No Yellow Ribbons from this Ex-Marine
by Ben Tanosborn
A bold pronouncement saying, "I do not support the troops," is not something that you expect to read or to hear in the mainstream media. And I hadn't. not until March 27, when a former marine of the Vietnam era had his sentiments unmistakably expressed in a letter sent to The Oregonian. Defiant and angry, he started his letter to the editor this way: "OK, if no one else will say it, I'll say it: 'I do not support the troops.'" No words minced with this marine. as he stood tall, at attention, with a "semper fidelis" to truth!
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Populist #26 - Responsibility and War Powers
by Franklin
In general, people don't wake up in the morning with the desire to drop bombs on other people in foreign countries that they do not know, have never injured them in any way, and have never threatened them or their family.  This desire is always government-induced and government-sponsored.  When it comes to mass murder around the world, the state is second to none.  Patrick Henry put the general feelings of the People best when he sarcastically stated, "But we are told that we need not fear; because those in power, being our representatives, will not abuse the powers we put in their hands."  Henry went even further by saying that tyranny was created by rulers and not by the "licentiousness of the people."  Thus, it was quite clear at the time of our nation's founding, and possibly even more so today, that the inherent rights of the people, including the powers of war, need to be guaranteed, even if the government has not been given explicit authority to violate them.
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The PC Rampage and its Consequences for Public Dialog
by Russell Cole
I feel compelled to continue to plead for a dialog concerning illegal immigration that extends beyond the bombastic PC oratory that is projected, oftentimes, by members of American society that do not suffer from the economic impact that the constant influx of cheap labor manifests.  Economists, as they always do in respect to contentious issues, have taken a manifold of positions regarding the benefits or detriments of illegal immigration.  However, I can state that the economists who support the opening of the border with Mexico appear to deploy justifications, such as, immigrant labor forces those without highschool degrees to further their education, so to ascend to employment niches that require technical skills, and, accordingly, pay better.
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America's "Noble" Cause
by Jason Miller
I suspect many of the ardent supporters of the American Empire truly believe that they are preserving and spreading noble principles like freedom, democracy, equality, and human rights. There is no shortage of propaganda to convince them of this "fact". Delusions and illusions "generously" provided by the corporate-controlled mainstream media afford Empire loyalists with the opportunity to avoid the burden of independent thinking. Sound-bites, canards, propaganda, stereo-types, and white-washed versions of the truth supply their programmed minds with a virtually endless loop of rationalizations to justify their approbation of a morally reprehensible entity.
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Legislators, Remember your Oath of Office
by Steve Osborn
Nowhere in that Constitution does it allow the President, appointed or elected, to declare war at his whim, or remove the protection of the Bill of Rights from the people. What the Bush regime is doing is clearly unconstitutional and any legislators who go along with him are also impeachable and clearly breaking the above oath, as Bush has done since his appointment.
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