Vote Fixing

I am going to outline my ideas on how to have fair Federal elections - starting in 2008 (hopefully). The only way to be sure that all the votes are counted is for each citizen to
take more responsibility for their own vote - that means giving up the Secret Ballot and replacing it with the Personal Ballot. With my plan there will be two ways to vote - on a computer or with a type of Federal absentee ballot.


Federal Election reform outline:


The General Election:
Run every even numbered year on the second weekend in November - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The General Election Includes all qualified candidates for the offices of President and Vice President every four years plus all of the US Senate seats that are up for contest and any qualifying Constitutional ammendments every two years. Federally funded.

Electronic Voting:
It is time to stand up and be counted - by computer voting using public open source code. Citizens can keep their vote confidential behind a PIN number. A special database on a Federal Election Commission website will contain the name of every active registered voter, each of whom will choose to activate their electronic ballot if they want to vote by computer. They would convieniantly be able to vote for all of their Federal, State and Local elections from the computer at the same site. If there is a recount, you will be able to verify your own vote (FYI). For those who do not have a personal computer, the Public Libraries will be open for voting on the second Friday, Saturday and Sunday in November and will be subsidized by the Federal government for that service. For voters who instead choose to submit a registered mail-in ballot, it is linked by registration number to their page on the FEC Voter Database and is used to initially activate their computer ballot. Using instead the mail-in ballot to vote will automatically deactivate their computer ballot for that election cycle.

The Federal Absentee Ballot:
By October 15, all current voters will receive a registered mail-in ballot for President, Vice President, their US Senators and any Constitutional ammendments that may be up for consideration. For those that don’t do computers or prefer not to vote on one, they can choose to vote with this paper ballot and will keep a stub with the randomly generated registration number. Only the stub contains the voter's name. Ballots can be mailed via the US Post Office by November 1 or handed in there up until the second Sunday in November at midnight Eastern time. All the ballots will be delivered to one of three regional counting centers - based on their location in the Eastern/ Central+Mountain / Western time zones. The ballots will be secured at these locations until the second Monday of November, when the media and all parties will observe the ballot counting procedures (which are registered and verfiable - voter names confidential to the public). On Tuesday, or when available, the totals of all the votes will be verified or challenged and recounted.

Counting the Votes:
The computer vote tally totals per State is a live online public database, up until the second Sunday in November at midnight Eastern time, when the tally is final (subject to verification). Each voter who chooses to use their electronic ballot can vote and/ or change their vote up until the deadline. On the following Monday, the registered mail-in ballots are processed at the three regional counting centers. When verified, the combined totals are announced and posted on the Federal Election Database.

Recounts:
The voter computer database is transparent public source code and verifiable for recounts. The registered mail-in ballots are counted by publically certified machines and recounted by hand if questionable or formally challenged or when a random recount is generated. The tally of all the votes together is verified by the FEC and certified by both houses of Congress.

The Federal Election Commission:
Congress must reform the way all of these powerful commissions work and how the commissioners are selected. There should be no such thing as a recess appointment to any of these commissions like Bush has done for three chairs on the FEC in January 2006. These commissions are supposed to oversee the welfare of the whole country, not only a one party agenda. The new and improved Federal Election Commission will administer election and campaign oversight, voters rights, campaign media access, the election database, the registered mail-in ballots and the three regional counting centers. The services of these counting centers can also be purchased by the States to process their local ballots (maybe even private companies, at other times of the year, can purchase use of the facilities). The Commission will also co-ordinate with the US Post Office to deliver the registered mail-in ballots to the Counting Centers. If the Post Office can’t handle this job, then contract it strictly regulated to a private company like Federal Express or United Parcel.

The States:
Every two years elections for The House of Representatives will be on the State ballot. Each State should have the right to run their elections however they choose - as long as they do not discriminate or intimidate voters. The House Reps hold Federal offices and congressional districts must be drawn to comply with fair standards that meet strict new Federal requirements that accurately reflect ALL demographics. Attempts to change the
US Census to count only citizens should be defeated - in America it is totally unacceptable to have a whole class of uncounted unrepresented “untouchables” who are also living and working and paying taxes and helping the economy and contributing to society.

Voter Registration:
Every US citizen eighteen years of age and older is automatically eligible to register to vote. Citizens can chose to activate and deactivate their registration annually, but this lifelong right to vote can be lost only if they formally denounce their own citizenship. Maybe it could also be stripped away by a two thirds majority in both houses of Congress - after being convicted of treason - and the Supreme Court upholds it. In other words, one citizen one vote - indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The votings rights laws should be strengthened, updated and made permanent - preferably as a Constitutional Amendment.

The Primary:
Primary elections should be run by the States and the campaigns funded by political parties and candidates. Campaign contributions are mostly Federally unregulated but are publically documented and subject to regulation by the individual States. Candidate qualifications for the ballot must meet legislated Federal guidelines for all Federal offices. Elections must be fair and must not discriminate or intimidate the voters. Must count ALL the votes with a voter verifiable paper trail that stays secured inside the ballot box for recounts. Primary elections and political conventions season ends August 15.

The Campaign:
All political parties should have their slate of candidates finalized by August 15, when the General Election campaign phase begins and transparent hard money contributions plus Federal Funding only are allowed. Major Media outlets will be mandated to provide sufficient airtime to all qualified political parties - allocations based on the averaged results of the previous two elections (four years). Debates will be sponsored that include all political parties and candidates that received 5% of the votes in one of the last two elections. As the election approaches, more debates will also be sponsored between the two or three major candidates only. These will be real debates, not just spin sessions - give it back to the Women’s League of Voters.

Campaign Contributions:
Each citizen each year allowed $2500 personal hard money contributions per candidate and $2500 hard money per party period - all fully accounted for. No other hard money at all from non-citizens, corporations, unions, governments or any other entity. In the General Election phase, starting August 15, only this hard money and Public Financing funds can be used for the campaign. Before that, in the primary season, the soft money contributions should be essentially Federally unregulated but fully transparent. Bribery remains illegal.

Public Financing 100%:
The General election campaign begins August 15 and is funded by The US Treasurey.
To insure vigorous debate and and diverse viewpoints for an informed electorate, the default minimum allocation of funds and media access in the current political landscape should be 40% to the Republican candidate, 40% to the Democratic candidate, 5% to the Libertarian candidate, 5% to the Green candidate, 5% to others leaning left and 5% to others leaning right. From there, if the previous two elections (averaged) garner results higher then those minimum percentages for an alternative candidate or political party, or if a major political party fades, then the new political landscape will be reflected in future elections. Alternative parties must be guaranteed a chance to fully present their case to the public so as to avoid the Tyranny of the Majority.

The Media:
Corporate media outlets have enabled and abetted the ongoing dismantling of the US Constitution that started with the President Clinton faux-impeachment and proceeded through the 2000 coup d’Supreme and from the 911 Open Door Policy to the Iraq Invasion Fraud then on to the 2004 Mystery Questions Election and everything else inbetween. The Public Commons of channels used for TV, radio, satellite, cable and telephone have been used to cover up the incompetence and corruption of the Administration and the Republican Congress by these corporate media companies. These Traditional Big Media corporations have assisted the Administration to spy on the American people and spread fear and propaganda to help further the neocon agenda and hold on to power. Payback time.
As a requirement for a broadcasting liscense, all media outlets with interstate broadcast or distribution will be required to provide legislated blocks of time in all time periods to all official candidates during The General Election Campaign that begins August 15 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time and ends on the second Sunday of November at Midnight Eastern time. Debates for President and Vice President will also be aired. The US Treasurey will pay for the cost of operations. These Big Media outlets can also sell other seperate airtime to political parties, candidates and independent groups at market value before and during the election - with immediate full disclosure and accounting. We should also bring the Fairness Doctrine back.

