American Matrix

A sad, sinking feeling has enveloped me this morning.

How can we maintain the role of the vigilant citizen – making sure our Republic is functioning properly – when it has been hijacked by a band of wing-nuts headed by a playground bully?

Is there anything left to fight for?

I feel like I am living in the film The Matrix where a phony universe has been created expressly for the purpose of distracting us from the realization that our true selves are imprisoned, bound and gagged.

To create this pretend world, the wing-nut prevaricator machine has a top-ten list of oft-repeated lies:

1. America is a free and prosperous nation;
2. the economy is strong;
3. we do not need BIG GOVERNMENT to build and maintain our infrastructure, deal with natural disasters, tackle health care, education, and environmental issues, etc., because private industry can do it better with more efficiency;
4. gays, environmentalists, anti-war protesters and liberals are dangerous, unpatriotic and do not support our troops;
5. the terrorists despise us because we have freedom and wealth;
6. they hate is so much that they flew planes into buildings and are always and relentlessly looking for new ways to punish us;
7. we invaded Iraq to rid the world of a cruel dictator who was threatening America with weapons of mass destruction;
8. we must stay in Iraq until it becomes a stable democracy and a beacon of hope to other Nations who will be unable to resist the lure of freedom;
9. the surge is working;
10. we cannot leave because Iraq will collapse, millions will die and the terrorists win.

Although none of the above is true, millions of people believe it!

WHY?

Because those with access to the megaphone of truth – primarily the media and our ‘elected’ officials -- must be getting something out of it.

Never mind that the ship is sinking, there is power to be grabbed and money to be made!

Evidence that America is lost – perhaps forever – is found in recent news headlines:

• MoveOn Ad Moves Congress to Vote for Nothing
  

• Senate Fails to Restore Habeas Corpus
  

• Sally Field Speech Censored

• Maryland Denies Marriage Rights to Same-Sex Partners

• Iraqi Man Prevented From Wearing T-Shirt on Plane
  

• Couple Arrested for Wearing Anti-Bush T-Shirts
  

• More Than 190 War Protesters Arrested in DC
  

• Student Tasered During John Kerry Speech
  

• Despite Democrat Majority, Bush Gets Everything He Wants: War Will Not End
  

• Cindy Sheehan Arrested While Pleading With John Conyers To Initiate Impeachment
  

How can we be fighting to promote freedom elsewhere when we don't even have it here at home?

Even comedian George Carlin can't make it funny:

George and John: Breaking up is hard to do!

This week’s meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney should mark the last time that Australian Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W Bush get to schmooze one another as official heads of state.

As they gaze one last time into one another's eyes, perhaps they will be saddened that their days of war mongering against the Muslim world and against the LGBTQ Community are nearly over.

After all, they have been successful at murdering hundreds of thousands of Muslim men, women and children -- and have unleashed an unprecedented assault on gay men and lesbians in the US, Australia, Afghanistan and Iraq:

"Life is particularly less safe for gay and lesbian people in Iraq, many of whom are being hunted down and executed by Islamic extremists. But it is over the rights of their own gay and lesbian constituents that Bush and Howard are arguably most aligned.

In the lead-up to the 2004 US Presidential election, Bush’s Republican Party sought to mobilise right wing Christian voters by placing referenda on gay marriage on the ballot papers of many of the vital swing States that would determine the election result.

Bush went on to win many of those States, with gay marriage banned in each.

Similarly, in the lead-up to Australia’s general election in 2004, John Howard introduced legislation to ban gay marriage."

We say good riddance to both of these dangerous and delusional men.

Weapons of Total Distraction

Lots of juicy headlines in the news these days:

• Idaho Senator Larry Craig caught with his pants down cruising for gay sex in an airport men's room;
• Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales -- both resigning under the cloud of multiple Congressional and other Federal investigations;
• White House press secretary Tony Snow and Senator John Warner, both announcing their imminent retirements yesterday;
• The 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana;
• The 2nd anniversary of hurricane Katrina;
• Big Democratic donor, Norman Hsu, on the lam;
• The 2008 presidential election and whatever any of the 20 or so candidates said, ate or did;
• Will Fred Thompson announce his candidacy or not;
• War in Iraq;
• War in Afghanistan;
• Sub prime mortgages, the roller-coaster stock market, and the ever-widening wage-gap
  

Even if we ignore the melodrama of today's news, in our own lives there are many distractions in these last days of summer -- Labor Day weekend, starting school, and so on.

In the meantime, while we've been focusing on all these other things, George Bush and Dick Cheney have ramped up their war rhetoric against Iran:

• US Battleships and Bombers are at the ready.
• No new Congressional resolution necessary since Bush declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are a terrorist organization.
• Bush and Cheney believe they must "take out" Iran's nuclear program before leaving office.

And after we bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, what will happen?

