Sacrifices

I remember watchin a movie one time about a hostage situation.. Some dirtbag had a guys girl and had a knife to her throat, or a gun pointed at her.. The guy had a gun pointed at the two of em, and it was a "mescan standoff".. Finally the guy had an opportunity to shoot the guy, but he had to shoot thru the girls arm or somethin to plug the dirtbag.. After the guy shot the dirtbag, the girl was raisin hell bout gettin shot too.. She kept hollerin "you shot me" !!

Well, thats about the way I see the Lebanon Situation !! Israel had to shoot thru Lebanons arm to get rid of the dirtbags .. Thus, civilians in Qana died in an attack on the dirtbags..
I'm still not convinced that Hez didnt have somethin to do with the collapse of the building tho.. After all, it was 8 hours after the Israeli attack that the building fell and killed those civilians.. I wouldnt put it past the dirtbags to down their own building to make it look like Israel killed all those people.. I dont thank its any secret that terrorists are a dirty buncha sunzabitches !!

I remember that before OIF started, there were some Iraqi's in the U.S. on a radio talk show, and they said to "bomb our homes, bomb our people if you have to.. Just get Sadaam out, and dead if you can".. I wonder what they thank today after seein their own countrymen and other Mooselimbs bein the ones bombin their houses and churches and their people ??

The "Crusades" Are Comin Back

Whether we want it or not, the Mooselimbs are gonna make us join a new version of the Crusades..
In the latest release from AlQaeda, the number 2 man in command says they are in a war against the "Zionist Crusaders".. Thats us, folks.. And he wants the worlds Mooselimbs to unite and kill us.. It didnt take long for the dirtbags to answer the call either !! One walked into a Jewish Center in Seattle and killed one and injured several others, and reports say groups are leavin Iraq, Iran, and Syria on their way to Lebanon to help their brothers.. Calls have been put out around the world for em to strike..
"Kill the Infidels or force them into submission" !! Sounds like a gotdam crusade to me !! Wars are fought over politics.. Crusades are fought over religion..
So folks better get ready for a crusade, or start shoppin for a new prayer rug !! Cause if the U.S. keeps on tryin to fight this conflict as a war and not as a crusade, then we are gonna lose, and lose BIG TIME !!
In Redneck terms, "you dont go squirrel huntin and expect to bring home a deer" ..

On Vacation

The Mrs. went out of town for a few days to visit friends and left me here with our houseguest.. You'd thank we would cook a big pot of beans and have boiled eggs and beer with em, and sit around in our drawers and see could fart the loudest and smelliest.. Aint happened, so far !!
Beem too damn busy.. I own an empty lot next to my house too, so we moved a travel trailer in and have been tryin to get it hooked up and operatin so my houseguest can have a place of his own.. Needless to say, the local gubmint has made it as hard as they can for us.. An on top of that, the camper needs some maintenence too..
We dont have an RV repair center within about 60 or 70 miles of here, so for the repairs I have to manufacture about all the parts I need too.. Good thang I have a big shop with lots of tools and a good supply of junk and bullshit that can be re-configgered into what we need..
It cooled off a lot here Monday but was right back up there today when we had to do some hard labor.. We have a good chance of rain for the rest of the week too and cooler temps again.. Got some more hard labor to do tomoro so the cooler temps will come in handy.. Just to give you an idea of how CHICKENSHIT some of the regs. here are.. We have to move the trailer over sideways about 8 inches for it to work !! THATS 8(eight) gotdam INCHES !! I also have to get 3 more of my neighbors to sign a form that says they dont mind if I put the trailer there too.. One of those happens to be the one that throws the trash in my yard too.. I aint lookin forward to askin em to sign it either, cause if they give me any shit I'll just move the trailer to my farm and then they will end up havin to move too !! The City here is gonna screw around and get somebody killed over some petty gotdam regulation that is nothin but somethin to gain them a few extra dollars, and was designed to be disciminatory to boot !!
No wonder the Mooselimbs want to kill us.. Sometimes I thank I'd like to kill a few of us too.. Did I mention that I was outta beer too ??

High Tech Rednecks

from here: http://www.defensetech.org/

Tech Undermining Israeli Army?
Israel has one of the most wired armies on the planet. Relying on overlapping networks of flying drones, hidden cameras, and unattended ground sensors, the Israeli Defense Forces have become a model for how information technology ought to be used in combat. Even the Americans rely on Israeli gear to help them keep tabs on battlefields.

But now, some Israeli security experts are beginning to wondering whether all that equipment is such a good idea, after all -- "whether misplaced reliance on high technology created the conditions that have plunged the nation into its first twin-fronted, gloves-off war against Islamic terror," Barbara Opall-Rome writes in this week's Defense News.

In interviews here, security experts and military officers not directly involved in the fighting say there are fundamental flaws in Israel’s budget-draining techno-centric defensive strategy, which is being funded at the expense of training and discipline throughout the lower echelons of active-duty and reserve forces.

It is intolerable, sources here assert, that Hamas commandos from Gaza and Hizbollah fighters in south Lebanon — within a 10-day period and despite early warnings — were allowed to sneak across borders fortified by a network of manned, unmanned and ground-based systems.

Hizbollah operatives found holes in the system of networked surveillance sensors, throwing doubt on Israel’s highly touted method of low-signature warfare. Particularly shocking was the penetration at Za’arit, which is monitored by an installation heralded as an example of the military’s ability to maintain virtual control over the northern border area.

Evading dozens of eyes trained on computer screens in the base’s combat information center, the operatives disabled at least one camera, penetrated a so-called dead zone of the border fence, and ambushed reservists dispatched to investigate alarms...

While all here appear to embrace the military’s corporate, almost sacrosanct pursuit of information superiority and standoff, remote-controlled capabilities, many are urging renewed emphasis on basic soldiering pending a more thorough validation of high-technology, networked operations...

One IDF brigadier general said... "With all due credit to technology and the capabilities it provides, we cannot neglect basic soldiering and discipline. But time and again, we’ve seen our training budget gutted to allow for full-bore investment in Tzayad [the IDF’s digital Army program, a rough equivalent of the U.S.' Future Combat Systems]. And now we’re seeing the results blowing up in our faces."

UPDATE 10:59 AM: Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post has a must-read diary of an Israeli F-16 pilot.

Hitting the target is expected, no misses are acceptable. There aren't any congratulations for a well-performed mission. Only a hammer on the head if something goes wrong. Personally, I think it's a healthy attitude; it causes the whole system to be less rash and hot on the trigger.

comment:

I have grave concerns about this myself.. As most know we are plannin on doin this same kind of action on the U.S. Southern Border.. Remember the "Virtual Border Fence" that was bein proposed and pushed by the Hildebeast and other Liberals durin the Immigration Hearins a while back ?? I thank this is SOLID PROOF that that idea is full of holes !!
I just hope somebody in a position of power takes note of the situation and makes adjustments in accordance.. But, I aint holdin my breath !!

Just Amusin Myself

I have Sitemeter on this blog, and I occasionally go to it and see who, what where, and when somebody is comin here for..
I mostly go to see WHAT folks are Googlin that brings em here.. You'd be surprised at some of the strange shit that folks search for on the WWW... I guess its no-doubt either that they find it here too !! I have writen about some off-the-wall subjects..
Sometimes I write about stuff that not many other folks write about, cause it lists me near the top, and sometimes AT the top of the listin.. It just really surprises me that there are people interested in some of the stuff they search for.. It never occured to me that folks in other countries would even know of some of the stuff I have posted about, much less search for it on the web..
I just wish the insanity in the world would cease, and that I could get back to writin about stuff like bore hogs, and bush hoggin, and moonshine again..
But, you see, its a dangerous world out there for America and Americans, and I caint help but feel that I need to express my thoughts and feelins here.. Its therapeutic for me and it makes me feel like I'm makin some contribution to the effort..
For those comin by for somethin other than the war, or politics, dont give up on me cause I expect that thangs are gonna get better someday and I'll get back to my regular weird shit again..
BYW.. Hi Cheryl, I miss your comments..

THINK QUICK !!

Scenario:

You are traveling in a car at a constant speed. On your left side is a double decker bus and
on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you.

In front of you is a galloping pig which is the same size as your car and you cannot overtake it.
Behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level. Both the giant pig and the helicopter are also
traveling at the same speed as you.

What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

Scroll down for the answer...






Answer:
Get off the children's Merry Go Round, you're drunk.

Thanks for this Vicki !!

