Hi Dems,
I voted for Obama, I believed in the open government and the change we can believe in. I now feel I was taken for a ride, lied to and my vote should not count. Obama has done a complete turn around of what I thought he stood for. I voted for a radical racist as far as I am concerned.
I hear all of the left calling people racists and this just is not right. I am a white lady and I feel like the new radical left does not even like me. The right has every right to voice their opinions and we should allow them to. If they are so very wrong then show them where they are wrong, quit the racist crap. I did hear the rants of wright and jones and I must agree with the right on those issues. An ex-president jimmy carter has no right at all to call anybody a racist, it just is wrong. I also believe the left has gotten way too radical and wants too much change of America. The damn blacks are complaining all over again like fifty years ago. Will they ever stop with the race card thing? I know jesse jackson and al sharpton makes a good living on race baiting but not from the left come on people.
I read all about the czars and they are crazy as hell with radical views and remarks. van jones is a complete crazy man that has no reason being in this country with his hate of America and for whites. I see no God in Rev Wright what so ever and never knew Obama was in his church 20 years. This man is evil at best and nobody should go to his church. Obama is spending his way into debt we can never pay back and that worries me a lot. The more I hear about Acorn the more corrupt I think they are and Obama is. I did not know mrs Obama said this was a mean country or that she was never proud. Oh my I do not believe I did the right thing by voting for him. I am so sorry I did but maybe I can fix it by changing to a republican and go to their marches. I noe think Obama is an evil evil man and wants people to praise him and not God.
Become a Citizen Lobbyist!
Wow, Good News sure travels fast! Just a few days ago, while with a small group – the subject of the Lobbyist influence in Washington, D.C. was mentioned. Of course, it started as a discussion about what most of us are already aware of and many of us have talked about with our own family, friends, and neighbors.
“How can we, as citizens, continue to be heard without having our own Lobbyists to represent us?” As we well know, some people are hired to talk with our leaders and tell them what their desires are and what they need to continue growing and reaching beyond expectations. “Wouldn’t it be great if America’s Citizens had people like that?!” – was the sentiment expressed. Yet, we do!
We have us! Okay, we might not have the fancy job-title that hired Lobbyist’s do -- however, we do have desires and needs, access to a telephone and the heart to speak out passionately on behalf of restoring the health of our families, communities, and nation. And, we can easily find out the phone numbers of our Representatives and Congress Members; both at the Capitol and at their office’s in our hometowns, (or the nearest city).
Then, during the creation of our 21st Century Legislation – while they are focusing on each area and developing new rules and laws to benefit our lives – we can give them a call to tell them our position. Additionally, when a subject is being addressed in an area that we know a lot about, because we work in the field or are recipients of the services and directly affected; we already have developed clear ideas about what is needed to improve our health, rekindle our growth, and surpass all expectations.
For those of us who have created solutions to revive and uplift our public purpose programs and social infrastructure -- we can ask for their fax numbers, and then send in our Plans or share our hard-earned insights! (Or, for the computer literate, go to their Websites and post your thoughts; then send emails to all of your friends)!
And considering that there are only a few hundred hired Lobbyists and millions upon millions of us, Citizen Lobbyists, types; by joining our efforts and making weekly calls, (which takes approximately five to twenty minutes, depending on how many of our leaders you contact); we can make certain that our views are expressed, represented and known. Yes, We Can Do This! We Can Be Heard!
At my school we have a few people who refuse to support you. I always confuse them by asking them why that don't supprt and I make them give me a reason why they don't support and then I give them a bunch of facts and stuff about the war or the recession and then they might just ignore me or look confused, or just say whatever. I have changed the mind of many and my goal isn't a number like 5 per week, it is EVERYONE.
Have a Great Patriotic Day,
Your Friend
Erin
Hey, just because Im young does not mean I do not understand and unfortunately see the world of today in all its corrupted and selfish shame.
Many people are and have been ignorant and greedy, and our world, our planet is suffering for it. I have seen a lot of cowardly and unfair shit in my 17 years already. Its all about the money, isnt it? Well guess what? Theres more to life than money. I hear that many people of America are complaining against the New Health Insurance Proposal and im a little shocked as to why? I may be British, but Im not stupid and I take pride in NOT being ignorant.
Im aware of the political and global 'goings-on' in the world; and I think more people should be. There are many people who do not know who their own President/Priminister is, which is quite shocking, mostly because they CHOOSE not to care. This health insurance issue IS IMPORTANT.
Just because other less fortunate people cannot afford insurance DOES NOT mean they should suffer. How can anyone, regardless or their beliefs or backgrounds stand up and admit that they believe this. My mother is quite ill at the moment and will be having an operation in October. If we had no health insurance, we would not be able to afford it, and her illness may turn terminal.
They are far worse cases out there but i have offered you a personal example. People need to realise that money and looks or whatever only get you so far, but whats in lack of supply at the moment is common sense, honesty, compassion and generosity.
All I can say to those that are lacking is this:
Sort your life out you disgraceful excuse for a human being. >:( !!!!!
We should have a rally titled "Take My America Back" ~Basically, instead of protesting, we have workshops...a workshop on how to manage your finances with credit cards--taught for free, by pros; workshop for easy how-to's to create less of a foot print on earth--all under 100 dollars (easy 'go green' meets HGTV); workshop on hospital terminology--so we can understand what doctors are actually telling us, now, and make better future decisions, now!; workshop on CPR--....enough said really; workshop on cooking for a family of 4--under 50 bucks a day; workshop titled 'xxnumber of ways to start losing weight--tomorrow' (take the steps, stretch more, really tho. Why do we only stretch when we have or anticipate the idea of future pain due to our own out-of-shapeness?;is that a real word?; workshop on being a new driver--partially taught by teens from that very same community; workshop titled 'not for me'-- workshop for young adults planning for their futures (only own what you can afford!); workshop on indentifying financial leakage--we dont 'need'...eeeeverything!; workshop on real third world countries--a humbling lesson learned when you see how good we really have it; and finally (cuz I really could go on forever)a workshop titled 'explain, please?!'--help people understand how to effectively utilize their cell phones (explain things like social networking/SMS/MMS/BBM/AIM/Apps/WAPs/GPS/VVM...wow!)
The Catch:
1)...I dont want to organize it by myself LOL 1.5) its FREE for all! 2) I would love to have each 'rally' have at least one local person in each and every workshop = dedicated AMERICANS giving up their free time to help other PEOPLE...and yes, I meant PEOPLE, all of them. 3)Ideally: head to toe voluntary...no one gets paid, its all voluntary!; not the sponsors, not the organizers, not the appearences, not the musical acts, not even the clean-up crew...I mean really...we have a ton of unemployed people sitting around with countless degrees and experience and nothing else to do. Lets step up! 4) Lastly, if this ever came to pass, I would love to present a check to the President of the United States, that day, on the National Debt (cummulation of tax free donations created from these events, by people who believe in helping others for the sake of helping others) This is our country...we already own it, so lets own up to it! I owe it to YOU! This is me taking ownership of my America (insert picture of Uncle Sam--ironic) America, you down?!
I am an educator who has been blessed with the opportunity to live and work abroad for a large part of my life, and to see what an impact the American dream has had in places as far apart historically and culturally as Ethiopia and Canada. America's promise shines as a bright light regardless where in the world one may be. Dark clouds of fear and loathing have briefly dimmed that light, but the election of President Barak Obama has reminded the world that Americans have good hearts and always, ultimately, remember what is right. His presidency has begun to push away the clouds, and we recall the dream of the Founders who established the egalitarian system under which The Law is our only king.
Entrevista con el escritor uruguayo Eduardo Galeano.
“La presencia norteamericana en bases militares de Colombia no solo ofende la dignidad de América Latina sino también la inteligencia”
En la quiteña Avenida Amazonas, a pocos pasos del hotel donde se aloja, encontramos como cualquier transeúnte en la noche del domingo 9 de agosto a Eduardo Galeano, quien ha llegado a la capital ecuatoriana para asistir como invitado especial al acto de posesión del presidente Rafael Correa, ceremonia que se cumplió el pasado 10 de agosto. Lo paramos y nos identificamos para solicitarle una entrevista, a la cual accede con gusto.“Ahora no puede ser, pero veámonos mañana después de la ceremonia de posesión de Correa”, nos dice el autor de Las venas abiertas de América Latina y de Espejos.Como siempre, Galeano responde a las preguntas con ironía y no poco humor, por eso es que sus reflexiones se salen de lo común. Como latinoamericanista consumado, el escritor uruguayo en diálogo con CRONICON.NET hace un peculiar análisis de la realidad sociopolítica de nuestro hemisferio.Tiempo abierto de esperanza- ¿Después de 200 años de la emancipación de América Latina, se puede hablar de una reconfiguración del sujeto político en esta región, habida cuenta los avances políticos que se traducen en gobiernos progresistas y de izquierda en varios países latinoamericanos?- Sí, hay un tiempo abierto de esperanza, una suerte de renacimiento que es digno de celebración en países que no han terminado de ser independientes, apenas si han empezado un poquito. La independencia es una tarea pendiente para casi toda América Latina.- ¿Con toda la irrupción social que se viene dando a lo largo del hemisferio se puede señalar que hay una acentuación de la identidad cultural de América Latina?- Sí, yo creo que sí y eso pasa por cierto por las reformas constitucionales. A mí me ofendió la inteligencia, aparte de otras cosas que sentí, el horror de este golpe de Estado en Honduras que invocó como causa el pecado cometido por un Presidente que quiso consultar al pueblo sobre la posibilidad de reformar la Constitución, porque lo que quería Zelaya era consultar sobre la consulta, ni siquiera una era reforma directa. Suponiendo que fuera una reforma a la Constitución bienvenida sea, porque las constituciones no son eternas y para que los países puedan realizarse plenamente tienen que reformarlas. Yo me pregunto: ¿qué sería de los Estados Unidos si sus habitantes siguieran obedeciendo a su primera Constitución? La primera Constitución de Estados Unidos establecía que un negro equivalía a las tres quintas partes de una persona. Obama no podría ser Presidente porque ningún país puede tener de mandatario a las tres quintas partes de una persona.- Usted reivindica la figura del presidente Barack Obama por su condición racial, ¿pero el hecho de mantener o ampliar la presencia norteamericana mediante bases militares en América Latina, como está ocurriendo ahora en Colombia con la instalación de siete plataformas de control y espionaje, no desdice de las verdaderas intenciones de este mandatario del partido demócrata, y simplemente sigue al pie de la letra los planes expansionistas y de amenaza de una potencia hegemónica como Estados Unidos?- Lo que pasa es que Obama hasta ahora no ha definido muy bien que es lo que quiere hacer ni en relación con América Latina, las relaciones nuestras, tradicionalmente dudosas, ni en otros temas tampoco. En algunos espacios hay una voluntad de cambio expresa por ejemplo en lo que tiene que ver con el sistema de salud que es escandaloso en Estados Unidos, te rompes una pierna y pagás hasta el fin de tus días la deuda por ese accidente. Pero en otros espacios no, él continúa hablando de ‘nuestro liderazgo’, ‘nuestro estilo de vida’ en un lenguaje demasiado parecido al de los anteriores.
A mí me parece muy positivo que un país tan racista como ese y con episodios de un racismo colosal, descomunal, escandaloso, ocurridos hace quince minutos en términos históricos tenga un presidente seminegro. En 1942, o sea medio siglo, nada, el Pentágono prohibió las transfusiones de sangre negra y ahí el director de la Cruz Roja renunció o fue renunciado porque se negó aceptar la orden diciendo que toda sangre era roja y que era un disparate hablar de sangre negra, y él era negro, era un gran científico, el que hizo posible la aplicación del plasma a escala universal, Charles Drew. Entonces un país que hiciera un disparate como prohibir la sangre negra tenga a Obama de presidente es un gran avance. Pero por otro lado, hasta ahora yo no veo un cambio sustancial, ahí está por ejemplo el modo como su gobierno enfrentó la crisis financiera, pobrecito yo no quisiera estar en sus zapatos, pero la verdad es que terminaron recompensando a los especuladores, los piratas de Wall Strett que son muchísimo más peligrosos que los de Somalia porque éstos asaltan nada más que los barquitos en la costa, en cambio los de la Bolsa de Nueva York asaltan al mundo. Ellos fueron finalmente recompensados; yo quería iniciar una campaña al principio conmovido por la crisis de los banqueros con el lema: “adopte un banquero”, pero la abandoné porque vi que el Estado se hizo cargo de la tarea. (Risas).
