This article was originally posted on Febuary 19th, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
I’ve always been interested in magic. I do know a little about it. I like to dabble in it. I’m not talking about the natural kind of magic that Wiccans and the like practice, although that type of magic does hold a certain fascination for me, but the store bought type of magic, the type of magic Harry Houdini, David Copperfield and other stage magicians like to practice. I’ve even purchased many magic gadgets in my life to learn their secrets and try to amaze my friends. The problem with many of these gadgets is that the trick took practice to perfect, which meant time, and I’ve always seemed to have better things to do with my time than practice magic.
I went to high school with a kid who was quite an accomplished magician. He must have spent hours practicing his craft. I interviewed him for the school paper. He showed me how slight of hand worked, and how deft his fingers were. He was so good at it, he could make a lit cigarette disappear in a darkened room. But there’s more to slight of hand than lots of practice and nimble fingers. Much of it is psychological. Much of what makes a good magician better is his performance skills. After all, what is magic if not entertainment? One must be able to get the audience to watch what the right hand is doing while the left hand hides the prop. When one learns these things, when one becomes adept at them, then magic becomes a science rather than a marvel. It can, in fact, lose its appeal as one sees through the façade and realizes – through critical thinking – what is going on behind the scenes. When you realize that magic is just a deception, it can actually be quite a letdown. Still, even an old magician that knows all the secrets can appreciate a good trick performed well.
In this way, politicians have become excellent magicians. They show you what their right hand is doing while hiding what’s in their left hand. Their object is to give you the illusion they’re doing something. They’ve been doing this for years, but it seems that lately it’s become more ridiculous. They debate non binding resolutions to make it look like they are against an unjust, illegal war, to make it look like they care, while they allow a commander in chief who has more than proven his incompetence remain at the helm. They argue about a “surge” of more soldiers instead of demanding the return of the troops already there. They worry about how they will be perceived if they remove funding for the war instead of truly supporting the troops by completely cutting off funding and forcing their homecoming. They want you to believe that they are for a free society, fighting for our ideals while they fail to repeal recently passed unconstitutional legislation that could be used to completely subjugate citizens of the United States and quiet dissent if it becomes necessary. They want you to believe they are working for the common American while accepting billions of dollars from special interest lobbies with agendas contrary to the interests of Americans. They want people to think they’re an opposition party while preaching the virtues of bi-partisanship. Most of all, they want us to think that we need them, that we need their protection, that we need the benefits they provide us, that we need their services, while they do nothing but take and see to it that their friends and political contributors and allies benefit from the public coffers. They cast an illusion of governance while behind the façade one sees nothing but the papier-mâché framework of nepotism.
Like a good magician, politicians need an able assistant willing to keep the secrets of their trade. They found this assistant in the main stream media. The mass media practices a slight of hand known as propaganda. They decide what it is the American people will be watching on their television sets. They decide whether the American people will be seeing pictures and film from the war in Iraq or pictures and film from the life of Anna Nicole. They decide whether to report on the deaths that occurred in Iraq or the drug bust that took place on a given day. They decide, through their commentators, what the American people should think about a given issue. They help the politicians create the illusions mentioned above. They help them create the illusion that we need big government, that we need to give up our privacy, our right to speak and other freedoms for our own protection, that we need to be the aggressor in warfare in order to protect our freedoms and our way of life, and that we need government to take care of us. Most of all, they help to create the illusion that there are only two political parties in this country. Like a good assistant to a good magician as part of a good stage show, they help make people believe that the magic is real, that something is happening which the audience knows is impossible. And it works. A few days ago a coworker and I were talking about a news story about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and I voiced my doubt as to the authenticity of the report. My coworker asked me sincerely if I felt the media would lie to us. I just walked away without answering him. I could tell he didn’t want to be let down by knowing the truth. It’s a trick, folks, an illusion, and all any of them care about is getting the money they took from you at the door to the theatre.
Unfortunately the illusion the politicians and the media has created is extremely well done. Many people are like my coworker and still believe that CNN, FOX and other network news sources would never lie to the public. They believe that every word printed in the New York Times and Washington Post must be true. For some of them, they may never come to the realization that they are being deceived. After all, that’s what a good illusion is all about, deception. Many, however, are beginning to see through the illusion. Readership in major newspapers is down. Television news is losing its viewers. More and more people are turning to the Internet to get their information and while everything there may not necessarily be true, at least it's up to the individual to decide what to believe. There is hope, if we can hold on for a couple more years, and maybe then we’ll all realize as we walk out of that theatre that he didn’t really cut that woman in half.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Mr. Branson, May I Please Have the 25 Million Dollars Anyway?
This article was originally posted on Febuary 11th, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
Mr. Branson, Mr. Gore, I have done it. I have figured out a way to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere after it has been released and convert it to oxygen! I like to call this marvelous technology, the “tree.” It is amazing! This machine is very easy to build. In fact, they reproduce themselves. Take a little thing called a “seed” from a “tree” that already exists and put it in the ground and – violá – a couple months later a small tree appears. Don’t worry, it will grow. “Trees” come in many sizes, but the ones we need get pretty darn tall. These “trees” take carbon dioxide right from the air and once inside them it is converted to energy and oxygen is released. It is my understanding that at one time, perhaps hundreds of millions of years ago, these “trees” covered the Earth, probably as some sort of evolutionary process brought on by an overabundance of carbon dioxide.
Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for inventing the “tree”. Still, I’m sure that with enough of these spread across the planet – and if we take steps to stop producing carbon dioxide – we will be able to overcome this carbon dioxide problem. It is for this reason I am asking you if you will please give me the 25 million dollars anyway for coming up with this idea. If you do, I will make this pledge to you. I will pledge to you that I will not waste your money on fancy gadgets that cost more than they’re worth and don’t do the job they’re supposed to do. I will spend the money on systems that will help mankind overcome his dependency on oil and other fossil fuels and the billionaires who continue to extract these fuels from the Earth causing untold misery and ecological damage just so they can stay billionaires and maintain a certain control over all our lives. I will take one fifth of the prize and open a business selling solar and wind power systems. I will build a house in a busy location opened to the public that will show how well the new systems work. This will not be an ultra modern house or anything unsightly, but a normal looking house off the grid run completely with solar and wind power. Personally, I like Victorian style houses. This house would be open to the public so anyone would be able to walk through to see all the wonderful energy producing products available to modern man as well as the latest in energy efficient lighting products, appliances and climate control products. I would also open a facility on the same plot of land to make available research and development space for product improvements and new products such as zero emissions vehicles, if funding allowed. This facility could also be used to demonstrate how green roofs are being used to save energy and enrich our lives.
I pledge that I would use the rest of the money to buy and maintain land in South America. It seems as if the best “trees” for capturing carbon dioxide cover the areas in lands known as “rain forests”. I would buy land owned by farmers, at a nice profit for them so they could live comfortably, and convert that land back to “rain forest”. There, I would create hundreds of more “trees”. Of course, I probably couldn’t buy that much land back with 20 million, but every little bit helps. It occurs to me that a small facility could be built on this plot of land where scientists could do research on the natural flora and fauna in this reclaimed area and perhaps develop new medicines derived from these. Maybe even some species of plants or animals that are near extinction could be saved inside these few reforested acres. If this project works out, perhaps more people with money would also be interested in buying land for reforestation. What a marvelous thing it would be to see the “rain forests” rebuilt to their former grandeur.
To conclude, Mr. Branson, it is very generous of you to give away so much money for such a worthy cause. I hope you will consider my idea seriously. In the article I read, it was stated that we once had to wait 60 years to obtain a way to accurately measure longitude even though a prize like this was offered. It was also stated that we couldn’t afford to wait another 60 years for this technology. I agree. We should start working now with the technology already available, including the technology supplied by nature, to eliminate the creation of carbon dioxide as well as pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bring our planet back to a more natural state.
Mr. Branson, Mr. Gore, I have done it. I have figured out a way to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere after it has been released and convert it to oxygen! I like to call this marvelous technology, the “tree.” It is amazing! This machine is very easy to build. In fact, they reproduce themselves. Take a little thing called a “seed” from a “tree” that already exists and put it in the ground and – violá – a couple months later a small tree appears. Don’t worry, it will grow. “Trees” come in many sizes, but the ones we need get pretty darn tall. These “trees” take carbon dioxide right from the air and once inside them it is converted to energy and oxygen is released. It is my understanding that at one time, perhaps hundreds of millions of years ago, these “trees” covered the Earth, probably as some sort of evolutionary process brought on by an overabundance of carbon dioxide.
Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for inventing the “tree”. Still, I’m sure that with enough of these spread across the planet – and if we take steps to stop producing carbon dioxide – we will be able to overcome this carbon dioxide problem. It is for this reason I am asking you if you will please give me the 25 million dollars anyway for coming up with this idea. If you do, I will make this pledge to you. I will pledge to you that I will not waste your money on fancy gadgets that cost more than they’re worth and don’t do the job they’re supposed to do. I will spend the money on systems that will help mankind overcome his dependency on oil and other fossil fuels and the billionaires who continue to extract these fuels from the Earth causing untold misery and ecological damage just so they can stay billionaires and maintain a certain control over all our lives. I will take one fifth of the prize and open a business selling solar and wind power systems. I will build a house in a busy location opened to the public that will show how well the new systems work. This will not be an ultra modern house or anything unsightly, but a normal looking house off the grid run completely with solar and wind power. Personally, I like Victorian style houses. This house would be open to the public so anyone would be able to walk through to see all the wonderful energy producing products available to modern man as well as the latest in energy efficient lighting products, appliances and climate control products. I would also open a facility on the same plot of land to make available research and development space for product improvements and new products such as zero emissions vehicles, if funding allowed. This facility could also be used to demonstrate how green roofs are being used to save energy and enrich our lives.
I pledge that I would use the rest of the money to buy and maintain land in South America. It seems as if the best “trees” for capturing carbon dioxide cover the areas in lands known as “rain forests”. I would buy land owned by farmers, at a nice profit for them so they could live comfortably, and convert that land back to “rain forest”. There, I would create hundreds of more “trees”. Of course, I probably couldn’t buy that much land back with 20 million, but every little bit helps. It occurs to me that a small facility could be built on this plot of land where scientists could do research on the natural flora and fauna in this reclaimed area and perhaps develop new medicines derived from these. Maybe even some species of plants or animals that are near extinction could be saved inside these few reforested acres. If this project works out, perhaps more people with money would also be interested in buying land for reforestation. What a marvelous thing it would be to see the “rain forests” rebuilt to their former grandeur.
To conclude, Mr. Branson, it is very generous of you to give away so much money for such a worthy cause. I hope you will consider my idea seriously. In the article I read, it was stated that we once had to wait 60 years to obtain a way to accurately measure longitude even though a prize like this was offered. It was also stated that we couldn’t afford to wait another 60 years for this technology. I agree. We should start working now with the technology already available, including the technology supplied by nature, to eliminate the creation of carbon dioxide as well as pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bring our planet back to a more natural state.
Positive Thinking and the Death of the American Dream
This article was originally published on Febuary 6th, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about positive thinking and a thought responsive universe. I learned about the power of positive thinking way back in the seventies and have practiced it throughout my life. There are some people who swear by it, others who will tell you it’s nothing but bull hockey and still others who make money selling it to those desperately seeking some meaning in their lives. As for me, positive thinking has both worked for and failed in my life. I’m not going to discuss the details of my own personal experiences with positive thinking, but rather the place positive and negative thinking has on the collective consciousness of all human beings.
We can start by examining the “American dream.” Think about what this means for you. Does it mean a nice home in the burbs with an idyllic family, a filled two car garage, a couple of TVs, and all the niceties and baubles life has to offer? Does it mean rampant consumerism and debt up to your eyeballs? Are these the things you dream of? I have my own idea of what the American dream is, or at least what I think it should be. It's about freedom and individual liberty. It's about the freedom to do things without interference from a government entity. It's about the freedom to decide for yourself what you want to do with your life, to keep what you earn, to spend as you see fit, to do whatever you feel so long as you don’t interfere with another’s rights. These dreams make the other dreams happen. These are the dreams this country was founded on and these are the dreams that are rapidly slipping away from us as our government becomes more and more intrusive on our everyday rights and more and more dictatorial in our economic life. The dream of freedom and liberty becomes harder and harder to realize as the government becomes more socialist, some may say even communist, and passes more and more intrusive laws that take freedom and power from the citizen and grant power to the bureaucrats. There are those who don’t seem to mind this. You see, freedom and liberty require that one take responsibility for his own life, and there are some who do not want to take responsibility for themselves. There are those among us who wish everything would be done for them, that the government would take care of them. There are those who think they are entitled to a certain lifestyle, and they are willing to take from each and every tax payer in order to get their entitlement. A free society should not work that way. A free society should not force anyone to do something they don’t want to do. On the other hand, a free society certainly wouldn’t keep people from volunteering their time, money and expertise if they so chose to do so. We can, in a free society, choose to help our fellow man and choose to do any function government currently provides without the threat of force, fines, imprisonment and other punishment hanging over our heads. It is a matter of showing those in power we have the will to do it much as it was in 1776 when our forefathers decided to show the British government they had the will to choose freedom.
Am I going to tell you that we can do this by thinking positive? Hell no. I don’t believe that for a second. Positive thinking in and of itself has the power to do nothing in this world. I found out a long time ago that one can sit around the house all day long thinking positive and nothing positive will happen in his life. You can sit there watching “American Idol” or “Survivor” or sports or whatever other reality TV show is the show du jour all night long and visualize yourself as a millionaire, or with a new job, or lover, or simply living a bit of a better life, and it will never happen. Perhaps on another plane of existence this would work, but not here, baby, not on this material planet we call Earth. Nothing positive will happen no matter how long or hard you think in a positive manner and no matter how clearly you visualize your goals. Positive thinking will only work if it is paired up with positive action. This world we live in is not a thought responsive world, it is an action responsive world. In fact, even positive thought can lead to negative consequences if the actions springing from these thoughts are negative. That’s where the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” comes from.
Let us consider negative thinking for a moment. Anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. can all be considered negative emotions. These emotions can lead to negative thinking. Negative thinking in and of itself is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Like positive thinking, negative thinking will do nothing for or against you if it is not acted upon. Again, you can sit on your couch and watch TV all day long thinking about how much you hate someone or something or how much you’d like to destroy something or kill someone and nothing will happen. If, however, you follow these thoughts up with action then bad things may happen, depending on the actions you take. A building ending up destroyed and people dead due to a bomb you planted would be a negative thing. However, if you took that negative thought and did something like write an op/ed piece for some online publication or blog, or take part in some civil disobedience, that could end up being a positive thing. Again, this world is not thought responsive as much as it is action responsive.
Another point some people might not take into account is that even if this existence is a thought responsive one, than it is for everyone. Anyone who is thinking positive very well could be countered by someone thinking negative, or thinking more positive, than that person. For instance, two teams on a football field have eleven players and each player is visualizing the outcome of a given play. The offensive players may be visualizing a reception and the defensive players may be visualizing an interception. Each outcome is a positive result for one team and a negative result for the other. I find it hard to believe that every given play is determined by one or more players on a given team being able to visualize better than the players on the other team. While positive thinking may or may not contribute to the outcome of the play, it is obvious that there are many other factors that contribute to the outcome of the play such as the skill level of the various players, the actions those players take in the course of the play, and even luck. This scenario can play out in most if not all endeavors in life including politics, economics, warfare, etc. In my own life, despite positive thinking and taking positive action, I have been unable to successfully get a book published and marketed to the point where I can make a decent living just writing. In fact, I haven’t been able to even supplement my income with my writing skills. Had I been, then perhaps another equally worthy writer (or even a less worthy one) would have been bumped from their publisher due to my good fortune. Of course, this doesn’t keep me from continuing to envision positive outcomes for my writing skills and I keep trying, I keep submitting, I keep writing. All are positive actions to my positive thinking.
What does any of this have to do with the death of the American dream? It’s simply this, if you believe as I do that the American dream is the dream of freedom and liberty for the individual, or even if you don’t, then it’s not enough to sit back and think positive thoughts and visualize positive scenarios that our rights will be protected by those in power. It’s not enough to sit back and think negative thoughts about what is going on in the world and simply complain about it. The time has come to take action. Speak out in some way. Write a letter to your congressman. Write an opinion article for your paper or a letter to the editor. Show that you are willing to vote for a third party, to kick those that have gotten us to this point out of power. Educate yourself. Use this marvelous technology called the Internet. Take part in a peaceful demonstration. Take part in a PTA or a city counsel meeting on a local level. Run for office. If the American dream is to survive, then Americans need to get up and take part. In order to maintain our freedom we must remain ever vigilant. Positive thinking in and of itself is not enough anymore. We all need to get involved. We all need to contribute. The more of us who take positive action, the more those in power will be pressured to correct their errors. If, however, we all just sit back and think about doing something without actually taking action, then the American dream will die and big brother will be guiding our every thought and action.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about positive thinking and a thought responsive universe. I learned about the power of positive thinking way back in the seventies and have practiced it throughout my life. There are some people who swear by it, others who will tell you it’s nothing but bull hockey and still others who make money selling it to those desperately seeking some meaning in their lives. As for me, positive thinking has both worked for and failed in my life. I’m not going to discuss the details of my own personal experiences with positive thinking, but rather the place positive and negative thinking has on the collective consciousness of all human beings.
We can start by examining the “American dream.” Think about what this means for you. Does it mean a nice home in the burbs with an idyllic family, a filled two car garage, a couple of TVs, and all the niceties and baubles life has to offer? Does it mean rampant consumerism and debt up to your eyeballs? Are these the things you dream of? I have my own idea of what the American dream is, or at least what I think it should be. It's about freedom and individual liberty. It's about the freedom to do things without interference from a government entity. It's about the freedom to decide for yourself what you want to do with your life, to keep what you earn, to spend as you see fit, to do whatever you feel so long as you don’t interfere with another’s rights. These dreams make the other dreams happen. These are the dreams this country was founded on and these are the dreams that are rapidly slipping away from us as our government becomes more and more intrusive on our everyday rights and more and more dictatorial in our economic life. The dream of freedom and liberty becomes harder and harder to realize as the government becomes more socialist, some may say even communist, and passes more and more intrusive laws that take freedom and power from the citizen and grant power to the bureaucrats. There are those who don’t seem to mind this. You see, freedom and liberty require that one take responsibility for his own life, and there are some who do not want to take responsibility for themselves. There are those among us who wish everything would be done for them, that the government would take care of them. There are those who think they are entitled to a certain lifestyle, and they are willing to take from each and every tax payer in order to get their entitlement. A free society should not work that way. A free society should not force anyone to do something they don’t want to do. On the other hand, a free society certainly wouldn’t keep people from volunteering their time, money and expertise if they so chose to do so. We can, in a free society, choose to help our fellow man and choose to do any function government currently provides without the threat of force, fines, imprisonment and other punishment hanging over our heads. It is a matter of showing those in power we have the will to do it much as it was in 1776 when our forefathers decided to show the British government they had the will to choose freedom.
Am I going to tell you that we can do this by thinking positive? Hell no. I don’t believe that for a second. Positive thinking in and of itself has the power to do nothing in this world. I found out a long time ago that one can sit around the house all day long thinking positive and nothing positive will happen in his life. You can sit there watching “American Idol” or “Survivor” or sports or whatever other reality TV show is the show du jour all night long and visualize yourself as a millionaire, or with a new job, or lover, or simply living a bit of a better life, and it will never happen. Perhaps on another plane of existence this would work, but not here, baby, not on this material planet we call Earth. Nothing positive will happen no matter how long or hard you think in a positive manner and no matter how clearly you visualize your goals. Positive thinking will only work if it is paired up with positive action. This world we live in is not a thought responsive world, it is an action responsive world. In fact, even positive thought can lead to negative consequences if the actions springing from these thoughts are negative. That’s where the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” comes from.
Let us consider negative thinking for a moment. Anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. can all be considered negative emotions. These emotions can lead to negative thinking. Negative thinking in and of itself is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Like positive thinking, negative thinking will do nothing for or against you if it is not acted upon. Again, you can sit on your couch and watch TV all day long thinking about how much you hate someone or something or how much you’d like to destroy something or kill someone and nothing will happen. If, however, you follow these thoughts up with action then bad things may happen, depending on the actions you take. A building ending up destroyed and people dead due to a bomb you planted would be a negative thing. However, if you took that negative thought and did something like write an op/ed piece for some online publication or blog, or take part in some civil disobedience, that could end up being a positive thing. Again, this world is not thought responsive as much as it is action responsive.
Another point some people might not take into account is that even if this existence is a thought responsive one, than it is for everyone. Anyone who is thinking positive very well could be countered by someone thinking negative, or thinking more positive, than that person. For instance, two teams on a football field have eleven players and each player is visualizing the outcome of a given play. The offensive players may be visualizing a reception and the defensive players may be visualizing an interception. Each outcome is a positive result for one team and a negative result for the other. I find it hard to believe that every given play is determined by one or more players on a given team being able to visualize better than the players on the other team. While positive thinking may or may not contribute to the outcome of the play, it is obvious that there are many other factors that contribute to the outcome of the play such as the skill level of the various players, the actions those players take in the course of the play, and even luck. This scenario can play out in most if not all endeavors in life including politics, economics, warfare, etc. In my own life, despite positive thinking and taking positive action, I have been unable to successfully get a book published and marketed to the point where I can make a decent living just writing. In fact, I haven’t been able to even supplement my income with my writing skills. Had I been, then perhaps another equally worthy writer (or even a less worthy one) would have been bumped from their publisher due to my good fortune. Of course, this doesn’t keep me from continuing to envision positive outcomes for my writing skills and I keep trying, I keep submitting, I keep writing. All are positive actions to my positive thinking.
What does any of this have to do with the death of the American dream? It’s simply this, if you believe as I do that the American dream is the dream of freedom and liberty for the individual, or even if you don’t, then it’s not enough to sit back and think positive thoughts and visualize positive scenarios that our rights will be protected by those in power. It’s not enough to sit back and think negative thoughts about what is going on in the world and simply complain about it. The time has come to take action. Speak out in some way. Write a letter to your congressman. Write an opinion article for your paper or a letter to the editor. Show that you are willing to vote for a third party, to kick those that have gotten us to this point out of power. Educate yourself. Use this marvelous technology called the Internet. Take part in a peaceful demonstration. Take part in a PTA or a city counsel meeting on a local level. Run for office. If the American dream is to survive, then Americans need to get up and take part. In order to maintain our freedom we must remain ever vigilant. Positive thinking in and of itself is not enough anymore. We all need to get involved. We all need to contribute. The more of us who take positive action, the more those in power will be pressured to correct their errors. If, however, we all just sit back and think about doing something without actually taking action, then the American dream will die and big brother will be guiding our every thought and action.
Don't Tell Us, Hillary, Show Us
This article was originally published on January 31st, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
Back in 2002 Valentine, my coworker and friend, and I would often have discussions about whether or not the United States should invade Iraq. Valentine was against any action in Iraq and I was on the fence. Valentine explained to me that he felt there was no reason to invade Iraq. He felt that Saddam Hussein was afraid of us. After all, we had the most powerful military in the world. We had already beaten the snot out of his military in an earlier war. He was allowing weapons inspectors into his country. We had effectively defanged and declawed the tiger. Valentine would often argue that he felt Saddam had already gotten rid of all his weapons of mass destruction due to his fear of the U.S. There was no evidence he had weapons of mass destruction, he would argue, and he would do so fairly vehemently and with much certainty. When talking about the threat Iraq posed to the U.S. Valentine would often tell me with a chuckle that Iraq’s navy was a huge threat to ours and that he was certain their military was raising an invasion force that would soon attack us. Those two men in a rowboat could – without a doubt – cause great upheaval in these United States and change our way of life. When I would argue that the U.S. military should go into Iraq simply to liberate its people, he would argue that the citizens of Iraq would fight our soldiers. He explained that we would do the same if some foreign power was to invade us to force a regime change. Time proved he was right on all counts.
A couple of days ago, Hillary Clinton came out and said if she had known how badly the war would go, she would have never voted for it. Makes one wonder what we’re paying her for. If an eighty two year old man sitting in the Midwest far away from the pulse of the U.S. and other world governments knew months ahead of time that there were no weapons of mass destruction, why didn’t Senator Hillary Clinton? If he could see how ludicrous the allegation that Iraq posed a threat to the U.S., why couldn’t Hillary? If he could deduce the obvious using nothing but his common sense, why wasn’t Hillary able to do the same? Perhaps Valentine would make a better presidential candidate than Hillary. After all, don’t we want our leaders to have foresight? Isn’t it a good thing for a high office holder to be able to weigh his actions and determine the potential negative repercussions as well as the positive? Shouldn’t a leader be able to apply common sense to a given situation? It seems to me that perhaps Hillary is lacking in these qualities.
Many people may think I’m being unfair to Hillary, that I’m singling her out. To be fair, George Bush did fool a great many people with his rhetoric and perhaps Hillary was one of these. Certainly, a great majority of her Democratic brethren were, as evidenced by their voting record since Sept. 11th, 2001. They almost unanimously along with their Republican fellows voted to take away the rights guaranteed us by our Creator and codified in our constitution by passing draconian laws in a spirit of fear and anger after that terrifying day. They gave the president emergency powers beyond the scope the constitution outlines for the executive branch. They voted to allow him to invade Iraq and then they kept voting to keep funding the war even after the vast majority of the people in the U.S. could see the folly of the Iraq occupation. Congress, both the Democrats and the Republicans, gave Bush nearly dictatorial powers and abdicated their oversight duty.
On the surface it may seem I’m being unfair to Hillary, but she now wants to be president and so she gives a campaign speech in Iowa. That is why she is now singled out. I can forgive the past, but we all must now worry about the future. Hillary tells us that the war in Iraq is President Bush’s responsibility. She tells us he should extricate our troops from this perilous situation. She informs us that her hindsight is 20/20 and that if she had known then what she knows now she would have voted differently. That’s a convenient thing to say. She has conveniently excused herself for shirking her own responsibility, a responsibility the people of New York hired her to exercise. Will she give us the same excuses next year when we’re at war with Iran? Will she say she never saw it coming even though many experts see it happening? What this country needs now is action. What this country needs now is leadership. All Hillary has given us thus far is excuses and lip service. Enough of the rhetoric. The war is as much the responsibility of congress, both the house and the senate, as it is of the executive. They are equal branches of the government. Hillary says that it is Bush’s responsibility, yet there are substantial actions these governmental bodies can take to stop this madness. Show us your leadership skills, Hillary. Demand the early termination of the Bush presidency. Demand that your Democratic brethren in the lower house draw up articles of impeachment. Demand that your fellows in the senate find him guilty. That shouldn’t be too hard to do considering President Bush’s lies and blatant disregard for the constitution he took an oath to uphold. Show your leadership. Demand that the Republicans listen to their constituents screaming in the streets for our soldiers to come home now. Demand that they work with you in the spirit of bipartisanship you seem to hold so highly and support the impeachment of this president so that we can but a halt to the insanity in the Middle East before it spreads. Show us what a uniting force you can be. If the president insists on continuing his fool hardy attempt to stay the course, then demand that congress stop the funding. The U.S. is bleeding green ink and at the very least a tourniquet is needed. Stand up to the war profiteers as only a truly brave leader can and tell them they are no longer welcome to dine on our tax dollars. Stand up to any who would lobby for this war and tell them you can no longer accept their blood money. Prove your leadership and strong arm your colleagues into repealing the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. Show us that you care about the freedom and liberty of the American people. Prove that you do not fear the free speech rights of those who would dissent. These times are extraordinary, Senator Clinton, and as such the ordinary is no longer good enough. It is no longer acceptable to simply cry foul and point. Now is the time to let your voice be heard not by shouting the loudest, but by doing what is necessary to not only stop the current war, but prevent the future one.
Back in 2002 Valentine, my coworker and friend, and I would often have discussions about whether or not the United States should invade Iraq. Valentine was against any action in Iraq and I was on the fence. Valentine explained to me that he felt there was no reason to invade Iraq. He felt that Saddam Hussein was afraid of us. After all, we had the most powerful military in the world. We had already beaten the snot out of his military in an earlier war. He was allowing weapons inspectors into his country. We had effectively defanged and declawed the tiger. Valentine would often argue that he felt Saddam had already gotten rid of all his weapons of mass destruction due to his fear of the U.S. There was no evidence he had weapons of mass destruction, he would argue, and he would do so fairly vehemently and with much certainty. When talking about the threat Iraq posed to the U.S. Valentine would often tell me with a chuckle that Iraq’s navy was a huge threat to ours and that he was certain their military was raising an invasion force that would soon attack us. Those two men in a rowboat could – without a doubt – cause great upheaval in these United States and change our way of life. When I would argue that the U.S. military should go into Iraq simply to liberate its people, he would argue that the citizens of Iraq would fight our soldiers. He explained that we would do the same if some foreign power was to invade us to force a regime change. Time proved he was right on all counts.
A couple of days ago, Hillary Clinton came out and said if she had known how badly the war would go, she would have never voted for it. Makes one wonder what we’re paying her for. If an eighty two year old man sitting in the Midwest far away from the pulse of the U.S. and other world governments knew months ahead of time that there were no weapons of mass destruction, why didn’t Senator Hillary Clinton? If he could see how ludicrous the allegation that Iraq posed a threat to the U.S., why couldn’t Hillary? If he could deduce the obvious using nothing but his common sense, why wasn’t Hillary able to do the same? Perhaps Valentine would make a better presidential candidate than Hillary. After all, don’t we want our leaders to have foresight? Isn’t it a good thing for a high office holder to be able to weigh his actions and determine the potential negative repercussions as well as the positive? Shouldn’t a leader be able to apply common sense to a given situation? It seems to me that perhaps Hillary is lacking in these qualities.
Many people may think I’m being unfair to Hillary, that I’m singling her out. To be fair, George Bush did fool a great many people with his rhetoric and perhaps Hillary was one of these. Certainly, a great majority of her Democratic brethren were, as evidenced by their voting record since Sept. 11th, 2001. They almost unanimously along with their Republican fellows voted to take away the rights guaranteed us by our Creator and codified in our constitution by passing draconian laws in a spirit of fear and anger after that terrifying day. They gave the president emergency powers beyond the scope the constitution outlines for the executive branch. They voted to allow him to invade Iraq and then they kept voting to keep funding the war even after the vast majority of the people in the U.S. could see the folly of the Iraq occupation. Congress, both the Democrats and the Republicans, gave Bush nearly dictatorial powers and abdicated their oversight duty.
On the surface it may seem I’m being unfair to Hillary, but she now wants to be president and so she gives a campaign speech in Iowa. That is why she is now singled out. I can forgive the past, but we all must now worry about the future. Hillary tells us that the war in Iraq is President Bush’s responsibility. She tells us he should extricate our troops from this perilous situation. She informs us that her hindsight is 20/20 and that if she had known then what she knows now she would have voted differently. That’s a convenient thing to say. She has conveniently excused herself for shirking her own responsibility, a responsibility the people of New York hired her to exercise. Will she give us the same excuses next year when we’re at war with Iran? Will she say she never saw it coming even though many experts see it happening? What this country needs now is action. What this country needs now is leadership. All Hillary has given us thus far is excuses and lip service. Enough of the rhetoric. The war is as much the responsibility of congress, both the house and the senate, as it is of the executive. They are equal branches of the government. Hillary says that it is Bush’s responsibility, yet there are substantial actions these governmental bodies can take to stop this madness. Show us your leadership skills, Hillary. Demand the early termination of the Bush presidency. Demand that your Democratic brethren in the lower house draw up articles of impeachment. Demand that your fellows in the senate find him guilty. That shouldn’t be too hard to do considering President Bush’s lies and blatant disregard for the constitution he took an oath to uphold. Show your leadership. Demand that the Republicans listen to their constituents screaming in the streets for our soldiers to come home now. Demand that they work with you in the spirit of bipartisanship you seem to hold so highly and support the impeachment of this president so that we can but a halt to the insanity in the Middle East before it spreads. Show us what a uniting force you can be. If the president insists on continuing his fool hardy attempt to stay the course, then demand that congress stop the funding. The U.S. is bleeding green ink and at the very least a tourniquet is needed. Stand up to the war profiteers as only a truly brave leader can and tell them they are no longer welcome to dine on our tax dollars. Stand up to any who would lobby for this war and tell them you can no longer accept their blood money. Prove your leadership and strong arm your colleagues into repealing the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. Show us that you care about the freedom and liberty of the American people. Prove that you do not fear the free speech rights of those who would dissent. These times are extraordinary, Senator Clinton, and as such the ordinary is no longer good enough. It is no longer acceptable to simply cry foul and point. Now is the time to let your voice be heard not by shouting the loudest, but by doing what is necessary to not only stop the current war, but prevent the future one.
What is Easy v What is Right
This article was originally published on January 29th, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
Sometimes we can find the most appropriate words in the least likely places. The other night I was watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Toward the end of the movie the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, says, “There are dark times ahead. Soon we will all have to chose between what is right and what is easy.” When I heard these words I thought they were appropriate for these times.
While there may or may not be dark times ahead, there are always times when we will all have to chose between what is right and what is easy. Looking back on our recent history, it seems to me we have been making the decisions to do what was easy and at the same time deceiving ourselves that we were doing what was right. Why is this so? Well, perhaps sometimes it’s hard to do what’s right. Like electricity, humans seem to want to follow the path of least resistance.
It is easy to live our lives as if nothing is wrong. It is easy to believe we are safe in our warm homes. It is easy to sit on our couches and watch “Survivor” or “American Idol”. It is easy to believe the propaganda that they put on the screen every night and in print every day and not question it. And it is easy to believe that it is right to let those in charge just do what they will and not the will of the people, to not assert yourself. It’s easy to just let someone else take the actions necessary to safeguard your freedom. It is easy to foist your responsibility on someone else. It's hard to admit that something is wrong. It's hard to get up and take action yourself. It's hard to stand up and be counted. It's hard to write an article like this.
It’s easy for the House of Representatives to say that impeachment is off the table, that they are going to try to work in a bipartisan manner. It’s easy for them to say there’s nothing they can do about the war in Iraq, that it is the president’s decision and his responsibility. It’s easy to do nothing about the illegal laws that have been recently passed that in essence shred the constitution, laws like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. It’s easy to just let them ride and continue to abuse the rights of those people whose lives have been destroyed by these laws. It’s easy to say, “Oh, they’re just terrorists. They deserve no rights.” It’s especially easy because they will never get a public trial, they will never have the chance to present their defense to an unbiased jury or, in fact, to any jury. Chances are the public will never even hear about any trial unless they pay attention to the back pages of the paper or the obscure sites on the Internet. It’s easy to say these laws are necessary to protect us, that we should trade our liberties for a measure of security.
It’s hard to do what’s right. It’s right to charge the criminal with the crime and bring him up on charges. It’s right to seek justice, even if some toes have to be stepped on. It’s right to try to save the lives of American soldiers by demanding they come home now. It’s right to stop funding the war if that’s what it takes. It’s right to strip the power from a lying president after he’s proven his ineptitude. It’s right to stand up for the rights of the individual. It’s right to demand a man be charged and brought to trial or set free, regardless of what religion he professes or what country he calls home. It’s right to demand that unjust, un-American laws be repealed. It’s right that someone stand up and point out that it is our ideals that are worthy of protection, not so much our bodies, and that many have already given their lives so that these ideals can continue to flourish in the United States of America. It is right to point out that he who trades liberty for security will have neither.
It’s hard to do what’s right. It’s especially hard for the lazy. Perhaps the Democrats are lazy. Perhaps they’re deaf and can’t hear the multitude of voices screaming for them to do what they were hired to do. Or perhaps there’s some other reason they refuse to do what’s right.
Sometimes we can find the most appropriate words in the least likely places. The other night I was watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Toward the end of the movie the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, says, “There are dark times ahead. Soon we will all have to chose between what is right and what is easy.” When I heard these words I thought they were appropriate for these times.
While there may or may not be dark times ahead, there are always times when we will all have to chose between what is right and what is easy. Looking back on our recent history, it seems to me we have been making the decisions to do what was easy and at the same time deceiving ourselves that we were doing what was right. Why is this so? Well, perhaps sometimes it’s hard to do what’s right. Like electricity, humans seem to want to follow the path of least resistance.
It is easy to live our lives as if nothing is wrong. It is easy to believe we are safe in our warm homes. It is easy to sit on our couches and watch “Survivor” or “American Idol”. It is easy to believe the propaganda that they put on the screen every night and in print every day and not question it. And it is easy to believe that it is right to let those in charge just do what they will and not the will of the people, to not assert yourself. It’s easy to just let someone else take the actions necessary to safeguard your freedom. It is easy to foist your responsibility on someone else. It's hard to admit that something is wrong. It's hard to get up and take action yourself. It's hard to stand up and be counted. It's hard to write an article like this.
It’s easy for the House of Representatives to say that impeachment is off the table, that they are going to try to work in a bipartisan manner. It’s easy for them to say there’s nothing they can do about the war in Iraq, that it is the president’s decision and his responsibility. It’s easy to do nothing about the illegal laws that have been recently passed that in essence shred the constitution, laws like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. It’s easy to just let them ride and continue to abuse the rights of those people whose lives have been destroyed by these laws. It’s easy to say, “Oh, they’re just terrorists. They deserve no rights.” It’s especially easy because they will never get a public trial, they will never have the chance to present their defense to an unbiased jury or, in fact, to any jury. Chances are the public will never even hear about any trial unless they pay attention to the back pages of the paper or the obscure sites on the Internet. It’s easy to say these laws are necessary to protect us, that we should trade our liberties for a measure of security.
It’s hard to do what’s right. It’s right to charge the criminal with the crime and bring him up on charges. It’s right to seek justice, even if some toes have to be stepped on. It’s right to try to save the lives of American soldiers by demanding they come home now. It’s right to stop funding the war if that’s what it takes. It’s right to strip the power from a lying president after he’s proven his ineptitude. It’s right to stand up for the rights of the individual. It’s right to demand a man be charged and brought to trial or set free, regardless of what religion he professes or what country he calls home. It’s right to demand that unjust, un-American laws be repealed. It’s right that someone stand up and point out that it is our ideals that are worthy of protection, not so much our bodies, and that many have already given their lives so that these ideals can continue to flourish in the United States of America. It is right to point out that he who trades liberty for security will have neither.
It’s hard to do what’s right. It’s especially hard for the lazy. Perhaps the Democrats are lazy. Perhaps they’re deaf and can’t hear the multitude of voices screaming for them to do what they were hired to do. Or perhaps there’s some other reason they refuse to do what’s right.
The Folly of the Illinois Air Team
This article was originally published on Jan. 29th, 2007 at americanchronicle.com
As many of you know, I am an environmental advocate. I’m all for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean land to live on, farm and recreate upon. Recently, however, something happened to my family that made me realize just how wrong it is for the government to mandate checks of auto emissions.
My wife has an old beater in the driveway which she hasn’t driven in months. When she got the paperwork telling her she needed to take the car to the emission test facility, known in Illinois as the "Air Team," to get it checked for emissions, she filled out the required section and sent it back to the state explaining the car was undriveable. We thought that was that. My wife works about a mile and a half from our house. It takes her maybe five minutes to get to or from work. Recently a police officer pulled her over as she left her place of employment. She was pulled over for driving on a suspended license. It turns out the state never received the paperwork she sent in for her beater. Her license was suspended because she hadn’t taken the undriveable car into the emission test facility. They had to call a police officer who knew how to drive a stick shift so he could move the vehicle twenty five feet around a corner and park it. She had to call her father to come pick her up. She then had to spend all day on the phone talking to government bureaucrats until she found the right person to deal with on this issue. She works nights, so she lost most of her sleep time that day. This would be equivalent to you or me having to start calling around 10 or 11 pm (assuming that’s about bedtime) and staying awake until 3 or 4 in the morning when you have to wake up at 6 to go to work. When she reached the proper department and told the lady on the other end what had happened the lady told her “We don’t handle drunk driving cases here.” That shows how much these government workers pay attention. My wife had to explain the situation to her once again. When the woman finally understood what was going on she got the proper wheels in motion. She explained to my wife that her license would be reinstated after three days. For that time she hitched rides from her dad and daughter to and from work. If she hadn’t been able to find a ride for whatever reason, she would have had to have missed work for those days. As it was, three days later she was able to drive again.
I’ve never been in favor of emission testing, even though I’m in favor of cleaning up the environment and keeping it clean. The reasons I’m against emissions testing are many. First off, it’s unfair to those who can least afford it. If someone needs a car to get to work and can only afford a beater, what makes them think these people can afford to get the car fixed if it doesn’t measure up to their standards? They may have to decide between getting their car fixed and paying for food, or medicine, or heat in their apartment. It’s laws like these that can push someone on the edge over it and into homelessness. I know some of you might think that’s extreme, but how many homeless people have you talked to lately? How many have you asked what finally caused them to become homeless? At one point in time my car was repossessed and as a result I was very close to homelessness. If it hadn’t been for the support of my father, I would have been.
It’s also a federal law and yet not everyone in the nation has to follow it. You only have to take a car in to have it checked if you live in a more populated area. That’s not right. I’m not for this law at all, but if it’s going to be a federal law than anyone who lives in the United States of America should have to follow it regardless of how many other people live in their area. Another problem is that the government is forcing people to do something most do not want to do. How many people actually want to go spend time at the emission testing center? The government forces this with the threat of suspended licenses, fines and even jail time if the situation gets out of hand. Finally, how much pollution is truly being stopped with this law? What percentage of people who own polluting cars wouldn’t get them fixed if they were giving them trouble? One of the reasons given for the law is that people keep their cars in better condition. That’s fine if you have the money, but if you’ve lost your job or have sudden medical bills, fixing a car because of emissions might not be high on one’s priority list. The state of Illinois requires a minimum of $450 in repair bills for a polluting car before they’ll waive the inspection. That can be a lot of money for someone going through some rough times. If the government is truly serious about stopping pollution, wouldn’t it be a better idea to mandate zero emission vehicles? Not that I’m in favor of any government mandate, but the technology is there. Battery operated cars have vastly improved over the last few years and those that have owned them loved them. Don’t believe me? Watch “Who Killed the Electric Car?” If these cars were just allowed to be put on the market I’m sure people would voluntarily buy them by the thousands and I would venture a guess that within a decade we would not have to worry about pollution from cars anymore. That would save everyone money on gas and would make these intrusive laws obsolete. It would also result in much cleaner air in many areas. Perhaps I’m just tired of the government getting involved in every little aspect of my life, but it seems these mandates do nothing but make already huge corporations more money.
So, I get home from work a couple of days back and my wife tells me she had to go to court that day for driving on a suspended license. I had thought the whole nasty episode was over, but I was wrong. She then informed me that she had to pay $175. I was flabbergasted. A hundred and seventy five dollars is a lot of groceries. We are all ready on a tight budget. I told her I thought the ruling was ridiculous. She agreed, saying the judge had informed her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t know her license was suspended. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. He also told her that she needed proof that she had sent her paperwork in, that she needed a certified mail receipt to show someone from the state had received it. There’s more proof that in this system you have to prove your innocence. I had thought it was the other way around. I had thought the state had to prove her guilty. So now we have to send certified mail with a return receipt every time we do business with the state? I would think the state should have to show a certified mail receipt to show that she had received notice that if she didn’t bring her car in her license would be suspended. I would think they should have to issue some kind of warning via certified mail to show up for a hearing or her license would be suspended. Where’s the justice? How do we know some mailman somewhere isn’t dumping the mail in some forest preserve? It’s been known to happen. We could appeal the ruling, but that would cost us thousands. I know that some of you might think it’s just a little thing and I shouldn’t complain about it, but all these little things add up to tyranny. Some bureaucrat loses or fails to properly record paperwork and we end up paying for it. We pay for their bungling, their ineptitude. My wife just smiled and paid the fine. She shrugged it off as the state robbed her. If some guy on the street had pulled a gun on her and taken her money they would have been all over him, dragging him in front of the judge as fast as they could catch him, but they can do essentially the same thing and there’s nothing we can do about it without spending more money. Frankly, I’m sick of it. I can only hope and pray that our day is coming and that one day the common man will again live in true freedom without government interference.
As many of you know, I am an environmental advocate. I’m all for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean land to live on, farm and recreate upon. Recently, however, something happened to my family that made me realize just how wrong it is for the government to mandate checks of auto emissions.
My wife has an old beater in the driveway which she hasn’t driven in months. When she got the paperwork telling her she needed to take the car to the emission test facility, known in Illinois as the "Air Team," to get it checked for emissions, she filled out the required section and sent it back to the state explaining the car was undriveable. We thought that was that. My wife works about a mile and a half from our house. It takes her maybe five minutes to get to or from work. Recently a police officer pulled her over as she left her place of employment. She was pulled over for driving on a suspended license. It turns out the state never received the paperwork she sent in for her beater. Her license was suspended because she hadn’t taken the undriveable car into the emission test facility. They had to call a police officer who knew how to drive a stick shift so he could move the vehicle twenty five feet around a corner and park it. She had to call her father to come pick her up. She then had to spend all day on the phone talking to government bureaucrats until she found the right person to deal with on this issue. She works nights, so she lost most of her sleep time that day. This would be equivalent to you or me having to start calling around 10 or 11 pm (assuming that’s about bedtime) and staying awake until 3 or 4 in the morning when you have to wake up at 6 to go to work. When she reached the proper department and told the lady on the other end what had happened the lady told her “We don’t handle drunk driving cases here.” That shows how much these government workers pay attention. My wife had to explain the situation to her once again. When the woman finally understood what was going on she got the proper wheels in motion. She explained to my wife that her license would be reinstated after three days. For that time she hitched rides from her dad and daughter to and from work. If she hadn’t been able to find a ride for whatever reason, she would have had to have missed work for those days. As it was, three days later she was able to drive again.
I’ve never been in favor of emission testing, even though I’m in favor of cleaning up the environment and keeping it clean. The reasons I’m against emissions testing are many. First off, it’s unfair to those who can least afford it. If someone needs a car to get to work and can only afford a beater, what makes them think these people can afford to get the car fixed if it doesn’t measure up to their standards? They may have to decide between getting their car fixed and paying for food, or medicine, or heat in their apartment. It’s laws like these that can push someone on the edge over it and into homelessness. I know some of you might think that’s extreme, but how many homeless people have you talked to lately? How many have you asked what finally caused them to become homeless? At one point in time my car was repossessed and as a result I was very close to homelessness. If it hadn’t been for the support of my father, I would have been.
It’s also a federal law and yet not everyone in the nation has to follow it. You only have to take a car in to have it checked if you live in a more populated area. That’s not right. I’m not for this law at all, but if it’s going to be a federal law than anyone who lives in the United States of America should have to follow it regardless of how many other people live in their area. Another problem is that the government is forcing people to do something most do not want to do. How many people actually want to go spend time at the emission testing center? The government forces this with the threat of suspended licenses, fines and even jail time if the situation gets out of hand. Finally, how much pollution is truly being stopped with this law? What percentage of people who own polluting cars wouldn’t get them fixed if they were giving them trouble? One of the reasons given for the law is that people keep their cars in better condition. That’s fine if you have the money, but if you’ve lost your job or have sudden medical bills, fixing a car because of emissions might not be high on one’s priority list. The state of Illinois requires a minimum of $450 in repair bills for a polluting car before they’ll waive the inspection. That can be a lot of money for someone going through some rough times. If the government is truly serious about stopping pollution, wouldn’t it be a better idea to mandate zero emission vehicles? Not that I’m in favor of any government mandate, but the technology is there. Battery operated cars have vastly improved over the last few years and those that have owned them loved them. Don’t believe me? Watch “Who Killed the Electric Car?” If these cars were just allowed to be put on the market I’m sure people would voluntarily buy them by the thousands and I would venture a guess that within a decade we would not have to worry about pollution from cars anymore. That would save everyone money on gas and would make these intrusive laws obsolete. It would also result in much cleaner air in many areas. Perhaps I’m just tired of the government getting involved in every little aspect of my life, but it seems these mandates do nothing but make already huge corporations more money.
So, I get home from work a couple of days back and my wife tells me she had to go to court that day for driving on a suspended license. I had thought the whole nasty episode was over, but I was wrong. She then informed me that she had to pay $175. I was flabbergasted. A hundred and seventy five dollars is a lot of groceries. We are all ready on a tight budget. I told her I thought the ruling was ridiculous. She agreed, saying the judge had informed her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t know her license was suspended. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. He also told her that she needed proof that she had sent her paperwork in, that she needed a certified mail receipt to show someone from the state had received it. There’s more proof that in this system you have to prove your innocence. I had thought it was the other way around. I had thought the state had to prove her guilty. So now we have to send certified mail with a return receipt every time we do business with the state? I would think the state should have to show a certified mail receipt to show that she had received notice that if she didn’t bring her car in her license would be suspended. I would think they should have to issue some kind of warning via certified mail to show up for a hearing or her license would be suspended. Where’s the justice? How do we know some mailman somewhere isn’t dumping the mail in some forest preserve? It’s been known to happen. We could appeal the ruling, but that would cost us thousands. I know that some of you might think it’s just a little thing and I shouldn’t complain about it, but all these little things add up to tyranny. Some bureaucrat loses or fails to properly record paperwork and we end up paying for it. We pay for their bungling, their ineptitude. My wife just smiled and paid the fine. She shrugged it off as the state robbed her. If some guy on the street had pulled a gun on her and taken her money they would have been all over him, dragging him in front of the judge as fast as they could catch him, but they can do essentially the same thing and there’s nothing we can do about it without spending more money. Frankly, I’m sick of it. I can only hope and pray that our day is coming and that one day the common man will again live in true freedom without government interference.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
A Patriot's Response to Mr. Moore's Pledge
This article was originally published on Nov. 18th, 2006 at americanchronicle.com. It was written not long after the socialist Michael Moore put out a pledge to displaced conservatives.
A while back, a friend of mine and I were having a political discussion. He was of the opinion that, depending on certain definitions, ten percent of us were liberal, 10 percent conservative and the rest were somewhere in between. I felt that was a fair assessment.
A few days ago, I read an article written by Michael Moore entitled “A Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives.” The purpose of this article was to get democrats to sign a pledge he put up on the web so that conservatives will feel better that democrats are now in power. I do not consider myself either conservative or liberal, a Democrat or Republican. It is interesting that Mr. Moore chose to address “the conservatives” and ignore the rest of us. I felt he might like to know how someone like me feels about his pledge, and so I have reproduced it here, put his words in parentheses so the reader knows what I’m responding too, and put my responses below each of his statements on a point by point basis. I know I am not a multi-millionaire documentary film maker and so I’m sure my opinion doesn’t mean squat. After all, I’m nothing but a blue collar slave working day to day to make ends meet. So, Mr. Moore and all you who worship him, take my words for what they are worth.
(I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.)
Actually, I am quite heartened by what I saw in the last election. I voted for Green Party candidates in my state (Illinois) and saw that ten percent of the voters did likewise despite gross unfairness to their party and the access they have to the media. This shows me that a huge number of people have woken up to the fact that Republicrats and the Dempublicans are really just two sides of the same coin, both controlled by large corporations and other special interests which give them the billions of dollars needed to maintain control and keep any third parties from fairly competing.
(Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.)
Gosh Michael, I didn’t know you had run for office and become such a huge, powerful figure in the Democratic Party. Well, in any case, I’m glad you decided to take it on yourself to become their spokesman. Perhaps you will listen better than they seem able to. As for the millions of others, I voted for a Democrat, am I in charge now? Somehow, I don’t think so. If I was, we’d already be on our way out of Iraq and many arrests would have taken place at the highest levels of government. Well, let’s just see how well the Democrats will do in the upcoming session of congress. I hope that my suggestions will be taken seriously, after all, actions do speak louder than words.
(Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1.We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.)
Great! Excellent! The first thing you can do is tell Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party not to introduce or vote for any “Hate Speech” bill. It is every person’s right in this country to be able to engage in free speech and give his opinion no matter how hateful, how disgusting, how disagreeable this speech is. It is better that someone hate another and tell him to let him know where he stands than for that person to pretend he likes them only to let the hatred fester in secret. Any hate speech laws now in existence need to be repealed or overturned as unconstitutional, I don’t care who the hate speech hurts. I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it. That even includes you, Michael, I will fight to the death for your right to say what you want to say, even if it is hateful or spiteful to the conservatives. In the words of Noam Chomsky “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for those we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
2.(We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.)
Most assuredly superb! Let’s start by getting rid of the income tax and any law that takes into consideration marital status. There should be absolutely no laws of state that have anything to do with whether or not a person is married. Marriage should be between two people and their church or God. Governments should have nothing to do with it at all, including the issuing of licenses. Let’s see just how powerful you are, Mr. Moore, and if you can get the federal government to get their noses out of my personal life I will be forever grateful to you.
3. (We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.)
LOL. Well, that is sweet. Do you really think the Democrats have not given jobs and sweetheart deals to their financial backers? Are you really that naive? Well, I suppose it’s the thought that counts. If, however, you can somehow get the Democrats to abolish the income tax and replace the Federal Reserve notes we currently use with a gold backed currency issued by the congress of the United States of America which is supposed to be one of their jobs as outlined in the constitution, then you will be well on your way to keeping this promise. Also, lobbying laws need to be changed so that the only people lobbying their representatives are those the representatives actually serve. No money need change hands, no campaign contributions given, and conflicts of interest will disappear. If my labor is not taxed, as it should not be, then it really is my checkbook and I can keep it balanced myself, thank you very much.
4. (When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.)
How very magnanimous of you. When will this be? The Democrats seem to have little idea of how to accomplish this. To me it’s easy. Get out. Get out now. We already won the war, we defeated the Iraqi army and got rid of Saddam. We found no weapons of mass destruction. We are not losing a war, we are losing an occupation, an occupation we should have never started in the first place. What are the Democrats doing about this? They are planning to increase the number of troops. They are planning on giving a free pass to Bush and his regime even though they lied us into this war and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands. This is one promise I really hope you are able to keep, Mr. Moore, but I will not hold my breath waiting.
5. (When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.)
And so doctors have to follow the rules of the government as they again decide to stick their nose into my business? If the laws regulating health care were done away with and I was allowed to explore my own health care possibilities, wouldn’t that make health care cheaper? Shouldn't government be concerned with governing and not with health care? Shouldn’t I be allowed to pick any medication I choose for the disease I have without a note from my doctor? Government involvement with health care should be as minimal as possible. Perhaps if the Dempublicans and Republicrats were to stop taking bribes, I mean campaign contributions, from pharmaceutical companies health care would not be so inaccessible and expensive in this country.
6. (Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.)
Fantastic! I think it’s disgusting how we’ve polluted this world, especially when we have the technology and the means to stop it. Let’s start by telling the Dempublicans and Republicrats to stop taking money from the power and oil industry. We can encourage the development of solar and wind energies and things like the electric cars they so recently destroyed in California. We human beings, all seven billion of us, can live in harmony with this world if we would just put a little effort into it.
7. (Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.)
Most excellent! I am so happy to hear this. Start by impeaching Bush and Cheney for their utter incompetence in that matter. Oh, wait, Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have already said impeachment is off the table, that it wasn’t worth the time and effort. But not to worry. I’m sure that with your new found pull, Mr. Moore, you’ll be able to put impeachment back on the table. Just tell them that justice is never a waste of time.
8. (We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.)
I commend the Democratic Party for their past record on this matter. I don’t know of any laws they’ve passed contrary to this position, but I could be wrong.
9. (We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.)
Why do the Democrats keep trying to overturn the 2nd amendment of the constitution? Stop messing with my constitution! I don’t like guns. I don’t own one, but I know how to use one. I respect them. I don’t try to prevent anyone from owning one, especially to protect their homes in this day and age, and I don’t expect anyone else to try to take this right from the people.
10. (When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.)
Super! I haven’t had a raise in five years. I certainly would like one. I’m hard working and very good at what I do, in fact I’m one of the best. I manage my department. Still, I can’t get a raise because there are so many people looking for work and so many illegal aliens in this country that can replace me for less money, even though they would not do as good a job which is why I still have a job. Perhaps rather than raising the minimum wage the Democratic Party could work on securing our borders and deporting illegal (and they are illegal because they are here unlawfully) aliens. But wait, they’re for blanket amnesty! What are they trying to do to the lower class they claim they’re trying to help? Ship out or document the illegals and the wages will increase as there will no longer be a cheap labor base to draw from. In fact, when we bring our troops home from the unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we can use them to defend our borders as they were meant to do.
11. (We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.)
I don’t understand why the listed beliefs are radical and why the Democrats would promote them. This government shouldn’t promote any religion according to the first amendment. We need to do away with “faith based initiatives,” a bad idea from the start. I agree we should respect everyone’s religious beliefs, be they Christian, Pagan, Muslim or a witch. I agree we should all discourage religious intolerance. However, I do not agree that this should be codified into law or that they should use religious intolerance as a reason to pass “Hate Speech” laws. BTW, if that part about the eye of the needle and the camel is true, you may be in trouble.
12. (We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.)
LMFAO. That’s a good one. You have a great sense of humor, Mr. Moore. Oh, wait a minute. You’re serious. What do you think the Republicrats and Dempublicans have been doing for decades? You can’t possibly believe that anyone in the two major parties aren’t so compromised as to be completely clean. Let’s start with Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership who refuse to impeach President Bush for his many high crimes and misdemeanors. By not pursuing this important congressional oversight she and others are complicit in these crimes. This is corruption at its worst. They also refuse to repeal important legislation that needs to be repealed such as the unconstitutional Patriot Acts and the Military Commissions Act. These laws are unconstitutional and ill conceived yet the Democrats have said they will not pursue repealing these acts, making them complicit in enabling the administration to break laws and treaties they should not be allowed to break. Reversing these unconstitutional laws and impeaching the administration should be the first things on the agenda when the congress convenes in January as to make sure that the United States of America goes back to using the rule of law and reclaims its moral standing in the world. Lastly, this congress needs to look into taking money from lobbyists such as AIPAC, the PRC, and other special interests that don’t even represent Americans but foreign interests. These should be especially illegal and any money found to be taken from such groups should be returned immediately. Laws should be passed to prevent such lobbyists from operating in our government with very severe punishments served. I’m sure, Mr. Moore, that with your newfound power in the Democratic Party you will be able to clean up the corruption immediately.
(I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.)
Well, this is my country. I was born here. This is supposed to be a country of freedom, but it no longer is. It reminds me in so many ways of what the USSR was when I was a kid. I blame the Democrats as much as the Republicans. As I said earlier, I am nothing but a blue collar slave. All I want is the fairness to return to government, justice to be done, and opportunity to be presented to me on level with everyone else.
Those currently in power have tried their best to destroy the constitution and install a dictatorship that kills the freedoms we have come to enjoy and imprisons those who dissent. Your words are hollow, Mr. Moore, and your promises are empty. They can only be filled by actions. For the longest time I have been shut out of the process because it was hijacked by the duopoly of Dempublicans vs. Republicrats, Liberals vs. Conservatives, or whatever you want to call it. I sincerely hope that your words and promises become filled and the Democrats suddenly become the party of the people. I hope the rich corporate interests that have bought them are shut out of the process as the people’s rights are re-established and the rights given to the corporations are rescinded since they are not living entities. We will be keeping a close eye on their actions over the next few months. Hopefully, their actions will live up to your flowery words and will stay in the bounds of the constitution. I seriously doubt it, however. They are already turning away from their duties before they even take office. I hope for the sake of our country that should the Democrats fail to perform their duties, as is likely, that the people awaken and finally realize we need to elect third party candidates into office. You, Michael, are a famous documentary maker. Perhaps you should use your talent to bring us the truth about both parties rather than being a partisan propagandist. Perhaps when you put the truth before money you will reclaim your soul.
A while back, a friend of mine and I were having a political discussion. He was of the opinion that, depending on certain definitions, ten percent of us were liberal, 10 percent conservative and the rest were somewhere in between. I felt that was a fair assessment.
A few days ago, I read an article written by Michael Moore entitled “A Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives.” The purpose of this article was to get democrats to sign a pledge he put up on the web so that conservatives will feel better that democrats are now in power. I do not consider myself either conservative or liberal, a Democrat or Republican. It is interesting that Mr. Moore chose to address “the conservatives” and ignore the rest of us. I felt he might like to know how someone like me feels about his pledge, and so I have reproduced it here, put his words in parentheses so the reader knows what I’m responding too, and put my responses below each of his statements on a point by point basis. I know I am not a multi-millionaire documentary film maker and so I’m sure my opinion doesn’t mean squat. After all, I’m nothing but a blue collar slave working day to day to make ends meet. So, Mr. Moore and all you who worship him, take my words for what they are worth.
(I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.)
Actually, I am quite heartened by what I saw in the last election. I voted for Green Party candidates in my state (Illinois) and saw that ten percent of the voters did likewise despite gross unfairness to their party and the access they have to the media. This shows me that a huge number of people have woken up to the fact that Republicrats and the Dempublicans are really just two sides of the same coin, both controlled by large corporations and other special interests which give them the billions of dollars needed to maintain control and keep any third parties from fairly competing.
(Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.)
Gosh Michael, I didn’t know you had run for office and become such a huge, powerful figure in the Democratic Party. Well, in any case, I’m glad you decided to take it on yourself to become their spokesman. Perhaps you will listen better than they seem able to. As for the millions of others, I voted for a Democrat, am I in charge now? Somehow, I don’t think so. If I was, we’d already be on our way out of Iraq and many arrests would have taken place at the highest levels of government. Well, let’s just see how well the Democrats will do in the upcoming session of congress. I hope that my suggestions will be taken seriously, after all, actions do speak louder than words.
(Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1.We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.)
Great! Excellent! The first thing you can do is tell Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party not to introduce or vote for any “Hate Speech” bill. It is every person’s right in this country to be able to engage in free speech and give his opinion no matter how hateful, how disgusting, how disagreeable this speech is. It is better that someone hate another and tell him to let him know where he stands than for that person to pretend he likes them only to let the hatred fester in secret. Any hate speech laws now in existence need to be repealed or overturned as unconstitutional, I don’t care who the hate speech hurts. I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it. That even includes you, Michael, I will fight to the death for your right to say what you want to say, even if it is hateful or spiteful to the conservatives. In the words of Noam Chomsky “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for those we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
2.(We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.)
Most assuredly superb! Let’s start by getting rid of the income tax and any law that takes into consideration marital status. There should be absolutely no laws of state that have anything to do with whether or not a person is married. Marriage should be between two people and their church or God. Governments should have nothing to do with it at all, including the issuing of licenses. Let’s see just how powerful you are, Mr. Moore, and if you can get the federal government to get their noses out of my personal life I will be forever grateful to you.
3. (We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.)
LOL. Well, that is sweet. Do you really think the Democrats have not given jobs and sweetheart deals to their financial backers? Are you really that naive? Well, I suppose it’s the thought that counts. If, however, you can somehow get the Democrats to abolish the income tax and replace the Federal Reserve notes we currently use with a gold backed currency issued by the congress of the United States of America which is supposed to be one of their jobs as outlined in the constitution, then you will be well on your way to keeping this promise. Also, lobbying laws need to be changed so that the only people lobbying their representatives are those the representatives actually serve. No money need change hands, no campaign contributions given, and conflicts of interest will disappear. If my labor is not taxed, as it should not be, then it really is my checkbook and I can keep it balanced myself, thank you very much.
4. (When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.)
How very magnanimous of you. When will this be? The Democrats seem to have little idea of how to accomplish this. To me it’s easy. Get out. Get out now. We already won the war, we defeated the Iraqi army and got rid of Saddam. We found no weapons of mass destruction. We are not losing a war, we are losing an occupation, an occupation we should have never started in the first place. What are the Democrats doing about this? They are planning to increase the number of troops. They are planning on giving a free pass to Bush and his regime even though they lied us into this war and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands. This is one promise I really hope you are able to keep, Mr. Moore, but I will not hold my breath waiting.
5. (When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.)
And so doctors have to follow the rules of the government as they again decide to stick their nose into my business? If the laws regulating health care were done away with and I was allowed to explore my own health care possibilities, wouldn’t that make health care cheaper? Shouldn't government be concerned with governing and not with health care? Shouldn’t I be allowed to pick any medication I choose for the disease I have without a note from my doctor? Government involvement with health care should be as minimal as possible. Perhaps if the Dempublicans and Republicrats were to stop taking bribes, I mean campaign contributions, from pharmaceutical companies health care would not be so inaccessible and expensive in this country.
6. (Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.)
Fantastic! I think it’s disgusting how we’ve polluted this world, especially when we have the technology and the means to stop it. Let’s start by telling the Dempublicans and Republicrats to stop taking money from the power and oil industry. We can encourage the development of solar and wind energies and things like the electric cars they so recently destroyed in California. We human beings, all seven billion of us, can live in harmony with this world if we would just put a little effort into it.
7. (Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.)
Most excellent! I am so happy to hear this. Start by impeaching Bush and Cheney for their utter incompetence in that matter. Oh, wait, Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have already said impeachment is off the table, that it wasn’t worth the time and effort. But not to worry. I’m sure that with your new found pull, Mr. Moore, you’ll be able to put impeachment back on the table. Just tell them that justice is never a waste of time.
8. (We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.)
I commend the Democratic Party for their past record on this matter. I don’t know of any laws they’ve passed contrary to this position, but I could be wrong.
9. (We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.)
Why do the Democrats keep trying to overturn the 2nd amendment of the constitution? Stop messing with my constitution! I don’t like guns. I don’t own one, but I know how to use one. I respect them. I don’t try to prevent anyone from owning one, especially to protect their homes in this day and age, and I don’t expect anyone else to try to take this right from the people.
10. (When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.)
Super! I haven’t had a raise in five years. I certainly would like one. I’m hard working and very good at what I do, in fact I’m one of the best. I manage my department. Still, I can’t get a raise because there are so many people looking for work and so many illegal aliens in this country that can replace me for less money, even though they would not do as good a job which is why I still have a job. Perhaps rather than raising the minimum wage the Democratic Party could work on securing our borders and deporting illegal (and they are illegal because they are here unlawfully) aliens. But wait, they’re for blanket amnesty! What are they trying to do to the lower class they claim they’re trying to help? Ship out or document the illegals and the wages will increase as there will no longer be a cheap labor base to draw from. In fact, when we bring our troops home from the unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we can use them to defend our borders as they were meant to do.
11. (We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.)
I don’t understand why the listed beliefs are radical and why the Democrats would promote them. This government shouldn’t promote any religion according to the first amendment. We need to do away with “faith based initiatives,” a bad idea from the start. I agree we should respect everyone’s religious beliefs, be they Christian, Pagan, Muslim or a witch. I agree we should all discourage religious intolerance. However, I do not agree that this should be codified into law or that they should use religious intolerance as a reason to pass “Hate Speech” laws. BTW, if that part about the eye of the needle and the camel is true, you may be in trouble.
12. (We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.)
LMFAO. That’s a good one. You have a great sense of humor, Mr. Moore. Oh, wait a minute. You’re serious. What do you think the Republicrats and Dempublicans have been doing for decades? You can’t possibly believe that anyone in the two major parties aren’t so compromised as to be completely clean. Let’s start with Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership who refuse to impeach President Bush for his many high crimes and misdemeanors. By not pursuing this important congressional oversight she and others are complicit in these crimes. This is corruption at its worst. They also refuse to repeal important legislation that needs to be repealed such as the unconstitutional Patriot Acts and the Military Commissions Act. These laws are unconstitutional and ill conceived yet the Democrats have said they will not pursue repealing these acts, making them complicit in enabling the administration to break laws and treaties they should not be allowed to break. Reversing these unconstitutional laws and impeaching the administration should be the first things on the agenda when the congress convenes in January as to make sure that the United States of America goes back to using the rule of law and reclaims its moral standing in the world. Lastly, this congress needs to look into taking money from lobbyists such as AIPAC, the PRC, and other special interests that don’t even represent Americans but foreign interests. These should be especially illegal and any money found to be taken from such groups should be returned immediately. Laws should be passed to prevent such lobbyists from operating in our government with very severe punishments served. I’m sure, Mr. Moore, that with your newfound power in the Democratic Party you will be able to clean up the corruption immediately.
(I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.)
Well, this is my country. I was born here. This is supposed to be a country of freedom, but it no longer is. It reminds me in so many ways of what the USSR was when I was a kid. I blame the Democrats as much as the Republicans. As I said earlier, I am nothing but a blue collar slave. All I want is the fairness to return to government, justice to be done, and opportunity to be presented to me on level with everyone else.
Those currently in power have tried their best to destroy the constitution and install a dictatorship that kills the freedoms we have come to enjoy and imprisons those who dissent. Your words are hollow, Mr. Moore, and your promises are empty. They can only be filled by actions. For the longest time I have been shut out of the process because it was hijacked by the duopoly of Dempublicans vs. Republicrats, Liberals vs. Conservatives, or whatever you want to call it. I sincerely hope that your words and promises become filled and the Democrats suddenly become the party of the people. I hope the rich corporate interests that have bought them are shut out of the process as the people’s rights are re-established and the rights given to the corporations are rescinded since they are not living entities. We will be keeping a close eye on their actions over the next few months. Hopefully, their actions will live up to your flowery words and will stay in the bounds of the constitution. I seriously doubt it, however. They are already turning away from their duties before they even take office. I hope for the sake of our country that should the Democrats fail to perform their duties, as is likely, that the people awaken and finally realize we need to elect third party candidates into office. You, Michael, are a famous documentary maker. Perhaps you should use your talent to bring us the truth about both parties rather than being a partisan propagandist. Perhaps when you put the truth before money you will reclaim your soul.
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