Political Parties:
Any political party that garners 2% or more of the vote in a Federal General Election should receive a set minimum allocation in Federal Funds if they field a qualified candidate for the next General Election. Any candidate or political party that garners 5% or more of the votes
should receive that percentage of the Federal Election Financing pie - including funds,
media slots and debate opportunities. Political parties officially register with the FEC.

The Candidates:
The last five years have really underscored how important it is to get the right people into these very powerful Federal Executive offices. There is so much at stake for everyone in the country (and in the world) it is critical that competent honest people hold these positions. We have to have a good debate and air all views then conduct a fair election, count all the votes and trust the people to choose who should lead them. Candidates qualify officially by being nominated by a political party or as an independent candidate by petitioning the FEC with signatures to be on the ballot. All official candidates receive the minimum or a proportional piece of the General Election Financing pie - including funds, media slots and debate opportunity.

Special Interest Groups:
The party primaries and political conventions season should be mostly Federally unregulated. This is when the special interests and everyone else should be able to weild their influence and then see who all is left standing at the end. However, it should not be okay to lie and deceive or defame or bribe. All contributions must be accounted for and ads must be transparent with full immediate disclosure. Congress must also pass more stringent oversight on lobbying activities. A former member of either house of Congress or the Executive branch should not be allowed to lobby Congress for five years.

Supreme Court:
Your job is to PROTECT the right to vote without discrimination or intimidation and rule that all the votes are counted. You must also make sure Congressional districts are fairly drawn to reflect the actual local demographics. The decision in 2000 by the Supreme Court to stop the vote counting in Florida will surely be one of the blackest stains in the Court’s history - and by the way , you are wrong about money is free speech and corporations are people.
You have much to make up for.

The Electoral College:
None of this necessarily affects the Electoral College. The database can keep a tally of
how many votes came from each state for electoral votes. However, it sure would be nice to grow up and get rid of this artifact from our founding as soon as we can.


IT’s 2006 - Time to Wake Up!

Most politicians are ignoring this issue, but it is URGENT that we totally reform our Federal election system and take it totally out of the hands of private corporations. The very first step is to immediately ban ALL voting machines - completely and absolutely. It is simply a fact that any computer can be hacked and manipulated. There is no such thing as perfectly secure secret software. Why are we trusting private profit driven corporations to control our elections?

The key to protecting our right to vote is to give up the Secret Ballot in favor of the Personal
(and confidential) Ballot. Some say we have to have a Secret Ballot to prevent vote selling or voter intimidation. I say that those are very minor problems compared with non credible
elections and private corporations counting the votes with secret operating systems. Vote buying or voter bullying being unlawful is sufficient to discourage such things and keep it a relatively very minor problem.

Our democracratic republic is in serious jeopardy from the radical right and the corporatists.
If we were smart, in 2006 we would use paper ballots - vote by hand - secure them - then hand count them with witnesses from all sides present. If we insure no intimidation or discrimination and get a fair result, we can install the politicians who will make the necessary changes. I realize that there is little chance of these reforms actually happening - but they need to. Those who want to undermine or eliminate the democratic process in America and dumb down We the People are the real traitors.

curtblog.com

This Old Man - parody

This old man, he played one
He played knick-knack elections
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played two
He played knick-knack on the truth
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give us all a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played three
He played knick-knack ecology
With a knick-knack paddywhack, poodle gets a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played four
He played knick-knack a gay whore
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give bulldog a bone
This old man cum rolling home

This old man, he played five
He played knick-knack privatize
With a knick-knack paddywhack, workers get a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played six
He played knick-knack Facts are Fixed
With a knick-knack paddywhack, Congress wants a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played seven
He played knick-knack 9/11
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give Iraq a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played eight
He played knick-knack Treasongate
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give the Press a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played nine
He played knick-knack of high crimes
With a knick-knack paddywhack, give a dog a throne
This old man keeps rolling home

This old man, he played ten
He’ll play knick-knack in the Pen
Without a knick-knack or paddywhack to give a dog a pardon
This old man came rolling unspun

just a little parody fun -Terra alert level true blue, but trouble comin’ - keep an eye peeled
curtblog.com

ILLECTION REFLECTION

Never misunderestimate the lowest common denominator as it spirals sharply downward.
I recall my first time voting in 1972. To me it seemed “perfectly clear” that Nixon was a liar and a crook. I was so surprised when he won re-election by a landslide, that it really lowered my estimation of the public’s overall level of intellect. How could they not see by then that the Vietnam War was wrong and the Administration was a threat to our civil liberties? After all that the country had been through leading up to and during the first Nixon term, somehow it still was not enough to convince the voters to change leadership in wartime.

In 1968, I was attending college in Northridge, California. Bobby Kennedy came there for a rally. You had to be 21 to vote then, but it was still totally inspiring and exciting! He really seemed to be a leader that would promote the continued evolving progressive growth of humankind that the sixties was exploring. Shortly thereafter he was struck down in LA by assassination. Later, I attended some events in the free speech zone of the college to protest the war. Sometimes a busload of police would show up and approach the free speech area with their batons - ready to arrest any protestor who would not leave. I began to notice that the reports in the newspapers and on the television were often quite different from what really happened. Sometimes I saw the police provoke action by denying civil liberties while the press blamed the citizens that were exercising free speech. That was when I realized that media manipulation was a large part of the reason for ignorant citizenry. When you combine fear, knee jerk macho tendencies to hawkishness, and widespread public disinformation - you get a second Nixon term. It ended uo to be Administration arrogance and carelessness, plus some investigative journalists actually doing their job, that finally woke the general public up to how bad things really were. The war ended a wasteful loss, Nixon resigned in disgrace and placeholder Ford was installed.

In my second presidential election I voted for the winner. Carter would turn out to be one of only two winning candidates whom I have ever voted for president. For a few years after Watergate, The Media seemed to do more serious investigative journalism. When Reagan got elected twice, so-called deregulation started up endlessly and I kind of gave up on politicians. I voted for the Democrats and hoped that they would keep things in balance and that the Judicial Branch would help keep things in check. I went to work and payed my taxes while going about my own pursuit of happiness. The Media began a slide in quest of that lowest common denominator with increased consolidation of MegaCorp control bestowed by the politicians they support with campaign donations to both sides of the aisle. Those politicians who really deliver often later get juicy job offers to lobby Congress. The last 25 years have mostly been a battle to maintain what social progress was made in the 20th century. When the radical right
got control of the Republican Party then hijacked the US Constitution to investigate then impeach President Clinton, I started paying a lot more attention to what they are up to.

