In a speech to ministry students Sarah Palin stated that the United States deployed our troops to fight in Iraq on “…a task that is from God.” George W. Bush once said, “I believe God wants me to run for president,” then later said, “God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.” Well then, I say it’s high time that this god guy starts chucking in some much needed cash to fight it. Since he hasn’t sent a flood to wipe out Baghdad in some Sodom and Gomorrah type disaster, or sent any kind of heat storm that melted al Qaeda terrorists in their tracks, I think we should at least be requesting some assistance. I don’t know, maybe a hundred and fifty billion dollars so we don’t have to borrow more from China. Or maybe he could give back the thousands of troops that Bush and Cheney gave away. Maybe this miracle worker could perform a limb regrowth on even one vet who now controls his wheelchair with his tongue.

I understand that he’s a busy guy, what with having to tend to boxers knocking out their opponents, and helping receivers snag touchdown passes. I understand he has a full plate in keeping holy that first commandment “Thou shall not kill”… wait… I’m sorry, scratch that. Regardless, since the guy tasked us with a war in Iraq, at least he could act as the project manager, and pay his employees with some added benefits. Maybe put up an invisible wall to deflect the next detonated IED, or better yet, detonate it while its being planted. Whatever he, she, or it does, it needs to do something fast, because Sarah Palin also said that building a natural gas pipeline through Alaska “…is the will of God.” She is now adding more to his plate, and if I’m right in believing this god has truly poor time-management skills, we’ll see a gas pipeline being built through Alaska before any alternative fuel research is funded, before our children can be treated in a hospital without having their parents lose their home in paying for it, and before our troops ever make it home to their own families.

In his speech tonight, presidential candidate John McCain told the nation that he does not work for special interest, but if you look back less than a month ago, when he told America that he plans on giving $150 billion in tax breaks to oil companies, I have to scratch my head in wonder. With oil companies who collect tens of billions in profits each year, and who have paid large sums of money to etch McCain’s policies, it is only obvious that he not only works for special interest, but is truly owned by special interest.

John McCain is truly nothing more than your cookie-cutter Washington politician who pays lip service for votes. Reading a teleprompter full of words without substance, promises without any plan to fulfill those promises, McCain went back to repeating the lies his Vice Presidential pick, Sarah Palin, was advised to say. McCain repeated Palin’s bleatings on how Barack Obama will raise taxes, after he proposed to cut taxes. McCain told America that his opponent will grow the federal government after Obama pledged to cut federal spending and get rid of the waste in the inflated department. He even told us that Obama wants to entrench beureaucrats after the Democratic presidential candidate offered his position back to the people.

McCain told us that he won’t give billions of dollars to countries that don’t like us, yet he proposes spending hundreds of billions for an indefinite occupation of a country that doesn’t like us. McCain made a lot of promises tonight. He told us that he’ll work for us, but his policies reflect only the want of the few. His predecesor and policy maker, George W. Bush, told us that John McCain went against public opinion in his support for the war in Iraq, and said it as if going against public opinion is a good thing. Mr. McCain, we the people are your boss, and the public opinion is what you should base your policies on. You claim to be the man to change Washington politics, but in reference to your own party, during your own nomination acceptance speech you told us, “… we let Washington change us.” Since you truly don’t believe in “country first”, but are only following the teleprompter your advisors have setup for you, it is no wonder that you’re owned by special interest, and have to decide to remove your Republican hat for a day to become American in the face of a natural disaster.

Yesterday John McCain decided it would be best if he acted like a ‘prepared for the worst’ and ‘compassionate’ presidential candidate, when he decided to cut four and a half hours out of the opening night’s events at today’s Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. In setting the stage to take full credit for life-saving measures in the areas in the wake of Hurricane Gustave, even after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin’s ’stay behind and your on your own’ evacuation message, John McCain chartered a jet to fly home Republican delegates from states along the Gulf Coast, and announced that his acceptance speech may come from the hurricane threatened region. It would only add to his costume as a person caught in the thick of the devastation, filling sandbags, or swimming a wheelchair bound woman through the floodwaters. He would pretend he loves America, our people. Like Bush in Katrina’s wake I’m sure they’ll advise McCain to roll up his sleeves, to give off the appearance he’s working to save our citizens.

