Republicans Blocking Obama Justice Nominee To Protect Bush From Prosecution »
Posted By jovial 7 months, 1 week ago in News
The judicial system of Spain is poised to prosecute six Bush administration officials. Spain is one of the 184 countries that signed the 1984 treaty against torture.
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jovial
Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...
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jovial7 months, 1 week ago
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hyperbola7 months, 1 week ago
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This trend has been building up for some time in many countries, not just Spain. What is new is that it is now being applied to the western "masters of the universe". Now we will have to decide if criminals indicted for crimes against humanity (e.g. Rumsfeld) will be given "protection" in America.
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Fake Faith and Epic Crimes
These are extraordinary times. With the United States and Britain on the verge of bankruptcy and committing to an endless colonial war, pressure is building for their crimes to be prosecuted at a tribunal similar to that which tried the Nazis at Nuremberg. This defined rapacious invasion as "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." International law would be mere farce, said the chief US chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson, "if, in future, we do not apply its principles to ourselves."
That is now happening. Spain, Germany, Belgium, France and Britain have long had "universal jurisdiction" statutes, which allow their national courts to pursue and prosecute prima facie war criminals. What has changed is an unspoken rule never to use international law against "ourselves," or "our" allies or clients....
.... Bush’s former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who demanded an invasion of Iraq in 2001 and personally approved torture techniques in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, no longer travels. Rumsfeld has twice been indicted for war crimes in Germany. On 26 January, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, said, "We have clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but nevertheless he ordered torture."
The Spanish high court is currently investigating a former Israeli defence minister and six other top Israeli officials for their role in the killing of civilians, mostly children, in Gaza. Henry Kissinger, who was largely responsible for bombing to death 600,000 peasants in Cambodia in 1969-73, is wanted for questioning in France, Chile and Argentina. Yet, on 8 February, as if demonstrating the continuity of American power, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, James Jones, said, "I take my daily orders from Dr. Kissinger." -
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hyperbola7 months, 1 week ago
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However, we should NOT forget that the Obama administration is continuing many of the same kinds of crimes.
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Obama's Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private "Security" in Israel and Iraq
Federal records obtained by AlterNet reveal a multi-million dollar contract for a private U.S. paramilitary force operating out of Jerusalem. ...
...Beginning May 7th, Triple Canopy will officially take over Xe/Blackwater's mega-contract with the U.S. State Department for guarding occupation officials in Iraq. It's sure to be a lucrative deal: Obama's Iraq plan will inevitably rely on an increased use of private contractors, including an army of mercenaries to protect his surge of diplomats operating out of the monstrous U.S. embassy in Baghdad....
...Like Blackwater, Triple Canopy has had its share of bloody incidents, among them allegations that operatives have gone on missions where they shot at civilian vehicles, including one after a briefing where a team leader cocked his M-4 and said to his men, "I want to kill somebody today. ... Because I'm going on vacation tomorrow."...
...Also like Blackwater, Triple Canopy has hired mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records and histories of violent counter-insurgencies. Among them: Peru, Chile, Colombia and El Salvador. In fact, in Iraq, Triple Canopy hired far more "Third Country Nationals" than Blackwater and DynCorp and has used more TCNs than US citizens or Iraqis. As I reported in my book, Triple Canopy used the same Chilean recruiter (who served in Augusto Pinochet's military) Blackwater used when it hired Chilean forces, including some "seasoned veterans" of the Pinochet era. In El Salvador, the company reportedly used "a U.S.-trained former paratrooper and officer of the Salvadoran special forces during the country's civil war" where the U.S. backed a brutal right wing dictatorship in a war that took the lives of some 75,000 Salvadorans. A Triple Canopy spokesperson reportedly said of the Salvadorans, "They've got the right background for the type of work we are doing.
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hyperbola7 months, 1 week ago
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Indeed, Obama's "af/pak campaign" could be right out of the bushie / zioncon playbook.
