December 28, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

INSANITY SQUARED

When Senator Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964 many people in the country considered him an extremist. It was said of Goldwater "In your heart you know he's nuts." Now Barry Goldwater seems the epitome of rationality. Right-wingers put forth a flurry of ideas that are nothing short of insane. We've resisted some of them, such as privatizing Social Security, but the insane ideas keep coming. The solution to violence in the schools, according to the lunatics, is to arm the teachers. The bigots on the right would have gay people wear arm bands denoting their sexual orientation, much like the Nazis made Jews wear the Star of David. Fascism is never dead. It only needs the right stimulus to grow again. This article by A. Alexander is at www.progressivedailybeacon.com:

It isn't by accident that Newt Gingrich has suddenly championed the anti-American concept of censoring the internet and limiting free speech. They weren't joking when the neo-theocratic-wing of the Republican Party suggested that, perhaps, gay people should wear armbands denoting their sexual preference. There isn't a smirk on any Republicans' faces when they say the so-called "war on terror" has morphed into a "Third World War." And the jackboots in the GOP, those who are championing the absurd idea that school teachers should be armed, are deadly serious.

Censorship, limiting free speech, Nazi-like Star of David armbands for gay people, a world at war, and sending our children into schools with authoritarian figures armed to the teeth - kind of makes Terry Schiavo and warrantless wiretapping seem almost benign. But it does highlight the way in which extremism escalates - how, in order to survive and thrive, it must become increasingly radicalized.

The vast majority of the Republican Party platform isn't based upon sound and meaningful political ideas and policies, but rather it has been predicated upon fear-based wedge issues. Republicans have never tried to win-over converts to their way of thinking, they've only tried to find a way to use the peoples' fears in order to peel or "wedge" support away from the Democrats. And, of course, the cornerstone of the Republican "wedge" campaign has been, as a whole, to make the Democratic Party appear scary and demonic.

NO TEARS FOR FORD

It seems almost obligatory to offer praise for the dead, especially if they occupied places of power or wealth. So now we will hear the praise for Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States. Ford assumed office upon the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974. We'll hear that Ford helped "heal the nation" after the Watergate scandal. Ford pardoned Nixon rather than allow the legal process to take its course. He paved the way for the right-wing monstrosity we have now. His foreign policy featured aid to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and giving a green light to Indonesian dictator Suharto to slaughter 200,000 Timorese. This column by Matthew Rothschild is at www.commondreams.org:

On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.

He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing to that vicious strongman.

And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him a green light to invade East Timor.

According to a declassified State Department cable, here was part of their conversation.

Suharto to Ford and Kissinger: “We want your understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid or drastic action.”

Ford: “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem you have and the intentions you have.”

Kissinger: “We understand your problem and the need to move quickly, but I am only saying that it would be better if it were done after we returned.”

Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, and Suharto launched his invasion hours later.

Suharto’s invasion and occupation cost the lives of 200,000 Timorese.