Dark Days are Here and There's 'nary a Whisper

I have said many times that you don’t have to be a genius or really intelligent to figure out what game the political parties and the administration is playing in Washington. The only prerequisite that is needed is for you to pay attention. Keeping your eye on everything that is being said, but more than that… what is being done. We as Americans have entered the nefarious world of “double-speak”. Now, more than ever, the novel by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, should be read by anyone who cares what is happening to this nation. If you have read it once, by all means, read it again.
The Senators, Congressmen and the administration, say one thing, and do the exact opposite. Today I was in a McDonalds with my wife and there was a sign taped to the front counter. On that sign was a proclamation that they = “E-Verify”employees. Being inquisitive in nature, I got down on one knee to see exactly what e-verification was. There, on top of the message, were the logos for Social Security and Homeland Defense. It seems that McDonald’s when processing new hires, sends the applicant’s Social Security number to the Social Security Administration, and just to be sure they are not hiring anyone that is a “terrorist” or on the terrorist watch list, they also send the Social Security number to Homeland Security. It’s a good thing; I don’t want a “terrorist” flipping my burgers!
Then I thought about a terrorist taking a job at McDonalds. Do they really want to get this information for that reason, or is this just the start of something more sinister? If this practice spreads, anyone with a less than stellar file at Homeland Security just might have a really hard time finding a job.
“Homeland Security”, not the Fatherland, or the Motherland, but the “Homeland”, scares the be-Jesus out of me. They can pull off anything in the name of protecting the “Homeland”. People just accept it and go their merry way. This is a situation in where nobody will say anything until if affects them personally. I have yet tried to fly. I have relatives that go through a full body search every time they do. I invariably hear about it. Sorry about that. I wonder just how many people have been thrown off flights because of “The terrorist watch list”. Seems like this is never discussed by the powers that be, last I heard, there were over one million Americans on that list. If people are added to that list because of attending peace marches or writing criticism against the administration as some allege, the idea of being grounded because of that, is frightening to say the least.
Where has the outrage gone against the Patriot Acts? Gore Vidal recently compared them to the “Enabling Acts” passed by the Nazi’s and said that the Soviet Union in its heyday had never had such a repressive law when interviewed recently by Cindy Sheehan. Is it because most Americans have accepted the finality of government power? Do most Americans feel powerless to engage their elected officials to reinstate the writ of Habeas Corpus? Have we thrown away the gauntlet and now just worry about economic matters because we are now concerned about only keeping what we have?
There are very real issues to be alarmed about. I would like to take the time to write a fairly comprehensive list of what we should be concerned about. If I am the only American that is worried about these things, I would hope that I get comments telling me so, because if this is the case, I’ll make preparations to leave the United States and never return. I ask for your indulgence as I forge a list of my growing concerns about the direction of my country.
1. The United States is front and center in the moves to expand NATO, an alliance that has ceased to have a reason to exist with the downfall of the Soviet Union and the dismemberment of The Warsaw Pact. NATO is currently waging a war in Afghanistan that has nothing to do with the security of NATO members. It waged the first invasion of a European country since Hitler’s Germany, by declaring war on the former Yugoslavia. NATO is no longer a defensive pact, but an offensive alliance that intimidates non NATO countries.
2. Vice-President Biden just came back from a trip overseas in which he stressed support for Georgia and the Ukraine to become full members of NATO. The United States has never condemned Georgia for its aggression against South Ossetia and Abkhazian. According to the Chicago Tribune from August 8, 2008;
MOSCOW -
“Georgian troops launched a massive assault on the breakaway province of South Ossetia on Friday, taking control of much of the region and bringing Georgia’s U.S.-allied government closer to the brink of full-scale conflict with Russia.

Just hours after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a cease-fire with South Ossetian separatist troops; Georgian military forces unleashed a barrage of shelling on the province’s capital, Tskhinvali, late Thursday and early Friday. By the morning, Georgian tanks had entered the South Ossetian capital.

The assault put Georgia, a former Soviet republic strongly allied with Washington and Western Europe, on a collision course with the Kremlin, which for years has firmly backed South Ossetia in its resistance to Georgian authority.

Russian news agencies reported that 10 Russian peacekeeping troops had been killed and 30 injured in a Georgian artillery attack. Authorities in the South Ossetian separatist government said 15 civilians were killed in the fighting. Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze said seven civilians were injured in the Russian bombing attacks on Georgia. The Kremlin warned Russia’s response would be swift and decisive.

We won’t allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished,” said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who convened an emergency session of Russia’s Security Council. “In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located.”
The Ukraine is a nation divided between Ukrainian and Russian peoples. The Russian Black Sea fleet has a navy base in Sevastopol, Ukraine, which has been there since the reign of Peter the Great. What is the purpose of wooing Ukraine into the NATO fold except for the purpose of encircling Russia?
3. American efforts to take the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. This was written about by Pepe Escobar in the Asia Times on May 22, 2009:

The pipeline now TAPI, is an absolutely key plank of Washington's Central Asia strategy. Khalilzad as CEO will move mountains to make sure that TAPI defeats it’s much more sound rival, IPI, the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline".

4. The encirclement of Russia and Iran. In the Asia Times, a story written by By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, even though it was written two years ago, brings chills when read in the context of today:

“The floodgates opened by the Iranian revolution were choked by the Western-backed Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980 and the growing “encirclement" of Iran by the US power that has evolved through several stages. One was the influx of US troops in 1990-91 because of the Kuwait crisis with Iraq and the other, still unfolding, the post-September 11, 2001, developments culminating in the invasion of two of Iran's neighbors - Iraq and Afghanistan. And this is not to mention US base-building in other neighbors in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East.”
The Encirclement of Russia was commented on by Global Research in an article; US Continues Military Encirclement of Russia by Rick Rozoff on March 8, 2009;

This was two days after Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski said, as quoted by Interfax-Ukraine, "that there is much more of a discussion right now within the alliance [NATO], to a large extent because many partners realize that the enemy unfortunately can be much closer to our borders" and "We have to take this into account when we plan the future of the alliance."
At the same time NATO announced that it was going to establish a permanent military force in Eastern Europe which would draw troops from the NATO Response Force (NRF).
Further pursuing the path south and east along the Russian border, the Chief Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Ihor Tenyukh, announced that the annual US-led Sea Breeze NATO military exercises in Crimea would "be of a larger scale regarding the strength and number of military personnel" than any of its predecessors.
His claim was made within weeks of the signing of the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership.
At the Krakow, Poland meeting of NATO defense chiefs on February 20 the Alliance's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer pledged that "NATO remains ready to assist Ukraine in undertaking comprehensive reforms in its defence and security structures. We are determined to continue to develop this strategic partnership."
Down the Black Sea coast, NATO's annual Cooperative Longbow/ Cooperative Lancer month-long Caucasus military exercises are to be held in Georgia starting on May 3 and as the Georgian Times reported "Georgia’s participation in NATO trainings is seen as the first serious step NATO has taken after the August conflict and the subsequent creation of the NATO-Georgian Commission in September."
900 troops from 23 nations will participate in the exercises.
Two weeks ago US defense chief Gates reiterated that the Pentagon has a "continuing security relationship with Georgia both bilaterally and through NATO-Georgia Commission" and according to Civil Georgia "We're involved in training. We are involved in military reform in Georgia."

5. How many troops have been brought back to the United States since Obama took office?

These are just a few of the concerns that I have. Besides the people I quoted, there seems to be only a few other writers that actually bring the Obama administration to task. It seems that not many writers that picked up on every sordid detail of the Bush administration seem to want to put the same onus onto the Obama administration. The sites that called Bush out on every warlike maneuver, and on every time he dismantled the constitution, give Obama Carte Blanc on his actions.

This is a dangerous time, domestically and internationally. Why the United States feels it must project its military power almost everywhere in the world can only illustrate that the U.S. wants global hegemony. Nothing else makes sense. Of all the years I have spent observing this planet, there has been no time that the United States has enjoyed global security more than it does now. These wars are contrived and prosecuted for a dark purpose.

I don’t believe that I am one of the few writers that believe this. I believe that others know but won’t speak up because of political considerations. They have been co-opted by the Democrats. Sites like Daily Kos, OpEdNews, Commondreams, AlterNet, TPM Muckraker and others seem only to be able to criticize the Republicans and give the Democrats a free pass. This is untenable. We all must live in this nation and we all must speak up for what we believe in, no matter what party is in power.

One other thing…I don’t make this stuff up.