Now Is The Time

There seems to be a cosmic rule that the top dog seems to get complacent, and it is at that moment that they seem vulnerable and someone takes a swing at them, pretty much thinking they will go down and stay down.

While sometimes this tactic leads to the utter destruction of those who initiated the combat, future generations become inspired to continue the tradition, that they will succeed where others failed, but more often than not, it serves to motivate that top dog to cement their place on top and to make sure nobody every tries to take a swipe at them again.

The attacks on Pearl Harbor is a definite example of rousing a nation, for it was the catalyst for the United States to eventually become the Superpower of Light and decency to protect human dignity against the Dark, vile and vodka exporting Soviet Union.

The attacks on New York and the Pentagon in 2001 are the example of a squandered opportunity, though my thoughts on the opportunistic, callous, and despicable hijacking of this national tragedy by the Republican party has been made clear in past articles.  My deep resentment of the conservative right cheapening these events is why I will not state the date of these attacks, as well as Giuliani uses the term enough for me, you and every other oxygen breathing biped on the planet.   Excluded from this populace is of course VP Cheney since he merely needs the blood of patriots and puppies to survive.

As were we the overconfident power in the World, so was the Police/Military within Pakistan.  Overconfident that they would not become a target of the terrorists that have near total control of the border lands of Pakistan and Afghanistan a feeling of invulnerability crept within the ranks.  Even with the assassination of Bhutto it was felt that surely the Military would not be a potential target.

That perception has changed drastically today.  Seeking to attack riot police protecting lawyers rallying that Musharraf is unfit for leadership and that they are ready for “true” democracy, a suicide bomber detonated and killed 23 Riot Police officers, while wounding 58 others.

It is human nature to ignore some problems until they become very large ones.  This would explain the Republicans rise to control the three branches of the federal government.  Who merely seem to gain power to use it so incompetently that it proves that government is inefficient, and thus weaken the institutions that the Founding Fathers created.

Concerning Pakistan it was to ignore the festering problem of the Taliban due to the unique nature of tribal loyalties and fears of pushing an entire ethnic group into the training grounds because of them.  Why risk the possibility of violence when one does not have to?  The attack today is the same as a declaration of war against the legitimate government of Pakistan.  With the first volley being launched perhaps now the military of Pakistan will step up and strike back at these cowards.

I hold reservations on the optimism of hope that this will end with a preferable outcome, because Musharraf may take a page out of the US play book, and merely provide lip service to show he intends to do something then invades India, linking them to the attacks then once embroiled in an ill fated idea deny that any links were made.

It is also possible that the military and police force is not the powerful machination that can impose the rule and will of its government.  It is a long tradition of Middle Eastern countries to maintain an incompetent military, so that it would not be able to stage a coup.  So it is entirely possible that I have mistaken the inaction of the Pakistani military as being sluggish when it is truly too weak to stand in blow to blow battle with the combined forces of the Taliban and Al Qaueda.

Whatever the case maybe, if we were to find out…Now Is The Time.

Bloodline Politics

It is well known that politicians can be opportunistic on current events in order to further their own agenda, we need only to look at the actions of the Republican party the last eight years to confirm these stereotypes.

When one is capitalizing on the death of one’s parent, it seems to reach a whole new level of wrong.  This is how the “election?”(if that can be the right word) of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party strikes me.

For months it seemed, and was “reported” by the major media outlets that the true desire of the Bhutto campaign was over democratic principles that Musharraf was wrongly curtailing because of imagined dangers to the stability of the country, and how much she truly cared about Pakistan.

With the party now being lead, ceremonially or not, by a 19 year old kid not even graduated from college yet, we have a glimpse of what the Bhutto campaign was really about – power.  Pure, simple, unadulterated, thirst for power.

The opportunity was seen with the country of Pakistan heading ever closer to chaos, and the unpopularity of Musharraf who was seen as doing too much of what the West wanted, and internationally not seen as doing enough.  So when he tried to relieve some of that pressure by letting back in a Prime Minister who was expelled (twice) on corruption charges, Bhutto seized the moment to push her own agenda.

Even when she knew that the people who disliked Musharraf for being too lenient would not exactly find the idea of a woman in charge particularly appealing she came anyway.  When asked to postpone so that safety protocols could be determined she insisted on going home immediately.

Even when a bomb went off at a rally early in her “triumphant” return, she still would go into the midst of the people, seemingly without care, that she was making it that much easier for those who wished to do her harm to get the opportunity to do so.

Then we have her “supposed” letters to friends to be released, “if she were to be killed” and putting the blame on Musharraf rather than the people who carried out the act.  This would be like a quarterback blaming the referees for a late hit rather than the linebacker who done it.

