Alan Grayson for U.S. Senate

Alan Grayson for U.S. Senate

Written by Mark Weaver on 15 May 2009 — 3 Comments

Finally, a strong credible leader and progressive has emerged out of Florida’s pathetic Democratic Party landscape (other than Matt Damon, who still needs to hit the speaking circuit). Yesterday, the entire Florida Congressional delegation, EXCEPT ALAN GRAYSON, voted for President McCain’s $70 billion supplemental war funding bill to continue the Bush-Cheney slaughter of civilians and promotion of civil war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Grayson was one of 51 decent Democrats and 9 Republicans to vote no on the spending.

I am calling on all genuine progressive Floridians to form a delegation to go to Orlando and meet with Congressman Grayson to persuade him to run for the Democratic Senate nomination. Or meet on your own. We cannot allow war-Democrats Gelber and Meek to get this nomination. We will brainstorm with Alan on how to frame a campaign and suggest the many resources in Florida and nationwide that can form the infrastructure of a winning end-perpetual war campaign. Email me at mwshow@bellsouth.net. We also need to be pressing Gelber and Meek for their positions on Afghanistan. Like the bloggers are saying, it’s time to hold candidates accountable on the critical issues of our time and stop letting them get away with manipulating us with their triple talk hedging and deceit as to their real positions on issues. Exhibit A = Barack Obama. Meek and Gelber, are you for or against an immediate end to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan?

The expansion of the war on Afghanistan by the feckless Obama is pointless and absurd. Last week, Obama’s forces committed the largest civilian slaughter of the entire war, killing over 100 civilians including 97 children by one new account. If you are confused by the Pentagon’s psychological operations denying the high numbers and blaming the rest on the Taliban (it’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it), given the credible non-military accounts of the U.S. nighttime aerial bombing raid on several villages, you are naive, or just young.

McCain was right about 50 years in Afghanistan, the now eight year old war will not end until the U.S. gets out and allows the balance of forces and interests within Afghanistan to find an equilibrium that the U.S. is denying the country with its artificial imperial presence. The war against the Taliban is nonsense when you know that Reagan helped form and finance their predecessor Mujahadeen and Clinton had every top Taliban government official on the U.S. payroll into 1999. Even if the Taliban were to retake power in our absence (not at all a probability), it is a simple matter to get them to prohibit Al Qaeda from maintaining bases in the country with U.S. financing to enforce it. Better yet, we should arrange a quiet, informal peace agreement with Al Qaeda under which they halt attacks on the U.S. mainland and we stop financing and supporting the authoritarian governments oppressing their political movements in their native countries which are none of our arrogant business anyway.

UN Investigators Accuse Israel of War Crims in Gaza

UN accuses Israel of pervasive war crimes and violations of humanitarian law during Gaza assault, it's time to suspend U.S. military aid to Israel. We review Florida Democrats such as U.S. Senate nominee-designate Kendrick Meek's venal cheerleading for those crimes-in-progress last January; We need to shut down the vile Rush, Glenn, Savage, Sean + with massive boycotts; Left needs to buy TV network, radio stations and newspapers, otherwise we'll remain caught in the loop of getting beat up year after year after year by the Right. Iraqi shoe thrower tells of American destruction his shoes walked upon; Roosevelt and Obama; Great news! House ends student loan subsidy give-aways to private lenders and socializes student loans: Socialism on the march!!!;

