>News From The War Front

>President Obama wages war

GO MARINES !

The Assault Breacher
(defense against IEDs)

February 11, 2010

NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. and Afghan soldiers linked up with Marines on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, sealing off escape routes and setting the stage for what is being described as the biggest offensive of the nine-year war.

Taliban defenders repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at units poised in foxholes along the edge of the town, apparently trying to lure NATO forces into skirmishes before the big attack.

“They’re trying to draw us in,” said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, 30, of Tulsa, Okla., commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines.

Up to 1,000 militants are believed holed up in Marjah, a key Taliban logistics base and center of the lucrative opium poppy trade. But the biggest threats are likely to be the land mines and bombs hidden in the roads and fields of the farming community, 380 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.

The precise date for the attack has been kept secret. U.S. officials have signaled for weeks they planned to seize Marjah, a town of about 80,000 people in Helmand province and the biggest community in southern Afghanistan under Taliban control.

NATO officials say the goal is to seize the town quickly and re-establish Afghan government authority, bringing public services in hopes of winning support of the townspeople once the Taliban are gone. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers were to join U.S. Marines in the attack to emphasize the Afghan role in the operation.

In preparation for the offensive, a U.S.-Afghan force led by the U.S. Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade moved south from Lashkar Gah and linked up Thursday with Marines on the northern edge of Marjah, closing off a main Taliban escape route. Marines and Army soldiers fired colored smoke grenades to show each other that they were friendly forces.

The Army’s advance was slowed as U.S. and Afghan soldiers cleared the thicket of mines and bombs hidden in canals and along the roads and fought off harassment attacks along the way by small bands of insurgents. Two U.S. attack helicopters fired Hellfire missiles at a compound near Marjah from where insurgents had been firing at the advancing Americans.

Marines along the edge of the town exchanged fire with insurgents. There were no reports of casualties.

“I am not surprised at all that this is taking place,” said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Brian Christmas. “We are touching their trigger-line,” referring to the outer rim of the Taliban defenses.

A far greater obstacle lies in the hundreds, if not thousands, of mines, makeshift bombs and booby traps which the Taliban are believed to have planted around Marjah.

“This may be the largest IED threat and largest minefield that NATO has ever faced,” said Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of Marines in southern Afghanistan.

A British soldier was killed in a bombing Thursday in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defense announced in London. It was unclear whether the soldier was part of the Marjah operation.

To combat the mines, Marines planned to use their new 72-ton Assault Breacher Vehicles, which use metal blows to scoop up hidden bombs or fire rockets to detonate them at a safe distance.

Once the main attack begins, U.S. commanders are eager to avoid civilian casualties, hoping instead to win over support of the Pashtun townspeople, who are from the same ethnic group as the majority of the Taliban. American officers have been instructing troops to hold their fire unless they are sure they are shooting at insurgents and not innocent villagers.

On Thursday, Afghanistan’s interior minister, Hanif Atmar, met with a group of tribal elders explaining the goals of the operation and asking for their support.

“This operation is designed to open the way for those Afghans who want to join the peace process and to use the military power against those foreign terrorists who are hiding here,” Atmar told the elders during a meeting in Lashkar Gah, the Helmand provincial capital about 20 miles northeast of Marjah.

The elders told Atmar that their support depended on how the operation was carried out and whether a large number of civilians were killed or injured in the fighting.

One elder, Mohebullah Terpakai, said that if the operation improved the lives of civilians, “we the people of Marjah will fully support it.”

As the Marines waited for battle, they received their first mail delivery since arriving in the Marjah area.

Some Marines burned their letters after reading them, either because they didn’t want to carry any extra weight or have the letters fall into the wrong hands if they lost them in the fighting.

Others held on to them.

“I’m not burning any of my pictures or letters,” said Cpl. Christian Martyr, 23, from Northridge, Calif., as he stared at photos from his girlfriend. “She also sent a little letter. I’m keeping all of it,” he said.

Recently there has been good news from the war front. Reports of multiple killings of terrorist VIPs. Better cooperation between Afghan and American troops. Afghan troops learning from American troops. Rooting out the enemy. They will not be allowed to hide in their caves. They will not be allowed to oppress the civilian population. Now, this major battle. Pray for their safe success.

>George William Curtis

>I am always saying that we cannot base our future on our past, but we can and should learn from the past, to guide our future. Here is another lesson we learned in the past, but forgot, and should relearn.

The vitriol between our people and our political parties, is nothing new. Yet, it seems we have to be reminded how and why we overcame that problem before.

The following excerpts were taken from a speech (The Puritan Principle: Liberty Under the Law) given by George William Curtis (Wiki) to the “New England Society of the City of New York” on December 22, 1876. The full text of the speech can be found here.

"The Puritan principle in its essence is simply
individual freedom. From that spring religious
liberty and political equality."

"Those men stood for liberty under the law."

"Patrick Henry sent from Virginia to Massachusetts
when he heard of Concord and Lexington :
" I am not a Virginian, I am an American."
And so, gentlemen, at this hour, we are not Republicans,
we are not Democrats, we are Americans."

"The voice of New England, I believe, going to the
capital, would be this, that neither is the
Republican Senate to insist upon its exclusive partisan
way, nor is the Democratic House to insist upon its
exclusive partisan way, but Senate and House,
representing the American people and the
American people only"

"I am remembering the Puritans; I am remembering
Plymouth Rock, and the virtues that made it illustrious.
But we, gentlemen, are to imitate those virtues,
as our toast says, only by being greater than
the men who stood upon that rock."

"And as we are three centuries older, so should
we be three centuries wiser than they. Sons of the
Pilgrims, you are not to level forests, you are not
to war with savage men and savage beasts, you are not
to tame a continent nor even found a State.
Our task is nobler, is diviner. Our task, sir, is to
reconcile a nation. It is to curb the fury of party
spirit. It is to introduce a loftier and manlier tone
everywhere into our political life."

"Above all, sir, it is to protect absolutely the equal
rights of the poorest and the richest, of the most
ignorant and the most intelligent citizen, and it is to
stand forth, brethren, as a triple wall of brass around
our native land, against the mad blows of violence or
the fatal dry-rot of fraud. And at this moment, sir,
the grave and august shades of the forefathers whom we
invoke bend over us in benediction as they call us to
this sublime task. This, brothers and friends, this is to
imitate the virtues of our forefathers; this is to make
our day as glorious as theirs."

>What Are Republicans Going To Do Now

>The President has once again put out his hand of bipartisanship. He has offered to have a panel on the health care bill inviting the Republicans and offering (because of Republican complaints of lack of transparency) to have the meeting on live TV (C-Span I would imagine). The Republicans have refused. No surprise, just more proof, that they are not now, and never have been serious about health care reform. The party of NO continues to say NO. Americans continue to suffer.

Sen. Shelby is going to filibuster 70 nominations unless he gets his pork pet programs for his State. That’s a much bigger stoppage of the process of government, than the Democrats who got pork deals to secure their votes on one bill, the health care bill. Seems whenever the Democrats do something stupid, the Republicans have to top Democrat stupidity with their own stupidity. Politicians get their graft, Americans get nothing. In the civilian world, wouldn’t that be extortion?

Tom Tancredo (a disgraced Republican legislator recently let out of jail) spoke at the Tea Baggers convention and called for literacy tests to be reinstated to qualify voters. WOW! If you don’t understand the evil of that statement, please Google and inform yourself on the History of literacy tests for voting in America. Another Republican, I’ll call a racist.

At that same Teabagger convention, when Sarah Palin mentioned Texas seceding from the Union, the audience went crazy with applause. Scary!

Then she asked, “How’s that hopey changey thing going for you?” I would ask her why Republicans legislators refuse to participate in the process of governing, or why she quit half way through her term as Governor? Although the answer seems obvious, for money. Now there’s political conviction for you.

I like rooting for underdogs. I’m glad the Saints won. I’m rooting for the American people, they seem to be quite an underdog these days. They are losing to the Washington political machine and corrupt politicians.

If you read my blog (thank you) you already know I’m not to happy with President Obama and some of his decisions. Yet, the more I here from Republicans, the President starts to look like one of the few rational, intelligent adults leading our government.

>Irrational Obama Hate

>Conservatives hate Obama. It is a deep, emotional hate. It is an irrational hate.

The banks have been stabilized and saved from bankruptcy. Is that something to hate Obama for?

We are actually getting paid back for our tax dollar bailouts. Is that something to hate Obama for?

The stock market did well this year, and many made money off of it. Is that something to hate Obama for?

Job loses have gone from 700,000 in January 2009, to 20,000 in January in 2010. Is that something to hate Obama for?

Economic growth has gone from a negative 6% to a positive 5.7%. Is that something to hate Obama for?

There were 3 convictions in the military GITMO prosecutions of terrorists. There have been hundreds of convictions of terrorists in the civil court trials. Yet, republicans condemn Obama for wanting a civil trial for the 9/11 terrorists. Is that decision one Obama should be hated for?

Obama tried to give solutions to our health care problem. Is that something he should be hated for?

His bailout saved auto companies from bankruptcy. Is that something he should be hated for?

According to conservative bloggers, Obama is intentionally destroying America. They hate what he has done. One can disagree with his decisions, but they do not show a President that hates America, or is trying to intentionally destroy America.

The list above show positive achievements, compared to where we were when Obama took office. If Republicans want to hate Obama for these results, I hope their hate continues to grow, and Obama’s good results continue to grow.

While President Obama does what he can to improve America, let the Republicans and their extremist friends get back to claiming his birth certificate is false, his wife has a big butt, he is a racist, a Socialist, a Muslim, and other false, irrational hate filled talking points. They won’t let the facts get in the way of a good hate.

When you judge a President, do it on the facts, not some emotional, irrational hate.

>Civil Debates

>There cannot be civil debates when one side is lying about, or refuses to accept proven facts. No problems can be solved, if one side is lying. There is nothing to debate, if the truth is not part of the debate.

How do you debate with irrational, hate filled people?

One cannot debate a “birther” if that person will not accept the proven facts, that President Obama was legally born in the USA. Everyone in Hawaii from the records clerk to the Governor has certified the birth certificate (that has been produced for the public to see) is an honest, true, and factual document. Birthers refuse to accept the proven facts. There is no debate to have, except maybe why these people refuse to accept proven facts.

How do you debate with someone who claims President Obama is a Muslim? How do you debate with someone who claims the President wants to intentionally destroy America? How do you debate someone who claims there were WMDs in Iraq when we attacked them?

Does Obama face East and pray multiple times a day? Which church does he attend? The U.S. Army, President Bush and the rest of his administration admitted there were no WMDs. It is the official finding of the United States. How can I debate people who refuse to accept proven facts?

How do I debate someone who voted against something, they voted for during the last administration. How do you debate someone who changes their convictions based on, who and what party, occupies the White House? How do I debate someone who claims they have been left out of the Congressional process of making law, when their amendments are part of the legislation and the process was on live TV for all to verify that lie?

How do we debate a financial ideology (supply side – tax cuts) that has been proven a failure by History. We tried it their way and it failed, yet, they insist we continue to do it that way. There is no debate against irrationality.

How do you debate with someone who thinks President Obama should just be hanged? How do you debate with someone who merely spews hate filled words about the President, without mentioning any disputes they have with his policies?

Yet, these people who twist and spew lies about the Democrats and their President, continue to use that tactic, even in the face of being factually wrong. There is nothing to debate (respond to) except the hate they spew.

Civil debate? I would love one. Where is one?

Use your dirty words, as long as they come with a coherent idea. Spew you hate for Obama, but explain it, without the generalized Republican talking points. What is there to hate about his wife, except her fat butt? Don’t say he is growing the debt much higher than Bush (who grew the debt by 5 trillion) when that has not happened yet. Don’t claim he created this debt, when that is not factually true. Don’t tell me that prosecuting a terrorist in civil court is bad for America, when the Bush administration did the same thing over 200 times, and seemed ok to you then, not to mention America has not suffered for doing it.

I’m waiting for a good debate. America would be better off with good debates on the issues. So far, all we have had is a wall of fear and lies to try and dishonestly manipulate the American people. Bring it on!

>Worth A Thousand Words

>

>Republican Beliefs

>

Self identified Republicans speak.

The following survey questions were asked of self identified Republicans (see methodology at bottom of survey-link below).

Brief highlights:

36% believe President Obama was not born in the U.S.
There is overwhelming official evidence that President Obama is a legal American.

24% believe President Obama wants the terrorists to win.
What’s scary is that 1/4 believe this.

31% believe President Obama is a racist.
Hate is alive and well in the Republican party.

23% believe their State should secede from the Union.
Almost a 1/4 want to leave America, please do.

68% believe employee unions should not be allowed.
I wonder how they think we got the decent working conditions and benefits they enjoy.

68% believe gay couples should not receive federal benefits.
Proof that their cry about civil unions with equal benefits, is a lie.

31% believe contraceptives should be outlawed.
I wish they would practice what they believe, in this question.

Amazing what total proven lies Republicans believe. Bigotry and stupidity is alive and well in the Republican party. It’s scary to think people who think this way could lead a country of free thinking people, who expect their government to protect their right to free choices. It’s no wonder their leadership over the last 30 years has us at each others throats, and brought us to the worst conditions our country has seen in over 70 years. 70 years ago, the Republican party was responsible for that mess also. It took a Democrat to pull us out of that mess, thank God we have a Democrat to help pull us out of this mess.

Here is the complete survey:

>Still A Pagan Humanity

>

THE MAYAN CALENDAR DOES NOT END IN 2012

The date December 21st, 2012 A.D. (13.0.0.0.0 in the Long Count), represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun), what that ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT.

The Tzolkin is a 260-day calendar based around the period of human gestation. It is composed of 20 day-signs, each of which has 13 variations, and was (and still is) used to determine character traits and time harmonics, in a similar way to Western astrology. The Maya also used a 365-day calendar called the Haab, and a Venus calendar, plus others. They measured long time periods by means of a Long Count, in which one 360-day year (a “Tun”), consists of 18 x 20-day “months” (“Uinals”). Twenty of these Tuns is a Katun; 20 Katuns is a Baktun (nearly 400 years); and 13 Baktuns adds up to a “Great Cycle” of 1,872,000 days, ( 5200 Tuns, or about 5125 years).

