-called “War against Terror” (which seems to be a misnomer in itself) is that we feel if our government tortures that means we condoned it. I have voted in every possible election I’ve been eligilble for since I turned 21 (the voter age in “my day”) in 1968. My first campaign ended in tragedy and disaster when Robert F Kennedy was assasinated by Sirhan Sirhan after the Californian primary of 1968. I WAS DEVASTATED! This, of course, came on the “heels” of his brother’s assassination and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. And, I think what has riled me the most about what’s taking place in today’s world – not investigating reminds me of what happened after all those assassinations. The idea, for example, that Sirhan Sirhan (with 4 $100 bills on his person – a lot of money in 1968) acted alone was absurd. But, to this day, I have no idea who he was in concert with (well, actually, I have my suspicians – but the federal government evidently didn’t waterboard Sirhan enough times to get the truth out of him). And the same goes for the assassinations of JFK and Dr. King. We just seem to let some of this stuff go.

When Ronald Reagan was President, members of his administration (many of the same people who are involved in the Bush transgressions) embarked on an illegal war of their own down in Nicaraugua. This led to the Iran/Contra scandal which was never fully investigated and those who were found guilty of crimes were all pardoned – a horrible precedent on the heals of the Watergate scandal and the pardons there as well. And, now we have the multi-scandals of the GW Bush administration and it looks like Deja Vu all over again – no investigations – or if any happen they will be toothless. And, President Obama is probably doing enough – including the aforementioned very subtle dressing down of the Republican “Right” to get re-elected. I can’t imagine enough Democrats Jumping ship based on the things I find repulsive to turn Obama into a one-term President. But, of course, the jury’s still out on that – polls can change overnight.

As I’ve said on many occasions on this site, I gave money to Obama during his campaign (I’m not giving anymore to him or the Democratic party until I see some guts regarding holding Bush and company accountable for their lawbreaking), and I like much of what he’s trying to accomplish. As I’m writing this he’s in the Middle East and I REALLY HOPE he makes a breakthrough on the Palestinian issue with the Israeli’s. I believe the combination of Obama/Clinton has the best chance for this to happen since the days of Jimmy Carter – the President I consider the best of my lifetime and, at the same time, the one who seems to be the popular one to “hate on” by most in the political realms – of course, most of these people continue to talk about Ronald Reagan as if he was some kind of saint – and, to me, Reagan was the beginning of the end as far as our economy was concerned and the cavalier attitude of many in his administration still prevails among members of the executive branch today.

The part I am very concerned about Obama, besides his reluctance to adhere to his oath to defend the constitution (that, of course, is a biggie!) is the fact I believe he has no intention, at this point, of getting our troops out of Iraq. He mentioned a few months ago that he had “changed” his timetable from 16 months to 19 months with the caveat that he’s leaving 50,000 “non-combat” troops there for another 13 months. Well, so far no one’s come home – we still have “pre-surge” levels of troops in Iraq with all the “Contractors” as well. According to Thomas Ricks who wrote both “Fiasco” and “The Gamble” – both insightful books on the Iraq occupation – our military leaders are intending for our troops to be in Iraq for the next 10 to 20 years. And, I believe that David Patreaus, no matter what you think of him, is a very persuasive man. And, it’s true that he did “change” the circumstances in Iraq during the “Surge.” But, to say the “Surge” worked requires one to totally dismiss the original objectives which were getting the Iraqi’s to work out their differences so that Sunni and Shia could govern together (did I forget to mention the Kurds?). None of that has happened. In fact, in my view, it’s just a matter of time until the violence starts to pick up again in Iraq.

In about a year Moqtada al Sadr will return from Iran as the Grand Ayatollah of Iraq with a following of millions. I expect something on the lines of what happened in Iran during the Carter years. Additionally, the so-called “Awakening” is essentially about 100,000 Sunni’s who have been armed to the “teeth” by Patreaus and the Americans, in an attempt (which proved very successful) to have Iraqi’s defeat the Al Qaeda in Iraq faction. The oil problem hasn’t been “solved.” Of course, at this point, it will never be solved according to the original wishes of GW and Dick Cheney – who, I’m sure will never admit that they went to war for oil, but even my sixth grade students, in research papers with no prompting, can figure this out. The point, the Iraq “conflict” is not over. They still have a lot of grievances to work through and, according to our military the only way to keep the country “calm” is to continue our presence until at least 2015 to maybe 2020. There may be a lot of Democrats who will be OK with that, but I’m not one of them.

Furthermore, you now have Patreaus as the head of “Centcommand” which I believe means the entire military operations in Iraq and Afganistan. Look for a continued presence of the US military in Afganistan for the forseeable future. President Obama has already authorized an additional 21,000 troops since he took office and I believe that number will increase. Patreaus recently went before Congress pleading for large increases to the budget for Afganistan and, while our own nation is reeling from the world-wide economic crisis, it looks to me as if we will continue spending hundreds of Billions each year in these two quagmires. It would be great if we could turn them into flourishing democracies – I guess – but, I really am worried about our own democracy. The people voted to get out of Iraq in 2006 and even more strongly in 2008. I will be very disappointed if I don’t see substantial numbers of our troops coming home from Iraq SOON! People say, “It’s the economy stupid” when it comes to politics – I just hope that Obama’s “base” doesn’t allow him to renig on his promise to bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq – and, I really hope he doesn’t get “sucked in” to an endless exercise in nation building in Afganistan.

If you’ve been to this site before you could be getting as sick of Dick Cheney as I am. I’d really rather write about something more significant, but I just feel so strongly that these Republicans need to be put out to pasture – PERMANENTLY – for the sake of our nation that I’ve got to keep writing. I mean these guys ran us all into the poor house (well, not all of us – those trillions that were hijacked from our economy had to go somewhere – and I’m sure if you’re reading this, you have a good idea who got the money – you guessed it, all the right wingers who have been clamoring for tax cuts for the past 30 years while they’ve been raping this economy for unbelievable amounts of money – it appears they are insatiable!), they got us involved in a seemingly endless unwinnable occupation in Iraq, they have virtually worn out our military (you know, in case their dream comes true that we would be attacked under Obama’s “watch” we are borderline defenseless), and they’ve indebted us up to our ears to our worst enemies (at least they should be our worst enemies – for anyone who’s not paying attention, almost all the 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia).

