Mission:1)Advance the principle that Pacifism, Liberalism, Environmentalism, + membership in the Democratic Party are not sins nor of which one need be ashamed. 2)Move us in the direction of a political culture which would enable public persons to proudly proclaim their leftist tendencies, just as those on the right may do at present.
ADDENDUM: TO VIEW ARTICLES JUST SCROLL DOWN. DON'T FEAR SCROLLING; NO INJURIES HAVE RESULTED, JUST ENLIGHTENMENT. ;o) PEACE PLEASE.... STEVE
The wonderful Theme from the wonderful film "Love Story"
the instrumental here written by Francis Lai and actually named
Where Do I Begin
by the composer.
Wow, did I have
a crush on Ali McGraw.
Come to think of it,
still do. :)
<3
I've been thinking a lot about love lately. Not really romantic love so much, as the type so beautifully depicted in the film "Love Story," but of another type. The love between two friends.
I actually have. I've been thinking that the course of every true and meaningful friendship between people is truly a love story of sorts. With a beginning, a middle, and sometimes, unfortunately, an end. But sometimes the ends are meant to be and can be good things. But the ones I enjoy the most are the ones that are continuing to this day and continue on a day to day basis and haven't ended, and I hope will truly have no end. <3 :)
One friendship which came to pass for me, for example is a lovely woman (let's call her Dawn) who I went to high school with beginning over 40 years ago. We didn't know each other the first couple of years of high school really, but she became the editor of my high school newspaper and was as cute as all get-go. Even cuter than Ali McGraw. Yes. I didn't join the journalism class until my senior year and she was already the Editor of the school paper. I looked up to her, admired her and had a huge crush on her. <3 :)
I also had a steady date in those days, and we dated until I graduated and that was that. When I took journalism class, Dawn worked with me, teaching me how to 'paste up' pages for the newspaper (that meant leaning over the desk to show me how its done and what-not, and that would give me goose bumps, but God forbid she should know that-lol). She and the faculty adviser worked with me on a story I wrote about the wars then winding up in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and it was transformed by them into a lead story in that venerable publication, a rare event when national political news became the lead story for the suburban semi weekly school paper. I so appreciated working with Dawn, I admired her skills, her intellect and her academic accomplishments. We didn't become close friends then outside of school. But she definitely fit the friend category, and there was that crush element going on, too. Indisputably on my part. So 1974 comes, we sit in a high school football field in June, graduate and go our separate ways.
Fast forward to 2009. I came online and began a writing project which incorporated journalism, including this Unabashed literary gem that you are reading now (remember that for "all your military affairs and comedy needs it's one-stop-shopping at unabashedleft.blogspot.com) and added ventures as the Hartford Government Examiner (linked thusly: http://www.examiner.com/government-in-hartford/steven-alexander) and as their New Haven Culture Examiner (linked in this different manner: http://www.examiner.com/american-culture-2-in-hartford/steve-alexander) and by a series of "co"incidences, I became reacquainted with Dawn, my high school Editor, who was now aware of my journalistic shenanigans and was pleased to see them. We traded notes extensively on what had transpired in the intervening 39 years, and it turns out that she had attempted and accomplished some very admirable and daring journalistic ventures of her own! We also shared about our personal journeys, past and present along with future aspirations. We clicked. I became very concerned about the situations ongoing in her life, and she in mine. :) We were friends again. How good is that?
Not very long ago Dawn suffered an unimaginable loss in her life, and I can't begin to comprehend the feelings she's enduring. I love my friend, and so wish she hadn't had to suffer this loss. Over the course of the past couple of years, we've both admitted to our mutual 'crushes' all those years ago. Turns out that my high school newspaper editor whom I had admired so much, apparently had very similar feelings about me, that I had about her. <3 :) We most certainly have discussed the notion of dating since the time we've both been single again.
At the time of her recent unimaginably devastating loss, I was able to talk with Dawn daily, to comfort her and to give her needed support. That made me happy. At the time of the ceremonies required at the time of such cataclysmic tragedies as she has suffered, I was able to be there and to be with Dawn on the worst days of her life. We continue to communicate frequently, and my love for Dawn as a friend is indescribable and feels so good I can't put it into words. I'm not concerned that the status of our relationship change in any manner, my only concern is that Dawn be able to come through this nightmare of a time in her life and be able to see that she is a true gemstone, a worthy individual worthy of the unconditional love offered by God, but also truly worthy of the love she has earned from her many friends, colleagues, and from this friend. My dear friend's welfare matters to me more than anything in our relationship, and I think that's something that she's been able to teach me, though it's hard to describe exactly how that's happened.
So, when my friend Mary Gariepy sent me this photo essay today, and she knowing about my feelings for critters, the romantic aspect of friendships came to mind. I've had romances with K9s, felines, turtles, and guinea pigs to name a few. I spoke with my sister Sallie about the grieving she's still going through over the death of her long-lived beloved pet rabbit, and the fact that she's finally gotten well enough to rescue a new feline family member once again. Friendship. Romance. Of the inter-species variety.
In His great book the Holy Bible, in the very first book of that volume entitled Genesis, and in the very first chapter of that very first book; specifically in verse 26 (so I figger He must've thought it wuz pretty important since He got it in there right quick) in the New Revised Standard Version it is declared that "God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." I highly recommend this volume by the way, in case you haven't read it yet; or just haven't read it lately.
So how we treat our brethren, not just fellow humans, but critters, matters very much to Him. So much so that from the very get-go, chapter one of Genesis, He makes clear that their welfare is our responsibility. Turns out God's a green Guy! Yippee!
Sharks are at the very top of the oceanic feeding chain and play a crucial role in the ecology of all species, not just oceanic ones. The inappropriate demise or endangerment of even one of the shark species dooms countless others, and devalues the quality of life for all on this planet, particularly our own species. Growing up, I fished the shores of LI Sound. I've caught many a shark, including toothless sand sharks, some very sharp-toothed Makos up to maybe 20 pounds, and even some Blue sharks and other wondrous species. They are beautiful to behold, and I've always released sharks. ALWAYS and never went about the business of specifically attempting to catch sharks, it has always been in the pursuit of other species that I've wound up catching a shark unintentionally. Capturing sharks now for commercial or for 'sport' purposes is NOT justified at all, their role in the ecosystem is too well understood now and their overfishing and endangered status just too clear. Please advocate for the sharks, just as much as you do for the whales.
And please remember, the care of all the critters; from our wonderful companions such as the felines and canines, to the three-toed sloth as well as sharks and whales ARE our responsibility and we should take it very seriously. Even as we climb into our cars and spew forth more unnecessary greenhouse gasses. So, please enjoy this photo essay from my friend Mary. Peace and <3
A Republican Fantasy Breakfast: Greed and No Tax Liability
Pink Floyd Describes The Republitief Field:
"Keep your hands off of MY stack!"
Here we go: let’s take an unabashed look at Presidential candidate wealth since Willard Romney has relented at long last and hinted that he pays under 15% on his massive wealth. Oh Willard, Willard, just today the NY Times said of you “Even among presidential candidates, a typically a well-to-do group, Mr. Romney stands out: His fortune of between $190 million and $250 million makes him one of the wealthiest men to run for president in modern times.”You poor boy, how will you ever live this down? Well on your way to your first billion, via hedge funds and questionable legal money laundering schemes which put thousands out of work and eliminated their pensions while creating other companies in a random manner which was anything but random, if you simply look at the motive of the Bain execs personified in that infamous picture of greed that Willard no doubt regrets so badly today. Bain was the bain of the poor employees of victimized companies Romney squeezed for profit before shutting them down.
The obscene Bain photo of Romney with his cronies which should
disqualify him from consideration for anything but
eternal damnation perhaps, with the possibility of parole.
Poor, poor Willard has, according to Willard himself today, earned “not very much” in income, his sources of sustenance being primarily unearned as investment incomes from those aforementioned hedge funds and abusive treatment of Bain employees. But unfortunately for Willard, it was public information that his speaking fees alone last year, “earned income,” were $374,327.00. Unfortunately for Willard this “not very much” income constitutes 5 to 10 time the average American’s full-time annual income. Oh poor Willard.
In an amazing display of transparency and the obvious pride that he takes in his ownership of his contribution to the war efforts, and his tax obligations as well as his delight at providing the public with detailed information on his honorable financial pursuits, Willard has toyed now publicly with the notion of revealing his tax returns. After the April filing date for this year. After the Republican Primary is decided, just coincidentally and still 7 long months to hopefully blow over somewhat before the November general election. What a guy. Willard Romney.
If Willard succeeds in replacing President Obama in Barack’s current day job, Willard will further supplement his current earned income with the annual Presidential salary, which now stands as $400,000 per annum. The strange irony is that the $400,000 salary, which is buttressed by a $50,000 expense account, is actually a drop in the bucket for Willard, as well as his other competitors for the job.
To be fair, lets reveal that Barack himself, and Michelle Obama in last year’s tax filing revealed that they “earned $1,728,096 in that year, most of which came from the sale of Mr. Obama’s books, including “The Audacity of Hope.” The couple, who filed jointly, paid $453,770 in federal taxes and got a refund of $12,334.” This works out to an effective 25% tax rate, and making the Obamas personal wealth among the lowest in the game this year, still even despite his success and his incumbency.
TX Governor Rick Perry ought to be ashamed of himself for a bunch of reasons (i.e. Forgetting which cabinet department he wants to eliminate, or just today calling key U.S. and Israeli ally Turkey an Islamic Terrorist state) he particularly ought to be embarrassed about “double dipping” by raking in his $150,000 annual Governor’s salary, but also figuring out a ‘creative accounting’ means of ‘retiring’ while still in office, so he now gets a monthly $7698 ‘retirement’ annuity as a delightful supplement to his gubernatorial salary rendering his total cash take as Guv $240,000! Smooth Rick! Perry is famous for using his political cronies and pull in office to make great real estate deals for himself over the years. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported, for example that “Perry once sold a 9.3-acre tract to computer magnate Michael Dell for nearly four times what he paid for it, using influential Texas lobbyist Mike Toomey as the broker.”That same newspaper reported “Perry's biggest real estate pay day came in 2007, when he sold two-thirds of an acre of lakefront property he had acquired in 2001 from his friend Troy Fraser, a Republican state senator who owns a nearby tract in Horseshoe Bay in Central Texas. Perry sold the property in March 2007 for $1.14 million - for a profit of $823,766, tax records show. That helped produce the highest annual income Perry and his wife have ever reported - about $1.1 million in adjusted gross income, according to their 2007 tax return.”
And the Newtster? Well…. His Newt enterprises are as legendary as they are well hidden. The latest even remotely reliable information as reported by the Los Angeles Times is that “Newt Gingrich had a net worth of at least $6.7 million and income of at least $2.6 million in 2010, according to financial disclosure forms that were released Monday,” July 25th, 2011. The most interesting aspect of that set of forms was that they revealed a mysterious and whopping 300% increase in reported worth and income from just the prior year. Come on Newt, show us the money, dude! What’s good for the goose is good for the Gingirch!
And the Christian moralist of the Santorum variety? He earned about $200,000 total his last year in the his last year in the Senate when he got trounced for re-election by Pennsylvania’s very wise electorate. Since then he’s boosted his income into the millions. The Boston Herald reports, for example, that this tricky Rickster “reported that the American Continental Group, a Washington lobbying group, paid him $65,000 in consulting fees. The firm’s lengthy client list includes Microsoft Corp., Comcast Corp. and the American Gaming Association.” Tricky Ricky “left the firm last June when he formally began running for president.” Mr. Santorum “also reported earning $125,000 for consulting work for The Clapham Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm that works with faith-based groups, among others.” Hmmm. That faith thing is a pretty lucrative gig, huh Rick? What's that ya say there Rick? "Vows of poverty just ain't my cup 'o tea?" We can see that guy! Lol. Rickyboy‘s “earnings included payments from a conservative think tank and media outlets. The Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington paid Santorum $217,385 as a senior fellow. News Corp. in New York paid Santorum $239,153 for his appearances on Fox News Channel. Salem Radio paid Santorum $83,999 for his work as a radio talk show host. Santorum was guest host for "Bill Bennett’s Morning in America" radio show. The Philadelphia Inquirer paid Santorum $23,000 for columns he wrote for the paper.” Wow, not bad! Getting shellacked at the polls sure can be lucrative for these Republithieves! Makesya think about switching parties!
And Mr. Libertarian, Ron Paul? Well, he: “puts his personal money where his personal mouth, and public policy, are -- in precious metals.” According to the LA Times. That’s sure what you want in your next President, one who is so scared he sinks most of his money into gold bullion! Lol dude! The ex-practicing MD grants himself a hefty retirement income from that practice and is estimated to be worth $5 to $10 million.
Wow, did I make a mistake not running for office and choosing the party of the Pachyderm back when I turned eligible to vote or what???
These guys pay peanuts in taxes, and with the total combined that will be spent between campaigns and Citizens’ United unattributed dollars and cents, the election will easily exceed $3billion in spending publicly this year. All for a job with a $400,000 annual salary.
I’m thinking about holding a press conference. How many signatures does it take to get on these freakin’ ballots? Peace….
When a Notary Does it That Means That it is not Illegal
Former President Richard Nixon discussed his “philosophy” of executive power with David Frost after he left office and signed on the dotted line for millions of dollars in a series of ludicrous interviews, now safe from prosecution thanks to a pardon from hand-picked successor Gerald Ford. He said “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”
Well, I recently became a Notary Public (the photo is of my Notary arsenal) and was struck by the similarities in the oaths of office between myself and the one that Presidents of the United States take. To wit:
Constitutional Presidential Oath:I, ______ , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Connecticut Notary Oath:I, _______ , do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Connecticut and that I will faithfully discharge, according to law, the duties of the office of notary public to the best of my abilities. So help me God.
WE GOTTA STOP THESE REPUBLICANS FROM POOPING
ALL OVER US AGAIN!
So this got me to thinking.It seems all U.S. Presidents, once in office, seem to like an expansive view of the powers of the presidency. None of them like the War Powers Act once they are in office. They tend to wish they could circumvent the courts to wiretap citizens. They all like the pocket veto once they’re in. Especially Republithieves in the Nixonian tradition.
Under Connecticut state statute I am authorized to witness acknowledgements that other nutmeggers are signing documents of their own free will, can administer certain oaths, and can even under certain circumstances issue subpoenas. That’s about it.
I’m beginning to wonder whether a more expansive view of notarial powers might be in order. With the presidential campaign in full swing now, let’s remember Nixon. And the not so proud tradition of the Republithief party to abrogate power, just as did Nixon with his crimes, Ray-gun with his record arms race and Dubya with his lies to get us into wars and then illegally wiretapping our own citizens once again.
On second thought, I promise, as a Connecticut Notary Public to take a literal view of the office. If the President OR a Notary does it, they ARE subject to the law, including criminal prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.
Some of the Groceries I was Blessed with Being Able to Purchase Tonight!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
"Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord don't they help themselves, y'all!
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord the house looks just like a rummage sale!
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son!"
True of John Fogerty and Me, but not of
Willard "Mitt" Romney!
I had a spiritual experience this evening. I think my oodles of atheist and agnostic friends can relate as well here. I have this spiritual experience every time I am able to lay in a supply of needs, especially food for sustenance by any means, but especially when I am able to ambulate myself to the store, shop selectively for food purchases and make it through the check-out counter and then get to come home and unpack my goods! How wonderful a feeling this is each and every time.
I’ve been thinking a lot about a particular word lately—and to give credit where credit is due, it is Rachel Maddow who has brought it to my mind—and that word is Patrician. Dictionary.com defines it as follows:
pa·tri·cian
[puh-trish-uhn] Show IPA
noun
1. a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.
2. a person of very good background, education, and refinement.
3. a member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome.
4. (under the later Roman and Byzantine empires) a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.
5. a member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.
President George H.W. Bush was so out of touch he didn't even know that
UPC Scanners existed!
During the 1992 presidential campaign, we were stuck with a Patrician President in George H.W. Bush (born to a rich Connecticut US Senator, Prescott Bush) who made himself look foolish by being publicly unaware of UPC scanners when he went to a grocer’s convention. This guy, the President, Bush, hadn’t shopped for groceries in forever if ever and it was obvious. Bill Clinton appropriately seized on this as further evidence of how far out of touch Bush was with reality.
While most of us consider a 'gentlemens' bet $5 or $10,
Willard Romney insisted upon a $10,000 bet minimum in a
recent Republican debate!
OMG!
Outa touch, dude!
Willard “Mitt” Romney was born to a rich Governor of Michigan and a Nixon Cabinet member, George Romney. Now, admittedly, Willard can’t help but come across as elitist, given the silver spoon background and education he’s been granted in life. But demeanor is one thing, and attitudes are another. It’s one thing to wear jeans at every appearance in order to appear like a normal guy. It’s one thing to try to present yourself as less than privileged; I think all Presidential pols do this to some extent. But Willard’s attitudes are scary.
John Fogerty and CCR again.
Somehow I don't think Willard's ever produced a pinhead or a nickel
for anybody! Cheapo!
I don’t begrudge Willard having never been hungry or poor (even though lately he's been accusing us 99% 'ers of being JEALOUS of him--lol dude!). But he’s actually said in this campaign that he’s been “unemployed.” Willard does not comprehend that not being on a payroll, but having dividends coming in at the rate of 7 figures a year does NOT constitute ‘unemployed.’ What an insult to the truly unemployed who yearn for income to feed and house themselves and others who may depend upon them! OMG!
Willard believes that Corporations are people too! He absolutely does not comprehend that groupings of people are NOT people and that when a corporation fails financially or legally, those invested in the firm have limited liability. In other words, if Bain Capital ever failed, Willard would still have his stack of cash, his mansions, etc. But when his Bain came down to shut down profitable businesses, his individual victims had no limits to their liabilities and wound up jobless, homeless, without health care OR food!
Willard often talks down to his audiences, saying things like “I don’t pretend to undersand” global economics, and what not, but he does understand more than he lets on and he is a greedy SOB.
Willard has never come close to being hungry. He’s never been homeless. He’s never been poor. And not because he’s earned it, but by accident of birth to George Romney. I’m proud of my blue collar union upbringing!
After grocery shopping I came home to my wonderful public housing
home, not one of Willard's mansions, but I luvit!
And I AM absolutely so grateful for it.
Please help my friends who are outdoors tonight and who may
die due to exposure to the elements, homeless.
:'(
On most days I wear blue jeans because I don’t know if I’ll have to get under my old car and resurrect it once again, and jeans are durable and I don’t mind getting grease on my $10 non-designer pants. Willard wears jeans to posture for the presidency.
Money from the TARP bill has employed hundreds of local contractors and
improved the Senior and Disabled Housing in my home town.
For one reason or another, I’ve spent much of my life within the federal and state definitions of poverty, and this has been far from the worst experience of my life, nor something I’m really obsessively concerned about seeing change in any huge measure. I’ve been hungry. Not in the sense of realizing late in the day that I haven’t had my three squares that day, but HUNGRY. As in not having had access to food for a day, or two or three. Having had no significant caloric intake whatsoever and feeling ill as a consequence.
listed at the very bottom of this sign:
Barack Obama, President.
Thank you Barack!
Over time I learned resources, in part because my own work in human service gave me the education I required to locate and push the proper bureaucratic buttons in order to ensure that my clients wouldn’t go hungry. A harder lesson was acquiring the humility required to push those buttons on my own behalf, and recognizing that I was in need of aid in order to ensure proper nutrition, shelter and health care for myself. Such humility is not something that came easily to me, and I saw many of my own clients and friends who were much more skilled in this regard and continue with vastly more than I to this day! Thank you my precious teachers, indeed! I love all my friends, in poverty or not!
No mansion; unlike those given to Mitt,
but here it is: Home, Sweet Home!
I luvit!
I remember coming from city hall one day in the suburban town of my upbringing, having just gone to get a voucher for medical care I required (this was perhaps the mid-1980s). I walked past an Episcopal Church which housed an ecumenical soup kitchen 5 days per week and of which I was aware, but which I never thought of as something that I required, nor for which I should consider myself a participant. “Participation” was easy, you just go in, sit down and have a delightful hot meal served you by volunteers who will also give you a goody bag should you need one. As I walked past, I thought it over. I did it. I swallowed my pride and walked in to the meeting room at the church. It was about 1:15pm, and they had stopped serving at 1pm. But they didn’t stop serving. They reopened the kitchen, heated up a meal for me and blessed me with loaves of home baked bread and other wonderful non-perishable foods that I was in dire need of at the time (it’s worth noting that I eventually wound up a volunteer at the Beth El soup kitchen and shelter for several years). I will NEVER forget the lessons of the day, which included both physical and spiritual nutrition of huge benefit to me and to all those at St. Peters Church that fine day.
I’ve spent many weeks and months throughout my life as what some sociologists are referring to as a ‘sofa homeless’ person. I was often unable to pay rent, never owned a home, and was unable to maintain my own income with steady employment at all times (though frequently and whenever I could I did).I dreaded the demands of utility providers and the inevitable knock on the door from state Marshalls delivering eviction notices. In the end I would find friends or family who would put me up on their sofa, in their den or spare bedroom until I could once again secure lodging and a roof over my head.
I’ve often not received needed medical care because it was not available to me. But most of my life I’ve been able to provide for myself, have worked, and done good work for many and accomplished much for my clients, my employers and myself despite my disabilities at times.
In 2007 I applied for and was approved as permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration, and have had a degree of security in my life heretofore lacking. I now am also a Medicare beneficiary, have a Medicaid supplement, and am blessed with a wonderful little efficiency apartment in my hometown Senior/Disabled public housing program, funded by federal housing funds, largely.
I’ve been able to think outside the box, and have been working my tail off to think of ways to earn an income without disability, and so far, so good. I’m writing and making some part time money at that. I’m back in school as a graduate student of religion at a Connecticut Seminary, and that provides me with financial advantages and the prospect of future work that will be stable and enhance my writing project.
I came from a family of 8 and my Dad was the sole income earner, a proud Corresponding Secretary and member of the negotiating team of his local of the International Printing Pressman’s Union, an AFL-CIO affiliate. We lived a blue collar life, barely skimming by on a single proud printing pressman’s wages. When I went to work for the Commonwealth of Mass. in the early 1980s I was a proud union steward and consider myself a member for life of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME—I’m withya Wisconsin, let’s recall that guy!), BECAUSE of my Dad’s example.
So, I'm sure inquiring minds are dying to know.
What music did I select tonight?
1)I spoiled myself with a copy of Michael Jackson's original
Thriller album.
No matter what you think of his life or whatever, at this point in his life
he was an extraordinary performer who blurred the black/white divide
in the record industry for good and this album was simply amazing.
Never before had a copy before.
2)A three-disk $12.99 bargain--Foreigner "Can't Slow Down" which includes
one CD of remastered classics, one of new studio stuff, and a live DVD.
3)And last: Guns 'N Roses their Best Of compilation. It rocks!
I am so grateful for my groceries tonight you can’t imagine. Not only was I able to lay in food yet again (I’ve never been denied for 55 years running), I also bought some clothing and even satisfied a want—I treated myself to some music! I don’t think Willard Romney, any of the Bush’s, Newt, Santorum or any of their ilk are grateful for their groceries.
Ok, you’ll have to bear with me on this one. No satire, no comedy this time. No funny pictures, just a serious article about the Afghanistan war. It is a grave matter of life and death and war and peace.And the story has some complexity to it, so I’ll try to keep it as simple as possible, while at the same time offering an analysis worth taking a look at. The topic is the continuing U.S. military aggression in Afghanistan.
Dick Cheney’s White House tenure originated when he served as a failed Defense Secretary under George H.W. Bush, during which time he presided over the invasion of Panama by the U.S. military, and the retaking of Kuwait against Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The militarism evidenced by Cheney in these warmongering gambits, and especially the financial motive (oil—especially given the fact that Kuwait’s then per-capita income was among the highest in the world due to their oil reserves and output along with its close alliance with the Saudi royal dictatorship), particularly Saddam’s ability to continue his sabre rattling post-Kuwait, helped bring about the downfall of the first Bush administration at the polls to Bill Clinton.
So, now we fast forward to the stolen election of 2000, and the installation of H.W.’s son, Dubya Bush as ‘President’ of the United States, and Cheney now VP, and once-failed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (under Gerald Ford—he took over immediately following the dramatic fall of Saigon, and pushed for funding for the B-1 Bomber and Cruise missile dollars, despite the recent futility of American military aggression in S.E. Asia in the three wars his administration had just lost there).
In September of 2011, in the biggest defense and intelligence failure in American history, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Dubya and the gang failed to prevent 19 fools with plastic box cutters from killing nearly 4,000 U.S. citizens, providing dramatic footage of the twin World Trade Center towers collapsing, the Pentagon itself being hit and another airliner failing to hit the White House only because those on board had cell phone information about what was going on that September 11th, 2011 morning and the heroic call of “Let’s roll” followed by the intentional crashing of the plane in a Pennsylvania field by the civilians on board.
It is now evident that Dubya was an intellectual pigmy and was a puppet run by those around him, especially Cheney (and to a lesser extent in military affairs, Rumsfeld). Osama Bin Laden’s rag-tag, but somewhat well-financed tiny band of extremist thugs were financed primarily by Bin Laden's inheritance of only $25million from his family’s construction business (The Economist, "Osama bin Laden", 7 May 2011, p. 93) and numbered only several thousand at their height. The nineteen 9/11 hijackers were trained in camps run and financed by Bin Laden in Afghanistan at the time, Bin Laden being harbored by the Taliban because of a financial arrangement between homself and Mullah Omar, more so than any religious or political affiliation.
Public outrage at the events of 9/11 distracted the media and the public from the Bush Administration’s defense failure, and literally utilizing a megaphone and standing atop the rubble at Ground Zero Bush was able to obfuscate the issue and launch a series of aggressions overseas, beginning with Afghanistan. The American and British military, along with token support from other nations to make it look like a more widespread effort, routed the Taliban and whatever Al Qaeda there were long before the end of 2001, and the Taliban has been out of power in that nation since then and Al Qaeda shifted its meager resources to Pakistan (along with the Taliban for a while) and neither have been a significant threat to anyone except the corrupt regime of Hamid Karzai which the United States installed and which is in danger of crumbling due to its own greed, incompetence and illegitimacy.
Meanwhile Cheney, Rumsfeld, Dubya and General David Petraeus distracted the nation even further by lying about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq (how could Saddam deliver them to the U.S. anyway, and pose a threat to U.S. national security--a question never addressed by them) and somehow tying Saddam to Al Qaeda justifying another war of aggression in an Islamic nation, this time the Arab nation of Iraq. Cheney, Dubya and Bush Sr. all had axes to grind with Saddam and this was their meager pretext. For the next 7 years this overfunded and over-technologically gifted Department of Defense has fought two stalemated wars against tiny gangs in possession of no Navies, Air Forces, missiles of any sort to speak of, nothing really except side arms and poorly designed and manufactured land mines (improvised explosive devises). The result is more than a quarter million dead Iraqis and Afghans, 5,000 of America’s and its allies' youngest and bravest, and more than $2 trillion in blown up hardware and wasted dollars and a continuing middle eastern and south Asian crisis that is out of control. And now a nuclear Pakistan in addition to a nuclear India.
Enter Barack Obama in January of 2009, and Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State. When President Obama took office, General David Petraeus had amassed huge political capitol within the Defense Department, and within the general political culture. Despite the stalemated wars, people were even rumoring an eventual Petraeus run for the Presidency.
An outstanding diplomat, an adviser to Senator John Kerry during his 2004 run for the White House, and to then Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 run for the Presidency, Richard Holbrooke became special adviser and Ambassador to the overall situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan under President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
From day one in the United States there has been tension and bureaucratic infighting between the State Department and the Department of Defense, the War Department or whatever name it has had at the time. The DOD has always had the upper hand by virtue of its larger budget and the authoritative and powerful capabilities that its mission summons. It has the guns, plain and simple, and it has the largest budget in the world. Period. By comparison, the State Department’s abilities to compete are miniscule. Its budget is relatively a dwarf compared to the billions amassed annually by DOD, and the Stae Department's weapons are words, political persuasion and diplomacy; not guns, missiles and bombs. In an interesting turn of events, at the inception of the establishment of the State Department via the U.S. Constitution, the Secretary of State was deemed the first cabinet official in line to the Presidency ahead of all other Cabinet positions, establishing the pre-eminence of State and of Diplomacy in our legal tradition, ahead of violence and warfare.
Ambassador Holbrooke (and over time the NY Times reported on his efforts on their back pages very well) went about the business of trying to make sense of the situation left to President Obama by Dubya’s people. There was fighting still going on between tribal forces, Taliban and the U.S., the Karzai regime and other parties within Afghanistan proper. The Taliban leadership and what remained of Al Qaeda were now in Pakistan, and a fanatical group known as the Huqani network was largely protecting the relatively few remaining Al Qaeda.Pakistan’s government faced opposition domestically for a variety of reasons, and was not a sure bet to remain in power, and this got complicated by natural disasters. And Hamid Karzai was evidently so corrupt that he was loading American hard currency on skids and flying it to foreign capitals in case he had to make a mad dash for it at any given point. The Afghan infrastructure was still non-existent and poverty persisted in both Afghanistan and now getting worse due to flooding in Pakistan.
Secretary of State Clinton trusted Ambassador Holbrooke who had the confidence of most parties involved because of his years of experience as a trusted diplomat throughout the world, but in that region in particular, and he had developed personal rapport with many of the key players.Secretary Clinton deferred to Holbrooke’s expertise and skills, and gradually parties began talking with one another.
Unfortunately, the American military wasn’t very supportive of any sort of negotiated approach and Petraeus and other military brass sought often to throw monkey wrenches into any talks, even though politics are not something uniformed brass are expected to involve themselves in.
Then a volcano erupted in Iceland, and grounded airline traffic in Europe for a month or so. General Stanley McChrystal was then the chief in command of Afghanistan, and Petraeus was his boss as Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) commander over both the Afghanistan and Iraq operations. General McChrystal had authorized a Rolling Stone reporter to follow him and his entourage that week, not expecting to be grounded in Europe. He and his uniformed cohorts wound up spending nights at clubs and flapping their yaps in opposition to President Obama, the strategies, both diplomatic, personally and militarily that were being pursued. President Obama called McChrystal back to Washington and McChrystal “resigned” pronto.
General Petraeus was placed back in ‘charge’ of operations in Afghanistan, but that was actually a demotion—he went from CENTO commander in charge of Iraq and Afghanistan, to only overseeing Afghanistan.
Now, please mind you, that Petraeus and McChrystal had broad support within the military. It is NOT just a simple matter of kicking people out of power for a given President. In addition to that Petraeus had developed a large cadre of supporters within both political parties on Capitol Hill and in the general population, despite his waste of lives, resources and lousy generalship of these two pathetic war efforts.
A huge tragedy befell the nation and the world when on December 13, 2010 Ambassador Richard Holbrooke died as a result of a rare and unexpected aortic dissection. This stilted the battle between diplomacy and war within our own government temporarily.
Over the summer, however Secretary Clinton gradually was continuing to gain the upper hand in tackling the entrenched elites at DOD, and while still in uniform and on the ground in Afghanistan, General Petraeus was compelled reluctantly to begin giving background information and then publicly telling members of the press that talks were commencing between the Karzai crew, our own people, elements of the Taliban (minus the top leadership, most notably Mullah Omar), the Huqanis, and the Pakistani government.
Then finally in July of 2011, in the largest reshuffling of the national defense hierarchy in the past 10 years, President Obama finally showed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates the gate, and he resigned. General Petraeus left the military and was placed in charge of the CIA, which accomplished several things. 1) It undercut and/or neutralized his political support within the uniformed military and within the Defense Department. 2) It prevents him from speaking out publicly against U.S. policy and seeking a civilian political base. 3) It puts him in a command/control structure in a civilian setting where he does have a skill set which may prove useful.
And by naming Leon Panetta to the DOD Secretary’s job, the result is that a civilian with Democratic Party credentials is back in charge of defense, instead of a career militaristic maniac. Panetta spent 14 years in the House of Representatives, was a Clinton Chief of Staff, and brings a political rather than a military inclination back to the Pentagon.
Just this past week, January 7th, the NY Times reported that Qatar would allow the Taliban to open offices there in order for them to navigate a diplomatic process with other nations. And just today the Washington Post, in an article by Karen DeYoung linked here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/2012/01/11/gIQAdPpzrP_story.html?wpisrc=al_national; said “The Obama administration will resume peace talks with the Taliban as soon as Afghan President Hamid Karzai formally blesses the negotiations, according to senior administration officials who indicated that the process could be underway within weeks.” They went on to report that “Marc Grossman, the senior U.S. diplomat who shepherded a series of secret U.S. meetings with the insurgents last year, will meet with Karzai late next week to ensure that he is on board, officials said.”
One interesting irony worth noting is that if any negotiated peace is successfully acheived pertaining to Afghanistan, the signatories to the treaty are likely to inlude the Afghan government, the Pakistani government, elements of the opposition including Taliban, even members of the Huqani network. Notably absent from any signing would be the American goverment, simply because the reactionary partison tone of the current Republican Party would no doubt make it highly unlikely that the U.S. Senate would ratify any peace treaty.
For those of us who want out of Afghanistan and see little or no advantage to American troops remaining, this is all good news. A negotiated settlement would mean a potential earlier departure than currently planned by all parties. I take issue with one aspect of today’s Washington Post piece, so I warn readers that I do NOT believe that this administration will negotiate with Mullah Omar nor with several of the former top Taliban government leaders, which has been previously reported both in the press, by the Defense Department and by the State Department.
But a bigger picture thing has happened here. Since WW II the largest budget on earth has been the U.S. Department of Defense budget. The largest killing machine in world history is the U.S. Department of Defense. Since WW II there has been a bureaucratic battle between diplomacy and war within our own government (even General Prez Eisenhower not only created it, but had the audacity to use it politically when he ‘warned’ of the Military Industrial Complex). Since WW II we have not fought one officially declared war. We have not fought a single international war with a nation from another continent on our continent since 1800. Since WW II we’ve fought foreign wars of aggression in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Panama, Iraq twice now, and Afghanistan. We have deployed the largest, most powerful and most technologically advanced intercontinental nuclear arsenal on earth. We spend as much annually on our war budget as the rest of the world combined. As far as I know not one person of color, nor one woman has been allowed to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff or as Secretary of Defense.
We’ve now had three successive women as Secretary of State. Madeline Albright will be recognized in the decades to come as perhaps among the shrewdest and most effective we’ve ever had. Condoleezza Rice proves that possessing a PhD doesn’t make one an expert. Secretary of State Clinton, along with President Barack Obama, may have just won the biggest and most significant organizational battle in U. S. history.
It went little noted that upon taking office, within a couple of months after taking office, President Obama radically changed U.S. Strategic Military policy. For the first time since the successful conclusion of the Manhattan Project resulting in our successfully detonating the world’s first nuclear weapons, the official American nuclear strategy is to ultimately disarm our own nuclear weaponry and envisions a nuclear weapon-free world. The only way to have 100% nuclear weapons security IS for them to be eliminated. Though we may disagree and fuss about details along the way, I DO believe that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are transforming the nation and the world in ways which will result in an international military and political culture much safer from nuclear warfare, and safer from all war, PERIOD. Think it over please, but re-elect them and give them 4 more years to achieve these awesome ends, please!
It's 2am as I finish up this piece, and I'm praying as hard as I can for all those who are caught up in war zones tonight. War involves killing and maiming. With guns, bombs, knives, bear hands or glass. Whatever's available. It often means paying thugs so your kids won't get tortured and killed by them. It means paying thugs so they won't come and rape your wife and daughters again tonight. It means being beaten senseless by people you don't know, and knowing no reason why and knowing no way to stop it from happening. It means having your house burnt to the ground. Finding another spot to live and having it torched. It means filthy unsantary water, mud really. It means disease, and drinking water and bathing water that is brown and has lice-like creatures in it. It means your infant will die tonight. It means your mother, father and sisters are dead and you don't know if you'll make it through the night. It means greedy people in white shirts and ties who are somehow getting rich from the whole deal. It means never forgetting seeing your sister have her clothes torn off and objects inserted into her private parts and being held back from defending her and then being beaten yourself. It means seeing your neighbor having one finger chopped off at a time for bloodsport. It means kids, puppies and kittens with no home and no understanding of anything. It means bursts of gunfire, sometimes close sometimes not so close. It means bombs, sirens and collapsing buildings. Screams for help, mercy and of pain. It means blood. Lots of blood all over people and things. It means destruction. It means hunger, and eating things you'd never imagine having to eat. Eating wild animals, rats, mice, vermin. Eating moldy diseased food from dumpsters or deciding whether it's better to give it to a hungry dying kid or not. It means thinking about turning a gun on yourself just to escape the brutality of all of it.
This is what American military aggression has brought to Asia, Africa, the middle east, and Latin America since we dropped two nuclear bombs on specifically chosen civilian targets when we won Nuclear War I in our surprise first-strikes against the unsuspecting men, women and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
I pray for an end to war. I pray for the safety and sanity of those caught up in it tonight. I pray for the safety and sanity especially of those who are in leadership positions and responsible for sending others out to wage these morally bankrupt crimes upon humanity. I pray for Barack Obama, for Hillary Clinton, for Secretary Panetta and for all those who have the opportunity to lead the deadliest nation on earth towards a path of peace and righteousness at long last. I pray for mercy for the victims of war. I pray for peace, that it may please be Your will. In Jesus' precious, precious name I pray today and always.
