"The Sovereignty Act" (click on)

The US Constitution (click on)

In the song "No Values" I imagine it was difficult for Paul McCartney to face the possiblity of a woman marrying him for his 'worth' rather than for the person he is. The song reflects a lot of personal pain for him. It also reflects values. Values sang in anger. But, those values are legitimate especially in the case of divorce, especially a messy one, especially for a rock star facing his 'worth' for the first time in a way of having it taken from him.

No matter how we live our lives, no matter how 'it' all turns out, there are values we reflect along the way. Sometimes it seems as though the values are absent, but, then all values have a counter part. Missing a value is actually the presence of one, for one cannot miss values if they were not there in the first place.

The people that live within the borders of the United States of America have values. A wide range of values. We might characterize them as good and bad. But, no matter the lives we live, no matter the side of the law we fall on we reflect values of this country. Values that are in danger of being lost to us.

Consider this 'message' like the ride of Paul Revere (click on for entire poem.).

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April,
in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

CALL this a call to recognition of a danger that now lurks in the halls of our highest offices of legislation and presidency. There was a very disturbing reality on Michael Moore's website today. It is an article taken from The Washington Post. If I may:

Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice (click on)
Washington Post / Sunday, October 1, 2006; Page A17

On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. The mass of fragments made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director.

For months, Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy, including specific presidential orders, called "findings," that would give the CIA stronger authority to conduct covert action against bin Laden. Perhaps a dramatic appearance -- Black called it an "out of cycle" session, beyond Tenet's regular weekly meeting with Rice -- would get her attention. Tenet and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action.

A long time ago when the 'intelligence agencies' were being hung out to dry, after the 911 Commission finished their report, it was my contention there was little "W"rong with the CIA or FBI. I never personally blamed Mr. Tenet and this blog reflect that. The conservative/neocon media was unforgiving and yet right in front of our eyes was a woman in charge of the NSA stating, "I believe the name of the report was "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike Within the USA."

How did that get overlooked in the 2004 elections? What were we thinking? Dear God, what were they thinking?

I could preach about how to vote, but, preaching has never been my forte' and forgive me if I ever do. I like when people think and I hope these entries are a catalyst to that process. Conversation. Dialogue. Manifested in people confident in their values and lives and happiness.

What has transpired and continues to transpire as recent as this past week is an assault on our country's sovereignty. We have witnessed a government in place that sent us into a war based in lies while trying to pressure people into believing they weren't lies at all with a "Culture of Fear" due to the events of September 11, 2001. I cannot help but believe those events happened because they were allowed to happen. I see the Executive Branch as highly manipulative people willing to allow others to die to spawn endless wars against 'another set of values.' I do mean endless if we allow ourselves to go down that path.

The passage this week also of another 'emergency spending' bill for the military as it passed by 100 - 0 was another startling reality. Then I realized there was either an incentive to vote in a way that validated war due to politics or there was a sudden reality after the United Nations meeting that we aren't as safe within the borders of this country as all those in DC would like to us to believe we are. I think there are far more than terrorists 'eyeing' this country in measures of containment than anyone to date wants to speculate. I expected reasonable debate and some disagreement. No spending bill deserves recognition as perfect. In an administration and legislature that is mostly corrupt there is always some kind of 'nonsense' attached to a bill that needs to be eliminated.

Realizing the government is primarily out of control due to a governing process that no longer exists and spending that requires raises to the ceiling debt of the country it is safe to say, Baghdad ain't the only place where tragedy has come to visit. It has come to visit our country in the way of lost dignity, lost hope, lost promise and a lost future.

The events of the last several years leaves me cold about the future of the USA. The values that once made our country great have been squandered for profit and misdeeds and we no longer have 'the technological edge' or the 'brain trust' that other countries have now taken as a future for their people. If anyone thinks for one minute that it will be simple to bring this country out of the debt and despair that now exists they are sadly mistaken. It will take a revitalization to this country's economy, job market with vibrant growth to first out pace our national debt and then reverse the trend. That is done through innovation and determination and with a lost competitive edge and a lost braintrust we are 'flat out of luck.' I don't know what Bush thinks he is doing, the days of the Romans and pillaging is long over.

One would think that any elected president and legislature would reflect the values of the people they represent and that assured us by our US Constitution, but, that would not seem to be the case.

When this country was first conceived it was by men and women who could easily fall under a British definition of '18th century' terrorist using guerilla warfare to defeat the British military. The people that fought the original war, that built a country from the practices of Native Indians when they landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts were determined to have a way of life that was 'just' to them. That understanding of liberty, happiness, decency, compassion, community, cutting edge (Benjamin Franklin loved science and so did Jefferson.), competition (They believed in commerce and knew where the Boston Tea Party would hit the English Empire. Right in the pocket book.) and health would never approve of the venue of war by lies or endangering the future of the people of this country at the lose of it's very freedoms.

We are facing people in government that I nearly don't recognize. I am not sure if that 'glimmer' of patriot is there because I need it to be or whether that is an illusion as well. It is not our place in this world to tell other nations how to live. It is not our place to bring democratic practices to all countries. It is our place to be a part of the greater community of 'man' that lends compassion and inspiration to have people demand change, but, if they are dead due to illegal war will that ever occur. The so called 'War on Terror' is a faux war for freedom. Freedom doesn't come for the fear of dying, it comes for the love of living.

The USA has values. It has value. But, most of all there exists in most people of this country an understanding of their personal freedoms. It is that which I am most concerned this week. I have seen a deterioration in morality in DC at an alarming rate and even more outrage against this country than ever anticipated by countries that once esteemed us.

The USA Constitution means something. It is being undermined by a party that seeks votes in legislation that is mostly a fantasy that will more than likely be defeated in the courts. I believe the Republican Party likes to play with the 'idea' of having it 'their way' to sucker people into believing the same thing. That has to stop. There has to be some basic principles to law and to the understanding the 'tone' that law is to take to insure we are not assaulted continually by 'partison party' principles rather than effective legislation.

We need a "Sovereignty Act." A modern day Emanciation Proclamation that provides 'understood' guidelines to legislators as to what is constitutional and what is not. We need a legislative promise other than the US Constitution. Evidently, when it comes to corruption the US Constitution doesn't have rights either. A Sovereignty Act that assigns severe penalities to those that broach the constitutionality of law at the federal level. It needs to be a priority to 'our listening' skills when politicians make speechs and state that they can 'get us what we want.' That alone is an assault on the US Constitution. It is not for sale. What we want has to fall within the definition of responsible sovereignty with a country well employed, active fronts of innovation to support an economy of promise, reasonably well balanced budgets and an educational system that is 'hands off' to insure our country the highest levels of promise to our children, our future sovereignty.

With that thought I'll close for tonight and ask any whom read this to understand the country I once grew up in, no longer exists. That is reflected by the images of the USA now in the international community and the disrespect we have all witnessed in the years under this administration since they turned a national tragedy into a humiliating lie and reality.

end

It's Saturday Night

"No Values" by Paul McCartney

I Hear Them Telling Me That You're Selling Off The Furniture
And Even Keep My Personalized Autographs
You Might As Well Go All The Way And Sell Your Granny To The Zoo
And While You're At It, May I Go To My Psychiatrist ?
He's Making Money Out Of Making Me Laugh
But I Don't Mind , I Wish That I Could Say The Same About You
It Seems To Me That You've Still Got No Values
Oh You Know You're Not So Hot, No Values
And I'll Be Glad If You Went Away Again
No Values . . . No Values . . . No Values At All


The City Shark Is At The Dark And Of The Alleyway
You Pays Your Money And You Takes Your Choice
The Artful Dodger Says He Wants To Pick A Pocket Or Two
But You, You've Taken Up A Place In High Society
A Personal Friend Of Messrs Rolls And Royce
Got Them All Convinced That Everything You Say To Them Is True


It Seems To Me That You've Still Got No Values
Oh You Know You're Not So Hot, No Values
You Know You've Got A Lot, But No Values
And I'd Be Glad If You Went Away Again
No Values . . . No Values . . . No Values At All


I Like Your Wife's Smile, I Like Her Car
If I Had Your Lifestyle, I Wouldn't Go Far Wrong
On The Waters Of Life You Row Your Boat
Into The Strongest Tide That You Can Find
On The Darkest Of Nights We Were Two Of A Kind
We Went Through It All Before The Tide Went Out
And Left Us Stranded On The Shore
How Was I To Know
How Was I To Know


Well You Ain't Got No Values
You Know You Think You're Hot, No Values
You Know You've Got A Lot, But No Values
And I'd Be Glad If You Went Away Again