Pettis County

There are die-hards in every political organization.  Some, perhaps, are even fanatical on the topic.  But I’ve found this …

In the aftermath of the outcome of the most recent mid-term elections, I’m hearing Democrats and Republicans alike indicate that the Bush regime brought on those election results in and of themselves and their actions.

I believe that to be true to a large extent.

Underneath the façade of political veils, we are all Americans.  We may have differing ideas and philosophies on how to reach specific goals within the confines of our government, but we all believe in our Bill of Rights and our Constitution.  We all have family values, those are not relegated or limited to a specific political group, and we all know that.

These are the fundamental elements that hold Americans together, the basis for knowing the differences between right and wrong.

Today is Veterans Day, and those men and women who no longer enjoy the fruits of the Democracy they died to preserve, allowed us to have the elections of the past week.  In the sacrifices they made, the fundamentals of our Bill of Rights and our Constitution have been allowed to remain standing, and continue to be freedoms’ beacon to the world.   It is the memory of those sacrifices which recalls within us what family values truly mean.  The foundation those Veterans and all true Americans have always stood upon is still alive.

Americans understand the necessity of preserving that.  No amount of political rhetoric, no quantity of campaign ads or slogans and no interpretational spin on the essences of our Constitution can shake the underlying truth our Forefathers created, which became America.

When all the political hoopla and braggadocio is swept aside, left standing is the American who knows what is right to do and the correct path to follow to insure that America will stand, united, forever.

I wasn’t Democrats who won the mid-term elections of 2006 … it was Americans.

Democrats have won.

But … the “test” of winning hasn’t yet begun.

The Democratic Party worked hard to win back Congress.  However, the opportunity for that victory was handed to the Democrats on a “Sliver Platter” through the incompetence of the Bush Administration and a “rubber stamp” congress.  Let’s not forget that.

It is imperative that the members-elect of the new Congress not fumble this golden opportunity to reset America on the path of recovery.

While corrections must, and will, be made of the errors created by the earlier congress, the new congress must restrain against a compulsion of blanketed vengeful retribution.  This opportunity of repair must not be “screwed up” for something as petty as vengeance. 

America is bleeding and bruised, and She needs attention.  Who caused the injuries must take a back seat to Her healing and rejuvenation.  There will be time for investigation and revelations of actions and those responsible, but the first order of business must be the healing of America’s image, Her full reinstatement of all rights as dictated by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States, and a recovery pathway.

That said, Americans must never again allow the religious right nor the proclivity for greed and power to become an integral portion of our government or governance.  Our citizens have seen the destructive results of having allowed such things to occur.

One of the most devastating actions against Americans of the Bush regime was the “stacking” of the United States Supreme Court in the selection of its members.  Those actions will have a negative effect on Americans for generations, as we shall see in ensuing years.   In comparison other decisions made by the Bush regime may be easily reversed or corrected, but not the membership of the Supreme Court.  In placing the members of the Supreme Court, the Bush administration has left its’ residual “stamp” on America deep in the bowels of jurisprudence, to be recalled time after time for years to come.  It is in future Supreme Court decisions that the “Bush Administration” will continue to make itself felt on America and Americans.  It would appear that we will never rid America of the black mark placed on it by the worst political administration in the history of the United States.

The new swing of political influences must not be so far to the left that we lose the confidence of Americans.  We must never forget, Americans are comprised of every political affiliation, every ethnic background, every religious belief and every creed, and our citizens must never again allow the “force feeding” of idioms foreign to our Bill of Rights or Constitution.  All future actions of our new congress must keep that paramount as their baseline from whence all decisions are made.

We all believe that when laws are broken or circumvented via trickery or malignant manipulations the perpetrators must be brought to task for their actions.  We cannot, however, allow ourselves to be mired in such disclosures or divulgences at the cost of abandoning the repairs necessary for our countries survival.

The time for celebration has past, and now the dawning of the restructuring of America must begin, and we all must assist our new leaders in that rebuilding but keeping them focused on the issues of repair, nothing more.

If we don’t, it is possible that the history and devastation of the last six years could be repeated sometime in the future.

Being locked inside a cell, renders the occupant “safe” from outside influences. 

But what of that persons freedoms and rights?

What good is having America “safe” if its citizens are voided of or denied any of the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution?

If a choice is to be made, I chose freedom and rights over safety.

I was asked today, during an informal meeting over coffee, why hadn’t I contributed to a political campaign for a national candidate.

Here’s why I have not done that;

What possible good will the spending of multiple millions of dollars on political television commercials, newspaper advertisement and countless political web sites mean, if, in the final result, it could be five or six people, sitting in closed rooms in a few States, supposedly counting votes cast, but who decide to “change” votes, or declare them “voided” or to eradicate and invalidate thousand upon thousands of registered voters as “non-compliant” with voter registration laws?

Far fetched?  I think not, because we have proof it happened before.

It is NOT the money spent to entice and woo voters to vote for a specific candidate that matters, nor even the total amount of votes cast for those candidates … it’s the degree and level of honesty, integrity and ethics possessed within those five or six people in each of those closed rooms that matter.  If they are of corroded ethics, if they are of eroded morals, then the votes cast are at high risk of being invalidated or “lost”.

Until the problem, or potential problem, of fraudulent vote count processing is eliminated – totally eradicated from the election processes, I will NOT be contributing money to a national campaign for any candidate of any party.

The millions of dollars spent on political campaigns could instead provide healthcare for children that currently have none.  It could provide a reduction in medication costs to the elderly and infirm.  It could be applied to the national debt.  It could be applied ANYWHERE else, and do much, much more good for America – than just to line the pockets and fill the coffers of the advertising industry and the television and information delivery industry in the United States.

The election process funding would be laughable, if it weren’t so seriously flawed in its misplaced squandering – and then only to have the supposed purpose of those expenditures be nullified by the sordid, unethical, morally bankrupt vote counters.

Search for the total funds expended for all major political parties on the internet and news media – and once found, ask yourself if the candidates are worth it when compared to the child with needs of healthcare coverage, or the needs of the elderly, or veterans who have next to nothing that could have REALLY used that money to good cause a purpose.

It’s money down the drain for the average American, and into the pockets of the wealthy and ultra-wealthy – and it all boils down to those same five or six people in each State at the end of Election Night and what they do with the ballots that are passing through their hands.

While President Bush and his regime have initiated wrongs against America and the World – don’t ever forget – it was the fraudulent vote manipulation and disenfranchising of hundreds of thousands of voters that was the first step to enable Mr. Bush to be where he is, and ultimately perpetuate those wrongs.

Neither should you forget – it was the right wing extremists of the Republican Party who manipulated those votes and disenfranchised those voters. 

Dislike, or even loathe, President Bush if that’s your mindset, but do NOT let the manipulators and ineligibility-rendering unethical vote counters “off the hook” – for it is THEY who fired the first shot to begin the killing of American Democracy.

We all have a need to believe and trust.  It is the social instincts within human nature that drive that need.  Unfortunately there social predators who make it their life’s work to search for, and exploit, those very flaws within us, then turning and using that very basic human need against unsuspecting, and trusting, souls.

In the last two national elections here in America, there were predators who exploited the citizens’ trust in their government.  Half-truths were spread, sowing seeds of needless doubt and unsubstantiated fear.  We, as citizens, wanted to believe that our leaders were of the same fabric as our forefathers: Stalwart, sound of reason and judgment, and trustworthy beyond any doubt.  But we placed our trust within a pack of veiled and deceitful predators.

It is not the leaders themselves, but rather their betrayal of what we, as Americans, had come to expect as a basis of common decency and general good within those leaders who were elected from our own midst, and that’s what is so troubling to us.  They, too, were/are Americans – and they were supposed to be extensions of ourselves.

It is the realization that our leaders, being derived from our collective citizenry, are a reflected symbol of all Americans.

We are now fearfully shaken in and of that realization.  If our leaders are reflections of all Americans who we have believed to share the same sense of values, what does that say of us as a nation?  If our leaders are decadent in their ethics … if they display a corrosion of morals … if their values are lessened to the point of condoning torture of other human beings … and they came from within the midst of our own group …could it be that, as a group, we Americans have allowed the slippage of values within the elite of our society, from whom we are to select our leadership?

It is a sobering thought.  We have been embracing denial of accepting that the governing, (who were derived and selected from the governed), are extensions of … us.

We are fearful, near panic, that we, as a nation, when looking at the moral and ethical fiber of our leaders, are beginning to understand we are gazing into a mirror of who WE are, and the national morals and ethics we view, are collectively ours.

The ENRONs and WORLD COMs and other morally and ethically failed conglomerates suggest and reflect that moral and ethical fibers of Americans in a position to lead are giving way to greed and self-promotion.

The perception, when looking at our elected leaders and the leaders of the failed and corrupted corporations of most recently passed years, is: More money – more power – more possessions – are the “new morals and ethics” standards to which these persons adhere and revere.

The decline of Ancient Rome is again in its infant state, here, in America today.  The decay is slow, but unless arrested, steady in its’ march to oblivion through decadence and self-serving, but false, needs.

Too, America today, stands at the dawning of a Second Spanish Inquisition – with the same motivations, the same self-serving justifications and, predictably, the same results, as the original.  Church and state can not be intermixed, and still retain sound governance.  The Spanish Inquisition is proof of how deadly such a mix can be to a people and governance.

Moral and ethical high ground must again be attained, and through persons who will preserve such values as displayed by our forefathers.  But more importantly, these new leaders must also find a way to instruct, teach and instill those high morals and ethics within the coming generations.

If our leaders fail to address basic values, ethical standards and moral strength, America and all She stands for, will go the way of Ancient Rome with the assistance of the Second Spanish Inquisition.

If we do not learn from the past … we are doomed to repeat it.

The members of the Christian Coalition that supported the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections are exhibiting serious reconsiderations of that political party, (the one the TV evangelists referred to as the “Godly Party”).

The scandals involving lobbyists, Delay, Ney, “Scooter” Libby and now Mark Folley are evidence to the members of the Christian Coalition, that they have been duped.  The TV evangelists’ rhetoric regarding the “Godly Party” has proven to be both hollow and false.

The true Christians of that coalition are finally realizing two things:  One, church and state MUST remain separated, and, Two, Christian principles and doctrine are NOT being practiced by those government candidates whom the TV evangelists endorsed, and for whom their followers were to vote.

Like the rest of American Citizens, the Christian Coalition has been lied to, fed a pack of nothing more than vote garnering rhetoric, and betrayal of what that group thought was Christian Principles ingrained in the candidates they were told to support.

As has been said:  “You can fool some of the people some of the time …”  but in the end, the truth prevails and the veils of lies are swept aside revealing stark reality.

We trust our fellow Americans.  We know the majority of the Americans within the Christian Coalition will see that truth, and we are confident they will abandon the politically charged rhetoric of the TV evangelists, and do what is both right and American with their votes come November 7.

At risk of duplication, I again say: It is NOT the vote nor voter turn-out at the polls this November.  It is, rather the counting of votes and the vote counting process that is at risk and holds the “single point of failure” for voters and the ballots to be cast.  Follow this link, for sobering insight into what the GOP has already started to initiate involving the potential to pre-set, manipulate and undermine vote counting and voter validation and authentication: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100606B.shtml .  This particular article involves the State of Tennessee, but most assuredly is not an isolated attempt.

I urge all elected and appointed officials to take steps now to prevent vote counting and the vote counting process potential for fraud, as well as manipulation of invalid voter registration(s). The voter registration databases MUST be protected, policed and administered with the greatest possible attention to detail before, during and post election vote counting.  These protections should include Unites States Marshall’s and Federal Judges physically located within the vote counting facilities in each city, county and at the State level during the vote count processes.

In the last two Presidential Elections the States of Ohio and Florida, just to name two, were highly suspect in voter registration and voter validation fraud procedures, policies and practices.  It would seem that such processes are being attempted again in Tennessee.  The fraudulent practice, it would appear, is expanding to include ALL elections.

We can have the best ever voter turnout, and the Democrats can have the best ever vote for their candidates, and it can all be made worthless if the registration databases and vote count processing is rendered invalid or defrauded.

Corruption is non-partisan, and has it’s basis in the ethical integrity of the individuals involved.  When such corruption is large scale, that loss of ethical integrity, like a cancer, spreads to include an entire group – in this case, the members of the elected GOP at every level of government.

It must be stopped … at any legal cost or endeavor.

There is no unity in America. 

