War without end!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/07/editorial-afghanistan-war-peace

Elections 101, What Karl Rove and the Republicans seem to understand that the Democrats don't seem to understand (at least in this day and age) is that elections are not won on the issues nor even on your legislative achievements, no matter how much good they might bring to the people. Elections are won on how negative you can make voters perceive your opponent. Since "Citizens United" the odds have been dramatically shifted in favor of the Republicans.

The electorate is roughly divided into three groups: Right Wing Base, Left Wing Base and Independents or Swing voters. It is probably a myth that Independents are voters that study and weigh the issues and vote accordingly. Rather, it is more likely that they are the least informed voters and vote according to the influence of TV ads and the negative perception that candidates can create about their opponents. Hence, the abundance of negative ads.

If the Democratic candidates want to stand a chance this November; their best course would be to link their Republican opponents to the massive negatives of the Republican party (which is still largely unpopular) and especially the decision of the Republican conservative leaning Supreme Court which gave us the very unpopular "Citizens United" decision, making constitutional, Corporate Person-hood, which permits, of all things, foreign entities to secretly meddle in and influence our elections. Also they must link the craziness of the "Tea Party; to each of their individual Republican opponents rather than run against them as just individual opponents. The Democratic party needs to run ads that link all Republicans together as basically one and the same (which for all practical purposes, they are) and hammer on the negative results of their eight years of leadership under the previous administration and the extreme positions of the "tea Party" today. Then let the Republican candidates spend their energy and resources trying to distance themselves from each other. Individual Democratic candidates should also do as much as possible to follow this course of action.

For example, building on President Obama's Car metaphor: For eight years the Republicans and their buddies; multinational corporate CEO's, Banksters, Wall Streeters, Mortgage lenders and Healthcare providers, took the U.S. economy for an eight year Joy Ride; crashed it, left it free falling over a cliff and nearly totaled it. Then, first they went crazy over the cost of the repair bill for the havoc they caused and then they blamed the president for not being able to fix their mess in less than two years. Even though it took them eight years (actually they've been working on it for thirty years) to screw it up. Now they want to take it out for another joy ride, before it's even out of the shop. CAN WE AFFORD ANOTHER MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR REPUBLICAN "TEA PARTY JOYRIDE? CAN AMERICAN AFFORD ANOTHER "CITIZENS UNITED" DECISION THAT SELLS OUR ELECTIONS OUT TO THE HIGHEST CORPORATE OR FOREIGN BIDDER?

Yes, I realize that the "Tea Party" was not really around during the Bush administration, but details and associations like that never seem to bother the Republicans. Every time a Democratic candidate mentions his opponent he should be sure to say my "Republican "Tea Party" opponent".

This would possibly be the most efficient way to counter the tidal wave of money from right-wing corporations to Republican candidates. Essentially, poison the Republican brand, which can be easily done with truth and facts and then campaign against the poisoned brand. In fact, this is what should have been done by the Obama administration from the minute he took the oath of office and it is exactly what Republicans did when Bill Clinton took office and what Republicans will probably do if they return to a governing majority.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration let the voters forget the crimes and excesses of the Bush administration by choosing not to hold them accountable for their extreme and illegal actions. This was not only a major disappointment to the liberal base, it was also a signal to the independents ( that may well have supported Obama just for that reason) that there was little difference between the parties. And now, it may well be too late to win back the support of disillusioned independent voters.

It's interesting to see what people make of the "redistributing wealth" argument when informed that it's been happening since the beginning of societies AND it's about taking wealth from the workers and giving it to the few lucky of the political donor class.

Why does no one talk about how many of these over priced homes had forced mortgage insurance paid for by homeowners that covered only these Banksters? How does this work, AIG had to pay on these loans, we bailed out AIG and the Banks? Isn't this double dipping or insurance fraud?

Swindling the middle class!!!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-exactly-did-bankster-by-Richard-Clark-101005-73.html

Here is a perfect example of American foreign policy.

Economic Hit Men

I listened to the John Perkins interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. It was a great interview. America works in three stages to control a country.

Stage One

Economic hit men go into a country and they offer loans to help build up the country. If the country cannot pay back the loan, we take over the majority of the resources for our giant corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton. If the leader of a country does not want to deal with us, we send in the jackals.

Stage Two

The jackals are CIA operatives who are sent into a country to assassinate the leader and overthrow the government. If that does not work, we send in the military.

Stage Three

The military goes into control a country like in Desert Storm. Saddam Hussein did not want to accept loans and become a puppet of the American government. Desert Storm was to soften up Saddam Hussein but he remained a hardliner and so in 2003 shock and awe bombings commenced. I thought it was for the oil but John Perkins said that Iraq also has the water, such as the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. There is also a feeling that the House of Saud is losing control and Iraq would be a good strategic base for American interests. We are really not spreading our democracy we are spreading our corporate influences over these countries.

What is truly amazing is that Stages One, Two, and Three are overt today and not covert. America has accepted Bush as her god and so he can do whatever pleases him.

Americans, for some reason, believe that other countries are corrupt but we are not corrupt and Americans just cannot believe that we are the empire that leads in corruption. America is the most corrupt country on planet, Earth.

America and China are on a collision course toward the end time and the rapture that should make the Nazis and Taliban of America very happy. A nuclear holocaust will bring on the end time and the rapture.

I know that there are people who want to muzzle my posts but I am only sharing information and I am only the messenger. The messages hurt but they must be conveyed to you.

May God have mercy on America!

Instead of an October surprise, it should be called an October suckup. Probably the republicans asking the banks for more money (and some democrats).

Well we'll see if the Republicans can get a candidate out there that can beat Obama. You're absolutely correct that if they get another Right Winger or two on the SrCOTUS after 2012, we'll be in a Totalitarian State with the face of a Democracy.

N

Visible wounds!!!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-10-05-afghanistan-amputations_N.htm?POE=click-refer

Truly a waste of human potential to fight in immoral and wrong wars!!!

Thom and Our Mess

Thom has continually said that we will eventually end this economical mess. I say fine but when will we end the mess that we must face today? How can we end this mess with the belief that we are in a one hundred year war? History does repeat itself. Do you recall past history and the one hundred year wars? Few of us will be here in 2100 to see the mess end.

Hi Thom, This is for your engineering dept. I am an audio engineer and hear you struggling with your new studio. FYI, you are getting audio distortion on your feed from your microphone and the phone callers to your mp3 feed. Your ads and bumper music sound fine, so where ever you are adding live content to the mix, you have a major distortion problem. It sounds like everyone is speaking through a kazoo.

Good luck,

Paul Wickliffe

Our imperial generals seem determined to blunder into a nation of 175 million hostile people without any clear strategy. Unable to subdue the Pashtun tribes of Afghanistan, they are now attacking the Pashtun tribes of Pakistan. America does not need more enemies.