What you need to believe to be a Republican:#5 - The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veteran's benefits and combat pay.
The Holocaust Journal (Lest we forget)
Ten days after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, on May 10, 1933, over 20,000 books were burned in Berlin. Across Germany, in 30 university towns, "brown-shirted Nazi students along with many of their professors purged 'un-German' writings from libraries and shops and set them ablaze.
"Enthusiastic crowds witnessed the destruction, which was launched with torchlight parades and accented by speeches that proclaimed the death of 'Jewish intellectualism' and the purification of German culture."
Into the flames were consigned the works of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, along with the poems of Heinrich Heine.
Germany - 1933
1. Concentration camps are built in Oranienburg, Esterwegen, Sachsenburg, and Dachau.
2. An anti-semitic, anti-communist organization is founded.
3. The anti-semitic Movement of German Christian Believers becomes the semiofficial religious organization in Germany.
4. Albert Einstein criticizes the new Nazi regime and leaves for the United States.
5. The Silver Shirts, a Nazi-type group, is formed in the United States.
6. In January, Austrian Bishop Ffollner of Linz writes in a pastoral letter that it is the duty of all Catholics to adopt a "moral form of anti-semitism."
More tomorrow.
What you see ain't what you get!
In the latest issue of Sierra magazine, Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, explains that "When corporate America tied its future to globalism, it made a deal with the devil."
Pope discusses the recalls of toxic products made in foreign factories. He can't imagine any firm that would "be so crass or so dumb as to save a fraction of a penny on a $30 toy by using lead paint."
What has happened, says Pope, is that many major companies no longer have any say in how their goods are made. They have lost their quality control. "They are powerless to prevent a recurrence of the toxic-toy tragedy--and they are terrified that their brands could be dragged through the mud when the next epidemic of dangerous products strikes."
The problem is a business model whereby companies outsource the manufacture of their products under short-term and low-cost contracts. They may design a product, but the product is made in a factory where they have no control. The companies don't "manage the working conditions, environmental standards, or safety practices."
The greed of these companies has brought them unparalleled profits, but when you sleep with the devil you're liable to wake up with a headache. When you are willing to cut costs by cutting corners, you are liable to be liable for toxic products and and that will bring on a migraine!
Pope concludes by noting that brand names no longer mean much. "Globalism has turned brand-name manufacturing into a fraud. Many of the knockoff handbags and other luxury goods you can buy on the street in Shanghai--or even New York City--are actually made in the same factories as the real thing.
Think about that the next time you're tempted to shell out several hundred dollars for a Coach purse!
Mentally molesting children in California's public schools
James Dobson called for a boycott of California's public schools some time ago. Christian parents, he said, should pull their children out of those dens of iniquity.
This is the same flap - different edition.
A Christian coalition has formed in California to boycott the California public school system. These godly folks are really pissed because Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law legislation they feel will "indoctrinate children to favor sodomy as a healthy and normal lifestyle choice."
The coalition includes the Eagle Forum, the Campaign for Children and Families, and Exodus Mandate, plus ten more organizations of the far right.
Actually, the Gov signed four new laws back in October, 2007. While all four were backed by the homosexual community, only two dealt with the public schools.
California law already protected public school students from harassment as a result of skin color, ethnicity or sexual orientation. SB 777, one of the laws signed by Gov Arnie, simply updates specific anti-discrimination provisions scattered throughout the state's Education Code.
Another law, AB 394, "requires schools to publicize antidiscrimination and harassment policies in all schools and offices."
The homosexual-hating Christian rightists believe that these bills mean that "children as young as five years old will be mentally molested in school classrooms," according to one Christian gentleman.
Actually, that isn't even close to true. The new bills changed nothing. These groups have simply hauled them into the spotlight in order to promote their message of discrimination and hate.
An outside observer might even conclude that their children are more likely to be "mentally molested" in their Sunday School class than in the public schools
The Dark Legacy of G.W. Bush
It ain't gonna be easy not being Bush.
Whoever gains the White House come November may find "the clammy fingers of the Bush administration ... still wrapped around vital national policies. ... in the past few weeks, the Administration began entrenching strategic policies that are core to its ideological commitments in national security."
For one, the Bushites are attempting "to extend the practice of coercive interrogation." [That means torture!] " ... the next President will inherit a situation of tremendous ambiguity, with the CIA's much-vaunted interrogation practices not a smooth-running program but a train wreck." In other words, no one is sure what is legal or what to do.
Secondly, a new president will have to deal with the fact that the Bushites have abrogated the Constitution as a matter of policy - that certain civil liberties have been dismissed as detrimental to the chase after terrorists, e. g. the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
A third major problem remains Iraq -- a whirlpool of angst. Iraq is such a mess that even someone with a plan and the best intentions is likely to get swept away in the maelstrom. Candidates who promise to pull troops out of Iraq will learn quickly that promises are easy. On January 9, Bush, speaking in Kuwait, talked about an Iraqi agreement that would "cement America's 'enduring relationship' with Iraq, ensuring 'active US engagement that outlasts my presidency.'"
Do you think a new prez is going to be able to bring the troops home when one of their main duties is to safeguard the Iraqi oil supply?
No doubt there are many other, not so obvious "conditions," planted by the current snake-oil salesmen, which will hamstring the new administration--Democratic or Republican.
It ain't gonna be easy being president! (Unless you're John McCain, of course, who has metamorphosed into a clone of G. W. Bush!)
The Truth about Iraq
From Leonardo Maugeri, ENI (Italian oil and gas company): " ...a large part of the country [Iraq]--the western desert area--is still mainly unexplored. Iraq has never implemented advanced technologies ... Of more than 80 oilfields discovered in Iraq, only about 21 have been at least partially developed ...[I]t is realistic to assume that Iraq has far more oil reserves than documented so far--probably about 200 million barrels more."
From Fadel Gheit, a NY oil analyst: "Think of Iraq as virgin territory ... This is bigger than anything Exxon is involved in currently ... It is the superstar of the future. That's why Iraq has become the most sought-after real estate on the face of the earth ... Think of Iraq as a military base with a very large oil reserve underneath ... You can't ask for better than that."
These comments were made before March 2003. They help us to better understand why our president, vice president and their cronies--oil men all--lied to lead our nation to war. They help us to better understand why Mr. Bush, just a few days ago, felt it necessary to sign an "Iraqi agreement" that would "cement" the relationship between Iraq and the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
The Iraqi war was always and only about oil! (Say that over and over again.)
It had absolutely nothing to do with fake WMD's, or with bringing democracy to the people of Iraq. It was about regime change to get our hands on Iraq's oil before Saddam did something stupid -- like sell it to another country.
All of this also means it will be a cold day in hell (or the Iraqi deserts) before our troops are gonna come home! Well, I guess we could hire the Blackwater nasties to guard the oil fields!
[The quotations above are from American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips.]
No comments:
Post a Comment