Things That Just Piss Me Off

Even the dictionary gets it wrong by having the definitions of these two words the same. They are far from the same thing. Most people in the US, whether democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, have one thing in common. They loove our country and they want to be patriots.

It’s said that if you focus on the 1% we have in common rather than the 99% we don’t, we can relate to each other better and I believe that.

But before we can agree about what being a patriot actually means, we can’t even agree to that 1%.

Nationalists believe in their country AND it’s government. Nationalists believe that whatever our government does is right because we are who we are. We are the greatest nation on earth, therefore what we are doing is right.

Hitler used this very thing to get the german people behind him. He used fear of people who were different than they were to unite the nationalist population behind his agenda. This was true of Stalin in Russia also.

Patriotism is entirely different. Patriotism is loving your country and recognizing that governments are inherently flawed and that we should watch every step they make to make sure they do not trample on our rights.

During this administration, everyone who questions the actions in Iraq has been accused of being a traitor, of not supporting the troops, and of not being a patriot. These are all lies and propaganda by the extreme right.

Questioning the war in Iraq is our patriotic duty.

Questioning wiretapping American citizens is our duty as patriots of this country.

Questioning our government when it says it wants to know what books we check out at the library is our duty as patriots.

Questioning attacking a country that has not attacked or directly threatened to attack our country is our duty as patriots.

Questioning the use of torture is our duty as patriots.

Blindly following whatever a president or our government in general decides to do is nationalism and is dangerous. That is not what the founding fathers intended at all.

The actions and words that created this country are very clear. They spelled out the need to watch those elected into government office with both eyes open and not to just “trust” they will do the right thing.

Bush supporters want us to blindly trust a guy who, throughout his life has not accomplished much of anything his daddy didn’t help him with, with the fate of our country that we love.

This is like putting your single neighbor who is 40, lives at home, has bad hygeine, can’t speak well, and has no job so he sits in the park and schoolyard watching kids play, to babysit your children.

Bush Regime Preaches Democracy, Proposes Tyranny
by Paul Craig Roberts of LewRockwell.com

Americans had best rethink the “war on terror” while they still have the liberty to do so. For all of President Bush’s blah-blah talk about bringing democracy to the world, the Bush administration has proved that it is no friend of liberty at home.

The Bush administration has violated constitutional principles, US law, and the Geneva Conventions as no previous administration has done. Here is a short list of the Bush administration’s crimes:

Spying without court warrants on Americans in violation of both the US Constitution and the FISA statute.

The denial of habeas corpus, attorney-client privilege, due process, and Geneva Conventions protections to those, American or foreign, designated without evidence as terrorists or enemy combatants.

The justification and use of torture to coerce confessions and the kidnapping of foreign nationals who are sent to be tortured in foreign prisons.

The initiation of military aggression against states based on intentional deception by the Bush administration of the US public and the United Nations, and the intentional fabrication of “evidence” to justify unprovoked aggression against sovereign states, which is a war crime under the Nuremberg standard established by the US.

Violation of the oath of office to defend the US Constitution by practically every member of the Bush administration and Congress.

Bush has assaulted the separation of powers and the rule of law with “signing statements” and “executive orders” that President Nixon’s White House Counsel John Dean says are commands that treat the co-equal branches of government and the electorate as subservient to executive authority. In April 2006, Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage listed 750 laws “challenged” by the Bush administration. Not even the demonized president of Iran claims to be above the law.

Genocide against the people of Iraq where one million Iraqis have died as a result of Bush’s invasion and several million Iraqis are displaced persons.
Massive civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which is a form of genocide in which military force is routinely applied to unarmed noncombatants.

Massive corruption in which no-bid contracts are issued to Republican corporations in exchange for kickbacks to political campaigns.

The theft of two national elections as documented in books by Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast.