Click here to view the embedded video.

Now tell me why the regulators couldn’t just set a new rule that when you drill for oil, you have to also drill 2 relief wells at the same time, just in case they’re needed, LIKE NOW!? Someone was getting paid really well to look the other way huh?

(CNN) — For the world to tackle truly important problems, people have to stop looking to religion to guide their moral compasses, the philosopher Sam Harris told CNN.

“We should be talking about real problems, like nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education,” Harris said in a recent interview at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California. TED is a nonprofit group dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.”

“These are issues which tremendous swings in human well-being depend on. And it’s not at the center of our moral concern.”

Religion causes people to fixate on issues of less moral importance, said Harris, a well-known secularist, philosopher and neuroscientist who is the author of the books “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation.”

“Religion has convinced us that there’s something else entirely other than concerns about suffering. There’s concerns about what God wants, there’s concerns about what’s going to happen in the afterlife,” he said.

“And, therefore, we talk about things like gay marriage as if it’s the greatest problem of the 21st century. We even have a liberal president who ostensibly is against gay marriage because his faith tells him it’s an abomination.

“It’s completely insane.”

Watch Harris’ talk at the TED Conference

Harris also said people should not be afraid to declare that certain acts are right and others are wrong. A person who would spill battery acid on a girl for trying to learn to read, for instance, he said, is objectively wrong by scientific standards.

“It’s not our job to not judge it and say, ‘Well, to each his own. Everyone has to work out their own strategy for human fulfillment.’ That’s just not true,” he said.

“There’s people who are wrong about human fulfillment.”

Harris placed no faith in the idea that Muslims and Christians will be able to put their differences aside and cooperate on global issues.

“There’s no way to reconcile Islam with Christianity,” he said. “This difference of opinion admits of compromise as much as a coin toss does.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dear Conservative Americans,

The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now.  You’ve lost me and you’ve lost most of America.  Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I’d like to give you some advice and an invitation.

First, the invitation:  Come back to us.

Now the advice.  You’re going to have to come up with a platform that isn’t built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more.  But you have work to do even before you take on that task.

Your party — the GOP — and the conservative end of the American political spectrum has become irresponsible and irrational.  Worse, it’s tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred.  Let me provide some expamples — by no means an exhaustive list — of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

If you’re going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you’ll have to start by draining this swamp:

Hypocrisy

You can’t flip out — and threaten impeachment - when Dems use a prlimentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that’s centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.

You can’t vote and scream against the stimulus package and then take credit for the good it’s done in your own district (happily handing out enormous checks representing money that you voted against, is especially ugly) —  114 of you (at last count) did just that — and it’s even worse when you secretly beg for more.

You can’t fight against your own ideas just because the Dem president endorses your proposal.

You can’t call for a pay-as-you-go policy, and then vote against your own ideas.

Are they “unlawful enemy combatants” or are they “prisoners of war” at Gitmo? You can’t have it both ways.

You can’t carry on about the evils of government spending when your family has accepted more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts.

You can’t refuse to go to a scheduled meeting, to which you were invited, and then blame the Dems because they didn’t meet with you.

You can’t rail against using teleprompters while using teleprompters. Repeatedly.

You can’t rail against the bank bailouts when you supported them as they were happening.

You can’t be for immigration reform, then against it .

You can’t enjoy socialized medicine while condemning it.

You can’t flip out when the black president puts his feet on the presidential desk when you were silent about white presidents doing the same.  Bush.  Ford.

You can’t complain that the president hasn’t closed Gitmo yet when you’ve campaigned to keep Gitmo open.

You can’t flip out when the black president bows to foreign dignitaries, as appropriate for their culture, when you were silent when the white presidents did the same. Bush.  Nixon. Ike. You didn’t even make a peep when Bush held hands and kissed (on the mouth) leaders of countries that are not on “kissing terms” with the US.

You can’t complain that the undies bomber was read his Miranda rights under Obama when the shoe bomber was read his Miranda rights under Bush and you remained silent.  (And, no, Newt – the shoe bomber was not a US citizen either, so there is no difference.)

You can’t attack the Dem president for not personally* publicly condemning a terrorist event for 72 hourswhen you said nothing about the Rep president waiting 6 days in an eerily similar incident (and, even then, he didn’t issue any condemnation).  *Obama administration did the day of the event.

You can’t throw a hissy fit, sound alarms and cry that Obama freed Gitmo prisoners who later helped plan the Christmas Day undie bombing, when — in fact — only one former Gitmo detainee, released by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, helped to plan the failed attack.

You can’t condemn blaming the Republican president for an attempted terror attack on his watch, then blame the Dem president for an attemted terror attack on his.

You can’t mount a boycott against singers who say they’re ashamed of the president for starting a war, but remain silent when another singer says he’s ashamed of the president and falsely calls him a Moaist who makes him want to throw up and says he ought to be in jail.

You can’t cry that the health care bill is too long, then cry that it’s too short.

You can’t support the individual mandate for health insurance, then call it unconstitutional when Dems propose it and campaign against your own ideas.

You can’t demand television coverage, then whine about it when you get it.  Repeatedly.

You can’t praise criminal trials in US courts for terror suspects under a Rep president, then call it “treasonous” under a Dem president.

You can’t propose ideas to create jobs, and then work against them when the Dems put your ideas in a bill.

You can’t be both pro-choice and anti-choice.

You can’t damn someone for failing to pay $900 in taxes when you’ve paid nearly $20,000 in IRS fines.

You can’t condemn critizising the president when US troops are in harms way, then attack the president when US troops are in harms way , the only difference being the president’s party affiliation (and, by the way, armed conflict does NOT remove our right and our duty as Americans to speak up).

You can’t be both for cap-and-trade policy and against it.

You can’t vote to block debate on a bill, then bemoan the lack of  ’open debate’.

If you push anti-gay legislation and make anti-gay speeches, you should probably take a pass on having gay sex, regardless of whether it’s 2004 or 2010.  This is true, too, if you’re taking GOP money and giving anti-gay rants on CNN.  Taking right-wing money and GOP favors to write anti-gay stories for news sites while working as a gay prostitute, doubles down on both the hypocrisy and the prostitution.  This is especially true if you claim your anti-gay stand is God’s stand, too.

When you chair the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, you can’t send sexy emails to 16-year-old boys (illegal anyway, but you made it hypocritical as well).

You can’t criticize Dems for not doing something you didn’t do while you held power over the past 16 years, especially when the Dems have done more in one year than you did in 16.

You can’t decry “name calling” when you’ve been the most consistent and outrageous at it. And the most vile.

You can’t spend more than 40 years hating, cutting and trying to kill Medicare, and then pretend to be the defenders of Medicare

You can’t praise the Congressional Budget Office when it’s analysis produces numbers that fit your political agenda, then claim it’s unreliable when it comes up with numbers that don’t.

You can’t vote for X under a Republican president, then vote against X under a Democratic president.  Either you support X or you don’t. And it makes it worse when you change your position merely for the sake obstructionism.

You can’t call a reconcilliation out of bounds when you used it repeatedly.

You can’t spend tax-payer money on ads against spending tax-payer money.

You can’t condemn individual health insurance mandates in a Dem bill, when the madates were your idea.

You can’t demand everyone listen to the generals when they say what fits your agenda, and then ignore them when they don’t.

You can’t whine that it’s unfair when people accuse you of exploiting racism for political gain, when your party’s former leader admits you’ve been doing it for decades.

You can’t portray yourself as fighting terrorists when you openly and passionately support terrorists.

You can’t complain about a lack of bipartisanship when you’ve routinely obstructed for the sake of political gain — threatening to filibuster at least 100 pieces of legislation in one session, far more than any other since the procedural tactic was invented — and admitted it.  Some admissions are unintentional, others are made proudly. This is especially true when the bill is the result of decades of compromise between the two parties and is filled with your own ideas.

