Dr. Forbush Thinks

On Sunday all “good” Christians go to church. I don’t know if I would be so bold to declare myself a “good” Christian, but going to church on Sunday continues to be something our family rarely misses. As I have said before, I am Catholic, so the guilt of weekly attendance has been worked deeply into my psyche.

The mixture of politics with religion has always troubled me. Politics always seemed to be man’s business, while religion always seemed to be God’s business. The main problem tends to be that collecting God’s answers on every perceivable issue is mostly impossible. Jesus tells us to take care of the poor and sick, but he doesn’t tell us how we should do that. Man has created many ways to take care of the poor and sick, but it isn’t always clear that giving handouts to people is always the most effective way to persuade someone to contribute to society. And, when power comes to the battle, individuals will push their own ideas over the most effective ideas for society. And, worst of all, when someone declares that their own personal idea is the “Christian” solution or God’s solution there is no possible way to know if that is true or not, because man can not ever know what is in God’s mind.

It bothers me when any religion expends an enormous amount of energy fighting for an issue that isn’t even a critical issue. Abortion and homosexuality come to mind quickly. These two issues have very little support in the Bible, and it is clear that religious people that have opinions on these issues use bizarre Biblical readings to support the conclusion they have already decided in advance. The proof of this is in the lack of such a strong response to issues that are out rightly declared in the Bible. For example, divorce, war and the care for the poor and sick are declared as critical issues many more times in the Bible than the “evils” of homosexuality and abortion. But, religious groups have used abortion and homosexuality as litmus tests to determine whether someone is a “good” Christian. Does this even make any sense?

Well, as I began, I was sitting in church on Sunday listening to the priest give us our weekly lesson. Politics does not directly come up in these discussions. However, issues often do come up, because the object of a lesson is generally a discussion on how one should live a Christian life. From these discussions we generally learn what things we should avoid doing, what things we should strive to do better and how we should find strength to do the first two. When we talk in generalities there normally isn’t much of a problem drawing politics into the discussion. Everyone agrees that abusing alcohol is a bad thing. Everyone agrees that violence is to be avoided unless you need to defend yourself. Everyone agrees that the Ten Commandments should not be broken. And, the list of things that we agree on goes on.

However, I cringe when particular political issues are mentioned in church. During the last election here in California Proposition 85, “Parental notification of a minor seeking an abortion” was on the ballot. I don’t believe that the church should have an opinion on this issue, or seek to influence the members of the church to vote one way or another on this issue. However, in the announcements at the end of mass on several occasions we were asked to volunteer to canvass our neighborhoods in support of this issue.

On the other hand, a local “pregnancy services” group is supported by the church. This group helps pregnant woman have their baby and offer it up for adoption if they can’t keep it for whatever reason. This action does not seem any more political to me than helping the poor. This service offers an alternative for some women who would use it. Even though I understand that the motivation for creating this group is to reduce the number of abortions I don’t believe that the actions of this group will actually result in changing the law and making all abortions illegal. The group’s goal is just to make abortions rarer.

This Sunday was a little different. This Sunday we had a short political insertion and it made me cringe again. I actually agreed with what the priest said during the service, but it still made me cringe because I believe that these political proclamations should not be made in church. Making political proclamations in church is divisive by the mere nature of being political.

This is a paraphrase of what he said. I am so proud of the American people. In my country of Mexico there is widespread corruption and hypocrisy in the government, and it is very difficult for the people to do anything about it. But I am very impressed with how the American people were able to defeat their corruption and hypocrisy in the recent elections.
Even though he did not say anything in particular about any particular political party it was quite clear that he was happy that the Democrats gave the Republicans a thumpin’. He is also saying that he viewed the Republican Party as a party of hypocrisy and corruption. Now, anyone that has read what I have written over the last few years knows that I agree 100% with this idea, but I still cringe at the thought that this idea is being expressed in church. What bothers me is the implicit conclusion that Democrats are now the new “Party of God.” Obviously I personally don’t feel this way, and very few people that I know would believe this, but there still exists a large number of people who take what the priest says as coming directly from the mouth of God. When the priest praises a political party we suddenly have people in the group believing that God sanctioned a political party. In the long run this only leads to more hypocrisy and corruption coming from the other side of the aisle.

I think we need to get religion back to talking about generalities and leave the specifics to the lawyers and the politicians. For the most part people know when they deliberately sinned against God. They have a good understanding of how they should lead their lives by protecting the weak and loving their neighbor. They also know what God expects from them and what actions could be abusive. When people are left to judge themselves they are typically tougher on themselves than the society. However, for those few who don’t feel guilt or compassion the government offers another solution: laws and punishment - the political solution. Society functions best when we keep these two prods separate from each other.



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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics, Religion

“Bring It On,” “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

These are signature phrases of George W Bush.

And, yesterday George W Bush claimed that uttering this tough talk was the number one mistake of his presidency.

Why was this a mistake?

George W Bush says that this tough talk was misinterpreted by “people.”

What can anyone say about this?

Well, this shows us a couple of things about George W Bush. First of all, he still doesn’t get it. How was he expecting this kind of talk to be interpreted? I’m confused, when he first screamed this nonsense sane people were surprised that the leader of the free world would stoop to name calling. Sane people know that provoking a wounded animal is stupid, but George W Bush was sitting there poking the snake in the face with a stick. Sure, anyone can cut the head off a snake, but George W Bush chose to poke al Qeada in the face. Normally this would be a sign of insecurity. A bully is most likely to be a kid using force to deal with insecurity. George W Bush fit the profile like a glove.

But, he also says that this was misinterpreted by “people.” What “people” misinterpreted this? How was it misinterpreted? It seems pretty clear that the conservatives in the United States thought his reaction was brilliant. Did they misinterpret the tough talk? Or, was Bush just saying this to energize his base for his benefit, without any thought of those outside the US that might hear his words?

Maybe George W Bush means that the subject of his statements believed that he was actually encouraging them to bring it on. What a silly notion. I don’t know how anyone could come to that conclusion. I personally wonder what he really meant, because I only know one way to interpret “Bully Talk.”






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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner made a big impression in the wider community even if the actual attendees didn’t hoot and holler at the jokes. The point is that humor has a way to connect with people that the straight facts don’t. And, satire does this in an even more subtle way. Satire disarms the audience in by encouraging the audience to agree with the comedian until you realize the satire is absurd. A comedian that is able to do this over and over again truly has a remarkable gift. And, most importantly this gift allows the communication of ideas in such a way that the audience isn’t able put up it’s automatic defense walls and some of the ideas may break through.

Politics is about people learning to live with each other. When groups separate themselves from each other and build political walls between each other then communication doesn’t happen and the country is worse off. One only needs to look at countries where leaders from minority populations use fear to keep their power. The rest of the country suffers at the hands of a few. Do we truly want America to be just another minority controlled country?

If you’ve read this far I hope you agree with me that political communication is the only way to move us forward. And, hitting people with facts and figures will obviously be just like hitting them with sticks and stones; they will either ignore them or it will only make them angry, even if they are wrong. What is needed is a way to disarm those who blindly follow the Republicans and let them believe that they understand what is happening until they realize that they didn’t understand. Then they can finally come to the conclusion that, to quote Weird Al, “Everything you know is wrong.”

Stephen Colbert proved that satire works. We already knew this, but it’s still nice to know when you are right. But we should also remember that other forms of communication work as well. Parables and stories that entertain but also contain a message will certainly do the job. But, the right wing talk radio has created the paradigm that “Hollywood is wrong.” So, movies with positive liberal images of people working together to create a better world just don’t work anymore. Those John Wayne movies will never convince people of what the “True America” is supposed to be.

Art itself communicates in important ways. Paintings like Norman Rockwell give people the romanticized feeling of the way life once was in America. Conservatives like to build on these images as the positive reason to turn the clock around to 1890, 1910 or 1950. But these paintings don’t capture the real life struggle of the workers getting paid just enough to live on so that they are attached to the mining, manufacturing or farming businesses with no where else to turn. An artist that portrays the advances in labor that the Democrats have won for labor is a subtle but important political statement needed in this time of political erosion.

There are many ways to communicate effectively to the “moderates” who will be the deciders of who will govern us. Obviously, straightforward writing as I have done here is more effective in communicating to the converted. People who are undecided don’t generally care about the facts and details that I often write about. People in the middle who are undecided can be convinced of “good” points on both sides of the issue. They are also even more aware of the “bad” points on each side of the issue. In fact, the fear of selecting between to “bad” choices often keeps these people from going out to vote. But, some common sense positive reasons communicated through an alternate means of communication may be the difference in casting and not casting a vote.

All people really want is protection. People want to be protected from all those things that could possibly cause them problems. People want economic security that allows people to take risks on new ideas or businesses and risks are what make America strong. People want to be protected from disease, health problems or the economic problems associated with the loss of health. People want to be secure from the threat of crime, violence or even war. People want to know that the planet they live on today will still be inhabitable for the future generation of their family for centuries to come. And, these are the ideas that need to be communicated as the Democratic ideas to make the world a better place.







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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

ABC News is reporting that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert is under investigation. What does this mean? Is the FBI taking revenge on Hasert in his defense of William Jefferson yesterday? Or, was Hastert angry yesterday, because he has something to hide?

There may be no bottom to the corruption scandal in Congress. It was really a good thing that Tom Delay and Newt Gingrich made sure that the Lobbyists on K Street couldn’t do business with the Democrats if they wanted to do business with the Republicans. The Democrats really need to thank these guys or this scandal might have looked a bit different.





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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

Every once in a while it makes a lot of sense to step back and look at the big picture. Over the last few months (maybe 18 or so) a lot of things have happened on the United States political scene. Each change has come and gone and by now these events are only distant memories that the 24-hour news cycle encourages us to forget. The 24-hour news cycle is a microscope looking at every detail in the long parade of history.

So, lets go back in time to the November 2004 presidential election. We should all remember that the race was very close and the arch nemesis George W Bush defeated John Kerry by the electoral votes of the state of Ohio. This time George W Bush won the popular vote, this election was actually once again decided by the electoral votes of one state, and that particular race was very close. And, in his speech following the announcement of winning the election George W Bush claimed that he had won “political capital,” that he had planned to spend immediately. Well, as we have seen George W Bush spent all of his political capital, then he went to the bank several times where he borrowed even more political capital to spend just like all the real capital he is borrowing to wage his war in Iraq.

During the 2004 election George W Bush avoided contact with anyone that might even hint at disagreeing with him. He did this in order to insulate himself from public scrutiny. When people are shown large crowds of supporting people, the viewer tends to believe that the person subject to the praise deserves it. Without thinking, the viewer is persuaded to support the object of praise believing he is praiseworthy. Of course the truth may or may not be close to the images viewed, but the psychology certainly influences support. Of course, the opposite is also true, and the right wing smear machine managed to do the dirty work of the Bush campaign with a large number of lies and deceptions. The end result was undeserved success of the extreme right in the United States of America. But these people wanted their pound of flesh from George W Bush’s pile of political capital.

These people wanted religious laws to be made secular law. They wanted George W Bush to pass their discriminatory anti-homosexual laws prohibiting families from legally living together. They wanted abortion to be criminalized. They wanted government money to go to religious schools. They wanted government money to go to religious aid organizations. They wanted creationism to be taught in public schools. They wanted the United States to continue to fight the good fight in Babylon in the hopes of bringing on the “End Times.”

Who really knows what George W Bush was thinking. Perhaps he was afraid that he would loose his moderate supporters, or his fiscal conservative supporters, but he ignored these folk and decided that he would try to reform the Social Security Insurance system. He came up with the idea of everyone saving for their own retirement, instead of having a common insurance fund. He used the same hyperbole in describing the dire need to make this reform immediately. Fortunately the majority of Americans actually were able to figure out that everyone could already do this on their own by depositing their money into an IRA account. The only change would be to remove the protection of having a social security insurance fund. Looking back on history this seems to be the beginning of the public actually being able to see through the veils of the Bush administration secrecy.

Once the Republicans realized that the Social Security reform sham wasn’t going to happen, they turned their collective backs on George W Bush who continued to push his plan for a couple of weeks more. This feeble push was finally seen as an example of the weakness of staying the course regardless of public opinion. George W Bush spent the remaining political capital that he had with this effort, but this is America and capital can be found everywhere.

He had his chance to win his political capital back when Sandra Day O’Conner announced that she would retire. The Bush administration had been planning for this day for the last five years, so John Roberts was waiting in the wings all ready to go. His public stance on many issues was sufficiently cloaked in mystery in order to be passed by the Senate without objection. However, Republicans used their secret codes to communicate to the social conservatives that John Roberts was their buddy. He would strike down abortion once he got the opportunity.
However, before John Roberts was confirmed Chief Justice Rehnquist died, throwing a wrench in the Republican strategy. And, without a second choice standing in the queue Bush offered his secretary Harriet Miers the jobs. Like they say, “If you can’t keep it in your pants, then keep it in the family.” Or, maybe that has to do with something else. The point here is that Bush spent very little time thinking about his appointment, so he picked a person in his close circle of friends. This bad move lifted the veil of how the Bush administration operates just a bit higher and the social conservatives were given cause to pause. Finally his supporters were seeing what the Democrats had been saying all along.

Of course we all know that most people have already forgotten Harriet Miers’ name. And, the Bush crew likes when people forget their mistakes. But, after five years in office the web of lies was getting quite thick. For example, George W Bush told us how he really hated when people leaked information to the press. And, leaking the name of a CIA operative was certainly a serious offense. He even hired a guy to investigate the source of the CIA leak. And, by this time Patrick Fitzgerald, the guy hired to find the leak was zeroing in on top levels of the White House. The veil was being lifted even higher and the man behind the curtain continued to pull the levers and tell us not to look at the man behind the curtain. When Dick Cheney’s right hand man was indicted the brighter Americans knew that George W Bush knew who leaked the CIA agent’s name. Even the bright Republicans knew this and had another cause for pause.

Over in congress Tom Delay was having trouble defending himself against blatant breaking of Texas election law. His connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff were coming to light as well. Then when Duke Cunningham plead guilty to his corruption charges, people began to learn that the White House wasn’t the only seat of corruption in Washington. Republicans tried to smear the Democrats with this corruption scandal, but it soon became clear that they couldn’t win that argument, because the lobbyists on K street were overwhelmingly Republican oriented, because of Tom Delay’s demand that Republicans refuse to deal with a lobbyist that also dealt with Democrats. They dug this grave, now they are on their own.

In September and October two hurricanes hit the Gulf coast. And, because the Bush administration and the Republican’s goal of smaller government aid agencies FEMA was being left to slowly bleed to death from lack of funding. By appointing a political hack to be FEMA director the agency was given less power which took away agility the agency once had. FEMA now had a director without an emergency relief experience trying to communicate with the president through the Homeland security director. As my kids would say, “That’s just messed up.” They failed miserably with Katrina, then we all witnessed the disorganized evacuation of Houston only a few weeks later. We learned a little more about how the Bush administration rewarded political hacks with government jobs regardless of their qualifications. Hence the veil was practically removed from the White House. But there are still many who refused to look in that direction. There are many who would rather close their eyes and walk into walls than to witness the corruption, deception and lies coming out of the White House and the Republicans Party.

But, I haven’t even mentioned the debacle in Iraq yet. But that isn’t necessary, because last week Karl Rove conceded that the War was a weak point. He told us that the American people don’t like President Bush because of the War in Iraq. I am sure that there are many people who don’t like the president because of the war in Iraq, but they didn’t like him long before now. They didn’t like him when he broke international law and invaded a sovereign country. They didn’t like him when he killed thousands of innocent Iraqis in his invasion. They didn’t like him when they put American soldiers in harms way without a legitimate reasoning that the action was in the self-defense of our country. But, these people felt this way three years ago. Karl Rove is finally coming around to acknowledging it.

Well, I was just trying to bring all of these facts back into focus, because with the quantity of information it is quite difficult to remember the big picture. There are many many more things that I could have mentioned, like Dick Cheney’s shooting incident, but this were more like humorous sidelights that weren’t really illuminating the fact that Dick Cheney likes to shoot lawyers or kill farm raised poultry. We also have the bravery of many people who opposed the administration and did their part to expose the hypocrisy of the Republican Party. I believe that these people did their part, and of course we all need to keep the pressure on. Every time that the opposition lets up the Republicans declare victory. This reminds me of the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. The Republicans seem to have adopted the “stay the course” mantra of George W Bush. The opposition could severe every limb on the body politic, and the Republicans will continue to cry out, “What are you afraid of? Come back here and fight like a man!” And, so our job is never done.








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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

Polls can tell us a lot about the health of the country. So, it is quite interesting to evaluate the recent polls posted at Rasmussen, Real Clear Politics and Survey USA. I like to look at this collection of web pages to get the political temperature of the American people and maybe a bit more.

Actually, looking Real Clear Politics gives us a good overview of almost every poll taken for the last 5 years. One thing is certain about looking at this collection of polls is that Everyone agrees that George W Bush’s job approval has been going down since the day he was elected in 2000. His popularity spiked at two points in his presidency, when we were attacked on 9/11/2001 and when we attacked Iraq in March of 2003. These were rapid increases of support that increased and then slowly decayed over time. Why would the American people react in this way?

Obviously the answer is because of drug use. We all know that major traumas result in stress. After very stressful events people have been known to self medicate, or even seek professional help and prescription drugs. And, we also know that drug use can cloud ones mind. A person under the influence of drugs certainly is not responsible enough to drive a car or operate heavy machinery. In the past many locations across the country banned the sale of alcohol on election days, because many leaders agreed that alcohol could cloud the judgement of the voters.

But, alcohol isn’t the only drug capable of clouding ones mind. Many other illegal drugs could cloud ones mind. And, even many prescription drugs come with disclaimers that warn against the use of heavy machinery under the influence of these drugs. If we add to these drugs the high number of people being prescribed prosac, ritilan and other known mood changing drugs that aim to effect the illness of depression, then we must have had a huge number of people that were taking drugs immediately after 9/11/2001 and in March of 2003. This drug use obviously explains the huge surge in support for George W Bush.

Imagine the following scenario. On the morning of 9/11/2001 when the attacks were first broadcast people begin to watch TV or listen to the radio. The impact of the tragedy begins to sink in and the stress comes and then the depression comes. I know that many people felt this, because I for one felt it. Since we live in America we have many options in dealing with stress and depression. Some people have a ready supply of mood altering substances available, and they may even share with neighbors and friends. By the evening many people have self medicated themselves. Many people chose to take off several days of work. Imagine what the response of one of these drug-influenced people would be to a telephone survey asking if you believe that George W Bush is doing a good job. I am guessing that many people who were flying high would connect their happy feeling to the President’s action. Other’s might just be feeling generous and therefore share their happiness with the president and give him a pat on the back. Still others may be crying in their beer, and they can only imagine that George W Bush is having it even worse, so they give him a good job approval out of pity. But, the main point is that drugs have obviously been taken and they have influenced why the Bush job approval rating was so high after these tragedies.

But, everyone knows that drugs are not the answer. So, after some time people realize that they have lives to get back to. They realize that they need to be safe when they operate their heavy machinery. And gradually they reduce their self-medication and other drug use. When they reduce their drug use their minds gradually become clearer. But, at this point their health is still in a fragile state. People in this condition will typically avoid stress if they can. They can avoid stress by ignoring the news, be it on the TV, radio and especially the newspaper. So, the information might be there, but it isn’t being absorbed by a large number of people. And when the pollsters call these people may be generally ignorant of the real job that George W Bush was doing, but they have bits and pieces of what they believe he is doing. As more and more people gradually get off drugs and find out what George W Bush is really doing George W Bush’s job approval ratings fall.

And, now we find ourselves almost 5 years down the road from 9/11/2001. The American people seem to be kicking their drug habit and we can see this evidenced by the polls. After all, what sober person could possibly give George W Bush a “strongly approve” job evaluation? But, if we look at the Rasmussen poll, which keeps track of these things on a daily basis we see that there are still 15% of the American people surveyed that give this response. My guess would be that these 15% of the American people need serious help. They really need to break their drug addiction.

So, the solution is to set up more drug addiction clinics. But where should we set up these much-needed clinics? Well, fortunately we may use the Survey USA poll to answer this question. The Survey USA poll gives us the job approval rating of George W Bush for all of the 50 states in the United States of America. From this poll we see that only three states in the union give the president a positive approval rating. They are Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. And, now it becomes clear what is happening. It turns out that these states have very few drug rehabilitation clinics. And, with out this much needed help many people living in these states will go for years addicted to drugs, and believing that the president is doing a very good job.

But, on the much-needed positive note we certainly can all agree that national drug use is declining at a very good rate.






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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics, Polls, Drugs, Drug Use, Drug Addiction

Injustice in Paradise?

How can the known violation of Human Rights in the United States of America go on for more than ten years without being addressed by the law?

Maybe it is because the abuse sounded so outrageous that nobody believed that it could be true. Maybe it was because politics was against them. Maybe it was because this injustice happened in an area of the United States that falls into a special category requiring special laws that are full of exceptions to human rights and the Bill of Rights that the rest of us take for granted.

The politics of this obscenity is fading away in the Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay scandals and people are finally willing to tell the truth without fear. The awful truth has come to the mainstream in Ms. Magazine this month.

If you don’t know what I am talking about already, then read carefully what I am about to tell you. Rebecca Clarren of Ms. Magazine has written an investigative story about the abuse of Human Rights occurring in Saipan, one of the Northern Mariana Islands. Most Americans have no idea where this island is, let alone that it belongs to the United States of America. But, it isn’t a state, but a territory. And because of it’s special status the normal federal laws don’t apply to this place. It is like the special status of Guantanamo Bay Cuba that allows the twisted special laws to enable the CIA to torture people without fear of prosecution.

In the Northern Mariana Islands federal minimum wages do not apply. In the Northern Mariana Islands federal immigration laws do not apply. In the Northern Mariana Islands federal OSHA standards do not apply. And, Tom Delay has said, that Saipan was a model of an economic miracle. Obviously these people have a different idea of what an economic miracle is. This economic view of the world has everything to do with the vision that the Republican Party has for our country.

In Saipan labor is cheap. Human Resources are shipped in like the old slave trading days. But, these people are not slaves, because technically they are being paid. But like the sharecroppers of over a hundred years ago these people are not free until they pay off their debt, which is prolonged as long as possible. And when these people have paid off their debt they are free to go, but they can never leave. They need to double their labor just to be able to afford the trip home. And, if they don’t bring any money to their Chinese families when they do go home they will suffer the embarrassment of a failed daughter. The constant import of cheap labor keeps wages low, the ideal of the current Republican leadership. And, the only plentiful jobs on the island are in these sweatshops or prostitution. Isn’t it wonderful that these leaders in the Republican Party view prostitution as a legitimate job for a retired garment worker? But, the Republican Party has always been in favor of cheap labor in mainstream America as well. Why else does George W Bush want to turn the current illegal immigrants into guest workers? To keep labor cheap, of course!

Cheap labor keeps the corporations making a profit, and that’s why companies have been sending their manufacturing jobs to countries with cheap labor. However, when products are made in Saipan, these products may bare the “Made in the USA” tag, which means that patriotic Americans will pay more for these items. It is just another form of deception, which is so popular with the Republican Party.

But keeping the laws on this tiny island free from scrutiny was where Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay played the biggest role. These corrupt politicians were able to deflect more than twenty laws passed by the Senate that tried to reform the laws on this island. Jack Abramoff paid key congressmen with “free” trips to Saipan for family vacations on this tropical paradise. These congressmen were able to vote down in committee all of the more than twenty reform laws passed by the Senate. And, if one were to slip by, Tom Delay would have been able to use his influence to prevent scheduling a full House vote on it. Some of these reform laws were passed unanimously by the Senate, which demonstrates the degree that Tom Delay was able to control the legislature.
The sad thing is that in 1998, a religious group calling themselves the Religious Freedom Coalition of the Southeast had written about this. But, their efforts were silenced.

How could this happen in the United States of America? I’m guessing it has a lot to do with money. Money talks and that’s how the laws in Saipan were protected from changes.

The good news is that many of these companies are taking their business elsewhere. It isn’t because the United States passed any laws to stop the abuse. Instead it is a result of the GATT treaty, which does away with tariffs on products from other countries. Companies are moving manufacturing jobs off Saipan, because even though labor is cheap, it is even cheaper in China and India. But, the people on Saipan are already there and they aren’t going anywhere, which means that the number of prostitutes on the island is increasing. But, now that Tom Delay isn’t in the congress anymore there is hope at the end of the tunnel once again.







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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

In the 1960s the progressive movement that changed the world was often accused of looking at the world through “rose-colored glasses.” This was a boon for the tinted glasses industry, because rose colored glasses actually became a short lived fashion trend. But, after almost 40 years looking at the 1960s through the rear view mirror, it seems that many of the optimists of the 1960s were wrong in assuming that things could be changed as permanently as they had hoped. The opponents of the many social reforms of the 1960s have regrouped and reasserted their strength through the conservative religious groups. Similarly the wealthy conservatives have been able to ride the wave of the social conservatives to write new laws to protect their wealth. The recent extension of the tax cuts on dividends shows that their power hasn’t waned.

The truth is that the rose-colored glasses are now on the faces of the supporters of the Republicans and the conservative movement. These people who are wearing these glasses continue to support the Republican agenda and the Bush administration, regardless of the truth that has been pouring out over the last three or four years. And, over these last three or four years the Republicans who were wearing those rose-colored glasses were willing to only see the world in those shades of pink and red.

For example, the deception used to maintain support of the American people during the build up to the War in Iraq was classic manipulation. The supporters of the Bush administration and the Republican leadership donned their rose-colored glasses and accepted the version of the need for war fed to them by the conservatives planted in the media. When the bias in the Fox News version of the war became apparent, these supporters continued to wear their trusty rose-colored glasses and continued to believe what they were told. These glasses either filtered out the ability of the wearer to watch other networks, or believe what they said. Journalists like Judy Miller continued to pound the “facts” that the Bush administration fed her, without checking into the truth of what she was told. And, those wearing these special glasses used her biased writing to support their rose-colored view of the world.

The Bush administration told us about weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which was a clever way to group chemical, biological and nuclear weapons together. In this way the administration was able to warn us of the dangers of WMD, because “…the smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud.” This statement about WMDs clearly referred to the nuclear component of this group. In logic we would ask the question: “If WMDs include chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and we know that there are WMDs in Iraq, then do we know that there are nuclear weapons in Iraq?” Obviously, it is clear that we do not know that, but the American people don’t do so well on logic tests. So, the Bush administration was able to use fear by grouping these three types of weapons together, and distorting the logic. The Bush administration was fairly confident that Iraq had chemical weapons, because the US sold them to Saddam Hussein and he used them in the Iraq-Iran war. The Bush administration used the following logic to gain support for the war they already decided to enter based on the Downing Street memos. They told us to fear WMDs, because WMDs contain nuclear weapons which are really bad. They told us that they knew that Iraq had WMDs, but they didn’t mention that they were sure about this because they knew they had chemical weapons. And, the Republicans wearing the rose-colored glasses never questioned this flawed logic.

This strategy was so successful that the Bush administration thought that they could use this same logic again. This time they decided to use it on the immigration issue. In George W Bush’s speech on Monday night he told us that amnesty for illegal immigrants was bad. In this way he hoped to keep the support of the xenophobic conservatives who make up 20% of the Republican Party. The common understanding of amnesty is forgiveness for breaking a law. So, the Bush administration is using the twisting of logic once again in order to keep these conservatives on his side without attacking 12 million illegal immigrants living in our country. The reason he doesn’t want to enforce the law, is not because deporting 12 million people from the US would break up families. No, Bush does not want to deport 12 million people from the US because this would drive wages up for the types of work that these people do, namely agriculture, meat packing, garment sewing and even manufacturing. This might sound good for the US economy, but the truth is that a sudden change like this would cause an unknown economic effect. And, fiscal conservatives don’t like sudden economic changes of any type, because it means increased risk.

In the long run, setting wages to a reasonable level would reflect the true cost of these products and even if food and clothing will go up in price so will wages until equilibrium is found once again.

So, George W Bush has decided that changing the status of illegal immigrants from illegal to guest worker will solve the opposition to “amnesty” issue. But, since amnesty does not really depend on the status of a person, unless the status changes from illegal to legal. And, changing a person status from illegal to guest worker does actually change their status from illegal to legal. So, this really is forgiveness to a person who broke the law, which by definition is amnesty. George W Bush is just trying to avoid the use of the word amnesty by granting amnesty under another name. This is typical George W Bush (or should we say Karl Rove) deception, just on another issue. Whatever your stance on the immigration issue one must admit that George W Bush is spinning another yarn once again. And, since the American people aren’t that great with logic they might not see this, especially if they have their rose-colored glasses on.

The good news is that some conservatives from the xenophobic 20% of the Republican Party have seen through George W Bush’s redefinition of amnesty. Now, the truth should be sought and the problem should be dealt with honestly, but honesty isn’t something that George W Bush is good at. But, maybe some good could come out of this issue. If the xenophobes in the Republican Party realize that George W Bush is pulling this logic trick on them because they took off their rose-colored glasses, then maybe they will look around at the other George W Bush deceptions while they have those glasses off. And, once they begin to realize that the “amnesty” redefinition isn’t the first and only deception they just might begin to be honest about the other issues that they had once supported.

Or, maybe not, maybe I am just looking at the mess we are in here in America through my own rose-colored glasses, hoping against the odds that we will be able to correct the damage that this administration has done.






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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

In olden days before the Internet it was written, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Edward George Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873)

This seems to be a reasonable assumption. A person writing a pamphlet, for example, like Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” was able to start not one but two revolutions. A little known piece of history was that Thomas Paine tried to start a revolution in England before he came to America in 1774. And, when he arrived in America he found that America was ripe for revolution. He spread his revolutionary words anonymously through out North America and made a good penny doing it. But, not only that, after he left America he went to France and was instrumental in the spread of the revolutionary word there as well. So, one man, three countries and one pen were able to bring about enormous change.

Today the strength of the pen means more than ever before. However, instead of a pen we are armed with a keyboard connected to the world through the Internet. And, because of its easy access to the community of the world mankind may be saved by individuals like Thomas Paine spread their ideas around the world.

Like the sword, however, power is neither “good” nor “bad.” When evil men wield a sword great damage may be done. And, with a weapon more powerful more damage may be done. We have seen this already with the damage the right wing extremists have done to America by spreading the lies of the right and making it possible for George W Bush to be elected despite the truth.

It may seem hopeless for those who look out among the masses of Americans believing the lies of the right. In your heart you know the truth, but you can not make those you love believe the truth. Sitting around the dinner table at Christmas or Easter you might find yourself arguing with your cousin or uncle, begging him to believe the truth. And, after those meals you go home and feel the pain of a broken relationship. “Can you ever forgive their ignorance?” you think to yourself. But deep down you pray that these people you love will come to see the truth. This must be the feeling that a disillusioned Fundamentalist Christian must have when they see the people they love reject their extremist views of religion. The feeling is the same, but the truth is the solution.

Truth isn’t always easy to come by, but it seeps into reality through the cracks in the doors and windows of constructions that the liars create. The truth surfaces when people see the inconsistencies in the web of lies. The liars hope to hide the inconsistencies by directing attention away from them. Time erases memory, and liars use this to their advantage. Forgetting certain facts and highlighting other “facts” is the strategy used by liars to keep their lies alive. But, when the old facts resurface the inconsistencies resurface as well. Pointing to the inconsistencies over and over again is the best way to shine the light on the ongoing deception.

One example of this is the fact that the Bush administration pressed for war by lying to the American people by scaring them with the potential of being attacked with nuclear weapons. Both George W Bush and Condi Rice warned us “…the smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud.” But today these liars tell us that bad intelligence, bad terrorists, or bad Saddam make the current ongoing destruction in Iraq worthwhile. Well, at least that is what they said until Karl Rove has decided to change the lie and put a new face on it.

Yesterday Karl Rove began to tell us that people like George W Bush, they just don’t like the War in Iraq. What?!!! George W Bush is the man responsible for this WAR, and Karl Rove is trying to deflect the criticism of this debacle? Is this not deception? The Obfuscaters in the White House are deceiving us in the hopes that the most naïve will say, “Oh, that’s right I’d like to have a beer with this guy.” Or maybe, “He has a cute way of saying nuclear. He’s just like me. I mispronounce words too.” Or even worse, “He’s stupid just like me. I like that.”

But, this is when we need to use the pen just like a sword to defend the truth. We need to use the Internet to remind the world of the lies that were told by this guy that Karl Rove is trying to paint as your Buddy-In-Chief. It is your duty to go out there and remind us about those lies that this guy told us, and we all need to repeat them often.



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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics

Most of the lying and deception coming out of the Republican Party is cloaked in the idea that they do what they need to do in order to make America safer, or stronger. But, while they verbally make these points, they are destroying the America that works together to make this country the great nation that I know it can be. Occasionally one of the Republicans get off message and their true thought get out into the media. This is what happened the other day with Alphonso Jackson, the Republican Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Jackson was giving a talk in Dallas, Texas where he must have felt that he would be safe enough to let down his guard. Being in Texas he must have expected that the audience had been filled with Bush supporters. But, according to the Dallas Business Journal he told a story about a contract being denied to a prospective advertising contractor. He said that he denied the contract after he had selected the contractor based on merit, but then learned the contractor disliked the president. He had called the contractor into his office to tell him the good news, when the contractor mentioned that he didn’t care for the president.

The contractor may have been naïve about mentioning this in the secretary’s office, but what if it hadn’t happened that way? What if another contractor had an anti-Bush blog? What if a perspective contractor had a John Kerry sticker on his car? Where do we draw the line between politics and awarding contracts? This event shines a light into the inner workings of the Republican Party and its members. It tells me that corruption runs deep here. Not to mention, that denying a government contract based on politics is illegal. What happened to the Republican respect for the law that they hold in high esteem when they discuss the immigration issue?

The president was elected to serve all the people of the United States, not just those who voted for him. Based on Alphonso Jackson’s reasoning the president should close down HUD, because so few people being served by HUD don't like the president. And, they don't like him because he favors the wealthy over the struggling Americans being served by HUD.

No wonder the country is in such a mess, with logic based on rewarding those who support Republican politics. That is very close to the definition of corruption. (…giving kickbacks to your buddies?)

Of course, this just makes me realize once again that the Republican Party does not care about America as a country, like their advertising suggests. They care about the half of America that got them elected. Do we really want to live in that America?



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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics