scoundrels, pt.2

The Alberton Papers, Vol. III, #1
By Dick Darne 10-30-06
Scoundrels, part two.
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire
In view of the mess our country is in today, lets examine one of the sources of flawed thinking. Leo Strauss,( no, not the guy who made denim britches, Levi), but the political scholar, who was from Germany (served in the German army in WW1), emigrated to America, wound up at U of Chicago where he taught and influenced most of today’s "Neo-conservatives", Wolfowitz, Pearle, Bolton, Kristol and the rest of the bunch known, not so affectionately, as "The Crazies" by the last several administrations. To be fair to Strauss, his teachings are complex and ultimate blame may belong to his "misbelievers" or to the Idiot- in chief who gave "The Crazies" credibility. What the Neo-cons seem to have gleaned from Strauss’ teachings is that: 1) Only the "enlightened" ones, (them), can understand the true meanings of knowledge and 2)it is essential to lie to the people. This certainly flies in the face of our Founding Fathers intentions.
I, along with a few others know the term, "stinkin’ thinkin’. This qualifies for sure. We also seem to have a whole generation who are lacking in how things work, or should work. Truth also seems to be gravely ill. Shouldn’t Civics, History and American Government be taught (and learned) in school. "Is our children learning?"
Our Republic is at risk. Learn Think Vote dd

popeye

The Alberton Papers, Vol II, #20
By Dick Darne 10-23-06
" I yam strong to the finish, ‘cause I eats my spinach"
Popeye the sailor man.
In the recent contaminated spinach scare, some thought that the " terrists" had struck again. After a thorough investigation, they have been cleared. It is not necessary for them to attack our spinach because they hate our freedoms. We can do an adequate job ourselves. Good old yankee ingenuity. Yes we can raise our own cattle, feed them grain, encourage bad strains of E-coli, make them even worse with antibiotics and let their sewage run into the groundwater used for irrigation. Top it all off with an insane food distribution system that ensures widespread distribution throughout the homeland.
There are other ways we can hurt ourselves or make it easy for "terrists". Very, very little of our incoming ships are checked. Or trucks. Or planes, unless it’s for nail clippers or bottles of shampoo. Our chemical plants are not protected, but not to worry, the corporations are eternally vigilant.
Now that I think about it, we have met the enemy and he is us. Oooh Popeye, we needs ya now. Alas, poor Popeye, he ate the spinach but at least he never drank the kool-aid.
I don’t feel safe while the inmates are running the asylum.
Plant your own garden. Think. Vote. dd

bitter tears

The Alberton Papers, Vol. II, #19
By Dick Darne 10-16-06
"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone" Harriet Beecher Stowe
Over 2700 of our young people who will never sing their song. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children will never get to sing their song either. All for the lies of a few. And the loud echos of the facilitators. And for the gullibility of many enablers. And those of us who didn’t do enough.
It began even before the lies. George W. Bush was never qualified to be anything. The facilitators didn’t report it. The lies began and not only was it not reported, they repeated them. Keep in mind that all these loudmouth chickenhawks either avoided military service or avoided any danger. Their children have also avoided being in harms way. It was provable lies that got us in this mess, lies piled on lies about the lies. Lies about anyone who disagrees with them. Lies about the lies by the people who should be challenging the lies.
Lies to justify shredding our Constitution. Lies to abandon the principles our country was founded on.
I’ve had enough! I absolutely love this country, but I hate what these idiots are doing to it. Habeas corpus literally means "produce the body", it used to protect all of us from being held without knowing what the alleged offense is. Now anyone deemed by the "decider" to be a terrorist can be locked up. Or "disappeared". Handy way to eliminate the opposition.
We need change but more than that we need accountability. Impeachment is in order, conviction if the evidence warrants it. Followed by appropriate punishment. Only then can the needed catharsis begin.
We owe it to those who will never get to sing their song. dd

hypocrites, liars and incompetents

The Alberton Papers, Vol II, #18
By Dick Darne 10-10-06
Hypocrites, liars and incompetents.
"It would be easier if this was a dictatorship - as long as I’m the dictator"
Geo. W. Bush
Unless one were to get all his information from Fox News or others of their ilk, they would be hard pressed to find a reason to vote for any Republican (and not a few Democrats). While the present bunch will go down in history as one of (if not THE) worst, this has happened before.
First a bit of background on the author. I was born in the southland, 67 years ago. Raised up mostly redneck, right wing and bigoted. I remember McCarthy railing about Commies everywhere. I believed him. I read "Masters of Deceit" by J. Edgar Hoover and it scared the heck out of me. I even voted for Nixon the first time. (Hardhats for Nixon?). The conversion didn’t happen overnight. A little seed planted by a couple of high school teachers began to grow. About the time of Reagan (yes I voted for him the first time) actually about the time of "It’s morning in America again" the seed sprouted. Simple actually, we all know it, there is more than one side to a story and the victor gets to write the official version, or the school textbooks. That and some union activism led me to lots of other sides to stories. And a new set of heroes.
Space dictates briefness, so lets touch on the last three periods of Republican "Laissez- Faire" rule. First was after Harding, Coolidge and Hoover , FDR once again saved the Capitalist system from it’s excesses. (Cousin Teddy had done it once before) Second, which is in my memory, gave us McCarthy and commies everywhere. That sent them to the wilderness for 40 years. After licking their wounds and a little help from some previously mentioned scoundrels and the "great communicator",they started on the road to recovery. Add hypocrites and liars, a bought and paid for media , a gullible populace, 9/11, gross incompetence and we get a heckova mess.
Beware, anyone who can lead us out can also lead us in. As for "they oughta do something", remember, They is Us. Final note: A couple of my heroes are Republicans. Eisenhower and "Fighting Bob" LaFollette. Keep communicating, dd

mischief, pt.1

The Alberton Papers, Vol II, # 17
By Dick Darne 10-2-06
"what a revolting development this turned out to be"
Wm. Bendix, in "Life of Riley" (50's tv show)
Today’s essay will be on "mischief", the first cousin of greed and scoundrels. 5 out of the 10 richest americans inherited their money and are in the same family. A little further down the list we will find more old (and inherited) money. We will also find these same multi millionaire/ billionaires have a worldview that they want to impose on us. In brief, the "massa" in the mansion on the hill smiles approvingly as the workers swing their lunch buckets and happily whistle on their way to work, to toil all day for old massa, whom god in his infinite wisdom has chosen to be in charge, have all the money and provide for what he deems necessary for his "children" who should not complain, but accept their lot in life. Doubt this? Check the funders of some of the think tank/ opinion shapers such as the Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institute and American Enterprise Institute. There you will find Olin, Richardson, Bradley, Coors, Scaife. These guys are not your friends. They fund all this nonsense. They are responsible for the climate in which it has become fashionable in big business circles to send all jobs possible to wherever the cheapest labor cost is. Outsourcing they call it, a race to the bottom I call it. It is true class warfare. If these "big shot-wannabees" had to start life as we all do, maybe they wouldn’t be capable of as much mischief. Of course they have a full compliment of facilitators, from the "decider" right down to the watchers of fox news and fans of O’Reilly, Limbaugh , Hannity and Coulter. My allotted words are up, more in part 2. dd