And now Cheney just won’t shut up. He’s creating a pile of lies that could only happen in America where you’ve got a public TV Station disguised as a news outlet (Fox) which continues to give Cheney a forum to make the pile deeper. Unfortunately, there’s a fair number of Americans who will listen and watch this garbage and “take it to the bank.” I work with a man who has a Master’s Degree and should know enough to double check his information, yet he buys this crap hook line and sinker – which just tells me there’s many more people who do the same thing. It’s like they can’t see the forest for the trees. This particular man is likely to lose his job due to the incompetence of the Bush administration and their eight year attack on our institutions (I really am hoping that he doesn’t lose his job, but it looks inevitable to me) yet he continues to speak as if Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly has a microphone imbedded in his system. For a public school teacher not to be able to see past their overt racism is a bit unnerving to me, but I’ve always thought at some point I could get him to see past their lying rhetoric. My point is that there are a lot of good Americans who are unwittingly falling for Cheney’s crap. And, it’s up to the Democrats and President Obama to do something about this.

President Obama doesn’t want to “look backward” because of the divisiveness it will cause. Well, EARTH TO OBAMA, “looking forward” is causing more divisiveness. Cheney and the others know they are guilty of war crimes. It’s like they’re daring us as a nation to do something about it. Cheney has admitted to more illegalities than anyone I’ve seen in my lifetime – at least in front of a national TV audience. And, how can the Justice Department and the President of the United States pretend that they aren’t noticing this. It’s unbelievable to me that we are even having this conversation – on more than one front. First, I can’t believe that the Bush administration lowered themselves to the level of torturers, illegal domestic wiretappers, CIA outers, and liars extraordinaire to get us stuck in this endless occupation. That, in itself, seems unbelievable to me.

Then you have the national tour by Cheney where every day he admits to another major crime as he continually tries to justify “all of the above.” Today he admitted (finally) that there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to 9/11. He did mention the memo from Mohammed Atta that supposedly linked Hussein with Al Qaeda which was then proved to be a hoax. What he failed to say (and I was surprised that Keith Olberman didn’t know this) was that the memo in question was forged by the CIA on direct instructions that came right out of the Vice President’s office – according to a book written by Ron Suskind (I can’t remember the title off hand, and it’s one of the books I’ve taken to school for my workmates which has caused them to walk the other way when they see me coming, because the reality of what our government has done is too depressing to them to take the chance that I might talk to them about it – they’re all teachers and focused on teaching children not solving national problems). Cheney is the most egregious liar I’ve ever seen. George Bush is pretty adept at lying, but he’s no match for Cheney. Actually, Bush is coming out from under his “rock” and starting to echo some of Cheney’s lies, so I might have to alter this point in the near future. Remember, Bush’s lawyer was none other than Alberto Gonzales – who committed perjury more times than any person I’ve seen, at least on national TV (these guys aren’t shy – or proud), in my lifetime.

As disgusting as all of that is, probably the worst part of all this is the lack of courage by the Democrats in calling a “halt” to things that are so wrong. There shouldn’t be a second thought about standing tall against it. I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive Nancy Pelosi for taking “Impeachment off the table.” How does one in her position do that? If you take an oath to defend the constitution, and the remedy for executives in the government committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” is impeachment, I just don’t get the rationale that one person gets to over-ride a document which has been the backbone of this nation for well over 200 years (in fact, the way to destroy that document is to either not enforce it, or like what is happening in today’s Washington DC – selectively enforce it). And, now you have President Obama and his Attorney General looking the other way as members of the previous administration admit to crimes as harsh as war crimes – on a daily basis. I guess President Obama’s thinking goes something like “If I get the economy straightened out, people will forget about all this torture stuff and I’ll get re-elected” – which may be true, but it will happen without my vote.

Here’s the problem with that kind of thinking. There are going to be more recessions, the economy goes up and down like a roller coaster and will continue to do so, no matter how it comes out of this recession/depression. The only thing that is going to endure from what is happening on the national scene today is the legal crisis which seems to be secondary to our President. We will continue to be at odds with the Muslim world as long as we leave the impression that we are condoning the torture which took place at Abu Ghraib, GITMO, and the other secret prisons around the world. And, it would be those who want us to get attacked again who would be happy with an endless conflict with the Muslims in this world. Jesse Ventura surmised (and I’m thinking correctly) that the reason nothing is happening in the accountability phase of our torture debate is because the Democrats are culpible. Now, I’m thinking if any Democrats are culpible it would be Pelosi and maybe Senator Rockefeller (the guy who caved on the FISA legislation) and for anyone who thinks I’m totally partisan – if they’re guilty of something regarding the torture issue, LET IT BE KNOWN! If we don’t throw the book at the Bush administration (and anyone else involved in their shenanigans) our nation will pay the price for that for the indefinite future. THE REASON I KEEP HARPING ON THIS ISSUE, IS BECAUSE IT’S SO IMPORTANT!

More and more people on the national scene are beginning to come around on this issue. The other day I listened to General Ricardo Sanchez, the General who was in charge in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal say essentially the same thing I’ve been saying for months. THERE MUST BE AN INVESTIGATION – he called it a truth commission. And, he said that the issue of accountability should be determined by the findings of the commission – nothing, including prosecuting the guilty parties, should be “off the table.” After the 2006 elections it was almost as frustrating for me to listen to Pelosi defend her “Impeachment is off the table” stance as it was to persevere during the final years of the Bush administration. And, it’s getting REALLY FRUSTRATING listening to Obama saying essentially the same thing about prosecuting war criminals. You have to wonder if the Republicans have “something” on the Democrats that “keeps them in line.” I know there is one thing I can agree with Newt Gingrich on (although our reasons are totally different) – I say that if there are not agressive hearings in the house regarding the torture, the dismissed justice department attorneys, the ignored subpoenas, the illegal wiretapping, the outed CIA agent, the lying us into war, and Henry Paulsen’s role in the TARP bailouts (to list a few of the outrageous acts of the Bush administration) – if she doesn’t think these things are important enough “to get to the bottom of them” – then just as Gingrich said – NANCY PELOSI SHOULD RESIGN AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!

