Flag Burning - Again!

So, the GOP has failed in its latest attempt to codify its extreme ideology with yet another attempt to mess with our freedoms with an attempt at banning flag burning. Aren't there more serious issues facing the country without them messing with freedom of speech, as they have tried with the blurring of the Evangelical Church with the State.

What separates us free Americans from the Iranians, North Koreans, Cubans and Mainland Chinese is the fact that we CAN criticize our leaders and their bullheaded, misguided policies. In a free, democratic society, the citizens of said society should let off steam by showing their displeasure by protesting - gathering in front of their leader's offices, homes with speeches as well as flag-burning if they are that angry. What would the GOP have the frustrated do - fly planes into buildings? Shoot up a mall?

What boggles my mind is that there are far more serious issues facing the nation - such as North Korean missles, the Iranian nuke problem, growing gaps between the rich and poor, an exploding deficit and national debt, increased crime, illegal immigration, good jobs leaving the country, etc. etc.

But just look what this hapless bunch of Republicans think is important - tax cuts for the wealthy, another attempt at marginalizing gays and now limiting freedom of speech. This, coming on the heels of illegal wiretapping and now dubious legalities about government spying on your bank accounts. A total waste of taxpayer time and money. But hey, it looks good on GOP brochures - "THEY (the Democrats) are against the country because they DIDN'T vote for an anti-flag burning amendment." "THEY support terrorism because they won't let us look through your underwear drawer in the middle of the night." And on and on.

And what is so amazing - they KNOW they don't have the votes and they pursue it ANYWAY!

The argument they use is that the flag represents the blood lost on the battlefield in defending our freedom, but they refuse to see that not all military adventurism is to defend our shores and freedoms, but in fact, its just the opposite - an attempt at keeping the dissenters in line. Just some examples - was the Viet Nam war a war about defending our freedom or interfering in another country's civil war? We heard the argumetn before - if you don't fight them OVER THERE, will be fighting them OVER HERE. A half million soldiers sent to a country the size of Kansas and now we have 160,000 in Iraq, which is the size of California. Make sense to you? And although Vietnam 'fell' to the Communists, Hawaii did not. And today, the Vietnamese people want nothing more than friendship with the American People. We call what happened during the 60s the Vietnam War, they call it the American War.

During the 1980s we 'rescued' Grenada, (no threat to us), overthrew Noriega in Panama, because he was a 'drug lord' and a threat to 'our children'. Noriega's in prison (Mission Accomplished) but there is still very much a drug problem in the US. Why is it the US' responsibility to repeatedly interefere in the mess that is Haiti and to this day, no one can figure out why we sent troops into Somalia (by George Bush I) only to have them pulled out by Bill Clinton (weak on defense).

Now the Administration is on the attack again by going after the New York Times for daring to report about the info mining of people's bank accounts. The NRA always uses the 'slippery slope' argument and I'll use it here - what more will Bush and Cheney snoop around our private lives next, in its 'blank check' philosophy of power.

And of course, the New York Times was singled out for special mention, not the LA Times, Wall Street Journal or Washington Post, primarily because it is views as a 'liberal' bastion. Yup, that's the ticket - what we do is not wrong, just the media reporting on us - is. Ahh, the 'Swift Boating' of the New York Times. Gotta love it.

The best way to show your patriotism and love of this country would to return the government to the hands of the people and common sense by overthrowing Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Snow (both of them) and Rove.

Vote Libertarian - the Republicans are cluseless and a sham.

On other thing - on last night's 'Countdown with Keith Olberman', Bush is on record that 'global warming is a serious threat' and he was 'always' a big supporter of fixing the problem. Yeah right - and if you believe that - here let me sell you some Iraqi WMD.

I think he is jealous of Al Gore. Al is more popular than he is.