Month: May 2016

What About Trump And Democracy

Today is the day we vote in Indiana….or is it Idaho….or maybe…..the Hell with it……somebody is voting somewhere.

The 2016 election has brought a lot of opinions especially when it comes to one Donald Trump…..it depends where you stand on the political spectrum on which of those opinions you will embrace…..

Never let it be said that I am not fair in my condemnation of ALL candidates……

But I think that some are missing the concept of democracy…..or “the will of the People”….right or wrong……

I read an interesting op-ed about Mr. Trump and democracy…..

The “conservative intelligentsia” is anything but intelligent when it comes to Donald Trump, writes John Feehery at the Hill. Among those he calls out is David Brooks of the New York Times, who last week called Trump’s candidacy a “Joe McCarthy moment” for the party. But Feehery also cites comments of a similar nature from the likes of George Will (see here), Michael Gerson (here), and Ross Douthat (here), all of whom seem to think that Trump is the personification of evil who will do long-term damage to the GOP unless stopped. “To these so-called smart people, I say: Stop being so stupid,” writes Feehery.

This opposition to Trump reveals “their biases against democracy and the will of the people,” he argues. Instead of knocking him down, they should pay more attention to why Trump is so popular, writes Feehery, who provides some theories of his own: Trump is a “real outsider who represents real change,” he has explicitly denounced the Iraq War as a mistake, and his economic message (“the middle class is getting screwed by the political class”) is resonating. Most Trump supporters “are by no means stupid, irrational, racist or anti-democratic,” writes Feehery. They’re just tired of the status quo and see Trump as the only candidate who can destroy it. Click for his full column. (Or for Andrew Sullivan’s opposing view.)

This is by NO means my endorsement of Trump in this election…..I found the article a good one and bit of a thought making piece…..

Plato thought democracies were especially susceptible to “tyranny” the longer they lasted and the more democratic they became, and the US seems to be in exactly the kind of “late-stage democracy” ripe for such a thing.

In conclusion, it should be noted that, in modern times, a democracy is considered one of the more ideal forms of government, considering the value many people tend to place on individual liberty and the freedom to choose one’s own path in life. However, Plato’s criticisms should be kept in mind when determining the merit of a democratic government. Oh, would it not be great to have a democracy of philosophers, who would pursue truth and wisdom! Alas, we are only human, and susceptible to many evils and lies. The trick is to prevent such ignorant people from becoming the majority. At times, it seems nigh impossible to do so; curse our stupidity!

(Matt Brazil)

“We Need More Troops”

I have written about the necessity of the reinstatement of the draft (conscription for those that have NO idea what the Draft is all about)…..I call for it because I feel that there is NO shared experience in war ……this country turns its back on our troops the first chance they get because they do not have to think about it….no one cares.

If you would like to check out what I had to say……

The US seems to be Hell bent on continuing war upon war……and if so then it will need to drastically change its way of think about the military….that is if they want a primo milita…

Source: Time To Re-Think Conscription? | Ace News Room

I have been writing about this since 2007…..

Things are not going well for the military, what with Iraq and Afghanistan and any other conflict that Bush wishes to engage in . US Troops are being extended an extra 4 months, the National Guard …

Source: Why No Draft? – In Saner Thought

This country is at war…….granted it is not a declared war but if troops die then it is a war……..and we enter into a new conflict almost monthly and we have only a finite amount of troops to use for these deployment…..

But no one in Washington seems to hear the call…..and they say that we need more troops…..

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has introduced a defense bill that would increase the U.S. Army by 45,000 soldiers.

Rep. Mac Thornberry’s version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Bill would provide money to add 20,000 soldiers to the active Army’s end-strength, bringing it to 480,000.

The bill would also add 15,000 to the National Guard and 10,000 to the Reserves, resulting in a Guard strength of 350,000 and a Reserve strength of 205,000. The panel was expected to approve the measure on Wednesday.

Under the President Barack Obama’s current proposed defense budget, the Army projects its end-strength to be at a total of 980,000 soldiers by fiscal 2018, including 450,000 for the active force, 335,000 for the Army National Guard and 195,000 for the Army Reserve.

But how will this increase be handled without a draft?

Oh they have a plan…….

Thornberry’s revised budget earmarks just over $2 billion in additional funding for the troop increase, according to language in the bill. That’s about $2.5 billion short of what the Army would need, according to Army senior leaders that have testified it will cost about $1 billion for every 10,000 soldiers.

