30 billion here, 20 billion there and pretty soon we are talking about some real money. Why should we worry about improving our schools and making prescriptions meds more affordable? Why should we worry about making college more accessible to our children? We are setting in motion the solution to those problems now, we are creating the environment where we can continue to have war in the future so we can get as many of our citizens killed as possible. 

Think of the money we will save as a nation by not having to provide retirement to all of the soldiers we get killed in the war of choice. We will not have to worry about getting them educated either because they will be too busy trying to survive the next big war that we could be working to avoid, but no, we are actually creating the need for future wars with our actions today. I say we because, we the people, own the responsibility for these wars we have allowed to take place. Oh, I know that it is easy to blame "them", but we have to accept our responsibility for it as well. 

There are over 300 million Americans and there are 535 congressional people, 2 members of the executive branch of government, ( no matter what Dick says about the VP position) and 9 members of the supreme court. All of the people in our government are accountable to us. But in order for us to be an effective part of our government we have to become aware of what is happening. We are the fourth branch of government, not the press corps as they want you to believe, and we are going to have to become much more informed about what our hired help are up to. Actually we are the first branch of government because our constitution gives us the ultimate responsibility for ensuring our nation follows the ideals on which it was founded.

Eisenhower tried to warn us about the military-industrial complex but we did not heed his words very well. It is sad that we, the people of the United States, have sat back and let this combination of special arms interests and weak and complacent congressional representatives take our country down this path. As I look back at some of the things I have seen in my life I realize this is exactly what these people want; for us to blindly accept whatever they say as the gospel. We cannot lay all of the blame on those people though, we have to accept our share of the blame as we deserve because we have not ensured the checks and balances of power, as envisioned by the framers of the constitution, are being enforced.

I have been as guilty of accepting the politicians words as anyone else but now I can no longer not see what has been right in front of me all along. These people do not care about a constitutional form of government, they only use the words democracy and freedom to advance their agenda of increasing their wealth and their power over us. I have been studying the constitution very much recently and I realize the true authority over the American people isn't the people we hire to do the work of the government, no, it is not them at all,  it is us.

What the hell is this administration thinking? If I remember correctly, Osama Bin Ladin is Saudi and fourteen of the eighteen hi-jackers on September 11th 2001 were Saudis. If this administration considers this good for America, then God help us. We need to wake up and see what it going on here people. The people in government at this time care nothing about you and I. They are only concerned with making their bank accounts larger and maintaining their power.

But maybe this is what we need, to give the opportunity to the ones who really hate us, the equipment to really do some damage to America if there is another attack. The newer and high tech equipment could really do some major damage to us if the next Bin Ladin pops up from Saudi Arabia and decides to use this stuff against us. We need to stop arming the people who would do us harm. We haven't learned anything.

We sold chemical weapons and provided military training to Saddam Hussein in the eighties so he would fight Iran;

We sold arms to Iran in the eighties and gave the money to Nicaraguan contras to fight the Sandanistas;

We provided arms and  military training to Afghanistan in the eighties so they would fight the Russians;

We did all of this under the great Ronald Reagan and we know who his vice president was, now don't we?

If we don't wake up soon we are going to sell more arms and then we will fight more wars and get more people killed and we will do it in a self fulfilling prophecy. We create our own enemies so we can fight more wars and this is insanity.

U.S. plans big arms sale to Saudi Arabia: report

Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:44AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve arms sales totaling $20 billions over the next decade for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors, The New York Times reported in Saturday editions.

Coming as some U.S. officials contend that the Saudi government is not helping the situation in Iraq, the proposal for advanced weapons for Saudi Arabia has stoked concern in Israel and among its U.S. backers, the Times said. The package of advanced weaponry includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades for its fighters and new naval vessels.

Senior officials, including State Department and Pentagon officials who outlined the deals' terms, told the Times they thought the Bush administration had resolved those concerns, partly by offering Israel more than $30 billion in military aid over the next 10 years, which would be a significant increase over recent levels.

Administration officials remain concerned, however, that the package could draw opposition from Saudi critics in Congress, which is to be notified formally about the deal this autumn, the newspaper said.

The State Department and the White House had no comment on the Times' article, and a Pentagon spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Assurances from the Saudis about being more supportive in Iraq were not sought by the administration as part of the deal, U.S. officials told the newspaper.

The Times said officials described the plan as intended to bolster Gulf countries' militaries in a bid to contain Iran's growing strength in the region, as well as to demonstrate Washington's commitment to its Arab allies.

But they added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates still plan to use their joint visit to Saudi Arabia next week to press for help with Iraq's government.

"The role of the Sunni Arab neighbors is to send a positive, affirmative message to moderates in Iraq in government that the neighbors are with you," the newspaper quoted a senior State Department official as saying.

The official added that Washington wants Gulf states to stress to Sunnis that engaging in violence is "killing your future."

Other salves to Israel in light of the proposed deal include asking the Saudis to accept restrictions on the range, size and location of the satellite-guided bombs, the Times said. The Pentagon is also asking for a commitment not to store the weapons at air bases close to Israeli territory, it added.

Along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are likely to receive equipment and weaponry from the arms sales under consideration, the Times said.

 

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

This administration keeps saying congress has no business being generals that control the commanders on the ground. In the next breath it says the generals on the ground should be the determining factor in making governmental policy. This is a dangerous precedent to set for America in the sense that, our constitution has clearly laid out that it is to be the civilian sector of our government that has control over the military.

 Section 2 - Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;

Section 8 - Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union , suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

Imagine what would happen to America if the generals were to be allowed to set policy when it comes to declaring war and undertaking other military actions. Just today on NPR, I listened to a report that LTG Raymond Ordierno wants to let the “surge” go until November before he can offer a comprehensive report on the effectiveness of it.

