about the Second Amendment

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Ok, so maybe the first step in all the USA's political debates should be: words matter. So our common heritage of written words is still here, we just ignore it. In high school I was made to understand the meaning of a dependent introductory clause. Is it too much to expect that the first words of the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, almost one-half of the entire amendment, be admitted to exist? And that they intentionally express the will of the Founding Fathers? 

of one opportunity the sequester offers

Dear President Obama,
You have bigger fish to fry, I know, but I wish to offer political advise to you and the Vice-President. As I understand it, the sequester requires that 9% be cut from federal programs across the board. So, I propose that you use your power of the pardon to free ALL federal prisoners whose only crime was possession of two or less ounces of cannabis, and that you do all within your powers to restore federal voting rights to all these wronged Americans. Do whatever is within your power to deter further federal money from being spent on cannabis policing and prosecutions both here and abroad. Leave cannabis control to our great laboratory of democracy, the states.
You have the keenest political mind of your generation so I won't go on and on about the plus side or the negative side of doing this. Let me just be a voice for all of us who have broken this law and ask you - How can you ask any family or any individual to be among the last victims of an antiquated and vicious, utterly failed, "drug war?" Of all those who benefited from the lavish funding the "War on Drugs" has provided, no one group reaps more than the Republican Party as a whole, so what a shame it would be to pass by an opportunity to do a moral and just thing only to open a wide door for Republicans to do it.
Sincerely, Larry Burl Dunn

Campaign for Liberty, abandon the two-party system

Actually, despite the disparate cast of characters, this blog is similar to yesterday's theme - a moment in history, lost. Al Gore blew it when he kowtowed to the anti-democratic Supreme Court decision known  as Bush V Gore. Today I turn on Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty - really, his son Rand and Ted Cruz. I am not speaking against the Grand Ol' Paul, a man of ernest conviction who knew how to speak truth to power and still remain a gentleman. Nor am I bothering to add my voice to those who point out the snarky, I-wanna-be-a-star attitude of Rand or Ted.
No, my point of view is nothing if not different. I want to shine the spotlight on the mere CONCEPT of the Campaign for Liberty as the compass for the Republican Party. If a stinking, diseased and doomed ship is sinking because of hubris, I say let it sink! There are no innocents left aboard! Those there pose a threat to us all, for God's sake. Don't save that ship; build a new one.
Too late.
Campaign for Liberty has folded it's tent and turned it into a sail for the GOP. You will never convince me that the Republicans will shrink the Military/Industrial/Secrecy Complex. So they will never come up with a solution for our nation's debt nor do the right thing for our troops. They will never stop voter suppression; hell, they depend on it. Ron Paul was an unwavering voice for freedom and peace; the Republican Party openly talks about how they are going to reinvent themselves in order to win. Not to be right, you see, not to support a principle, just to win. The GOP will gladly cut government programs and services, but we will still pay taxes that go to "private" solutions.
The two-party system has sold us out to the highest bidders and now Campaign for Liberty is just another name for Republican. The Supreme Court has sold us out and now the Campaign for Liberty is on board with them.

Al Gore's dismal viewpoint on Bush v Gore

There's nothing like being erratic to lose readers is there? Onward, through the blog...
I just failed to locate the recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine, so I am going to remember quotes as best as I can and I am not going to give footnote info ... why the hell must I be more accountable than NPR or any other "news" outlet in America?
I also failed to locate the quote on Google or the RS website (no, I'm not signed up for all RS archives), so I suspect that the quote did not stir up the blogosphere. Al Gore was responding to the 2000 election - does he regret submitting to the Supreme Court decision that ended the recount?
Al Gore's response as I remember?
No, no regrets. There is no step between ignoring the Supreme Court and armed revolution in our streets.

Beg to differ, Al. Check out Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and the Orange Revolutions. Check out Gandhi in India. Hell, remember Martin Luther King in the U.S.  For that matter tell me what happened to the Cherokees despite Andrew Jackson ignoring the Supreme Court decision forbidding their removal. No Al, there is a step in between bad Supreme Court decisions and armed revolutions. It's called Democracy and it will never come to the USA as long as we continually agonize and spend our money to elect Tweedledum or Tweedly Dee. Ralph Nadar was right about you, too, as you reflected yourself-

I just would have made a different set of mistakes than did George Bush.

I swear to God, when I heard Vice-President Gore respond live to the Bush v Gore decision I thought he was going to say

Am I going to abide by the Supreme Court decision? This is the United States! Of course we the people demand a true vote count and no court is Supreme enough to stop that!

Old men often reflect on the woulda', shoulda', coulda's in life. Al, you should have called us peaceably into the streets. You could have been president. You would have made a bigger mark on history than you ever will with anything else, even climate change.

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.