Again, in 2004, I really thought that this time the voters would "get it" . The Iraq War is wrong and based on lies, The Patriot Act is a huge threat to our civil liberties, and the President is incompetently bankrupting the country while harming the environment. So many arrogant Administration policies are hurting our international reputation in so many ways - especially human torture. For the first time in my life, I sent money to a politician to support a political campaign - first to Howard Dean. When the DemPros stifled him and John Kerry got the nod, I sent more money to him.
Surely the Democrats would win this time and do a better job. Boy was I wrong - somehow, by hook and by crook, Bush won. Apparently slightly over half the voters decided he had unfinished business in Iraq and was more ruthless on terrorism than Kerry. When you combine fear, knee jerk macho tendencies to hawkishness, and widespread public disinformation - you get a second Bush term. Damn! Seeing as how W and the Wingnuts make Nixon look noble and Reagon look reasonable, I was hoping that we would be saved the 2007 impeachment.

ILLection Reflection - are We the People collectively intelligent enough to even be voters?

The circumstantial evidence does not look good. Historically, some of the the Founding Fathers had their doubts about non-white non-male not-rich people voting, so they left the Constitution ammendable - to evolve. Today, it has been the Congressional Black Caucas that has been the best guardians of democracy - for the past two elections. Quite ironic, since the Republicans seem to do all they can to prohibit blacks from voting. Throughout history it has often been noted how easy it is to manipulate and control public opinion. The Nazi’s were masters at it. Today, more than ever, the MegaCorp Media keeps the American populace ignorant with disinformation and lack of coverage about the corruption and incompetence of our politicians - so they deserve a good portion of the blame. Still, the truth is out there and available - if you look for it. Especially in wartime,
We the People are definitely not very collectively quick thinking - especially when it comes to recognizing misleadership. We do collectively have a near instant emotional reaction to a disgraceful situation like Abu Ghraib or a huge disaster like the Indian Ocean Tsunami tragedy. So public opinion can take years to evolve or it can turn on a dime at any time - though we do seem to be coming to our collective senses about Iraq War 2 a lot sooner than we did about Vietnam. When you consider the fact that in election 2004 we basically had an ambiguous choice between the Empathetic War Party and the Wingnut War Party, the difference them becomes even less clear. Kerry would be a much better president but, then again, who knows - maybe the voter Collective Wisdom is right after all. Leaving W to deal with his mess - eventually finally being held accountable for once - would really make obvious just how broken our system really is - and discredit permanently the NeoCon and Wingnut factions of the Republican party. Unfornunately, a huge amount of damage can be done in two to four years by an even more incompetent Bush team second term and a radical Congress ready to vote against any concept of ethics or duty to the citizenry.

There is no doubt that we have been in a “fool most of the people all of the time” phase for quite awhile now. We the People can be collectively manipulated quite easily by The Government and The Media - who each ARE the MegaCorps now. Corporations make the voting machines and count the votes - with systems they call a trade secret The US voting process they fund rewards a political advisor that cynically uses deceptive and ruthless campaign tactics while everyone grudgingly admires him because his negative politics of destruction work. The President and his cabinet and surrogates lie and spin with impunity - unchallenged by the press in any meaningful way - while tax dollars as payola to pundits illegally spread partisan political propoganda. One of two major political parties wants to suppress votes and the other wants to suppress progressive candidates.
In spite of the palpable feeling of momentujm for Kerry going into the election, it looks like the Republican rightwing has seized control and stolen two presidential elections in a row. W and the Wingnuts got what they wanted. Election fraud of all types was widespread, but only reported on the alternative media outlets and the internet. Going into 2005, the Ohio electoral college slate was challenged in Congress and - thanks to my Senator Barbara Boxer, Representative John Conyers and thirty other House members - the problem is now a part of the Congressional Record.
This should serve as the basis from which to reform our entire Federal Election process - no more excuses are acceptable.

So are We the People collectively intelligent enough to "get it" in time? We shall see - I still have hope. George W Bush doesn’t think so. He thinks that he is going to spin us into gutting Social Security while locking in tax cuts to the rich and shifting more future tax burden from corporations to the working class while making it harder to sue anyone - as the American healthcare system melts down and prices soar. If we agree we believe in democracy, we must trust all the people to vote - then count all of those votes. We the People can only be informed voters if freedom of the press is fair, truthful and vigorously independent. When politicians become accountable to informed public opinion, we can get the country on the right track.This process cannot be trusted to corporations or partisans, so the whole system must be reformed and made uniformly transparent. It will be a difficult and complex task, but real democracy would be worth it.

In my next essay, I will outline my take on how to fix the Federal Election System.

Angry W.A.S.P.

I am one angry W.A.S.P. - an acronym redefined here to mean White Anglo Saxon
Progressive - and there are millions of us and other Progressives from all creeds and
colors in America. Modern Progressives tend to be intelligent humanists, and we
are emerging from the “shock and awe” wrought by four years of Bush Administration policies and Rebublican Congressional legislation that is surely doing serious damage
to the Middle Class - and the whole country. Mine is just one citizen’s own considered
opinion, but actually it is NOT OK to steal elections - raid the Treasury - lie - intimidate -
foul our nest - and operate a “protection racket” on the American people.

A lot of us are ANGRY and more than ready to “toss the bums out” on November 2 -
if you are not, why not? I can think of at least 10 good reasons why you should be:

1. What’s up with all the lying?
Dishonest government is not okay! Everything with this Administration is spin spinning
spin - it is wearing thin and the top will topple. I was around for the numerous lies of Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, GHW Bush, Clinton - and for four years we have had:

George WMD Bush - the worst liar of them all - and he and his Administers are still lying.
It seems pathological - lying about everything from tax cuts to “intelligence” to victory banners to democracy then “sovereignty” in Iraq. The “smoking gun mushroom cloud”
was a lie. Professional confidence man and VP Cheney said Iraq was IN FACT on the verge of making nuclear weapons and could hand them over to terrorists any day - while inspectors on the ground were finding nothing. So Bush told the Inspectors to get out in 48 hours so he could start bombing. Even I know that Intelligence is NEVER reliable without corroboration - even when it’s honestly vetted. The W Administration is one of secrecy,
fear and intimidation. Truth is ignored as accountability is avoided and dissent is muted.

Letting Osama and al-Queda escape while misleading America into that illegal Iraq invasion- at a massive cost of many lives and limbs - the White House has lost international respect and we have less national security. So far, Iraq has cost 200 Billion dollars (that they have admitted to) and they are about to request 70 billion more. I predict the US taxpayers will foot the bill of well over a TRILLION dollars before it is done. When you consider the fact that Iraq was a very weak nation (no longer a threat to even it’s own close neighbors), then you consider how much more expensive a stronger nation or combiNation would be to subdue and control - these Oil Wars that the neocons peddle are quite unaffordable and unwinable. The White House Executors ruthlessly trash the TruthTellers - but the stakes
and the costs are just too high for lies. Just how many more soldier’s lives extinguished - now over 1100 in Iraq - will we accept for these lies?

2. What’s up with all the thievery?
These “elite” people think We the People are a bunch of chumps - they don’t think enough of us will catch on to the truth to stop them.This Administration cooks the books and conjures up a huge projected fictional surplus to justify THREE TRILLION dollars in tax cuts - mostly to the wealthy - that will cripple Federal and State budgets for at least the next ten years. The Middle Class is bearing a major portion of that burden and all of America will suffer cuts in education, social services, infrastructure investment and homeland security. With more tax
cuts in a Bush second term, the economic future of the next generation will be stolen.

