When Does the Lesser Evil Become Just Evil?

House Resolution 1955 must have been numbered to reflect the rebirth of the House Un-American Activities Committee, that was flailing in its McCarthyite abuse of US citizens that year after McCarthy's vicious anticommunist burlesque a year after Joseph Nye Welch rebuked McCarthy publicly during one of his Congressional show trials.

The revival of these witch hunts is not being headed up by Republicans, but by Democrat Representative Jane Harmon of California's 36th District. So much for the mythical Republican threat. As always, when it goes to shit, Democratic operatives will blame the neo-cons, or whomever, and self-absolve. Those bad, bad authoritarian Republicans!

Let me remind readers that no President in the last seven decades has had a more devastating effect on the African American community -- the greatest captive demographic of this lesser-evil scam -- than Bill Clinton, whose "crime bill" facilitated the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Black, non-violent offenders who were already facing the perils of ubiquitous prosecutorial misconduct, bigoted judges and juries, and vast sentencing disparities.

Read Harmon's Orwellian masterpiece... and weep. The Dems are showing freaked-out Suburbia that they can wipe their ass with the Constitution just as well as any Republican, if it will just stop all that "violent radicalization." And the women in the men's club are proving they can be just as mean and asinine as any man.

Hardly any Democrat is challenging the recent Bush administration propaganda that Iran's government is producing and distributing weapons for Iraqi resistance fighters.

The US military has been claiming all year that Iran is sending explosively-formed-penetrators (EFPs) into Iraq; and to date has not shown a single shred of supportable evidence to back this up. In fact, no one has demonstrated that Iran is any kind of threat to the US. The reason -- dare I say it -- is that the whole thing is a lie. That's spelled L-I-E. It means an intentional fabrication.

It's no surprise that the defense-industry press pretends otherwise, but the vast majority of Democrats have already been harmonized on the message that Iran is dangerous.

They say that the truth is the first casualty of war. It's also the first casualty of Democratic political campaigns... the exceptions this time being a few like Kucinich and Cindy Sheehan.

How many Democrats are pushing for sanctions against Iran? On what grounds? Nukes? They don't have any. Israel does, though. No sanctions there. So does Pakistan, India, China, France, etc etc. No sanctions anywhere. Most of the nukes are in the US, however, and no one is sanctioning us.

For that matter, what are Democrats saying about the government of Venezuela? ... now the most advanced experiment in this hemisphere in popular democracy. Have any of the front-runners for the Oval Office decried the US-supported coup attempt against that democratically elected government? No, Nancy Pelosi called President Chavez "an everyday thug." Her support for that statement? There is none.

Have any of the Democratic front-runners made a peep about the successful US-orchestrated coup against the democratically elected government of Haiti? Obama said he would "support a fact-finding mission." A fuken fact-finding mission! About a transparent US overthrow of a legitimate government! The rest of them? Silence.

Which of them showed up at Jena?

How many of them will dare speak out about Israeli abuses of Palestinians? Or even the recent attacks against academic freedom by American Zionists? Among the front-runners? Zero, that's how many.

They won't even vote to impeach the current band of gangsters, though there is evidence aplenty to do so.

Here is what we should be telling them, instead of holding out the perennial hope that this "lesser evil" will somehow show us a difference.

Tell them they can all go straight to hell.

I'll vote Kucinich in the primary. Likely as not, that will be my last vote above the state level. And then I'll tell people to resist, resist, resist... and Congresswoman Harmon can investigate us for our "violent radicalizations."

Comments

[smavo]

Regarding where Stan said, "The US military has been claiming all year that Iran is sending explosively-formed-penetrators (EFPs) into Iraq; and to date has not shown a single shred of supportable evidence to back this up. In fact, no one has demonstrated that Iran is any kind of threat to the US. The reason -- dare I say it -- is that the whole thing is a lie. That's spelled L-I-E. It means an intentional fabrication."
~
I found an interesting quote yesterday pertaining to this. I think it was on Rense.com and called that "Why Americans will believe practically anything"
Anyhow, here is the pertinant quote,

"No weapons were ever found, nor will they be. So confident was the PR machine in the general inattention to detail commonly exhibited by the comatose American people that they didn't even find it necessary to plant a few mass weapons in order to justify the invasion. It was almost insulting."

[WiseOne]

The lesser evil only becomes just plain evil only when it becomes the greater evil.

Or when it leaves politics. People who don't vote for the lesser evil ALWAYS hand power to the greater evil.

The greater good and lesser good never figure into politics. Politics will always be contest between the greater evil and the lesser.

Be prgamatic and realistic. Temper idealism with realism. Vote for the lesser evil and pray. The lesser evil has hope of redemption because they have not yet become the greater evil; the greater evil will never be redeemed.

[woof13]

I agree with Mr. Goff. That said, can I also make an observation?

Where was Mr. Goff (and several of you posting comments) when Clinton was sending Janet Reno and her forces out to shoot the likes of the Branch Davidians, the wife and son of Randy Weaver, and doing other rather fascist things to various militias who--though you lefties might not like what they believe--were only standing up for their Constitutional rights to own guns and speak their peace? Do you honerstly believe that you have a right to claim that "we must resist fascism" ONLY for causes you agree with, when, as Voltaire (I think) said rightly, "I disagree with what you say but will defend to my death your right to say it?" Will you also come to the aid of those so-called "far-right-wing" groups you don't like just as you denounced the likes of Koresh and Weaver, who you called "gun nuts," "Neo-Nazis" "white supremists" and the rest oif the epethits used by the Clintons and their supporters.

In other words, not just progressives have civil rights...civil rights being abused, whether by the Bushies or the Clintons, the left or the right, should be denounced by all.

[chabuka]

Burn the House & (Senate) to the ground...it no longer belongs to "the people"....

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable...(President) J.F.K.

[762X39mm]

nice work.

Reading ENDGAME right now (D Jensen)...

[JWakkaJane]

`(6) Preventing the potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily accomplished solely through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and can benefit from the incorporation of State and local efforts.

. . . unaffiliated?

As in nonpartisan, bipartisan, anonymous, decentralized, as in no particular discreditable figureheads, as in general movement in a general direction within a non-organized general populace, as in independently spontaneous as in an unquantifiable multiplicity of unanticapatable ways and places, as in a vast undefinable majority, as in mercurially unmachiavellian sheer numbers, as in, uhhh, . . .

One Nation Indivisible?

Guess I ain't the only one in this rapidly developing police state seeing the brevity and tactical genius of employing concepts like 'unaffiliated'.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

Choir here, Stan, I've been preaching since a week before the election, and Pelosi's infamous 60 Minutes "Off the Table" show, that we'd been sold out by a one-party K-Street system in OUR Government. Why on earth would ANYONE give away the leverage for investigation before ever you start one?

And then today I hear the Blackwater gaurds are promised immunity while OUR soldiers are always prosecuted. Can State Department actually grant criminal immunity for non-foreign diplomats? Just a question...
It's a stain and a kick in the teeth to OUR service people everywhere. Not to mention they've ALL been placed in jeopardy of torture themselves now. The dems helped pass the Military Commissions Act, violating their oaths to The Constitution and providing ex-post facto pardon for ALL war crimes, ...'that weren't done by service persons'.

Uh huh...

EVERY vote seems scripted to be 'close' but always in favor of corporations and NEVER the citizens. The K-Street Way...


Great piece of TRUTH, Stan, thanks!!!

[WorkingClass]

"Tell them they can all go straight to hell".

Thanks Stan. Voting for the Democrats legitimizes the police state.

[Plowboy]

Telling the truth is not popular in America now. (It is even forbidden in the MSM and most blogs!) It is recognized as too sad to talk about in feel good circles.
But, thanks, Stan. Truthg may not be pleasing but it is what we have, if we have any hope of coming out of this.
I'll support Kucinich simply because he has the best policies. But I know that he won't get far, simply because he has the best policies.
Our best policies repudiate our slavery to those evils now wrecking our nation. But our political (mis)leaders have been bought and have sold us out.
Only slaves can be bought and sold.
Where is our Sparticus?

[762X39mm]

Lock & load! Right on Stan.

reading Endgame right now...

[Desiderata]

SEC. 899B. FINDINGS.
`The Congress finds the following:
`(1) The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be utilized to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism.
`(2) The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.
`(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.

`SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.
`(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.

[cynara]

Okay, on re-reading it appears that this resolution establishes a commission and a center to study homegrown terrorism. Please correct me if I've missed anything.

That said, I thought this line was a bit funny:
"Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations."

Uhhh, yea, lets learn from the United Kingdom how to alienate our Muslim minority.... Maybe its me, but it always seems that when the government attempts to proactively go after a political, religious, or any other radical organization, it only makes them more radical (i.e. Black Panthers, communists, etc...). Commissions aren't a horrible thing, as long as they don't lead to premptive prosecutions, since alienation is the main cause of homegrown terror (and I didn't even need a study or a commission to figure that out!)

[cynara]

Ack, executive summary needed! I read the resolution on the link you posted me, but lord knows, I don't understand it. What exactly will this resolution do?

[research]

Iran.

As I understand it, Iran is in compliance with the NPT and the IAEC rules. It is the security counsel that is insisting Iran not have the ability to reprocesses fuel even though, so far, Iran has allowed inspections and is not creating even 6% U235, far short of the 90% needed for weapons.

As to arming the insurgents, even if I believed a word from BushCo, so what? The USA is the breaking the law just being in Iraq, I wish Iran would only supply non-lethal weapons, but Iran actually has the right to resist US occupation! Please, I mean no insult to our brave soldiers, this is a BushCo sin.

[nancytheragingliberal]

Research, Thanks for the well researched answer to Cynara and me. No matter how you cut it, the future looks grim. Your, "BushCo sin" comment, I am sure, will be agreed to around the globe. There is no stopping the "bomb, bomb, bomb....bomb bomb Iran train. " Tragic. I long for peaceful times,and kindness to all in the world. Please readers, do not think for one minute that the majority of Americans go along with this hate-filled cauldron, created by the "W" Administration.

[research]

Kucinich is my candidate too.

Why is the coverage of candidates almost perfectly inversely proportional to how close they are to mainstream American values?

http://www.dehp.net/candidate/stats.php

In a poll of nearly 10,000 people, Kucinich wins hands down, with Gravel about half as good, Obama 1/4 as good and the rest less then 1/10th as good.

[Fusion]

GREAT!