"Anti-American Blogging"

Dissent=treason. This is the mentality of the right wing lunatic fringe. Supporting and upholding the constitution is now labeled on the blog American Check-Up as "anti-American blogging" and "supporting terrorists." How extreme. Doctor Rick, who comments here as Rick Tennesen, wrote about our blog and criticized us in this manner. Raven has already weighed in on this since he was the pronciple target of Doctor Dick's rant. I assume the comment about supporting terrorists was meant for me. This is my response.

Since when is criticizing the President and his corrupt Administration anti-American? Where was Rick when Richard Mellon Scaife spent $200 million to fund the Arkansas Project (which I wrote about this week)? I suppose it's only anti-American in his parallel universe when it's a Republican President being criticized?

Why is speaking out about the erosion of our constitutional rights seen as un-American? The USA Patriot Act severely restricted our Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Police can now enter your home if they please without you ever knowing they were there. Probable cause, as required by the Fourth Amendment is now history. I suppose Alberto Gonzales also thought that was a "quaint concept."

I wrote this week about the Bush Administration proposal, now being debated in Congress, which would allow the Secretary of Defense to have Americans arrested for any crime he chooses, held without rights, and tried in absentia without the opportunity to challenge evidence or witnesses against them. If anything I've ever seen in my life is anti-American it's this.

Where is the outrage on the extreme right? Mainstream conservatives have been very concerned about the erosion of our rights under George W. Bush. Extremists like Doctor Dick are are taking this country down a road former CIA analyst Ray McGovern calls "creeping fascism." Perhaps the good Doctor should have attended one of the three Iraq war forums held two weeks ago and publicized right her on TPP.

He would have heard Scott Ritter state, unequivocably, that Iran is NOT developing nuclear weapons. How would he know? Besides having been in the position to know as head of the UN weapons inspection team, he was the voice in the wilderness saying the Bush Administration was lying about Saddam's wmd's. He would have heard him ridicule Rick Santorum's claim that wmd's have been found in Iraq. He'd have had the opportunity to directly ask Mr. Ritter anything he pleased during the Q&A portion of the forum.

He would also have heard Ray McGovern, who wrote Bush's Presidential Daily Brief, say he told the President there weren't any wmd's in Iraq and was told it didn't matter. How he told him his Administration was twisting and cooking the intelligence about Iraq. This was six months before the invasion. These are facts. These are direct from the source. Read the articles right on this blog, articles I wrote after attending that forum. Pretending these aren't facts and clinging to your delusions is insane. Labeling me anti-American for reporting them is dangerous territory.

As for libeling me as a terrorist supporter, you are seriously mistaken. In fact I have been blogging for some time about the crucial policy mistakes this government has made by diverting our resources from fighting the terrorists who attacked us to Iraq, which posed no threat to our nation. The facts supporting this are readily available to anyone with a computer and internet connection. You obviously have both so what's your excuse for clinging to the propaganda you've been fed?

We were attacked on Sept. 11th by people from Saudi Arabia and supported by the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. All three of those countries continue to actively support terrorists. They have refused to fully cooperate with our efforts to gain justice for the attacks. Saddam and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Nothing. This is according to Congress, President Bush, and the Sept. 11th Commission. How many government sources do you need before you relinquish your fantasy that he did?

I operate in a reality based world. In that world George W. Bush transferred the troops and resources looking for Osama and sent them to Iraq. He let the terrorist who attacked us escape in Tora Bora. In nearly five years Osama and Mullah Omar continue to breathe free air. I insist we focus our efforts on those terrorists who actually attacked us and/or were actual, real threats to our country. In your warped world this is supporting terrorists.

I'll tell you what, let's have a referendum on the issues. We'll let the voters of Pennsylvania decide this on November 7th. You continue to present your side and we'll present ours. We'll see who the voters support.

On another of Doktor Dick's rants, this blog HAS dealt with the issues of drug abuse, guns, and violence. We have also dealt with the issue of mercury poisoning. You should check your facts before making baseless claims. This blog is part of the reality based community so please cite your facts and do your research before posting something so easy to refute. Pulling information out of the ether with no reputable source or proof does a disservice to all bloggers.

Update: Here is a summary of a report just issued by Congressman John Conyers detailing the constitutional crisis created by Bush's abuses. It's amazing how those defending the constitution are now labeled by Republicans as "anti-American." There's NOTHING more American than defending our freedoms.