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Obama and Terror as a Tool of Empire
Let's say you were a dedicated imperial militarist who believed that your country's security, prestige and financial interests could best be served by war and the ever-present threat of war. Let's say you had some really hot and juicy operations going on, endless deadly conflicts that were pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into your war machine and entrenching national policy even more deeply in the militarist philosophy – the machtpolitik – that you believe in.
But there's a problem. The general public – the cow-like herd out there that doesn't understand grand strategy the way you and your fellow elites do – is growing weary, and wary, of your Long War. The national treasury is bankrupt, the national infrastructure is rotting, the nation's communities are dying; millions of people are out of work, losing their homes, losing their dreams, spiraling down into want, privation and despair. Yet you have big plans to escalate the war, expand your war machine, and maintain the global dominance that you believe is the right and natural role for your special nation – and its elites. What to do? How to galvanize the truculent, self-absorbed herd into enthusiastically supporting your vital agenda once more?
Well, here's one purely hypothetical approach you might try. You goad and provoke violent extremist groups into retaliating against your attacks, your civilian-slaughtering invasions and incursions into their territory. Being unable to confront directly your war machine – the largest, most advanced military force in the history of the world, sustained by a tsunami of public money that each year surpasses the military spending of the rest of the world – they naturally respond with "asymmetrical" operations. At first, these are directed at nearby targets: your supply lines, the forces of your local proxies and allies, and other chaos-inducing depredations in the groups' own regions, designed to foul the lines of your control and drive you out. Just as naturally, you use these attacks to justify an even greater military presence in their regions. The cycle inevitably, inexorably ratchets upwards and outwards, until at last the extremists strike at your homeland – either with your connivance, or your covert acquiescence, or, in any event, with your foreknowledge that such an attack was sure to come. This is the moment you have waited for; this is exactly what you wanted. Now you can whip the herd back into a martial frenzy, keep the Long War going, and push aside the rabble's petty, small-minded desires for a peaceful, prosperous life at home, minding their own business.-
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hyperbola7 months, 1 week ago
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One never knows exactly what goes on behind the imperial drapery in the Potomac palaces, of course; ordinary American citizens were long ago turned into Kremlinologists of their own government, trying to discern -- through ceremonial signs, backstairs gossip, and slight deviations in ritualized rhetoric -- just what their masters are really up to....
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...We can say this as an established fact: It is the policy of the United States government to provoke violent extremist groups into action. Once they are in play, their responses can then be used in whatever way the government that provoked them sees fit. And we also know that these provocations are being used, as a matter of deliberate policy, to rouse violent groups on the "Af-Pak" front to launch terrorist attacks. ...
... And remarkably, this new, open threat to bring terror to the American heartland comes just days after Barack Obama announced his vaunted surge in the Af-Pak War, citing – what else? – the need to protect the United States from terrorists based in Afghanistan and Pakistan as his chief reason for escalating and expanding the conflict. Yet another astonishing coincidence to justify the militarist agenda, which needs a constant supply of PR-plausible villains and hyped-up, nation-rattling threats like a junkie needs smack.
... When the Obama Administration speaks of "continuity" in American foreign policy, this is an integral part of what they are talking about. So look to see much more on TTP and the demon de jure, Baitullah Mehsud, as the bipartisan Long War grinds on and on, with its ever-present need for "catalyzing" – and terrorizing – the American people into support for the militarist project.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/04/01/obama-an...
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Spadecaller7 months, 1 week ago
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What Cheney, Bush, and the rest these thugs have done to our country and the world obligates our Congress and President to take responsible action.
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I believe in forgiveness and accountability. None of these criminals have shown any contrition; and forgiveness should never be invoked as a substitute for a fair trial.
The time has come for this nation and the world to see that the U.S.treats even its most powerful with the same laws it treats its ordinary citizens - that no man or woman is above the law. WE have not done to well in this area for years.