“Where possible, Chairman Thornberry’s proposal cuts excessive or wasteful expenditures and rededicates those resources to urgent needs,” according to the bill’s summary. “Even with a vigorous re-prioritization of programs, the Committee was unable to make up essential shortages in the President’s budget and simultaneously provide a full year of contingency funding.

“The proposal is designed to restore strength to the force through readiness investments and agility through much needed reforms, while providing a more solid foundation for the next President to address actual national security needs,” it states

I love the thought process in DC….they are best called MORONS!

Here is a simple solution…..the draft is just inactive….re-activate and all this creative bullsh*t will not be necessary.

Simple solutions are always the best solutions.

 

Is There a 5th Estate?

We have heard all about the 5th column….those traitors that will work behind the scenes to destroy a state and its apparatus…..all those communist agents in the Us back in the 50’s and ’60’s……

Now that communism is dead what are the chances that there are those people working against the country’s best interests….is there any danger?

The questions is…..is there a 5th estate?

First we have the 3 major estates….the 3 branches of government and then there is the 4th estate, the media…..let me explain a bit better…..

The fourth estate is a term that positions the press (newspapers) as a fourth branch of government and one that is important to a functioning democracy.

The phrase is attributed to Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797), a British politician, as quoted in Thomas Carlyle’s book, “Heros and Hero Worship in History” (1841):

Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all.

We have our 4 estates….is it possible that there could be a 5th estate?

The Constitution provides for three branches of government: the executive, Congress, and the judiciary – but there have been a few additions lately. With the rise of mass communications, common parlance has designated the media as the “Fourth Estate,” because – in theory – it is supposed to act as a “watchdog” on the activities of the other three. (Although in practice, as we have seen, it often doesn’t work out that way.) And as America entered the age of empire, stepping out on the world stage and exerting its power, a development the Founders foresaw – and greatly feared – became a reality: the rise of foreign lobbyists, i.e. the Fifth Estate, as a power in our domestic politics.

Source: The Fifth Estate: Foreign Lobbyists – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Lobbyists have an inordinate amount of influence over our political process…..and now thanx to the foreign powers of wealth….they are starting to determine what is best for this country through their influence over the legislative process.

Most Americans seem to think that they have some say on the process….while they do vote but it is only “gimme” so that the real power can go on unimpeded.

But don’t worry about that…..worry about those damn things that are in the media…..it is just easier that way.

Bernie Sanders isn’t a radical

The media and most of the Right wing keeps painting Bernie as some sort of radical……mainly because he is a ….wait for it…..socialist, a Democratic Socialist….the truth is he is NO radical.

Yes, I know what a radical is….I was doing the radical thing when most on social media was just a twinkle in the parent’s eye…..and Bernie is NO radical.

The idea that Sanders is an extremist is patently false — it’s the Republican movement that’s radical

All Sanders has done is challenge the gospel of neoliberalism, which has systematically gutted our country’s public institutions. America’s economy has been steadily deregulated since the 1980s, when President Reagan first surrendered to the privatization scheme of neoliberalism. What we’re left with now, as Sanders pointed out in that speech, is a system “which during the 1990s allowed Wall Street to spend $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to get deregulated. Then, ten years later, after the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior of Wall Street led to their collapse, it is a system which provided trillions in government aid to bail them out.” In other words, we now have socialism for the rich and free market capitalism for everyone else. This is a perverse inversion of the historical norm, and Sanders is right to attack it.

Source: Bernie Sanders isn’t a radical: Noam Chomsky is exactly right regarding how mainstream Bernie’s policies really are – Salon.com

Do I support Bernie?  Over anything the slimy Right has to offer then yes…..over Clinton then the answer is again yes…..will I be voting for Bernie in November….not a chance.

I have written many times where I differ from Bernie and most of it in the foreign policy that he is embracing……his policies will do little to make this a more peaceful world….or a safer one……our international entanglement will only get deeper under a Sanders presidency.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the “radical” tag for Bernie is pure BS!

Sorry to burst any bubbles or being a bummer……

Why NATO Has Become One of the Most Destructive Forces

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began in 1949 as a first line defense against the rise and expansion of communism……since those early days it has expanded to become a first strike weapon the world over….and today is probably the most dangerous organization on the planet…..

Instead of providing security for its members it has become a major cause of the instability in the world…..

Communism is dead!  But yet NATO continues be a source of military action.  Can anyone explain this “mission creep” for NATO?

