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War, Strickland And Dems Like WHIGs, Blackwell Ran Out Of Room

In their first joint press conference, Ted Strickland and Ken Blackwell upheld the tradition of Ohio politics by not going into great detail on the great moral issues of the day. Of course, Strickland is infinitely preferable to the opportunistic Bush family sycophant, J. Katrina Blackwell.

One thing they could agree upon was excluding the Libertarian and Green Party gubernatorial candidates. Apparently, they were massively afraid that a real debate might perhaps break out and democracy might flourish. Indeed, there’s nothing more subversive than a marketplace of ideas. When asked by Bill Cohen, of Ohio Public Radio, what he thought about the two “minor” party candidates being left out of the event, Blackwell looked uncomfortable and mumbled, “Keep working,” and then ran. Literally ran out of the room. The video will be on the website soon.

I’ve thought long and hard about the bizarre nit-picking debate on the internet blogs over my exact words on how I would handle the Ohio National Guard situation. So let me be as frank as possible. If they would have let me in the debate, here’s what I would have said: I will do everything humanly possible to end the unjust and criminal war being illegally waged in Iraq. I will issue every order possible to block the deployment of the Ohio National Guard. I will give sanctuary to every soldier who seeks to disobey the illegal orders of the president of the United States. I will convene a committee of noted human rights scholars like Professor John Quigley at Ohio State to see whether the president should be tried as a war criminal.

Now my pragmatic friends, what’s Ted Strickland’s position on the war? Or, J. Kenneth Blackwell? The Democratic Party risks going the way of the Whigs, who refused to take a stand on the moral issue of its day – slavery. On basic principles of human rights, we cannot compromise on torture, illegal spying and criminal illegal wars. What defines us as Americans is not how much ass we can kiss with the powers that be, but that long tradition of direct dissent against the powers that be. Is my position clear enough?

Is my position clear enough?

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Pragmatism Is Another Word For Cowardice

In the middle of an illegal war in Iraq, which has branded him a war criminal in the eyes of the vast majority of people on earth, George W. Bush has made another attempt to turn America into an authoritarian nation. The Republican Congress wants to give the Fuhrer Bush control of the state National Guard forces. But luckily, as James Madison intended in that famous phrase “Ambition must be made to check ambition,” the governors have stood up as one for the principles of federalism.

At last weeks National Governor’ Association, the governors reminded Bush that “This provision was drafted without consultation or input from governors and represents an unprecedented shift in authority from governors as commander and chief of the guard, to the federal government.”

Help me stand up to George W. Bush. As governor of Ohio I will issue an executive order as commander in chief of the Ohio National Guard to prohibit the further deployment of Ohioans to Iraq. I’ve been criticized on the web by so-called pragmatic Democrats. A better word for them is unprincipled. The Democratic Party, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton are equally responsible for the illegal war and the deaths of 100,000 citizens in Iraq. If Democrats would be more principled, and less pragmatic, 100,000 innocent Iraqis would be alive and the United States would not be hated throughout the Middle East.

Pragmatism is another word for cowardice.

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End The Atrocities In Iraq

This Memorial Day I reflected on the war dead in Iraq. Not just the U.S. soldiers, but the more than 30,000, and possibly as high as 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed in this unjust war. When individuals make such atrocious mistakes, based on misinformation and lies, they should immediately cease their sinful actions and offer restitution. Rest assured that our president is a war criminal, guilty of conspiring, planning and waging an aggressive and illegal war on a country that posed no threat to us. J. Kenneth Hackwell, a well-known buddy of neo-con Richard Perle, supports the same policy of regime change embraced by the Bush administration. I believe that all life is intrinsically valuable and I like to call this position pro-life. That’s why I am opposed to war except as a last resort in an act of self defense.

The U.S. Marines who slaughtered the 24 innocent Iraqi civilians in the western town of Haditha are murderers and must be tried and condemned as such. The war in Iraq is over. We have lost the hearts of minds of the Iraqi people. Not that we ever had them. We were told our troops would be greeted with sweets and flowers – an absurd lie, and no imperialist occupying force has ever been thus treated. Now, as in Vietnam, our troops can’t tell the difference between the “good” Iraqis and the “bad” Iraqis. We are in the middle of a civil war, which is draining our country financially and militarily. The Bush regime is perhaps the most hated political regime in American history. Hated not only by the people of the world, but despised by the vast majority of U.S. citizens. If you love this country and support its troops, you’ll do all you can to bring them home and disassociated them with this illegal and immoral war.

As governor of the state I plan to issue a direct order prohibiting the Ohio National Guard from serving in Iraq and to appoint a commission of legal scholars and academics to investigate whether or not the president should be indicted for war crimes. That is the Ohio I would be proud of, the same one that stood firm against slavery during the Civil War. Not one that blindly supports an irrational war-mongering, war-profiteering faux Texan.

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The “New Totalitarianism”

Fraudbuster Bob Fitrakis and his longtime colleague and co-author Harvey Wasserman have written a new analysis of the current political situation entitled, “The ‘New Totalitarianism’ Now Defines A Desperate Neo-con End Game,” which is available in full at the Columbus (Ohio) Free Press website:  https://freepress.org/departments/display/20/2006/1946. Here are the first few paragraphs:

As the Bush/neo-con kleptocracy disintegrates in a toxic cloud of military defeat, economic bankruptcy, environmental disaster and escalating mega-scandal, its attack on basic American freedoms – its “New Totalitarianism” – has escalated to a desperate new level, including brutal Soviet-style prosecutions against non-violent dissidents and an all-out offensive for state secrecy, including an attack on the internet.

In obvious panic and disarray, the GOP right has turned to a time-honored strategy – kill the messengers. While it slaughters Americans and Iraqis to “bring democracy” to the Middle East, it has made democracy itself public enemy Number One here at home.

The New Totalitarianism has become tangible in particular through a string of terrifying prosecutions against non-violent dissenters, an attack on open access to official government papers, and the attempted resurrection by right-wing “theorists” of America’s most repressive legislation, dating back to the 1950s, 1917 and even 1797.

Bush’s universal spy campaign is the cutting edge of the assault. The GOP Attorney-General has told Congress both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln engaged in electronic wiretapping. He has deemed the Geneva war crimes accords a “quaint” document and treats the Bill of Rights the same way.

Read more

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The suburban dream came forth on heavy government subsidies, welfare if you will, and the promise of cheap gas. Most are familiar with the story of how General Motors and Big Oil conspired to destroy the mass transit system in L.A. and other major cities. But now that we’re in one long continuous unending war for fossil fuels in the Middle East, the question is what should we do locally here in Ohio?

Planes should be the transportation of last resort, only for long distance travel or absolute necessity. Local, affordable, fuel-efficient mass transit is a must in Ohio’s major cities. The creation of a European or Japanese-style rail system is essential.

Re-thinking suburbia (“sprawlburbia”) and  promoting green architecture, which encourages people to walk instead of driving everywhere, should be accepted goals for all Ohioans.

Read more

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Reviving the “No Nukes” Movement

Americans must first accept the fact that their president is criminal, and with his numerous twitches and jerks, perhaps criminally insane. But, around him is a small group of hardcore ideologues, so-called neocons.

In Ohio, we need to revive the “No Nukes” movement. The Bush administration’s dream of using “bunker busting” tactical nuclear weapons against Iran is an illegal violation of international law. Iran is no threat to the United States. Public documents indicate they are 10 years away from developing any sort of delivery system that would threaten the U.S.

It is absolutely hypocritical for the United States to allow Pakistan, which harbors bin Laden, sold nuclear weapons to the North Koreans, and created the Taliban, to have nuclear weapons while we threaten nuclear annihilation of the Iranian people. The Bush logic of saying “it’s bad to have nukes . . . so we’ll nuke you,” is beyond bizarre. The acceptance of the Israeli nuclear weapons, as well as our complicity in the creation of their nukes, must also be publicly dealt with.

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Exposing Bush As A War Criminal

You’re not supposed to compare George W. Bush’s foreign policy to Nazi Germany. But that’s exactly what Australian-born Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith did at his recent court martial proceeding. Kendall-Smith refused to return to Iraq, citing the war against Iraq as an “act of aggression.”

“I have evidence that the Americans were on par with Nazi Germany with its actions in the Persian Gulf . . . this is on the basis that ongoing acts of aggression in Iraq and systematically applied war crimes provide a moral equivalent between the U.S. and Nazi Germany,” Kendall-Smith argued in his defense.

While the Holocaust rightfully tends to obscure other crimes that the German government committed, we ought to recall the principles of Nuremberg. It is against the law to conspire, plan, and wage aggressive war. That is precisely what Bush did in Iraq and now what he’s planning to do in Iran.

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We Must Defend Cynthia McKinney

Progressives should rise to the defense of Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Having read Michael Rupert’s brilliant essay, “The Beloved Cynthia McKinney,” I can only wonder how twisted the politics are in this society where a possibly drunken Vice President can shoot his hunting partner and not answer to the police, while McKinney is vilified as a possible felon for a minor scrape with a Capitol police officer.

To understand McKinney’s relationship with the Capitol police, people should view the groundbreaking documentary “American Blackout.” The gutless and soulless mainstream Democrats that denounce McKinney are exactly the reason why the party has been in the minority for the last 12 years in Congress, and has allowed the Bush crime family to steal the last two elections.

McKinney is a national treasure. Whatever minor mistake she made, we should not allow a criminal presidency that is waging illegal war, responsible for the death of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens, to tell us who should be reprimanded in Congress and pursued for criminal charges.

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How We Can Best Defend Our Nation

Our great nation is at a crossroads and we the people must move quickly and creatively to avert catastrophe and defend the national security of our country. On the third anniversary of the unconscionable and illegal attack on Iraq, we must confront the president and his small circle of sycophants. The Bush regime lacks the competence, vision, wisdom and moral compass to lead America. The case is clear. Read more

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Peace is Patriotic

As the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion approaches this weekend, I support the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq.

The Iraq invasion is a stain on the integrity of the United States. It is an illegal and immoral war based on perhaps the most well-known lie in the world. That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It is now being justified by an even more ridiculous lie that we are there to bring democracy to Iraq.

Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorist network responsible for 9/11 are arch enemies of Saddam Hussein. Osama is a pan-Islamic fundamentalist seeking to create a greater Islamic empire. Saddam is a secular pan-Arab nationalist seeking a United States of Arabia.

Now, with the publishing of the Downing Street memos, we know that Bush and Cheney deliberately lied us into war. This violates not only the UN Charter, but the principles we established at Nuremberg. If we are to regain our integrity as a nation, we must seek the impeachment of our president. Read more

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