Make no mistake about it, I know we have some of the best people in uniform and they are very good at what they do, but it would be a very large mistake to let them become the policy makers for America as they serve in their role as soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

I found this to be very interesting in the fact that this individual is in the highest office of the land and these are the statements coming from him and it is apparent in what he says and does. Actions speak louder than words but in this case these words are very clear and displays this individual’s contempt of all America stands for.

I wonder what each and every service member would think if they knew the current person holding the office of president holds the document they swore their lives to, holds their sacrifice in so much contempt?

Each president recites the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:

Washington, DC . Dec 14th, 2005 ---- There are multiple reports flying round DC that if true need to be addressed by both Houses of Congress in an Impeachment hearing. President Bush, who many believe is becoming more unstable every day is reported to have had the following exchanges during a meeting with Congressional leaders according to Doug Thompson, reporting in Capitol Hill Blue:

"GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Bush keeps saying when the Iraqis want us to leave their country we will leave. Well, we are waiting George, when are you going to do the right thing? And if you won't, when will congress get the backbone to impeach you? And Dick? And anyone else who had anything to do with this misguided invasion of a sovereign country that had nothing to do with the September 11th 2001 attacks on America .

For all the people who continue to support Bush, I hope you are reading the news about the Iraqi PM telling us to leave his country alone as he has the right to do. We are not the world's police department no matter how many times people like this administration and PNAC say so. 

If you (the people in congress) won't stand up for our constitutional rights and responsibilities then move out of the way so someone who will does what needs to be done. The time for impeachment is now, before one more service member dies in a war that does nothing for the protection of the  United States .

Story Highlights

Top aide: U.S. violates human rights, treats his country like "experiment"

Alleged high-level al Qaeda in Iraq cell leader nabbed at Baghdad airport

One of his top aides, meanwhile, accused the United States of embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and treating his country like an "experiment in a U.S. lab."

During a news conference, al-Maliki shrugged off the progress report, saying that difficulty in enacting the reforms was "natural" given Iraq 's turmoil. "We are not talking about a government in a stable political environment, but one in the shadow of huge challenges," al-Maliki said. "So when we talk about the presence of some negative points in the political process, that's fairly natural."

But he said that if necessary, Iraqi police and soldiers could fill the void left by the departure of coalition forces. "We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at anytime they want," he said.

He sharply criticized the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations and embarrassing the Iraqi government through such tactics as building a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and launching repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's slum of Sadr City.

In addition, he said that al-Maliki has problems with the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, who he said works along a "purely American vision." "There are disagreements that the strategy that Petraeus is following might succeed in confronting al Qaeda in the early period but it will leave Iraq an armed nation, an armed society and militias," al-Suneid said.

But the U.S. focus on the benchmarks has rankled the deep sense of Iraqi pride, even among those who share the goals set forth by the Americans. U.S. forces have been waging intensified security crackdowns in Baghdad and areas to the north and south for nearly a month. The goal is to bring calm to the capital while al-Maliki enacts the political reforms, intended to give Sunni Arabs a greater role in the government and political process, lessening support for the insurgency.

Two more American soldiers were killed Saturday in bombings in the Baghdad area, the U.S. military reported. One of the bombs used was an explosively formed penetrator -- high-tech devices that the U.S. military believes are smuggled from Iran . The Iranians deny the charge.

Also Saturday, the U.S. military said it captured an alleged high-level al Qaeda in Iraq cell leader at Baghdad 's international airport. The suspect, believed to have organized mortar and roadside bomb attacks in the capital and nearby area, surrendered "without a struggle," the military said in a statement. It did not give details on the suspect or say whether he was traveling in or out of the country when seized.

An Iraqi reporter for The New York Times, Khalid W. Hassan, was killed by gunmen Friday as he drove to work in southern Baghdad .

I am going to quote Theodore Roosevelt and I can't add anything else because this says it all.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American Public."

                                                                                                                       Theodore Roosevelt

Democrats Won't Try To Impeach President

By Charles BabingtonWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 12, 2006; Page A06 Seeking to choke off a Republican rallying cry, the House's top Democrat has told colleagues that the party will not seek to impeach President Bush even if it gains control of the House in November's elections, her office said last night.

Obama: “Impeachment is Not Acceptable”

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has joined the likes of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Dick Durbin in rejecting calls for the impeachment of President George Bush.

America , we are in grave danger of completely losing any and or all of our constitutional rights under any one of these people who are currently holding political office at this time. What I would like to know from these people is, “Just who do you think you are when you think you have the authority to ignore the American people and the United States Constitution in this manner?”

These people took an oath in which they swore to uphold the laws of the United States Constitution and it clearly calls for impeachment when a president and vice president commits acts such as the ones this pair we now have in the White House committed. As a former United States soldier, I took the oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution and I am now demanding the congress follow the laws of our nation.

Are they telling us they do not have to follow the constitution? Do they think we are not informed enough to know what is going in our country? Are they above the law? The way I read the constitution, these requirements are not optional, and they must be done when it is required. If these people will not follow the constitution then the American people must hold a recall election and fire these individual who will not do the will of the American people and who are so blatantly ignoring the law of the land.

The only way we are going to get our country back on track is if we force the politicians to meet the standard that we and the United States Constitution sets for them, if they do not, it is time for the American people to force them to do the right thing or face removal from office themselves.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

 He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:  

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. —

 John Hancock  

New Hampshire :Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts :John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island :Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut :Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York :William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey :Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware :Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton 

Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina :William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina :Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia :Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton