Fear the Smacker-Man

Imagine you're a five year old child. You have a couple of friends in kindergarten. You can swing higher than the most popular kid in your class. You have new sneakers that help you run faster and jump higher than anyone ever has. You're life is pretty good. Then you go home. Home is where the parents live.

They have a bed railing on your bed so you don't fall out at night. They feed you, like a baby, because you might hurt yourself with a spoon or fork. You can only watch one station on the television, therefore, you don't even know who Scooby-Doo is. Yes, the other children in school talk about him, you just smile and nod, not having any idea what they are talking about.

You're embarrassed to have friends over.

When you were a year old, your mom took you to the grocery store. She sat you in the seat part and wheeled you around while she shopped. It was fun, until the big bully walked up to you and slapped you in the face - hard!

It was that day that everything changed for you.

Your parents, out of self-proclaimed love, keep you sheltered. They are veiled in secrecy. They took your bedroom door off, so they could always see and hear you. People that look at you are now considered "potential smackers", your parents keep them in the basement where they torture and keep them indefinitely. They feed you the fear of everything, they demand that you bend to their wishes, they threaten you with that "smacker" if you do not. It's all, of course, for your own good.

Your parents are the deciders. They do their will without ever thinking about what you want or need. You have no privacy, no say. If you try, you are accused of aiding the "smacker-man". Then, they point at you and call you names and again, you lose one more piece of privacy, one more right, one more thread of self esteem.

Had this been a true story, we'd all be screaming child abuse. But, is it a work of fiction?

Now, let us pretend you're all grown up and your parents names are Cheney and Bush.

WASHINGTON - A Senate resolution opposing President Bush’s war plan on Iraq put the White House and Republican leaders on the defensive Wednesday as they scurried to prevent a trickle of GOP support for the measure from swelling into a deluge.

Eager to avoid an embarrassing congressional rebuke of the president’s new war strategy, the administration seemed to hint that the effort — led chiefly by Democrats — might somehow be of assistance to terrorists. They also herded GOP skeptics to the White House, where they tried to allay the concerns of Republican lawmakers including Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Susan Collins of Maine.


“What message does Congress intend to give?” asked White House spokesman Tony Snow. “And who does it think the audience is? Is the audience merely the president? Is it the voting American public or, in an age of instant communication, is it also al-Qaida?”

I think the message congress should give is this: We've had enough of your fear mongering, war waging and bullying. We aren't going to take it anymore. 'Nuff said?

Thanks for the invite!

Scared Yet?

I happened across this at Uncommon Thought Journal.

The U.S. network news reports conveniently leave out the information that target of "the raid" that resulted in the continued detention of "five Iranians," was an Iranian consulate. It was not just "some place." It was a particular place. It was not just "five Iranians." It was five members of the Iranian Consulate in Irbil, Iraq. Those are critical pieces of information, make all the difference between protecting Iraq's security, and essentially attacking the sovereign territory of Iran - an act of war. Iran has thus far refused to be provoked into a retaliatory act which could be used by Bush to legitimate a war on Iran. The presentation of this in the U.S. news is spin - the same kind of spin and half-truth that got us into Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice has stated the Bush authorized the Iranian consulate raid. Now they are claiming that the individuals "detained" in the raid are members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's al-Qod's Force. Not at all surprising, Iran is demanding their release. The Bush administration claims, and perhaps it is true, that the five individuals swept up in the raid on the consulate were involved in bringing weapons and money into Iraq for the purposes of the "insurgency." However, that doesn't make any difference in terms of the violation of the Vienna Convention.

No matter who "approved" the raid; no matter who was in the consulate; no matter what they were doing or planning; it makes no difference. The Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs is very clear. If you want to declare someone under consulate protection a "criminal" and get them out of the country, then the receiving nation (in this case Iraq) declares the individual(s) "persons non grata," and the sending state (in this case Iran) has to remove them in a timely fashion (Article 23). Neither Iraq, or the United States has the authority to invade the consulate and remove anyone.

Rowan tells this much more elequently than I could, so, to not defile his words, please, read his entire post.

Oil Companys Claim Victory!

The left has often speculated the reasoning behind the Iraq invasion. The right (some anyway) still confuse the Iraqis with the terrorists of 9/11. They believe 3000 dead American soldiers, several more thousand injured, 650,000 dead Iraqi's are all for the preservations of our freedoms. They believe this to be the crowning jewel in the commander and chiefs cap, a war on terror.

Bush continues to bellow words like "victory" and "stay the course", leaving sixty percent of the country scratching their collective heads. What exactly is this victory? How can this be achieved? It seems as though the top American oil companies can answer that question better than I.

I came across this little ditty on Marketwatch.com.

Iraq's massive oil reserves may be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies - which could end up grabbing up to 75% of the beleagured nation's oil profits - under a law seen coming before the Iraqi parliament within days, the Independent reported on its Web site Monday.
A draft of this controversial law, which the U.S. government has been helping to craft and has been seen by the Independent, would give oil giants such as BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and let these foreign oil companies undertake their first large-scale operations in the country since the industry was nationalized in 1972.
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would allow Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. However, opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95% of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty, the Independent reported.

Yes, America. We now know why our sons and daughters are dying. We now know why we invaded an innocent nation in the first place. We now know why the most unpopular person in Iraq was elected president. We now know why we must "stay the course". We now know why OBL is sipping fine wine and attention was taken off of Afghanistan and Al Qaeda was allowed to grow and prosper there. All has been revealed.

We need to impeach this man - Now! We need a new course for this country and the world. We need to lead by example and re-become the civilized nation we claim to be. Iran is in bush's sights next. Why? Because they are a threat? Nope. Oil. Again, it seems the left was right all along.

Another One Bites the Dust

If Cheney says, it must be true.......

I am finding it much easier to list the liberties and privacy rights we have to those we don't. What we do now have is a much smaller list. Now, we find, we have lost another one.
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday the Pentagon and CIA are not violating people's rights by examining the banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage in the United States.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've always had to give my permission for a bank or other loan institution to check my credit. Yet, cheney states - again - this domestic infringement on Americans right to privacy is well within his legal rights.
"The Defense Department gets involved because we've got hundreds of bases inside the United States that are potential terrorist targets," Cheney said.
"The Department of Defense has legitimate authority in this area. This is an authority that goes back three or four decades. It was reaffirmed in the Patriot Act," he said. "It's perfectly legitimate activity. There's nothing wrong with it or illegal. It doesn't violate people's civil rights."
The Pentagon and the CIA, to a lesser extent, have used this little-known power, officials said. The FBI, the lead agency on domestic counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of such letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Ah yes! The fear tactic!
Interestingly enough, the majority of Americans are fed up with the domestic spying, fear mongering, illegal war issues. Not that this administration cares. Nope, the decider will have his way. Just ask him.
I think that the entire administrations concerns could be summed up by the deciders comment of a week ago. He stated that if the new congress attempted to cut his war purse and surge stings, he'd kill a bill on Medicare. MEDICARE! No, even our ailing seniors mean less to this group then our civil liberties. Only a cash flow for them and their buds. That's it. End of story.
Is it even possible that they have forgotten that they are civil servants, elected officials, who, by rights should have the best interests of their people at heart? Seemingly the American people don't mean a great deal. Of course with the exception of handing over our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, moms and dads to be used as pawns in an illegal war of aggression. The last election taught them nothing. Hopefully, the new congress will.

Funny thing though, while bush and cheney are screaming about their "legal rights" they are ignoring ours.