Is American Republican based Morals dragging down the rest of the World?

If the republican Bush war in Iraq and Afghanistan was not enough, America is also riddled with sex scandals, corruption and hypocrisy involving the Republican Party and its close supporters.

Illegal invasion of foreign countries, misinformation, misleading reports and truths, torture, killings of thousands of innocent people - men women and children, degrading of prisoners, prisoner abuse, illegal detention of prisoners, secret prisons, missing weapons, corruption and disappearance of millions of dollars intended for Iraq help, how to build nuclear bomb details on government web page, dubious contracts to companies in Iraq and excessive amounts of money have disappeared or unaccounted for or overcharged, civil rights infringed upon or reduced, people arrested or locked up on false or incorrect charges or misinformation,…….the list on these issues alone is almost endless.

Then there is the Republican Party and its supporters at home in America. Sex scandals in congress! Corruption scandals one after another! And now the strong and closely tied Washington Bush/Republican relationship with the National Association of Evangelicals has revealed another scandal. White House spokesman Tony Fratto admits that Reverend Ted Haggard had been on a couple of evangelical calls with the White House, also stating: "but (Haggard) was not a weekly participant in those calls. I believe he's been at the White House one or two times."

The leader of the National Association of Evangelicals with 30 million members and representing 45,000 churches across the United States is not only caught up in a sex scandal but also one concerning honesty. First of all the Reverend Ted Haggard denies having anything to do with the apparently self-confessed male prostitute Mr Jones. Then he says he had telephone contact with Mr Jones. Then under pressure, this then turns from a simple telephone contact to buying drugs (methamphetamine) from him. And then this turns into admitting he did receive a massage from this self-confessed gay male prostitute, although still denies there was anything sexual in it? And then….?

That Reverend Ted Haggard was the head of an association representing 30 million evangelical members across America who use their political clout against abortion, gay marriage and other major social and religious issues not only makes them all appear hypocritical, to say the very least, but seems to tie in with the general low Morals of the Republican Party and its close supporters.

Of course the advantage of belonging to a religious group such as the Evangelicals is that you can always find an excuse for some behaviour (if it concerns your own kind that is!): It is the devils work, or it is Gods will, or it becomes an “opportunity” because if he repents we can forgive (and happily forget) him for this,……….the list is almost as endless as are those above concerning the Republican Party. As I said in another article, Americans like the “backdoor” option.

It is amazing how much scandal the Republican Party and its close supporters such as the Evangelicals are prepared to tolerate if it concerns one of their own, however they are soon quick to deny the same rights to anyone who is not one of their own. Abortion, gay marriage war in Iraq with the deaths of hundred of thousands of innocent people, including babies and children……….

Even more amazing is that these people continue to doggedly and blindly support a party that is clearly on the wrong road as far as morals issues are concerned, just for the promise to get their own doctrines listen to and dealt with by Washington.

Hypocrisy is the word of the day. Morals, forget it!

And these low morals are dragging down the rest of the world.

See also:

Vote 2006 Scandal Watch Political Scandals: State-by-State http://abcnews.go.com/

NEW YORK: Rep. Sue Kelly (R-N.Y.)

Sue Kelly, who was chairwoman of the House Page Program five years ago, is now being questioned by her Democratic challenger, John Hall, about what she might have known and when. The solid GOP ground Kelly was standing on in Katanoh, N.Y., just a month ago may now be shaky.

Jeanine Pirro (R-N.Y.), Attorney General Candidate

Jeanine Pirro disclosed that she is under federal investigation for plotting to secretly tape-record her unfaithful husband.

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.)

Immediately after the Foley scandal broke, Tom Reynolds, as the chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee, took the spotlight. Complaints from pages who received inappropriate Foley e-mails were directed to his office by the GOP House leadership.

Despite Reynold's initial appeal that he did what anyone else would do with Foley's e-mails, "report them to his supervisor," the congressman from western New York finds himself under increasing pressure. His campaign released a commercial in which Reynolds candidly defended himself: "I trusted that others had investigated. Looking back, more should have been done, and for that, I am sorry."

NEW JERSEY: Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez' dealings with a nonprofit agency are being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's office, which his Republican opponent Tom Kean Jr. is eager to remind voters. Bob Menendez was appointed to office after Jon Corzine vacated he seat to become governor of New Jersey.

PENNSYLVANIA: Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.)

Rep. Don Sherwood is under attack for an affair he had several years ago for which he was sued and has settled. The story broke recently and is being trumpeted through a slate of TV ads by Sherwood’s challenger Chris Carney. Sherwood has responded in his own TV ad in which he apologies for the affair.

Curt Weldon (R-Pa.)

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., allegedly used his influence to help his daughter's lobbying firm secure contracts worth $1 million from foreign clients. The FBI raided his daughter's home and office last week in what Weldon termed a politically motivated inquiry.

WEST VIRGINIA: Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-W. Va.)

Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., is the subject of an investigation into federal money given to nonprofit groups that contributed to his campaigns.

OHIO: Former Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-Ohio) Seat

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty for taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients.

ILLINOIS: Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.)

While it's expected that Dennis Hastert will be re-elected, his position as House speaker, which he has held longer than any other Republican in the history of Congress, has been put at risk. ABC News' George Stephanopolous has said he does not expect Hastert to retain the speakership if the Republicans maintain control of the house.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.)

John Shimkus received complaints about Foley as the chairman of the House Page Program. He intervened last fall to stop Foley from e-mailing a former page who considered the contact inappropriate. "I think there's stuff that everybody would have done differently," Shimkus said after he voluntarily testified before the House Ethics Committee.

FLORIDA: Former Rep. Mark Foley's Seat (R-Fla.)

Mark Foley's resignation left his own job up for grabs, with most recent polls showing his Florida district leaning toward a Democratic candidate who at one time was considered the underdog. It's too late to remove Foley's name from the ballot, but State Rep. Joe Negron takes Foley's place if the Republicans win.

Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.)

Rep. Katherine Harris, who’s now running for the Senate from Florida, was questioned by the Justice Department in the campaign contribution scandal involving Rep. Duke Cunningham. Harris has said she’s not a target of the investigation.

LOUISIANA: Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was the target of an FBI raid in May at his Capitol Hill office as part of an investigation into whether he took a $100,000 bribe -- all but $10,000 of which was found in the freezer of his Washington home -- in 2005.

TEXAS: Former Rep. Tom Delay’s (R-Texas) Seat

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, dogged by charges of money laundering in Texas, resigned from Congress in June and is awaiting trial.

ARIZONA: Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.)

While Jim Kolbe is retiring at the end of his term, he still has not been able to avoid getting drawn into the Foley fallout. Last week his office confirmed that an inappropriate e-mail was brought to the attention of Kolbe's office and was forwarded to Foley's office for evaluation.

Kolbe is now also under investigation as federal prosecutors in Arizona look into a camping trip he took with two former pages and others in 1996, according to a law enforcement official.

CALIFORNIA: Former Rep. Duke Cunningham’s Seat (R-Calif.)

Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., is serving jail time for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

John Doolittle (R-Calif.)

Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., accepted campaign money from Abramoff and used the lobbyist's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without reporting it initially. Doolittle's wife and one of his former aides also worked for the lobbyist.

Tan Nguyen GOP Candidate California

Republican candidate and Vietnamese Immigrant Tan Nguyen has been asked by some Republican leaders to leave the race for letters that were sent discouraging certain Hispanic immigrants from voting. Nguyen has said that a member of his staff sent the letter without his knowledge, this staffer has been relieved of duty and he intends to stay in the race.

MONTANA: Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.)

Sen. Conrad Burns, R-mont., received about $150,000 in donations from Abramoff, his clients and his associates. Burns has since returned the money or given it to charity.

See also:

GOP aides took early Foley 'damage control' call http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/467922p-393664c.html

All in the Family: Fathers, Daughters and Political Investigations

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/all_in_the_fami.html

Dialogue with God and the American Dream

 In October 2006 a senior U.S diplomat says “…. U.S. policy in Iraq displayed “arrogance” and “stupidity…..”

In 2001 a major U.S. company collapsed with $31.8bn in debts and throwing 21,000 workers around the world out of work. The prosecution against Enron bosses Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling said they stole from investors to line their pockets and stroke their egos. Both were found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and other charges.

Power, arrogance, stupidity, corruption, greed, personal gain, egotism, fraud, manipulation, the list goes on and on ………….

Is this the modern America, the new American Dream, now being exported around the world?

As the piles of bodies from the campaign in Iraq increase, to be placed alongside the hundred of thousands who died in the invasion of the country and the hundred of thousands who died as a result of the years of sanctions forced on Saddam Hussein’s regime by America and the UK before the invasion, we see U.S. stimulated sanctions being forced on North Korea. In the present political atmosphere in the U.S. it is at this moment unlikely that we will see any military action being taken against North Korea…..as long as nothing happens to make things worse…!

What could make things worse?

Well let’s look at America in a figurative, but symbolic, way. Let’s imagine those well known film pictures of a New York cop, or a U. S. soldier. They stand there in their uniform, the cop with his weapon holstered but hand ready to draw it, the soldier with his weapon slung across his chest resting on the fold of an arm and the finger of the other hand close to the trigger. They’re both a picture of tuned relaxation, ready to swing into heroic action at a moment of need. They portray an image of control, duty, alertness, morality, discipline, integrity, decency, comradeship, all for one and one for all, allegiance to the flag and to the greatest country of them all and to the American citizens of this, and so on.

This is how America likes to see or portray itself. At the same time America has assigned itself the task of policing the world. Yet here the conflicts or contradictions start to arise. The allegiance to the flag and to the greatest country of them all and the American citizens of this means that the rest of the world has to adjust to policies of America since a policeman enforces the laws laid down by the state or country he or she is responsible to. Although America tries to argue that it only enforces laws agreed upon by the world at the United Nations, in fact this is not really the case, as the illegal invasion of Iraq has proven. The meaning of the word world is also in realty mostly reduced to a handful of powerful countries with America at the lead of this handful. The arguments and jeering remarks of people such as President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela do have valid ground, no matter if you like the person or not. There is little doubt that America uses its powers to get its way within the UN, and bullying tactics to achieve its aims are not closed out. Even the pleas from North Korea for direct dialogue with America as a possible solution to conflict fall on deaf ears in American politics, although it would seem that North Korea, and other besieged countries, are only asking to be treated with respect, dignity and a certain amount of equal rights.

The world is told that America is protecting its rights, but the world is also told, whenever policies need this, that America is protecting the world. Some actions are enforced under the argument that they are done in America’s interest, while others are done in the interest of the world. The argument against any possible contradiction in the latter would be to argue that it is both in America’s and the world’s interest. It would seem that some things are conveniently in America’s interest and other things are conveniently in America’s and the world’s interest, depending on the (political) needs of America at that moment.

Who decides where the interest for the protecting of the rights lies? Well America does and since American political, financial and military power is spread around the world, the world mostly does what America wants and decides, and mostly does what it is told to do by America; the “you are with us, or you are against us” mentality.

But of course there are those who show disagreement with this, such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein which was said to be a renegade country, or North Korea, Syria, Iran, or political leaders such as Cuban leader Fidel Castro or President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, just to list a few examples. However under American leadership and pressure these countries or leaders are usually quickly denounced and isolated or not treated seriously or equally by the world.

The former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was also denounced and ridiculed when he failed to support President Bush’s and Tony Blair’s decision to (illegally) invade Iraq under the false pretences of being a nuclear threat. Now in a book of his memoirs due to be released this week Gerhard Schroeder apparently explains that he found it difficult to deal politically with President Bush because he (Bush) gave the impression or suggestion that he got his political (and other?) inspiration from our heavenly father (although no doubt his earthly father and fathers political cronies add their share of inspiration), that even before the Iraq war Bush seemed to be making political decisions based on his dialogue with God. .

Inspirations from our heavenly father, dialogue with god, are sure fire ways of catching votes in America and being elected into or kept in office. Yet religion is another area of conflict and contradictions within America. Despite official separation of church and state, many churches in the U.S. take strong stances on political subjects. Only about 26% of the people think the Democrats are favourable to religion. What do they exactly mean with this? That they think the democrats are heathens and demons and representing Saturn or are they just a bunch of anti religion atheists? Well quite a few people will think something along these lines; you get people who go so far as to preach and believe such things that the music of the Beatles is evil and filled with the work of Saturn. Yet while not everyone goes quite this far religious fanaticism is probably far more present in America than people really want to believe or accept, although perhaps by most expressed and practiced in terms that they believe are quite reasonable and normal, or hidden within or behind other issues. So are the Democrats then really true demons? Well many people will probably think not, but because the democrats have shown resistance to movements such as the anti-abortionists they are now seen as being unfavourable to religion by a large majority of the American population.

Once again you have the “you are with us or you are against us” mentality. This is not even considering the many contradictions and conflicts of the antiabortionists who argue for right of life but are willing to support such things as the death penalty and illegal invasion of foreign countries that leads to hundred of thousands of innocent lives, or sanctions that kill men, women and children, and other such things. The right for life would seem to take on another dimension in these cases. These same people are often the ones who denounce what they call religious fanaticism in Islamists; however this tends not only to cover real fanatics but the majority of Islamists. Followers of the Muslim faith only make up 1% to 3% of the American religions, of which there are numerous. 61% of Americans in a survey saw evil in the world as a threat to religious faith. It is probably unlikely that they might just see their own views as a threat to religious faith or that their own religious views might be conceived as being a possible form of fanaticism.

The Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison and a fine of 45 Million Dollar while Kenneth Lay died of a heart attack after being found guilty and therefore his conviction was squashed, but no doubt there will be many who say he received his sentence from God. However another boss, Andrew Fastow, the former Enron finance executive, was sentenced to only 6 years in prison and did not have to pay a fine because he cooperated with the prosecution and showed remorse for his actions although he was just as criminally guilty of the collapse of Enron with $31.8bn in debts and throwing 21,000 workers around the world out of work as were the other two! In America you can be just as guilty of a crime as another but if you cooperate against others and show remorse then you will be rewarded with leniency, this would seem to be particularly so if you are a big boss, or have political power, or money. It is doubtful that a street criminal would receive the same kind or amount of leniency!

Despite the extremely heavy sentence given to one ex Boss of Enron crime pays might be the real motto that comes out of this for many big bosses and those with political power and money, just don’t get caught, and if you do, use the backdoor; and America likes having backdoors, among other things you have the third amendment, bankruptcy protection laws and when all else fails then cooperation with the prosecution and showing remorse.

Returning to the question: What could make things worse? Ask this question to people in America and they will look for the answer in such places as North Korea and perhaps say something like “…well if North Korea carries out another nuclear bomb experiment….” or perhaps “…if North Korea does this or that…” or “…if Iran….”!

But in reality the answer and the power of what might or can go wrong lies not in North Korea, or Iran, or in any other such place, the power and answer lies in all and more of the above!