Wikileaks

Here's a novel idea for a rule the federal government should live by. Don't do something you don't want people to know about. The reason for the government-our government-to lie is to keep things from us; not from others, not from foreigners, not from terrorists, but from us. Those who are on the receiving end of what we do secretly obviously already know the secret; it is happening to them. The lie is to keep people in this country from knowing some of the illegal shit we have-and still are-committing around the world.

We can still gather intelligence on other countries without having to plot their overthrow. We should not be in the assassination business. History tells us that an enemy one day is a friend the next. Japan and Germany for two examples. Even Saddam Hussein was once a friend-and to the same people who later tried to kill him. We should not be torturing or having other countires do it for us. It is simply immoral and counter-productive. Besides, as John McCain testified to, we do it to them and they will do it to us.

Lets act for a change above board. Lets not do things we are ashamed to tell others about. I know some will say we are endangering our troops or putting secret agents in harm's way. Hell, Bush II and company didn't mind putting Valerie Plame in danger when it suited their politics. Personnel matters and troop movements can still be information we don't advertise, but if we have troops in a country (Laos and Cambodia during the Vietname War) it should not be something we lie to people in the US about.

The Rule: Don't do something you don't want people to know about.

Government Logic ?

Many in congress say they are worried about Social Security running out of money. So what do they do? They cut funding for Social Security by 2 % next year. How is that suppose to solve the social security problem? These same people complain that the deficit is out of control and will ruin the country. So what do they do? They pass a tax cut bill that will add some $ 800 billion to the deficit. How is that suppose to solve the deficit problem?

Of course, those people are members of the GOP and you can bet that by February they will be looking for ways to reduce social security benefits and finding other domestic programs like education and the environment to cut the heart out of.

Scott Garrett

I don't understand my congressman. He is opposed to the tax cut legislation now being debated in congress because its not a permanent change in the tax laws that would make the Bush era tax cuts the final word on taxation for some time to come. The wealthy are going to get a $ 60,000 to $ 70,000 refund from the federal government this year and Garrett says he wants them to have more. He is also opposed to the legislation because it will provide unemployment benefits to fellow Americans who can't find work; benefits that will provide just enough money to put some food on the table or pay the rent. It seems he only wants to help those who don't need help in the first place and generally have nothing good to say about the federal government. Does he have no sense of humanity? Isn't the role of government to help those in need; to protect the "general welfare". I also don't understand my congressional district that has returned him to office time and again.

Justice?

I came across the following quote in a college magazine recently that had meaning for me. It was about rural society in south west NY state and the acts of two teenage boys who burned up a pick-up truck. "What hungry rage caused them to destroy the hard-earned property of a good man and neighbor? What wild fear caused us to incarcerate one of them, hard-bitten almost since birth, for eight years-longer than some investment bankers and securities traders who stole the savings and retirements of thousands of Americans?"

US Rebellion?

Prior to the recent congressional election, a GOP candidate in Texas said in a TV interview that "if elections did not produce a change in leadership" then "he would not rule out a violent overthrow of the government". The GOP headquarters in the county he was running in said the comment was "inappropriate". Do you think? This individual lost his race to the incumbent who got 70 % of the vote. I see or hear of other comments along the same lines by right wing spokespersons; is there something going on here that we should pay more attention to? I hope not.

Class Warfare

A writer on the op ed page of The Record states that a yearly income of $ 250,000 is only "comfortable", certainly not the income of "Oprah". Where has this guy been spending his spare time? At the country club or the Hamptons maybe but certainly not where most hard-working Americans are spending theirs. Why doesn't he tell the coal miner in West Virginia that an income of a quarter of a million dollars is mearly "comfortable" living? Why doesn't he drive his BMW-second car most likely since the family car is a Land Rover-across vast sections of this country where people who work everyday are living in mobile homes worrying about the next tornado that will blow them to hell and back; tell them how he is having trouble making ends meet on a quarter of a millor dollars a year.

Of course, by noting this I will be accused of promoting class warfare. Hell, we have always had class warfare in this country-like every other country. The reality is however, its the poor and lower middle class who are being made war on, certainly not those who make a quarter of a million dollars a year.

And our federal government-congress and the president-have just staged another victory in that on-going war for those who make a quarter of a million dollars a year.

Industrial Pollution

Does nothing ever change in this country? A major corporation contaminates the ground water causing serious health issues and in some cases death, and after years (I mean years) of struggle by the effected residents a settlement is reached that would barely pay for funeral costs. The Record reports today that the most any one family got from the settlement is $ 34,000. I am not saying we shouldn't be a private sector oriented society, but couldn't they be a little more responsible if they cause harm or a little more careful while they make the millions they do?

(Source: The Record on 12/13/10)