You can’t question the loyalty of Department of Justice lawyers when you didn’t object when your own Republican president appointed them.

You can’t preach and try to legislate “Family Values” when you: take nude hot tub dips with teenagers (and pay them hush money); cheat on your wife with a secret lover and lie about it to the world; cheat with a staffer’s wife (and pay them off with a new job); pay hookers for sex while wearing a diaper and cheatingon your wife; or just enjoying an old fashioned non-kinky cheating on your wife; try to have gay sex in a public toilet; authorize the rape of children in Iraqi prisons to coherce their parents into providing information; seek, look at or have sex with children; replace a guy who cheats on his wife with a guy who cheats on his pregnant wife with his wife’s mother;

Hyperbole

You really need to dissassociate with those among you who:

• assert that people making a quarter-million dollars a year can barely make ends meet or that $1 million “isn’t a lot of money”;
• say that “Comrade” Obama is a “Bolshevik” who is “taking cues from Lenin”;
• ignore the many times your buddies use a term that offends you and complain only when a Dem says it;
• liken political opponents to murderers, rapists, and “this Muslim guy” that “offed his wife’s head” or call then “un-American”;
• say Obama “wants his plan to fail…so that he can make the case for bank nationalization and vindicate his dream of a socialist economy”;
• equate putting the good of the people ahead of your personal fortunes with terrorism;
• smear an entire major religion with the actions of a few fanatics;
• say that the president wants to “annihilate us”;
• compare health care reform with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a Bolshevik plot the attack on 9/11,or reviving the ghosts of communist dictators (update: it’s also not Armageddon);
• equate our disease-fighting stem cell research with “what the Nazis did”;
• call a bill passed by the majority of both houses of Congress, by members of Congress each elected by a majority in their districts, an unconscionable abuse of power, a violation of the presidential oath or “the end of representative government”;
• shout “baby killer” at a member of Congress on the floor of the House, especially one who so fought against abortion rights that he nearly killed health care reform (in fact, a little decorum, a little respect for our national institutions and the people and the values they represent, would be refreshing — cut out the shouting, the swearing and the obscenities);
• prove your machismo by claiming your going to “crash a party” to which you’re officially invited;
• claim that Obama is pushing America’s “submission to Shariah”;
• question the patriotism of people upholding cherished American values and the rule of law;
• claim the president is making us less safe without a hint of evidence;
• call a majority vote the “tyranny of the minority,” even if you meant to call it tyranny of the majority — it’s democracy, not tyranny;
• call the president’s support of a criminal trial for a terror suspect “treasonous” (especially when you supported the same thing when the president shared your party);
• call the Pope the anti-Christ;
• assert that the constitutionally mandated census is an attempt to enslave us;
• accuse opponents of being backed by Arab slave-drivers, drunk and suicidal;
• equate family planing with eugenics or Nazism;
• accuse the president of changing the missile defense program’s logo to match his campaign logo and reflect what you say is his secret Muslim identity;
• accuse political opponents of being totalitarians, socialists, communists, fascists, Marxists;  terrorist sympathizers, McCarthy-like, Nazis or drug pushers; and
• advocate a traitors act like seccession, violent revolution , military coup or civil war (just so we’re clear: sedition is a bad thing).

History

If you’re going to use words like socialism, communism and fascism, you must have at least a basic understanding of what those words mean (hint: they’re NOT synonymous!)

You can’t cut a leading Founding Father out the history books because you’ve decided you don’t like his ideas.

You cant repeatedly assert that the president refuses to say the word “terrorism” or say we’re at war with terror when we have an awful lot of videotape showing him repeatedly assailing terrorism and using those exact words.

If you’re going to invoke the names of historical figures, it does not serve you well to whitewash them. Especially this one.

You can’t just pretend historical events didn’t happen in an effort to make a political opponent look dishonest or to make your side look better. Especially these events. (And, no, repeating it doesn’t make it better.)