Actions in Afghanistan, Europe, and Libya have created insecurity rather than order.

Source: Why NATO Has Become One of the Most Destructive Forces on the Planet | Alternet

WORD!

Protests Of The Week

-And NO I am not going to write about the protests and the trouble that the slug Trump is having in California…….the protests that I am writing about occurred in that backward country that we brought democracy to after decades of authoritarian rule….Iraq.

People Power….ah the days of protests past….appears that Iraq may be the next country to do the talking from the streets, or what is left of the streets in the country…..

After months of relatively peaceful protests, anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad have turned violent.

A state of emergency was declared across the Iraqi capital following the storming of the Green Zone.

The heavily fortified area, home to government headquarters and foreign embassies, has been closed to most Iraqis for 13 years.

After more than a decade of fighting and dying…….It appears that the democracy that we brought to the country is starting to fall apart……

Hundreds of protesters climbed over the blast walls surrounding Baghdad’s highly-fortified Green Zone for the first time on Saturday and stormed into parliament, carrying Iraqi flags and chanting against the government. The breach marked a major escalation in the country’s political crisis following months of anti-government protests, sit-ins, and demonstrations by supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the AP reports. The Green Zone is home to most ministries and foreign embassies and has long been the focus of al-Sadr’s criticism of the government. Earlier Saturday, al-Sadr accused Iraqi politicians of blocking political reforms aimed at combating corruption and waste.

While al-Sadr didn’t call for an escalation to the protests, shortly after his remarks his supporters began scaling the compound’s walls. A group of young men then pulled down a section of concrete blast walls to cheers from the crowd of thousands gathered in the streets outside. Cellphone video uploaded to social media showed dozens of young men running through the halls of parliament, chanting slogans in support of al-Sadr and calling for the government to disband. Hours earlier, a bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others, according to police and hospital officials. ISIS claimed the attack, saying it used a three-ton truck bomb.

Like I said….the fragile government, a democracy, in Iraq is starting to fray along the seams……

The democratic form of government is losing some luster….

The storming of the parliament building in Baghdad by protesters chanting the name of populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a sign that the political system built up since the US invasion in 2003 is disintegrating. The Iraqi security forces stood back and did nothing as the protesters burst into the Green Zone, graphically illustrating the weakness of […]

Source: A protest that signals the demise of Iraq’s political system – The Unz Review

Is this the beginning of the end of America’s Iraqi experiment?

Let’s Be Absurd

None of us like to be told what to do by the government…..but then there are those people that will allow it as long as it does not pertain to their lives….

We are having a debate over where someone pees…..my thought is how will you determine if the person belongs there or not….the only way to do that is by becoming a peeping Tom or the person walks in with genitals a in hand and announces they are there….to me this is a silly debate to be wasting our time on…..

Then there are the people that are pissed about a gay person wanting a cake, among other services,

More than 30 ministers from around the state and nation published an open letter Monday saying the so-called “religious freedom” law goes against Christian teachings to love and respect all people. The group joins major businesses, human rights groups and legal experts in opposing the incoming law, which they say discriminates against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The law lets churches and some private businesses deny services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people because of religious beliefs. It’s similar to one vetoed by Georgia’s governor in late March. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed the measure into law earlier this month.

Supporters of the law include the American Family Association and the Southern Baptist Convention. They say it protects those who decline services to people whose lifestyles violate religious beliefs that marriage should only be between a man and a woman; that sexual relations should only take place inside such marriages, and that a person’s sex is determined at birth and is unchangeable.

Another Southern state has passed another law……this one centers around therapists but I am sure that it will be expanded……

Mental health therapists and counselors in Tennessee can now turn away gay patients or others whose “goals, outcomes, or behaviors” conflict with their “sincerely held beliefs.” Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed Bill 1556 into law on Wednesday, saying it doesn’t “address a group, issue, or belief system,” though opponents say it’s a troubling attack on gay rights, CNN reports. The bill was created in response to the American Counseling Association’s 2014 change to its ethics code, which required counselors to avoid imposing their own values on clients, the Tennessean reports.

The ACA says the Tennessee legislation, which is the only such law in the country, is an “unprecedented attack” on the profession, the AP reports. ACA spokesman Art Terrazas says the group is “extremely disappointed” that Haslam has ignored the backlash to similar “religious freedom” bills in states like Georgia “and has elected to sign this dangerous bill into law. Plain and simple, this bill codifies discrimination.” The final version of the bill removed references to religion and added requirements for therapists to treat people who are in immediate danger of harming themselves or others, and to refer rejected clients to other therapists or counselors

All this is just absurd….I mean one goes into business to sell services and make money….but yet some money is different from other money?  And then when people retaliate with a boycott these same people start whining about the loss of business.

We got rid of one form of segregation (sort of) and replaced it with another…..where will this type of pure CRAP end?

Maybe this cartoon will show you…….the path of absurdity.

Oh wait there is even more of this conservative absurdities.

Being a single mom in Springfield, Illinois could get a little more difficult if certain GOP lawmakers get their way.

According to the proposed bill HB6064 filed last week by Reps John D. Cavaletto and Keith Wheeler, if a father is not listed on a newborn child’s birth certificate, the birth certificate will not be issued for the child and any future financial assistance will be denied.

Where do these mental midgets draw the line?

What the Hell will be next for the slugs of the American political system?

Daniel Berrigan–R.I.P.

Who?  That will be the reaction from the society we have today…..a voice from a turbulent time……

As an aging “hippie” there are a few people that stand out in my past…..Abby Hoffman, Daniel Ellsberg, Joan Baez (not one of my faves) and Daniel Berrigan……..as an staunch anti-war protesters these people are in the Hall of Heroes…..voices from the “Movement”……

Over the weekend a “Hero” has passed away…..Daniel Berrigan….

His defiant protests helped shape Americans’ opposition to the Vietnam War—and they landed the Rev. Daniel Berrigan behind bars. The Roman Catholic priest, writer, and poet, who became a household name in the US in the 1960s after being imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the war, died Saturday. He was 94. Berrigan died “peacefully” after a “long illness” at Murray-Weigel Hall, a Jesuit health care community in New York City, according to a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province. Berrigan and his younger brother, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, entered a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, on May 17, 1968, with seven other activists and removed records of young men about to be shipped off to Vietnam. The group took the files outside and burned them in garbage cans.

The “Catonsville Nine” were convicted on federal charges accusing them of destroying US property and interfering with the Selective Service Act of 1967. All were sentenced on Nov. 9, 1968, to prison terms ranging from two to 3.5 years. After the case had been unsuccessfully appealed, the Berrigan brothers and three of their co-defendants went underground. Philip Berrigan turned himself in to authorities in April 1969 at a Manhattan church. Four months later, the FBI arrested Daniel Berrigan at the Rhode Island home of theologian William Stringfellow. Berrigan said in an interview that he became a fugitive to draw more attention to the anti-war movement. He served about two years at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. When asked in 2009 whether he had any regrets, Berrigan replied: “I could have done sooner the things I did, like Catonsville.”

Source: Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J. May 9, 1921 to April 30, 2016 – LA Progressive

To realize his importance you had to be there……some of us will never forget his contribution…..or his voice…….a person that will stand by their convictions is an odd thing these days…..

Source: The Life and Death of Daniel Berrigan | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

He was a friend and his voice will be missed…..

Rest In Peace…..my friend.

Quote Of The Day

I truly hope all had a great weekend and are ready for the week ahead….so much stuff…so little time……

One of my favorite quotes is “Stupidity Is The Deliberate Cultivation Of Ignorance”…..not sure who is credited with it…but it is a very good quote.

MLK had one along the same lines……(see below)…..

 

AMEN!

There is too much of both these days….and Americans are embracing their ignorance and their stupidity as if it were a badge of honor.

So sad!

American democracy is rigged

This election year there are opinions about everything you could possibly imagine.

Some say that the elections are rigged……the way they have been going in the last 25 years I tend to agree.  All we have to do is take an objective look at the past elections (that will be difficult because most Americans cannot be objective)…..I read a piece about our democracy and it made some excellent points….some will jpt appreciate the source….but the source has hired some of the best analysis in the industry….

The Republican and Democratic parties are functioning like two identical but competing Orwellian Ministries of Truth.

Although any US citizen can join these two parties – or any other political party – millions of eligible voters have not, and consider themselves “independent”.

These independent voters get to vote in the general elections like anyone else, but by the time we get to that general election in November, the two dominant political parties have already elected their nominee, and, therefore, US citizens at large have to vote for one of these preselected nominees if they want their vote to have a role in who their next president will be.

Source: American democracy is rigged – Al Jazeera English

I too have a difficult time with the term “independent”…..it is a con job perpetrated by the media to the point that the voter has come to believe the label…..(I will be writing more about this later as the general approaches)….