Category Archives: Terrorism

Creating A Separate Justice System For Terrorism Is A Very Slippery Slope.

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Some Teapublican leaders are calling for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be treated as an “enemy combatant”, removing him from our traditional justice system and subjecting him to a military tribunal. Although this may be tempting to some, it is the slipperiest of slippery slopes.

Tsarnaev is an American citizen. He has the same right to a trial by jury as other accused terrorists and murderers, such as Timothy McVeigh and Jared Loughner. To treat him otherwise is to say that some American citizens are worthy of trial by a jury of their peers, and that other American citizens are undeserving of their constitutional rights.

This is the ultimate class warfare.

If we are to start down that path with Tsarnaev, where do we stop? Should all those accused of mass murder be denied a jury trial? Should jury trials be reserved only for natural born citizens? Should all naturalized citizens accused of crimes be turned over to the military?

The very act of declaring Tsarnaev an “enemy combatant” would undermine the bedrock of our justice system – that all citizens are equal, and that all citizens are innocent until proven guilty.

Does Wayne LaPierre’s Advice Also Apply To Bombs?

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Following the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, NRA Exec. VP, Wayne LaPierre said, “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”

So after the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, will Mr. LaPierre make a similar statement about bombs? Of course not! Even someone as crass and callous as LaPierre would recognize the absurdity of such a claim.

Why the difference?

The answer, of course, is money. LaPierre and his very lethal lobbying group do not represent bomb manufacturers, so there’s no profit motive. Neither do LaPierre and the NRA represent cutlery manufacturers, so you didn’t hear them call for arming everyone with knives after the recent stabbings in Texas.

Therefore, it’s fair to ask, “Since LaPierre’s gun strategy doesn’t apply to all violent attacks, why should we listen to him at all?”

Most U.S. Problems Are The Result Of The 2000 Election.

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In some ways, those who predicted apocalyptic disaster as the result of Y2K were right. No, our computers did not stop working.  No, the millennium did not lead to the end of the world. But we did experience a disaster nonetheless.

Despite winning the majority of the popular vote, Al Gore was denied a recount in Florida and, as a result, the White House. Consider, for a moment, the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to award George W. Bush the presidency.

That unpopular decision led to almost all of our most intractable problems.

Let’s begin with 9/11.  A Gore administration likely would have continued most of the policies of the Clinton administration, including its attempt to kill Osama bin Laden and destroy al Qaeda with a cruise missile (a strike derided by Bush as “sending a million dollar missile to blow up a camel tent”).  Unlike Bush, President Gore almost certainly would have listened to warnings by counter-terrorism experts of an imminent strike in the US using hijacked airliners.

And without 9/11, we wouldn’t have become mired in the 10-year war in Afghanistan which has cost us trillions of dollars.

Moreover, it’s highly unlikely that a Gore administration would have falsified evidence in order to justify the invasion of Iraq, leading to a second war costing trillions more dollars.

As for our economy, Gore would have continued the Clinton administration’s policies which led to budget surpluses – surpluses that were on track to eliminate the national debt by the end of 2012.  The Bush tax cuts, which added hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt, never would have happened (at least, not until the debt was nearly paid off).

As vice-president, Al Gore led the successful Reinventing Government Program that streamlined the federal government and cut wasteful spending.  He likely would have continued that program as president, continuing to down-size government.

Bush, on the other hand, oversaw the largest increase of the federal government in history!

Finally, Gore almost certainly would have led efforts to stem climate change at a time when smaller changes could have had great and lasting effects.  But thanks to Bush, Richard “The Dick” Cheney and all of their oil buddies, it now may be too late to avoid the predictable devastating effects of runaway carbon emissions.

Remember this the next time you hear Teapublicans complain about the budget deficit, the escalating national debt, and the cost of clean-up efforts following storms made worse by climate change.

A Heartless Dick Who Won’t Go Away.

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On the day of President Obama’s State of the Union address, Richard “The Dick” Cheney crawled out of his hidey hole to show off his new black heart.  He used the opportunity to criticize the president’s choices for Secretary of Defense and CIA Director as “second rate.”

Even if The Dick were to be believed, no one would be more familiar with second-rate leaders than Cheney.

At the risk of being whisked away to another country to be tortured by The Dick’s extraordinary rendition crew, I’ll remind you that Cheney was a supporter of Condoleeza Rice, the former National Security Adviser who ignored numerous warnings of a possible attack on US soil using hijacked airplanes.

Cheney supported the elevation of Rice to Secretary of Sate.  He supported other incompetents such as Donald Rumsfeld and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Cheney ordered the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, thereby endangering the life of Plame, her husband and everyone associated with her. Even worse, Cheney orchestrated the charge to invade Iraq by claiming Saddam Hussein not only had built a nuclear arsenal, but collaborated with al Qaeda prior to the attacks of 9/11.

The Dick’s actions led to the deaths of approximately 5,000 US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan along with civilian casualties so numerous that no one has been able to accurately count them.

