it's time to break the CIA into a thousand pieces!

Well, the Republicans finally managed to score points in the only way they know how - the smear. They lied enough, of course with the media's help, to prevent Susan Rice from becoming the next Secretary of State. Now a report from the State Department points a finger at itself. Don't worry it'll come back in an attempt to bite candidate Hillary in the a.. if she indeed runs for president. That's what it's all about, power for the Party.
No word about the other governmental agency who had a major presence in the Bengazi tragedy, the CIA. Oh yes, they were there, a whole houseful of them. The CIA did not stop the attack, predict the attack, or change the situation. You see, that's not what they do. I think there is a good CIA and a bad CIA. Of course neither you or I can PROVE anything beyond a reasonable doubt about the CIA because it's SECRET. It has to be SECRET. They protect us so we allow their secrecy, right? Wrong! Did they protect us from 9/11? Did they play a role in preventing the war in Iraq - that morally bankrupt war that, I think, was designed to bankrupt the nation? Did they provide any SECRET guidance that has led to success in Afghanistan? No, and why not? Is it just because the bad CIA is dominant? Well, that doesn't hurt their incompetence, but I put to you that the very concept of an on-going SECRET agency is anathema to any free democracy. Remember that the CIA and the NSA and their ilk were created at the end of WWII  from the war-time secret agencies, created indeed at the most secure moment for America in the entire 20th century. No country in the world could challenge the U.S. at that moment and yet the populace allowed its government to expand in a manner that began all the self-fulfilling prophecies that have led us to believe we can't do without their continual dominance. They became more powerful than the Presidency in November of 1963 and have grown ever since. They create murder and mayhem on such a scale that we may never truly be safe again.
And the CIA did nothing to prevent the Bengazi attack, but bear no blame because no one is safe from them. They worked with the Mafia in the 60's; what makes you think they don't work with the Mafia today? Indeed, we have allowed the creation of private SECRECY companies to work the famous "dark side." So, now the link between money and SECRECY is out in front of us. Who can be surprised that Blackwater, by whatever name, left the U.S.? They are a criminal enterprise who wrongly thought they might get caught except that no one dares go after them. No, they are now based in an oil-rich Arab country and remain available to work the dark sides for them too.
Why did we fall prey to uncontrollable SECRECY at the time of the greatest strength our nation ever had? Simple, they wrapped themselves in the flag. And now that they, and American politics, are wrapped in both the flag and the Bible they think they are untouchable. Are they? Only as long as We the People behave like sheep who have gone astray. The government will not do this for us. If a politician or public figure was powerful enough to threaten them they have two routes to go. One, they discredit that person until s/he loses all credibility, or two, they kill them. This is only one major reason why our nation's dependence on "the President" is wrong-headed. No President since Dwight David Eisenhower will ever be again be powerful enough to stop them. And he tried to rally the People to stop the Military/Industrial Complex, but we didn't heed him.
Now we must add SECRECY to the complex: the Military/Industrial/SECRECY Complex is not on our side. They are on their own side. They flourish only as long as We the People allow perpetual war and fear to dominate. They are on the side of the 1%. They are mostly on the Republican side, but have the Democrats effectively bottled up.  And the wealth and power of the 1% are now tied to international big money in such a way that putting America first is a near impossibility. Peace would mean their demise. Evil must be turned around so our children can live. We must have a nonviolent orange-style revolution in America and it can't come from the top down. Those at the top are either part of the problem or their hands are tied. The two-party system in the U.S. cannot live without them and is becoming ever more entrenched. The two-party system will never fix America. The Republicans want a country with a federal government that does nothing except fight wars and perpetuate SECRECY. The Democrats try to do this and that without the nerve to tell us that the best way America could save money is to shrink the Military/Industrial/SECRECY Complex. They will forever be liable to the notion that they are the big wasteful party of spenders because they want to have both guns and butter. Lyndon Johnson couldn't do it and he had more control of his party than Obama.
And who, I ask you was the only candidate during our last presidential election cycle who spoke out about these issues and the "blowback" they create? You know, the one who said we should treat other countries the way we wish to be treated? (Sounds like, and is, another way to quote Jesus Christ.) And where was the audience who laughed aloud when he said it? Why it was Ron Paul in North Carolina, the Republican/Bible Belt!
We need Ron Paul's voice in the national debate. We need his Campaign for Liberty to leave the Republican Party because it cannot be reformed any more than the Democratic Party can. Left and Right mean nothing anymore. There is a Wheel of Life and if you travel far enough in any direction you will meet your opposite. While I do not support all Ron Paul stands for, he who confronts my biggest enemy is my friend! Applied common sense on the Wheel of Political Life would show that there is a great commonality between two apparent opposites, both of whom are capable of speaking great truths - Ron Paul and Jim Hightower! I'd like to see that debate in the open sunshine of true Democracy!!

The time to support third parties is now!

I keep hearing people quoting, whether knowingly or unknowingly, a great Jimmy Dale Gilmore song about facing the inevitability of death: “And you might as well choose right now, it’s love or fear.” Who will you travel with? he asks. Politics is the context of those I’ve heard say that lately.

       Reading the news that Obama has relented on his reelection promises to increase taxes on all Americans who earn over $250,000.00 a year AND to leave Social Security alone was a shock. Listening to one of my favorite radio shows, the Stephanie Miller Show, I heard her say once again that “Obama plays chess, the Republicans play checkers.” I too have been an Obama apologist, but no more, even if he is playing some kind of chess. I can’t support a chess game that involves lying to me. And if he wins, for whom has he won? The Democratic Party, I assume. I am 62, so what does the Democratic Party mean to me now? It is the party that actively encouraged and participated in the cover-up of JFK’s assassination, and that, I now think, was the end of America-as-we-thought-it-was. It is the party that supported two hugely expensive and wrong-headed (in blood and treasure) wars: Viet Nam and Iraq. Those are just the biggest examples of misguided military actions supported by Democrats. It is also the party that gave me Social Security and, soon maybe, Medicare. I say gave me, but of course, I paid in to these insurance policies. Thank God, it was the party that eventually cooperated with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. It is the party that has capitulated on environmental progress, the party that cooperated with Republicans to establish a fascist world-wide “free trade” umbrella. It is the party that lost, temporarily, Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat! Ok, it’s too depressing to go on. The hope offered by Obama is now proven to be a change too far – too far to prove real.

       I will not go off on the Republican Party in this blog. I am not and never was a Republican although I once thought John McCain offered hope and voted to reelect him as a Senator in the 1980s.

       So, here’s where I am at: I could never be a Republican and now, I won’t be a Democrat either unless an almost impossible thing happens. That would be that the Democrats in Congress, en mass, oppose Obama’s stance and force him back to his campaign promises. He would thank you for it as would all of us who voted him in. The continued growth of Presidential power in America must end. The Congress must take back its Constitutional powers. No more wars without a Congressional declaration of War. No more compromises on core Democratic values such as Social Security. The Military/Industrial and now, /Secrecy Complex must be confronted and unfunded, leaving a true civilian-led military that is lean and mean, and then TAKES PROPER CARE of its soldiers. The dangerous Supreme Court decision that corporations are people must be debunked.

       Oh yeah, there’s more, but on to my main point. George Carlin was right. America is a club and you and I don’t belong. So, what to do? Well, the radical idea that Americans are going to overthrow the government by force is so ludicrous I won’t even go there. That is the sick underpinning of the Republican Party! The complacent idea that ONE person, the President, has the power to fix America’s ills is actually a plea for dictatorship which will never be benign. It is un-American to the core. The thought that you go vote and things will be made right your way is delusional unless you have contributed somewhere around $100,000.00 dollars to one of the two parties. I disagree with George Carlin on refusing to vote. That’s the ONLY thing we have, and that only when we overwhelm voter suppression and fraud with huge numbers.

       So, I’m going to vote, but with a big difference. I’m going to ALWAYS vote third party in elections. In primaries where there is no third party on the ballot I will vote for the Democrat I like best and if I don’t like any, I’ll, I'll...hell I'll decide in the voting booth. I could vote for Ron Paul in the same way I have voted for Democrats - on balance, if his policies were implemented in a way undiluted by Republicans (big if) America and the world would be better off than having a Republican in office.  To be specific, we'd shrink the Pentagon and Secrecy organizations and keep our military ready, but at home. Peace might be allowed to break out! But I won’t vote, as one young man I know, for Mickey Mouse. It's not a joke, it's the fate of our species! Our vote is our last best hope and continuing to vote for a Democratic Party that will not become as liberal as its base is a losing proposition. Most have either been bought out or scared out, and I don’t doubt that, for some, the fear is reality-based. For others, it’s merely a fear of losing elections. Let’s make ‘em shiver. You’re too old to be in our nest, we’re pushing you out. Straighten up and fly right. (No pun intended.)

 postscript: I can think of lot's of counter arguments and expansion and explanations, but I'll do that only if there are comments made.

"TSA All Stop drills are wrong"

I just read about an airport TSA “test” called “All Stop.” A TSA agent yells it out, then all the TSA agents watch and yell at anyone who moves. This was done INSIDE the “secured” area to people who had already “passed” security. Thus, our police-military-security establishment (part of the Military/Industrial Complex) once again proves that comedians are our best truth-speakers. George Carlin said, “All this stuff we do in airports, taking off our shoes, all that, is not done for security. It’s done to show that we (the government) can fuck with you anytime we want to.”

This is a foretaste of what could happen to all of America in the age of terrorism. ALL government security employees, right down to the lowest levels, will have the power of life and death over ALL common citizens. Even volunteer "neighborhood watch" folks, right Travon? It is outrageous and unacceptable. This isn't China, but we're getting closer all the time and the thing that kills me is that the majority of people will accept it out of fear. Fear of all kinds – when in the situation, when thinking about writing a letter to the editor, talking about it to coworkers, etc.

It would be hard to organize, it would be expensive for individuals who participate, but you know I'd love to see this: after the TSA agent ends the "All Stop" drill everyone in the entire airport, passengers and workers, sit down wherever they are and just silently sit there, ignoring all orders to get up and move.

If you think this is a Democratic/Republican Party issue you’re wrong. Neither party will have the nerve to stop this. Only a renewed, reinvigorated, America could stand together and demand an end to the madness. The fact is it only takes one determined individual to create a chaotic, deadly mess. In other words, some terrorism will happen no matter what. But you know, you’re more likely to get bitten by a rattlesnake you’re fucking with than one you leave alone. So, to me, the issue is, “Are we going to continue down the road to constant fear, constant war, constant punishment, constant control, constant surveillance, etc., or can we grow up as a nation to fulfill the destiny best expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the introduction to the Declaration of Independence? Personally, I prefer the pursuit of happiness. It’s my right. 

"about the Patriotic response to 9/11"

A New York Times OP-ED contributor named KURT EICHENWALD wrote an article called 

"The Deafness Before the Storm," published: September 10, 2012. The article details the remarkable lack of concern by the Bush administration about intelligence warnings prior to the 9/11 attack. It wasn't just one memo. It was an entire set of memos produced for months and flagrantly ignored by the entire Bush administration. The article ends with the question and its unfortunate answer: "Could the 9/11 attack have been stopped, had the Bush team reacted with urgency to the warnings contained in all of those daily briefs? We can’t ever know. And that may be the most agonizing reality of all."

I make the argument in many of my posts that the time comes when one CAN'T know the answer because those who know the truth hide the answer too well. And I further argue that, when you CAN'T know the answer, you go with common sense.

Common sense, to me, dictates that Bush/Cheney/Rice at the very least WANTED something like 9/11 to happen. Common sense tells me that the American taxpayer paid more than enough money to be protected by existing agencies of the government and the evidence points towards the deliberate thwarting of that protection or ineptitude of an unbelievable level. They either wanted it to happen or they CAUSED it to happen.

The superior attitude of Americans that we are "a shining beacon on the hill," "the only hope of the free world," etc. is the number one mistake we make. It causes us to self-blind ourselves to the evils that exist in America. "We see no evil; we hear no evil; we speak no evil."

As Jennifer Peltz quotes in her 9/11 piece on Huffington:"After all, "9/11 has defined politics in America" since 2001, said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University political science professor. "At the end of the day, 9/11 was a public tragedy that affected the nation as a whole."

Our nation has a cancer at its heart. WE, the People, have sat back and allowed the 1% to rule us ever since the end of WWII; the 1% IS the Military/Industrial Complex. We let them get away with the murder of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King. We let them get away with the degrading of the entire planet, so no wonder a Congresswoman can be shot in the head without our leaders holding a serious debate on what the second amendment means TODAY. Like the tottering Congresswoman, we stumble through the Pledge of Allegiance and other daily routines pretending all is well.

But all is not well with America. There needs to be a national outpouring of whistleblowers and we need to listen and we need to indict. There will be a day of reckoning, but who will bring it? If it's only brought by one wo/man, s/he will be killed or demeaned. If it doesn't arise from the masses like an Arab Spring, how will it arise?

Aren't we really a nation as controlled as Communist China? Haven't we surrendered our common sense? 

"about misleading journalism"

I have some thing about Huffington Post. I kind of like it, but I hate it's slipshod journalistic practices. So, it's just like 99% of all American journalism. Today, there was an article about a woman who moved to Charlotte, NC and found the local Occupy Wallstreet movement. OK, but,

“Jason Cherkis, or whoever wrote the front page headline to his article, and Huffington Post need to mature a bit journalistically. On the front page is a picture of a very serious, accusatory-looking President Obama paired with the headline, " There's a level of intimidation coming into this." Then, once the article is read you see that Obama did not say these words nor is he a focus of the article. By the time I finished this post I see the article has been moved to the Politics page. Whatever. The point is that Huffington Post needs to match pictures and headlines with the article since it is obvious HP wants to be taken seriously.” That was the comment I left on HP.

It's not so new, this hit or miss journalism. I had the wonderful life experiences of working in both "old-style" radio and "old-style" newspaper journalism. I was a proofreader for the Amarillo Globe News back around 1966-67. One night I wandered over to the teletype room and saw a series of pictures with captions from the Associated Press. The pictures showed an American GI in Viet Nam interrogating a suspected Viet Cong captive. The first several pictures showed a calm scene of the two men with captions like, "GI questions Viet Cong suspect." There was a picture captioned, "GI offers water to Viet Cong suspect," accompanied by a shot of the GI offering his canteen. Then came the shocker - the "suspect" was restrained on the ground, a handkerchief over his face, and the GI was pouring water from the canteen onto the handkerchief! He was waterboarding the man! But, back then we didn't know the term waterboarding. So, any newspaper could show either the entire series or simply pick and choose. The Amarillo Globe News only ran the picture of the offer of water.

And to think how far we have fallen in journalistic practices when we were already so low!

Well, gosh, two can play at this game click here to see the fantastic Cher promoting none other than yours truly (what else, there's my name in the background)!

"We are running out of chances..."

