A good example of the way Republicans turn away from their Legislative responsiblities was illustrated on the Senate floor yesterday but someone that stated he was representing the citizens of Utah.
Not really.
I believe it was Senator Bennett from Utah that stood on the floor of the Senate and made complete example to his defiance of his oath of office.
He did nothing constructive to move the debate forward and to vote on amendments, he simply displayed opinions of constituencies and cronies. The representation of the constituencies were limited to those that one would find listening to Extremist media and support Republican rhetoric.
The Democrats need to be very careful to the kind of 'populous' pressure they are allowing to change the face of reform in health care in this country. It is not appreciated, especially in the face of the fact, the House Bill was so well researched and contemplated and well written.
It is established passage of the House Bill and I would think long and hard before breaching that standard. The House Bill is legislatively sound where it comes to Constitutional values and procedure.
The political speech of the Utah person went like this:
He talked about a forum, a cyber form he held whereby most everyone that participated in the forum was against the health care reform. Here again, this is garnered opinion based on media that have been 'at work' with lies and bashing tactics that never reflect the benefits of reform. So, the populous opinions are so warped by faux media influence there is nearly no validity to it.
However, setting that aside, the choice of this Senator's loyalty is to populous opinion and not the hard facts.
He stated one man wrote to him saying he was leaving AARP because of their support of Health Care Reform. Well, I joined AARP and have subscribed to their insurances since they supported the Health Care Reform. So there. But, the Senator sided with this man and chose to be 'Anti-AARP.' So he was chosing to represent one man's opinion in the face of the facts before him. He did not at all try to reason with this man or state he could not respect his opinion for the dire need in reform needed in this country. He did not state facts, figures or opinions from AARP that would support his position. He decided to be a populous and be loyal to one man's opinion that wrote him.
He then talked about a business in Utah. He stated someone in the company notified him that if Health Care Reform was to pass in the USA they would move their business to another country. They stated to him they were in the USA for patriotic values. That threw up all kinds of warning signs to me, because, Bush legislated 're-patriation' legislation that gave advantages to businesses to come back to the USA and I could not help but wonder if this was one of those businesses and if they weren't just biding their time until they could move out of the USA after their tax advantages and incentives ran out.
But, that said, this business representative told him they did not have the best profit margin they could have because they were in the USA and they would leave if Health Care Reform were legislated. Well, he never attempted to defend the idea of health care reform. He never stated that the profit margin would be effected more if they didn't pass the legislation as the price of the insurance would go even higher and he never stated this business even offered health care to it employees. He simply spoke about the rhetorical end of the conversation and decided he would side with the company.
So, basically, at least one man and one company have federal representation in DC on the Senate floor.
He continued to talk about an MD that called him. Well, right there is a contributor to his campaigns in the MD and the business so where do you think that loyalty is going. The MD is usually considered a small business and he didn't want the health care reform. He thought things were going just fine for now although he thought Medicare and Medicaid has really lousy reimbursement.
So, now the Senator had a man, a small business and a business of some size he represented on the floor of the Senate. I wasn't impressed.
The Democrats are moving this country forward, not backward or allowing it to stangnat in fear of populous opinion. They were burdened in 2008 when a Democratic President took over the Executive Branch with a huge federal deficit caused by the collapse of Bush's economy, but there was a huge deficit before that collapse. They were burdened with two wars, one completely illegal. They were burdened with a negative image on a global scale of the USA for the wrongful war in Iraq. They were burdened with two more countries that are basically unstable and dangerous, one that now demonstrates they have nuclear capacity and one on the brink of it. All that and the promise of change in the USA. Oh, don't let me forget the increasing unemployment rate.
These realities, except for the promise of change, are a direct result of Republican priorities and methodologies that align them falsely with populous and chronically wavering support for one topic or another to steer Republican actions in the federal government. There was little solid basis for the actions of the Bush and Cheney years, but, the Republicans in office went along with it all and forced others to 'see it their way.' The British are currently acting to compile the proof of that reality and hopefully they will take that before the World Courts. Oh, that was one other topic I wanted to address from the House Intelligence Committee.
If I may while I'm thinking about it. There is something about three Navy Seals that acted heroically in Afghanistan when a group of soldiers were on their way to kill or capture an alQaeda member. The story goes like this.
According to a surviving soldier, the only one that did survive the surprise attack by the Taliban, the unit was on their way to a known location of an al Qaeda member that was later killed by helicopter attack with the efforts that included the Navy Seals. But, according to the surviving soldier, the unit was discovered by three Afghan civilians. A family. Man, woman and child. Their directive under General McCrystal, and I think this occurred only shortly or maybe even before he took command, was to not cause issues with Afghan civilians.
The soldiers did not kill those civilians. What occurred was the civilians returned to their village and alerted the Taliban to their impending approach and the Taliban sent 200 armed men to kill the USA soldiers. They did all but for one man that lived to tell the story and alert the base to the actions of the Taliban. A helicopter was sent and in the helicopter were three Navy Seals that carried out the mission and killed the al Qaeda member.
The issue is that the three Navy Seals are now up on charges because the al Qaeda member was a community leader as well and that is in contradiction of International Human Rights Laws somewhere that the USA does not currently subscribe to but is considering under this version of Secretary Gates.
The world body is called the ICC, the International Criminal Court. The intention of the regulations of this particular dynamic is to prevent 'freely elected' officials from being assassinated by any military action.
Oops, I have go. I favor the Navy Seals, there are extensive problems here and I will finish this entry, but, I have another responsibility at this point.
To finish this entry.
The Navy Seals were not aware of any regulations that would effect their role in this circumstance and perhaps even if they did they would have carried out the mission anyway. So, they are now compromised and undergoing legal proceedings with JAG corp I believe, when their valuable services are needed back in Afghanistan.
This is being held up as an example of why General McCrystal's assessment is incorrect. I disagree. I am not simply reacting to his Rock Star status, I do disagree and I want to continue this discussion.
The ONLY thing is episode in the American/NATO experience proves is that the Bush/Cheney abandonment of Afghanistan resulted in the absolute spread of al Qaeda to the hierarchy of authority that has ambition and overwhelms the citizens of Afghanistan to fight back against them. That is all it proves. It proves NOTHING about a new administration in the White House or the General that is currently addressing this effort. It is this compromised position that resulted from extremely bad leadership in the Executive Branch of the USA that will cause these kind of issues that SHOULD NOT in any way reflect on Stanley McCrystal's military record. He didn't allow the advance of the Taliban and al Qaeda, but, he sure has it now.
These events should also not reflect on the military records of the Navy Seals either and I am going to tell you why. The ICC also needs to pay attention and we should go forward in going the ICC with the knowledge we have a President that spoke to the Nobel organization about exactly these issues. If you believe in a god and one that wants peace on earth, you might be counting your blessings right now for President Obama and his Nobel award right now. I think President Obama is going to have to work with his legal staff at the Pentagon to structure a motion to the ICC to set precedent to war against authorities that oppression their population through terror and murder while compromising the national security of free nations.
To begin with, Bush and Cheney and their administration need to be impeached and this is a matter of setting the record straight and not politics. This country was used for its power in an oil war in Iraq and that is validated by Cheney's conflict of interest with Halliburton which profited royally immediately upon entering Iraq. There is no way the War of September 11th should have been abandoned, it completely compromised the government in Afghanistan that was supported by UN vote, it completely compromised NATO and it compromised every international relationship the USA had and sparked priorities of a new arms race with nations such as North Korea and Iran that has a reactionary effect throughout the Middle East. The Middle East needs to be nuclear free and that includes energy.
But, to return to the circumstances of the Navy Seals, the situation was not within their control. They had a priority to defend this nation against al Qaeda at all costs and they should NOT be scapegoated for their bravery. They are heroes and that is reflected by one saved life and the return of dead peers.
