TERRORISM NOW AND THEN

What Can We Learn from “Former Domestic Terrorist” Bill Ayers?

[WARNING: If you are one of those “We don’t talk about terrorists” kind of people, please leave the room. This piece will not interest you in the least. It will only make you angrier. Go on back to the Reactionary Lounge. This room is the Room for Change.]


American Anti-War Sympathy for Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, back in the 1960s, tells us something we need to know for defeating Islamist terrorism today.

Back in That Vietnam-War Era, Countless Americans Opposed the War, but couldn’t do much about it. We marched, we protested, and the war continued.

The Weathermen Did It Differently. They used bombs to disrupt draft boards and the Pentagon.

This “Domestic Terrorism” Was Unsuccessful. But it was their most-powerful weapon against our immensely powerful government.

Many Against the War Did Not Condemn the Weathermen at the Time. Back then, we sympathized with their politics, even when we opposed their methods.

Right Now, Islamist Terrorists Survive Only Because Their Citizens share a view about the West. If we can change the way that terrorist-sympathizers see the United States, we will be more than halfway toward winning the so-called "War on Terror."


Channeling Barack Obama™ Opposes Islamist Terrorism. And we do not endorse “domestic terrorism,” past or present.

But It Always Helps to Understand Your Enemy. And the sympathizers who hide him....

As Long as Terrorists Have Civilian Sympathy, the terrorists will be able to hide. This is what makes these wars the hardest to win. Whether in Vietnam or in Iraq and Afghanistan, or even here at home.

If We Don't Care What the Rest of the World Thinks of Us (as the Bush administration insists), we will continue making enemies around the world. And those enemies will find sympathy among their people.

Only by Considering the Opinions of Others—and then deciding what we can change and what we cannot—only then can we win over the hearts and minds of those who might otherwise oppose us.

And That Is the Best Lesson We Can Learn from the example of the Weatherman, and former-terrorist and current Chicago educator, William Ayers.


NOTE: To Read What Bill Ayers Has to Say About His Role in the Recent Presidential Election, go here:

“What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been: Looking Back on a Surreal Campaign Season”

Does John McCain Still Want to Be President?

In John McCain’s History, we see a war hero who has devoted his career to serving the American people in the United States Congress. His efforts at following conscience over the dictates of political convenience have been respected in both political parties.

The Three Cornerstones of Senator McCain's Politics have been reform and deregulation and war.

As Regards Reform, he sponsored 2002’s McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act. He speaks firmly now in favor of regulating the greed that has taken the American economy to the brink of disaster. Senator McCain’s commitment to reform in Congress is clear.

But Has It Made Any Difference?

As Regards War, Senator McCain believes strongly in the conduct of the War in Iraq. He has supported the current president unwaveringly, saying that he would rather lose the presidency in order to win a war, than win the presidency and lose the war. Some people believe that the senator's commitment to the War in Iraq reflects a desire to re-fight the Vietnam War—and win this time. No more "domino effect," leading the Communist Chinese and Vietnamese hordes to make beach-landing attacks on our Pacific shores.

Not Like Last Time...

But on the Deregulation Front, it is the Republican Party’s relentless pursuit of deregulations that has led us to the current financial crisis.

The Result of Deregulation Is the Current Economic Fiasco. 1999’s Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, which removed the Depression-era safeguards of 1933’s Glass-Steagall Act, was the precipitate cause of what we face today. (This act was sponsored by the same Phil Gramm who until recently was the senior economic advisor of the McCain campaign.)

More-Recently, the Demise of the Entire Republican Economic Premise was acknowledged by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. "Shocked disbelief" is how Mr. Greenspan put it, admitting that the underlying basis of Republican economic theory is as bankrupt as the nation on which the theory has been tested.

If John McCain’s Primary Focus as a Senator has been to move toward deregulation—as he has reiterated countless times during the lengthy presidential campaign—and it is the abject failure of such deregulations that has caused the current financial meltdown, what is left for John McCain to do?

Net Result: No Effective Reform, No Win in Iraq, an Economy in Crisis.

So What Would John McCain Do if he were elected as President? What more would he deregulate? What new wars would he choose to fight?

Does John McCain Really Still Want to Be President?

If So, Why?

Vice-Presidential Debate Questions

[Last Thursday's Vice-Presidential Debate Between Joe Biden and Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin raised a number of questions for viewers and pundits back home. Below are two such questions, arising directly out of one of Governor Palin's arguments. Please read the introductory material and the Governor's statement, and then answer the question which follows.]


The Status of Senator McCain as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict is legendary. It is eminently and endlessly commendable. But how it translates into the knowledge necessary for protecting America and for winning wars is not well-known.

Senator McCain's Roles in Support of the War in Iraq and in the Vietnam conflict speak to his raw courage as a warrior. They also may reveal some things about his capability for keeping America out of unnecessary wars, or for winning wars once they have begun.

Governor Palin, Speaking in Thursday’s Debate, Said:
“I think tomorrow morning, the pundits are going to start do the 'who said what at what time' and we'll have proof of some of this, but, again, John McCain who knows how to win a war. Who's been there and he's faced challenges and he knows what evil is and knows what it takes to overcome the challenges here with our military.

“He knows to learn from the mistakes and blunders we have seen in the war in Iraq, especially. He will know how to implement the strategies, working with our commanders and listening to what they have to say, taking the politics out of these war issues. He'll know how to win a war.”


QUESTION #1:
What Wars or Invasions Has John McCain Encouraged America to Start? Please list:

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QUESTION #2:
What Wars or Invasions Has John McCain Won? Please list:

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(Transcript source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript.
Italics in Govrenor Palin's comments are by Channeling Barack Obama™ )