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The Newsletter of the Committee for Positive Change
Sept 15th Edition
Volume 8, Sept 2007

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The Con Factor
It seems to be turning into a real test of fortitude. How many times will Bush attempt to con us vs. how many times will we allow ourselves to be conned.

According to the early polls, the people are not willing to buy the Bush-Petraeus report on the impact of the “Surge” in Iraq.

Now that the facts have leaked out via his latest bio, it turns out that Bush has no intention of bringing the troops home in January, February or even 2008! In fact, one general on the Baghdad team tossed out a trial balloon suggesting that it usually takes a minimum of nine years for an occupation to show results.

That would pretty much approximate the combined time America spent in winning WWI and WWII. If anyone needed a follow up justification for “shock and awe” this has to be it.

So, be prepared. Next week, the week we were told to wait for as if the Oracle of Delphi were to appear to address concerns; instead we find ourselves with an employee pleading his case to his boss, not to much wiggle room there I would suggest. Petraeus is between a rock and a hard place and the smart money expects to hear that things are getting better . But at the same time, don’t expect to see troops coming home any time soon!...

We have since learned that the general’s presentation will be oral for reasons, we suspect, that an oral presentation is harder to pin down, harder to pick apart than a document where back tracking is harder to do. Surely, it is not unreasonable to suspect, too, that the real report will be modified to suit the criteria of the White House….

Is there the slightest hint that perhaps this whole thing is a bit disingenuous?

What the rumor mills tell us is that General’ Petraeus’ report will suggest that “the surge” has been responsible for a 75% reduction in the insurgency.

By whose measure one might be tempted to inquire?

As it turns out, on closer analysis, we discover that the standards used to measure a reduction in insurgency seemed to have been arrived at rather arbitrarily. If you are shot in the back of the head, it was insurgency. If you are shot in the forehead, it falls into non-insurgency. These standards seem so capricious that they bear little of the gravitas needed to remediate what is really happening in different parts of Iraq and cannot be expected to be taken too seriously. .

Nevertheless, the real meat of the most recent book on George Bush is that he is really hoping to get all the candidates, both democrats and republicans, to feel comfortable with the idea of maintaining forces in Iraq until after he leaves office. And that does not mean pulling troops out. Thusly, the recent photo op that hinted at troop reductions was just that, a photo op. And that photo opportunity raised false hopes and seemed to be a disciplined effort to mislead the public, the media and the troops on the ground!

Critics amplify Bush’s remarks suggesting that there was no real intention of reducing our presence in Iraq. This is part of a consistent pattern that began with the advice of Bush’s generals and continued through the team headed up by Baker to remediate the many arguments stirred up by Bush policy in order to arrive at an Iraqi solution and it continues today—despite the fact that the War in Iraq is going badly, we are no nearer to a political solution and that the real threat is posed by Al Qaeda in Pakistan and not in Iraq.

The political party in place now has according to the GAO failed to met eleven out of eighteen bench marks and is no nearer a solution than when it was formed.

The bottom line is that we have placed considerable weight on a government that is not only illegitimate by most measures but racked by scandalous behavior. We have thrown away a trillion dollars on this sham War that has wasted a whole generation of lives and we invert the language and the facts to justify reinforcement of false hope.

A president who cannot or will not see the truth, who does not level with the people, and who stands behind something that cannot be justified does not deserve to represent America and the American people must come forward and demand that he step down.

It is time for change and we cannot afford five hundred more days of bungled policies and straight out lies.


Les Aaron

Les Aaron is the Author of A Blueprint for Winning: Taking Back the White House—2008 available from Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.
For more information, write LAAGroup@aol.om

Visit our website: www.lesaaron.blogspot.com

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End the ego trip of the man who would have us go from democracy to Empire to quagmire...







A SPECIAL COMMENTARY:

Congress loses; America suffers….

Re: Executive Privilege

When Bush was selected for office, he made a sea change in the way power was used and abused. If Clinton behaved in the way the Founding Fathers had in mind when they originally approved a balance of powers and “checks” and “balances,” Bush’s behavior was his polar opposite—someone who craved the trappings of power and placed his own agenda over and above the Constitution and the law.

This may be the hardest thing for most Americans to accept.

Everything else is smokescreen.

