I am pleasantly surprised at how President Obama has come out of his corner swinging! Yesterday Jan. 22, 2009, he made a great statement (for what that's worth) about wanting to see a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that includes not only Security for the Israelis, but massive infrastructure improvements and Security for the Palestinians. He has been signing executive orders and doing more than I expected him to do on his first couple days. I want to believe in this man, and so far   more...I do believe that he is doing all the right things. I haven't agreed with him on every single thing, but I believe he's doing his best. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes, he has a seemingly impossible task ahead of him.

In the end though, President Obama is only President of the U.S. not the entire world. As much faith and confidence as we have in him, as much good as the he might hopefully be able to do in this world, I am always mindful of the fact that his margin of victory was only 7% in this last election. There are a lot of my fellow Americans who are dangerously stupid and a threat to this planet. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but the pendulum will swing back and to the right eventually and the world has to be ready to counter the United States if and/or when we "lose it" again. I wish that my country, which I love so much, was a reliable force in this world and a steadfast friend of democracy, but we are unreliable over time. I know why the world sometimes loves the U.S. and often times hates U.S. When we are right we are right and a force of good in the world, but when we are wrong, people die and wars ensue. I do not blame the "world" for looking at us with a skeptical eye. We are like that schizophrenic patient who unexpectedly goes off their medications and trashes the house.

George W. Bush will serve as the poster boy for all the things that we can never let ourselves become again over here in the States. I really hope that the world holds OUR feet to the fire over Bush's prosecution. If we don't or won't do the right thing as far as prosecute our war criminals and make amends to those we've wronged, then the world should hold us responsible and complicit in Bush's war crimes. WE can not say that we didn't know what Bush was doing, we can NOT say that his crimes are not our crimes if we fail to prosecute this man for crimes against humanity. Preemptive War is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and it cannot become a common practice if the world is to run by right and not might.
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I was talking with a good friend of mine named Spentastic on YouTube about the prosecution of former President Bush for war crimes and he reminded me about the genocide in Rwanda that then President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright ignored and enabled.

Albright dragged her feet when it came to restoring UNAMIR's strength in Rwanda and simply calling genocide, genocide. I also blame the media for not adequately covering the Rwandan genocide and ultimately I blame myself and my fellow   more...citizens for just not caring enough about what was going on. I remember at that time, over here in the States, we were all so incredibly distracted by our own issues of race (the O.J. Simpson trial) that the Rwandan genocide just didn't make it unto our "personal radar". Another reason that we Americans turned a blind eye to the killing was that (I believe) we'd had our fill of military expeditions in Africa after the "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia. I remember thinking, "Oh well, more civil strife in Africa, what else is new?"

I feel terrible about it now, but I was distracted and complacent back then too; and totally focused on the Simpson trial. I have the feeling that at the time, Bill Clinton was too afraid and timid, after the backlash over "Gays in the military", the defeat in Somalia, the fiasco of appointing his wife to overhaul our medical system (even though her plans were sound) to act decisively. President Clinton was looking at a potential huge midterm defeat coming up in November of 94. If fact President Clinton did get his ass handed to him in those midterm elections, and that was without having a military quagmire in Africa dragging down his poll numbers.

In the end, all of it was just excuses for our own complicity and guilt. I used to wonder why it was that the world stood by as Germany conducted wholesale genocide during the late 30's and WW2. I used to wonder why it was that so many Americans stood by and did nothing as that Native Americans were slaughtered. It all comes back to Edmund Burke's famous quote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

I don't know who wrote it or where I read it but one of my other personal favorite sayings about this goes like this- "Perpetrators, collaborators, bystanders, victims: we can be clear about three of these categories. The bystander, however, is the fulcrum. If there are enough notable exceptions, then protest reaches a critical mass."

Right now, we all know about what is going on in Darfur and we know that something has got to be done, but where else is genocide happening right now? It's like we get so used to the killing and the slaughter, that it then takes something geometrically more shocking to slap us out of our complacency and despair. We have to resist the urge to bar the door and block out all the “bad news”, that just perpetuates the cycle. There are days when I wonder if we humans deserve to live on this Earth. Why it is that we (as a species) believe that we deserve some exalted, self-appointed role over all dominion on this planet? Yeah I know, it says we do in the Bible, but in reality, we are no better than the rest of the animals when it comes to controlling our own blood-lust and self destructive tendencies. Right now, our technology only serves to magnify our killing capacity, when will we use our incredible intelligence to heal our wounded souls and redeem ourselves? The Sun will continue to shine, the Earth will eventually regenerate and heal from the wounds that we have inflicted, life will go on, with or without human beings.
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This rightwinger named kylesal writes me and says, "Make a video about Democratic Governor Gov. Rod Blagojevich". Not "would you" or "could you" but, "Make a video...." WTF? It's as if he's saying, Dance Video Monkey! Dance For Me, DANCE!! I replied back to him saying- Hey kylesal, I didn't make a video about the former Republican Governor of Illinois George Ryan who is currently serving a prison term for bribes and corruption, so why would I make a video about Blagojevich? Why don't YOU make a   more...video about disgraced Republican George Ryan? Better yet, why don't YOU make a video about the war criminal currently occupying the Oval Office? Blagojevich is a crook, that's for sure, but his crimes are NOTHING compared to the crimes of this Whitehouse. I hope that "Blago" and every single criminal associate he has, goes to jail for every crime he and they have committed, but "what say you" about the equally corrupt Scooter Libby who got a commuted sentence for treason or that crook Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska who got a standing ovation in the Senate after he was CONVICTED of a FELONY, or Karl Rove who hasn't even been investigated? Cry me a river. That's the difference between Rape-publicans and Dems, we don't protect people on our side of the aisle when they commit crimes, we convict 'em, and toss 'em into jail! Whenever a member of the GOP breaks the law, like Tom Delay, Sen. Larry Craig, Rep. Don Young, etc. etc., get a slap on the wrist, are never charged, or they'll get a pardon. I predict that this whole "Blago-Gate" scandal will drive you right-wing-nuts absolutely CRAZY over the coming year, not because you hypocrites suddenly "care" about punishing corruption, but because none of it can be pinned on President Obama. LOL. If there's one thing that is absolutely crystal clear out of all of this, it's that Obama and Blago couldn't stand each other and it was probably President Obama and Rahm Immanuel who blew the whistle on Blago. I'll be looking forward to you expose` on the former Rape-publi-con Governor, now prison inmate, George Ryan. I'll make a deal with you, "if and when" you make a video about Ryan, then I'll make one about Blago, until then, I'll be staying away from the dog-pile.
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Sarah Palin is a rightwing nut, she wants to make abortion illegal even in the case of rape and incest, she’s a creationist, she’s homophobic, she became a volunteer for Pat Buchanon in ’92 after he made his awful “Culture War” speech. She thinks it’s OK to let hunters shoot wildlife from aircraft, she wants to take polar bears off the endangered species list so that he rich friends can drill in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. She fired the guy who refused to fire her ex-brother in law at   more...her request in order to help her sister in her divorce and child custody case. She out right lied in her 1st few minutes on stage by saying that she was against the corrupt Sen. Ted Stevens “Bridge to Nowhere” when she was for it at the time and wanted it funded by the dreaded “ear marks”, (a funding scheme that Republicans are supposed to hate) all while she’s being investigated for witness tampering and withholding incriminating e-mails from investigators by claiming “Executive Privilege”.

Imagine for a moment that Sarah Palin was not a Republi-CON right wing extremist but instead was a reasonable, level headed moderate Democrat. Can you imagine what the GOP would say about her candidacy? They would say that she ought to be at home taking care of her many children, one of whom is developmentally disabled and needs the extra attention. They would say that she is an ex-beauty queen who parleyed her fame and celebrity to become the Governor of a state with a relatively tiny population who has only been in office for a year and a half and has no international experience what-so-ever. They would ask, and rightly so, is this the person that you want to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Especially when the candidate is as old as John McCain?

In July 2008, Sarah Palin told MSNBC’s Larry Kudlow, “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does everyday?”

In an interview with Alaska Business Monthly shortly after she took office in 2007, Palin was asked about the upcoming surge. She said she hadn't thought about it-
"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq," she said. "I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe."

Sarah Palin, said to TIME magazine-
“The GOP agenda to ramp up domestic supplies of energy is the only way that we're going to become energy independent, the only way that we are going to become a more secure nation — and I say this, of course, looking at the situation we are in right now, at war, not knowing what the plan is to ever end the war that we're engaged in, understanding that Americans are seeking solutions, and they are seeking resolution in this war effort, so energy supplies, being able to produce and supply domestically, is going to be a big part of that.....I have a 19 year old who's getting ready to be deployed to Iraq. His Stryker brigade will leave on September 11th of this year. He's 19, he'll be gone for a year. [And so] kind of on a personal level, when I talk about, umm, the plan for the war, you know, let's make sure we have a plan here, and respecting McCain's position on that.”

-Did you get that? She’s not arguing that we need to be in Iraq to fight any “terrorists”, she’s saying we need to be there to secure the OIL.

McCain choosing Sarah Palin as his VP, reminds me a lot of when George W. Bush picked Harriet Myers to be a Supreme Court Justice Nominee, except that Sarah is easier on the eyes, (well….Sarah IS Pretty! That’s ONE of the reason’s he picked her) On the surface it’s laughable and hopefully everyone will be able to see right through this desperate move on McCain’s part. I can’t imagine that it will work. I think that Sar  less

Here are a few quotes from the Republicans when President Clinton committed U.S. Troops into the former Yugoslavia to stop the genocide. BTW, not ONE U.S. Soldier was killed due to hostile actions, NOT ONE. Yet listen to these Un-American hypocrites bad mouthing President Clinton and yelling for impeachment.... 'President Clinton is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation   more...will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy.'-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)....... 'No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it.'-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/5/99..... 'American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy.'-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)..... 'If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy.-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of presidential candidate George W. Bush..... 'I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area.'-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)..... 'You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo.'-Tony Snow, Fox News 3/24/99..... 'Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years.'-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)..... 'I'm on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so you can trust me and believe me when I say we're running out of cruise missiles. I can't tell you exactly how many we have left, for security reasons, but we're almost out of cruise missiles.'-Senator Inhofe (R-OK).....
Movies and Shows: 'Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?'-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99..... 'Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.'-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)..... 'This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem.'-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)..... 'You can support the troops but not the president.'-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)..... 'My job as majority leader is be supportive of our troops, try to have input as decisions are made and to look at those decisions after they're made ... not to march in lock step with everything the president decides to do.'-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)..... 'For us to call this a victory and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce.'-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)...... 'Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly.'-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)..... 'Clinton's bombing campaign has caused all of these problems to explode.'-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)..... 'America has no vital interest in whose flag flies over Kosovo's capital, and no right to attack and kill Serb soldiers fighting on their own soil to preserve the territorial integrity of their own country.'-Pat Buchanan (R)..... 'These international war criminals were led by Gen. Wesley Clark ...who clicked his shiny heels for the commander-in-grief, Bill Clinton.'-Michael Savage..... 'America has no vital interest in whose flag flies over Kosovo's capital, and no right to attack and kill Serb soldiers fighting on their own soil to preserve the territorial integrity of their own country.'-Pat   less