Safer Since the Invasion of Iraq ???

I am in regular correspondence with a number of people who currently live in America.
Some of whom are keen observers of the political landscape and what has become of the American news media.

They tell me that the political atmosphere of America is getting much worse and much scarier. Oddly enough, friends and relatives who are not keen observers of the political landscape, are telling me the exact same thing.

It would appear that the invasion of Iraq has not made many Americans feel that the world is a safer place. Not even that America is a safer place.

The scare tactics and threats of outright suppression by Republicans would indicate that actually NOBODY in America feels that the world or America is a safer place than it was before the invasion.

Well, OK, the world became a safer place for Osama bin Laden since the troops left Afghanistan to attack Iraq. But that is only one person out of five billion. The rest don’t appear to feel safe.

It isn’t a safer place for Michael Moore as Michigan Republicans are attempting to have Moore arrested. It seems his voter registration drive in Michigan signed up 100,000 new voters in Michigan. Most of who aren’t likely to vote Republican.

If you want an example of what Republicans actually believe about democracy in America, listen up: The chairman of the Republican committee in Michigan was quoted, a few months back, saying that the vote had to be “suppressed” in Detroit. The population, in Detroit is eighty percent African Americans.

He later took it back, of course. How do you take that back? High officials in the Republican party want to suppress the vote. I never want to hear another Republican use the term, un-American. That individual still holds his position in the Party that represents his views. Think about that.

The same Republican committee is now wanting Michael Moore arrested on serious charges that would certainly shut down his very successful voters registration drive.
The charges; That he offered slacker youth of Michigan, a pack of clean underwear for the guys and three packs of Ramen noodles for the slacker girls, if they would register to vote. Not if they vote for Kerry, but if they register.

The clean underwear and slacker feed (seventy five cents worth of noodles) is an obvious joke, a send up re the idea of ‘slackers’ who supposedly do nothing but pick their butts, watch television, and eat crap food. The joke is obvious to all. However, the Republican committee is not joking. Not at all. They believe in imprisoning those who disagree with them. They are having this election only because they don’t have the power or the excuse to cancel elections. Yet.

They left Moore alone, thought he was a bad joke. Someone to deride as a "fat bastard liar" until he registered 100,000 young voters who have never voted before. I suppose that is too much like a fair and honest approach to winning at electoral politics. Something the Republican leadership cannot abide. The solution to a political problem? Arrest the bastard and keep him in jail until the election is over.

The sort of thing done in little African countries, all the time. If the opposition looks like it may win, charge the opposition with treason and lock the bastards up. Send in the patriot agents in black swat team masks to drag the bastards in. Will this become the new American way in our new Homeland America? Stay tuned.

If the current gang of thieves is reelected, we may find out, in only a couple of years, just how far these radical militants of the NeoCon movement are willing to go. Militant radicals are exactly what make up the current Republican administration.

Am I being paranoid? Good question. I don’t know. But I do know that had I predicted, 15 years ago, the things that are happening in America now, even I would have considered myself paranoid to the point of crazy. Now look what we are actually getting. The Patriot Act, large scale vote suppression (Florida reality, never fixed and the plans to arrest Moore in Michigan) , independent media outlets being shut down, all over the country.

Paranoia is defined as an unreasonable, irrational fear. It is irrational not to be nervous as hell about the radical militants that currently run the US Government and may be running it for some time to come. The struggle for democracy and the preservation of the constitution is about to become very serious.

Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it can get a lot scarier than a horror book or movie could ever be. Much scarier.