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Message to the Republican Party
Nov. 8th, 2012 09:05 amI would have voted for Mitt if:
( hell froze over )
( hell froze over )
Ron Paul Ruminates
Mar. 1st, 2010 08:48 pmSince my 2008 campaign for the presidency I have often been asked, “How would a constitutionalist president go about dismantling the welfare-warfare state and restoring a constitutional republic?”
This is a very important question, because without a clear road map and set of priorities, such a president runs the risk of having his pro-freedom agenda stymied by the various vested interests that benefit from big government.
Of course, just as the welfare-warfare state was not constructed in 100 days, it could not be dismantled in the first 100 days of any presidency. While our goal is to reduce the size of the state as quickly as possible, we should always make sure our immediate proposals minimize social disruption and human suffering.
Source (indirectly):
http://www.yaliberty.org/yar
This is a very important question, because without a clear road map and set of priorities, such a president runs the risk of having his pro-freedom agenda stymied by the various vested interests that benefit from big government.
Of course, just as the welfare-warfare state was not constructed in 100 days, it could not be dismantled in the first 100 days of any presidency. While our goal is to reduce the size of the state as quickly as possible, we should always make sure our immediate proposals minimize social disruption and human suffering.
Source (indirectly):
http://www.yaliberty.org/yar
The New Surge
Dec. 1st, 2009 03:08 pmI have a thought about Obama and his new move to increase funding for our military engagement in Afghanistan. MoveOn has taken the position that it is "wrong" to escalate the war and that we should keep our money at home and deal with our own crises before spending our wealth across the globe. I happen to agree with this argument, but I also see a possibility that I haven't heard mentioned by either side.
The possibility that I hope for is this: that Obama is not entirely a pawn of the military industrial machine, and that the US approach to military efforts under his administration might be a world apart from what happened under Shrub. In other words, Obama and his clan might just cause some positive change with the funding that he seeks. His military extravagance might set the stage for a whole new political balance in the middle east. His attempts to influence matters diplomatically will be bolstered by a strong and controlled military presence.
So while I have a peacenik predilection, I can imagine that this troop surge could potentially be a completely different endeavor than the last one. Good work could be done through military funding, if the leadership and strategy are brilliant. I like to think that Obama is capable of brilliance in many spheres. Or, to entertain the darker side possibility, Obama may be in the grip of the politico-military-industrial machine and this surge could just be another pilfering of our coffers by Haliburton et al. I don't know, but I still have the audacity to hope.
( Image of Obama with some of the shine rubbed off. )
The possibility that I hope for is this: that Obama is not entirely a pawn of the military industrial machine, and that the US approach to military efforts under his administration might be a world apart from what happened under Shrub. In other words, Obama and his clan might just cause some positive change with the funding that he seeks. His military extravagance might set the stage for a whole new political balance in the middle east. His attempts to influence matters diplomatically will be bolstered by a strong and controlled military presence.
So while I have a peacenik predilection, I can imagine that this troop surge could potentially be a completely different endeavor than the last one. Good work could be done through military funding, if the leadership and strategy are brilliant. I like to think that Obama is capable of brilliance in many spheres. Or, to entertain the darker side possibility, Obama may be in the grip of the politico-military-industrial machine and this surge could just be another pilfering of our coffers by Haliburton et al. I don't know, but I still have the audacity to hope.
( Image of Obama with some of the shine rubbed off. )
Where Neocons Go to Hide
Mar. 28th, 2009 10:44 amA few notorious neocons have created a new organization called The Foreign Policy Initiative. They are promoting US involvement in the world. Spreading freedom. The board: Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan. Far as I can tell these guys are advocating for the military industrial complex and their pocket books.
( we definitely need to keep an eye on them )
( we definitely need to keep an eye on them )
Political Vocabulary
Mar. 28th, 2009 10:36 amOCO = overseas contingency operations budget = the new way of referring to war spending in the Obama administration. These appropriations are officially in the US budget, and will no longer be slipped in as "emergency spending", as the Shrubbery did throughout their reign. Obama's getting hammered for his big budget but those so-called Republicans (more like fascists in my view) are having a hard time getting honest about how much was spent that was not in the budget in the past.
Tags:
JFK: My Hero Too
Jun. 10th, 2008 10:23 amPolitical awareness dawns slowly for me. I was not a good student of history in school. I lasted nearly 4 years after the airplanes hit the world trade center before I viewed video of that event. I am like the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand. But today I came to a new understanding of JFK. He really was working for peace. He was in opposition to the military industrial complex. Eisenhower had recognized and named it, but he did not attempt to restrain it. Kennedy did. And there is no politico-economic force more brutal than that which specializes in death and world domination. Of course he was assassinated. Of course.
JFK had a prayer, borrowed from Abe Lincoln, that he said to himself to maintain calm in the face of incredible pressures for war. The prayer ended with "I am ready"....and it seems he was ready to accept full responsibility for his actions and the retaliation that took his life. No wonder this man is so often referenced by presidents and peace advocates. He lives in our subconscious as a warrior for truth, good and right. And he was martyred. And as for the conspiracy theorists; yes, there must have been a conspiracy. Such actions are rarely random. I don't know the details, but just like 9/11/01, JFK's assassination was intentional and for profit. The stench lingers in the story. The executor of such action is carefully and completely separated from the planners so as to insure "plausible deniabililty", but the link is there, somewhere.
Many thanks to my local radio station, KBOO, for the history lesson, and for the inspiration.
JFK had a prayer, borrowed from Abe Lincoln, that he said to himself to maintain calm in the face of incredible pressures for war. The prayer ended with "I am ready"....and it seems he was ready to accept full responsibility for his actions and the retaliation that took his life. No wonder this man is so often referenced by presidents and peace advocates. He lives in our subconscious as a warrior for truth, good and right. And he was martyred. And as for the conspiracy theorists; yes, there must have been a conspiracy. Such actions are rarely random. I don't know the details, but just like 9/11/01, JFK's assassination was intentional and for profit. The stench lingers in the story. The executor of such action is carefully and completely separated from the planners so as to insure "plausible deniabililty", but the link is there, somewhere.
Many thanks to my local radio station, KBOO, for the history lesson, and for the inspiration.
Part of what gives me hope is that our own active military contains many voices critical of a budget that gives the military industrial complex so much dough. What about our infrastructure here at home? What about all the poor people who are dying of cancer because they can't afford to go get diagnosed, much less treated? This new budget, passed last week for 2008, is the most amazing violation of the principles of this country yet. WTF!? The congress that passed this budget is both Democrat and Republican. How did YOUR candidate vote on the budget??? Are those supposedly progressive Democrats playing dead again? Playing deaf? Playing dumb? How long can they just lie there and let the administration take off with our money?? Who is looking out for the taxpayer? Hmmmmmm???? Argh.
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2007/12/how-high-is-up.html
( text by Lorelei Kelly )
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2007/12/how-high-is-up.html
( text by Lorelei Kelly )
Below I have quoted the closing paragraphs of Osama Bin Laden's broadcast on Al Jazeera TV from Thursday, January 19. I had not read it until today, but I am glad I finally did read it. He spoke about torture and rape, and of the hopeless suicides of American soldiers caught between fighting an unjust war and the punishing devices of a vicious government. He spoke about Bush's lies and of the financial support that he gets from "war merchants". Bin Laden is insightful and direct. I honor his fight to the death against our president, his cronies and our war and profit machine. I hear more compassion in his promise to give us hell than I hear in Bush's constant promise that they are "making progress" at sacrificing our young men for the almighty oil dollar. I am sorry that I am a hypocrite and pay taxes to a government which has so horrifically wronged so many people. As tax day approaches this becomes constantly more painful. There must be a better way.
( Read more )
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