Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

DARE TO LOOK BACK

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Editorials & Other Articles Donate to DU
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 01:35 PM
Original message
DARE TO LOOK BACK
By Sheila Samples

"...the high office of the President has been used to forment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office, I must inform the citizens of this plight." John F. Kennedy (November 12, 1963, Columbia U, 10 days before his assassination)


I cannot recall a single day since Vulcans' Godfather James Baker sent his thuggish henchman John Bolton to Florida's Palm Beach County to screw up the vote count that has not been filled with horror, anger, shame -- despair. On Dec. 9, 2000 -- three days before the Florida deadline -- the US Republic shuddered on its axis when Bolton crashed through the doors of a Tallahassee library where Miami-Dade ballots were being recounted and shouted triumphantly -- "I'm with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count!"

In that instant we lost most of what had taken more than two centuries to build. In one fell swoop, Americans were thrust into the mire of an Orwellian World spinning out of control on the other side of the Looking Glass. What a tragedy -- not that so many failed to realize their government had just been seized in a coup de'etat -- but that the few who did refused to acknowledge it.

The sudden unconstitutional decision by five unelected right-wing activist Supreme Court justices to blatantly steal an election for one of their own -- to stop the vote count so Bush would not be "embarassed" by losing -- was a frightening assault upon the separation of powers, the American people, and upon democracy itself.

Having upset the national equilibrium, George Bush and Dick Cheney hit the deck at a dead run, trashing everything in their path. Like a couple of deranged Benny Hills with "Yakety Sax" blaring in the background, they trashed treaties, insulted other world leaders, and undermined Constitutional restraints on everything that stood between them and their goal of worldwide corporate pillage and total executive power.

Those who dare to look back will be struck by the speed at which they resurrected the zombies of the Iran-Contra era, the tyrannical neo-Straussians, and the godless right-wing evangelical warmongers, Talk about an Axis! The stage was set for their long-planned crusade to gain control of not only the world and its resources but of space and cyberspace as well. The only thing lacking was an incident to catapault them into the war for which they lusted -- an incident of such magnitude that cries of dissent would be lost in the roar for war.

Their vision of global dominance supplied them with moral justification for the filthy lies that took us into two wars and is threatening a third. "It is ironic," writes Canadian author and professor Shadia Drury, "that American neoconservatives have decided to conquer the world in the name of liberty and democracy, when they have so little regard for either." Drury has written two books on the philosophy of Leo Strauss, and she writes that Strauss believed "religion and war -- perpetual war -- would lift the masses from the animality of bourgeois consumption and the pre-occupation with 'creature comforts'. Instead of personal happiness, they would live their lives in perpetual sacrifice to God and the nation."

Neoconservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz, Irving and Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, John Negroponte, and many others, took from Strauss a doctrine of "all politics all the time" -- nasty, deceptive and repressive -- whatever it takes for the elite to exercise control over the vulgar unwashed. That would be you and me, fellow Americans, and Strauss said we could be inspired to rise above our "brutish existence only by fear of impending death or catastrophe." The lies they told, and continue to tell, according to Drury, are "noble lies for the consumption of the masses."

We are in the clutches of an evil, evil group of psychopaths -- warmongering moral cowards whose faux leader, George W. Bush, is a shallow, self-destructive little bully who deserted his military post during a time of war. Perhaps the most frightening of all is Michael Ledeen. Looking back, some might remember that Ledeen was Secretary of State Alexander Haig's advisor, a member of the National Security Council and a consultant for Ronald Reagan's Department of Defense. He played a central role in the Iran-Contra scandal. It was Ledeen who made the initial contact with Iranian arms dealers, which launched the arms-for-hostages affair and could have -- should have -- brought down the Reagan presidency.

Anyone reading Ledeen's book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, will recognize the Bush doctrine and know that the horror of 9-11 was a foregone conclusion -- a "done deal" -- the minute they seized the 2000 election. Ledeen wrote, "To be an effective leader, the most prudent method is to ensure that your people are afraid of you. To instill that fear, you must demonstrate that those who attack you will not survive."

On the evening of 9-11, Bush went before a paralyzed nation and, after a brief comment about praying, grieving and mourning for the 3,000 victims of that terrible day, he announced, "Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil." Then, warming to his subject, Bush rammed home what would become his mantra for the next six years -- "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." He then assured the masses that he would make no distinction between the "terrorists" and the regimes that harbored them. Bush's vision for revenge was to chase them all over the world and kill them all...

But a vision is not a plan. Looking back, it appears that Bush's plan for perpetual war is sending Americans to their deaths, unequipped and untrained, while bellowing, "Support the Troops!" Bush's plan is destroying an entire nation, its culture, its infrastructure -- raping, torturing and slaughtering its people for no reason other than he can. It is creating a humanitarian crisis of mind-boggling proportions -- more than 3.9 million Iraqis have fled their homes to safer areas in Iraq and in neighboring countries.

For Americans, it is more than a momentary inconvenience that 3,302 of their sons and daughters have needlessly been killed, 40 just last week, and that more than 26,000 have been wounded, broken, maimed -- their lives and those of their loved ones utterly destroyed. Stretching our military with its proud and honorable tradition of protecting this country until it breaks and then outsourcing legions of mercenaries to do our dirty work of preemptive attacks and occupation of other countries is not a plan that Americans will support.

Bush reminds us on a daily basis that our world changed on "September the 11th." That is true. But we must dare to look back even further to that dark December day when five Supreme Court judges made the ghastly decision that spawned the horrors of not only 9-11, but of the carnage in which we are embroiled today.

Before that bleak day, I had never used the f-word nor uttered the Lord's name in vain. However, as this nation teeters on the cusp of spiritual, physical and political death, I can only pray that God will damn them. Every last fucking one of them. Please God. Damn them all.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
hobbit709 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 01:39 PM
Response to Original message
1. I definitely agree
k&r
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dweller Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 01:54 PM
Response to Original message
2. a hearty K & R !
and echo of the curse - be damned to Hell - every fucking one of them.

dp
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:00 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. K&R?
I'm almost afraid to ask this -- but what does K&R stand for? But thanks...er -- I think
sheila
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
FloridaJudy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 09:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. K=kick
Kick means to reply. R=recommend. Recommend means you click on the "recommend" option at the lower left of the post.
K/R or K+R or K&R = kicked and recommended
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
doublethink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
3. Well done. You've been paying attention and studying.
You need to post more. K&R. Peace. :thumbsup:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. To doublethink
Thanks...The more I pay attention, the more frightened I become. I suspect that they do not intend to leave in 2008 -- and the camps, the Execcutive Orders for martial law, and FEMA are in place.

ss
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
rwork Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
4. Good post Sheila.
It would be interesting to see how James Baker feels today. He personally felt the bush* smack down when he headed the Iraq Study Group.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:17 PM
Response to Reply #4
9. To rwork
I could be wrong, but I think the Baker Iraq Study Group was a strategy to kill time...took them 9 months and then they wouldn't release it until after the election for political reasons...Meanwhile, every day of that time, we continued to lose three to four military personnel and 40-60-80 Iraqis.

I personally believe if you pull enough scabs off, James Baker will be discovered at the bottom -- the real reason for the boil. He's an attorney for the Saudis and Bin Ladens, for the Arab Emirates, is a founding partner of the Carlyle Group, and on and on. He's one slick puppy, and the most evil of the bunch. The Bushes would be lost without him...
ss
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
CRH Donating Member (671 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-17-07 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #9
16. "I personally believe if you pull enough scabs off, ...

James Baker will be discovered at the bottom".

That is a statement that Oh so tickles the sentiment of forgotten history. The influence of James Baker past and present in my opinion is thoroughly underestimated. In several books in the late eighties and early nineties, it was suggested by some that he drove the boat the last couple of years of the Reagan Presidency. When he took over from the unceremoniously sacked Donald Regan, Reagan's second chief of staff, some have opined Reagan was inattentive and incapable of administering the office of the Presidency. To the point, that within the close circle of presidential advisors it was debated if Amendment 25, Section Four might apply to the situation.

Whenever serious damage control or political manipulation is needed, Baker has often been near, often beneath the radar. He is every bit an equal of Cheney in the context of power and influence within the Republican party, even if he doesn't have the direct influence within the present administration that Cheney enjoys and abuses.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Morgana LaFey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 04:58 PM
Response to Original message
5. Exquisite. And heartbreaking.
It's hard to see the whole scenario laid out, tho we all know it, and could quote it chapter and verse.

Nicely done.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:18 PM
Response to Reply #5
10. To Morgana
Thank you so much...
ss
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 05:38 PM
Response to Original message
6. Well spoken
Thank you!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Sheila Samples Donating Member (264 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:19 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. to tavalon
No -- thank YOU!
ss
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
byronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-16-07 07:40 PM
Response to Original message
12. An excellent roundup.
Our sad little nation formerly known as the United States is still stumbling toward the precipice, although I think the 2006 election unlocked the steering wheel, at least.

If only they weren't so willing to destroy everything to gain power. I've just finished 'The Psychopathic God', an analysis of Adolf Hitler from research and writing, much like 'Bush's Brain'. The parallels are so eerie that they made my hair stand up. These are men who bear enormous guilt for their actions, and are trying desperately to destroy themselves with internal impulse writ large as national policy.

It's not over. We're not 1920's Germany. They may have overreached. The fact that we have not attacked Iran yet is a good sign that they're in check.

I, too, think the election of 2000 was the end of the United States of America. Long live the Restored United States.

Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
CRH Donating Member (671 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-17-07 11:46 AM
Response to Original message
14. The Kennedy quote ...
I first heard that quote in the late seventies, from a touring constitutional lawyer lecturing about the illegality of the IRS and income taxes. From an aged memory his name I think was Freeman or Fredmon, something close to that.

Anyway, after hearing that quote, ...

"...the high office of the President has been used to forment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office, I must inform the citizens of this plight." John F. Kennedy (November 12, 1963, Columbia U, 10 days before his assassination)

... I went to a college library in N Ca. and tried to locate the speech it was said in, because it tied into what I was reading and researching at the time, ie, the Kennedy assassination, Mark Lane, Jim Garrison, the Warren Report, etc.; But, I could never locate a version of the speech with the quote. Since that time I have never come across an unedited version of this Columbia University speech, though I have looked several times.

The reason I post this is because after posting this I will again try to find and read the Kennedy speech at Columbia University, and try to locate this quote within the context in which it was originally delivered. If anyone reading this post knows of where I can locate a copy of this speech, could you post the source or link. Maybe since the invention of the internet, and the mountains of information now available, it can be easily located. Thank You.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
CRH Donating Member (671 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-17-07 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. I did immediately find this about the elusive quote of the past, ...
and the reason my past efforts have been in vain. Either the history of the visit to Columbia, the speech, and its text were thoroughly edited from history, or it never existed in the first place. I probably should add, I believe the Kennedy assignation was a conspiracy from within the government, and seriously changed the course of our nation's history. I just can't document this quote.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Columbia+University+Speech.htm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Prophet 451 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-17-07 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
17. Hell yeah
K&R
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun Nov 03rd 2024, 07:49 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Editorials & Other Articles Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC