Sherrod Brown's Vote for Torture Gets "Googled!"

Frank J. Ranelli


Sherrod Brown’s ill-fated and discouraging vote received a little more attention than I believe he wanted it to! (See Google frame capture.)

By simply going to Google, typing in "Sherrod Brown" and clicking the NEWS link before hitting search nets you the following results!

Further, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper was quick to point out, “By Thursday morning, several Web logs with Democratic bases were filled with criticism of Brown. Supporters said he had compromised his principles to avoid being labeled weak on national security.”

To date, emails and calls to Brown's office have gone unanswered. However, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper does make mention that they [Brown's camp] "issued a statement" explaining why he voted FOR the bill.

I don't think there is ever a reason to vote FOR pro-active torture and I think that Brown has "issues" if he does!

# # #

Sanity Check Please!

Bush v. Clinton: Would the Real Liar Please Stand Up!

Frank J Ranelli


Keith Olbermann investigates, in this scathing report, just who really lied about what and who did or did not try to catch Osama Bin Laden.

Watch it!



"I truly am not that concerned about him [Bin Laden]." -- George W. Bush

Sherrod Brown of Ohio Capitulates to Bush and Approves Torture!

My final wrap-up on the Sherrod Brown "Vote For Torture":

Sherrod Brown of Ohio Capitulates to Bush and Approves Torture!


BY FRANK J. RANELLI
Thursday, September 28, 2006


Sherrod Brown, once seen by many as a true Democrat, a real liberal, and a viable alternative to Mike DeWine, forfeited his progressive values and the rule of law, in order to score election points. How? By yielding to the Bush cartel and voting for torture!


Sherrod Brown, current Congressional representative to Ohio’s 13th District and Democratic nominee to unseat Republican Mike DeWine for Senator, did the unthinkable today. Brown, seen by many as a true progressive, a real liberal and a viable alternative to DeWine’s sycophant sucking-up to the Bush Administration, forfeited his progressive values, moral standards and the rule of law, in order to score a few election points and votes.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on bill H.R. 6166, better known as “The Military Commissions Act” that essential legalizes torture, offers unparalleled and historic power to the President, and even a new definition of “enemy combatant” so wide-ranging it could include an anti-war protester! The bill passed by a vote of 253-168 in the House under Roll Call 491. Some may better know this bill as the “Terror Detainee Bill”, but most of us know it as the bill that authorizes the United States to torture people under the euphemistic phrase of “alternative methods”.

The bill passed largely along party lines, but not wholly. Thirty-four Congressional House Democrats sold their souls and their conscience to the radical-right and rabid Republicans. Among those Thirty-four Congressional Democrats was Ohio’s own Sherrod Brown! This is the same Sherrod Brown who voted AGAINST the Authorization of Use of Force in 2002, lobbied hard for more equipment and body armor for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, co-sponsored a bill to bring the troops home this October and even admonished the President for not pressing harder for the hunt to find Osama Bin Laden.

Congressman Brown is also the newest recipient of the endorsement of Democratic Senator Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriot Fund. I am certain that Senator Feingold will not find Mr. Brown’s vote for a bill that condones torture neither progressive nor patriotic. In a single word, what Sherrod Brown did was, unconscionable.

Some will suggest and might be inclined to offer conjecture that Brown, who is running in a dead-heat with Republican Mike DeWine, simply voted “yes” in a political move to appear tough on terrorism, thereby not giving DeWine a talking point against Brown. Being tough on terror, and therefore not weak, requires more than a dissembling nod to the forces that oppose you in a game of political shells. In order to show that you are not genuinely weak, you must do the heaviest lifting of all, the courage to go it alone and get the job done yourself. By voting with DeWine and the Republicans, Brown proved his undeniable weakness and inability to stand alone and to stand literally above, on principle.

True patriots that champion the unwavering founding American principles don't surrender to popularity or pressure; they remain firm, even in the face of tremendous adversity. True guardians of the America system of time-honored values don’t sanction sedition and subversion. Sherrod Brown today provided clear evidence that he is a career politician and not a civil servant to the people that elected him to Congress or appreciates those that have advocated his race to win the Ohio Senate seat in hopes of a better future.

Congressman Brown eschewed all ethics, all morals, and all human decency to, dare I say, “Score a few Brownie points!” Brown’s vote for this grisly bill not only betrayed his progressive base, his party, but his country. It doubly goes to show that all politicians are corruptible, and when their career is on the line, they will yield to pressure and abandon both principle and party, taking the path of least resistance.

Sherrod surrendered away his convictions with this vote and bowed-down to the Bush cartel. Brown more than became an enabler to the Bush radicalism that is so pervasive in Congress today, but he became a sell-out to his own judgment and those who stood beside him and trusted him. Trust, above all, is never negotiable. Once you negotiate away your trust and cross that line, you can never come back.

This is a major blow to Ohio and the country. Regardless of whether Ohio gets Brown or DeWine as their next Senator, Ohioans and now Americans, are fundamentally assured of being devoid of any honest leadership, real courage or a standing voice in the Senate, once again.

Sherrod Brown Capitulates to Bush and Torture!

