Tonight I watched gw bush give a short speech while at the Olympics while the Russians are invading The Republic of Georgia who had invaded a “disputed” territory that I can’t pronounce or spell the name.  While watching Countdown with Keith Olberman, I saw mccain’s speech (which like all of his speeches tries to suggest that he’s some kind of great foriegn policy expert) where he couldn’t even pronounce the name correctly of the leader of Georgia that he is such a good friend of.  The early reports that I have seen and heard mention that the dead bodies lying in the wake of the Russian advance include several that appear to be from the US.  It is clear, also from the early reporting, that Georgia was empowered by massive infusions of weapons from both the US and Israel.  There have also been reports that there are at least 1000 American “advisors” in Georgia and at least 2500 “mercenaries” (what did you think blackwater was going to do as Iraq winds down – they have to go somewhere) and I don’t even want to guess how much money we, the American taxpayers, are spending in this armament.  Of course, both bush and mccain continue what has become the standard American saber rattling, that threatens the Russians and empoldens the Georgians (who I don’t dispute that we should be standing with – if only because we encouraged them, I’m sure, to start this encounter).  What I find really interesting is that, in my opinion, the rest of the world fully understands that the main “success” of the bush foriegn policy is to render our military virtually helpless in the  face of any situation outside of Iraq and Afganistan – even if our own people don’t understand this.  We have been programmed to think that the great US can solve any problem in the world militarily.  And of course, on many occasions, bush has equated diplomacy with appeasement – so what are the chances he’ll return from the Olympics and try to stop the killing that is happening as I write this in Georgia (and for anyone who doesn’t know, I’m not talking about the state in the southern part of the US – but the breakaway republic that “left” the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s) through diplomacy.  What do you think the main reason we would be allied with the Republic of Georgia?  In my opinion it is the same reason we invaded Iraq, OIL!!!  Does it surprise anyone that our present government would be closely allied with a major oil producer which, if I understand it correctly, has a major oil pipeline running through its country? The area of dispute that the Georgians invaded is, according to what I’ve read, about 80% Russian.  It will be interesting when (and if) all the details come out, who and what was behind this invasion.  The part that really struck me, and I hope strikes many other Americans, is that we are in a pitiful state as the “world’s leader” due to the bush administration’s incredibly boneheaded foriegn policy.  I could go on and on about the failures, both of judgement and strategy, since gw took office, but it is more than pathetic, it is a reflection on every US citizen, and the people of the world (remember we’re now in a world economy whether we like it or not) are holding their breath – as many US citizens, including myself – until this bumbling criminal is out of office (I don’t think they care as much as I do that bush and his cronies are held legally liable for their lawbreaking, they just want this period of US history to be over).  What is scary to me is that there is some remote possibility that mccain could get elected which would be even worse.  Of course he will have the same invisible thugs writing his speeches (it has become apparent to me lately that this process has already begun) and the same criminals in the background directing policy for this country and their corporate cronies who are presently running it.  And don’t kid yourselves, there are many corporate cronies, people who think of nothing but the bottom line, who have a vested interest in keeping bush in power through mccain.  When I read today a report by the Government Accounting Office that fully two thirds of the corporations in this country paid – ZERO – taxes from 1998 through 2005 – I about gagged.  These companies have something like 2.5 trillion dollars (combined) in sales each year and pay nothing in taxes, through generous loopholes provided by our leaders (this has to lean toward republicans, but the reality is they couldn’t do this without democrats as well).  The way I figure it, just a 10% rate would cut the deficit in this country in half – which, of course, is a subject (the deficit) for another day.  I’m trying not to stray here, my point is that there are a lot of people in this country that don’t care about anything more than their bottom line, and they know that if Obama is elected president the free ride will possibly come to an end.  The fact that our foreign policy is such a mess, and mccain will be more of the same, doesn’t matter to them at all.  It seems to me they can’t get enough money – the more they get, the more they want.  Again, my point is that I hope and pray that the American public sees past this deceit.  We can’t afford more of this warmongering by our president, who will portray this as Russian agression, but when the truth comes out, I’m betting that bush and his cronies were right in the thick of encouraging Georgia to invade it’s neighbor that would predictably bring a response from the Russians.  This seems like a stupid miscalculation (does that surprise anyone) by the bush white house, but it also feels like “here we go again!”

