Evil Is As Evil Does

Former Republican Presidential candidate -- now MSNBC political analyst -- Pat Buchanan, frequently reminds us that although Bush and Cheney are often morally and literally wrong, the Democrats are not an effective opposition party because they "lack the courage of their convictions."

We fear that a lack of courage may be only a small piece of the major puzzler of the day:

• WHY don't the Democrats stand up to Bush?
• WHY don't they fulfill their sworn duty to defend the Constitution?
• WHY don't they make even the slightest effort to fulfill their promise that -- if elected -- they would change course in Iraq and make Bush and Cheney accountable to the American people?
  

Since the 2006 elections, we have stood by helplessly while "leaders" in Congress continue to make noise and do little else to stop the runaway train wreck that is the Bush Administration's foreign and domestic policy.

The problem is, we are all ON that train and are headed for disaster! We can only watch helplessly as:

The economy plunges;
Jobs are lost;
Gasoline prices soar;
Toys are poisoned;
Illegal wars are waged and more are threatened;
The environment is polluted and the Earth is plundered;
Big business and billionaires get richer;
The poor get poorer;
Access to health care is lost to more and more Americans...

Both political parties have attracted candidates, who, once elected, use their position of influence to amass personal power unto themselves. They are selfish and egotistical with narrow-minded ambition and little -- if any -- regard for their sworn duty to their constituents. Sure there are exceptions, but those who do try to express outrage and act in opposition to anti-democratic policies (ala Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul) are ignored and/or ridiculed by the mainstream media and their colleagues in Congress.

What is really going on? Unfortunately, we get the sinking feeling we know:

Both major political parties are intrinsically evil.

Both are pawns of the military industrial complex, big oil and big business.

But at least the Republican Party admits their true agenda. A voter who elects a Republican (unless they do not read or watch anything except Faux news) should have a pretty good idea of what they are getting.

As for the Democrats, they pretend to stand for ONE thing and then DO something altogether different!

So, which is worse? Someone who "supports evil, but insists they believe it is good? Or someone who supports evil while claiming, at least some of the time, they actually KNOW it is evil?"

"This is where we've come: two criminal gangs run the United States from Washington. Neither of them understands the supreme and sacred value of an individual human life. Neither understands any matter of principle relating to liberty or peace. Both of them are intent upon power, no matter how many innocent people must die, and regardless of how many countries must be destroyed, including our own."

Polls show that, over time, more and more Americans favor impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney and George W. Bush.

Hopefully, with the help of the Internet, people are beginning to wake up to the truth. This country no longer needs a good housecleaning -- it needs to be demolished and rebuilt with better rodent and roach-resistant materials.

Please call or write to your member of Congress and tell them you support Kucinch's impeachment resolution and want them to do the same. Otherwise, next time they are up for reelection you will remember that they put their own needs for power over the needs of their country.

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:

Political Pawns

Last week, at the tail end of a post, we called for our readers to participate in an LGBTQ day of action on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14, 2008. We suggested that, on that day, same-sex couples all over the country head to their local county court house to apply for a marriage license.

The purpose of the action is to use a National Holiday that honors true love to highlight the unequal treatment of stable, loving LGBTQ relationships.

For several years now, organizations like Freedom to Marry and Don’t Amend have been organizing and documenting such actions all over the country when thousands of couples have attempted to register. Some courageously walk in alone, others en mass. Hundreds more have protested and held rallies to voice their objection to the denial of equal rights and protections for our families – for no legally valid reason.

As we all know, 2008 is a Presidential election year. Thus, our call to action has prompted criticism from those who would otherwise support our efforts.

Three main reasons are given for objecting to a February 14, 2008 marriage equality action:

• First, any action that might energize the Repugnican base and drive the wing-nuts to the polls to pull the lever for a Bush clone should be avoided;
  

• Second, there are more important things to worry about: fascism, global climate change, endless war, poverty, and then some, so why sweat the “small” stuff;
  

• Third, why even bother since we may all be imprisoned in Nazi-like detention camps by then.

The answer to all three is, so what?

Do you really believe that if we sit quietly in our closets, waiting for progressives to save us, Republican campaign strategists will NOT remember us? Do you think they won’t use us as pawns in their efforts to create fear in the hearts of their wing-nut base? Of course they will! No matter WHAT we do or do not do!

And even if the world is going to hell in a hand-basket, why do all of those other problems trump ours?

Would you advise environmentalists to refrain from a 2008 Earth Day celebration that highlights the problems of greenhouse gasses and global warming? After all, the rabid-right believes they have a God-given mandate to dominate and control all of the Earth. In fact, they look forward to Armageddon and see perpetual war and global warming as the natural run-up to the return of their savior and the “Rapture.”

Why not ask scientists to be silent about stem-cell research? Ask women not to rally around the right to choose?

These people are crazy and if one thing won’t rile them up, another will!

And lastly, if we are all going to be interred anyway, why shouldn’t we go kicking and screaming?

In 1999, millions of American’s were certain that the world would stop on January 1, 2000. They stored food and water, bought generators, gasoline, batteries and stocked up on tarps and duct tape. Nothing happened.

So, maybe we will be rounded up and interred, or maybe we won’t.

If the Democrats do not win the Presidency in 2008, it will not be because we stood up for our rights. They will lose because the elections are rigged or because they were not courageous or because the media will keep plugging Republican talking points (lies) as truth.

Whatever else happens, rest assured, we will not go gently into that good night like a benign set of Rainbow pawns.

Mad Dogs and Girlie Men

We are living in a time of an endless “war on terror,” growing poverty, waning democracy, overpopulation and environmental catastrophe.

So, what’s the one issue burning in the minds of the Republican base?

You got it: Gay and Lesbian Equality.

A story in today’s Boston Globe declares “For GOP, gay rights issues play role that race once did:”

“Gay issues have widely been perceived as an advantage for the Republican Party, which in 2004 placed referendums opposing gay marriage on ballots in swing states to draw social conservatives to the polls, where many supported GOP candidates.”

Because Republicans candidates and pundits fight like one of Michael Vick’s pit bulls, Democrats are afraid to openly and loudly support full and equal rights for LGBT Americans.

And as the article’s title points out, it ain’t the first time this sort of thing happened.

Back in the 1960’s, when American laws permitted and enforced a “separate but equal” set of rules for “coloreds” and “whites,” many moderates and progressives (some of them Blacks) called for Civil Rights leaders to be patient with the legal system.

They advocated the “waiting game” and decried acts of civil disobedience which pushed the envelope and created moral and ethical conflicts for politicians – especially in an election year.

Keenly aware of the public and private condemnations he was receiving for his leadership role that encouraged peaceful protests, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an elegant letter in response to his critics from his cell in the Birmingham jail:

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered... For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" ...This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never."

Of course, history has shown that King was right: the violent reaction to peaceful demonstrations illustrated to the world the shame and immorality of American “laws” and institutions which maintained a system of inequality.

So, to all of those closeted supporters of LGBT equality, we say, come out! Stop acting like frightened children – afraid of your own shadow.

When challenged by others for your stand, just speak the truth about inequality, social and economic injustice.

In addition to standing up for our rights, don’t be afraid to speak out loudly against the “war on terror.” Have the guts to begin impeachment proceedings. Support a National Health Care System. Advocate for clean alternative energy sources like solar, water and wind power.

If you can find the backbone to do what is right, you will have massive support from the American people!

And when the knee-jerks attack, don’t apologize. Take a page from the Bush/Rove/Cheney play-book and “stay the course.”

So what if your detractors call you names? You know they’ll make the same tried and true accusations over and over again: You’re a “girlie man” who is “weak on terror” with a “pre-9/11 mentality” who “flip-flops” on the issues and uses “nanny-politics,” right?

Since you already know their game plan, why not prepare your own set of short little sound-bite sized responses:

Call them “chicken-hawks” who avoided the draft themselves but now send young American’s to die for oil. Call them “liars” who will say or do whatever is necessary to make and maintain power and an illegal war that is making America less safe and their corporate crony’s rich. Call them “hypocrites” for making laws that regulate the sexual and private lives of others while they themselves are getting down and jiggy with Congressional Pages, DC Madams and in public restrooms.

In other words, tell the truth. Then repeat, repeat, repeat.

If you have the moral fortitude to do this, the house of cards built by your detractors from illogical rants about their moral superiority will come crashing down – exposing them for the frightened little tyrants they really are.

Speaking of courage, here is a challenge to the LGBT Community: why don’t we organize collective acts of civil disobedience? This coming February 14 (it’s on a Thursday), every same-sex couple in America should walk into our local county courthouse and demand a marriage license.

Even better, film a video of your efforts and we will share those videos with the world. If you are asked to leave, just sit down quietly and insist that it is your right to be there. Show the clerk the equal protection clause of your state’s constitution. If enough of us have the courage to simultaneously perform these acts of civil disobedience, perhaps we can force the hand of our oppressors and their silent supporters.

Do you agree that LGBTQ families deserve equal rights? Will you join us on February 14, 2008? If so, please let us know, spread the word and pass it on!

And remember, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed there are "two types of laws: just and unjust.” Thus, it is our duty to disobey unjust laws.

Anything less would simply be un-American.

Gay Camp Pain Contributions

Is it naive to continue to dream that the American people can come together to drag this country from the jaws of corporate control, political power and greed?

As we continue to hold onto hope, we occasionally find ourselves doused with cold reality -- like today, when we saw an article in today’s RainbowZine that Hillary Clinton is raking in donations from LGBTQ activists and celebrities.

Considering she does NOT support equal marriage rights, is a hawk on foreign policy, takes money from corporate lobbyists, it makes us wonder why…

Do they believe she is the most qualified candidate? Or is she the candidate most likely to WIN?

The way the media and conservative pundits see it, Hillary is the inevitable Democratic Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, we believe that Karl Rove and his talking thugs will do whatever it takes to bring her down – AFTER she wins the primary. And if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, after they destroy her, the Republican will be a shoe-in!

After all, the majority of voters would NOT want to "waste" their vote on a 3rd party candidate, right?

In America, we have a 2 party system that is largely controlled by corporate interests. Throughout history, both the Dems and the Repugnicans have worked together to rig the system so that a third party candidate will have a very difficult, if not impossible, time even getting their name on the ballot, let alone participating in the debates (have you seen a third party candidate debate on any network?)

We are often cautioned against casting our vote for a 3^rd party candidate lest we waste it - or worse -- because it will hurt the Democrat and help to elect the Republican. Thus we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Lately, we've begun to believe that the whole notion of wasted votes is just plain ignorant! We only waste our vote when we spend on a candidate that we don't actually believe in.

What we really need to do is to educate ourselves -- and each other -- about the election process and the party system.

When all Americans finally understand that the purpose of a democracy – the reason for voting in the first place – is to cast a vote for a candidate that best represents our individual conscience -- not just someone who represents a political party that is controlled by one or more entities motivated by profits and power -- not by what is best for America.

The question is, do we have the courage, no matter what the consequences, to walk into that voting booth and pull the lever for – or write in the name of– a candidate who stands up for what is right and good?

If enough voters do that, we could change it all in one day.

Speaking of educating, the Republican Party’s platform on LGBTQ issues is as follows:

"States should not recognize gay marriage from other states: After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization, the union of a man and a woman in marriage. Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country, and anything less than a Constitutional amendment, passed by the Congress and ratified by the states, is vulnerable to being overturned by activist judges. On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard. The Constitutional amendment process guarantees that the final decision will rest with the American people and their elected representatives. President Bush will also vigorously defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which was supported by both parties and passed by 85 votes in the Senate. This common sense law reaffirms the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states.

Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage: We strongly support a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we [oppose] forcing states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage. The well-being of children is best accomplished [when] nurtured by their mother & father anchored by the bonds of marriage. We believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage.”

And the Democratic Party platform is not much better:

“We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a "Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.”

As for the Greens:

“In keeping with the Green Key Values of diversity, social justice and feminism, we support full legal and political equality for all persons, regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

a. The Green Party affirms the rights of all individuals to freely choose intimate partners, regardless of their sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

b. We support the recognition of equal rights of persons gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to housing, jobs, civil marriage, medical benefits, child custody, and in all areas of life provided to all other citizens.

c. We support the inclusion of language in state and federal anti-discrimination law that ensures the rights of intersex individuals and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, characteristics, and expression. We are opposed to intersex genital mutilation.

d. We support the right of all persons to self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex. We therefore support the right of intersex and transgender individuals to be free from coercion and involuntary assignment of gender or sex. We support access to medical and surgical treatment for assignment or reassignment of gender or sex, based on informed consent.

e. We support legislation against all forms of hate crimes, including those directed against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, and intersex."

We suggest you check out where each party and their candidates stand on all of the issues. Until then, we’ll just leave it right there for you to contemplate…

BEWARE the Pretend-O-Crats

"No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare; if Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." James Madison

If talk is cheap, the Democrats have amassed enough empty promises to fill all of the vaults in Fort Knox.

In the months leading up to and ever since the November 2006 elections, the Democrats promised to be the party of change. They told us they would stand up to Bush and set the country back on its Constitutional track.

I don't know about you, but I feel like an idiot for believing -- even slightly - that they meant what they said and would do as they promised.

What we know now is that the Dems only pretended they would stand up for us just long enough to get elected. Either they have no spine or they are only slightly less criminal the Re-Pugnant-Cans.

In the slight chance that you've been out of the loop and don't know about the latest Democratic cave-in to Bush, here's the gist of it:

Just before taking off for their August recess, the House and Senate -- with the help of Democrats voted to approve the Republican sponsored and White House approved 'Protect America Act' which vastly expands warrantless phone and e-mail eavesdropping. And you'll never guess who IS empowered to approve of the wiretaps?

Sit tight boys and girls for this news may make you lose your breakfast -- the guy in charge of deciding who gets spied on??

ALBERTO GONZALES!

Most of the Dems who voted for the act are "Blue Dogs" - a term used to describe socially and economically conservative Democrats who are really Republicans in everything but name. I think we ought to kick them out of the party.

According to Congress.org:

"On August 5, President Bush signed S.1927, a bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The bill gives more authority to the National Security Agency and other agencies to monitor emails, phone calls, and other communications that are part of a foreign intelligence investigation. Details of the bill include:

• Intelligence agencies are no longer required to receive a warrant to monitor communications between someone in the United States and someone overseas, as long as the investigation is aimed at someone in another country.
• For conversations between two parties in the United States, agencies will still need to obtain a warrant.
• The law will be in effect for the next six months.
• Instead of a court, approval for wiretapping may be granted by either the Director of National Intelligence or the Attorney General.

President Bush argued that the changes were needed to give intelligence officials more flexibility, as well as close a gap in intelligence activities.

Opponents of the bill argued against a lack of court oversight, as well as putting more power in the hands of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales."

In other words, the Attorney General -- the same one who has been lying under oath to Congress -- who wrote memos to Bush in support of torture -- who called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" -- THAT Attorney General will need NO warrant and NO probable cause to spy on YOU.

And the Pretend-O-Crats gave him that power!

Apparently, the Democrats who voted for the act were told by the administration that there is increased intelligence "chatter" about possible terrorist attacks on the United States. They were warned that if they did not back the bill they would be accountable for putting the country at risk

That would be reason enough to support the bill -- IF BUSH HAD ONE IOTA OF CREDIBILITY LEFT.

Which he does not.

Supposedly the Act will automatically expire after 6 months.

And we are SO absolutely CERTAIN that there WILL be MORE chatter in 6 months -- giving the Bush Crime Family reason to twist the arms of the spineless Dems again -- that we will bet our house on it!

Please let your Congressperson know that your want them to STAND UP TO BUSH and STAND UP FOR YOU!