Right-Wing Extremism
I want to expand a bit on a previous post of mine titled “Tea Party Hypocrisy.” Frank Rich had an article in the New York Times recently titled, “The Rage Is Not About Health Care,” where Mr. Rich wrote about how Republican politicians have been playing on their bases fear of a Democratic federal government which manifests itself into a violent rage. Mr. Rich talks about how this type of divisive politics has been rampant since the Nixon era. This notion of divisive politics perpetuated by right-wing politicians throughout history has also been talked about in a book by Richard Perlstein titled, “Nixonland,” as well as in a recent article in The Faster Times, by T.R. Donohue titled, “Why Do Republicans Insist on Fanning the Flames of Domestic Terrorism?”
The general theme in all of the above mentioned titles is, the driving wedge in right-wing politics, talk of these people over here (referring to the left), they want to take what you have (i.e. guns, religion, money…) and give it to these other people who aren’t like you. These titles talk about how the Republican Party, all throughout history, has played off their bases fear of these “others,” referring to homosexuals, minorities, and college educated individuals who they don’t understand and therefore have a fear of.
The real problem with right-wing politicians, is their willingness to court and even embrace the radical rhetoric coming from these extremist groups and individuals. Republican politicians consistently stoke the fear and rage that runs rampant amongst their base. They know that if they play on people’s fear, they have a better chance of retaining power and passing their agenda. Even when they are in power, they are constantly seen playing the fear card to pass legislation. We have seen recent examples of this under George W. Bush, with his talk about mushrooms clouds, and the famous line, “we have to fight them over there so they don’t fight us over here.” Journalists have written numerous examples of the Bush administration mysteriously raising the terror threat level almost every single time there was a dip in administration approval numbers. Remember how the Patriot Act was passed? It was passed right after 9/11, when the country was overreacting to a fear of Islamic extremists.
The fact that domestic extremism skyrockets under Democratic administrations is undisputable. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremism, said that in 2008 there were 42 right-wing militia groups in the United States. Today, they report 127 right-wing militia groups operating in the United States. Why is this? I think that it is an undisputable fact that the hate and vitriol coming from the right has much more to do with culture than with the issues. As I talked about in, “Tea Party Hypocrisy,” the right-wing doesn’t care about the issues. They don’t care about big government, the budget, the deficit, and the constitution, it is all a ploy. If the right-wing really cared about these things, they would have gone berserk under the Bush administration. George W. Bush and company grew the national budget and deficit to unprecedented levels. The Bush administration passed legislation that made unwarranted search and seizures legal under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The right-wing, especially the Tea Party, claim to be constitutionalists. Where were these people when George Bush trampled all over fourth, sixth, and eighth amendment?
The right-wing politicians in this country embrace this extremism. We saw blatant examples of this during the presidential campaign of 2008. Remember Sarah Palin referring to President Obama, “palling around with terrorists.” What do these politicians think is going to happen when they say things like this? Their ignorant base believes them when the accuse President Obama of not being a United States citizen. These right-wingers believe their politicians when they tell them that, “we need to take our country back.”
They are telling their base that we need to take the country back from this socialist who is not an American citizen and pals around with terrorists. How do they think their base is going to react? If someone honestly believes that President Obama hangs around with terrorists, is not an American citizen, and is a communist, they feel that they need to take their country back by any means necessary. It is no wonder that a recent Harris poll showed the following percentages of self proclaimed Conservatives believe the following things to be true:
-President Obama is a socialist: 67%
-He wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns: 63%
-He is a Muslim: 51%
-He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government: 52%
-He has done many things that are unconstitutional: 53%
-He resents America’s heritage: 49%
-He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do: 38%
-He was not born in the United States and is not eligible to be president: 41%
-He is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of: 45%
-He is a racist: 42%
-He is anti-American: 43%
-He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers: 40%
-He is doing many of the things that Adolph Hitler did: 36%
And now for my favorite one:
-President Obama might be the Anti-Christ: 24%
Is any of this a surprise? Ok, the Anti-Christ part is certainly surprising. It is amazing to me that 24% of Conservatives believe in the Anti-Christ, let alone think that President Obama might be him. Do you think that it is in the realm of possibility that these people may think that it is ok to take violent action against President Obama and his administration. If I believed in the Anti-Christ, which I certainly do not, I would probably think that it's ok if someone took action against that person.