These characters are obviously guilty of treason and international crimes against humanity. Should other nations bring our criminals to justice would be one more disgrace and one more example of our failure to uphold the principles that we claim to revere.-
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago
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Spadecaller:
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Well said my friend.
Sadly we have lost our strength when it comes to making our own president and his administration responsible for their actions.
To allow a nation like Spain to come to the forefront, and make the accused scoundrels in all the world, while they live at ease here in our nation, with no fear of justice being demanded and sought, is tarnishing our great nation.
Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld,Gonzales... are all in glass fishbowl with scummy water. They are so polluted that the stench is smelled around the world. But the neocons here want to protect them.
Try them in America where there crimes were committed.
Do it soon before we have lost the chance to show the world that we do believe in justice.
Good article jovial.
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not2needy7 months, 1 week ago
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I hope Bush and Cheney are both prosecuted and convicted. When are republicans going to wake up and realize that it's their party that has the whole world coming down on us with both feet? If they don't, we are destined to be attacked.
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NoWayMan7 months, 1 week ago
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let jutice prevail, and let that justice be poetic.
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lets leave Gitmo open, then let Cheney, Bush etc all serve their time there, complete with "enhanced interroagation."
bad news is, for Cheney it'll probably be like a fantasy camp. -
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Endoscopy7 months, 1 week ago
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ROTFLMAO
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Listen to the FOOLISH liberals rant. You want to have the country look foolish in the world. There is no credible evidence but liberals the world over have to rant. But then that is what liberals love to do. Rant about how bad this country is and the solution to everything is huge government.
Obama went to that G20 conference and several countries told him he is messing up big time with the attempt to spend our way out of the recession. But Obama is a true believer that in spite of all the years of evidence to the contrary that spending is the way to go and also wants to turn the country into a socialist nightmare. This will mean according to the CBO that there will be over $2 trillion deficit this year and $1 trillion deficit forever. Bankrupting the country. Then of course the idea that taxing the rich will solve everything. The result of that is to REMOVE money from the businesses and have them go overseas in a global economy. Ireland greatly lowered the tax rate there and Business is booming. Evidence like this means nothing to liberals. Evidence that EVERY TIME the tax rate goes UP the revenue goes down and when the tax rate goes down the revenue goes up is ignored.
So with very important things like this what do liberals rant about? Bush. Poor little liberals thinking that any judge they put up is fine but when the shoe was on the other foot all they could do as the Democrats obstructed judges. Foolish liberals. Turn around is never fair play for liberals.-
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jovial7 months, 1 week ago
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The G20 today agreed to pump another trillion in to the world economy. The only people balking are the people that have a vested interest outside this country to keep the value of the dollar propped up. Their investments lose money when we spend money ourselves. That's why they don't want it. China is the loudest voice against the Obama bailout and the reason is obvious. They are heavily invested in the dollar. When more dollars are dumped into the world market they lose. The conservatives like you in this country think a lot like the Chinese. Imagine that, conservatives and the communist Chinese government on the same page. LMAO!
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago
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Endo:
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This is what Bush did.
Isiah 1: 21-23
"The Degenerate City
21 How the faithful city has become a harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them."
Look at the ridiculous things Bush brought about.
Keep defending it though, it shows what you value and it is not people or their chance at salvation. It is their money and life you seek. You want others to slave for your luxury, you do not seem to understand that you will pay for what you want.
Seek first the truth. then look at what is happening. -
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hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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Tcaros7 months, 1 week ago
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Most Americans would like to see former Bush administration officials be convicted of war crimes for there part.
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Also, we as Americans need to pressure our representative to enact legislation to forbid "illegal signing statements," "covering up illegal domestic spying," "torture," and undue influence over our judicial branch by the executive branch. Also, we need more oversight into our intelligence agencies. -
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annk1-957 months, 1 week ago
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There seem to be a lot of people on this post who do not like America. If you are one of them, and don't live here, I bet you wish you did. Those of you who are bitching about how bad we are and are living here, please go find someplace else you think has a better government, better living conditions, more freedom, etc. When you find such a place, please go there to live. The rest of us will be better off without you.
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SpareChange7 months, 1 week ago
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Annk
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Why does upholding the constitution and demanding our leaders live up to our reputation make me hate America? In fact, it would seem the complete opposite.
You are loyal to your President more than you are loyal to your Constitution and to the treaties our country has signed. You are an Authoritarian, not an American
People who love this country want there to be justice... without accountability America is just a bunch of B.S., crooks and followers. -
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djn3nunez37 months, 1 week ago
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annk1-
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No I think you must have your wires crossed. There are alot of people who dislike the fact that the previous administration was into illegal torture. Now if you think it'ou.s okay to torture your enemies then purhaps it is you who should find such place to live and the rest of us, (you know the majority wh voted in the new Administration) will be better off without y
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annk1-957 months, 1 week ago
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As a parent of someone who had to fight in Baghdad, I can tell you that I wanted all the information that could be obtained about who was shooting and/or planting bombs. Those prisoners were not beaten, shot, hanged, etc. There has never been a "humane" war. If someone had to be "humilated" in order to keep my kid alive, so be it.
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Comparing Gitmo to Nazi concentration camps is stupid and ignorant. You bleeding hearts should all go join the Peace Corps. Then we can watch YOU get beheaded on national tv.-
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago
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annk1-95:
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As a Vietnam vet I hate torture. I'll bet your son does as well, if he has ever see some of our men who were tortured.
Turn about is not fair play. It is the sickening fall into the soulless acts of the devil. But then again we all knew where Bushes allegiance really lay. And it wasn't with God.
If you really believe that torture brings about good info. Try this.
Put your hand on a table and have someone hit it with a hammer. They want you to tell them something you know nothing about. Now until they get that answer from you. They are going to hammer on every inch of your fingers until you tell them what they want.
I'll guarantee you after a few fingers you will be telling them anything in hopes that they will stop. When it doesn't stop you will ask them what they want to know. You will lie, you will
convict someone else to get it stopped.
I just really hope that none of your family is ever tortured. Because what you said is sickening. -
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SpareChange7 months, 1 week ago
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Annk
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Your son is less safe because of these practices - torture breeds resentment and hatred
Our country is less safe with these practices - torture breeds more terrorists.
How can we say to them, democracy is the way and then have policies that are antiAmerican? We have to prove to them that we are better - but Bush has only proven that he's the same as Saddam. -
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LightofReason7 months ago
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Gitmo IS a concentration camp, it just not a death camp like Auschwitz or Belsen. Oh by the way the Bush clan wealth came from aiding Hitler, using Auschwitz slaves, running guns to the SA and SS, laundering money for Fritz Thyssen (Hitler's banker). This aid (TREASON) continued for 10-11 months after Pearl Harbor until the fed's seized Union Bank Corp. and other properties in Oct.-Nov. 1942. Prescott Bush was a managing Director and his scumbag father-in-law was also a partner.
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Most of the people in Gitmo were seized during our illegal invasion of Afghanistan BEFORE our illegal invasion of Iraq.
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hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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goggleyes7 months, 1 week ago
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You liberals are nauseating. The world is a different place since people fly jets into our buildings and blow our soldiers up claiming "jihad" on the infidels. They capture our troops in Somalia and hang and behead them publically while dragging them through the streets. It's a n ungly, messy business but I sleep better knowing someone is protecting ME. Worry less about their "rights" and more about our citizens. If I have to torture some explosive strapped 20 year old to prevent another 911, I will. Dont defend their "rights", trust me, they dont care about yours.
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VocalOp7 months, 1 week ago
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Now everything makes perfect sense. However, the Republicans should be grateful to President Obama for being more than gracious to the former President and his administration, not wanting to take any action against the former President. I believe he, President Obama, has made that perfectly clear. What a legacy (Bush administration).
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DarkWizard7 months, 1 week ago
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VocalOp,
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I think you underestimate President Obama's tact here. He may not be directly prosecuting the Bush administration (although comments in his speeches do direct economic blame upon him and the republicans), but it is obvious, through his appointments, that he IS going after Bush and company!
I think that the course Obama has taken is very thought out and will be the most effective way of exposing Bush, Darth Cheney, Rummy, Gonzo, and the rest of the axis of evil.
This course will also expose democrats who've played sycophant to the republican thrall. What I mean by this is, Pelosi, Reid, or other democrats who've acted as obstructionists in impeaching Bush/Cheney et al, will also be responsible for war crimes through omission of their constitutional duties.
I distinctly remember the neocon faithful here on Propeller saying, "Bring it on!" when the democrats here were supporting impeachment. Well, now they may be wishing that that would be all these criminals faced!
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imrdgrnr7 months, 1 week ago
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F*** you guy's!! This is a war!! These dadgum people were fighting against have no Geneva conventions card, they have no ROE. They wouldn't think twice about cutting your head right the F*** off for the whole world to see!! We did not start this!! unless you consider our right to free speech and pursuit of happiness and also our countries unwillingness to convert to islam a detrimental blow to our image in the world. F*** you, I was there I had people trying to kill me, I looked them in the eyes while they were doing it, just because I had the red, white, and blue on my shoulder!! So before you go judging war time acts from your Lazyboy think twice and just shut the F*** up!!
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SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned1 Reply
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DarkWizard7 months, 1 week ago
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ddago2006,
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You are the most arrogant incompetent poster Propeller has ever had and you make endoscopy look like a Nobel prize writer!
In other words, there is just as much evidence that that statement is true as the hot air you spat!
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DarkWizard7 months, 1 week ago
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The GOP meltdown is accelerating! The republican/neocons (is there a difference...really?) are burrowing further into their fantasy world for solace! That fantasy world is a world of denial of facts and a sad attempt at revising history. The only ones buying in to the tripe they spew are their own kind. Truly the cavewo/men of this modern era. The Bushosaurus' Cheneyodons, and Gonzodactyls are becoming extinct. Join them if you will neoconderthals...
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chickenslatts7 months, 1 week ago
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jovial - You certainly are an arrogant ass who enjoys the freedom provided by those you term "scum". You are, in fact, scum yourself & a traitor to your country which you obviously hate. You embrace one form of totalitariansm & decry another? Are you truly that stupid? The people you despise would - and have - given their lives to protect you and those you would comfort & defend would as soon drag your headless, bloated carcass through the streets with glee. What would make you happy? To have everyone you disagree with imprisoned, tortured & executed? The things you are supposedly against? What really hurts is the fact that an evil person like you is suffered to live amongst us. You are a hypocrite of the first water. You look fairly fat, dumb & happy - I wonder if you'll soil yourself to your socks when either a mob or a "lawfull authority" drags you from your comfortable home. Will you scream for your "rights" or beg for your life?
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"Far stretching, endless time brings forth all hidden things and buries that which once did shine: The firm resolve falters, the sacred oath is shattered, and let none say; It cannot happen here." - Sophocles
I have more respect for the average terrorist than I do for a hateful, armchair activist *****ack like yourself. May you reap the whirlwind.-
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DarkWizard7 months, 1 week ago
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chickenshits,
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"I have more respect for the average terrorist than I do for a hateful, armchair activist *****ack like yourself. May you reap the whirlwind."
You obviously are the one who is arrogant! I know this because jovial has served his country and yet your assumption is that he depends on the freedoms provided by others! Either way your logic is flawed and you show your ignorance with each new word of your post!
Your neocon-washed brain is confusing Nazism for patriotism! Even if you don't claim to be a republican you sound much like an enemy combatant! You hide behind your version of being an American at the exclusion of the freedoms of others! The saddest part is, you probably can't tell the difference between what you're accusing someone of and the very words you wrote being in the same category! -
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hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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