GOP Rebranding 101

Old: Republican Party
New: Tea Party

The most recent major rebranding success comes in the form of the non-existent "Tea Party" and it's supposed wins in the mid-term elections.

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Why would the Republicans need a rebranding?

"Trickle Down Economics"
After 30 years of conservative fiscal policies the average income of the bottom 90% in America from 1980-2008 increased 1% compared to the previous increase of 74.6% from liberal fiscal policies 1950-1980.

War in Afghanistan officially nation's longest war
Yeah, Vietnam can be argued to have started in 1961 but it wasn't official until 1964. By that measure our war in Iraq began in 1991. And there's still no end in sight for Afghanistan or Iraq.

Largest Redistribution of Wealth in Nation's History
An all around awful plan by a Republican Treasury Secretary signed into effect by President Bush.

And so many more things like: lying to get us into Iraq then bungling both wars for years; Hurricane Katrina failures of leadership; the Terri Shiavo fiasco; under-equiping troops at war; moral hypocrisy of Vitter, Craig, Ensign, Sanford, Foley and others; spying on all Americans and granting Telecom immunity from the Constitutional protection of privacy; legitimizing torture as an American value; unaccounted billions of dollars lost to war profiteers; attempting to privatize Social Security... and on and on...

So, with this much needed rebranding how legitimate is the "Tea Party" as an actual political party? Let their own words speak for themselves:

"When a group lists themselves on our website, that's a group," Mark Meckler, a founding member of the Tea Party Patriots, told the Post. "That group could be one person, it could be 10 people, it could come in and out of existence – we don't know."

It will be interesting to see if the new Tea Party has succeeds in reversing the comically obscene failure of "fiscal conservatives" to do anything but inflate the federal debt and size to record levels each time they're in power. My money is on them forgetting what they stood for once they have power.

Wicked

When did Christians stop fearing and start following witches?
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UPDATE: Well, I guess these ladies have another thing in common aside from witchcraft and Jesus - they've both lost elections now.

An Apology on Iraq... Finally

"My fellow Americans: I'm a pundit, not a president, but since it's a moment for taking stock of America's role in Iraq, I want to remind you that I blew it." - Matt Miller, The Washington Post

I've been waiting for such an apology for years from the people who worked the PR campaign for the lead-up to war. It's good to hear one finally.

It takes courage to admit such an enormous error of judgement and while it may not fix any of the damage done to our nation and Iraq through the past long years of war, divisiveness and fear, it may help lead to some progress in preventing mistakes like this and possibly even some healing of our broken 4th estate.

I've been angered for years every time one of the "chattering class" speaks of faulty intelligence, being mislead or whatever else the excuse may be. How could a small journalistic enterprise like McClatchy get it right and everyone else get it wrong? How was I able to read about the lack of WMD and a nearly prophetic analysis of the debacle that awaited us from a book in my local bookstore called "Behind the Invasion of Iraq" by The Research Unit for Global Economy (a think tank in India) almost six months before the invasion and yet almost no one in the mainstream media in America was clued in to the peril that awaited us?

Was it laziness? Was it corruption? Whatever the reason is, to me it's unforgivable.

Thousands of American lives lost, tens of thousands injured and more psychologically traumatized. The true financial cost of the war is unknown but in these times of skyrocketing deficits it's a cost we didn't need. Our massively privatized military industry is a threat to peace for generations because any industry that's bottom line is based on continued instability is a curse for humanity.

And what about Iraq? After losing hundred of thousands in the Iran/Iraq War (which Reagan gamed by selling weapons and strategies to both Iraq and Iran), a brief yet destructive war under Bush Sr., a decade of draconian sanctions under Clinton which was responsible for hundreds of thousands more deaths (Madeline Albright claimed it was "worth it") and now the past 7 years of war. With hundreds of thousands more dead, millions displaced and fled to other countries, an infrastructure in ruins and a non-functioning government it will be generations before Iraq can heal from our intrusions there.

Again, I thank Mr. Miller for his apology. It is one I've been waiting to hear for years and has inspired this long diatribe I needed to get off my shoulders. I only hope his words will have an influence on all the other champions and architects of this war. What have they achieved that they are so proud of? Allowing Iraq to become a training ground for terrorists? Helping install a government with ties to Iran? Or the billions in taxpayer dollars redistributed to war-profiteers and warlords?

Please, take these lessons you've learned Mr. Miller and do everything in your power to correct the attempts at revisionist history and future calls for unnecessary wars.

Oil Money

Money may not clean up the spill but it will make it go away for BP.

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Deadbeat Deity

After receiving $5 million in incentives from the South Carolina state government, "Inspiration Network" has failed to deliver on it's promises.

Condos. Shops. Outdoor concerts. Internships to prepare students for careers in broadcasting. All were to be part of the Inspiration Networks' 93-acre City of Light.

More than five years after unveiling its plans, however, Inspiration has delivered on few of its development promises, leaving Lancaster officials disappointed as they try to revive a county with 19 percent unemployment.

Today, the City of Light campus is home to two buildings _ both nonprofit projects that don't pay county property taxes.

So, has Inspiration fallen on hard times? After expenses Inspiration's net profit was between $4.2 million and $11.9 million from 2002-2006. Compensation for officers and directors grew from $1.5 million to $5.9 million over the same period of time. Check the numbers here. Yet, with all that money they still felt the need to take $5 million in incentives from taxpayers.

Inspiration Network's mission statement reads: "Our mission is to impact the destiny of people and nations for Christ through media." Thus, implicating Christ himself in their greed scheme.

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On a similar note:

”Foreclosures Don’t Spare House of God" and ”In Hard Times, Houses of God Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy.” The headlines make God sound like a deadbeat debtor, the kind of deity who buys an expensive house and quickly falls behind on payments.

It's beginning to look more and more like we are a Christian Nation after all.

Moral Authority "Laughable"

Three American journalists have recently been imprisoned in Iran and North Korea.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested and sentenced in a closed court to 8 years in prison for spying in Iran.

North Korea said this week that it would put the two American journalists (Laura Ling and Euna Lee) on trial, and suggested that they could face years in a prison camp.

Our government and human rights groups are working hard for their release and concerned for their treatment.

The response has been humbling:

North Koreans scoffed at any suggestion that the Americans were receiving harsh treatment.
"They laughed. 'We are not Guantanamo.'

Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, "That a [U.S.] government expresses an opinion without seeing the indictment is laughable."

How can they find our concerns so "laughable"? Maybe because of the case of Sami al-Haj.

Pakistani forces apparently seized al-Haj at the behest of the U.S. authorities who suspected he had interviewed Osama bin Laden.

But that "supposed intelligence" turned out to be false.

"This is wonderful news, and long overdue," said Clive Stafford Smith who has represented al-Haj since 2005.

Al-Haj was never prosecuted at Guantanamo so the U.S did not make public its full allegations against him.

Al-Haj was the only journalist from a major international news organization held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for a network whose broadcasts angered U.S. officials.

For six years, an innocent man was imprisoned with no charges, no trial, constantly shifting allegations, brutal treatment, no visits with family and not even a phone call home... by the U.S. government.

Sami al-Haj's response to his imprisonment is worth thinking about:

”My last message to the US administration is that torture will not stop terrorism — torture is terrorism.”

But even more important considering the fate of three of our own journalists are the words from The Committee to Protect Journalists:

"His detention for six years, without the most basic due process, is a grave injustice and represents a threat to all journalists working in conflict areas."

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UPDATE:
Roxana Saberi was set free after an appeals court reduced her punishment to a two-year suspended sentence. So, Iran allows actual trials and appeals to their enemy combatants... And they're the "evil" ones?

When Is Torture Bad?

While it's now accepted by many of our elected representatives in the United States that torture is good, there are apparently some who still believe acting like barbarians is a bad thing:

The son of ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced to 97 years in prison on Friday in a landmark torture case that grew out of a U.S. investigation into arms trafficking in Liberia.

But according to a respected news poodle:

Bill O'Reilly: "In a perfect world, a noble nation like the USA would not need to submerge killers in water. But thousands of dead Americans have changed the rules. To allow captured killers wearing civilian clothing and fighting for no nation the privilege of name, rank, and serial number status is not only stupid, it could be lethal."

Not sure if he's talking about the thousands of dead Americans from 9/11 or from Iraq - or maybe he still thinks they are the same. But I guess, that means O'Reilly and others of the same opinion would support Charles Taylor, and his "Demon Forces" as they called themselves, in their battle against terrorism:

Taylor Jr. was tapped by his father to command an anti-terrorist unit.

Following in the footsteps of Charles Taylor. That's something to be proud of.

UPDATE:

"This is not the America I know," President George W. Bush said after the first, horrifying pictures of U.S. troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq surfaced in April 2004. The President was not telling the truth. "This" was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. That signature led directly to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. It was his single most callous and despicable act. It stands at the heart of the national embarrassment that was his presidency.

Is God a Pussy?

Apparently the creator of all has a fragile ego and his followers are out to protect their delicate deity:

"Saudi King Abdullah is quietly enlisting the [UN] leaders' support for a global law to punish blasphemy - a campaign championed by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that puts the rights of religions ahead of individual liberties. If the campaign succeeds, states that presume to speak in the name of religion will be able to crush religious freedom not only in their own country, but abroad."

Discussions touched upon a number of hot issues including ... Prophet Muhammad lampooning cartoons ...

The simple fact that the UN is even considering such a proposal with the slightest bit of sincerity is horrific. A free world demands free speech. If we don't follow your god/prophet/spirit guide/magic 8-ball than we should not be bound by it's rules. The rule of law is the only rule governments should rule by. Let your Almighty cast it's judgement upon us. Until then, we have spent thousands of years fighting for the freedom to speak, think and live under our own diverse beliefs. If you want to be free to practice your beliefs you should allow us the same dignity.

Lest we blame this all on the barbarian mindset of Theocratic Islam, we in the "enlightened" West should look in the mirror. A few highlights:

• Offensive Jesus remark cut from Emmy show
• Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
• Everyone's favorite - the supposed War on Christmas! To that I say, "Merry Horusmas!"

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” - Salman Rushdie

Blackwater: "Compliance Challenges?"

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Blackwater CEO Erik Prince said: "our company has experienced remarkable growth in the last few years, this growth, our work for the U.S. Government around the world, and the nature of the services we offer have created compliance challenges."

By this he means:

Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations, one department official said. Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country's black market.

That's one hell of a "compliance challenge" Mr. Prince.

Blackwater employees are also the subjects of a Justice Department probe into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007.

Winning the hearts and minds one bullet at a time.

On a related note, there's been some outrage from the right-wing lately about a comment President-elect Obama made,

"We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

The response has been interesting:

"A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship. We can't be lulled into complacency," Broun said. "You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential of going down that road."

Where have these people been while a massive private military force has been taking over the role policing abroad and at home? Their outrage at a vague proposal by Obama sounds a little hollow after the past six years of silence over the emergence of a massive army for hire.

Security for profit means insecurity becomes needed for increased profit.

Where is the right's outrage when it is needed?

Unthinkable Consequences

PBS's "Wide Angle" did a report about the Iraqi refugee crisis and I found the report truly eye-opening and incredibly important. The point I found most chilling beyond the moral element that these 2 million refugees have nowhere to go, no way to earn a living and are growing increasingly desperate for help despite all the UN has done, is that filling the void are organizations like the Mahdi Army. The same Mahdi Army responsible for the majority of insurgent attacks and sectarian destabilization in Iraq, and they are using the desperation and alienation to recruit more insurgents.

Jordan's Queen Noor says in the report: "Unthinkable consequences await a world that does nothing to solve this refugee crisis." in regard to the 2 million refugees in Syria and Jordan. The obvious consequence is further destabilization of a region already on edge.

If you have the time to watch the report it is full of emotional and eye-opening interviews, offers some uplifting elements and some real problems this crisis poses. It is also a superb example of what quality journalism can be.

Refugee International has information on ways to help. Whether it is a letter to congress, petitions to sign or donations to aid organizations. There is also a lot of information about the crisis on this website if you don't have time to watch the PBS report.

Even with all the issues affecting us like the economy, the elections and the environment I personally feel this is an incredibly important issue. Morally we as Americans have a stake in these peoples lives, and rationally we can't let 2 million people, (500,00 children) become alienated, let moderate countries to become unstable and let radical organizations grow from our lack of attention.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope the issue will attract the attention it merits and we can all help remedy this crisis.

Also, if any of you know of other resources to help please let me know. Thanks.

UPDATE: Here's another great resource: Iraq Action Days