I’ll end tonights diatribe by saying I’m not giving President Obama or Attorney General Holder a pass here either – It’s just that I’ve gone way over my limit already tonight. Their hesitancy to uphold our laws is unbelievable to me as well. And, I’m not trying to be totally negative – but, it’s been almost 6 months since Obama took over and as far as I can tell – NOT ONE BRIGADE HAS COME HOME FROM IRAQ. I’ll be speaking more to that issue soon, but if you read Thomas Ricks book “The Gamble,” and you look at what’s happening regarding the two wars which have made their way off the front pages of the news, I think you’ll agree that we are not coming home from Iraq anytime soon and Obama has bought into the “surge” and is applying the same “strategy” to Afganistan – so the reality is that our troops are going to be stuck in those two places indefinitely and we will remain vulnerable to the REAL THREATS that exist in Pakistan, North Korea, and Gaza. More to come on all that later …………..

There’s a lot to like about how President Obama is running his administration. I watched today as General Motors did the almost unthinkable not too long ago, but what was today widely expected, and declared bankruptcy. General Motors is a victim of their own short sightedness and the Bush administration’s horrific lack of governing skills – from top to bottom. It is interesting watching the contrast between how Obama’s administration is dealing with the “bailout” and how Bush’s did. As is all too painful to remember George W Bush was almost invisible in the last days of his Presidency as the country was falling apart all around us. His approach to “bailouts” was to hand money over to large corporations and hope that they would do something responsible with the money. Of course, these were the same corporations who had squandered trillions in a show of incredible greed and then paid themselves lush bonuses because they were all too important to “let go.”

Well, President Obama fired the CEO of General Motors, and when all is said and done with their restructuring, hopefully we will have an auto maker which will build cars that the American people can afford to buy and afford to drive – en masse. The plan, as I read it, was to create a company that can make money with a sales volume of somewhere approaching 60% of what it would take to make the pre-bankruptcy General Motors profitable. A leaner and hopefully “greener” corporation. The United Auto Workers were compelled to take serious cutbacks to make this plan workable and my hope is that the company will come out of bankruptcy stronger and employing as many American workers as possible. And the exciting part of this, I am surmizing, are the empty factories they are closing and the eager workforce which will not be a part of the “new” General Motors. I think that is where President Obama will make his mark – one way or the other – as history looks back on this troubled time.

I listened to Michael Moore on TV tonight making some superb suggestions of what “might be” regarding this restructuring. He harkened back to World War II days when, under FDR, many of the manufacturing facilities of the Detroit auto makers were “switched” to other needs – from airplane engines to I can’t remember what else – but the changeover was done in record time. He also pointed out the rationale behind using government money that might be going to retrain the laid off workers to start up some of these factories producing products that would enhance the future of this nation as we try to pull ourselves out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and at the same time try to reduce our need for OIL! For example, these factories could be making buses and light rail trains, wind turbines, and I’m sure the list would exceed the dollars necessary to make the transition from cars and trucks that are no longer practical in the U.S. to products that will free us from our dependence on foriegn oil. If we can throw over a trillion dollars at the Wall Street banks, the same banks which helped to create this crisis – we can come up with the money necessary to change the direction of our nation to one that depends less and less on imported oil.

I was talking to a friend of mine who has been working in a steel plant for approaching 20 years and is in danger of being jobless. He’s an engineer and he’s brilliant – you know, one of those guys you get around who seem to be able to build and or fix ANYTHING (he’s also a Republican – what I call the good Republicans who are being left “on the island,” so to speak, by the present Republican party). There are more and more people like my friend looking for work – these are extremely talented and creative individuals. During our conversation he commented on the need to build an electric grid to move the electricity that can be harnessed through wind generators in the Columbia gorge (ie T Boone Pickens). I have read where bringing our “infrastructure” up to code would take approximately 2.2 trillion dollars. Changing the way we move ourselves and the products we use around would take a substantial investment, but in the long run we would FINALLY be doing something sensible for our children and grandchildren – and this change would create MILLIONS of good paying jobs. For the past 25 years we have not only been borrowing as much money as we can as a nation we’ve been mortgaging the future of our children on our greedy backs by using all the good roads, bridges, and buildings built by our grandparents and not repairing or replacing them as needed. WE NOW HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE ALL THAT!

I found it very interesting and encouraging that the Stock Market went up over 3% on the day General Motors declared bankruptcy. Considering some people have estimated as many as 3 million jobs are on the line in saving GM, this – to me – showed how shrewed and well thought out this process has been by the Obamal administration. Everyone seems to see the potential benefit from doing this “right” – well, everyone except …….. you guessed it – THE REPUBLICANS. As I’ve stated over and over on this site – from the first day President Obama was elected, let alone his first official day in office, the Republicans have not been “on board” and are not going to be “on board” with ANYTHING OBAMA DOES. They have taken the huge gamble which almost seems to include them hoping for something bad to happen that they are going to fight everything – NO MATTER WHAT. The de-facto leader of the party – Rush Limbaugh (I can’t believe I’m even writing this – but it’s true) – has openly on numerous occasions (that I’ve heard with my own ears) said: “I hope Obama fails.” There are some exciting things happening, and it would be really nice to be having some positive input from the “Right” – somewhere besides the White House – but these Republicans are going to either destroy their own party or cheer for the destruction of our nation. It seems the damage done during the Bush years wasn’t enough, they want to take us totally into the “tank.”

What is curious about their position is they have Dick Cheney going around defending all the blunders of the Bush administration as if they “kept us safe.” Today, I heard him blame the 9/11 attacks on Richard Clarke who was one of the people from the Clinton administration urging those in the Bush administration to take Osama Bin Laden seriously. This is the Dick Cheney who, along with Condoleeza Rice, ignored one memo after another from the intelligence community about an imminent attack. He helped create a defense department under Donald Rumsfeld (Rumsfeld was very certainly “Cheney’s man”) that was at odds with the CIA and the National Security agency creating a void where there should have been close intercommunication which would have uncovered the 9/11 attacks well before the planes ever got off of the ground. Dick Cheney is busy trying to rewrite history in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary of virtually everything he says. IT WON’T WORK IN THE LONG TERM, and his only hope in the short term is that we have a television network (Fox “news”) which is no more than an arm of the right wing of the Republican party. The people on this network are unbelievable (and despicable) to me. I can’t imagine anyone who would call themselves a “journalist” and having any integrity at all, being an extension of a political party. In my mind, some of these guys border on traitors (they talk about sedition, they go along with the right wing rhetoric – no questions asked, and they even participate in the spurilous hate machine attacking the President of the United States).

What is really ironic to me concerning the recent debate has been the concerted effort of the right wing (in concert with Fox) to label the new Supreme Court nominee as a racist. OK, if you can’t see the irony in Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and these others who thought “Barack the Majic Negro” was a funny takeoff of an old song calling anyone a racist, then I would feel safe in saying that you’ve not been paying much attention to American politics of the past few years (probably 20+ years would be more appropriate). These guys will say anything at anytime without the slightest worry regarding the truthfulness of their remarks. That’s because they are backed by a (fortunately shrinking) base of people who question nothing that comes from their mouths. I know this because I have friends who I can’t even talk to about politics anymore because they spew the identical garbage – as if it came out of Rush’s mouth himself – and will defend it to the “death” even if you provide proof that they’ve been listening to lies. For some reason there’s a significant number of Americans who are going to believe what these right wing liars spew out no matter what. The really scary part of all this is that it appears to me that even the Democrats are quaking in their boots about taking these Republicans on – STRAIGHT UP!

I mean, if the only thing that’s going to prevent us, as a nation, from coming out of this financial crisis stronger and FINALLY headed in a direction which will “divorce” us from the Saudi Oil barons and the Chinese bankers is the Republican naysayers – WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? Even Obama seems to feel a need to placate these thugs. There are more and more sensible leaders coming out each day encouraging the Democrats to move forward without a single Republican vote (you got it – SCREW EM!), and more importantly, to “look backward” and investigate the Bush administration’s lawbreaking – prosecuting where appropriate – we’re all just waiting for the Democratic party – AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION – to get “on board.” Despite all the good Obama is doing, should he remain stubborn about “looking backward” I will never vote for him again. I am totally encouraged by much of what he’s proposing, but I just don’t “get” the lack of will in enforcing our laws and constitution. To me, looking the other way is not an option. The difference in dealing with the bailout between the Bush administration (no strings attached) and the Obama administration (restructuring GM) is stark – in contrast to how both administrations seem to think that high government officials are above the law. Investigating the Bush administration might be all it takes to shut these Republicans up. The national discourse can be focused on all the exciting opportunities in front of us once Dick Cheney and his co-conspirators are in jail!

My disgust with the Republican party, more specifically the Bush administration, is what motivated me to start writing this “blog.” I have long felt a deep sense of gratitude that I was fortunate enough to have grown up in the United States of America, and better yet, was able to make it through college (took 25 years :o), and have been able to participate in the economy as a paying taxpayer for most of my adult life (I’ve been officially a member of the “work force” for 45 years). In fact, due to a couple “road bumps” along the way, every year when it’s time to pay my taxes, I give thanks – because I know what it’s like to not have to pay taxes – in my case because I had no income on a couple of occasions. I think this is what drives some of my frustration with Republicans. They seemingly complain about any taxes they have to pay while, at the same time, complaining about how government services are inadequate. To me, it’s the old “I want something for nothing” routine, and it’s part of the hypocrisy that seems to permeate both political parties in this great nation.

The United States of America became a great nation on the backs of the blue collar working men and women who built the cities, the roads, the railroads, the dams, the electical grid, and on and on. Entrepenuers have created thriving businesses which have accelerated the modernization of the entire world, and the workers they hired have been the most productive work force in the history of the world. Millions of Americans have volunteered to participate in our military, which at one point in our history, was the saving grace of the world as the German military machines were thwarted during both “World Wars” in the first half of the 20th century. The signs of a “train” headed in the wrong direction appeared in the early 60’s as our leaders allowed us to be drawn into the Viet Nam conflict based on fear of communism. I always thought the Viet Nam conflict was such a profound blunder that our leaders would never allow something like that to happen again – certainly not in my lifetime.

The sixties spawned the “hippie” movement, ushered in the era of casual drug use – especially among younger Americans, and a seeming willingness to protest the actions of the government by a large section of what is now the so-called baby-boom generation. Unfortunately, this is the generation which includes George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and – I have to add – myself. During the Viet Nam conflict there was a military draft which was designed to spread the “burden” of “service” across the board, but, in reality, people like Bush, Cheney, and others were able to “skirt” the draft by having prominent parents or other ways of receiving deferments from service. In my case, despite my attempt to be a US Marine, I received a deferment due to an injury in football which made me, according to the Marine doctor giving the physical “unfit for service.” Many people told me how lucky I was at the time and it took a few years before that really sunk in.

