Making Sense Out of Nonsense  by Lacy Thompson, Jr.   V
The United States
 l Military Spending Is More Than All Other Countries In The World Combined.
 l Has Over 725 Foreign Military Bases Throughout The World
 l Our Dangerous Neighbors are Canada and Mexico
 l Iraq Is Over Eight Thousand Miles Away
 l Though The Electricity and Water In Iraq Is Worse Than It Was Before The War,
      The 14 Permanent US Mega Bases Were Built Right On Schedule
 l If Spreading Democracy Was The Goal, Why Not Start With Our Friends The Saudis
      Who Have One of The Most Repressive Governments On The Planet?  
  Eisenhower's last act was a speech to warn that if we were not vigilant the Military Industrial Complex would jeopardize our way of life.    Our founding fathers thought the very idea of a standing army was a threat to democracy.
Imagine if you were a Halliburton or Lockheed Martin.   Your very existence is predicated upon incredible governmental spending. 
   To a Halliburton the bogged down no end in sight conflict in Iraq looks like business is really booming.  Indeed their stock price has gone up an incredible eight fold since the war began.  If you are a military contractor, Peace is Very Very Bad for Business......  War is Very Very Good.   With the Soviet Union no longer a threat, if we don't create some new conflicts, then people in the US will start to ask why we need such and outsized military and an Empire of Military Bases all over the world.    How would you feel about a German military base in your city?  Might feel a bit like "Occupation". 
    In the United States our Democracy is In Peril !   It is Dysfunctional Democracy.  The corporately funded news media is used to sell the agenda of the elite few who control it. 
    Now if Bush can just provoke another 9-11 imagine what sort of non-stop war they can sell to the American Public. Bombing Iran just might do it.   It would be suicide for Iran to use a nuclear weapon on Israel or anyone else.  The US might think twice about messing with them if they had one though.   I believe our policies are actually encouraging these smaller countries to acquire nuclear weapons to keep the US out.  Aggressive usage it seems to me by any of these smaller countries would be Suicide.
   When did we Americans become so gullible, so complacent as to allow this to happen?  What frankly scares me the most is talking to other fellow Americans who have continued to buy into this insanity hook line and sinker.
   In most changes in this country be it Civil Rights or Woman's Suffrage there have only been 20% or so of the people who gave a damn and eventually won over the complacent malleable  80%.
   I believe our military and our foreign policy ARE the Problem !  They don't hate us because of our freedoms, they hate us for being in their countries, throwing over their leaders and tending to every body's business but our own!  New Orleans still hasn't recovered from Katrina - and they still haven't gotten Bin Laden.  That should tell us something! 
   I hope you are one of the 20% who is paying attention to what is going on in this country and sounding off at every opportunity to those around you who aren't.   Use your free speech...... while you still have it.   Patriotism to me means supporting the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution.   Look at the profound erosion of Civil Liberties that have taken place under the guise of the "Patriot Act".  
   The Founding Fathers didn't trust government.   If democracy comes to an end in this country it will be because we confused Nationalism with Patriotism and dissent is the only thing that stands in the way to protect democracy from the misguided war mongers running the show on both sides of the isle in congress.
   When I pose the question to most people "Who Has Done More Damage To the United States , Bin Laden or George W. Bush?"  I have yet to have anyone come back and say immediately "Bin Laden".  Most say Bush without much hesitation.  That really says a lot when in terms of American lives, standing in the world and any other metric you want to put on it, most feel the leader of this great country has inflicted more damage than our worst enemy.    Why he remains president is beyond me. 

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