There was no way that Congress was going to dictate to this president. For him, it was not about the people; it was about privilege and special interests and his preoccupation with those two things had never wavered.

After all, privilege was the way to get things done without people looking over your shoulder.

The instrument of Executive Privilege turned out to be Cheney who in his thirty years in office, saw what happened under both Nixon and Ford and how the balance had shifted away from Nixon after Watergate.

Cheney as enabler, showed that he was no fan of “the people.” He was special interests all the way buttressed by his commitment to Executive Privilege. It was evident in his Energy policy which he conducted behind closed doors. When asked by the GAO why the information was not made public, his argument centered on Executive Privilege. And, thus, the die was cast.

The laxity of Congress in taking action on this exercise of power resulted in even greater and more extreme examples of Executive Privilege from notations on approved bills indicating which parts of the bill the president would reason as unconstitutional to the overriding extent of eavesdropping on private citizens under the new antiterrorism legislation.

All in all, it is not only a dismal record of failure but an indictment of this republican controlled Congress that showed its support for Party loyalty and disdain for the people and the Constitution. If the republican congress harbored any credibility at all, it is now lost in the plethora of excuses for ignoring the abuses of this president.

Over time, this president has either asked or seized most powers of the Congress using specious arguments such as his ability to forge an agreement or his commitment to antiterrorism legislation. In each case, he has exploited the Constitution for his own ends, reinterpreting it when deemed necessary or simply ignoring it when it was expedient to do so. .

The result has been the utter collapse of checks and balances with few exceptions…

The Congress still retains the power to conduct audits, investigations and Impeachment hearings.

The danger is that we have established a precedent here as free-wheeling genie that may not want to return to the bottle.

And that is the inherent danger of this government along with the politicizing of various departments that has not been addressed by the bulk of republican legislators with great loss of credibility and trust.

Years from now, the failure of this Congress to behave in a responsible way and their slavish ties to their party will not lessen the impact of some future government that will use this precedent to enlarge their own powers and we will find ourselves worse off because we had failed to act in this president’s remaining 500 days.

We hope that doesn’t occur and that the Congress will mend its ways; but at this juncture, it is highly speculative and fanciful to assume that it will happen.

If anything, that is the legacy of the Republican Congress that cast aside its respect for the laws in order to maintain an intimacy with the White House which has only proved skin deep. As a result, each of those who sold their souls to the company store must face their own abuse of the people’s trust. We have to believe that the eventual awareness of the people will precipitate positive change. If it does not, our prospects are not enhanced by our own failure to serve as the model for change.

Les Aaron



Setting a new standard for Chutzpah!

Through history, we have seen world leaders strut their stuff. DeGaul earned a reputation for arrogance and disdain for the rest of the civilized world; Hitler wanted the Aryan race to dominate because it was simply superior; Stalin response to most advice was the Gulag!; and Nixon like Bush thought that he was above the law….
But as it turns out, pipsqueaks on the International scene should be careful before trying to reach for the stars before being sure that they are standing on a sound foundation.

Fitting into this mold is the newly elected president of Mexico who recently announced in the most profound statement of Chutzpah that I can remember that Mexico’s does not end with its borders; that wherever a Mexican is is Mexico. He was referring to the six million or so illegal Mexicans who fled to the United States to find jobs because there weren’t any despite Calderon’s statement that he has just created more than 600,000 new jobs.

In his speech to his government, Calderon chose to pick on the United States for “persecuting” his people who traveled there in search of jobs. He didn’t mention the fact that they were here illegally or taking advantage of America’s safety net to procure medical care and education. Nor did he mention, that fraud was used to deceive employers as to the illegal immigrants actual status.

That’s what I call chutzpah of the most extreme kind….

We remark about how a mother is blind to her child’s faults and we excuse it but it is hard to excuse a national leader who sees only one side of a problem because it is convenient to do so. Can any progress be made with such a blindsided leader? Doubtful.

In the meantime, the president of this country has failed to complete the border wall as was promised and illegal immigrants continue to pour into our country further weakening the fabric of our social system and spinning it into chaos.

And our president gives a deferential nod to Calderon’s outrageous remarks.

Why? One can only assume that the president of the United States is unwilling to close the door on his friend’s major labor supply whether or not it is legal and consistent with the laws of the land.

Again, the president has said one thing and done another.

Sadly, with each passing day, our government becomes more and more a mockery.

Les Aaron



AMERICA AS EMPIRE BUILDER!...

The other night on PBS, there was a program on American Empire building. It was deceptively frank in that the theme suggested that this was how it was as if we were being handed a candid assessment and we should be happy with it.

There was no provision for discussion; it was just another accepted fact. The more interesting notion would have been to question how we allowed ourselves to get to that point without a public dialogue without debate, and without issuing a critical report card on a government that would allow us to promulgate our power around the globe. After all, the conservatives just fifty years ago and even during Clinton’s tenure demurred about the idea of sending “our boys into harm’s way.” No, here it was just another fact of life and the author even tried to put a happy face on it.

The consensus of the author was that whether we like it or not, America has become an Empire. And the question that it poses in a kind of in your face way is that if we don’t like it, just think about the alternatives. Would it better if it were China or Russia cast in the empire building role?

In other words, whether you like it or not, we are not seeking world peace, understanding, compassion for our fellow man; we are today’s premier empire builders regardless, and if we don’t like it, we should consider the alternatives.

No pithy moralizing. No ego vs. super-ego arguments here. It is simply accepted fact.. Moreover, the documentary tends to duck any philosophical treatment of whether we should be in that role in the first place. It does not suggest that we go back and look at our own moral underpinning or our motives. There is no need to do that because it is our past, not our future. It is an interesting argument and seems to project and correlate with the Rambo style of our leader posing as the heroic figure who uses aggression as a prelude to peace..

Raising no philosophical argument, this documentary suggests that this is the look of the future delivered full blown blemishes and all. And if you don’t accept it, better get out of the way. It is the strategy that has discovered its own rationale and justification kind of its own perpetual motion machine…

It avoids all talk about economic imperialism, or government’s motives in having 130 bases or missions in 70 countries. In serving as the contrapuntal opposite in this regard, one might even suggest that this is economic reality being dealt out with no accompanying apologia. Nothing it is interesting to note is said about the presence of oil and vital resources that might be critical to our notion of Empire building in extremis.

. That’s the cynical view but, of course, is our present posture any different than of say France, Belgium, England in the nineteenth century? Or we just couching conventional strategies in a new garb where we are now the friends who are there to help the people (Would we be so generous, if there were no critical resources in the ground or valuable assets to America?)

Essentially, it seems that we have masked our intentions by playing the “good guy.” Only, there is a potential counter thrust intimated at that it really isn’t so and we aren’t fooling anyone.

But the argument presented here is ‘who cares?’ because we have the muscle.
Should we advise the author that muscles this year can turn into next year’s flab?
So perhaps we should not be so callous in our assumptions because they may fall by the wayside, too. Who for example, remembers the good intentions of France in Algeria or Southeast Asia?

In short, there needs to be a moral underpinning to what we do. It should be etched in stone if we are to fulfill America’s worthy dream.

We should have learned that lesson in Iraq where we are still paying the price.

As I say, this is not an introspective piece, it is superficial enough to be alarming that something like this could become policy while the Courts and the Congress stand by in mute testimony.

What we have learned, as a result, is that we can now extend power with our super carriers anywhere in the world and since we have the most advanced weaponry, we can dominate in most places.

What the documentary did not bother with was morality and moral imperative. In fact, it made us appear as the savior of the world and operating only in the self interest of those countries where we are located. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought it was an apology for US aggrandizement and Bushian tactics to lay the groundwork for a New World Order..

The philosophical question arises in my mind, if it weren’t for our aggressiveness into the affairs of others, would we have brought down the wraith of the rest of the world on our house? What I am saying here is that whatever we do has a rub off on the rest of the world; perhaps not immediately as we’ve discovered, but the impact of what we do never slips into the ether like a wisp of smoke either.

. We are not the innocent babes in the woods bringing truth and liberty and the American way wherever we go. We have our agenda and it is not quite like it’s portrayed in this apology for what passes as doctrine. And if that is doubted, all we need do is look at our history with Iran where we tumbled their freely elected Prime Minister and took over their oil production, installed a charlatan who instituted a secret police whose name even today brings forth memories of brutality and Gestapo tactics…. We are in large part responsible for what has happened in much of the world through our meddling in places that don’t concern us. Instead, we try to make it look like we are doing the right thing while we ignore Darfur where human rights is a mere gesture and not worth the effort….

If we are to be an Empire builder, then we should at least be fair to the facts.


Les Aaron


Where does your candidate stand
on Temporary Work Visas….

It seems that while they are not readily admitting to it, the leading candidates for the democrats support an increasing number of work visas, the special green cards that do not require a foreign worker to return home periodically. …

Right now, there are over 160,000 of these temporary work visas being handed out annually.

Big business says that they cannot fill their existing job vacancies and want more visas so that they can hire more broadly abroad.

Who suffers?

The Middle Class.

These employers claim they cannot find the talent domestically to fill their needs.

What’s more, they want only “the best and the brightest.”

This is a lie supported by virtually all of the candidates.

First of all, 7 out of 10 of these visas go to Indian companies; and, secondly, they are awarded randomly, not on the basis of mastery or special intelligence.

Meanwhile, our candidates demand more of these visas for those they represent at the expense of qualified candidates here and the middle class which is being buffeted by such unfair legislation.

The real reason for these temporary visas is that those who apply for these positions are willing to work for an average of 25% less pay than American workers…

That, essentially, is the bottom line for American companies obsessed with profits!


In the last generation, the middle class had discovered that while it has contributed to increased productivity, its wages have not risen.


One of the mechanisms for effecting this wage inertia is the H3 Visa that has helped to keep wages down across the board but especially in those so called “quality of life” jobs.

This is an area that a candidate cannot be neutral about; they must declare their independence from lobbyists who are seeking to replace the middle class in the area of higher paying jobs….and show that they stand up for the American worker.

To do less, would be to condemn the American work force to lower cost jobs that would push many into poverty as we face rising costs in virtually every quarter—from food to energy.

Make them tell the truth on Temporary Visas.

Les Aaron




The End of Reading

Go to any cemetery on a non-holiday weekend and chances are, you will be lucky if you see one or two people paying respects to their departed relatives.

I think of that every time I visit a library in this day and age in the middle class Suburbia of today.

There’s no one there. No one there to benefit from exposure to ideas, science, nature, the Universe….No one to make the connections; no one to see the great quantum leaps of mind; no one there to find there own muse; no one there to take advantage of the opportunities to revisit the past or re-imagine the future ….. And that’s the saddest part of all.

. And if all of the studies are true, being locked in to Last Comic Standing or Lost or any of the reality shows puts aside our own native ability to be swept off our feet by the magic of ideas and possibilities. .


It’s painful to see these repositories of wisdom and learning so bereft of people.

Some see in this a barometer of America’s waning interest in reading.

If so, it’s supported by the leading book stores who, for the most part, are facing loses of revenue and reduced attendance.

It is interesting to note that while reading seems to be down in terms of popularity, there is a continuing flow of new books out into the marketplace.

There are books making the rounds for every interest and taste—from gourmet cooking to a biography on the Nazi raid on Moscow.

A recent study of schools, indicate that approximately 1 out of 10 of today’s youth is a reader with girls faring somewhat better.

Research into how leisure time is spent shows an up tick on TV usage averaging more than five hours a day and increased game play with the emphasis mostly on computer games.

For the most part, TV viewing is up in all categories and, therein, may be the cause for reduced reading.

First, you can only split the clock so many ways, if TV viewing is up, reading will naturally be down.

But there is another consideration: TV viewing is passive; it does not require a conscious effort; you can be virtually comatose and watch TV. Book reading requires an active response and requires the thinking reflex.

Seemingly, this is in short supply today.

Somebody I respect said that this is only a case of the pendulum swinging one way; in time, it will swing back.

I am not so sure. My college professor colleagues saw little interest in reading for the purposes of discovery, exploration and enjoyment. It was hard enough to encourage the students, juniors and seniors, incidentally, to read their nightly assignments.

It seems that the visual idiom has supplanted the contextual and it is unclear what that means except that we find an increasing lowering of analytical skills and an inability to parse language or differentiate between fact and supposition.

Not good signs for a country that is supposed to lead!


Les Aaron

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End the ego trip of the man who would have us go from democracy to Empire to quagmire...