The Aleppo Crisis - Reality versus Propaganda

The war hawks in Washington are anxious for America to directly intervene in the Syrian civil war, and are alleging that Syrian president Assad and his Russian allies are deliberately targeting civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo. They point to a "humanitarian crisis" and insist that something must be done. Some points need to be made here:

1) Washington has been arming, funding, and training the Syrian opposition to Assad for several years now. So the truth is that we have already intervened, and that intervention has arguably lengthened the war and intensified the crisis. Washington thus bears part of the blame for the situation as it currently exists.

2) Washington alleges that Assad and his Russian allies are deliberately targeting civilians in Aleppo; however, to date I have not seen any evidence of this. They are attacking Aleppo because that is where the opposition forces (and the barbarians of ISIS) have entrenched themselves. If they want to fight these groups, they must engage them where they are - and they are in Aleppo. If they left Aleppo alone, these groups would entrench themselves further and have a secure base from which to launch attacks at their leisure.

3) The only way for Washington to intervene would be to directly engage with the military forces of Syria and Russia, thus virtually ensuring World War III. Do the hawks seriously think that we would gain anything by turning the whole world into a giant Aleppo? Are we really prepared to kill tens of millions to (supposedly) alleviate a problem affecting thousands?

4) Washington's past interventions do not create much of a basis for hope. We have ruined Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lybia, and we have no apparent plan to do anything much different in Syria. The so-called "moderate opposition" to Assad is not so very moderate after all. We invite yet another disaster by turning the country over to it.

Gendergeddon: Redefining Sex and Institutionalizing Confusion

"Undoubtedly many on the Left will applaud this Obama administration directive as a great step toward achieving true equality–whatever that is ultimately defined as meaning in a world where reality seems ever more increasingly fluid. Whatever your political persuasion, however, it ought to be more than a little alarming that an administration has decided it has the right to force an unprecedented ideological shift concerning something as fundamental as sex and gender on every public school student in the country, all without parental consent, a vote of the people, or even any debate in Congress (never mind a lack of underlying Constitutional authority)..."

Read the rest of the article at Natural News.com.

Trillion dollar deficits?

In the latest news from the Twilight Zone, it seems that we're heading for $1 trillion deficit territory and the Obama administration isn't blinking an eye. What makes this even more incredible is that these deficits are predicted to prevail for the next DECADE. $1 trillion deficits each year for the NEXT TEN YEARS!!!

I wish someone would Photoshop pics of Obama and Ben Bernanke onto the famous ending shot from "Thelma and Louise," where they're driving over the cliff. The car could be labeled "U.S. economy". Heck, why not just label it "America"? Add a little "Yes we can" bumper sticker to complete the look.

Sadly, I don't have Photoshop, nor do I have sufficient talent as an artist to draw a good political cartoon of this. Maybe someone else out there can tackle it.

Enabling Tyranny: An Open Letter to Conservative Republicans

In the days leading up to Election 2008, the fear among conservative Republicans was palpable. It hung over conservative websites and mailing lists and talk radio, and particularly over fundamental and evangelical churches, like an amber haze on a muggy summer day; the kind of day when you feel as if you could take the air in your hands and wring it out like a wet rag. The anti-Obama emails flew fast and thick. Churches held prayer vigils the likes of which I can’t remember seeing before. Nor was this the usual type of partisanship and rancor we see every major election year; the fear was real and it ran deep. Obama was dangerous, and, to make things worse, he was also young, energetic, and fantastically popular (like Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Elvis, all rolled into one). By contrast, John McCain looked exactly like what he was: an angry old man, the aged standard-bearer for a besieged army that could already smell defeat. In a desperate move, the GOP threw Sarah Palin into the mix, apparently hoping that she might rally the base like a modern day Joan of Arc. But the GOP leadership isn’t exactly famous for its grasp of history. They didn’t realize that things went rather badly for poor Joan in the end. The media knew all about it though, and did its best to stage a re-enactment.

And now that the dust is settling, the general attitude among conservative Republicans – again, especially religious conservatives – reminds me of the behavior of a dog that expects to be kicked. The shadow of Obama looms large.

To those who feel this way, I sympathize with you. I truly do. Backed by a Democratic congress, Obama is set up to cause all kinds of harm to this country and the cause of freedom in general. There may be some hope for us, though. Judge Andrew Napolitano feels that Obama may be better on civil liberties than Bush ever was. Additionally, Obama strikes me as being wishy-washy, meaning that he may get so bogged down in trying to please all of his party’s various constituencies that he might not make much headway. Time alone will tell (or maybe Joe Biden will slip up again and be honest with us).

In the meantime, while the GOP is busily rubbing at that boot-print on its rear end and wondering what to do next, let me ask you conservative Republicans out there a question:

Do you realize that what scares you the most about Obama and his democratic allies is largely your own fault?

I’m not talking about a failure to get the vote out for McCain (God help us), or the general ins and outs of campaign strategy. Rather, I’m talking about the powers that you have allowed Washington DC to consolidate, particularly during the last seven-and-a-half years.

You couldn’t see the wolf in Republican clothing. You trusted George W. Bush and his congressional allies because they had that all-important R behind their names. So you looked the other way while they tore the Constitution to shreds and stomped on it. You excused the abuses of power, the torture, the signing statements, the “unitary executive” rhetoric, the wars waged against populations that had done us no harm, the raids against war protestors and other suspicious characters, the destruction of the dollar, the increased federal control in everything from education to healthcare; and just because the “good guys” were doing it, you thought everything would work out fine. You handed government a sword because you trusted the hand that would wield it, and because it had that good ‘ole “Made in the U.S.A.” label on it. And now that a new hand is reaching for it, you fear that you may soon find the edge of that sword pressed to your own throat.

Shame on you, conservative Republicans! You had a chance to roll back the big government agenda. You had a chance to oppose unnecessary warfare. You had a chance to rein-in a runaway presidency. You had a chance to hold your representatives accountable. You had a chance to demand respect for the laws that defend our most sacred liberties. And in the end, you even had a chance to redeem yourselves by choosing a presidential candidate who could have halted or even reversed much of the damage caused by Bush and company. You had a chance to weaken the federal establishment so that it could not become a threat to you, your children, or the world in general. You had a chance to restore the Republic. But, again, you chose to see nothing but that all-important party label. You enabled the tyranny you now dread. You created a monster because you thought that you could control it, and now that control of that monster will soon go over to the other side, you’re starting to see it for the evil thing that it is.

Well, you’ve made your bed of nails, and now we’ll all have to lie in it for at least awhile. How long that lasts depends on how many of you determine to go from “party first” to “freedom first.” To be fair, some of you did speak up against the outrages committed by George W. Bush and his congressional and judicial collaborators, but most of you did not. Most of you looked the other way. Many of you actually applauded. Be that as it may. You know who you are. The question of the hour is: what will you do now? Will you fight to take the sword out of Washington’s hands? Will you work to dismantle the monster you helped to build?

Or will you just bide your time until you think you’ve got a good chance to get control of them again? Is tyranny acceptable, as long as it’s a tyranny you approve of? And one under which you, theoretically, will not become “the enemy”?

Think about it over the next four years.

Robert Hawes is the author of One Nation, Indivisible? A Study of Secession and the Constitution. This article, along with his past writings, can be found on his blog. He lives in South Carolina with his family, and is working on a career as a freelance writer.