What the Next USA President Should Do

Use the Office and/or its Bully Pulpit for---

1.  promoting laws to break up the Mega Banks & Mega Tech Companies (clearly they are monopolies);

2.  the cessation of all Trade Wars;

3.  the withdrawal of combat troops from the Middle East & Central Asia, as well as cutting the number of our military bases on foreign soil by half---that number is now about 800-900 or so---and the military budget by half (currently that budget is more than the next seven largest military budgets in the world combined);

4.  the reinstatement of Nuke Treaties;

5.  ending of our Central Bank, as JFK started to do (we don't need a Middle Man to produce Gov't currency... especially one who charges interest);

6.  a return to some version of the Gold Standard (the amount of gold in the world doesn't prohibit that...only the artificially depressed price of gold does);

7.  the end of blanket surveillance by the NSA, CIA, FBI, and any other Agency;

8.  a return to the Constitutional requirement of Congress having to declare war before troops are sent to war;

9.  a repeal of the "Real ID Act";

10.  a reinstatement of EPA Rules trashed by Trump & Crew;

11.  policies/laws addressing the threat of Climate Change;

12.  promoting the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act;

13.  the reinstatement of "Net Neutrality";

14.  promoting the establishment of Banking as a Public Utility;

15.  the establishment of the Internet as a Public Utility;

16.  the complete revision of the IRS, or maybe, the elimination of it;

17.  promoting laws that require Congress to read legislative bills before voting on them, and to vote only on one subject/bill at a time (instead of attaching unpopular bills as riders to bills that are guaranteed to pass);

18.  making pot completely legal, and codeine an OTC drug (as it was earlier in my life);

19.  reducing our nuclear arsenal;

20.  promoting laws that prohibit Usury (laws we once had);

21.  prohibiting Gov't interference in foreign elections, prohibiting coups, & prohibiting assassinations by the Executive Branch (according to the Constitution, only Congress legally can order assassinations);

22.  promoting laws that establish Term Limits for all elected officials in the Fed Gov't;

23.  promoting laws that prohibit electronic, black box voting... use paper ballots only;

24.  limiting Executive Orders by Presidents to only the two described in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution:  the Pres can require written reports by his Dept Heads, and can grant pardons to those convicted of Fed crimes (those are the only two described in the Constitution);

25.  policies which abide by International Law, and in particular, recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (we didn't mind doing that when we set up the Nuremberg Trials).

Those are only some of the things the next President should do, but they would be a great start toward returning this country to sanity.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Obama's Wars = NeoCon, Kabuki Theater

On Democracy Now!, Jeremy Scahill (author of the NYT bestseller, Dirty Wars) described Obama's drone wars as "Kabuki Theater".  He implicitly referred to the Iraqi-Syrian ISIS War as the same.  Mr. Scahill is right on the money.  Let's also include the War in Afghanistan, the present purpose of which is unclear to just about everyone.  Any group having anything to do with 9-11 has left Afghanistan long ago.

Almost three years ago, Democracy Now! ran a clip of General Wesley Clark relating a story of his visit to the Pentagon just after 9-11.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8YtF76s-yM  An old colleague of his, another General, pulled him into his office and said that we were going to invade Iraq.  Clark asked "Why?", and his friend replied, "I don't know."...sometime later, General Clark was back visiting his friend and learned that the NeoCons at the highest levels had plans to invade seven Muslim countries and institute regime change.  Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Somalia were on that list.  So was Iran.  Such plans violate both the U.S. Constitution and International Law.

Enter Barack Obama, the Peace candidate in 2008...the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.  The guy  was going to protect whistleblowers, close Guantanamo, institute a transparent Administration, restore credibility to the Executive Branch, and end wars.  This 2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has bombed and/or launched missiles into Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Syria.  [You couldn't make up this stuff if you tried.]  His war activities aren't that much different from those of the previous NeoCons...the guys who say he's a "socialist".  Obama, the fellow who protects mega bankers from prosecution, is the best friend of the private defense industry, and expands war to the point where it's perpetual...supposedly is a socialist.  Looks to me as though he's closer to being a NeoCon than anything else.  He's a lover of Crony Capitalism.  [His vaunted Obamacare is nothing more or less than a bailout of mega health insurance companies.  The "Leftist" Roosevelt Institute said exactly that in one of their analyses.]

Meanwhile, the Constitution is being violated, war "authorizations" either nonexistent ["...as Commander-in-Chief..."] or long expired ["...the Iraq War Resolution..."] are used to wage Perpetual War, the meanings of key terms (such as "imminent" and "war") are totally changed, innocent people are being killed, and phony threats are manufactured.  Jeremy Scahill thinks no one in Syria even has heard of the "Khorasan" Group.  If it does exist, best estimates are that the very few members are leaders of Al-Qaida...hardly a NEW threat, and no more of an "imminent" danger than they've been for years.

Kabuki Theater for sure.  Not just my opinion.  Be Well

Part II: The Bush-Obama Doctrines

PREFACE
These blog pieces should not in any way, shape, or form be viewed as "anti-American".  The principles of We the People in the USA have not been represented by the Fed Gov't for decades.  I'm talking about the principles of freedom, Free Market Capitalism, fairness, and justice.  Our Gov't has been co-opted by a fairly disorganized (but nevertheless effective) Oligarchy whose members don't believe in any of those things.  That has been going on for a very long time.  The dissidents in America are far more patriotic than the Oligarchs can ever hope to be or care to be.

Now, on to the Bush-Obama Doctrines, Part II.  [Many other Democrat and Republican Administrations could be included, but for clarity I'll stick with only those two.]

1.  Dictators around the world should be opposed... unless, of course, they march to the tune of the U.S. Fed Gov't.  Then they should be supported.  [Example:  the Feds fairly recently gave the military dictatorship of Egypt 1.5 BILLION dollars in aid.  This is the same dictatorship that conducts court trials of hundreds of dissidents at once; each trial lasts about 30 minutes.  This is the same dictatorship that overthrew a democratically elected government.  Previous to all that, the Bush Administration gave similar amounts of aid to the Gov't of the dictator Mubarak.]

2.  Continue to inundate the People with Edward Bernays style propaganda.  [Examples:  lies about NSA surveillance; lies about the health of our economy; lies about Oligarchs "creating jobs"; lies about the power of the Office of President; lies about the role of the U.S. in world affairs; lies about mega banks; lies about conflict of interest in DC;  lies about so-called "Free Trade" Agreements; and many other items too numerous to list.]

3.  Tell the People whatever you think it is that they want to hear... even if it's untrue, or utter nonsense.  [Examples:  "Saddam is linked to Al Qaida"; "Our troops will be out of Afghanistan by 2014"... a bit later--- "Our troops will be out of Afghanistan by 2016"; "This is not anything like our involvement in Vietnam"; "We will assure the People of Iraq and Afghanistan the right of free choice"; "They hate us for our Freedom"; "We're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here"; "Our economy will collapse if we don't do this"; "Congress has NSA oversight"; "All NSA surveillance is authorized by a court...it's all legal and Constitutional" (no mention that it's the kangaroo, rubber-stamp FISA "court"... a secret court... and no explanation of exactly HOW/WHY it's Constitutional... because it isn't.); etc., etc., ad nauseum.]

4.  Originate (Bush) and continue (Obama) the concept of the Unitary Presidency... an absurd, false principle concocted primarily by John Yoo, former Counsel to Dubya.  It's basic premise is that the Office of President legally can bypass Congress, the Courts, or anybody when undertaking actions previously denied by our system of Checks and Balances in government.  [Google:  Unitary Presidency.]  The result has been to convert the Office of President into that of a virtual King.

5.  Prosecute war criminals and terrorists... unless, of course, those same people are in the U.S. Fed Gov't.  [Richard Clarke, former Counterterrorism "Czar" under Clinton, and for a short time under Bush, has stated publicly that he believes some of the actions of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld measure up to "war crimes".  Noam Chomsky--- political dissident, political analyst, Professor Emeritus of M.I.T.--- has stated publicly that he believes the invasion of Iraq was in itself a war crime.  Other prominent people in the world believe the same thing.  I would ask this:  did Iraq, a country that did not threaten or attack the U.S., and also a country that we supplied arms to in the '80s (including chemical weapons), have sovereignty in 2003 or not?  Yes, Saddam was a brutal ruler; however, that has absolutely nothing to do with the Constitutionally permitted use of our military.  Nothing at all.  That war was completely unconstitutional.  It was an exercise in NeoImperialism & Big Bullyism perpetrated by a President and supported by Senator Obama who both are puppets of the mega corporation Oligarchy.  The Feds even provided tutorial conferences (relative to the war) for mega corporations, showing them how to belly-up to the Federal Money Trough, the Fed Gravy Train.]

6.  Sign International Agreements relating to war crimes and terrorism... but exempt the USA's Gov't from being subject to any prosecution under their provisions.  [That has been going on for decades.  The Fed Gov't always has self-immunized itself from any such prosecution.  That is understandable to some degree... until the Feds (as they often do) chastise some country or another for violating "International Law"... the Law to which the Feds are not subject... by their own insistence.  That is completely bizarre.]

Out of time.

Be Well