The gifts you give a foreign nation while cutting your social programs.

Who says Congress cannot act quickly and in a bipartisan way? They certainly can, but not when trying to meet your needs. When it comes to meeting health care needs of citizens, getting prescription costs under control, reigning in oil companies from gouging the public, or providing for the poor or homeless, they are paralyzed. The stagnant economy has forced hard decisions such as which basic social services will be ravaged due to the lack of funds. Because of the inability of Congress to make decisions, compromise, or get anything done, its popularity ratings are only slightly higher than pedophiles, but take heart, when Congress really makes up its mind, it can act with lightning speed.

You want speedy action by your Congress; try this. Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United Sates, wrote an article in an Israeli newspaper discussing the need for Israel to invest in ten more Iron Dome Missile batteries. The ink was not dry on Oren's op/ed piece when the US Congress sprang into action offering to pay for the 10 Iron Dome Missile batteries. Why should Israel pay? Long time Israel supporter in the US Congress, Congressman Howard Berman (D) from California, rallied to Israel, by immediately introducing a bill in the US House of Representatives that would have US taxpayers pay for Israel’s 10 new batteries. Congressman Berman is the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, so there is little doubt with his clout and with strong bipartisan support, the money for this gift will take the high speed express track through the Congress. So as not to provoke US citizens, the bill carefully evades the cost of this gift to taxpayers, but most experts assume one battery will cost fifty million dollars, so Congressman Berman’s generosity to Israel will cost you about five hundred million. This is five hundred million dollars we do not have, so at some point Congress will have to decide which social programs for needy American citizens will be cut to make payment for this lavish gift.

This is not the first time you have generously donated to the Iron Dome cause for Israel. In May of 2011 you generously paid $205 million to help develop the original Iron Dome system for Israel. But it gets worse. Almost immediately after agreeing to fund the Iron Dome system to the tune of 205 million, Senator Eric Cantor (D-VA) casually announced there would be no aid to the raved and devastated town of Joplin, Missouri which was decimated by tornadoes. So Congress found 205 million dollars for Israel, but would not provide the residents of Joplin with any relief from their tragedy. Doesn’t it make sense that the Congress provides for Israel, but not for the devastated residents of Missouri while cutting social programs for US citizens?

To make matters worse, there is divided opinion as to the effectiveness of the Iron Dome Missile Defense System. Israel boasts that it was very effective against incoming missiles from Gaza, but very few people know those “missiles” are nothing more than pieces of very crude pipe that have garage welded fins on the back edge to act as stabilizers. The front of the “missile” is merely stuffed with gunpowder like material. The have a very limited range and those who launch them have absolutely no idea where they will go. There is no “guidance” system to these homemade pipe bombs and the proof of their effectiveness is their very limited ability to harm anyone. In the latest go round of pipes being launched from Gaza, no Israeli’s were killed, while Israel has killed at least 27 Palestinians. For propaganda purposes, Israel describes them as “missiles” and has their people run to bomb shelters repeatedly. Certainly these missiles pale compared to F-16’s with laser guided bombs and sophisticated Apache helicopters swooping down on people who are walled in with no weapons to resist. The Gaza situation resembles a futuristic survival movie with resistors fighting against the giant. This is truly the reincarnation of David and Goliath with one major difference. You are sacrificing your own social programs to provide Goliath with the weapons of war.

Irritated that while cutting programs for American citizens you are “giving” away another 500 million dollars to a foreign nation? That is just the tip of the iceberg. Next time you fill up your car with gas while muttering things under your breath because of the tremendous cost, consider this. Not only are you buying your gas, you are also paying for all of the fuel used by the Israeli military. We know, but only because of the Freedom of Information Act, that you have given Israel over one billion dollars worth of fuel since 2004. No one really knows the true cost because your government has decided this should not be “public” information, despite the fact fuel to Israel is paid for with “public” money. This program is just one of the many gifts to Israel that is not made known to citizens, for if they knew, they might be outraged and conclude Congress represents a foreign nation better than it takes care of its own citizens. In many cases that is precisely what they do.

