( – promoted by odum)

Community broadband services are all the rage nowadays. Start singing Woody Guthrie's “This Land Is My Land” and by the time you reach those gulf stream waters you'll have not only covered the entire lower 48 U.S., but you'll also have described where local communities have put in high speed communications services. (For much more information visit freepress.net.)

And even at the federal level these efforts are being recognized and encouraged.

(Free Press Lauds ‘Community Broadband Act of 2007’, freepress.net, 07/24/07)

As Senator Lautenberg stated in a press release:

(click here for press release)

Fair enough, Senator. I know many folks in Williamstown, VT are sick of waiting for the pie in the sky promises made by the commercial carriers to come about. I've been tasked by the Williamstown Community Economic Development Committee to explore community broadband, and I'm working on this venture with at least 13 other Orange County towns. After all .. this land is your land, this land is my land.

As a matter of fact, all across Vermont communities are exploring or actively installing the latest in communications infrastructure … fiber-optics and some wireless. Much of this has been made possible by Burlington Telecom, the Burlington utility that gives Queen City residents inexpensive access to fast, reliable and high quality Internet, telephone and television services via a brand new fiber-optics network.

So I'm going to applaud those pushing to make sure community broadband is not interfered with by behemoth corporations … politely, tentatively. Because I want to see if the final actions meet the initial words.

Here's a question: with what do you associate the number 359,443,925,683? No, it's not the estimated population of the United States by the end of 2008. Actually that number should have a dollar sign in front of it because it is the amount of interest we paid on our national debt during fiscal 2007.

That's right … $359,443,925,683.00 just so we can not pay down any of that $8.9 trillion (and exploding) owed by the citizens of the United States. That comes out to almost $30,000 for every child, woman and man! (Brillig National Debt Clock and US Treasury Department)

No, this isn't a swipe at today's economic conservatives who'll swear borrowing tons of money and then paying a huge carrying fee to never pay any of it down is great for the economy. That's a different discussion.

I'm still talking impeachment of Cheney and Bush.

The corruption and dishonesty part of our current federal administration already gets wide discussion. The lies that led to the invasion of Iraq, unconstitutional eavesdropping on American citizens, failure to respond to Congressional inquiries, signing statements, war profiteering, operating a government of by and for the corporations, waging an undeclared war against Iran, abrogation of international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions … all these and more demand impeachment.

What hasn't received a tremendous amount of coverage, however, is the breath taking incompetence of the Cheney/Bush administration.

At the time of Bush's coming to power in January, 2001 our national debt was about $5.7 trillion (US Treasury Department). Since then it has grown by $3.2 trillion … that's $246 billion every six months!

I don't care how many weak willed Democrats went along with the Cheney/Bush tax breaks for the wealthy, the driver behind those breaks was the administration. Cheney and Bush have deliberately engaged in a borrow and spend economic policy that has driven our nation further and further into debt, and don't forget this administration inherited an almost balanced budget. This is breathtaking incompetence at a minimum.

Don't forget two of the administrations more memorable summer vacations. The first was in 2001 when everybody in or connected to the intelligence community was running around with their “hair on fire” as former head counter-terrorism adviser to the White House Richard Clarke put it. What was it that Condi Rice at the 911 commission hearings told the nation was the title of a mid-summer presidential intelligence briefing? “I believe the title was bin Laden determined to attack the United States.”

Great time for a summer vacation, huh? A fine example of gross incompetence and criminal negligence.

Another great adventure for the Cheney/Bush administration was 2005. You remember that summer, don't you? We saw hurricane Katrina, destruction of a massive swath of Gulf coast line and the drowning of half of a major United States city! We were all watching a category 5 storm heading straight towards New Orleans, the administration was receiving warnings that the levees wouldn't hold and Bush ran off to campaign for legislation, attend a birthday party for John McCain and then more R&R. Of course Bush did find time to assure us his incompetent FEMA head Brown was doing a “heck of a job”.

And don't forget Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Lebanon and more … all human and foreign policy disasters at a minimum. Everywhere the Cheney/Bush administration has left their mark failure has followed.

This is just more reason to force an impeachment of Cheney and Bush. The incompetence of this current federal administration is a greater threat to us and our constitutional democratic republic than anyone, anywhere … foreign or domestic.

