Middle Class Populist

Archive for July, 2007

While this blogger is against the continuation of the war in Iraq, I do not wish to do as some on the left and make Bush out to be a Nazi. Bush is definitely incompetent as Commander In Chief and has misguided values with regard to globalization. While not labeling him as a Nazi he is however using one of their propaganda techniques! He is using one of Joseph Goebbels tactics. That is to repeat the big lie over and over! This technique that was used by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to make the Germans feel that war was a necessity that was thrust on them! Let’s examine some of the notions Bush and his fellow travelers are trying to push off on the American People:

1. Oh so there is no Al Qaeda in Iraq?

Who said there isn’t? But the main body of Al Qaeda in Iraq is a “franchise” that swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden after we invaded! As various military experts have testified, our occupation is what is driving Al Qaeda in Iraq! Besides they blew up the most sacred Shiite Shrine in Iraq, The Golden Dome Mosque! Now they have the Iranian backed Shiite Militias after them. These same militias that get supplies from the open Iraqi borders from Iran to harm our troops.

2. But if we leave they will follow us home!

What means are they going to use to enter America that they don’t already have now? Besides we are being side tracked by this Neo-Con Social Engineering Experiment in Iraq from the War on Terror! Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on the rise! Make no mistake about it they will attack us at home! We do need to be agressive but where it counts! This blogger is a populist Lou Dobbs Democrat not a McGovern liberal! We had better start fighting the War on Terror and securing our borders and ports! (Read a recent satire I did on this issue).

3. There are only two choices! Whine like the Politically Correct crowd that America is Imperialist and hence has no right to project military power abroad OR to get off our butts and kick ass! If you are not for the War in Iraq then you are a latter day McGovernite!

Wrong! There are more than two sides to an issue! To bad Bush is so incompetent in following his own “Bush Doctrine”! We need to be pro-active in the War on Terror. The question is why aren’t we doing that now? Our borders are wide open and soon Mexican trucks will ride over it legally as part of Bush’s “North American Union” agenda! Our ports are not checked and Bush even wanted to turn many port operations over to Dubai! You know “Dubai” that is the nation where the Cut and Run Capitalists from Halliburton have moved their CEO’s HQ. Meanwhile Iran and North Korea laugh at us as they build their nuclear weapons while Al Qaeda flourishes in their Afghan – Pakistan homeland!

4. If we leave now there will be a blood bath in Iraq!

Maybe but did you ever hear of “Darfur”? There has been a bloodbath going on there for years yet our news media hardly ever covers it! So why not do a “Darfur” on news media coverage of the Sunni – Shiite Genocide after we leave? Why the hypocrisy with the killings in Darfur? Again I remind my readers of the Star Trek idea of the “Prime Directive”! The Shiites and Sunnis have been at this for years they will have to undergo the same evolution that we did in western Europe with Protestant vs Protestant vs Catholic! We are not all powerful and have limited resources! Why not use our resources against the real Al Qaeda where it will count! That is unless you want to bring back the draft and have some of the loud mouths who support this war go fight it or their children! Besides Al Qaeda is also in the Philippines and Indonesia! Should we invade those nations also?

Finally if I were a conservative blogger and I were to use the term “Al Qaeda In Iraq” the same number of times that Bush did in his recent speech, the search engines would drop me as the key word phrase is repeated so many times that it is artificial!

Today on CBS’s program “Face The Nation” Bob Schieffer interviewed Democratic Senator Harry Reid. He grilled the senator as to why Democrats did not go along with some Republicans who want to end the war in a piece meal fashion. The implication stated overtly and covertly was that Reid was being partisan at the expense of America and our troops! Well this nation is partisan and we elected this Congress. Bush in his first term, only had the vote of the College of Electors not the popular vote and that is regardless of the Florida controversy concerning the so called “chads”. True in his second term he had the popular vote. But now Democrats have both the Senate and House! What are we to roll over and allow the President to run Congress?

Senator Reid while trying to explain that he would allow straight up and down votes for all of the measures to end the war, including those presented by some anti-Bush Republicans, did not do a good enough job in his rhetoric. Senator Reid did not mention the “mechanism” that allows votes to take place. That is to say filibustering can only be broken with 60 votes not 51 votes! The Democrats while in control of the Senate do not have 60 votes. Bob Schieffer should have presented this fact to the public but instead ended the talk with saying “well that’s your view”. Wrong it is the Constitution not simply Senator Reid’s view! You cannot have a vote if the Republcians don’t want one! That is unless you have 60 votes!

For years we have endured the God awful endless whining by the right that the news media is slanted to the left! This despite the fact that the news media was, IMHO partially responsible for the Vietnam War.

That war was fought because the underlying premise was that we were counterbalancing the incursion of one Sovereign Nation into another. That is to say North Vietnam into South Vietnam. If that were the case that war might have been justified but the truth is that there were no such nations as South Vietnam or North Vietnam. They did not call themselves such! The government of South Vietnam called itself the “Republic of Vietnam” – ALL OF VIETNAM. The northern Hanoi based regime called itself the “Peoples Republic of Vietnam”. Not of “North” Vietnam but ALL Vietnam. Mere play of words by BOTH sides? No since the incursion of one into the other was an act of Civil War not international invasion! Yet the news media continued this falsehood with the exaggerated casualty stats for enemy deaths week after week, month after month and year after year. There is an equal argument that the news media had a PRO-CONSERVATIVE Basis!

Yet liberals just wimp it up and don’t say anything. Just like when John Kerry allowed himself to be smeared by the Swift Boat Republicans while George Bush’s incomplete service record in the National Guard went unchallenged by both the Democrats and the news media!

The American people elected this Congress to end the war. I don’t care if it causes grid lock I want the mandate of the American People carried out! If that means cutting the funding for this war then so be it! Contingencies funding can be added to transport our troops out even if it means BLASTING our way out!

The time has come to start fighting the war on terrorism and securing our ports and borders instead of this side trip social engineering experiment by Bush and his fellow travelers!

I get a real laugh how the Pentagon is smearing Hillary Clinton for being unpatriotic while our Commander In Chief cannot produce a complete record of his stay in the National Guard. But that aside, maybe the folks at the pentagon never heard of something called “contingency planning”! Hell supposedly they even have contingency plans to invade Canada!

Well perhaps I am wrong here about the military making contingency plans. How else could George Bush have not realized that Iraq is really three different nations waiting for a meltdown! Yet Bush lit the fire! Didn’t the military have contingency plans for:

• The occupation of Iraq? How else, years after “Mission Accomplished”, could they not know that the Sunni’s and Shiites have been at each other’s throats for centuries?
• Didn’t they have “contingency plans” for the restoration of water, electricity and essential services for the defeated nation once we took over?
• Didn’t they have “contingency plans” to deal with securing the borders of Iraq from insurgents just as they have done such a superb job securing America’s ports and borders six years now after 9-11? Yes maybe the military and Bush should understand this silly concept called “contingency planning”!

While President Bush does not seem to understand the concept of “contingency plans”, his friends in Iraq do. Their contingency plans are:

IF our nation is falling apart and our prime ally the USA is about to give up on us THEN it’s time for our Parliament to take a month’s vacation just prior the important American decision point in September! Cann’t you just hear the Iraqi Parliament yelling out like John Belushi in the movie Animal House saying “ROAD TRIP”! Well this is no joke our troops are dying for this social engineering experiment!

Hey now that is what I call “Contingency Planning” I am at the point now that I don’t care if the surge is working. Get the HELL OUT OF IRAQ NOW! Not in three months or six months but NOW! The time has come to worry about our borders and Al Qaeda developing WMD in their free zone in Pakistan. Not to mention the nuclear threat of Iran and North Korea! Lets end this neo-con social engineering experiment that is costing us far to many lives and tax dollars while the war on terror goes unfought! Sure a democratic Iraq would be nice but it cannot happen without SECULARIZATION! Are we willing to let the war on terror be lost while we engage in this Social Engineering Experiment?

Prime Minister Maliki, who stood up President Bush at a Middle Eastern summit in Jordan so he could prove his friendship with Shiite Cleric and militia leader Sadr, now says we can leave! The time has come to ask why we are still there when nation building was not part of the mandate that Congress gave Bush. Furthermore President Bush has already stated “Mission Accomplished”!

Could it be that Maliki cannot wait for us to leave so he can set up his “Shiastan” in Iraq? Mean while the Iraqi Parliament is going on vacation even though General Petraeus is about to issue his critical report on the Iraqi situation in September. This is a snub in the face of our troops who are dying and bleeding for them! The Iraqi Parliament is doing a CUT AND RUN!

Meanwhile back home our nation’s borders are wide open and our ports have little if any inspection of cargo containers even though it is six years after 9-11. Al Qaeda is moving freely in the remote provinces of Pakistan and opium production is at world levels in Afghanistan. The sale of this drug will hurt our youth and finance WMD development by Al Qaeda! Our intelligence community now informs us Al Qaeda is crossing our unsecured borders and infiltrating us! Great job President Bush!

