The United States Hypocrisy on "Breaking International Law"

Both President Obama and John Kerry have been trumping up the threats against Russia for "Breaking International Law," by their stationing of troops in the Russian speaking section of the Ukraine, the Crimea peninsula, (a section of the country, BTW, that WANTS Russian troops there); not to mention the Republican politicians, who are going crazy over this.

I've not heard ANYONE among the American politicians or the mainstream American media, even state, how HYPOCRITICAL this threatening talk and action is!

Why was it not "breaking international law" when the United States INVADED, BOMBED, and DESTROYED the "sovereign state" of Afghanistan in 2001? This is a country in which the United States not only killed at least tens of thousands, and tortured hundreds, but also destroyed the lives of millions. And, 13 years later, it is still occupying, with troops, this country!

And why was it not "breaking international law" when, in 2003, the United States again INVADED, BOMBED, and DESTROYED another "sovereign state," Iraq, where for the rest of the decade it tortured, killed, and again destroyed the lives of millions of Iraq's citizens.

And what about the United States invasion of, and ongoing killing in, Pakistan?

Then there is Venezuela, the latest of MANY countries in which the United States has used the CIA to destabilize the government and bring about a coup. They have been spending at least the past 12 years trying to bring down the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The loser of the

2013 election, Henrique Capriles, with his thug friend, Leopoldo Lopez, have been instigators of violence and their rich friends' media deceit since that DEFEAT, and Capriles would have long ago been ARRESTED if he had been a LEFT-winger doing the same things in the UNITED STATES!  President Nicolas Maduro is actually showing much more patience with his opponents than the American FBI and police show with American activists!

Thus, I continue to affirm that the United States, rather than being "The World's Greatest Democracy," is ACTUALLY "The World's Greatest HYPOCRISY!"

The Myth Of American Democracy

On this, another United States "Independence Day," the American
politicians and media feed the public with flag-waving parades,
recitations of "The Pledge of Allegiance," and platitudes about
the United States being for "liberty and justice for all," "the land
of the free," and "the world's greatest democracy."

But are the acts of dissent, individual liberty, and rebellion against
government oppression and injustices which American history books
laud the signers of the Declaration of Independence,on July 4, 1776,
for; REALLY lauded or even tolerated by the United States Government
(& even many individual state governments) today?  And is the United
States REALLY a democracy?

Well, one of the definitions that Webster's Dictionary gives for "democracy"
is the following: "the principle of equality of rights, opportunity, and
treatment, or the practice of this principle." And it adds this: "the common
people, esp. as the wielders of political power."

Do the "common people" wield the power in United States 2013?  Does the
United States offer an "equality of rights, opportunity, and treatment?"  Are
those who publicly demonstrate against United States military actions
around the globe lauded as heroes?  How about those who expose
government wrongdoing?

One only needs to review the events of 2013 involving the United States
Federal and State governments to see that American "democracy" is a myth,
and that, in fact, the United States is very much working AGAINST
democracy, not only within its own borders, but in its involvement
in the affairs of many other nations, through invasions, drone murders, etc.

Briefly, here is some evidence of this:

1) The witch-hunt against whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, who
exposed the massive illegal spying going on against U.S. citizens, by the
National Security Agency (and the FBI and Homeland Security Agencies,
as exposed by others); and Bradley Manning, who exposed murders, torture,
and corruption by the U.S. military; shows that an American (or anyone)
who tries to shine the light on U.S. Government wrongdoing is risking life
imprisonment or death.  Manning has now been incarcerated for years, most
of it in solitary confinement; and Snowden is holed up in a Moscow airport
with the U.S. Government threatening countries around the world who
would dare to offer him political asylum or even permission for him to fly
through their airspace!  Julian Assange, whose Wikileaks has exposed both
U.S. military and political wrongdoing, has been holed up in the Ecuadorian
embassy in London, with the U.S. doing all it can to make sure their English
ally doesn't let him get away.

2) United States spy agencies like the FBI, NSA, etc., are routinely
monitoring the actions of potentially ALL Americans, but in particular,
dissidents on the LEFT politically, who they also infiltrate. They have
drastically increased their labeling of political activists as "terrorists,"
so as to force individuals to plead guilty to any "crime;" rather than be
incarcerated for life through a federal judicial system which often starts
from the premise that the accused is "guilty until proven innocent,"
which, of course, can never be done.

3) While it has been rare for those in local police forces to ever be convicted
of any crime, despite thousands of incidents of brutality, destruction of
evidence, etc. every year; things have now deteriorated to the point where
many individuals who have recorded, by audio or video, acts of wrongdoing
by local police, have not only found their equipment confiscated or
destroyed, but have found  themselves facing criminal charges for their acts
of courage and justice!

4) The possibility of any significant change in the broken, gridlocked
two-party system of government has become less with each passing year
because only wealthy corporations and special interest groups control the
entire political process. (The right-wing U.S. Supreme Court has seen to
that by ruling that unlimited amounts of money can be spent on elections
by those controllers). The idea of a third party (or more, as in parliamentary
systems of government), is not even seriously discussed in U.S. political
circles anymore. Common sense alone tells one that when everything is
either "us or them," a mantra of American thinking as a whole, there is
very little thinking "outside the box" going on; cooperation always fails
to competition, which is why American politicians spend most of their
time planning for their next election or on vacation ("in recess").
Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to win a national election without
being affluent to begin with, and without significant corporate
and/or special interest dollars.  So forget about the "common people"
ever becoming "wielders of political power" under the United States
system of government. The phrase attached to American politicians as
being "public servants" is nothing more than a bad joke!

5) The majority of U.S. states have right-wing controlled state governments
that have increasingly attacked and more and more, eliminated, rights for
women, minorities, immigrants, and the poor; including the right to even
vote. Nationwide there has been an assault on the right of women to
terminate a pregnancy, to obtain contraceptives, to have equal or same-sex
partnerships, to earn an equal wage, etc.. Protections against minority
discrimination have been weakened. More police power has been given
to harass or apprehend immigrants. And needed benefits for the poor have
been cut to pay for increased bureaucrat salaries, more police for the
security of the wealthy, and to make up for the millions of dollars of
federal aid cut to fund U.S. wars and surveillance operations.  A recent
Supreme Court decision also opened the door for millions more, mainly
among the poor and minorities, to be disenfranchised from even voting,
which should become evident in the 2014 U.S. "mid-term elections."


Thus, only a new awakening, among the nations of the world, as well as the
"silenced majority" in the United States, as to the LACK of democracy
practiced by the self-appointed "world's policeman," will lead to increased
DEMANDS for structural change in the United States, and the shouting of
"NO!" to the ambitions of the controlling few who wish to impose their will
on the nation and the world.  It IS time for a "new world order," and a new
"declaration of independence," that is INCLUSIVE rather than EXCLUSIVE;
COOPERATIVE rather than COMPETITIVE; and one that regards its
PEACE SEEKERS as heroes, rather than its WAR EXECUTORS. 







 

EL COMANDANTE Gave Latin American Countries A New Sense Of Pride And Assertiveness

    It is not surprising that within the day following the death of Venezuelan
President, Hugo Chavez, corporate media outlets across the United States
and those within the borders of its right-wing allies, were excoriating a
very rare leader who sided with the poor in his actions rather than the rich
like them.

However, it also was no surprise to hear the praise and genuine feelings of
affection coming from leaders of other Latin American countries and
to hear of several of them quickly rushing off to Caracus to offer their
condolences to the family of Chavez and to the millions of Chavistas
who are also greatly mourning his death.

I believe the latter was true because Hugo Chavez brought a new sense of pride to Latin America as a whole and demonstrated to them what assertive leadership was, and too, what sacrifices and suffering one would have to endure to be an assertive leader.

Just as has been true of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez has been hated by the United States government because he refused to let Washington dictate to all Latin American countries what they must do and not do; who they must associate with and disassociate with; what the rules of trade are; and what space and resources they must give up in their countries to United States corporations and the United States military. Castro's penalties for disobeying Washington have been an invasion of his country in the Bay of Pigs, repeated assassination attempts through U.S. spy agencies, and an embargo lasting more than a half century.  Chavez has had to deal with an aborted CIA coup in 2002; a vast U.S. intelligence operation in his right-wing neighbor, Columbia; constant harassment, demonization, and threats from U.S. backed media and political operatives; and perhaps, as hinted at by Vice President Maduro, and demonstrated by the U.S.'s staunchest right-wing ally, Israel, a deliberate radiation poisoning, as befell Yasir Arafat.

Chavez earned the respect of his Latin American colleagues by giving many of them direct aid, and avoiding the blackmailing terms that come with U.S. "friendship." They were able to meet as a group of nations without the United States present, and they learned that dialogue and attempted cooperation with leaders of nations that the U.S. didn't like was far more preferable than ignoring them, name calling, or making military threats as the U.S. does.

In Venezuela itself, Chavez leaves millions of citizens who truly LOVED
him. How many people does one find in the United States who LOVE their
politicians or even one in particular? I must say that the love of Chavez by
so many of his citizens came because he truly acted as a "public servant" to
those who are ignored, despised, or neatly tucked away out of sight in most
other countries: the poor.  And in the U.S., the term "public servant" has
become a contradiction in terms, since most politicians blantantly serve
only themselves and their wealthy friends every little luxury and perk that
they steal from the tax-paying public.

Let us hope that those appreciative leaders who attend the funeral of EL COMANDANTE on Friday, will keep their assertiveness to help the Chavistas keep their goals for Venezuela alive, and to not allow United States dictating or meddling in their affairs in the future.





 

FINALLY, Voters See Through Republican LIES & THEFT! (& 10 Things Obama Should Do In His 2nd Term)!

What a satisfying feeling it was on Tuesday night to FINALLY see the
 Republican LIARS, BULLIES, and THIEVES (of taxpayers' money &
votes) riddled with anxiety and anger that their elaborate game plan to
STEAL the Presidency and the Senate failed.

Scumbags like Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, and yes,
Mitt Romney & Scott Brown in Massachusetts, did not get to see their
usual punching bags cower before them. It was especially heartening to
see progressive women, like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin,
overcome non-stop personal attack campaigns by sexist men, Scott
Brown and Tommy Thompson.  This year the Republicans stooped to
new lows, even for them, in almost all campaigns, with blatant sexist,
racist, and homophobic comments, leveled not only against their
opponents but the groups of people that they represent.

Those of us on the left are known for our openness, our sensitivity, and
our non-aggression. But I think the time has been reached this year when
we have to "kick the bully in the balls." That bully, of course, is the
Republicans who, as I said in past posts, live by the creed that
George W. Bush made public for all to see, beginning with his theft of the
2000, and later 2004 Presidencies. The creed is, "The End Justifies ALL
Means." That means they will have no conscience or qualms about lying,
stealing, cheating, torturing, starving, or killing ANYONE who gets in the
way of their self-identified ends.  We saw ALL of those things from
George W. Bush himself during the most disgraceful 8 years of this country's
history. But the LYING, CHEATING, and STEALING part was still
topped by the Republicans this Election year. 

Therefore, we as progressives must use our influence to encourage any
center-left Democrats newly elected, or re-elected, to set the example for
the all too many spineless Democrats who want to compromise with the
Republicans from the get-go!  We must expose the fact that all the
"bi-partisan" bullshit from Republicans does NOT mean that THEY want
to compromise. Elizabeth Warren in her Massachusetts campaign learned
that the Republican, Scott Brown, who was always claiming to be
"bi-partisan" and "independent" was nothing of the kind, which became
very evident not only from his VERY partisan voting record, but from
the millions of dollars he received from Election Buyers & Thieves like
Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, and the Koch brothers.

