Homeland Security by the Colors

Tom Ridge will be remembered as the man behind the colors. Now, the post will be filled by a man who plays the game by the numbers.  Here comes the judge!  Michael Chertoff comes highly recommended, unless you ask for a reference from Hillary Clinton.  So just who is this guy?  Well, listen to the NPR - Profile of Homeland Security Nominee Michael Chertoff, for a glowing interview about this capable former high-ranking federal prosecutor.  What’s going on?  All those Klintonistas uptown rebels now coming to the aid of a downtown Republican reactionary!  Did they forget about that rightwing conspiracy during those Whitewater hearings or are they simply confused and think they were watching the inquisition from the Watergate. 

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Spy Master a Lethal Melanoma

The formation of a bureaucratic superstructure for national intelligence will put in motion a perverse organism. The significance lies not in the figurehead or even the process for the selection, but rests in the birthing of a Medusa. Little wisdom comes out of this modern daughter of Phorkys and Keto, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Okeanos (Ocean).  This ugly creature will use the charms of seduction – national security – but will end up spreading a den of snakes. The globe will be her playpen and the seas will be her lake.

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An Election Ordained in Hell

Digesting the results from a Diebold voting count is like holding your breath while drowning in a pool of your own blood. You hope the statistics will provide optimism, while you know that you are expiring from the loss of your own vital fluid. Pundits are quick on the draw to report rumors and dispense disinformation from exit polls. Party operatives talk the game, while the hacks work the counting machines. The red areas spread as the blues befall the loss from a fickle suitor.

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L. Paul Bremer: The Ultimate Ugly American

An Ugly American is a pejorative term for Americans traveling or living abroad who remain ignorant of local culture and judge everything by American standards. So what do you call an administrative occupier who wants to transform a foreign culture into a colonial tool of NeoCon aims and goals? The ultimate is often overused, but in this context, Bremer has demonstrated that he is prominently in the running for such a dubious title.

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Oil: Painful for some, but hardly a crisis

So says a lead report in the Economist. “Americans might whine about it, but they aren’t in pain because the oil price is $35,” argues Roger Diwan of PFC Energy, a consultancy. As evidence, he points to the robust growth in demand for oil in America in recent months—one of the main reasons why prices are now so high. WOW, tell that to the soccer mom filling up her SUV! The Miami Herald reports: “The national average of $1.729 a gallon reflected data from two separate surveys with all grades averaging $1.779

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John McCain: The Man Who Would Be President

"Prescience is a funny thing.  But when Todd Brendan Fahey created DumpMcCain.com in very early 2000, to counteract "conservatives" notions that Arizona Senator John McCain was still a "Goldwater Republican," he lit the hot torch.  Scoffed at, ridiculed, reviled by "mainstream GOP"-types, he was booted off FreeRepublic.com for insisting on spreading the anti-McCain message. Today, there are only the chirping of crickets.  GOP-backers don't want to lose a Senator, but everyone now knows (or should know) that Fahey was right.

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Special Privileges For Feds

If you believe that Martha Stewart is an enemy of the state, you are right. However, is she a desperado that deserves the fate of corporate plungers? Well, the art of stealing from public companies is often rewarded for the skilled crook; but if you are caught in a lie, you are the worst of the worse. The focal point in this soap opera is missed by the media. Back in June of 2002, in Steward of the Public Trust, we asked: "Should Ms. Stewart be tarred and feathered for using etiquette banned by the SEC? Or are we supposed to swing Martha's stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, from the highest tree for getting her out of a down market?"

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Haiti remains a failed society

With the news that Jean-Bertrand Aristide has fled Haiti, the ignoble tradition of the Duvalier’s continues. You hear that Aristide was the first democratically elected president of that country. However, most are ignorant of the history of the last half century. François Duvalier was a physician and was tagged with the nickname, "Papa Doc".  With the army's support, he was elected to the presidency in 1957. This is an age where the international community demands that they certify elections for them to be valid. It comes as no surprise, that he was dubbed a tyrant, when the voodoo practitioner declared himself president for life. 

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Oscar has a new name - trash

Soon you will hear; the envelope please, and the Oscar goes to? Since we will be protected from the embarrassment of another Janet Jackson flashing a body part, maybe the academy will demonstrate their gratitude with awarding a lifetime achievement to her embattled brother. For dedication and contributions to the betterment of America’s youth and their education from the archives of the magic one gloved maladjusted molester. It’s all show biz . . . all that counts is the take at the close of the performance.

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Who Do Intelligence Snoops Serve?

"I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet," George W. Bush said in an Oval Office interview to be broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Well, from the perspective of the Intelligence Community culture, the president is probably correct. However; the essential question that is continuously ignored, asks if those assets serve the American People! Spying is as old as time. The principal aspect that matters is the purpose of that intelligence gathering. The CIA is only the most visible agency that engages in the practice of counterintelligence. Those that are acknowledged openly are listed on an official government site, Members of the Intelligence Community (IC).

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Why Mars Space Exploration?

With all the excitement over the Mars rovers, the cries for a visionary manned exploration program are back with earnest. If you are a romantic, then maybe you are moved. But if you are a student of history, the fundamental question of purpose needs to be asked. What is the point of sending living beings to distant planets, when our own earth is a confused mess? The analogy of criticism for a Columbus voyage doesn’t wash. The age of discovery involved expansion and exploration that increased commerce and offered hope for a new future. Long space journeys only gratify the egos of governments.

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Yahoo has forever changed Political News

In a major development, Yahoo has just announced that they have added a RSS (Syndication) to their My Yahoo module. If you like to read news headlines from the web, now you can receive the latest content from your favorite political site. Forget having to be fed the New York Times or Washington Post, now if you want to read commentary by SARTRE or BATR News, you can add a direct feed to your My Yahoo page. Consider the significance. How many people know or understand about RSS Aggregator?

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What a record to defend!

A little piece of history puts perspective back into politics. Now that the media is telling you John Kerry has topped the polls, you have to wonder what sublime signal they use to direct their opinion captives to speak on cue. Are you surprised with this development or are you fully aware of the brotherhood between him and George W Bush? Both enjoyed resting in the same New Haven coffin; for select Yale “Bulldogs” want to make their bones under the skull of doom . . . What better way to insure the results of a presidential election, while waiting for the Diebold election system to be installed?

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911 has become the ultimate excuse

The paramount pretext that consumes the law-abiding culture is that 911 has changed everything. Well, the only aspect that has altered the natural symmetry is that a fabricated diversion has inundated the rational capacities of ordinary citizens. Drowning in a sea of self denial, Americans have accepted the mind control environment and defend the subversive society. What the establishment say is true, the sheeple embrace as truth.

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Do Foreigners Have a Right to Enter the United States?

For the purest of Libertarians, their answer would be that no nation should limit the free travel and movement of individuals across borders. Such a conclusion is one of the best illustrations why theory must be founded in reality, for it to have merit. If the optimum criteria is to postulate the best of all possible worlds, you better locate to a fantasy planet where you are the sole monarch. In the real world, governments exist and operate by their prime directive - to protect and preserve the STATE.

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2004 - a time to go fishing

In the past, the beginning of each new year would bring renewal, hope and promise. But the times they are a changing. 2002 was tabbed the year of the radical. The question was asked: why are we willing to support policies that will result in unjust government? The public response was striking. The vast majority of Americans approved of the theft of our civil liberties and loved the idea of sending troops on a world wide fox hunt. The notion that WE are really the prey of our own domestic predators was just too much to consider. The call of the wild was too strong to overcome rational behavior. Support for the mission became more important than preserving the Nation. 2003 was the year of the revo-ami. This was the time to set into motion the revolutionary spirit to revive the Republic. 

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What's next for the troops?

By now you heard the announcements that Saddam Hussein has been captured. The celebrations have been reported, the pictures of joy sent around the world. Now that the war is really over, when will the troops start to come home? Before you hear and read all the detailed accounts of the capture, let’s focus on the stated purpose of the Iraqi invasion. Since a WMD cache still eludes finding, the proponents of the war must hang their hat on the finding and arresting of the evil tyrant.

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Why the GOP are cowards

Republicanism is not equivalent with the GOP political party. Genuine conservatism has had fleeting representation within that party. Examine the history and the principles of each. A real conservative stands for the principles of individual civil liberty and personal responsibility, limited government, states rights, separation of powers - federalism, minimal taxes, honest money, bona fide free enterprise, defense of borders, an American First foreign policy, lawful statues and traditional values. A true conservative believes in the righteousness of the 1776 Revolution. Republicans that are authentic conservatives have a serious dilemma, how do you justify the record of the GOP?

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FBI back to old tricks

Are you a supporter of the FBI? Certainly this need not be an either or question, but in today’s world of litmus tests, the room for selective approval has become marginal. Most would concede that there can be a legitimate role for a domestic investigative agency. But when one accepts this basic principle, that the central government has a justifiable function to conduct national law enforcement, the slippery slope of civil liberty abdication begins. The final culmination, when the avalanche strips the last remains of constitutional protections, is a police state. The majority recedes into the flawed belief that a reasonable balance can be reached. In theory, with good intentions and men of good will, this idea may seem sensible.

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Free Trade Area of the Americas

Are you ready for the next trade agreement? Before denouncing all those anarchists for disrupting the peaceful tranquillity of a Miami afternoon, think about all those additional benefits from an entire Western Hemisphere expansion of NAFTA. Go directly to the latest November 21, 2003, third draft of FTAA agreement for proof that America will be restricted from enacting protective measures to stem the hemorrhage of the trade deficit.

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JFK retrospectives adnauseam

Are you tired yet from all the programs memorializing John F. Kennedy? With the passage of time, clarity increases as closure evades. Only government stooges accept the Warren Commission version of fantasy land. As the population ages, with a majority having no direct recollection of that fateful day in Dallas, we are left with interpretive history. The facts are less important than the reality of what transpired over the last four decades.

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Bush: A Crazed Mattoid

The “global democratic revolution” is the center piece of the Bush presidency. While a revolutionary spirit was the focus that moved our Founding Fathers to break with the Crown, today’s all powerful imperial empire resides in the United States. King George II says he is on a hallowed mission to save the Middle East from themselves. Democracy will be the cure and the medicine of approved regime changes will be forced down their throats. Women will be made participatory citizens and the shahs of Islamic extremism will be tamed into submissive puppets. Ah, the ‘Pox Americana’ spreads the virus of emancipation with the fervor of an old time religion.

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Latin America - A Vast Wasteland

Race has long been the determining factor in Latin America. Reluctance in dealing with this taboo subject does more to harm individuals than unequal conditions. The myth of equality has caused more damage and has hurt specific countries, because society is unwilling to deal with cultural disproportion. Few places on earth have greater disparity in income, status and social advancement as the ‘so called’ New World, south of the border. The United States seems to be a bastion for opportunity in comparison. So what is the cause for this imbalance?

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