Drunk on the opiate of the McCain and Obama “We Can Change” conventions, the American press fails to notice the first attack involving American ground forces on Pakistani soil.
Since the American MSM media won’t cover it, I will. As previously reported in my July article “Utter Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan as Barack Obama Sanctions Preemptive War” events are moving quickly towards destabilization and increased war in Central Asia, as America’s imperialist interventionist foreign policies continue. What blowback will we experience next?
The Associated Press and UK’s The Guardian have reported an anonymous American official confirmed an American attack helicopter strike on September 4th utilizing ground troops killed at least 15 Pakistanis, some reportedly women and children, in the small village of Jala Khel, 1 mile from the Afghanistan border. It is the first confirmed incursion by American ground forces, though unmanned Predator drone attacks are already infamous in the tribal areas for their high civilian casualty counts.
Adam Kokesh, member of Iraq Vetarans Against The War protested John McCain’s speech tonight during the Republican National Convention. How ironic and somewhat foolish it is to hear the Republican war mongers yelling “U-S-A, U-S-A” to try to shout down a veteran who happens to disagree with the Iraq War. Watch the video of the event. I paused it during the Kokesh footage so you can see the signs he held up.
I applaud Kokesh for having the bravery to serve this country in Iraq, realize that it was wrong, and continuing to stand up as a true patriot who takes protecting the Constitution seriously.
Also check out this interview with Kokesh after being handcuffed, removed from the convention, and released.
Bob Barr is interviewed at length by Chip Wood in The New American. It is probably the best interview that I’ve read with the Libertarian candidate. Many topics are covered and as usual Barr answers the questions in a direct fashion. His answer regarding changing positions is probably the most sincere I’ve heard him speak on the subject. Below is the section I enjoyed the most, but the entire interview is truly a great read.
TNA: Let’s shift from international issues to a major domestic topic, taxation. Many conservatives are in favor of a flat tax or a national sales tax, the so-called “fair tax.” Meanwhile, Senator Obama wants to increase taxes on the oil companies and wealthy investors. What is the Libertarian Party’s position on the federal income tax?
Barr: Simple. We believe it is an inappropriate, overly oppressive, way-too-complex way to provide necessary funds for the government to carry out its appropriate and necessary activities. We want to abolish the income tax and repeal the 16th Amendment.
As president, the first thing I would do is to dramatically reduce federal spending. That’s first and foremost. If we don’t start reducing spending, then whatever system of taxation we have is going to require too much of the people’s money.
Once we’ve begun to cut spending, I would move dramatically to reform our system of taxation. I would call for the repeal of the 16th Amendment, which allows the federal government to have a progressive income tax. Then we can move toward a much fairer system of taxation. That might be a national sales tax, a version of the fair tax, or something else. But first we must cut spending.
TNA: Earlier you mentioned abolishing the Department of Education. Are there any other federal departments that you want to get rid of? Not reduce. Not streamline. Not make more efficient. But eliminate entirely?
Barr: There are any number of them. As president, I would institute a commission to examine every agency, office, and department of the federal government and to ask, “What is the constitutional justification of that activity — that is, where in the Constitution is it authorized?”
Next, I would require a very clear description of the necessary function that it is carrying out. In other words, what is it doing that cannot better be performed by state or local government, even if there is a constitutional justification for that agency, office, or department?
And thirdly, I would demand to see a cost-benefit study done for each and every such activity, to make certain that the benefits we are getting outweigh the cost.
Such a study would provide the blueprint for a prioritization of those agencies, departments, and offices that could be dramatically scaled back, and in many instances eliminated entirely. For example, I think that the Department of Education would be at the top of that list. I suspect the Department of Commerce would be way up there. I’d be surprised if we couldn’t eliminate the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security as well. Whatever legitimate and necessary functions those two Cabinet offices perform could be handled much better (and much cheaper) by smaller agencies and offices.
Neil Cavuto had a fantastic interview with Ron Paul today, in which they both discussed the election itself, as well as the policies and ideas of Ron Paul, and even the GOP’s utter shock when this “fringe” candidate ended up being a true force to contend with.
In at least two spots, Neil perfectly sums up the stance of Ron Paul and the Revolution, paraphrasing “Look, you guys [GOP, McCain, etc.] are the ones who abandoned the party, not me. I’m going back to what our roots are.”
The Council On Foreign Relations is a political slur according to many staunch Ron Paul supporters, but in an interview posted on the CFR site it is all business and unbiased.
Former Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) staged a protest rally on the sidelines of the Republican convention on September 2 to try to reclaim what he says are the true traditional virtues of the GOP, including limited government and less involvement in military campaigns abroad. He criticized some of the main national security policies of the party’s presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), including his position on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his staunch support of the Georgian government following the Russian invasion of Georgia in August. “This whole incident points out the fallacy of the current foreign policy,” Paul said. “We weren’t even capable of doing anything. It shows how bankrupt we are. We didn’t have the troops, nor the energy, to go in there.” But Paul does support expanded offshore drilling, a chief Republican platform plank, and a greater role for the private sector in developing domestic energy resources.
Here we are in Minnesota, site of the Republican National Convention, but at a rally that is not being held in honor of John McCain. What is the purpose of this rally?
The main purpose of the rally is to continue the momentum that was building during the presidential primary race, because a lot of young people joined us, they got enthusiastic. They really liked the message of limited government, personal liberties, and a different foreign policy. They didn’t want to quit. But the campaign had to come to an end, because John McCain did get the votes to be nominated. So in order to not discourage too many people and think that everything has ended, we decided to have a Rally for the Republic, a celebration of what we achieved, and actually to build momentum to continue this effort and to build for the future so that we can influence the Republican Party. Because we think the Republican Party has strayed from its original values of limited government, and we emphasize that. We want balanced budgets and strictly limited government and less controls and less taxes, and therefore we’re going to continue in this effort.
Turning to foreign policy, the Republicans have released their 2008 platform (PDF). Have you seen the platform? What policy initiatives would you like to see added to the GOP agenda?
I haven’t seen it, but I can probably guess. They’re probably not calling for the immediate removal of the troops from Iraq. They probably haven’t said, “We absolutely promise not to bomb Iran unless they attack us.” They probably haven’t promised to bring the troops home from Europe and Korea and Japan.
FOX News reported rather positively (for a change) on Ron Paul’s Rally For The Republic held yesterday. There is a time to give credit where credit is due even in the face of other criticism. This report by FOX was unbiased in its entirety and could even be considered pro-Paul. It would have been nice to see this kind of reporting from FOX during Ron Paul’s primary campaign. Maybe Paul is starting to change some minds. Thank you Kelley Beaucar Vlahos.
MINNEAPOLIS — Ron Paul’s “Rally for the Republic” culminated Tuesday night with a speech from the man himself, who urged his supporters to advance their cause of limited government with “peaceful civil disobedience” and to beware of “counterfeit” ideas of change coming from the two major political parties.
The unsuccessful Republican candidate for president told the estimated crowd of 12,000 boisterous supporters that while he would not take credit for the growth of their movement over the last year, “I would hope that our efforts did a lot to speed up the revolution, which was coming anyway.”
He and earlier speakers throughout the day directed much of their criticism at the other event across the way in St. Paul — the Republican National Convention — where they said Republicans, and specifically conservatives, who had lost their way continued to stifle alternative views within the party.
In fact, they have endured “treatment of exclusion, of marginalizing and just making fun of what we are doing,” said the 10-term congressman from Texas. “It didn’t surprise me much. But the more they did that the more it seemed to energize you more.”
Paul had earlier lamented that not only had he been denied a speaking role at the GOP convention, but he has been given limited access to the floor of the Xcel Energy Center – something he didn’t have o contend with as a simple congressman at conventions past. His candidacy has been less than welcomed by the GOP establishment, and despite getting 1.2 million votes in the state primaries, efforts by his delegates at the convention will likely lose out on attempts to have him officially recognized.
Bruce Fein puts together words with the best of them. During his speech at Ron Paul’s Rally For The Republic he again suggested that some of George Bush’s actions with respect to foreign and domestic policy are grounds for impeachment. Many people felt Fein’s speech was the best of the day. For me it certainly was a great speech, but it was only slightly behind Bill Kauffman’s. Get a dictionary, sit down, and watch Fein give you some liberty. The speech is in 3 parts.
Adam Kokesh is a member of “Iraq Veterans Against The War”. He gave a short but rather inspirational speech today (as he is known to do) at Ron Paul’s “Rally For The Republic”. Check out his power in the video below.
To very little public fanfare from my beloved American media, a Mockery of a Trial of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, alleged al-Qaeda mastermind, is getting underway in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Is John McCain losing any sleep over it? Doubt it.
Senator John McCain and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed actually share one very important fact in common.
Both have been held as prisoners for the same term, 5-and-a-half years, and have been subjected to hideous amounts of torture.
After a self-professed suicide attempt, McCain survived the ordeal, returned home to his first wife and family, and has gone on to be a US Senator or Congressman for over 25 years, and has a chance to become POTUS this September. However, if McCain’s mind is sane, he would probably see at least a moral similarity to how he as an American POW was treated by the North Vietnamese after dropping bombs on them, and how a captured terrorist/enemy combatant was treated by at the hands of his American government for bombing the WTC. However, after not having batted an eyelid to assist fellow US citizen Jose Padilla when he was tortured for a terrorist/enemy combatant crime that he was never even tried for, I am sure McBama will stay quiet on the human rights violations committed on Khaled Sheikh Mohammed (or KSM as the US government refers to him in dehumanizing fashion in the 9/11 Commission Report).
Liberty Maven
” speaking at Ron Paul’s Rally For The Republic. It is in two parts.