Within minutes after Barack Obama was declared a re-elected President,
the Republican Speaker of the House was tweeting how the Republicans
would "not budge" for him. Therefore, Obama and the Democrats need
to find ways to "go around" or "do an end run" past the Republicans
to get things done these next four years. Obama whittled away his first two
years in office when the Democrats controlled Congress by worrying
about what Republicans wanted or thought. Well, they had told him the
ONLY thing they wanted on his first day in office in January 2009:
his removal from the Presidency! Now it is time to let the goddamn
Republicans whine and shout all they want when they block something
that is necessary to better the lot of all Americans who are suffering!

I emailed Elizabeth Warren with a list of key things that I believe she
should immediately start pressing the President to deliver.  Here is part
of that email:

"Dear Elizabeth,

Thank YOU for being an HONEST, CANDID Senator-Elect! It was
a pleasure to meet you.

I DO want to tell you a few things that I hope you WILL pursue as you
go to Washington, which are extremely important to PROGRESSIVES
AS A WHOLE:

1) Press the President on honoring his pledge to let the TAX CUTS FOR
THOSE EARNING OVER $200,000 PER YEAR EXPIRE  at the end
of this year.

2) Press the President on making the mandatory cuts to the defense budget
NON-NEGOTIABLE. The TOTAL budget for defense related expenditures
is now OVER $1 TRILLION per year! This is a disgrace when as much as
possible of that money should be kept home for HEALING the millions of
Americans suffering from lack of essentials: food, clothing, housing, medical
care; rather than being used for KILLING and provoking hatred against
America throughout the world.

3) Press the President to honor his promise to CLOSE the infamous prison
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. should PULL OUT of Cuba entirely,
as that base area was just a colonial conquest & should revert back to
the Cuban people.


4) Following on the above point...press the President to END the embargo
against Cuba. Cuba poses NO threat to the United States or any other
country and indeed has been very helpful to many other countries by sending
medical personnel to disaster stricken areas or where there are a lack of rural
physicians.... And press him to reach out to President Hugo Chavez, who
was reelected again in Venezuela in a free, fair, and peaceful democratic
election, and who in 2008, expressed admiration for President Obama.
Chavez would respond favorably to an invitation to meet. Threats and
underhanded CIA actions towards Venezuela only "blow back" to hurt
America!

5) Press the President to ACKNOWLEDGE the human rights violations
against the Palestinian people, and their RIGHT to freely control Gaza
and the West Bank; to have Israel "tear down this wall" & to allow
non-aligned countries (i.e. Brazil, India) to be involved in the Middle East
peace process.

6) Press the President to end "the war on drugs," which has utterly failed,
and to go on record for marijuana to become legal & taxed.

7) Press the President to END a Bush notion of an endless "war on terror,"
specifically by curtailing the ever expanding drone assassination program,
and the domestic spying on American citizens; as well as the continuing
abridgment of the rights of free speech and assembly; and to condemn
police brutality against demonstrators exercising their first amendment rights.

8) Press the President to spend LESS time trying to please Republican
intransients and MORE time pleasing the PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL
COMMUNITY this time around, since it is the latter that has given him the
power of the Presidency BOTH TIMES.  FAILURE to stand WITH his
base a second time, will again result in a huge midterm loss (2014) for
Democrats ... because MILLIONS did NOT show up at the polls ...
and were it not for a late comeback, would have cost him the Presidency
this second time!

9) Press the President to Attend Future Conferences on Global Warming
or Climate Change & in the mean time impose with or without the
Congress some specific goals that will be met by the time his 2nd term
ends in January 2017.  In that time period also, pressure him to SIGN an
agreement with other industrial nations that will set SPECIFIC deadlines
for the reduction of carbon emissions; a SPECIFIC timetable on fossil
fuel use reductions, coupled with increases in renewable energy use; and a
SPECIFIC plan to clean up the many toxic waste sites in the country,
largely using military personnel, since the Pentagon is largely responsible
for such sites.