Y lo mismo con América Latina, como que no tiene muy claro qué hacer. Han estado más de un siglo los Estados Unidos consagrados a la fabricación de dictaduras militares en América Latina, entonces a la hora de defender una democracia como en el caso de Honduras, ante un clarísimo golpe de Estado, vacilan, tienen respuesta ambiguas, no saben qué hacer, porque no tienen práctica, les falta experiencia, llevan más de un siglo trabajando en el sentido contrario, entonces comprendo que la tarea no es fácil. En el caso de las bases militares en Colombia no solo ofende la dignidad colectiva de América Latina sino también la inteligencia de cualquiera, porque que se diga que su función va ser combatir las drogas, ¡por favor, hasta cuando! Casi toda la heroína que se consume en el mundo proviene de Afganistán, casi toda, datos oficiales de Naciones Unidas que cualquiera puede ver en Internet. Y Afganistán es un país ocupado por Estados Unidos y como se sabe los países ocupantes tiene la responsabilidad de lo que ocurre en los países ocupados, por lo tanto, tienen algo que ver con este narcotráfico en escala universal y son dignos herederos de la reina Victoria que era narcotraficante.No se puede ser tan hipócrita- La reina británica que introdujo por todos los medios en el siglo XIX el opio a China a través de comerciantes de Inglaterra y Estados Unidos…- Sí, la celebérrima reina Victoria de Inglaterra impuso el opio en China a lo largo de dos guerras de treinta años, matando una cantidad inmensa de chinos, porque el imperio chino se negaba a aceptar esa sustancia dentro de sus fronteras que estaba prohibida. Y el opio es el papá de la heroína y de la morfina, justamente. Entonces a los chinos les costó todo, porque China era una gran potencia que podía haber competido con Inglaterra en los comienzos de la revolución industrial, era el taller del mundo, y la guerra del opio los arrasó, los convirtió en una piltrafa, de ahí entraron los japoneses como perico por su casa, en quince minutos.
Victoria era una reina narcotraficante y los Estados Unidos que tanto usan la droga como coartada para justificar sus invasiones militares, porque de eso se trata, son dignos herederos de esa fea tradición. A mí me parece que es hora que nos despertemos un poquito, que no se puede ser tan hipócrita. Si van a ser hipócritas que lo sean con más cuidado. En América Latina tenemos buenos profesores de hipocresía, si quieren podemos en un convenio de ayuda tecnológica mutua prestarles algunos hipócritas propios.- Hace nueve años exactamente, usted le dijo en una entrevista en Bogotá concedida a este reportero la siguiente frase: “Dios guarde a Colombia del Plan Colombia”. ¿Cuál es ahora su reflexión respecto de este país andino que enfrenta un gobierno autoritario entregado a los intereses de los Estados Unidos, con una alarmante situación de violación de derechos humanos y con un conflicto interno que lo sigue desangrando?- Además con problemas gravísimos que se han ido agudizando con el paso del tiempo. Yo no sé, te digo, no soy quien para darle consejos a Colombia ni a los colombianos, además siempre estuve contra esa mala costumbre de algunos que se sienten en condiciones de decir qué es lo que cada país tiene que hacer. Yo nunca cometí ese imperdonable pecado y no lo voy a cometer ahora con Colombia, solo puede decir que ojalá los colombianos encuentren su camino, ojalá lo encuentren, nadie se lo pueden imponer desde afuera, ni por la izquierda, ni por la derecha, ni por el centro, ni por nada, serán los colombianos quienes lo encontrarán. Y yo lo que puedo es decir que doy testimonio. Si hay un tribunal mundial que alguna vez va a juzgar a Colombia por lo que de Colombia se dice: país violento, narcotraficante, condenado a violencia perpetua, yo voy a dar testimonio de que no, de que ese es un país cariñoso, alegre y que merece mejor destino.Reivindicando memoria de Raúl Sendic- Hace muchos años, siquiera unas cuatro décadas, había un personaje en Montevideo que se reunía con un joven dibujante llamado Eduardo Hughes Galeano con el propósito de darle ideas para la elaboración de sus caricaturas, llamado Raúl Sendic, el inspirador del Frente Amplio del Uruguay…- Y jefe guerrillero de los Tupamaros, aunque en aquella época todavía no lo era. Es verdad, cuando yo era un niño, casi de catorce años, y empecé a dibujar caricaturas, él se sentaba a mirar y me daba ideas, era un hombre bastante mayor que yo, con cierta experiencia, y todavía no era lo que después fue: el fundador, organizador y jefe de los Tupamaros. Recuerdo que le dijo a don Emilio Frugoni que por entonces era el jefe del Partido Socialista y director del semanario donde yo publicaba unas caricaturas tempranas, señalándome: “Este va a ser o presidente o gran delincuente”. Fue una buena profecía y terminé siendo gran delincuente… (Risas).- ¿El hecho de que hoy el Frente Amplio esté gobernando el Uruguay y que un ex guerrillero como Pepe Mujica tenga posibilidades de ganar las elecciones presidenciales constituye una reivindicación a la memoria de Sendic?- Sí, y de todos los que participaron en una lucha muy larga para romper el monopolio de dos, el bipolio ejercido por el Partido Colorado y el Partido Nacional durante casi toda la vida independiente del país. El Frente Amplio irrumpe hace muy poquito en el escenario político nacional y me parece muy positivo que esté gobernando ahora, aparte de que yo no coincido con todo lo que se hace y además creo que no se hace todo lo que se debería hacer. Pero eso no tiene nada que ver porque al fin y al cabo la victoria del Frente Amplio fue también una victoria de la diversidad política que yo creo que es la base de la democracia. En el Frente coexisten muchos partidos y movimientos diferentes, unidos por supuesto en una causa común pero con sus diversidades y diferencias, y yo las reivindico, para mí eso es fundamental.- ¿Qué representa para usted como uruguayo el hecho de que un dirigente emblemático de la izquierda como Pepe Mujica, ex guerrillero tupamaro, tenga amplias posibilidades de llegar a la Presidencia de la República de su país?- Con algún chance, no va a ser es fácil, vamos a ver qué pasa, pero creo que es un proceso de recuperación, la gente se reconoce justamente en el Pepe Mujica porque es radicalmente diferente de los políticos nuestros tradicionales, en su lenguaje, hasta en su aspecto y todo, por más que él ha tratado de vestirse de fino caballero no le sale bien, y expresa muy bien una necesidad y una voluntad popular de cambio. Creo que sería bueno que él llegara a la Presidencia, vamos a ver si ocurre o no, de todos modos el drama del Uruguay como el del Ecuador, por cierto, país en el que estamos conversando este momento, es la hemorragia de su población joven. O sea, la nuestra es una patria peregrina; en su discurso de posesión el presidente Rafael Correa habló de los exiliados de la pobreza y la verdad es que hay una enorme cantidad de uruguayos mucho más de lo que se dice, porque no son oficiales las cifras, pero no menos de 700 mil, 800 mil uruguayos en una población pequeñísima porque nosotros en el Uruguay somos 3 millones y medio, esa es una cantidad inmensa de gente afuera, todos o casi todos jóvenes, entonces han quedado los viejos o la gente que ya ha cumplido esa etapa de la vida en la que uno quiere que todo cambie para resignarse a que no cambie nada o que cambie muy poquito.Baldositas de colores para armar mosaicos- ¿Tras sus reputados libros Las venas abiertas de América Latina publicado en 1970, y Espejos, editado en 2008, que relatan historias de la infamia, el primero sobre nuestro continente y el otro de buena parte del mundo, hay espacio para seguir creyendo en la utopía?- Espejos lo que hace es recuperar la historia universal en todas sus dimensiones, en sus horrores pero también en sus fiestas, es muy diferente a Las venas abiertas de América Latina, que fue el comienzo de un camino. Las venas abiertas es un ensayo casi de economía política, escrito en un lenguaje no muy tradicional en el género, por eso perdió el concurso de Casa de las Américas, porque el jurado no lo considero serio.
Era una época en que la izquierda solo creía que lo serio era lo aburrido, y como el libro no era aburrido, no era serio, pero es un libro muy concentrado en la historia política económica y en las barbaridades que esa historia implicó para nosotros, como nos deformó y nos estranguló.
En cambio, Espejos, intenta asomarse al mundo entero recogiendo todo, las noches y los días, las luces y las sombras, son todas historias muy cortitas, y hay una diferencia también de estilo, Las venas abiertas tiene una estructura tradicional, y a partir de ahí yo intenté encontrar un lenguaje mío, propio, que es el del relato corto, baldositas de colores para armar los grandes mosaicos, un estilo como el de los muralistas, y cada relato es una pequeña baldosita que incorpora un color, y uno de los últimos relatos de Espejos evoca un recuerdo de infancia mío que es verdadero y es que cuando yo era chiquito creía que todo lo que se perdía en la tierra iba a parar en la luna, estaba convencido de eso y me sorprendió cuando llegaron los astronautas a la luna porque no encontraron ni promesas traicionadas, ni ilusiones perdidas, ni esperanzas rotas, y entonces yo me pregunté: ¿si no están en la luna, dónde están? ¿No será que están aquí en la tierra, esperándonos?
What if Barack Obama had picked the Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel or Democracy Now! anchor Amy Goodman to advise him at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this week? Unlikely, to say the least, but 75 years ago President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did something just like that, tapping a former Nation editor and fierce critic of U.S. militarism to advise his administration on Latin American policy. As a result -- consider this your curious, yet little known, fact of the day -- anti-imperialism saved the American empire.
FDR took office in 1933 looking not just to stabilize the U.S. economy, but to calm a world inflamed: Japan had invaded Manchuria the year before; the Nazis had seized power in Germany; European imperialists were tightening their holds over their colonies; and the Soviet Union had declared its militant "third period" strategy, imagining that global capitalism, plunged into the Great Depression, was in its last throes.
When, soon after his March inauguration, Roosevelt put forward a call to the "nations of the world" to "enter into a solemn and definitive pact of non-aggression," the colonialists, militarists, and fascists who ruled Europe and Asia balked. Because the new president's global reach came nowhere near his global ambitions, the London Economic Conference -- convened that July by the equivalent of today's G-20 -- broke up rancorously over how to respond to that moment's global meltdown.
Luckily for Roosevelt, the Seventh Pan-American Conference was scheduled to take place that December in Montevideo, Uruguay. Admittedly the very idea of pan-Americanism -- that the American republics shared common ideals and political interests -- was then moribund. Every few years, in an international forum, Latin American delegates simply submitted to Washington's directives while silently seething about the latest U.S. military intervention -- in Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, or Haiti. (Take your pick.)
Momentum was then building among Latin American nations for a revision of international law, which effectively granted great powers the right to intervene in the affairs of smaller republics. Venezuelan diplomats, for instance, were insisting that the U.S. affirm the principle of absolute sovereignty. Argentines put forth their own "non-aggression" treaty codifying non-intervention as the law of the hemisphere. Caribbean and Central American politicians insisted that detachments of U.S. Marines, then bogged down in counterinsurgencies in Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, get out.
FDR dispatched his Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to the summit, but instructed him not to offer anything more than a promise to build a few new roads. The demand that the U.S. give up the right of intervention was "unacceptable."
Yet Roosevelt, who had a way of mixing and matching unlikely advisors, also asked Ernest Gruening (recommended by Harvard law professor and soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter) to accompany Hull. In 1964, as a senator from Alaska, Gruening would become famous for casting one of only two votes against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which President Lyndon Johnson would use to escalate the Vietnam War, but in the 1930s, he was already a committed anti-imperialist.
Twenty-One Different Kinds of Hate
Not quite, of course. Washington would return to a policy of interventionism in the Cold War era. Nonetheless, the importance of this diplomatic sea-change cannot be overstated.
Montevideo was Roosevelt's first significant foreign policy success, marking a turn in the country's fortunes as an ascendant superpower. He then ordered the Marines to withdraw from Haiti, while giving the country back its national bank; he abrogated the Cuban constitution's hated Platt Amendment, which had turned the island into a U.S. vassal-state; and he began to tolerate a degree of economic nationalism in Latin America, including Mexico's expropriation of the holdings of Standard Oil.
FDR's enormous popularity in Latin America fired his aspirations to world leadership. Visiting Buenos Aires in 1936, he was greeted by more than a million ecstatic well-wishers who gave him a "wild ovation" and "pelted him with flowers." Even Buenos Aires's usually skeptical press heralded him as a "shepherd of democracy," while hospitals expected an "enormous crop of 'Roosevelts' among baby boys," despite a ban on foreign names for infants.
