The Legacy

Iran.

The challenge.


How does Bush's mind work? Does he even have a mind?

The question is critical because we are all now facing the dangers of precipitous escalation that may fly out of control in ways that could engulf the world. .

If the president is incautious to such dangers, the rest of us must assert whatever rights we may have in a free society to stem the current slide towards war—another war that we are ill prepared for. …

Preemption has not strengthened our hand; it has only contributed to greater fragility of world relationships and a growing enmity expressed towards our country among those who lead the world.. .

So, let me ask this what could Bush be thinking?--especially in light of his previous failings to control or improve an attack where he held all of the cards.

To answer the question: Yes, Bush has a mind. A mind that is consistent and patterned gauging from the evidence that suggests that his views, whether you agree with them or not, change much or are influenced by inputs deriving from a particular situation. He is not moved by such things.


For all intents and purposes, if nothing else happens to improve our situation in Iraq--Bush has to know that he will be perceived as a failed president by his family and the party.

But the question is does that knowledge matter. For the people who benefited most, his friendship and support has been paramount. . In actuality, he may have already been successful! He has successfully moved to control the oil in Iraq. He was successful in moving his friends into a position of having coveted sub-contractor roles. He was also successful in assuring that his friends were chosen as consultants. His former Party chairman is in charge of making those assignments. We are talking huge numbers here! Not hundreds of millions of dollars but actually hundreds of billions of dollars. And Bush has been successful in catering to his friends in the military and industrial complex, the people who make jet aircraft, who manufacture ammo and weaponry, and who provide all of the parts, the motors, the computer infrastructure that is demanded by a military force. He has parlayed his friends’ and his family’s investment in Carlyle into fortunes—Today, Carlyle is one of the most successful business investment companies. It should be since it operates on inside information. He has made fortunes for his Saudi friends, too. The old one hand washes the other applies here in spades aside from what should be their embarrassment considering the appearance of collusion and other illegal actions.


Despite his present successes for his friends and family, the only segment of the population that counts to this administration, he may still try to reverse those perceptions in the little time he has left, in order to keep the republicans in government.

It is also expected that he may try to reestablish his standing in the polls he enjoyed immediately after 9/11 where he was viewed as a patriot, a warrior and a good American—all of those perceptions are now in question I might add.
So, here goes with a personal attempt to get beyond what we read in the paper to diagnose where he thinks he can go and achieve progress and save his reputation in the little time he has left.

First, he must want to leave a legacy that he considers positive; a legacy that would strengthen his name

Secondly, he must want to predispose Washington for another republican government....by controlling what happens now and extends beyond his administration.

So, what does that mean?

Bush feels most in control when a challenge is issued; least in control when it is a question involving matters of an abstract or intellectual nature. Inasmuch as he is not known as a reader, a historian or a cultured man, we expect that he will continue to demonstrate his aggression and his one upmanship through downstream exploits designed to reassert his leadership strengths..

We know from experience that he does not care specifically about governance. We can also be sure that he does not want to alienate his friends in the military and industrial complex; nor does he want to endanger or eclipse his relationship with his friends, the Saudis, who have bankrolled so many of his ventures.

Therefore, his choices immediately seem circumscribed.

Therefore, based on past performance, whatever he decides, he will stick to it unless in some way he is prevented from so doing by outside action. As of now, he has acted confrontationally with the members of the democratic party and the speaker of the house inasmuch as he has virtually ignored their positions. The walls must seem to be folding in on h im.

The answer may be in the exercise of power.

The president in the face of imminent danger, can extend his power and control. He can assert American hegemony under his own presidential mantle. He exercises his powers best through the venue of confrontation. Such confrontations could be rationalized by addressing them as terrorist based or related which would allow the president to reassert his authority and reestablish his name as a patriot and a good proponent of positive action in the interest of peace. Of course, the most obvious target would be Iran. On the other hand, there is no way to prove that either Iran wants war or that they are terrorists per se who have deliberately weakened the American effort in Iraq.

Nonetheless, that is not the issue here . What we are dealing with is perceptions.
Perceptions of Bush being a leader, a man of action, a man who is a patriot. These are all positive attributes that Bush likes to align himself with. He is the swaggering “hero” who never fought a battle but doesn’t mind believing his own mythology.

So, if this pithy analysis is right, it is immediately troubling because the outcome may trigger events beyond our control and those events might catapult us into a situation that puts at stake all of the gains we have made over the years in relationships and peaceful progress. It is to these issues that I address my concerns.

Hopefully, for one reason or another, this scenario won’t take place but a miscalculation may be all it takes to push us to the brink. And that is not unthinkable given the variable of war.

Until then, all we can do is let our representatives understand that we are engaged and that we are concerned.


Les Aaron

Where's Our Leadership?

What has our leadership learned?



If we have learned anything from history, it should be that no leader can succeed without an understanding of the enemy. Every wise leader has studied all aspects of his opposition from the beginning of time. Those who didn’t bother, didn’t win. The biggest mistake in history was to underestimate your opposition!

With all that is available to us today, one would think that today’s warriors are well-armed to take on any adversary. But this leader thinks it beneath him to do his homework before leaping into an impossible venture and that is his undoing.

If we intend to vanquish the Iranians perhaps it might do well to study the experiences of Alexander in 318 BC when he attempted to take on Darius and capture the land of the Persians who are today’s Iranians.

One thing we might learn is that the Persians are not going to lay down and place roses in our rifle barrels. Sorry, guys!

We might also want to think about Alexander achieved success; it came from studying the enemy and leading his own troops into combat against Darius.

Alexander won because he had courage, good strategies and a dedication to winning and the support of his people.

Americans have willing soldiers, excellent weaponry but lack the benefit of an understanding of the enemy we face.

Moreover, this president does not have the support of the people or does he convince the opposition of his great courage.

These deficits cannot be made up through weaponry. They are deficits of character and they have plagued this administration from the very beginning.

It’s one thing to talk tough and quite another to let others do your fighting for you.

And that is where we are.

The Persian people have survived for more than 2,500 years….2000 years before America was even discovered.

And they are not about to fold now even though faced with America’s sizeable task forces.

A wise leader knows when to fight and when to use diplomacy.

Diplomacy does not come easily to a leader who wears cowboy boots and practices fast draws in the mirror.

It is here where it is the obligation of the people to return sanity to the entire equation lest we be cast into another nighmare of a scale that would dwarf what awaited us in our unwarranted attack on Iraq.

Les Aaron

A Japanese Paperweight as a Token of Freedom? Give Me A Break!...

Freedom Tower

Nicolai Ouroussoff’s article in the New York Times on the revised Freedom Tower was right on the money.

What started out as a beautiful and graceful solution, through pressure by the governor and other concerned officials, has morphed into what appears a safe Japanese paperweight that is reminiscent of the fifties tourist “schlock” that used to fill the store windows on Broadway.

In playing it safe, we seem to have lost our moorings to what constitutes good aesthetics and design. Instead, we have substituted something that more closely personifies our fear and our anxiety. This is not the message that New York wants to send especially in a world that recognizes the difference between what constitutes a good solution and expediency...and design by commitee.. If we are going to promulgate a solution, let us not only strive for bigness, let’s go for excellence. We are capable of doing better.

And in a redesign, we should underline that we are not going to be cowed by anyone and that when we poke a finger into the skyline, it’s going to be because we have the courage, the conviction, and the aesthetic to make a difference that will resonate over time and reinforce our rightful place in the world of preeminent design; that we have forged a new beginning but by the same token, we have not forgot what happened here...

And let us not forget what we do with Freedom Tower not only speaks of New York but the entire country.



Les Aaron

Crying Wolf Too Often...

A Government That Has Trouble Telling the Truth!...


We are lied to regularly. We are told, for example, that we belong to a "coalition;" a coalition that is made up of us, 99% and everyone else, 1%. What kind of coalition is that? Again, word games. And just one example of how things are turned around in the interests of perpetuating a lie.

Vice President Cheney tells us that things are great in Iraq while our eyes tell us that we are on our last legs. The truth gets murkier when you look more closely at how the facts compare with what we are being told. The Pentagon told us that we have the most modern weapons and that nobody is better protected than our troops; yet the fact remains that many of the soldiers I know paid for their own armor and they are driving in equipment that has been around since I was in the War more than four decades ago.

Smoke and mirrors may be permissible if you are trying to impress the enemy but when America's leaders lie to their people, they begin to lose their credibility. Americans are inclined to believe what their leaders tell them until they find out otherwise. And once you are caught in a lie, whether you are a leader or someone next store, the people will think about what you say with a little more care the next time.
Well, we have examined the facts that go back to before we invaded this unhappy country of 26 million to discover that there is very little of truth that one can take away from this experience or feel good about.

Yes, Saddam was a bad man but there are plenty of bad men on the world stage. What made him so important that it was worth bleeding lives and spending monies that could have been used for positive purposes to put him out of business.

Was it a personal vendetta or an opportunity to show your macho power? Or something else?

Whatever the original intent which we still don't know, Saddam had no truck with bin Laden and it is clear we have been lied to up and down.
Is the fact that our government has not been honest with the people sufficient reason to bring him and his staff down? The legal eagles will have to decide whether there is sufficient cause; but if we could muster the votes to impeach William Jefferson Clinton for a civic act that pales in significance to the loss of our young people and misallocation of funds that could have cleaned up this country's educational problems for all people or provided important health care benefits for those who have no benefits, then it should be considered in the interests of saving our country and our futures.
It is inconceivable in the light of what we know now, that this leadership is considering 'punishing" Iran a country three times the population and size of Iraq, a country that has been around since the beginning of recorded history. Something is dreadfully wrong with a country that is led by a leadership that will not discuss issues or practice diplomacy and sees war as the only way to resolve problems. If nothing else, that, in itself, constitutes an impeachment offense.

It is sad that so few of our leaders have the courage to stand up and say that this is "wrong;" moreover, such tactics have only served to cheapen the image of America in the world's eyes who see us now as unrepenitent war-mongers who only understand the use of brute force and arrogance as the way to solve the world's problems.

In six years, we have undone the work and image of 200!

Shame on us!....

Les Aaron

"Heck of a job, Brownie..."

News and Views
The Armchair Curmudgeon
February 16, 2007


The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here!

With an approval rating that’s sinking faster than one of my vaunted soufflés, one has to wonder what this hopelessly detached, ego-centric president could be thinking of when he decides that more troops are the answer. Does he not realize that if it’s today’s answer, why wasn’t it yesterday’s answer. Shouldn’t he have to answer that question before we entrust him with the lives of 20,000 plus more troops? After all we’re not talking about golf balls or trading cards here, we’re talking about human lives. Why did he insist that we had enough boots on the ground to do the job four years running and then just a few weeks ago declaring that more troops was the missing solution? Was this God whispering in his ear again?

Of course, one’s objectivity isn’t helped along when your number two thinks things are rosey all over Iraq on those rare occasions when he surfaces from his underground nest..

I don’t know where he gets his SOMA but maybe that’s why he doesn’t surface all that often except to change batteries, shoot someone in the face or make some inane comment that shows that the disconnect runs even deeper than we may have imagined..

Overall, there is a growing body of opinion that suspects that if Bush is not the most isolated president, he surely must be the most stubborn.

One thing is sure. He is not a man to look back or second guess why he did something.
In his own mind, he is always right. He is the inexorable man vs. the unyielding object. If things go wrong, it’s the advice, it’s a bad source, it’s failed research. It could not be him…

It must be satisfying to be so right all of the time.

And to be so deluded. Of course, in his own mind, he associates himself with Harry Truman, the plain down to earth mid-westerner who left an indelible impression on his presidency.. But the fact of the matter was that Harry Truman had the personal courage and conviction to say I was wrong or to take responsibility for his actions. And if a General was wrong or stepped out of line, he got the proverbial boot!.

