From Political Rival to Top Cabinet Position.

It is all but official that New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will become the next Secretary of State under the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. Clinton, who is seen by many as the leading rival of Obama within the Democratic Party, now is taking a huge step over political stubbornness and is accepting a position. Although highly coveted, this position will take her away from the political stage which she has grown to love. Many have argued that the Democratic Party is currently split in two. One group being the strong supporters of Obama who are among all age groups within the party, but with a large majority being those under the age of 45.  While group two are strong supporters of Clinton. The demographic makeup for Clinton supporters are those more mature in age and more women tend to support Clinton.  Supporters of both Obama and Clinton have been mixed in their reviews of this next phase in the Clinton/Obama saga. It seems that the majority of not only Democrats, but Americans as a whole, view Clinton’s rise to the head of the State Department as a good choice.

However, there are some who are very skeptical of this rumored pick. There are some Obama supporters who were very angered by the campaign run by Clinton during the primary season and did not wish to see her attaining a top level position in the Obama Administration. While they understand the reasoning that Obama is picking a “Team of Rivals,” they feel with Clinton at the helm of the State Department she will slowly but surely begin to create her own foreign policies and will push back against the orders from the Oval Office as much as she will follow those orders. With Clinton being married to former President Bill Clinton, his foundation donor lists being in question during the primary season, there are some who would question Hillary’s motivation while working with those international officials who have been major financial backers of her husband.  Then you have those supporters of Clinton who are excited to see their preferred presidential candidate rising to a high level position and they wonder if this choice was all but political. With Clinton being the top rival of Obama’s supporters, many have been quietly murmuring that this choice removes her from the political scene, and that all Obama is doing with the creation of his “Team of Rivals” is to ensure that he is the only leader within his party. They feel this move is to ensure that Clinton remains a strong supporter of Obama’s and is unable to create any new whirlwind that she may decide to run again during the 2012 election (this is of course contingent on the fact that Clinton remains Secretary of State for Obama’s entire first term).

One must also consider what will be the role of a Vice President Biden, who was during the general election, a strength for Obama in terms of foreign policy. Now with Clinton at the head of the State Department, what will this mean to Biden who has vowed to be an integral part of the foreign policy strategies as the issues may arise. This however seems to be far from reality with Clinton in control of the State Department. One thing is clear about Clinton, and that is simple, she is a leader and if she is taking the post at the State Dept. it will have been made clear that she will run the department without much input from Biden unless the orders come from the Oval Office.

Who really knows what this decision will actually mean to President-Elect Obama or Senator Clinton. It is certain that from the outset this seems to be a positive joint venture and will bring the celebrity cabinet that Obama desires.

Wake Up America

Why America? Why?

What are we fighting for in Iraq?

What are we trying to win?

What are we trying to accomplish?

What are we winning?

Where is the honor in fighting in Iraq when we invaded on false pretenses?

What is the mission we are trying to accomplish?

We used the names and the lives who were lost on 9/11 in vain to validate a dishonorable war in

Iraq.

What are We doing America?

Why have we lost sight of our true American Ways?

When will America act like America and have the unity that makes us the “United” States?

We all must be able to compromise on our views,feelings, and opinions in order to do good for the Whole.

“He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it. “- Confucius

We as a Nation must grow together as one. Since the days of our founding fathers we have been

the light of the world’s horizon and to ensure that our light shines into the future collectively as

one we must resound the voices of liberty across the world.

Wake Up America.

- William Gilbert, Jr.

Dear America

Dear America,

“For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. “- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We have come to a time in American History, where the hour of change is at hand for every American citizen. It is now apparent that we as Americans have allowed the past administration to neglect the very nation we hold so true. Under the administrations past have allowed our troops to fight for honor in a dishonorable war and our economy slip into economic peril. For far too many years we have bled our economy with two wars and as a result we have lost jobs for hard working Americans, neglected our infrastructure , and crippled our credit market. We have fed the bellies of fats cats in Washington and Wall Street to the point that the entire U.S. economy is suffering from economic starvation.

“Don’t forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

The war in Iraq alone has unmercifully bled our economy dry and set of a chain reaction of economic calamity across the entire globe. The Iraqi war was founded on false and dishonorable pretenses and has adversely strained our alliances across the world. Many believe that if we stay in Iraq that somehow we can win a fruitless war and leave with our dignity and honor. Yet, the reality is that we must admit and apologize for our dishonorable intrusion of Iraq ,for that is the true honorable way. The definition of Honor is as stated: honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions. A nation with honor is a nation who is honest in it’s values to be truthful to its people and the world. A nation with honor has the fairness to allow other nations to live in peace and prosperity. A nation with true honor is a nation with integrity, integrity to admit to their mistakes and take pride in correcting them. This America is Honor.

The past five years of war has severely wounded the American economy and to heal these wounds we must end our campaign in Iraq. The economic hemorrhaging of the Iraq war has crippled this great nation and strained our foreign stance in the world. We as a nation must unify under our founding principles of Liberty and Freedom to restore our glory and democracy.

“I am concerned about the whole man. I am concerned about what the people, using their government as an instrument and a tool, can do toward building the whole man, which will mean a better society and a better world. “- Lyndon B. Johnson

Together as a nation we must mature in to one and at this time in America we have lost sight of the unity that made us into a nation. For America to survive the test of time must open our minds and allow the bells of liberty ring into the 21st Century.
Sincerely,

William Gilbert, Jr.

Two Thirds of Americans Live in Constitution Free Zone

If you live in a metro area close to an international border like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, or Miami you now live in a constitution free zone. That’s at least what the ACLU says in a new map released which hopes to raise awareness of a little known law passed by congress after 9/11 that allows the Department of Homeland Security to set up immigration checkpoints within 100 miles of a border, and that includes the oceans.

In the meantime Homeland Security has set up at least 33 checkpoints deep inside the United States. They have at least two cited two incidents in which a San Diego music professor with an all American name, Craig Johnson, and a San Diego retiree who with his wife, were stopped by the authorities on a road east of San Diego, at least 15 miles from the U.S. border. In other instances people using purely domestic ferries in Oregon were searched by border patrol agents.

This is clearly a violation of the fourth amendment because the border exception was meant to only protect borders, it never was meant to allow two thirds of Americans to be covered in a zone where at any moment federal border agents could demand to search your vehicle and see your passport.

Maryland Police Spied on Peace Protesters

When Republican governor Robert Ehrlich governed Maryland, police infiltrated anti war and anti death penalty groups with undercover officers. The police found no illegal activity occurring, but invested over 200 hours of surveillance of various groups reports the Washington Post:

Detailed intelligence reports logged by at least two agents in the police department’s Homeland Security and Intelligence Division reveal close monitoring of the movements as the Iraq war and capital punishment were heatedly debated in 2005 and 2006.

Organizational meetings, public forums, prison vigils, rallies outside the State House in Annapolis and e-mail group lists were infiltrated by police posing as peace activists and death penalty opponents, the records show. The surveillance continued even though the logs contained no reports of illegal activity and consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests.

While attending a meeting as undercover officers isn’t technically illegal, it still does raise some flags. But then we found out that various participants were described as “anarchist and socialist” and one was entered into a criminal database:

A well-known antiwar activist from Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, 63, was singled out by the undercover agents and entered into a “Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” database. His entry indicates a “Primary Crime” of “Terrorism-anti-government” and a “Secondary Crime” of “Terrorism-Anti-War Protesters,” according to the documents.

These anti-violence groups never did anything violent (I know, shocking) to advance their interests. The police eventually concluded that their might be “tensions” but nothing particularly dangerous about their protests. What’s not clear is if the now Democratic governor, Martin O’Malley has continued these surveillance programs.

Update

Current Democratic governor Martin O’Malley has commented on this matter, as the Post writes in a follow up article:

Governor Martin O’Malley says state police are obligated to investigate threats to public safety, but his administration will not use public resources to monitor the peaceful exercise of free speech.

The governor noted Friday that state police must investigate threats to public safety. But if there is no evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing, all intelligence gathering must stop.

Hersh: Congress Agreed to Bush Request to Fund Major Escalation in Secret Operations Against Iran

Veteran Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh has published an article in the New Yorker Magazine that asserts that congressional leaders agreed to a request from President Bush last year to greatly increase funding, to 400 million dollars, for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran. This escalation of these covert and secret activities is meant to destabilize the religious leadership of Iran. Hersh wrote his article based upon information from “current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources.” The article notes that covert activities by the United States are not new in Iran–we have been conducting cross-border operations from Southern Iraq since last year.

The request for the $400 million was described in something called a “Presidential Finding”, signed by President Bush, and, under Federal Law, these Presidential Findings “must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees”. The article by Hersh noted later that, “In other words, some members of the Democratic leadership—Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy.” This is a glaring contradiction and hypocrisy that is certainly not unfamiliar to the politics of the United States.

I hope that we all can now clearly see that the Republican Party is a war-like party of imperialists and interventionists. And I hope that we can now also clearly see that the Democratic Party is a war-like party of imperialists and interventionists, through their aiding and abetting of policies that are as such. I hope that we can now clearly see that both political parties are about policing the world, and spending huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to do so. We are spending 400 million dollars alone on trying to destabilize one single country. That money could have gone to education. That money could have gone to healthcare. That money could have gone to infrastructure. But, out of all of the needy areas of our country, our political leaders, of both parties, decided to direct the money instead towards destabilizing another country. 400 million dollars! That could not be described as “spare change”. Obviously, though, there is no “change” that our leaders can spare. And the small, superficial change that they do provide is worthless.

But Iran is not the only country targeted by the United States. According to Dennis Kucinich’s 35 Articles of Impeachment against President Bush, “On September 30, 2001, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld established an official military objective of overturning the regime in Iran, as well as those in Iraq, Syria, and four other countries in the Middle East, according to a document quoted in then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith’s book, ‘War and Decision’.” The four other countries in the Middle East were, according to Wesley Clark, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and Lebanon.

It is my opinion that the United States has been the interventionist policeman of the world for too long. And especially covert interventions, because that promotes “blowback”, defined as a term used in espionage to describe the unintended consequences of covert operations. Hatred in the Middle East towards the United States as a result of our covert operations targeting Middle-Easterners, and then Middle-Easterners demonstrating their hatred in a terrorist attack, is an example of blowback.

Is it honestly in our best interest to undertake operations such as this, especially when domestic issues are in such dire need of attention? And, ask yourself, do we even have the right to interfere in and destabilize another country, someone else’s country, as such? My personal opinion is that we have neither the right nor the obligation to try to destablize the governments of other countries and throw them into political chaos. Aside from the concerns of blowback and the misplacement of tax money, it is very important to do unto others as you would want done unto yourself.

Kucinich reads Bush Articles of Impeachment on the House floor

I flipped on my television at approximately ten-thirty Eastern time on Monday night, and I was pleasantly surprised to find Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) speaking on C-Span. Kucinich was talking about President Bush and his various crimes against the United States, and I soon became aware that the Representative was introducing Articles of Impeachment against President Bush (also known as House Resolution 1258).

Dennis Kucinich had begun his long trudge through the Articles two hours earlier, and he would continue his reading, to an almost empty House chamber, for nearly another three hours. There were 35 Articles in total, each one detailing a crime that Bush had committed that warranted impeachment. I congratulate Kucinich for having the courage and conviction to undertake this task.

A summary of each offense for each Article, as provided by the index of the Articles of Impeachment, reads as follows: Read more

What’s next for Hillary?

It is certain now that Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic Candidate for the election for presidency. Even though Hillary Clinton has lost in her race for presidency, I think she can still be an influential figure in politics.

I hardly think that she should sign up for Vice President. Even though the idea of it is noble, we must consider how the ‘race’ went down. It was a constant stream of attacks from both sides. Not pretty at all. Grudges can and will be held and it will just turn out to be a mess.

However, I think she is the perfect member to serve in the Cabinet. I can see her serving as the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. That way, she can still strive for reforms for affordable health care and other human needs.

Politics of Insanity

Over the past couple decades, the American people have seen the incompetence, corruption, and inability to get anything done among the collective group of their elected officials. These elected officials find themselves indebted to lobbyists and corporations who donate to their political campaigns, rather than their constituents, and so they often find it necessary to represent and work for their corporations rather than their constituents. Many Americans these days are probably now wondering, “How do I go about picking a candidate who is competent and able and who is not corrupt, so that I can then vote for them and work for them, so that they can get into office and work for me?”

It is difficult attempting to scrutinize each candidate to try to determine what exactly they are thinking, so I have come up with a better solution to ascertain that the candidate that you elect will work for you, and work hard. For those candidates running for elected office, what the constituents need to do is to all get together, have the candidates in front of them, and then everyone stand back and each throw one dart towards the candidates. I almost can guarantee you that the candidate who receives the most darts will work, and work hard, for his or her constituents. They shan’t want any darts thrown at them again.

But, seriously, friends, there is an incompetence, corruption, and ineffectiveness that seems to be held collectively among our elected officials, with a few exceptions. It also seems to be held, generally, among both of the major political parties. What we, the American people, have essentially been doing these past several decades is swinging back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans, reverting from one to the other when one does not satisfactorily execute its promises. When we tire of one party, the other party shouts, “Here! We can do all of the things that you want, and more! We shall be a ‘change’ from this other useless party!” But this new party does not deliver on its promises either.

We switch back and forth, finding each party unsatisfactory over and over again, and we expect different results each time the Democrats or each time the Republicans promise to bring different results. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is, according to Albert Einstein, the very definition of insanity.
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Hillary’s original 3 A.M. Ad!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge8afD3q7yA[/youtube]

 

Above is the original cut of Hillary Clinton’s (in)famous 3 A.M. ringing phone ad. It was recently discovered on the cutting room floor, and you can only see it here at ThinkYouth.Org!

 

Executive Efficacy Expanded

Many, many people in these united states long for the day upon which George W. Bush will vacate the Presidency. During Bush’s terms in office, he has gotten us into a Quagmire in Iraq (and has engaged in a generally arrogant and foolish foreign policy), deftly removed many of our civil liberties from us, racked up record deficits, exploited the people’s fear of terrorism (which helped him to win elections, achieve his agenda, and rob us of our apparently undeserved liberties), and, most importantly, greatly increased the power and influence of the Executive Branch. The People long for Bush’s exit because they are tired of these repeated abuses and usurpations, and with the hope that, once Dubya leaves, we’ll be able to get a Democrat or at least a moderate in office and get America back onto the right track. This perspective is not in agreement with my own; in point of fact, I disagree with it very strongly. It seems to me that this belief is the product of the very ignorance which allowed Bush to expand his office and worsen the state of the country in the first place. Let me take just a few moments in order to explain my thoughts more clearly on this matter. Read more

Corporate Control

It is a well-known and unfortunate fact in the United States that businesses, corporations, and special interests play a much greater role in our politics and government than we would certainly like it to. There has been, for decades, if not centuries, the element to our politics that is the corrupting influence of money. It has become particularly pronounced in recent years, especially in this 2008 Presidential Election, where candidates of both political parties are raising millions and millions of dollars each in campaign cash. In fact, this could be the first billion-dollar presidential campaign in our country’s history. That is, assuredly, not a positive sign.

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The Illogicality of Perpetual Wars

Throughout human history, humankind has been fond of waging perpetual wars, the meaning of which being a war waged upon an enemy that can never be definitively defeated. We likely do this because we are rather illogical creatures, creatures whose passions and prejudices can easily trump logic. In modern times, one place in the world where this illogicality of perpetual war has fully taken root is the United States of America. Given, all countries behave illogically to some extent (as they are all governed by fallible human beings), but America is the one that I know the most about. This illogicality is illustrated perfectly by two “wars”, one military and one not, that America currently is waging: the War on Terror and the War on Drugs.

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Trade

Trade is an issue which, relative to more prominent issues, many do not feel strongly about. It is an issue upon which the mainstream candidates from each of the major parties agree, so it can not be used as an issue to inflame voters with partisanship and get them to go to the polls to vote against the opposition party. Trade is quite unlike the issues of abortion, or gay marriage, or the War in Iraq, in that respect. However, I believe that Trade is a very important issue which affects all of our lives here in the United States on a daily basis. Specifically, whether the United States assumes the policies of Free Trade or of Fair Trade.

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