Dick 'Big Brother' Cheney

had_enough,
originally uploaded by rab_fw.

Had about enough of Big Brother? My take on a scene from the film '1984' featuring John Hurt, Richard Burton and.....%#*^!.. Dick Cheney?

Identifying With the State

"Our politico-centric pain and suffering has been brought about by our having allowed external forces to move in and occupy the vacuum we created at the center of our being. The only way out of our dilemma involves a retracing of the route that brought us to where we are."

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Conservatives Must Oppose Militarism and War

"(T)he military cannot rightfully be considered a proper tool for forging a world where liberty and democracy may flourish. Such notions are hideously liberal, for they are based on the most dangerous of utopian delusions: that men can be made at gunpoint to change; that nations can be built as easily as destroyed; that societies are artificial rather than organic and can be made to order. These ideas have none of the realism that distinguishes conservatism from dreamy liberal mush."

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Ron Paul: Lone Star

"(W)e have one man who... fights for the Republic, not the Empire."

Read the article here

Goodbye and Good Luck, by Charley Reese

"The American people have been conned into accepting the idea of an empire, when there is no need for one.... The imperialists have created the illusion that we are in control of the world and if we weren't, everything would fall apart."



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The Martyr of Mosul, Pat Buchanan

"For the martyrdom of Christianity in its birth cradle, blame must fall heavily upon the men who conceived this misbegotten war."



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Phantom Politics, Dr. Clyde Wilson

"Many Americans are dumb enough to believe that they are “defending their country” by attacking a foreign people that have done them no harm and pose them no threat. Defending one’s country has been turned into a phantom unanchored in reality."



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Have We Forgotten 2003 Already?

"Clearly, language threatening to wipe a nation or a group of people off the map is to be condemned by all civilized people. And I do condemn any such language. But why does threatening Iran with a pre-emptive nuclear strike, as many here have done, not also deserve the same kind of condemnation? Does anyone believe that dropping nuclear weapons on Iran will not wipe a people off the map? When it is said that nothing, including a nuclear strike, is off the table on Iran, are those who say it not also threatening genocide? And we wonder why the rest of the world accuses us of behaving hypocritically, of telling the rest of the world “do as we say, not as we do.”"



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We Are All Potentially Enemy Combatants

"In a world where the president has the power to label anyone, whether a citizen or permanent resident, an enemy combatant and detain that person indefinitely without trial, no liberty exists and everyone is potentially an “enemy combatant.”"



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Wanted: A New Conservatism

In recent weeks Will has all but endorsed Rudy Giuliani (whom else?) for president and ridiculed Ron Paul, who takes the U.S. Constitution seriously, as an anachronism. I imagine he slapped his flippers together in glee when Giuliani attacked Paul for saying the obvious, that the 9/11 attacks were motivated by American foreign policy, rather than by virginal American innocence. Paul might have been speaking for Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton, men to whom Giuliani would have little to say, unless he could say it with his middle finger.



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Foreign Policy Socialists of the GOP

As Ron Paul says the Republican party truly has lost it’s way… So called conservatives tend to agree that socialism doesn’t work, though the mainstream GOP has been turning more socialist everyday and this is especially true with regard to foreign policy. Let’s look at the basis for the anti-socialism argument as a starting point...



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Lying Us Into War, Again

"Sen. Joe Lieberman, who seems to be one of those who loves war as long as he doesn't have to fight it, really believes that we can attack Iran without Iranian retaliation, then he's naive. If he knows better, he's a liar, and to lie the American people into a second war before the other lied-into war in Iraq is even over is despicable. He should be shunned by all decent people."



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We Have Always Been At War With Eastasia...

Fred Kaplan, writing in Slate, opines:“It’s time to start thinking cold-bloodedly about what we might yet eke out of Iraq. An intriguing possibility is on display in Anbar province, where U.S. troops have formed an alliance with Sunni insurgents for the common purpose of killing al-Qaida jihadists.“These insurgents were killing American soldiers just a few months ago. They may resume doing so, once this operation is complete. Such is the nature of coalition warfare, especially when our original coalition partners have largely pulled out of the war.”I’ve been saving this link for the proper occasion, and it looks like I’ve found it. Yes, we have always been at war with Eastasia. Isn’t that right, comrade?



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Will YOUR candidate sign this pledge?

It will be interesting to see which Presidential candidates will sign the Freedom Pledge produced by The American Freedom Agenda. All that it would require would be a willingness to uphold the oath they will take once elected to uphold and defend the Constitution.

The stalwart conservatives behind this project are Bruce Fein, Bob Barr, Richard Viguerie, and David Keene.

One Presidential candidate has already signed this document. Dr. Ron Paul. I wonder who else will state unequivocally that the oath they take means something to them? Who else will bind him or her self with the strong cords of the Constitution? We'll see.