Last evening I witnessed something that felt very embarrassing to me and upon reflection my embarrassment changed to alarm.  I saw mccain standing in front of a bunch of bikers giving what I first thought was an off the cuff rant about gas prices and energy policy and when I saw him checking his notes on a music stand that was set up on the podium I became even more concerned because I felt that the remarks were planned.  You would have to hear this in person to fully understand what a baffoon this guy is (you could probably see it by checking Keith Olberman’s website if you missed it) but I thought about his remarks and came to the conclusion the republicans are using mccain to help salvage bush’s image.  mccain makes bush seem like an intellectual.  I was sitting there thinking how, in a country as supposedly advanced as the US, could such a bumbler make it to the “presumptive republican candidate.”  I still feel that a few more exhibitions like the “biker rap” where mccain essentially threw his wife under the bus, nominating her for “Miss Buffalo Chip,”  will get any sane thinking republican to re-think their vote at the convention.  This guy is as close to an idiot as I’ve seen in politics, and I feel I’ve seen quite a few of them over my 45 years of following these things.  I keep trying to figure out why the republicans have him as their torch bearer.  Here are a few of my thoughts:  (1) The economy and foriegn policy is so messed up from 8 yeaers of bush, they want a democrat to blame for the impending disasters so that at some point in time they can get another bush in the White House.  (2) Getting a democrat in the White House along with a democraticly controlled legislature will allow the middle class to be rejuvenated, common people will have money, the republicanse can create another contract for America in 8 years, and there will be more money to fleece from the unsuspecting public in the guise of less taxes and balanced budgets. (3) This one should maybe number one;  Karl Rove and his cronies picked the most ridiculous candidate they could find just to prove that they are the ones who win the elections and it doesn’t matter who the candidate is.  They will “hammer” Obama enough to keep it close and with the help of the voting machine manufacturers they will prove that they are “geniuses.”  This all is honestly hard for me to believe.  After going through Viet Nam, I thought the people would not be stupid enough to fall for another disastrous occupation of choice (I forgot how much money the war mongers make on these things).  After 5+ years of a bigger disaster than Viet Nam, I thought there would be no way that people would fall for someone who thought Iraq was a good idea, especially a man who (and as hard as it may be to believe, I’m quoting here) says, “we’re going to win the war in Iraq, by winning!!!!! (I’m not kidding, mccain actually said that in front of 50,000 bikers – and sadly, many of them started cheering and waving tiny US flags).  It is still hard for me to believe that there could be very many people in this country who could be for a man who admits that he knows nothing about economics at a time when his predecessor has but us in the most severe economic bind since the great depression (and some people think this one will out-do that one!).  Of course, as a school teacher, I know there are many out there who don’t know that Chechoslovakia was broken up over 15 years ago, that there is no Iraq/Pakistan border, that there is no way Iran would train the Sunnis of Al Qaeda, but for someone who portrays himself as the most qualified to lead this nation’s foriegn policy, I would expect him to have a clue about this stuff and I hope the voters pick up on this before the election.  I’ll never forget listening to Jay Leno before the 2000 election using the metaphor of the wizard of oz to explain, about what at the time was the “bush ticket” for president, that cheney needed a heart and bush needed a brain.  That proved to be the most accurate assessment of what we were about to get for the next 8 years.  At this point in time it’s still up in the air as to who mccain will pick as his VP choice, but to say that he (mccain) needs a brain, in my opinion is an understatement.  He even looks like a puppet when he is on the stage trying to be flamboyant – and he clearly, at least to me, has become a puppet of the Rove criminals who will go to any length to win an election.  I really hope people get past all the BS, because even if guess number one above is the republican’s reason for nominating this moron (I hate using words like that to describe anyone – the one rule in my classroom is no putdowns – but this election is important and I’m just stumbling for understanding how they could choose someone that I would feel confident debating as their nominee – there has to be something to this that I’m not seeing) because they have a better view of the impending disaster we all face in this country, at least I feel that we have a chance if Obama is elected – especially if the dems can gain a stronger grip on Congress (like making joe lieberman irrelevant – that’s a topic for another day, but watching him follow mccain around like a puppy dog and listening to his turn-coat take on things makes me sick – because the deomocrats are basically forced to put up with him – and leaves me wondering what’s going on in Connecticuit?).  The bottom line is that at this moment in time the “invisible” republicans, the ones who are laughing all the way to the bank, are raking in as much as they can in case they no longer have a sugar daddy in the White House come 2009, and I’m trying to portray mccain in a way that anyone who might read this would realize that he is another puppet for the corporatocritists (is that a word?) and him getting elected would not be funny, it would not be a joke!!!!!!

I hope the democrats wake up before it’s too late. When I saw karl rove’s name mentioned in an advisory role for mccain and then the infusion of other surrogates to bush’s campaigns of 2000 and 2004 it was obvious what to expect. They were planning their version of the “kitchen sink” strategy that Hillary Clinton threw at Obama during the primary battle. One thing that may have gone unnoticed during that time-frame, considering Obama ended up winning the “battle,” was that Clinton totally turned everything around with this strategy. By the time she began the so-called kichen sink strategy, the battle for all intense and purposes was lost. However, it allowed her to hold on until the last possible primary and she was able to show Obama’s vulnerability in several key states. I believe that most Obama supporters, including myself, can’t even invision mccain in the White House. However, we all better wake up to the fact that these rogues behind the scenes are masters at manipulating the media to the point where it appears to me that even the people you would feel are clearly opposed to their message are eating out of their hands. They understand how people will react and they have no limits to the “message” they are willing to put out. They can twist any message in whatever direction they wish, and it looks like to me, the people they are using don’t even have a clue as to what is happening. Take for example the Keith Olberman show on MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olberman. I was watching it the other night after mccain’s ad had come out using the images of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears to supposedly show Obama as nothing more than a celebrity. The discussion during Olberman’s program was centered on figuring out “why” they would do this, and during this same discussion there was a clip of mccain accusing Obama of injecting race into the campaign for comments Obama made to a conservative gathering in Missouri pointing out (correctly) that the republicans were in the process of trying to scare voters into voting against him. Obama made reference to the fact that he didn’t look like all the other presidents on the “dollar bills.” What bothered me was that mccain’s accusation of Obama injecting race into the campaign and the discussion that ensued on Countdown was a classic example of how the republicans are attempting, and at least temporarily succeeding, into totally twisting the debate. mccain’s accusations totally succeeded in switching the discussion from the offensive add to whether or not Obama was injecting race into the campaign. It was not only on this one show, but on several others, there was little outrage at the subtle, subliminal racial overtone of the mccain ad with the two white “bimbos.” In fact about the only thing I saw all the “commentators” agree on was that if the topic turned to race, this would be bad for Obama. Well, it was so obvious to me that the mccain strategy is to turn the topic to race and then blame Obama for this happening that it made me a bit sick to my stomach, but as I watched the networks (and keep in mind that I refuse to watch fox because I just got fed up with watching and listening to water carriers for the republican party portraying themselves as “fair and balanced” news) fall for this I started to get a bit worried. I fully realize that it is in their best interest to have a “horse race,” that if Obama pulls away to a huge lead it will cost them (the various media outlets) millions upon millions of advertising dollars through lost viewership of the campaign, but I worry even more that the media is part of the corporatocracy that has been in seventh heaven since bush arrived on the scene and they may be willing to do every thing they can to keep Obama and the democrats from getting into the White House. I believe these huge corporations have gotten so infected by their own greed that the welfare of our country is secondary to their profits and power. And mccain has proven himself to be willing to say whatever they (the invisible “advisors” from the bush campaigns) tell him to say (and he’s really not very good at reading teleprompters and note cards) and somewhat a baffoon, which we see from an occasional transparent moment where his remarks are unscripted and show his lack of intelligence along with his lack of understanding of the key issues that he supposedly is the expert on (ie; Iraq/Pakistan border, Iran training Al Qaeda, Chechoslovakia, etc). This gets me back to the ad with Spears and Hilton. How anyone with knowledge of our history in this country and especially the history of the republican party could not see that ad for what it was – a blatant racist message – very subtle to those people who don’t pay close attention or who are naive enough to think that race is no longer an issue in this country – but simply a blatant message to white citizens in key parts of this country connecting a black man with white women, is beyond me. The least I would have expected from Keith Olberman would be one of his passionate “Special Comments.” I guarantee you that virtually every black man in this country fully understands the real message of that ad. It was not intended for people who might think that Obama “is not ready” to lead – it was intended for the white men in Pennsylvania, down South, West Virginia, Michigan – I’m not sure where they ran the ads, but in states where they know that race is an issue, and they are going to make sure that it is an issue, and most frustratingly to me they will accuse Obama of injecting the so-called “race card” into the campaign while they do it. If these people get away with this, “We the People” deserve whatever comes from it. I actually saw republican “pundits” say that the huge crowds that Obama drew in his trip through the Middle East and Europe were an indication that he was not ready to lead, that he is nothing more than an empty speech, that having a president that is admired world wide would not be important. One person even had the audacity to say that the 200,000 plus people who showed up in Berlin, waving American flags, were there because of some rock concert and they just hung around to hear Obama speak, like it was some kind of coincidence. They used words like “arrogant” and “over-confident” for Obama’s demeanor instead of words like confident or competent which would have been used for Reagan or someone of his ilk. Again, this to me is a bunch of people who just can’t accept the idea of the most powerful position in the world being held by an African American. My advice to them is that if they don’t get a clue, and if they could somehow manage to get mccain into office as their next stooge, it won’t be long until the president of the US is not the most powerful office in the world. I believe the rest of the world is watching this election as closely as we are. They want to see this country return to the ideals that made us the leader of the free world in the first place. But these people are not idiots as our present government would have us believe, and our economy is on the verge of collapse. Whether we pull out of this malaise has a lot to do with our relationship with other countries (not to mention who wins this elections), especially the ones who have a financial grip on this nation due to the incredible shift of our wealth to their countries in the form of dollars during the last 35+ years of Reaganomics. I believe they’ve had enough of our greedy wasteful practices and if mccain somehow gets into office, one of the first consequences will be the shift from the dollar to the euro as the world’s default currency. When that happens, our troubles will be magnified significantly. In addition, if Barack Obama is defeated by a sofisticated effort to play the race card, there will be hell to pay in our nation. It is very clear to me, even if the white population of this country doesn’t “get” what the republicans are doing, the black population does. I would expect a backlash of major proportions if this election turns on subtle racist attacks on Senator Obama. My advice to anyone who is in a position to have influence in these matters, if mccain can’t get onto the issues and off of the relentless attacks, especially the ones with racial overtones, there should be a concerted effort to label him the racist he apparently is. Remember, this ad didn’t come from some other source, it said “I’m john mccain, and I approve this message.” This is the man who fought against a holiday for Martin Luther King, a man who is prone to tell racially insensitive “jokes,” a man who you can’t believe a word he says due to his saying so many things that contradict his own words. The negativity and the subject matter of the republican operatives behind mccain’s campaign along with mccain himself need to hear a clear message from the pundits and from the voters, there is no room for race in this race!

Last night as I was trying to injest all the different views of what is happening in our present economy and to look at them through the prism of Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” (every adult in the US should read this book) I couldn’t help but visualize in my mind the phrase “Those who choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it.” I’ve been following the stock market’s ups and downs now for over a year and listening to all the pundits is quite entertaining. It just seems to me that there are a bunch of people trying to figure out how to make as much money as possible prior to the inevitable crash of our economy. And the thing that bothers me most, after reading this book, is that I believe there are some “invisible” high rollers that “We the people” have no idea who they are or what their true agenda is, that are licking their chops at the disaster that lies ahead. For them, it is not about my welfare, the welfare of my children, the welfare of their fellow citizens, or anything else but the opportunity to make as much money as possible. I had always believed that this phenomenen began with the Reagan administration, but after reading this book, I now believe the philosophy was conjured up in the 50’s by a bunch of people who were bitter about the New Deal and how it created a broad middle class in America and allowed society to expect more from the wealthy in the form of taxes, etc. I now think their philosophy was behind Richard Nixon’s expansion of deficit spending in the early 70’s which Reagan compounded to my shock in the 80’s and the two bush’s took to heights unimagined by people like me who think the government should live within its means. The great irony in all this is that the republicans have actually convinced the people during this time that they were the party of the fiscally responsible and the democrats were the party of “tax and spend.” Of course Jimmy Carter cut Nixon’s deficit in half during his four years in office only to be voted out in favor of Reagan who promised to “cut taxes and balance the budget.” What a joke that was – but it seems like the memory of our people is very short. Despite Clinton’s budget surpluss the people once again fell for the cutting taxes and balancing the budget from gw bush – although it is apparent to me that bush got into the white house through vote fraud, but that’s a story for another day. Now these Wall Street pundits are arguing back and forth over what will “heal” our economy and what has to happen to get the stock market going upward again with a clear choice between more of the same (mccain) and an infusion of resorces aimed at the middle class (Obama). It is amazing to me that even the republicans can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. My major concern is that I believe our economy is to the breaking point. Most of the history I’m talking about here is the 80’s and Reagan, but I believe people need to start revisiting 1929 because I believe a crash of that magnitude is sitting on the horizon, ready to cripple this nation for years to come – and, yes, I believe there are many who are actually encouraging this to happen. Let me give an example of how I believe this works. Take the present “gas crisis.” I’ve looked in many places to try to verify that there is a gas shortage, with no success. Even the Saudi oil minister said that them adding more oil to the market wouldn’t effect prices because there was no demand for it. In other words this “crisis” is the result of manipulation by people with a hidden agenda. The other day I went to buy gas, and it really struck me when my wife said: “Wow, it’s only $3.98 a gallon!” My first thought was that these invisible people have succeeded in changing our mindset. “Wow, only $3.98 a gallon” can you imagine saying that even 6 months ago. The end result is that now the oil companies are using this “shock” to get the oil in the ANWAR wilderness area in Alaska “online” and to get additional offshore oil leases despite the fact they have something like 68 million acres of oil leases that are not being accessed and the fact there is not an oil rig in the country, supposedly, that is available for additional drilling. It’s all a sham to increase their “inventory” before the two oil men are nothing but a bad memory to the vast majority of Americans. The scary part of this is that mccain is trying to use this to his advantage by spewing the nonsense of the bush administration. I really hope he is not able to pull this off, but remember, those who choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it. The thought of a repeat of the bush administration makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t believe the American people will fall for this, but the bigger concern is that if they do, I believe we are destined to repeat the calamity of the 30’s. These “invisible” people who are pushing the “free market” agenda that has destroyed the middle class in many other nations and is trying to do that in our own nation would love to lead us into a depression. They have billions of dollars to use to buy up all the remains of the businesses that will fail and the group at the top of the hierarchy in this country will become noticeably smaller. Having a baffoon such as mccain, who has proven he will say anything to anyone if he thinks it will get him a vote, will play right into their hands. I have hope that the majority of Americans will see past their lies and give Obama a chance to turn this around before the disaster strikes, although I’m not altogether certain that it isn’t already too late. For anyone who might read this I would just say again, those who choose to ignore history are destined to repeat it – we have seen Viet Nam repeated in Iraq with bush and I hope that somehow we can avoid him leading us into a repeat of the great depression.

I’m just a 6th grade school teacher trying to pay for gas for my wife and myself along with all the bills, and contributing to election campaigns definitely puts a strain on the budget. In 2006 I sent money to several different Democratic congressional candidates thinking that getting the congress out of the control of republicans was imperative. I’m a life long independent voter, but I came to the conclusion after bush was put into office by the Supreme Court that my years of indifference were unacceptable and that I needed to participate more fully in the process that I teach my students they are responsible in when they become adults. I started reading books about what is going on with our government and that accelerated when bush decided to relive Viet Nam by invading Iraq. The Viet Nam experience is what led to my indifference toward “my” government in the first place and I realized that my lack of participation plus that of many of my peers had allowed the first invasion of a country which had not threatened us or invaded us in the history of this great nation. Once I sent the money in to the different candidates I started getting barraged by mailers from other members of Congress who seem to have an unlimited access to the postal service. Then I started getting calls from the democratic party requesting money, which I’m sure I would have given had they fulfilled the promises I understood them to make during the 2006 election. I, and I believe millions of other Americans, fully understood and understand the complexity of trying to deal with these republicans who are trying to block every initiative possible. My disappointment with the democrats unwillingness to put an end to the war in Iraq has become overshadowed by my anger at their unwillingness to defend the constitution against the assaults by gw bush and his associates. Today, as I was driving around, I heard a sound bite on the radio of Nancy Pelosi saying “If someone could show that a crime has been committed, we would proceed with impeachment.” ………………………………. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, NANCY?!!!!! Seriously, you’ve got to be kidding, right?! The fact that I saw gw bush stand in front of a TV camera and admit to spying on Americans without a warrant, there’s one for you. And how about admitting to torturing so-called “enemy combatants?” I guess the fact that someone in Pakistan received $5000 for saying his despised neighbor was a member of Al Qaeda makes that person something less than a human being and allows us (that’s anyone reading this, myself, Pelosi, and any other citizen of this country) to do things to them that we have put leaders from other nations into the Hague for war tribunals (rumor has it that you, Nancy, were aware of this program from the start and the reason it’s “off the table” is because you’re complicit by default in the torture). Is not lying about reasons for going to war with a toll of over 4100 of our best dead and tens of thousands wounded, not to mention as many as one million Iraqi’s dead, two million refugees, another two million internally displaced, not to mention the utter destruction of the infrastructure of their country – is that not a crime? And what about the no bid contracts for their buddies in Iraq where bush’s private contractors are fleecing our taxpayers by the hundreds of millions, probably billions of dollars, while millions of our own citizens have no health care, our economy is crumbling, the infrastructure of our nation is crumbling and we can’t afford to deal with these issues, there’s no crime there? No one ever investigated the Enron collapse and everyone knows that bush was right in the middle of that. We got 8 years of whitewater, a stinking failed land deal that hurt no one but the fools who invested in it, but nothing, not a singel investigation that I’m aware of, on Enron which destroyed the retirement accounts of untold Americans. Where are the democrats? Have they no spine at all? Are they afraid they won’t get re-elected if they stand up to the most unpopular president in history? You’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of precedent are they leaving behind this congress? The members of the bush administration basically flip off congress when called to testify about their actions, and Pelosi even blocks contempt of congress charges. This is the first woman to be in a position with this much power and I’m afraid she will set back the cause of women in top leadership roles beyond my imagination by cow-towing to bush. The aftermath of their criminal behavior can not go unpunished! How can we allow any future president to think that they can just do whatever they feel like and to hell with congress? I really don’t get it. The last time the democratic party called me and asked me for money, well let me just say, I’ll be surprised if they call me again. The last thing I want them to think is that I’m for whatever they want just because I don’t like bush. I expected them to stand up for the constitution and as far as I’m concerned they are falling into a category that is worse than the republicans. I expected them (republicans) to fall into line behind bush and his cronies, I just didn’t expect the democrats to do the same. As far as I’m concerned the democrats need to stand up and be counted. It seems like they won’t do anything unless they can get a “veto proof” congress. The way they are acting I don’t want them to have a veto proof congress – it’s like they want to recreate the same environment that the republicans had during the first 6 years of bush. Nancy, get with the program, please!!!!

There are so many things to write about, it’s hard for me to even pick a topic. However, since the economy is in danger of imploding, and the present administration seems as incompetent to me regarding this area as they have been managing the occupation of a foreign country, I’m going to try to focus my thoughts in the direction of the economy. The famous cliche regarding how to get elected: “It’s the economy stupid” really applies to this coming election, which I consider to be by far the most important in my lifetime (60 years). I still remember my own astonishment as Richard Nixon explained that running up the national debt was as practical as having a mortgage on your house. The idea was that it was ludicrous for the federal government to possess so much real estate and not “leverage” that through the use of borrowing money to prop up the economy. By the time Reagan came around they took that idea to what I thought at the time would be the ultimate extreme. Their so-called “trickle down” philosophy seemed absurd on its face – Reagan preaching “I’m going to reduce taxes and balance the budget.” Of course people fell for the theory, although I’m convinced to this day that Reagan got into the White House by making a deal with the Iranians regarding the hostages being held in Tehran and by funding John Anderson’s campaign that ended up getting about 10% of the vote and peeling off enough disenchanted democrats to allow Reagan in the door, so to speak. For those around at the time I’m sure the image of Reagan busting the Air Traffic Controllers on national TV is still a vivid memory. For those not around at that time, this was a sitting president showing business how to break a union and the result for blue collar workers has been a steady downward trend since then. There was a slight change and some hope under Clinton, although I believe he bought into many of the beliefs of the Friedman devotees regarding “free markets,” because Clinton at least managed to bring about a surpluss in the economy despite selling the farm with his trade policies and maybe even more significant was his willingness to allow the consolidation of the media which has allowed the right wing to pretty much monopolize the information we are getting. Somehow, gw bush managed to get into the White House, through the backlash against Clinton’s actions with Monica and gw’s use of his brother to “steal” Florida which was the deciding state in the 2000 election. This brought the Friedmanites back into the government and the results are unbelievable. What is more unbelievable to me is that the republicans have come up with another stooge who is espousing the same garbage; lowering taxes, especially on the “rich,” and balancing the budget – in this case by not allowing “earmarks” in congress. This is such an absurd position that my first instinct is to laugh it off. However, mccain remains at least close in the polls and even ahead in one that I saw recently. That is why I feel Clinton’s major shortcoming was in allowing the media consolidation in 1996 that just played into the hands of the people behind limbaugh, hannity, rove, o’reilly and the other republican water carriers that will say anything to keep their cronies in power. The fact that our nation is crumbling right before our eyes means nothing to them. They are nothing more than the mouthpieces of those in the background of the republican party that are laughing all the way to the bank as they continue to “convince” ordinary Americans that they are not responsible for the problems facing our country. In fact, the other day I saw an ad on TV for mccain blaming Senator Obama for the high gas prices. This is how these people work. They create this situation that is taking ordinary working Americans into a state of economic despair, and then they place the blame elsewhere while they try to take advantage of the “crisis” they created to further their own greedy interests. Take the so-called energy crisis. Yes, of course, there is an energy crisis, but to blame Obama while at the same time pushing for expanded drilling opportunities for oil companies that have millions of acres of leased drilling rights that they are not pursuing, when there are no drilling rigs to drill if they had the right to do so, is disengeuous at best, and in my opinion outright dishonest. But where is the national media to hold these people accountable. Unfortunately, they are on their team. These multi-national corporations are intertwined and they are perpetually looking out for their own interests and those of their cronies. The boards of the large corporations in this country are infected with a virus of greed. Reaganomics brought with it a national mindset that shareholders are more important than workers, and they continue to work the propoganda that causes the workers to vote against their own self-interest. In my mind this is possible due to the consoidation of the media which has become contaminated with the republican “talking points.” The fact that so-called news people are spewing the party line (and this is wrong and absurd no matter what party line is being “spewed”) will be looked at as the main enabler of these criminals who have been robbing this country blind for the last 35+ years. If they somehow manage to get a baffoon like mccain elected, and this guy to me is a downgrade from bush which should be scary even to the water carriers, we are in for something probably worse than the great depression. I’m not sure how quickly Obama can steer the ship in a different direction, but he is the only hope. The damage done by gw bush and the people he is the mouthpiece for is severe and will take years to overcome. If Obama wins the election I can see the water carriers already trying to undermine anything that he does, because their only interest is in fleecing the working class people of this country of as much money as possible and they will be attempting to return to power as soon as they lose it. No one should be fooled into thinking that they will join forces for the common good, because with them the common good is evil, they absolutely do not want a country with a strong and vibrant middle class, they don’t want to pay their fair share of the taxes required for the security and basic functioning of this country (remember, they have borrowed every penny for their war in Iraq, they say they support the troops out of one side of their mouths and then fight any legislation that provides the troops with benefits out of the other side), and the last thing they want it is a black president that is enormously popular around the world. The idea of ordinary people sharing in the wealth, so to speak, is antthetical to everything they believe. Every adult person in America should read “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein to better understand where these criminals are coming from and the magnitude of the destruction worldwide associated with their philosophy and their actions. Our government has been severely infected by these people and it will take years to heal from this, if we boot them out in 2008. If, for some incredible reason, the manage to hold onto the bully pulpit of the White House for another term, the damage to this country could be terminal. I believe the rest of the world is ready to dump the dollar as the accepted currency in favor of the euro, that will be the first consequence of a mccain presidency and security wise, while he and they (republicans) lay claim to leading the fight against terrorism, I believe that they have made this country and the world terribly less safe and more susceptible to terrorist acts due to their greedy policies. One thing Americans need to understand, the people around the world aren’t stupid. In fact, our education system ranks down in the second tier compared to other countries around the world, and these guys are trying to keep it there, witness “no child left behind” bush’s plan to have our school focus on teaching kids how to pass tests at the expense of about half of the curriculum that existed prior to this legislation – but that’s an argument for another day. Suffice it to say, the US has been pilfering resources from countries around the globe for years under the guise of “free markets” and through the control of the IMF and World Bank, but the gig is up. This election is incredibly important and I get back to the question that motivated me to write this piece, “When are we going to wake up?” I surely hope this coming November is the first sign that waking up is happening. There is a lot of work to be done, but that is the first step. I say once more, if mccain somehow gets in, we are all in for a long four years!

I can’t but help to wonder how a man with the intellectual challenges of John McCain could even make it to the point of being a candidate for president from one of the two “major” parties of the US. I can only imagine what this process looks like to the rest of the world. Today, the thought driving my wish to express my opinion comes from recently McCain saying something like “I’m willing to lose an election in order to win a war while my oponent, Senator Obama, appears to be willing to lose a war in order to win an election.” At first, when I first heard him say this and then saw him break into his cheshire cat grin upon completing the sentence was to think where does this guy get off? Does he really think that because he managed to get shot down in Viet Nam, that makes him uniquely qualified to be president and some kind of “commander in chief?” The implication that Senator Obama is willing to “lose the war in order to win an election” is about as over the top unethical and ridiculous as anything I’ve heard in my 40 some years of following American politics. I mean this is coming from a man who doesn’t yet know that Chechoslovakia is no longer a country, that Al Qaeda is Sunni and not supported by Iran (in fact they are funded mainly by our “friends” the Saudi’s), and that Iraq and Pakistan do not have a common border, just to name a few of the “gaffes.” I have watched McCain shift his position (I’m being nice here because we all know the political correct term is “flip-flopped”) on one position after another and then try to portray Senator Obama as a flip-flopper – today it was because of some pictures of his daughters! This is almost laughable to me, except that I fully understand that there are many Americans who are too busy trying to just get by to be paying close attention to what I consider the most important election in the last 50 years in this country. McCain, should he somehow fool enough people into voting for him, is the perfect stooge for the people that are behind the last 35 or so years of “Reaganomics” in this country, the people who have been robbing the middle class blind and seem to have no end to their greed, the people who believe the oil in Iraq is more valuable than the lives of the American heroes who have volunteered to serve in our armed forces. I hope the tide swings so dramatically that the people of this country send a loud and clear message to the republicans that they have to come up with someone who at least has a clue as to the real needs of this great nation. We do need at least two viable parties to make our system function and McCain, following the disastrous GW could turn the republican party into an afterthought. In my opinion, the wisest thing for the republicans to do would be to change their minds as to their “presumptive” candidate and come up with someone who can carry on a legitimate debate on real issues and prevent a total blow out in November. While I am a supporter of Obama, I fear the results to too much “democrat.” The democratic congress have not proven themselves to be courageous in dealing with the far reaching abuses of power perpetrated by bush. They are the ones who are constitutionally compelled to “check” the power of the executive branch of government. As much as I like Obama, it is not his job if he’s elected to restore the executive branch to it’s rightful position in our system, it is the job of the congress. We need the give and take of the two party system. I believe Obama will be a uniter, but if the dems have too tight a grip on congress there won’t be any need to unite. Republicans, if McCain stays in this election, I fear Obama’s “coattails” will reduce your position in congress to one of spectator and complainer. You might think of finding a way to get McCain to step aside and at least get someone like Romney in there who could make this a real contest, if it’s not too late. The bottom line to me, John McCain, as a presidential candidate, is pitiful!!!!

First, I realize that until someone “discovers” my so-called blog, I’m writing to myself. However, it seems to help with the frustration of watching my country seem to be fading into the sunset, and a large percentage of people not caring. I will say this, as I’ve watched Barack Obama make a trip through Europe and into the Middle East, it is very apparent that the rest of the world is waiting for the citizens of the US to wake up. I honestly believe that if by some strange miracle – like maybe fixed voting machines as per 2000 and 2004 – McCain is elected president we will be considered a third world nation by the rest of the world. I’ve seen some incredible numbers as to the excitement Obama is generating in the rest of the world and I’m hopeful that it is just a matter of time until more people in this country wake up. Back to my topic; can you imagine if we elect a self proclaimed “expert” on foriegn policy that doesn’t understand that the country of Chechoslovakia (I’m not ever sure how to spell it, but I’m not running for president and if I was I would figure it out!) has not existed for over 15 years, a person who talks about the Iraq/Pakastani border (evidently he’s thinking along with many of the rest of us that the ultimate outcome of the US invasion of Iraq will be the consolidation of Iraq and Iran – therefore calling it the Iraq-Pakistan border), and a person who is so unfamiliar with the Sunni-Shia rivalry in the Middle East that he suggested that the Shia in Iran were training and equipping the Sunni led Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. What I find very interesting is that the incompetence of McCain is much better understood outside the borders of this country. I’m wondering if this is because should the general public really understand what a bafoon he is and how unqualified he is to lead this country at this point in our history it would cost the media conglomerates millions because the upcoming election would be such a landslide. I mean, I can’t even picture republicans voting for this guy once they see him up close and personal as will be the case during this election cycle. I don’t believe a party has ever rebelled against a “presumptive nominee” before, but how could the republicans have come up with this guy? When I heard that he placed close to the bottom of his class in military college, something like 850 out of 860, I didn’t get the significance. But you put the fact he’s 72 years old (I’m 60 and have a good idea of what it means to be getting old and I can’t imagine electing a 72 year old person to the most important position in our country at such an important time in our history) with his apparent intellectual weakness and you look at all these gaffs he’s committing on a regular basis, and I honestly wonder how he could even get to this point. I really am concerned that the republican party is going to get hammered so hard in November that we will face the reverse of what got us to this point, and that is a democratic president along with a democratic congress. I truly believe that our founders devised the system of checks and balances to prevent what they called “tyranny of the majority” and while we are seeing the result of that from this batch of republicans that are hopefully on the way out, I don’t think a good dose of the same thing from the other side is going to solve anything. Obama calls himself a uniter and I hope that is the case, and I also hope that we can begin to elect people to congress, whether republican or democrat, that have the best interests of the public in mind. A good first step would be to eliminate the ability of congressional members from accepting any money from special interest groups – but that is a topic for another day.

Tonight I wrote a lengthy message to Senator Obama expressing my dismay with his choice to cave in to the Bush criminals regarding the warrantless wiretapping that evidence suggests has been going on long before 9/11. The administration justifies this lawbreaking and intrusion on our constitutional rights by saying we needed protection from terrorists. If that is the case then why is there evidence that the government approached Joseph Nacchio of Qwest Communications fully 6 1/2 months prior to 9/11 with a request for warrantless wiretapping, in February of 2001? If Nacchio is correct in his assertion the Bush reaction to his refusal to do so without getting lawyers involved, the canceling of large government contracts, is par for the course for this administration. Emotionally, I really want to see GW Bush held criminally accountable for the most wide spread lawbreaking I’ve seen in my voting life (40 years) – but when I think about this rationally, my main concern is the willingness of the Congress and many in the public sector to stand idly by while our constitutional rights are being chipped away at. My hope is that somehow this will be rectified through the courts – retroactive immunity? That doesn’t even sound right. If people broke the law, if they violated the rights of individuals, should they get a pass because we’re afraid? If that is the case it feels to me like the terrorists are winning. What more could they ask for but for us to crumble from within? Al Qaeda got a virtual free pass when Bush chose his adventure into Iraq, based on lies that apparently we’re going to let him get away with. A covert CIA agent was “outed” which is a treasonous offense and there is ample evidence that Bush and Cheney were involved, Bush in the very least being part of the coverup, and yet no investigation. Our economy is crumbling at the seems – being steered by people who seem incredibly incompetent and interested only in their own fortunes. The republicans incredibly couldn’t come up with anyone more qualified than John McCain who is laughable and getting worse. He seems like a downgrade from Bush to me. So what is it the democrats are afraid of? Why would Obama cave on such an issue of principal? I really don’t get it. Here is the scenario that I’m really afraid of: The dems are going to just try to let GW ride out his term so they can heave a great big sigh of relief next January. In the mean time, we go into a severe recession, with hyper inflation, in our national economy and Bush, Cheney, and their cronies take a shot at Iran. Of course Iran is the big winner already from Bush’s ineptitude. About the best the US can hope for in the Iraq invasion is that the Shia ruling party takes hold and, as they are kicking us out of their country, they end up with some kind of stable country that inevitably is going to be allied with Iran, making Iran the major power of the region. Iran will be thanking Bush for years to come for getting rid of their nemesis Sadam Hussein. The mess is getting worse every day, and the democrats appear to be so focused on “winning” the next election that the losses from their inaction will possibly linger for decades to come. If Bush is allowed to, as McCain put it, “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” the mess will be huge. Due to the fact that we have emboldened Iran, it is our responsibility to figure out how to reign them in without bringing the Middle East to the brink of a major war. I realize the people associated with Bush are OK with that because they have a long history of profiting from war (GW’s Grandfathers made a fortune selling arms to Hitler prior to WWII). This is why I can’t figure out why Obama would agree to anything to further Bush’s agenda. I read his book “The Audacity of Hope” and it lifted my spirits. And the truth is that he’s the only hope we have at this point to turn around this assault on our government, our freedoms, our economy, and our standing in the world (I can’t even imagine John McCain as president – I can’t picture that there are enough people that stupid in this country). If Obama starts to feel the urge to placate the so-called “right” we’re all in big trouble. The way I see it, if these criminals are allowed to get away with their crimes, the precedent will be devastating. I don’t trust the next president, whoever it is, to give up presidential power – even though it has been attained illegally. As they say, “What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander!” and I’m really concerned that the damage being done won’t be reversed post Bush. It needs to be done now. Impeachment is a constitutional check for situations just like this, it wasn’t intended for lying about sex. What are the democrats thinking? Bush is going to, provided he gets his free ride to the end of his term, give everyone in his administration “blanket immunity” and they are going to laugh their way to the bank with the rest of the bounty from his eight miserable years in office (not even taking into account that history will be robbed of anything that resembles the truth as to what they were really doing). While I can’t wait for Bush’s term to be “history” I will probably spend the rest of my life wondering what was wrong with these democrats to allow him to get away with this. One last thing- it has always boggled my mind that more republicans haven’t stood up against this crook. However, some people that I thought I would never be on the same side of the fence have. Noteably: Bob Barr, Bruce Fein, John Dean, and most inspiring to me Kevin Phillips. These republicans can see past the partisanship better than most that I’ve listened to or read and they recognize the danger of what is transpiring with Bush/Cheney et al (I have read a couple books each by Dean and Phillips and they are quite informative and direct in their “looks” into the action of this despicable president). I hope the Congress wakes up before it’s too late and especially in Obama’s case; the thing that most encouraged me as I got to know him was the feeling he would be a forceful leader. However, this cave-in on the warrantless wiretapping and the “trust me” comments are making me queasy and feeling that my worst fears are still in play. This country, in my opinion, has survived due to our steadfast acceptance and reliance on our written constitution. I don’t want to have to “trust” anyone with this, I just want my leaders to uphold their pledges to protect, obey, and enforce the constitution as it was written over 200 years ago!

I guess I’m writing this post just to get my thoughts down with a date on them.  Sometime back I submitted one of the many unaccepted Op-ed articles I’ve sent to the NY Times asking what is going to become of our professional, private armies once America finally withdraws from Iraq.  The thought came to mind again after hearing commentary about the recent Supreme Court decision regarding guns and our “right to bear arms” in America.  While I didn’t get totally involved in the discussion of this decision, I noticed that much of it centered around the reference to “militias” and what the interpretation of that was.  Most of what I heard referred to the “militias” as the National Guard – that being the present day interpretation of the term.  However, I was reminded of my previous thought back when Blackwater employees had killed something like 17 innocent Iraqi civilians and it was determined that they were not subjet to Iraqi or American law.  So I raise the question again, just in case someone out there notices: what is going to happen with these multi-billion dollar para military organizations once there is no Iraq war for them to thrive on no-bid contracts from our militaristic government.  It is clear (or at least I hope I’m seeing this correctly) that the American people are resoundly rejecting the war mongering of bush and, dutifully waiting in the wings, mccain.  However, it is also common knowledge that corporate America has a huge investment in the present direction of our country, and I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to these private armies?  Are they just going to go away?  I’ve heard that blackwater has training facilities that rival our own military.  I’ve heard that they have recruited some of the toughest international thugs out there to “man the ship” so to speak.  I’ve heard they are a billion dollar “industry.”  So the question is, again;  Are they just going to go away, or is there something up someone’s “sleave” that we don’t know about?  I invite anyone who sees this to clue me in!