Frank J. Ranelli


Four weeks ago, after a careful review of Sherrod Brown, I made a public endorsement of Sherrod Brown on Ranelli Rants. Today, Sherrod Brown, the man who voted against the AUMF in the first place, surrendered and bowed down to the Bush cartel.

At the time this is what I said:

Ranelli Endorses Brown

Sherrod Brown voted against the war from the beginning. Even after it was approved, he advocated heavily giving the troops the tools, equipment and body armor they needed. Something that the Bush administration has poorly done or not done at all. Brown also wants Osama bin Laden found, contrary to the Bush position of, "I don't think much about him."

Brown also wants significant troop withdrawals starting this October. A first step towards rectifying a tragic error in judgment by Bush and company and the first step in the reparation process of how America is seen around the world.

As a political author and researcher, I take each candidate on their individual merits, issues, record and history. I study them carefully and take time to review as much material as I can about each one of them. This includes their voting records in Congress as a whole, not just on key issues.

As they say in the NFL, "after careful review", I have decide that Sherrod Brown is worthy of my endorsement for U.S. Senator for Ohio. He should be humbled and proud. I don't endorse any politician lightly!

Thirty-four Democrats voted in favor of the bill, including, Sherrod Brown! Brown, who is in a tight race with Mike DeWine in Ohio for the Senate, appears to have forfeited his progressive values and the rule of law, in order to score election points.

HR6166, The military Commissions Act, that essential legalizes torture, offers unparalleled and historic power to the President, and even a new definition of “enemy combatant” so broad it could include an anti-war protester, passed the House under Roll Call 491.

Besides the obvious embarrassment of my own, vocal support and endorsement of Brown, the larger picture here is that Brown, who opposed the AUMF in the first place, is now essentially endorsing it and the Republican agenda!

This is a major blow to Ohio and the Country. Regardless of whether we get Brown or DeWine as our next Senator, we are fundamentally assured of being eschewed any real leadership or voice in the Senate, once again.

It doubly goes to show that, in my opinion, all politicians are corrupt, and when their career is on the line, they will yield to pressure and abandon both principle and party.

# # #

You can read the Roll Call 491 here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll491.xml

More to follow....

George Bush, Indefensible and Un-American: The Path to Treachery

BY FRANK J. RANELLI
Tuesday, September 26, 2006


Any government faction within the U.S. that claims it alone is supremely right is un-American. Any President seeking to monopolize lies as truth and claims an omnipotent capacity to do so, while denigrating anyone who dares to challenge his vile revision of history is treacherous.


Over the course of the last five years of the so-called, “Bush Administration”, I have engaged in many discussions with scores of like-minded Americans and a number of not so like-minded and even many of those simply less-of-mind. Reflecting on that, I was reminded just the other day, of the true purpose I choose to write as a progressive author. I was correctly reminded of those declared values by an especially wise and well-informed American, Bill Harding.

I write to educate, to promote and to advance the agenda of true progressives and to galvanize people by meaningful articulation of words on how to accomplish those goals. I write to teach and to enlighten the unconditional truth in a time so exceedingly burdened with mendacity. I write to warn of grave, impending dangers, within our own borders, which are far more real and dangerous than the preposterous notion that America could be vaporized in a mushroom cloud at any moment, should Americans relinquish the controls of government to anyone outside the Bush cartel.

Watching another laudable American, Keith Olbermann, as he delivered another presentation of the truth for the ages, during his now weekly “Special Comments” slot in his show, I gave particular pause to what former President Bill Clinton has dispensed to all those who still believe in America’s founding principles. What Bill Clinton recently has given us, and Keith Olbermann has eloquently fostered, is the voice to pierce through the clamor and din of the shrill and strident sounds of the current neoconservative government that stole our country and nearly all of our rights, morals, and credibility along with it.

What Bill Clinton did by facing up to and slapping down Chris Wallace and Fox News this past Sunday – and Keith Olbermann helped illuminate so brilliantly -- was the necessary, critical opposition and a brazen telling of the truth before the genuine truth has been erased from our collective memories and all of history. Never in American’s past has an assault on the truth been waged so viciously nor have the American people been so reprehensibly divided by our own President. Only the most deviant and amoral among us would seek to monopolize lies as truth and claim an omnipotent ability to do so, while denigrating anyone who dares to challenge their vile revision of history and facts.

That brazen truth and facts are categorically these:

George W. Bush did nothing to stop Bin Laden. On August 6, 2006, Bush and his new-anointed neoconservative government flatly ignored a Presidential Daily Briefing that said unmistakably this: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.” Instead, Bush went on vacation, again. Bush lied about Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that never existed -- and he knew it. Bush lied about ties between Iraq, Osama Bin Laden, and the events of 9/11. Bush even lied about protecting civil liberties on April 20, 2004, claiming “constitutional guarantees were in place”, when he was at that very moment violating them right before our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds.

Bush and all those around him, and all those that support him, have failed this country in the most miserable fashion possible. During the “Bush Years” America has lost its moorings. America, under his ill-conceived guidance, has squandered over $300 billion dollars on a senseless war costing the lives to date of nearly 2700 service men and women. Over 100,000 Iraq civilians have lost their live to sectarian violence brought on by America’s illegal occupation and agitation of a once sovereign nation.

Under Bush’s malevolent vision of our nation, we in all essence lost an entire city in the State of Louisiana through sheer, inimitable incompetence. Bush and the Republican Congress have passed tax breaks on to multi-millionaires while refusing a pittance of a raise for the those less fortunate and most in need. Poverty has risen over 13 percent in the last five years and 46 million Americans do not have health care coverage for their families. These facts are incontrovertible and George W. Bush is entirely indefensible as a President of and for the people.

The real war is not abroad in Iraq. We are not pitted against an esoteric and ethereal adversary nor are we at war with a tactic -- terror -- but we are at war with those who would remove every founding principle this country was founded on for a profit. We, as a nation instituted on progress, hope, prosperity and the pursuit of happiness are at war with unscrupulous men who exemplify what being un-American truly means. The American people must realize that this country, if the war to stand up for our principles is not fought with unrelenting determination, we will lose our nation forever to war profiteering fascists masquerading as Americans and liars veneered-over as leaders!

Anyone who has dared to challenge Bush, or any of his supporting cast, have been labeled as appeasers, accused of aiding terrorists, being morally confused, soft on defending America and even outright un-American. Those that dissent from the Bush doctrine are shunned, rejected and even rendered abroad and tortured. Some are jailed and stripped of their constitutional rights to hear the charges brought against them or the right to legal counsel and a fair trial. When such a flurry of egregious wickedness confronts us, as not only as Americans, but also as human beings, the courage must be found to say what we all know. Therefore, dutiful to my values, I will write what must be said: Our current government is guilty of treachery.

The American people need to, figuratively speaking, start swinging with both hands. I would add that "The Queensbury Rules" of politics no longer apply. Karl Rove irrefutably proved that rules and decorum are no longer germane in the political arena. Bill Clinton delivered the first punishing blow and paved the way for an all-out onslaught on Bush, “the bully-in-charge”. Now, the gloves must come off, knuckles must be bloodied, the lies beaten back and we must fight fervently as if our nation depends on it, because it does!

# # #

U.S. Spy Agencies Drop a "Bomb" From the Sky on Bush!

Frank J. Ranelli


For anyone left who might actually believe that the 'war on terror' is actually a real war to defend our freedom, or that Bush's esoterical war on imaginary or trumped up enemies is keeping you safe, a new U.S. intelligence report disagrees.

The report, among other damaging news to the already indefensible Bush Administration, states, "The Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse." That's worth repeating, it has made it worse. Not better, not even the same, but worse than before September 11, 2001.

Senator Edward Kennedy put it another way, "This intelligence document should put the final nail in the coffin for President Bush's phony argument about the Iraq war."

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist expressed "confidence" in the American voter that they would, "not be swayed by the intelligence report." Now, Senator, why would we do that? After all, the Bush people have made it clear that they have a monopoly of the truth and anyone who disagrees with Bush is with the terrorist, an appeaser or is morally confused.

I have a different take. I belief it is the Bush people that are in their "last throes" and not the terrorists. I believe it is the Bush people who suffer from both amoral judgment and an immoral conscience. No Senator Frist, we will not be fooled again. The sky, that you keep claiming is falling, is simply not. Terrorist will not follow us here, they live in caves and ride camels. They do not possess the means, the methods or the equipment to attack America. Terrorist do not have nuclear weapons that are going to send billowing mushroom clouds of smoke over our heads.

Like a mother trying to tell a child what is best for him at age five, Frist repeats that same tired propagandized, over-used inculcating stance of stating that Americans "only want to be safe." Safe is fine, but not at the expense of bankrupting a nation morally, financially, ethically, and legally.

I am sorry to say, Mr. Frist, the American people want you, the rest of the Bush cronies and all those that are duplicit in Congress and the Whitehouse gone. We want you gone right now. Not in 2008, but immediately.

Just as a battered spouse reaches a breaking point and sheer survival outweighs any fear, America has reached that tipping point. The only thing we have left to fear, is not fear itself but this Republican Congress and Bush.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice keeping claiming they are saving us and keeping us safe, but who will keep us safe from them?

# # #

Source: World News Agency

Broder Bashes Bloggers While Doing the “Bush Bash”!

BY FRANK J. RANELLI
Friday, September 22, 2006


Washington Post columnist, David Broder falsely declares Joe Lieberman and the recent Republican Senate revolt against Bush as true independence, while bashing bloggers and re-defining the center ground of politics.

Washington Post columnist, David Broder, is doing the magic "shuffle to right, shuffle to the left" dance once again. In his most recent article, "Independence Days", other than a small segment that maligns Bush as being reckless, Broder attacks the Left, feigns aggression to the Right, and ultimately claims the middle ground as being right. Predictably, Broder bounces around with just enough of a "taste" for each side of the aisle and more than wets the appetite of America's "fence sitters".

Broder claims the recent scurrying about in the Senate over the Geneva Convention Common Article 3 is signs of a revolt and a renewed indication of independence by Congress. Hailing this as "the emergence of an independent force in elections", Broder seems to suggest that bipartisanship is blossoming around the Beltway again. Actually, this is nothing more than "coffee-house-smoke-and-mirrors" in a futile attempt to simulate sovereignty from Bush in a heated, mid-term election year.

Alleging super-natural status for Senators exercising their sworn, Constitutional responsibilities with hyperbole such as, "These are not ordinary men", Mr. Broder shamelessly genuflects and proclaims them, "Stars" and "The essence of traditional Reagan conservatism". Padding his assertions with assurance of mention of an authentic moderate, Colin Powell, Broder tries to paint Bush as a pariah and a degenerate among his own party. Essentially, Broder endeavors to elevate a last-minute show of solidarity as dogma that real reform is occurring. Perhaps, in his Grand-Ole'-Party glee, Mr. Border forgot that little line in the Declaration of Independence regarding "that all men are created equal".

If the air around you is beginning to feel stuffy and a case of virtual vertigo has crept over you, it's not the slant of the room or the letters on the page causing it. It's the ever so gentle nudge towards conservatism creating a distinctive lean to the right here. Columnist-in-question, David Broder, affably tries to pander off his preference for the GOP, by claiming this is "the independence party forming on both sides of the aisle". Exclaiming, "The center is beginning to fight back", says Broder, as he then introduces Joe Lieberman as the purported center. While his article loosely hinges on Bush's "extraordinary" rendition of terror detainees, proclaiming Joe Lieberman as a centrist or even as the centerpiece for an article, is less extraordinary and more extraterrestrial.

Now in a rapid descent, Broder's shuffle become more of a mad dash to avoid the fallout of his next instance of lack of lucidity by asserting that Ned Lamont supporters are "vituperative", bloggers of the left are all "angry", and Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Bush sycophant fame, is an "ally of the center". Mixed up in this mess is the contemptible stab at Democratic Senate nominee, Sherrod Brown, by contending that Brown, who has refused Government-paid healthcare as a Congressman for Ohio's 13th district while nearly 46 million Americans are still uninsured, is "offering false hope" of being able to solve our job and trade problems. Note to Mr. Broder, since cozying up to Bush in 2001, Mike Dewine has personally escorted, by way of his voting, the loss of nearly 200,000 jobs out of Ohio alone. Don't you just feel the bipartisanship and the independence now?

Just when you think he has scrambled to the right as far as possible, Broder takes one last bound onto center stage with a sniping snippet of things Americans legitimately care about -- border control, stem cell research, a real living wage, and earned citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. Of course, the inference is that the now ostensibly centrist forming bubble of these once radical-right "Rovians" will roll out the welcome mat to meet their peers on the other side of the aisle and actual accomplish goals that are good for America.

The apropos statement here is simply, "Not buying it." "It" is the notion that a Congress, who for four years has followed Bush as though he were the Pied Piper of Hamelin, now abruptly wants to serve the public trust and form a co-op to move America's agenda forward. Considering the 109th Congress, majority-lead by the Republicans and not too coincidentally Bush's own party, has voted nearly lock-in-step with Bush's every move, any person of moderate intelligence would see this recent scheme of schmoozing as a political ploy and not fair play.

When Broder's "elephants of the center" and their newly decreed independence from Bush actually start doing some of the heavy lift, such as a straight-line bill and vote on a living wage increase, without granting Paris Hilton another trust fund freebie, that would be a sincere showing of "descent respect" for Americans. Preventing a whitewash and re-write of the Geneva Conventions should not be heralded but heckled for it is the first showing of backbone by Congress since defeating Bush and his ludicrous initiative of selling our port's security to the U.A.E. Until then, America is stuck with these political parasites that drain the poor, fatten the rich, and give real bipartisanship and patriotism a bad name.

----
You can write and email David Broder at: davidbroder@washpost.com

# # #

SOURCE: Independence Days, By David S. Broder, Washington Post

MENCKEN'S CREED

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...

I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.

I believe in the reality of progress.

I--But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

-- H.L. Mencken

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


"There is always the danger that when one protests so vehemently against which that they do not believe in, they run the discourse, and therefore the danger, of adopting and transforming into the very thing they detest so wholly." -- Frank J. Ranelli

Exploiting 9/11 for Political Gain...Not This Time!

Frank J. Ranelli


Moveon.org brings you this powerful video on how Republicans have used 9/11 repeatedly and shameless to win political points and elections. Not this time!

Watch it!

Think the U.S. Doesn't Torture? Just Ask Maher Arar!

Frank J. Ranelli


As the Whitehouse and the Senate wrestle to bring dissembling "clarity" to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, Maher Arar's story should bring some genuine lucidity to this fact:

The Bush Administration condoned and tortured people; and innocent people at that!

See what the NY Times and Maher Arar had to say:

Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case

OTTAWA, Sept. 18 — A government commission on Monday exonerated a Canadian computer engineer of any ties to terrorism and issued a scathing report that faulted Canada and the United States for his deportation four years ago to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured.

The report on the engineer, Maher Arar, said American officials had apparently acted on inaccurate information from Canadian investigators and then misled Canadian authorities about their plans for Mr. Arar before transporting him to Syria.

“I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada,” Justice Dennis R. O’Connor, head of the commission, said at a news conference.

The report’s findings could reverberate heavily through the leadership of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which handled the initial intelligence on Mr. Arar that led security officials in both Canada and the United States to assume he was a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist.

The report’s criticisms and recommendations are aimed primarily at Canada’s own government and activities, rather than the United States government, which refused to cooperate in the inquiry.

But its conclusions about a case that had emerged as one of the most infamous examples of rendition — the transfer of terrorism suspects to other nations for interrogation — draw new attention to the Bush administration’s handling of detainees. And it comes as the White House and Congress are contesting legislation that would set standards for the treatment and interrogation of prisoners.

“The American authorities who handled Mr. Arar’s case treated Mr. Arar in a most regrettable fashion,” Justice O’Connor wrote in a three-volume report, not all of which was made public. “They removed him to Syria against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would be tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials involved with Mr. Arar’s case in a less than forthcoming manner.”

The Syrian-born Mr. Arar was seized on Sept. 26, 2002, after he landed at Kennedy Airport in New York on his way home from a holiday in Tunisia. On Oct. 8, he was flown to Jordan in an American government plane and taken overland to Syria, where he says he was held for 10 months in a tiny cell and beaten repeatedly with a metal cable. He was freed in October 2003, after Syrian officials concluded that he had no connection to terrorism and returned him to Canada.

Mr. Arar’s case attracted considerable attention in Canada, where critics viewed it as an example of the excesses of the campaign against terror that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. The practice of rendition has caused an outcry from human rights organizations as “outsourcing torture,” because suspects often have been taken to countries where brutal treatment of prisoners is routine.

His lawyer, Marlys Edwardh, said the report affirmed that Mr. Arar, who has been unemployed since his return to Canada, was deported and tortured because of “a breathtakingly incompetent investigation.”

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Follow this link to view some of the heinous activities by the Bush Administration that claims, "We do not torture!"

WARNING: GRAPHIC, DISTURBING PICTURES OF YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK!
http://mindprod.com/politics/abughraibpix.html#ABUGHRAIBPIX

How Bush Failed Jesus and the Return of the Christian Crusade

Frank J. Ranelli


Why Bush’s jumbled logic that Christianity is by “Presidential proclamation” divine and Islamic beliefs are by utter existence provocative and depraved has fueled an incendiary front of hatred and racial intolerance under the banners of Christianity and patriotism in America.

As the government of the United States ostensibly wages an unbounded and ceaseless war with Islamic religious fundamentalists, our current President, George W. Bush, has proclaimed he senses a “third awakening of religious devotion” within America. This “third awakening” that Bush cloaks, but does not conceal, is the return of Christianity as a crusade. The sheer oddity of pronouncing a rebirth of a feverish religion, in a country founded on a secular government and not a spiritual one, is the tenable reality that we have become what we most fervently oppose, despise, and scorn -- a society ruled by theocracy and not democracy.

At the core of this deep disparagement is the jumbled logic that Christianity is by “Presidential proclamation” divine and Islamic beliefs are by utter existence provocative and depraved. Fueling this incendiary insidiousness is the radicalism of the neoconservative movement through the Bush Administration that drives a country now nearly drenched in hate and racial intolerance under the banners of Christianity and patriotism.

George W. Bush, a declared, “born-again Christian”, after falling prey to drugs and alcohol for years, did not accurately find God, but George did find religion. What George found in religion was not greater guidance but compulsive coercion and mangling manipulation.

The true maliciousness of this is not religion, in and of itself, but what all religious fanaticism perpetrates. Religion divides; religion causes hatred, judgment of others, bigotry, wars, militant activists, extremists, death and destruction, and impedes progress, such as the recently vetoed bill for stem cell research. There have been more people killed, maimed, and murdered in the name of religion, than for any other reason or cause in man’s history. These motives, above all others, are the core purpose for separation of church and state in our country.

The most overwhelming misnomer today is that supporters of Bush’s faux-Christianity and “third awakening” are genuine Christians. They simply are not. The basic message of Christianity is one of peace and hope, faith and kindness, helping the meek, caring for the young, and securing the elderly. Christianity, as a principle, is fine. As a divisive and domineering creed, it becomes a distorted disaster that fails miserably to pay homage to the human side of Jesus.

The rationale here is not to debate faith or personal views on Christ; but that Jesus has a more tenable and historical value we can all live by. Whether or not Jesus was the son of God is immaterial. You, and only you, must decide and reflect on that notion. The issue that is so often missed and then distorted by the religious-right for preferential needs, pure greed, and self-pontification is this: Jesus preached a message of harmonious existence.

Jesus taught an inspirational message that was contemptible to the Jewish priests during his time that all people were worthy of hope, prosperity, fairness, kindness and equality. Whether Jesus was a great man or divine being is irrelevant. He spoke the most basic truths about acceptance of one’s neighbor and common humility. That if you were graced by good fortune, health and prosperity, to share it with your fellow man.

Jesus was the first real liberal who stood up to the Jewish priests, over 2000 years ago, against their corrupt temples and pilfering of money from Jewish peasants. He exposed their contemptuous hate of the commoner. Christ proved these crooked clerics were stealing from the impoverished to subsidize their own intemperance for greed and power. What Jesus had uncovered was an incredibly deceptive plan and an abhorrently insatiable appetite for money and control under the facade of faith.

Jesus wisely advised, to all who would listen to his simple but matchless wisdom, that everyone has significance and worthiness. That every human being is inevitably unrestricted in access to liberty and happiness, not just those chosen by corrupt, mortal dictators based on the size of your tithing to their coffers. Jesus’ ultimate death was, in fact, a direct result of his imminent threat to the rulers of the day and a cautionary tale for the rest of humanity to come.