Iran is a Shia Nation and the Iraqi population are 60% Shia. Thus the majority of Iraqis -- who we are supposedly trying to bomb into submission -- will naturally identify with Shia victims in Iran and will no doubt despise us even more than they do now. From Lebanon to Oman and beyond, the Shia will be understandably united in their sense of victimization.

And even if we were to crush their mortal enemy, the Shias, don't expect Iraq’s Sunni population to react any better. Whatever their feelings about Iran, they have been very clear about their hatred of a Western presence and expansion of U.S. operations in the Muslim world.

Don't believe us? Ask bin Laden.

The entire world will respond with revulsion. From Europe to Japan there will be much discussion about how to best distance oneself and protect oneself from a USA gone nuts.

Its almost as if Bush and Cheney want to create the perfect climate to foment perpetual war...

Now why would they want to do that?

Who gains from such a thing?

We know who will lose... the rest of us.

After all of the propaganda oozing from this Administration, how are we expected to believe that such distracting headlines are not intended to keep us from noticing under which shell the truth hides?

Army Sends Amputees but NOT Gay People into Battle?

Hmmm, now let's see if we can get this straight....

The 1994 "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy maintains that homosexuality is "incompatible" with military service... but sending wounded soldiers who have LOST a limb is NOT incompatible...???

According to Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, a spokesman for the Army’s Human Resources Command at the Pentagon:

“The mindset of our Army has changed, to the extent that we realize the importance of all our soldiers and what they can contribute to our Army. Someone who loses a limb is still a very valuable asset.”

The Military Brass at the Pentagon should hang their heads in shame.

As they send men and women without arms and/or legs to battle an unseen enemy in an illegal war justified by lies and a lust for oil, how can they maintain their position that is is the LGBTQ community who is behaving immorally?

Really, we have nothing more to say about this absurdity and leave the commenting to you!

PLEASE! Call Congress Today!!

Tell the Democratic leadership -- and your own representatives that even if they do not have the votes to override a veto, there is another way to de-fund the war!

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich (also running as a Democratic Candidate for President) said this morning on Democracy Now! that Congress does not have to introduce ANY bill AT ALL regarding Iraq war funding.

If there is NO BILL there will be NO VETO and thus the argument that there are not enough votes to override an inevitable veto is moot.

Kucinich says there is enough money in the pipeline NOW to bring the troops home! Keith Olbermann also stated in a "Special Comment" on his MSNBC show Countdown, that if Bush really cared about the troops having everything they need for protection, he could take some of the money earmarked for Blackwater and Haliburton and divert it to the troops.

It is BUSH who DOES NOT SUPPORT THE TROOPS -- first by lying to us to make the case for war, then by mismanaging it for the last 4 & 1/2 years, and then using unrealistic fear (and more lies) to perpetuate the war that was being planned long before 9/11/2001 -- NOT anti-war politicians and other Americans.

Please let Congress know TODAY that we will NOT reelect ONE SINGLE politician who votes yes to the funding bill OR who stands by and does NOTHING as it goes forward!

Democrats Backing Down on Troop Withdrawal Date

We hate to admit it but... Pat Buchanan is right about the Democrats!

Recently on Scarborough Country, we heard Buchanan say that unlike Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress would cave and completely fund the war because they "do not have the courage of their convictions."

And then yesterday, we read this in the Houston Chronicle:

"Congressional Democrats relented Tuesday on their insistence that a war spending measure set a date for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq. Instead, they moved toward a deal with President Bush that would impose new conditions on the Iraqi government."

Americans voted the Democrats into the majority last fall to put a stop to this madness! Why are they caving on the issue of setting a timetable? Do they think we are stupid? Do they believe we will do nothing?

TAKE ACTION AND TELL CONGRESS NO MORE BLANK CHECKS!

UPDATE: MoveOn sent the following email which we urge you to read and take action on!

MoveOn Opposes Iraq Bill -- Urges All Democrats to Vote Against

Statement by Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org Political Action Executive Director

Voters elected Democrats in November to lead the way out of the mess in Iraq, but the supplemental bill to be voted on this week won't end the war.

There are no real timelines or real accountability for the Bush administration -- just a blank check for an endless war.

A vote for this bill is a vote to continue President Bush's failed Iraq policy, and we'll be urging every last member of Congress to vote against it.

MoveOn members are asking us to consider all options for Democratic members of congress who ran on ending the war but vote for more chaos and more troops in Iraq -- including in-district advertising and recruitment of primary challengers.

And we'll work hard so that Republicans who refuse to listen to the country on Iraq face a great political backlash in their home districts.

In an email this morning, MoveOn encouraged all 3.2 million of its members to urge Congress to vote no. In part, the email reads: "Every single Democrat must vote against this bill. This is a key test vote on whether your representative is serious about ending the war." The email was sent by MoveOn's Nita Chaudhary.