Here I am at the age of 22 in 1972. The location is Auke Bay, outside of Juneau, Alaska. I was not drafted and had I been I don't know what I would have done, probably gone to Canada. While still in high school I began reading about Viet Nam and by the time I was 18 I could hold my own in a debate about the uselessness of that war. I still believed that Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy.
Looking back, I remember, around the age of 12 and 13, seeing the news footage of Martin Luther King, the marches, the dogs snapping at little black children, the fire hoses ...
I was confused about how to express myself politically, except to vote. I was put off by the cussing and hatred of much of the antiwar movement. I still thought a lot about Christ and believed that, if I were a true Christian, I would have to go to jail rather than Viet Nam, because, then, as now, I believe the red letters of the New Testament are literally true. Jesus said turn the other cheek; I believed he was a complete pacifist and, if one followed Him truly, one would never fight, period.
The "Praise Jesus" thing, so common today, was alien to me. Back in the 50s and 60s, at Trinity Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas we didn't jump, shout, or even raise our hands over our heads, but we sure did sing! People like Pat Robertson and all the others who make such a show out of faith strike me as phony.
Maybe this is a silly little blog, but I'm introducing myself to the few people who read it.
I believed that James Earl Ray killed Martin and Sirhan Sirhan killed Bobby. But I was quite troubled by all the killing. I was troubled by the 1968 Chicago Convention. I graduated high school in '68 and went out into a troubled country, playing my guitar for hours each day, finding day labor in every town I passed through.
I don't trust people who jump too quickly to conspiracy theories, who don't read and think a lot about issues before coming to a conclusion. I don't like Alex Jones any more than I do Rush Limbaugh.
But one thing that came to my mind on 9/11 was all the news stories I had seen in the 60s about Palestinian hijackers taking planes to Cuba. And, I think, there is NO EXCUSE for what happened on 9/11. None. Common sense would have dictated the locking of airplane cabin doors decades before - I don't want to hear any of the excuses.
Now, I believe our government was actively involved in the murder of the Kennedy brothers and Martin. There was a coup in November, 1963. We, as a nation have gone too long with our heads in the sand, allowing psychopaths to bluff us into believing that we needed to build and build our military no matter what the costs to Americans and American soldiers. Even at the end of WWII, when no one could have defeated us, we ignored the warnings of President Eisenhower about the Military/Industrial Complex. The press and the people do not even mention cutting back on needless wars and needless spending as one answer to the debt crisis!
That's why I admire Ron Paul so much, for calmly and rationally discussing that, if we left other countries alone, maybe they'd leave us alone. Well, Congressman Paul can't win in November. The next president will be either a Republican or Obama and there is only one sane choice between those two - Obama. If we elect him and give him a democratic majority in both houses there is hope that we can wake up from this deadly dream of constant war.
So don't give up. Register and vote. Don't bother trying to change the brainwashed minds of half of America. Just outvote them!
Here is a song I wrote back in my hippie days. I think now it expresses a kind of Jeffersonian dream. It's called Concrete and Stone.
http://burldunn.com

"We create our own enemies"

Yesterday, I wrote and sang about an innocent man who wanted revenge when he was released. I imagine that some innocent men will die in Guantanamo because the US is too afraid to release them - why should they not become what they are punished for? The punishment has already occurred...
Why should they care? The best years of their lives were stolen. This little song may be the only time you hear the f... word used in a jaunty way. The true message is the last verse.
Fear the Man
burldunn.com

"Innocent people in prison is the worst immorality"

Reading about someone released from prison after DNA evidence proved their innocence makes me wonder how a person can live with such injustice, but when you hear about Texas Governors Bush and Perry REFUSING to grant new trials to death row inmates when new evidence comes up makes me wonder. I smell sulphur in the air.
Confession
burldunn.com

"the Rich demand, the Poor supply"

When I hear Tea Partyers and others DEMAND that Obama and Congress approve a country-long pipeline to carry Canadian Tar Sands to the Gulf, I think of Gov. Rick Perry's dream of a mile-wide federal swath as long as the country. Once the path has been established for Keystone what is to stop the widening of that path to include rail lines, highways, electric lines and other pipelines?  Once the power of eminent domain has been used against citizens for the profit of foreign corporations (they are ALL foreign now - no allegiance to the U. S.) why not make it a mile wide? I think about the day in school when I first learned about eminent  domain. I was shocked. It was against every American principle I had been taught: private property rights, capitalism, human rights! You know these pipelines and pipe dreams are the real Socialist danger to America because government dollars and tax breaks will be used to benefit companies. We The People be damned! Supply and Demand has been turned upside down and we are NOT a true capitalist country because the rich demand, the government enables, and the poor supply. That's national socialism - ring a bell?
This song was written in response to the Supreme Court Decision Kelo v. New London.
Demand and Supply
burldunn.com

"Our children WILL pay for the Sins of Our Fathers"

Whether it be the degraded environment, the loss (theft) of Social Security and Medicare, the job losses to China and elsewhere, it is our children who will pay far more than we. This song is a bit more upbeat than that sentence....
Sin's Of Our Fathers

"What I want between me and my doctor"

Republicans ask, "Do you want anything to get in between you and your doctor?" Yes, I do. A lot of Registered Nurses. And when someone is dying AND enrolled in a hospice program ease their pain, damn it!
This song was written in 5 minutes of white-hot heat after my mom had hip surgery and less than 24 hours later they put on hydrocodone instead of morphine. She was in Pain!
Mama Needs Morphine
burldunn.com

"about Social Security"

I have been neglecting my blog which is certainly no way to build an audience. Without giving reasons and excuses, I'll just dive in. The series of blogs about using the Bible, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence as the only necessary sources to make an argument if American Politics will have to wait.
Today, just a quick response to an Associated Press article by Stephen Ohlemacher about Social Security. Most Americans, I think, do not even know that their Social Security money has been, over the years "borrowed" by Congress. It is irresponsible journalism that perpetuates the myth that Social Security is "in trouble" for ANY other reason than that Congress took the money.

It is true that Congress 'borrowed" the money from the Social Security Trust fund, with a huge upward spike starting in the Reagan years. It is true that if all that money were paid back there would be no problems to fix, BUT what bothers me is that this AP article and 99% of all reporting on Social Security DO NOT inform the public that Congress created the problem. They are part of the game plan that leads toward unreasonable "fixes" and young peoples' disillusionment with the whole concept. Honest journalism should ALWAYS mention the fact of the IOUs. And how can they pay it back? By taxing the rich and cutting back on funding the billionaires through the Military Industrial Complex.

"you need to write to the FCC"

My mother just passed away at the age of 89. She worked for "the telephone company" back when it was all AT&T and she belonged to the Communication Workers of America. Here is a link to a video from the CWA about the proposed Verizon/Big Cable Bill:  http://cwa-union.org/page/s/FCC-cable-deal-ad
I filed my comments with the FCC and you can, too. I'll put that link after my comments:

I worked both at a newspaper and in radio in the pre-Reagan years. I was studying hard for a first class broadcasting license when Reagan's policies made it obsolete. I have seen the horrible changes in radio and television news since Reagan did away with the fairness doctrine. I know that Congress sold big broadcasters bandwidths at bargain basement prices. The entire concept in the beginning of broadcasting was that "the airwaves belong to the People" and I argue that the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to the People as well! So, whether it's over-the-air or online or on wires the science that carries the signals belongs to WE the PEOPLE! Stop meddling with our property! Bring back the fairness doctrine so that children can grow up reading and hearing what real news reporting was and should be again! Stop giving welfare to the billionaires! It's ours and you are giving it away. That is NOT capitalism it is CORPORATISM. We need more independent newspapers and television and radio stations and the entire world needs a hands-off internet so we can speak the truth to power. The cozy relationship between the FCC and the billionaires must end! Give the little guy a chance to start a small business and create jobs and stop this ongoing giantism of broadcasting! The merger of XM and Sirius was an outrageous giveaway and both are now the worse for it in the sense of quality. You, the FCC were created for the People, NOT the corporations. Stop selling out our birthright! We want to be free again. Free from your government "control" that is really just a funnel - a giant funnel down which goes OUR money where it rolls and flows into the pockets of Rupert Murdoch and other foreign interests. You are just doing this consolidation stuff so government can get political contributions from the big actors. Stop it! Power, broadcast power, cable power, the airwaves and the electrons belong to us. Stop this governmental welfare system. Our entire democracy rides on your votes!

