Of course, what Dennis proposes is much too radical for the American masses. Imagine no more war. Where would the empire be without military bases around the world? And medical care for all. Can’t have that, that’s Socialism.

Idiots.

Here is a speech given by Kucinich after the 9/11 attacks. Worth a read IMHO.

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Many have called Dennis Kucinich’s “Prayer for America” speech one of the most eloquent and significant summaries of post 9/11 America. He delivered it eight years ago today.

I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, as a celebration of our country. With love of democracy. With love of our country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. With the understanding that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. With the belief that a free people cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time. With the understanding that there is a deeper truth in the unity of the United States. That implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people, everywhere. That all people are essentially one. That the world is interconnected not only on the material level of economics, trade, communication, and transportation; but interconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse to be and to breathe free.

I offer this prayer for America.

Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving and accomplishment of civil rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why should America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?

How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of free speech, and the right to peacefully assemble?

How can we justify, in effect, the canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due process, allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?

We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with it.

We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.

We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the ability to designate domestic terror groups.

We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere, including medical and financial records.

We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for domestic intelligence and intelligence surveillance.

We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy.

The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice exposing herself in this administration.

Let us pray, oremus, that our nation’s leaders will not be overcome by fear. Because today there is great fear in the Capitol. And this must be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in this current environment.

The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when we abandoned Washington during the anthrax scare, when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide terror alert and then brought the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of the House of Representatives. It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapes at the very same time the President was announcing our country would withdraw from the ABM treaty.

It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote.

The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill-equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his undisclosed Vice President.

Let us pray. Let us pray that our country will stop this war. “To provide for the common defense” is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September 11. We licensed a response to those who helped create the terror of September 11th. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.

Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.

We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.

We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.

We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.

We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus.

We did not authorize assassination squads.

We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.

We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.

We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.

We did not authorize national identity cards.

We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities.

We did not authorize an eye for an eye.

Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize this administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.

We did not authorize war without end.

We did not authorize a permanent war economy.

Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion.

Consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit.

Consider that the Inspector General notified Congress, recently, that the Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion – that’s trillion – in expenditures. Correct, that it cannot account for $1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Department of Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased. Consider that it has written off as lost billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.

Yet the Pentagon’s budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.

Let us pray for our children. Our children deserve a world without end. Not a war without end. Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is not appropriate for the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for the survival of a nation, not appropriate for the survival of the world.

Let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people, and as a nation, to shore ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of September 11th our democratic traditions.

Let us declare. Let us declare our love of democracy. And declare our intent for peace.

Let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society.

Let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war, as being inevitable.

Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic.

Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an imperative. This is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace envisions. Forty-three members of Congress are now cosponsoring the legislation.

Let us work for a world where America can lead the way in banning all nuclear weapons not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space itself. This is the vision of HR 3616: A universe free of fear. Where we can look up at God’s creation in the stars and imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities. Not infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray. Pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of September 11th, faded into images of patriotism, spliced into images of military mobilization, jump-cut into images of our secular celebrations of the World Series, New Year’s Eve, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those images with the images of people working to rebuild their democratic institutions. With images of the work of human relations. Of the work of reaching out to people, helping our citizens here at home. Of lifting the plight of people everywhere.

That is the America which has the ability to rally the support of the world.

That is the America which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil, but which is itself the axis of hope and faith and peace and freedom.

America, America. God shed grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood and sisterhood.

America, America. Long may Thy land be bright with Freedom’s holy light

America, America. Let us pray for our country. Let us love our country. Let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from the threats within.

America, America. Crown thy good. Not with weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil. Not through breaking international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of a uni-polar world. But through looking at America as a nation among nations and viewing the world as an interconnected whole.

Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good with sisterhood and brotherhood. And crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace and democracy here at home and in the world. And a commitment to economic democracy here at home and throughout the world.

Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good America. Crown thy good.

Thank you.

Anyone that needs to add this to their company logo is aware that the opposite is in fact, true.

Their slogan should be “Keepin’ ‘mericans stoopid”

As a “bleeding heart liberal” as well as a Canadian (socialist) living in Mexico (illegal aliens taking away all your jobs) I find the somewhat xenophobic diatribe by this Bob Basso fellow a little late in the game. Where was he when Reagan and Clinton started the deregulation process that started the whole financial mess? Where was he when President Cheney declared undeclared war on a sovereign nation, sending your kids to kill and die in the desert for no valid reason whatsoever? Conveniently he pops up now, when it is fashionable in many quarters to hate and belittle your latest democratically elected president.

Call me a cynic, but it seems a little strange that he comes out now, and is celebrated as ‘heroic’ by such fine, upstanding and learned fellows as Glenn Beck (Fox) and hate spewing websites like LogisticsMonster (http://logisticsmonster.com/) which labels your president as Usurper in Chief.

I agree that the American populace has succumbed completely to the rhetoirc coming from Washington. But it’s not something new; this has been going on for decades. To me, it seems that the-head-in-the-sand mentality goes way back and so many of your ideals have been compromised by succesive administrations, both Democrat and Republican. The present administration is continuing down the same path as those before it and you should all be mad as hell. Why aren’t you?

The only thing I agree on with this corny video is that you should all be a little more aware of what is happening around you. And you should be protesting. Please keep in mind that when I say “you” I am referring to “you, the people”, not Kim or Steve or Janet or Chris.

• Why aren’t you outraged that families are being wiped out financially because of a health problem or that your health companies dictate to you what you can and can not do to get health care? Who do these companies think they are? Do you know how much money these people spend on getting the ‘socialized medicine is evil’ message out there? What possible motivation could they have?
• Why aren’t you outraged that your government continues to intervene in foreign countries under the refutable guise of democratization, exploiting resources, local economies and committing entire populations to an endless cycle of poverty in order to sustain your right to drive the biggest darn SUV you can buy and fill it with cheap gas?
• Why aren’t you outraged at the billions being poured into Iraq, a country that will feature an fortress/embassy the size of 18 football fields? Or that your neighbors and friends children are in the desert, bleeding and dying for the benefit of a few oil companies, lobbyists and salivating politicians? Or that a soldier who puts his life on the line will make much less than a hired mercenary from Chile (XE formerly BlackWater, KBR etc.) that you are paying for as well?
• Why aren’t you outraged that you are now moving into Afghanistan to do more of the same when your money is sorely needed at home and you will accomplish nothing more than the British and Russians did in their attempts at ‘conquering’ Afghanistan?
• Why aren’t you outraged that video game wiz kids are being recruited to pilot drone airplanes from Las Vegas to bomb targets in Pakistan that may or may not be enemies; while at the same time your government tells you that Pakistan is an ‘ally’ and continues to give them billions of dollars which they gratefully accept and spend at their discretion supposedly to help them capture ‘bad’ people?
• Why are you not outraged that there is a mission to Spain to possibly contract out the building of a national rapid rail system, while at the same time your auto industry is bankrupt and thousands of skilled workers, who could easily build such a system, are being laid off?
• Why are you not outraged that the banks are bailed out by you, when for years they were pushing for more and more deregulation and less government intervention because the mythical ‘free’ market would work just fine thank you very much… until now, when they are in trouble. Then it’s right back to Mommy government. This is so hypocritical, you should all be in the streets, hurling not tea bags but entire bundles of tea plants at your politicians.
• Why are you not outraged that lobbyists and their millions of dollars corrupt absolutely your politicians, who have absolutely no desire or will to represent anything beyond their next check and will consistently do whatever ensures their political longevity, representation be damned. And when they return home from Washington, you believe the BS they feed you.

OK, I have gone on long enough and my opinion really doesn’t make a difference, but there you have some thoughts on the subject of ‘we the people’.

You asked.

Guantanamo will be ‘closed’ but the uncharged prisoners there are being shipped elsewhere, no trial, no charges, more lives ruined. The Chinese Muslims, aka Huigars, case in point. Declared as not being guilty of anything including that stupid ‘enemy combatants’ charge, they are STILL being held. Seven years. Where is the change from Bush/Cheney?

Iraq pullout. Pullout my ass. The embassy there is the size of several football fields. Who will staff it? Guard it? Where’s the change from Bush/Cheney?

AntiWar. Obama is moving his war machine into Afghanistan. Smart move. No one has ever tried that before. Peace? Where is the change from Bush/Cheney?

Diplomacy. Relations with our allies. Pakistan is an ally. At least the money spent on them would indicate a somewhat friendly relationship. Now Obama is bombing villages regularly with Terminator-style drones piloted video game style by 9 to 5 office workers in Las Vegas. Killing more people that are going to leave behind some pretty pissed off relatives. What is so hard to understand about the concept of you killing someone’s daughter/wife/son/husband/uncle is going to make a whole new family hate you? How does this differ from Bush/Cheney?

