Preface and After-Word

The greatness of these United States is due to unity through diversity, and Law, not the misguided insistence of a Party trusting less to Christianity’s God than to the history of the Roman Church.

Bush and Cheney

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - People who complain that the government will spend too much money to provide all citizens with health Insurance, and who are being taught to believe they will bear the burden, are wrong!

Had it not been for the Iraq War [a war of choice, not of necessity] there would be plenty of money to benefit the living rather than bury those who died on the altar of an unjustifiable faith, not to mention the larger number of seriously wounded whose reward for “serving the cause,” if they don‘t commit suicide, is to know a living hell; why?

Republicans are willing to ante-up for weapons and war, but resist and hope to destroy a cause intended for the good of the living. It is they who are responsible for our problems. The cost of the invasion, the war itself, and now our withdraw from Iraq is an immense burden , but when it is done that cost will become a source of funding for a worthier cause: Healthcare for all.

Unlike the Bush Administration that conjured up an imaginary Axis of Evil to stoke the fire of its offensive desire, President Obama prefers to make friends by avoiding misunderstandings, especially with Russia which responded to the Ossetia confrontation appropriately. President Obama rightfully will not install anti-ballistic missile sites in Europe; against whom?

Both No. Korea and Iran are showing signs of wanting better relations with their American antagonist, and even Cuba is part of Obama’s plan for national conciliation. All such acts reduce costs and will make funds available for better and peaceful uses.

I was a banker and lender during the 1960s; we never had the problems the nation is faced with today. And it was not due entirely to regulations, but to the fiduciary [relating to the relationship between a trustee and the person or body for whom the trustee acts] judgment of lenders, the expectation of which was drummed into us.

Branches were audited three times a year, not to find fault, but to prevent error that, as any wise person knows, are more easily corrected early rather than later. It worked like a charm.

There were two types of borrowers; those who preferred not to disturb their assets, and were willing to pledge them to obtain a lower-risk rate of interest, and those who “wanted” something, or were in over their heads in debt. Applications were taken for the latter sort, credit reports obtained, and decisions made based on ability to repay.

Delinquency rates were kept at a level consistent with good judgment according to the fiduciary-rule that said, the way to get out of debt was either (1). TO INCREASE INCOME TO COVER EXPENSES or {2). DECRESS EXPENSES TO FIT WITHIN INCOME, Or, a combination of both. Obama is trying do just that, whereas Republicans are the type who want for the rich all they can put on the backs of their political base and the rest of us poor souls.

Republicans make no secret of their intent to cause Obama to fail by accusing him and his administration of everything they failed to do. The susceptibility of their traditional base - people who always have, and forever will vote Republican - is the unwitting ammunition who today constitute the chorus which responds to leaders who orchestrate them.

It works because attitudes [the costume of outrageous concern] once assumed will cause them to play the part, even against their own best interest. Loud talk and wilder gesticulations suggest, “it is all your fault!” using the same tactic at town-hall meetings that “swift boaters” did to defeat John Kerry‘s run for the presidency. Propaganda [information put out by an organization or government to promote a policy, idea, or cause] comes in many forms which, defended as sincere [by Republicans], is intended to convince the gullible of what cleverly is disguised as authentic.

When successful, propaganda produces a sense of self-righteousness in those who believe and are affected by it, even when it is wrong.

Dick Cheney currently is trying to promote torture generally, and water torture in particular that has a history going back to the time of the Inquisition. “Richard Haselton, an Englishman arraigned by the Inquisition at Majorca in 1588, left a heart rendering account of being Water tortured.” [see The Spanish Inquisition, by Cecil Roth, chapter IV - The Unholy Office, pp. 95, 96. [edited].

“Water torture was more ingenious and more fiendish [than other torture]; the prisoner was fastened almost naked on a sort of trestle, his head lower than his feet, and his limbs bound to the side. The mouth was then forced open and a piece of linen inserted into the gullet. Through this, water was poured from a jar producing a state of semi-suffocation.

This process was repeated time after time, as many as eight jars sometimes being applied.” After undergoing the water-torment, he writes, he “lay in a most lamentable and pitiful manner, and being so feeble and weak, by reason of my torments, that I could take no sustenance.”

Dick Cheney does not deny torture was used, but justifies its “effective use” by accusing Barack Obama and his Administration’s Attorney-General of opposing what he claims succeeded in preventing further terrorist attacks on America. Cheney is a devil intent on destroying Obama’s presidency, as are other of the Party’s obedient Christian disciples, the “Party of God” that Evangelists control hoping to resume its role of misguided leadership.

The leadership is misguided principally in its vision and the methods it uses to achieve its end. But it exercises a remarkable control over its members some of whom spoke honestly of their opinion of Russ Limbaugh, but who were made to apologize to Russ by the Holy See.

Senator Grassey who at first appeared willing to support the Health Bill, is the latest to be dissuaded by the Republican hierarchy making it likely, if the Health Bill passes, it will be by a Democratic vote joined, perhaps, by no more than two independent Republicans.

Cognitive dissonance is the cause stimulated by Republicans to create an unease too great for most its members comfortably to deal with. The effect occurs when, in the instance of Senator Grassey, he is greatly influenced by the invisible Republican Holy See [Karl Rove?] that seems to offer him justifications by which to argue himself out of his reversal in favor of the Bill to the position by which he satisfies his Party’s opposition to it.

Unless individuals are tough-minded enough to overcome dissonance [lack of consistency or compatibility between actions or beliefs] and can remain comfortable with his or her decision and belief, the introduction of forces contrary to those beliefs can produce in them a state of psychological conflict or anxiety resulting from a contradiction between simultaneously held beliefs and attitude similar to what Roman Catholics experienced prior to the Reformation.

Indeed, the analogy between the two institutions is not far fetched if one compares Republican political conduct to the history of Roman Catholicism. Democrats need to raise their awareness of this fact, until they and the American people fully realize the magnitude of the threat.

Dick Cheney stands out from fellow Republicans because he instigates on his own, ideas and concepts about which other Republicans remain silent. He justifies the use of torture against terrorists insisting that it provided reliable [?] information that helped prevent post 9-11 attacks on the United States; “we protected our citizens.” But let’s be reasonable. Homeland

Security, the CIA and the Justice Department, not to mention other agencies and positions of authority, might have been filled by persons who concurred with the religious goals of the Administration. George Tenent of the CIA said “we do not torture people,” a statement that distinguishes “human beings” from lesser animals; I.e., anyone not of the Christian faith.

The Iraq War was not intended to protect the American People from attack, but to provide the means by which George W. Bush became Commander in Chief and “dictated” the will of his Party according to the demands of its hierarchy that justified its conduct by what was done by the Church, including its Inquisitions. These are the realities to be considered when Dick Cheney speaks his drivel [silly and irrelevant or inaccurate talk].

When he speaks what he says is, ‘What was good enough for the Roman Church is good enough for the Republican Party,’ ignoring the fact the conduct of the Church led to the Reformation and gave impetus to our forefathers to separate the colonies from religious dogmatism.

The Democratic Party has the responsibility to see that what they wrought and cast asunder by wisdom and common sense is never reunited. For the greatness of these United States is due to unity through diversity, and Law, not the misguided insistence of a Party trusting less to Christianity’s God than to the history of the Roman Church.