June 2008

A New GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans is One Step Away from Being Law

NEW YORK - In a historic vote Thursday tonight, the Senate voted 92-6 in favor of a World War II-style GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation’s first and largest nonpartisan Iraq and Afghanistan veterans’ group, has been championing the bill for more than a year and applauds this groundbreaking development.

There you go.They overturned the ban an hand guns in Washington DC. Let’s just go back to the times of the wild west where everyone shoots everyone. It seems that with every step we’ve been taking recently we go back to a society that can only be described as medieval. Dealth penalty, people killing others for trespassing.

Back when I was in college I used to expose myself to more talk radio than is recommended by the doctor. The main reason for this was the fact that I worked as a pizza delivery guy and of course spent a whole lot of time in the car. I remember there being a time slot where Glenn Beck was in way before he was given a show on CNN which to this day I cannot understand. He was one of the first people on radio or television to get behind the Terry Shiavo case and made it one of this biggest themes, and unfortunately it ended up getting so much national attention that at some point even politicians got involved.

I honestly don’t even know how a lot of these conservative “pundits” can still have the nerve to get on TV and deliver the kind of lies that we’re seeing. In the 1950’s we overthrew Iran. Why did we overthrow them? Because they wanted to Nationalize their own oil resources. They had become frustrated with the fact that BP was in their country and making all the money. They proceeded to do what any free thinking capitalist would have done which is to aim for their own fair share of the profits. The result of that was that BP “called” up the US and complained how they were losing control. Being the innovators that we Americans are, we went into Iran and said NO PROBLEM - we’ll take care of that for you, because ultimately the UK and US have the same stance on many territorial questions, after all the UK of all countries, has some of the best historical examples to fall back on to that show how qualified they are in making countries slaves of the ‘mothership’.

It’s 2008 and we’re being told Iran is a threat again. How did they become that threat? BECAUSE WE RUINED THEIR REVOLUTION! Instead of making them true allies, we let the Corporations do the thinking on this and we took away their democracy thereby making them enemies of the United States. Iran actually used to be pro Western and as I’ve said in other posts on my blog here, here, we are not only ruining relationships with other countries, we are making them enemies. For me the security question alone flies in the face of everything Conservatives say these days.

Of course we’re playing a game here, which is to pretend that all the BS we’re being fed somehow has validity. We’re actually supposed to believe that the Western Oil companies they are now letting into Iraq are going to simply help their production. Of course they’re going to get a huge shim in the door so when things are running well again, they are right there to take over the next contracts. Remember this -the main reason why we wanted Saddam out of office has nothing to do with human rights abuses. I mean let’s get serious here for one second - we commit human rights abuses right in front of our door step, in Guantanamo Bay so I believe that we could care less about human rights. If we’re so worried about human beings being abused, why didn’t and aren’t we acting in Darfur? In case you really don’t know the answer to that question, it’s again very simple: they don’t have any resources we need. If Darfur had oil you would be reading about it in the news daily.

So after over 50 years of constantly poking into the bees nest I call the Middle East, once again they are feeding us propaganda about Oil companies in Iraq. Condie says that the US government has no involvement in this whatsoever - and Bob Marley never bought a sack of weed, give me a break. Further more she also said that our government also had nothing to do with the whole “no bidding” part. So let me get this straight: Iraq is demolished, their national treasures have been looted, they have over 165,000 occupiers in their country, they can’t guarantee for power but now because of their good business sense they decided to bring in Western Oil companies, without any bids? I don’t know about you, but nothing says “sponsored by the corporate United States” any more clear than a no-bid contract.

I guess you can’t blame corporations for thinking we’re all just stupid sheople. I didn’t even grow up on this country and I still remember very clearly and have done my research into the subject of fuel efficiency or the lack thereof in this country. McCain mocks Obama and tries to compare him to Jimmy Carter yet he doesn’t realize or just doesn’t want to admit that if we had followed Carter’s advice, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now.

The part that really gets me though is the fact that General Motors is now pushign the “green revolution”. A revolution? What’s revolutionary about making cars that now have the efficiency of cars in Europe over 20 years ago? It also urks me greatly that people like Tom Hartmann who I think the world of in terms of reasoning and logic argumentations are advertising for GM’s new cars as if they were something so spectacular that he had to put his name on it. Yes, it’s a step in the right direction but considering the dire nature of our situation, I think it’s a farce to be calling it amazing or revolutionizing in any way shape or form. The Toyota Prius gets up to 60 miles to the gallon so in comparison to that, I think what GM is doing could only be called a joke.

The real point of contention for me isn’t the fact that the gas useage is so terrible, it’s the fact that car manufacturers had plenty of opportunity to adjust their business strategy. Instead what happened was that Detroit went with the signal that was sent from the government which was: Don’t bother about tomorrow, today gas is cheap so build vehicles that continue to point is in the direction of being completely dependent on fossile fuels.

General Motors, your cars are not revolutionizing and neither is your business strategy. Like so many corporations you are feeding into the collective short sightedness and are contributing to the fact that this country is falling of a cliff economically speaking. If I was the CEO of a large car manufacturer, I would have taken a quick look into the crystal ball and it would have told me: build fuel efficient cars. Instead you built Hummers? Please, stop causing these revolutions!

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that alleged terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to challenge their cases in American civilian courts. The outcry of the right wing was great, including Judge Scalia’s comment that this decision would “cost American lives”. How many lives will it cost us and how does the Judge know this? It’s no new question, but it does lend itself to wondering whether Scalia’s previous ruling when he made George W. Bush president against the will of people cost us any lives? Ask our military families whether there’s a connection there or not.

In order to put this into context I’m going to go back in time. It’s 1945 and WWII has officially been won by the Allied Forces, which at the time was Britain, The United States and Russia. The atrocities that were committed during WWII were unparalleled in history. Over 6 million jews were brutally murdered in concentration death camps. It had been rumored throughout the war how bad the abuse was, but until Allied forces actually liberated the camps in Dachau, Auschwitz and other cities in East Germany and East Europe nobody knew the real extent of it.

What they found was more than unbelievable, it was something that most human beings couldn’t dream up in their wildest imaginations. The concentration camps were filled with people that had been malnourished for years, abused, untreated medically and forced to constant hard physical labor. If you’ve ever done any research on the Holocaust I’m sure you will easily agree that what the world witnessed after WWII, was a horrible nightmare that most people couldn’t even fathom.

In the early 1930’s as Hitler rose to power, the life for Jews, Gypsies, and Political Opponents became increasingly dangerous. Where at first the attacks consisted of harassment, it ultimately ended in the detention and death for many of them. Torture and utterly inhumane treatment were characteristics of the Nazi regime. Considering that Germany had committed crimes that were so beyond most people’s comprehension, it would only seem “normal” if all the criminals the Allies caught after defeating Germany had been executed without a whole lot of legal run a round. Instead what happened was the following. The Allies decided to show the world, that even the biggest crooks in the entire world, would be tried and convicted using a commonly accepted rule of law. Instead of trying the accused based on lose accusations, the Allied Forces conducted trials up until 1949 and every criminal was convicted in a right and just way - the way any “ordinary” criminal would be treated.

Fast forward to the year 2008 where the US Supreme Court finally ruled, that so called “terrorists” have the right to have their cases heard in civilian courts to protest their convictions. What I believe so many people on the right seem to forget, is that we used to be the level to which other countries were compared. We proved after WWII that we will not fall victim to emotions or raw feeling like revenge. We proved to the world that only approach to dealing with convicted War criminals, was giving them fair trials. Somehow our leaders have strayed very far away from these ideals. Nowadays, in order to win the argument for unfair and inhumane treatment the US government simply classifies the terrorists as a different sort of people. People that somehow aren’t human, because all other human beings that are caught in an act of War, are considered prisoners of war. Prisoners of War, no matter in which country should have the protection of the Geneva Conventions. These conventions were put in place after WWI and the European countries realized that even in war, there had to be some kind of rules of engagement. The reason for this was the fact that WWI brought to life new inventions and tactics that proved to be detrimental for many people durign the War. The casualties were high and the weaponry used was indiscriminate of its victims. Mustard Gas, Machine Guns and other new technology is what made this war into one of the worst man kind has ever seen. Due to these atrocities the Geneva Conventions were put in place. They were supposed to guarantee every prisoner of war, that they would be treated humanely. The conventions set forth a set of rules, which clearly dictate how Captors are to treat their captives.

Somehow, the United in its “ultimate” wisdom has decided that these rules don’t apply to terrorists. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as angry as the next when it comes to 9/11 and the attack on this country. The problem I have is that the word terrorist, really is a matter of definition. What does anyone think would happen, if a foreign power invaded this country and decided to stay and occupy this country? Would you rise up? Would you resist? and if you took on arms and started fighting the occupiers, what would you call yourself? A terrorist, or a freedom fighter? I think that answer is quite clear. You, like myself wouldn’t subordinate yourself to a foreign power that has come to your country to take it over, we would fight it, or least I hope so.

This is of course the same situation with both Iraq and Afghanistan. Where I realize that Afghanistan harbored terrorists, I think it’s a statement of extreme weakness to attack that country. A country that’s already ravished by crime and economic problems, as a matter of fact it ranks as number 9 on the list of the 10 most impoverished countries in the world. I like to work with metaphors and analogies, so imagine this. You’re the poorest kid on the block and because you have no other means if income, you let some crackheads do their dirty work in your backyard. At some point it turns out that those crackheads gunned down some innocent people and the police comes to your house, since you had the crackheads living in your house. Can you deny that you let them in? Not really. Do you think that you are 100% responsible for their doings and think it would justified to have your house blown to shreds? I hope you catch my drift here.

At the end of the day, it’s becoming harder and harder to “sell” the product “USA”. We claim that we bring freedom and democracy to the world and where it’s never really been true in its most purest form, I don’t think we’ve ever been further away from it’s true meaning than now.

I just want to know why we treat “terrorists” worse than we treated convicted Nazis. Why didn’t they just throw all the Nazis into a dark hole, turn the key and throw it out? BECAUSE IT’S NOT WHAT COUNTRIES DO, THAT BRING FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY TO THE WORLD.

I do hope Justice Scalia never gets mistaken as a terrorist, because he would never see the light of day again, considering the current state of the law that he helped create and now thinks will “get americans killed”.

Wow I think I totally missed everything by Cafferty up to now. I never really paid attention to him since I don’t really pay attention to most talking heads on TV but man he must really not care about this paycheck or have tenure, I’m not sure.

Sorry, I know this is old but I had never seen it and whenever I see one journalist calling out the other on live television, I feel it’s worth noting.

We live in the United States. A country where what applies to the people, doesn’t apply to the news media, or politicians. Years ago, the German secretary of defense lost his job, after it was discovered that he had use the Defense departments plane to go on a private vacation in the Mediterranean. Of course these types of things are normal for our politicians. Nearly every politician in this crooked political system we call “Democracy” receives such favors.

The argument is nothing new but it deservers repeating and that’s the fact that there is no accountability in this country. I have an unpaid Hospital from a few years ago and guess what? It’s still on my credit record. If I had committed a crime years ago it would also still follow me to this day. These rules don’t seem to apply when it comes to the media and which people are involved.

Sean Hannity for me is the epitome of what’s wrong with this country. First of all, he is no journalist so his credibility should be taken lightly, as he has nothing to make himself credible. Secondly, his only mission is to make money, not to deliver a service to this country by keeping the citizens informed. The most striking part about Sean Hannity though is the fact that he’s actively campaigning for one of the people he reports on - John McCain. Recently Fox News fired one of their production assistants, Jennifer Locke because she openly said that she was supporting John McCain and what’s more important, said she had voted for him and assured him that he was going to win. Where I come from, this is called being in bed with the people you’re reporting on. It also shows that under no circumstances, can Fox News claim it is fair and unbalanced. Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, Oliver North and others are the exact opposite of being unbalanced and ultimately Sean Hannity needs to be fired just like the production assistant. Conflict of Interest!!!