Democrats in the White House, Congress, House of Representatives. Nothing gets done. Business as usual.

The American Indian concept of ‘forked tongue’ comes to mind.

WHERE IS THE CHANGE ???

That bastion of American interventionism known as Honduras has suffered a 70′s style military coup. The fact that the coups leaders are graduates of the united states School of the Americas, a happy training camp for sadists in the making, is interesting to say the least. What’s wrong with these people? Are they still dancing to Gloria Gaynor as well?

Meanwhile, the theory is out there that this probably couldn’t have happened without our friends at the central intelligence agency knowing about it. Such is life. While espousing the theory that ‘democracy’ must come to the world, El Obama continues – or at least tacitly condones, since he isn’t exactly making an effort to ‘change’ – with united states foreign policy as usual, which means that democracy is OK, as long as ‘our guys’ win.

All this must make those worried about the election of a ‘democrat’ breathe a sigh of relief. The rest of the world pessimistically awaits some glimmer of that promised ‘change’.

So far, it’s less than encouraging.

And Micheletti, Honduras’ new leading puppet,  is singing ‘ I will Survive’.

Even if this someone is Republican airhead Meghan McCain! Who’d a thought! After seeing her on Real Time, I felt so bad for her, all defensive and like, wow, you know? OMG!

Back to Sanford and Sun. I think it funny (and sad, cuz some are friends) that so many brainwashed, so-called Republican, apologists for the right think that this extramarital event is different from Clintons. As I have read on blog postings regarding the affair, Mark Sanford admitted it (after he was found out) so, compared to Clinton, who denied it until it was no longer a tenable scenario, this Sanford is Great American Hero. How all these fine folks can not see the HYPOCRISY in Sanford and others screaming about morality and family values ad nauseum is beyond me.

Read Meghans article on The Daily Beast, here.

wondering if it is really all that bad

Continuing the tradition of middle aged men everywhere, and following the footsteps of his Republican colleagues Senator Vitter of Louisiana, Gov Spitzer of New York, Senator Ensign of Nevada, Senator Craig of Idaho et al, Mr. Sanford finds love in the arms of someone other than their wife. This time, the ‘scandal’ involves a woman from Argentina, which differs somewhat from the usual, almost-boring-now assortment of hookers and staffers (and forays into bathroom stall gay sex).

Of course many in the prudish American public can’t get their collective bible-washed brains around this concept (we are SHOCKED, I tell you!) and get their panties all bunched up. Again.

Imagine if this society was around during the rest of history. Nothing would have ever gotten accomplished.

Grow up America.

1. So to reduce bombings you should occupy Iraq forever? They don’t want you there – hello? They are going to bomb you till the day your last helicopter takes off for home. What are you doing there?

2. Don’t think the ONE ordered prosecutions. In fact, when pressed on the subject, he initially didn’t even want to go there. IMHO, If laws were broken, they should be investigated and if need be, punished. Does that make me an Al Qaeda supporter? I’d be the first to hang up that crazy mofo Bin Laden by his turban.

3. If the US wants to behave like the Japanese in the second world war, so be it. Waterboard away. Just don’t get all morality on the rest of the world.

4. The attack on the twin towers was a criminal act and should have been treated as such. If a terrorist is ‘known’ he should be charged, prosecuted and punished according to the law. You are supposed to be the democratic and judicial example for the rest of us countries out here.

5. The cartoon cites 2900 plus reasons for ‘enhanced’ interrogation. I am sure an Iraqi cartoonist could come up with a nice cartoon of 1,000,000 reasons to ‘strongly dislike’ the united states.

C’mon dude! You are watching too much Fox TV!

C´mon You Guys!!!!!!

That was the headline on the UK’s online ‘First Post’ magazine.

Why is she still in the news? Why are we still talking about this mediocre–at-best political candidate with the world view of a hermit crab? So she thought about abortion. Don’t we all?

I’ll stop now.

Cartoon later.

I Was Kidding!

The Belgian parliament criticized a statement from the mouth of gods representative on earth (what a concept) in which he stated “One cannot overcome the problem (AIDS) with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.” Apparently, the fine folks at the vatican think that this is totally inappropriate, criticizing and ‘taking out of context’ the words of the prophet. I mean, how DARE they!

Judging from the position the catholic hierarchy takes on the subject of birth control, anchored firmly to a 15th century mindset, I don’t think this was taken out of context at all.

Another fine example of the hole catholicism is digging itself into, making it more and more popular with each new example of their block-headedness.