Friday, March 31, 2006

 

Bits and Pieces

The pope asked that the life of the muslim man who turned christian be spared and that was a good thing. Now I would like to see the pope ask that the lives of all the innocent muslims in Iraq be spared from Bush's war and hate mongering machine. In fact every one who claims to be a minister should be protesting Bush's hate and fear mongering. In fact all christians should be standing up to fear, hate and war mongering. The Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld/Rice war machine must be brought under control. The hate that comes from people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and so many others including those of the Catholic religion, my religion, is beyond belief.

I used to watch EWTN, the Catholic cable channel, but recently I came across four programs that contained hate messages which made me ill such that I rarely watch it now. Hate mongering is totally wrong and should have NO place on any religious channel. Also I seem to be noticing an ever increasing number of political messages on EWTN so from now on I will limit my viewing to the occassional movie they carry. There is just too much hate . . . I am sick of it. Where have the concepts of christian charity, humility and love for all God's children gone. I just don't hate muslims, middle east peoples, gays or women seeking abortions.

I don't even hate Bush, in fact I see him as a sad case. He is the product of a wealthy upbringing, of cool, aloof and distant parents who could not put any human warmth into his character. A life of privilege and many years of alcoholism have given him a distorted and ungrounded view of life and the world. His sociopathic nature and shallow character cause him to have a coldness about him that left him vulnerable. Laura came along and began moving him in the right direction and when he discovered religion it filled the void in him. But he is unable to modulate or moderate religion with the realities of life in an imperfect world. George developed a messianic complex so he has come to feel that he has been chosen, knows the mind of God and believes he is on God's mission. He lacks humility and charity.

Unfortunately, he is the president and in that position of uncontrolled power he knows no bounds and his thinking is supported by Rove, Cheney, the radical religious right fundamentalists and the greed of the Republican Party's desire for power. Once Bush is out of office he should just go back to Texas and live a quiet life. If he wants to change, he would do well to listen to people like Laura, Pres. Jimmy Carter, Jim Wallis, David Gergen et.al. They could help George to get into living a life of service to everyday, ordinary people which will ground him in reality and he may then learn humility and charity.

So I pray for him and I pray that congress (largely a bunch of wayward out of touch politicians with their own very low popularity rating) will someday stand up for America and get the executive branch under control. Congress may even have to get the Supreme Court under control but it's to soon to know whether or not Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas will reach 'critical mass' and explode with fundamentalist and constructionist rulings which are out of touch with the American people.
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Regarding Immigration---

Congress should break this immense problem down into two components. The first piece of legislation should result in the building of a wall. Bush has buried the American people in fear with his never ending fear mongering causing Americans to fear for their security want much more security. The first thing is that congress should work on a bill that would construct a wall 50ft. high and 50ft deep, with observation towers and all the needed electronics. That will immediately cause a lessening of americans fears so that adequate amounts of time can then be taken for the second piece of legisllation which should be to deal with the 12 million illegals already here. There should be adequate amounts of time given to lengthy discussion and deliberation in congress and among the legal American people about the twelve million illegal immigrants that are already in America and future incoming illegals. Congress and the legal Americans should not rush to any hasty conclusions and write legislation that may be as ineffective as the previous immigration legislation has been.

Some points to consider are that illegal immigrants are just that, illegal and have committed a crime no matter what their motivations are/were. America has every right to secure it's borders. Vincente Fox has made the problem worse by encouraging mexicans to break our laws and there is no justification for that. The Catholic Church, my church, has also made the whole problem worse by encouraging it's clergy and members to disobey American laws.

The problem is Mexico's and what are they going to do about it besides just foisting it on America. Bush and the Catholic Church should be putting immense amounts of pressure on the Mexican government to solve the problems in Mexico that lead to and result in illegal immigration. This pressure should include the threat of constant American government press releases embarrassing the Mexican government and it's support/protection of the wealthy in suppressing it's poor citizens and restricting them from a decent living wage so that they may support their families and have hope for their future. Mexico's government, police, army and it's wealthy citizens are corrupt and care not for their own citizens.

The corruption (exploitation of illegals) in American business along with our government's negligence/complicity have caused this problem to get grossly (if there is such a word) out of control. Illegal immigrants as immigrants have no rights in America. They do have some limited right to humane treatment while they are here in America but they should not be allowed to remain here in an illegal status nor should they be given carte blanche citizenship as the Bushies, the corps(U.S. corporations) and the McCain-Kennedy bill seek to do.

The children of illegal immigrants should not be considered American citizens just because they are born here and that aspect of the law must be changed. If congress decides to deport all illegal immigrants then their children must be deported as well. Children are considered to be the same ancestry as their mothers in western nations. For example if an illegal male immigrant has a child with an American woman the child should be regarded as American and if a legal American male has a child with an illegal female that child must remain with the mother if she is deported.

Legal American families and legal American citizens must be taken care first by the American people and the American government before any social, welfare or employment services are given to illegal immigrants. I am thinking of the poor and starving in America be they inner city black or white, applachian or poor rural Americans.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

 

This and That---

Since the Dems don't seem to be able to stop the Bush/Repub war/fear/hate mongering juggernaut it may require that the Repub media and other personalities speak out against Bush and his policies, that is if they care about America and if they have any courage.

Can the Fox journalists stand up and be counted upon to undertake this task. NO they certainly will not, they are next to useless, no they are completely useless. Will those right wing Repub journalists like Tim Russert, Joe Scarborough,Tucker Carlson,Paula Zahn,Bob Woodward(Wash. Post) Michael Bloomberg,Mort Kondracke,Fred Barnes and David Brooks stand up for America, MAYBE. I certainly hope so, because they need to redeem themselves and do something for their/our country. If the Dems ever get in office and go to the extreme that Bush has will they stand up for America, I certainly hope so. It seems that only a small part of the media has the courage to stand up for America.

Were it not for journalists and authors like Chompsky,Finkelstein,Goodman,Foreign Minister ben Ami,Kevin Phillips,Pres. Carter,Amb. Edward L. Peck,Ray McGovern and some others we would be totally in the dark as to what Bush and the Repubs are doing behind the backs of the American people. I don't always agree with everything the aforementioned say or report but they most certainly speak in a clear way which illuminates the dark back alley thinking of Bush and his Repubs in congress and on the Supreme Court.

I completely agree with Sen. Feingold but he doesn't really go far enough. Bush and Cheney should be impeached, censure is just a beginning. If the Dems ever want to return to power they must stop trying so hard to get elected and just learn to do the right thing. Instead of engaging in rhetoric, like the Repubs, they must remember they are supposed to be the party of the people and really be the party of the people; let the Repubs continue to be the party of the wealthy and Big Business.

The Dems must have the courage to stand up for issues no matter how Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and the Repubs portray them. Some issues the Dems should be pushing are a free education for all children through college, medical care for all, control of the prescription drug industry, control of the health care industry, reduction in military spending, more government help for medium and small businesses, more government support for medium and small family farmers, stricter conservation measures, greater reduction in the use of foreign oil, cars that use new technology to reduce emissions and reduce fuel consumption starting immediately not in 2025, impeachment of Bush and Cheney for lying to the American people and for usurping congressional powers, INDEPENDANT committees to investigate the military hierarchy for lying to congress and the American people, Abramoff, DeLay, and the involvement of fundamentalist religions in American politics, a religious committee to advise and counsel the government, very strict rules controlling lobbyists, no more pork barrel, and only single item bills with no pork barrel riders, protection for whistleblowers, committees to investigate the huge profiteering/price gouging by Halliburton, Bechtel et.al. and committees to investigate profiteering/price gouging by defense related industries etc. etc. etc.

All the Repub senators and about 80% of Repub representatives are taking America down the wrong, wrong, wrong path. I have heard some Repub representatives that seem to think a bit differently. Some actually seem like very decent people who are committed to the American ideals that were once extant and thriving in our country. These Repub representatives are people I could vote for. I won't mention their names because they would probably lose the support of the rest of the blind, lock step, knee jerk, 'Stepford Repubs'.

It is interesting to note that many Repub senators and representatives have really gone quiet in the last few months, they must really be worried about the 2006 elections. Many of the big mouth Repub southern congressman have said nothing in the last few months. Where are all those guys who comb their hair like little boys, such as Tom DeLay and Lindsay Graham and so many others. They have gone quiet in the hopes that they can distance themselves from Bush and get re-elected, and they probably will get re-elected. The Dems still won't commit themselves to anything and they probably will not get back in power, unless the fearful American voter wakes up and shakes off their apathy and general disgust for our damaged political process and our damaged legislative branch. Then they might vote Dem just for a change.

It was interesting to watch Kissinger on tv as he squirmed and tried to distance himself from the Nixon admin. But his Nixon reputation will stay with him until my generation is dead and the historians forget what happened. If the historians remember and continue to investigate and write about Kissinger and Nixon then the disasters of that presidency MAY not be repeated. But then just look at the Bush presidency it is much like the Nixon pres. but far worse. Maybe there is no hope... After all from Nixon we got Cheney and Rumsfeld, may God help America what a disaster they are.

America needs it's historians, they are crucial to our survival as a nation.

Now if only the cowardly media(MSM) would stand up for America and do their job. But the MSM is all Repub owned so I don't hold out much hope that they will do their job and report on what is happening and being hidden from the American people. So the MSM will just become ever more irrelevant and continue to lose readers to the internet.

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