Ok, bet you can say it better. Here's the link: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/confirm?token=8d7lcg1rkjwzzo75bs1eyakb

Speak up, speak out, while we still can!

Burl 

"the Southern Baptist Convention is America's Taliban"

Anyone out there who might be looking for a new blog from me - I apoligize - I WILL jump back on it soon. In the mean time I'll share a quote with you that I will incorporate into a future blog.

Here is a quote from an article by Peter H. Stone on Huffington Post: I'll bold face the words that, I say, prove that the Southern Baptists are trying to lead us into a theocracy and that most Christians don't even TRY to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Richard Land, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, an arm of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, told The Huffington Post that he believes evangelical concerns about Obama administration policies will allow conservative religious voters to "overlook any lingering reservations about [Mitt] Romney's Mormonism." The Commission itself is spending a few hundred thousand dollars to promote a nonpartisan voter registration and education drive that will compare the platforms of the two parties on numerous key issues.

Land also predicted that Romney’s recent trip to Israel would give him a boost with evangelicals and agreed with the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's controversial comments that “cultural” factors were important in explaining the economic success of Israel compared with the Palestinians. The statement, he said, showed that Romney "was sympathetic to the social conservative world view.”

On the domestic front, Land predicted that many evangelicals and social conservatives would "want to bury Obamacare in a lead coffin with a stake through its heart and cover its grave with garlic," calling the law, "a codification and personification of pro-abortion policies."

To defeat Obama in the state, Let Freedom Ring also is counting on a big hand from Sam Rohrer, an 18-year veteran of the state legislature and a former head of the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Rohrer told Huffington Post that since joining the group last month he’s been “building the network and encouraging pastors to be more bold."

"As a nation we’re in trouble and until we reach out to God rather than government we’ll be in trouble," he said.

There, now it is a blog. A message from the American Taliban. We will lose separation of church and state if we don't speak out OURSELVES and elect the right people. Obama must win! He's our only chance of gaining time to organize and take back America from gun nuts and God nuts.

"about Corporatism = Fascism"

I remember as a young teenager wondering how it could be that the Germans allowed Hitler to come to power and then turned their backs and closed their eyes to Nazi atrocities. Then I read a book in which the author ask many Germans that question. The number one answer? "I was afraid I'd lose my job."
The dictionaries I have consulted give rather vague definitions of "fascism," so I stick to Mussolini's one word definition: Corporatism. That's where the US is. We are a corporatist state run by secret-keepers: the CIA, the NSA, and others.
Why it is not clear to most (or at least half) of Americans that their government has been taken from them is because religion has been corrupted by politics. American writer Sinclair Lewis is attributed with a quote along these lines: If fascism comes to America it will come with the US flag in one hand and a cross in the other. We're there, and I fear that a civil war is brewing and only one side is armed to the teeth - the fascists, who , of course, think they are the true patriots.. But it's the governmental power that will win. American "gun nuts" can't defeat the US military, but who will the military support? Will we have the right people in the right places (the Presidency, the Pentagon, the CIA, the NSA, etc.) to steer the fight towards justice and freedom? May God grant this or else the whole world, not just America, will suffer more and more.

"about jobs, sunlight, and reelecting Obama"

I grew up in an America that had a place, a job for everyone, regardless of intelligence. I traveled from town to town and often began my first day in a new city by showing up at Manpower, or something like it, where you lined up and got sent for a day or a week to some warehouse or plant that needed a little extra help. The first time I showed up at Manpower and was told one must have an address, a phone, and a car in order just to apply was a shock to me. The first time I went to downtown Seattle for a cheap hotel and found the city "gentrified" beyond my pocketbook was a surprise.

So, as Congress took our tax dollars and used some to finance the stimulus packages, we only hear of "abuses" of the Obama administration. But the job flight from America began as far back as the eighties and much of it was financed by us, the job losers. We pay our share of taxes, the super-rich people and corporations don't. Period.

We've been lied to and our money has been stolen. So, some nuts join militias, some join nutty churches, many of the young just don't want to hear about politics - all these people are in denial. Denial of the fact that our government, as George Carlin so famously said, "... is a club, and you ain't in it." Federal education plans create jobs for top level advisors, administrators, and "administrative fees" that states and schools skim off before a single dime gets to the teacher or student. We admire ALL veterans (many from afar), yet do not protest the misuse of their lives and limbs in needless wars.

I believe the only answer to all these problems is sunlight. I want to know where every f...... dollar goes. If, all of a sudden, every government expenditure was exposed, it would overwhelm us, but in small groups and individually, we could figure it out. My old school district voted on "voucher number 111, for general student services" - things with no real meaning, and this is just a local school district. Secrecy is our enemy. Audit the Fed! Expose exactly how much money is spent on the CIA + the NSA + "Homeland Security" + all the secret-holding bodies in our government and military! Expose it and make them explain how all those trillions of dollars did not stop 9/11!

Make every millionaire professional team owner PAY for their own damn stadiums! Stop the use of eminent domain for private gain! No more "pay to play" politics! No more private jails! No more locking up of non-violent offenders who committed no crime against people or property! Let's wake up! So we thought Obama would do all this for us in one term and now we're disappointed. Waaaah. Let's grow up and take back America! For starters one must decide which party has done the most harm and which party has the ONLY members in Congress with any sense of fairness and justice at all! Sure, now, it's the Republicans who dreamed up this mess and it's yellow-dog Democrats who went along, but there's only one way out. We must reelect Obama. We must deny the Republicans. Then, we can work on the future - a future that includes well-paid professional teachers in public schools, degrees that mean something beside massive debt incurred, jobs in America - such an overflow of jobs that a person can walk into a city and at least be cleaning floors or unloading trucks the next day!

Unfortunately, POLITICS is the only way we have to cause change. And politics is not fun, it's not partying, damn it, it's a party. And Democrats from Obama down are the only hope for now. We've still got a lot of work to do after Obama. I'd like to look back some day and say, "He was a great centerist president who ran two Republican wars, and, thank God, our last centerist president."

"about who is truly "saved""

I skipped some time in my "sermon" about the Bible. When last I posted on the subject of Biblical literalism and inerrancy, I quoted from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I remember parts of only two sermons from my preteen days. Both were delivered by Brother Grayson Glass, a highly educated Southern baptist preacher. One of them is very relevant to the Sermon on the Mount in that he was preaching not only about what a saved person does NOT do, but what they SHOULD do.

He said (excuse my parody), so you don't drink, you don't chew, and you don't go with girls who do. Fine. But what about all the things Jesus commanded us to do? Do you care for the poor? Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you turn the other cheek?

Since I am assuming an audience who is familiar with these expressions, today's can be a short blog. Brother Glass assured us that he took the Baptist stance which is that believing Jesus is the Son of God and He died for our sins and our salvation, but ... "... if you do not obey the commandments of Jesus, then it seems you DO NOT believe Jesus is the Son of God." If you play the game of sinning, sinning, sinning, and at the LAST moment give yourself to God, how can you claim you ever really believed HE died for your sins and salvation? So, if you do not live the life, walk the walk, what makes you think you're saved?

And why do we Americans who want a secular government shrink away from the legitimate Constitutional argument that religion (ALL of them) and our Government remain separate? Why do we give tax dollars to those "thousand points of light" who have had 2000 years to feed the poor and make a peaceable world? Why don't we tax those "religions" who own businesses and make a profit?

"about poor education and the Constitution"

Low graduation standards are one reason for failing schools in America and for-profit colleges pretty much guarantee a degree to anyone who pays. I worked once in a Beef packing plant with a few people who were smarter than several teachers I taught beside. Every "for credit" class I took through my school district after earning my bachelor's degree at ASU West was a University of Phoenix guaranteed-to-pass class. I heard a woman who just earned a phd. from a for-profit school say, "I never can keep it straight - which one is true, fiction or non-fiction?" This woman graduated from the classroom to the counsellors office with a big raise because of her phd. BUT ... I had a principal who graduated from a HARVARD special class for minorities (summer school, something not a 4-year plan) who was dumb as a post. Once when she was talking to me it was the security guard (same minority group) who would jump in and clarify her sentences, correct her poor word choice, etc. So, we're muddled from top to bottom, aren't we?
Where to start to fix the education mess? Let's start at the top. Education is not mentioned in the Constitution, so therefore it, not being denied to the states, is a state's right. I mean, for God's sake can we at least begin with SOMETHING both sides agree on? And that one thing is the Constitution. The federal government should butt out of education except for the right of citizens of all races to have access to an equal level of that state's educational system. If Mississippians want to run last in a race to the bottom with Texans, let 'em go! The ridiculous thing is that Texas has a major influence on textbook publishers who wish to sell nation-wide, and, with the new Texas state standards in history, America's students will know less about Thomas Jefferson than they do about Phyllis Shalafly!
Private schools? Turn 'em loose. F... 'em. NO TAX dollars for you. Teach any BS you want. Exclude who you want, you private and religious schools, but NO TAX dollars for you! Oh, you say, they may teach lies. Duh, we're already teaching lies. Put back into place the fairness doctrine that Reagan took from broadcasting and apply it to textbooks, too. Republicans are fond of saying that the average American knows how best to spend his/her money, so lower taxes. Then they turn around and only significantly lower taxes for the rich and they tax US for "private" "charter" "whatever" schools.

"Jesus was right, most Christians are wrong"

This blog is more like a Sunday School lesson. Sorry, but I just can’t say it better than Jesus Christ did.

Matthew, Chapter 23, verses 12 through 14:

“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

The USA.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Wow, that so reminds me of George Carlin when he said something like, “You have a right to life, but not a right to live.”

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Certain corporations and banks.

Verses 23- 28

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

The Supreme Court of the United States.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Congress.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

The military/industrial complex.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

Certain select parts of the CIA, the NSA, the FED and all other secret agencies of our government.

Like I said earlier in this blog series, you can’t convince those who have been listening to hateful sermons for years. This is for you – a person of common sense. Did not George W. exalt himself? Is not Obama humble in his dealings with Congress? Haven’t the “banksters” devoured widow’s houses. Haven’t we seen those who “… for a pretence make long prayer.”? Who is it who“… have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment mercy, and faith …”  I’d say it’s the Supreme Court. Supreme, ha!

"Christians don't believe Jesus Christ"

Okay, so, if you’re with me that we Americans should not stone sinners to death or kill our daughters for having sex, then are we not above such nonsense? You wish. I veer off into one of my pet peeves – rape. As far as I can tell MOST Americans laugh about one particular kind of rape. It’s a joke. They deserve it. No, you say? I’m talking about the rape of male inmates in our prison system. The only reason a person can chuckle about THAT is because nobody ever made them or their son “squeal like a pig, boy.” ‘nuff said.

So, to my mind, I have proven that conservative Christians hypocritically SAY that every word of the Bible is holy truth, but they don’t ACT upon that belief on things they don’t care about – like prisoners raping boys. Oh, we even put minors on trial “as adults” and throw the young stuff to the rapists, don’t we?

Well, they sure believe in Jesus, right? They would never disobey Christ without having to come back into grace by confession or pledging or “rededicating my life to Christ.” Wrong. Get out those red-letter New Testaments now. How can I do better than to go to Saint Matthew, Chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount? Since I don’t expect readers to stay with me for a long diatribe, I’ll start by saying this. READ IT. Read Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 3 through Chapter 7, verse 27. I don’t care if you’re an atheist, an agnostic, or a saved person, read it. Read it again. Here is the heart of God talking to mankind and it is a voice of a humble heart, a long-suffering heart, and if you can’t believe that EVERY WORD is “literally and inerrantly true, how can you believe yourself a Christian?

Chapter 5, verse 5: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” The USA is not God’s favorite country, how could it be? We are arrogant. We think we have the right to tell other countries what to believe, how to act. We are not meek; we are obsessed with ruling the earth, with military power used even when we are not attacked! When did Chile attack us? When did Grenada attack us? When did Iraq attack us? El Salvador? Nicaragua? Never, but our leaders arrogantly attacked them. Our CIA assassinated Patrice Lumumba and aided and abetted evil dictators throughout history. Oh, I don’t want to be un-American, and I’m not; our leaders have been. Verse 9: “ Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Who among our recent presidents has been a peacemaker? I’d say Jimmy Carter was ( a Southern Baptist, too!). Yet he lost a second term because of lies, lies, and more lies from Ronald Reagan. Read Rachel Maddow’s well-researched book Drift for details and citings. I’m an old man and I don’t pretend to look up and cite every reference, but a serious, honest historian would and Rachel is.

 Verse 20: “For I Say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Whoa! Hold the fort. Let’s remember that verse. You must be BETTER than the “scribes and Pharisees” to get into heaven. Hummm. Scribes and Pharisees, let’s go thumbing through the pages until we see more red letters Of Christ talking about them.

"about "literal and inerrant" Biblical truth"

I was brought up in the Southern Baptist church and I know what it is to argue/debate with someone who really knows the Bible. They can go from Old to New and quote this and that and prove ANYTHING. They can prove that God cursed the dark-skinned races for all time, that all you have to believe in is that Jesus is the Son of God and ALL sins are forgiven – by God, not by your fellow man unless you “put on the agony, put on the style” and wave your hands in the air and praise Jesus. You can’t win against these people; I mean you’ll never convince them of anything their preachers haven’t taught them to believe. I doubt if many people are still reading this blog who believe that way. You’re still here because of other reasons, one of which might be an open mind.

So, let’s start with this – can it be possible that EVERY word in the Bible is “literally and inerrently true?” Open your Bibles to Leviticus, Chapter 11, verse 7, “And the swine, though he divide the hoof; he is unclean to you.” Verse 8: “Of  their flesh shall ye not eat …” Sorry, but I’ve some mighty good hams served after the “blessing to the nourishment of our bodies.”  How about Leviticus, Chapter 12, verse 2: “… If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days …” “ Verse 5: “ But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks…” Verse 6: “And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled … she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering …” Verse 8: “… and she shall be clean.” Let’s just go to Leviticus, Chapter 20, Verse 10: “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death…” Ok, enough. No, I didn’t bother quoting the homosexual or beast thing or the eating of shellfish thing or … all the other stuff. I’ve quoted enough to prove that the overwhelming majority of American Jews and Christians so not believe this to be the “literal and inerrant truth.” We do not kill adulterers, we don’t burn lambs, most Christians eat anything that tastes good with no worries. Do you really believe your precious wife, having delivered a son to you is ritually unclean? And if she makes the mistake of delivering a girl she is even MORE unclean? Did you ever attend a burnt offering? I hope not.

I’m focusing on Christians here because that’s how I was raised. I’m not going into Judaism or Islam, except to say this. We, the People, deplore the stoning of women. We deplore the “honor killings” of radical Muslims, some of whom will kill their own daughters or sisters if they have sex. Yet what’s the freakin’ difference people? These abominations of Leviticus are every bit as barbaric as honor killings! And there are Christian denominations among us, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, who want “Biblical Law” in America. They don’t want sharia law (Islam), but they want something just as un American.

Don’t kid yourselves, these things are in motion and which political party is it that openly encourages such barbarism? That caters to these nuts? It’s the Republican Party!

In my blog tomorrow I will continue my thesis that most Christians do not believe the words of Jesus Christ, and yet our politicians are afraid to fight against them on either Bible- or Constitution-based facts.

"about the Second Amendment"

If Americans were 1/10th as "fired up" about the abuses of out other nine rights in the Bill of Rights we would be so much better off. People who want common sense applied to this issue must realize that, as it is in the Constitution, it is foolish to call for a ban on handguns (protection) or rifles and shotguns (protection and hunting). The Constitution has been so twisted (interpreted) that property can be confiscated from it's legal owners because a crime was committed with or on the property. For example, a car in Phoenix was confiscated because the husband was busted having sex with a prostitute in it. The man's wife and children were left without a car! Let's interpret the second amendment beginning with the introductory clause, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..." The NRA, the media, and our politicians ignore this. The Constitution obviously ties "well-regulated" and "Militia" into the amendment. It didn't say, you have the right to be an "Army of one." 
Modernization of interpreting the Constitution has been vital to our nation's progress. It is time to modernize, grow up, and apply some common sense to the second amendment. High-capacity clips, AK 47s, etc. make no sense outside the realm of the military.

"about a return to Common Sense"

Well, here I go with an idea I’ve been mulling over for years. My argument is that there is almost nothing in our national discourse that is untainted by greed and the need to feel superior to others merely because we were born in the USA. I hold it to be self-evident that almost no American actually reads and follows the Constitution and the New Testament. What we take to be news is mostly opinion and propaganda. We, the people, have been fooled and we act like fools because of that.

At the end of WWII we were fooled, first of all, into believing that even though the US helped win WWII, the Russians were now our number one enemy, that they were out-spending us on the machinery of war, that they were brainwashing us, that they actually COULD take over the whole world. Meanwhile, The USSR was starving and in no way capable of taking over the world. And they had died in massive numbers to aid our fight against Hitler. They had been our ally for God’s sake. I bring this up, not because my blog will be about Russia, but to show an example of how we were fooled by the secret agencies that grew out of WWII. I don’t even know how many there are. Let’s see, the CIA, the NSA, they spring to mind. But do not all American military branches have their own secret agencies? Were not private companies granted the status of our military (Blackwater, aka whatever), except that they were MUCH better paid! Why was there the destruction of 9/11? Had we not paid enough taxes to support our spies, both good and bad? Shouldn’t the cockpit doors on our airliners have been reinforced, locked doors, ever since the Palestinian hijackings of the 1960s? Shouldn’t the FBI have listened to the field ops that reported middle-eastern non-citizens taking flying lessons, but didn’t care to learn how to land? Good God! And NO ONE was fired or demoted after 9/11 except the field ops?

Recently, a relative of mine died. She was in her 70s, had undergone open-heart surgery, and her husband was a Baptist minister. Guess what? An autopsy was ordered to determine cause of death! The US investigates plane crashes to the nth degree, but Bush said it would be too troubling to America to do a scientific analysis of the debris at the World Trade Center? No autopsy for the body of the only attack on America since Pearl Harbor? That makes no sense, unless there was something to hide. You see, we’ve lost our common sense. We are no longer an informed nation; we are a nation allowing the super rich to form US into what THEY want. I’m sick of it.

The same people who will believe anything a Republican says deny any truth to anything Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi say. People admire the “Christian” act of burning the Koran and other acts of phony or ignorant preachers and can’t see with their own eyes that President Obama has spent his presidency reaching out, not getting angry  (even when called a liar during his State of the Union address). In other words, he behaves in a humble Christian manner, on our national political stage. And let’s not forget something, lest you think it’s all because he’s black. The vicious attacks on President and First Lady Clinton began immediately upon his assuming the office. Let’s see, they killed someone in the White House, and… and… and… The battle goes back, way back, yet we Americans aren’t allowed to know the truth. It’s classified Top Secret. So are the lies. How can all these people believe Obama is not a US citizen unless the CIA, NSA, and all levels of spies know it? Why do they not stir up a fuss with them? It makes no common sense.

So my blogs are about common sense and finding that common sense in two important documents: the Bible and the Constitution. Actually, I’m only using some verses from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the RED letters (Jesus’s words) in the New Testament, and a copy of the Constitution that includes the original language as well as strike-outs of that original language as changed by amendments.

So there’s the starting point. We, the People cannot any longer know what our government is really doing. We cannot believe most of what is said on the radio and TV and written in newspapers. So, let’s go back to original documents and apply common sense to them in light of today’s America. Get your Bible (red letter edition) and your Constitution and let’s go!

a fantasy ... saving JFK's life

The older I get the more I believe I witnessed a coup; The United States of America was taken over by the military industrial/secret agencies complex on November 22, 1963. If only I had been there with My Magical Horse. Hear it here.
We fought a Civil War to just BEGIN the process of putting slavery in out past - America's original sin. Now, I believe we have a new sin and that is the mute acceptance of EVERYTHING OUR GOVERNMENT SAYS ABOUT VIOLENCE AND WAR without question. Who will ever tell us the truth? Are they ALL dead now? I don't think so, but the USA is. It's the HOMELAND. As George Carlin said, "America is a club, and you and I ain't in it." See his great three minutes on YouTube here. Foul language alert. Truth alert.
Here's something gentler, My Magical Horse and I save JFK here.

Eminent Domain

I'll never forget my schoolboy surprise when I learned that "private property" was not sacrosanct. I had been taught it was the backbone of American freedoms. Ha. This song was written as my response to Kelo v. City of New London wherein a couple were forced by a Supreme Court decision to accept the offer buying their home against their will. and it was done by the city to offer up for the use of PRIVATE BUSINESS.
You never hear enough about the use of eminent domain when Republicans (you know the ones who believe in freedom) call out for the Keystone Pipeline which would force many private land owners to give up all or part of the control OF THEIR OWN LAND. And Rick Perry wants a one-mile wide stretch from Mexico to Canada for highways, train tracks, power lines, and, no doubt HUGE KICKBACKS from corporations. Makes you want to turn outlaw and monkey wrencher.
Big John Mills counted us in and I wonder: is this the first protest song Texas Two Step? Catch it free here.

I Wasn't Born in the Homeland

Hear it here.

about who to Fear

When Ron Paul talks about blowback from US military actions overseas people often laugh and accuse him of thinking we deserved 9/11, etc.
This song could hold true about anyone anytime who is so angry they might do anything: become an outlaw, a suicide bomber ...
Fear the Man is a jaunty song with an upbeat feel. warning: it's full of the F... word - but sung jauntily.
Really. Here is here.

Getting even...

Folks, I'm rafting the San Juan River for a few days so I'm trying this scheduling of posts. I'm linking to political songs I have written. These are free listens.
Check out "Tattooed With Regret" here.

"about student loans and credit"

Student loans were the first credit I received in my life. I couldn't get anything else because of having no credit history. When I graduated and got my career job on a reservation, I discovered that the local Indian Health Services Hospital was largely staffed by doctors whose student loans were forgiven after a few years service on the rez. Some left on the very day their loans were forgiven. I checked up the line all the way to the US Dept. Of Ed. and found there was no way my loans would be forgiven for serving in the SAME remote, needy location as the doctors served in. You see, the AMA is an active lobby, protecting their own, and gaining concessions through lobbyists. Students, as Ronald Reagan proudly proved while he destroyed the California college system of education are just trouble-makers. And I hope they stir up one hell of a lot of trouble. To the corporations and institutions of America, we the 99% are merely cash cows.
My daughter not only got all the student loans she asked for, she also got a credit card WITH NO CREDIT HISTORY and a car loan. She proceeded to go into huge debt before waking up, and thank God, is now in a position to get out of debt before the age of 40. The Congressional system, funded by lobbyists, and the media, funded by political ads and merger approvals, are DESTROYING the American dream and they don't give a damn about us. The only answer I see is, this time make damn sure Obama gets reelected. Then, we must take over the Democratic Party from the ground up and the next President can get the Congress necessary to turn up the speed of turning things around.
Firstly, it is an absolute travesty that we have to PAY for the Democracy WE and our parents and grandparents fought and DIED for. The idea that money is speech is ludicrous, and that Citizen's United ruling did not come out of nowhere. I first heard about it as a Republican goal in the '80s and I'm not a news geek. Democrats helped usher it in by caving in from the beginning, yet Democrats are our only answer right now.
So Paris Hilton and her ilk are BORN with more free speech that your or I can ever earn! Hey she's a job creator, ahh?

