[des]

Well I am glad there are other paranoids out there. I think you're point is well taken on GWB not really holding the power. I think that's true.

Last night I was with some people and we also discussed the coming elections. They were also thinking in terms as I was re: lowering gas prices(some of it is because it is not summer anymore, but still..), finding some famous terrorist (Bin Laden, comes to mind), or even an attack. It happened before, there was an October Surprise that involved the hostages coming home from Iraq. Cheney was around then too.
I do not consider that one a coincidence.

And I also know dictatorships do come to democracies. I don't know that any of these involved a country with such long standing democratic traditions and roots.

I do think Democrats share blame. But I also feel that after 9-11 that there was such a change in attitude and perspective that it made lots of people just forget who we were, why we were.
I heard someone on tv today (BookTV on CSpan2) say that Bin Laden may be getting exactly what he wanted, and what he wanted was an overreaction, some major gaff in foriegn policy that would lead more moderate countries and so forth to his point of view. And he got it.

--des

[Russ]

Dictatorships aren't historical accidents or malformations, but are the direct result of one economic class gaining and maintaining control over another. The political system isn't a neutral entity in and of itself that becomes corrupted, but a tool through which political and economic power is maintained. The mouthpieces and apologists for the current US junta freely use tear-jerking phrases like 'democratic institutions' and 'American way of life' and love that F-word, 'freedom'. This is the empty school-boy talk used to justify persuit of foreign and domestic policies that directly benefit corporate pirates. Case in point: 'We must end out dependence on foreign oil'. Okay...let's end our dependence on 'foreign' oil. But wait! The North Slope Alaskan pipeline and part of the oilfield operations are owned by BP...British Petoleum! Hmmmmm...British Petroleum is a foreign company, right? But the Alaskan oilfield is on US soil, right? Ah, um... An article popped up on the NY Times on-line and involved a statement made by the US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He said that American oil companies are prepared to go into Iraq NOW, regardless of the violence, install the necessary infrastructure, and start pumping out oil. No...Wait...Stop...No...Wait! Do you mean that US oil companies are willing to be safeguarded by their own private armies and invest billions in industrial infrastucture just to pump Iraqi oil? And who, pray tell, would be on the receiving end of this said oil? So, let me get this straight. The Bush regime is made up of GWB (a texas oil businessman) and Dick Cheney, the former president of Haliburton, one of the world's largest oilfield service companies. The regime uses the 9/11 attack as a cover to invade Iraq under the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction and a direct connection with Al Quida, the purpatrators of the 9/11 attack. The regime's army invades the country to protect us against The Terrorists, but behind the scenes American oil companies stand ready to go in and start getting the oil fields back in full operation regardlss of the dangers? Hmmmmmm...all we have to do is draw the conclusion to see how things REALLY work.

This post has been edited by Russ: 01 October 2006 - 06:33 AM