You can’t say things that are simply and demonstrably false: health care reform will not push people out of their private insurance and into a government-run program ; health care reform (which contains a good many of your ideas and very few from the Left) is a long way from “socialist utopia”; health care reform is not “reparations”; nor does health care reform create “death panels”.

Hatred

You have to condemn those among you who:

• call members of Congress n*gger and f*ggot;
• elected leaders who say “I’m a proud racist”;
• state that America has been built by white people;
• say that poor people are poor because they’re rotten people, call them “parasitic garbage” or say they shouldn’t be allowed to vote;
• call women bitches and prostitutes just because you don’t like their politics     ( re - pea -ted - ly );
• assert that the women who are serving our nation in uniform are hookers;
• mock and celebrate the death of a grandmother because you disagree with her son’s politics;
• declare that those who disagree with you are shown by that disagreement to be not just “Marxist radicals” but also monsters and a deadly disease killing the nation (this would fit in the hyperbole and history categories, too);
• joke about blindness;
• advocate euthanizing the wife of your political opponent;
• taunt people with incurable, life-threatening diseases — especially if you do it on a syndicated broadcast;
• equate gay love with bestiality — involving  horses or dogs or turtles or ducks — or polygamy, child molestation, pedophilia;
• casually assume that only white males look “like a real American”;
• assert presidential power to authorize torture,  torture a child by having his testacles crushed in front of his parents to get them to talk, order the massacre of a civilian village  and launch a nuclear attack without the consent of Congress;
• attack children whose mothers have died;
• call people racists without producing a shred of evidence that they’ve said or done something that would even smell like racism — same for invoking racially charged “dog whistle” words (repeatedly);
• condemn the one thing that every major religion agrees on;
• complain that we no longer employ the tactics we once used to disenfranchise millions of Americansbecause of their race;
• blame the victims of natural disasters and terrorist attacks for their suffering and losses;
• celebrate violence , joke about violence, prepare for violence or use violent imagery, “fun” politicalviolence, hints of violence, threats of violence (this one is rather explicit), suggestions of violence oractual violence (and, really, suggesting anal rape wth a hot piece of metal is beyond the pale); and
• incite insurrection telling people to get their guns ready for a “bloody battle” with the president of the United States.

Oh, and I’m not alone:  One of your most respected and decorated leaders agrees with me.

So, dear conservatives, get to work.  Drain the swamp of the conspiracy nuts, the bold-faced liars undeterred by demonstrable facts, the overt hypocrisy and the hatred.  Then offer us a calm, responsible, grownup agenda based on your values and your vision for America.  We may or may not agree with your values and vision, but we’ll certainly welcome you back to the American mainstream with open arms.  We need you.

(Anticipating your initial response:  No there is nothing that even comes close to this level of wingnuttery on the American Left.)

Written by Russell King

By the way for those who have not read the response from Andrea Fay Friedman,  the 40 year old actor who did the voice over for the bossy character Ellen on the animated comedy series “Family Guy”, I’ve added an excerpt of an article and a link to the full article about her response. By the way, Andrea is down syndrome.

I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “sarcasm.” In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life.

Click here for the complete article.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I must begin with a quick recap of the three charts of the USA or the balance of the article will make no sense. For astrologers, I am using the USA Virgo rising natal chart (July 4, 1776, 9:36 am LMT, Philadelphia, PA), the progression for the 232nd year of our country’s existence, and the day chart (diurnal) for Election Day itself all using the natal coordinates. Because this article is also directed toward non-astrologers, I have removed the tech talk and limited myself to tight conjunctions and oppositions only. There will always be “more” to read no matter how deeply you work, feel free to enlarge the reading.

The natal (birth) chart reflects the energy pattern of that first moment of existence, the basic blueprint for such existence. But we do not remain a blank slate for long. We grow, experience and become and that is reflected in the progressing chart, using the year for a day method. Every day after birth constitutes a year in the life of whatever is being charted. Since the USA was 232 years old at the moment of the 2008 election, the progressing chart reflects the 232nd year energy pattern for the USA. The chart for the day (diurnal) reflects the energy of the day itself, what it contributed to or activated in both the USA natal and progressed charts. It also reveals the seed that was planted on that day.

What called these two men to the presidency, one who became president in fact and one who is a half-step behind and able to step into that position if it becomes necessary? Once both contended for that role and now they have presented themselves as a team to support that role. Each man has a personal energy pattern to contribute, plus the team itself has an individual energy pattern to contribute. They have offered themselves in service to the country individually and as a team. If they are right for the job and for the need of the country at this time, it should reveal itself through connections between the three country charts described and the three “people” charts.

What was up for the country at that time? What kind of person or skill was the country seeking? Three primary energy patterns are at the core of the USA makeup, the Mercury/Pluto opposition, the position of Neptune and the strongest of all our Uranus/Aquarius/Moon energy. They were all active for the 2008 Election. I need to spend a few sentences setting this stage. In English please…

The progressed midheaven (current goals, ambitions, accomplishments) at 24 Cap 15 was almost exactly opposite the USA natal Mercury setting off stressful but powerful communications used for good or for ill and we witnessed that in full action. It continues to this day because it is still active. The progressing midheaven (current goals, ambitions, accomplishments) is moving toward our international or cultural relationships (Node), but in a way that requires us to admit any past misuses (South Node) and to work on building up new relationship skills. Progressed (current) Mercury (communication, youth, grass roots) was right on (conjunct) the USA Moon (the people, emotions, independent and future seeking), tight (strong) and getting stronger. The internal progressed (current) opposition (tug of war, conflict) between of social/financial values and our need to take action, be aggressive and assertive, is further defined by animosity between the do-it-yourself-ers (Aries) and the we-are-in-this-together-crowd (Libra). Does any of this sound familiar?

As if that was not enough to deal with, Election Day was the moment of truth (exact connection) for the Saturn/Uranus opposition that is currently giving us a fit. Saturn defines the past, Uranus defines the future, and opposition is a tug of war with the country playing monkey in the middle. The status quo and change itself are locked in a difficult battle and it is occurring right on the point that represents our spiritual essence as a country (Neptune). This has not been nice and will not stop until the end of July 2010. Also the 2008 Election Day Capricorn Moon (responsible emotions, feeling emotionally trapped) was right on the natal Pluto/Mercury opposition, making it a hot button for the presidency. The Election Day’s energy is the seed that will sprout and develop throughout the term of any presidency. I also found it interesting that the day’s Jupiter opposed progressing Jupiter and had been doing so for some period of time (our immediate past). Can you say that we have had trouble with excess and entitlement that actually caught up to us and bit us right where it hurt? Okay that’s the country in brief, what about the leaders called to service?

President Obama’s natal Saturn (duty, responsibility, obligation is right on (conjunct) the USA natal Pluto (power of the country) setting off that USA Mercury/ Pluto natal opposition (powerful communications for good or for ill). Obama is attempting to bring truth, transparency, and responsibility to our powerful communications. That fits. His personal coping skills and public face (independent, forward seeing and intelligent) is located close to the USA Moon (the people, our futuristic, independent, unique qualities). The USA’s and President Obama’s social and financial values are just about in lock step (conjunct).

President Obama’s progressed midheaven (current goals, stature, ambitions) are opposite (conflict) our national identity. Wait a minute, is that good? Think of a pencil with a writing tip on one end and an eraser on the other end. You can’t wiggle one end of the pencil without the other end wiggling because it is an axis. Our national identity has been trashed for several years. The President must take an active role to resuscitate and heal that open wound and that can only occur under stress. His progressing Saturn/Jupiter (responsibility and expansion is right on that USA natal Mercury/Pluto opposition (powerful communication conflict) and will be there throughout his presidency. And my favorite connection of all, his progressing Moon (his feelings, emotions, sense of clan or extended family) was so close to our country’s natal Moon (same keywords) in the sign of Aquarius (future, change, independence) that by Inauguration Day they would merge…and they did. And, there’s always more,

Vice President Biden is a competitor turned into a personal asset to the man who defeated his dream of the presidency. That’s a real test of character for VP Biden. He has joined that team (of rivals) for the good of his country, pledged his loyalty to his competitor the president and us, and is a fully participating extra pair of hands for our president and our country. Good stuff here! VP Biden has his midheaven (goals, ambitions, achievements) on the USA’s spiritual essence and his Saturn/Uranus conjunction (responsibility/inventive cooperative) energy right on the USA point of independence (Uranus) and achievement (Midheaven), our natal Midheaven/Uranus conjunction. This occurs on VP Biden’s point of partnership. That works! His Jupiter (expansion, society at large) is right on (conjunct) the USA Mercury (communication) again keying into that lesson we are learning at the moment, the use or misuse of powerful communications.

He has one other really valuable asset to our country that I must mention. His point of personal power (Pluto) is joined to (conjunct) the USA’s North Node (international/cross-cultural development); the man has probably more international knowledge and credentials than anyone else out there. Team Obama/Biden is an asset for our country. That nodal connection I just mentioned is strengthened by VP Biden’s progressed (current) chart, engaging his Mercury (communication), Sun (identity), Ascendant (coping skills and public face) and his Descendant (partnership and alliances). That is a really strong pattern. His progressed connection to our USA point of independence and achievement is even stronger. His progressing value and financial value systems (Venus) sits right on (conjunct) our lovely Aquarius Moon (the people, sense clan, family) with the Nodes thrown in for good measure (more to learn/do about cross-cultural relating) I think the man is definitely an asset!

Last but not least, the Obama/Biden Team. They are both individuals who must also function as a team. The team has its own individuality and contribution. There are a number of hits and if by now you’re cross-eyed, which are my favorites? I like that the team’s Mercury (communication) is right on (conjunct) our Sun (national identity). We need someone to be proud of us, represent us honestly and with great integrity and not speak with a forked tongue. I like that the team’s joint social and financial values (Venus) are right on (conjunct) our personal projection and coping skills (Ascendant). I like that the team’s urge to take action (Mars) is on the USA point of responsibility and organization. I like that the team’s Uranus (future orientation, independence, change) is right on our national identity (Sun). Forward, yes. Progressive, yes. Change, yes. Yes they can! The team’s spirituality (Neptune is right on the USA’s responsibility, Saturn). Can you imagine– spirituality and responsibility hand in hand?

Uncomfortable to us but probably necessary to right the wrongs, the team’s sense of power must confront the public’s emotions. We as a people are scared, angry and feeling betrayed. It does not matter who is standing in the leadership position, we will direct those negative feelings toward whoever that is. They must be strong enough to stand up to this onslaught because scared people are just not logical and orderly. This is particularly true of the cross-cultural, international activity in which we are embroiled. We don’t like what has happened or what is happening. We just have to remember that we as relatively uneducated international citizens are probably not qualified to make such judgment. We are reactive at the moment, not pro-active and the team has to be able to handle that.

So have I proved my point? I said the natal, progressed and day chart for the country was intimately tied to the personal and progressing charts of President Obama, Vice President Biden and their leadership team. It is not all poetry and roses. Running a country the size and stature of the USA will have rough spots. The country called, the electorate responded on Election Day. Based on that vote these men assumed leadership of the country. There was no error. These were the right men for this job at this time. They fit the needs expressed by an evolving country. Now it would be nice if we just let them do their job, wouldn’t it?

Author: Marilyn Muir
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

Osama bin Laden

I just read an article on Yahoo that a recent US Senate report states Osama bin Laden was within our grasps and the decision was made NOT to go after him. An excerpt from the article is below:

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden’s escape laid the foundation for today’s reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.

Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

While I applaud John Kerry for pushing this into the hands of the senate and into the public eye. I have to ask, what the hell took you so long to stand up man? Certainly it not something NEW to you guys now is it? Anyone who thought our presence in Iraq was a bag of manure from the start has been saying this from the beginning. Hell, even 60 Minutes reported it last year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve said for a long time now that we were never allowed to ‘really’ go after Osama bin Laden. The PNAC needed him as a scape goat for 9/11 so they can justify the invasion of Iraq. For this belief me and others have been labeled ‘conspiracy theorist’ and dismissed by the masses. Well, as with anything, time will tell. This report from the Senate is the first step in revealing the REAL TRUTH behind it all.

The possible choices as a vice presidential running mate were well known names such as: Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Al Gore, Evan Bayh, and the most wanted, contested, and debatable of possibilities: Hilary Clinton. With at least 50% of the delegates going to the convention clamoring for Clinton to be put on the joint ticket, it’s a huge surprise that Obama would even consider anyone else for the right hand position at the White house; or is it? Let’s take into account all of the tension and personal hate created between the two candidates who fiercely opposed not necessarily each other’s policies; but the each other’s personalities, morals, and views. This obvious disgust for one another transferred over into their grass roots support; so much so that many Hilary backers poll that they will simply not vote for Obama because is not Clinton; regardless of their party affiliation. These feelings caused an irreparable rift between the two candidates in such a way that a joint ticket would more than likely cause even more embittered feelings between the two.

The other candidates such as Al Gore, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd all have (very ineloquently put) a proven track record of losing which makes them very unlikely to boost Obama’s credentials among voters looking for reassurance that he truly has an honest shot at becoming the next President of the United States. This narrows the choices for Obama’s running mate considerably. Yet, despite the logical calculations behind guessing Obama’s running mate, the most compelling evidence that his choice was not a surprise comes from the Obama/Biden graphic t shirts that were ready that same morning. Now it may seem small, but let’s analyze that. It would take one day for a graphic designer to come up with the actual graphic for the t shirt, and about a day to print a significant amount so that they could be handed out to supporters or sold online. This means that the graphic designer knew who the running mate was going to be and probably spread the word on top of the people at the t-shirt factory who saw the shirts. These graphic t shirts, surprisingly, offer substantial proof that Obama’s VP pick was not a surprise.

Author: Fred McCoy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The federal government was ordered this year by Judge Nancy Gertner of the Federal District Court to pay $101.8 million for framing and falsely convicting four men for a murder they did not commit.
Beyond the framing of innocent men, FBI officials broke laws, violated rules, and ruined lives to protect the killer Vincent Flemmi their prized informant.

In another proud moment in American history, a German citizen named Khaled El-Masri was detained and abducted by CIA operatives from December 31, 2003 through May 28, 2004 in Macedonia and Afghanistan where he was unjustly held and tortured in the CIA prison known as the “Salt Pit”.

More concerning than the mistakes made are the intentional injustices that occur. I guess the U.S. Justice Department doesn’t have time to deal with injustice since it has been busy firing its best federal prosecutors who weren’t on board with the political agenda of the Bush administration. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales serving “at the pleasure of the President” eventually had to resign when interrogated himself. Suddenly he no longer could “recall” his own evil doings.

I wonder how many African Americans and Latinos go to prison unnecessarily to make some police chief look good and keep society feeling that they are safe. I question why so many non-violent offenders are imprisoned for so many years for abusing the own bodies and minds with drugs? Is it not possible to rehabilitate these addicts and users instead of imprisoning them for an excessive amount of years away from their family?

Could it be privatized prisons are financially lucrative and it is advantageous to warehouse criminals who in turn can be made into a labor pool for next to nothing payment? If so, than what economic incentive is there to release prisoners?

Author: Paul Davis
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker

As the first serious black contender for the Presidency, Obama came under fire early for not being “black enough” to fully represent African-Americans. Jolivette Anderson-Douoning, facility and program supervisor for the Black Cultural Center, said the following: “His father didn’t experience Jim Crow. He was a black man not defined by Jim Crow America.” She went on to say that the black community was concerned with Obama’s family’s lack of the “black experience” and his politics towards blacks.

But is this really important? We will never be able to move away from judgments based on skin color as long as people insist on voicing such ridiculous questions. Yes it is an accomplishment that for the first time an African-American is a serious contender for the Presidency. But the color of his skin should not matter beyond that achievement. What should matter is what Obama believes, and what qualifications he possesses that would make us comfortable entrusting to him the leadership of the most powerful nation on Earth.

Vibe.com ran an article on March 23, 2007 that really gets at what is important. In the article, columnist Allison Harvey writes: “The question America should be asking has nothing to do with who is a black enough candidate….The real question for 2008 is this: Does Barack Obama have the chops to stand up as a competent Commander-in-Chief?”

Ms. Harvey is right on the money with her question. We, as Americans, should be asking why Barack Obama is the best man for the job. Unfortunately, so far candidate Obama has done little to let us know the answer to that question.

As soon as he announced his candidacy, Mr. Obama began to get pelted with questions about his lack of experience and demands for details of his plans for America. Those details have been very slow in coming as the Obama campaign focuses instead on calls for bipartisanship and unity in Washington, D.C. The central theme of the Obama run for the Presidency seems to be “Can’t we all just get along?”

With the candidate and his campaign tight-lipped about what a President Obama would stand for, we are forced to look at his limited time in the Senate for some answers. That time has been short, to be sure, but the two years Senator Obama has been serving the people of Illinois do in fact provide us with some clues about what we could expect from an Obama Presidency.

Steven Thomas, writing recently for the McClatchy Washington Bureau, called Barack Obama more liberal than even radical left-wing Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and that’s no small accomplishment. Thomas bases his assessment on a National Journal analysis of votes cast by all the members of Congress currently in the race for President. That analysis ranked candidates based on comprehensive voting records, resulting in a ranking for Obama that made him the most liberal Senator after two full years in that legislative body.

That’s what voters should be focused on. For liberals, Obama’s ranking is probably uplifting. For conservatives and moderates, though, there is cause for worry if Senator Obama succeeds in becoming President Obama.

All of the time wasted focusing on Obama’s “blackness,” or lack thereof, would have been better spent educating Americans about what a President Obama would mean for government spending, taxes, foreign policy and national security, immigration, and social problems faced by this country.

Instead of focusing on candidate Obama’s skin color, or the skin color of those running his campaign, we should be focused on what he has to offer the citizens of this nation. When the debate moves to one of substance over race, then we will have truly progressed.

Author: Greg Reeson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Think of the entire array of types of attacks. By germ, well there must be some 200 possibilities. By computer virus attack, think of the unlimited technological targets from plants to business. By space, you have satellites, intercontinental ballistic missiles, land based energy units which can flash a satellite, etc. From the ground you have Earthquakes, dust storms weather, shipping containers, soda machines, buses, trucks, trains, passenger cars, suicide bombers of a multitude of possibilities. When we look at air we see combinations such as spraying AG planes, stealing a jet airliner and using it as a kamikaze, crude technology UAVs, missile, fighter/attack, etc. By sea, underwater submersibles manned and un manned, hijacked ships. By wavelength well we won’t even go there. By the way if you think the National Security team is not doing their job or you are worried about false alarms, being prepared and alert, every American is of ultra importance and there is no such thing as being too prepared. The game has changed and the information flow is intense and the number of possibilities has grown and therefore the job is harder.

Did the FBI or CIA fail, or are we simply looking in hindsight and looking for someone to blame? Before we condemn our own team or the never stop world of intelligence we should remember that the midnight ride was over 200 years ago now and all Paul had to do is spot them coming and let the town know how. Today, they could be coming or be here already and they could be amongst us or invisible to the eye. Big difference my friends. Stop pointing fingers and start listening and thinking, it is the eyes and ears of the people and the education of a society to be alert and not get hurt, we, the people are just as much to blame if you are looking for such. There were people at the airport, people issuing licenses, people doing training, foreign neighbors allowing meetings, people in every piece of the equation, if any of those people would have been observing they may have prevented the whole thing, learn to be observant and pay attention, you that means everyone is responsible for our future.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger