Celebration!

Last night, I started to watch a TV documentary about Celebration.

For those of you who don’t know what Celebration is let me tell you it appears to be everything anyone would want in a town. There are white picket fences; the houses are close by each other; there are sidewalks outside and it’s only a short walk to the center of town.

For some, that’s the kind of world most people miss from their past. It conjures up visions of rocking out on the front porch; neighbors coming over for a sing in; sharing a jello mold; listening to Fred Alan or The Great Gildersleeve (if you’re old enough!)

But I hate to shatter the illusion: Folks, you just can’t go home again.

The fact of the matter is that these cute little towns are not always what they seem.

I live in a town like that.

Everyone moved here because it communicated the idea of an old-fashioned town that you didn’t need a car to get around in…

But the reality turns out to be quite different.

I’ve discovered this is much more of “my home is my castle” feel with lovely little homes for very big prices where people barely stop to pass the time of the day. Where people exist side by side as virtual strangers.

I understand the reason for that. Most of the folks are attracted here by the bay and the ocean and the golf courses; it is a retirement area anyway they try to spell it.

And most people have accumulated their money and want to live behind big fences with nobody out there trying to take it away. And there is a lot of money sequestered out here…

Mostly, people don’t want to be troubled with fund raising events, bashes, town events, or community efforts.

They just want to be left alone…

And I guess when you get to a certain age, that’s understandable.

So, people who buy the area for the memories are going to find that while it’s still great, they’ve come up short-changed….

It’s like buying a book because it has a great cover and then discovering that the story leaves a lot to be desired.

Celebration on the other hand is quite different. Yes, most of the folks are rich enough to afford the big homes and the high prices…. They are either retired or mostly work from home and they sing Celebration’s benefits as they see them.

In case you didn’t know, this is the town that Disney built.

But even here, it reminds me of that movie about this guy trying to make his way in the town only later discovering he’s living in an elaborate set where the sun is turned on and night means turning the switches off.

I get the same kind of feeling from Celebration. Things are too pat; too predictable to give it any real zest.

Moreover, the producers made a big mistake. They produced a documentary which featured citizens who talk about the town and what they do.

They shouldn’t have.

I found it exceedingly depressing.

It seemed that all of the people in town reminded me of those folks who live along the Yellow Brick road. They all remind me of munchkins.

They are sadly preoccupied with one thing: themselves, the mark they want to leave on society, their pedestrian and boring jobs and a host of other things that would give most of us the yawns.

The sad wrap up could be expressed in one word: Caricature.

I would really hate to live in Celebration; it characterizes all of the things I hate about small towns; the people who have nothing to do but talk about each other, who are so boring that you have to pinch yourself to stay awake.

In New York, where I lived most of my life, I start learning about the city when I was eight. There was no crime to speak of and my mother worked, leaving me to embark on a voyage of discovery whenever I finished school. It allowed me the freedom to discover new things every day and meet people I never would have met otherwise. I always looked at the simple act of walking down the street as an adventure. And I was curious about everything. In that respect, I feel sorry today for my grand-children living in a world where everything is closely programmed and kids where helmets when they ride a bike. In the olden days, nobody had a helmet and if you wore one, you were likely to get beaten up; nevertheless, it was the best that life could be.

Knowing what I know, I can only express my deepest sorry for the kind of world where there are cameras watching what you are doing, computers that are tapped into by government agencies to learn the habits of citizens, and Google that can keep track of all your misadventures.

Yes, I long for the good old days when I could disappear for the day and nobody would miss me til around dinner time.

It was a time you could explore new vistas, learn about the insects if you were so inclined, watch a flower grow, go to the museum and learn something about a frog, or go to a museum and read about Alice having lunch with a rabit.

Those were times you not only got to learn about the world, you got to also learn about yourself.

Too bad the kids will never know about it.

Les Aaron

It's Time for the Grand Old Party To Denounce "Dirty Tricks."

One couldn’t help watch the You Tube questions without suspecting that there were a few sucker punches slipped in by the new dirty tricksters of the Republican Party.
They were designed to shake the democrats out of their good natured in fighting and provoke trouble.

It was like a little déjà vu under the Nixon campaign when it was de-rigor to make sure that the opposition’s planes didn’t run on time, that maintenance schedules and speeches got lost, that the networks got the wrong information from the party as to location and times, etc.

Hunter Thompson gave us a few insights into how the game was played and other stuff trickled out later on that we believed was even below the level of what the Republicans might consider “appropriate measures.”

Nevertheless, it worked. Donald Segretti became a model for Lee Atwater who became a model for all of the rest of the dirty tricksters to follow.

Who will ever forget Dukakis looking like Alfred E. Newman with his head sticking out of the turret of the tank. And his failure to mount an effective come-back after being belittled and insulted by the party of opposition.

And anyone who thought those tactics had been finally put to sleep could not have been paying attention in recent elections when John McCain was targeted by the Dirty Tricksters and rumored to have fathered an illegitimate black child or the “swift boating” attacks against John Kerry….

We make a big mistake when we claim the high ground and vow not to attack the mischief makers who score big with their unsubstantiated charges and vicious attacks that seem to ignore the rules of fair play and justice in order to go for the quick kill or the jab that goes for the juglar that seems to do more damage than an honest debate.

It is time that party leaders demand more from their acolytes and hirelings that dirty tricks and its time that the party stands up for what is right and fair and go on record denouncing their deplorable history of underground vicious attacks that have no basis in truth….

Les Aaron

IT'S TIME!

It’s insulting that we are all being treated like fools by this government.
But what is even worse, is that it does not end with our shame at tolerating what passes for government, it is the undeniable fact that every day Americans are paying a price for it that extends to the lives of our young people, men and women. And that is too great a price to pay for lies.

When will this government learn that we are not fools and that we are not going to put up with this government’s excesses forever; that democrats are already considering Impeachment, investigations and special prosecutors.

Bush can look forward in the next year and a half to have all of his perverse actions and cynical legislation taken apart bit by bit….

But it is also time for good men to emerge from either side to say “enough is enough.”

Bruce Fein, so far, a conservative from the Regan era, has gone so far as to chronicle the reasons for Bush’s impeachment.

And others are beginning to drop by the wayside.

It is time for fair-minded men to back away from backing dishonesty, ignorance, and those committed to violations of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights….to stand front and center and support truth and honesty and the interests of the people.

It is happening. We are seeing the moderates and even conservatives back away from a failed government, a government committed to its own ends at the expense of the people.

The transparency of their actions is beginning to shine through.

And the honest, fair minded people do not want to be weighed down with its burden.

It is time for the Republican candidates to embrace what is right; not what is expedient if for no other reason that McCain’s actions to buttress the president have failed miserably. We need go no further than follow the money.

The fact of the matter is that the American people have had it. They have had it with the lies they’ve been fed. They have had it with a government that makes decisions behind locked doors. They have had it with treaties that robs us of jobs. They have had it with cheap Chinese manufacturers putting our own industry out of business. They have had it with the profusions of lies, misstatements and obfuscation that floods out of Washington everyday and that we are expected to accept.

In short, the American people by the results of the surveys are saying “enough is enough.” It’s time to end Wars Without Justification. It’s time to end policies that ignore the needs of the American people. It’s time to end policies that don’t recognize the need for positive change. And they are telling us that if no one else picks up the standard, the American people will act to erase this blot on American history and make all of those who see their obligation to the president more important than the people disappear from the scene once and for all.

Les Aaron

9/11 Review…


We are about a month and a half away from the anniversary of 9/11. And it's time to get serious...

The Director of Homeland Security tells us that he has a “gut reaction” that we are going to be attacked again….That sounds like something to take to the bank…

And that seems a good reason to question whether over the last half-dozen years we have attended to all our security and protection needs. (Yeah, sure!)

Books have been written on the subject and they are mostly critical of our progress in this fundamental area of self preservation. I mean you don’t have to go any further than your local world history book to see what role self-preservation plays or should play in our society going back to the Greeks and the Persians in the tales of the Peloponnesian Wars…. Yet, it was this way through history. The ones who didn’t take their preservation seriously or couldn’t listen or accept new ideas were doomed to a historical footnote. Where are we on the issue? Listening to Bush’s rhetoric about the Iraqi members of Al Qaeda is a case of reinventing the facts while at the same time, we ignore the Tailiban and Al Qaeda that planned the real 9/11. Figure that one out.

