Relaunch

OK so I've been told I should get my ideas up here again rather than annoying people on FaceBook. Fun fun fun!

Parting Shots...

This seems like a good time to close this down. The Trinity Administration has been split-up. By now, any claim to foreign policy expertise Republicans could have claimed over Democrats should be thoroughly discredited. Closing comments:

I'm going to try to turn the tone around. The poisonous, malignant environment permeating American politics cannot remain. My rationale for this belief is simple. Americans are just as responsible for Iraq and America's free-fall in international status as the Trinity Administration is. We voted for these clowns (the implication being that we knew what these people were about and yet we picked them anyway). I'll take this a step further. Democrats are not without blame, especially in 2004, because we picked a candidate who was unappealing to a vast majority of Americans, and who offered few fundamental differences when it came to principles (Kerry's vote for the war was a political decision, disconnected from principle).

I obviously hold strong personal opinions about this Administration, but given the seriousness of our country's plight, now is not the time to engage in finger-pointing. There will be plenty of time for that once our brave men and women in uniform are out of harm's way. For the forceable future, I think it behooves everyone to look for solutions, not scapegoats. Of course, this statement comes during a week in which our President is trying to make the Iraqi President a scapegoat, but my admonition is to those of us who still have our ethical credentials intact. We can expect continued arrogance, incompetence, deceit, and corruption from Republicans, but the country is counting on Democrats to seize the opportunity we've been given to lead with clarity, vision, and insightfulness. Let the President continue his politics of division and deceit. I'm stepping out of the role of opposition and taking things to the next level. Bush and Cheney are lame ducks, the Holy Spirit has departed from their midsts. Let's change the whole game...

One More Thing

This blog will soon go dead. I'm too afraid of my opinions preventing me from doing the things I want to do. I'm looking to restore America to its full democratic glory, but to do that I may need to fraternize with the people destroying her. They may not look favorably upon my musings, so this may very well be the last public post. I may continue writing and make things public again once I'm more certain of my career path. 'Till then, Google spiders, Goodnight.

Renewed Faith

News has been coming so fast and so furiously it seems pointless to dwell on it because the next bombshell always seems to drop before I've thoroughly digested the last one. This latest outing of a prominent right-wing leader, the Rev. Ted Haggard, is just too miraculous to ignore, however. It's as if Satan was trying to inject his influence by tripping up everyone's favorite flip-flopper, but Jesus was right there to say, "Hold it, you're not gonna get away with that again." It's as if he's taking pains to emphasize how far from his favor the so-called "Christian Conservatives" are. He keeps dropping them one by one, exposing the evil hypocrisy that is this movement's hallmark: the exploitation of good, decent people, manipulating them to vote for charlatans who openly mock the cause of Christ with their very existence the moment they are out of the public eye (and I'm not referring to their closeted homosexuality). The cynical anti-American, anti-Christian rhetoric espousing the superiority of one category of people over another that The Son used last week to "rally the faithful" continues (through ongoing revelations like the latest one) to be exposed for exactly what it is: preying on the prejudices of the masses in order to scare them into ignoring what's good for them. But Hallelujah! It's as if Jesus himself has entered this battle to proclaim his disdain for everything the Trinity Administration stands for. I'm only half serious, of course, but perhaps if I were a person of greater faith I really would believe this. If Christians, having seen all the widely available evidence chronicling this Administration's cynical manipulation of people of faith, continue to embrace the Republican agenda of fear, tyranny, bigotry and racism... well I won't know what to say.

I will make a prediction, however. I think post-Presidency, The Son's guilt over his involvement in The Father's covert plans to overthrow America, in his direct responsibility for creating thousands of widows and orphans, for sending hundreds of thousands to an early grave, will bring him back to his 30-something habits, and his demise will be behind the wheel of an automobile while under the influence of his old demons. That's how I think this guy will go out. Just my opinion, of course.