"about innocent people locked away..."

innocence lost
Check out my song 
"Confession" at http://burldunn.weebly.com

"about the knee-jerk support of Israel"

I am sick of U.S. taxpayer dollars propping up Israeli wars. I am sick of the idea that America, and therefore Obama, must pander to every single issue Israel's leaders bring up. And, in recent years, conservative, politically-minded "Christian" preachers have posited that each time America "neglects" Israel's desires, God has punished America. The Republican Party has taken over these "Christians'" point of view, maybe even the outright crazies who only want to use Israel to bring about Armageddon. Our over-close relationship with a country that has responded by spying on us and fanning the fires that burned America must change. Obama didn't make any mistake in getting tough with Israel; today's Washington Post article is based upon false assumptions. There are many Israelis who want peace and an end to the occupation of lands seized during their sneak attack on Arab lands. Those settlers share a disturbing attribute to Americans - both think that God favors us over all others and therefore we have the right to kill and dominate them. Those people are like the Taliban in Afghanistan - stirring up hatred in the name of God. And Republicans would rather kill Obamacare than take away one thin dime from war-mongering.
Of course, it's the money that corrupts U.S. politics. If we had debates instead of ads we could have a discussion about Israel instead of just one more lousy editorial posing as journalism.

"Jeb and Rand will face Obama"

I first thought this in late '09 when I read that Jeb Bush had attended a Rand Paul fundraiser. Everywhere I've posted it someone says,  "No way." Well, way.  This criticism of Romney from fellow Republicans is unprecedented. Republicans don't do that; they hold coronations. I still think that Romney is a dark-horse, willing or unwilling, for the next King Bush. I think he will incorporate just enough of the Ron Paul libertarianism for Rand Paul to accept the VP slot and to gather votes that Romney just can't get. If I'm wrong, I'm only wrong, but if I'm right I claim 2 years of braggin' rights!

"about the corruption of "reporting" vs. blogging"

This morning Jason Linkins put up something on Huffington Post. You can read it here. From the headline on, Mr. Linkins is distorting reality which is what much of today's "reporting" and blogging are. Whatever Huffington or Mr. Linkins call it, it's a blog, but I know many or most people will read it as a "news story." I have seen the same things done in AP news so I'll be on the lookout for one to share because they do pretend to be a news outlet. I'm not sure what Huffington claims to be NOW, but they ain't much different from when what's-her-name ran it.
First of all the headline reads, "Ron Paul's Tampa Hopes Hinge On Cornhusker Convention Chaos," but NOWHERE  in the story does he describe anything except Ron Paul bakers USING THE RULES to support their candidate! You see, in America today, peasants aren't supposed to use the political system - that would be chaos! Here's the sinister description Mr. Linkins gives to the Ron Paul supporter's plan:

"First, meet up the night before to get everyone on the same page about who to vote for, including the convention chair. Second, get to the convention several hours ahead of everyone else to avoid being caught in line during registration. Third, vote for the convention chair.
The Daily Paul writer says “Stay sharp and show up in force!” The writer then orders (emphasis added) Mr. Paul’s supporters to make sure that the convention chair is put up for a vote, and tells them to make sure voting machines are not used to count delegate votes."

Mr. Linkins does not think smart, planned political actions from the peasants is a good idea. He also writes that, "...  it's been well known for some time that Paul's supporters plan to descend (emphasis added) on Tampa in force." How dare they? Anyway, everyone who FLYS into Tampa will descend, will they not? But, Mr. Linkins doesn't mean it that way. He means like a flock of vultures, like pickpockets will descend upon London during the Olympic Games.

Furthermore,  "... if it looks like Paul isn't getting the full measure of what he's entitled to in Tampa, trust me -- it will be hell with the lid off."  It would be HELL if the Ron Paul backers demand their legal rights! HELL?

"Of particular interest:," opines Mr. Linkins, "no matter what happens in Nebraska, Paul's supporters on the convention floor already have the leverage they need to force some chaos (emphasis added) in the process that officially nominates the vice president."

This shows the extent to which our nation has grown back to the Loyalist stance pre-1776. Much of the U.S. wants a king or a dictator. ALL the media bombard us with stories that imply that only the Presidential vote matters. ObamaCare is ALL Obama's fault. No, excuse me, it was passed into law by Congress and upheld my the Supreme Court. Oh, but all that is too complicated. Let's just focus on - OBAMA. 

And let's be dismissive of a democratic process that doesn't put money into media pockets. You know, like Ron Paul didn't spend the kind of money Romney did on advertising, so how can he possibly matter?

HP is neither a newspaper nor does it print objective reporting so why should it hire reporters? HP is "entertainment" and the articles are blogs, and that's the way it was under the previous owner, too. I just can't break away from it, though. I mean where else can I go to see all those "wardrobe malfunctions", and Miley's "too short" shorts, and sexy stuff without being ashamed of my browser history? And where else on Huffington Post does the PICTURE MATCH THE HEADLINE?

... about a smart Republican Marijuana Strategy

I think it would be a smart move on the part of Republicans to embrace at least this one aspect of Ron Paul's libertarianism and state's rights fight even if goes against their grain - POT. The federal government, both parties, do not let go of anything they get their hands on whether it makes Constitutional sense or not. For instance, education IS CONSTITUTIONALLY A STATE ISSUE, but both parties are intent on federalizing it one way (forced privatization) or another (giving money with provisos that weaken local control). On THIS issue, if the Republicans were smart, they could take the truth and own it. The drug war is an expensive, catastrophic failure. Marijuana is everywhere and always will be. Let the states make their own decisions. You get 50 experiments that way and one of them will work. The Democrats are trying to appeal to the religious right and other punishment freaks, a VERY SMALL group for them that they can TRY to convince to vote their way. Forget about it! The Republicans outsmarted you on that LONG ago. Appeal to your young base AND libertarians who you have a chance of winning over and getting to the polls, fools (I mean this is the party that lost the Kennedy Senate seat). You don't have enough on your hands successfully fighting the war on terror, upholding voting rights, improving the economy, winning in November? Oh, ok, then, Dems. Bust the free the weed movement. Lose for another generation. The smokers will still get their pot and you will still be hypocrites because tobacco and booze are the real killers. And Republicans will have busted (pun intended) down the doors that lead to STATE control of education (very little), STATE health laws (don't get sick), GUN laws (pack some heat everywhere esp. to the polls), etc. Oh, and they will collect a LOT of tax dollars and create a new tourist industry. Go for it Mitt! Pick Rand Paul as your running mate.

... About Education

The simple truth (from a retired teacher) is that those nations that continually outscore our kids are separating students by ability level. We put a non-reader-gang-banger bully in the same room with a kid with a genius IQ and call the teachers bad because they can't be everything to everybody. This country's definition of a "good teacher" is really the definition of a genius angel. Let's get real. I know that historically classification of students by "ability" led to discrimination - by sex, by race, etc. How about this as a start - let any kid take any class (even the high-level classes) as long as they TRY to learn! There will be some who achieve at lower levels, but that's when a good teacher can accommodate both the lesson AND the grade. Who decides who is really trying and learning at an adequate level? Well, the teacher of course, and if a teacher is discriminating it's an administrators job to catch it.

About Sin and Crime

This post is a prelude to a series of postings I have planned for years about religion and the American Constitution. When I begin that I will refer to the Bible and the Constitution for exact quotes. Today, I'm working from memory.
Jesus said, "As a man thinketh, so is he." Yes, I believe that. I believe it on a religious level and on a psychological level, but I do not believe it on a legal or criminal level. Mental sin is between you and God. Acting out a sin is often, not always, a crime. For instance, the making and selling of cigarettes and booze may be a sin, but it is legal as hell. Masturbating MAY be a sin - certainly, though, it is one we are all guilty of. Should we go to jail for it? Of course not. It is a more of a sin against our children that we keep secret auto-erotic asphyxiation and every year talk about "mysterious" suicides-by-hanging.
Being in a gang may be a sin, but it is the ACTIONS of the gang that can be crimes. Murder is a sin and a crime, but is it more of a crime if it is done out of sheer hatred than if it is done "in a moment of passion?" I think not, because NONE of us can see into another's head. Dylan wrote, "If my thought dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guilloine." That's true of all of us at some time or another.
The latest items I read about possible sin and "crime" deal with marijuana. It is wayyyy over-criminalized and we, as taxpayers, pay to lock up people who are as harmless as a man with two beers in him walking home. If one is not driving and not giving pot to minors I argue that there is no crime. If a tipsy man is walking or being driven home, he is no criminal. We cannot afford, as a nation, to lock up every drunk or pot smoker unless their ACTIONS are harming OTHERS overtly. We should be ashamed to be the foremost nation on earth when it comes to the percentage of our population behind bars.
Gov. Christie recently said it would cost 1/2 as much to "treat" marijuana smokers as to incarcerate them. So what? That's still too much to pay and I know that, since Christie is a Republican, that he would count that very treatment as a reason to take away that person's right to vote!
That's what the "drug war" has always been 1/2 about - the demonization of people. Nixon ginned it up along with the "Southern strategy" as a way to bring voters to the GOP. (Those anti-war protestors are just high on drugs.) The CIA joined the government of England (opium in China) as drug pushers. England just wanted the money. The CIA was out to demonize people, mainly people of color. The other 1/2 of the drug war is an excuse to prop up right-wing dictators with military equipment and to "militarize" our local police forces. These actions go unpunished on earth although they are criminal. They'll see what God thinks later on.
I like the ballot proposition that will be voted on in November in Colorado. Basically, it says, we'll distribute, tax, and control pot like booze. The federal government has it's hands full, so how about letting go a little, Fed, and let states make a few decisions? The horror that has gone on in Mexico is a reflection of what the U.S. should have learned during prohibition. And that horror is blood on the hands of the U.S. government. It's a crime. Let people grow weed in a locked greenhouse or home, along with state-controled sales and save Mexico!
Three things have grossly distorted American politics: the media - deregulation of our media ownership laws, the abandonment of the Fairness Doctrine, and the fact that we PAY for democracy; the usurpation of religion by politicians; and the jailing and government murder of innocent people. I know so many people who feel it unfair, or would feel it unfair, if THEIR child went to prison for a joint. But that black boy...  'First they came for the pot smokers, but I was not a pot smoker, so I paid no mind.' "Money doesn't talk, it swears (Dylan)." So money is speech? Then why was Paris Hilton born with more freedom of speech than Fannie Lou Hamer? That's a crime. The Constitutional view of media, esp. broadcast media is that the medium belongs to the People and the same should hold true of the entire electromagnetic spectrum (internet). So WE the People shouldn't pay a dime for political commercials. We should protest the giving away of huge amounts of money to TV and radio and MAKE them set aside debate time, no commercials. "Next they came for the protestors, but I was not a protestor..." And what the hell is with the Morman Church OWNING Marriot, etc., etc. and other denominations OWNING businesses? Take that away! That's a crime against small business owners having to compete with tax-free institutions. And tax churches - we did until the Johnson administration. Some of them or more country clubs, with gyms and movie theaters, than the instrument of God.
WE pay too much for locking people up for things that are sins, not crimes.

... About Education

I was a teacher before the No Student Left Un-Recruited Law. The Bill was a Republican plan. What do think was supposed to happen? The quickening of privatization, that's what. 100% of ANY nations' students are not going to be proficient in school; can we have some common sense, please? The famous support of Edward Kennedy of this law is a shame. He played the role of rich kid invited to the neighborhood game only because he owned a ball. Democrats must begin to care more about justice than they do about trying to get the "middle" (read right-wing) vote. After the law passed there was a huge increase in the use of consultants (teachers tired of teaching students) and a decrease in the amount of money spent directly in the classroom. Education is, Constitutionally, a STATE issue, and the fed needs to butt out, if only because EACH new administration is going to change the policy of the previous administration. It was justice to integrate the schools and it took the federal government to do it, but education in and of itself is not a Civil Right. The movement to declare it so is a Republican move to further discredit PUBLIC schools so that they can reward their buddies with privatization. The first violators of the "Civil Right" to education are always PARENTS (for the first five or six years) and they set the stage for that child's future. But no parent will ever be accused of the violation; unionized teachers will.

CIA Whistle-Blower on Torture Prosecuted

Huffington Post reports that , "... the same month (CIA whistle-blower) Kiriakou was indicted, former CIA officer Jose Rodriguez, who oversaw the interrogation program, was on a book tour, proudly defending waterboarding and his own decision to destroy videos of interrogations in which it was used." I understand the outrage. A man who did not torture might go to jail, while a man who did torture and destroy the evidence is free. And of course the blogosphere is full of condemnation of Obama. So many people raise the specter of an America gone awry: buy guns, stock up on food and water, dig a shelter...

I don't want to live in that world. They're playing a kid's game of Cowboys and Indians with real weapons and they're the Indians. If that nightmare scenario comes true it's because it's already too late and the police and the military will kill you.

But ... imagine ... Maybe Obama HAS to do certain things in order to convince the majority of America's secret agencies and high-level military that Democrats CAN and HAVE kept America safe from outside attacks, whereas the Republicans did NOT.

I, too, have been deeply disappointed, but stop blaming the one person - the President. WE the people have foolishly sat back and let Congress become a home for fools and let the Supreme Court pick our President. THAT was the day for Al Gore to become a hero for all time. On that day we should have flooded the streets in protest!! This is America of course we're going to do a recount, even a new vote, if necessary. THAT'S what I wish Mr. Gore had said. Of course, he would have been assassinated.

Who is most likely to engage in "mass incarcerations" - Obama or ANY Republican President? I'm voting for Obama. He yanked us from the brink of the cliff of full-blown fascism. He is leading us back to the center, opening the door for a future wherein the American people wake  up to the fact that we have been robbed by the rich. Unfortunately, he has not yanked us all the way to Disneyland, but with Obama we have a chance to regain sanity. The Republican Party leaders are insane.

England growing - How about US?

Imagine ... living in a country where the leader can say the equivalent of "I want to establish a full parliamentary inquiry involving both houses, chaired by the chairman of the Commons Treasury Select Committee."
UK prime minister Cameron said people "want to see bankers who acted improperly punished, and they want to know we will learn the broader lessons of what happened in this particular scandal". I say re-elect Obama AND support the Ron Paul move to audit the Federal Reserve. It's our money.
Imagine ... living in a country where the leader can say, "This committee will be able to take evidence under oath, it will have full access to papers and officials and ministers 
including ministers and special advisers from the last government." The USA cannot come to grips with the enormous danger in our Empire-seeking secret agencies, wasteful wars that create more danger to us than they do to protect us and an economy that rewards bribing cheating speculator/gamblers more than real workers until our leaders can speak openly about Wall Street crime and wrong-doing in former administrations.