"Liberty" Protestors Are Just Republican Hacks

There was a group of people holding signs advocating "limited government" as my wife and I were driving past Walgreens in Wentzville, MO yesterday afternoon. Other signs read something to the effect of "We've had enough" and "We're not going to take it sitting down", etc. There was also an individual holding a flag pole with the US flag above the Gadsden "Don't Tread On Me" flag and other references to "liberty".

Intrigued, I circled back around in order to ask the group one simple question:

ME: Do you also support bringing home the troops?
MAN: Sure.
ME: Sure or yes?
MAN: Yes.
This conversation took place as I was yelling from my car at an intersection, so it didn't allow for further debate or questions. None was really needed as I got the answer of which I was afraid and suspected.

I must clarify that his tone as he answered with "sure" suggested that bringing home the troops was an afterthought. He answered "sure" as though I had just asked him if he wanted a second helping of mashed potatoes, hence the need for my follow up question.

Assuming this man speaks for the group, these are just more jaded Republicans upset because their brand of government expansion is not being implemented. I wonder where these protesters were as Bush grew the government for 8 years? Where were they when Bush suspended habeas corpus? Where were they when Bush invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? Where were they when Bush bailed out the big banks and auto makers?

I asked the question about the troops because Republicans only seem to start being concerned about "liberty" when domestic spending is increased, but have no problem with the US expanding the empire abroad. Until the Republicans are ready to understand what liberty truly is, I wish this word were expunged from their vocabulary in order to protect its definition.

Obama to Send 30,000 More Troops to Afghanistan

As Obama continues in the exact foot steps of the warmonger Bush, how is it that he gets a free pass from the mainstream media and the so-called peace activists?

Is the desire to eradicate thousands of brown people in a foreign land exclusively a Republican stance? Could it be that Obama and the rest of his Democrat buddies simply share the same insatiable desire to wield their power over others and continue to reward their connected coherts in the military industrial complex?

When will people realize that there is NO DIFFERENCE between Republicans and Democrats? Sure, they toss around the political footballs of abortion, capital punishment, health care, etc. But when it comes to spreading the empire, they are all cut from the same cloth.

Legitimate pro-peace Democrats and media, prove me wrong. I've lost all hope for the Republicans and neoconservatives.

UPDATE 12/6/09

Problem: US Military Required to be out of Iraqi cities by June 30

Solution: just redraw the city boundaries.

On a map of Baghdad, the US Army's Forward Operating Base Falcon is clearly within city limits.

Except that Iraqi and American military officials have decided it's not. As the June 30 deadline for US soldiers to be out of Iraqi cities approaches, there are no plans to relocate the roughly 3,000 American troops who help maintain security in south Baghdad along what were the fault lines in the sectarian war.

"We and the Iraqis decided it wasn't in the city," says a US military official.

"We consider the security agreement a living document," says a senior US commander.

This kind of creative manuevering and backdooring is expected from the Neoconservatives/Republicans/Dick Cheney, but not from the "party of peace". Say it isn't so, Barack!

Where is the outrage from the supposed peace lovers? Where is the frontpage story on the Huffington Post? Could it be that the peace movement only acts when in its best interest, which is when a Republican is in office? Nary a word when the Dems are in control. What a lousy bunch of posers.

Churchgoers More Likely to Support Torture

A survey performed by the Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life found that 54% of those who attend services at least once per week believe that torture can "often" or "sometimes" be justified against suspected terrorists. This is in contrast to the 42% of those who seldom or never attend church.

Initially I was going to draw parallels between church goers and the Republican party, but frankly, what's the point? It takes little intellectual capacity to link the Republican party to the Religious Right (see: the Moral Majority), and party affiliation is irrelevent in this particular application.

This data is a bit shocking when you consider the message that Jesus presented and then watch in awe as the hypocritical religious masses support the heinous act of torture. These are the modern day Pharisees that Jesus rebuked in the temple in the New Testament. What kind of garbage is being spewed from the pulpet?

Bush was elected (twice) because of the religious faction and one can confidently narrow the reason for support down to the predictable topics of abortion, gay marriage, morality, et al. What did Bush do in 8 years that helped to advance the pro-life movement? Yet in those same 8 years, how many lives were lost in the Middle East, both American and foreign? How can these people be so short-sided and inconsistent?

[By the way, Democrats, how is that whole Iraq pull-out coming along? Where is the peace movement now that the evil Bush is out of power?]

I guess the only way to protect the "suspected terrorists" from the "loving" church goers is to put them inside a womb.

[See Lawrence Vance's article.]

Caffeine Tax

Utah Representative Craig Frank has stated his intent to begin taxing beverages containing caffeine.

Are the lawmakers reading George Orwell and then proposing legislation based on what they've just learned?

