Middle Class Populist

Archive for September, 2006

Normally I am for the death penalty but here is yet another case where we can thank God the person accused was allowed to live and eventually see justice!

Jeffrey Deskovic is a living example of what can happen to American justice when we look for the “feels good” solution. You know the conservative hang em now worry about guilt latter syndrome.

(Read News Article )

Again I generally favor the death penalty for first degree murder but Mr. Deskovic’s case shows what can happen when we place to much trust in police and equate giving that trust as a patriotic issue.

Mr. Deskovic gave a confession as a 17 year old that he raped and murdered a fellow high school classmate according to police. Yet even the DNA evidence at the time showed he was innocent. Mr. Deskovic, then seventeen, stated the confession was forced. With more advanced DNA techniques he was again cleared and the sample DNA matched another prisoner in the Federal DNA data base. This other man then confessed. Mr. Deskovic after loosing his youth and the most valuable years of his life was exonerated after sixteen years in prison.

Let me pose some questions. If confessions are proof then how can two people claim they alone did it? Remember the Ramsey – Karr Case of a few weeks back. Confessions mean shit! This isn’t some dastardly liberal conspiracy to “let the criminal go free”. Again as in the Karr case of just a few weeks back, confessions don’t prove the case. Yet conservatives would love to cut and run from the judicial rights afforded to DEFENDANTS by our Constitution. You know the very thing we are fighting for in Iraq to spread over the Muslim world.

The NY Daily News mentions that the NY State Republican candidate for Attorney General, Ms. Pirro was requested to examine Mr.Deskovic’s case earlier but declined. (Read NY Daily News Article). I pray that Mr. Deskovic sues like crazy and wins a large amount for the pain and injustice he has suffered.

I believe the American people want our armed forces and intelligence agencies to act in both a constitutional manner and by the rules of the Geneva Convention. However in this age we could be threatened by terrorists who could nuke our cities killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans. Let me pose some questions to both the right and the left!

1. Should we deal with terrorists the same way as prisoners of war?

2. If we believed one of our cities was about to be nuked should we abide by the Geneva Convention or grant due process to a terrorist?

3. How do we identify a “terrorist” especially one who has time sensitive information and who would thus merit “special treatment”?

4. I have several conservative friends who believe that former President Clinton brought about the death of several people that were a threat to his administration. (Note I do not believe that but that is not the issue.) Well my question to them and to Republicans is, how would you like a future potential President Hillary Clinton to have the power to torture people in secret prisons? Regardless of who is the next President there will be a Democrat President again in our lifetimes so the question is very relevant to die hards conservatives like some of my friends!

5. Wouldn’t it be nice to just allow the CIA to conduct covert operations against foreign governments and terrorists as part of our foreign policy as long as the President authorized it with senior congressional members being notified?

6. Is it fair to our troops to allow them to be shot at by terrorists who do not wear military uniforms and even use Mosques, hospitals and human shields for cover?

With the above in mind might I suggest that we entertain liberal Alan Dershowitz’s idea of issuing a “Torture Warrant” in the case of a threat to our nation by terrorists.

(See CNN report on Dershowitz’s proposal)

I believe Bush is correct on his program with surveillance of overseas phone calls. I would just require that a judge be notified of all the activity being done. It would be fine if this oversight were done even AFTER the fact. The issue is not to hamper national security but to insure that this administration and FUTURE ADMINISTRATIONS do not abuse the power. I would have no problem giving the Bush’s Administration the benefit of the doubt in all requests as long as a judicial committee monitored what was going on even if after the fact.

I would hope we would not modify any of the Geneva Conventions. The trick is to only apply them to uniformed prisoners of war not to terrorists! Thus I would advise my fellow democrats that after taking the above restrictions into account you consider this axiom when dealing with terrorism in the coming elections:

Terrorism: Kick Ass or Kiss Ass! If you don’t come on strong your rhetoric smells of shit!

The American people do not like lame ducks. Thus George Bush’s cowboy speeches will appeal to the public. The problem is not the war on terrorism but rather the battle field. It should be Afghanistan not Iraq.

• Want to fight Islamic Fascism? What about Dafar? If we don’t fight the genocide there perhaps we will end up fighting terrorism on our streets!
• What about the Al Qaeda and their fellow travelers in Pakistan and Afghanistan?
• What about their bumper crop of opium? If we don’t fight it there in Afghanistan we will fight the terrorism of drug addiction and drug addicts on our streets!