So, if our president thinks he’s Harry Truman, it’s fair game to make comparisons.
For starters, consider the prognosis of Tommy Franks, the Four Star who thought that Iraq was going to be a walk in the park according to the latest information made available to the media.

. If you go through his slide presentation, it was clear that America would prevail without raising a sweat; after four years, we would be down to a holding position with some 5,000 troops left doing clean up!

It is one thing to be an optimist; it’s quite another to mislead your commander in chief to curry favor. But rather than being advised to go back and take the presentation seriously, Franks earned an early retirement and a medal instead of a boot in the behind. Truman would not have rewarded Tommy Franks for the for the prevailing grim statistics that show over 1,300 dead and 22,000 wounded because of a general’s miscalculations…. The buck would have ended with Tommy Franks having to bear responsibility for his wildly inaccurate projections. In the real world, if you make mistakes, there is payment due; not in the world of George Bush; instead you get a medal.

But Bush’s disconnect doesn’t end there. Let’s extrapolate:

Didn’t the eleemosynary position of FEMA Chief earn a pat on the back for a job well done when in fact nothing had been done while thousands suffered without aid, water or food in New Orleans. Brown, himself, in an unbelievable admission said that he had only learned about how serious things were from TV coverage before acting. My God, man, have you no shame?

And would George Tenant have earned a spot on TV and a fancy medal after saying Iraq was a “slam dunk?” More likely, he would have been hauled in front of a review board and made to apologize for embarrassing himself and the entire CIA and then he would have been fired.

What does this say about George Bush and the entire Executive staff? Clearly, running a country requires more than just the acquisition of power; it also requires a team capable of doing the heavy-lifting. It’s one thing to want to lead, it’s quite another to make that leadership work. . And clearly George Bush’s team, by their own performance, are woefully unfit for the job!

Overall, when the historians come to measure George, one would be surprised if he didn’t come up one of the worst presidents ever. And his attempt to measure up with Harry not only laughable but one of the best definitions of chutzpah yet heard! In fact, in some distant future, To Bushspeak may become a synonym for getting things not only wrong but 100% wrong 100% of the time… A fine legacy from a once proud family!...


Les Aaron.

Abu Ghraib for "good guys!"

Abu Ghraib for the good guys.

Imagine this vision of Hell.

Unlike the people who sent you to War, you weren’t too busy to serve your country, you get wounded and they ship you to Germany and then you to the States.
Where? Walter Reed hospital, a premier facility outside of Washington DC.

And then the process breaks down.

Instead of being championed by a buttoned down system, you get tossed into the meat grinder.. Our heros are informed by an officious staff that makes them feel as if they were responsible for being wounded that they because they are crowded, our heroes must make accommodations. Read: Our country doesn’t care enough to put our Veterans first! . To show you they are serious, you are deposited in a facility that must surely rewaken those dreams of Hell.

Mold, feces, mice, roaches, water spots, soiled bedding….

All of the best for those who gave their lives, their futures, their security and their hopes; not to mention a body part, a brain injury or some deep emotional scarring as the price for protecting their country.

And what do you get?

For your donation of a limb, you get the benefit of some cruel irony that borders on a sick joke: If you've lost your leg, chances are the system will insist that you walk miles to your treatment center and then to other departments for medicine and counseling. No coddling with counselors or taxis to deliver you door to door. But that's not the worst of it. Those with say a serious mental injuries, after evaluation and preliminary treatment are informed that the rest of the process is up to them to organize, coordinate and plan. They, the injured, must contact their medical advisers for their next appointments and future steps in the healing process. And all this takes place prior to the meetings required to assess your condition in front of a review board so that you can get some money to pay your growing list of bills.

Men who can no longer tie their shoes are expected to make and keep appointments. Men who are brain damaged are expected to make their case to the Review Boards prior to getting any benefits from Uncle Sam. And if they can't do it, or won't do it because they can't get their individual acts together, they just fall through the system.

If you think this must be a joke, you need to hear the comments of those lost in the system fronted by one of our premier hospitals who, like the detritus of War, are being buried in plain view because America would rather not know the truth--that Americans are losing limbs, losing organs, or cannot fend for themselves because of their wounds and our government doesn’t seem to care.
Hold on a minute, folks, is this how we treat our brain injured soldiers who took a direct hit in Iraq or Afghanistan, drove their families into despair with their injuries and are now devoid of a job and unable to lift a pencil and who are dependent on those who promised them that Americans don’t leave their wounded. Balderdash! We may not leave them on the battlefield; but as the testimony of wounded American heroes will admit, we leave them lost in the system..

Is this the way the leading power in the world, America, a country that thinks nothing of of buying F22’s at 225 million at a crack but cannot find the manpower or the compassion to take away the concerns of those who can no longer take care of themselves. If so, it is among the saddest commentaries I have ever heard and is unworthy of us as a people and a nation. Maybe if our president and his surrogates were not too busy doing something else than to serve their country, they would feel some compassion and make the changes necessary to treat our heroes with the compassion, understanding and respect they deserve.

Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change

Setting the Bar Too Low...

News&Views

THE ARMCHAIR CURMUDGEON

February 20, 2007



__________________________________________________________







Check out any career. There is always a standard that needs to be met to move up the ladder. If we need confirmation of that fact all we have to do is look back at history: From the pages of our own history it is either you perform or you get out of the way. We may be a land that touts ‘equal opportunity’ but we don’t cater to ‘slackers’ or those who don’t hustle. Therefore, it is not unfair to expect the same thing in government.



But in this government, we discover, the rules of survival, the rules of business seem to have been totally overlooked. : Our president hires people, not because of their sterling qualifications or their track records, but because they agree with him. For government, not so unusual; but in this administration when they fail in their job, they are given medals and a resounding endorsement from the president in mind-boggling display of anti-Darwinism. Survival of the fittest should have been rewritten for this Executive who considers loyalty next to Godliness….



