Saturday, January 24, 2015

Republican Hypocrisy and Saudi Arabia





The king is dead.  Long live the king.

The question is, will King Salman be a "moderate" and move slowly toward change in the manner of his predecessor, or will he, god forbid, bow to the Imams and move backward toward the 16th century?

Saudi Arabia is an absolute dictatorship.  The people have no say in the government.  It is also a religious dictatorship.  Try to establish a Roman Catholic or Protestant church in S.A.  Better yet, try to build a synagogue within its borders.  It is an Islamic state.  It's not ISIS but the difference is one of substance not of kind.  Saudi Arabia is not quite as brutal as ISIS or other Islamic countries, but you can still get you hand or your head cut off for certain violations of Islamic law and you can spend a number of years in prison if you are a woman and dare to put the pedal to the medal in one of the king's Mercedes.

As has long been standard practice in the United States, we have no problem with dictatorships so long as the dictators are our dictators.  Latin America provides numerous examples of such a policy.  Take Cuba, for example.  We had no problem with Batista who was a dictatorial terror, but he followed the lead of the U.S. when we wanted him to.  Then came Castro.  We supported Castro initially, but when it turned out he leaned toward Marxism, we threw him overboard, waged war against him, tried to assassinate him and treated him as a pariah for over 50 years!

President Obama is heading to Saudi Arabia to kiss the king's behind - er, show the king respect.  It's not that he supports the system of government in Saudi Arabia, it's that Saudi Arabia is important to our interests in the Middle East and have been helpful to us on any number of occasions.  We want to ensure that King Salman remains our king!


You may recall the recent outcry raised by our nogoodnik Republican leaders when Mr. Obama took the initiative to build a new relationship with the Cuban government, one which might prove beneficial to both countries.  There was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth on the part of the Republican poobahs because, my god, Cuba is a Communist and godless country!  We can't, we must not, have anything to do with Cuba.  Well, we could blow up the country or at least the Castro brothers, but mutual tolerance and respect and perhaps even some trade and travel between the two countries?  That's just asking too much for our freedom-loving, dictator-hating, non-Commie Republicans in Congress.

There is no question that our foreign policy is often hypocritical.  We've been known to sleep with the devil if we thought it would promote whatever it was we wanted promoted at the moment.  Saddam Hussein was one of our boys.  Hell, so was Osama bin Laden at one time!

The problem with this is it makes any effort on the part of the U.S. to execute policy from a moral perspective highly suspect.  Nobody believes we're better than the rest of the world.  Well, except for Steve King in Iowa, and Ted Cruz in Texas, and Louis Gohmert in Texas, but they are idiots.  We have and will continue to operate in such a manner as to reach whatever goals we have set for our country, and morality be damned.

Thus, the CIA renders people to countries controlled by persons friendly to us in order to engage in a little torture, which, although such a thing is forbidden by the Geneva Convention, is heartily endorsed by the leaders of the U.S.  At least that used to be the case.  And one of the main
promoters of torture ("I'd do it again," Cheney) thinks it's just wonderful that we can violate our Constitution, our conscience and our pretense of moral superiority in this way.


But, omigod!  Obama is making noises about treating Cuba with a certain amount of respect!  We can't do that!  We are a god-fearing, Jesus-loving nation and we know god and Jesus hate Commies and want us to bomb them into oblivion.  We certainly cannot allow an exchange of goods or travel between the two countries.  What will people think?

So say the Republicans.  We can, however, kiss the asses of every king and prince in Saudi Arabia in spite of the fact the country is a miserable Islamic dictatorship which allows absolutely no dissent from what the Royals decree.  Anything other than absolute obedience is met with state-sanctioned violence.

Of course, the Saudis control a lot of oil.  Furthermore, the Bush family and other political types down through the years have become close as spit with the Saudi royal family.  You do remember immediately after 9/11, Bush the Younger had all the Saudis in this country rounded up and flown home before the FBI or anyone else could question them.  Did Bush know something the rest of us didn't?  That was certainly a suspect move, considering most of the terrorists on 9/11 were Saudi Arabians!  We must not forget, either, that the Saudis own much of this country's real estate.  In fact, the exact amount of what they own is unknown.  That's called leverage.


Nothing will change anytime soon.  We'll continue in our hypocritical ways, but perhaps these nogoodnik Republicans could shut their damn mouths!




Dominion Theology: Extremist Right-Wing Christianity





Published on Jan 18, 2015
–Classic Interview: Rachel Tabachnick, researcher, writer, and speaker on impact of the Religious Right, joins us to talk about New Apostolic Reformation, Dominion Theology, and the connection with Rick Perry

h/t to Talk to Action.

Freedom Summit in Iowa - Religious fanatics, mental midgets, and political misfits


This photo and the information contained herein came from People for the American Way which is a great organization fighting against all those who would bring our country down.  Check them out and make a contribution if you can.

Notice this montage of losers!  Religious fanatics and mental midgets and political misfits, most of whom want to be president of the United States.

The Freedom Summit being held today in Iowa, is sponsored by Citizens United (a Koch brothers outfit) and the seriously crazy Steve King.  Those pictured are to be present to kiss the Koch asses.

Sarah Palin - the antithesis of "Christian"


One has to wonder what's wrong with this person called Palin.  Somehow, somewhere, certain pieces of her brain snap together in the wrong way. In her mind, what decent people consider "right" is wrong and vice versa.

If you know anything of the legendary Jesus of the Gospels, you know that Sarah, by her beliefs and actions, is antithetical to everything he taught.

Note:  The photo came from Crooks & Liars.  Please read the entire article here.


Friday, January 23, 2015

Earth's Apocalypse




Earth's Apocalypse

This is not you know
A time for celebration
For fireworks
Explosions in the sky
Or dry Champagne.
It is a time when
Winds of war
Hate and terror
Sweep across
Planet Earth
When compared to
Yesterday nothing
Is the same.
Ironically crime is down
From Florida to Maine
And all the way to
California.
That is if we believe
The media, police and
The politicians
Not that they would ever
Lie except in an
Emergency or perhaps
If they had a growing need
To put more feathers
In their nest.
One might say
It all began
In the days of Reagan
When a B-grade actor
Became president and
Gave weapons
To our friend
Osama bin Laden so
He could fight the Russians
In Afghanistan
And send them running back
To Russia thereby
Freeing up the land.
Then George the First
Called up the troops to
Fight Iraqis even though
They'd been our friends
In their fight against Iran.
But now he said
They are our enemies
And a danger
To the Saudis
Bush owed the
Saudis big-time so
He sent our troops to die
To save Kuwaiti oil
But he left Iraq too soon
Before the job was done
Which left a lot to be desired
And old Hussein in place
Which George the Younger
Thought was bad
And made him
Very mad though it is said
That he was mad
From his youth
And seldom gave a thought
To reason or to
Common sense.
So George the Younger
Went to war but sent
The young and bold and those
Who had no other options
To spill their blood again
So he could at last avenge
His daddy's dithering
Although he lied of course
About everything
Which wasn't strange at all
To those who knew him when.
Today Iraq's a hole in hell
The Middle East aflame
It might have happened anyway
But Bush is much to blame
For thousands lost their
Homes and lives
Many went insane
And in the good old USA
Instead of going to jail
Bush is given accolades
"Fare thee well," and "Hail!"
Sadly too
George left a mess
A country deep in debt
His tax cuts made the rich
Even richer yet.
Then Obama came along
Couldn't catch a break
When he tried to do
The things he couldn't do
With a Congress full of fools
People jeered
Called him a Muslim
And a Marxist too.
Republicans attacked
Fought him tooth and nail
While they left the country
To fester and to fail
So they could blame
The President
And set a precedent
Which would get them
Re-elected.
It may be too late now
To turn this thing around with
Just two minutes left
On the Doomsday clock.
Most folks do not seem to care
Politicians run and hide
When asked what they have done
To stop the seething searing
Heat that's scorching
Mother Earth.
The Second Coming you should know
Is nothing but a myth
And Armageddon mere nonsense
But don't take that to mean
That we'll survive or
Make it through
The earth's Apocalypse!


Copyright © 2015 by Lowell A. Anderson.  All rights reserved.

Note:  This poem was cross-posted to Creative Confections.

RWW News: Mike Huckabee Plans To Run For President To Fight The Secular ...



Mike Huckabee is one sick puppy!  And a liar.  And if he really believes what he's saying about our country and its founders, he's ignorant and not very bright!