The fact is that this administration once it gets an idea into its collective head will turn around the facts to justify their desired actions whether or not it has anything to do with reality. And that is our weakness. The fact is that by ignoring the issues, or ‘ducking it,’ our government gets to push the entire subject off on the next administration; that is assuming we haven’tbeen laid low by that point….…

Why has little tangible been done? Why have we failed the chairs of the 9/11 Commission to bring about needed change?

These questions will certainly reverberate through history; that much is clear….

But the key to change stills gets back to being realistic.

Our defenses should be predicated on new information and the best thinking this country has to offer from both sides of the aisle. That hasn’t happened. And, clearly, we are in a morass headed towards chaos in the state of our own defense.

And, mind you, what the democrats have accomplished in the recent legislation is good but it includes back doors and wiggle room that could put us in further jeopardy.

To this critic’s mind, there is no time to waste.

And the process begins with an assessment of how far we’ve gotten in the last five years plus…

Let us begin with our own home-grown,grass roots survey:

Ask yourself:


How much better off are we now than we were on 9/11?

Are our borders any safer?


Are our first responders better prepared?


Better equipped?


Are our ports safer in 2007 than they were in 2001?


Are we doing a better job of inspecting containers?


Are we doing a better job of identifying those who are in the US illegally


Are airport staff better trained and equipped to identify prospective terrorists


What would happen if a dirty bomb were set off on 42nd street in New York City?

What would happen if an explosive device targeted the Windsor-Detroit bridge?


According to the Center for Disease Control, the US does not have the current capacity to accommodate a biological attack. What have we done in the last four years to improve that condition….

We understand that the US Government has a plan to sequester or isolate those who have contracted a major disease. Why have those plans not been more transparent and made available to the people?

Why do we such limited supplies of protective gear?

Why do we have such limited supplies of antivirus vaccines on hand considering how much we are spending…

Ask yourselves these questions and pass them along. I will send your responses to the Speaker of the House and others in Congress including the Democratic Leadership Committee. And be sure to send your own questionnaire to your reps as well.

Together, maybe we can make a difference….

And as we approach this symbolic date and face an upcoming election, it is time we gave this subject the attention it deserves…

Be well. And keep the pressure on…


Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

9/11 Review…

We are about a month and a half away from the anniversary of 9/11.

The Director of Homeland Security tells us that he has a gut reaction that we are going to be attacked again….

And that seems a good reason to question whether over the last half-dozen years we have attended to all our security and protection needs.

Books have been written on the subject and they are mostly critical of our progress in this vital area; yet, by ignoring the issues, or ‘ducking it,’ our government gets to push the entire subject off on the next administration…

Nevertheless, inertia for change will only be propelled if we the people are persistent in our demands.

This begins with our own survey….


How much better off are we now than we were on 9/11?

Are our borders any safer?


Are our first responders better prepared?


Better equipped?


Are our ports safer in 2007 than they were in 2001?


Are we doing a better job of inspecting containers?


Are we doing a better job of identifying those who are in the US illegally


Are airport staff better trained and equipped to identify prospective terrorists


What would happen if a dirty bomb were set off on 42nd street in New York City?

What would happen if an explosive device targeted the Windsor-Detroit bridge?


According to the Center for Disease Control, the US does not have the current capacity to accommodate a biological attack. What have we done in the last four years to improve that condition….

We understand that the US Government has a plan to sequester or isolate those who have contracted a major disease. Why have those plans not been more transparent and made available to the people?

Why do we such limited supplies of protective gear?

Why do we have such limited supplies of antivirus vaccines on hand considering how much we are spending…

Ask yourselves these questions and pass them along. I will send your responses to the Speaker of the House and others in Congress including the Democratic Leadership Committee. And be sure to send your own questionnaire to your reps as well.

Together, maybe we can make a difference….

And as we approach this symbolic date and face an upcoming election, it is time we gave this subject the attention it deserves…

Be well. And keep the pressure on…


Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD...


The Real Heroes We Never Hear About…

Our country certainly raises questions…

We cover in detail every sordid drunkenness of our young stars….their antics and peregrinations as if they really had something to say outside of their own self-adulation, mind boggling assault on our senses, drug addictions, and distorted realities which are further fueled by our blind-sided adoration of these altered beings…

At the same time, the media that promises to deliver all of the news in thirty minutes (less fifteen minutes for commercial, give or take…)….doesn’t even give a nod to those who really are Americans, who make contributions every day to our way of life, who are responsible in the welter of stupidity that floods our airwaves, to actually make a quantifiable difference in how we live our lives…

One of these is a 93 year old man whom nobody has ever hear of. Yet, he is only one of five who has earned the Congressional gold medal, the President’s Medal of Freedom , and the Nobel Peace Prize.

Why is he so important?

Well, for starters, he saved one billion people….and there aren’t too many folks who can say that either now or ever.

His story is worth hearing and worth telling if you have the time.

But suffice it to say, Mr. Borlaug is an agronomist with a few ideas to stave off hunger and Malthusian visions of starvation.

Nobody believed he could do what he said he could do.

But he proved it in Mexico and then went on to prove it in China and elsewhere in the world.

What he did was design various types of wheat that could survive drought and weather extremes and still grow and provide food for the poor and the hungry. The techniques that he developed literally tripled grain production throughout the world.

You can’t even begin to imagine his contribution yet virtually no one has ever heard a word about him. His name is Norman Bourlaug

And families around the world will have to thank for the lives of their children.

A little something to think about when all we hear is about drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity and bucking heads with the law.

Wouldn’t it be nice that instead of devoting all their time to this rubbish, they took a moment out to pay tribute to the man who saved a billion people.

Just a thought!

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

WHAT DO WE HAVE IN COMMON
WITH 81 MUNICIPALITIES IN THE US?

While our government twiddles its thumbs, and the Executive proves that it has no respect for the American people and will not change its destructive ways, 81 municipalities in this great land have made themselves felt throughout the land by voting to support Impeachment proceedings for the president/vice president.

Should this not spur the rest of us on to make our own commitment.

Can we afford to do otherwise?

Right now, Dennis Kucinich is gathering signatures in Congress for Impeachment.
Conyers has already said that if Dennis gets three more votes, he will put before Congress a bill for Impeachment.

Will it happen?

Should it happen?

Or should we continue to watch our constitution threatened and violated, our human rights go down the drain and our privacy intruded upon as never before.
Are we a democracy if the Executive by itself can decide who should be spied upon and who should have their property confiscated and appropriated because in the view of this administration, the so-called guilty parties are aiding and abetting the enemy. And precisely what does that mean? Does that apply with those who simply don’t agree with the president or vice president’s view of the War or of the conduct of their policies?
Are those suitable offenses? And what about the recent fact that a congressman could not obtain the president’s plan subsequent to an attack on the US. Does that mean mandatory Martial Law and sequestering away of those who don’t agree with the path this administration has chosen. Are we all up for grabs? Do our rights mean nothing?

Here is the latest municipality to sign on.
And our hat is off to you.

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon
Takoma Park urges impeachment of Bush, Cheney in symbolic vote
AP
Posted: 2007-07-24 10:17:39
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (AP) - The Takoma Park city council unanimously approved a resolution Monday urging Congress to go forward with impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The nonbinding resolution accuses Bush and Cheney of abuses that include misleading the nation on the war in Iraq, allowing the torture of prisoners and overstepping the powers of the executive branch. It follows similar resolutions passed in other cities and towns nationally, including Detroit and San Francisco.

All five council members present voted for the measure and Mayor Kathy Porter also expressed support.

Organizers say while the measure carries no legal authority, they hope it will encourage Maryland's delegation in Congress to take action. It was the first impeachment measure passed in the Washington region, according to its backers.

"We are just trying to make enough of a splash so that they will make a splash," said Lisa Moscatiello, a Takoma Park musician who began a petition drive in March.

Takoma Park, a city of about 18,000 people on the Washington border in Montgomery County, has a history of liberal but largely symbolic causes. In the 1980s, the city declared itself a nuclear free zone, meaning the city can't invest in businesses connected to the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
07/24/07 10:16 EDT

INJUSTICE AT JUSTICE...


The Day The Justice Department Lost the American People.

Must of us have grown up with an abiding faith in the institutions that define America.

