SOUR KOOL-AID

SOUR KOOL-AID

I admit freely that I drank from the Democratic/Obama Kool-Aid punch bowl. The taste of that Kool-Aid has now soured beyond the point of drinkability. Make no mistake; the Bush/McCain/Republican punch bowl was much more than soured, it was pure poison. Two things since Obama took office have totally soured my taste for the Democratic/Obama Kool-Aid. The first and most damaging is the commitment of the administration to send an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. The second is the watered down and probably ineffective "Stimulus Package." I will now examine each of these in detail and why I think the "Glimmer of Hope" that was Obama is now a "Candle in the Wind."

The "wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan are myth, public relations fabrications. They are NOT wars. They are invasions and occupations of over matched sovereign countries. The war mongering Right has been allowed to define these illegal and immoral actions in terms that sound patriotic and reasonable. The talking pinheads of the Right abuse the term "Liberal" constantly by characterizing Obama has being a radical Liberal. They have skewed the perceived middle point so far to the right, that traditional Conservatives like Barry Goldwater seem to be radical Liberals. President Obama is no Liberal and the sending of additional troops to Afghanistan is the most obvious proof.

He claims to have been against the Iraqi invasion from the beginning and I take him at his word so far, watching to see if the withdrawals from Iraq happen in a timely fashion. The continuation of construction of permanent bases within Iraq however has raised my level of skepticism. My first active participation in a presidential race was in 1972, with George McGovern running against Tricky Dick Nixon. I abhorred the killing and dying in Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia. Today I abhor the killing and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan even more, if that is possible. The best and most patriotic of our young people have died and are dying for no good reason. We as a country have enough blood of innocents, in all three countries, on our hands to rival the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. We have failed to learn from history and the death toll keeps rising. We have seen the face of evil and it stares back from our mirrors.

When Bush/Cheney took office, the country had a surplus and there was a lot of talk of what to do with the "Peace Dividend." Tax cuts were the favorite of the Right because they no longer wanted the "free loading poor" putting their hands out. Never mind the radical overhaul to the Welfare System that took place under Clinton. Then 9/11/2001 occurred. All talk of a Peace Dividend disappeared and the drums of war began to beat loudly. Strangely though, the tax cuts for the rich and corporations stayed with us. The Right proceeded to tax less and spend more. They proved to have no basic arithmetic skills except lining their own bank accounts. The recipe for the ultimate distraction was put into place. We are now faced with economic troubles that may rival the Great Depression of 1920's and 1930's.

We have had tax cuts since Reagan took office in 1981. There is some evidence that for the short term they might help but in the long term they have failed to stave off longer and deeper recessions. Despite being elected with a firm mandate, Obama proposed a Stimulus Package that was flawed through compromise from the beginning. The results of making a third of his package tax cuts were the votes of three Republican Senators and NO Republican Representatives. Comparable money spent to bail out bankers and stockbrokers passed Congress without the same need to compromise. The rich were protected while the poor and middle class were screwed again.

People are worried about their homes, their next paycheck and even their next meal. They don't want to be bothered by the killing, dying and waste of Iraq and Afghanistan. The sleight of hand of keeping the economy in the forefront while the killing and dying continue is despicable. We are in this economic meltdown because of the military spending. Spending on Iraq and Afghanistan will need to stop before real recovery can start at home.

My hope today is that Obama can resist the wind and keep the candle lit. To do that, he must become the radical Liberal that the pinheads accuse him of being. He must embrace the light. Then and only then can the sourness of the Kool-Aid be alleviated.


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Let the Healing Begin

Let the Healing Begin

The day many of us feared that would never come has happened; George W. "War Chimp and Criminal" Bush has finally left office. The stench that has permeated the White House and the Office of President for the past eight years is now residing in Texas. How long will it take to reverse the multitude of crimes and wrongs perpetrated by this crime organization? The honest answer is infinity. The lives of over a million Iraqis and Afghans can never be restored or fully compensated. The squandering of nearly 5000 American service personnel's lives is unforgivable and irreversible. The uncounted thousands of Americans permanently disabled cannot ever be justified.

There seems to be widespread sentiment to let these actions go unaccounted. We as Americans must never forget these things were done in our name. To let this cancer fester on the American body politic is just plain wrong. My friends at UNKNOWN NEWS sell a bumper sticker that states: Their blood is on the hands of those who lied, those who spread the lies, and those who voted for the liars. For any healing to begin in earnest requires an accounting of the crimes of the War Chimp's cabal. When a patient undergoes surgery for cancer, the surgeon endeavors to cut out the entire cancer mass so the patient can begin the road to recovery. Such is the case here. We must root out ALL those who broke the law and bring them to justice. Anything less would just leave the cancer in place to continue growing.

Prior to the inauguration of President Obama, I had a countdown clock on my blog sites showing the time left for the War Chimp's time in office. I have replaced that clock with a count-up clock showing the amount of time he has gone without persecution for his crimes. I fear this clock may still be ticking when I'm dead and buried. I pray it won't be, if my country has any chance of truly healing and getting on the road of recovery.


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