Unfortunately for countless many, over the last two millennia a simple, powerful message of restraint and compassion has been distorted, filled with falsehoods, used as a weapon of fear, a reason to kill, maim and even torture by very depraved and egotistical men who exhibit no decency, no decorum, or the slightest glimmer of conscience.

Today, we have subjugators, such as George W. Bush, which have evolved into monstrous megalomaniacs that will stop at nothing to tyrannize every person that opposes his warped theocratic and imperialistic ideals of his perverse “awakening of religious devotion.” Bush and his breed genuinely believe that people who dissent from their psychotic world vision should share the very same fate as Jesus.

That is the true irony of Bush’s religious overtones and propagandized piety. The very man, Jesus, that Bush claims to have saved him from his wicked ways and set Bush on the path to righteousness, feels no pity or remorse for the unspeakable acts against humanity, crimes against this once great nation, and so many others suffering around the world that he has so willingly imparted on us all in Jesus’ name.

After all, theocracy is the ultimate methodology to rule a nation by. Rationality and intellectualism are always persecuted while faith and ignorance meld into blind nationalism. This in turn produces a mass delusion of grand arrogance that erroneously justifies insidious acts of human brutality and conquests of world dominance under a forged veneer of consecration and devotion.

The real “awakening” we are experiencing is the grimacing, grim truth that America is being pushed and bullied into a theocratic dictatorship, ruled by a narrow-band of hateful and dangerous men. A nation where the rule of law will no longer come from a constitution derived by the collective people, but from an apocryphal, ancient manuscript that forces faith to be fact and non-believers are consequently victimized, spurned, or eradicated.

It’s an often-used adage and cliché, but perhaps we should all ask, not in the celestial sense, but in the pragmatic sense, “What would Jesus do?”

Your Republican "Tax Cuts" at Work!

Frank J Ranelli

Yeah, sure they (republicans) say they 'support the troops' and they want you to 'support the troops', but do they really? Is supporting our troops slapping lifeless, inane, twisted-pretzel bumpers stickers on our gas-guzzling SUV's or is it making sure that our troops have everything they need to stay out of harms and not be shot to death?

Watch this video and find out for yourself!

Defining Fascism, Then and Now.

BY FRANK J RANELLI


The Bush Administration continues its irrational endeavor into re-defining fascism, but does the disparaging label of ‘Islamofacists’ accurately depict the radical extremists that now occupy a portion of the Middle-East?

The term Fascism has been treated to quite a renaissance lately. Donald Rumsfeld’s latest use of fascism in several slanderous speeches, in a decidedly hazy framework, forces us to take a look back into history and the birth of fascism. In doing so, we need to look at fascism the term, fascism as a philosophy and how the current re-working of this word into our language laboriously attempts, but fails to adequately convey, the essence of this early 20th Century governmental model.

The Bush Administration’s attempt at re-defining fascism by using polarizing propaganda slogans such as, “Islamofacists” and misleading claiming that Bush critics are trying to appease a “'New type of fascism'” are contemporary examples of how an erstwhile ideology can be revitalized and used for coercion and extorting the masses. Hitler took fascism to new, dizzying heights using an amalgamation of a central authoritarianism influence and corporate monopolization of militaristic build-ups. This begets the question, “Does the pejorative label of ‘Islamofacists’ accurately depict the radical extremists that now occupy a portion of the Middle-East?”

To offset and explore these probable inaccuracies; we must first define fascism, using the classical characterization of the expression. By defining fascism, I refer to the literal translation of the word. Fascism, almost always identified with former Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, was in fact coined by Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile. The classical definition of fascism and the one Gentile had in mind when he conjured up the concept was this,

“A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.”

Fittingly, Gentile is credited with the 1928 Encyclopedia Italiana entry that states,

"Fascism should more appropriately be called ‘corporatism’ because it is a merger of state and corporate power."

By contrast, today’s definition, found in the MS Encarta dictionary, paints a vague but distinguishably different idea,

“Any movement, ideology, or attitude that favors dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism.”

While the similarities between the two meanings cannot be overlooked, what often goes unnoticed is the watering-down and softening of the corporatism component. The stark contrast of these two spanning descriptions is the transit from a “system of government” to “any movement”. Upon developing the idea of fascism, Giovanni Gentile place tremendous importance on the centralized control of monopolistic corporate entities and thusly it became the cornerstone of his fascist philosophy.

It is this centralization of corporate power, which today spans the gamut in the U.S. from news and media to banks and energy companies, and not the dictatorial element that is most often associated with the movement within today’s United States. Gentile’s fundamental belief was that once the corporate monopoly was complete that deception, and therefore control, would come naturally and with little resistance. This of course occurs under the ruse of extreme national arrogance and fittingly, an imaginary “enemy of the state” to create hysteria within the populous.

Using this new, looser interpretation of “any movement”, the current administration has taken a leap of liberty to try and summon an image of a stateless, decentralized faction with little or no corporate component as the entity of the “face of new fascism.” It is not difficult to see how this inaccurate portrayal of the Al Qaeda network lacks the fundamental elements, statehood and corporatism, to be a genuine working model of fascism. This fairytale fascism, purported by U.S. administration hacks, even lacks the modern euphemistic designation of “business leadership.” Al Qaeda is not a business, but an example of religious zealousness run amuck among a narrow-band of extremists.

The irony of course, is that the very same U.S. leaders that cry out fascism has re-taken root -- in a new form in Al Qaeda and terrorists -- fail to see that they have become, by classical definition and actions, a very authentic model of Giovanni Gentile’s fascism. “A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right…. together with belligerent nationalism”, pertinently paints a precise mural of the current U.S. administration that has nearly wrestled away almost all people-powered-politics.

Consequently, by reviewing the then and now definitions of fascism, it cannot be ignored that today’s multinational corporations, predicated on predatory capitalism, bear far more a resemblance to Giovanni Gentile’s original fascism. That Rumsfeld’s vapid cataloging of “Islamofacists” as true fascists more than misses the mark. In fact, the amorphous and largely unstructured terrorists are the antithesis of fascism.

Al Qaeda is without question a real danger, but fascists they are not. To see true fascists, America’s currently leaders need only to hold up a mirror and examine the faces reflecting back.

Keith Olbermann's Very Special Comment and one of my one!

Frank J. Ranelli


Olbermann's special comment today was indeed, very special. So often we hear moving speeches from politicians -- for better or worse -- but this commentary, by an MSNBC reporter was so riveting, so engaging and scathingly accurate that it will likely be enshrined for generations of TV viewers to come.

Olbermann deserves a littany of awards for his narrative and attention to the seemingly obvious, yet somehow, at least by some still ignored: the plain and painful facts! Still, the glaring and most important segment of Olbermann's speech was this:

The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is "lying by implication."

The impolite phrase is "impeachable offense."

To the best of my memory, this is the first MSM reporter, journalist, writer, etc. that has outright called for what must be done; IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT!

Olbermann's transcript and video can be seen here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

Now, for my own special comment about our 43rd president:

George W. Bush, a President who long ago stopped serving America and used an epic tragedy to stab at the hearts of millions when we were most vulnerable, created a divide so wide that many are inescapably disconnected from reality, and when the waves of truth rushed back in, he turned his back -- awash in an ugliness so profoundly grotesque -- only to reprehensibly denigrate, belittle, falsely accuse, and to lay his own shame and macabre of a legacy of lies on his own constituents merely searching for the truth in a sea of mendacity and an ocean of vicious opportunistic politicizing hoping that He, and He alone would united the people's government and themselves in a journey straight into hell -- truth, honor, and dignity be damn!

Mr. President, you are a thief, a fake, an imposter, and most of all a vociferous liar. You are a failure in life, a failure as a human being and a failure to the American people. America has a remedy for such catastrophic errors in judgment and redresses for grievous relapses in blind obedience to a despotic man whose selfishness and total lack of compassion has destroyed the faith of a nation, ours, and broke the back and the sanity of another, Iraq. That very remedy is impeachment. For that remedy is the most kind of punishments that should be dispensed upon you and in the eyes of this American, treason, war crimes and crimes against a nation and the human race itself should swiftly follow!

Mr. President, may some one have mercy on your soul, for it surly will not be me.

IMPEACH GEORGE W. BUSH!

A Nation Blind to Their Own Disgrace: No Bravery!

A generation drenched in hate, since He has been here!

WATCH IT!



NO BRAVERY
Music by James Blunt

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.
Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families' turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.
Old men kneel and accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Yes, he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

The Cowardice of Congress

BY FRANK J RANELLI
Wednesday, September 06, 2006


While angry America searches for assertive action, Congress placates the President and continually serves up more pointless platitudes amid a mix of abdications and felonious failures.


In an election year that smells and spells doom for incumbent Republicans, many are scurrying away from Bush’s inculcation of bombastic propaganda to fire up the fear factory once again. Ron Paul, Congressman of Texas, is one of those many Republicans doing the “Bush Shuffle.” Earlier this summer, Mr. Paul gave an ostensibly eloquent speech outlining why Americans are so angry and divided. While the speech was concise and identifies the precise rationale we are all terribly tired and angry as a nation, it does little good to speak without taking action. Paul, like so many other members of the hopelessly hapless 109th Congress, fails to offer deliverable deeds to his hollow howlings. The very mercurial connotation that Mr. Paul alludes to, as the cause of such anger in America, is that Congress is suffering from a case cowardice.


Even before Federal Judge Ann Diggs administered Bush a scathing civics 101 lesson on the Constitution and American rule of law, Paul stated, “I would have trouble arguing that he's (Bush) been a Constitutional President, and once you violate the Constitution and be proven to do that I think these people should be removed from office.” Again, words of profound prudence and ardent truth, yet Mr. Paul has failed to sign on as a co-sponsor of John Conyers’ H Res. 635 or to introduce his own Articles of Impeachment against a President he finds in direct dereliction of his Constitutional responsibilities. Cowardice and inaction, intermingled with insincerity are indeed cause for irritation and annoyance.


While many Americans may imprudently wish to thank Representative Paul for taking a presumably patriotic stance against the greatest threat to American democracy since the Revolutionary War, it must also be pointed out that revolutionary words, no matter how eloquently spoken, accomplish little by themselves. Galvanizing words coupled with assertive action, to right that which is wrong, is the only avenue that will truly affect change. Words absent of subsequent actions are merely empty idioms.


If Congress' cowardice is truly the root of the anger Paul so astutely noted in his speech, then only true courage, from a spirited man of action within Congress, can bring about real change in our country. If each and every one of us is guaranteed the individual right to pursue virtually unabated happiness, then collectively, as a nation of hundreds of millions of individuals, we are surely guaranteed that right. Sadly, the people’s own body of government, Congress, has gutlessly given up that right. Furthermore, the Bush Administration’s refusal to change policy and “stay the course” in Iraq is in total discord with the will of the people. This is the nucleus and the source of America’s anger.


True leaders, not merely career politicians placed in leadership positions, recognize the call to action, ignore the cynics, propaganda and platitudes, and proceed to bring about bona fide transformation. The first step in that transformation is to introduce Articles of Impeachment in “the People’s House”. Our Constitution empowers our elected representatives to do so and the will of the people demand it. Congress’ failure to act upon such egregious assailments on our rule of law, by the current Executive Branch, is not only cowardice but also a complete capitulation of civic compulsion.


The President, in light of a litany of liabilities and lies, has irrefutably been remiss in his duties as a public servant and violated an office of paramount public trust. From a multitude of Constitutional scholars, to former military Generals, to Federal Judges, to entire cities across America, there is overwhelming support and evidence that no President in history has been more detrimental to our country or more deservingly warrants impeachment. The only thing left is one brave patriot in the House of Representatives who is bold enough to stand up to the face of adversity and speak for justice, the American people, and our democracy.


The Framers of the Constitution feverishly worked to ensure a tyrannical despot would not rise to the office of President, one who would be at total odds with the people, by carefully spreading out the powers of our government. George W. Bush is the closest America has come to a tyrant and it is the defining duty of Congress to end this drive towards a dictatorship and restore the rightful balances of our democracy. Impeachment of President Bush is the first and most noble of steps -- the real catalyst needed -- in reinstating this balance and ending the angst and anger of a whole nation.


Congress must know that America not only hears what you say, but America also watches what you do. Will Congress simply stand idle and lifeless now, allow delusion and arrogance to rule supreme, or will a member of Congress be that courageous patriot that begins the healing process and ends the current mockery of our beloved democracy? Who in Congress will summon the courage to end this voyage of pernicious and pathetic leadership and return our beloved country to its intended Constitutional purpose of a united nation of free, peaceful, and honest people?


To that end, I quote Albert Einstein who once wrote, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." America is now asking its cowardly Congress, “Who among you will be that great spirit?”

Mayor Rocky Anderson, A Portrait in Patriotism!

Frank J. Ranelli

A PORTRAIT IN PATRIOTISM!

Salt Lake City Mayor, Rocky Anderson brought down the house in front of over 4000 anti-war and anti-Bush protesters. It must be noted that Utah has historically been a State that has provided majority support for Bush over the last five plus years. Not any more!

When Utah has jumped ship from a doomed and disastrous Republican presidency, the writing is on the wall: ITS OVER!

Watch the entire speech here and be prepared to feel truly inspired, patriotic and moved to join the ever growing chorus of calls for Bush's impeachment and resignation!

WATCH IT!

Sept. 1, 2006: Blackout for Impeachment Day!

Call To Action!

Starting at noon on September 1 2006, participating websites and blogs will replace their front pages with the single word (or banners) “Impeach” in simple white text on a black background. For 24 hours, web surfers and blog readers will see that word first when they visit their favorite sites. In this way, we hope to get the public talking about the one tool guaranteed by the Founders to restore our Constitutional Democracy.

Frequently asked Questions

Why just the one word? It is the word. Everyone who sees it will know exactly who and what we are talking about. And it is the one word that most of our elected leaders are afraid to utter.

Doesn’t talk of impeachment just play into the Republican Party’s hands? That’s what they want us to think. Nancy Pelosi, for one, seems to have bought that argument. We don’t. We think that many thoughtful Republicans are looking at the abridgements of Constitutional Democracy perpetrated by this administration against the citizens and the Congress of the United States and understand that impeachment is a very real solution, and they are scared.

Could Bush really be impeached? Yes, and we have a moral obligation to carry this through. It is not necessary for us to list here all of the High Crimes and Misdemeanors committed by this White House. You know them all. The most critical point is this: as bad as this administration is, if we don’t stop them now, then the bar will be set even lower for the next group of criminals that takes over the White House. This is not a partisan issue. This is a citizen’s issue.

But do we really want a President Cheney? Well, no, he’s next. But we would rather have a Cheney who is afraid of us than the other way around. Actually, impeach them both!

Why September 1? It’s good timing. It gives us enough weeks to get this proposal off the ground and to reach out to webmasters and bloggers across the globe. September 1 is an easy date to remember. It is also a Friday, a good day to plan a large event in time for the weekend news cycle. We need the press and the public to be talking about this for at least a week before the White House takes over the airwaves with their fifth anniversary 9/11 celebrations commemorations.

IMPEACH BUSH!

Impeach Bush Petition. Sign Here!