However, the reality was that over 50,000 Americans – including 13 members of my graduating class from high school – paid the ultimate price for cavalier decisions made by our leaders. This experience, and watching what happened to my highschool classmates who served in Viet Nam and returned to a nation which would virtually ingnore their sacrifices – amidst the great debate generated by the war – was what caused me such angst when George W Bush repeated the incredible blunder of Viet Nam by launching an invasion of Iraq in 2003. The subsequent years brought me out of my political “hibernation” which led to my reading of, up to today’s date, close to 30 books chronicling the internal workings of our government – mainly in the GW Bush years, but beyond as well. In fact, I have friends where I work who don’t even want to talk to me any more, because I would bring each book to school (I’m a public school teacher) with the idea that maybe they should read them – and knowing what is actually happening in our nation’s government is just too depressing for them. The truth is, we have, as a nation, been taught that our government is good and honorable, and we (myself included) have a tendency to just trust them to do “the right thing.”

This is a government, when you dig into what is happening, that consists – at least in the Congress of Washington DC – of a group of Senators and Representatives who have universally been bought off by the huge multi-national corporations which have been recently defined as “too big to fail.” As taxpayers, we continue to work our butts off every day – statistically, for less return for more production – so that these Congress people can dole out our tax dollars to these corporations by the TRILLIONS! This is what gets me to the part that is so annoying. It is a virtual given that our leaders in Congress are basically pathological liars. When it is pointed out that this is the case, people respond with phrases such as: “Well, duh!” It has gotten to the level of the absurd – IT IS DESTROYING THE VERY NATION THAT WE ALL LOVE! And, I don’t feel I can “attack” the Republicans anymore without some kind of Democratic disclaimer. I have a sticker on my car which says “Enough is Enough, vote Democratic.” I put that on during the election of 2006 with the hope that a Democratic victory would bring our brave soldiers home from Iraq. For the first time in my life, I sent money to various Democratic candidates in a miniscule attempt to be a part of a significant change in direction of this nation. Obviously, the Democratic party has shown itself to be almost exactly what the despised Republicans claim – “spineless.” (that’s my word which summarizes what I feel is representative of claims I’ve heard for years from Republicans about Democrats)

This is exactly why the Republicans claim Democrats are “inferior” when it comes to “national security.” Of course, the claims are ludicrous, because no one could be worse than the Republicans since George Bush took over relating to National Security. But, the reality remains that the Democratic party continues to show itself as spineless in many ways – and just as “mortgaged” to big business as the Republicans – maybe nearly as mortgaged would be a more appropriate way to say it. The bottom line is prostitution is wrong no matter how much you’re charging the client. And we, as voters, seem to have no good options at this point. I apologize for the lengthy history lesson, but felt it was necessary to get to my main point of the evening.

I’ve been railing against the “overtures” President Obama has been making to Republicans almost since he took office. The crimes committed by the Bush administration are no secret. There isn’t a lot of investigation necessary in at least a couple of areas because the perpetrators have admitted on national TV that they committed war crimes in one respect and direct violations of wiretapping laws in another. In fact, it almost seems impossible to get Dick Cheney to shut up about authorizing torture directly in violation of our own laws and the international laws of the Geneva Conventions. These politicians are very cagey and everything they do is calculated. And, I don’t put President Obama above the fray in this regard. There’s a lot for me to like about what Obama wants to accomplish and it is true that in his first four months in office much has been done. The problem I’m having is that while much of the “much” is good, the bad part could be REALLY BAD. For some strange reason, Obama being a Constitutional scholar, the President is not only furthering the notion that our nation’s laws are enforced selectively – HE IS DOING IT IN AN EMPHATIC MANNER! I’m afraid the damage may be irreverseable – because realistically, and he I’m sure is well aware of this, if his “base” rebels the “other option” is back to Republican rule! Ughhhhhhh!!!!!

His refusal to REALLY “clean up the mess” of the Bush administration is BAFFLING! He’s implying that by getting Wall Street “back on track” our nation is on the way to recovery. The problem I have with that thinking is that if the “Bush Crime family” as they are so affectionately referred to by many on the “left” is allowed to “get away” with their crimes – A TERRIBLE PRECEDENT has been embedded in our legal history books. And, I’m beginning to see some either naivete on Obama’s part, or more realistically, some calculated voter manipulation that is not encouraging. I’m very concerned that the nomination of Sonia Sotomayer for the Supreme Court is being used as a way to stop the torture debate in it’s tracks. We now have a debate raging that was entirely predictable and seems to be getting fueled, very subtley by the White House – I suspect as a way to end the debate over whether or not Bush and company should be prosecuted. The end result may very well be they will be “off the hook.”

Let me explain in more detail. The Republicans made it clear they were going to attack whoever Obama nominated for the Supreme Court vacancy. Therefore, their diatribe is not worth responding to. When the Republicans take one phrase spoken years ago completely out of context to claim this woman is a racist – IT’S NOT WORTH A RESPONSE. Give me a break! The Republicans claiming a Latino Woman Judge is a racist – talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Here’s the rub. Today, I listened to the White House explaining how “she could have probably used different words to make her point.” Absurd! If you read the whole text of her speech, her words make perfect sense. And, I’m not trying to get caught up in the debate over this appointment – in fact, my point is I believe the appointment itself and its timing is designed to end the torture debate by switching the national debate to a nomination which Obama is certain to ultimately win. Very canny political move – gets his nominee on the court and when all is said and done Cheney will be out of the news and we’ll be arguing about something other than torture and other laws violated by the Bush administration.

I can only bring myself to believe the motivation is that President Obama doesn’t want to take the chance that he will have the next President coming after him. You know, like doctors protecting other doctors, lawyers protecting other lawyers, etc. You can’t say, on the one hand when you’re giving a national speech to explain what will be done with the detainees at GITMO that “We are a nation of laws” and our laws are enforced fairly and without prejudice – and then, on the other hand, turn your back on clear criminal activity without being just as wrong as the people who came before you that you’re protecting. I have never written anything in my life which I have more hope that I’M WRONG! But, I’m beginning to see a brilliant calculating politician in Obama who will very likely get some very important accomplishments through Congress, but at the same time, is risking leaving us with a legacy that our leaders are above the law and confirming President Nixon’s claim that “If the President does it, it must be legal.” There have been many courageous efforts to disprove that claim – in my lifetime – but for some reason we now have a President who is willing to undo all that work. The other night I listened to a very refreshing politician (well former politician) make a profoud point that I hadn’t even considered, but since has really resonated with me. Jesse Ventura said: “The only possible reason Obama’s not prosecuting the Bush administration is because Democrats are culpible.” After thinking of Nancy Pelosi’s incredible “Impeachment is off the table,” and the actions of many Senators (including Obama) caving in on the war and the FISA bill – inexplicably – I believe Ventura is RIGHT ON!

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!

I started writing on this “blog” – if that is what it is (so far, no comments from people who have read the posts) – because of my frustration with the direction of the United States of America which peaked (my frustration that is) during the reign of George W Bush/Dick Cheney in the early part of the 21st Century. Kind of like having a couple “Old Testament Guys” at the helm a few thousand years late. During this time my first daughter got married and had a grandchild (well, I think you get the point – she had a child, but I see everything from my own perspective :o) which really heightened my interest in the direction of our country and intensified the conviction I felt about the 30 years or so of silence I had “committed” since I became (originally) disgusted following the Viet Nam Fiasco (Fiasco #1 in my lifetime). Having become more of a realist with the “wisdom” of 60+ years of breathing, I have confined most of my “speaking out” to this venue and the lunchroom at the school where I work. And really, in respect to the other teachers who eat in that lunchroom, it’s really largely confined to this site.

All that being said, I was really hopeful when I “latched on” to the candidacy of Barack Obama during the election of 2008. I read his book (among about 25 books I read to get “re-informed” from my years of “hibernation”), I listened to his speeches, I believed his rhetoric, and I even sent him money. I got tears in my eyes the night he was elected President – called a Black friend of mine to tell him that I never thought I’d see the day this happened, but couldn’t get the words out of my mouth because I instantaneously realized my excitement and relief was miniscule compared to my friend who has spent a lifetime being discriminated against due to the color of his skin – this is a man who I wouldn’t be worthy to wear his shoes. The reality that HOPE was rekindled that day was almost overwhelming.

And I remember thinking that the opportunity was there for the first President of color to be one of the greatest Presidents of all time (despite what I may eventually write tonight – I still believe this). However, at the same time, I realized there would be tremendous opposition – much of it exactly for the reason I was so excited – Our President descended from an African – he is not white. As much as I hate this reason – I know it is there, and I have witnessed it lurching out in many forms since Obama moved into the White House. Those of us who have been watching politics for many years know some of the people with racist tendencies – for example the de-facto head of the Republican party, Rush Limbaugh is an overt racist. He’s practiced his “wares” on national TV and on his radio show repeatedly. The incident that comes to mind relates back to how Limbaugh somehow managed to get a spot on “Monday Night Football” and lasted about a week before making a racially insensitive remark about a Black quarterback. In fact, I figured that Obama is kind of in the same place as the first Black quarterback in the NFL – succeed or there might not be another Black quarterback (President) – because we have such a tendency to stereotype as Americans (probably as humans – I’m just more familiar with Americans – OK, I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right, I do the same thing – make stupid judgements about people). Worse than the overt racists are the stealthy ones, those “flying under the radar” who just can’t stand the idea that the “Commander in Chief” is of African descent. And, I believe there are many political leaders – members of Congress, governors, etc. – who fall into this category (including many Democrats!)

This gets me to one of the main reasons I say there are so many things to write about – which is the disastrous state of our Congress. It is also why I feel Obama has the opportunity to be a great President. I’m just a bit (actually a lot) concerned that he has his focus a bit tweeked – and the irony here is that what’s bothering me about President Obama is how he’s trying to stay focused by “looking forward” and doing things that are causing the very things he’s trying to avoid and possibly leading him to a “date” with disaster – at least in my “humble” opinion (I’m really trying to save all the “I told you so’s” until another time). Let me get back to the disastrous state of our Congress. First off, the Republicans have been reduced to a bunch of whining sheeplike creatures who are following a shepherd that talks to a national audience of “ditto heads” for three hours a day – and that’s about it. They’re finding themselves defending torture, the shredding of our constitution, the destruction of our middle class, and the public welfare of the largest banks in the country. They’re OK with bailing out banks, but they hate helping car companies who have union workers. They don’t want to pay any taxes, but they want more benefits – more and better roads and bridges, a stronger more violent military, more prisons, safer planes, and lower interest rates. They are opposed to abortion AND healthcare for children, and they favor the death penalty and unprovoked war. They don’t appear to have a single good idea aimed at fixing the MESS created by the Bush administration mostly because THEY’D LIKE TO DO MORE MESS CREATING.

Of course, then there’s the Democrats (if only there really was a third party out there – one with some guts). I think you can surmise from the last comment in parentheses what I think of the Democrats. First they took my money in the 2006 election giving me the FALSE IMPRESSION they we’re going to end the (endless) war in Iraq. The war that should have never begun, the war that has cost America some 4500 lives (who’s counting anymore? not apparently passe`), has cost Iraq about a million lives (not to mention the wounded, terrified, and displaced), and that everyone I know of voted in 2006 AND 2008 TO END! But, much to my chagrine, the war is still going on – and, in my opinion, much to Obama’s chagrine, OUR TROOPS DON’T SEEM TO BE COMING HOME AT ALL!(It’s almost June) Today, the Democrats joined Republicans in refusing to fund the closing of GITMO because as Harry Reid said, “You can’t move terrorists without releasing them.” Huh? I’m not sure what the guy’s drinking, but personally, if I was worried about moving them, I’d shackle em up pretty tight – JUST TO BE SAFE. Put them in a prison cell next to Charles Manson – and maybe do an experiment to see who is more nuts (probably the “terrorists” if they’ve been through enough of Cheney’s Marqui de Sade impersonations (forgive me if I’m getting a little twisted here, but I keep getting visions of the Abu Ghraib photos – and now we know who cooked those ideas up). Getting back to the Democrats, they have no problem voting against Obama on the GITMO issue, apparently trying to show how “strong” they are on “national security,” but where was all this courage when they could have voted against Bush and ended the Iraqi occupation about 1500 American lives ago. And, of course, then there’s Nancy Pelosi, who will go down in infamy for saying “Impeachment is off the table” regarding a President that SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPEACHED! Personally, I too want to know what Pelosi knew about torture. (If you’ve been watching the news lately, the Republicans are trying to blame torture on her to deflect the blame from where it belongs – but I’m OK with finding out whether or not she should have been speaking up about this) Between Reid and Pelosi, if the Democrats can’t come up with something better than that, well – we all are hurting!

And this is where my concern for Obama comes in. Right now in our history, we DESPARATELY NEED A STRONG LEADER! We don’t need another pragmatist in the White House. We need someone with a clear vision of what is right for this nation and is prepared to fight for it. Today’s vote on the closing of GITMO should have just assured Obama that he’s in for the fight of the century. These Congress people remind me so much of my sixth grade students (usually, I reserve that honor specifically for Republicans, but tonight I’m throwing the whole Congress in) – everything needs to be BLACK AND WHITE for these guys. They specialize in the grey area – by the time they get done with an issue virtually no one benefits from their results – so that we are stuck in this seemingly endless cycle of the STATUS QUO. Personally, I’m looking for something better than that – and for this to happen, President Obama needs to make a clear SPLIT FROM THE PAST! This would require a lot of COURAGE. However, I’m very certain that his “first hundred days” are leading us right back to where we started – with a slight tweak in direction. (If Obama can get the healthcare legislation and energy legislation through, I’ll maybe recant a bit)

Yes, I’m happy about some of the accomplishments and many of the goals. But, I’ll tell you what I think is the problem – and if you’ve been on this site much before tonight, what’s coming next shouldn’t surprise you too much. First, I understand that getting the economy “back on track” is a priority, BUT – if we end up where we were (cow-towing to Wall Street and the major corporations) we’re just putting off the inevitable. I say, we’ve created this mess, let’s fix it now instead of putting it off on our children (and here, I could talk about many things, but I’ll save the specifics for another evening). I’m seeing way too much GW Bush in the Obama administration. I hate to even say that, because I know that President Obama is a much better man and more honorable man than President Bush – but the evidence is mounting in a way that is not favorable from my perspective (I’ve written Obama about this, and just as I would have expected from Bush, got no reply – even from some flunkee who reads the email messages). Let me list the problems: as stated above, it’s almost June (soon to be six months in office) and I haven’t heard of one troop coming home from Iraq – maybe they’re coming home, but I haven’t heard about it and believe me, I’m tying to hear about this because I want us out of there in the WORST WAY! Second, and I’m now hearing others speaking out about this – the US government is continuing the warrantless wiretapping policy of the Bush administration, the FISA bill hasn’t been “fixed” (and I’ve heard little talk about fixing it), and Obama’s justice department has taken up the torch of the Bush administration defending this utterly defenseless policy. Third, THERE CAN BE NO QUESTION BUSH/CHENEY/RUMSFELD/RICE/TENET/ADDINGTON/ and others authorized torture and many members of the military, the CIA, and some reports suggest “contractors” carried out ILLEGAL TORTURE. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS and President Obama is stubbornly refusing to honor his PLEDGE TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION AND FAITHFULLY ENFORCE THE LAWS OF THE LAND. Fourth, we are “surging” in Afganistan with a seemingly pointless campaign which is killing more American troops and Afganistan civilians than terrorists – apparently continuing the pointless “nation building” premise of the “Bush doctrine.” And finally, our justice department seems to be helpless in actually enforcing the laws of the land if the perpetrator is someone “important” in Washington DC. Today it was reported that President Obama responded a bit angrily when a group of “liberal” human rights advocates “called” him on his Bush-like policies advising him that if he continued the present direction he would be assuming ownership of these policies. HE DIDN’T LIKE THIS SUGGESTION. But let me end here be saying something that grieves me and I couldn’t believe I’d be saying it four plus months ago: President Obama, you are in danger of taking ownership of Bush administration follies!

I keep telling myself that we aren’t as stupid as the Republicans think we are. And, by us, I mean the American people in general. However, it is obvious that there is a bunch of “us” who don’t pay too much attention to what is “going on,” and rely on others for their information. In fact, many of my Christian friends say they hate politics and they just don’t pay attention to it. Personally, I think that would be for the better, except that there is a small number of “Right Wing” politicians who have “snagged” (my word) these Christian’s votes by making a public spectacle about abortion. (Please don’t get me wrong here – this post is not about abortion and personally I can’t find any way to look at abortion as something other than taking a human life – it has been an issue which has grieved me since before Roe v Wade, because I knew of people who considered abortion nothing more than birth control of last resort – this was before it was “legal” – I’ll talk about all that at another time). The problem I have with the abortion issue is with the Christians who don’t pay attention to the “rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say – and end up supporting politicians who do things like torture people, invade people’s privacy in violation of the constitution, start illegal wars, and generally support legislation which “bludgeons” the middle class. The irony here is that most of these Christians are members of the middle class.

I’m saying this because the rhetoric of the Republicans who appear to be the “leaders” of this seemingly leaderless party is getting more absurd all the time. And yet, there is always the “base” which seems to be willing to go to the “tank” with these guys. And, apparently the “base” is made up mostly of conservative Christians – many of my friends included. I go to church with these people and I honestly have no idea how they can connect what we learn in church with the reality of what these Republican hypocrits are spewing out each and every day. I have come to appreciate Keith Olberman who has a show on MSNBC every weekday evening and he’s about the only one out there who is willing to take these thugs on face up (well, now they have Rachel Maddow who is doing the same). Despite their obvious “bias” – I find the information on their shows about the closest thing I can find to people trying to report what is actually going on out there (they do not give Obama and the Democrats a “free pass”). For those of you who watch Fox “News” – you might try these guys. I was forced to watch Fox for several months after I discontinued my satellite TV service because it was the only channel that wasn’t stopped. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was watching people who portrayed themselves as purveyors of the news yet they were apparently caucusing with Republicans because their rhetoric was completely parallel to what I was hearing from the Republican politicians. In the six months I watched that station I learned to put Sean Hannity in the same light – or possibly lower if that’s possible – with Rush Limbaugh – the man who I believe has perfected the art of lying on the public airwaves – always to further the propoganda machine of the Republican party.

Well, these guys are getting more absurd all the time. Now we’ve got Limbaugh as the apparent “head” of the party, there’s Dick Cheney running around trying to convince everyone that torture is what has kept us safe for the past 7 and 1/2 years, there’s John Boehner saying that Barack Obama’s policies make him “sick to his stomach,” there’s Alan Keyes (and others) claiming that Obama is a Communist, and it goes on and on. I read today that the Republicans have garnered pledges in the millions to fight Obama’s Supreme Court nominee – it doesn’t matter who it is, they are going to make a battle of it – trying to rile up this “base” – and I GUARANTEE YOU – the debate will center on abortion. (these people have watched quietly as over a million people have died as a direct result of devious decisions made by George Bush – but they will continue to support him because he was against abortion!) They are prepared for a major fight over Obama’s health care proposals which would create a government run health care insurance plan which would compete with the private insurers. The Republicans are opposed to this – not because of the benefits it would have on millions of Americans, especially the ones who don’t have or can’t get health insurance – but because they’re worried millions of Americans who are presently insured with private companies – such as Blue Cross (where I’m insured) – will switch due to the private companies inability to “compete” with the government plan.

These Republicans have tried to “twist” the debate on torture around so that the focus is on Nancy Pelosi – kind of like “you get my guy and I’ll get you” type of philosophy. The problem with that logic is there’s probably a lot of progressives who feel just as I do. INVESTIGATE THE TORTURE ISSUE – COMPLETELY, AND LET THE CARDS FALL WHERE THEY MAY! If Nancy Pelosi did something she shouldn’t have – then I have no different feelings toward her than I do for Dick Cheney. Let everything come out – THIS IS A MUST FOR THE FUTURE HEALTH OF THIS NATION – not to mention the necessity of this happening before we can even hope to regain our “moral authority” with the rest of the world. And, the other thing these Republicans are miscalculating on – they are attempting to give Obama a series of ZERO’S on major legislative votes in an attempt to lead his administration into “failure.” I believe in the process the only thing they’re accomplishing is shrinking their own “base.” Personally, I don’t believe the American people are stupid – and I believe as the economy continues to contract – more and more people are starting to “pay attention.” They are beginning to see these Republicans for what they are – nothing more than irresponsible obstructionists.

Still another thing they’re miscalculating, in my view, is that “Progressives” are like the sheep that Republicans are so proud of being. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe there are many other people out there who voted for Obama, like myself, who are not automatically going to support everything he does. In fact, I firmly believe that Obama’s “looking forward, instead of backward” is kind of blowing up in his face and it will soon be changed. The only people I’m hearing (now) who support that approach are the moderate Republicans who have begun to lean toward Obama due to the “ridiculous rhetoric” coming from the leaders of the Republican “leadership” (Limbaugh, Cheney, Boehner, et al – ughh!) at this time. The longer Obama waits to start “investigating” the Bush administration the worse the blowback will be. In my view, the simple truth is – the Bush administration MUST BE FULLY INVESTIGATED. Their crimes were too egregious and there were too many of them to just “look the other way” – that’s what is really being said when Obama says “looking forward.”

The arrogance of the Bush administration was off the charts and I believe that the “secrets” will continue to come out for (probably) years to come. Obama would be wise to accelerate the problem this causes him as he tries to push through his agenda by appointing a special prosecutor and getting it over with. Then, he possibly could concentrate on the issues at hand. It has been reported that President Obama is going to meet soon with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and there might be an agreement where Israel would support the formation of a Palestinian state. Now, with Israel, we shouldn’t get too excited because there will always be caveats that the Palestinians won’t accept – but this could be a MAJOR HISTORICAL announcement. Yet, I can virtually guarantee that the Republicans will find a way to say this is due to something they have done in the past – and, at the news conference to announce this, there will be questions that relate to torture and whether or not Obama is going to support prosecution of those who authorized it and carried it out. My point: The sooner President Obama supports an investigation of the Bush administration the sooner he can get on with fixing all the stuff Bush and company screwed up!

I guess the thing that is really “bugging” me is the fact that these Republicans just WON’T SHUT UP! If you’ve read any of my previous posts you would know that I believe that having a “viable” opposition party is PARAMOUNT to the success of our republic. The practical solution to that problem is the Republican party, but if the leadership continues to be Limbaugh, Hannity, Cheney, and these governors who are proposing succession from the Union (presumably because we have a Black President – well, half “Black”) – maybe it’s time for the Green Party or some other group to step forward and challenge the Democrats. I know that I would support a party that was willing to firmly adhere to our constitution (no warrantless wiretapping of our people no matter who attacks us, no torture, and no refusals to testify before Congress when issued a subpoena among other things). There are many other Americans who feel just as I do that this idea that we can decide whether or not to prosecute illegal activity is HOGWASH! President Obama doesn’t have much time to figure this out – he will soon start losing support from his “base” in droves – if he doesn’t deliver on the “Change we want to believe in.” There are too many decisions being made that resemble the Bush administration – THIS IS BAD! So far, no troops have come home from Iraq, the warrantless wiretapping continues (that hasn’t even made the “evening” news yet), and the Republicans are twisting the torture issue around on the Democrats (ie – Nancy Pelosi). President Obama, the real war that needs to be won is a “war within!” There is nothing the Republicans won’t say in order to destroy the your administration! They (the Republicans) believe that you, President Obama, don’t have the courage to prosecute them!