Recently I have been watching the election coverage with more than my usual scrutiny. I have always read voting guides, the analysis of ballot measures pro and con, as well as looking at the things people running for office are saying. I have almost never voted American Independent, though in 1980 after Ted Kennedy's faux pas I was left with Jerry Brown and Carter, both of whom I thought were idiots; I voted for Anderson. In 1984 I anted John Glenn; when left with Mondale I actually thought about voting for Angela Davis, just to say I had done so; I voted for Mondale to oppose Reagan, rather than because I actually wanted him. Or the Democrats for that matter.
So here we are today; the Republican party is showing it's usual collection of verbose and divisive candidates. Almost all of whom I consider to be either complete morons like Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman, dishonest power grabbers like Romney, even more dishonest and erratic Newt Gingrich... and lets face it people; America would have to hide blushing behind our flag for four years if we chose a president named "Newt". I liked Jon Huntsman. In two interviews he was intelligent, rational, and seemed concerned over the economy. Obviously they were not going to allow him to run.
I am not oppose to Obama. I voted for him, and not just because he was not republican, or because he was black. He spoke well, I believed his stated intentions, and in spite of all the detractors, he has done a superb job. He has managed in the face of constant opposition from the republicans, combined with the now-typical laziness and lack of confrontation of the democrats, to turn around in two years what the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush trinity screwed up over 8 years.
Don't kid yourselves my republican friends; Cheney and Rumsfled were the power brokers there. Bush was the sock-puppet front man. Cheney and Rumsfeld got two wears going, killed thousands of our men and women, ignored hurricane Katrina until it devestated Luisiana, and then blamed FEMA, after that very administration had hamstrung them years before. They waved a paper tiger around so vehemently after 9/11 that frightened people allowed them to quash civil liberties, freedom of expression, legal and civil rights... all by waving the boogie man of invasion by Iraq or Afghanistan. Learn geography! Afghanistan is landlocked; Iraq's navy doesn't have enough men to invade the Superbowl. Plus the fatc that they are barely a presence on the Persian Gulf, and would have to violate a lot of other countries territory to sail over here. Neither is going to invade the US by plane; unless you think the former administration was actually so stupid they would miss 500 charter flights coming out of the Middle East.
No, you folks ran like Chicken Little. I'm not talking about just Republicans here, or the religious Right, or Liberal Democrats. Every single person who didn't scream at their Congressman or Senator. No one is going to invade the US physically. We have nearly 3 MILLION troops, counting active and reserve. The entire estimated military of Afghanistan would only outnumber the average fan attendance for the Cincinnati Bengals by 3 to 1; in game theory, you need anywhere from 6 to 1 odds to 8 to 1 odds to succeed. That means that the entire Iraqi army at it's height would barely be able to overrun the fans at this years Superbowl (578,259 Iraqi soldiers to 68,000 fans). You can do the exact math if you wish. Its about 8:1 odds.
Here is another fact; there are enough (registered) guns owned in the United States to arm 88 percent of the population. That include toddlers, by the way; so basically, everyone between lets say 14 and 60 could carry two weapons.... the second highest in the world is Serbia, at 56 percent. Not much invasion threat from them either. And if Mexico and Canada were to team up, they would not even match Serbia. So invading the Unites States is absurd. The enxt time you hear someone say that "We did this to protect the United States from invasion" laugh at them and call them a moron. Slap them for lying.
We did, however, allow Osama Bin Laden to win. More accurately, the Cheney Trinity did. How you ask? Simple. The object of terrorism is to inflict panic; it's not to take and hold territory, or sieze valuable resources, or any other military objective. It's to make people run around screaming "The Sky is Falling!", to behave in a way that destabilizes them. Homeland Security, the Transportation Safety Bureau, "The Patriot Act" and Rendering did that. Exactly the way Bin Laden wanted. We proved that were exactly the type of detested bully the world should hate. A Cowardly Lion of epic proportions.
Let me bug all of you with a few more tidbits;
War in Afghanistan: 2001. President: Bush (not Obama) Senate and House: Republican SOURCE: any news article
War in Iraq: 2003. President: Bush (not Obama). Senate and House: Republican.
Sub-prime Loan: 2004. President: Bush (not Obama) Senate and House: Republican.
(side note; the percent of subprime loans in 1999 was 8% on average. By 2004 it rocketed up to 20%. SOURCE: Wall Street Journal)
Bank Failures: 57 in 2007 and 2008. During the first year of Obama's term, under the budget passed by the previous Congress, 122 more banks failed. Since 2007 a total of over 400 small banks have failed, all brought down by the collapse above them. SOURCE: FDIC
For this, both parties are to blame; the Democrats did not take over majority in the Senate until 2009, and are still the majority party, Their failure to unify, or to overwhelm opposition, as well as both parties failure to compromise has paralyzed and crippled our economy. (Party Majority SOURCE: Clerk Of the United States Office)
The President DOES NOT have dictatorial powers. To everyone I saw applauding Gingrich in his New Hampshire caucus; you are sheep, or idiots. You applauded when he said that "A leader needs to be strong; to take action, even if the people are opposed to it..." that stunned me. Isn't this the same guy screaming because Obama appointed someone to an office (which he has the right to do, by the way). Isn't that saying "I don't care what you want or what you think; we do things my way". That is dictatorship.
And through all of this, where has the Tea Party been? Where were they in 2001? In 2004? In 2007? Why is it only after a black Democrat takes office that this "Tea Party" bobs to the top of the septic tank of intolerance, screaming for impeachment, and radical change... oh, wait, I answered my own question already. Intolerance. Bias. Hatred. Denial. Hypocrisy. Fraud. The earmarks of the prior administration blended with the fanatical self-righteousness of religious zealotry. Exactly the same rhetoric and attitude used by the Taliban and the Ayatollahs.
Wait. I was wrong. We did in fact get invaded. There they are, the people who want to turn us into a modern day Theocracy, where your every thought and action is under scrutiny, where dissent is punished with violence, and freedom is what they tell you it is. Nice job Mr Bush; you played your part beautifully. Machiavelli salutes you Mr. Cheney. Welcome, Great Lord Gingrich.
Cthulhu Fataghn!
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