It's your choice: sit idly by listening through the walls while our nation continues to be raped by the most corrupt, dishonest and incompetent adminstration in our nation's history; or get active and force impeachment investigations.

(After a Brutal Attack, Many Hope for Change but Few Expect It, NY Times, 07/16/07)

This is an unfortunate side of humanity, but, in my opinion, it is ingrained … genetic if you will. It seems we become so accustomed to our own perceived comfort and feeling of safety that we often have a difficult time moving out of that zone even in the most needful of circumstances.

It can be scarey being part of the solution.

(Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings, Washington Post, 07/20/07)

This is just another step in whatever path the Cheney/Bush administration has set for us, and this administration has no intention of letting Congress, and thus you and I, know where we're going and why.

The list of impeachable offenses committed by the Cheney/Bush administration is long. In short form this is the most corrupt, dishonest and incompetent federal administration in our nation's history. Immediate removal from office is required for the sake of our present and future.

Now we as individuals have a choice: we can huddle fearfully in our little cocoon of perceived comfort and safety, or we can best our fears and be part of the solution (impeachment).

I have three things to offer any politician: my money, my time and my vote. Simply put: no impeachment (and no end to our military involvement in Iraq) … no money, time or vote from me for any Democrat.

But that is only the first step. It appears all of us will be confronted with some very uncomfortable choices as the coming constitutional battle plays out. I don't know what I'll do, but I'm thinking about options already.

I want to be part of the solution.

There is a foreign influence in Iraq's contemporary politics … we all know that. For sure most of this interference in modern day Mesopotamia is of the military sort with the United States, Britain and the rest of the “coalition” providing the greatest majority of this. And yes there are those entering Iraq with the intent of causing grief from another angle, and this group too includes supposed allies of the United States: 

(Saudi's role in Iraq insurgency outlined, LA Times, 07/15/07)

Not often noticed is another type of influence. This other is much more positive, encourages Iraqis working together, supplies basic necessities and provides evidence that a quick and total U.S. military withdrawal will not end up in bloodshed … if we do it right.

(Cleric Switches Tactics to Meet Changes in Iraq, NY Times, 07/18/07)

For sure Sadr does present a less pretty public persona, but even that is viewed as a relief by many Iraqis. Sadrs Mahdi Army has been involved in two major offensives against the U.S. backed government, and that same militia has been part of the sectarian violence currently engulfing Iraq.

On the other hand Shiites who live in neighborhoods controlled by the Mahdi Army often appreciate the semblence of physical security that militia brings with it.

I think the explanation for our government's antipathy towards Sadr, however, is best expressed thusly:

(ibid)

The fact our nation's government would turn its back on populist movements should not be a surprise. In the early 19th century Haitian slaves held an uprising that led to Haiti becoming the second nation in the western hemisphere to throw off the European yoke (the US, of course, was the first).

In World War II agreements were made between the Allied forces in the Pacific and such people as Mao ZeDong. The promise was made to Mao and the Vietnamese that should they assist the Allies in fighting the Japanese the nation's of French Indochina would be given independence and sovereignty. Well … Mao, who held George Washington in high esteem, lived up to his bargain, but we know the history of continued military domination committed by France and then the United States.

The 1960s and '70s saw the rise of Liberation Theology among the Catholic clergy in Central and South America. Our government labeled this movement, who's basic tenet was all people are equal and deserve equal treatment as a matter of a god given right, as communist and a danger to our sphere of influence.

Fidel Castro's first choie for protector nation was the United States. It was only after we refused him and threatened him and his revolution with death that he turned to the USSR.

Those are certainly not the only examples, but they do expose our history of fighting populist movements, and they do explain why Hezbollah and Hamas are on our shit list.

The Haitians, Mao, Catholic priests, Castro, Hezbollah, Hamas and Sadr all share one attribute: they want(ed) to answer to their local constituency and not to whatever interest du jour the United States wanted adhered to. As a result we've supported many, many brutal regimes … including Saudi Arabia where 15 of 19 attackers of 09/11/01 came from and now a majority of non-Iraqi anti-US fighters/terrorists come from resulting in continued violence and confusion for Iraq.

Our way out of Iraq should depend upon stability, and that stability is only going to come from the likes of Sadr with his public storefronts providing municipal service. But then again we'd have to accept someone who answers to Iraqis and the US government, wouldn't we?

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