Daniel Cody - “Left on the Lake”

Dr. Richard Perle, one of Bush’s top security advisors pretty much confirmed what a lot of people — myself included — have been thinking concerning the administrations real commitment to peace in Iraq.

Dr. Perle insisted “a “clean bill of health” from UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would not halt America’s war machine.” - Full story (Once again, I’m relying on non-US media outlets for the truth about our administration)

For the last two months, we’ve been hearing the prez. insist that “America is committed to and desires peace”. Using military force would be a last resort with Iraq. In reality they’ve just been placating the United Nations the whole time, knowing full well peace would never be part of the ultimate plan.

What is it called when you say one thing yet do something completely different????? ……………..

A half million people protested the possiblity of a US led war against Iraq in Florence, Italy this weekend, many holding anti-American banners and signs as they marched.

It makes me wonder if prez. Bush now considers Italy ‘Against us’ in the ‘War on Terror’ based on his hardline, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” post-9/11 stance?

Expect to see more and more of this kind of anti-americanism attitude the deeper Uncle Sam buries his head in the sand by furthering the kind of isolationist, “We’ll go it alone!” policy that the prez. seems to favor.

Christmas came early for George W. and the rest of the Republican party last night as they regained control of Congress.

With the GOP in control, there won’t be much opposition to some ‘new plans’ the prez. is sure to have. Plans like bans on stem-cell research, even more draconian anti-abortion laws, Supreme, District, and Appellate Judges who have Jerry Falwell
posters on their walls, raping of our natural resources for profit, continued corporate corruption as Washington snuggles up even closer to Big Business, another national debt, the worlds most powerful military coming at the cost of lowered educational concerns (and budgets), the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and of course, an unabated path to War with Iraq, and whoever else we deem the enemy of the day.

It’s a good time to be a part of the Christian Right in America.

Just to be clear, I’m not going to be one of those people for whom the election doesn’t go their way and turns into some sort of muttering-under-his-breath hermit. Yeah, I wish it had gone my way, but it didn’t, and you can either accept that and try
to fix it for next time, or get real bitter. Although I don’t agree with them, the Republican party did a great job of getting it’s people out and in the voting booth(with the help of the prez.). They were mad things weren’t going their way, and theywent out and did something about it. I can only hope the rest of the Democrats have the same resolve when 2004 rolls around.

When 2004 does roll around and the country is still in the same mess we’re in now, it’ll be interesting to see who the GOP tries to blame. Their nation-wide campaign slogan this year was, “Give us control and we’ll make America better”. So when the next election comes our way, and the GOP has been unable to fix anything they said or promised they would - even with the full control they so desperately sought in 2002 - they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. I mean, I’m sure they’ll find some scapegoat, but hopefully the voting population realizes that America did not do as well as these guys promised it would so it’s time to give them, and their prez., the boot. We’ll see.

Ending on a positive note now, I’m happy to report that here in Wisconsin at least, we were able to elect a Democratic governor to term for the first time in 16 years. We’ve got a lot of messes within our state borders to clean up, and I really hope our new governor,

Jim Doyle can begin that process and be successful at it. Like I’ve said before, I believe that you’ve got to clean up your own backyard before you try cleaning up someone else’s, so hopefully, we can fix our problems on a local and state level, and then move on to the nationwide scene. I’m trying to be an optimist!

The majority of my writing, to a good number of readers relief, will return to being more technology related, and less politics now that the elections are over. Just like always, I’ll still have the occasional criticism of prez. and government, but the focus will go back on to personal and professional topics.

Here’s to 2004!

…As long as you agree.

A man who protested Prez. Bush’s campaign trip to Pittsburgh yesterday with a sign that read, “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they’ve made so many of us”, was arrested by county police for not moving to a fenced off ‘protestor area’ (read: away from the press and out of view). You read that correctly folks, a U.S. citizen was arrested for excersizing his birth-right of free speach right here in the U.S.A. - ‘Land of the free, home of the brave’

“County police detective Thomas Ianachione testified that he arrested Neel because, even though he was polite and never used foul language, he refused to enter the fenced area where all the other protesters agreed to go.” - full story

There’s another freedom some people here in Wisconsin also want to repress if you don’t agree with them: the right to vote. Last night’s newscast (sorry, no link available) had a blurb about Republicans sending their own ‘Ballot Fraud Watchers’ to the polls on Tuesday to look for ’suspicous’ activity and signs of voter fraud. They’ve even set up a toll-free hotline for people to call if they suspect ‘voter fraud’ - never mind the state elections committee, the Republicans will keep an eye out for us!

Of course, you won’t find these ‘Watchers’ in the affluent white suburbs of Milwaukee, they’ll be sticking to lower income, mostly black, and mostly Democratic parts of the city. It’s things like this that make the calls of our administration to instill ‘democratic principles’ in middle-eastern countries a total farce and mockery of the democratic process that they’re giving lip service too.

Democracy is about personal freedom and individual choice. Recent event, like those above, are becoming more common as certain groups struggle to maintain their grasp on control and power in this country, and as a result, the entire nation edges farther and farther from the Democratic principles we pioneered and were founded upon.