Instead of explaining to their base that these ridiculous things are obviously untrue, Republican politicians, along with pundits like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, and the rest of the right-wing crazy people, continue to encourage and reinforce these false accusations. The Republican Party plays on their bases fear because it works. Their base has an obvious fear of people they see as different from them. If they don’t understand something, then there is this rage that builds up and manifests itself into violent outbursts. It is just like when Ronald Regan, who is the second coming of Christ to Conservatives, talked about, “welfare queens driving Cadillacs.” They see anyone who is not a white Christian male as different, and looking to, “take their country from them.”
The good news that comes with all of this, is that the demographics of this country are rapidly changing. In the near future, white Christian males are going to no longer be in the majority in this country, and this scares right-wingers to death. As America becomes more of a melting pot, the right-wingers are going to see their power erode. While I can’t wait for these right-wingers to lose their majority grip on the country, I fear for what will come along with their loss of power. I think that the violence and extremism has only begun. The more these people feel that they have their backs against the wall, the more they will want to fight back. I hope that for once in history, these right-wing politicians will take a look at what they have created, and do something to stop it.
Tea Party Hypocrisy
I really don’t understand the Tea Party movement. Do they not realize that they are currently the most hypocritical group of people on the planet? Or are they just too stupid to realize that their arguments make absolutely no sense? They bitch and moan about too much government control, unless of course the government wants to control something that they are in favor of, like same-sex marriage. They complain about President Obama supposedly taking away their civil liberties, but when Republicans trample all over our civil liberties, not a peep from them. They also complain about the recent health care legislation being unconstitutional, but do they not recall the Patriot Act and the suspension of habeas corpus by former President George W. Bush.
One of the current arguments made by the Tea Party is that they want less government control of health care, business, and their lives in general. We’ve all heard the argument that less government intervention and control is the way to go. I want the Tea Party to explain why they are in favor of controlling what Americans put into their bodies and what Americans do in their bedrooms. Why is the Tea Party in favor of the government telling us who we can marry and what we can do with our sexual partners in the privacy of our homes? You would have a hard time finding a Tea Party member who is in favor of same-sex marriage, and up until the early 21st century, 36 states had laws against sodomy. These laws present a textbook case of government control. Why doesn't the Tea Party protest about this? The fact of the matter is, those affiliated with the Tea Party are perfectly fine with government control and regulation, as long as the type of control vibes with their personal agenda and beliefs. Either you are in favor of government control, or you aren't. You can’t have it both ways, unless you're hypocrite.
The Tea Party is in favor of control when it comes to marijuana. If the government tries to mandate you to buy health insurance, in order to provide health care to more people, that is wrong. But if the government outlaws marijuana and other drugs, that is ok. Do they not see the hypocrisy of their argument? I don’t get it. They are against government control, unless of course it is something that they want controlled.
The Tea Party says that President Obama is infringing upon their civil liberties, but where were the protesters when George W. Bush was taking away a persons right to a fair trial? We still have prisoners in Guantanamo Bay that have not even been charged with a crime, let alone had access to legal counsel, or a fair trial. These are basic human rights that George W. Bush denied people. Where was the Tea Party then? Were they all asleep when Bush was destroying civil liberties? Why do they only protest when Democrats are in office? They are hypocrites.
The Tea Party complains about President Obama’s health care plan, they say the mandate is unconstitutional. Where were they when the Patriot Act was being pushed through Congress? The Constitution strictly prohibits unwarranted search and seizures. Where was the Tea Party when this unconstitutional bill was being passed? Where were the protests? Where was the “revolution” that that they are calling for when George W. Bush was in office? They are hypocrites. Republicans can enact any piece of legislation they want without a peep from these hypocrites. Make no mistake; they don’t care about the Constitution. They are protesting because they hate President Obama and the Democrats, that is the ONLY reason.
President Obama has done many things that liberals are not in support of, but how can you complain about President Obama and the Democrats, and stay silent when the Republicans do far more shameful things? There are only two conclusions that we can come to based on their behavior. They are either too stupid to know what they are complaining about, or they are hypocrites. I can guarantee everyone reading this post of one thing. If President Obama is not re-elected in 2012, and we get a Republican in office, I can promise you that the Tea Party will disappear into the shadows. There will be no more protests. The Tea Party will go away, only to re-surface the next time a Democrat comes into office. Don’t be fooled, the Tea Party is comprised of hypocrites. They are only concerned with their own self interests. They don’t care about you or me. They only care about themselves.
Whose Country Is It?
I try and make a point to post as much original content, written by me, on the site as I possibly can. But every now and then I come across an article that is too good not to post. That being said, Charles Blow from the New York Times posted an op-ed piece on Saturday that I couldn’t have said better myself. I have decided to share his article with you.
Whose Country Is It?
By Charles M. Blow
NY Times – March 27th, 2010
The far-right extremists have gone into conniptions.
The bullying, threats, and acts of violence following the passage of health care reform have been shocking, but they’re only the most recent manifestations of an increasing sense of desperation.
It’s an extension of a now-familiar theme: some version of “take our country back.” The problem is that the country romanticized by the far right hasn’t existed for some time, and its ability to deny that fact grows more dim every day. President Obama and what he represents has jolted extremists into the present and forced them to confront the future. And it scares them.
Even the optics must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents included a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy.
Hence their anger and frustration, which is playing out in ways large and small. There is the current spattering of threats and violence, but there also is the run on gunsand the explosive growth of nefarious antigovernment and anti-immigrant groups. In fact, according to a report entitled “Rage on the Right: The Year in Hate and Extremism” recently released by the Southern Poverty Law Center, “nativist extremist” groups that confront and harass suspected immigrants have increased nearly 80 percent since President Obama took office, and antigovernment “patriot” groups more than tripled over that period.
Politically, this frustration is epitomized by the Tea Party movement. It may have some legitimate concerns (taxation, the role of government, etc.), but its message is lost in the madness. And now the anemic Republican establishment, covetous of the Tea Party’s passion, is moving to absorb it, not admonish it. Instead of jettisoning the radical language, rabid bigotry and rising violence, the Republicans justify it. (They don’t want to refute it as much as funnel it.)
There may be a short-term benefit in this strategy, but it’s a long-term loser.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday took a look at the Tea Party members and found them to be just as anachronistic to the direction of the country’s demographics as the Republican Party. For instance, they were disproportionately white, evangelical Christian and “less educated ... than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pack.” This at a time when the country is becoming more diverse (some demographers believe that 2010 could be the first year that most children born in the country will be nonwhite), less doctrinally dogmatic, and college enrollment is through the roof. The Tea Party, my friends, is not the future.
You may want “your country back,” but you can’t have it. That sound you hear is the relentless, irrepressible march of change. Welcome to America: The Remix.
The Ralph Nader Effect
Just yesterday, I decided to donate twenty of my hard earned dollars to the Tea Party. This may seem like a ridiculous act to most liberals and progressives out there, but there is a good reason for this. For one thing, when the Tea Party people grab their guns and try to start a revolution by eradicating all Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives, I’m hoping that they will remember my donation and spare me. The second reason that I have decided to support the Tea Party, is what I like to call the Ralph Nader effect.
For those of you who don’t remember Ralph Nader, he is famous for arguably costing Al Gore a victory in Florida over George W. Bush in the 2000 election. Al Gore only lost Florida by 537 votes, this loss essentially cost Al Gore the election. The argument is that most of the people who wound up voting for Mr. Nader, would have voted for Mr. Gore, had Mr. Nader not been part of the election. This is exactly the scenario that I think the Tea Party is presenting for the Republican Party.
I still believe that the majority of the country is moderate, somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. This is exactly why candidates like Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul never win elections. The presence of the Tea Party is dragging the Republican Party more and more to the right wing crazy fringe. The thing is, in order for a candidate in either party to win in a general election, they have to win the primary first. Because of the primaries, Republican candidates have to appeal to the extreme wing of the party, in order to win the primary, and in turn be able to compete in a general election.
Take the 2010 Florida race for Senate. The two front running candidates for the Republican Party are Charlie Crist and Marco Rubeo. Mr. Crist is considered by most Republicans to be a moderate, while Mr. Rubeo is a Tea Party nut job. Because of the high concentration of Tea Party crazy people in Florida, Mr. Rubeo is the favorite to win the Republican primary. The problem for the Republican Party in Florida is, Mr. Rubeo, according to the polls, is going to have a very difficult time winning in a general election against the Democratic candidate in Florida, because he is so far to the right, and that does not appeal to moderate Republicans and Independents. In my opinion, Mr. Rubeo is going to wind up costing the Republicans their Senate seat because he is too polarizing to win in the general election.
This phenomenon appears to be happening all over the country. Look at the 2009 election in New York’s 23rd Congressional district. The Republican primary, pitted the moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, against the hard-right Tea Party Candidate, Doug Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman wound up winning the primary election, but losing the general election to the Democratic candidate Bill Owens. Keep in mind that Republicans had not lost in New York’s 23rd Congressional district since the Civil War. A seat that was a historical lock for the Republican Party, in a district that had been under Republican rule since 1873, was lost to a Democrat, all because of a crazy right wing Tea Party nut job.
Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives, with your help and donations, we can help the Tea Party run primary candidates in every Republican primary across the nation in 2010. The larger the Tea Party becomes, the more extreme they get, the more they are going to single handedly kill the Republican chances of ever getting another majority in either house of Congress. So donate to your local Tea Party chapter today, the Democrats will thank you tomorrow.
An Absence of Class
For the better part of the last year, the Republican Party has used scare tactics, misinformation, and straight out lies to stop President Obama’s attempt at health care reform. We have heard acrimony and bigotry from Republican Congressmen, tea party protesters, and right wing radio and television hosts. The hatred, ignorance, and misinformation campaign of the right wing seems like it has reached unprecedented levels. John Lewis, an African American Congressman, who had racial slurs shouted at him on Saturday, said that he hasn’t seen anything like this (referring to the racial slurs of the protesters) since the civil rights legislation in the 1960’s.
Columnist Bob Herbert wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times today titled, An Absence of Class, that does a magnificent job of summarizing what we have seen from the right wing. The article was so good that I decided to re-post it here. Enjoy.
An Absence of Class
By Bob Herbert
NY Times – March 22nd, 2010
Some of the images from the run-up to Sunday’s landmark health care vote in the House of Representatives should be seared into the nation’s consciousness. We are so far, in so many ways, from being a class act.
A group of lowlifes at a Tea Party rally in Columbus, Ohio, last week taunted and humiliated a man who was sitting on the ground with a sign that said he had Parkinson’s disease. The disgusting behavior was captured on a widely circulated videotape. One of the Tea Party protesters leaned over the man and sneered: “If you’re looking for a handout, you’re in the wrong end of town.”
Another threw money at the man, first one bill and then another, and said contemptuously, “I’ll pay for this guy. Here you go. Start a pot.”
In Washington on Saturday, opponents of the health care legislation spit on a black congressman and shouted racial slurs at two others, including John Lewis, one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was taunted because he is gay.
At some point, we have to decide as a country that we just can’t have this: We can’t allow ourselves to remain silent as foaming-at-the-mouth protesters scream the vilest of epithets at members of Congress — epithets that The Times will not allow me to repeat here.
It is 2010, which means it is way past time for decent Americans to rise up against this kind of garbage, to fight it aggressively wherever it appears. And it is time for every American of good will to hold the Republican Party accountable for its role in tolerating, shielding and encouraging foul, mean-spirited and bigoted behavior in its ranks and among its strongest supporters.
For decades the G.O.P. has been the party of fear, ignorance and divisiveness. All you have to do is look around to see what it has done to the country. The greatest economic inequality since the Gilded Age was followed by a near-total collapse of the overall economy. As a country, we have a monumental mess on our hands and still the Republicans have nothing to offer in the way of a remedy except more tax cuts for the rich.
