Tag: George W. Bush

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Drone

“People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out. Your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.” – George Orwell, 1984.

Just when you thought things could not get any worse for Americans, news surfaced Tuesday morning that the U.S. government can now order the killing of American citizens. Weapon of choice – drone.

If these citizens are ‘believed’ to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaeda or “an associated force”, even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the United States, they are fair game.

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The No Debt Limit Congress

When is a debt limit not a debt limit? When it’s in Congress.

You have to give those 535 people we send to Washington every couple of years to run the federal government credit. They find more creative ways every year not to do their job.

The latest is a debt limit that is not a limit because it will be suspended until May 18th while the Treasury continues borrowing to pay the nation’s immediate bills.

When we (as a nation) reach May 18th, we will have exceeded the statutory $16.4 trillion national debt limit without having a big Democrat/Republican showdown over fiscal policy. Actually, we reached the $16.4 trillion debt limit in the last days of 2012. The Treasury has been juggling the books since then to make it seem like we didn’t.

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Electronic Communications Privacy Act

One more nail in the coffin of liberty is being prepared in Washington as Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy’s rewrite of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is scheduled for a vote next week.

Despite the misleading name, the rewritten bill would allow 22 federal agencies unlimited access to email accounts without a search warrant and without notifying either the account owner or a judge.

This is just another example of how the federal government is solidifying its position as the ever watchful ‘Big Brother.’

The rewritten bill will not be as egregious as other federal government initiatives since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

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Pondering 9/11 and the Future

The eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a time to look back and remember that awful day in 2001 when Arab terrorists attacked our homeland. However, it is also a time to look back on significant changes in America over the last 11 years and ponder whether the country needs to reevaluate itself.

During those 11 years, our national debt has increased from approximately $4 trillion when George W. Bush took office to approximately $15 trillion today. It took 191 years (1789 – 1980) for the U.S. to amass a national debt of approximately $1 trillion. Now we do that every year and neither of our two major political parties has demonstrated an ability to change that trend.

Our politics are probably more polarized than at any time in our history since the 1860’s. Our politicians exhibit all the characteristics of a bunch of empty suits crowding around one or the other of two extreme poles with a yawning chasm between them.

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Political Bloodsport

Having lived in Horry County for over 28 years, I fully understand that politics is a sport, often a full contact sport where truth and reality are lost in the scrimmage.

There are no requirements for truth or fact in political speech and political advertising. In fact, virtually any truth or fact that finds its way into the political discourse is by mistake not design.

We are now inundated with presidential candidates who hope to convince voters to support them in next Saturday’s Republican presidential primary. Below is a piece by College of Charleston professor Christopher Lamb who does a great job of describing what we have to look forward to over the next seven days.

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