10) Press the President to push The Dream Act through quickly, to give
young undocumented immigrants who have already been in the U.S. for
5 years or more a chance to attend schools, work, and thrive in a foreign
culture, without the fear of suddenly being thrown in jail ... and with that,
end the privitization of jails and prisons so that the prison industry will not
be anyone's "cash cow;" while drastically reducing the use of prisons by
funding more "halfway" facilities where skills, jobs, and personal
responsibility and reinforcement of a positive self-image can be what
inmates find; not demeaning, degrading, brutal, and inhumane conditions,
as they now find.

To use Obama's campaign slogan: FORWARD... and don't back down
from the bullies: Republicans!"

Why All Americans Who Are NOT Rich Should Vote For Obama

Our opinion: Obama for president Berkshire Eagle Posted:

BerkshireEagle.com

Thursday November 1, 2012

When President Barack Obama took office four years ago, the United States was on the verge of economic disaster and burdened by two divisive and financially crippling foreign wars. Today, the economy is on the rebound, the war in Iraq is over and the war in Afghanistan is winding down. The nation has challenges but it is in a better place now than it was in January 2009 and we urge voters to continue on this path when they go to the polls to elect a president on Tuesday.

While it is difficult to pin down Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose campaign strategy is to be all things to all people, his speech before Boca Raton high-rollers in which he disparaged 47 percent of the electorate is revealing because it wasn't for public consumption. This was the real Romney. Austerity for the middle class and tax breaks for the wealthy were a recipe for economic failure under George W. Bush (the man who cannot be named in GOP circles) and will be again if repeated under Mr. Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan. Until recently, Mr. Romney's belligerent statements on foreign policy recalled those of Mr. Bush, whose cowboy policies brought the Iraq nightmare down upon the nation.

Mr. Romney offers the prospect of more of what has already catastrophically failed. Worse, his party is determined to reopen old wounds on women's rights and other social policies that will only further divide a nation that needs to work together to meet the challenges ahead.

Presidents don't get credit for what doesn't happen, which is why Mr. Obama did not get the credit he richly deserved for averting what could have been a second Great Depression upon taking office. His $840 billion stimulus package gave a critical boost to the economy and his bail-out of the automobile industry saved jobs not only in Detroit but wherever else that industry reaches, including Berkshire County.

The president demonstrated how government can strengthen the nation, which Mr. Romney, a prisoner of calcified Republican ideology, is forced to deny. He is left to advocate for long-discredited "trickle down" economic theories, in which more tax cuts and loopholes for multi-millionaires like himself will magically grow the economy from the top down. He preaches government austerity even though economic retrenchment is causing joblessness and dragging down the economy all across Europe and will do so here if put into practice.

The unemployment rate remains too high but would be lower if House Republicans had not rejected a job creation program offered by the president a year ago. Washington Republicans regularly blocked the president's programs out of a transparent desire to hurt him politically even if their actions also hurt the nation's economy. That said, Mr. Obama's biggest failure has been his refusal to fight for his economic programs with the same energy his opponents have employed in fighting against them.

The president did fight successfully for health care reform, and passage of the Affordable Care Act means, among other improvements, that insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, and immunizations and mammograms will be guaranteed to all. Although "Obamacare" with its many reforms is based on "Romney care" from Mr. Romney's tenure as Massachusetts governor, Mr. Romney wants to repeal it and says the uninsured should go to emergency rooms, which will expand the health care costs Obamacare will reduce. The voucher program that is at the core of Mr. Ryan's health "reform" would make Medicare more costly for seniors.

President Obama ended the war in Iraq and is ending the war in Afghanistan, although too slowly. He brought Osama bin Laden to justice and has weakened al-Qaida. His selection of former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state was brilliant, and together they have forged a foreign policy centered around diplomacy, with military action employed when necessary and only after careful thought.

Mr. Romney's interventionist stance on foreign policy early in the campaign was so reckless it was as if Iraq had never happened. He has since flip-flopped to a less aggressive approach but he has shown not only a willingness to trigger another conflict but a disconcerting ignorance about and indifference toward world events that affect America.

The president was slow to come around on gay rights issues, but his support of same-sex marriage may lead to the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which undermines the rights of gay couples even in states like Massachusetts, where they can legally marry. The military's hypocritical "don't ask, don't tell" rule disappeared on his watch. Mr. Romney opposes same-sex marriage and defends DoMA, a law that exemplifies the kind of big government interference in the lives of individuals that Republicans pay lip service to opposing.

Along those lines, Republicans across the country have filed and passed proposals to criminalize abortion and put women seeking legal abortions through invasive procedures, demonized Planned Parent hood, tried to deny access to contraceptives, and come up with horrific new definitions of what constitutes rape. Mr. Romney has disavowed some of these plans and claims, tap-danced around others, but as president it is unlikely that he will stand against his own party's onerous views on women's rights, views advocated by his arch-conservative running mate. In contrast, Mr. Obama has been a principled defender of the rights of women and all minorities, including the Hispanics targeted by discriminatory laws passed in the states under the guise of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Women's rights, including those guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, which ended the era of illegal, back alley abortions, could be in jeopardy if a vacancy on the Supreme Court emerges in the next four years. Mr. Romney would likely nominate another far-right judicial activist who would vote with those on the court who have not only proven weak on civil rights but gave us the Citizens United decision enabling corporations to further corrupt the electoral process with cash. In Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama chose eminently qualified moderates to the Supreme Court who understand that the court should defend established civil rights not weaken them.

Mitt Romney has certainly come a long way from the days in which he successfully campaigned for governor of Massa chusetts as a pro-abortion rights, pro-gay rights moderate Republican. In his evolution into a "severe conservative," he demonstrated that there is no principle he won't abandon, no position he won't compromise to get elected. Winning office is all he is passionate about.

He demonstrated his ruthlessness in pushing acting Governor Jane Swift of Williamstown out of the way in his pursuit of the Republican nomination for governor in 2002. That ruthlessness was certainly demonstrated during his tenure as CEO of Bain Capital, whose impact was felt in Pittsfield with the demise of KB Toys. Bain Capital made fortunes for Mr. Romney and its investors while bleeding companies dry and putting people out of work. This is no way to run a business, and as Mr. Romney cites his business acumen in his campaign for president, it is no way to run a country. His "47 percent" speech exposed him as a plutocrat who contemptuously dismisses millions of Americans (including some who support him) as burdens upon the nation.

President Obama's aloofness and leadership failings frustrate his allies, but he has always sought to govern for the whole nation, not a favored few, and in the process he has stood up for the poor, who need government the most, and middle class Americans, who will suffer if the proposals of Mr. Romney and the retrograde policies of Mr. Ryan as a congressional leader are enacted. America has moved forward under President Obama and we fear it will regress if he is denied a second term. The Berkshire Eagle endorses Barack Obama for re-election as president.

______________________________________________

The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA also had a wonderful endorsement of Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, who ran an honorable campaign against a

lying Republican incumbant, Scott Brown, who spent his whole campaign attacking Warren and then claiming that he would be best to work with Democrats! His right-wing record in both the MA Senate and the U.S. Senate exposes his lies.

The prospect of having a "Bush II" for another 4 to 8 years is scary enough, not only for all but the wealthiest Americans, but for the rest of the world, where Romney has already been threatening Iran and China, and anybody else that doesn't agree with his American world domination rhetoric. But the very real possibility of having a right-wing Republican Congress with a Romney victory is devastating to anyone who has "moral values" beyond saying "no" to sex! With the trivialization of rape and "47%" of the American people from these right-wing demogogues, "collateral damage" will become an everyday affair from them.

Therefore, I urge you to VOTE for Obama and your Democratic Senate and House candidates, and THEN WORK during the next four years in getting them to stop "kissing Republican asses," but instead, fulfilling progressive promises that bring more healing to both the earth and the earth's people.

Daniel Strong

Mitt Romney & Scott Brown: The Two Biggest LIARS In Massachusetts

  In what the United States media has called the two biggest political races this
year, the Republican candidates in both have been quick to claim
Massachusetts as their home; quick to exploit its reputation as the intellectual
capital of the country, due to its many prominent institutions of higher
learning; and quick to claim "what a great example of bipartisanship I have
been" for the Commonwealth and the country.