If that’s what The Dick considers first-rate foreign policy leadership, I’ll take second-rate leaders any day.

Who’s Really Behind Gun Violence?

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Certainly the NRA and other gun rights groups deserve a lot of the blame. Over the past 30 years, they’ve evolved from organizations intended to preserve hunting and to promote gun safety into lobbyists for gun manufacturers.

But the real blame for increased violence belongs to those who have fostered paranoia. Paranoia about crime. Paranoia about minorities and immigrants. Paranoia about a potential financial crisis. Paranoia about non-Christians. Paranoia about a world catastrophe. Even paranoia about our own government.

The loudmouths on Fox News Channel and right wing radio have convinced the weak-minded that non-white, welfare-abusing “takers” are out to get them and the fruits of their labor. In their little minds, Democrats and liberals are destroying the United States. They believe that our nation is headed toward bankruptcy and socialism or worse.

The result has been a dramatic spike in sales of “tactical” weapons (aka military-style assault rifles and shotguns) and semi-automatic handguns since 2009. There has also been a six-fold increase in non-Islamic domestic terrorist groups since 2009. And we now have thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of “preppers” who are stashing food, water, weapons and ammunition in preparation for what they consider the inevitable failure of our nation.

Moreover, the vast majority of gun sales and paranoid activity has taken place in the Southern US, mostly since the election of our first black president.

Coincidence? I think not.

Romney Won The 2nd Debate After All.

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While most polls and political pundits gave the advantage to the President in the second debate, Mitt Romney did win on two accounts: Disrespect and Lies.

Despite having agreed to a long list of rules for the Town Hall Debate, which included an agreement that neither candidate directly address the other or venture into the other’s space, Mitt Romney literally got in the face of the President.  He also directed a barrage of questions at the President rather than go through the moderator.  The effect was to seem unnecessarily confrontive and even disrespectful of the President.

Romney may not respect President Obama, but he should at least be respectful of the office. Moreover, Romney’s bossy attitude demonstrated that he lacks the temperment to negotiate with world leaders.

As for the ability to stretch the truth and tell lies to support his arguments, Romney was, once again, the overwhelming winner.

He was not only caught telling a lie about the President’s address on Benghazi.  He lied about the number of women who lost jobs in the past 4 years.  He misstated his opposition to the Lilly Ledbetter Act.  He didn’t tell the truth about his position on contraception.  He lied about his recommendation to let Detroit go bankrupt and, therefore, fail.  He lied about his tax proposals.  He was wrong about the increase in healthcare insurance over the past two years.  He lied about his proposal to limit Pell Grants.  And he lied about the President’s energy policies, including the delay of the XL Pipeline.

In other words, Romney demonstrated that he is not qualified to be Commander-in-Chief.  But he definitely demonstrated that he is qualified to be Liar-in-Chief.

For more Romney-Ryan lies, read The Teapublican Book of Lies available at Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores.

Get Yer Guns Before Obama Bans Them!

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For the past four years, the National Rifle Association has fomented panic among the pistol-packing, assault rifle-collecting gun nuts that President Obama is going to take away their Second Amendment rights.  Of course, this fear has about as much veracity as the claims that President Obama is a foreign-born, un-American, freedom-hating Muslim.  But wingnuts and the NRA have never let the truth get in the way of a good fear-baiting story.

The truth is that Obama has never publicly stated a position on gun ownership.

Nevertheless, the NRA-fueled concerns persist, creating a huge windfall for the gun industry.  Domestic gun sales have soared.  And with each new mass killing, the sales spike higher, putting even more guns in the hands of the paranoid, the bullies, the cowards and the mentally-disturbed.  According to Sturm, Ruger & Co. President and CEO Mike Fifer, “It took us nearly all of 2011 to build 1 million firearms, but in 2012 we accomplished it on August 15th.”

The NRA rumors and racist lies about Obama have even given birth to a new industry – that of “prepping.”  Demand from hate-mongering wingnuts, domestic terrorist groups and the tinfoil hat crowd has led to thousands of Americans building “safe houses” and stocking them with enough food to last for years and enough weapons to launch World War III.

Of course, it can’t all be credited to the irrational hatred of our first black president.

Some preppers believe in the Mayan 2012 “prophecy.”  Some believe the Teapublican lies that liberals have led our nation to the precipice.  Others are worried about the black-shirted “New World Order” taking away our freedoms.  Even more are worried about the growing Latino, African-American and immigrant populations which will relegate angry old white people to minority status.

Let freedom ratta-tat-tat-tat…er, ring.

Cheney’s 9/11.

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As the most deadly attack on US soil, 9/11 is a solemn occasion for all Americans. What makes it even more tragic is that it likely didn’t have to happen.

Many of us knew about the August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief headlined “Bin Laden determined to strike in US.”  But few of us knew of all the warnings that preceded it.  Kurt Eichenwald’s revelations in the New York Times represent a 9/11 disaster for the Bush administration and, most especially, former V.P. Richard “The Dick” Cheney.

