What is clear is that, right now, our government AS A WHOLE supports the war in Iraq, regardless of what the american people may or may not be thinking, and regardless of how stupid they may or may not be. That is the bigger problem.

-- John Anderson

I couldn't agree more John. I am however no longer willing to let the American people off the hook for their stupidity and/or ignorance. Nor am I willing to abide our lack of action to remedy our problems. We can only blame our incompetent, corrupt, evil, etc. politicians and press for so long. I wrote the following the other day in response to another post. Perhaps it explains my thinking a bit better:

Oh yes, we voted for an end to the occupation and there have been a few protests, but we have never taken it to the level it needs to be taken to. The thieving crooks and warmongers in charge and the Democrats who enable them are not listening. They have proven time and time again that they are not listening. In the end they are not to blame. We know who and what they are. Glenn Greenwald has been writing about it for what seems like an eternity now. We know what they are going to do and not do... some of us have known this for quite some time. In the end it is not their fault. They are a known quantity. It is our own fault -- we haven't given them enough reason to listen.

We don't care about the Iraqis and we don't care about our own state of affairs. We don't care enough, so ultimately we get what we deserve -- what we have asked for through our inaction.

.

As the continuation of war would certainly be no secret, public outrage would escalate to explosive proportions. I am not necessarily talking about violent demonstrations, but certainly immense pressure being applied to our representatives to, in fact, commence impeachment procedures (or at least credibly threaten impeachment).

What evidence to you have to support this assertion? And again, even if that were the case -- the "immesnse pressure applied" -- what evidence can you point to that supports the notion they will respond in positive ways? This is not the Vietnam era and these are not Vietnam era politicians. This is a whole different breed of asshat we are dealing with. I honestly believe that. We have never seen this level of audacity, mendacity and corruption before. Never. I do not think we can ignore recent history and conclude that BushCo and these bought and paid for, MIC congressional whores will do anything other than stay the course. I also do not believe the American people are capable of real protest. So, all of that said, I am not sure we should count on the defunding of the occupation as being a point of change. I just don't buy it. To believe in that would be to ascribe positive qualities to politicians that they, until now, have never had or shown. There have been many issues over the past few years where we have said "surely this will not stand, surely BushCo isn't really going to do that, surely congress will put a stop to this madness, surely the American people will put a stop to this madness" and every time we are surprised that nothing is done, that no action is taken, that the madness continues. Why should we suppose this time would be different?

Regardless I don't see the point. Much of this could be "cured" by simply striking at the root instead of hacking at the leaves. Impeach Bush... hell impeach his entire administration. Waiting and hoping for change is just silly when the means to actually correct the problem are present. I realize it is a bit more complicated than that. Simply impeaching BushCo isn't going to solve all our problems but it is a hell of a good place to start and yet we are not even discussing it. We are discussing whether or not an illegal "war" based on lies should or should not continue to be funded and whether an imbecile who fancies himself king should be able to continue to run rough shod over the wishes of the American people. It is silly.

First I was a Marine....

Then I was a hippie...

Now I'm a neocon's worst nightmare, a hippie that can pick you off at five hundred meters with iron sights.

Just remember your elevation and windage. They are puny and always blowing hot air -- those to items have to be accounted for.

One of our brothers is being shafted. Follow the link. Digg it. Do whatever... this country is for shit.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/01/the-antiwar-activist-that-the-right-wing-dare-not-smear/