The EXEGETIST: A Library Of Independent Political Thought. By: Jack H. Dawsey

One World Trade Center

Part II

 By: Eric Benson

Consider a site where something terrible has happened.  The World Trade Center and September 11, 2001 come immediately to mind.  Dealy Plaza, Dallas, Texas, the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, the Lorraine Motel, Memphis are others.

Within our borders there are others too numerous to mention: among them Pearl Harbor, Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Oklahoma City.

We have acts against individuals, a foreign government attack, battles to maintain our great nation from dissidents within and two very notable political attacks of terrorism.

To be very clear, Timothy McVeigh’s assault in Oklahoma City and the horrific attacks of September 11 were hateful, terrorist attacks.

Many among us are quick to condemn Muslims for the attacks of September 11 but few hold the same animosity against white, American males of Irish heritage because of McVeigh’s assault.

So, now, we are asked to besmirch a planned community center and place of worship because it is too close to the World Trade Center.

Meanwhile plans go forward to build a new and better World Trade Center (the Freedom Tower name is no longer acceptable to developers).

The WTC site will also include a “major performing arts center” or in the words of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey report, “a world-class facility” I can hear it now, “Live from New York City and Ground Zero!”  Be sure to say a prayer for the dead before you enjoy the opera.

While the new One World Trade Center (formerly known as the Freedom Tower) is still under construction and several years away from occupancy the first commercial lease has been signed.  The first tenant will be Vantone Industrial Co., a subsidiary of Beijing Vantone Real Estate Company.  The 64-69 th floors of One WTC will be known as The China Center.

We are worried about a proposed church (those Muslims) a few blocks away but have no concerns for another church (St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox) being forced to move to make way for tourists and delivery trucks as we celebrate the signing of a commercial lease to a Chinese company.  Have we not already figured out that most Chinese companies are really the Chinese government?

If, as the self proclaimed “America First!” pundits and politicians would have us believe, that they are protecting the memory of the fallen, why have they not taken up the cause of Mary Tillman?  Have they condemned the Army and political officials who turned her son’s tragic death into a public relations opportunity?  Unfortunately that opportunity was based on lies that were known before generals, the secretary of defense and the president defamed this tragic hero.  Demands that the Islamic community center and mosque be moved from lower Manhattan ring hollow.

Let me offer an alternative.  There are 500,000 square feet in the new World Trade Center dedicated to retail space for affluent customers (if you do not make about three times the average new York City wage they are NOT targeting you).  Get rid of Victoria’s Secret, Outback Steak House, Saks Fifth Avenue and the lot; give the space to legitimate religious organizations to provide churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, shrines, whatever in that space.

 The Port Authority has the opportunity to show the world that we have the courage and conviction to support the free expression of religion anywhere in the United States of America.

 Retailers and their customers can easily find other locations in lower Manhattan that provide the opportunity to sell and spend to their hearts’ content.   And the World Trade Center complex and its memorial site will truly be a place that we can honor our dead in peace.

 Subscribers may post comments on line; anyone may send comments to Eric at drlefty@embarqmail.com.  At times the volume of comments precludes individual responses, but Eric reads every one of them.

 ©2010 Eric Benson

This Hallow Ground

©2010 Eric Benson

The fear and hate mongers are at it again.  If the rest of us have the decency and the courage to do the moral thing we can silence them.

These purveyors of intolerance and selfish single-mindedness would have you believe that the planned Islamic community center and mosque a couple of blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center is an example of insensitivity and an insult to every American.

Before we join the maddening frenzy over plans for lower Manhattan, we might want to consider a few other facets of the activity in lower Manhattan.

One of the primary concerns of the construction of the new World Trade Center and Memorial is the completion of the state-of-the-art Vehicle Security Center (VSC). One of the requirements for VSC is to allow access to the site for tour busses and commercial deliveries.

Placement and construction of the VSC means that the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church must be relocated.  This church was destroyed during the September 11 attacks.  This church, more than 100 years old, must be moved to accommodate tourism and retail trade.

What about retail trade on this hallowed site you ask?  The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) says it best:

“The new World Trade Center will offer retail facilities second to none, with a vast array of shopping, dining and entertainment offerings to attract a diverse and affluent consumer base [with a] concentrated consumer-base with wages 3x higher than city average.”

Great!  PANYNJ cannot accommodate a church but can boast upscale retail and entertainment on this hallowed ground.  Be very careful before you get too excited about those retail and entertainment opportunities; read the ‘fine print’.  We had better be “affluent” with an income more than three times the New York City average.

Basic American capitalism and the retail trade usually have priority over other concerns.  Certain loudmouths want to paint all Muslims with the Islamo-fascist paint brush, but, at the same time, they are eager to ignore the desecration of memorial sites by crass commercialism.

While the hue and cry is loud about the mosque have we heard similar outcry about strip clubs within a few blocks of the WTC site?  Of course not; naked females must be preferable to fully draped Muslims.

We have not objected to WalMarts (yes, that is plural) on American Civil War battlefields.  Gettysburg and Manassas are easily recognized names that house America’s favorite store, but Chancellorsville and the Wilderness should be familiar to all of us as well.

Republican idol Newt Gingrich can hawk his books at a retail event within sight of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg but would never consider a church/mosque/synagogue/cathedral near Wall Street.  Oops, did I write Wall Street?  I meant the World Trade Center commercial/retail/memorial site.

More next week on the half-million (that’s 500,000) square feet dedicated to retail space in the area dedicated to lives lost in a heinous attack on America.

Subscribers may post comments on line; anyone may send comments to Eric at drlefty@embarqmail.com.  At times the volume of comments precludes individual responses, but Eric reads every one of them.

The Young British Soldier

By: Rudyard Kipling

Since America’s War in Afghanistan began, (and because of my 35-year association with DoD), I share this poem.  It is dear to my heart, particularly the last stanza.   It has had a profound positive impact on me, personally, and others whom I know.  It provides a succinct insight into Afghanistan -when the British were there many years ago.  Americans “ought” to take note from Mr. Kipling’s discernment because Afghanistan has not changed.  And too, Americans ought to share this poem with their neighbors -especially with the soldiers, sailors, and marines whom they know.  It may enrich the lives of those who read it. –editor.

 When the ‘arf-made recruity goes out to the East
‘E acts like a babe an’ ‘e drinks like a beast,
An’ ‘e wonders because ‘e is frequent deceased
         Ere ‘e’s fit for to serve as a soldier.
         Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
         Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
         Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
         Soldier of the Queen!

Now all you recruities what’s drafted to-day,
You shut up your rag-box an’ ‘ark to my lay,
An’ I’ll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
         A soldier what’s fit for a soldier.
         Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .

First mind you steer clear o’ the grog-sellers’ huts,
For they sell you Fixed Bay’nets that rots out your guts –
Ay, drink that ‘ud eat the live steel from your butts –
         An’ it’s bad for the young British soldier.
         Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .

When the cholera comes — as it will past a doubt –
Keep out of the wet and don’t go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
         An’ it crumples the young British soldier.
         Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . . .

But the worst o’ your foes is the sun over’ead:
You must wear your ‘elmet for all that is said:
If ‘e finds you uncovered ‘e’ll knock you down dead,
         An’ you’ll die like a fool of a soldier.
         Fool, fool, fool of a soldier . . .

If you’re cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind,
Don’t grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
Be handy and civil, and then you will find
         That it’s beer for the young British soldier.
         Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .

Now, if you must marry, take care she is old –
A troop-sergeant’s widow’s the nicest I’m told,
For beauty won’t help if your rations is cold,
         Nor love ain’t enough for a soldier.
         ’Nough, ‘nough, ‘nough for a soldier . . .

If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath
To shoot when you catch ‘em — you’ll swing, on my oath! –
Make ‘im take ‘er and keep ‘er: that’s Hell for them both,
         An’ you’re shut o’ the curse of a soldier.
         Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .

When first under fire an’ you’re wishful to duck,
Don’t look nor take ‘eed at the man that is struck,
Be thankful you’re livin’, and trust to your luck
         And march to your front like a soldier.
         Front, front, front like a soldier . . .

When ‘arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don’t call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She’s human as you are — you treat her as sich,
         An’ she’ll fight for the young British soldier.
         Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .

When shakin’ their bustles like ladies so fine,
The guns o’ the enemy wheel into line,
Shoot low at the limbers an’ don’t mind the shine,
         For noise never startles the soldier.
         Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .

If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
         And wait for supports like a soldier.
         Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
         An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
         Go, go, go like a soldier,
         Go, go, go like a soldier,
         Go, go, go like a soldier,
         Soldier of the Queen!  

      www.theexegetist.com

Internet News: How Reliable Is It?

By Jack Dawsey

Internet news, is it reliable?  The problem with Internet news (or e-news) is that there is no editor for “check & balance” reporting.  There is no filter for accuracy.  And, as a result, misinformation and disinformation (under the cloak of e-news) is disseminated.    For example, the country is at this moment experiencing a nervous breakdown from the Net in its’ spreading of fear and disinformation (amplified in the poisonous echo chambers of TV and Radio talk) over the building of an Islamic Learning Center near the site of 9-11 in New York.  The unruly talk has created a state of national anger and suspicion toward Muslim Americans.  The “talk-news” confuses the uninformed, and makes them easy prey to fear mongering.  The Islam phobia that e-news has created has reached a point that even the President of the United States cannot navigate the country through this tunnel of lunacy.

To add fuel to the fire, the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and others, have stoked the fires of Islam phobia by mocking the President as America’s first Muslim president.  [By the way, what if President Obama is a Muslim (which he isn’t), but what if he is? Is he thus disqualified from the office of president?  And if he is disqualified because he is a Muslim, where do the Limbaugh’s and Becks and the Right-Wing crackpots draw the line?  Are Baptists or Methodists or Catholics too, disqualified from serving as President of the United States?]

As a result of the misinformation “news” being spread over the Net, (particularly in the case of Islam phobia), this country is heading down the slippery slope of no return.   Consider for example the comments of Right-Wing evangelist Franklin Graham.  He told CNN’s John King: “I think the president’s problem is that he was born a Muslim. His father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father, like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother.”  Graham added: “The teaching of Islam is to hate the Jew, to hate the Christian, to kill them. Their goal is world domination.”   Now that’s a hatchet-job of character assassination that is absolutely inexcusable.  His words have no redeeming value and his comments tend to add distrust and a lack of confidence among a people that already have unbounded pent-up anger toward “others” that appear different from them.  Its comments like Graham that inspires militants to take to the streets with guns, knives, explosives, and gas filled cocktails. Someone wrote that The Lie is the most ancient offspring of time that it’s so deceiving that when The Truth is discovered; it comes in like a night intruder.  It is the opinion of this writer that the misinformation and disinformation “talk” being spread over the Net is so misdirected in matters of The Truth that it befogs the most innocent seeker of truth.

Clearly, the aim of the Net material that I’m referring in this article is sinister.  It is intended to awaken the most evil prejudices of our generation, (an evil seed first planted in our U.S. Constitution with respect to the institution of slavery).

Evil is to be eschewed even when it is found among our own most beloved political party.  It is to be eschewed when it is discovered within our family, friends, and neighbors because if it isn’t held in check, our “liberties” will become our greatest enemy.  www.theexegetist.com

Change They Can Believe In

By: Eric Benson

The Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868.  In Section One it provides, in part, that:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside….No State shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws.”

Other provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment have been further amended, notably parts of Section Two, by the Nineteenth Amendment extending voting rights to females and by the Twenty-Sixth Amendment which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

Today, some people and politicians would argue that the provisions quoted above be repealed.  They claim that this provision of the amendment has been misinterpreted for more than 140 years.

Their argument fails on two very basic points. 

First is “…subject to the jurisdiction thereof…”  Consider the parents of a child born in our country.  If that mother is an undocumented entrant, illegal alien or whatever we choose to call her, she is likely guilty of a misdemeanor but the child has committed no crime.  The child, due to no action or lack of action on his or her part, is innocent.  That innocent baby is due “…equal protection of its laws.”

By another line of reasoning, many of the people who would deny this ‘anchor baby’ protection of our Constitution would remind us of the sanctity of life and that every unborn child has the right to life.  If that pregnancy should not be terminated and that child is born, then fairly that child should be protected from the moment of its birth.

The second point again is based on the premise of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof…”   Those who would deny American citizenship to the newborn suggest that the mother, as an illegal entrant, owes allegiance to some other nation.  But that is not what the Amendment states; it states “subject to the jurisdiction thereof…”  If the mother is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States then she is not an illegal entrant; if the mother is not an illegal entrant, how can her issue be illegal?

It is curious indeed that most of those advocating repeal of certain portions of the Fourteenth Amendment call themselves conservatives and repeatedly call for strict adherence to the United States Constitution as the basic law of our land.  Perhaps they want strict adherence to those portions of the Constitution that serve their needs but are ready to toss other provisions on the scrap heap.

Additional conservative calls demand the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment which changed Article I, Section 3 to provide direct election of our Senators rather than their appointment by the state legislatures.  Proponents of this change claim that the Seventeenth Amendment violates the ‘state’s rights’ intent of the Tenth Amendment.

It sounds a bit like an old playground retort, “My amendment can beat up your amendment.”

While we are on the subject of selective modification of our Constitution, we need to take a look at the Second Amendment.  Before anyone gets too excited, no one is suggesting that we take your precious guns; and, before the NRA sets up a picket line (or worse) around The Dog Woods, world headquarters of the DRLefty, consider this proposal.

The Second amendment begins, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…”  Anyone can keep all the guns they deem necessary when they have joined a State militia.  Said militia will be well regulated of course; prepare for periodic drills, musters and inspections under the direction of General Bev Perdue.

Oops, does that read “General Perdue”?  Of course it should read “duly elected Governor Perdue, leader of the militia of the free State of North Carolina.”   drlefty@embarqmail.com

I read this poem many years ago.  It has had a profound positive impact on me and others whom I know.  It provides a succinct recipe for success and happiness. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this with the students of Sampson County.  I challenge all the students and teachers of the Sampson County school system to read, study, meditate, and memorize this poem by Rudyard Kipling.  It will enrich your lives.  -editor.

IF

–Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head, when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated, don’t give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master, if you can think–and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build ‘em up again with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings, and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; if all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it; and –which is more– you’ll be a Man, my son!

Are You Subsidizing The Rich?

By:

Jack Dawsey

Are you subsidizing the salaries of the rich corporations in America; and if so, how?  Doubtless, our tax system and the struggles of wages and salaries require addressing at the highest levels of government.  There is incontrovertible evidence that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.  There is also incontrovertible evidence that inherent inequities exist in the tax rate schedule of the rich and poor. Consider this.

Shortly after World War I and the 1920’s, the richest 2% of Americans received nearly 25% of the nation’s wealth.  But the Great Depression, plus the policies of the Roosevelt and Truman Administrations, 1932-1952, more or less equalized the distribution of America’s wealth, and the great Middle-Class was created.  By the end of the 1970’s that magic 25% number was evenly spread and distributed to the poor and working class.  As a result, an unprecedented housing boom occurred.  Prosperity was brought to the auto industry, and the sales receipts of shopping centers shot through the roof.   

Sadly, in the short years of 2000-2008, the richest 2% had fully recovered.  They regained that magic 25% of wealth lost in bygone years at the expense of the poor and working Middle Class.

Note: That the 2% received and regained these enormous amounts of wealth and income does not indicate they earned it.  Remember this: “Whenever one man receives a dollar he has not earned, another man has earned a dollar that he did not receive.” 

Today, the working class is suffering.   The tax rate of the rich has plummeted to new lows -in proportion to their income- while the tax of the working class has increased -in proportion to their income. 

Today, if you’re not one of the very elite, you have actually experienced a decrease in the real value of your earnings, and in the real value of your property, and in the real buying power of your dollar.  Herein is where this writer makes a distinction between the rich receiving earnings they did not earn, while the working poor that earn received it not.

For example, in the years 2000-2008 when adjusted for inflation, the median income for the working poor fell to the buying power levels of the 1960’s. 

Also consider this.  Worker productivity in America has increased greatly from what it was in the 1960’s.  I ask, “Has personal productivity among managers and executives in America’s corporations increased, proportionately?”

In the 60’s and 70’s the average salary of the Corporate Executive Officer (CEO) was about 30 times that of his worker.  Today, that same (CEO) position is receiving wages more than 300 times his employee.  I ask, “Is the personal productivity of the (CEO) 300-times greater than his employee?”  I don’t think so. 

Moreover, throw in the availability of set-aside stock options for the top (CEO’s), and corporate’s primary concern for product profit, (and corporate’s less than primary concern for workplace safety and the employee), the result is: the rich get richer at the expense of the worker.

Another scheme of the power hungry (CEO) is the corporate take-over plot.  Not content to produce a better mouse trap or to improve manufacture’s product, corporate prefers to increase its market share by buying out its competitor.  But in truth they don’t really buy out the competition. They leverage by assuming a huge debt.  When the debt is due, corporate liabilities are reduced by laying-off workers and reducing staff.

Finally, if that isn’t enough, the (CEO) exercises his stock options, and bails out with his golden parachute and fat retirement at the expense of the remaining employees.

In the opinion of this writer, it is industrial rape and financial pillage when salaries and wages for (CEO’s) exceed their production contribution, while penalizing the hourly worker who increased his or her productivity without receiving the fruit of their labor.

Faux News, YouTube Videos, Political Hate Mail, and You

 By:

Jack Dawsey

If you are a user of the Internet, surely you have received unsolicited political mail, or YouTube videos from unknown sources, and perhaps some political hate/racist email-cartoons and videos since President Barack Obama became President.

It seems that the purpose of the hate-mail is as follows:  (a) to persuade you President Obama has no birth certificate and is not a citizen of the United States.  (b) That he is the titular head of a conspiracy ring to turn the United States into a socialistic empire.  (c) To stir and agitate the baser instinct of racism and prejudice in certain people. (d) To turn the tide of support for his proposed Presidency as they pass through Congress. Or (e), by implication, encourage you to join the Republican Party, and/or (f), all of the above. 

Wittingly or unwittingly, when political nasty grams are “forwarded” over the Internet, a chain of misinformation and disinformation is formed.  And if you “forward” the same racial slurs and hate speech to your friends, you perpetrate the evil.

The problem with most of this Internet political traffic is: It is a vehicle to destroy and character assassinate.  It has no redeeming value and it tends to add distrust and a lack of confidence in government.  It sets up a negative attitude to erode the better part of our government.  It inspires militant crack-pots like Timothy McFae, the Oklahoma bomber, or other assassins to perpetuate their crimes.  Their evils are to be eschewed.

Now if the point of the unknown sources was to make us more civic minded, or foster an intellectual discussion on the political pressing issues of the day; for example, health care, unemployment, home foreclosures, etc. etc.  I could agree.  But clearly, the aim of the material that I’m referring to is sinister. It is intended to awaken the evil prejudices of a generation ago.  In response to these nasty hate-mail speech and materials, I have a personal policy.  I simply depress the “REPLY ALL” key on my computer and return to sender, saying, “Don’t use my mind as your garbage can.”

What I’ve yet to see from these political operatives, who I think are probably more of a republican source because of their stated political sentiment and biases, is this:  They want to replace the current democrats with another bunch of self-righteous sanctimonious republicans.  What’s the difference between twiddle-dee and twiddle dumb?  

The radical operatives will not admit to the shortcomings of their own republican party.  They refuse to acknowledge that it was the policies of their beloved party, (1994-2006), that sent this country into a financial tailspin, savaged our financial resources, pillaged the U.S. Treasure, and removed every necessary financial “checks & balance” regulation from Wall Street so their fat-cat corporate cronies could feed at the deep end of the pig’s trough.

These radical operatives, (supposedly stalwarts and defenders of the U.S. Constitution), refuse to admit that their Saint George W. Bush, (2000-2008), destroyed the sum and substance of the U.S. Constitution, (at least set it at naught).  They fail to recognize Bush’s disdain of the sacred document when he was quoted as saying: “The Constitution is just another G–damn piece of paper…”

These operative militant are upset about the proposed Federal deficit, to the extent that they will show up at town hall meetings to express their disapproval. 

Why didn’t they appear in town hall meetings when their party spent a trillion $dollars on Medicare Part D, (without budgeting for it)?

Why didn’t they appear in town hall meetings when their party bullied, and pushed, and intimidated America into a foreign war, (off budget)?  A war that has exceeded 4-trillion, not paid for. 

Why didn’t they appear in town hall meetings when their party and when Goldman Saks Executive, Secretary of U.S. Treasure Henry Paulson, presented a trillion $dollar deficit Bill to Congress to bail out Wall Street Banks, (off budget)?  By the way, that proposal was initially presented as a 3-page document that dictated to Congress: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” In other words, the Bill said that Congress cannot hold Secretary Paulson accountable or responsible on how he spends the money.

If you ask me, I say that what the democrats could not do in the 40-years they held power, previously to the republicans, (in tearing down this country), the republicans accomplished in 12-years.

Therefore, when you receive unsolicited, political email and video hate speech that foments fear and racial slur, or prophesying the gloom and doom of our government under President Obama; or, hear the talking heads on Faux News tearing down the President, ignore them.  Just swat them away like an ignoring fly.  They’re selling “snake-oil.”  ©

Afghanistan: Is It America’s Waterloo?

 By: Jack Dawsey

Careful historians may record that neither President Ronald Regan, nor his ramped-up military spending of the 1980’s won the Cold War.  Instead, historians will likely note that a little known country in Central Asia, Afghanistan, bankrupt the mighty USSR. 

Afghanistan, unknown by many American school children until 9-11, is rich in heritage, albeit foreign to Western culture.  When the former USSR invaded Afghanistan, the rebels hunkered down and repelled the air and ground assault with a tenacious zeal.  The proud Afghans defended their ancient homeland.   

Today, many in the former USSR are reduced to poverty.  Some are without food while others are without basic shelter. Subsequent to their invasion of Afghanistan, the proud Soviets witnessed an economic decline they never envisioned.  In the opinion of this writer, the Soviet people had one basic problem: blind political allegiance.

They were blinded by their arrogance and misguided by their political leaders, and as a result, were robbed of their national treasure through a series of foolish military interventions.

While their political leaders boasted of invincibility (and got drunk on Vodka), the proud Soviet people were hoodwinked into a no-win war in Afghanistan.  Is America making the same mistake?  

Personally, I think the arrogance of the one mirrors the other.  Much like the former USSR, the American Congress is drunk.  The people too are drunk, but not on hard drink.  Their stupor is a mental mind-set that I call: “paralysis-analysis.” We are paralyzed by our news media, cable, radio talk, and TV psychobabble.  We are so connected to our IPOD’s and IPHONE’s that we have become oblivious of the real world.  While we eat, drink and be merry, our young men and women are sacrificing life and limb in a corrupt foreign government.  The words of Rudyard Kipling’s The Young British Soldier apply.  

“When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.”

I ask, “Will Afghanistan be America’s Waterloo?”  I also ask, “If the War is truly legitimate, then to succeed our whole nation demands personal sacrifice and commitment.  If it takes a village to raise a child, (so some say), it takes a nation, committed, to win a war. America is not committed.  The ½ of the 1% of Americans currently in uniform cannot win this war, alone. Uncle Sam needs you too. The whole population must adorn a uniform, (figuratively speaking), and go to war -if the war is legitimate. 

Sacrifices may include such things as a special war tax, and or it may include the rationing of goods and services.  It may even demand reinstituting the military draft.  And doubtless, it requires a mind-set to secure our ports and borders.  Isn’t it foolish to wage a foreign war while neglecting our ports and borders?  It’s imperative that Americans change their priorities, (and their political leaders).

Moreover, if the security of Western civilization is at stake, (as republicans and democrats would have us believe), I asks, “Is America the only responsible nation, and must the American soldier bear the preponderance of the war alone?”

Where are the commitments of Europe and the Far East?  Shouldn’t they have a junk-yard dog in this fight?  They need to be fully vested.  As a starter may I suggest the 3-M Program: Manpower, Money, and Machine?

Up The Creek Without a Paddle 

 By: Jack Dawsey

For 2-years I have been publishing my editorials to the people of Sampson County in the Sampson Sun, and posting them on my web site: www.theexegetist.com

Thanks to Ms. Donna Bass, she has allowed me the space and liberty to write my opinions in her paper, without filter or requiring me to leave my mind hanging on a nail, as some editor’s demand. 

To you Sampsonians, I thank you for reading my articles and I thank you for the kind letters and emails you’ve sent.  By now you have noticed that most of my articles have been financial in scope and nature, always advocating your best interest. In this week’s editorial, I pull another political thread through that cloth.  But first, consider this.

The current propaganda coming out of America’s TV and cable news media-outlets makes Germany’s 1930’s Goebbels Propaganda Machine, second class.  Comparatively speaking, Goebbels was a lightweight.

To hear some in the media tell it, Obama is to blame for the BP oil disaster, the war, and all the government graft and corruption for the past 30-years, having reached its zenith during the Bush Administration.  Some believe, jokingly speaking, that Obama is responsible for the ingrown toe-tails of the elderly living in local nursing homes. 

Instead of shedding light, (conservative and liberal media) tend to fogify and cloud the issue.  For example, have you noticed that Congress has held numerous financial hearings to determine the cause that bankrupt this great nation, and found nothing?   Isn’t it amazing?  Where are the investigative reporters?  Where are the reporters like the Watergate era, when they nailed President Nixon and his cronies to the barn door in shame?  Where were the investigative reporters when Wall Street and our banks lost $trillions of your money in fantasy loans while Congress was asleep at the switch?

After losing $trillions, the investment bankers petitioned Congress and demanded the taxpayer replace their losses, and Congress obliged.  They even had the audacity to ask for a surcharge to your credit card, and Congress obliged. 

By the way, have you ever heard a Congressman ask one of the Wall Street CEO’s or an insurance investment bankster what happen to all of their depositor’s money?  Have you heard a Congressman ask, “Where did the money go?”  Have you heard them ask, “You mean to tell me you didn’t know the money was disappearing from your bank, and if you didn’t know, aren’t you guilty of criminal negligence?” 

I do believe that Obama when he was a U.S. Senator is responsible, in part, for helping Congress to legalize Credit Default Swaps.  In that respect, his vote(s) gave the investment bankers and insurance companies a legal way to steal Reserves so that no criminal charges could be brought against them by plaintiffs.

In all the injustice(s) done to the taxpayer, 2000  – 2008, there was silence.  There was silence until the Tea Party rallied in 2009 and railed against Obama which makes their motive, suspicious.  Their militancy and anger scares me more than the Wall Street banksters.

Other than the militant tea-baggers and noise makers on Faux News, I think most people do care.  In my opinion, they are concerned and frightened, but when they look for leadership, they find none from their republican and democrat representatives.  It seems that our politicians have become a joke, as evidenced by the mindless minions in power that inhabit federal and state government.

And have you noticed the liberal media’s sudden turn against Obama now that BP has a hole in the ocean floor that is destroying our eco-system?  Could it be they smell defeat in November and want to cut their losses now to save face?

And finally I ask, do you suppose the American people will revert back and reelect the same old crowd that first wrecked our economy by driving it into the ditch during the Bush years?   I don’t know, but when choices for leadership are twiddle-de or twiddle-dumb, that’s like being “up the creek” without a paddle.  If you ask me our canoe has sprung a leak and we are sinking into the mire.  Who is going to bail us out when we lose everything?