Mayan scholars have been attempting to correlate the Long Count with our Western Gregorian calendar, since the beginning of this century. There has been massive variation in the suggested correlations, but as early as 1905, Goodman suggested a correlation only 3 days from the most popular one today. Known as the GMT correlation, or “correlation # 584283”, this was finalized in 1950, and puts the start of the Great Cycle ( day 0.0.0.0.0) on 11th August 3114 BC, and the end-date (known as 13.0.0.0.0.) as 21st December 2012.

Jose Arguelles has pointed out that the Tzolkin is a harmonic of the Great Cycle, and can be used to map history, as if it is measuring not individual gestation but species gestation, since 5 Great Cycles add to exactly 26,000 Tuns; the “Grand Year” or precession of the equinoxes – a higher harmonic of 260.

NOTE: The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer – the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again.

This “2012” end of the World garbage, is a good example of how we refuse to listen to, or use Science; use observable facts, logical interpretation, or critical thinking.

Humans have been predicting the end of the World since before the “Great Flood”, Christ, or the Bible’s account in Revelations. There have always been those that choose to believe these theories based on nothing, but a story they are told.

Used to be, that people who spewed theories like this, or claimed to talk with the dead, claimed to talk with God, claimed to be abducted by aliens, and other nonsense; were ignored by most, or even taken away by the guys in white coats.

Now, it seems far more people than usual are willing to contemplate, or even accept these kind of baseless theories, even when good Science can refute the possibility.

What does that say about our supposed highly educated society, compared to uneducated generations in the past, that also believed in the same kind of unprovable theories? Can we consider ourselves highly evolved from our ancient ancestors? Apparently not.

Which might explain why (even in our age of technology and high education) we cannot agree, or progress in the basic questions and problems about humanity, that have been around for centuries.

My concern is not how long humanity has before it ends, but its lack of an ability to solve our problems and progress while we still live. It’s easy to see how we fail, if we continue to believe in fairy tales and lies.

>Republican Obstructionism and Lying

>The week after President Obama was sworn in, he met with the Republican caucus. He met with the Republican caucus, before he met with the Democratic caucus. Meeting with the Republican caucus that week, was one of the first official meetings the new President had. He went to the Republican caucus to get input on the stimulus bill. He went to the Republican caucus, to show he was serious about bipartisanship. The Presidents attempt at bipartisanship was rebuked by the Republicans, and the irrational hate towards the President began. It has been that way ever since.

Today, the President again, went to speak with Republicans at their retreat. It was broadcast by C-Span and if you missed it, you should make a point to see it. I’m sure C-Span will replay it more than once, in the next few days. The President gave a 15 minute speech, than took questions from the Republicans. The whole meeting lasted about an hour and a half.

The President took questions head on, and explained in detail, the fallacy of the Republican talking points. That they are not being truthful with the American people. That they have faulty Math and facts. This is nothing new for me, or most bloggers. We have heard this before and argue it everyday on our blogs. “Your are entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts.”

I would take that further. You are not entitled to lie to people to make your points. If you do, be prepared to be called a liar. Be prepared to back up your rhetoric with true facts. You cannot solve problems, if one side is lying about, or falsifying the facts, that need to be debated.

For those on the right that are a constant presence on blogs to only name call the President, fuck you, you are anti-American scum. You are certainly not serious about discussing the issues. Like the Republican party, you only want to destroy the President, not solve the problems of America. We need serious people, to solve the serious problems of our country. The rest of you clowns and spewers of hate, should be left out and identified for what you are, people who hate America. People who hate the President of the United States, just because he is President of the United States. Traitors to America.

The President (at the retreat meeting) was successful in calling out the insincere, talking points only, comments and questions from these do nothing Republicans. He did it with facts, the truth, and common sense. He acknowledged that Republicans have useful ideas, and despite the fact that Republicans are telling Americans that they have been locked out of the process; the President pointed out that their amendments are in his health care bill. So Republicans are lying. I watched these Congressional committees on C-Span. I watched the Republicans introduce their amendments. I watched those amendments pass, and some fail. So, they are lying!

Ideas must be shown (with facts and figures) to be helpful. If they cannot be, they should be left out. Republicans won’t even vote for ideas they have stated (for decades) they are for. That is the proof of insincerity. That is the proof that their motivation is to destroy him politically, not help solve problems for Americans. Spin the truth to make it appear it is a lie. Don’t talk policy, call the President names. Ad hom insult debating tactics; more proof that sincerity on the Republicans part, is a lie.

Can you force Republicans to be rational, honest, and truthful? NO. Can you solve problems when the Republicans take those dishonest positions? Yes, just simply bypass them in the process. The President refuses to do that (in favor of Republicans) yet Republicans are more interested in demonizing the President, not solving America’s problems, or even being civil to the President of the United States. The President has more patience and forgiveness than I do. I would go with a simple majority and pass all the legislation I could.

>

>State of the Union

>That was the most conservative speech I have ever seen a Democratic President give. Tax cuts this, tax cuts that. Before JFK presidential politics stayed away from using the tax system to sway public opinion for their policies.

In those days even the Congress kept tax ideology out of the public debate about what was good, or bad policy for the country. Taxes were debated by legislators, but it was part of the “backroom” debate. Tax rates back then were 70-85% and politicians knew that a call to lower taxes would sell with the people, but cause havoc with national finances.

President Clinton used to give conservative speeches (for a Democrat) but then he was working with a Republican majority. In order for President Clinton to get any legislation passed, he had to lean right in his policies.

The President is still calling for bipartisan legislation. I wonder if he knows that time passed years ago. Still he gets good marks for trying, it just won’t be a reality and won’t get legislation passed. Can you force politicians to be reasonable? If we look at the History of political relationships in Washington DC for the last 200 years, no. The illogical reaction (no applause) by Republicans to certain remarks (ideas Republicans claim to support) added to Republicans appearing hypocritical.

He spoke of common sense. Maybe he should give classes to the Congress on that, instead of the Constitution. He spoke of not having to agree that energy use is harming the Earth in order to promote a better energy source. Something I have been saying for decades. He spoke of drill baby drill, but forgot to mention that could only be a temporary policy. He spoke of nuclear energy being a big part of our future energy use. Fine, but the issues of waste and cost of building these plants are big problems, he did not address.

In his ideological, soft oratory he did accomplish putting Republicans in the light of being unreasonable. A factual description of the Republican parties behavior, and a point well made.

He also took a shot at the Supreme Court (they were in attendance) for their recent decision about corporate political donations. That must be the first time a President chided the Supreme Court in the public forum of a “State of the Union” speech. And bravo for it.

He stated he will get busy ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I hope he does. It’s way past time for it, and kudos for him to do it.

He also pointed out the divisiveness of popular on air negative speech and how that does not represent the best of American debate. So true.

>Ring of Fire

>
Millennium Annular Solar Eclipse
Credit & Copyright: Mikael Svalgaard

Explanation: The Moon’s shadow raced across planet Earth on January 15. Observers within the central shadow track were able to witness an annular solar eclipse as the Moon’s apparent size was too small to completely cover the Sun. A visually dramatic ring of fire, the annular phase lasted up to 11 minutes and 8 seconds depending on location, the longest annular solar eclipse for the next 1,000 years. This picture of the Moon’s silhouette just before mid-eclipse was taken within the eclipse path from the city of Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India. The telescopic image was made through a filter that blocks most visible light, but still transmits light from hydrogen atoms. As a result, detailed mottling, or granulation, caused by heat convection in the Sun’s atmosphere can be seen around the dark lunar disk.

>Cut Government Spending

>We have known for decades that Republicans were not serious about cutting government spending. They have had decades to do it, and have not. I don’t quite understand why Americans keep reelecting Republicans based on their false promises of cutting government and cutting government spending.

President Obama wants a deficit reduction panel. Made up of 14 Congressional members, seven Democrats and seven Republicans. The Republicans said no, stating they would offer their own deficit cutting ideas after the 2010 elections. Democrats said no, stating they would not want to agree to spending cuts, if they did not write the details of the legislation.

President Obama is supposed to announce a freeze of government spending in his speech tomorrow night. The Republicans have already announced they are against such an idea. Democrats are not to happy about it either.

Both these proposals could be argued on ideological and political grounds, not to mention the actual details, but both sides are trying to kill even having to face the debate at all. After all, if we are talking about giving Congress less money to spend, that’s attacking their power.

Another example of giving Congress what they claim they want, and then they refuse the invitation. Making it perfectly clear, that they are not serious at all about dealing with an over bloated government, or a now 12 trillion dollar national debt.

If legislators refuse to cut spending, will they raise taxes to pay our bills? Not a chance. Unless, of course, the people demand it. Not a chance. Good luck with those false cries of not wanting to leave our future Americans in deep debt.

It’s refreshing to have the Republicans admit to not wanting (spending cuts) what they have claimed they do want; and it is depressing that the Democrats agree with the Republicans. The only fact that comes from these two decisions, is the two parties are the same. Of course that fact has been pointed out for years.

>Science – History – Mistakes

>”Those who do not study and learn from History are bound to repeat it.”
“When the Scientists and finders of fact are no longer listened to, or believed by society, society is doomed.”

Two old familiar sayings, that show true wisdom. Unfortunately, both are being ignored by our society and unless we change our ways, we are doomed. We have already forgotten the lessons of History about national economics from the Coolidge era, and are suffering the consequences of that mistake again today.

We have forgotten the lesson of prohibition of alcohol, and we are making the same mistakes with other so called “evil” substances, today. We have forgotten how to listen to Scientists and apply the information they can offer. In fact we don’t just debate what they say, we twist the facts they offer, to fit our political means. Truly a practice of low intellect.

What will future Historians write about us? Will they write about how many Galileo’s we condemned? Certainly they will have to write about our national financial mistakes, which were proven mistakes by our own recent past, if we were paying attention enough to understand. Future Americans will just shake their heads and wonder what the Hell we were thinking. Their correct conclusion will be, that we were not thinking.

We argue about global warming; meantime we do nothing to change our wasteful energy usage whether, or not global warming is occurring. How dumb is that? Do we really have to prove our current energy usage is harming the Earth, to switch to a more efficient, cleaner energy source?

History is full of examples of how the most powerful societies on Earth have fallen. Yet, we are marching the same egotistical path, that led to their extinction. Old sayings have truth, which is why people keep repeating them over the centuries. Like absolute power, corrupts absolutely. The most powerful are the most oppressive, and the most vulnerable to failure.

Look what bigotry and racism has done to this country, yet, it is an acceptable trait of one of the two major parties in America today, the Republicans. The Civil war was about Southern capitalist not wanting to give up their cheap slave labor, which was making them rich. They were willing to fight and die for the right to enslave human beings. A lesson they did not learn from History, or the Bible they claim to believe in so much.

Thousands have written for centuries about war, peace, and violence, yet, war is still the main way we settle our differences as humans. The United States has the highest rate of violent death in the World. The highest rate of imprisonment in the World. We have 400 million privately owned guns in a country of 300 million people. We use those weapons to kill each other, not protect each other.

American auto companies had their wake up call 30 years ago, yet, they kept making gas guzzlers and today they are going bankrupt. Seems they did not learn their lesson either.

President Obama has not learned from recent mistakes either. How can he make change, if he continues with the same people who screwed up during the last administration? Republicans scream about corruption in the Obama administration, yet, it seems the corruption is being done by the Bush holdovers in the Obama administration. He uses our tax money to bail out big business like he was a Republican, and ends up upsetting his own party. He makes the same kind of “smoke filled room” political deals that the Republicans have done for decades, and then wonders why people vote against his candidates. He claims to be for the average American, but won’t fight for them. He lets Congress take the lead (his job) and when they do their usual job (bills reflecting partisanship and graft) wonders why Americans don’t like the bill they voted for him to pass.

Republicans seem to think regressing to the past, is the key to a prosperous future. The morals from the past that we fought so hard to progress away from, is their answer to a better future? How dumb is that? They want to tear down the government. They think multi-trillion dollar debts are good economics. They think they can force (at the point of a gun) countries around the World to become Democracies. All of this kind of thinking has been proven a failure by History.

We can and should learn from the past, but we can not look to the past for answers to our current problems, or our path to the future.

So what’s driving all this? Why do we keep making the same obvious mistakes?

Greed and stupidity.

>An Anniversary

>Today is the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade. Abortion became legal with limits. It was a good decision for women, for freedom, and for justice to all in the United States.

Choice is freedom. Less choices, less freedom. When a decision that affects all Americans is controversial, the benefit of the doubt should go to give more choices to Americans, not fewer. The debate can go on, but once the choice is outlawed the debate ends, and freedom loses. Freedom to choose, the ultimate exercise in a free society.

Many were not around when abortion was illegal and are not familiar with real issues surrounding abortion. The horror stories. The backyard dangerous abortions. The deaths, not to mention the right for a woman to make a free decision about her body. A personal decision, which the government should have no business involving itself in.

Some call it murder, but what about the right of those who disagree with that position? Yes, there are those who do not see abortion as murder. There are those who think a woman does have sole control over the decisions about her own body. There are those who have a different moral view. There are those who don’t think they should be forced to live by others moral views.

The choice has been saved for those who want to make it, and that’s the way it should be in a society that values freedom and freedom of choice in ALL things.

>Know Your Enemy

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Are these institutions our enemies?

In my opinion, we seem to have an absurd idea of who are enemies are. Our enemy is not our government. Yet, the Republican parties great leader Ronald Reagan declared, that government is our enemy. He was not the first Republican to make that declaration, just the most famous. Since President Reagan, that has been the battle cry of the Republican party.

Since 1980, the Republicans have held the White House 21 out of 30 years. Their leadership has not fostered civilian respect for government institutions, or taught by example, civic responsibility. Their emphasis has been on winning elections. Based on the Historical fact, that the less the voter turnout, the better the chances for a Republican win. To that end they have used various and any method to gain victory. Their methods have been taken from the dark side of the human character.

Fear, religion, over exaggerated threats against our country, false descriptions of fiscal policies, bigotry, lies in the name of protecting America when they were only seeking to cover the truth Americans would not agree with, corporate political bribery, and magic acts of all kinds to distract Americans from the literal truth and the truth that they were not engaged in the political philosophy they told Americans they stood for.

This is not a one way street, but I am talking about the last three decades, that has set our current conditions and the future for Americans, for decades to come. I am talking about the Republican party, their leaders, and their tactics. I will write another post about Democratic abuses, but they are not similar, or as depraved.

Our mistake, is to have rejected what government can do for us. The crime, is to allow what generations of Americans have spilled blood building, be torn down because of some alluring “free lunch” promise, that we should have known better, was just an appealing delusion. The crime continues today.

If the defense of America is our number one priority, the welfare of the people is number two, or maybe it should be the other way around, for what is defense worth if we are no more than a crumbling country with people of vacant character.

Republican cries of morality and family values were attractive to a good people, but the actual character of the religious leaders and the Republican politicians that linked together, were the worst kind of wolves in sheep’s clothing. They lure with cries of “no new taxes” and allow the natural financial imbalances to threaten the security of our country. They use the voice of fear, that naturally attracts a crowd, and then get that crowd to vote for them claiming only they have the conviction to protect the country.

They claim Democrats hate the military, cannot be trusted to defend America, wrap themselves in the uniform of a soldier, then let those soldiers go into battle without proper protection, or allow soldiers to become forgotten people after their use is no longer needed. Their military machine makes brave soldiers crawl through red tape just to have their ailments taken care of, or linger in rat infested hospitals. Why, because all expenditures are cut to be able to give the “no new tax” pledge, to get reelected.

Services for the people are cut. The military is stretched to thin. The debt is crippling for decades to come. Hospitals closed, but taxes go to build football arenas. Bridges fall down due to neglect, but a Republican Senator has to have millions for a bridge to nowhere.

Now, a new democratic President is blamed for the crippling debt, by those same politicians who built the debt. He tries to bring relief to the people, but Republicans say no. He tried to talk to them, they showed him the door, and then told the public they were not listened to.

No folks, the enemy is not our government, it is the crooks we elected to government. It is the politicians we gave the power to, believing their con job of promises. The enemy are those with a public voice, that speak bigotry and evoke the negativity within us.

The enemy is us. We left our job to those who seek power and riches, not the welfare of us, or our country. We allow the voices of hate to define us by not speaking against them. We do not have the intestinal fortitude to understand, or withstand the mere words of the age old con men, or propagandist. We are to selfish and weak to sacrifice even our money, for the health of our country.

The next time a politician says he won’t raise your taxes, ask him why he wants to bankrupt our country? Ask him why he allows the needy of our society, to go without? Ask him why the programs we have supported for generations, are no longer valid, or necessary? By the way, ask yourselves the same question. You are the voices (votes) that gave them the power to act on your behalf.

As President Obama said two weeks ago, “This is not a time for partisanship, it is a time for citizenship.”

Do we know what being a good citizen means? What does it mean to you? Tearing down the government because you are mad at it? It’s not working right, so lets kill it off? Whose fault is it that government is not working right. Don’t blame Obama. Don’t even blame Bush. Blame ourselves for our poor performance as citizens.

>We Have All Gone Crazy

>I know I have. I even got reconciliation and majority vote mixed up on a blog comment tonight. My excuse is the medication, what’s yours? The sudden turn of the attitude of this blog probably has something to do with the medication, but more to do with exasperation.

In 2006 and 2008 the country drastically changed the ruling political power in national government. That meant a new President and dozens of elected Congressional seats. A big change of power in Washington.

Last night one State elected a Republican Senator (a seat held by a Democrat for over 54 years) and this supposedly means the intent of the voters of the 2006 and 2008 elections is now null and void? The President and the agenda he ran on just a year ago, is no longer valid to Americans? Americans no longer want health care insurance reform? Hogwash!

Americans like a good sniping and a good trashing, especially against authority. Are you watching Conan to see what new insults he has against NBC? Do we like to hear about the sexual peccadilloes of politicians? Don’t we love to hear how the higher ups in society have fallen? Do we fight City Hall, even though we know it’s a losing proposition? Do we cheer for the guy that does take on City Hall? We love to trash VIPs. We listen when we hear our employers and bosses being trashed.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, which means there is not often a lot of thought put into the consequences of our actions. But, hey, we love to get that shot in.

So the voters of Massachusetts (under the national light) decided to give their government a shot. Upset about the President’s admittedly (admitted by me) flawed health care bill, they stuck it in the eye of the politicians.

Massachusetts voted for Obama in 2008 knowing and supporting his agenda, including his health care reform promises. Of course, those promises were not what the bill ended up being. I mean, what the Hell, they were not getting what they wanted anyways; and what they did get was a stereotype of dirty political deals, so it didn’t really matter who won the election and it was a good opportunity to give a shot to those self serving bastards in the Congress. No problem, and unless Mr. Brown turns out to be a better politician than he sounds like; he too will be ousted in 2016.