I say all this with a bit of a forked tongue because during his announcement his true colors became a beaming beacon when he said, “I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary throughout our convention, we will act as Americans, not as Republicans.” This statement shows that McCain, like Bush and Cheney, ordinarily hold Republicans in a brighter light than all other Americans. It proves that John McCain holds his party before the country, and that his slogan “Country First” is just another burp of lip-service.

Most Americans would like to believe that a potential president would keep all Americans in mind all of the time. Of course, there are always decisions made that will carry a negative effect for some. It is with no doubt that those Americans getting the raw end of the stick should at least be considered if not given concessions, regardless of which party holds the power. A president can never please everyone, but they should not be allowed to forego trying. To have to pledge to set aside party politics long enough to act as an American shows us all how little John McCain thinks about the citizens of our country.

Carrying on nearly 90% of George W. Bush’s failed policies, McCain would be as detrimental to our nation, and in the case of the war in Iraq, McCain’s policy is somehow even worse. John McCain’s plan to continue spending nearly ten billion dollars a month to occupy Iraq against the will of the newly installed Iraqi government, along with his energy policy that even his V.P. pick, Sarah Palin - the Alaskan who holds her states interests over the common good in believing we should not invest a dime in alternative fuels before opening ANWR for further oil consumption, admitted is worse than Barack Obama’s energy policy, are only two points that prove McCain should stay with Arizona and his Republicans, than continuing on with four more years of the same nightmare that Bush plunged us into. He proposed taxing Americans 150 billion dollars to give to oil corporations in the form of tax cuts, and has proposed spending zero on alternative fuel sources. His plan to continue the corporatist methods of the current administration is the plan of dolts, and no, he’s not the kind of guy you can have a beer with. He’s the kind of guy who at one time disagreed with nearly half of Bush’s policies, but has crumbled under the heavy thumbs of the corporations who have basically told him ‘you’ll do what we want you to do, or we’ll hold back funding for your campaign,’ and since has adopted nearly 90% of Bush’s policies.

If John McCain’s vice presidential pick in Sarah Palin is a Republican slap to the face of all women, McCain’s “Country First” is a slap in the face of all Americans. Unless, of course, his idea of “Country First” means America being run by party affiliated corporations as opposed to us, the people - the people who own the government, and who pay them to run our nation properly and fairly, since all who pay for their services have a vested interest. Though it’s apparent that John McCain believes Republicans are more important than all other Americans, since he has to pledge that he’ll hold all Americans in mind for a day, and if need be throughout the entire Republican National Convention. Thanks John… What a guy!

The invasion of Iraq was never about Weapons of Mass Destruction, we know. The redeployment of troops from the war in Afghanistan to Iraq was never about a war against terrorism, as is made obvious from our lack of troop deployment to Sudan, or Zimbabwe. The move to topple Saddam Hussein, was never about bringing peace and democracy to a nation which supposedly suffered under the tyrannical rule of the man we found hiding in a crudely dug hole in the desert. George Bush gave us a number of excuses as to why he allowed Dick Cheney the attempt at implanting an Iraqi government with whom it would be easier to cut business deals. Cheney couldn’t inflate the coffers of Halliburton with rulers too stubborn to be bullied into giving up their oil. He had eight years to try, and as we can see from the recent news coming from the leader of Iraq, the invasion was never about toppling a dictator to bring peace and democracy to a nation we sympathize with.

Nouri al Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq, vehemently denounced the continued occupation of Iraq by our forces, and demanded that all foreign troops leave his country by the year 2011. The promise that our troops would come home when the Iraqi security forces were able to secure their country seems to have been forgotten now that George Bush and Dick Cheney have balked on their promise, and are now paying lip-service to al Maliki. The plan presented by the Bush Administration shows only combat forces returning to America, but leaving up to 40,000 troops to remain embedded in Iraq indefinitely.

John McCain once told us that it is a general understanding that American forces have the right to invade to occupy a nation that we deem is harmful to world order and peace. Perhaps world order is the dream of the optimist that George Bush would love to be, instead of the straw-man on strings that Cheney stores in a lock box each night. Perhaps the man who mistook an adrenaline rush for the voice of his god telling him how great he is actually is as innocent as one of the many mentally retarded murderers he had executed during his stint as the Texas governor. Perhaps, but as Ted Kennedy said during his speech last night at the Democratic Convention, “…young Americans in uniform must never be committed to a mistake.” As long as George Bush remains suffering from Multiple-Excuse Disorder, and refuses to give Iraq back to the Iraqi’s, then he is committing the treasonous act of committing our troops to a mistake, and will forever wear the bruise that should be shining beneath a cold steak under Dick Cheney’s eye.

photo courtesy of NASA

NASA scientist William Boynton announced the find after the Phoenix Mars Lander “touched and tasted” Martian water on Wednesday. With a robotic arm the lander was able to dig a soil sample and place it in a heating mechanism which captured the water vapors. With this they were able to claim they have definitive proof that water exists on the Red Planet, and have extended Phoenix’s mission by five weeks to try to find if it was ever capable of harboring life. “Cupboard” and “Neverland” will be the upcoming dig sites where the scientists hope to find evidence of microbial life, and with their discovery of water and ice now behind them, the possibility has climbed sharply.

Maybe it isn’t all that strange that NASA named the craft, that’s responsible for finding water where it was never believed to have existed, Phoenix.

photo courtesy of CBS

Doing the right thing is sometimes made difficult when pride gets in the way. Though it’s very possible if one is able to grin and bear it, and especially if a person goes as far to ask themselves, “What is the right thing to do?” In the case of Barack Obama’s choice for a running mate, the best thing to do is to forget about Hillary, be happy knowing she will undoubtedly gain a high ranking position in his cabinet, and leave one’s pride at the door of the voting center this November.

Today, the organizers of “Vote Both”, a group campaigning to gain Clinton’s name in the Vice President’s spot, decided it would be best for the Democratic Party if they were to stop their campaign and redirect their energy into getting those disgruntled Clinton supporters to back Obama. The group’s founders Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Arora pleaded to Clinton’s supporters in an email, “We worked for Hillary for a combined 10 years, so we know how many of you may be feeling,” they wrote, “And to those who are hesitant to support Obama right now, we urge you to keep giving him the chance to earn your vote. We are confident he will.”

Because many of Hillary’s supporters are thinking of voting for John McCain out of revenge for the arduous battle she fought against Obama during the Democratic primary elections, the state of our Union is hanging in the balance. With John McCain’s policies being no more than a carbon copy of those of George W. Bush, our nation cannot afford to have pride being the deciding factor over the presidential election. It’s been assumed for years that those who support Hillary Clinton cared for the health and welfare of our nation more than those who were voting the Republicans into office simply because they associate themselves with that party. Now it looks as though many Democrats care just as little as those that happily watched our nation tank under the Bush regime, leaving us faulty excuses wrought with arrogance.

At least some are doing the right thing, and I tip my hat to those who follow suit with the folks from “Vote Both”. There are those who vote independent of party lines, and those who vote from pride and arrogance. The latter has been leading our country into the depths for 8 years, and it’s highly important the Democrats wake up their constituents to avoid at least 4 more years of America’s sinking in the mire.

by Brian Burns

With the recent claim of pseudo-victory in Iraq by the AP’s Robert Burns and Robert H. Reid, anyone with enough common sense to understand how resistance to invasion works could easily assess that these two have fallen off the deep end of reality. As if birthed from faulty Republican think-tanks, the two have written an analysis piece that tells of the tide of war in Iraq and how it has turned to when we can now say we’re “winning the war that two years ago seemed lost”. With Burns being AP’s chief military reporter, and Reid as AP’s chief of bureau in Baghdad, it would be difficult to say that anyone else could have more experience on this particular subject matter other than the troops themselves, and possibly anyone who has ever invaded to occupy a sectarian nation. What the latter has over that of our troops, and apparently Burns and Reid, is the knowledge of the outcome of such a foolish endeavor. And just as history repeats itself, unless Barack Obama wins the presidency and follows through with his promise to bring our troops home, we will undoubtedly see trillions of dollars being spent on a security investment where our military personnel will be continuously picked off a few at a time for many years to come.

The Burns-Reid analysis for the Associated Press contradicts itself from the beginning, where after saying we’re winning the war they admit, “Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years.”

It is important to understand that the “War in Iraq” was never a “war” as western logic defines it. It was an invasion of primarily American forces to take down a leader that wouldn’t play ball with our leaders who desperately wanted to make business deals over their vast supply of natural resources. Initially met with resistance by a militia that fled from an obvious onslaught, our troops had hardly any problem clearing a space large enough to setup a small militarized village from where they could stage their operations. From there the stages of ousting the invaders became more of an opportunity to attack than one of resistance, in that our failure to secure the borders of Iraq gave way to terrorist groups who were able to rush in once Saddam Hussein was gone from his position of power. They would act out their will to take out as much ‘westernization’ as they could, being fully aware that only the allied forces could stop them.

Once George W. Bush declared war on terrorism the Iraq invasion could be considered a “war”, but only to those who bought into the rhetoric. To those Iraqi’s who were suddenly faced with stray bombs killing innocent family members, what the Republicans were calling a “war” was only an invasion to occupy. They were citizens of the communities that dealt with the dictatorship under Saddam Hussein, and though they might not have been happy, they weren’t about to let the Bush Administration replace what they had with a westernized iron fist. They were patriots to their country and a new resistance upwelled. Though they did not want terrorist groups like al Qaida running their country, the citizens didn’t want the U.S. making their laws either, and al Qaida took advantage of this by staying back and planning their attacks in smaller, more precise, bursts. The population was now in resistance in greater numbers than ever, and so Bush thought it would be smart to enact the “surge”. By adding additional forces to patrol the streets, the Iraqi’s who had taken up arms against our troops were forced to retreat to their homes, where they now have to plan their attacks in smaller, more precise, bursts as well. This is what the Burns-Reid analysis is showing us. They are unknowingly spelling out ‘oppression’, but in a different form than they had 5 years ago.

Those lacking common sense believe that peace can be made between religious factions that have spent two thousand years perfecting their hatred for one another, when Saddam Hussein realized the only way to keep order in Iraq is with that said ‘iron fist’. Though even the Bush Administration, after being schooled by our military in the knowledge they’ve gained over the years, has come to understand that to occupy Iraq means to forcibly keep them in order. Instead of Iraqi’s embracing the prospect of peace, they are instead having peace being sold to them from the American government.

In the Burns-Reid analysis they state, “They (Sunnis) launched the insurgency five years ago. They now are either sidelined or have switched sides to cooperate with the Americans in return for money and political support.” It is now well known that a good portion of the $150 billion the Bush Administration borrowed from China went to paying off Muqtada al Sadr for his agreement to a cease fire against his Sunni rivals. In other words, the only war that was ever going on inside of Iraq’s borders prior to the American invasion was the sectarian war between the Shiites, the Sunnis, and the Kurds. Now that the terrorist cells are moving on to take advantage of the lack of security in Afghanistan, in Iraq the sectarian war that’s been two thousand years in the making is becoming our main concern. But like oil, our monetary supply also has limitations.

What Burns and Reid are trying to show us is now that the dictatorship in Iraq has been replaced with a parliament, and now that the usurping power of terrorist groups have left to fight elsewhere, Iraq can begin to form a peaceful democracy. They call it “winning the war”. As we can plainly see by their own words the attacks on our forces will undoubtedly continue, as there will always be citizens that want to expel a military occupancy from their country. It is assumed that a foreign military ultimately has control, and as long as there are outside forces dictating the course of their lives then they are no better off than they were prior to the invasion. With that said, it is impossible to say we’ve won the war, or are winning the war. As stated, they are citizens of Iraq and they are home. They have all the time in their lives to sit back and pluck away at our military.

Only a couple decades ago Russia learned the lesson that an attempt at occupying a Middle East nation is a waste of lives and money, for they too felt the pang of continuous casualties from small arms fire and occasional bombings, until they finally fled Afghanistan. Using the words of Burns and Reid, “It’s not the end of fighting. It looks like the beginning of a perilous peace,” we can see that the Bush Administration has obviously embedded our troops in a situation very similar to what the Russians faced. And it appears that people like John McCain never learned from their lesson in which the outcome was an utter failure. So we’re stuck in a country where the leaders are asking us to leave, and those sympathetic to the expulsion of foreign occupancy will give us the task of managing a “perilous peace”. Aside from the rogue gangs that rushed in and have now moved on, this perilous peace is what Iraq has been dealing with for centuries.

But with all that aside, with sticking to their claim that we’re winning the war, we have to recall that the only war in Iraq was the one that was waged against terrorism. With the terrorists moving on to a new territory it seems that we aren’t winning any war really, but only letting them get away as Bush did with Osama bin Laden. There never was a war waged against Iraq, and so there was never a war to win. And as long as there are people who consider America occupying their nation as further oppression, they will make sure we can never claim victory for a war that was never waged.

by Brian Burns

It seems as though Barack Obama is trying to win over the entire American population as he is slowly sliding from the left toward the center by stretching to reach over to the right. While his health-care policy is sure to alienate the Republican base, the effect his Afghani-war policy will have on the left will be as equally frustrating. With his ideas on expanding faith-based initiatives upsetting a large amount of left-leaners, his opposition to CAFTA and NAFTA will surely tweak a few nerves on the right. It can only be seen as an attempt at being what George W. Bush said he was striving toward, but not surprisingly failed miserably at; being a ‘uniter’, not a ‘divider’, of the American populace.

After eight years of partisan politics, in which Bush helped widen the gap between red and blue to one of canyon sized proportions, Obama seems to be focused on doing the best he can to bring the two sides together. By setting up his policy to reflect a bit of ‘give and take’ from both sides he is moving from his base and setting himself up to be a truly bipartisan presidential hopeful. But are these the necessary steps in what it takes to become a ‘uniter’? Is it even possible to unite the American public?

Partisan politics and the gap which separates the American people politically are as old as the republic itself. From the days in which Thomas Jefferson took control of the presidency and congress after a bitter fight against the Federalist John Adams the unification of politcal philosophies in America have been divisive on a grand stage. It may appear that the red-blue division is somewhat young, something that didn’t really come about since the Republican uprising after the Lewinski-Clinton scandal, but if we think back to Bush Sr., and then back to Ronald’s ‘Reagonomics’ we can see the division in attitude amongst Americans was no less apparent. We can step back one further to Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, and on, and with every president we happen upon we notice there was a great divide in the population’s philosophies on who should have been leading our nation and why.

When our country is in a state of progression, and our markets are strong we tend to tuck our complaining and finger-pointing away for a rainy day. Though secretly the opposing side to that which has control is always looking for the first mistake. They’re looking for the single miscalculation in policy, or that first slip of the tongue that they can make a banner from and parade it through town while chanting, “I told you so.” Americans are beyond unification, and have always been, simply because that is what our country is based upon. It is a melting pot in not only race, creed, and color, but also in our philosophies. Any country that has a mixed population will always have a division in political thought, while those that are considered “free” nations the matter will seem ten times greater since the cries of the opposition can be heard through the media across the globe. Fortunately and not so fortunately it’s the foundation of our country - free thought, and the freedom to express those thoughts. Because of these given freedoms we’re allowed to publicly fight tooth and nail for what we believe in. We fight to place those with similar philosophies in the power position since we fear those in power who think otherwise. We are not supposed to be a country where the winner takes all, but a nation of give and take. It’s supposed to be a country where the majority rules but with concessions made to the other side, as those of the opposition are also Americans, and the job of the president is to listen to the will of all of us.

Barack Obama’s quest to become a centrist is honorable, but if he is trying to be a uniter it will never happen. The only times people unify is when an outside force is attacking. Whether it’s a human conflict or it comes by way of a natural disaster, people in those times will subconsciously drop all prejudices and put forth the energy that it takes to quell the issue. Shortly thereafter, when the raging tides have ebbed and there is a moment of calm, is when the people lift their arms to once again point their fingers of blame.

After nearly ten years of terrorizing the people of Darfur, where which over 600,000 people have been killed, and approximately 2.5 million have been displaced, Sudan’s president Omar al Bashir pointed the finger of blame toward the international community. “Every time we take a step forward, make progress and signs of peace emerge, those people try to mess it up, return us to square one and distract us with marginal issues and false allegations,” al Bashir told a group of supporters in the Darfur region, in reference to his July 14th indictment by the International Criminal Court. The charges of genocide pinned against him brought on this public display of lies and deceit that we Americans have grown used to over the past five years, with the only difference coming in the form of civil strife as opposed to our Bush Administration’s Middle East invasion that was formulated and carried out using the same tactics. With the Darfur situation being far worse in the human rights arena, al Bashir was trying to play the role of the Wizard behind the curtain. He was trying to show his sympathy for those run from their villages by the government-backed forces known as the Janjaweed, and at one point said, “The real sickness here is the suffering of the displaced, because they are the ones who lost their sense of security and safety in their hometowns.” Though in one faux-pas he revealed how little he truly cares and showed his defiance toward those who are seeking to help curb the situation by stating, “We will only bow to God, who is the sole provider.”

by Brian Burns

It’s difficult to stimulate our nation’s economy when most of what our leaders collect from our earnings is immediately sent to foreign nations. One might think that investing in our nation, the $700 billion that the Bush Administration has spent so far in the Middle East, could have had a positive effect on our rotting job market, our failing health care, and our overly packed public schools. Maybe it would help to reinvest some of the war-money in private sector incentives to remedy our headache over energy costs, and our insatiable desire for alternative fuels. One would hope that eight years in office would buy the time needed to enact any pro-American policy, but domestic policy was seemingly another one of those things George W. Bush forgot back at the ranch.

It has been eight years of arguably the worst policy making in the history of our country, and the American ignorance towards that fact is astounding. Even though the majority of Americans have accepted that Bush’s presidential run was as close to an utter failure as anyone could imagine, the desire to rid ourselves of an administration whose partisan politics, corporatist policies, and self-serving ideals was seemingly short lived. Now, with presidential hopeful John McCain gaining enough support to where he is running a close race against a man whose campaign slogan includes the word “change”, it’s apparent that a great number of Americans would choose to forego changing our country’s policies for the better, and simply find happiness in knowing the name Bush is no longer carrying the tag ‘Commander in Chief’.

With regard to America’s economic situation, it seems that we’re stuck floating slowly downward like a feather in an abyss. Last Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, gave us the forecast in which we were told we would be continuing our descent right around the time our president announced that our economy is stable. This is important to note because John McCain agrees with the president’s assessment, and his campaign co-chairman went so far as to call Americans a “nation of whiners” who were stuck in a “mental recession”. They listen to Wall Street, and their economic advisors who believe that our degenerating housing market has already hit the bottom, and say that it will undoubtedly take a u-turn. They use the logic behind economics that shows how bad can actually be good. They say that our plummet to the housing market floor will bring out those who want to buy homes at rock-bottom prices. Consequently, the housing market will reverse itself and will once again grow strong. Their logic only works when employment opportunities are strong, however, since it takes a steady income to maintain the cost of owning a home. But with our job market being dragged down by our failing economy, and the misguided trust in free-trade policies, it seems our economists are either reporting their aspirations, or have lost the ability to think beyond step 1 in the process of coming to a realistic conclusion when thinking through a problem. Though both are things we should be used to after listening to the predictions from the Republicans over the past eight years.

We were told that our troops would be celebrated as liberators, and that they would be greeted with roses in Baghdad, while we were pointing out step 2 in the process of thinking that showed what happened to Russia when they tried occupying a Middle East nation. We were told Bush’s tax cuts would stimulate the economy, while we again pointed to step 2 which clearly shows that his Republican predecessors, both Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr., helped drive our economy further into recessions with tax cuts. We were told NAFTA and CAFTA are beneficial for Americans, but once again, that pesky step 2 is showing that the federal government has regulations enacted that make it more expensive for foreign companies to operate here than in nations where they can setup shop without providing healthcare benefits, a safe work environment, and where they can pay the worker a pittance in comparison. Therefore, their prediction that there would be as much insourcing as there is outsourcing seems to be one dream through which John McCain seems to still be sleeping.

The problem Americans now face is who to choose to hasten the upswing. Barack Obama chants, “Change,” while John McCain claims he’s the “Best to lead since day one.” And though it appears McCain wants to continue upon the same trail from which Bush is preparing to flee, his supporters are coming out of the Kudzu in droves. The citizens are feeling the pressure from the cost of living, and are aware that it’s one of the few things on the rise. They’ve lost sight of our children’s education as it fell from their view of the price at the gas pump. They’ve forgotten about our troops in the Middle East because they can’t take their eyes off the price stamped on a milk jug. John McCain is fully aware of this and so he is doing what most Republicans do during their presidential campaigns - they avoid talking about their policy and scare the American public by threatening that their opponent in the donkey costume will raise their taxes. Judging by the numbers of supporters McCain has managed to recruit, the scare tactic apparently works well. 

John McCain’s plan on spending trillions of dollars in an attempt at occupying Iraq, for what he said could be a hundred years, is a wad of spit in the eyes of Americans who want the war to end and for our troops to return home safely. It’s an upturned middle finger aimed at the faces of us who want to reinvest our earnings into bettering our own country, and who can read where step 2 tells that the best method of securing our nation is not by trying to eliminate everyone who opposes our views. And like his predecessor, McCain has no plan on how to go about occupying Iraq. He avoids telling us that the money could only come from raising taxes, or by borrowing from foreign nations like the $150 billion loan Bush took from China. While we lose jobs, and watch the economy break beneath our feet, they spend our money building walls in Baghdad in their efforts to keep the local Muslim factions separated from each other. We’re led to believe that we’re giving them freedom, but creating tiny enclaves and setting up Baghdad to look like Algernon’s maze is hardly the blueprint for a free land.

It’s apparent the Republicans are back to their old selves - those who refuse to think their way through to step 2. If they read further to where it says that ending the war in Iraq would help our economy a great deal, even if it means the corporations backing the war having to lose out on hundreds of millions in annual profit, they might see that John McCain’s ‘tax and spend on foreign nations’ policy has no way of helping to regrow our economy. If they were to find a true sense of patriotism, unlike those they hang from flagpoles or stick to their bumpers, they might find that it’s best to vote for the candidate who is not wearing the elephant costume, but for the donkey-guy who at least wants to end the war and reinvest that money and our tax dollars into our own nation.