Democracy Waning wants to know if you can tell **** from Shinola?

Some years ago I had a job that allowed me to travel throughout the world.

In between getting passports, packing bags and finalizing itineraries I got drunk a lot with my good friend Randy. Now randy had many pearls of wisdom to share. But his most memorable tip at that time was over shots of tequila and beer. Randy held out his hands filled with imaginary piles of crap and boot polish and said" Tony this is **** and this is Shinola. No matter where you go or how long you stay, you must know the difference".

Since that time I've stopped traveling and had way too many shots of tequila but the lesson still is with me. I hope it will help you too.

John McCain is he Shinola or just ****?

McCain was a war hero and some have suggested that being a war hero is not enough to be president, there must be more.

McCain claims he knows how to win a war but he hasn't utilized that knowledge in any of the two wars he has lost so far.

McCain spent 5 years as a POW. Well if 5 years in jail equals president then I have a nephew who should be king. No if you really want size up John McCain then look at his record.

McCain's voting record for veterans is feeble. He has a "D" rating with The Iraq and Afghanistan veterans organization. He has a 20% rating with The DAV the lowest rating of all senators. he has voted 6 times against veteran bills. Obama has an 80% rating and a ‘B" rating for his votes.

McCain has been part of the administration that has sent our troops into battle without their amour. They were sent into Iraq without a plan for getting them out. And then after squandering their mission John McCain along with the current administration refused to support the disabled returning troops or their families.

McCain has trumpeted his comradery with the soldier while all the time voting against them. - "He voted against an amendment providing $20 billion to the VA's medical facilities. [5/4/06] He voted against providing $430 million to the VA for outpatient care "and treatment for veterans," one of only 13 senators to do so. [4/26/06] He voted against increasing VA funding by $1.5 billion by closing corporate loopholes. [3/14/06] And John McCain voted against increasing VA funding by $1.8 billion by ending "abusive tax loopholes." [3/10/04] This is not Shinola.

Mccain has the lowest rating of all 100 senators on veterans votes.

McCain is thought of a great supporter of the troops by the low information votes. But then they don't know **** from Shinola.

Democracy Waning Out!

Democracy Waning asks, "Is McCain the Manchurian Candidate?"

John McCain is the presumptive republican choice for President. But is he the kind of man that America needs or trust?

John McCain was born in Panama. He still holds dual citizenship. The constitution says that to be president you must be a natural-born American.

This rule, I believe, was established by the founding fathers to make sure that only Americans could aspire to the top office of the land. They knew that allegiances to another country could cloud the judgments of a foreign born man.

McCain's first president was Harmodio Arias. (President of Panama 1936) Does that scare you? It does me.

John McCain was also captured in Vietnam. Now he served his adopted country (USA) well. And spent 5 years in captivity...much like the character in the Manchurian Candidate movie.

In the movie an American soldier was taken prisoner, tortured and brainwashed. After the war, he was released back into America as a hero and a sleeper. He moved up the ladder as a politician until he rose to the role of president. Sound familiar?

Now you may think, "Well, John McCain's no Manchurian Candidate. He is a level headed man who has our best interest at heart." But what do the people who work with him closest say?

McCain's temper is legendary. From Pete Domenci, the republican senator from New Mexico, to Rush Limbaugh, to Sean Hannity, all have felt the lash of his temper tantrums.

McCain has never gotten over losing in 2000. He still wants to punish his party and America for not choosing him. Even McCain makes remarks over his lack of control when he gets mad. Do you want the Button in the hands of a cranky old man who would push it just because he spilled his coffee on his lap?

Has John McCain ever had to seek help in controlling his temper? Is he on a Ridlin-type drug to keep his flare-ups in control? Does he take his pills? Or does his wife cindy?

"Cindy's biggest claim to fame is in 1989 she developed an addiction to perocet and vicodin, two powerful morphine based pain killers. In 1993 she was caught stealing percocet from supply of the American Voluntary Medical Team, a charity she founded to provide health care and medications to war victims in underdeveloped nations. The DEA was investigated her and with the intervention of her well connected parents and McCain himself, Cindy got off the hook with the usual 90 day trip to the posh rehab. The American Voluntary Medical Team folded shortly after it ceased to be a supply point for Cindy's opiate habit." -(Over the line Smokey. feb.20/08 Why America isn't proud of Cindy Mccain)

Drugs meant for under-privileged families ended up in her mouth, clouding her brain.

No wonder she's never been anything but proud of America. She can't even remember all the things that America did.

Can we rely on her to give John McCain his pills to keep his temper in control? I don't think so.

Democracy Waning ,Peace Out!

Democracy Waning, oil drilling and the fictious fish.

Wikopedia describes a "red herring" as "a technique used in literature to mislead the audience." It also describes it as "a logical fallacy in which one purports to prove one's point by means of irrelevant arguments."

There have been many recent cases of red herring in our politics.

I was listening to my roommate tell the old one about John Kerry when he said I voted for it before I voted against it. Now my roommate was saying "see this is a example of Kerry's flip flops".

I thought on this and said "well then the republicans who were in the senate at that time must have voted against it before they voted for it so were they all flip floppers too?"

My roomie was aghast. "No" he said.

"The Republicans Senators would never have voted not to fund the troops. It was Kerry who flipped flopped".

But, I said if Kerry voted for the 87 billion supplemental package and the Republicans who were at the time were in the majority voted for it then wouldn't the bill have passed? Why would there be a need for a second vote? The one Kerry voted against?

My roomie was stunned and wandered off muttering. No way was I right. He was choking on his serving of red herring.

Now we fast forward to 2008. The price of oil has risen over 200% since Bush took office.

The Republicans have no one to run for president and nothing to stand for. So they have grasped on to Off shore oil drilling. This not homosexuals, or guns or religion will propel them and their flawed candidates into to office.

Now the oil companies already have 68 million unused acres of space to drill for oil This includes off shore in the gulf of Mexico. But they haven't used these sites. The truth is that the oil companies don't have the tools or rigs to do more drilling and they have little capacity to process more oil to gas than they are doing now.

Under cover of the a afore mentioned imaginary red fish they have used their influence with the republican party to suggest our problem is that we don't have enough places to drill right now and that's what is keeping prices high. Supply and demand.

If we could only" let the US drill off the coast of Florida" like **** Cheney said the Chinese are doing in the 90 miles between the U.S. and Cuba. (This was later changed to like the Chinese were planning to do once someone actually questioned the statement from the dickster.)

Can you smell the herring ? The Chinese are not drilling 90 miles off our shores. There are already open oil leases in the gulf that big oil is not taking advantage of and of course the biggest fallacy Is that U.S. doesn't drill for oil. Oil companies do.

The oil, if found off the coast will sell at the exact same price as oil from Iraq or Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that that oil will come in about 10 years and will probably lower the price of gasoline at that time about $0.05/ gallon.

The lie is that somehow this oil will make us independent and it is echoed by the low information voter.

Drill they say drill in ANWR, drill off the coast. its safe, safer than ever before.

They site the fact that Hurricane Katrina along with clearing out all the poor people proved that oil rigs were safe from the storm. I even heard one republican strategists said "not one drop of oil was spilled during the disaster.

Actually over 40 rigs were destroyed during Katrina and Rita. 127 reported spills of oil from pipelines and drilling rigs. Oil spills visible from space and most of the oil never recovered.

It was a mess but again for those who feast on the herring of red, facts only get in the way.

Democracy Waning OUt

 From Democracy Waning to the People of Iraq:

I'm sorry.

America has done some really heartless, evil things to you and your country and I want to apologize on behalf of myself and the others who didn't fight hard enough to stop Bush and his Greed. We didn't stop Cheney, either, and we should have done all that we could to oust his evil.

When they said they were going to war over imaginary wmds we should have looked closely at these men who had lied to us before. We didn't. Bush and his regime has reached down to show the worst of America and too many of us Americans have acted like the 'good Germans." We refused to believe that the new Hitler wasn't in your country but is here in ours.

He has sent America's army. Bush has no regard for our own army so I know he doesn't value the lives of your leaders.

He has allowed mercenaries to work under the cover of our flag. American SS, Storm Troopers, who are without accountability to our government or yours. These Black Water cowboys are hated here just like they are hated in your country and around the world. For this, I apologize.

Bush has grabbed up your citizens for rendition and torture under the guise of justice. He has torn apart your families and country while tearing apart our constitution. Its like there was only so much democracy available so he cut ours in half and gave you only part of what you deserved. Again I apologize.

Iraq, you will have to get yourself free. I no longer look to America to uphold its creed. We are weak and unwilling or incapable of evicting this group of thugs from the leadership of our country.

We have a Press that isn't doing its job. And Bush's opposition, the Democrat leadership seem to have retractable spines, stuck in reverse.

I expected more from us. Maybe you never did.

Rise Up. Get yourself free from us. Do what you have to to regain you own destiny. Bush will never leave your country. He wants to continue to steal you resources, your oil. Its always been about the oil. Bush has already established a puppet govt. like so many in your history, to help him keep control.

Fight for your freedom.

We will be of little help.

I'm so sorry.

Democracy Waning out!

Democracy Waning wasn't such a problem when I was a little kid.

I once saw a TV program about a game warden who had a problem. He wanted to study a small group of monkeys that lived in a tree.

The warden had to figure out how to capture the monkeys in order to tag them. The monkeys were very fast and he didn't want to harm them. So he devised an ingenious method for capture.

The warden took coconuts and drilled a small hole in the tops. The holes were about the size of the monkeys' open hand allowing them to easily get their hands into the coconuts.

The monkeys were watching the warden as he made sure they saw him insert pieces of a familiar treat into each coconut.

The warden then attached a strong chain at the bottom of the coconuts and tied them to a large rock. The trap had been set.

When the warden and his men withdrew to a safe distance, the monkeys quickly came down from the trees to inspect the coconuts.

They put their hand into the coconut and grabbed hold of the treat. Once they had grasped the treat in their hands it created a fist which could no longer be easily extracted from the coconut. And so, they were trapped.

Now the game warden and his men easily came in with nets and captured the monkeys. The monkeys screamed, hissed and bared their teeth. But the one thing that could set them free...the one thing they could do, they wouldn't do. They wouldn't let go of the treat.

The inability of the monkeys to comprehend their situation was their downfall.

Fast forward to the invasion of Iraq. Bush and his cronies thought that it would be easy. They said it would cost only a few billion dollars and many of his types thought it would only take a few days or weeks to overcome Saddam and his sons and take over Iraq.

They wanted to simply swoop down from the trees and grab the sweet crude candy they knew were in the coconuts.

When Bush went into Iraq he didn't disarm the army. He disbanded it. Bush sent home a 300,000-man army with no jobs, little to do and all their weapons. Al Franken often joked that Bush said "go, and take you guns with you. "

There was no concern for maintaining utilities, preventing looting or the Iraqi people. Bush wasn't interested in protecting museums or power plants. Even the ammunitions depots that later became the IED that killed so many America heroes were left unprotected.

Instead they protected one thing: the Ministry of Oil; because, in reality, that's what they really came for...Iraq's oil resources.

Unfortunately Bush and his buddies didn't plan for an insurgency. Once they stuck their hands into the coconut to grasp Iraq's oil, like the monkeys they evolved from, they were trapped.

Bush won't leave Iraq because there is too much money to be made with the oil.

So America will scream, hiss and bared its teeth but Bush will never let go of the Iraqi oil. And all the destruction, death and suffering is just the price of doing business.

Now all solutions for saving Iraq, either as a united country or as three loosely affiliated regions, have the same qualification at the end: "but American companies still get the oil"

Bush and friends won't give up on the oil. And their inability to understand their situation will be America's downfall. This is why we can't win in Iraq.

Democracy Waning -Out