  Those candidates are Mitt Romney, running for President, and the man he
mentored while Governor from 2002-2006, Scott Brown, running for a 6 year
term as U.S. Senator.  Both men now share the same chief advisor, a dirty Karl
Rove clone, Eric Fehrnstrom, now a veteran at helping them wildly attack their
opponents, while using vague phrases like, "I'll get America/MA back to work
again," for the sum description about themselves! Yet Brown thinks MA voters
are dumb enough to miss the close link between Romney and himself by
flooding mailboxes with "your independent senator" crap!

   It is revolting that these two men have been soiling the good name of
Massachusetts with their LIES.  The truth is...which the record SHOWS, is that
Romney was a failure as its governor, and Brown, in his two & one-half years
as senator, after sneaking in by the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, and
against a weak, unprepared candidate in a special election in 2010, has been
a failure as a senator. Both of these men, while in office in Massachusetts,
blathered unceasingly about being "independent" and "bipartisan," and are
STILL doing so, particularly Brown, who won't even USE the word
"Republican" in his attacks on consumer advocate & progressive Democrat,
Elizabeth Warren.  He hopes that he can fool enough people a second time
about his long RECORD of PARTISAN votes and pronouncements to the
millionaires and billionaries from New York & elsewhere, and sleazeballs
like Bush hatchetman Karl Rove & Grover Norquist who have been
bankrolling his smear campaign.

   At the first Presidential debate on October 3, Romney repeatedly invoked the
name "Massachusetts" and took full credit for the universal health plan that he
said he got the "87% Democrat legislature" to agree on.  If I can be that
bipartisan, he proudly proclaimed, I can do it for the whole country!

   It's great to USE the Democrats when they make "ME" look good, is what
Romney & Brown keep telling themselves. But if the TRUTH sinks in to the
voters before Election Day....

   Here is a capsule of what Romney REALLY did as Governor from www.electoral-vote.com :

"How Bipartisan Was Romney as Governor?
During the debate, Mitt Romney repeatedly claimed that as governor he worked with the Democratic controlled Massachusetts state legislature in a constructive way to get things done. This is music to the ears of the bipartisanship fetishists who don't realize the reason that Congress is dysfunctional is not that the individual members are acting like petulant children but that the parties' goals are diametricallly opposed. What the Republicans want at all costs is lower taxes and what the Democrats want is better government services. These two things are fundamentally incompatible, which is why the parties can't agree on anything.
A closer inspectionof Romney's term as governor shows the same forces were at work at the state level. The Democrats controlled over 85% of the seats in the state legislature, so Romney was forced to work with them. Nevertheless, he exercised his veto power 844 times during his term, only to have the vast majority of his vetoes overridden. As a result, laws and budgets were passed, but not due to some spirit of cooperation. They became law because the Democrats repeatedly shoved legislation Romney opposed down his throat due to their veto-proof majority.
Pretty much his only legislative achievement, universal health insurance, was something Democrats had dreamed of for decades. Romney knew that if he vetoed it, his veto would just be overridden and since the plan was essentially that of the conservative Heritage Foundation ("make everyone buy insurance from a private insurance company") he figured that if he went along with it, he would get credit for it. Little did he know that a future Democratic President would pass the same plan on a national scale and then the Republicans would revolt against a plan they themselves had been championing for 15 years.
In short, there is relatively little evidence of bipartisanship during Romney's term as governor. Most of his campaign promises, such as restructuring the state government, overhauling the state university, consolidating the transportation agencies, and bringing new jobs to the state went unfulfilled because the Democrats opposed them."

  In addition to the above, Romney caused GREAT suffering for low and middle
class individuals & families, by making massive cuts to social programs and
services. Furthermore, he was roundly criticized by the public for being OUT
OF STATE on his personal campaign for President in 2008, rather than
tending to the business of the Commonwealth at home.

  As for the current "Independent" Senator, Scott Brown, here is the link for a
two page summary from ProgressMass, of Brown's LIES: what he has been
SAYING, versus what he has DONE-

                                   type in:   ow.ly/eembZ

   ProgressMass adds more on their website to explode the LIE that Brown is
"Independent" or "BiPartisan."

   Go to:                      http://www.progressmass.org


   Also, go to this site to see that Brown was very partisan during his MA state
senate years

                                http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/18919/

   The problem that Republicans have is that their FAILED policies were
ENDURED during the recent 8 years of the Nation's WORST President,
George W. Bush, whose name they now don't even want to invoke!  So
instead they use the philosophy of Bush, which was that "the ends ALWAYS
justify the means," whether it be lying, cheating, smearing, stealing,
or killing....



 






 

"Severe Conservative" Romney's sexist Mormon Church greater threat to womens' birth control and abortion rights (2/19/12 reprint with UPDATE)!

Something not mentioned this month during the assault on womens' rights from Republicans is the connection between the likely wealthy primary winner, Mitt Romney, and America's richest Church, the Latter-Day Saints or Mormon Church, to which Romney has contributed millions of dollars. Romney and the Mormon male hierarchy are happy to have the financially strapped Catholic Church take all the bashing for sexist beliefs and policies, but few Americans know that the LDS Church goes well beyond the Catholic Church when it comes to sexist and homophobic policies. Whereas Catholics are told that women should only limit families by "natural" means (i.e. rhythm method), Mormons are blatantly told that, not only should women get married to a "good Mormon" man who is needed to bring her into "the celestial kingdom" while he goes on to godhead, but she IS ENCOURAGED to then have as many children as possible for there are billions of "spirits waiting to have physical bodies." This is also why these same "good Mormons" are often rabidly homophobic. It has been the Mormon Church which has used its financial and political clout to thus
Fundamentalist Protestant Republicans worry about Romney's Mormon theology. But everyone else had better be concerned with Mormon political, social, and financial clout when they think about Romney becoming President. The Mormon hierarchy believes that the United States is the "New Zion;" indeed, that Jesus Christ even preached in America centuries ago! They also believe that one of their own will become President and give their Church great influence. far keep same sex marriage from becoming legalized in California, not to mention states like Utah, Arizona, and Idaho.

When Romney was in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, there were reports of the LDS Church using its influence to not only get SLC as the city chosen (indeed there was an "Olympic Committee bribe scandal" that was underreported), but to financially benefit from Romney's executive position.

You can be quite sure that if Romney is elected President in 2012, the Church will benefit again; this time from some of the tax money that women and gays pay the United States Government to discriminate against them.

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UPDATE: August 27, 2012

The Republicans are about to open their convention in Tampa, Florida, and
anoint Romney as "the next President of the United States."

Since I wrote my above post, the U.S. media has been gushing over "family
man" Romney and his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
(MORMONS), giving this sexist, homophobic, and racist Church ONLY
POSITIVE PRESS and not probing the self-serving answers of spokesmen
for the Church.

It is no surprise that Romney continues to say whatever his "at the moment"
audience wants to hear. Mormons are taught from an early age that their
Church is "THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH" and therefore you only have to
be honest and truthful with fellow good Mormons. All others are "Gentiles,"
the "unchosen" and any lies, dishonesty, and cheating of them is perfectly
acceptable if it benefits any or all Mormons; for Mormons will one day
RULE AMERICA, the "NEW ZION," and will be the MASTERS of the
"GENTILES."

Romney and his Church will, of course, deny these things, but one only
needs to read the Church's Scriptures: THE BOOK OF MORMON, THE
PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, and DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS to see
that they do INDEED believe these things. The Church, however, has both
an extremely saavy public relations network and missionary network that
tries very hard to make sure that the American public only hears and reads
what they are told by these  networks.

So...realize that if the Republican "stop the urban vote" machine succeeds in
getting Romney to the White House in January, you will not only have a 4 to
8 year dose of Romney "steal from the poor to give to the rich" politics, but
you will have Mormons placed in high U.S. Government staff positions, and
a steady dose of mainstream media parroting of what the Church's networks
want you to hear!