Improved relations with Latin America also helped the U.S. recover from the Great Depression. With Asia off limits and Europe headed for war, Washington looked south both for markets for manufactured goods and for raw materials, negotiating trade treaties with 15 Latin American countries between 1934 and 1942.
More importantly, Latin America became the laboratory for what eventually became known as liberal multilateralism -- the diplomatic framework that, after World War II, would allow the United States to accrue unprecedented power. With the League of Nations practically defunct, diplomats began to discuss the possibility of a new "League of the Americas," which would eventually evolve into both the Organization of American States and the United Nations. (Each would enshrine in its charter the principle of absolute non-intervention.) Roosevelt himself would hold up the "illustration of the republics of this continent" as a model for global postwar reconstruction.
Cordell Hull got the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to found the U.N. and FDR took credit for overcoming "many times 21 different kinds of hate" to "sell the idea of peace and security among the American republics." But the thanks really should go to anti-imperialists like Gruening and guerrilla fighters like Nicaragua's Augusto Sandino who rendered militarism an unsustainable foreign policy.
Seventy-Five Years Later...
The parallels with today are unmistakable: a global economy in tatters; a new president with a mandate for reform, but blocked abroad by rising rivals and hamstrung by the rapid recession of U.S. power and prestige thanks to years of arrogant, unilateral militarism. And coming on the heels of a London summit of economic powers, a Latin American conference: the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be attended by 34 heads of state representing every American country except Cuba.
The last time this summit convened at the Argentinean beach resort town of Mar del Plata in 2005, Argentines greeted George W. Bush not as a shepherd of democracy but as an evangelizer for war, militarism, and savage capitalism. Thousands turned up from all over the continent to burn the president in effigy. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales convened a festive parallel "People's Summit," while Argentine soccer legend Maradona called Bush "human rubbish" and "a bit of an assassin." To paraphrase Michael Moore's Academy Award homage to the Dixie Chicks, when Maradona is against you, your time in Latin America is up.
With an aircraft carrier stationed just offshore and fighter jets buzzing overhead, Bush still was nervous and seemed distinctly out of his league. Coming just a few months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, with Iraq careening out of control, Bush's disastrous performance in Argentina, combined with an impressive display of Latin American unity, hastened the demise of the pretension of the neoconservatives to global supremacy. "The United States continues to see things one way," said one Latin American diplomat at the Summit, "but most of the rest of the hemisphere has moved on and is heading in another direction."
And so it had, with a left turn that started with Chávez's 1998 election as Venezuela's president and still continues apace. Last year, after all, Paraguay elected a liberation theologian as president; and last month, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front -- the guerrilla group turned political party Ronald Reagan spent six billion dollars and 70,000 Salvadorean lives trying to defeat in the 1980s -- finally came to power in El Salvador.
This week many will be watching to see if Barack Obama, in what will be his first real engagement with Latin America, is ready to reverse course at this Summit as Roosevelt did more than three-quarters of a century ago. To the United States, Latin America has not just been a source of raw materials and markets, but a "workshop," a place where rising foreign-policy coalitions try out new ways to project U.S. power following periods of acute crisis. FDR did it, as did Reagan and the New Right when, in the 1980s, they used Central America to experiment with junking multilateralism, while remilitarizing and remoralizing foreign policy.Today, President Obama is enormously popular in Latin America. A number of local politicians in the region even legally adopted his name to give themselves an edge on ballots, and undoubtedly quite a few baby boys will be called Barack. Brazil's president, known simply as Lula, says he is praying for Obama -- and even Maradona admits he likes him "a lot."But popularity only goes so far. For the first time in many decades, an American president might find that the days when the U.S. could use Latin America as an imperial rehearsal space are drawing to a close.The Colombian OptionSo what will Obama offer in Trinidad and Tobago? He will, like Hull in 1933, be intent on "radiating goodwill," but he will not necessarily "be friendly with everyone." He's already poisoned the water by insisting that Hugo Chávez is an "obstacle" to progress. Love Chávez or hate him, he is recognized as a legitimate leader by all Latin American countries and is a close ally to many. For eight years, a Bush administration policy of driving a wedge between the rest of the region and the Venezuelan proved a dismal failure, except when it came to increasing the outflow of Washington's hemorrhaging power in the hemisphere.On many fronts, however, the president is likely to discover that his real obstacles to progress south of the border lie uncomfortably close to home.In preparation for the summit, the Obama administration has made some overtures to Cuba, responding to demands by nearly every Latin American country that Washington end its cold war against Havana. The need to keep Democratic senators from Florida and New Jersey (states with large Cuban-American populations) in the fold means that the general travel ban and trade embargo will, however, stay in place, at least for now. (In 1933, Hull tried to prevent the Cuban envoy from speaking, fearing that he would give a fiery anti-American speech; Gruening appealed to the principle of free speech to reverse the ban.)Obama will probably reiterate recent official statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, that the United States bears real responsibility for Mexico's drug-war violence and perhaps bemoan the way an "inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border" fuels drug-related killings. Like every other administration, though, Obama's will have to answer to the National Rifle Association (NRA), which at this point carries out its own foreign policy.In 2005, for example, when Brazil held a referendum to implement a stringent gun-control law, the NRA spent considerable money lobbying to successfully defeat it. So expect the NRA to fight any attempt to stem the flow of guns south of the border. In fact, Wyoming senator John Barrasso hopes to use the fear of Mexican drug violence to force a greater distribution of assault weapons. As he put the matter, "Why would you disarm someone when they potentially could get caught in the crossfire?... The United States will not surrender our second-amendment rights for Mexico's border problem."And so it goes: On nearly every issue that could either actually help relieve the suffering of Latin Americans or allow the U.S. to win back strategic allies, domestic politics will hinder Obama's range of action, even if not his immediate popularity.Just recently, a study group made up of some of Latin America's leading intellectuals and policy-makers, including former presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, declared the U.S. war on drugs a failure and recommended the legalization of marijuana. Obama is obviously sympathetic to this position, having instructed his Justice Department to back off "medical marijuana" prosecutions. But will he be able to de-escalate the war on drugs in Latin America? Not likely.As a candidate, the president did say he wasn't opposed to all wars, just stupid ones -- and this one is as stupid as they come. It hasn't lessened narcotics exports to the U.S., but has spread violence through Central America into Mexico, while entrenching paramilitary power in Colombia. Plan Colombia, the centerpiece of that war, is a legacy of Bill Clinton's foreign policy, and much of the six billion dollars so far spent to fight it has essentially been direct-deposited in the coffers of corporate sponsors of the Democratic Party like Connecticut's United Technologies and other northeastern defense contractors.Rather than dismantling Plan Colombia, plans are evidently afoot to have it go viral beyond the Americas. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently commented that "many of us from all over the world can learn from what has happened with respect to the very successful developments of Plan Colombia," and suggested that it be franchised "specifically to Afghanistan." Washington Post White House correspondent Scott Wilson agrees, urging Obama to use Colombia as a "classroom for learning how to beat the Taliban." Buried deep in Wilson's recommendation was a revelation: U.S. officials, he wrote, "privately" told him that death-squad terror was a necessary first step in Plan Colombia, serving as a "placeholder" until the U.S. could train a "professional" army. The Bush administration kept "the money flowing to Colombia's army despite evidence of its complicity in paramilitary massacres."The Path to Latin America Runs Through Brasilia...Ultimately, imperial Washington's only real road may run through the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. After all, Obama approaches the region not as a leader of a confident superpower, but of an autumnal hegemon. As such, his best option may lie in forming a partnership with Brazil -- Latin America's largest, most diversified economy, with enormous, newly discovered offshore oil reserves and a fulsome set of political aspirations -- to administer the hemisphere. The White House clearly recognizes this to be the case, which was why an administration official called Lula's recent one-on-one meeting in Washington with Obama a recognition of Brazil's "global ascendancy."Just before the G-20 meeting convened in London, Lula blamed the global financial collapse on the "irrational behavior of people that are white" and "blue-eyed." Standing next to the blanching British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he continued: "I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind, which is victimized more than any other, should pay for the crisis."If these words came out of Chávez's mouth, they would have been taken as but the latest indication of his irrational anti-Americanism, but the Obama administration needs Lula. In London, Obama could barely contain himself: "That's my man right here," he said, grabbing Lula's hand as Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner looked on. "Love this guy. He's the most popular politician on earth. It's because of his good looks." That certainly represented an improvement over George Bush, who asked Lula's Brazilian predecessor, "Do you have blacks, too?"Yet Brazil's cooperation will come at a price, which Obama will have trouble meeting. This country's baroque and bloated farm subsidy and tariff program -- which House and Senate members recently refused to let Obama cut -- will prevent the president from bowing gracefully to Lula's central demand: that the U.S. live up to its rhetoric about free trade and open its economy to Brazil's competitive agro-industry.
Returning to the Scene of the CrimeUltimately, however, Obama's vision will be limited by the smallness of the imaginations of the counselors he has surrounded himself with. There are neither Gruenings, nor even Hulls in that crowd. He has kept on George W. Bush's Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Thomas Shannon and has picked Jeffrey Davidow to be his special advisor at the summit.A career diplomat, Davidow's foreign service has been largely unremarkable, though his first posting was to Guatemala in the early 1970s when U.S.-backed death squads were running wild, and was followed by an assignment as a junior political officer in Chile, where he observed the 1973 U.S.-backed military coup that overthrew elected President Salvador Allende. Committed to the Clinton-era mantra of economic liberalization, these diplomats will never recommend the kind of game-changing ideas Gruening did.Given that the global financial crisis will dominate this summit, Obama's appearance will be seen by some as a return to the scene of the crime. After all, it was in Chile that the now-discredited model of deregulated financial capitalism was first imposed. This occurred well before Presidents Reagan and Clinton adopted it in the U.S.As it then spread through most of the rest of Latin America, the results were absolutely disastrous. For two decades, economies stagnated, poverty deepened, and inequality increased. To make matters worse, just as a new generation of leftists, taking measures to lessen poverty and reduce inequality, was recovering from that Washington-induced catastrophe, a reckless housing bubble burst in the U.S., bringing down the global economy.Latin Americans will want an accounting. As even Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally, put it: "[The] whole world has financed the United States, and I believe that they have a reciprocal debt with the planet." Hugo Chávez couldn't have said it better.
After some 25 years of an acknowledged health care crisis Americans find themselves partnered with an administration committed to fixing or at the very least attempting to fix the health care system in the US. Yet even before the healing begins, fractions of those same Americans, duped by health industry tactics, assume the role of clown in a special-interest-created circus designed to disrupt & stall the very reform they seek.
An obscene strategy to be sure, one sacrificing dignity & pitting ordinary Americans against their own self-interests, but also one calling attention to the power & deceit of industry ringmasters determined to maintain the status quo & the protection of their own self-interests… even at the expense of the health & well-being of the American people.
The health care industry has successfully turned what should be a human issue into a political purpose benefiting their own agenda, & in the process making it abundantly clear, their interests lie not with you or your family but rather their own interests, a move leaving the American people behind in favor of profits.
Yet despite what you may believe or may have been led to believe the power is yours to decide… The Obama administration has effectively reinstated the notion of government by & for the people.
Health care is in crisis, but for industry insiders it is a crisis of conscience.
Come on America, you see thru this… don’t you?
Greetings all, it's been a long time since I posted. Hopefully there are still a few of you out here that remember me, as I was a semi-permanent fixture on this blog throughout the entire campaign to get our President elected.
I had a death in the family at the beginning of the year that turned my life from calm into chaos and I laid down my pen. After a lot of soul searching and contemplation on just how fickle the spark of life can be, I just wanted to add my two cents worth on what far too many people are overlooking in the health care debate, the true cost of sickness and death.
Yesterday was canvass across america, a grassroots event that requires the signitures of a large number of American Citizens who are for Health Care Reform. This blog is about my expierence as part of this small group in Henderson, Ky.
I have been a member of My.BarachObama.com since right before the election was won. I was hopeing to be able to help with the campain, in some small way. However, nothing materialized out of my involvment with this site until yesterday, 7-25-09.
I checked the website (which I had come to do only sporadically) and for the first time seen an event that was actually in my location! So I called the contact number listed on the website and was connected to a Mr. James Glenn. James was ablt to tell me a few things about the event, but was unable to give me any specifics because he was the organizer for the whole state. Getting in touch with a local contact proved to be an impossability before the event, so I decided to just drop by.
