“My name is Paul Wellstone and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party!” – Paul Wellston, #RIP

The Honorable Paul D. Wellstone, PD-MN. (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002)

Years ago PD – Progressive Democrat Paul David Wellstone very famously quipped: My name is Paul Wellstone and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party! And ever since the Democratic party has been trying to figure out what such a human qualifier like that even means?

But with the advent of Progressive firebrands like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that human qualifier is being answered.

This weekend the Libertarian party or Libertarian National Committee held its national convention in Orlando, FL. C-Span covered the live event. I pretty much watched it all the way through, making a few exceptions for normally scheduled television and “honey-dos” for my lovely wife along the way. LOL.

I live in Kentucky and a few weeks prior to this event I sat down and made this video on Kentucky primary day for 2016. Take a look:

As most of you know I am throughly disgusted  with the 2016 Democratic primary process. In particular how it is that Hillary Clinton has come so far without real question or scrutiny? Essentially, being handed my Democratic party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States of America in two thousand and sixteen.

Over this Memorial day weekend I have been thinking a lot about Mr. Wellstone and his epic qualifier and in the video above I lamented that after this Democratic primary and in particular the general election cycle for 2016 I am through with the Democratic party. Resolving to go the way of Independent or Decline to Say in terms of my voter registration thereafter.

Seemingly I’m not alone in this as many in the Republican party have followed suit. Burning their voter registration cards in effigy, like the peace nicks of the 1960’s that burned their draft cards as opposed to being drafted for service in the Vietnam War or the Women of the Women’s Liberation Movement who burned their bras and kitchen aprons as well.

But after this weekend and the last Libertarian presidential debate on C-span for 2016, and the epic opening and closing statements of Dr. Marc Allan Feldman and Mr. Darryl W. Perry my faith in humanity and the Democratic party has been renewed! Because it was both these men that managed to stir the echoes and fan the flames of democratic progressivism anew for me personally. Watch.

Hearing these men’s words and the stir of echoes from the late great Paul Wellstone in 1990 when it was first running for the United States Senate from Minnesota has renewed and restored my faith in the Democratic part of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. Renewed that there is hope. Promise. And people out there filled to overflowing with a heart for the People of America and the World.

We cannot now nor anytime in the future let up folks. Our foot must stay on the gas pedal of progress, BUT not the kind of progress we’re seeing today. Instead it should be the progress that people like Senator Wellstone and so many others have advocated for, some for years some for decades, from the very beginning.

That healthcare for all is a fundamental right and not a privilege. That people deserve and have earned the right to a livable wage and a standard of living with access to housing and public transportation that is commiserate with the times. The right to organize and unionize for representation at the table of free markets. That as Americans we have a right to expect that our government will keep its nose out of our bedrooms and off our bodies. The right to come and go as we please and do business or not do business; politically, socially or ecumenically with nation’s, Peoples and places of our choosing. And the right that when we retire medicare, Medicaid and social security will be their for us in the twilight of our ‘golden years’.

To many these ideals seem ‘high-minded’, ‘professorial’ and downright nice, BUT they are ideals ‘devoid of reality’, for now. But that through the advent of time, hard work, dedication and small ball politics we’ll get there, eventually. Afterall this is not Scandinavia or the Republic of Myanmar, we are told. “Hello. I’m earth. Have we met?” And so it goes, right?

I am all for third political parties because they keep the Republican and Democratic parties honest and accountable. They hold the two-party system in this country to a full accounting of the American people. Moving forward in 2016 third political parties can and should expect more mainstream viewership.

Not all that long ago I was reading a posting from former Independent Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura that said that there is the very real possibility that we could see the emergence of three or four [mainstream] political parties from this 2016 election cycle. Giving us, the Voters, all the more to choose from. And as a Progressive, never mind a Democrat, I’m all for that. More Voices. More Choices, and when I get elected to high office I will work to preserve, protect and defend voting and the free exercise thereof for any candidate or political party of your choice, regardless of names behind it or the money that it has in its coffers.

And speaking of, “money in politics” or the epic Citizens United Supreme Court case I have to, as a Progressive Democrat, draw a line in the sand. And push back against the idea that somehow people like Charles and David Koch, Foster Friess and Sheldon Adelson, just to name a few BIG MONEY donors, will get to dictate to Us, We the American Voters that is, how our political process or Our Future should be.

BIG MONEY politics is not a march towards progress at all, instead its a means to an end.

And if true BIG MONEY donors, like the ones I just mentioned, will, through these Never Trump and Never Hillary movements, co-opt folks, good folks at that, like former Governor of New Mexico and 2016 Libertarian presidential nominee Gary E. Johnson and former Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor  and 2016 Libertarian vice presidential nominee William F. Weld or the Johnson-Weld Campaign for 2016, all for the sake of ballot access in all fifty states and an inside tract towards the interworkings of American democracy.

That is WHY I am renewed, restored and resolved to making the Democratic party Democratic again. Progressive again. Giving people a viable alternative(s) that will speak to and do far more than  just be this candidate or a part of that political movement because its popular or politically expedient.

Because it’s not about a person or a slogan, a campaign or a dream, instead its about us, all of us together. We are, after all, all in this thing called life together and we are only as good as the person next to us. No better and no worse.

My name is Rhett E. Column (aka David Davidson) and I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party! Care to join me in the march towards progressive ideals?

–Rhett.

#Blog: “The ‘ACCIDENTAL’ Statesman..” By Rhett E. Column, #CIAtorturereport, #AXJ, #SWN

Former President of the United States of America, Harry S. Truman…

“..which the White House accidentally emailed to an Associated Press reporter…” — The White House Report on Torture, “Bush-era tactics…”… has been leaked?!?!

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I just finished reading an article from MSN News Services, via Reuters and the AP on the so-called Bush-era torture programs/enhanced interrogation techniques during the early days of the War on Terror and I must say I am experiencing and have been experiencing a myriad of emotions, a veritable roller coaster ride of feelings on this pending report for the last two weeks.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what, respectfully, Mr. Obama & Co. are hiding? Why the need to delay, and deny the American people, their right to know? Additionally why the need to provide cover for the Intelligence Community? Finally why, in this article I read, was a pending report from out of the White House, “accidentally emailed” to an Associated Press reporter?

These are but some of the many questions some of the many points of emotion I have been wrestling with, and again, for the last two weeks.

And so it goes…

I learned something this week and I also want to correct, publicly now, a record of standing I have long-held against a former President of these United States, Dwight Eisenhower. I contended that it was former President Eisenhower who started the C.I.A., it was not. It was in fact Harry Truman who started the C.I.A., BUT and his later years he, like so many of us do, had a change of heart on all things Central Intelligence Agency. Here, is where the change of heart began.

And so it goes…

I said all that to say this. The White House, more importantly this President, Barack H. Obama, II., and the honorable, had better come clean. He has but two whole handfuls of months left in his presidency to serve. He has a real opportunity. A real chance to level the playing field to correct the record as it were for the good of all mankind. To become something far more than what I have titled him under this #blogpost as, an ‘ACCIDENTAL’ Statesman.

President Barack H. Obama, II, 2012 Democratic National Convention…

“I’ve studied the Constitution as a student, I’ve taught it as a teacher, I’ve been bound by it as a lawyer and a legislator. I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief, and as a citizen, I know that we must never, ever, turn our back on its enduring principles for expedience sake.” — President Obama, 2009 Speech on National Security

 

THIS PRESIDENT, needs to hear from the American people TODAY on this vitally important issue.  He needs to be reminded of the words, the oath he took on behalf of the American people! To stand up for the Rule of Law and to adhere, strictly and always, to its concepts, precepts and edicts. Without fail or exception. Because and forthwith ,”the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one in this case.” Bottom line.

Because, and I will close with this. Comments such as these from online news articles, though good and very informative, WILL NOT suffice,

“The report does not draw the legal conclusion that the CIA’s actions constituted torture, though it makes clear that in some cases they amounted to torture by a common definition, two people who have read the report said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the still-classified document publicly by name.

The Senate report, the State Department proposes to say, “leaves no doubt that the methods used to extract information from some terrorist suspects caused profound pain, suffering and humiliation. It also leaves no doubt that the harm caused by the use of these techniques outweighed any potential benefit.”

Those methods included slapping, humiliation, exposure to cold, sleep deprivation and the near-drowning technique known as waterboarding.

The White House document is significant because it also reveals some of the State Department’s concerns about how the CIA’s tactics will be portrayed around the world.”

 

COMMENTS like these, for me at least, add up to duck and cover, run and hide, that age-old game of cat and mouse, that has been played throughout history both time and memorial by our fathers, grandfathers and forebears. The Cold War is over folks!

Yet Barack Obama, it appears wants to do nothing more than allow the Intelligence Community to play with the lives, fortunes and sacred honors of We The American People. It would appear to me, in the very least, that ,his attitude and actions of late, the Constitutional Law Professor has an obligatory disdain for the Rule of Law. It says, by his actions, that the Intelligence Community could give a fat rat’s rectum less about the Rule of Law OR that they only care about the Rule of Law when it is more than conveniently necessary for them to do so.

Such an attitude, such an approach toward governance and toward the everyday people who elected him to high office amounts to what Hollywood calls, “creative license”. And creative license will not cut it Mr. President! Respectfully.

Peace.

–Rhett.

 

#Blog: “Mr. President, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!”…” By Rhett E. Column, #SWN #AXJ

Any day now President Barack Obama will be releasing a formal report on the ‘Bush-era’ C.I.A. torture memo. But already ‘push back’ looms long and large from within and out of the Intelligence Community. They do not want President Obama to release a report that just may paint them and in fact certain members of the Bush Administration in an unfavorable light.

And they have done and will continue to do all they can to keep the president from releasing that report in full, unmolested and unrequited. Such is disturbing. Makes one wonder or at least stop for a minute and ask yourself, “What are they hiding?”  “Why the secrecy?”

Believe it or not a great opportunity has been presented to this president, laid really, on his door step. The chance to tell-all, come clean or at least wipe the slate clean for, and of all people, the Intelligence Community itself.

You see the Intel community ,since Harry Truman was President, has always wanted to be the hero, the savior of the free world. To be painted in a positive a light as possible. Someone or at the very least some thing that never ever does a darn thing wrong. Bottom line.

Try as they may, try as a setting President might though, the Intelligence Community, the C.I.A., period, is anything but a hero to all and most certainly not a true friend to the law.

Besides if they were such the heroes as they wish to be portrayed it would be proven out both time and memorial ,in the body of their work. You would find no holes in the spying process. No need for secrecy. No need for subterfuge. Just plain, good ole fashioned excellent police work all the way around. Above board, and most certainly above reproach. There would never ever be the need for such a report to be released by the White House, by the Office of the President. No need for a near raping of Congressional staffers by C.I.A. people just because they turned a computer on.

And so it goes….

To that end I would like to invite and encourage you all to encourage the President to release this report unredacted. No freckles. No frills. No fringes. Just the plain truth of the matter. If it hurts the Bush Administration it hurts them. If it hurts the Intelligence Community it hurts it. Consequences. Repercussions. The like. Be damned.

You can leave your comments for the President here. And in so doing tell him, per the Subject Selection of Civil Rights, to release the C.I.A. report completely unredacted.

If you don’t wish to write him on-line he does have a snail mail address which can be found here. Or call and leave a voice mail message.

This is too important. To critical an issue to just let go to the way side. Just let it slide by. Additionally pressure needs to be brought to bear with the United States Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence. This Committee, Chaired by United States Senator Dianne G.B. Feinstein, Democrat-California needs to hear from US as well. They need to be encouraged, greatly, to encourage President Obama to release that report. To get some backbone on behalf of the American people. To respect the right of privacy.

And so it goes….

The Intelligence Community has gotten away with murder for to long now! The president, as I said, has been handed a real opportunity. Laid firmly and squarely at his feet by a corrupt and inept police state that is hell-bent on destroying the last vestiges of a true and decent society.

Unless and until our government miners stand up to them, especially when and where we ourselves cannot this egregious activity will persist. Bottom line.

Call the President. Call the U.S. Capitol. Speak to your Congressional Representative and speak to the staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee and tell them to RELEASE THAT REPORT UNREDACTED. Thank you.

Peace.

–Rhett.

#Blog: “Torture, torture and more torture..” By Rhett E. Column, #SWN

President Obama speaking to a crowd…

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sometime between now and before Summer 2014 comes to an end the White House will release a much-anticipated report on the so-called ‘Bush era torture programs’, and I for one cannot wait. The only question though is HOW will the report be released. Will it be released un-redacted or so redacted to the point, that it will leave all those desirous to read it wondering, “Well, why did you release it in the first place? What are you trying to hide?”

And so it goes…

CLEARLY Barack H. Obama, II., and the honorable, is a conflicted soul, especially when it comes to this report. On the one hand he vowed a vow before God and former President George H.W. Bush and his son Jeb that he would not prosecute or bring ‘undue harm and attention’ to the former president (George W. Bush).

He worked, in a rarity, with the 113th Congress of the United States of America to make doubly sure that George Bush & Co. would never see the inside of a federal, state, local or world courtroom, now or in the future. U.S. Attorneys General Eric Holder insured that, made it all safe and legal like.

But, and it seems almost as if at least some in this once willful Congress are desirous to renege. Chief amongst them is U.S. Senator Dianne G.B. Feinstein, Democrat-California and U.S. Senator Ronald S. Wyden, Democrat-Oregon.

They along with their counterparts on the United States Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence have been pushing, privately and in some cases publicly, to get that intelligence report released. Unmolested and Unrequited.

Yet, still and all the Intelligence Community and certain members of the George W. Bush Administration are pushing back. According to reports from those in the know, John Brennan, at C.I.A., and James Clapper, at N.S.S., are waving ‘the country will be made less safe’ flag, should this report ever be released un-redacted, or at the very least, and at most, upon release, be nothing more than tailor-made to the Intelligence Community favor.

What to do? And hence the conflicting of the President.

And so it goes….

I am reminded early and often of both my mistakes to believe, strongly and solely, in the George W. Bush Administration and my willingness to blindly carry that out, without cause or question.

I like so many had the blinders of undying devotion and loyalty to both my country and the Bush Administration squarely on. Unwilling. Unwavering. Unrelenting. Unrepentant in that stance.

BUT, and thanks be to God for some loyal and loving friends and family members who knew that one day ‘I would see the light’. And after the 2004 election cycle was concluded and Mr. Bush had been reelected those blinders came off.

I began to do my own independent research and analysis. Began to question with boldness and conviction, “Just what in the holy hell are you people doing?” “What the hell is going on here?!”

And so it would go….

There is no doubt in my mind that George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney and all those associated with, by, for, and to that Administration, up to and including former Secretary of State Collin Powell, should be drug before the World Court at the Hague for both crimes against humanity and the world, in a time of war and a state of torture. Being made to give an answer and then put in prison for the rest of their natural lives. Period. Full stop.

But, and the question is, the FACT REMAINS is Barack Obama willing to renege on a long-held promise?

A near blood oath really, “that current presidents not bring trouble to the door steps of past presidents and that past presidents, in turn, not attack current presidents…”

This was and remains a sort of standard-bearer started by, of all people, George H.W. Bush. That no matter what past presidents, current presidents and future presidents would stick together.

Much to the chagrin of former President James E. Carter I might add.

Both truth, time, and memorial patiently wait for Mr. Obama’s answer.

Peace.

–Rhett.