Pay No Attention To the Man Behind the Curtain...

The news from this morning's San Francisco Chronicle boiled my blood, and after I picked up the New York Times, listened to NPR, switched to KPFA (94.1 in the SF area), then read CNN.com I found the same headlines screaming at me:

The Abu Graib prison scandal names the top military brass as well as the Secretary of Defense as those to blame for at least "contribut[ing] to the confusion over what techniques were permissable for interrogating prisoners in Iraq." (Front page).

The current administration can not keep its own members unified on the issue of gay marriage. Vice President Dick Cheney claimed that the status of gay marriages falls under state jurisdiction (Page A4).

The House subcommittee on the 9/11 investigation has determined that the current administration has classified too many documents in order to properly and efficiently fight terrorism. "There are too many secrets" and maybe too many secret-makers, said Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
"The tone is set at the top."
"This administration believes the less known the better."
"No one knows how much is classified." (page A3"

Reporters are giving statements in the leak of a CIA operative that, apparently is revenge for a whistle-blowing incident stemming back to bungled administration policies in 2003. Scooter Libby, chief of staff of the Vice President has been connected to the investigation. Columnist Robert Novak, who publicly released the name of the operative is also in the spotlight for possibly breaking the law in his actions (Page A3).

President George Bush has now, I believe, lost two high-ranking employees on his re-election committee who have admitted to "advising" the oxymoronic "Swiftboat Veterans For Truth," the right-wing smear group that has been airing commercials that can be judged from "politically-motivated" to libelous to downright fraudulent. This "527 organization" possesses the ability to air anti-Kerry ads as MoveOn.org has the same right to air anti-Bush ads. Members of the Republican party are calling for the President to disassociate himself from this group. The media have found direct parallels in this smear campaign to those the Bush team directed towards opponent John McCain in the GOP primaries of 2000.

As a concerned American with progressive political leanings and a (somewhat) religious man who sees the current administration that has waved the bloody shirt of religiosity, unity, and integrity in this light, I have come to the following conclusions:

This administration has created the first foreign policy outlining the proper and promoted use of torturing prisoners of war for the first time in the history of these United States. This is something that I am not proud of and will not condone. How do we as Americans claim that we promote liberty, justice for all, democracy, and freedom when we have outlined the physical and mental punishment solely for political gain? Is there any question that torture and abuse occurred in Abu Graib? How can there be, when documentary evidence exists that Donald Rumsfeld himself signed off on this most heinous policy. We must support all good Americans such as John Kerry by demanding Rumsfeld's resignation. This is not the first war crime he has committed. Let us place him in the same hall of justice, if not history as Henry Kissinger.

The GOP now pulls the "state's rights" line when addressing gay marriage but has forced itself in full violation of the 9th Amendment on issues such as health care, No Child Left Behind, the war on terrorism, demands for homeland security, the initial anti-gay rights amendment, cutting of abortion rights, the proposed anti-abortion amendment, faith-based organization funding, charter/private religious school funding, Internet privacy, environmental protection policies, and myriad other issues. How would Bush feel if California became the first state to refuse Army reservists being sent to Iraq to clean up the illegal and unsupported war he made? I don't own a pair of sandals large enough to equate the real "flip-flop" king in this election.

We currently live under the most secretive and anti-democratic regime since Richard Nixon, except only thirty years ago the Democrats had enough gumption to begin the impeachment process for that president. Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave, but that's okay because his headstone can not be seen through the pall of smoke that rises from the ashes of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, The Statute of Virginia for Religous Freedom, as well as his Declaration of Independence which rails against the tyranny of a regime that refuses to follow Lockean principles of government by the consent of the masses. The majority of Americans do not approve of this man's actions, policies, or administration, and it is time that we stood up against this fascist and proclaimed, "'tis time we part!"

The CIA double-crossed one of its own after a whistle-blowing incident caught the agency with its pants down in the realm of poor terror tracking. The man, whose name eludes me but I believe is Wilson, is from the Bay Area, an alum of UCSB, and is livid that the Bushies (most likely Karl Rove) leaked his wife's name and blew her cover which flies in the face of national security. Imagine that, taking advantage of national security in order to politicize Bush's policies. Maybe we should all stop and ponder for seven #($&%^^% minutes to think of a lame excuse the next time terrorists slam themselves into our people, then claim that direct action would show weakness.

For sure, the Bush administration is directing the actions of the Swiftboat Veterans for Slander. Why is it that some of the men involved in the organization have gone on public record in the past to support Kerry's actions? And, why is it that a man like Kerry is being run through the ringer by an administration that contains not a single person that fought in combat (save Colin "Uncle Tom" Powell)? Dick Cheney had "other priorities," Paul Wolfowitz deferred, Donald Rumsfeld was busy, and George IV used his father's connections to slide him into a National Guard unit that still hasn't been able to fully prove that he did what his country needed him to do. John Kennedy's "ask not" inaugural address was spit upon by people like theis effete core of impudent silver-spoon, self-serving, hypocritical, two-faced pack of Judases that the true meaning of serving one's country means to further one's own political future by doing nothing on your own, relying on Daddy, and playing the religion, aw-shucks, midwestern, true-blue good ol' boy act? I'm sorry, but George Bush, who claims to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ has done nothing to convert this and many other Thomases who see that the truth and his message are not the same. George, according to the way you live, act, speak, breathe, and kill, YOUR GOD IS MY DEVIL. And, as Huck Finn, who knew b.s. when he saw it said, when faced with the threat of eternal damnation by a pack of hypocritical plastic leaders, "ALL RIGHT, THEN, I'LL GO TO HELL."