This was an anti vote. Anti Washington, anti Obama health care, anti horrible democrat candidate, anti Republicans doing nothing, anti politicians, anti anything to do with politics. And why not. What have any of these of political crooks done for citizens lately?

Yet, we only have ourselves to blame. Are we crazy? We vote for politicians that pander for our vote by saying they will not raise our taxes, and then wonder why we are bankrupt. We reelect politicians that are caught stealing, lying, having sexual affairs, getting paid for their votes, giving us stupid outright lies for explanations, and whatever crap they think we will swallow, then we do swallow it and reelect them. We allow the most vile speech without speaking out against those haters we should have left behind decades ago. You know the old saying, if you keep doing the same thing and get the same failing results…………

We go ga ga over some politician thinking he has the answer to all our problems like he is some kind of political messiah, and when he does not solve all our problems within a year, we dump on him.

Forget all the bullshit from politicians and use a little common sense. Have a little sales resistance. Use some critical thinking. Do you really think these power hungry, selfish, egotistical people care about you? Are you sure someone who thinks differently than you wants to destroy America? Is your neighbor your enemy? Is the opposition party America’s enemy, or is Bin Laden our enemy?

I think we are crazy. We are blowing up the greatest country the World has ever known, mistakes and all.

>Republicans Want To Destroy America

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Republicans have been stating for decades, that they want to kill America. They want to cut the government and cut the money it takes to run America. They did not have the courage, or the votes to kill the programs Americans have supported, so they cut the money to choke those programs off. They let the national debt climb to 10 trillion dollars. That sent America to it’s knees and to bankruptcy.

As the ship America sinks (due to gashes of financial incompetence) the Republicans show their cowardice by pushing women, children, and the poor off the ship first. They have stated over and over again, that they are happy with the current situation. They have obstructed all legislative efforts, and are now known around the country, as the party of no. And are proud of it.

They are proud of their racist spokespeople. They are proud of having 50 million with no medical insurance. They are proud of their no tax platform, which has bankrupt America. They are proud, that they have left future Americans unable to make good choices because of the deep debt. They are proud of their sect like sex “family.” Congratulations! You have done it. I know you are proud of yourselves.

Now you have a new “porn star” Senator. Aren’t you proud. He will fit in nicely, with all the other sexual degenerates you have in the Republican party. Brown is a racist birther, something the Republican mouthpieces have been supportive of all year. So now we can add one more sexist, racist, America killer to the United States Senate. Aren’t you proud. As the crowd cheers “41” which means 40 million people will be denied health care, the love the crowd has for such a disgusting act towards humans, tells us all we need to know about the principles of Republicans. Of course, they have no alternative for the problem, and never have. Nice how he tried to get his daughters a man during his acceptance speech.

It only took Republicans 28 years to build the national debt to 10 trillion dollars, kill capitalism, divide Americans, enhance racism in America (as if that need help) push religion into the legislative process, turn us into a militaristic country, turned the Senate from the founders simple majority rule to a 2/3’s rule legislative body (and people wonder why we cannot get anything done) aren’t you proud.

It is quite an accomplishment to destroy the best country in the World for the last 220 years, in only 28 years. They obviously must hate everything the “greatest” generation ever did.

Glad I won’t be around to live under the rule of these sick fascists.

>Comment Policy

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It has been alleged (by lying pigs) that my comment policy is hypocritical.
That is not true, it is my comment policy and I do not put up with the shit and biases found on other blogs.
I do not get enjoyment out of watching the sparks fly between comments, just to build comment counts.
Nor do I delete comments based on bias, or friendship.
Nor do I have ads, that make me more money on each visit to my blog, therefore motivating me to have a high comment count, and motivating me to encourage the filth people love.
It does cut my comment count, but then unlike others, that is not the goal of my writing, or my blog.
So, from now on my comment section is open to all. So, all you lying pigs, have a field day. Enjoy the garbage you create. Enjoy the incivility you claim you do not create.
If you read my “New Years Day” post, you know I won’t be around long anyways. Although, the hospice people told me, that as long as I can work on a computer, I will have a computer in my room.
This is not the end of this blog. I will post as long as I can.
It is the end of filtering the filthy, lying, pigs and their supposition that they are truthful, honest, unbiased, sincere, serious people.
Anonymous comments are allowed. I would miss to many filthy comments, if I did not allow anonymous comments, as that is the pigs main way of identifying themselves.
Be warned, if you do not want to be attacked, do not comment here, or at least do it anonymously so other pigs cannot backtrack to your blog and attack you there. I have removed all links to other blogs, as that is also a favorite way that pigs attack. You might want to remove youselves from my favorites list.
Have at it pigs, backstabbers, two-faced morons. Show me your intellectual and personal courage. Give it your best shot. I know you won’t let me down.

>A Poem

>“High Flight”
by John Gillespie McGee Jr.
Born in China
Poet/Pilot in WW II
Royal Canadian Air Force
Died at the age of 19.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.