I was in attendance at a recent meeting where, as a preamble to the meeting proper, the entire group recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

 “ … one nation … indivisible … “ … the words I recited and the spoken words that fell on my ears contained that phrase.

 But our nation is divided … and that knowledge made the recited words ring hollow.

 If we are to be the most stalwart of all nations, if we are to be leaders, or even members, of the free world, we must be One in number and deed.

 The “Blue” States and the “Red” States must blend and become “Purple”, for if we are to move forward as One, we must be of the same hue.

 A house divided against itself cannot stand, no matter the reason or cause for that division.

 The widening chasm within our nation is beginning to turn family members against family members, friends against friends and laws against long standing principles.

 We are nearing the precipice of that chasm and the fall, should it come, will be into a bottomless pit where Democracy will be lost, voices of descent forever stilled and our nation wasted into oblivion.

 There is little time left in which to withdraw from that brink.  Our national leaders are preparing for yet another armed conflict with yet another country, and it matters not their motivation or their reasons.  Our national leaders are preparing to protect themselves and their past and future deeds from legal repercussion.  Our national leaders are continuing to void, abandon and ignore laws that have served us, and our country, well, for over 200 years.

If we, as a nation of peoples, do not stop our national leaders from their headlong rush toward that precipice and chasm beyond, the wagon they pull containing all Americans will go over the edge with them.

There is always a hidden agenda behind nearly every action taken by the Bush regime.  The recent Stem Cell Research Bill Veto is no exception.

Bush’s veto, veiled under the twisted spin of ideology, has a more “practical” motivation:  Money.

One need to but ask themselves: Who would stand to benefit from the veto?

Pharmaceutical companies, is the answer.

Even a casual observer of the Bush regime’s actions across his tenure in the White House can see the favoritism afforded the pharmaceutical companies.  The veto of the Stem Cell Research Bill is but a protective measure for that commercial group.  Were stem cell research result in finding cures for diseases and maladies affecting and afflicting millions of Americans and other human beings around the world, pharmaceutical companies would lose billions upon billions of dollars in sales.

As with everything else the Bush Administration and the Republican controlled Congress  has force-fed America and Americans, this veto is obscured by some “trumped-up” spin designed to misdirect focus from the real motivation of the action.

The tragedy and ultimate loss of the effects of this bill will be born in and through the immeasurable and continued suffering of living persons around the globe.

But, evidently that’s acceptable to members of, and those adhered to, the “spin machine” that is the Bush Administration.

The vetoing of this bill will ultimately be the death knell of the Republican Party’s political domination of our Congress, and, thankfully, will result in the removal of the “spin machine”.  But my, at what a cost to Americans in prolonged suffering from the diseases and maladies that could have been lessened.

If you can find anyone 80 or 90 years of age, or older, who can still remember and articulate their memories of the “Great Depression” … find them.  Ask them “how it was” during those extremely lean financial years.  Look in their eyes as they speak, and while speaking watch their expressions go back in time to the devastation that was “The Great Depression”. 

What they tell you … is coming again.

It was the collapse of Wall Street stock markets, and all the other stock markets around the globe that put into effect “The Great Depression” which prompted the creation of the Social Security Administration and the benefits it held for Americans as the “failsafe” against another such financial disaster in the future.

Yet, here we are again with history preparing to repeat itself. 

The very thing which CREATED the lack of money and finances during “The Great Depression” is EXACTLY where this Republican regime plans to PLACE the nest egg of Social Security retirement under the guise of privatization.

It’s financial lunacy!  Do we NOT learn from past mistakes?

This Republican regime would have you believe that your investments of Social Security Taxes into the Social Security Fund would grow, and earn more money … but only if the stock markets continue to be healthy and the stocks rise in value.  We KNOW that the stock market can also FALL.

Examples of recent stock market declines:  July 12: the Dow Jones index was a negative: -121.59; July 13: The Dow Jones index was a negative: -178.97 !  Who knows what the stock market will do tomorrow?  Which is exactly the point: There is NO GUARANTEED SECURITY in stock markets.  They’re all a big legalized “crap shoot”, and the monies used to “bet” in that “legalized gambling” will be the Social Security Funds, if privatization becomes a reality!

The effect of privatization will be to give away any semblance of a secure financial future for your family, your friends and for all generations to come.