2008 is Coming - Get up, Stand up!

Hopefully this past year taught everyone how destructive to this country a bad President can be. We used to live in a nation where the checks and balances established in our Constitution kept the President from running amok. But the climate of fear created by the attacks of September 11, 2001 opened the door for the Bush / Cheney regime to subvert, undermine and circumvent the Constitution and seize the kind of power last wielded against Americans by King George III, and they took full advantage.

How did this happen? Because we the people, along with our representatives in the Congress and the Senate, allowed it to happen.

In 2008, if no other year during your life, I implore you to get involved in politics in some way, shape, or form.

This is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. It is time we all did our duty.

We owe it to the troops who are stuck in Iraq, trapped in the middle of a bloody civil war that we started, a war with no end in sight. We owe it to future generations of Americans. We owe it to ourselves.

Getting involved is simple. While you are surfing the Internet, read the news. When you see something the government has done that angers you (trust me, it doesn't take long), take action. Write or call your Congressman or Senator. Forward the story to your friends. Do something.

Due to this administration's unprovoked invasion of Iraq, their eavesdropping on American telephone conversations, their attempt to pack the Justice department with U.S. Attorneys willing to unlawfully prosecute cases in a politically motivated manner, their history of implementing schemes that result in the disenfranchisement of minority voters, their suppression of free speech and freedom of the press, and numerous other crimes, the democracy we once took for granted is on life support; but it is not dead yet. The year 2008 may be your last chance to revive it.

Your responsibility for the New Year is twofold:

1. Inform yourself about the Presidential candidates and choose the one you think best suited to fix the problems created by present management while not abusing the office and exceeding the scope of its powers as set forth in the Constitution. Vote in the primary, vote in the general election, volunteer, campaign, canvas, discuss, debate, and encourage others to do the same.

2. Be vigilant. Don't let President Bush and Vice President Cheney get away with anything without putting up a fight. As they say in the subways here in New York City, "If you see something, say something." They can cause a lot of damage over the next 391 days if we allow them.

As a parting thought, simply do as Bob Marley says:

"Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights."

Do it while you still have them. Because once they are taken away completely, it takes a bloody revolution to get them back.

My Congressman Can Beat Up Your Congressman

Look at what my Representative to the United States Congress said to Dick Cheney this week. Charlie Rangel is a stud and he should be cloned:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 6, 2007

Contact: Emile Milne | Elbert Garcia (202) 225-4365 | (212) 663-3900

RANGEL TO CHENEY: BE QUIET

WASHINGTON - Congressman Charles Rangel released the following statement in response to recent comments made by Vice-President Dick Cheney. I am embarrassed for the office of the President of the United States and the Vice President when our own foreign policy is so discredited by our own intelligence officials. Instead of addressing the failure of all the saber rattling and possibility of World War III with Iran, Cheney has gone back to trying to frighten Americans over the war in Iraq. It's just disgraceful that he would challenge the patriotism of those who differ with their position, not even mentioning that nobody in a high position in the administration has served a day in the military. The Vice President's failure to respond to the Iran report just shatters whatever credibility is left in the Bush foreign policy. The best contribution he could make is just to be quiet.

Somebody who gets it...

"I Don't Know" - Well, General Petraeus, I do.

General Petraeus was asked by Senator John Warner of Virginia on Tuesday whether the course of action we are pursuing in Iraq is making America safer. To which the General replied, "Sir, I don't know actually."

Maybe I can help the General out here. The answer is no. We are making some of the Iraqis safe from some of the other Iraqis. And we are keeping some of them safe from the outside agitators who came to town and established an al-Qaeda franchise amdist all the chaos we helped create. And we are keeping all of the Iraqis safe from the Iranians.

Does any of this help out Americans? The last time I checked it was the job of the American government to keep Americans safe. I think I read that somewhere. Oh yes, it was in the United States Constitution. In the Preamble it lists the reasons for creating the federal government, and among them is to "provide for the common defense". The word "common" applies to the people of the United States, not all of the world's people, nor does it mean all of the people in countries that happen to have the world's 2nd largest supply of petroleum beneath their soil.

There are 2 ways in which our decision to invade and remain in Iraq is jeopardizing the lives of Americans, and they are the impact that choice has had on Muslims, and the effect it has had on our rivals.

With respect to the Muslims of the world, they didn't like it when we occupied Saudi Arabia briefly in order to facilitate our defense of Kuwait, another Muslim nation. How did President Bush think they would feel about his plan to illegally invade Iraq and stay there indefinitely? Did he think Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 terrorists who attacked us on September 11, 2001, would sit idly by while their biggest oil customer tried to acquire the 2nd largest supply of oil in the world by force? Whatever it is they are teaching kids in schools over there that made 15 young men fly suicide missions at U.S. targets is not likely to become more favorable when textbooks are updated to include the Iraq War. And now it is not just regular guys who are joining the fight, we now have Muslim doctors joining the terrorist's cause, as we saw over the summer in the United Kingdom. How many more terrorists were created when news got out about the 3 American soldiers who gang raped a 14 year old Iraqi girl and murdered her and her family (mother, father and 7 year old sister)?

When I mentioned our rivals earlier, I was referring to the other countries with big armies and nuclear arsenals that we don't always see eye to eye with, Russia and China. Has anybody noticed what they have been up to in the past 6 months or so? I have. It is a little disturbing. They are both becoming a little more belligerent than I would like, considering they both have the ability to annihilate us and they don't need to hijack airplanes to do it. And the sad part is, their reaction is not altogether irrational, considering our behavior. Our invasion of Iraq to get at their natural resources is the worst kind of imperialism, plain and simple, and this is not lost on either of them. Here is a list of some of the headlines that should cause you some alarm, and they represent the kind of things that were not going on before we started misbehaving in Iraq:

Today: "Zubkov to boost Russia's Military" - Not good

9/12/07: "Russian 'father of all bombs' outblasts US super bomb" - Also not good

8/17/07: "Putin revives Russia's long-haul bomber flights" - Scared yet?

8/17/07: "Russia and China to hold joint military exercise" - Feeling safe?

6/28/07: "Kremlin lays claim to huge chunk of oil-rich North Pole" - Russia going some place it has no business going to try and get their hands on oil? How would you like to have Condoleeza Rice's job and have to criticize them for that course of action without seeming like a hypocrite. Good luck.

Admittedly some of the Russian actions can be attributed to another bonehead decision by President Bush, the whole sci-fi Eastern European missle shield fantasy. But you get the general idea, a powerful country we were formerly on good terms with, has started acting up of late.

Keep your eyes out for headlines from these countries, and bear in mind that the dangers of the war in Iraq have nothing to do with what is going on in Iraq. What is of greater import is the perception of the United States in the eyes of our enemies and potential enemies that the war has created. It has made increasingly more mainstream followers of Islam hate us, and with good reason. It has given China and Russia each an excuse to increase and flex their military might. There is nothing General Petraeus and any number of troops can do in Iraq that will make Americans safer. The only way to make us safer if to bring them all home. Would we have liked it if Britain had come over to the U.S. and fought with one side or the other during our Civil War, and then decided to stay for 9 or 10 years afterwards just to make sure Reconstruction worked out? What if they had showed up uninvited and started the whole war in the first place? Let's get out of Iraq now. We have worn out our welcome, and not only do our hosts think that way, but so does the rest of the world. God help this planet if some of those countries decide to start emulating our behavior.

Karl Rove Quits!

Woohoo! And he used the standard Bush administration exit line, "So I can spend more time with my family". He has 1 son who will go away to college in 2 weeks. Mmmmmkay. Maybe he'll hang out at his son's dorm and play drinking games with him? I'm sure Karl would excel at games involving lying. And "Asshole"? Forget about it, with Karl's mad political skillz he would be President all night long!

KARL: "Asshole, wipe!"
FRESHMAN: "Umm, Andy, you're dad is kind of a dick."

Today is a great day to be an American! More later, gotta run...

Contempt and Congress

I read this commentary in the online version of The Wall Street Journal on Monday, take a look...

Contempt and Congress by Professor John Yoo

In the byline it said the author was a Professor at Boalt Hall School of Law (UC Berkeley), so I went to their website, found his email, and sent him my thoughts, which are as follows:

To: jyoo@law.berkeley.edu
From: bob@highlyquestionable.com

Dear Professor Yoo,

When I read your commentary in The Wall Street Journal I wondered if the Bancroft family had already approved the sale of the paper to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

As a law professor, you should know the meaning of "any or no reason" when it comes to employment at will. That doctrine states that I can fire an employee for any or no reason, but I cannot fire them for an illegal reason, such as because they are female, or because they are of African descent, or because they are confined to a wheelchair. These are illegal reasons.

I submit to you that the firing of a US attorney because he or she failed to prosecute cases in a way most advantageous to the Republican party during an election year is an illegal reason. The firings of December 7, 2006 suggest just such a pattern. Some of those who were fired were either guilty of prosecuting Republicans (Carol Lam, Paul Charlton & Daniel Bogden), refraining from prosecuting Democrats (David Iglesias), or refusing to initiate "voter fraud" investigations where none existed, simply because an election was extremely close (John McKay during the 2004 Washington state gubernatorial race).

Do you agree that, if true, that conduct would be illegal? If so, shouldn't Congress be allowed to investigate such an abuse of power? Didn't the framers want the Legislative branch to serve as a check on the Executive branch? Would you agree that they didn't want the government to use the criminal justice system to prosecute their political enemies?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Scofield, Esq.

That was Monday afternoon, still awaiting a reply. I'll let you know how that goes.

Attorney General Gonzales testified again today, telling more lies and offering at least one "I'll get back to you on that" kind of statment. He has got to go.

Please Don't Steal The Condoms

I went to buy more condoms yesterday, and I found they were under lock & key at my local CVS pharmacy. It made me wonder why they were afforded more protection (so to speak) than the rest of the merchandise. I imagine the store must have had a problem with the condoms being stolen. Does this mean there are people out there too broke to afford to buy condoms & unable to purloin them from CVS, who are having unprotected sex right now? I thought so, and my suspicisions were confirmed as I headed out the store and saw the only other items in the store that were similarly locked in a cage: baby formula!

So it seems the sequence of events were:

1. Poor,sexually active, but smart inner city kids wanted to have safe sex but couldn't afford condoms so they stole them.
2. CVS decided to lock up the condoms.
3. The impoverished & horny kids decided to have unprotected sex.
4. 9 months to a year later, the CVS manager noticed a rise in shrinkage in the baby forumla aisle. He begins locking that stuff up as well.

Can't we give the poor people condoms? If they can't afford condoms, how are they supposed to properly raise a kid? What about STD's? If they can't even afford condoms, what kind of health insurance can they possibly have?

This got me to wondering where President Bush stands on the issue. Apparently he would preach abstinence until marriage, that is his strategy for preventing pregnancy & HIV. To see the statistics for the state of Texas on teenage sexuality during his tenure as governor, click here. To summarize, it appears the fear of going to Hell was not enough to dissuade teenagers from having premarital sex.

Now that he has become President, he has undertaken to stem the tide of AIDS in Africa, as outlined in one of his State of the Union addresses. I'm not sure how he expects to accomplish that without advocating the use of condoms, especially among people who may not even have ever heard of Jesus, much less believe that he will punish them for having sex before marriage. We shall see.

Welcome Aboard!

Every day I make a video reminding the President of the United States, George W. Bush, that he sucks. I post them online at YouTube, follow the link to the right and watch them.