Here is where we Democrats can talk tough. But no instead we will have Jesse Jackson go in front of the camera and say some stupid idiotic poem. But our self induced masochism goes even further. Some elements in our party will follow up with some stupid talk about how we awful Americans are the cause of all the world’s problems.

You know the bull how we Americans are “x” percent of the global population but use up “x + y” percent of the resources. Oh Mother Goddess forgive me! Hey I am a liberal! But I am tired of guilt trips and so are the American people. Isn’t it amazing we Democrats will whine about conservation but gloat with joy as rising gas prices undermine George Bush’s poll numbers!

Lets strive to make our world better for all by helping them bring up their standards rather than lowering ours! Is it any wonder we Democrats loose elections!

The time has come for the great Silent Majority – America’s Middle Class (and those who aspire to be) to rise up and take our nation back from both the PC crowd and the Corporate Collectivists! God Bless America!

The time has come to stop Bush from his policy of “cut and run” from the war on terrorism. Recently the Iraqi Prime Minister has visited Iran. You know that nice country that imprisoned our diplomats years ago and never apologized! The same Iran that wants nuclear weapons. The Iraqi Prime Minister has stated to the Iranians that Iraq will not be a part of any American – Iranian conflict. Read CNN report on visit!

Meanwhile the Taliban is rising in Afghanistan as fast as it’s fresh bumper opium crop. Yet we tie down our troops in Iraq and worry more about Katusa rockets going 25 miles into northern Israel from Lebanon than we do about North Korea, with its nukes, developing and testing ICBM’s capable of traveling thousands of miles to hit our shores!

If we do not fight these Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies in Afghanistan then we will be fighting them in our streets. If we do not fight the terrorists who have safe haven in Pakistan and the North Koreans who already have nuclear weapons then we will risk a mushroom cloud rising from our cities!

Bush has provided a remedy! Yes Afghanistan under the government we installed there has a bumper crop of opium! No doubt they will ship it to our cities and addict our youth. But so what better to enjoy then fine Afghan opium as the mushroom cloud from a terrorist nuke spreads over our cities. With our borders wide open so terrorists can flow in and capital can flow out by cut and run corporations that flee the nation that gave them support, succor and profits, why not enjoy a little Afghan opium!

I guess this is what Bush means by “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”! The time has come to fight these Islamic fascists and their North Korean buddies. We can use “shock and awe” in Iran and North Korea. But Afghanistan needs more troops to fight the people who attacked us on 9-11 and to destroy the opium crop. Mr. Bush talks about fighting Islamic fascists yet does nothing about the genocide in the Sudan!

Bush and his fellow travelers are engaging in a failed social engineering experiment in Iraq! They are leaving our borders open while engaging in a cut and run strategy in the war on terror! Afghanistan should be where our ground forces are. North Korea and Iran can be showcases, if need be, for “shock and awe technological attacks”! Bush talks about kicking ass but is only kicking our asses not the terrorists! Time for us democrats to show him the way!

The time has come for the SILENT MAJORITY – America’s Middle Class (and those who aspire to be) to rise up and take our country back!

North Korea has nukes. She has built even more while we got side tracked in Iraq. Now she is testing ICBM’s and Iran is going into the nuclear game. Afghanistan is experiencing a rise in Taliban activity. Next door in Pakistan they are making peace with the terrorists.

(SEE Christian Science Monitor article on peace deal).

Let me raise an important question concerning North Korea and Iran! If we are to disarm North Korea and shut down Iran’s nuclear capabilities are we going to occupy both nations? I doubt it. We are equipped to deal with the problem with our superior military technology. We will use surgical strikes against their facilities and even against their economic institutions without sustained extensive occupation. Iran is Islamic! So are we going to start a crusade to spread democracy to Iran? Will we occupy their nation? Most analysts say no that it will be done by “shock and awe technology”! Well then why must we occupy Iraq especially that North Korea and Iran are FAR greater threats to our nation and we are not going to occupy them?

The issue is not fighting Islamic Fascism. The issue is the definition of the battlefield and the tools of that encounter! By the way if we are so into fighting the Islamic Fascists what about the genocide that these Islamic Fascists are waging in Sudan against the Christians?

George Bush who cut and ran from his full commitment to the National Guard in his youth now spends the lives of our brave young troops in Iraq. He worries more about small conventional warhead katusa rockets from Lebanon going 25 miles into northern Israel than the fact that North Korea has nukes already and is testing ICBM’s capable of going thousands of miles reaching our homeland. Not to mention that she could supply a nuke to terrorists. Yet Bin Laden roams the Afghan mountains and we do nothing but allow the new Afghan government to raise a bumper crop of opium!