This is the party of trickle down and weapons of mass destruction, the party of birthers and death-panel lunatics. This is the party that genuflects at the altar of right-wing talk radio, with its insane, nauseating, nonstop commitment to hatred and bigotry.
Glenn Beck of Fox News has called President Obama a “racist” and asserted that he “has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”
Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential candidate, has said of Mr. Obama’s economic policies: “Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff.”
The G.O.P. poisons the political atmosphere and then has the gall to complain about an absence of bipartisanship.
The toxic clouds that are the inevitable result of the fear and the bitter conflicts so relentlessly stoked by the Republican Party — think blacks against whites, gays versus straights, and a whole range of folks against immigrants — tend to obscure the tremendous damage that the party’s policies have inflicted on the country. If people are arguing over immigrants or abortion or whether gays should be allowed to marry, they’re not calling the G.O.P. to account for (to take just one example) the horribly destructive policy of cutting taxes while the nation was fighting two wars.
If you’re all fired up about Republican-inspired tales of Democrats planning to send grandma to some death chamber, you’ll never get to the G.O.P.’s war against the right of ordinary workers to organize and negotiate in their own best interests — a war that has diminished living standards for working people for decades.
With a freer hand, the Republicans would have done more damage. George W. Bush tried to undermine Social Security. John McCain was willing to put Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Oval Office and thought Phil Gramm would have made a crackerjack Treasury secretary. (For those who may not remember, Mr. Gramm was a deregulation zealot who told us during the presidential campaign that we were suffering from a “mental recession.”)
A party that promotes ignorance (“Just say no to global warming”) and provides a safe house for bigotry cannot serve the best interests of our country. Back in the 1960s, John Lewis risked his life and endured savage beatings to secure fundamental rights for black Americans while right-wing Republicans like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were lining up with segregationist Democrats to oppose landmark civil rights legislation.
Since then, the right-wingers have taken over the G.O.P. and Mr. Lewis, now a congressman, must still endure the garbage they have wrought.
Health Care Reform Now
The United States of America is the only advanced country in the world that does not offer some sort of universal health care coverage to its nations citizens. Every other industrial nation in the world offers universal coverage, regardless of a person’s medical history. It is time for the United States to take a step, small as that step may be, in the right direction.
On Thursday, Nancy Pelosi released a package of amendments to the Senate bill that was passed on Christmas Eve. The amendments were put in place in order to improve on the original bill. Hopefully on Sunday, the House of Representatives will pass the Senate bill, with passage of the amendments to the bill coming next week. According to figures released by the Congressional Budget Office, the bill, along with the amendments, would cut deficits by 138 billion over the first decade and 0.5% of gross domestic product over the second decade, which amounts to about $1.7 trillion dollars. The bill would mandate everyone to carry insurance, as well as offer subsidies to help low and middle-income Americans afford coverage. According to a New York Times editorial, “To make up from a loss of revenue from the excise tax and help cover the enhanced benefits, the reconciliation package would extend the Medicare payroll tax for high-income Americans to include investment income, putting the burden on people who can clearly afford it.”
Let me first point out that I think this bill is extremely weak, and I’m disappointed that a more progressive bill couldn’t get passed. With that being said, this is the best bill that I think this Congress can pass at this time. There are definitely some good things in the bill. Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to people because of pre-existing conditions. There is no Medicare buy in for people under 65 years of age, and no public option. Regardless of what the idiots on the right say, this bill is in no way a government takeover of the medical industry (although I wish it were). There is no federal funding for abortions (although there should be). Just like the civil rights legislation, this bill is a small step that will hopefully lead to more comprehensive reform in the future. The mandate to buy insurance coverage sucks, but it is a necessary evil. As Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman put it, “To make insurance affordable, you have to keep currently healthy people in the risk pool, which means requiring that everyone or almost everyone buy insurance. You can’t do that without financial aid to lower-income Americans so that they can pay the premiums. So you end up with a tripartite policy: elimination of medical discrimination, mandated coverage, and premium subsidies.