The MegaCorps cook the books and evade their taxes while CEOs steal everything they can get their hands on - including the worker’s pensions - and the Bankers and Accountants and Regulators are in on it. After the bubble burst Congress passed some reform, but to this day the DemReps on both sides of the aisle still have not enacted all the needed reforms . So far, after a few perp-walks, the elitist criminals are enjoying their yachts, private jets and mansions with continuing political access while the MegaCorps dodge taxes and outsource millions of jobs - yet another big hit to the Middle Class, the Poor and the whole Economy.

Allowing MegaCorps to trash our environment is another heavy cost that is passed on to the Public - while stealing our common assets. The polluting of our environment is not included in the price of manufacturing, and the Public pays to clean up the mess.Cheaply selling off and burning through our dwindling national natural resources is a policy that makes our country much less safe and less prosperous. Until we wean ourselves off of Oil, it would be the height of strategic stupidity to suck all our domestic oil out of places like the Arctic National Refuge now, just to allow a quick and easy profit for a greedy few. That and our other irreplaceable resources should be conserved in reserve - as a future asset - as much as possible. Hopefully these resources will never need to be fully tapped - because we will be clever enough to tap into clean renewable energy sources instead. We certainly do not want to be a country that is totally bankrupt of vital domestic natural resources forever - for all the unknown future.

There is no America without a vibrant Middle Class. These corpoligarchs are practicing a predatory supranational hyper-capitalism. In their frame of reference, Nation States are vehicles to customers, workers and resources. It seems apparent that America has been
largely written off as a liability - an expensive aging work force with expensive social entitlements and too many worker and environmental laws. They seem to think that they
can just move the jobs to China and India for cheap wages, resources and billions of potential future consumers. Apparently most American consumers will be left to the FoodCorps, ServiceCorps, MediaCorps, MedCorps, PharmCorps and PrisonCorps.

3. The PRETENDER - George WMD Bush
What happened to our Constitutional checks and balances of power between the branches of government? The Executive branch is WAY too powerful. Bush quietly issues powerful
Executive Orders that trash environmental and worker protections and he appoints corporate cronies to government agencies that oversee their own former industries. He casually canceled long standing international treaties, that were ratified by Congress, and now he wants to cancel the treaty that reserves outer space for only peaceful purposes. Bush has alienated our allies with his rude arrogance and soiled America’s reputation by allowing systemic policies engaging torture tactics of prisoners. He can commit our military
to be deployed anywhere in the world at a whim - or lie to start a war. Maybe this was useful when nuclear “mutually assured destruction” was the defense strategy - but the Soviet Union is long gone. Turns out, Communism never really was the “as advertised” threat to the United States, yet Bush still insists spending billions of dollars on Old War Cold War Star Wars.

Now it looks like Bush has been played like a fiddle by everyone all along - Iran, Pakistan, Israel, Cheney, Chalabi, the neocons and faithbasers all took full advantage. We should seriously reconsider the CEO model for Commander in Chief. The truth is, an overpowerful Executive branch enhances the chances for the Military Industrial Congressional Complex and other MegaCorps to maximize their bottom lines at taxpayer expense. The danger is that the current Administration is not simply bought off by mega corporations - they ARE Corporate Oligarchs. The Executive should be strong but always accountable. These guys take no blame and admit no mistakes while loudly taking credit for all the good news that they say is not being reported by the liberally compliant mainframe media.

The truth is, George Weaker Bush is not a very strong person - emotionally or intellectually. His handlers try very hard to keep him away from any unscripted encounters with anyone. He had to have VP Cheney chaperone his appearance with the 9/11 Commission. He fell apart and whined when faced with a few semi-tough questions from an Irish journalist.
His performance in the Debates with John Kerry was so embarrasingly weak - good thing for him his media mogul supporters own and control all the major outlets.

Prediction: if George W Bush wins a second term - he will be impeached by 2006.

4. The SUPREME Courtesans
Then there is that pesky little fact that Bush was not elected, but unconstitutionally selected by partisans in black robes.This Supreme Court was disgraced for all future history when they installed Bush by halting the recount of votes in 2000 - they should simply have ruled that EVERY VOTE in Florida must be recounted. Actually,we have all been embedded
in a simmering Constitutional Crises for over 60 years - since the War Powers Act set the stage for Executive Extremism. It is finally coming to loggerheads now - with the total incompetence, greed, radical ideology and lack of wisdom this Administration displays.
A second term for these guys will lurch Federal Courts far to the right - radically unbalanced.
Do not misunderestimate the damage of 2 or 3 GWBush Supreme Court appointments.

We need to get the checks and balance of powers right - or lose our civil rights!

5. Ashcan of Liberty
America has suffered a long line of J Edgar Hoover types who want to stifle civil rights.
To them, the pursuit of happiness is only acceptable if it does not involve too much fun or violate their own puritanical sense of what is proper. Turns out, a lot of these hypocritical thugs have some pretty cluttered closets of their own. Now we have J Adolph Ashcroft.
To him, it is a big problem if too much free speech is exercised that disagrees with what the Administration wants to hear. Dangerous concepts - like humanitarianism and environmental protection - must be vigorously surpressed - especially if they might impinge upon any MegaCorp profits or religious ideology. Debate and dissent are a nuisance - nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of the radical right wing agenda - including The Bill of Rights. If it takes outing a few intelligence agents, foreign or domestic, to win the election - so be it.

The Patriot Act is “Exhibit A” of many laws and policies designed to consolidate power into the hands of ambitious politicians who represent the selfish interests of elite oligarchs and corporate conglomerates - and they keep pushing for more police powers permanently. Since 9/11, with all these powers that diminish our civil rights, Ashcroft has managed only a handful of VERY questionable domestic terrorist arrests - non of which have panned out. Meanwhile, local police departments all across America are being trained in paramilitary tactics. Instead of using Homeland Security to protect us against terrorists, the police are ordered to attack US citizens that are legal peaceful demonstrators. The FBI is now even visiting the homes of people that they suspect maybe just MIGHT attend a protest rally.
The Secret Service is ejecting civil rights supporters from Bush/Cheney campaign stops.
Is it really the terrorists that hate our freedoms?

Are you getting angry yet? There are plenty more reasons why you should be:

6. Con- servative Republican’ts
I have been monitoring C-SPAN pretty closely for several years now, and the DemReps really put on quite a show. The debates in the Senate and the House are real eye openers if you open your ears and mind. The “new” Republicans are mean-spirited and not really conservative in the least. The “new” Democrats are hawkish and not very progressive. Both parties deceive their way to the mythical middle while being enriched by various special interests. The debate on the 2004 Medicare reform bill is a case in point. The Republicans stood at the podium, and with a straight face tried to justify no government negotiations with the Pharmaceutical Drug Companies for a Medicare group price - and also no buying of them for a lower price from other countries like Canada. I was so embarrassed for our democracy - shamelessly sold out to special interests by our elected legislators- mostly Republican but with help from some Democrats. The bill was strong armed through by the Republican leadership while they lied about the true cost of the program.

I shudder to think about what would happen if the RadReps manage to get hold of 60 seats in the Senate and hold a majority in the House - total control that they will not delay to ruthlessly pursue. Already they are abusing majority power by excluding the Democrats - sometimes rudely (and even spyed into their computers). The House is a crime scene of Republican bribery and coercion. Meanwhile, most Democrats quietly muddle around the cautious center. They are also beholden to their own set of special interest groups - that fortunately include labor unions and minorities - forcing them to be somewhat more fair.
The consequence of incompetence by Bush has finally jolted Democrats to oppose him.

Truly honest conservative Republicans should worry about the Bush Spending Orgy and his Big Brother/ Big Government tendencies. They should think long and hard about what these exclusively pro-corporate and neocon allegiances are going to do to the future of their own reputations and electability. As the TRUTH slowly comes out - as it finally is - the People are going to get very angry at this gang over all the unsustainable policies and redistribution of wealth that has occurred. The Republican party will be marginalized for many years - if not permanently. Recent indictments of some Republican leaders is a sign of a new era. There are still some honest conservative Republicans remaining, and I hope they can get their party back some day soon -because we NEED balance and real debate on real issues.

Predictably, the RadReps hid behind the curtain at the Repugnantcan Covenshun.

7. The christian- unright

The separation of church and state is one of the founding edicts of America - that is not
even a subject for debate - it in is the Constitution. Unfortunately and unconstitutionally,
this defining principle has been violated since the Cold War was launched against the fictional communist threat. In the 1950s, our “wise” politicians decided that America had to be protected from Communist Atheists, so they passed laws adding “under god” to the pledge of allegiance and they placed the words “in god we trust” on our money (even though I was taught in my Lutheran Sunday School that the love of money was at the root of all evil). Apparently they did not have much faith in our democracy to withstand any competition from other political philosophies. Or maybe the concept of sharing wealth
with too many people was too much of a threat to capitalist philosophy. In any case, to disagree would be considered both immoral and unpatriotic.

Now the Bush administration is pushing their “faith-based” initiative that allows religious organizations to receive tax payer funding. All religious organizations should vigorously oppose any proposal to combine church and state in any way whatsoever - unless they want to eventually start paying property taxes. The current gang of politicians in power are supporters of fundamentalist Christian groups and allow them to affect policy - but that could change. Someday YOUR religion might be out of favor with the government. As the Founders realized - better to keep issues of religion and government completely separate. Some of the right-wing fundamentalist christian leaders and some politicians conspire to enrich each other, try to force their version of morality on us all and seemingly attempt to do their best to stimulate the coming of their concept of Armageddon - what’s up with that?

These guys seem to think God chose them to unleash Global Crusader Pax America.

8. Conspiracy Theory (The War on Terror)
Hillary really got hell when she talked about the “vast right wing conspiracy”. She was harshly ridiculed across the AM radio dial and accused of spreading conspiracy theories
on the cable channels. We are all supposed to “get over” the silly idea that in America,
with all our modern technology, the 2000 election somehow could have been rigged and stolen by a Republican conpiracy. In 2004 we are supposed to believe computer voting machines are OK with secret source codes and without verifiable paper ballot back-ups(?). In recent years, progressive leaders seem to have had the tendency to falling out of the sky flying in small airplanes. To say there could have been collusion to assassinate progressive leaders in the 1960s is to be accused of promoting “just another nutty conspiracy theory”. On the other hand, however, we WERE supposed to believe in the Cold War Communist plots to take over our country. We had to be very afraid - even though we point thousands of nuclear missles at them - and we had to spend many billions of dollars every year to fight that threat. Turns out the Soviet Union imploded and communism simply never was much of a threat to our country or democracy - their people wanted to be more like us.

After the fall of the Communist Threat, we were supposed to be afraid of the evil illegal Drug Czars. So the “War on Drugs” kicked into high gear. This campaign has some uses as a diversionary tactic (from other policies) and as a way to exert police power - and there is a lot of money involved. Ultimately, however, the potential corporate profit margin from waging “The Drug War” is too limited - not nearly enough to sustain the ravenous “Military Industrial Congressional ,Complex”. After all, from a PR point of view, it would be much too controversial to “carpet bomb” Compton, California. Anyway, everyone knows that the REAL money is in making the weapons for warfare, then landing reconstruction contracts to repair the massive destruction wreaked, then making more weapons, etc. etc. etc.

So now we are supposed to believe that we are engaged in a “War on Terror” that will
last for decades - because their are millions of evil terrorists around the world that hate our
freedom. They so hate our culture that they are conspiring everywhere to attack us. It could happen at anytime anywhere, and the danger is so dire that we need to give up most of our civil liberties and treasure (then our government can protect what is left of our freedom). Of course, we must spend untold billions of dollars every year to fight this dangerous global terrorist conspiracy - and that may mean bombing and rebuilding and occupying a few rogue nations of choice along the way.

There really are terrorists and terrorist organizations of course - and they should be tracked down and brought to justice by a new international anti terrorist force. The United Nations must be reformed or replaced. A global international campaign to define and address the reasons causing people to become terrorists must ensue - and that means a much different American foreign policy than has been the case for the last 60 years. There must be a much more balanced access to opportunity and global resources. In the long run, nothing else is sustainable - but there are powerful people that don’t want any of that to happen.

Actually we are in a real war that has BEEN going on for centuries - CLASS WARFARE - or the Battle Between the Haves and Have nots. Also, for decades in America, we have been embroiled in the Culture War between libertarianism and puritanism. An ever increasing global population and ever decreasing global resources will add up to a critical mass deficit of sustainance - eventually - for everyone everywhere (China and India are coming up fast). Food and water will become even more disputed than oil and energy.

That “vast conspiracy” is more like a coalition of smaller conspiracies - including corporate greed heads, power politicians, fundamentalist christian crusaders, neocon “think tanks”, Pentagoners, spooks, etc. These smaller groups have overlapping interests and they do debate and conspire and plan efforts to consolidate control of the future’s political power and resources. Then they issue lockstep marching orders for action to their unquestioning partisan constituents. They find a way to get their way with the collusion of an eager-to-please mass media.

Credibility Gap? The incredible incompetence of W and the gang is making history.

9. Ministry of dis-Information
Mainstream media coverage of the Iraq invasion really served as a wake up call for me - that the defending of our democracy from our own elite oligarchs and global corporate robber barons was - and is - an urgent necessity. When you get right down to it, during the invasion the only real difference between IRAQ TV and American TV was fancier computer graphics - the media in both countries were exclusively extensions of their government propaganda offices. In America every channel on both broadcast and cable TV rushed to cheerlead for the invasion and present the government line - liberal pundits were fired or ignored. This could be the best Reality Show ever. All dissent was muted, because major media moguls were lobbying this Administration to allow them to increase their media monopolies. Even a year and a half after the Iraq invasion, serious investigative journalism is almost totally extinct - because MegaCorps own all the major outlets. However, as Bush looks weaker, like he did in the Debates, the corporate media will proportionately be more willing to expose him - to cover their assets in the future.

According to law, the politicians keep saying, the media bandwidth is owned by the American People. Then they give it away to huge corporations who make billions of dollars with it every year. In return the public is getting censored news and outright lies - although public interest and access was supposed to be part of the deal. In truth, the media has always had trouble with presenting too much controversy and telling truth to power. Today the degree to which our government and the MediaCorps feed off of each other - at the public’s expense - is dangerous and harmful to our democracy and common welfare.
We get game shows called reality, war that looks like video games and commercial messages that incessantly promote greed, gluttony, deception and waste. From cradle-to-grave we are all being trained to be insatiable consumers, fattened like cattle, worked and taxed in our most productive years, then led to an economic slaughterhouse of HMOs and MediCorp-care and DrugPharm kingpins.

It must be made mandatory for all media outlets to provide free full access for coverage of our campaigns and elections to all political parties (based on membership) in a much shorter
cycle that is completely Publicly Financed. Special interest groups could still purchase a corresponding amount of air time to present their message while bringing dollars to the media outlets. This, along with more educational and public service programming, should be the price for the use of the Public’s media bandwidth.

Every hour of every day MediaCorp is lying to us by distortion, omission and manipulation.
A lot of people are dead and a lot of broadcast liscenses should be scrutinized.

10. Wee the People
I am an Angry W.A.S.P. because the American People are too gullible and not angry enough. How much more wealth will be transferred to the rich and how much more of our treasure will be wasted and how many more lives and liberties will be lost and how much more of the global ecosystem be trashed with this neoRepublican right wing agenda. Even Reagan realized that something should trickle down to the people - even when he was just pissing on us

The Gang of Five in the White House, along with their corporate and congressional friends and associates, have an unquenchable greed and lust for power that is sociopathic and unsustainable. These are 20th century minds with 21st century weapons In a world steadily increasing in population with ever decreasing sustainable resources - and they want to control all of it. In this Class War the controlling factor is promoting fear and “fear itself”.

Nobody wants to be hurt or killed, but the chance of any individual American being attacked by a terrorist on any given day or or month or year is extremely small. It is not worth giving up ANY civil rights for the illusion of safety. As a society, we need to wake up and “grow up” and smarten up - then do what we can to truly improve our security here at home. We must pay attention to electing politicians that pursue a much more inclusive humanitarian domestic and foreign policy - that includes fair trade and environmental protection.This country has been through the Revolutionary War and the Civil War - two wars that killed a lot of Americans on our soil - one established the foundation for the US and the other reconfirmed the union. We cannot allow our freedom, our liberty and our country to be taken away from us because these guys are running a “protection racket” - telling us only they can keep us safe as they pick our pockets, enforce their will and silence their critics. If we don’t throw these bums out tomorrow, then we really are the chumps they think we are.

Even if you agree with the W policies, you should want to fire them all - for incompetence.

So there you have 10 good reasons to be angry, and there are many more. But don’t get mad - get even. All that anger should be focused into an energetic massive effort to elect the Democratic candidates for President and Congress on Tuesday November 2, 2004 - so we can begin to reboot our democracy in 2005. Although we can’t have Angry Howard or Progressive Dennis, we must still vote Democratic. All of us, Progressives, Libertarians, Greens, Socialists, centrist Dems, honest Republicans, conservatives and Independents should join together to achieve a semblance of political balance. Then we can have the urgent national debate about what kind of future this country of We the People will have.
Four more years of Bush will be a Dark Ages for America and the world. As a skeptical optimist, I believe Americans will vote Bush out by a large margin -but this must be the most intensely monitored election of all time. ALL the votes must be counted and there must be too many to steal. Our ongoing Constitutional Crises will go ballistic if there is another rigged election like 2000. I guess maybe then we would find out - the hard way -
if we actually really do still have democracy in America.

I would like to know, wouldn’t you? ....curt!

The Pledge

I pledge allegiance to Dick Cheney and the MegaCorps of America
and to the Republicans for which they stand, one Nation under W,
unaccountable with Liberty and Profits for Oligarchs.

How’s that, Dick? If we all sign an oath of loyalty and pledge our allegiance to
Commander W - our virtuous and strong yet compassionate (but not too sensitive)
fearless leader -will he save us from the Shadowy Evildoer Terrorists?

NOT!

Actually, it is elected officials who swear to represent the interests of the citizens
and protect the Constitution - The Law - of the United States. W and the gang are
not doing a very good job at either. Look and you will see record national debt,
record deficit, record trade imbalance, record skewed tax cuts, record pork spending,
record wages of wars of choice, record outsourcing of jobs, more poverty, less
medical coverage, aging infrastructure nationwide, record Boomer retirement looming -
the economy is a mess mostly bolstered by a record housing bubble. W says it is
the best economy in 20 years. Does he ever stop lying?Do you honestly think
this Gang would willingly do anything that might hurt the bottom line of the top tier?
Do you really think W is smart enough to turn it all around? There is no evidence
for that intelligence either!

George W Bush hears a voice in his head. He thinks it is (an angry) God speaking
through him. I would not want to bet my country on that - God is not incompetent!
Bush is.

Maybe you think that W and the Gang are strong and ruthless, so they will better
protect us from our enemies. Actually, with a dangerous blend of arrogance/ ideology/
incompetence, they are making more people hate America then ever before -
including many of our allies. This Gang has outed intelligence agents - foreign
and domestic - and leaked secret intelligence to Israel, Iran, and Pakistan.
George Weaker Bush is not strong intellectually or emotionally. For example,
W whined weakly and wilted when asked a few semi-tough questions by an Irish
journalist. He even had to have VP Cheney chaperone him to meet with the 9/11
Commission. It was probably difficult to explain that seven minutes of helpless
bewildered befuddlement that day while a hijacked plane was heading unchallenged
for the Pentagon. How will he conjure up the courage to face John Kerry in the debates?
May I suggest:

TAG TEAM DEBATES

Just think of what a great production for the MediaCorp! Cheney can rescue Bush
from the intellectual advantage of Kerry and Bush can rescue Cheney from the
personality advantage of Edwards. A spectacular show - for one and all - that can
be almost totally devoid of any substantive dialog.

I think the lawyers John/John will win in the end against the Above All Law Gang.
I think the mask is coming off, and the People will get wise to these guys and
dump them hard. I think there will be long coat tails and more gains in 2006.
This brush with a wannabe American Emperor has been very unpleasant for
the whole world. Kerry is more intelligent and more experienced. Actually,
he has already fought in an unnecessary unpopular war based on lies - like Iraq -
then he helped lead us out of that war in Viet Nam.

The Pledge is for allegiance to the Union and the Constitution - not a politician.
The United States of America is a nation of laws. These laws must abide by
the letter and spirit of our Constitution - including free speech and the separation
of church and state. The Pledge of Allegiance should be modified as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands, one Nation under LAW, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all.

Then let us get about the business of making that Pledge a reality......curt

Curt Reply (intro)

My name is Curt - I’m an Idea man. This blog is a place for me to offer
my perspective and opinion on some of the many things we need to
discuss and debate as a country, and even more importantly as a species.
Only the truth is sustainable and acceptable -

I aim to contribute my part to that dialog (even if nobody is listening).

I can only hope for the wisdom to know that I am not as smart as I think
I am - yet aspire to be. Mine is just one more opinion, but my particular
cerebral configuration has always seemed to be conducive to bouts of
spontaneous creative thinking. I often count on this ability to write songs.
Also, compared to most people, my Corpus Colossus seems wired to allow
an enhanced level of communication between the two halves of my brain.
Besides making me half left handed and half right handed, I believe that
this trait helps me to better see multiple sides of an issue in the context
of the bigger longer term picture. The logical part of my brain craves facts
and information, so I spend several hours a day monitoring the internet,
cable (satellite) news, books and magazines - and I have a high retention
rate. When I analyze the critical information there, the logical part of my
brain seeks truth and sustainability, while the creative part of my brain
occasionally flashes upon some insight to possible solutions/relationships.

Ideas can evolve from there.

COLINOSCOPY

There was a time, not so many years ago, when I might have actually considered voting for Colin Powell to be President Powell. He was the one Republican, with the possible exception of John McCain, I could say that about - but not anymore. However, there is a way for Powell to rescue his legacy from the cancerous W Administration - resign and shine some light on it’s inner workings by giving the whole mess a thorough Colinoscopy.

Colin Powell knew then that we should not be distracted from prosecuting the terrorist threat by invading Iraq. When he went to the United Nations and presented the Administration’s case for war, I knew - so surely he knew - that the much touted and bullet proof evidence to justify war was simply not there. Powell pitched it anyway (shame on him). Since then, he reportedly warned W about bad decisions and policies every step of the way. First, he was left out of the loop on the final decision to invade Iraq, then Rumsfeld ditched the Powell Doctrine and opted for a strategy deploying too few troops to do the job. Most of his warnings were mostly ignored - pre and post war. During the Occupation, the Resistance and now on to the Victorious Retreat Powell seems to be given more of a role.
It’s just not good enough to be a good soldier and maintain
undeserved loyalty to an unbalanced and increasingly unhinged Executive.

It is both ironic and unfair that the only apparent voice of reason in the W Administration will likely be blamed by history for helping to facilitate the huge mistakes made and high crimes that have been committed. Powell tried to warn W about dissing the UN, alienating our traditional allies, voiding international treaties and listening to disinformation from unvetted sources. He advised W about the importance of human rights and warned about abuse of prisoners. W and crew did it all wrong anyway. To whatever extent the Powell moderating influence has been marginal, I can only imagine how much worse things would be now if he had not been there. Since Powell will NOT be there if W gains his reappointment, I can only imagine how much worse a second term will be - unbridled by any constraints of facing the Voters again (who pay for everything in every
way - of course).

Look at what America has come to during the W Administration’s watch. We got hit on 9/11 because they ignored multiple explicit warnings.
Based on lies and propaganda, we invaded Iraq for greed, power and politics (not safety, morality or democracy). The US Treasury was raided
and all the money was transfered to the super rich. We are trashing the environment permanently. Civil rights and Constitutional protections are
increasingly being curtailed and dissent is surpressed. Seperation of church and state is being blurred and diversity is repressed. Elections are
increasingly prone to corruption and compliant corporate media is further consolidated. Education, Healthcare and Homeland Security suffer while every possible benefit and advantage is given to supranational MegaCorporations - who help shape the policies that award them lucrative government contracts. Now we are funding private Corporate Mercenary Armies that have no clear legal accountability. Reportedly they are on the loose around the world - committing rape, kidnapping, blackmail, torture and murder in our name - with the collaboration of our military and intelligence services. We should not become terrorists to fight terrorism - America’s National Honor and moral standing are massively diminished
and corrupted by this cancerous condition. On top of it all, we are less
safe in every way.

We sure could use a Colinoscopy.

The W Administration exhibits a unique and dangerous mix of sinister incompetence. They are a willing coalition of ruthless politics, religious righteousness, arrogant eliteism, militant ideology, nonwise intellectualism, limitless greed and an unquenchable hunger for power. They pursue their agendas with powerful friends and associates in secrecy - as much as they can get away with. When W says he wants to Change the World, he really means Control the World. Due to an incredibly incompetent lack of executive ability and excess stubbornness, the W Crusade has stalled and appears to be self destructing. We have had our graphic “My-Lai moment” - and the pictures are worth a million words. For all intents of purposes, the war - as it was being portrayed on American TV - ended with the release of those prison torture pictures. We still have not seen the worst of the pictures or heard the worst of the story, but what we have already seen is disturbingly unforgettable. This is not the true image and spirit of America - this is not the American Dream.

We need to quell the hemmorrhaging of blood, soul and treasure by purging this spreading cancer from the body politic. Regime change at home will be a major procedure - made even more difficult by the fanatical desire they have to stay in power. Colin Powell could abort the W reselection operation by telling the whole honest truth and documenting what he has seen and heard in the last four years. Lately, Powell seems to be thinking about legacy protection and damage control for his reputation -
to keep it from falling forever into the W credibility gap. His recent appearance on Meet the Press, when he did not allow his Minder to cut the questions short, was a good sign. It was nice to see him show a little spunk, but now he should completely come clean.

Hey - he could even team up with the Kerry campaign! For the common good of our Republic and the health of real democracy, that would be a truly historic heroic patriotic act. W must go so 2005 can bring renewal - our nation needs balance and healing.
........curt

(originally posted 5/23/04 at Bopnotes.com)

9/11 - What's the Difference?

We all know that being US Commander in Chief is a very difficult job. Investigating 9/11
also exposes the reality that many of the US Administrations since World War 2 have lied
about policy and failed to protect America - including in Korea, Vietnam, Iran/Contra, The
Drug War, Iraq 1- now Iraq 2 etc. Now more than ever we need wise, competent, honest
presidents at the helm for the campaign to Globally End Terrorism. Comparing leadership
skills and character traits of past, present and future leaders and their ability to protect the
security and SPIRIT of America is important in deciding who should get that difficult job next:
Clinton, GW Bush, Kerry - What’s the difference?

Clinton:
1. +worked hard on Israel/Palestine crisis with good will attempt
2. +Cabinet PRINCIPLES met about terroism issues
3. +increased attention during dangerous Millenium period averting major terrorist activities.
4. + attempted to go after bin Laden with cruise missles (and Republicans criticized) then authorized assassination
5. +launched the Hart/Rudman Commission to recommend how to better protect 21st century America
6. +had good relations with most other countries for help and co-operation
7. +began development and use of surveillance drones and other new tactics to fight terror abroad
8. -wrongly started media deregulation with AM radio (now we have Clear Channelitus)
9. -missed Oklahoma Bombing then started precursor policies of Patriot Act
10.-Federal Policing over reached domestically in such actions as Waco and the (unconstitutional) “Drug War”
11.-indiscreet - therefore was handicapped by an illegal Republican impeachment
12.+recently testified at the 9/11 Commission - to their complete and unanimous satisfaction

Some success, some failure - but Clinton clearly recognized the potential terrorist threat
and took a lot of proactive measures to counter it. He came to the right conclusion - if possible,
assassinate bin Laden. Then he took further steps to study what more could and should be done
to improve the security of America. He warned Bush that bin Laden was a highest priority concern.
Clinton would definitely have acted on the type of numerous warnings GWB got in the summer of 2001

GW Bush:
1. - blew Road Map with obvious bias for Israel - dissing Palestine officially and publicly now
2. - demoted terrorism priority to a few Deputy meetings before 9/11
3. - took vacation - had many warnings but few meetings and no action during the summer of threat in 2001
4. -let bin Laden escape at Tora Bora - diverting major resources in his haste to invade Iraq
5. -totally ignored the prescient findings and comprehensive recommendations of the Hart/Rudmen Commission
6. -insulted and alienated every country in the world, then ignored their many terror event warnings
7. -pre 9/11 decided not to arm the surveillance drones to target bin Laden - or even read the Clinton files on terrorists
8. -invaded Iraq (no WMD) and befriended Pakistan (proliferated WMD)
9. -cozy personal and business relations with a leading breeding ground and supporter of terrorists - Saudi Arabia
10.-winning in Afghanistan and “finding” bin Laden still on the back burner because of Iraq
11.-trashing the Constitution - Incorporating America - neo Inquisition - Theocrats - depleting the US Treasury - lying IS policy
12.-constant impediments and delays being imposed on the 9/11 Commission (and the many other investigations)

War President? Slacker in Chief Bush Jr apparently lacks the brains, the balls or both to face
the 9/11 Commission alone to explain his policies without holding the hand of Vice CEO Cheney.
Pre 9/11 there were so many warnings and so little follow up action taken - it makes one wonder why?
AWOL AGAIN? Too busy scheming on fat juicy Star Wars missle defense contracts and the Crusade of
Conquest in Iraq? We’ve already seen a lot more “actionable intelligence" evidence against al Qaeda
and bin Laden then there ever was about Iraq - but Iraq had good Targets and Oil. It sure would have been
a lot less costly had Bush just waited for the opportunity to assassinate Saddam Hussein instead of invading.
Of course WAR is the only effective way of feeding that Corporate-Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex
of Campaign Supporters that our tax dollars are paying for. He may sometimes be a great cheerleader, but
as a president of the people GW Bush has a record of total failure - both domestically and abroad.

Kerry:
1. + was a war hero - has seen real action and showed bravery
2. +was a war protester - stood up for truth when government was wrong about Vietnam
3. +has been a US Senator for 20 years - good on environment and anti bank corruption
4. -voted for Iraq and the USA Patriot Act - should have known better
5. -voted against Iraq funding - an obvious political play to counter anti war candidate Howard Dean
6. +would pursue better international relations - more friendship and co-operation
7. +would pursue better economic policies - and cancel upper tax cuts
8. +would respect civil rights and the Constitution
9. +would do better on Palestine/ Israel crises and Iraq
10.+better understands the threat of terrorism - willing to listen to new ideas - can express himself coherantly
11.+not a religious extremist
12.+not looking for a war

Is there any doubt Kerry is much smarter and has more wisdom then Bush? No! Honestly,
can you imagine Kerry conducting a press conference as feeble as Bush did April Fools month?
We have serious business needing serious leadership going forward. Sure, Kerry has his faults -
he is a politician after all - but he also has a history of rising to the challenge when the going gets
really tough. Kerry has the potential of possibly becoming a great president in a critical era for
America and the world. At the very least he would certainly improve our relations with the
international community, improve the economy some and improve the environment a lot.
Actually, I think he will make most of us feel like grownups are in charge again.

Electing John Kerry and the maximum possible number of other Democrats in 2004 is just the first step.
The next step will be to either reform the Democratic Party or (more likely) leave it behind and turn the
Green Party into an organized and dedicated powerful neo-progressive machine over the next four years
and beyond. In the short term, the Campaign to Globally End Terrorism must be a co-operative effort with
the world’s governments and organizations like the United Nations and NATO. Iraq and the Israel/Palestine
conflicts are also very tough first priority problems that need solutions - and that takes intelligent leadership.
Kerry would have a much better chance of making that happen. The truth is, rest of the world is not going to
respect the American People very much if we endorse by re-election GW Bush and his Administration.

On September 11, 2001 as I watched the second plane plow into the World Trade Center
on live TV, my first thought was that the world has forever changed. Since then it has been
common to hear people say that “after 9/11 everything is different.” What’s the difference?
It is really just more of the same. More lies, more greed, more war, more death, more hate,
more disease, more hunger, more ignorance, more injustice and more unsustainable policies.
When GW Bush says “we can change the world”, his is a singular vision of exerting military power
to impose “HIS” change by force. The time HAS come for sweeping and progressive change - but that will
take new leadership. In 2004 Kerry is the only electable alternative to more of the same (but likely worse).

In the longer term - to survive as a species - we must progressively evolve into an international federation of
sovereign regional States that celebrate the diversity of humanity with policies based on social justice, peace,
conservation, the sharing of resources, costs and benefits. That will require an end to the Era of Corporation
DomiNation. The People of America and all over the world must put governments in place that will allow real
solutions to happen. Ultimately, The Powers That Be cannot stop the focused Power of the People. The way
to really end Terrorism and make the whole world a lot more secure is to end the offensive semi-imperialistic
foreign policy the US has demonstrated over the past 60 years. The future Global Federation of Nations will
work together to stop violent radicals and aggressive nations early with a modern International Peace Force.
If freedom, fairness and justice everywhere were policy, and people had a real chance to pursue happiness,
not many would become terrorists.

The neocon solution of world domination is so 20th century - it ain’t gonna work - so get over it!!
Time for the human race to start taking the first steps toward growing up .....curt

(originally posted 4/15/04)

George WMD Bush

Turns out, it really does matter who the President of the United States is -
George WMD Bush is proof! Why worry about his “smash and grab”
policies and his “see Spot run” philosophies? After all, there are riches to
amass and power to engage in a world he and his friends think only they
deserve to control. Why ask questions? Why worry about what the other
6 billion people on the planet think? We can fight them all - just pay your
taxes and go to work (if you have a job) and shop a lot (charge it if you
have no cash) and be an obedient patriot (Republican). Don’t worry, the
Administration will take care of everything else. Okay, maybe that little
matter about Weapons of Mass Destruction did not pan out quite as
advertised - and things are admittedly a bit messy over there where all
that Oil is - but if you simply apply a little selective intelligent interpretation -
WMD is actually all around us.

consider:

We were all Wantonly Misled Deceptively by Wannabe Mafia Dictators
to invade Iraq as Wielders of Mock Democracy with a coalition of the
Willing Meek and Despotic. Mostly, George WMD Bush and Company
were Wussies and Military Dodgers but are now Warmongers of Mega
Devastation seeking World Military Domination.

Here at home, this Administration of White Male Dummies operates a
Whitehouse of Mental Dysfunction with a Congress controlled by ethicless
Whores of Moral Desecration committing Wholesale Monetary Depletion under
cover of Willing Media Distortion. These Wranglers of Madcow Diseases
do not tolerate much Wisdom and Mute Dissent. So crank up those Weapons
of Mass Deforestation baby, The Resident says we’re aheadin' for the Tongass
and some Old Growth - and then on to Wallop the Muddled Democrats in 2004
With Machines by Diebold for four more years of War, Manipulation and
Decimation of the Bill of Rights.

Lies? George WMD Bush said What Makes the Difference? We Must Deliver
the answer to him - no more Wallowing Mucho Deceit - W Meets Defeat
(If not - then Impeach!) We the People and Our Constitution urgently
require a different Administration and Congress.
....curt

(originally posted 1/03/04)