Said Frank, another one of those "limited government" Republicans, "Some feel [the cigarette tax is] a tax on those who are addicted to a substance that frankly they enjoy [but] we say that's a harmful thing to do. At the same time, the government is addicted to the fee revenues, so in light of that, if we're really going to find a revenue stream on something addictive, why not cold caffeine?"

When the general population tightens their belts during this depression, why doesn't the government have to do the same?

Frank continues, "We're going after people who have problems with addiction for a revenue stream, only caffeine would be one that is more broad-based."

Representative Frank is correct about one thing: the American people do have an addiction, and that addiction is government.

Moreover, the politicians' lust for power is an addiction that is enabled only by the people's addiction to government. As is the case with all addictions, an intervention is needed; the last intervention took place in 1776. After more than two centuries of dependency of this drug, it is time for another intervention.

Bush Got One Right

Savor that headline, Republicans, because that's where the accolades end.

President Obama on Monday signed an executive order removing restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research that were previously put in place by President Bush. Another way to write that would be: President Obama on Monday continued his unwavering quest to commission billions of taxpayer dollars -- which we don't have -- to pay for [insert unconstitutional spending project here].

Bush accidentally got one right because he found a way to NOT spend federal funds, even though his reasoning had nothing to do with fiscal or constitutional responsibility.

Naturally, the religious right is up in arms because of the blurred morality line they claim this has crossed, but offer no criticism on the grounds of increased federal spending despite their feigned desire for limited government.

"The president has rolled back important protections for innocent life, further dividing our nation at a time when we need greater unity to tackle the challenges before us," charged Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Where were the Republicans rallying in support of innocent life when George Bush ordered the execution of innocent lives in Iraq? Or should that just be chalked up to collateral damage?

Notwithstanding the issue of federal financing, couldn't supporters of stem cell research draw the same parallel that expended embryonic life is simply "collateral damage" and necessary in attaining the "greater good"?

Republicans Want to Stop Giving Funds to GM

Republican lawmakers said Congress should stop providing General Motors Corp. with federal aid and let the company file for bankruptcy if necessary.

“The best thing that could probably happen to General Motors, in my view, is they go into Chapter 11,” Senator John McCain said on the “Fox News Sunday” program today.

How can anybody take the Republicans seriously? Is it any wonder that they have lost the White House and both houses of congress? Donors to this joke of a party should be suing for fraud because that's exactly what this collection of misfits is.

To be sure, the Republicans do have it right (finally): the government should NOT be bailing out GM just like it should not bail out Chrysler or AIG or Bear Stearns or IndyMac or Fannie/Freddie or WaMu or Citibank or Bank of Amerika or ... or ...

With the presidential election over, McCain realized that he no longer needed to pander to the critical Michigan constituency, and has cast his vote toward whichever direction the political winds are blowing.

In-Vitro Fertilization Legislation

This is the CNN.com poll from this morning due to legislation proposed (by a Republican state senator) in response to the walking California tax revenue siphon who just gave birth to octuplets. Nearly 3 out of every 4 who voted believe the government should regulate the number of embryos that a woman can be implanted with during in-vitro fertilization. Now I know this isn't a scientific poll but the numbers are staggering regardless. Where are the pro-choicers shouting "keep your laws off my body!"?

The problem isn't a lack of regulation in the embryo fertilization industry. This is the predictable product of a healthcare and welfare system in which irresponsibility is encouraged and rewarded by the transfer of financial liability to the tax payers. The answer is not more legislation but the complete abolishment of the welfare state.

DEAR REPUBLICANS:
STOP MASQUERADING AS THE PARTY OF LIMITED GOVERNMENT. YOU HAVE ABOUT AS MUCH CREDIBILITY AS DEMOCRATS PRETENDING TO BE THE ANTI-WAR PARTY.

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery." --Thomas Jefferson

Republicans vs Democrats

There is a very public battle occurring between the ideologues on the left and the right, and each camp has its set of designated talking heads whose sole purpose is to propel its own agenda. It seemingly need not matter that the size and scope of the federal government has been expanding exponentially regardless of who was at the helm. If you ask the Democrats, the latest economic crisis can be blamed solely on President Bush and his policies. That same question posed to the Republicans returns a predictable answer of the Democratically lead Congress.

It is a never-ending cycle that plays an essential role in the transfer of power from the people to the state. The state only increases in size - it never shrinks. It never cedes power once taken. It is a unilateral movement toward despotism that is only enabled by the people looking for more security. We have become a nation that turns to the government to solve our every problem and give us that feeling of sanctuary.

How many times in the past year have we heard the talking media heads use the phrase "consumer confidence" and then look to grade our leaders on their ability to convey and inspire this confidence? Why is it the government's responsibility to inspire consumer confidence? The best way to inspire confidence is to get the government out of the business of centrally planning the economy - the market is too vast and complex to be positively manipulated by any collection of arrogant politicians and bankers.

We must stop falling for the same tricks that have distracted us for so long. The war between Republicans and Democrats must be ended and the true enemy must be identified: the state.