The real threat to America is not being addressed. Bin Laden is in Afghanistan or the tribal areas of Pakistan. Our troops there need more resources not only to fight the Islamic fascists but the bumper opium crop! If we don’t destroy the Afghan opium and fight this crop and it’s supporters in the Afghan government, then we will be fighting drug terrorism in our homeland.

Our troops did not die in Afghanistan to make the world safe for Afghan opium! Bush has cut and run:

• From his youthful duty to the National Guard!
• From capturing Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bush’s ego diversion to Iraq must stop.
• From securing our borders from invasion from the south.
• From placing “PORT SECURITY” over “portfolio security”!

The time has come for the SILENT MAJORITY – America’s great middle class (and those who aspire to be) to stand up and be counted!

While this is a blog by a liberal Democrat, I am as much repelled by the orthodoxy of “political correctness” as I am by the subservience of the American middle class to the corporate collectivists! I suggest we take a balanced look at the Bush record in regards to the war on terrorism! Let me be upfront. I was for kicking Saddam’s ass in the Iraqi War. I enjoyed the “Shock and Awe” campaign. However I was immediately alarmed when I heard that we were not confiscating all hand guns from Iraq. Next I was honestly shocked to learn there were no Iraqi WMD! Ok like many Americans I rationalized, “so what we enjoyed kicking some asses of those who hated us anyway”! Besides I believed this was a strategic “example” being given to Iran and North Korea that would have reduced the need for military action against these far greater national security risks. Lets look at Bush’s pros and cons. First the negatives. Hey I cannot help putting the negatives first after all I am a democrat!

NEGATIVES FOR BUSH IN THE WAR ON TERROR:

• By continuing to stay in Iraq we lost the initiative! That is because the thrashing of Iraq set a good example to Iran and North Korea as to what could happen to them. If we then declared victory and “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” then indeed an example would have been set.
• His strategy of vocalizing that “a defeat in Iraq is a defeat for America in the war on terror” is a defeat in itself!
• Afghanistan is having a resurgence of the Taliban that could have been avoided if our resources where concentrated there.
• North Korea is building yet more Nuclear Weapons AND testing ICBMs that can travel thousands of miles to reach our shores. Meanwhile Bush worries about small payload conventional Katusa rockets hitting 25 miles into northern Israel.
• Imagine three years after the end of World War II and revolts still taking place inside of Berlin? Well that is the analogous situation we are experiencing in Iraq! Yet Bush does not want to face the fact that far more troops are needed. Doing so could perhaps result in a resurrection of the draft. Is that the price we want to pay? Bush, by not declaring our objectives met, has made our “Shock and Awe” into a “Crock and Bore” to the third world!
• Sudan is waging a genocidal war against the Christians of Dafar yet no one gives a damn! Aren’t these not the same Islamic Fascists Mr. Bush?
• Afghanistan, under the government we back, has a bumper crop of Opium! Using Bush’s logic then if we don’t fight our ally in Afghanistan then we will be fighting drug terrorism in our streets! SEE MSNBC on opium in Afghanistan!
• Pakistan is having second thoughts about their commitment to fighting the Islamic Fascists as evidenced by the recent news even if they are putting a spin on some of their statements.
• By putting us on a crusade for Democracy in the Muslim world he alienates the monarchy run states that are friendly to us.

Now in the face of a midterm election defeat, Mr. Bush states:

“You know, one way to look at it is we have to be right 100 percent of the time in order to protect this country, and they got to be right once”. See CBS News Website.

Well then if that is the case and being that it is five years after 9-11 and with control of both houses of Congress, a friendly Supreme Court and being the President, you would think that Bush would:

• Lock down our borders.
• Follow with a fine tooth comb all aliens who have visas and not let them disappear.
• Worry more about Port Security instead of “portfolio security”. Instead he wants to CUT AND RUN from American operation of our own ports.
• Inspect stored baggage in aircraft flights!
• Check for radiation in ALL shipping containers.

This is a very dismal record. Some will say we have not been hit in five years! So what there was a long span between the first World Trade Center attack and the fatal one of 9/11. Now let’s look at some positive traits. Here I reveal myself as a NON- PC liberal.

POSITIVES FOR BUSH IN THE WAR ON TERROR:

• The President has pushed for an Anti-Missile Defense! Tests are coming back positive. Oh I apologize to my PC friends who just love to make America vulnerable.
• • Read more about this in another article in this blog.
  • See Chicago Tribune Website on the most recent successful test.
• The President imprisoned Taliban terrorists in CIA prisons outside of the USA where no doubt, and I hope they received “Special incentives to talk”.
• Bush used wire taps to get information. I would prefer a judge to review these cases but I would have no problem even if it were a Republican judge and if the reviews were done a month after the taps. The issue is what about future Presidents having this power. There must be a overview even if after the surveillance.
• The successful invasion of Afghanistan. I give him credit for kicking ass! That’s right it makes one proud to be an American! Oh dear did I say something wrong! My only problem is that he got side tracked into Iraq and perhaps lied to us in order to show up his dad on Iraq. But we can leave it to the Democratic House of Representatives in 2007 to investigate that!

In conclusion I give Bush a dismal 33% rating in terms of National Security!

President Bush in a recent radio address said the following:

“If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities. The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq, so America will not leave until victory is achieved.”

READ FOX NEWS ARTICLE

Putting terrorism aside just for one moment, since Bush’s argues that we must defeat the terrorists in the streets of Bagdad else we will fight them here on our streets, then what about the issue of drugs Mr. President? We correctly, IMHO, invaded Afghanistan as that nation was a safe haven for Ben Laden. Afghanistan’s main crop then was opium! The problem is that opium still is Afghanistan’s main crop and export. Their government, the one we helped install, does not want to shut down the opium fields.

READ Global hangover article on Afghanistan

READ MSN/NEWSWEEK ARTICLE

Our brave troops died in Afghanistan and I do not believe they gave their lives so that Afghan drug lords could continue to harvest opium! Nor did our brave troops die so that:

• Our streets would be the battle fields for drug terrorism and addiction.
• Our youth would be infected with addiction as a result of the failed social engineering experiments of Bush and his fellow travelers!
• Mr. Bush and his fellow travelers could harvest pseudo-patriotic hoopla from a Commander – in Chief who CUT AND RAN from his National Guard meeting requirements!

Bush is whipping up fear in the general public and trying to rally his base by giving a substitute goal for winning the war on terrorism. Instead he is trying to upshot his dad by getting involved in Iraq when we had more important fish to fry!

Using Bush’s logic then we MUST defeat the war lords and even the govenrment we installed in Afghanistan in their harvesting of opium. If we do NOT then we will be fighting that opium and the terror it produces in our city streets!

Mr. Bush and his fellow travelers love to provide “feel good” bravado! I am all for “KICKING ASS”! But let us focus on the correct target. Afghanistan was a good target. The problem is we did not use enough troops for a follow-up in destroying the opium fields. Instead we got sidetracked into Iraq! Nothing wrong maybe in knocking off Sadamn AFTER we first take care of North Korea and Iran. Then we should have left Iraq to a puppet general. North Korea and Iran can be dealt with by our advanced technology! China could even be “invited” to install a new communist goverment in North Korea. Our goal is not to push the communists out of North Korea but just stop them from becoming a threat. To force North Korea militaraly to become democratic would invite a major war. That is not in our national interest. But Bush is sidetracked in up showing his dad in Iraq.

You may have heard of North Korea Mr. Bush. You know the nice folks who ALREADY have nuclear bombs and are testing ICBM’s that could travel thousands of miles to hit our homeland. Instead Mr. Bush is more concerned with small conventional war heads fired by Katusa rockets 25 miles into northern Israel!

Mr. Bush you have the correct issue which is homeland security! However my question is just whose homeland you are trying to secure! Certainly not ours when:

• We back a government in Afganistan that is exporting drug terror to America’s streets.
• Our borders are wide open five years after 9-11 and your party controls all branches of government!
• Shipping containers are barely inspected entering our ports.

Mr. Bush do you want to fight Islamic Fascism? What about the GENOCIDE that is taking place in the Sudan against the Christian minority? Instead of focusing on that, Mr. Bush, you and your fellow travelers in the Christian right have an agenda to bring about the second coming by focusing on Israel. Israel has the resources to take care of it’s own problems. Indeed our outward backing may even hamper Israel from doing what it really wanted to do and that is attack the terrorist bases in Syria!

The problem is we Democrats let him get away with this. We also have a stupid subset of PC Democrats that want us all to believe America is the fault of all the world’s problems. When Bush then presents some bravado, even if it is misdirected, most will rightly chose action over guilt trips.

I do salute the President for the successful anti-Missile test just recently conducted. In that issue he is on the right track. But not in Iraq and Homeland Security. If the fate of the free world is at stake in Iraq then we need far more troops! Imagine Germany three years after the end of the war with Berlin in revolt! Do we want to pay that price for Iraq while North Korea builds yet more nuclear weapons and Iran prepares? Time for a change this November!