Please consider calling your congressperson to express your anger at having to buy Israel’s gas and throwing enormous amounts of money at a foreign nation, while cutting programs for Americans.

Mainstream Media Leads the charge to War with Iran

One has to question the integrity of mainstream media. The charge that Iran is producing nuclear weapons, emanating primarily from Israel but constantly echoed in this country by mainstream media has persisted, despite the facts. Mainstream media can no longer be relied upon for factual news. It has forsaken its role as the fifth estate or the 4th branch of government, and of presenting a perspective other than governments, or bringing truth forward to challenge government assertions. One major mission of journalists is to constrain the power of government with truth. In the case of Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program the facts are resoundingly clear, however the US public has been shielded from truths by mainstream media who causally repeat false accusations put forward by extreme right wing Israelis and echoed by members of Congress.

There is not the slightest factual evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, yet polls indicate the US public is absolutely convinced of Iran’s non-program. One poll has 87% of registered voters believing that Iran’s program represents a threat to the US, which, if it were not so serious, would be laughable. Even if Iran had one nuclear weapon, it lacks the capacity to deliver such a weapon to the US; not even close, but of course this is one of the many pertinent truths being denied the public. You cannot make an intelligent decision without the facts, and the public is being cheated by mainstream media.

Another recent poll has 49% of the public advocating the use military force to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, despite the evidence there is no such program. Why would the public call for bombing a nation on a false pretense, unless mainstream media has ignored the truth and relied on false information to convince the public of the need to make war?
President Obama pretends to reign in the war hawks, but is just waiting for the next election. If re-elected he will go to war with Iran; he has received his marching orders.

A quick review shows the US Intelligence Estimate, which is a summary of all US spy agencies, has twice stated there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, a significant item under reported and distorted by media. The IAEA, which monitors Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, has monitored Iran more closely than any nation in the history of the world, with both human eyes and electronic surveillance of Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites. It has not found a shred of evidence of any nuclear weapons program, yet the public believes a weapons program exists. Why?

Media is now distorting the reluctance of Iran to allow inspectors into the Parchin military site. The public has not been told, nor will it, that Parchin is a military base and not a nuclear site and as such, is legally beyond the reach of inspection by the IAEA. According to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a member, “military” bases are not within the IAEA’s jurisdiction. Iran is well aware of the UN forcing Iraq to allow inspectors into its military bases searching for non-existent WMD. Inspectors found no WMD because there were none, but inspectors took advantage of their searches by recording GPS positions of all defense installations in Iraq. When the inevitable war, based on lies and encouraged by such media as the New York Times began, US airstrikes were easy, because we had all the GPS coordinates of their military bases. Iran has been reluctant to allow inspectors into their military bases for this very reason. Despite this they have agreed to allow inspectors into Parchin.

The accusation that Iran is delaying so they can sanitize Parchin before inspections is also being ridiculed by experts. The accusation is allegedly based on satellite photos, but the US has denied it had such photos, or provided anyone with such photos. Investigators cannot find anyone who actually has even seen any photos, but have been referenced by anonymous sources, most likely from a foreign country. Shades of the forged Niger documents which charged Iraq with trying to buy “yellowcake” uranium, a scam that helped bring about the Iraq war.

Before deciding to bomb Iran, should voters know Leon Panetta one month ago in testimony before Congress, stated Iran has not even made the decision to build a nuclear weapon? Most of the public never heard this. Two months ago James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence stated in testimony, that Iran had not yet decided to develop a nuclear weapon. Why do we wish to bomb something that does not exist?

Both Russia and China have stated there is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, and have both rejected the claim by the US and Israel of such a program.

The former Director of the IAEA recently said, in his twelve years as head of the IAEA he has not see “a shred of evidence” that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program.

Every bit of Iran’s uranium has been monitored over the years, and to make a nuclear weapon Iran would have to divert some uranium to its weapons program, yet every bit of Iran’s uranium is accounted for and not one gram has been diverted.

The facts are clear; there is absolutely no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran, but the public believes there is one. Obviously the public has been misled by mainstream media, just as it was in the run-up to the war with Iraq. Mainstream media can fool most of the people, most of the time.

Can the President Assasinate You?

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke recently at Northwestern University attempting to legally justify the assassination of US citizens, but constitutional scholars suggest he was selling snake oil. Last year the President gave the death order for New Mexico born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki for a reason we will most likely never know. The President has refused to explain why al-Awlaki was assassinated, and all attempts to get the president to reveal the evidence he had, have failed. The only thing we have is the President’s word that Awlaki deserved to die, but that doesn’t satisfy this writer, constitutional authorities, or anyone one with a shred of common sense.

The only thing that separates man from being completely uncivilized and barbaric is the rule of law. In 1215 our forefathers in England forced the king to sign the Magna Carta, upon which our government is based, and this great document established the “rule of law”, and ended the “rule of man”. The Magna Carta forced the king to concede citizens have civil liberties, and the king cannot arbitrarily deny citizens their rights. To prevent the King from arbitrarily deciding the fate of citizens, the King had to agree the only way a citizen can be denied his/her rights, is through the “law of the land”. The Magna Carta is recognized as one of the most important documents ever signed, for it guaranteed civil rights to citizens and prevented misuse by the king by insuring “due process of the law of the land” for citizens. For our purpose the “law of the land” is the US Constitution, and the founders were well aware of history, the Magna Carta, limiting the power of Kings to prevent abusing the rights of the people, and therefore carefully inserted the Fifth Amendment which states, “nor shall any person be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. Adding additional protection, the founding fathers prevented individual states from arbitrarily denying civil rights to their citizens with the 14th Amendment clause, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. Given our history of dealing with the English Kings, understanding that powerful rulers left unchecked will abuse their power, and the century’s long bloody struggle by citizens against arbitrary monarchs, the authors of the Constitution seemed almost obsessed with limiting the power of political leaders by insuring the citizens “due process of law”. It appears that Mr. Holder and Mr. Obama are quiet willing to throw out a thousand years of strife and bloodshed to insure that citizens be protected from arbitrary decisions by political leaders. We should not entrust this President, or any President, with the right to usurp the concept of “due process”. We have the historical responsibility to honor the struggle for due process, and the same responsibly to preserve “due process” for our children and their children. Being a citizen in a democracy requires a willingness to take action, assume responsibility, and preserve democracy. It appears we have surrendered 1000 years of struggle with a mere whimper of protest. Shame on us.

Two weeks after the assassination of Awlaki, his 16 year old son and US citizen, was assassinated. We know not why, or what evidence the administration had against the teenager. The Obama administration has refused to give any reason, evidence, or even to discuss the issue. We do know that at first they insisted the youth was 21 years old, but a birth certificate indicates he was only 16, and was born in Colorado. To make matters worse the 16 year old boy’s cousin was also killed, along with seven teenage friends while diner. No explanation, no anything from the administration. One must wonder, if they had his age incorrect, could their reason for his assassination be incorrect? We will never know. So much for the Magna Carta, the constitution, the 5th and 14th Amendments, and 1000 years of fighting for the right to “due process” and preventing rulers from arbitrarily deciding who lives and who dies. Eric Holder asks you to trust Obama will not have you assassinated unless you deserve it, or to put your life in the hands of this, or any President, in the future. In other words he asks that we surrender the “rule of law” and accept the “rule of man”.

Who else is on the list of “dead men walking”? We do not have the right to know according to the Obama administration. How many are on the list is none of your business. Whether your name is on the list is none of your business, but as Obama jokingly, or not so jokingly said, “You will never see it coming”.