November's Bitter Pill

What will happen in the next four year's with the Bush factor at the helm of American politics?

I was just considering this recently as a friend of mine had asked me last night when I stumbled upon one of my older blogs. The frightening thing is that parts of that post are already ringing true as the reference to the Artic National Wildlife piece shows.

Upon further reflection though, there are probably a few things I may have left out, or overlooked. November's bitter pill is more than just something hard to swallow for us anymore. Worldwide attention to the U.S. election has never been so great, indicating the true impact this presidency has had in the last four years, not only in this country, but in virtually every corner of the globe.

Other developing countries, especially emerging democracies in eastern Europe see our election as justification for rigging their own. Sure you can call it a democracy, but it certainly doesn't look like one. The once pristine image of American Democracy is fading in the eyes of the world and people are understanding that you can still rig elections to maintain power.

The divided EU, whose economy and currency continue to gain momentum since November, will tear at the heart of the NATO alliance, and between eastern and western Europe. The imperial nations of the past can once again resume their colonial land-grabs in developing countries rich in natural resources. Tension across the Atlantic will only continue to weaken the U.S. as Europe will be seen as the more stable bet worldwide.

Powell's resignation signals a more conservative direction for American interests worldwide. Make no mistake, Condi Rice will be what Colin could never be; George W.'s yes man, or woman. This pattern of replacing moderate conservatives throughout the administration will just further divide our nation and those whom we come into contact with in the next four years.

This leaves just two possible scenarios for the international community. Complete subordination, or a combined resilient response to our contempt of the modern global community.

American's could soon be tried for War Crimes by an international court. "In recent months, there have been other indications that the international community is taking a harder line toward U.S. behavior.

At last July's Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, a resolution was passed condemning the use of torture in the U.S.-led global war on terrorism. The assembly called on all participating states to follow international commitments laid out in the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture.

Around the same time, the UN Security Council refused to extend the exemption from prosecution in the International Criminal Court for U.S. forces. Previously, U.S. forces were left exempt from prosecution in any UN-authorized mission. But after the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, the UN Security Council let the exemption lapse, despite heavy lobbying by the United States.

Also in July, the International Court of Justice ruled that the wall being built by Israel and supported by the U.S. violates international law because it cuts into Palestinian land as determined by the 1967 borders between Israel and Palestine.

Perhaps seeking to capitalize on the momentum of the ICJ ruling on the Israeli wall, a group of 41 British members of parliament sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 20, asking him to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether the war on Iraq was legal.

Hungary, Poland, and even England are beginning to turn away from us. Not just in terms of military support but also politically. The United States will continue to erode its respect to the rest of the world and stand even more isolated.

This general anti-American feeling will continue to spread into the commercial markets eventually lowering the dollar with respect the the Yen and Euro making it more difficult to repay even the interest on our national debt. The significance of this effect on the stock market could only be replaced with the privatization of Social Security.

But I wouldn't expect the EU to be very divided for long. Eastern-block nations will quickly seek to align themselves with their stronger neighbors politically. In fact, I would suspect that virtually the only nation to continue its full-support of US foreign policy would be Israel.

"Exactly how international relations will play out over the next four years may not be easy to predict. But it is clear that many nations won't tolerate what many consider the continued lawlessness of the United States. "

Stolen Election 2004 Website

"In Election 2000, the Bush regime stole the election and got away with it.  Now, in Election 2004, there is new evidence that Bush and the Republicans have stolen the 2004 election by electronic voting fraud in states with E-Voting without paper trails, scrubbing the voter rolls of Democratic voters, and destruction of paper ballots in heavily Democratic areas." This site has some interesting information, links to related sites, and its own blog.

News continues to trickle forward about a few thousand votes here, another few thousand votes there going to Bush and not Kerry. North Carolina may have to hold their state elections again because of widespread problems with their machines. Just seems increasingly clear to me that while the Democrats may have won the ground war bringing in record voters, the Republicans won the ground war when it came to rigging the elections on all levels.

Even the money pouring into the 527's that Bush and Co. kept calling attention to as being "Bad for America" was tapped into much more than their defeated counterparts, who coincidentally took most of the blame for having created this election "loophole" in the first place.

Will historians look back at this period and talk about it as America's experiment with Aristocracy? I guess we'll all have to wait and see if Jeb gets the nod next.

In the meantime, can someone PLEASE FIX THOSE STUPID MACHINES!

Contempt for Cloture Rules

By the slimist of margins, House Democrats will still be able to block any bad legislation brought before the floor if they can all manage to stick together, but it seems that Bush and Co. have plans to do away with this inconvenient constitutional provision designed to prevent wide-scale abuse of power.

According to Joshua Micah Marshall (link above), these Cloture Rules could simply be overlooked pending a mandate coming from the White House.

"Then we have the incident we noted yesterday in which Sen. Frist may, at the president's say-so, change the cloture rules which require 60 votes to push through legislation.

Past presidents have usually had to deal with Majority Leaders who were much more solicitous of their chamber's independence and institutional preogatives. But then again, President Bush all but appointed Frist to his post. So this should not surprise us.

In an article at Foxnews.com on possible Supreme Court nominations, C. Boyden Gray, former counsel to the first President Bush said the following about the filibuster rules in the Senate ...

As it stands today [Democrats] can block [a nominee] ... But I also believe that the president and majority leader may well decide to change the rules given the elections ... The president has a very strong political support, potential support, for asking for and getting this change."

Now, even the smallest amount of control the Democrats may have left could disappear as well. So much for our experiment with a three, or even a two-party government.

Tom Delay, Speaker of the House gets served!

... and it's not mashed potatoes and gravy either.