The Tea Party and Fox News commentators are, as always, disingenuous. They complain about the deficit and government spending, then they scream, yell, and protest a bill that will actually lower the deficit and help to control ballooning medical costs. This bill is nowhere near what this country needs, but it is better than nothing. The right wing says that they want health care reform as well. But in eight years under George W. Bush, they did absolutely nothing to improve our failing health care system, inflated medical costs, and rising premiums. And when President Obama added the amendments that the Republicans wanted in the bill, they still protested it and claimed that the American people don’t want it. The fact of the matter is, when people are informed about what provisions are actually in the bill, they are overwhelmingly in favor of it. The problem is, that people have been manipulated and misinformed by Fox News, right wing pundits, and Republican congressmen. Let’s hope that Congress can pull together this weekend, and pass a bill that may actually do some good.
I Didn’t Go Far Enough
I posted yesterday’s video to my blog in haste. I was so irritated and outraged about it, that I just wanted to get it up so people could see what kind of scum we are dealing with. Someone left a comment on yesterday’s video which said that I was going too far and getting too worked up about it. I am going to readdress this video again today, and make the argument that I didn’t go far enough in condemning these asshole protesters.
The video posted below, shows a group of Tea Party protesters at a rally against health care reform in Ohio. At one point, a man with a sign indicating that he has Parkinson’s disease, sat down in front of the health care opponents. One of the protesters then shouted, “If you’re looking for a handout, you’re in the wrong place. Nothing for free over here, you have to work for everything you get.” Then another protester walked over to the man with Parkinson’s disease and said, “Here you go, I’ll pay for this guy” and proceeded to throw dollar bills at the disease inflicted man sitting on the ground, while calling him a Communist.
I wonder how these protesters felt while they were degrading another human being with a terminal illness. This man is probably at this demonstration because he is unable to afford the medical care that he needs to treat his illness. These Tea Party douche bags are basically saying that in the game of life, if you get some terminal illness, well then, it’s just too bad for you. Do not expect this country to help you in any way. I don’t believe in religion, but I do believe in karma. Someday, a family member of one of these protesters is going to get sick, and they are not going to be able to pay for their medical care. They are going to look back at this video and see how irrational and inhumane they are.
The logic on the right is so fundamentally flawed. Their argument is that this guy with Parkinson’s can walk into any hospital in the country, and receive access to, “the best medical care in the world” therefore passing the cost of his care to this idiot who was throwing the dollar bills at him. This perfectly demonstrates the flawed logic of these people. I hope that the man with Parkinson’s goes to the most expensive hospital in Ohio and gets the care, this way these moronic protesters have to pay for it.
This video is exactly why the Democrats have to pass health care reform (as weak as the bill is) right now and not worry about getting bipartisanship. This video exposes the Tea Partiers for who they really are. No matter how much President Obama tries to compromise with them, it doesn’t matter. Look at what you are dealing with. A person who acts and thinks like these protesters will never see the rationale behind health care reform. These people are not rational. They will never come to the other side of the debate. It is impossible to reason with someone that stupid and inhumane. They would rather throw this man who is inflicted with this disease out with the trash, than cough up a few extra tax dollars to cover everyone with quality medical treatment (which by the way this bill doesn’t even do). Stop with the bullshit and the pass the damn reform bill already.
Israel Slaps Biden Across the Face
Once again, the right wing in Israel doesn’t know what is best for them, and the United States allows them to get away with everything. Vice President Joe Biden visited with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to reinforce America’s unwavering support for Israel. Recently, the United States has urged Mr. Netanyahu to stop Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel considers East Jerusalem part of its capital, a position which the international community rejects, and announced plans to build 1,600 new housing units in occupied territory, just hours after Vice President Biden arrived in Israel. This announcement by Israel undermines the entire purpose of Mr. Biden’s trip. The whole purpose of the Vice President’s trip was to restart peace talks with Palestine and to assure Israel of America’s support for their security in a volatile region. How does Israel ever expect to gain peace in the region if they continue to build these settlements? Is it possible that Israel is not looking to have peace in the region?
On the same day that Israel’s interior ministry announced plans to build 1,600 new apartment units in East Jerusalem, they also announced plans to develop civilian nuclear plants for energy. This would be fine, except for the fact that Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates also would like to build civilian nuclear energy facilities, which Israel has condemned. Look, I understand Israel’s concern. Israel does not want any of these Arab countries to develop any kind of nuclear energy for fear of them developing a bomb. But at the same time, it is extremely hypocritical and counterproductive to peace when you condemn all of your neighbors for the exact same thing that you are doing. It’s just like the United States condemning everyone who tries to develop nuclear weapons, while at the same time stockpiling nuclear warheads. I’m not suggesting we get rid of our nuclear weapons, and allow countries with questionable motives to develop them, but we need to cease stockpiling weapons and maybe cut down on our supply before we tell others what they can and can’t do. Just recently, the United States pointed the finger at Brazil for doing business with Iran. There are plenty of countries in the United States that currently do business with Iran, including the former Vice President Dick Cheney’s company Halliburton. Can you see why the United States is losing its leverage against these countries?
Back to Israel, in my opinion, there are only two conclusions to draw from Israel’s recent actions. The first, that Israel has no desire to achieve peace. They are set on doing only that which is best for them, regardless of the consequences to anyone else, including their allies. The second possibility, is that they know that the United States has no balls and will support Israel no matter what the consequences. Like Vice President Joe Biden so wrongly put it, “Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel.” Israel believes that because they have unwavering support from the Unites States, they can continue to stir up the hornets’ nest without worry. This policy is bad for the United States and for Israel.
I fully support Israel, I have members of my family who are Jewish, and I understand the Jewish peoples’ struggle throughout history. That being said, the United States, as a friend, needs to take a harder line against Israel’s counterproductive and destructive actions. The United States cannot afford another deadly conflict in the Middle East. A war with Iran will have unpredictable consequences. Israel continues to undermine the United States in its peace talks with Palestine, and in negotiations with Iran. Keep in mind, there are many people in Israel who feel the same way, but the hard right wing in Israel is driving the country in the wrong direction. In my opinion, the United States needs to convince Israel to back down, and let them know that the U.S. cannot support Israel if they continue down this destructive path.
Isn’t It Ironic, Don’t Cha Think?
Sarah Palin brought her “folksy” message on the road to Canada this weekend, speaking in Calgary on Saturday to a sold out audience of 1,200 people. Her speech involved all the typical Republican talking points: limited government is good, Barack Obama is bad, and she even called global warming, “pie-in-the-sky, snake oil ideas.” One thing that she said did strike me as unusual and incredibly hypocritical though. She talked about growing up in Alaska, and how her family would occasionally go to Canada for health care, “We used to hustle over the border for health care.” Excuse me! Sarah Palin used to go to Canada to receive that socialist, government run health care, which is the root of everything that is evil. Could anything be more hypocritical?
Sarah Palin and the rest of her Republican cohorts scream and yell all day long on Fox News about how Obama is a socialist because he wants to provide health care to an additional 30 million Americans, and she admits to going to Canada to receive health care. How can anyone take anything she says seriously? As a matter of fact Sarah, it is ironic, because you argue against Canada’s single payer health care system constantly. She says that Canada’s health care system is socialist, terrible, and doesn’t work, but it works well enough for her and her family to use it. Sarah Palin has the intelligence to see that this is ironic, but not the intelligence to realize the hypocrisy of it. What would Sarah Palin say if a Canadian, or god forbid a Mexican, “hustled over the border” to get health care in the United States. I’m sure she would think that people from other countries coming here for health care is okay, right?
As if the statement about her coming to Canada for health care wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Palin showed even more hypocrisy on her visit to Calgary. A Canadian newspaper, the National Post, pointed out her hypocrisy perfectly, “She complained about the ‘establishment,’ this woman who once ran to be second-in-command of the largest establishment in the world; she mocked the press, speaking as a correspondent to America's biggest news network; she chastised critics who dwelt on her children's lives, after introducing to the audience her daughter, Piper, who spent the duration of the speech fidgeting near the stage. And the politician who championed the average working man and woman spent an hour before her appearance locked away in a private VIP reception posing for photos with guests who had paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege; after her speech, she was hustled by handlers out a back door. If these were contradictions, they were forgiven readily. As is surely the case with so many of her audiences, Ms. Palin's unpretentiousness and charm, and her deeply held conservatism, counted far more.”
How can any sane person possibly support this woman?
Liz Cheney is Un-American
Last week Liz Cheney, the dopey daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her non-profit group Keep America Safe, released a ridiculous political ad which suggests that the lawyers of Al Qaeda terror suspects somehow share the same values as the suspects they represent. The ad depicts the lawyers in the background with the words, “whose values do they share” on the screen, as we see a picture of a terrorist pass by. The ad gives the viewer the impression that these Justice Department lawyers should be, at the very least, suspected of sympathizing with the terrorists. Shortly after the ad began to run, Liz Cheney made an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. Bill O’Reilly asked Mrs. Cheney about the ad, she said, “These people represented terrorists, American people have a right to know, what are they doing now?” Mrs. Cheney also said that President Barack Obama’s, “approach to the war on terror is damaging to the country,” referring to the idea of trying terror suspects in civilian courts versus military tribunals. Mrs. Cheney went on to criticize President Obama for having lawyers who advocated for the release of terrorists working in the Justice Department.
The entire idea behind the Keep America Safe ad is utterly ridiculous. At first, I was inclined to think the ad was a joke. A lawyer has a fiduciary responsibility to defend his client to the best of his ability, in no way does this mean that a lawyer has to share or endorse his client’s beliefs. Would Liz Cheney dare to imply that lawyers who represent murderers, thieves, and rapists, somehow are endorsing their client’s crimes by representing them in a court of law? Mrs. Cheney is most likely not an idiot, she is a lawyer herself. What this tells me, is that she is well aware of the fact that this ad is complete bullshit. Mrs. Cheney knows that a large part of the Republican base, are southern bible thumping, gun toting morons, who believe that Acorn stole the 2008 election and Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama (see my earlier post on Republican retards). In my opinion, this makes the ad even worse. Liz Cheney knows that what she is doing is wrong. She is simply playing towards people’s fear of terrorism. Mrs. Cheney has taken a page straight from her father’s playbook.
Mrs. Cheney went on Bill O’Reilly’s program shortly after the ad ran, and proceeded to criticize President Obama’s handling of the war on terror, calling Obama’s approach to the war "damaging to the country." Someone should remind Mrs. Cheney that more Al Qaeda leaders and operatives have been captured or killed in one year of the Obama administration than in eight years under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Mrs. Cheney also criticized President Obama’s decision to try terror suspects in civilian courts versus military tribunals. Congress never officially declared a “war” on terror. The war on terror is simply a phrase that George W. Bush and the media use to describe the fight to take down Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and any other extremist organizations that wish to do us harm. Military tribunals are used to handle the prosecution of enemy combatants, civilian trials are used to prosecute those who commit criminal acts in the United States.
I believe that the 9/11 hijackers should be tried in the same manner in which we have tried every other suspect that has been caught committing terrorist acts in the United States. I don’t see any difference between the 9/11 hijackers and the terrorists behind the first World Trade Center bombing, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber), Richard Reid (Shoe Bomber), Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Underwear Bomber), and Major Nidal Malik Hasan (the Fort Hood shooter). The United States court system has been successful in trying all of these terrorists in civilian courts, why should the 9/11 hijackers be any different. We don’t try drug offenders in military tribunals, the war on drugs is no more an actual war then the war on terror. Soldiers from Saddam Hussein’s army, The Republican Guard, who are caught on the battlefield in Iraq, are supposed to be tried in military tribunals because they are enemy combatants. Someone who hijacks a plane and flies it into a building on American soil should be tried in civilian courts.
I’m sure that Mrs. Cheney would simply rather, “shoot them in the head” as Glenn Beck said, and flush the entire American judicial system in the toilet.
Archives
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
Recent Posts
- RocketHub Brings Crowdfunding To Canada
- Hiding From Reality
- Hypocrisy, Lies, Nuclear Arms, and National Security
- Reality Justice – A Short Film
- COVERT OPERATIONS – The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama
- Inception
- The Lunatic’s Manual
- Hoping Against Hope
- Changes Are a Coming….
- Smodcast
Favorite Podcasts
Friends of Mine