Iraq, Sex, Drugs, Rock, Roll and Woodstock

Certain to be one of the best Mark Weaver Shows of the year, the show starts with a wonderful "you were there" reliving of Woodstock 40 years ago today by journalist Julie Klein. But the show stealer is one of the best interviews I have ever done, as New York Stonybrook State University sociology professor Michael Schwartz regales us for an hour and a half on the shocking neo-colonization of Iraq by the U.S. The breadth and depth of Schwartz' knowledge of Iraq is breathtaking, but in a nutshell, the Obama administration is attempting to consolidate and perpetuate a U.S. client government that will implement U.S. economic and foreign policies in Iraq through U.S. civilian administrative control of Iraqi society down to candidate recruitment and funding, the school curriculum and neoliberal privatization policies, all designed to perpetuate a client government in the country "freely" elected by the Iraqis. So far the Iraqis have refused to enact the famous oil law that the U.S., and recently Biden, have pushed to open the oil industry to international oil companies and increase oil production to challenge OPEC and drive down the price of oil to benefit Western economic interests. All other oil rich Middle Eastern countries maintain state control of their oil industries with revenue financing the government. Schwartz expects the U.S. to maintain five "core" bases in Iraq with perhaps 50,000 troops over the long run, despite public rhetoric to the contrary. The military presence will maintain U.S. influence on the government and provide forward basing for U.S. operations against Iran and other Middle Eastern hot spots. He thinks Prime Minister al Maliki will eventually "ask for", under U.S. pressure, for a re-neogitation of the Status of Forces Agreement, whose referendum requirement has already been violated. Watch for a re-negotiation of the SOFA come summer 2011, or sooner if Israel bombs Iran and Obama uses the war as a pretext to maintain U.S. bases in Iraq. This is a show you should revisit in two years, if you can remember that long (make a note) to see how correct our analysis of these things is.

Orlando Congressman Emerges as Anti-War Leader

Guest is Congressman Alan Grayson (Orlando), Florida's Ned Lamont and the ONLY Floridian voting NO on continued funding of Obama's wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, talking about an exit strategy for the 8 year war and the politics of extrication from quagmire. Grayson reveals that he is the #1 target of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee next year in the 8th district with a 2,000 Republican registration edge which he won last year from four term incumbment Ric Keller 52-48% in a self-financed campaign. Grayson says the U.S. is squandering trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives fighting 800 foreign Al Qaeda and other global jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also, latest quadrennial National Intelligence Council concludes U.S. power in decline and nothing we can or should do about it as Earth shifts to multi-polar world with regional powers like Brazil, Iran, China, Russia and India asserting order in their spheres.

And, Florida and Obama Feds launch largest operation yet in war on drugs, arresting 144 people in raids in all 67 Florida counties on residential grow houses. In biggest crime of all they seize 15 children from their parents and put them in state custody.

Boycott the Democratic Party

Why we must boycott the Democratic Party (except for genuine left candidates): speech to the Florida March for Peace in Melbourne. Guest is march organizer Jeff Nall talking on the anti-war movement. Depression era Bushvilles springing up nationwide, including St. Pete, Florida. Iowa and Sweden legalize gay marriage. Also, despicable Florida Attorney General running campaign ads with taxpayer money that exaggerate online sex predation and foment fear. Breaking news: Timothy Geithner is a Republican.

Solar Cells, Terrorist Sympathizer, Challenging Dem Incumbents, Israeli War Crimes, Jewish Dems Kill National Intelligence Appointment

Guest Jeff Hauser of new Accountability Now PAC supporting leftish challengers in Democratic primaries. Now there's an idea. Rooftop solar cells and distributed grid green electricity. Gainesville is first city in U.S. to pay over-market for renewable energy. Why Florida House Republican leader Adam Hasner is a demagogic terrorist sympathizer as Amnesty Int'l documents Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Jewish Democrats trash Obama's truth-telling national intelligence council appointment.

Charles Schumer and Steve Israel (NY), among many others, forced the Obama Administration to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council for talking truthfully about the Israeli government's foreign policies. Freeman would have been in charge of the administration's all-important National Intelligence Estimates. Freeman says "the tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assasination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth."

Watch for cooked intelligence regarding the Mid East coming from his successor nominee. What's so outrageous about this is that the Israeli government apologists consistently use these tactics against anyone who challenges their distorted worldview -- including me and you if we ever get their attention. I keep hearing this stuff time and again as I follow these issues. This is what they do to Jimmy Carter even. Be prepared to fight back!