The fact al Qaeda was in leadership normally protected by the ICC and rightfully so, is of no consequence to the Navy Seals issue. The ICC and the JAG corps of the USA need to realize the battlefield in Afghanistan is due to neglect and criminal misdirection by the Executive Branch of the USA and this is a special circumstance to many, many international and military laws. That al Qaeda member should be dead and we all need to be grateful he is dead. Those Navy Seals are not to be held responsible for a dead al Qaeda's status and that begins with the realization it sends the wrong message to the enemy that Stanley McCrystal is desperately trying to beat to turn the circumstances around for the people of Afghanistan. It is also why the former Executive Branch in the White House needs to be held responsible to tell the legal systems globally and within the USA military these were not premeditated actions of out of control soldiers seeking to assassinate elected authority.
The Navy Seals need to be released and returned to their valuable duty and if it takes legislation at this point to do it then the House Intelligence Committee needs to get busy. Those men do not belong in prosecution for defending their country. They weren't cowboys randomly killing citizens, they killed an enemy to this country and they are being wrongly prosecuted.
Either we are going to fight this war the way we need to along side of the members of NATO with the full disclosure to the priorities of the mission of this war to the ICC and the legal authorities of NATO and the USA military or we aren't and that needs to be decided along with the priorities to set the record completely straight regarding the past administation that wrongly diverted the war effort to Iraq.
This is no joke and no political stunt. The Navy Seals are directly compromised by the act of diversion of the war to Iraq and the abandonment of Commander and Chief George W. Bush and his administration. The reason they are scapedgoated and caught up in hideous prosecution is because no one is recognizing that fact, it is compromising the battlefield of General McCrystal and NATO.
To return to the Senator from Utah and the fact he is siding with cronies backed by Right Wing Media popularity. There is a profound abandonment by the Republicans of their oath to office. The small business in the way of an MD, I believe stated he abandoned his membership to the AMA as a result of their commitment to Health Care Reform under the Obama Administration.
These are all minority views. In the bigger picture that is this country, the Republicans are backing minority views and I'll tell you why they are wrong as they are reflected by the 'sole purpose' of the Right Wing Media's influence to destroy the USA Constitution. This all has a valid point and is actually a political. I want my country protected from private enterprise intent on 'fiscal control' of its wealth and people.
In order to complete the picture, I have to return to the beginnings of the House Health Care Bill and the 'death panel thing.' It was all based in lies. Now it is one thing to have a media service lie, that is a matter for the FCC. It is completely something else to have House and Senate members lie in cohersion of that media service and that is exactly what occurred during the processes within the House Bill.
Grassley, the legislator that likes to intimidate CEOs and Bank Presidents into acts of suicide. Grassley, and there is a video tape to this, went out on the campaign trail and because of the focus of his constituency demanding action against death panels he stated he was against the death panels proposed in the legislation for Health Reform. That is clear demonstration of intimidation to cater to Right Wing Extremism as DICTATED by media services that seek to control electorates for their own financial wealth. Those media services are very wealthy and have caused the media industry in the USA hardship as well. It has a strangle hold on the Republican Party that I believe they cannot let go of and find a secondary reward in aligning with lies that have the goal of hurting the best interests and needs of the American people and as demonstrated in the eight years of the Bush administration actively divert wars for oil and cause the destruction of entire cultural icons of financial wealth for ultimate profit.
There are serious issues with the Right Wing Media in this country and its intricate relationship with the Republican Party and the danger to our national security and our Constitution.
What the Senator of Utah exhibited was NOT good judgement in relation to his oath of office. Elected officials don't take an oath of office that commits them to do as they are told according to minority views as expressed in media services of exhibited power. They are elected to do the right thing for their citizens. Sometimes that means recognizing authorities such as AARP and the AMA. The Senator turned from majority opinion to side with misguided constituents and cronies in relation to the rest of the nation. These are federal seats in the most powerful nation on Earth. This is no joke. It is apolitical. And something needs to be done and soon.
I am going to spend the rest of the evening, what is left of it, with my family.