I arrive at the library at 2:01p.m., only slightly late. In my mind images are invoked of a thriving group of volunteers assembled somewhere in the Library in a large group. A small but veritable Army of citizens who are ready for their voices to be heard. People who are emotionally Charged and empowered by their collective efforts to cause Change in america. I imagine a motley group of diverse races and class's, uniting to a common cause of bringing healthcare to everyone, to Investing in the people with who'm we share a common weal as well as a common destiny. These are lofty preconceptions that I assumed and conjured up in the mist of my mind.
On entering the doors of the Public Library I see an older man about the age of 50 or better. He is clothed in jeans and a black T-shirt that features Barach Obama and holding handouts that contain information about the 3 core principles of our proposed HealthCare plan. "Are you with the Organizing of America, Barach Obama Health Care Group?", I ask him. He looks at me and says "yes". " How many people are here or are coming" I ask. " Just me and you" he replies...
It turnes out that because of the possability of rain that most people decided not to come at all. So we decided to simply stand in front of the Library and speak to people as they came in or out. I'd say the number of people who responded positivley was pretty much equal to those who responded Negatively to our promptings. Even with even numbers, a lot could be gleaned from the types of people and the way they responded. By far the most likely to sign the petition where the Poor, African Americans, and the Elderly. Those that responded rudely or negativley where more likely to be getting out of a Jaguar or other expensive vehicle, Or expressed in some way that they where Christian,.
This last assertian, that Christianity = Republicanism= opposition to Healthcare reform is one I'm sure everyone has heard at sometime this year ( If you say, click past FOX news just for a second!) . Now it turns out that the organizer of the event, who was with me, was an ordained Minister of an Evangelical Church, as well as a Former Veteran who can't even get affordable healthcare through the V.A.! His dynamic with the public was interesting, because he himself contradicted many of their assumptions just by being who he is.
After collecting the signatures I went home. I am troubled that only 2 people showed up to collect signatures, and I hope I can attract more volunteers to help-out with healthcare. I can choose to look at the small numbers and see the premonition of failure for this Health Care proposal or I can choose to continue to invision the Mob of eager participants that I seen in my mind, and help to Make that dream a Reality.
I know healthcare is so important, that reinvesting in our people is what we need to do to truly build a nation that is united. We need to realise that we are all connected in myriad and diverse and even mysteriouse ways, and that by helping others, we are also helping ourselves. Hopefully more will come to see this Holistic Vision, and join in the movement to realise it.
Thank you
Wesley Suton
I thank God that He is watching over our contry the USA.
God has given us this land, the land of the free.
Jesus came to set the captives free.
I thank God that the Spirit of Liberty and Freedom works in America today.
I pray that our leader will live a godly righteous life.
That the Lord will protect and watch over them.
Lord bless you all in Jesus Name,
Peter
Michael Jackson and America's Superstardom
I greatly admired Michael Jackson. I admire anyone who's the very best at what they do, and Michael Jackson was definitely that. I remember when I first heard him. He was doing a tune called "Who's Lovin' You?" He was a mere child at the time, but his talent was so fully developed, and he sang with so much emotional maturity, I mistook the high pitch of his voice to be that of a very soulful adult female. Then later when he did "Billie Jean" at the Motown reunion, he seemed to literally defy gravity as he Moonwalked across the stage. So yes, this young man was, without a doubt, one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived.
But Michael's life - that shooting star that dazzled humanity with its awesome display, only to burn out much too soon - threatens to serve as a perfect metaphor for America itself. The story of the United States parallels that of Michael Jackson. It is also the story of a precocious child star that dazzled humanity with its awesome display. The United States is undoubtedly a superstar among nations, but we must not let hubris allow us to forget that among those very same nations, we are nothing more than a precocious child.
While the United States is 233 years old, that's relatively nothing when it comes to the history of nations. Iran, one of the oldest nations on Earth, is over 8000 years old. That means that when Jesus Christ walked the Earth, Iran was more than 6000 years older than the United States is today, even then. We need to keep that in mind as we formulate the language of our foreign policy, because believe me, it is a fact that has not been lost on the Iranian people.
The History of “Universal Health Care”
Part One – An Introduction
Our Great Grandparents were big dreamers and believed that if we researched and really applied ourselves, that by the year 2000, we could, (and eventually would), “discover cures for every disease in the world!” Considering that Alex Fleming’s discovery of the first antibiotic, (penicillin in 1928), wasn’t made readily available, until 1946; and that the first immunization, Jonas Salk’s Polio Vaccination, wasn’t developed until 1955 – this just shows how quickly our medical knowledge has grown and how ambitious our Great Grandparents were as well. As these initial discoveries only served to ignite our imaginations, wet our appetites and spurned our ambition to find more solutions.
In those days, our understanding about Medical Science was still very primitive and as a result, we had few medications and even less technology. And although, medicine and medical practices have been around since the beginning of mankind; during the initial development of the first structured Medical System, some of us still associated the science with nutty professors, witch doctors and other images that made us laugh. After all, medicine was basically an unexplored territory, which was originally started, managed and primarily financed by our churches – the mission to take care of people and all – it was a natural fit.
We also knew that in the past, medical research was done and cures were found at the request of a King; and inevitably, developments in Medical Science was restricted to what he was interested in discovering, as the result of his own health and that of his family. However, in America, we weren’t tied to those restraints and since our, Declaration of Independence, clearly states that all men, (and women), are created equal, our Great Grandparents decided to get as close as possible to creating and manifesting this ideal way of living for all of us. So, our Great Grandparents, desiring to breathe life into the words of our Founding Fathers, looked toward the future and dreamed about what a True Democracy could be; and our Voice was nearly unanimous. We decided to demystify the science, modernize medicine, and develop the highest level of Medical Care possible; and by encouraging Everyday Citizens to become directly involved, we knew we could do it!
As a new country, we had the opportunity to build our society based on what we determined was most important and it was quickly decided that maintaining our citizen’s optimal health and increasing our longevity was essential and would also assist us in achieving our mutual long-term goals. They knew that by advancing our medical “know how” and skills and developing well equipped Hospitals that we would all be positively affected and empowered to have the strength and endurance to build our Nation and spread the concept of personal freedom and Democracy around the world.
This was the first time that a country made a full and concerted effort to develop a Medical System that was arranged to protect and take care of all of its citizens in an organized and consolidated way. In order to reach this goal, they knew that we would have to develop a strong employee base of Doctors, Nurses and Technological Staff to make finding cures, developing hospitals and innovating new technology possible. And this foundation of employee’s was going to be built by our own citizens, the “Common Man”, becoming educated and filling the positions. So they encouraged our Grandparents to enter the Medical Professions; (and this tradition of encouraging our children to become Doctor’s and Nurse’s continues today, as becoming a part of the medical establishment is considered one of the highest aspirations that an American citizen can attain.)
However, we immediately recognized that the costs for Hospitals, staffing and the creation of “Medical Miracles” were too much for one individual, business or community to pay. So, we decided to use our primary source of consolidated money – our Taxpayer Dollars – to provide for the expenses of educating students, creating Medical Technology and developing hospitals and commercial buildings for Medical Research. After all, like schools, every community wanted well-equipped Hospitals; and we knew, as our understanding of Medical Science and Health Care grew that we would want to utilize the newest Technology and benefit from what the updated innovations and new medications could provide for our families and selves.
Then our Great Grandparents decided to invent the Pharmaceutical Industry as well! To begin this exciting project, we concentrated our energies on organizing and figuring out which illnesses affected the most citizens; because developing remedies for those diseases first would assist us in strengthening and stabilizing the health of our businesses, our nation and the people. And, within a short period of time, Doctors and Nurses, who once traveled long distances by horse and buggy to a family’s home, in order to provide treatment and take care of one patient at a time, were now given the ability to assist numerous patients on a daily bases in a structured environment that supported optimal treatment. These supports frequently resulted in rapid and full recovery, so our citizens could quickly return to work and continue building up their lives and our country.
And we noticed something else as well. By providing patients with easy access to medical care that our level of productivity and longevity immediately began to increase. We also discovered that when we “catch” an illness at the beginning and provide effective treatment for the patient, the ailment doesn’t have the chance to wear the body down, so the patient’s recovery is much quicker and their physical foundation gains resiliency and is strengthened.
Yet, during the early and mid-stages of developing our new Medical Culture, because of the task and goal we set for our New Industry’s was so expansive, we understood that they were not strong enough to be self-supporting and go it alone. So, we steadfastly countered all opposition and devoutly continued using our taxes to make certain that what we knew that we could accomplish and bring into existence had the necessary resources to continue being developed and grow stronger. Additionally, to assist the growth and accelerate the advancement of these new businesses and services, our Great Grandparents and Grandparents decided to let the Industry’s sell the medications and new technology that they each created to foreign nations, who we believed would eagerly purchase the products. After all, we knew that every human being around the world is interested in preserving their health, being cured of illnesses and having the technology available to quickly and accurately diagnosis and treat their symptoms. Plus, extending the longevity of human life was considered the primary selling point.
We had faith – an inner knowing – that one day we could accomplish whatever we set our minds to do and that both the Pharmaceutical Industry and Medical Care supports – such as Technology and Hospitals, Doctor’s and Nurse’s and all aspects of Medical Care Services – would eventually be capable of financing themselves and pay their employees high wages as well. And since we, the people – us normal folks – were the ones discovering all the medicines and investing ourselves – our time, skills, devotion, imagination, faith, and money – to create the Pharmaceutical Industry and this new type of Structured Medical System; it was formally established that we had earned the American Right to benefit from what we invented, built and transformed into reality. Just as someone who cooks a good meal in their own kitchen has the right to eat what they made.
Our Great Grandparents believed that all wonderful things are possible; but, most of all they believed in their children, their grandchildren, (us) and their own capabilities. And by joining their efforts and supporting their dream – together we succeed in creating a reality that has never existed before; the ability to improve the health and increase the longevity of all individuals.
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
The Republican Vision for America - Divide and Conquer
The current situation in Iran is perfectly analogous to what's going on here in the United States. The vast majority of the people want a common-sense approach to domestic and world politics, while the old guard, stuck in the blind animosities of the past, are determined to promote and exploit those animosities for their own end, and at any cost - including the misery and death of their own people. In Iran the old guard is represented by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; in the U.S., Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. In Iran they are called jihadist, while in the U.S. we refer to them as the Republican Party.
The Moral Strangulation of America
In my last article I pointed out that the character of America is being fundamentally changed. In less than two generations we've gone from citizens who were politically engaged and socially aware, to zombies who simply accept what we're being told by our favorite demagogues. We've gone from citizens who held our politicians' feet to the fire, to a group of cattle who allow our politicians to dictate what is, and what isn't, off the table - in spite of our instinctive clamor for the simple adherence to the law. We've allowed politicians to go from representatives with the single mandate of doing our biding, to so-called leaders who dictate to us what's in our best interest. As a direct result, the script has been flipped - we now define what's in the people's best interest by what's in the best interest of the politicians who are supposed to defer us.
2010 Year of the Bible by Paul Broun AP/Photo
Happy New Year of The Bible 2010 by Paul Broun
On our countdown to a new year in 2010, Paul Broun (R-Ga.) wants everyone to ring in the “Year of the Bible”. He wants to pass legislation to honor the good book. Opposition is strong in the Democratic party, but whats the big deal? We’re already burning them suckers in Afghanistan. I wrote a post about it, and got negative feedback from every dem, saying I’m a GOP’r in disguise. In fact, I’m just a student pointing out similarities between different governments past and present. That isn’t choosing sides at all. When people see a political blog, they are automatically trying to figure out what party I am affiliated with. None. Well, whoever decides to pay me the most. Just kidding(That’s illegal for all you kids out there, no selling votes.) Sorry for ranting but I’ve been enraged at some of my readers that just don’t get the whole picture. Someone said I’m a Christian that hates America. No, I’m a Christian that loves America; the thought of America more like it. It used to stand for something, and all I see and read is how far it has gone from what our forefathers set forth to achieve. I am not ashamed of being an American. Our differences are what makes this country unique. I say instead of the “Year of the Bible”, we just go with the Chinese astrology and name it after an animal. Or we can ring in the New Year as a world united. All across Washington people are joking about what year its going to be after that. Year of the encyclopedia? Quran? Las Vegas escort Pamphlets? Whatever the year, I’ll be ringing it in with a smile, knowing I’m in a country that spends too much time on a stupid idea. Hey Paul Broun, think of a way to get your ass back to work on important things.