In the past seven years, many of us have lost faith in the Cabinet, the Pentagon, the Department of the Army, the Supreme Court, the president, the Vice president and the Media for lies, corruption and violations of the Constitution.

The Justice Department we thought sacrosanct but we were to learn otherwise throughout months of false and disturbing testimony.
In that time, the Justice Department has shown how in mocking justice, it has nothing but contempt for our institutions and the American people.

If Gonzalez had a brain at all, it is so well hidden by his disastrous attempt to curry favor and cover up that it seems non-existent or muddled at best….

One must ask how this caricature who cannot remember his name expects to survive with any dignity or pride from months of interrogation where it was clear from his answers that he has no understanding of his job or what happened on his beat.

For the head of a department to admit as much is reason for immediate departure; for the president to hang on to such an inept and corrupt personage is more than most fair-minded people are willing to tolerate.

And it devolves upon us to decide whether he is the biggest liar on two feet or the dumbest man in creation.

Of course, the president pats him on the back while failing to acknowledge that he has the worst Attorney General in history, one who is not even fit to polish the shoes of his antecedents.

Watching this sickening display played out disheartens me as it must the rest of the world who once respected our great country. Moreover, it must reinforce those adventurers who think that they can benefit from a country so badly organized, so dishonest and so inept it cannot long survive.

And while that may still be true it seems that if nothing else, justice is beginning to catch up with Justice.

Contempt citations have been issued against Harriet Meirs and her colleague for following the president’s admonition against testifying which, in and of itself, seems like an impeachable offense considering Executive Privilege is reserved for matters of security only….and violating Congressional subpoenas is against the law.

Once again, Gonzalez was given the benefit of the doubt and asked to shed some light on his nighttime visit to the former Attorney General to obtain permission to continue their eavesdropping on citizens without the approval of the Courts despite the fact that the Attorney General had surrendered his authority during his illness and while under sedation.

This time, Gonzalez tried to argue that gaining authority from the Attorney General was not their primary intent. However, records have been located that give the lie to the Attorney General’s most recent testimony that, yes, indeed, the reason was strictly to obtain further permissions for continued violations of the Constitution for violating the rights deemed inviolable by the same document.

Even Jay Rockefeller of the ‘gang of eight’ who attended that meeting thought Gonzalez statement perjured him….

Now, the ball is in the Attorney General’s court to say ‘yeah’ or ‘nay’ to his own statements and if the testimony given is sustained by the Attorney General, it may be the will of Congress to seek the truth through the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.

Slowly but inexorably, the wheels of justice move forward….

And the rest of us stand on the sidelines adding our presence to the growing case for Impeachment against a president and a vice president who would allow not only the politicizing of one of our most cherished institutions but the continuation of a pattern of lies and obfuscation on all matters pertinent to White House interests where a cover up is sufficient grounds for Impeachment proceedings to go forward….

If nothing else, honest and hard working republicans must be asking themselves why they continue to support a party of lies, misstatements and contempt for the Constitution.

Les Aaron

When Will We Decide On A Format That Really Works?

As a contrarion of the worst kind, I find that the current debates tell me what the candidates want us to hear. None of the debates so far have told us much about the candidates or any more than they wanted to share with us.

I would like to try a different kind of format; one that allows them to cover all the points that would allow us to focus in on their preparation,their skills, their understanding of the problem and, lastly but not least, the kind of skills they would want to recruit to help them in the task of running this great country of ours….

By agreement, we should find a kind of forum that would allow each of them to speak freely for ten minutes and then allow them another five minutes to defend their positions or to ask questions of the other speakers.

The forum as I see it should do several things.

1. It should answer for us what each of the candidates consider their highest priorities and why…

2. It should then proceed to lay out what is wrong or needs fixing; and what we have failed to attend to re each of those priorities….

3. But most importantly, it should detail in very clear terms what each candidate proposes to do about it… How does he or she intend to address each of the priorities they have layed out as our most serious…

4. Finally, each candidate should tell us what they think they can do to address the violations and abuses of this administration and how they hope to resolve the problems that are likely to affect our lives for at least the next decade… We would expect their best ideas to surface here and it should serve to determine how their minds work when it comes to assessing and addressing a problem…

5. Then I would like each of the candidates to relate to us what they see as their leading strengths and weaknesses and what makes them especially equipped to deal with the wide ranging problems that confront us…

6. Finally, I would also like to hear who they would appoint to help them achieve the tasks ahead. Merely, the mention of the kind of people that they would bring into their administrations and for what reasons would be amazingly informative and instructive and a key to how their minds work…..


7 Finally, I would like to know to what extent they would be willing to commit to the tasks that lie ahead. Would they be willing to put their individual crusades into writing and commit to them?....This would also be informative and give us an idea of how rock solid their commitments are….


This would allow us to hear about the bedrock conceptions behind their individual campaigns and allow us to judge how they best conform to our own view of the challenges that lie ahead.

I am less interested in the hype and more interested in the bed-rock. I think, too, that this is what the candidates are dying to tell us and would differentiate the candidates once and for all in our own minds…

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

Why would anyone join the Armed Forces today?

Yes, I understand that it is a way to get around punishing tuition's to get your college under your belt; or as is often the case with the National Guard, it is a way to supplement one’s income at a time when jobs seem to have dried up despite the glowing statistics published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I wonder when Mr. Conyers will start taking a look at the statistics being touted by the White House….



Okay, let’s say you bite. You are attracted by being an “Army of One…” and you join up! What are your likely prospects


Despite what the recruiter may have told you, you can look forward to going to either Iraq or Afghanistan once, twice or even more during your enlistment.


And the tour is no longer six or eight months, it’s twelve months…


Normally, most National Guard troops and Reservists had two years to stay at home for every one spent on an hazardous duty site like Iraq; that’s no longer true in today’s war.


As a result, military psychologists are saying that troops who are ‘whole’ and apparently unwounded are returning in increasing numbers with signs of all kinds of mental problems—from depression to unseen problems that result from the brain-jarring experience of being shot at by IUD’s….

Where the physical explosion literally shakes the target’s brain in its shell case resulting in unseen injury that can manifest itself in different ways later.



80% of wounds tend to be caused by these ‘roadside bombs” and IUDs. If the military had moved forward, as it should have, and put a priority on the manufacture of the new military vehicles that are mostly impervious to the IUDs, we would not be reading about one hundred plus new deaths a month in places like Baghdad.


But it hasn’t happened.


When it comes to almost limitless investment in weaponry, we seem incapable of doing the right thing when it comes to our young men and women...


From day one, the Pentagon and the White House has refused to get behind the proper safeguards for American troops. In even the first deployment, there were only 254 armored Humvees sent to the front.


And through-out that period, many troops or their families had to purchase their own armored vests because the military was not providing them.


One of the reasons for continued break-down of military assets was because the troops themselves took on the task of retrofitting our trucks and vehicles with steel plate which put an extra burden on frames and drives and for the most part, did not provide the necessary level of protection for our troops.


To add insult to injury, wounded returning troops are finding that oftentimes, instead of getting the treatments and benefits they need, they are simply dropped from programs or given a token payment instead of the full support that will most likely need if they are to survive in civilian life.


The facts are staggering!


If you are wounded, the chances are that your wounds will be rated by the military; they will issue you a grade based upon their impression of the severity of the wound. And you will then either be handed a lump sum payment or become entitled to a life-long benefit. The trouble is that a survey of these assessments has been judged inappropriate to the kind and severity of the wound. In one recent case, a returnee from Iraq was in such bad shape, he had to have an implant of a morphine pump so that he could alleviate his pain. His award was ten percent which was below the twenty percent minimum required for a continuing benefit. Instead, he received a lump sum payment of thirty five thousand dollars which he ran through almost immediately after leaving the service and now is in a poverty situation with his wife and two children and no recourse, or benefits to look forward to. While his case is under review, countless others may take years or decades to review....



According to VA investigators, approximately 80% of such assignments have been below the level justified by the nature and severity of the wounds received. Moreover, today, more than a million and a half Veterans do not have medical benefits to speak of…



You guessed it: You invest everything you have, get wounded and you wind up dropping between the chairs...



Just the other day, the head of Veteran’s Affairs resigned; that is after loosing millions of VA records and after an employee was allowed to take his computer home with important confidential data that may have been compromised. Under his aegis, the VA is behind six to eighteeen months or more on attending to the most current cases.



To add insult to injury, many of the families left stranded with high bills or inadequate treatments and no recourse....



Not that all of the blame should be placed on VA since the Armed Forces bear considerable responsibility for misjudging awards and for not providing for wounded servicepeople.



As of now, we are being told that there are some 25,000 wounded American personnel as a result of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

There is no way to verify that number without going to each member of the Armed Services and asking each branch for specific numbers by category….i.e. accident, in the line of duty, etc. And since this information is obfuscated, one doubts the numbers one receives in trying to get at the truth.


However, by extrapolating randomly from individual unit figures, it is possible to come up with a number that may rank two or three times higher than the numbers we are being fed. It is unfortunate that based upon the lies, obfuscation and misleading data that comes out of the White House, we have to treat their information as distorted and inaccurate but to do otherwise, would be buy in the subterfuge and misleading claims relative to the War from the very beginning.



When the smoke clears, we suspect that our numbers are more credible than what we are being told. In virtually all areas, the Pentagon and the White House have misled the American people and, increasingly, the American people are coming round to the idea that that constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors” and is an impeachable offense.



Les Aaron

A Veteran and former Military Adviser

The Pandemic Threat.

How are we doing?

We all know that sooner or later, we will face a Flu Pandemic.

Is it something to concern ourselves?

Well, if you look at the last significant event in the early part of the Twentieth century, you might tend to think so—since it wiped out more than twenty million people.

Scientists think that despite all the progress we’ve made in medicine and technology, such a Flu Pandemic might be as bad as this life-transforming event or even worse.

Faced with that kind of prospect, you might think that we would pull out all of the plugs to defeat such a threat.

No such thing.

It seems that since this possibility was announced, we are hardly better off than we were then.

Specialists in pandemics point to the fact that we do not have enough vaccine to go round; consequently, there will have to be choices made.

In a government that leans over backwards to politicize even departments that we never imagined would be publicized, we can only imagine what they by-product of such thinking might do that grand old concept of equality…..

Or consider the fact that if a Pandemic did break out,
Where would we put the sick and infected?

That’s a good question. Because we are told that most hospitals are already near capacity.

One wonders if we had taken some of those 600 billion dollars from an unwanted war, how much new capacity could have been built.

A question for the historians to ponder one might imagine….

Within a matter of days, the government will announce its plan to distribute the vaccines in the case of an emergency.

Another surprising response from the government was that they have no intention of sealing our borders when and if an outbreak occurs anywhere in the world.

They are just going to assume that it will do no good.

Such critical thinking on the part of the government should raise the level of debate; nevertheless, for the most part few people hear about what the government’s real intent is and, therefore, there is an embarrassing paucity of informed opinion on just about anything you can think of.

And we, the citizens, are the poorer for it.

Les Aaron

How Could Our Government Be
So Wrong About So Many Things?

It’s because our operation in Iraq is an abstraction; it has little to do, in fact, with this government’s real goals which is: To dominate and control economic resources round the world and use Iraq as the ultimate form of smoke and mirrors to distract Americans from seeing their real objectives…


Further, 9/11 gave the government the ability to do virtually anything it wanted with the exception of Martial Law to impose its own laws and aim for fulfillment of its own goals and objectives..

9/11 became a political tool that allowed the government to suspend Habeas Corpus… (After all, Lincoln did it goes the argument)… It allowed US citizens to be imprisoned and tortured, if not here, elsewhere under the rules of rendition. It allowed the government to discard the Geneva Convention. It allowed all those holding Saudi passports to return immediately without interrogation even though those who attacked the WTC held Saudi passports. It allowed the NSA to spy on US Citizens. It allowed the government to avoid and violate the Constitution. And it gave the government absolute authority to conduct war and rule absolutely.

This was possible for only one reason: We had an enemy, bin Laden of Al Qaeda. Without him, there would no longer be a threat; no longer a reason for an absolute presidency.

To mollify the citizenry and make the president appear the hero of the day, America gathered its forces and stormed into Afghanistan, all ten of them.

That was the size of the first foray into Afghanistan by the CIA.

Even the head of this group wondered why only ten men.
Why?

To give the enemy a chance to disappear intact.

For if we destroyed the enemy, we would have destroyed the reason for an imperial presidency.

Nevertheless, the result was unavoidable until it came to the last blow. With air support and the support of the Northern Alliance, the United States eventually drove out the Tailiban.

And we were in a position to take out bin Laden on more than one occasion.

But we failed to move decisively to resolve our problem the solution to which was within our grasp.

Why didn’t we take advantage of the situation to rid ourselves of the situation instead of allowing bin Laden every opportunity to escape.

This is not only my question, it is the question on the lips of many. Some who served with special forces and others who understand the power of politics and money and power. .

And I offer this answer: It was not in our interests to do so at that stage of the game.

Here’s my rationale: We were only at year two in the Bush’s presidency.

With 9/11, he had become the hero of the people whether deserved or not..

He was committed to wiping out the terrorists. An easy rationale that confers unlimited powers.

The people believed him. And they supported him.

And , objectively, nothing better could have happened to the party after twelve months of falling ratings. Up until 9/11, it looked as if nothing this president could do would reverse his falling ratings or the loss of support of the people.

The fact was that if bin Laden were wiped out, the War would be over, the threat of militant antiterrorist threat against the USwould have evaporated and the reason for Bush’s “imperial presidency” wiped out.

The president and the Party could not afford to return to business as usual without losing powers not heretofore seen in peacetime.

In viewing the practice of dictators, who seek and want power, the first dictum is to declare an enemy, preferably a vague and In powerful enemy that cannot be easily defeated but who provides an excuse for an abnormal grasp of power not heretofore seen in representative government. It is no exaggeration to suggest that everyone played their role and fell into place, including the people who were frightened by an invasion of our country, the media who failed to perform its role and the opposition party who operated in lockstep to support the unnatural powers that the Executive assumed in order to keep the enemy from our gates. That we were so easily victimized is no endorsement of our insight, our intellect or our judgment and it showed how quickly we can become politicized with few whose vision could penetrate the haze and artifice..


These are the kind of powers that were absorbed here for ostensibly the same reasons.

If the War were over, it would be back to falling ratings and a president who was human and did not display superhuman qualities.

We could not afford to destroy bin Laden at that time.

As a result, eventually realizing that the target could not be identified and isolated but had to be vague and generalized if the president were to retain his powers, those powers invested in him by the people.

Now, with the president’s tenure coming to an end, killing bin Laden would point a way to empower the Republican party, reminding the people that it was the Republican party who in the end did what it set out to do.

It is a sad legacy of this party that whatever they do, they will never be able to erase the record that describes their unwillingness to challenge the distortions, the lies, and the obfuscations, in the exercise of power undertaken by this government and their own party.

It has been a long and uncomfortable ride from pretense to lies to smoke and mirrors.
It has been a dispiriting one as well with an intransigent arrogant leadership that believes it is alright to rule by Divine Right, dismantle the laws of the land and do whatever you like as long as God and the people are on your side.

Well, the people are not falling for it anymore and pretty soon they will latch on to the logic of using lies, distraction and distortion to rule by fiat.

It is not working anymore.

And Bush and his acolytes, supporters and those who stubbornly cling to their own erroneous thinking seem to be the last to realize it.

Les aaron

Please be advised:

THE BIG "I" LETTER TO NANCY PELOSI...

I intend to send this letter via snail mail and email to the Speaker of the House along with copies to my two senators and congressman…



If you would like to add your name at the bottom and pass it on with the last person on the list sending it to me and starting over again with a cut and paste , I shall add it to my letter to the Speaker.



Les Aaron





Dear Ms. Pelosi, Speaker of the House…


Many of us in the Internet community feel that Impeachment proceedings are what’s needed at this time against both the vice president and the president for leading this country in the wrong direction, for lying to the American people, for violating the spirit and provisions of the Constitution, for the obstruction of justice, for interfering in the sentence handed down and commuting the sentence of a key White House official one must assume in order to guard oneself against indictment—a true obstruction issue, for spying on citizens without the benefit of court order, for kidnapping and torture of US citizens, and other violations of the law that meet or exceed the Constitution’s definition of crimes and misdemeanors that warrant Impeachment…


It is long past the time for action.


Your failure to act expeditiously on these grievous violations sends a message out to activists and others that, in effect, marks the democratic party as weak beyond measure and lacking the courage to perform the obligations for which you were elected.


Remember, you were elected to serve at the pleasure of the people in good times and bad.


To do any less than move forward with the Impeachment solution infers that the party is unable to fulfill its role; moreover, it would confer legitimacy on the actions of the guilty —which would resonate down through history as the democrats’ nadir, and, furthermore, imply that those violations taken by the president and the vice president are within their rights only to be passed down as precedent, whether or not they were legal and the understanding that criminal actions are criminal actions whether we ignore them or not…


This would definitely send out the wrong messages and rubber stamp the excesses, the lies, the misdeeds that have characterized our government over the last six years. A government of conscience cannot permit these violations to go unpunished under the law.


If the senior members of congress do not understand their rights under the law, I am sure that such experts as John Nichols and Bruce Fein would be pleased to educate them. Courage is another matter; you can’t find it in books.


But the important word here is “action.”


Congress must act on behalf of the people or face the challenge of being considered in support of, or participating in an illegal form of collusion opening up the democrats to downstream challenges for errant behavior when confronted with the question of the law.

There is no other way to interpret democrats unwillingness to act on behalf of their constituencies who are frustrated by the Democratic Party’s failure to do what is necessary to save democracy in the face of a consistent in your face attitude by republicans for the law and the Constitution. .


If the Democratic Party fails to act, it is not out of the range of possibility that another party will be formed in the expectation that they will be more supportive of the interests of the people. Moreover, inertia may also impel the population to stay at home during the election in the realization that both parties seem to serve the same master which is not the people of the land. If this were the case, the democratic effort to win the election may be thwarted with the democrats perceived as the dinosaurs of our age unable to win election in 75% of the attempts..


We do hope that this little reminder will help you find your core and your courage and allow you to move forward to restore America to a democracy and a government of the people in which now it is sorely deficient.


Les Aaron

GIGO

Remember that old Computer phrase: Garbage In, Garbage Out. Well, that accurately describes our approach to solutions in Iraq.

An Iraq Program based on Egos over facts does not have a chance of working…

Here's a few things we know:

We know that our government rejected the idea of dealing with the real power sources in the country; instead, we alligned ourselves with Shalabi, a known crook we were warned against.

We also know that we built an offensive program predicated on lies, misstatements and flawed research that was turned around to accommodate our Executive's short-term interests.

We also know that our government rallied against the only common sense solution:
Partition the country into three enclaves and split the oil income.

No, these were not the solutions entertained by our government intent upon controlling Iraq's principal asset: Oil!

So, here's the premise advanced by our government.

Iraq should be a democracy with its people willing to engage each other in good faith.

Given those conditions, may we ask the question why?



It wasn't like that when we invaded Iraq for purposes not yet made clear to anyone.



But let's leave that aside for a moment.



Let’s posit some serious questions to ascertain where we are in this blind-sided hypothesis.



At any time in their history, did the Iraqis show a preference for Democracy.


Were they interested in Democracy now?

Of course not!

Why?



Because Islam as practiced by the Iraqis is at cross-purposes with Democracy. So why are we trying to jam it down their throats.



The truth of the matter is that Yugoslavia was the perfect analog for Iraq..



Yugoslavia was an impossible mix of people who historically were incapable of getting along.



They were in opposition over religions, cultures and ideas and there were long smoldering hatreds.



With Tito gone, it was an invitation to Civil War and that's precisely what happened…almost immediately.



With Saddam, the Tito of Iraq disposed, it was not surprising—had we understood anything of the culture and tradition of the Middle East, that this strictly ruled country would dissolve into civil war pitting its three major people against each other: The Sunnis, Shia' and Kurds.



There would be a civil war whether we were there or not.



And that seems one of the facts that we can’t seem accept or retain.



\

The only thing that our being there meant was that more Americans would die and Al Qaeda, a parasite that feeds on other's unrest, would get the green light to come in and suck the blood of the Iraqis and gorge itself at our expense.



That's all there is to it.



There is no arcane or esoteric arguments here except for perhaps the reason why we invaded in the first place….



This is no place for fast-draw cowboy politics.



It is a place that desperately needs common sense.



And in the process we might ask why all our solutions tend to be military solutions, why our Secretary of State will not deal with people we don't like (Isn't that what Secretaries of State do?)...

and why we have eschewn diplomacy for bullying...



All we have effectively done is raise the enmity of the world and predispose most of the thinking world to damn us as fools of the worst kind.



Instead of using common sense, we credited ourselves on ending the war three years ago and instead of looking at the truth, could not get over our self-important premier role in the country.



Maybe we should get over ourselves and come to the realization that we are not the world’s policeman; that we have our own neglected priorities like school and health care.



If we are seeking our own downfall, we have made a good start.



Wake up America and get smart!

The only thing we have accomplished is to make the military industrial complex more powerful, sacrificed our young and aroused the enmity of the rest of the world.





In the end, all those republicans who never lifted a finger will be making excuses about how they were deceived as they cling to the last remnants of their jobs.



Les Aaron

Free Speech

I was just privy to an email from one of the so-called progressive sites.

One of the members had taken issue with another clearly junior member who felt that he needed to question an assumption. The empowered one said that their site doesn’t need bickering or small talk because the leaders intuitively all know what is ‘right’ and they were all too busy getting done what needed to get done.



And this was a political site that prided itself on being 'progressive'.....



Hello!



Isn’t discussion and dialogue and debate what America is all about?



Didn't he ever hear of Free Speech?.



Did our progressive friend forget that the Continental Congress spent hours, days, weeks andmonths debating the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution? And that provisions of those documents came together only after days of questioning, debate, discussion.....



These documents weren't handed down like the TEn Commandments; they had to be crafted to please all parties.



And it involved much discussion and dialogue.



And the strength of our documents has to do with the lively cross-currents of conversation and dialogue that took place and the ability of man to come to agreement after all the facts were in.



Did our friend also realize that the interest in containing speech and dialogue was inimical to the interests and protections of our way of life and, if anything, represented precisely the kind of language you might find in a burgeoning dictatorship where no dialogue was permitted?



I worry about people who think they know all the answers and that they don’t need any further input or think that they've been somehow blessed to decidefor their friends.....



They are usually the ones who become so rigid that they can’t adjust to change and fall apart or self-righteous that they are unable to participate in a society predicated on free speech and argument.



Need I remind my friend that the New England Town halls were perfect examples of how a democracy should function.



Yet, our friend, who labels himself among the leading protagonists of this so-called Progressive site seems to have lost his mooring and in this, there is a lesson for all.




When a leader or someone who tries to influence our thinking tells us that we don’t need to debate something, that to debate it would be denigrate the argument or introduce bickering, a little red light should go off and start you to question his or her assumptions.



The wonder of this country is not that we all march together but that we are a nation of individuals who are free to express their differences and if someone tells you that ‘it is not necessary’ or that the matter has already been discussed, beware.



Remember, America’s strength is in its ability to come together when the cause is right and only after long hours of discussion, debate and inquiry and come up with solutions that are based on understanding and compromise.



It is what made us great and nobody should tell us that if we belong to a group or an organization that we cannot discuss its charter, provisions or aims; that it is un-American; ironically, it is the opposite that’s true.



Thank God that we believe it is okay to argue, debate or question our most sacred assumptions; may it always be that way.



Les Aaron.

THEY ARE ALL WRONG ABOUT IMPEACHMENT...

IT IS NOT THE PROBLEM; IT IS THE SOLUTION

Nancy was wrong!

Our officials were wrong!

OUr president and vice president have violated the responsibilities for which they were elected: To uphold the law.

This much was clear from Bill Moyer’s report on Impeachment this week past.


The fact is that as of this time, there are more than sufficient grounds for Impeachment and little is being done about it…

This was evident from the ground-breaking discussion of two Impeachment experts, one a conservative, the other a liberal, brought together by Bill Moyers for his new Friday night show on PBS.

One of the experts, John Nichols, was a former reporter for the Nation and the author of the Genius of Impeachment; the other, Bruce Fein, a Constitutional scholar under Ronald Reagan. Both held emphatically that both the president and the vice president should be Impeached under the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America for their willingness to flaunt the law and their dishonesty with the American people and that their crimes far exceeded the tests of high crimes and misdemeanors….

Moyers played the good conservative trying to find arguments against such action but it was clear that there was more than sufficient grounds for their impeachment.

Inevitably, the question arose: What are we going to do about it?

Both scholars explained that our representatives do not know the Constitution nor are they Constitutional scholars;as a result, they feel unsure as to what actions to take and lack confidence about the rights granted them under the constitution

The panelists, Bruce Fein and John Nichols were superb. They know their constitution and it was clear from their explanations and discussions.

Fein made the argument that the president and the vice president have been exhibiting patterns of behavior which makes very clear that they feel they are above the law.

The problem is that if their behavior goes unchallenged, it winds up becoming part of the bag of rights that each president tends to see as his right under the law and whether legal or not, tend to be passed along to others who seized these bogus rights as their entitlement. In effect, these violations must be dealt with if we are to return to a law abiding nation.

Moreover, most people misunderstand the rights of Impeachment and fail to realize that Impeachment was designed as a right of the American people and the means where by the country can be returned to its fundamental values. Our Founding Fathers spent endless hours arguing the powers of Impeachment and in the end, they were adopted as a safeguard against the hubris of leaders who do not feel bound by the laws of the land..

In the discussion, Moyers asked the experts whether the Scooter Libby case had aided the case for impeachment or not. They said that Madison in discussing impeachment said that Impeachment was called for if someone tried to exonerate or transmute the sentence of a witness who’s possible testimony might be harmful or injurious to him was in effect the obstruction of justice and an impeachable offense of and by itself.

Nevertheless, both constitutional scholars pointed out that there have been excessive example of both Cheney and Bush taking the law into their own hands ranging from spying, kidnapping and imprisonment of US citizens, denying them access to legal advice as provided by the constitution, eavesdropping on US Citizens without the permission of the courts, viola\ting their privacy…lying to the people, etc., etc.

The point is that there are plenty of grounds for impeachment.

Bill Moyers then brought up the position of the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who said that Impeachment is “off the table.”

Both of them said that she is wrong!

That Impeachment proceedings should have been launched some time ago.
And that it should be moving forward.




And in this one of the scholars remarked about how the media failed in its mission to responsibly report on acts of government that went beyond the dictates of the law and could no longer be seen as the responsible Fourth Estate; therefore, it remained the obligation and responsibility of the people to exert needed pressure on their elected officials to abide by the law and act accordingly even if it was unpopular.

Les Aaron

Will Democrats stay home election day?

For those of us who are elated about Bush’s decline in the polls are we kidding ourselves?

Are we kidding ourselves for not looking at Congress’ record and the opinions of the American people as reflected in recent polls?

The 06 vote called for change.



And the people are tired to see that the newly elected democratic representatives seem unable to make it happen.



People feel let down. They do not feel as if they are being represented in Congress.



In the meantime, the president becomes more and more the loose canon, completely disconnected from reality.



One has to wonder how the president can report what he does and take his own findings seriously.



Like another dictator I'm reminded of who could not admit that he had lost his army, his people, his country.



The scenario would be laughable if it were not so sad.



If 3, 4 or 5 Americans did not lose their lives every day….



Now, the president is blaming his generals for the losses when we knew that Bush, cheney, Rumsfeld did not want to commit sufficient manpower to do the job; even if this war was justifiable which it was not!.



We are seeing report after report of inversion of the truth.



And it is being jammed down our throats as if we didn’t know who the culprits were in this fiasco.



Will America continue to put up with lies, obfuscation and smoke and mirrors for another year and a half?….



Or will we have to bite the bullet and do what we have to do to end this disastrous government and push for Impeachment.



Soon, we will not be left with another choice since we are already between a rock and a hard place with a policy that is unshifting despite the real evidence of its failure.



Meanwhile, we have lost our stature in the world and all the progress we have ever made.



It is a troubling thought coming from this Veteran knowing how many lives were sacrificed to bring us to this day of indecision.



Les Aaron

WHAT DID OUR HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PROTECTION BUY US?

Where we stand: Box cutters vs. the most technology ever

It always make you feel confident to realize that after we’ve poured hundreds of billions of dollars into our esoteric protective agencies, so secretive that we admittedly know little about them except how wrong they've been in the past, that the man chosen to head them in the most advanced technological job in the world (we would think…) admits that with the latest hardware and software at his disposal, he informs us of his “gut feeling” that we may be threatened again this summer.



with lasers, phasers, radars, telecommunications, computers, software programs that listen to the conversations of people round the world, hand held devices that can listen into anything, special radar arrays that are so esoteric the average layman would never understand them, robotic devices that scan everything from twenty miles above the ground,the most costly satellite systems anyone could imagine, pin-point specific weaponry, video cameras that miss nothing, computer systems that can lay out an entire battlefield and weapons that can destroy dozens of tanks with a single bomb, and a thousand things more that are still classified, you have the audacity to tell us that the best you can do is gut instinct?



And your reason:



Because the terrorists seem to like the summer to become active….



What the hell are you talking about, you boob?



Should I run out and buy more plastic and tape?



Don't you realize that you have access to every device known to man, that nothing is too expensive, and yet the best you can do is gut instinct???



If Mr. Jerkoff is so willing to talk about his gut feelings, perhaps I can do likewise.



I am under the distinct impression that our protective agencies are being run by morons; that our leadership is non-existent; that if we don't take things into our own hands, we will all be living in New Orleans...



That we have spent untold billions that is either so unreliable, so unwieldy, or so incomprehensible to our leaders that they would rather go with their instincts….



We have added bureaucracy to bureaucracy so that now we have built a tower of Babel that carries no weight, accomplishes little and is a total embarrassment to the people.

No wonder we have been kept in the dark so long.



What a wonderful reason to initiate the deepest probe of our investigatory agencies and their bizarre cultures and warped leadership ever.



We demand to know what has happened to all of the money we’ve invested.



We demand to know on what basis we are safer now than ever.



We demand answers and not more platitudes that leave us more querulous than ever with less confidence than ever in the forty or so agencies that exist only for one reason—to protect us, the people…



If the media does not feel that this is the worthiest of issues, I would suggest that we take away their licenses because they have failed to act in the public good; they have failed to perform their duty as public watchdogs and the last thing we need is media that attempts to soothe away or distract us from what should be our premier priority.



And if our elected officials do not respond, we should ditch them all and start over…



It is time to act on this most critical of issues….before the guys with the box-cutters come at us again!



Les Aaron

After twenty years of being treated as the Holy Grail of Economics, Free Trade is finally getting a second look...

Vindication!

After only fifteen years of protesting the theory and its assumptions...

The truth of the matter is that I believe that any great theory has to stand the test of time and that Free Trade doesn't meet that criteria. Nontheless, if you don't agree, you are somehow an apostate. Because how could anyone argue against their holier than thou assumptions.

Certainly, you have to be especially hard headed to attack them at their own game in a game where they hold all the cards, but being brought up a liberal progressive, I believed it was my obligation to offer an opposing point of view. (My cousin assisted Friedman in writing his landmark tome..) It was my simplistic view that in my days, the government could moderate unfair labor practices, establish tariffs against countries who dumped on our shores or followed unfair practices, guarantee fair wages, operate against companies who merged or acquired each other just for the financial gain of the partners and end unfair mergers and acquisitions where competition could be impacted with dire results for the employees.

In other words, my approach presented the arguments for fairness and balance. I was suggesting that we had to get beyond theory to pose economic solutions that met the litmus test for fairness...

However, at that time, the doctrine was free trade and it resulted in trade policies such as NAFTA under the rubric of manufacturing would always move to places where the cost of production was lower—even if it meant slave labor or taking advantage of the worker.

NAFTA was written by lobbyists and no one who voted on it read it.

As it turned out, the legislation was fraught with issues that nobody had anticipated. For example, disagreements were settled in private behind closed doors with no recourse. If it was decided against the party, the taxpayer had to pay the freight. Government and the Constitution seemed removed from the process...

My perspective was that Fair Trade practitioners have a very simple theory but in its simplicity, it was often unfair.

Now, for the first time, some of the leading minds in Economics are beginning to look at their closely held assumptions and a few are agreeing that the whole idea of Free Trade may bear closer scrutiny; that perhaps it wasn’t as perfect an idea as Milton Friedman would have us believe….

On closer scrutiny, something wasn’t working.

American jobs were “off-shoring” and the quality of life was slipping….

Why?

Might it be Free Trade assumptions….

Well, nobody’s fleeing full speed away from the theory but at least maverick views are now starting to be heard for the first time since almost Reagan’s day…

In my guide and treatise on how to make democracy work again, I take issue with all of these economists in posing my Twenty Point Program for rebuilding America.

And those who don’t think I’m a socialist are starting to label me as an obstructionist.

I’m actually none of those things.

I just don’t see free trade without supervision and monitoring as something that can function alone as I understand it.

I believe it was a mistake to jettison manufacturing in the expectation of some higher level of work that if it ever existed, transformed into the kind of work that economists felt was better done by India or China.

I didn’t agree.

I believed that in view of the slanted playing field we faced, we were entitled to play hard ball, too.

That while our execs were allowed to make a profit, earning four hundred times more than the worker on the floor was out of line.

I also thought it was out of line to see how Reagan’s doctrine redistributed the assets of this country and militated against the middle class.

I saw no reason why manufacturers could escape their responsibilities on these shores so as to avoid taxes….
And at the same time, benefit from huge tax advantages.

Something wasn’t making sense. Workers who had helped hype productivity were not seeing the benefits of their labors….

Giant oil companies were allowed to merge limiting competition…

Major military subcontractors were joining forces with the result that the cost of weapons systems was increasing 100%, 200% or more…

Something had to be done.

So, I proposed a twenty point program to level the playing field, encourage a return to manufacturing in this country, reduce our foreign trade disadvantage, increase our patent position, commit to more science through grants and small loans to manufacturers.

So far, nobody’s gotten back to me to say that my blueprint for America is wrong.

I, in fact, think it is the kind of imaginative thinking America needs at this time.

And I know the American people will support me when they realize that they have been summarily cut out of the American dream.
In the meantime, I am delighted that in the last two days, economists are starting to rethink free trade and maybe there still is hope for this country after all.

Les Aaron

The Great Leap Backwards…

There are certain watersheds in history that bear watching for the lessons they impart.

Among those of recent origin, one certainly must consider Mao’s Great Leap Forwards and the Communist Revolution that has now morphed into today’s hybrid of Capitalistic Communism that combines Mao’s spirit with Chinese enterprise while kind of playing with your mind…

And then how can we forget the Great Leap Backwards led by the Pied Piper of Pie in the Sky,
The inheritor of A World New Order, the Compassionless Cargo Plane Cabal, the Monarchists of Myopia….who have managed to completely reverse the most positive, forward thinking nation on earth and propel us backwards in time to the Inquisition and the Dark Ages….

Fundamental to Backwardism is the predilection towards “trust me” politics where the people merely say “Bless you” as they knuckled across the frontal lobes….

We are told to “believe” because our leaders know all of the answers and not to believe is not to show faith and to be a traitor. And traitors have no place in this version of 1984 with finger screws and ‘iron maidens.’

We are told to eschew science because science is incompatible with the current level of mysticism…

We are told to turn our back on possible cures because those “cures are responsible for killing babies” even though that’s not true….

And we are told that the earth is only 6,000 years old and to ignore the evidence otherwise…

We are told that it is good to send our jobs elsewhere…..

And that it is good that we don’t make anything anymore and that other people own us.

We are told not to look behind the curtain and to keep watching our TVs and to trust our leaders to do the right thing….

As our young men and women give up their lives to perpetuate this unfortunately backwards view of the world…

But most of all, these devices are being used to distract us from America’s real mission at home and in the world. We are being kept in the dark like some Cargo cult awaiting the return of vision and the abandoned practice of “thinking,” the possible deux ex machina for our society….

We are told that the North American Alliance will be good for us even though we know otherwise….we are told that it is okay to use coal and ignore the fear-mongers….we are told that drinking water with mercury in it is okay and that global warming is a good thing…

We are told that democrats are untrustworthy and that only the lobbyists and those of the military industrial complex know what’s really good for us…

Meanwhile, those who were thought to be in the Dark Ages have leap frogged in front of us…
And the rest of us are trying to figure out what’s going on besides losing our jobs and living a lie.

In times like this, who needs Torquemada; we have our own prophets of Rightness and they are leading us down the primrose path to…. Somebody called it entropy. What does that mean….

Les Aaron

Notice to penguins: Don’t Hold Your Breath….
And forget about movie sequels….

You see why: Emperor Penguin populations are down by 50%...

Some say it’s due to over-fishing.

Others say it has to do with global warming.

Whatever the reason, krill one of their favorite foods, has been depleted by as much as 80% in southern waters….

And nobody seems to have a solution.

Penguins get to join a rather unhappy club: The 1313 species now listed on the endangered species list—which includes two areas of coral decline.


But the sponsoring Agency, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service says there is not much it can do about it except to alert others and perhaps work together with other agencies around the world….

For the meantime, the Emperor’s will just have to try to slug it out in the hope and expectation that maybe we will wake up in time to save their habitat and their species.

Les Aaron

BAD VIBES...


It’s comforting to know that after spending hundreds of billions of dollars on Homeland Security, what we’ve got for our investment is Director Jerkoff’s gut instincts to project the state of security for the nation….

It is patently laughable when we have technology that can smell or see an enemy hundreds, even thousands of miles away, weapons system that float above the clouds peering down identifying suspect license plates, highly secret programs that scan your messages in the blink of an eye, the ability to disable every electrical system in the country in one frightening milisecond and pinpoint accuracy weapons that can wipe out a terrorist faction with literally the flip of a key—yet our most advanced anti-terrorist agency relies on “ gut instincts.”

Not that we have anything against instincts, but suggest perhaps that the Director should start watching the Military Channel to get an idea of what’s out there in terms of cutting edge technology.


We don’t want to rub it in that fertilizer brought down our first buildings and in the attacks of 9/11, the enemy was armed with box-cutters, almost a medieval weapon considering what’s in our storehouse today….


But perhaps the blame isn’t only Chertoff’s. Consider the great minds that saw the solution to America’s failure to grasp the warnings as a compelling directive for change.


What was the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation? To put a bureaucracy atop all of the other bureaucracy’s and hope for efficiency instead of a house of cards that might come tumbling down any time. And now, we learn, we forget to staff the SupraAgency of all time…...

I’m sure the enemy had a good laugh over that as that sat in their deep caves in Bora Bora planning the next threat to America’s technology lead…

It seems, in turn, that our specialty in this time of need is spirituality and fantasy. We won’t name names, but some of our leadership actually believes that if we wish hard enough, it will come true. And the heck with experiential .data that doesn’t agree with our belief system….

But what’s most amazing is that with all of our learned people, PhD’s and scholars, we don’t question actions that make little or no sense.

Too bad bin Laden doesn’t adopt that tactic, too.

But the sad truth is that he’s mired in the real world and from his primitive cave beats the most advanced technology based country in the world in of all things, planning—all from one of the most remotest places on earth.


Too bad we don’t have anyone on board who can beat him….


And so much for the dumb Arab scenario.

Meanwhile, we run up colored flags, we talk about levels of threat and take apart seventy year old nun's clothing at our airports. More and mor our most profound leadership reminds us of the man who delivered the speech about Iraq buying Yellowcake in Africa! And in case the vulnerable public wasn’t threatened enough, the vice president reminds us that if we don’t get them over there, they are going to get us back here.

This is page one of Tyranny 101. Keep the public scared, incapable of thinking clearly.

But the reality is that the illusion is a lot different than the reality. With all of our super-technology, we can’t even put up a wall to protect our borders.

Makes us look pretty bad especially considering how fast Rommel put up the Atlantic Wall when he saw a very different America coming. And that was without computers, super weapons, and the array of tools that eliminate people.

On the other hand, we are told that we’ve done a great job on the first eleven miles.

And at the rate we’re going, we will probably have another 100 million illegals in this country before we actually do something and America will be so broke, we’ll have to head south across the Rio Grande looking for work….

Bush’s trust me scenario however is wearing thin—even among his own acolytes.


And I believe support of Bush’s position has been the kiss of death for John McCain.

The other candidates should watch McCain going down in flames very closely; there’s a lesson in that.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security is missing all of its scientists and brains.

It seems that Bush is so dead set against science that he’d prefer to leave those top jobs unfilled.

Of course, those would have been the people who would have figured out how to get the CIA and FBI to share their secrets but, moreover, how to actually use all the money we’ve handed them to figure out a way to end the prospect of terrorism here at home.


Maybe it’s just too much to ask from Bozo who’s content to play the lead in some B Western strutting down the streets in Laredo prepared to take on the guys with moustaches.


Too bad to awaken him from his illusion but this is a new century with new technology and a whole new listing of bad guys who want to bury us.

And we’ve helped them to focus their anger and hostility.

And all most of us can think to ourselves is: Two more years! And can we make it?

Can we endure another two years of wash board abs, alphabetic solutions to restless leg syndrome and George Bush speeches that should be labeled sci-fi and delivered by Mr. Spock…


Meanwhile the country falls apart and we march up the cliffs like the lemmings unable to change our fate.

Interesting!

Wonder what Jefferson or Washington would say. Or Hamilton or Adams.

Better they don’t know…..and will never know….


Les Aaron

Do you hear it? Do you see it? Do you know it's coming?



I don’t get it.

All the signs are there but nothing is happening.

I would like to ask you all a very important question?

Why are we not knee deep in a revolution by now?

Slews of people are out of work….

The business owners are not sharing the benefits of higher productivity with their workers.

Health care is unaffordable.

Our credit cards are tapped out…

Our jobs are going south….

The air we breath is poisoned….

The water we drink contains dangerous heavy metals

Billions of dollars of food that is imported is tainted….

Our own foods keep going up in price

Most of us can’t afford to heat and cool our homes…

Many families’ principal wage owner has to work two jobs just to get by.


The future for our children is just as bleak…

Few can afford the high tuitions….

Many of the best jobs go to green card holders…

The other jobs go to illegal aliens….

We have become a retail nation that sells nothing that it makes…

Everything you buy falls apart…

TV decides who is elected

We have no clout with our elected officials

They simply ignore us

Fewe and fewer media giants control what we see and hear….

The media focuses on news that won’t make us feel bad

Our young people are being killed in an unjustified war…

We have no equity left in our homes…

File for bankruptcy and you still have to pay back

Our jails are run for profit…

And they are filling up….

We have more people imprisoned than any western nation….


More than sixty percent of the nation’s wealth is owned by 5% of the population…

Many executives are earning 400 times what the worker on the floor earns…

43 million of us cannot afford health care

Another 40 million of us live below the poverty line…

The government has never missed passing a promotion for Congress; but has yet to pass a decent minimum wage bill…

We live in a land where businessmen write the laws and elected officials don’t read them…

NAFTA has not worked for the American people

We have 12 to 20 million people in our country who have lied to get their documents and act as a burden on hospitals and other public services…

Our government has written off New Orleans

The lesson is clear: If anything goes wrong, you are on your own…

No Child Left Behind has left behind all those on the lowest rungs on the economic ladder

The environment is going to hell in a hand basket and our government says, “everything’s fine…”

We have a Constitution that our leaders do not respect or abide by….

If the president doesn’t like the law, he changes it….

We are rapidly becoming a two tier country that exports raw materials and imports finished goods: a Colony if you will….

Our debt is held by five nations who now own us: China, Japan, England, Saudi Arabia…

And we are supposed to sit still for this…

Darwinism suggests that when survival is not due to luck, it’s due to the organism
Effecting change.

We are the organism.

And it’s time for change.

Building POlicy on a Foundation of Lies...
The latest report on the Iraqi government was released to AP; the concensus, the Iraqi government failed to achieve one of the benchmarks established in the wake of the “surge” policy promoted by the White House

Now what?

I am getting pangs of deja-vu.


Will we see helicopters removing the remnants of our failed efforts as the Islamic hordes attack the walls of our Embassy?

Will we abandon friendly Iraqi's to the vengeful Shiia' militias?


"When will we ever learn?" goes the lyrics...

We never seem to learn from our past mistakes.

Because this president practiced fast=draws in the mirror, does this mean we shall forever pay the price of someone's fantasy?

When will America learn? When will we grow up?

As Bush indulges in his game of war, the rest of the world goes to hell in a handbasket.

OUr schools fall apart...

Our economy rewards the bosses and forgets the worker

We become a nation of retailers where we don't even make the products carried by our stores...

It is clear we have lost our way....

What have our failed policies wrought?

Is the world a better place?

Have our precipitous actions against the Iraqis better insulated us here at home?

I am so reminded of Nixon’s lies and Kissenger bombing Cambodia.

But at least Nixon never lost sight of his role in the World and the need to make the world a better place.
With this president, such thoughts never even enter the equation.


What has happened goes beyond shame.

But shouldn't we have known better? Shouldn't we have understood that when you elect someone who has no feeling or interest in governance, who tends to see facts as something to be manipulated, who believes that he is above the law and has the ability to rewrite history, that we will endure a rocky road to fulfill his personal fantasies....

May we learn, dear God, from our mistakes...

It is now time to consider catharsis...

We need two years of intense investigations into every aspect of this government, we need to clear the air, then we need to make the decision to end it and put this nightmare behind us….



For the sake of every parent who lost a child; for the sake of what democracy is all about; and for the sake of our future,

We must root out all of the evil and start to rebuild the democracy that was...

We must get back to honesty, transparency and the rule of law.

We must get back to the vision of our Founding Fathers if we are to survive as a democracy.


The road back will not be easy in the light of what we face, and anyone who takes on this thankless task must be prepared to endure that which most of us don’t even want to contemplate.

But that is the way to new beginnings….

A genesis for a country that lost its way!



Les Aaron.



Email me for a list of books offered by LAACO on government, the environment, fiction...

hubmaster@aol.com

The Politics of "Trust Me".....


When it comes to anti-terrorism, Bush & Company say, “trust me.”
In my circles, you acquire trust with success. It is not something you demand.
With Bush&Company, you’re a damned fool if you don’t check for yourself whether they deliver what they promise…
If trust me means trust me to do what is right on New Orleans, they have failed.
If trust me is predicated on our measures to track down bin Laden, they have failed. If trust is based on our success in Iraq, we have to another failure to point to.

So why should we trust them? Why would any sane person trust them?

Everything they touch, they seem to screw up big-time….

Now we are being told that Homeland Security should be trusted.

Why?

Have they made us any safer?

Are our own borders any more secure than before Homeland Security?

What the Hell is Homeland Security except a bigger bureaucracy than we had before and that one didn’t work!...

Are they so self-possessed that they think WE ARE FOOLS???....

Are our first responders better able to communicate among themselves?

No!

What we have seen is taxpayer money dolled out to do what?

Buy winter coats for dogs, air conditioning for garbage trucks, and other nonessentials.

This sure does build trust!...

Are we protected in the event a dirty bomb is set off in every American city? Or do we simply retreat into the Dark Ages?

What we’ve heard is depressing enough.

What has Bush done in his life that has not been handed to him?

He has cheated the Guard and called it a military career.

He conducted insider trading with his oil company and defrauded those who trusted him…

His father’s friends got him into baseball the same way they got him into government….

What has this man done in his entire life that should make us trust him…

Why should we trust him when it comes to our own security?

Here’s what we do know:

We know that 300 metric tons of enriched nuclear materials are missing and presumably in the hands of terrorists.

We know that we were willing to lease our ports to other Sunnis….

We know that our holier than thou White House execs are in bed with the enemy (witness the Carlyle Group)….

WE KNOW THAT we do not inspect the incoming container shipments…

WE KNOW That we don’t even know who works down in the ports…

WE KNOW that we have lost track of millions upon millions of illegal immigrants….

Should that make us feel safer?

Should that contribute to making us trust those who make decisions for us that have cost 25,000 seriously wounded and thousands dead (THEY DON’T GIVE US THE TRUE COUNTS…)

Just tell us what is being done.

No, you don’t have to give away your most esoteric secrets, but let us know what’s going on. Keep us n the loop; otherwise, we might not believe a damned thing you are saying…

Even if push comes to shove, it’s time for oversight.





It is time that our representatives demand these government agencies start telling us what they are doing for the money.

It’s time to know whether we are safe or not.

Until that is done, I am going to presume the worst.

Based on past experience, that would not be such a bad idea.

Les Aaron