July 4, 2005

This weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July. A holiday that commemorates our proud history, founded on freedom, paid for with the honorable blood of patriots throughout our time. From the Revolution through the Civil War Americans always stood up for what was right, through protecting the individual liberties of all. In the 20th century, Americans rose to the challenges of oppression facing the world on more than one occasion. Respect was earned and deserved. Every time we faced a crossroads, we answered the challenge and took the right path regardless of the difficulty.

The 21st century does not reflect so kindly upon this heritage. It has been spoiled by people who wrap themselves in the flag but only represent greed. That tragic fact that blood has to be spilled to feed this greed is not relevant to them. They claim the mantle of Christianity, but do not represent the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. They come under a banner that reads, "Culture of Life" while embracing the politics of death. We walk around every day trying to be politically correct. You don’t say the president lied; you say his statements were not borne out to be factually accurate. You don’t say that the president lied to go to war; you say the intelligence was poor. Everyone dances around the truth, afraid to confront the fact that the enemy is thyself. The Word of God says:

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

It is time to call evil, evil. After sleeping through a corporate-media-induced coma for five years, it appears that America is starting to awaken. Appalled at what they are seeing and hearing, they are starting to recognize what has happened to their country, their ideals, their children. The faux patriotism is being exposed for what it is, just a smokescreen. Every time we get close to the truth, they try to rally us all around the flag and tell us stories about our glorious past and how today is merely carrying on that grand legacy. Nonsense.

This past week they trotted out their figurehead to rally the troops. Not the actual soldiers, but the citizenry. The troops they already have. The citizens though, they are starting to lose. So, there was Bush with a chance to set things right, admit the errors of the past, and clear a path of peace to the future. Instead, he hunkered down, looked us in the eye, and continued to lie.

We heard constant references to 911. Bush at his most loathsome, using our collective fears against us. This was a speech about the Iraq War, Bush’s War. It has already been proven that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 911. The truth means nothing to George W. Bush though, not when there is more death to dispense for profit. Every time the speech started grinding, Bush dragged up the specter of 911. When that did not work, he played to our patriotism. He offered nothing new; dressing up old promises undelivered and marketing them as "progress". He spoke in magnificent terms about sacrifice, a word he knows nothing about and dishonors with his utterance. He spoke about the loss families suffer, without having a personal context from which to draw, rendering the words meaningless. George Bush knows nothing about suffering, except how to inflict it upon people. In the face of all of these obscenities, we are all at our turning point in history. In light of all of these atrocities, our redemption draws nigh. The truth is right there at the door of history. We just have to awaken and open the door, and let it in.

The truth has been knocking for some time, but only online. The corporate media did its level best to bury the story of the theft of the 2004 election. They never asked how a man who never broke a 48% approval rating could have garnered 12 million more votes than he had in 2000. They never asked how South Florida added 175,000 votes to his total, defrauding Florida and the election into the Bush column. They never investigated the efforts of John Conyers, a true living American patriot, to expose the rampant voter fraud in Ohio, which also tipped the election to Bush. Moving past Votergate 2004, the media then ignored the story that could have brought down the administration, Jeff Gannon. A self-avowed male prostitute, who not only infiltrated the White House Press Pool on daily passes for over two years, but apparently slept over the White House on multiple occasions. Coming from the party of faux family values, that would have been devastating, if the truth was pursued. The press went absolutely rabid over Bill Clinton because of his poor moral choices with a female intern. They tarred and feathered Clinton for years yet for the Teflon President, Bush, nothing is worth investigating. Jeff Gannon disappeared into the forgotten past, a mere ghost jangling his chains in the corridors of history. Ken Blackwell has also been relegated to the netherworld of irrelevance. He stopped in for his six months of infamy, as Katherine Harris before him. He will be quietly rewarded by being backed by the machine in his future run for Governor, but his real role in history will remain a part of our hidden history, the one no one wants to talk about.

Blackwell and Gannon were vital parts of two separate stories that should have unraveled this presidency. The X-factor though, was the media. The conservative media bias is so deep at this point, Tucker Carlson appears moderate. Joe Scarborough is considered mainstream. People believe Chris Matthews plays hardball. The shrill voices of Sean "The Whore" Hannity and Rush "Pills" Limbaugh not only set the stage for the vitriolic daily dialogues, but their real damage is that they make other people appear judicious. The fact of the matter is that nearly all mainstream media is now firmly in the pocket of the administration, through story selection, story avoidance, and panel choices. Jeff Gannon never had the real questions put to him. Ken Blackwell was never investigated. They simply walked into history, stole what they wanted, and were allowed to walk right back out again. Take heart, America, the latest sliver of truth is starting to stick to the Teflon. We stand at our crossroads still.

That story, the third rail in the truth trifecta, is the Downing Street Memos. This collection of memos and meetings minutes from months prior to the start of the Bush War, make quite clear some salient facts. One, this President fixed his intelligence around the policy he had decided upon to invade Iraq. Essentially, this means he lied, to go to war. Secondly, it appears that the memos prove that he actually started the aggression, six months prior to obtaining Congressional approval. It certainly outlines how the cover story being touted to us by Bush were all lies.

The press has tried to avoid this story. They ignored it for weeks on end as the drumbeats started. Bush and Blair laughed off the memos by simply saying they did not do what the memos clearly say they did. The media ate it up and thought they could walk away from the story and consign it to the trash heap where Blackwell and Gannon had been previously discarded. Only this time, America did not blink. They finally realized that merely denying the truth, does not deny its existence. The drumbeats grew louder. Suddenly the political correctness had started to erode away and we heard the real words we had been lacking for so long. Lies, crimes, impeachment.

These are the words Bush has been staring at for the past few weeks. It is what led Karl Rove to trot Bush out before the country and try his "man behind the curtain" routine again. Bush stayed on message, blended in 911, patriotism, and apple pie as only he could but in the end, the audience just refused to blink. The haze slowly being lifted from our collective eyes, America realized the speech for what it was, a lie. Thus we are at a crossroads in history.

Today Gallup, who has notoriously run polls skewed toward Bush, published the results of their latest polls which show that not only did America not blink, they woke up today damn angry about the lies being told them over and over again. Bush’s approval rating actually dropped a point after the speech, down to 43%. More telling however, is a whopping 42% say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq. That number is probably higher because it would be disheartening to think that 58% of the people think lying to go to war is not impeachable. Either way, America is finally discussing the right words, lies, crimes and impeachment. The tide is turning toward the truth.

These are words that make no one truly happy. They made this nation suffer during the late 1990s, and they would certainly be difficult now. They are important though, because this era cannot go the way of Jeff Gannon and Ken Blackwell. There are thousands of America’s children who have had their blood spilled and justice demands that we honor their sacrifice. There are over 100,000 dead civilians in Iraq whose only unfortunate lot in life was to be born in that country at this time.

I have said this before. War is not noble and only results in death. There have been magnanimous efforts littered throughout our history where our children have answered the call of history and responded with the nobility that made their efforts worthy. The more President Bush drags himself out before the troops to wrap himself up in the flag he carries no respect for, the more nobility he steals from the cause. Not one life was worth the removal of a tinpot dictator who had no ability to hurt anyone, let alone the United States of America.

This is the birthday of this country. This is a celebration of everything that was right in this country, and can be again-- once we prove to the world that we still stand for something, once we show that patriotism, is tempered by the truth, once we show that country does not come before honor. On this July 4th, we stand at the crossroads of history once again. We face an enemy we know all too well. We face our own apathy and fears. We face the fact that our President lied to the Congress to go to war and thousands of American kids are dead because of it. We face the fact that our President started his war months before even asking for Congressional approval. We face the fact that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed, and impeachment must follow. We face a world that is watching very keenly, knowing the truth and still holding faith in the America they remember. The America of their forefathers that answered the call to meet evil face to face and not blink as we stared it down. It is that time yet again which will define us all as a people and as a civilization. We must not blink. We must answer the challenge, call evil what it is and march boldly into the future knowing that it is more important to honor the truth and do what is right, then to be discarded into the annals of history as being irrelevant.

Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

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