John's Blog

There is very little that sums up the record of the U.S. Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days?

These past six years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula -- a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable...

The Republicans have been smart and duplicitous in so many ways, but none more effective then their creation of a new technique that is now known as "swift boating."

Truths, honesty, integrity, what meaning could that have when the Republicans are running for, or trying to remain in office.

It is incredible how the Republicans managed to take a decorated Naval hero Kerry, and cast significant doubt on him, while at the same time protecting the reputation of a sitting President with a very questionable military record.

These guys have mounted a campaign that speaks to their actions that will protect America during "a war on terror." They use Television and the Presidents incumbency to create a variety of expressions that extol their actions, and vilify their opposition. They have fractured the Constitution, but what does that matter if by so doing, they can promote the notion that we can sleep soundly in our beds in that they are standing guard.

It is time that the Democrats fight back by using the same techniques, sort of like "fighting fire with fire," (how trite), and I suggest that they start with the following slogan, or something like it:

REPUBLICANS WILL STAY THE COURSE; SACRIFICE OUR SONS, DAUGHTERS, TREASURE AND HUMANITY.

This mantra should be used to counteract the cut and run Republican expression that is their "bumper sticker" approach to politics and the moronic war in Iraq...

A hidden crisis is under way. Many government insiders are aware of serious plans for war with Iran, but Congress and the public remain largely in the dark. The current situation is very like that of 1964, the year preceding our overt, open-ended escalation of the Vietnam War, and 2002, the year leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In both cases, if one or more conscientious insiders had closed the information gap with unauthorized disclosures to the public, a disastrous war might have been averted entirely...