Who Cares About The Jews ??

from here: http://camelspider.typepad.com/hurl/


Remember this:


“Haym Saloman and the Lost Pages of American History”

In 1975 the United States Postal Department issued a commemorative stamp honoring a Jewish man named Haym Saloman for his contribution to the cause of the American Revolution. This stamp was uniquely printed on the front and the back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale, green ink. Financial Hero - Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse. Historians who have studied the story of Haym Salomon all agree that without his contribution to the cause there would be no America today.



When Dr. David Lewis, a minister friend living in Saint Louis, read that Haym Salomon raised most of the money to finance the American Revolution and later saved the new nation from collapse, he was shocked that our schools and textbooks, our teachers and politicians did not mention a figure so important in the founding of our nation. Dr. Lewis began a search to learn more about this forgotten patriot. That search took him ten years to document the story of Haym Saloman, which he published in a booklet entitled, Israel and the USA: Restoring the Lost Pages of American History. The information presented here is taken from that publication.



Who was Haym Saloman? And how did this forgotten patriot become a hero of the Revolution? Haym Saloman was born in Poland in 1740. He came to New York around 1772 and soon joined the Sons of Liberty, a group of revolutionary patriots. He was arrested by the British in 1776 and became ill with tuberculosis due to exposure suffered in prison. Before he could be executed, Saloman bribed his guard and escaped to Philadelphia, which at that time was the seat of the American government.



Salomon became a wealthy financial broker and the financial. agent in America for the French Government, which was assisting the American revolutionaries. He bought and sold financial papers to raise money for Robert Norris who was the Superintendent of Finance for the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress had no power to tax the Colonists in order to raise money for Washington's troops, and the war effort was continually on the brink of disaster. The revolutionary fighters were barely surviving against the superior British forces. It looked as if defeat was imminent.



Washington Irving gives the following account in his book The Life of George Washington, The winter set in early, and was uncommonly rigorous. The transportation of supplies was obstructed; the magazines were exhausted, and the commissaries had neither money nor credit to enable them to replenish them. For weeks at a time the army was on half allowance; sometimes without meat, sometimes without bread, sometimes without both. There was a scarcity, too, of clothing and blankets, so that the poor soldiers were starving with cold as well as hunger (Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington, vol. 1 (NY: The Cooperative Publication Society, 1858, 263-265).



When Haym Salomon saw the condition of Washington's troops, he was shocked. He determined to do all that he could to finance the Revolution. This is because Salomon believed that America would be a safe haven for the Jews. But this son of a rabbi, also believed that one day in the future, Jerusalem would once again rise from the dust, the Jews would return to their ancient homeland, and Israel and Jerusalem would be the home of the wandering Jew. He knew he must give his fortune to help America survive for the sake of his own people.



The Congressional Record dated March 25, 1975 reads, "When Morris was appointed Superintendent of Finance, he turned to Salomon for help in raising the money needed to carry on the war and later to save the emerging nation from financial collapse. Salomon advanced direct loans to the government and also gave generously of his own resources to pay the salaries of government officials and army officers. With frequent entries of 'I sent for Haym Salomon,' Morris' diary for the years 1781-84 records some 75 transactions between the two men."



In his book, George Washington's Son of Israel, Charles Spencer Hart writes, Haym Saloman not only helped keep the nation in finances through the sale of subsidies to France and Holland, he turned over to the United States all the commissions he thus earned. He also pledged his personal fortune to the Bank of North America, which would have otherwise closed; paid the salaries of James Madison and at least two other future Presidents of the United States; and neither he nor his heirs ever collected a dime of what was due him from the Government. He never even received a medal for his services!



Charles Spencer Hart continues, "How this came about is a most amazing story of unselfish service and of a government's ingratitude (a story without a known counterpart in any nation's history, and an example of utter lack of appreciation of what the Jewish race has meant to this and other countries" (Charles Spencer Hart, George Washington's Son of Israel (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1937, 6).



Charles Edward Russell writes in Haym Salomon and the Revolution, "He produced the money; he delivered it ... He was the regular reliance of the poor haunted Superintendent of Finance, relieving with timely advances a situation that had become more than threatening. He played the fairy godfather in the drama; he came in the nick of time to avert disaster ... Salomon deserves a golden page in the history of the United States, for his means and his services were at the disposal of the government" (Charles Edward Russell, Haym Salomon and the Revolution (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1930, 276-277).



David Lewis tells of one last appeal by Robert Morris. He writes, "After the war was over, and George Washington became president of the United States of America, it seemed that disaster loomed on each horizon. One last time Robert Morris appealed to Haym Saloman for aid."



