Day: July 21, 2014

Why Do We Have A Congress?

Opinion from the desk of the Editor

A question I hear asked from all branches of the political spectrum…….there seems to be NO one that has anything good to say about the government and especially the Congress….

The original intent was for there to be three branches of government and that would keep the political process honest….The Congress was suppose to be the representatives of the people, chosen by the people…..and now it is a worthless political appendage and what do we do with a worthless appendage?  We get rid of it before it turns gangrenous….

Maybe it is time to re-think the system……because the Congress no longer functions as an integral part of government…..

Meanwhile back to the point.

Shall we take a few minutes and review the case against our beloved Congress?

1–the Congress approval rating is about 7-10%…a recent survey by the Gallup, I believe, ran a recent survey and the Congress is loathed by almost everyone in the country.

2-the Congress works less than 4 total months a session……the rest of the time they are out fondling the wallets of fat cats….

3-when the Congress is actually in town they spend most of their time on hearings that accomplish nothing but wasting the taxpayers money.

4-the Congress has passed less than 25 bills since the session began and most of the ones passed are such pressing problems as naming bridges and post offices with a highway thrown in ever so often to break up the monotony…….

5-then there is the billions wasted on paying people that are basically nothing more than wards of the state……

Now there is SCOTUS or the Supreme Court of the US…….the branch that is suppose to act as the referee between the prez and the Congress but instead it is unraveling the rights that were supposedly guaranteed to the citizens and assisting the takeover of the government by big business……

Now that leaves the prez who is virtually impotent in executing his duties as the leader of the country….his hands are being partially tied by a worthless Congress and a Court that cares nothing for the rights of the citizens of this country.

So far we have had NO government in 6 years…..we have a bunch of overpaid worthless parasites that do nothing they were “hired” to do…..especially the Congress.

It is time for the people to take a good hard and rational look at the Congress and the way we do business….in other words, it is time for a change……not reform.  Reform is as worthless as the Congress we elect.  We can either change or sit back and let the Congress totally destroy our way of governance.

There is the rub….depending on the very people that cannot vote the parasites out of office……..we have an election is coming soon and these people will re-elect the very people they bitch about….so is change ever gonna come?  Not in my lifetime.

Your choice……..

Here’s How it is Legal for the Government to Kill an American Citizen | Ghosts of Tom Joad – Peter Van Buren

I do believe that the Constitution has a provision in it about the killing and holding American citizens…..but yet we launch drones that have assassinated Americans….how can this be?

It is not like America is a stranger to assassinations….ask Vietnam’s Dien or Guatemala or…..but what about the assassination of an American citizen?

 

Here’s How it is Legal for the Government to Kill an American Citizen | Ghosts of Tom Joad – Peter Van Buren.

Good Money After Bad?

Think back a year or more ago…..Syria had just used CWs on its population and the Neo-cons went bat crap crazy……..they demanded that the US do something……none were really too clear on what….but something must be done!

We have sent some humanitarian aid and various amounts of small arms….but neocons demanded more that we were killing the resistance to Assad by not sending bigger and better weapons and of course….we needed to do what we do best….airstrikes.

Well the Pentagon is set to pour more money into the Syrian civil war….they are seeking something like an extra $500 million for training of the Syrian rebels…….first we should ask….which rebels?  There are moderates and there are the fringe lunatics like ISIS……and how would we guarantee that the “proper” rebels would get the training?

The next question should be…..would this money be a waste?  Why ask that?

For one, it seems that Assad could be winning this war…….

 

Territorial Control: Syrian government troops have managed to hold on to most major urban centers, but large parts of the countryside are either in rebel hands, or a heavily contested no-man zone. The pro-Assad forces have a strong grip on the capital Damascus in the south, central Syria with the Homs province, and the Mediterranean coast in the west. The government controls key strategic routes connecting the capital with the coastline and with the Jordanian border in the south, ensuring the survival of the regime.
Military Power: Syria’s regular armed forces have been stretched thin by the widespread rebellion, suffering heavy casualties from daily ambushes and bomb attacks. However, the elite units numbering about 50 000 men are well-equipped, manned by Alawite loyalists from Assad’s home region, and backed by air support and heavy artillery. Plus, the regime has organized tens of thousands of supporters into paramilitary units that could continue the fight even if Assad himself were to lose control of the capital.

Even Syria’s dire enemy Israel does not see the rebels as winning the war……..this from a piece in the Times of Israel…….

“Assad has secured 70-80 percent of essential Syria,” the official said, sketching a line from Aleppo in the north down through Hama, Homs, Damascus and the southern areas near Jordan and the city of Dara’a – a Syrian city where the war began and, currently, a channel through which Sunni extremists enter Syria from Jordan.

The official’s depiction of the situation in Syria contradicts an assessment given by a top defense official, who in May told several journalists that Assad’s forces have lost the entire Golan Heights, aside from Quneitra and one enclave, and that, “In Aleppo, in Damascus, in the north near the Turkish border, in the Golan Heights – in all of these places he is losing.”

If Assad is truly winning the civil war….what will extra training for the rebels actually accomplish?

And we can ask…..If we had listened to John McCain would the outcome be different?  Would airstrikes in the early part of the war have made a difference?

I am sure that the GOP will make hay out of any defeat of the rebels as ….”Obama’s fault”……..The argument could be made that we could have made a difference……it could be made….but not be me.