The party that presumably had the “best interests” of Pakistan by desiring to bring democracy to the unstable country seems to be merely use the rhetoric when it suits them and then carry on with their true agenda.  Dynasties are nothing new, and apparently people find solace in them.  What needs to be remembered is that competence and integrity need to matter as well, the experiences of the Bush Dynasty should be evidence of the dangers of Bloodline Politics.

Somebody Had To Say It

I wanted to have a nice long relaxing vacation, I wanted to try for myself the proposed foreign policy of President Huckabee, just you wait, of isolationism.

Then Pakistan had to go all Armageddon on me and everything became turned upside down.  Logic seemed to be gone and it was a terrible global tragedy that someone died while being stupid.  Bhutto supporters started tearing the country apart, apparently that is how Muslims react to every event, and media outlets told us how terrible this is.

Correct me if I am wrong, but we all saw this coming right?  Even when she was pardoned and was coming back to the country, the threats came out, the pleas came from Musharraf’s government to wait two weeks so that they can put a clamp down on things.  This was rejected by Bhutto, who felt that democracy would be her shield.

Then like our President she found out that Democracy doesn’t protect the stupid from making stupid decisions.  Democracy can only mean something if those practicing it have a respect for the rule of law and stability.  This is not a chicken or the egg statement, Democracy arises from stability, not the other way around.

People need realize this and take a brief look at history in order to acknowledge these truths that I speak.  We cannot expect to change thousands of years of depravity and violence by having a mantra of one man one vote.  It takes economic stability, the creation of a large and robust middle class, and one or more political parties to exploit that middle class by promising smaller government less taxes, “fiscal responsibility” while all the while trying to warp the Constitution and spitting on the Principle of Checks and Balances.

Let us remember the very extreme qualifications that were mandated to vote in our own newly founded republic.  Only landowning white males were able to cast their votes, which was kept in check by an electoral college for the President, and it was the State Legislatures that decided the members of the Senate.

For a more powerful, culturally diverse, morally questionable popular culture, Britney Spears was normal once, demanded that we provide all rights to all people, there would have been a backlash then as well.  So it is with the stringent followers of Muhammad.  Whereas in the West Suicide bombers are not the first last and most hailed method of showing ones displeasure.

This was what Bhutto represented to these small minded fearful and hate driven fanatics of a religion that keeps telling us it is peaceful.   Pakistan is a country that does not have control over its own borders, and mush like Saudi Arabia sees any help from outside powers as being seen as weak and vulnerable to a coup.

Therefore an unstable country with a domestically unpopular President, a military that would rather attack the Hindus of India, rather than their, “Muslim” brethren in the tribal lands.  We (were before Bush) one of the most economically stable, well respected, and morally conscience nations in thw world, and the prospect of a Woman as the head of our country still scares people.  Of course she would be a target for these wackos.

Thus we see that Bhutto, who it seemed wished to be a martyr for Pakistani Democracy, carried on with risky unguarded areas to overthrow a man who is no where near the true danger, or negative influence upon the country she supposedly loved so dearly.  For he followers, and her alleged letters blame Musharraf for the results of her behavior and poor judgment.

This leaves either two choices for the people of Pakistan to assume the mantle of leadership.  The Pakistani Army, which is still disliked and international reservations would about, especially with all the pressure exerted on Musharraf to give up his uniform.  Or the ones responsible for granting Bhutto her martyrdom, the Islamic Extremists.

What makes this so solidly important and extremely difficult to  excuse the stupidity of Bhutto and her followers actions is the fact that such a scenario would provide the very people who DID attack us on that fateful day in September, with the arsenal to do untold horrors.  Let me remind you it would be those same people protected by the Taliban, which Bhutto felt would bring stability to the region and allowed them to extend their power in Afghanistan while she was Prime Minister of Pakistan.

it is always a tragedy to someone when a person dies.  When that person takes reckless chances and places themselves in harms way needlessly, it is considerably less so.  Should those actions affect the safety of others, then it becomes a tragedy to people who had nothing to do with the initial incident.  Should the worst come to pass in Pakistan, that blame should be at the feet of Benazir Bhutto – Because Somebody Had To Say It.

No Switch in Time

Pakistan it appears may be adopted by me as my most favorite place on earth. It has all the desire to be an upstanding part of the international community, and yet a segment of it wants to turn back the clock 1300 years.

Musharraf has learned the lessons of his counterpart President Bush well, using the powers of the office to expand and maintain power despite the legalities that may stand in the way. Too bad for the principle of law that Pakistan does not have the precedent to curb such thinking and seemingly abuses in power.

Too bad for the American Principle of Checks and Balances that impeachment was used as a political tool for partisan gains, thus giving Bush immunity from actions he had taken that contradict the oath of office that he swore to the God he seemingly follows.

What we also see is the failure of the Pakistani Supreme Court to understand the circumstances they preside upon and the tenuous stance that Pakistan finds itself. For instead of the ability to show that they are a check upon the Presidency of Pakistan the Supreme Court Justices have allowed themselves to be relegated to a rubber stamp.

These same circumstances were present when our own Supreme Court in 1937. Conservative Activist Judges had ruled not on the law but through their own ideology, setting a precedent for their liberal brethren 70 years later, but I digress. This prompted FDR who was watching his policies that would make peoples lives better be struck d0wn by the courts, to declare that he would propose a Court Packing Bill, which would increase the size of the Supreme Court.

Were it to pass, FDR would be able to pick new members that would be sympathetic to his cause, and get his legislature passed, but at the cost of the soul of the Supreme Court. For if any President had problems with the High Court striking down legislature, expanding the court would be seen as a possible avenue of circumvention.

This moment was realized by Justice Owen J. Roberts, and a critical decision had to be made. Allow some of these new legislature that was questionably Constitutional, preserving the third branch of government in the long run. Or deny the new legislature and allow the Supreme Court to be expanded as the Executive Branch saw fit. Parts of FDR’s legislation would be past prompting the press to say, “A switch in time; Saved nine.”

It was the inability of Pakistan’s Supreme Court to see this critical moment in the context of the larger picture that has ultimately failed the people it supposedly serves. For while the previous decisions may have been technically circumventing the law allowing Musharraf to remain President, what has occurred is much more dangerous.

Not to be abused by Musharraf who after another 5 years of ruling Pakistan may be sick of the place, but by those who come after. Especially if those who come after Musharraf are much more radical in their desire to obtain power, and the extension of their ideology.

I think it was President Lincoln who said, “Success has many Fathers, While failure is an Orphan.” In most cases this is true, but now we always need a scapegoat in order to place blame on a tangible target. The World has the US to blame for the terrible things that occur. Americans have the Bush Administration, while conservatives have the media.

For now this crisis of Pakistan may be placed on Musharraf because that is the only Pakistani we know. History should place the blame on those who deserve it, the Pakistani Supreme Court. Those men who were so determined to show it had power, that has now set a precedent that its court may be packed should a decision not be liked. Sorry Pakistan, No Switch in Time.

The Pink Mist

Alright enough, I had been privately thinking these thoughts for a while but did not wish to voice them for being illegitimately attacked as trying to keep the President of Pakistan, “An all boys club.” But We are in crisis mode now it has to be said. Benazir Bhutto needs to get gone.

As I have said before, she has stones, it takes a real piece of work to be this opportunistic. I mean lets be really serious and get to the brass tacks. She was elected twice and was expelled from her position as Prime Minister due to charges of corruption. And in that part of the world there must have been some serious corruption going on, since that is basically how they do business.

Now before the bleeding heart, “she’s a woman and thus that was why she was disposed of not due to corruption” feminist rhetoric gets spun, not this fact, the same Judicial System that is upset with Musharraf upheld these findings against Bhutto. They have this “people are equal under the law” type thing in their Judicial system, at least they are trying.

Now lets get into the current crisis. Telling the people loyal to you to start trouble by rioting and protesting, is not the best way to get a guy you think is abusing power, to relinquish it. If Musharraf was really as bad a dude as we are to believe, then he would just have his guys open fire and be done with it.

“But Musharraf was preventing democratic reforms to keep power.” Your point would be…what? That is a bad thing? Have you heard some of the rhetoric that gets spouted over there? Death to America this, Allah will smite the US that. I mean they are almost as happy 9-11 happened as Gulianni is, it gives them a platform to be relevant to the world stage.

Lets also remember that it was during the rule of Bhutto that the Taliban gained power in Afghanistan, thinking it would provide stability to the region. Her government even provided financial and military assistance so that Pakistan could trade with the Central Asian Republics. How well did that pan out for everyone involved?

This created the situation where the Pashtun, who are ethnically related to the Taliban Government in Afghanistan, started to have the loyalties strained. They have since been siding with their Afghan brethren making all kinds of problems, and possibly hiding Osama Bin Laden.

Have some decisions Musharaff made, become questionable when scrutinized? Yes, did Pakistan have a fantastic wonderland full of human right, democratic values, warm fuzzy feelings for those not of their religion until Musharraf took power? No. He inherited a bad situation and is making the best that he can.

We have to look at the alternatives of who would take power should Musharraf get sent into exile, I mean retirement after this situation calms down. A third times the charm election campaign for Bhutto? Or worse still, one of the Islamic Parties that want Pakistan to realign itself with the literal word of the Koran, rather than the capitalistic West.

We may not like it but Musharraf looks to be the best hope we have for a country that has problems feeding itself, but now has nuclear technology and the ability to launch missiles at an ally in India, or a large segment of the population who would use it for an attack on the US. If Bhutto keeps this obscenely selfish power struggle up we may have only one solution, the Marine Snipers call it, “The Pink Mist.”

Chicks Man

Well it was definitely a good idea in theory. But WOW has it ever backfired for President Musharraf. Here is the scenario, there are wacko fundamentalist Islamic “people” who want you dead, and the Western educated Judicial system isn’t crazy about having a President that has direct control of the army; What do you do?

You find someone that people will hate even more than you, and will deflect some of the negative attention away from you. Musharraf’s choice, a former Prime Minister in exile for corruption, incompetence, who happens to be a woman married to a suspected terrorist. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out everything. While it is thought to be true that the Islamic radicals hate her, even maybe tried to kill her, tune in to the new series CSI Pakistan to find out. That part of the plan kinda maybe worked, but the part where the Judicial system would aim their venom at the return of an incompetent corruption laden person was not.

Instead they started to challenge the “Constitutionality” of Musharraf keeping his control over the government and the military. Leave it to lawyers to bring about the destruction of a country just because of a technicality in their constitution. Men like former Attorney General Antonio Gonzales never let technicalities of law, or justice get in the way of doing his job. Now look how much safer and well protected we are because of it? Who needs civil rights anyway, more people eligible to vote, who instead watch tv and bitch about how nothing ever gets done.

So now President Musharraf has declared marshal law because of all the riots, I mean “protesting” that is going on. So what does his supposed savior/partner/shield from assassination do? She tells her followers to “protest” that there is no need for the emergency marshal law. And by “protest” I mean attack the police, and toss Molotov Cocktails around the block just for good measure.

Now I may be an American, but I thought that kind of thing was reserved for those pointless soccer games the rest of the world plays. I am also confused on how telling your followers to riot will somehow show that the need for marshal law is somehow unnecessary. I guess it flows from the same logic that burning stuff to the ground every time someone says Islam is a violent religion, and there they go again.

It is also funny to me that the person Musharraf brought in to calm things down Bhutto, is doing the exact opposite of what he wanted. I mean, I understand the call of the independent woman, but this is ridiculous. Then I think of all the relationships I have had with the fairer sex, and realize that this is just an extreme case of a woman kinda pissed at the guy who kicked her out.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” the saying goes, I just hope this isn’t going to be a true nuclear winter. So good luck Musharraf, and thanks for providing us with another example for guys to drink a beer with their buddies, shake their heads and say, “Chicks man.”

Liberty and Justice For All…Who Deserve It

For the bleeding hear liberal media controlled by the secret society of American Loathers who say,”We speak of spreading democracy, yet appear to be fine with an Ally in Musharraf deposing a Chief Justice and declaring marshal law”. *yawn* So?

We need to understand, as Americans, what the term “Democracy” really means. It is a system of government that is far beyond the mere presence of elections. Even Saddam and Stalin had elections people, they even had approval ratings over 98% Bush would sell whats left of his soul for half those numbers, and I think Cheney would buy it from him. Democracy is a system of government that has at its core several principles that are unique and are though not as visible as elections are the very essence of the American system.

The first is the belief that individuals have merit, while some have more merit than others, each are endowed with a say in the type of government that they will serve. This largely comes from the principle of the Social Contract put forth by Jean Jacques Rousseau. That society as a whole has come to an understanding based upon mutual understandings of Justice, and Values. What democracy does is allow this contract to live and breathe as new generations are able to make their own decisions about justice and the values that define them.

The second principle that is necessary to have a thriving democracy is the understanding of the rule of law. This is to say that there are some things that the law cannot do. It is to be a shield against the oppression of the state, rather than a sword used to enforce it.

The third of these principles would be the extension of the previous principles stated, rights of the minority.  This ideal enforces makes it necessary that the government follow the will of the Majority, but not at the expense of the Minority.  An example here would be Zimbabwe’s land transfer program, where the people voted and the sheer numbers allowed the land, wealth, and even lives of the white citizens of Zimbabwe be taken from them.  There was an “election” that was somehow though to give legitimacy to this action, but one could never say it matches with the ideals of a Democracy.

Another crucial element necessary to have a democracy is having only those who have a stake in the system, partake in the system, at least in its infancy.  This limiting of the franchise prevents those who would do damage to the system from being allowed to do so.  Our example here can be Pakistan.  The tribal areas that border Afghanistan, are supporters of the ideology that spawned the Taliban.   Therefore it is a completely legitimate strategy to prevent them frompartaking in the system they will use simply to legitimize their own views.

This is how our country was able to get through the very harsh incubation period.  Limiting the voting public to male landholders, who would have something to lose if the system did go down in flames.  Even further checks and balances placed on the public by having an electoral college decide the out come of Presidential races.

It is when that Democracy becomes entrenched and the precedents made that the franchise can be extended to those once excluded from the system.  Their are countless examples in which the rising expectations of the populace, exceeded the governments ability to make rapid changes, leading to the collapse of that government.

While it would be nice to prevent the collapse of government and the decent of a population into anarchy, it becomes a critical import when dealing with Pakistan.  Having been aided by the Chinese to develop a nuclear program, as a check on India, the prospect that Pakistan would devolve into chaos is unacceptable.  Having already cited the obvious influence that the ideology of the Taliban has on the borderlands, to allow these people even the chance of obtaining this technology is unacceptable.

What we see in Pakistan now is the clash between the highly educated populace within Pakistan, that have been educated in the West with historical and systematic checks in balances.  Their completely understandable desire to have a government accountable  to the people, must be balanced against the obvious influence that may be gained by the extreme views of Islam.

Should Pakistan fall, it will be the largest and gravest casualty of Bush’s war in the Persian Gulf.  For we will have given the enemy we are supposedly fighting, Islamic Extremists, a path to the very weapons of mass destruction that could be used against us.  With the stakes this high we should be supportive of liberty and justice for all, who deserve it.

Pakistani Politics

Welcome one and all to the inner thoughts of a tormented genius that cannot help but observe and mock the absurdity of what the Human Being is capable of doing to one another. Though one may look to all corners of the globe to find such degradation of human worth, it seems as though the Middle East is often the poster child for such behavior. While the blog-o-sphere is full of either neo-conservative sites striving to destroy the people and their culture, as well as liberal hippies who seem to think if we smoke the proverbial peace pipe all will be fine; I have an altogether different take: The people there need to make smarter decisions.

Case in point is the obscenely stupid, arrogant, and power hungry arrival of Benazir Bhutto. This formerly exiled leader of Pakistan had been kicked out, and kept out, because of mismanagement of government and corruption. Now, in the Middle East this is common place and will be further discussed for my soon to be loyal and devoted readers, but the events of the last couple of days shows how incompetent Bhutto is.

For those who don’t know, Pakistan’s problems stem from them having fundamentalist Muslims who favor the ideals espoused by Al Qaeda and their buddies the Taliban. As such the have very, lets be polite and say quaint views of what the roles of women should be in their society. Here comes the shocker; being the head of the government and telling these “men” what to do isn’t in the list. For those of you faint of heart, please take a moment to recover as I am sure this is a revelation for most of us.

So when news came out that Bhutto would come back and have a power sharing deal with current President Perves Musharraf, these groups were none too happy. They then fell back on what has become the stereotype of what Muslims do when they are angry and launch death threats and blow stuff up. To make matters worse, the level of mistrust and disdain between Musharaf and Bhutto is so high, that even after Musharraf told Bhutto, and I will paraphrase, “People are trying to kill you, give us another week or so before you come back” and yes she ignored this plea and came back anyway.

Of course the outcome was a bombing that killed almost 140 people went off the other day, aimed at trying to kill Bhutto and was unsuccessful. Well does this mean that she believes Musharraf and will work with him to try and stamp out the violent fundamentalists who use Islam as an excuse to do horribly nasty things to people while feeling they are ordained by Allah and thus avoid guilt? No, because that would make sense, instead their are claims that this is Musharraf attempting to get rid of her as well as counterclaims that Bhutto set this assassination attempt up herself in order to garner sympathetic support.

While this may seem a tragic and ridiculous plot line to a bad Steven Segal movie, which is redundant I know, this is what passes for an average political day in the life of a politician in the Middle East. And while we in the West believe that it is a local problem and that there is no need for us to take notice, please consider this, the citizens of Pakistan have decided that these events are not the result of evil men planting bombs, nor a former exiled leader in a rush to build a following to garner more power, nor even a President who is so desperate to keep power he places personal power over national interests, they blame us my friends. For we are the ones who do not seem to care about their plight, leaving people in charge who do not care that the county becomes a cesspool of death and destruction, so long as they can have the title of being in charge of it.