Posts Tagged fear
How Ostensibly Patriotic Americans Help Al Qaeda Win the War on Terror
Posted by Lance Haley in 9/11, Conservatives, Politics, Sarah Palin, War in Afghanistan, War on Terror, al Qaida, foreign policy on March 11th, 2010
The very nature of terror is best explained by the various elements of it’s definition: a state of intense fear, often intentionally induced in a population by the actions of others for political purposes.
The present War on Terror, as it has come to be labeled, was initiated by Al Qaeda with the first bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993, and culminated in the final attacks and destruction of those buildings on 9/11. The ends of those attacks were achieved in that Americans have now lived in a state of persistent and intense fear going on for nine consecutive years.
The subsequent failures to complete additional terrorists attacks on the United States since 9/11 are not near as important as the mere affect that those attempts have on the psyche of the American public. After all, the achievement of the singular objective of creating terror does not require that anyone be killed or maimed. To the contrary. In fact, it is simply the capacity to maintain a steady level of an intense feeling that the potential for harm is always present in our minds that determines the success of Al Qaeda. In that sense, they have certainly surpassed their expectations.
Even more important to the goals of Al Qaeda is the general breakdown of the civil, political and economic fabric of America. To the extent that those elements of our social structure begin to crumble and dissolve into complete turmoil as a result of the fear that has been instilled in us, the greater the degree of success the terrorists will have achieved in reaching those goals. Once again, on that basis, the terrorists are achieving their objectives.
As we bear witness to the daily political and psychological assaults on our fellow Americans by others who pretend that they are somehow more patriotic and superior because of their personal philosophies, we should stop and ask ourselves these questions:
First - to what extent do these unwarranted criticisms of the patriotism of other Americans merely increase our fear of terrorism?
Second – to what degree do these personal attacks on other Americans tear at the fabric of our social and political structure, thereby inadvertently facilitating the goals of the terrorists?
Finally – does wrapping oneself in the American Flag make you anymore American than others?
I think most of us know the answer.
Message to any “FED” – Hang ‘Em High!
Posted by Lance Haley in Anti-government sentiment, Congress, Cultural Issues, Government, How and Why We Get Screwed, Politics, crime on September 24th, 2009
Beck and Bachmann on fear of government intrusion
First, let’s acknowledge how irresponsible it is to accuse any particular group for U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman’s death.
However, the peculiar circumstances surrounding him being hanged from a tree – which law enforcement investigators in Kentucky have preliminarily ruled as a homicide – beg the question, why would anyone scrawl the word “FED” across his chest, and what would be their motive?
One could easily infer that it is possibly fear of government intrusion - see the video at the bottom of an article published today.
Are Glenn Beck and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) really that distressed over government invasion into our privacy?
Well, recall back in 2005 when the story broke regarding the fact that the National Security Agency (NSA), operating under the directives of the Bush Administration, had wiretapped millions of American citizens’ private phone conversations under the guise of investigating possible links to terrorism. This led to an investigation by Congress into the extent of the wiretaps, whether they were legal, and whether they were being properly targeted in order to protect national security as asserted by the Bush Administration.
In order to assure the American public that the wiretaps were not directed at innocent citizens, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in a White House press briefing, stated that these intercepts were only authorized when the government “has a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda.” and that one party to the conversation is “outside of the United States” [emphasis added].
When General Michael Hayden, former head of the NSA and then-acting Director of the CIA, was eventually called to testify before the Senate regarding allegations of unwarranted government intrusion into the lives of innocent American citizens, he unconditionally denied that the government was listening to private conversations that were not reasonably related to terrorist activity. General Hayden stated, “[w]e are narrowly focused and drilled on protecting the nation against al Qaeda and those organizations who are affiliated with it,”
FACT: some of the conversations were between American couples (even servicemen and their spouses/girlfriends) engaging in the most intimate communications that had nothing to do with national security. That this is a gross invasion of privacy, and the most egregious form of governmental intrusion is beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Former NSA employee Adrienne Kinne, who was awarded an NSA Joint Service Achievement Medal in 2003, along with one of her fellow NSA peers, came forward in 2008 and pointedly criticized the NSA’s continued targeting of obviously innocent American citizens. She proudly stated that sometimes the intercepts did result in information that may have interrupted potential terror attacks in Iraq, and therefore saved American lives.
Yet, Kinne noted the problem was all of the wasted time and resources spent focusing on these innocent Americans, when it could have been directed towards finding the proverbial “needle in the haystack”. As Ms. Kinne so poignantly stated, “[b]y casting the net so wide and continuing to collect on Americans . . . it’s almost like they’re making the haystack bigger and it’s harder to find that piece of information that might actually be useful to somebody,” she said. “You’re actually hurting our ability to effectively protect our national security.”
So Glenn Beck and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. . . where was the outrage regarding government intrusion back then?
RNC declares Obama Presidency a Failure after just 200 Days
Posted by Lance Haley in Capitalism, Government, Healthcare Reform, Politics on August 6th, 2009
In a just-released web ad, Chairman Michael Steele and the Republican National Committee have declared the Obama Presidency “a failed experiment in just 200 days”, citing declining poll numbers and rising unemployment. As their de facto spokesman, Rush Limbaugh, said six months ago, “I hope they fail.” And now the Republicans have officially declared “victory”.
Only one problem?
Remember, the economy was already in a free-fall in late September of last year long before Obama was elected. Bush and the Republicans had been in control for eight years, and they passed every economic and deregulatory bill they wanted with impunity – including generous tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
Then an election took place in November which vanquished the Republicans’ platform of an unwarranted war, record deficit spending, complete deregulation of business which directly led to the economic meltdown, and special treatment for the rich.
The American people spoke. Obama responded with a stimulus package. The worst economic downturn in modern history appears to be turning around, albeit slowly – which is to be expected under the circumstances. And health care reform is going to happen, as was necessary to the future of this country.
Just one comment to the RNC: If you are going to determine a Presidency’s success or failure predicated on what they accomplish in the first 200 days, you best be reminded that history provides the best lessons.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, he inherited the legacy of Herbert Hoover – a staunch Republican President who thought that cutting taxes would turn the economy around after the stock market crashed 90% in 1929 . Hoover’s unwaivering belief in Capitalism blinded him to the realities of the times. Instead, an even deeper economic disaster ensued. Unemployment rose to over 25%. Business failures and mortgage defaults were so severe that today’s statistics pale in comparison. The pictures of that era that best depicted the gravity of the problems were the hopeless faces of men standing in breadlines.
For a significant time after his election, FDR faced an American public whose patience for something better was running thin. Just like today, Americans wanted everything “yesterday”. So FDR’s poll numbers dropped and the Republicans saw an opportunity to exploit this perceived weakness; they attacked him by trying to instill fear into Americans regarding his economic policies. They labeled him a Socialist, a Communist, UnAmerican.
FDR stood firm, extolling the the virtues of hope in his now famous words, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Thereafter, FDR was elected to an all-time historic four consecutive terms in office. The American economy turned around. By the time he died, his economic policies were the sine qua non of how to jump-start a severely ailing economy.
More to the point, Republicans in Congress were exiled into the political wilderness for almost sixty years. Michale Steele and the RNC best go back to school and learn from the Republican mistakes of the past, lest they fail themselves, condemning their party right back into political irrelevance for decades to come.
To paraphrase an old adage, “Those that fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.”