"But this time Saloman was laying on his deathbed in his home in Philadelphia. Salomon could not refuse. Though dying of tuberculosis, he dragged his pain racked body out of bed, left his home, went to the coffeehouse and opened his brokerage operation one last time... Haym was able to raise the money needed to save the new nation from disastrous bankruptcy" (David Lewis, Israel and the USA: Restoring the Lost Pages of American History (Springfield, NO: Menorah Press, 1993, 41-42).



The Encyclopedia Britannica reads, "Among his many contributions to the Colonies, Salomon subscribed heavily to government loans, endorsed notes, gave generously to soldiers, and equipped several military units with his own money. Robert Morris records in his diary that between 1781 and 1784 Salomon lent more than $200,000."



"In addition he made private loans to prominent statesmen such as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe, from whom he would not take interest. In all, the government owed Salomon more than $600,000. Generations of his descendants tried in vain to collect some portion of these loans, which had helped to impoverish Saloman in his last years" (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropedia, vol. 8 Chicago: 1981, 817).



The $600,000 debt mentioned in the above quote is considered a conservative estimate. Jacob Bader Marcus writes in Early American Jewry that the sum owed to Saloman was $800,000. He says Salomon, "was the real financial hero of the Revolution: the man that stood behind Morris and actually produced the actual sums with which the Revolution moved on. He advanced to the government, in one form or another, about $800,000 of his own money, but when he died, leaving a young widow and helpless children, nothing was left for them" (Jacob Bader Marcus, Early American Jewry, (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1953, 133).



David Lewis writes, "Suppose the USA were to pay the debt today. Calculate the sum of $800,000 at 7 percent interest, compounded quarterly over a period of 217 years. The sum is astronomical (due to the exponential factor of interest increase). We have had various mathematical and computer experts calculate the amount for us. The most conservative figure offered us is that the USA owes the heirs of Haym Saloman two and a half trillion dollars."



Lewis continues, "The next time some congressman whimpers about aid to Israel, ponder these facts." Having given his fortune to the cause and with failing health, Haym Salomon died sick and penniless at the age of 45, January 6, 1785. He left behind a young widow, Rachel, and four children all under the age of seven.



David Lewis reports, "Rachel tried for months after Haym's death to collect on personal loans that he had made to Robert Morris, to the Congress and others. She was requested to turn all her securities and certificates over to the State Treasurer of Pennsylvania for evaluation. After several months she made further inquiries and was informed that all of the papers relating to her inheritance had been lost."



Haym Salomon was buried in Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia in a grave which is now unmarked Since we don't know which is his grave, we cannot even pay our respects at his grave side nor erect a marker.



But the story of Haym Salomon doesn't end with an unmarked grave. There is a plaque on a brick wall bordering the cemetery that was placed by Haym's great-grandson, William Salomon in 1917. It says, "To the Memory of Haym Saloman... interred in this Cemetery the location of the grave being now unknown...".



Was it just a coincidence that the year this plaque was erected was the same year of the Balfour Declaration issued by the British which begins, "His majesty's Government views with favor the establishing in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."?



Was it just a coincidence that in 1975 when the U.S. Postal Department issued the stamp honoring Haym Salomon, that same year the Israeli government issued a stamp honoring Harry Truman, the American president who was the first head of state to recognize Israel?



As Haym Saloman believed, America has been that safe haven for the Jewish people and Israel has been reborn. As we celebrate America, may we remember the great debt we owe to Haym Saloman. While we may not be able to repay him personally, we can honor him by standing firm in our support and prayers for a safe Israel and a united Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Haym's descendants, the Jewish people.

Before I read this a coupla years ago, I might have just said "FUGG THE JEWS" .. I wont say that now.. I would hate to thank that you would say that too..
Haym Saloman sacrificed for this country just as much or more than some of the Founding Fathers did, and you wouldnt just say "FUGG EM" to them would you ??
And by the way.. How many countries are we fightin terrorist jews today ??