Consider: CIA chief, Tenant. Tenant confirms that Saddam Hussein is guilty of WMD, buying Yellowcake in Niger, fomenting 9/11 and every other sin under the sun—which are all proven untrue; nevertheless, he retires with a rousing speech from the president and the requisite medal. One general after another, led by Tommy Franks, makes horrendous decisions in Iraq and they receive medals. The Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld, who is expert at micromanaging, decides that technology will replace boots on the ground, receives a rousing retirement and a speech congratulating him for his good work. The man chosen to do the heavy=lifting, Paul Bremer, screws up big-time, writes a best selling book and is given a royal send-off.. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the head of FEMA is patted on the back for doing a good job when he only admits to learning about the devastation caused by Katrina after watching NBC’s coverage of the Superdome.



What’s wrong with this picture?



Where is the performance? Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY?



Take for example, Condy Rice. As Secretary of State, she has been in this powerful position for more than two years and it is fair to raise the question: What has our illustrious Secretary of State accomplished in that time except for convincing everyone that she lies through her teeth. The fact is that someone would have to look far and wide to see any kind of progress on any front despite her travels far and wide at taxpayer expense. Wouldn’t it be fair to subject her to the same scrutiny as any other executive charged with a duty?



At some point in time, your average supervising executive might say where is the “payback?” and one would be hard pressed to find an answer to that question.



The fact of the matter is that loyalty seems considerably more importance than qualifications or competence. The fact is that this president expects little more from his staff than loyalty and that sends out the wrong message. We, the people, are entitled to better treatment than that. We understand the rules that govern business. Why is it asking too much to expect our president to demand that his staff perform up at least a minimum standard. Or do we have to wait ‘til the final drumbeat on January 2009?



Les Aaron

The Armchair Curmudgeon

www.lesaaron.blogspot.com

THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

Press Release Announces A Guide to Taking Back the White House

To the Editor
For Immediate Release
705120

A Democratic Strategy for Winning in O8!....

Lewes, DE: A new book, “A Blueprint for Winning:” Taking Back the White House by Les Aaron, a Delaware resident and activist, has just been published by Lulu.Com, the online publishing resource.

According to Mr. Aaron, “the book is not only a resource for election materials and background, it is a guide to action. It begins with a review of the last six years of Republican rule under President Bush and offers some ideas as to why the Democrats have, with the exception of William Jefferson Clinton, faired so badly in getting their candidates elected.” It then proceeds to provide an incisive look at what democrats need to do to win in 2008.

“ In preparing this overview, the author points out, “I decided to view the challenge from many different angles and as a result, probe and discuss the key instruments of developing and maintaining power in a marketplace where people are consumed with earning a living and ignore politics like it’s the plague. The rub is that politics affects all of our lives in deep and meaningful ways and if we don’t become involved, we are likely to face dire consequences as Americans and as concerned citizens who question the fate of the world. ”

The book also spends time responding to what has transpired as policy beginning with a review of the fiasco that was New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. According to the underlying premise, what Katrina does is serve as a kind of wake-up call to this government’s obsession with ‘absolute power’ and contempt for governance that has impacted the economy, jobs, the environment, global warming, our relationships to our allies, our military preparedness, etc.

The author challenges the reader at every turn. “Would the Founding Fathers be proud of what they saw happening in America today? Hardly, he suggests.” Nor is the author inclined to treat democrats with kid gloves; this critique has everyone in the barrel taking responsibility for America’s losing position in the world today, a debtor nation that exports agricultural products and ‘scrap,’ and gross importer of manufactured goods, a Colony that is deeply indebted to Saudi Arabia, England, Japan and China.

The author sees a solution in his Twenty Point Plan for America that takes a zero budget approach to ideation and demands hard answers to tough questions as a precondition to doing what is necessary to return America to its former greatness. Included in this over approach, is a warning that not only do we need to refresh our understanding of what a democracy is and what it represents but we must also ask ourselves whether we are willing to sacrifice our freedoms and liberties for some abstract advantage in the War on Terrorism; furthermore, to assure that our government represents our best interests, we must recommit ourselves to what government is all about and become viscerally and intellectually engaged in the process.

The author, in developing his thesis, discusses the Democratic Party and whether it is still capable of representing some fifty percent of the population who identify with either independent or democratic values. Or whether the grass-roots, so distanced from the process, may feel that the only way it can get its voice heard is through the vehicle of a new, more representative party of the people.

Mr. Aaron has based this overall political tome on twenty years of active behind the scenes participation as an activist and supporter of the democratic party who was first inspired by Roosevelt, Truman and Humphrey and later as a worker for Bobby Kennedy, Mo Udahl, The Rainbow Coalition, Clinton and Al Gore while involved in New York politics.. Most recently, he was a spokesperson for Howard Dean and appointed to John Kerry’s Military Advisers in the state of Delaware. He has also worked at the State level in trying to promote strong candidates at the grass roots and is currently active in environmental issues and alternative energy sources and serves as the Chairman for the Committee for Positive Change.. Formerly, he was the president of four companies where he served as a spokesman for business.

For additional information, please LAACO publishing, 239 Lakeside Drive, Lewes, DE 19958; 302 645 7443.

# # #

Credible Sources

Deja Vu?

BEFORE:

• WMD
• Purchases of “Yellow Cake”
• Ability to launch missiles in 45 minutes
• Complete toxic chemical program with mobile laboratories
• Involvement with bin Laden and 9/11


Above highly speculative and unsubstantiated information became the basis of an invasion of Iraq. It resulted to date in the loss of 1360 troops and the wounding of more than 22,000 GIs and the investment of over 400 billion dollars.

An Analysis of results demonstrated the following findings:

AFTER:

• No WMD
• No Purchase of “Yellow Cake”
• No ability to launch missiles in 45 minutes; in fact, no missiles!
• No toxic chemical program
• No mobile laboratories
• No involvement with bin Laden or 9/11

NOW:

• Proof that Iran’s leadership involved in sabotaging US Efforts
• Proof that Iran is shipping weapons to Iraq
• Proof that the leadership in Iran is involved
• Proof that there is an aggressive nuclear weapons program in force

The above information is being released to us in the same way our non-existent “proof” was used as an excuse to bring down the government of Saddam Hussein.

Fool Me Once: Shame on You!

Fool Me Twice: Shame on Me!

The Public Good is The First Responsibility of Our Elected Officials

What next? The Gulag

In nearly fifty years of public service, I know that when transparency is set aside, something is wrong.....when government seemingly arbitrarily plays free and loose with our earned liberties, it seems clear that we need to empower the “watch dogs” to find out why and to unleash our protections under the Constitution. . .

I, as Director for the Committee for Positive Growth, tend to take this stuff kind of seriously since I spent more than four years in the service of my country where I was asked to commit my time, my efforts and, yes, even my life to protect things like democracy and liberty that all too often we seem to take for granted.

It bears repeating than in a free society, all arrangements and legislation should be subject to total transparency so that every voter has the right and option to see the evidence or the information submitted and the rationale for it especially when it impacts our lives.. The only exception would be if by our actions we were giving away secrets that would aid or provide comfort to the ‘enemy’ which doesn’t apply here.

In the last six years I have discovered that I did not the end of Third
World politics when I left Asia. Now, it turns out that the guarantees and rights guaranteed under the Constitution are being jettisoned here to what end?

What I am referring to are the hearings involving the Delaware Public Service Commission whose principal spokesperson has denied public discussion and even gagged one spokesperson from the opposition from participating in what should be an open discourse. Moreover, attempts by concerned citizens to have the bids to become Delaware’s supplier of energy into the future has been marred by obfuscation and misdirection. The documents made public, in effect, contain important information that has been blacked out from the bids and representations of the various would-be subcontractors/bidders.

The question “why” literally begs for an answer.

Why is such information being withheld from those affected and those who ultimately are going to pay the price is a question that this government has failed to respond to convincingly or answer.

Why are our lawmakers reluctant to make their arrangements public knowledge?
Why are they so reluctant to allow feedback from the public sector?
Does not the public have the right to question what is being considered in our name and paid for with our tax dollars? Information that may impact our lives in significant ways?

The fact is that from the information available from credible sources, the government of Delaware has failed to demand transparency in the transactions of its various divisions and that raises serious questions as to whether the citizens best interests are being served over both the long and short term.

Maybe our politicians need to go back to school to learn what democracy is all about. On the other hand, what we are witnessing may be something else more sinister that needs looking into. We don’t know at this point. But what we do know is that our best interests are taking a back seat to other considerations that are not being made accessible to the public.

Need I remind the citizens of this great State that what we are referring to is not some minor issue but of such importance that it will directly impact our health and well-being for perhaps generations. What our government ultimately decides to do may impact all aspects of our lives: from our health to the water we drink; from the food chain to global warming; from our properties to the actual existence of our shore line. In this context, we can hardly afford to be cavalier or dismissive of serious concerns voiced by the public who are serving in this context as the court of last resort since in increasingly looks as if what goes on in government stays in government.

With such a wide-spread impact, it is virtually incredulous that the people, themselves, have not made their wishes felt through a state wide referendum and why so little light has been shed on the maneuverings of government behind the scenes so as to virtually leave the public sector out of the debate.

Predicated on recent history, our government has mostly ignored or taken a luke warm approach to prior appeals to clean up vital waterways and to find alternative sources to burning fossil fuels that contribute to an increase in carbon dioxide in the water-ways, danger to the food chain and ultimately increased disease and bad health.

A pattern is in place here that is mostly dismissive of the long term “wellness” implications of current policy and not enough attention has been focused on this matter. Delaware, however, is changing; people who have moved in from elsewhere and local citizenry are growing increasingly concerned that we and our government seem to inhabit parallel universes—and many of them bring to the task a history of activism and involvement that questions how this government can claim to represent the people and seem so dismissive of the people at the same time. I should also point out that I don’t mean to paint all of our politicians with the same brush since an increasing number are coming around to the recognition that the public may be right and are increasingly supportive of our efforts, an indication that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit or register progress..

While ultimately this kind of arrogance and dismissiveness will only raise the objections of the people, we still need to shine a spotlight on what is happening here and now that will impact our individual and collective futures. At the very least, such bold and intrepid actions to bring clarity to these concerns can only sanitize the air and put things into a better perspective for those of us who vote and who are perhaps more concerned with long term outcomes than those we have elected to represent us.

Les Aaron

The Armchair Curmudgeon

Environmental Myopia

Excerpts from a memo from the Armchair Curmudgeon:


I think we must remember that the playing field has been slanted for longer than any of us might imagine. The simple fact of the matter is that it is always harder to reverse the forces of inertia especially when money and power are involved especially when there is no transparency and there are hidden agendas..

What we must acknowledge is that the powers that be have had thirty years to influence and shape thinking and formulate policy for their own advantage, and in Delaware, the absence of checks and balances and the rule of obfuscation dominate which operates at the people's loss. It is time to jetison politics that are not in the public interest and reflect Antideluvian predilections. We must as the court of last resort show our mettle. Further, we must be cognizant of the fact that we are at a pivotal point where rationality and good sense are starting to push through the fog of ignorance that seems to surround these issues.

I think we have an opportunity here to show real leadership by making it very clear to legislators that a vote for coal is a vote for the past, a vote for a lack of vision and a blindness to what the facts report.

I think it is time to petition the Governor that there is too much here to second guess the public's wishes and intent. We might consider joining forces and forming small units within groups to accomplish specific objectives. What about a documentary about what we have found? Could we not find a film graduate who is seeking to gain recognition? We need still to educate the public as to the great challenges that these choices represent. We must in fact interrupt the inertia that would have us accept something that is knowingly damaging and destructive to not only our State but our individual health and the "wellness" of the planet over the long term.

However, on the other hand, Governor Minner has an opportunity to realize her legacy as a progressive Governor who can rise above pedestrian thinking to consider the best solution for Delaware and the planet. It is very clear that no species survives by polluting its home and habitat. With strong editorial coverage and our unwillingness to let things slide, we can make a difference that will decide the future. The Governor can ill afford to ignore momentum for change.

Les Aaron
THE ARMCHAIR CURMUDGEON

A Few Things to Ponder On The Road To Damnation...

Is it me?

The news gets stranger, more bizarre with almost every announcement
and we take it in and we go to work, go home, make dinner, watch some TV
and go to bed.

People don't have time for the news but still find time for six hours of TV.

People don't have time for books and magazines but 45 minutes to 3 hrs for computer games...
We rest, we observe, we play in splendid isolation

In the old days, everyone shared the same TV and watched the same few channels.

Now, we mark progress by each person having their own TV and remotes...and by becoming increasingly isolated.

Conversation has become a lost art.

At one time before the emergence of TV, politicians felt like they needed to win the support of the people

Ever since the advent of TV, that feeling has been lost forever...

Businessmen and politicians are in bed with each other and think there is nothing wrong with it...

The appearance of guilt or collusion means little; why else would our former president have sat on the board with the Arab princes our country does business with in the full knowledge that a percentage of their profits are going to our enemies...

Increasingly, young people find it difficult to parse English language sentences in order to understand what is hype and propaganda and what is factual content.

Few seem to know much about the Constitution or the documents that serve as the foundation of this country.

The word Civics is seldom heard.

Most people are locked into their point of view... New information does not get through our self-imposed screens

We graduate more students but still between 5% and 15%don't have an opinion when it comes to a national poll.

We are told that 20% of American college students cannot findtheir own State on a world map.

Despite the No Child Left Behind policy, children seem to be getting less out of their time in school

Three months ago in Virginia, grade school children performed in a play. They were allowed to read from books because the teachers thought it would be too much stress to have to memorize their parts...

The biggest growth businesses in America are prisons and ammo! We seem to excel at both...

We would rather spend 100,000 a year to incarcerate someone than give them an increase in Pell Grants so that they can stay in school...

Recently, on Jay Leno a college graduate was asked how many moons in the heavens and she didnt know apologizing for not remembering the content of her Astronomy class...

A multi-tier population is emerging where the poor go into the Army in order to get ahead; and the rest of the country for the most part have no idea what is going on or the sacrifices being made; nor are they being asked to make sacrifice.

According to the NRA, there is not one problem that couldn't be solved with more guns...

Companies continue to ignore the idea of Global Warming although most scientists who are not attached to our government, will admit that Global Warming is real.

We are told that burning of fossil fuels will kill the environment and cause illness and death; yet our narrow gauge politicians are victimized by inertia and big donations to war chests.

Leading business execs receive more than four hundred times what the average line employee makes whether or not their companies make a profit...

Candidates are elected not because of their qualifications but because they can raise more money than their
competition...
We are told that the rules of Evolutionary Biology conflict with God's views and no longer apply...

In the preferred right wing texts, women and minorities are described as smaller and darker, not unlike they were portrayed five thousand years ago in Ancient Egypt...
Branding reinforces the idea that you can become whatever your brands suggest without having to do the heavy-lifting.

In the post industrial world, form becomes more important than content.

And increasingly life is imitating art.

We have been tested and we have been found wanting.

Just five years ago, Terrorism raised its ugly head in America.

At the time, we knew we had to tighten up the borders, our ports and our highways...
Our president, in his great concern for the truth of 9/11, waited an entire year before appointing a commission made up of America's number one lackey...

We knew we had to destroy Al Qaeda.

So we ignoredAl Qaeda....
And we went after Saddam Huessein....

Apparently, we could not win the War without disclosing a major CIA operative because she was married to the man who disagreed with the War altogether.

Instead of tightening up our borders, we do nothing suggesting that if we want to make America safe,
we need to go after the enemies "over there."

But we don't make things safer there or here... All we've done is increase the numbers of US dead and wounded. And by the way, don't try to calculate how many are really dead and wounded; we won't know that til we hold Cheney's and Bush's toes to the fire....and we don't seem to have the heart for that!...

The biggest threat to America is the dirty bomb but we make no special effort to clean up the enriched materials that are on the black market

To keep the military industrial complex happy, we buy 235 million dollar jets when 35 million dollar jets had no competition...

We allow our military subcontractors to merge with each other and raise prices...Why not? It's the taxpayer who pays the freight...


The Anti Missile Shield still does not work but we make a big show of how far along we are. Expected investment: 264 billion dollars!

We continue to use fossil fuels and investing in the Middle East where the profits go to fuel Terrorism

Our president past recently retired from an Investment Group of Middle East Advisers..

We continue to pour money into Iraq for the people but it never seems to get there.

Our subcontractors, chosen for their affiliations rather than their qualifications, lose billions without criticism

Our soldiers live in tents and eat off trays while private subcontractors hire their civilian equivalent with taxpayer money and put then up in Four Star hotels...

The president tells us that we must have 23, 000 more troops immediately if we are to win; yet general after general suggested that we did not have enough troops on the ground over the first four years, and nobody thought that was important....

Our biggest potential threat is China; yet without their technology, we couldn't build our highest tech weaponry...

We talk to them about straightening out their monetary policy, yet we maintain a trade deficit of sixty billion dollars a month and do nothing about it.

We have become a third world nation exporting scrap and agricultural products and import finished goods!
Our biggest industry is the automotive but we do nothing to help it. We have to pay fees to market our cars in China; yet, the Chinese get a discount if they market here...

In 2010, there will be 50 Chinese cars being marketed in this country...

The big Computer and Internet companies have become complicit in rooting out freedom in China...

While we are blindsided to everything else besides Iraq, the rest of the world is putting together alliances that leave us out!....

While we are told the economy is better than ever, we see our jobs fleeing our shores and our executives getting richer and richer...

With this government, words are simply mechanisms for getting their own way!

Remember anti-trust: It used to keep monopolies from forming that would control specific industries...

Remember Usury: It was to prevent banks from taking bigger interests that they should be entitled to.

Neither anti-trust or Usury laws are operative today!....


Oversight kept companies and individuals from taking advantage of our government and way of life. When was the last time anybody heard the word "oversight?"


Just a few things to ponder on the way to the slippery slope.

Les Aaron
www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
Twenty five projects undertaken, twenty five projects completed.... A most successful year for
progressive programs...
.

Round and Round the Little Ball Goes...

The Power of Misdirection:

A talent of magicians and others well versed in sleight of hand is to get the rube thinking about one thing as they manipulate something else before your eyes, not unlike today’s Washington scene…

While we have been up to our ears in the business of Bush and the spilling of unnecessary blood so that our leader achieve a Freudian outcome, here’s a few of the things we’ve missed along the way. Just to remind my friends:


Here’s just a sample of the things we are not attending to as we get tangled up in a War that cannot be won with the present thinking….

Balance of payments with China
Having China build our highest level security components
Our neglect of the environment
Alternative Energy Choices
Global Warming
Return of the fees for offshore drilling to the American people
The loss of jobs
illegal workers becoming citizens and qualifying for social security in 18 months instead of ten years
The downside of NAFTA which is worthy of investigation
MEXCANUSA: the new country being built by Canada, US and Mexico
Carlyle: Why no mention of it
Why the media's running scared
What about the FCC's abuses of the airwaves: When are we going to turn that back?
Meeting the Terrorist challenge
What our borders aren't protected
Why our ports lend themselves to terrorist plots
What are we doing about all of the nuclear materials on the open market
What is our contingency plan when the President is assasinated?
Why do we continue to add to the stockpile of weapons between India and Pakistan who are already at a heightened war condition
What will it take to recognize the threat of China to the US
Remember New Orleans? What are we going to do about it
How do we plan the other cities in the US vulnerable to rising tides...
Why are we allowing Green Card holders to take the jobs Americans are qualified for
What about the schools? When are we going to make the improvements necessary?
What about science? When are we going to lead in technology again?
Why haven't we pushed for separation of church and state?
What are we going to do about the voting fraud in Ohio?
When are we going to hold the president to his lies and misinformation
When will Rumsfeld be made to pay the price for running the Army on a shoestring
When are the people going to be told that the AntiMissile System is a costly hoax
When are the people going to be told that No Child Left Behind is a Fraud of the Worst Kind
When are we going after bin Laden? Why did we let him escape in the first place
When are we going to have a real investigation and inquiry into 9/11 without the toadies...
When are we going to investigate the FBI's misuse of staffing and funds
When are we going to end slash and burn tactics in the US
When are we going to connect the increases in lung and related disease to the burning of coal and other fossil fuels
Why did the car companies discontinue the tests of the electricity/gas cars that jproduced up to 1,000 miles on a gallon of gasoline..
When will the Constitution be returned
When will we have privacy
When will we return to habeas corpus
When will the torture of American citizens end
When will we regain transparency in our affairs
When will the truth come out about Bush's military record
Why are we still assigning no bid contracts
Why are we not fighting for an accounting of money spent on Iraq
Why was a major war contractor allowed to lose 9 billion dollars without punishment
Why was the money allocated for rebuilding Iraq not used
If Iraq was so important that we must add troops to win, why didn't you do that in the first days of the War?
Why is Fast Track still in force even though we know it's been totally misused
Why have we lost all of our manufacturing strength?
Why have we allowed American manufacturers to set up off-shore sites to offset taxes
Why are the rich allowed to earn 400 times what the average worker on the floor earns...
Why have we allowed competitive military contractors to merge with each other
Why are we paying over 225 million a fighter when the last one was as good as we'll ever need at 35 million dollars...
Why has this government instituted not one single change for the average citizen that is a benefit
Why are the drug companies allowed to get away with their gouging
Why is it that every state we invade has oil or some other precious resource or is a location for a pipeline
Why do we continue to want to drill in our most pristine areas
Why do we allow logging trails to destroy the wilderness
Why is the cost of medicine into the stratosphere
Why do we not demand more of those who serve as subcontractors to the US
Why do all of the secretaries in the Bush cabinet come from the companies they are supposed to police
Why do we allow churches to decide the disposition of public funds...

This is only Part One

Now available from lulu.com: A Blueprint for winning: Taking Back the White HOuse-O8.
Featuring a 20 point program to restore America ....

Les Aaron

www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

Are We Better Off Now?

The Sad Truth:



This government is nude without its war de jour, the smokescreen that allows it to operate in the dark in order to “protect American interests.”

One wonders what precisely are those American interests? They certainly have little to do with the one thing that would seem to be most important to those seeking to protect us: Shoring up our borders and keeping our ports safe.



A young man by the name of Kelly who was appointed from his job with the Coast Guard and as a teacher was brought on for just such a task. To focus on what needs to be done. In short, he is not only disappointed but so depressed about the failures of America to seize the initiative, he has written a stark tome that elucidates the truth if only we could handle it.



And, now, a quick view of where we stand six years after the fact.



Six years ago, we had the worst terrorist event in our nations experience.



And what did we do?



We attacked Afghanistan and we attacked Iraq.



The first war made sense; the second allowed Bush to show love for his mother and emerge from the shadow of his father. Sadly, neither of these reasons are sufficient to send young men and women to die for your Freudian problems while the real culprits, the terrorists who brought down the WTC get away from you….



Nor has anything been done to deal with the original problems.



The first responders still don’t have inter-departmental communications that work! While police dogs in the mid-west got police vests!...



How about the borders?



Our borders are increasingly porous! but we're making great headway on building the Canadian Mexico US highway with no barriers; but free sailing; this should keep us safer...



We still talk about leasing our highways and our ports!



We still do not examine incoming containers. And more of them come in every day since we traded our economic advantage in order to become a banana republic to make our rich even richer!



What we do know is that these are the easy ways for terrorists to pass weapons into our country and threaten our hegemony.



We also know that Terrorists can buy nuclear materials at bargain rates since our deaf. Dumb and blind government didn’t clean them up when they originally took office and had the chance..



And we know that the Terrorist habit is to make a big bang to show clever they are and to immobilize the enemy.



Put it all together.



You can get nuclear materials in bomb form into the country; you can awaken cells;you know where you can these dirty bombs to do the most damage. So what are they waiting for?



Some say it was in order to get permission from the great clerics of Islam.



Guess what? They already have the permission to destroy the great Evil of the West.



Can you imagine what would happen if the Terrorists put nuclear dirty weapons at the cross roads of six of our biggest cities.



We would be out of business bigtime.



I keep asking myself why do we pay hundreds of billions of dollars to maintain a CIA and an FBI that is so incapable of figuring these things out and a government that does nothing to solve the problems we face. I’ve dealt with the FBI before; I’ve given them information; I’ve given information to the 9/11 Commission. You know what I got back: Not so much as a thank you.



Wouldn’t or shouldn’t the media say something about these probabilities that seem more real now than ever?



Shouldn’t the public rise up and say “Do you bloody idiots know what the hell you are doing?”



A democracy does not go far when its people will not stand up—even to save their own lives.



It’s a bloody shame.



Les Aaron

Ralph The Spoiler is Back!

Darth ready to destroy the Universe again!

It seems Ralph has become more and more surreal in proportion to his metastasizing ego that seems ready to absorb Hollywood, the media and all his opponents.

As one who was a real fan when he was slamming Detroit for turning out junk and passing them off as "safe havens" for your family, he deserved the accolades then; now, he is viewed simply as an egoistic spoiler who not unlike Bush but with different motives suggests to the rest of us that it is his way or the highway.

Two superegos at opposite polls.

I polled Mark Green, his old accolade, and one who has never managed to seize the gold ring in New York's competitive elections and Mark didn't know what to make of it suggesting that perhaps ego has been fed by a growing coterie of the faithful who see him as the Pied Piper of Righteousness. And maybe that's it.

For the rest of us, who will not forget where Ralph's hypocrisy lies, we see Ralph as the one who can make a difference and did so for us when he acquired that political edge that was just big enough to deny the rest of us what was ours. Ralph proved our nemesis and then and there I decided that while I support green things, I could not support Ralph ever. It's hard to like people who consider themselves geniuses in their own mind; who are too unreachable, too disinclined to change their views based on reality.

For now, I suspect, Ralph continues to thrive on making trouble if he can gather the numbers. For myself and folks like Mark Green, we'll just sit on the sidelines and wonder how we allowed this self aggrandizing self professed saviour to change the election outcome, to knowledgeably allow the worst president ever to emerge again if only for the sake of his uncontrollable ego!

Les

WonTon With That....

What a difference a few years make.

It wasn’t too many years ago, that 500 million Chinese got up in the morning to listen to the English language broadcast of the BBC.

Americans talked about how big a market China would be for American products.

This was fifteen years ago when China was still considered as so much putty to be manipulated by the west.

But surprise, surprise, it didn’t work out that way.

China will not be the state that will be manipulated but the manipulator.
This is clear from America’s monthly trade balances and the fact that we, ourselves, the Super Power in economic terms qualify as a third world nation exporting agricultural products and our scrap and importing finished goods.

So, it was not quite unreasonable to read that in Palo Alto where most of America’s recent technology was born or spurred on, the town fathers are considering the introduction of Mandarin in the public schools.

Part of this has to do with the fact that 17% of the population is Asian; but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Even the American populations there understand that China is going to play an even bigger role in the future and it would be a good idea to learn the language of the world’s largest population and what is often not said, leading population.

For it is hard to deny that China wins every contest it is engaged in. The Koreans understand this viscerally and when they heard that they were targeting the luxury ship building industry, the Koreans quickly decided that it was time to get out and find another industry than try to compete with them…

For the time being, Mandarin Chinese will not be taught in the public schools of Palo Alto but that does not mean that it won’t be next year or the year after.

Already, other cities are considering it and San Francisco and Cupertino are already moving ahead with their Chinese programs in high gear. And perhaps that may not be a year too soon.

It was unwise but not totally out of character for the president of GM to sniffle at China’s scanty exhibit in Detroit. Within the next few years, China will make Detroit eat their words when they introduce a range of cars that will dazzle American consumers. And it is predicted that within ten years, China will be a major competitor on the world automotive stage.

While many inside the Beltway and elsewhere continue to underplay China’s growing world role, insiders secretly acknowledge that a country that can turn out ten times the number of engineers we graduate, is a force to be reckoned with.

And any country that can build 121 cities with over a million population, most of them built in the last twenty years, is a country to be taken seriously.

Les Aaron

The Inexorable Force vs. Jello!

What is troubling is that our only form of checks and balances in matters of war is congress and they seem to have ceded their powers to the president. In effect, we are left with paralysis.

Look back, if you have the stomach for it.

They were inclined to believe what the president told them--even though people like me could see right through their arguments, they persisted and now claim they made a mistake.

The question remains: Why could the common man see through the facade of Bush's intentions and the Congress could not. Were they too eager to please? And was that attributable to our subsequent downfall?
'
Parallels with Rome?

What next?

The invasion of Persia?


Look at the track record, man. Don't we understand by now how this cabal operates.

Their position has never shifted; their moves have always been predictable.

Why is it then so hard to see where this is headed.

To their minds, it may be the strategum of the day, the one they are used to to defer criticism away from themselves in the murky tactics of War.

And what might we do?

Twiddle our thumbs again?

Where are the tactics. We are now forewarned and supposedly forearmed.

There are no more excuses.

But we all know what will happen. They will invade Iraq. I am convinced now of that.

And they will spin it and Congress will sit around debating the "rightness" or "wrongness" of it.

Would a British Parliament do likewise? Would they not excoriate the Prime Minister for such actions and deny him a vote of confidence.

The next best question is what do you do with a democracy that no longer engages the people enough to want to maintain it.

Ah, the question de jour!

Les Aaron