Where Do We Go From Here?

Folks, we are in a world of hurt, and there seems to be little we can do about it. Things haven't exactly worked out in Afghanistan, which was the proverbial can of worms President George Bush II so haphazardly opened. Not, mind you, that we weren't justified in doing so. Afghanistan was where Al Qaeda and the cowards who planned 9/11 were hiding out with their fellow Islamo-fascists, the Taliban. We were right, both morally and as a sovereign nation to hit them and hit them hard. The trouble is that being the only military superpower in town (where have you gone "Gorby"?), we tend to get a bit full of ourselves and Georgie Junior decided it would be a good idea to finish the job that Daddy Bush started in Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein once and for all. The trouble was that he neither had the moral right to do so nor the regional coalition that his father carved together. And thus, out came the worms, who seem to have morphed into some hideous poisonous hydra.

After the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm), Hussein was an impotent tin pot dictator. His war making capabilities were dramatically reduced and the region was safe for the oil companies to exploit...err...I mean freedom of enterprise. His air force was more like an "air farce", that is what was left of it. His so-called elite "Revolutionary Guard" were busy covering their not so revolutionary butts. Yes, he was still ruling a truncated nation with an iron fist, but his grip wasn't quite as strong as it was. Yes, he still causing the embattled Kurds grief, but they had an opportunity to build a coalition needed for creating a well earned state (provided they were backstabbed again by the West or their local neighbors). There was even rumors of a coup forming. But the one thing Saddam was doing right, he was keeping the religious lunatics in check. However, with Hussein and the ruling Baath Party out of the way, the zealots came out from their holes and we've been engaged in deadly hit and run fights ever since. Meanwhile, we still hadn't finished the fight in Afghanistan and the Karazi government remains inept and corrupt; unable to control only a few miles in any direction around the capital. You would think that we would have learned from the Russians...or British...or, heck, even Alexander the Great!

With hydra out of its can, radical Islam has spread faster than a bad girl's reputation. The so-called "Arab Spring" with the hopes, prayers and longings of millions of Moslems for a democratic and free nation was hijacked by the same twisted Mullahs who rule Iran. Gone is any hope of political or economic freedom. Religious tolerance or gender equality are but now smoke in the wind. Yes, crackpots like Kaddafi and Mubarak are gone, but at what costs to the people? Apparently very high. Tyrants don't go willing. Just ask Assad.
So, now we're dealing with the "lone wolf" mass murder; radicalized by Islamo-fascist websites and but just sane enough to learn from "how to" bomb building videos on the internet. We have a political administration who continues to make nice with these regimes while approving mass spying on the American People, for our own good no doubt, while exempting mosques out of "concern" of being singled out. The same administration which attempted to use the horrific mass murders by the mental unstable wannabes to convince the American People that we would be better off surrendering our guns to the imperious State. Yeah sure, Big Brother will protect us; he's done such a marvelous job so far with his militarized police force. Achtung babies.

And if that wasn't enough to send shivers down your patriotic spines, non-conforming organizations, that is, groups not willing to kowtow to the administration's dictates, like the Tea Party, Fox News and others have found themselves harassed by the most troubling agency of them all, the Internal Revenge Service...oops...I meant to say the Internal Revenue Service. Perhaps they deserved it. After all, their "crime" was questioning the wisdom of the Dear Leader and asking what happened to our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Finally, despite years of overwhelming opposition by the American People to illegal immigration, it looks like it's going to happen. Americans across the country and all economic, political, and social classes have unanimously demanded a secured border and the deportation of illegals; stiffer penalties of employers hiring illegals; and making English our official national language. What we got was lip service and empty promises. Then we got just lip service and changing the national vocabulary from "illegal aliens" to "undocumented workers" via the State directed media. How quaint. Change the language. Change the argument. Now there's possible amnesty for some 33 million illegal immigrants.

But liberals shouldn't gloat; not just yet. The amnesty deal wasn't for their benefit, and it sure wasn't for the benefit of those "undocumented" workers. Not for a second. It's about increasing the work force to drive down wages and benefits. More workers mean more competition for the limited jobs out there. That means wages go down as more people bid for fewer jobs, and that usually means forgoing health care and other work benefits. Simple supply and demand (and you thought that economics class wasn't going to pay off). But don't look education to bail you out. The costs of education continues to rise despite a drop in the hard costs of education (academic salaries, overhead, etc). For those who do go that route and graduate, most can look forward to a six figure handcuff that will takes decades to work off. Welcome to indentured servitude young idealistic worker bees. It is now your turn to service the hive. Can't you just see it now---billions competing for low wage jobs strapped with massive credit card debt, mortgages, and school loans with no or few benefits and crushing high taxes; all dependant on the federal government for their restricted health care. Meanwhile shortages of everything abound. Mega-corporations dominating the economic and political landscape with impotent unions unable to protect wages or jobs, and finally, uber-cybersecurity montioring everything and everyone while mobile shock troops ride roughshod to ensure the "peace". Orwell the Visonary.

So, where does this all lead? Frankly, I haven't a clue. Radical Islam is on the rise in the Middle East. Corporate fascism is cementing its hold on the industrial nations throughout the world under various disguises. China remains an enigma--part communist and part capitalist and all bureaucratic; dominated by tired old men. Our old nemesis, Russia is still looking for its way amid corruption and shrinking freedoms. Europe is collapsing under its own weight of economic mismanagement, poor social planning, and unchecked immigration. You can't be all things to all peoples no matter how good of a sound bite it is. But all isn't lost. No by a long shot. We still have authentic people's movements like what's happening in Turkey. As long as people are willing to stand up and say "enough", hope is never lost.

They Can Hear You Now: NSA Taps Americans

"Nothing to about worry friends. It was all Bush's fault. Help yourself to free glass of Cool aid. Go back to playing your video games. Nothing to see here". That seems to be the message ABC, CBS, NBS, MSNBC, CNN, and the other media outlets are giving us. Even Obama offers us reassurance when he claims that the only data being seized is "mega data". No one's individual emails, phone calls, or photos were compromised. "Trust us" he implies. After all, "we can't have 100% security and 100% privacy" as the President says, and besides, it was only a "minor" infraction of Bill of Rights, and look how much we're getting for your patriotic sacrifice---we're capturing bad guys; you know, "terrorists". Why, the Feds have caught three or four by now using the millions and millions phone calls and internet site searches. So, just what the heck is going on here?

Well, it seems that a British news journal, The Guardian, published a leak that the National Security Agency, which is the American Government's version of the nosy neighbor, managed to get its hands on millions of phone records belonging to Verizon. The phone records include outgoing and incoming calls. That's right. Anyone using Verizon, or who called you through Verizon, got tapped. Of course, this comes just a few weeks after NSA Chairman, James Clapper (seriously, that's his name) testified before the Senate that they were playing nice and no one's records were being snatched. It seems, however, that he lied (to the collective "duh" of the American People). Now, it seems that not only did they go after Verizon, the NSA has also gone after T-Mobile, AOL, Google, AT&T, YouTube, Skype, and just about every other electronic media service out there. Yeah, we hear you now.

While Obama campaigned on ending Bush's use of wiretaps and electronic media taps of known or suspected terrorists, apparently he warmed up to the idea after being elected and has expanded the bugging to include everyone everywhere. Gee, does that mean the Feds think that all Americans are potential terrorists? Are now presumed guilty before even being charged? Think about it. Why else would the NSA be interested in your Facebook posts? Why would they care who you follow on Twitter? Are those family photos you posted a matter of national security? What about those amateur radio shows on Blogtalk radio? Secret Commie propaganda sites? (Never mind. Scratch that).

Right now, the Obama Administrations is scurrying around like proverbial wet rats trying to find where the leak came from. Only a very small handful of Congressmen, Senators, and selected bureaucrats, had excess to this kind of hush-hush screwing of the American Public. Of course, this follows on the cheeky admission of the Justice Department, Eric Holder (who gutted anti-illegal immigration enforcement with his buddy, Homeland Security Director, Janet Napolitano, and sued the State of Arizona for enforcing existing federal immigration laws) that they backdoored the Associated Press in trying to get a reporter's phone records. Why? Because of their investigation of the Benghazi Massacre and Cover-up. Oh, and that followed on a similar "oopsie" when it came to light that they did the same thing to Fox News. And while we're at it, let's not overlook the Infernal Revenue Service's harassment of the various Tea Party and other conservatives groups, including requesting overwhelming and often irrelevant information that sometimes included requesting the names and ages of members or mailing addresses of contributors, as well as holding up approval for tax exempt status for months. Not only that, but it turns out that some of this information was turned over their liberal opposites. Kinda handy information to have don't you think? And... (here comes the surprise)...they initially lied about it. Of course, just before all this, we had the Obama Administration wanting to curtail our ability to defend ourselves. "For our own good" they told us. There's that "trust me" again.

I don't care who you are or what your political leaning is, as an American, you've got to admit that this is not only (exceptionally) dirty and underhanded, it's criminal. It's a violation, if not outright, then the intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Republics and democracies throughout history have voluntarily surrendered their freedoms..inch by inch...in the name of security. No crimes. Complete economic stability. Peace. But no freedom of press. No freedom of expression. Limited freedom to travel. No freedom to think as you please. Economic stagnation. No dissention. Absolute conformity.

So, here's my take on the whole situation. First off, the head of the IRS need to be fired, along with the department heads and individuals involved. Not only that, they lose their federal benefits and are prohibited from working for any federal agency or from securing a federal lobbying job. And all those Tea Party and other groups need to be automatically granted tax exempt status and reimbursed in full any and all costs. Second, use the opportunity to overhaul the IRS. I would personally love to see either a flat tax or consumption tax. It would make life easier for everyone and would end much of the tax cheating, the reams of tax laws, and ensure everyone pays their fair share.

Eric Holder should be fired. While he should be brought up on criminal charges, that isn't likely to happen. However, he should received the same penalty as the IRS chief. No retirement. No benefits. Nothing. James Clapper lied to Congress. Ok, well that's actually part of his job as "Spy-in-Chief". However, he should be reprimanded. Understand too that the FBI was doing this. They need their hands slapped just as hard. Lastly, whoever was responsible for ordering the massive seizure of private and personal data should be pursued criminally for not only an unauthorized invasion of privacy, but for a blatant violation of our Bill of Rights. However, I don't think that will ever happen. "Messiahs" seem to be exempt somehow.

Clapper denied NSA Surveillance before Senate panel in March testimony
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/304009-clapper-denied-nsa-surveillance-in-us-weeks-before-verizon-tracking-program-began-

NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily
http://visiontoamerica.com/15125/nsa-collecting-phone-records-of-millions-of-verizon-customers-daily/

Obama Administration defends 2nd mass surveillance project
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/07/intelligence-officials-reportedly-mining-data-from-us-internet-companies/

Press Blames George W Bush for Obama's Unprecedented Eavesdropping
http://visiontoamerica.com/15137/press-blames-george-w-bush-for-obamas-unprecedented-eavesdropping/

US, British intelligence mining Data from 9 US Internet companies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html