Here's the pledge:

Freedom Pledge

I, (candidate), hereby pledge that if elected President of the United States I will undertake the following to restore the Constitution’s checks and balances, to honor fundamental protections against injustice, and to eschew usurpations of legislative or judicial power.These are keystones of national security and individual freedom:


1. No Military Commissions Except on the Battlefield. I will not employ military commissions to prosecute offenses against the laws of war except in places where active hostilities are ongoing and a battlefield tribunal is necessary to obtain fresh testimony and to prevent local anarchy or chaos.

2. No Evidence Extracted by Torture or Coercion. I will not permit the use of evidence obtained by torture or coercion to be admissible in a military commission or other tribunal.

3. No Detaining Citizens as Unlawful Enemy Combatants. I will not detain any American citizen as an unlawful enemy combatant. Citizens accused of terrorism-linked crimes will be prosecuted in federal civilian courts.

4. Restoring Habeas Corpus for Suspected Alien Enemy Combatants. I will detain non-citizens as enemy combatants only if they have actively participated in actual hostilities against the United States. I will urge Congress to amend the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to permit any individual detained under the custody or control of the United States government to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal courts.

5. Prohibiting Warrantless Spying by the National Security Agency in Violation of Law. I will prohibit the National Security Agency from gathering foreign intelligence except in conformity with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and end the NSA’s domestic surveillance program that targets American citizens on American soil for warrantless electronic surveillance.

6. Renouncing Presidential Signing Statements. I will not issue presidential signing statements declaring the intent to disregard provisions of a bill that I have signed into law because I believe they are unconstitutional. Instead, I will veto any bill that I believe contains an unconstitutional provision and ask Congress to delete it and re-pass the legislation.

7. Ending Secret Government by Invoking State Secrets Privilege. I will not invoke the state secrets privilege to deny remedies to individuals victimized by constitutional violations perpetrated by government officials or agents. I will not assert executive privilege to deny Congress information relevant to oversight or legislation unless supreme state secrets are involved. In that case, I will submit the privilege claim to a legislative-executive committee for definitive resolution.

8. Stopping Extraordinary Renditions. I will order the cessation of extraordinary renditions except where the purpose of the capture and transportation of the suspected criminal is for prosecution according to internationally accepted standards of fairness and due process.

9. Stopping Threats to Prosecuting Journalists under the Espionage Act. I will urge Congress to amend the Espionage Act to create a journalistic exception for reporting on matters relating to the national defense. As a matter of prosecutorial discretion, until such an amendment is enacted I will not prosecute journalists for alleged Espionage Act violations except for the intentional disclosure of information that threatens immediate physical harm to American troops or citizens at home or abroad.

10. Ending the Listing of Individuals or Organizations as Terrorists Based on Secret Evidence. I will not list individuals or organizations as foreign terrorists or foreign terrorist organizations for purposes of United States or international law based on secret evidence.


I will issue a public report annually elaborating on how the actions enumerated in paragraphs 1-10 have strengthened the ability of the United States to defeat international terrorism, secure fundamental freedoms, and preserve the nation’s democratic dispensation.



___________________________

(Candidate)


Date: ______________________

The Interventionist-Internationalist Complex

CFR members who are running for President (or considering doing so):Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Jim Gilmore, Newt Gingrich, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson. Guess who's missing from this list?



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Post–Constitutional America

(T)he time is ripe for a constitutional counterrevolution. Discontent with the ruling system... is deep and widespread among several classes of people: Christians, conservatives, gun owners, taxpayers, and simple believers in honest government all have their reasons. The rulers lack legitimacy and don’t believe in their own power strongly enough to defend it.The beauty of it is that the people don’t have to invent a new system of government in order to get rid of this one. They only have to restore the one described in the Constitution — the system our government already professes to be upholding. Taken seriously, the Constitution would pose a serious threat to our form of government.



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American Idols

"A tolerant fellow Christian just told me he thinks atheists are entitled to their opinions. I told him I think they're entitled to my opinions; I've heard enough of theirs! Don't even get me started on the subject of that fool Darwin. The world would be a lot better off if he'd taken up astrology, like Attila the Hun."



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Smug Neocon Kristol Disses Bush Big Time

"For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he’s for as long as he doesn’t have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage – well, that’s nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?” Take that, Dubya!



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The Real Reason for Bush’s Invasion of Iraq Is a National Security Secret

"What is moral degeneracy if it is not using nuclear weapons to murder masses of innocent civilians and spread deadly radioactivity over vast areas merely in order to force a country to do as we order? If this isn’t barbarism, what is barbarism?"



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Why the Tax Protestors' Movement Cannot Succeed

"Much tax protester time is spent praying to the Constitution. Big problem. Constitutions don't limit government power because the government has claimed the exclusive right to say what they mean." More important, the public no longer believes in or understands the values that gave rise to the Constitution..."



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