South Chicagoland Young Democrats: The Blog

I’m trying to write this, make dinner, and hand out candy, all in the next 30 minutes, so forgive me for making this rather abbreviated and short.

Today, as many people know, is Halloween, the day in which children (and some who aren’t children) dress up as something with the intent to either frighten others, or get candy. (I’ve never really celebrated Halloween as most of you know it, so my interpretation may be a bit off.)
Now, in between supporting the dentist industry and checking for the spaghetti water to boil, I have a couple of seconds here and there to point out what is really frightening in this world:  the simple fact that Noah Webster and Samuel Johnson are under the thumb of the GOP.  I am, of course, referring to the makers of the first dictionaries, and the monopoly that President Bush and his cronies have on the English language.  The control of the language began, of all places, in Hollywood, known for their dramatic special effects, from the mind of Ronald Reagan.  While most Americans were drawn in by the rhetoric to fight the Soviet Union and “win one for the Gipper,” a subtle change was occuring:  the word “public” became related with communism, and “private” was suddenly the popular word around the Beltway.  Now we’ve got privatized Social Security (as if that isn’t a contradiction in terms), private military contractors, and on and on.  Next I imagine we’re going to privatize sidewalks.

Since I’ve already written on Blackwater, I’ll go after the future of Social Security here.  It’s certainly possible that I’ve missed something major, but from what I understand of the president’s plan, all of “Social” Security in the future will be handling by investing in Wall Street.  Now, it may just be the spaghetti, but something there just doesn’t sit well with me.  In terms of economics, we’ve got a real problem on our plate at this very moment.  The housing market has reached a new low, a credit crunch is here now, and the Fed’s plan to ease us out of it is to inject $17 billion into the economy, which only causes inflation.  Economists left and right are anticpating a major recession to come, and to come soon, resulting in billions of dollars lost by businesses.  And, billions of dollars lost by businesses means that shareholders aren’t going to get their dividends (don’t forget we’ve got this little problem of the national debt, too).   So, go ahead and invest your retirement savings, but if what the experts think will happen actually happens, then you’d better work to pay off your retirement debts.  Personally, I’d rather pay into Social Security now and get guaranteed returns, than pay into Wall Street now and get possible returns.  Here’s what is really scary about this year’s Halloween:  the potential for millions of retirees to suddenly be without money if the market collapses (and it will- but that’s a different story to come).  As a side note, President Bush is taking money out of Social Security to fund the occupation of Iraq, then returning to DC and complaining about how Social Security is broke. Well, I wonder why!

And, for those of you who are interested in knowing, I am wearing a Cubs shirt for Halloween.  My dad doesn’t mind having a Democrat for a son, he minds having a Cub fan for a son.  Luckily for him it’s only for a day, but when he’s old enough to get Social Security, he’d better hope that the coming recession is old history by then.

From the mind of Eamon Driscoll.

While on the outside the Pledge of Allegiance appears to be an oath of loyalty, there are certainly parts which seem to contradict the fundamental values of America, most of which have been violated time and time again.  There is of course the religious controversy about adding “under God” to the Pledge, which occured in 1954.  “Indivisible” is clearly a reference to the Civil War, though secession is still held as a right in many states, even those in the north, such as New Hampshire (Article 10).  If America is founded on rebellion, why should this country be indivisible?  Even Thomas Jefferson believed that “a little revolution now and then is a good thing.”  I could go on for hours about “liberty and justice for all.”  But I will not make this a philosophical argument about the ethics of the Pledge.  Instead I have created a new, more realistic version of the Pledge of Allegiance, according to what I believe that those in power (ahem:  King George II) wants everyone to be really saying.  Enjoy.

I pledge obediance to the Flag
of the Corporate Feudalism of America
and to the Empire for which it stands
One Conglomerate, under the Christian God,
Superficial, with Serfdom and Conformity for all.
Amen.

~From the mind of Eamon Driscoll

Olbermann at his best. Watch it. Now.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has been under a lot of fire lately since the recent book by former White House staffer David Kuo claimed that Snow had refered to Evangelists as “nuts”. The book went on to imply that the Bush administration had manipulated the religious right to get elected. It goes without saying that a lot of eyebrows have been raised in response to this alleged statement and others like it since members of the religious right are considered close supporters of President Bush and his faith based initiatives.

First of all, I believe one hundred percent that Tony Snow made these alleged statements. The Evangelical leaders in this country are nuts. They are completely and utterly insane. Anyone who believes the literal interpretation of the bible, a four thousand year old book, is just crazy.

Second and more importantly, I address the claims that the Bush administration used the religious right as a means to get reelected. To this I say “DUH”, and anyone who did not realize that was simply naive. Why else would Bush have proposed an amendment that would ban gay marriage and brought up abortion, two issues that were irrelevant to the good of the country, a few months before the presidential election? As far as I am concerned, Neil Young says it best in his song “Let’s Impeach the President” from of his most recent album when he sings “They hijacked our religion to get elected”.

From the brilliant mind of Mike Kean, your friendly Sergeant at Arms.

There are certain rights that all Americans are entitled to. All of these rights are defined by the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments to our Constitution. Over the past five years, however, the Republican party led by, you guessed it, George W. himself, have taken it upon themselves to slowly erode our freedoms in attempt to make this country “safer” from the terrorist threat. The first of these laws was the “Patriot Act”, a name that I put in quotes because no true patriot would ever support such a bill, which allows for illegal searches and other illegal police actions when the suspect is a “terrorist”. This bill is unbelievably unconstitutional but I will let it slide because, as of yet, it has not been flagrantly abused. The most recent actions of Congress, on the other hand, we cannot let slide. The most recent bill approved by Congress allows for suspected terrorists to be held without being sent to trial for an indefinate amount of time, thus legalizing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. This “compromise” blatantly violates the writ of habeas corpus, the right to a speedy trial, and gives the federal government for too much power.

With this right taken away, the federal government will be able to arrest whomever they want, whenever they want, and for whatever the reason for an indefinate amount of time. Many countries in this world have laws like this but they are called dictatorships. It is understandable for the American people to be afraid of terrorism, but what cost will we pay to make our world safer. Personally I would rather die in a terrorist attack than live in an America where my Constitutional rights are laid forfeit. By putting these laws in place, we are declaring the terrorists victorious. They have scared us so much that we are willing to give up all of the principles that our country was founded on.

One final note. With all other logical reasons for invading Iraq proven wrong, the Bush administration has fallen back on “Saddam Hussein was an evil man and the Iraqi people are better off without him in power.” What made Saddam such an evil leader? He locked up his citizens without just reason and tortured them until they submitted to his authority. I leave you with a question: What power is Congress giving the president at this very moment by passing these new laws? Perhaps we should start referring to President Bush as President Saddam because that title seems more fitting.

From the brilliant mind of Mike Kean, your friendly but very afraid Sergeant at Arms.