The problem is on both sides of the spectrum. Some do not realize that America needs to kick ass! The problem is we have an ass of a President who does not know the correct target!

Let’s not forget Iran with it’s threatened nuclear development! Just what kind of message is Bush sending Iran when he threatens that we will not tolerate them building nukes. Just how creditable is our threat if:

• Bush then pushes to build a nuclear shield around Europe that is supposed to shield them against rogue missile attacks? What kind of deterrence do our threats have against Iran when the presumption of such a shield is that we will allow Iran to build nukes!
• What type of threat are we if we are so bogged down in Iraq?
• Further if we define victory as a massive occupation to engage in “Nation Building” rather than mere “Regime toppling” then how creditable is our threat! The former takes years while the latter is much easier. Rogue regimes don’t worry about being overthrown by democratic foreces! They just worry about being overthrown – PERIOD! Also we could just strike their military and nuclear targets. If they don’t yield we can strike their economic targets. That was something we could not do in Iraq as we planned to occupy the nation and thus had to rebuild. Without the burden of occupation we can hit their economy with our advanced military technology.

The time has come for Middle Class America to stand up to Bush and his social engineering experiment in Iraq. Will there be blood shed if we pull back? You bet just like Darfur but I don’t see anyone worrying about that when the issue there is more one sided! Let them blow each other up in Iraq. It is sad but that is how Europe learned religious tolerance. There is no other way! Remember Star Trek and the PRIME DIRECTIVE? As we leave Iraq let us tell them “LIVE LONG AND PROSPER”! Oh yes good riddences!

Well gosh golly Michael Chertoff has a gut reaction that we could be attacked this summer! But we have nothing to fear as under the Bush Administration we have “stayed the course” with our rock solid border and port security! True we would be far more secure if we had gone along with Bush’s plan to turn over our port operations to Dubai!

You know “Dubai” that’s where the CUT AND RUN Capitalist Halliburton is now shifting its corporate headquarters! But then again with clowns like Michael Chertoff running Homeland Security what does America have to fear from a dirty bomb or a biological weapon being unleashed in our cities! Just look at how secure Bagdad is after four years of occupation. Can you imagine Berlin or Tokyo four years after the end of World War II with military operations still taking place and America allowing militias to continue to operate?

It is now six years after 9-11 and our borders are wide open while our ports have no more than 5% of the cargo containers checked,! Those who come to our nation with student and other visas are not monitored. Bush and Chertoff have done a KATRINA on national security!

Yet this bozo of a President is wasting our troops to secure Bagdad while their Parliament is going to take a month long vacation. Worse still according to Bush’s own appointees in the intelligence community, Al Qaeda is on the rise again! For God’s sake is it any wonder? But don’t worry Iran is developing missiles, and nukes while Bush squanders our troops and resources in Iraq! What is he doing to our military deterrent with this side trip into Iraq? Not to mention that he says Iran cannot have nukes yet we are trying to build a anti-nuclear missile system in western Europe to defend it against rogue states. But then that presumes we would allow Iran to develop nukes! Just what message is Bush trying to send the enemies of America!

What is really scary is that these idiots would love a terrorist attack to see their ratings go up! Michael Chertoff perhaps you have a feeling of apprehension in your gut because this morning you saw yourself in the mirror and realized it is you who is directing our Homeland Security! But then again with Bush and Chertoff running the show I have a bad feeling in my gut also don’t you?

Ah yes it is summer time in Afghanistan. You remember Afghanistan, where under Bush, we allowed Osama Bin Ladin to escape into the mountains of our dear friend Pakistan! With friends like that who needs enemies! But then again where are we going to get the resources for our H1-B Visa program so corporate America can lower the salaries of computer and technical professionals without Pakistan (and India)? Well I will leave that for another post! It seems like only last year I was writing about the wonderful bumper crop of opium that Afghanistan produced! You know the drug that is killing our youth and financing, in part the terrorism of Al Qaeda! While George Bush continues his obsession with Iraq, Afghanistan continues to sink into decay. But this year their world renowned expertise in raising opium even surpassed last year’s crop! Mission accomplished!

This blogger agrees with conservatives in some respects. In the War on Terror our nation needs to take vigorous, aggressive and decisive action! But our theater of operations should be Afghanistan not Iraq! Instead of merely kicking Saddam out of power our President decided to engage in a Social Engineering Experiment! Meanwhile the real war is still not won in Afghanistan. Opium is being raised at record levels yet again this year. It will addict our youth and finance the terrorists!

This blog tries to advance the cause of the Middle Class and a vigorous Pro-American Populist political agenda! Bush has got to be the biggest misfit we have had as President this century! I say that because while I am a Democrat, I believe in some of his ideas! Let us examine how he has taken good ideas and done a “katrina” on each of them:

• Missile Defense System instead of sole reliance on M.A.D. Great idea but don’t build it in Europe where you will make an enemy of Russia! Besides if it is built there it sends the wrong signal to Iran! While we say we will not tolerate Iran having nukes this system in Europe PRESUMES WE WILL! What message is Bush sending our enemies?
• The doctrine of pre-emptive strike! I believe this is a good idea with rouge states. But look at how Bush has worked against his own doctrine! We lose creditability by defining victory as not simply the overthrowing of a dictator like Hussein but adding the criteria he must be replaced by a democracy. Good luck! Iran doesn’t have to fear we will move against her as Iraq will tie us up for years! Hell we cannot even secure Bagdad!
• The use of military force to KICK ASS after 9-1. Good idea just the wrong implementation of it!
• The use of strong arm tactics to induce terrorists to talk! Even Allan Dershowitzthe, the notorius liberal lawyer, has said he would back this as long as a warrant was obtained! However just packing anyone off to Guantanamo is not the answer. Also what guarantee do we have that future Presidents would not use such a power against American citizens who disagreed with them?

By the way why isn’t the news media zeroing in on the bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan? I bet many of you reading this are thinking that I am referring to 2006! Yes there was a bumper crop then also. However the U.N. has stated Afghanistan has done it again in 2007! Yet no one in Congress is screaming that our troops and tax dollars are being wasted while Afghanistan has a bumper crop of opium yet again! Here we have an incidence of the news media acting almost if it is an agent of the neo-cons! The news media is also only now discovering the genocide in Darfur! No I don’t really believe the news media is pro-conservative! But imagine how the conservatives would be screaming if it were the other way around!

While Afghanistan crumbles and our borders remain wide open with our ports having only 5% of their cargo inspected, this bozo tells us that Iraq is the center for the war on terror! Imagine if we had allowed him to go through with his Dubai Ports deal? Meanwhile the Cut and Run Capitalists at Halliburton have moved their corporate CEO’s HQ to Dubai!

The time has come for America’s Middle Class (and those who aspire to be) to take our nation back from these effete snobs who squander the lives of our youths and our capital. God Bless America!

Yes we all know the President has the right to pardon and commute. Bush has stated that he accepts the verdict of the jury. Therefore just what message is Bush trying to send to lawbreakers who commit perjury? Bill Clinton got a blow job and these self righteous champions of Law and Order made a big thing about it. Yes he did commit perjury unless you believe oral sex is not sex. But he was forced into a public position that made the perjury possible. A situation that Republicans maneuvered to get him in! Oh really you say! Well how many other married guys have received oral sex and did not tell their wives much less get their sex lives blasted all over the media?

The issue is not just that Libby lied. There seems to be a Republican belief that if you lie to protect the President then it is ok. You have to wonder what would have happened if Bush did not commute Libby’s sentence so fast! Was Libby going to SING! Further Bush added that he reserves the right to grant a full pardon!

In this blog I love to use the RHETORIC and arguments of conservatives to illustrate their hyporisy! Please note in other posts I treat the left the same way! Using Bush’s recent action in commuting Libby’s sentence and holding a future full pardon as a possibility, then we have to ask:

What DETERRENT is there for future executive branch operatives to lie if they know their President can pull them out of the frying pan? Just what kind of message is Bush trying to send to posterity! This reminds me of the Nazis who ran the concentration camps saying, “we were only following orders”. No I am not comparing Bush to Hitler! But this is a step in the wrong direction. Operatives have a “RESPONSIBILITY” under the law to tell the truth! I guess this is what conservatives mean by “strict constructionalist” and “Law and Order”!

In the final analysis the only mess Clinton left was his own personal mess with his wife and nothing that a little Listerine could not fix with Monica. Bush however is undermining the rule of law! Just what are the facts in the firings at the Justice Department? Why did Libby lie? What about future Presidents and their operatives? What incentives are there for them to tell the truth? Executive privilege is not license to BLOW THE CONSTITUTION!

This President is screwing the nation while Clinton only screwed with his personal affairs!