Politically Timed Disclosures

I've found it amusing how every issue brought to light in recent weeks, from Republicans making sexual advances on teenagers, to Republicans covering up Congressmen making sexual advances on teenagers, to the death toll of Iraqi civilians being in the 350,000 - 950,000 person range, have all been painted by the party in power as being partisan political attacks, not actual problems in need of resolution. So today when I read that the military is planning to keep troop levels the same for several more years, I can't help but wonder what The Holy Spirit means here:

Rumsfeld declined to speculate on plans for troop levels or how the U.S. military services might supply troops for a lengthy stay in Iraq, saying that he is evaluating a series of briefings on the matter.
"We're looking around corners, up ahead, and asking ourselves how we would do things," Rumsfeld said.

James Baker has been going around speaking of his role as an advisor, mentioning the possibility of his committee recommending "strategic changes" to the Trinity Administration, but only after the upcoming election, so as not to "politicize" their report's results.

Am I dense, or is this Administration trying to hide their real plans from voters until after the elections, because they intend to make dramatic shifts in policy, al-a The Son's earthly father G.H.W.B.'s famous read-my-lips gaff, that he knows would completely ruin any chances for Republican's to win anything this year. Are we about to witness a flip-flop from our famously resolute Commander-In-Thief? I dunno, but I'm curious. I still believe he wants to invade Iran, but that Israel's loss to Hezbollah this summer put the kabash on that for the moment. Where will this all go?

Tags:
Iran, War on Terror, Iraq, Bush, Politics, Scandal, Mark Foley

Mea Culpa Guv'nor

So there's no better illustration of the power of some good old fashioned education to cure my ignorance than this week's NY Times Magazine article about Howard Dean. I recently implicated Governor Dean as being aligned with the forces of evil: Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, et al. This article is the answer to my oft wondered question, "What the fuck happened to Howard Dean?" My favorite part of the article explains:

[...] Dean sat down with the party’s Congressional leaders, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, who had tried, ineptly and with almost comical desperation, to find a candidate who could stop him from becoming chairman. Reid and Pelosi promised to work with Dean, but they asked him to resist speaking out on key policy positions and acting as if he were the party’s public face. In other words, Dean would be doing everyone in Washington a favor if he would just stay out of sight and raise money.

So essentially, Dean's been working his ass off to make the Democratic Party viable again, and all the asshole Washington Democratic insiders who've been running around with one finger in the air trying to see which way the wind is blowing and the other up their ass have been working nonstop to keep him on a tight leash.

Well, my apologies Governor. I underestimated your resolve, and I applaud your efforts to save the party. I was boycotting your organization because I thought you were in cahoots with those who railroaded the campaigns of our best candidates. Turns out I was wrong, and so I'm making an apology you'll never read for saying things you never knew I said. Hell, you've never even heard of me lol. Still, I wanted to make public the reason for my recent contribution (that link is there so others will chip in. Come on, $20 to kick a Republican out of office is a friggin' bargain, no?). I'm back on board the Dean machine. Now if we could just get you talking policy and leadership again...

Tags:
Howard Dean, Democrats, DNC, Politics

Conflicting Emotions

Man it’s tough just to keep your wits about you sometimes. I know there are some American greats who have moved past race, but I certainly haven’t. It colors so much of how we view the world. I’ve studied Middle Eastern politics, am studying Arabic, and still, I find myself essentially terrified of people wearing all that shit on their heads. Not really Sikhs, they always seem hip. But for example, I was driving home and about a block from my house was a young-ish guy with some kind of Afghanistan-looking contraption on his head sitting in a Scion xB. He’s probably a conservative, polite, religious fellow who would be a pleasure to know. But all I could think was, “dammit I don’t feel like getting blown up today.”

I’m just being honest. I know I can’t be the only person who battles with pre-programmed stereotypes. I KNOW it’s ignorant, but dude I can’t help the fact that they scare the shit outta me. Even the women.

I know how to address the problem, though. In my experience, most irrational fears can be cured by knowledge. I got to know this really sweet Muslim girl in one of my last classes. I initially felt somewhat, I’ll admit it, hostile towards her. I really believe the hijab is a means of subjugating women, and it pisses me off to see women voluntarily proclaiming themselves as inferior. Yes that’s my opinion that’s why I said it (I saw someone use that line on a message board and thought it was funny). I understand it’s in deference to God. But then why don’t men have to cover their faces? OK, anyway, my point was that my attitude towards this girl totally changed after having a conversation with her. I still disapprove of women covering themselves up, but it makes a huge difference to understand other people’s point of view. Of course one or two conversations isn’t enough to overcome a lifetime of negative stereotypes, but it’s a start.

So my point was, as individuals, both Muslim and non-Muslim, we need to seek out opportunities to get to know each other. I immediately got the vibe from this girl that there were a lot of negative stereotypes of non-Muslims that she held too. This I believe sums up the bulk of our country’s problem. You’ve got two groups of people who know very little about each other taking actions against one another based on misinformed stereotypes. I was surprised by the remarkable similarity between this girl’s world-view and that of a western Christian fundamentalist. I don’t mean that negatively either. I mean that her primary concerns were with morality and the negative influence of the media and American culture on people’s spiritual development.

OK, so I wanted to get that off my chest. Why? Well because this image got me pretty pissed off this morning. It’s hard not to hate these people when they kill someone like this. Just outta West Point. Beginning a successful career, killed before she even got her foot out the gate. Fucked up. R.I.P. Lt. Perez. Your country loves you, and appreciates your sacrifice. May God help us honor your memory.

Tags:
Islam, War on Terror, Emily Perez, Hijab, Racism

First Principles

So I’m pretty busy these days studying Arabic, but I wanted to get this post out there before the issue is over. I keep hearing that Dems might cave to Republican pressure to throw out habeas corpus for people turned in to US forces in exchange for money and subsequently detained without trial. The rationale is that in an election year, Dems don’t want to look “soft” on terror. The implication is that it’s better to be soft on morality, soft on justice, soft on human rights, soft on democratic principles, hell, soft on principles of any kind.

So I want to talk about First Principles. In this instance, the fundamental reasons we are having this discussion. Somehow no one seems to talk about the situation that got us talking about whether or not detainees should be treated as human beings. The fact that the White House has managed to frame the discussion in this light is a major victory, and I cannot fathom how it happened.

The Trinity Administration has, from the beginning, sought to expand the reach of Executive power. This is their guiding principle. In the terms of the current debate, the detainees are not the primary concern for this Administration. The real issue is staking their claim to the right to trample over all the safeguards on Executive power that were put in place after Watergate. That’s the real battle being fought. The Administration lost that battle in the Supreme Court, so now they need to retool their argument. They have crafted this compromise that remains vague enough to give them the ability to continue their extra-legal machinations away from the purview of our legal system. Let me state this again to make myself perfectly clear: The President and Vice President want to codify in law their right to act outside the law. They want to formally negate the system of checks and balances put in place specifically to prevent people like them from doing the things they are doing.

As usual, the Democrats have allowed the real issues to be co-opted from them. Rather than stepping out and taking a leading role in the discussion, they are left to defend their positions on the terms given to them by Republican talking points.

I’m fairly confident this is a strategic move. The Dems want to lay low until after the elections and then unleash hell. But by trying to play everything sooo safe, they risk giving the Republicans ammunition for their campaigns. This is seriously some Theo Epstein shit. Look at the numbers, determine that the course of action that on paper looks best is to do something stupid, and then be shocked when shit goes down in a totally predictable manner. WTF? We need LEADERS NOT SHEEP. Take the initiative and lead for once. Don’t just follow the poll numbers around like you’re their bitch.

The fact that for days every mention of the detainee treatment bill has involved only the names of Republicans is an indictment of the Democratic Party. They SUCK. The lone glimmer of hope in this mess? Bill Clinton. He so masterfully outlined the myriad problems with the President’s agenda it was breathtaking. You can hear his comments by listening to the interview NPR did with him last week. Peace.

Tags:
Detainee Abuse, War on Terror, Bill Clinton, Bush, Politics, Torture