When Israel Calls

It really surprised me when G.W. took up for the jews the other day.. Why you ask ?? Well, Condi Rice has been wantin em to give their land away to the pals and has been wantin the jews to not fight back and has been behind the money that has been sent to the pals(Hamas).. Thats why.. So when I heard that the pals had started firin rockets at Israel, MY thoughts were "kick their fuggin asses", and since I was against all the concessions for the pals, I figgered G.W. would come out and try to tell the jews to "play nice" .. Surprise Surprise..
I guess G.W. has finally realized that to ever win in Iraq, that we are gonna have to actually wage war against those that we are fightin in Iraq.. And those people are the Iranians, the Egyptians, and the Syrians !! Why just let those countries recruit, train, and arm people to cross the border to attack our troops in Iraq ??
These terrorist countries are just gonna keep on breedin and shippin-out more terrorists till we do somethin about em.. Better now than after they gather a bunch more oil dollars to fund their takeover of more places on this planet and convert em to radical Mooselimb..
As more time goes by, its only gonna get harder, so we might as well get it over with now !!

As Good Today As When Written

The Missing Middle Ground
Phil Brennan

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005

Among the sour-grapes comments from the sore losers who can't accept the victory of President Bush is that he failed to keep his promise to bring us together.

That's garbage – sophistry at its worst. Simply put, you can't unite people whose political and moral opinions are diametrically opposed. Anyone who thinks that's possible is either prevaricating or dreaming. Apples are not oranges and no amount of coaxing will make them so.


When George Bush made that promise, he was utterly sincere in the hope that he could persuade the American people to put aside petty differences and unite for the good of the nation. But what he failed to recognize was that the differences that divided us were far from petty. In assuming the presidency he was walking headlong into a battleground where the issue is between what is right and what is wrong.
Someone once said – I think it was Abraham Lincoln; it sure sounds like him – that we must not allow ourselves to be deluded by those who would have us believe that there is some middle ground between right and wrong.

Yet the only way to unite those who uphold what they believe in their hearts is right, and those who they are convinced espouse that which is wrong, is to arrive at that elusive middle ground between the two, and it just plain does not exist.

One of the burning issues of our times is abortion. Roughly half of the American people believe that the killing of the unborn is not only wrong but also wantonly atrocious, while the other half think it's a perfectly acceptable way for a woman to solve the problem of an unwanted pregnancy.

Where's the middle ground here? How can you bring together people who regard abortion as murder and those who either deny that it is murder, or worse, insist that it doesn't matter if it is? A woman's right to choose to kill her unborn child simply trumps the right to life of an unborn human being. Period.

How can you bring together the two sides of this issue, which is, no matter how you put it, a matter of life and death? Did George Bush fail here? Well, if he couldn't do what is clearly an impossibility, you could say he failed. But you'd have to be Michael Moore or some other disingenuous fool to buy that nonsense.

There are genuine issues that divide this nation, and in almost all cases they involve matters of Judeo-Christian morality vs. the secular doctrine of anything goes. Most Americans, for example, adhere to the ancient doctrine that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. But the media and a large number of moral misfits insist that marriage should also be recognized as a union between a man and a man or a woman and a woman – an absurdity on its face.

This has been called a culture war, but it is far from that – it is a war where what is at stake is the nation's soul. We are either a Godly people adhering to a moral code as spelled out in the Ten Commandments, or a godless people wedded to the idiot notions that if it feels good, do it, and if it works, try it.

There is no middle ground here. There is right and there is wrong, and never the twain shall meet.

Writing in the current Weekly Standard, P.J. O'Rourke played ghostwriter for President Bush's inaugural address and he hit the issue head on.

"My Fellow Americans," he had the president saying, "I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

"The media say that I won the election on the strength of moral values. If the other fellow had become president, would the media have said that he won the election on the strength of immoral values? For once the media would have been right.

"We are all sinners. But jerks revel in their sins. You can tell by their reaction to the Ten Commandments. Post those Ten Commandments in a courthouse or a statehouse, in a public school or a public park, and the jerks go crazy. Why is that? Christians believe in the Ten Commandments. So do Muslims. Jews, too, obviously. Show the Ten Commandments to Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, or to people with just good will and common sense and nobody says, 'Whoa! That's all wrong!'"

O'Rourke has it right. On one side are the great mass of the American people whose heads are screwed on right. On the other are the jerks, the self-appointed elitists who think the majority of their fellow Americans are an illiterate bunch of yahoos who live in flyover country, probably in trailer parks or shacks with hound dogs living under the front porch, and whose opinions are not worth listening to.

The jerks are the intellectually superior class who think they can bring a president down by using forged documents on a TV news show and get away with it. The jerks are the politicians who lie to senior citizens that the president's attempts to solve the looming Social Security problem are really meant to cut benefits of those retirees now getting them.

The jerks are the people who would like to see the greeting "Merry Christmas" outlawed and that sacred holy day driven into obscurity. The jerks are the people who want to convince us that the universe and those within it created themselves.

Does anybody really want to be united with the jerkery?

Gunny Parks

I've acquired a new "buddy" !! He's an old artillery man from the Nam/Korea days, and got a leg shot up and rides around town on one of those "Rascal" type scooters.. He's a nice enuff guy, but has some SERIOUS mental problems.. I suspect that he dont have a lot of friends, cause he has been comin to my house 3 or 4 times a day for the past week.. I'm paticuller about who I invite into my house and we sit outside at the picnic table.. I dont sit outside in the heat all the time tho, and when he knocks on the door I have to lie to him and tell him that I dont feel well or some such excuse, and I dont like doin that.. I've gotta get up the resolve to try to tell him that its OK for him to come by and visit "WHEN I'M OUTSIDE" , but dont stop if I aint .. I've got a notion its gonna hurt his feelins and piss him off tho.. I sure would hate to have to kick his big ugly ass !! Wouldnt that be a sight ?? A one-legged man and a cripple dukein it out in a yard on Main Street !! Maybe we could sell tickets !!

The Enemy Within

Guest Column: How Bush and Cheney broke down our democracy

By Edward B. Winslow


President George W. Bush’s pandering to right-wing zealots in his support for the federal Marriage Amendment that the U.S. Senate correctly refused to pass, is his attempt to change the nation’s focus from the rising death toll of the Iraq war and his illegal policies of torture and NSA wiretaps. Moderate and progressive voters should, instead, focus on demanding that their congressional representatives seek to impeach the evil duo of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The federal Marriage Amendment was proposed by one of the Senate’s more extreme and lackluster Republicans, Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado. Even in the Republican-dominated Senate, the amendment’s supporters could muster only 49 percent of the required 67 votes for passage. In 2004, lawmakers defeated a similarly mean-spirited amendment.

Of course, all of this nonsense about banning gay marriages is a weak and transparent attempt to distract voters from discussing Bush’s police-state tactics. So far, as the Iraq war sinks further into nightmarish chaos, nearly 2,500 American service members have died in this war that the Bush administration started after lying to the American people about weapons of mass destruction. As it turned out, the only WMDs found were Bush’s ineptitude and mismanagement.

The war is sinking into a quagmire that would make Vietnam look like a “cake walk” to paraphrase one of the Iraq war’s chief architects, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Even worse is the fact that now we are beginning to hear lurid reports of murderous atrocities like the one in Haditha, where Marines on a rampage killed 24 people including children.

Then, there are the horrendous reports of torture at the interrogation center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib prison, the infamous Iraq prison used by Saddam Hussein. These prisoner abuses are in violation of U.S. and international laws. Bush unilaterally declared that suspected members of al-Qaeda were “enemy combatants” and not entitled to the protections provided for under the Geneva Convention. This opened the Pandora’s box of torture. At Guantanamo Bay, prisoners are subjected to sleep deprivation for extended periods, exposure to cold and heat temperature extremes, and excruciating stress positions for such extended periods that prisoners would urinate or defecate on themselves.

Recent news reports disclose that soon after the interrogation center opened at Guantanamo Bay, prisoners began hunger strikes, and several prisoners attempted suicide. In one eight-day period in August 2003, there were 23 attempted suicides at the camp. Guards found three prisoners hanged in their cells on Saturday, June 10. Military officials claimed the deaths were suicides.

White House officials said the dead men were terrorists, but since they were never charged with any crimes or allowed to face their accusers in open court, we will never know for sure.

Torture methods used at Guantanamo Bay were later imported to Abu Ghraib. At Abu Ghraib, bizarre photos have been published that show a naked and terrified man being menaced by dogs controlled by uniformed soldiers, men forced to wear women’s underwear and another forced to wear a dog collar and leash while on his hands and knees. Another favorite torture is waterboarding, the grim technique where the victim is strapped to a board and plunged into a vat of water.

Meanwhile, USA Today reported in May that shortly after 9/11, Bush illegally ordered the super-secret NSA to search phone records of “tens of millions of Americans” using data supplied by Verizon, Bell South and AT & T. Bush claims these warrantless searches are legal. But this wholesale “vacuum cleaner” approach to gathering information on American citizens could lead to abuses. Consider the implications of the Bush administration monitoring the phone records of political opponents. Do we really want to trust the likes of Bush, Cheney or their sycophants with this much power?

Former Vice President Al Gore accused Bush of “repeatedly and persistently” breaking the law by spying on Americans without a warrant. Bush insists that we should trust him. He says that he is only looking for terrorists. Bush uses the spurious argument that Congress granted him special powers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He says that he would never use the information against loyal Americans or for any political gain. He only wants to protect us. These are the same promises that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini used in their power grabs during the 1930s.

Since 1789, when the states ratified our nation’s Constitution, our democracy has never been in so much peril as it is now under Bush and Cheney. Bush and a Congress that has been paid off by the likes of ExxonMobil and Halliburton believe the president is above the law. Most Republicans and many Democrats are falling all over themselves to support Bush’s imperial notions that he can ignore any law he chooses.

Democrats continue to miss opportunities to rein in Bush and Cheney’s manic power grab. Instead of following the bold leadership of Sen. Russell Feingold’s call of censuring the president, the Democrats fled into a flurry of vague evasions. In his speech to Congress on Feb. 7, 2006, Feingold correctly pointed out that Bush admitted to violating the Fourth Amendment by ordering the NSA to spy on Americans.

Now is the time to demand members of Congress to grow a backbone and rid our nation of the plague that Bush and Cheney’s right-wing agenda has wrought on our nation’s freedoms. Impeach them now!

Edward B. Winslow is a free-lance writer in Kingston, Ill. He graduated from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colo., where he studied history and journalism. He can be contacted at ewinslow@tbc.net.

From the July 5-11, 2006, issue

Just in case somebody has been in Nambia or Zimbabwa "havin a baby" for the past 6 months, which it looks like this knucklehead has been, its been released, FINALLY, that there were actually some WMD in Iraq, the NSA Wiretaps are LEGAL, the SWIFT Program is LEGAL, and there aint no gotdam plague in the U.S. !!
The dude, (and I use that term litely), is supposed to be a journalist, not even a damn blogger !! His recent ("From the July 5-11, 2006, issue") sounds more like some little, pimple-headed cocksucker(as my Daddy used to call em), tryin to look important..
The sad part is, that some of those little, pimple-headed cocksuckers grow up to be L.T.'s !! For all you non-military types out there, thats a fresh officer.. They can accomplish damn-near anythang on PAPER !! In MY humble opinion, then the best place to do PAPER WORK, is behind a desk .. So, the LESSON for the day is how many Enlisted advance to the grade of OFFICER ?? I know some of the Military Readers out there can come up with an answer to that question..
Anyway, this dude seems to really be out of the info cycle !!

Just dont forget what the name of this post is........

Why Should They Even Have To Ask ??

I saw a headline to a story this mornin, and before I even knew it, I had tears flowin from my eyes.. Just what exzactly could affect this ol hard-case like that ?? It was a headline that said somethin to the effect " Are Americans Really Patriotic ?"..
I know, I know.. With all the recent, and some not-so-recent, bullshit bein spread around by politicians and Hollywood and any other sunzabitch that dont like G.W., its hard not to worry bout thangs like that sometimes..
But, what I would like to know, is just WHY would there ever NEED to be such a question asked about the folks that inhabit the BEST DAMN COUNTRY ON THIS PLANET ?? Why would people ever consider givin somebody REASON to ask that ??
I dont give a flyin shit what anybody says, there is no better Country than this one, and as long as those stupid sunzabitches dont fuggit up, then it will stay that way..
America does what it HAS to do, not just what it WANTS to do.. If America caint do what it HAS to do, then it wont stay America.. To many people want to make it where America caint do what is HAS to do.. And yes I know, thats where the question comes in..
I've heard it, and I'm sure you have too, the old bullshit that "dissent is patriotic" .. If a persons dissent hurts America, then how in the holy hell can it be patriotic ??
If somebody does somethin that hurts this Country, then you're gotdam right I'm question their patriotism !! If somebody does somethin to STOP somethin helpin this Country, then get ready, cause I'm gonna question their patriotism..
It really wouldnt be good for me to be anywhere near an Anti-American rally today !!
AMERICA .. Love it, or leave it !!
I love you America, Happy Birthday..