The memos detailed in Eichenwald’s piece reveal that neoconservatives within the Bush administration were dismissive of warnings from the CIA and its Counterterrorism Center, labeling the warnings as a distraction from the “real threat” that was Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.  This was despite the fact that international inspectors repeatedly stated that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, and that it had no delivery vehicles capable of reaching the US.

Moreover, the reports showed that there was no evidence of cooperation between Iraq and al Qaeda.

So who were these neocons dismissing the warnings of an attack by al Qaeda?  The most prominent neocons connected to the Pentagon and the intelligence community included Donald Rumsfeld, Lewis Libby, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams and, of course, Dick Cheney who bullied his way into the leadership role for intelligence for the administration.

These people were all members of the Project for a New American Century, which was determined to use our unchallenged military to push our economic interests around the world.  Indeed, a 2000 PNAC report stated “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in (Persian) Gulf regional security…the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”

The 2000 PNAC report went on to say that it would be politically difficult to transform our military into “tomorrow’s dominant force” and create such a presence in the Gulf unless the US was struck by “some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”

If that doesn’t send a chill down your spine, I can’t imagine what would…especially when you consider the Cheney-led dismissiveness of pre-9/11 warnings.

Want to know something almost as frightening?  17 of Romney’s foreign policy advisors worked for the George W. Bush administration.

A Few Questions For The NRA.

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Following a series of mass shootings, I’d like to know how members of the National “Rifle” Association feel.  Are they satisfied that military-style assault weapons are now readily available to every disturbed lunatic who has the money to buy them?

Do they feel anything when they see bloody corpses of innocent people lying on the floor of high schools and universities, on the cement in grocery parking lots, on the floor of a theater…even lying on the floor of a church?

Do they feel pride that gun sales peak after each mass shooting?

Do they still want to allow the unrestricted sale of silencers and night vision scopes?  Do they still want even higher-capacity magazines?

Truth is, all NRA members have the blood of innocents on their hands.  Lots of it.  Without NRA-sponsored laws in all 50 states, few people would be packing.  Assault weapons and high capacity magazines would be prohibited.  There would be thorough background checks and mandatory training for gun buyers, even at gun shows.

Without NRA-sponsored laws, fewer people would feel the need to carry guns, fewer lunatics and criminals would own them, and fewer people would live in fear.

For more, read The Teapublican Book of Lies available at Amazon and other on-line bookstores.

Why You Should Hate Teapublicans. Let Me Count The Reasons.

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1 – Richard Nixon’s Watergate break-in intended to literally steal an election. 

2 – The “Southern strategy” in which the GOP embraced racists. 

3 – The “Moral Majority” in which the Party embraced “social” issues. 

4 – Reagan’s union-busting. 

5 – Elimination of loan interest deductions resulting in huge tax increases for the middle class.

6 – Cuts to capital gains taxes and estate taxes on the wealthy. 

7 – Reagan’s Iran-Contra plan which financed Central American death squads.

8 – Deregulation of Savings and Loan institutions resulting in the loss of billions.  

9 – Gun laws putting military-style weapons in the hands of millions. 

10 – $60 million witch hunt and impeachment of President Clinton. 

11 – Massive voter suppression giving the 2000 election to George W. Bush. 

12 – Bush’s failure to act on warnings of a 2001 terrorist attack. 

13 – The Bush tax cuts.

14 – The unnecessary and completely unfunded war in Iraq. 

15 – “Swift-boating” of Vietnam War Hero, Sen. John Kerry. 

16 – Richard “The Dick” Cheney. 

17 – The outsourcing of our military to corporations. 

18 – Awarding government contracts to corporations with offshore “headquarters.” 

19 – Deregulation of banks resulting in mortgage fraud.

20 – The Great Recession.

21 – Subsidies and tax breaks for corporations that send jobs offshore.

22 – Fox News Channel and right-wing hate radio. 

23 – Unsubstantiated claims about President Obama’s birthplace and religion. 

24 – The Tea Party.

25 – Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Steve King and Paul Ryan. 

26 – Attacks on women’s rights. 

27 – Attacks on the LGBT community. 

28 – Plans to repeal The Affordable Care Act. 

29 – Assaults on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. 

30 – Obstruction of hundreds of President Obama’s appointments. 

31 – Filibusters. 

32 – Buckley v. Valeo resulting in a ruling that money is free speech.

33 – Citizen’s United which gave corporations the same rights as people.  

34 – Voter ID laws intended to steal the coming election.

35 – Attacks on Public Broadcasting, education and the environment.

36 – Blaming the poor and the unemployed for our deficit.

37 – Blaming teachers and first responders for our deficit.

38 – Trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.

39 – Vilifying immigrants to get votes.

40 – The debt ceiling debate.

41 – Embrace of Ayn Rand’s self-centered philosophy.

42 – Lies, lies and more lies.

Learn more in The Teapublican Book of Lies available from Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores