commander_n_chimp,

would you kindly point out where Ralph Nader is mentioned in the above article? thanks.

you may have what is called an "idee fixe." You might need medication. . .I think also it's kind of a symptom of dementia or Alzheimer's.

Just a head's up.

If we just get out now without a slow phased down withdrawal, We would cause many more deaths of our soldiers. I agree with the principle, but common sense needs to apply. I believe that Greely needs to study the situation a little more before saying GET OUT NOW.

"Whatever the political leadership is or will be in 2009, no candidate seems capable of saying, "We're getting out now!""

Mr. Greeley:
You, like so many other writers who THINK they have the facts, blather out this quote ad nauseum. WAKE UP, ANDREW!

DENNIS KUCINICH... Does that name ring ANY kind of bell for you? ANY KIND?! This man is, by the way, running for the highest office in the country and has been screaming against the illegal attack and occupation for YEARS! And, guess what, Andrew, he's had a plan for--as you say--"GETTING OUT NOW"--and has had a workable plan to do it for YEARS as well!

Bone up on your facts, Rev.

By the way, dkitching. How many more civilians need die to do it your way???!!!

http://www.dennis4president.com/go/issues/strength-through-peace/

"highest standards of freedom and democracy"

I think being brokenhearted may be a legitimate state of being or behaving currently perhaps maybe depending. But I get really worried when pundits make superlative declarations. Like, "the greatest generation."

I'm not so sure. It's kind of just another way of not seeing how infinitesimal we are. which is in other words, pride.

Someone could be ashamed of human behavior, but a person could perhaps also identify with the human behavior that he or she is being ashamed of.

In that way we come to see that each of us is a part of the whole, and not the whole itself. I mean, this is where we're at, this is the hand we've been dealt.

We have Mr. Ralph Nader to thank for the country's situation. With his help, George W. Bush was able to steal the Florida election in 2000 and plunge the entire world into a charnel house.

Mr. Rumsfeld's criminal underestimate of the number of troops required.

Good grief; it was the invasion that was the war crime, not the poor execution of the invasion.

Dennis Kucinich. He is the only one candidate who is for getting the troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. He is also, the only one candidate who was against the invasion of Iraq right from the very beginning. How come people continue to act like he doesn't exist? If he isn't one of the candidates in the running, then I will write his name in on the ballot. He is the only one I will vote for.

The blood of Iraqi civilians is on the hands of Ralph Nader and his Naderites. This is a fact which must be repeated every single day, and it is a fact that uneducated zealots like RichM want others to ignore or forget.

I usually strongly support Mr. Greeley. His points are all well taken except #1 about the Armenian genocide.
It's a shame that, that Mr. Greeley has jumped on the bandwagon to present the claim of genocide by the Armenians as if it were a historical fact. Many well-known historians dispute that claim. Turks for more than two decades have offered to open all the archives to any historian to investigate the claim. They have asked the Armenians to do the same but Armenians have refused to do so. Other than, perhaps the ultra-nationalists in Turkey, nobody on the Turkish side is saying that the Armenians did not suffer or lost lives . But claiming that 1.5 million Armenians got killed in a country that had a total of 13.5 million people and ignoring the number of Turks who got slaughtered by the Armenians have no historical base. It was a war. Many atrocities were committed, and many lives, including Armenians and Turks were lost.

Here is a short narrative of locally what happened during that time in the Trabzon province in NE Turkey where a close friend of mine was born and spent first 20 years of my life. These are first hand stories from his grandmother who was born in 1903. Her recollection is supported in several histories written about WW1 and its effect on the Ottoman Empire.

When the Russians invaded Turkey (Ottoman Empire) along the northeastern (Black Sea) seashore in 1912, they armed the minorities who were of Greek and Armenian in origin. Russian invasion triggered mass migration to the west. Almost all Turkish men were in the army fighting the invading forces in all parts of the country. Tens of thousands of women, elderly and children started fleeing the region. However, my grandmother said, after weeks of walking, they could not escape from the Russians who moved their invading forces via ships quickly and invaded all major centers in the Eastern Black Sea region. With the onset of the migration of Turkish population, ethnic minorities especially Armenians started ethnically cleansing the townships. They invaded, pillaged and ransacked the households vacated by the Turks. They killed thousands of innocent people who either refused to leave or were too old, sick, or young to leave. They raped thousands of women and girls. They stole all the valuables, burned down the houses. There are horror stories about what they have done. Volumes of books with documents and pictures have been written on the subject. Two brothers and two cousins of my grandmother ranging from 10 to 14 years of age were killed by the Armenians. Reportedly worse atrocities were committed by the Armenians in the Eastern (Erzurum and Van area) and South Eastern Turkey where there was a sizable Armenian population.

The claims by Armenians and to a degree the counter claims by the Turks in the media do not get into the details of the history on this topic. It is being portrayed as an incident or series of incidents happened in WW1. If you visit any of the Armenian websites that propagate lies about what happened, they start the clock in 1915 (April 24, 1915 to be precise). There is a history to that contaminated history. They deny any collaboration with the invading forces, notably with the Russians, the French and the British. However, there are many many official historical records made public by these nations that show their collaboration and some of the details of the atrocities they committed (there are also many documents provided by these nations showing that Turks committed atrocities near the end of the war).

As the full-fledged war of WW1 raged thru the years 1914-1918, many more atrocities were committed by the Armenians. After the end of WW1 and beginning of the War of Independence by the Turks, things changed. The invading forces were slowly pushed out of the country. Armenians became vulnerable. Many of them left the country. Many who could not or did not suffered in the hands of the Turks. Several nationalist generals (Pashas they were called) on the Turkish side were involved in forcing the Armenians out of their villages, towns as a retaliation to what they did in the past. So it was another episode of ethnic cleansing, this time being performed by the Turks. In one of these cases, depicted as the "death march" in south-eastern Turkey, no doubt, many Armenians perished.

Nobody should try to excuse anything done by the Turks. Yes, they were fighting to defend their homeland. But it does not mean that everything they did was "halal." What I am saying is that it is not fair to take the story from one side and accept it as if it is the truth, and the only truth. There are always two if not more sides to a story.

The policy of the current Turkish government is (as stated by the Prime Minister R. Tayyib Erdogan on the Charlie Rose's show a couple of weeks ago) is that "let's open all the archives, make all the documents available to a committee of interested historians the both sides agree on. Let them research the topic. We will accept their findings. Was it a genocide? Were there war crimes committed? Who did what and when? Let them document it all." This offer has not found a positive response from the Armenian side.

I know this is getting long but, with respect to researching what happened to the Armenians in Turkey during that time, Turkey offered to sponsor two professors at UCLA in the 1980s, no strings attached. The offer was a multi-million dolar grant (I don't remember the exact figure). The Armenian lobby in the US rallied up and pulled every string to make sure that the University turned down that offer! What are they afraid of? Let the truth come out! It eventually will!

I have to agree with geoff29

".....the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

A few European countries might disagree with that statement. If so many Americans didn't carry this myth around with them things might be a lot different now.

And, as celebrity has to point out so often - Dennis Kucinich is the one America should be supporting - in droves. I think, as well as DK, that Bill Richardson has promised to "Get out now". So the Rev. Greeley isn't paying attention.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate that I trust. Now I am wondering if he would take Edwards as a running mate.

Can you imagine such a team? Two men who are highly qualified, courageous, and mentally competent to look at this dire situation and do the right thing.

It's a winning combination!

"Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

Really? How so? By wishing and hoping that it would be so?

What the United States "stands for" is what its actions at home and in the world at large manifest - no more and no less.

Therefore the highest standards that world has yet known include extraordinary rendition and torture? Gitmo, Abu Graib, wars of aggression, looting of our treaury and passing debts onto generations to come, taking from the poor to give to the rich?

One cannot pass over the ACTIONS of the United States with a bunch of feel-good B.S.

Sorry - doesn't work.

If you want the USA to stand for something other than the shameful
behavoir that is does in fact stand for now, and has stood for and countenanced and rationalized and supported -- you gotta change the behavoir.

I for one AM ashamed of the USA, for damn good reason.

Anniesee is correct. Bill Richardson also is advocating 'Get Out Now!' He also has the international affairs experience and background that Kucinich is sadly lacking. We are already saddled with a pres who could not find countries on a globe being manipulated by those with a personal and ideological agenda.

I missed this in the first reading. Maybe Andrew is not paying full attention sometimes.

dkitching, I respectfully disagree with you.

From everything I've read and understand, the reason this "war" (let's be frank and call it what it is -- an occupation) seems without end, is because from day-one the United States has attempted to create an up-for-grabs, totally non-regulated, laissez-faire, free-and-unrestricted market economy in their country. It's been an experimental lab, of sorts. The "insurgents" are essentially the citizenry who were more-likely-than-not, laid-off from their (before the invasion) positions, while no-bid contractors came in, with a total foreign workforce, and attempted to impose upon them a system that has left them totally out-in-the-cold.

Unemployment, with no hope in the future, turns ordinary citizens into "extremists".

If the United States would leave, the Iraqi people would be free to establish their own brand of market presence. This would bring economic security, and an end to the violence and mayhem. Our occupation only exacerbates the problem. The sooner we leave, the sooner stability will come to their country.

By-the-way, the same "disaster capitalism" could happen in the United States, assuming Iraq (and next, Iran) can be counted as success stories for the neocons. Witness the harrowing problems that persist after Katrina. Neocons love a good disaster. It makes their job so much easier.

Greeley is a master rationalizer. He still cannot pen an article
that puts together the obvious - Iraq & Oil. That would be too shameful for his continued fantasy that Iraq represents some sort of abberation brought on by a "few bad apples" that hijacked our otherwise and heretofore goody-two-shoes government.

Grow up - Bush is a symptom - he's not the cause and he's not an abberation.

"Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

Actually, this is where the flaw lies. Not everybody separates the ideal from the real in this stark way. A lot of non-Americans are much more pragmatic than this.

On January 31, 2005, Newsweek International published "Dream On America" by Andrew Moravcsik in which he wrote that the U.S. Model has for a long time ceased to appeal to the rest of the world: it's not pragmatic enough for us.

The essence of the article was that for years, much of the world did aspire to the American way of life. But today countries are finding more appealing systems in their own backyards.

I don't have a URL for the article, but all Americans should look it up, rather than continue with this fantasy that the US can "stand for something" it hasn't practised in years.

Andrew, I am ashamed OF America.

I ashamed of a country that is so technologically advanced and has all the info at it's fingertips, yet Americans celebrate their ignorance.

I am ashamed of a country that wages an insane War on Drugs, hates on Marijuana (a plant for God sakes!); and believes that prisons are a legitimate growth industry.

I am ashamed of a country that rationalizes trashing the constitution to invade sovereign countries and take away freedoms at home.

I ashamed of a country that pays lip service to global warming and other environmental issues, but has a population that's gotta have their automobiles, rather than a cleaner and more efficient mass-railway system like Europe.

I ashamed of a country who refers to brown skin people as "illegal aliens" as if they were from outter space.

I am ashamed of a country that wants to wear it's religion on it's sleave and act all "Holier than Thou".

I ashamed of a country that has a government that allowed a great and historic world reknown city like New Orleans to drown during Katrina.

I am ashamed of a country that has too many people that won't question, but accepts things as they are and expects everyone else to do the same.

I am very ashamed of America and I am not afraid to admit it.

In the name of God, the All Merciful, the Mercy-giving

How the HECK has the US stood for "the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

That statement is playing directly into American Exceptionalism...and American Exceptionalism (i.e. imperialism) is exactly why the US is behaving today the way it is...harming freedom...

Just to list a few freedom 101 examples that the US failed to have:
1. The US was that last country to abolish slavery
2. The US was the first country to drop the A-bomb
3. The US didn't give women property rights (and all other normal human rights) until LESS THAN 100 YEARS AGO!!!!
4. The US, the wealthiest country on the planet, does not have free health care for all (or even most?) of its citizens.

Some legacy...

BIGJOE31 and FOREXTRADER: my sentiments exactly ...couldn't have said it better.

salaam

I spent the aftermath of the 2004 election feeling "brokenhearted" that America's liberals did not prevail in removing Republicans from running the country. We nominated a military guy (Kerry), thinking that would work. It backfired and we lost worse than in 2000. I often think Dean or Edwards would have either one been better choices.

No more. Democrats have made (and are making) some mistakes, just as Bush has made many, but "defeat is not snatched from the jaws of victory" except to the extent that caring liberals give up. I'm not. The election of 2008 is the turning point, and Democrats can win it with a non-military leader (yes, such as Mrs. Clinton if the momentum takes her to the nomination.)

As for deciding to be "ashamed" of America, it is our duty to be the fixers of our future, not the critics of our past.

In his book about Hollywood, "Bambi vs Godzilla", David Mamet wonders if everything must, in the end, run down into a state of corruption. He answers that he's afraid it does. This has apparently already happened to the United States. The majority of Americans absolutely refuse to take responsibility for living in a democracy. It's simply far too much for them. The middle class has been voting now for a generation to destroy its own way of life. The congress and the courts sit around drumming their fingers on their lips while a stupid, egg sucking despot wannabe defecates on the Constitution. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can turn this around and frankly they don't want to. Persistent and aggressive mediocrity will destroy nations. We are no exception.

dkitching wrote:
"If we just get out now without a slow phased down withdrawal, We would cause many more deaths of our soldiers."

Well we Brits have just got out of Basra, even if only as far as the airport. And our casualty rates have dropped accordingly.

And "hear hear" to all posters who've pointed out that America can't stand for democratic values it doesn't practice, and, in many people's opinion, never has.

The Bush administration and Congress are at fault for what has happened, not Ralph Nader. That should be obvious.
Dwelling on past votes for Ralph Nader has no bearing today. The right thing to do, in my opinion, is to vote for the best candidate available for each elective office.

In 2000, some people might have thought that the Bush administration was going to be moderate. That couldn't have been an excuse for 2004. Apparently, many people are scared and are unwilling to do their own thinking. The mess we are in now was very predictable.

As Wyatt says in "Easy Rider," - We blew it. Yes, I am "broken-hearted," but I am angry, too, with Bush, with the inept Democrats, with the terrible failure of the government to respond to its citizens. I am especially disheartened because despite their proclaimed anger, no one seems interested in doing something about it, something tangible beyond donating money to politicians of questionable ethics, beyond grousing in blogs like these, beyond the sales of protest banners and tee shirts, etc., etc. I am angry and fed up, and very frustrated because I don't know what to do anymore. My vote doesn't count. The entire electoral system is so corrupt that a visit to the polls is a futile exercise. Most people with whom I've discussed these matters apparently agree. Most tell me that they hope for a leader of integrity who will confront the issues boldly and resolve them. Most tell me that not a single person seeking the office of president shows any indication of the ability or willingness to do this. More and more people tell me they will probably not vote at all. "What's the use?" my friend asks, "What's the use." I am heart-broken, angry, outraged, frustrated, and ashamed, too, of what this once promising country has become. And there is apparently nothing I can do about it.

Published on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 by the Chicago Sun-Times
Why Those Who Love America Are Feeling Brokenhearted
by Andrew Greeley
"I am ashamed for America. Note carefully that I do not say I am ashamed of America. Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known.

I am ashamed for America because all the evil done in the nation's name in recent years is turning off the light on the mountaintop."

total hypocrisy with a religous implication. oh wait, i think i am being redundant

About the following:

"Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

Is this meant to be funny?

"Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes" So far so good.

"the United States stands… for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known" You've got to be joking!

Writers for the Chicago Sun Times don't get out much do they; or is this one assuming that people reading this are totally ignorant of the history of the world?

What is it about Americans that even when they are well intentioned they must preface their remarks with something like:

"America shouldn't have to ask anyone's permission before attacking other nations"

er…duh! Buddy, isn't that the whole idea of the UN? It was meant to prevent stupid unnecessary wars like the one between the US and Iraq.

"I love America as much as anyone"

This is one reason why liberals have so much trouble getting their point across. They waste half their time reassuring their listeners that they love a good war as much as anybody and then there is little room left for anything other than quibbling about how to blitzkrieg better than the present US government.

"The US constitution is not a suicide pact" …(I love this one)

Nope, it's not. Neither are the constitutions of democracies. Yet somehow they manage to make their constitutions more than mere window dressing.

"America is the greatest nation in the world"

Here we are back at the above article (with a bit of paraphrasing). It's as if the US is a giant reverse black hole. No light (or enlightenment) can penetrate. The Chicago Sun Times, besides being a serious paper by US standards, prints "the United States stands… for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known" apparently in earnest. I don't know about you but I personally have known standards much higher than those stood for by the US.

All the writers at the Chicago Sun Times can suck my balls. Hardly anything gets published in the mainstream press in this country unless it fits comfortably within the bounds of "acceptable" opinion. Take your American Exceptionalism and shove it up your ass. If you want to redeem yourself for writing so much feckless drivel, Greeley, try writing a good article about the increasing wealth divide in the country. How might spending tons of money on waging costly foreign wars affect interest rates, I wonder? Good thing all Americans benefit from getting good returns on investment. Wait, you say all Americans don't? Only the very wealthy benefit? Well, then good thing our tax system was modified to even things out or else some folks might get the wrong idea...

I'm ashamed to belong to the same species as bush, cheney, reagan, and all those leaders of corporate predatory capatilism, that wall street loves so much.

bushism is 100% lies and I'm ashamed to belong to a species that believes even 10% of them.

I'm ashamed to belong to a species that thinks Hitler wasn't so bad. Bush clearly thought he was a pretty fine and profitable associate

Maybe the upper classes have always been amoral sociopaths, generations of bushes clearly have.

Anyone remember about "Robber Barons".

Of course we're the most successful predators ever evolved. Unfortunately (?) were so successful we're going to exterminate ourselves, too.

I"m sure it would be extremely unpatriotic(*) to say thge human race would be better off with gw in Guantanimo and Castro in the whitehouse.

(*)patriotism is defined as: do as you're told, keep your mouth shut, and don't think about trying to get your hands on my personal furtune.

ps Israel was founded by terrorists and they're still pretty bloody damn violent now.

I'm also ashamed to be a fool enough to care about any of this.

I use the word ashamed in a more or less ironic sense

To save American from all the corrupt forces we need to use what the Framers gave us in Article V of the Constitution - the convention option. State delegates could consider constitutional amendments outside the control of Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court. The option was given us because the Founders believed that one day the public would lose trust in the federal government: THAT DAY HAS ARRIVED. Go to www.foavc.org and learn the facts and become a member so that we can use this strategy to get necessary political reforms.

I couldn't finish reading this article. As sool as Greely started on with that America-the-city-on-the-hill-free-est-poeple-on-earth crap. I quit reading.

Exactly when, Mr. Greely, was this golden age when Americans were so free, or selflessly promoted this "freedom"? Sorry, but as defined by FDR's "four freedoms", many countries - including our neighbor to the north, have been ahead of the US for at least a century.

littlem85,
"In the name of God, the All Merciful, the Mercy-giving"
appropriate because god does nothing himself. it is those operating in his name that that bring his wrath. part of the problem, not solution. i would invite you to become a member of reality, not mythology.

"the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known." what government or religion has stood for such lofty pronouncements? they all imply a form of exceptionalism, in my opinion, and exclusion to those that do not believe or subscribe is standard.

Wow, pretty heavy discussion here. I might offer this, which hopefully you will find humorous. Yesterday, I phoned the Constitution Party. In their Preamble, they claim the Constitution entirely was founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ. So, the receptionist picked up the phone and I told her that I have a question about the Preamble. I said "as someone who studies the Constitution and has a sincere interest in it, can you tell me where in the Constitution the words "God" and "Christianity" appear?" Unintentionally, my question caught her off guard. So, she politely referred me to a "Field Director." I asked him the same question and proceeded to get the bullshit run around with no definitive or plausible explanation. His best answer was "well you know there are many people in this Party, and many of them are eccentric." That was it! I was supposed to buy that answer. He then proceeded to ask me if I was a left-wing liberal. I replied "what the hell does my political affiliation have to do with the disingenuous, misleading information you include in your Preamble?" I ended the conversation politely and thanked him for his time.

Adding to the list of others enjoying our highest standards of freedom and democracy:
3 million dead in Viet Nam and thousands still enjoying the after effects of Agent Orange poisoning. Including US servicemen
200,000 Filipino civilians during an early (failed) test of empire
Those killed by death squads in Chile and Guatemala from the dictators we instilled and supported
Unarmed Timorese civilians killed by Suharto's army. Armed and trained by the USA with full blessings of Ford and Kissinger.
Laos, Cambodia, Haiti?

And to stay off topic like dkitching, we can 'GET OUT NOW'.
According to army and air force vets, even at the height of the Viet Nam conflict we flew tons of supplies in and out of anyplace we wanted. Logistics is not the issue. There is no political will to leave Iraq, there is no plan to leave. The bulk of our soldiers walked in over the border, across the sand. They can just as well walk out with the same tank and air support. There is not one single enemy plane or helicopter to threaten them.
The biggest threat to US soldiers are politicians and their supporters who want to stay the course. Leaving them in harms way is not a method of support.

With all due respect, patriot Alan Greenspan recently reminded us that there was no "war." There was an illegal invasion based on lies, the goal of which was oil control. A "debate" over who won or lost a "war" that never took place is like debating who won the bank robbery? The robbers or the victims?

On a side note, if another country invades a country the United States is occupying, is that a declaration of "war" on America, or just the country America is occupying and, hence, protecting by law? Cause it would appear we're at "war" with Turkey now - or is "allowing" them to bomb northern Iraq just more appeasement? If they "accidentally" kill US soldiers during this appeasement phase, will we retaliate? Or will our Loonitary Decider apologize, like he did to China after they forced one of our spy planes down?

Is that Putin drooling over in the shadows?

"I am ashamed for America because all the evil done in the nation's name IN RECENT YEARS is turning off the light on the mountaintop"

What? You dont have a problem with all the evil America has done in the preceding two centuries?

Personally, I have been thoroughly disgusted with the evil of the USA since I was old enough to think for myself.

"...Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

Really? Have you looked at CANADA lately?

Dr. Welles, Toronto

(previously of the U.S. -- and my ancestors came to the New World with a land grant from William Penn so we HAVE been paying attention!)

The problem is the war. Period.

"…Despite all its inherent flaws and all its tragic mistakes, the United States stands, however incompletely and with whatever imperfections, for the highest standards of freedom and democracy that the world has yet known."

Really? Have you looked at CANADA lately?

Dr. Welles, Toronto

(previously of the U.S. — and my ancestors came to the New World with a land grant from William Penn so we HAVE been paying attention!)

This should explain it:

sociocentrism

Taking one's own social group as the standard by which others are measured.

-Online Medical Dictionary

Hey Chimp person,

Actually, Gore won Florida. The Supreme Court prevented us from discovering that FACT -- but discover it we did, too late.

littlem85: Peace be with you also! Thank you for your kind comments.

forextrader: ILLEGAL Aliens are just people who are here illegally. It has nothing to do with skin color.

Perhaps if you lived in an area where county hospital taxes were the largest part of your property taxes because of ILLEGAL aliens, the kids come to school without their shots, special teachers must be provided to teach English as well as skills in Spanish; then maybe you'd be tired of allowing just any old body who could sneak across the border to claim the rights U.S. citizens elected to provide for themselves. Our cities, schools, countryside are way over-crowded.

When my familyl immigrated to Canada we were required to submit medical records, a chest x-Ray, school and college records and show that we had a job when we arrived.

Shouldn't we be encouraging Mexico to make life possible for their own citizens since they're a pretty rich country.

Widen the lens....the US is, along with the rest of the world....playing out a "dominator" value system that overrides every decision--economic, social and political. Unless we change this value system--wars, injustice, economic disparity (1% of the US population owns 37% of the wealth...the bottom 90% owns 28% of the wealth).will continue because a dominator/top down system ensures them. Wars make sense in a dominator value system (Yes, God is on our side!), Income disparity makes sense in a dominator value system (Every man for him self...Golden rule...he who has the gold rules), Injustice makes sense in a dominator value system (that's just the way its always been).

This issue is confronted in Riane Eisler's work, Real Wealth of Nations--creating a caring economics and in it she shows the dominator value system--how we got here and how we can get out. www.realwealtheconomy.com

Then maybe Andrew won't be so ashamed FOR America...but will realize that a dominator value system sets the stage for it....

In whose name did you fire competent United States attorneys who failed to further your political agenda or who were investigating your administration's corrupt practices?

In whose name do you allow obscene corporate profits and continue to give them tax breaks and allow corporate executives to earn in one day what their employees earn in a year?

In whose name do you deceptively promote and sign tax cuts that affect only the upper 5% of the population, while many of the average middle class workers must labor at two or three jobs and place their children in daycare?

In whose name do you refuse to meet with a grieving mother who sits on your doorstep seeking answers?

In whose name would you not meet with a tri-pelagic Vietnam veteran/congressman sitting in his wheelchair on your doorstep?

In whose name have you spoken bi-partisanship and practiced partisanship of the most egregious nature?

In whose name have you muddied the American reputation in the international community and destroyed its credibility?

In whose name have you allowed the use
of depleted uranium as a weapon in Afghanistan, Iraq and other conflicts….FOREVER contaminating those nations and poisoning their inhabitants and OUR soldiers?

In whose name have you bullied the members of congress to succumb to your dastardly plans to spy on your citizens?

In whose name, Mr. Bush?

In whose name?...............

Certainly not mine!

Certainly not the majorities!
And certainly not in your name…as you are our chosen representative…chosen to reflect the majority consciousness.

And so I ask you one more time…

In whose name do you govern?

In whose name do you lead?

If your only answer is in YOUR NAME,

you must resign, as this is still a
democracy, a representative republic…
NOT A KINGDOM.

You, Mr. Bush, believe me,

ARE NOT A KING!!

PNAC, anyone....anyone? And while on the subject Andrew, when has this arbitrary country, taken from its former tenants, not been at war with "others" in order to acquire resources that the others had?
Multinational corporate control, and in reference to the 'robber baron' remark made earlier....read John Gatto's Secret History of American Education, relies upon the church you so blatantly are a part of. And as for the 3 big religions in this world....used by the elite as an effective shield, and I am talking directly to you on this one Andrew...I've just about had it with this crap!
Each main religion believes they are chosen, and it works oh so well for these asshat warmongers, and each one insofar as I am aware believe that each will be granted supremacy over the others, whomsoever does not believe, that they walk like pigs to the spiritual slaughter.
Every person persecuted on this earth for your religions are the only ones I see gaining any favor from any deity if one such exists.
America has been betrayed, pumped full of the Manifest Destiny doctrine to the point of sickness and apathy.
But hey, its all going as planned, right? God's plan, eh, Andrew?
I hope God is an angry mix of Anglo, Native/African Gay woman who liked Gardening, smoking pot, and cherishing her population controlled spiritual children before all the powerhungry men (not all men btw)decided they'd start making the rules, killing all the animals, polluting all the air and water just to build a church and make some profit.
We have a church, her name is Earth, and maybe on the day her children begin listening to her instead of a dead sky zombie warlord, we'll have some peace...Aho bro', and when you get raptured with your holier than thou attitude, don't let the cosmic door slam your ass on the way out....

In Whose Name?

………An Inquiry from the American Majority……

Mr. Bush….

In whose name were those in Florida who had paid their debt to society not allowed to vote in the 2000 election?

In whose name did the Supreme Court of the United States appoint you as President of the United States?

In whose name did you fail to protect
American citizens on 9/11?

In whose name have you failed to find and prosecute the true perpetrators of the 9/11 atrocity?

In whose name did you lie to the American public about the motives behind a preemptory attack on the sovereign nation of Iraq?

In whose name have you allowed the continued sacrifice of United States soldier's lives, limbs and families?

In whose name have you allowed the continued killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women, children and infants?

In whose name have you continued to torture prisoners of war?

In whose name have you allowed the squandering of billions of dollars of the American taxpayer and billions of dollars of Iraqi's wealth

DD,

"We nominated a military guy (Kerry), thinking that would work. It backfired and we lost worse than in 2000."

"We" did nothing of the sort. Kerry was the DLC candidate foisted on the party by the political consultant class.

All the exit polls showed Kerry with an insurmountable lead, to the extent that it was being reported early in the evening that he'd been told he was going to lose. The Fox crew had tossed in the towel and looked horrified. An impossible statistical shift took place as the night crept on -- and Kerry, having promised to "count every vote," immediately conceded.

Those who insisted that the election was stolen were silenced -- only John Conyers eventually managed to hold hearings in a basement; but the party leaders played go-along-git-along, just like they are now.

AMEN to CELEBRITY -- Kucinich does answer to the most idealistic description possible of the country -- perhaps we should write Fr. Greeley & ask him for a column mentioning the fact?

I'm with you, Father Greeley. This war should have been over four years ago. Bring them home now!

I am brokenhearted over all the deaths happening daily over there. Getting out might just end all that. It's worth a try.

In whose name do you continue to hire mercenaries who kill innocent civilians indiscriminately, paying them many times the average American soldier's wage?

In whose name have you treated returning American veterans with callousness and disrespect?

In whose name have you added signing statements to legislation you have signed, virtually allowing you to ignore the very content of the law?

In whose name have you stripped this populace of the ancient writ of habeas corpus?

In whose name have you kept the facts of global warming from United States citizens?

In whose name did you deter minorities
from their right to vote in Ohio in the 2004 election?

In whose name have you formed an illegal union between Mexico, the United States and Canada without the knowledge, oversight and approval of the Congress or the American public?

In whose name have you sold cluster bombs to Israel for use against the Lebanese in direct violation of international law, leaving behind millions of death traps for innocent civilians?

In whose name did you allow the imprisonment of United States border guards, granting immunity to the drug smuggler they tried to apprehend?

"Whatever the political leadership is or will be in 2009, no candidate seems capable of saying, "We're getting out now!"

This false statement, whether or not made consciously, illustrates the fact that because people fear change deep down and only want to keep choosing over and over new tactics they know will not work, they pretend they have no power or choice but to continue down the same path away from salvation. People are afraid of their own power, because they are afraid of being responsible for outcomes. People are afraid of truth, even though only truth can set us free.

DENNIS KUCINICH, 2008, whose actions on record back up his wise words.

Peace.