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I have always been drawn to the ancient Stonehenge in England and to the world of Druids and Wizards, King Arthur and Dragons. Growing up in Iowa just didn't offer the thrills of warriors and nature and spirits and good over evil. Now we can't even tell the diffence between good and evil, they all look the same.
So I made a couple of pilgrimages to Stonehenge and sacred sites throughout the British Isles and Ireland and explored the far reaches of Scotland and Wales. It was like going home and I hope to make many more journeys to my past.
I found the following article about Stonehenge which just adds to the mystery and mystic. I also lived in Nebraska for a number of years and we had our own Stonehenge as you can see from the photos. Not quite the 5,000 year old (or much older) vintage of the original but it is Nebraska.
Stonehenge skeleton came from Mediterranean
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 29, 3:41 pm ET
LONDON — A wealthy young teenager buried near Britain's mysterious Stonehenge monument came from the Mediterranean hundreds of miles away, scientists said Wednesday, proof of the site's importance as a travel destination in prehistoric times.
The teen — dubbed "The Boy with the Amber Necklace" because he was unearthed with a cluster of amber beads around his neck — is one of several sets of foreign remains found around the ancient ring of imposing stones, whose exact purpose remains unknown.
The British Geological Survey's Jane Evans said that the find, radiocarbon dated to 1,550 B.C., "highlights the diversity of people who came to Stonehenge from across Europe," a statement backed by Bournemouth University's Timothy Darvill, a Stonehenge scholar uninvolved with the discovery.
"The find adds considerable weight to the idea that people traveled long distances to visit Stonehenge, which must therefore have had a big reputation as a cult center," Darvill said in an e-mail Wednesday. "Long distance travel was certainly more common at this time than we generally think."
The skeleton, thought to be that of a 14- or 15-year-old, was unearthed about two miles (3 kilometers) southeast of Stonehenge, in southern England.
Clues to the adolescent's foreign origins could be found in the necklace, which isn't a recognized British type. But he was traced to the area around the Mediterranean Sea by a technique known as isotope analysis, which in this case measured the ratio of strontium and oxygen isotopes in his tooth enamel.
Different regions have different mixes of elements in their drinking water, for example, and some of those are absorbed into a person's tooth enamel as he or she grows up. Analysis of the isotopes of oxygen and strontium carried in the enamel can give scientists a good but rather general idea of where a person was raised.
The teen, whose necklace suggests he came from a rich family, is one of several long-distance travelers found near Stonehenge. The "Amesbury Archer," so-called because of the stone arrowheads he was found with, was buried three miles (5 kilometers) from Stonehenge but is thought to have come from the Alpine foothills of central Europe. The "Boscombe Bowmen," also found nearby, are thought to have come from Wales or possibly Brittany.
It isn't clear precisely what drew these people to Stonehenge, a site which has existed in various forms for some 5,000 years. It clearly had an important ceremonial function, and the area around it is dotted with the remains of prehistoric monuments and tombs. Some say it was at the center of a sun-worshipping culture or that it served as a kind of astronomical calendar.
Others, like Darvill, also say it might have been an important healing site, drawing pilgrims from across Europe like a prehistoric version of Lourdes.
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Thank goodness the politicians in Washington, DC have set a fine example and we are no longer required to tell the truth about anything because otherwise the latest polls would make little sense. However, the die is cast and the truth is lost and we only have about 5 more weeks of nonsense before the elections so here are the latest poll results as I see them.
Obama has slipped so low in the polls 2/3 of all Americans now want him to be Prime Minister of England or Australia.
The leftist liberals are held in such low regard by most Americans that the only TV ratings now recorded for MSNBC and CNN, America's answers to socialist Europe, are the staff of the two networks watching each other.
Of course liberals aren't the only ones having problems as the same poll shows all Republicans and Democrats over 65 and Newt Gingrich no matter what his age need to be sent out to pasture.
At the same time the people also believe the voting age must be raised to 28 years of age since the dumb kids got us into this mess electing Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to lead us out of the darkness and into the night.
Speaking of Nancy Pelosi, 80% of all people refuse to believe she is the leader of the majority party as even Democrats can't be that stupid.
Voting for the person the public most wants to see on Dancing with the Stars next season was tied with over 90% wanting Barack Obama and Sarah Palin for the next two seasons, 2011 and 2012, so both will be too busy to run for president.
In terms of education issues, over 70% of the public says the Obama's could not have attended the exclusive Ivy League schools of Columbia and Harvard for Barack, and Princeton and Harvard for Michelle, and still claim to be plain old American middle class folks.
An astounding 100% of the people want to see only one debate in this fall's election, and a team debate at that. They want the team of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck for the right wing against Arianna Huffington and former VP Al Gore for the socialists with the winners decided by whichever team can figure out what the hell the other team is saying first.
The Supreme Court decision to not allow election ballots to offer the choice, "none of the above", which was rejected by the Supreme Court on grounds the public has no right to so directly influence an election, was opposed by 83% of the public.
67% of the public say VP Joe Biden was inconsistent when he admonished fellow Democrats to stop whining the same day Barack Obama was again whining about the endless curses George Bush left him over the past eight years even though George Bush left office nearly two years ago.
Oh yes, and 91% of the public believes we are much safer and the economy will recover only if congress and the Obama's stay on vacation all the time.
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Did any of you notice that the weather reports are so consistently wrong that you might as well be watching the Comedy Channel instead of the Weather Channel on television? Yesterday Los Angeles set a record for September 28, or for any day depending on which liars you tuned into, when it hit 113 degrees. The old record was 112.
Texas had a record heat wave when the temperature was over 100 for a month or so. There were record floods in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Arkansas, India, China, Europe, and about half the civilized world. The uncivilized world around Washington, DC saw a year of record rains, record snows, record tornadoes and outrageous winds mostly emanating from the wind bags in the Halls of Congress.
Here in Southern Maryland and all along the Atlantic Coast we watched as hurricane after hurricane came roaring across the Atlantic Ocean bearing down on us only to turn into a harmless summer rain by the time it reached us. There hasn't even been a hurricane in the Gulf that hit land with any force to speak of. There were some mighty powerful earthquakes but no tsunamis and surprisingly few deaths for such powerful quakes.
Things have gotten so good in terms of the lack of weather disasters except in Pakistan where the floods really wiped out the substandard housing and ghettos where people already were dying that it is taking all the fun out of the dooms day prophets predicting the end times.
As a society Americans continue to get more cynical of presidents, politicians, preachers, pretenders and weathermen or women and making weather predictions now has about as much chance of being accurate as the stock brokers and credit rating firms who cost us trillions of dollars the past couple of years.
I say turn off the weather reports and just read the Old Farmers Almanac that has been around for 200 years, at least they are 85% accurate. My older brother says Obama and the feds are withholding critical weather information from us so we don't know the world is coming to an end. My younger brother says stupid is as stupid says but I have no idea what that means.
I just sit on my front porch with my giant Irish Wolfhound and watch his friend the tiny but brave frog try and jump up into the flower pot. The six inch jump is a long ways for a tiny frog and if he makes it the first jump the weather report will be wrong that night. Two jumps means he will be wronger. Three jumps means there is a 50-50 chance of being right and a 100% chance the frog will catch a lot of bugs tonight.
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The war of annihilation between the Nazis and Communists
ISBN 0964599317
LCCN 2004095812
Available worldwide through Amazon Kindle books
http://www.amazon.com/Saviors-20th-Century-Hitler-ebook/dp/B0040ZNU76/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1285077808&sr=1-1
Finally a book that brings history to life in a way that captures your attention and shatters your perception of truth. Saviors of the 20th Century - Hitler & Stalin uses a layered history technique that should become the standard for any “objective” treatment of our past.
Through this technique the author, Jim Putnam, weaves the threads of hundreds of seemingly disparate and disconnected events and people into a breath-taking mosaic of astonishing truth.
Most people know what happened in the 20th century. Yet the author’s investigative reporting techniques help you discover why things happened, who was behind them, and what was hidden from the public.
From beginning to end you are bombarded with an avalanche of new information that peels back the veils of deception and leads to truths hidden from us for more than half a century. If you grew up like most people thinking history was boring and inconsequential this is a must read for history will never be boring again.
This is not a recitation of facts and figures about some long ago events that took place in some distant places. What happened in Hitler’s Nazi Empire and Stalin’s Communist Empire was directly connected to events in America and throughout the world.
In fact, before the Bolsheviks could steal Russia from the Provisional government that overthrew the Tsar in 1917 it would take millions of dollars flowing into Russia from American Communist sympathizers. When the Bolsheviks did take power, two thirds of the new Communist government leadership came from the East Side of New York.
Sometimes the passage of time can open the door to new information and better perspectives of what took place. Some events like World War II are so overwhelming, we are unable to step back and understand the relationship of that war to other things going on in the world. And typically the first books after an event, those purportedly documenting history, are written by those who are least objective with a cause to advocate.
Saviors makes no such mistakes. It is a refreshing, objective and comprehensive look at the inevitable war of annihilation between Hitler’s Nazis and Stalin’s Communists, what happened and how it happened. The world is the canvas for the picture Saviors paints and the colors run through continents and across time engulfing the entire world into the revolutionary fervor of the 19th century, leading to the destruction of the 20th century.
The popular X Files TV series had the theme “The Truth is Out There.” It certainly was, and the truth was discovered and exposed in the landmark work Saviors of the 20th Century - Hitler and Stalin. As a historical work it has opened the door to a new and objective look at the past. As a political and philosophical work, it makes sense of events and developments that made no sense before.
The author describes his hope for the impact of the book as “being like a pebble tossed into a still pond. A tiny pebble can send ripples across the pond to the farthest shores. If the ripples represent the threads of truth unveiled, then others will be awakened by the ripples and can pursue the truth further."
He was right about awakening the truth. But he was wrong about the pebble. Saviors was not a tiny pebble leading to truth but a giant boulder of granite. And it wasn’t a ripple that resulted when it hit the water but a tidal wave.
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Was it just three years ago that sub-prime mortgages, or was it the scandal of sub-prime mortgages, was the trigger that set off the worldwide economic collapse and it became the first priority of the newly elected Obama administration in terms of getting out of the recession? It seems like light years away yet there is probably no one in America whose home equity and 401K or other pension program is still not suffering as a result of the crooked manipulation of the housing market.
So where are we in attacking the first of the economic disasters that hit? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two troubled mortgage giants, were seized by the government nearly two years ago and now own or guarantee 56% of all American mortgages, and they are losing billion of dollars. Nine out of every ten new mortgages originating today are backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Authority.
The government has already pumped $150 billion into the two giants and some economists estimate it will take up to $1 trillion to keep them afloat. They now hold $210 billion in bad loans. In July there were over 2.02 million homes in foreclosure and 5 million more homeowners were behind on mortgage payments.
The Federal Reserve now owns around $1.09 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. The Obama $75 billion mortgage rescue program was a failure. Housing prices continue to remain at a six year low while inventories are bloated. At the same time the Fed loans money out to lenders at a 0-.025% interest while mortgage rates remain at the lowest levels ever seen in modern times.
Curiously, Obama did not include housing reform in the financial reform package even though the fraudulent housing securities were the main cause of the economic collapse. Much work remains to be done to stop people from walking away from mortgages worth more than the homes, to halt the record number of foreclosures, to stabilize housing prices, to sell the huge housing inventories and to encourage home building and purchases.
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With the imminent departure of his top two White House aides, Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff, and David Axelrod, political director, along with the departure of his three top economic aides, Barack Obama has a chance to restructure his administration and put in place a team that can actually carry out his former campaign promises for a bipartisan and gentler governing to end the bitter partisanship plaguing our nation's government.
Almost a year ago I urged Obama to make Evan Bayh, the retiring Senator from Indiana, his next chief of staff and now more than ever I think it is the best way to heal America. Back then I said the following:
The Associated Press said in yesterday's stunning announcement that:
"Two-term Sen. Evan Bayh says ever-shriller partisanship and the frustrations of gridlock made it time for him to leave Congress. Republicans aren't buying it, saying he and fellow Democrats sense that voters will be after their heads this fall.
The Indiana Democrat, a moderate who twice came close to being added to his party's national ticket, said Monday he will not seek re-election this November. The announcement gives Republicans a strong chance of capturing his seat and makes it likelier that the 59 votes that give Democrats command of the 100-seat Senate will dwindle.
Bayh, 54, said his passion for helping people is "not highly valued in Congress." He said he did not love the institution in which his father, Birch Bayh, had also represented Indiana."
Well I for one don't really believe his explanation. Bayh was a potential powerhouse among moderate Democrats with a history of working for bi-partisan government. His credentials were everything the American people are looking for in leaders of the new America.
There are several reasons I think he retired and having watched his career, I do not doubt the veracity of what he said. His Midwest background and father's influence are indeed significant causes for him to express frustration with liberal Democrats and the inertia of Congress. His acute awareness of the unfair need for elected officials to spend much of their time raising money for the next campaign is exactly why I got out of politics so I am encouraged he pointed out the huge flaw in our political system.
Yet there is more I suspect beneath the surface because a person like Bayh is needed now more than ever. To explain let me first outline what else happened yesterday when he announced he was retiring at the end of the year. The most powerful person in the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid, did not find out about this dramatic development until after Bayh made the announcement. It is unheard of that a party boss would be left out in the cold on such an important matter impacting on the future control of the US Senate by the Democrats.
Yet immediately after he made the announcement the President and White House praised Bayh and said they were aware of his decision beforehand. Why would he consult the president and not the leader of the Senate where he is a member? Let me give you a clue.
The White House has demonstrated how to mismanage the presidency to a degree not often seen before with tactics that infuriated both the Democrats controlling the House and Senate as well as the public and the Republicans. Since before Obama took office I pointed out how they were making one of the first sins of government, expecting the hard nosed opportunists from the campaign to be able to run the nation's government.
No newly elected president has done that because they know the campaign people have neither the experience nor the ability to work with all elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, once elected. By nature the campaign people are paranoid, living in constant fear the other politicians will undermine their efforts. To compensate they use heavy handed tactics to force loyalty from their own party, Democrats, and use intimidation and threats to try and control the opposition party, the Republicans.
It never works. All new administrations make a series of staff mistakes that take one to two years to correct. Obama made these mistakes throughout his fledgling administration loading his staff with friends and associates, campaign contributors and lobbyists. Time after time his own people have been his biggest burden and their actions have upset those who know what makes the government tick.
To be successful a president must surround himself with people who are not paranoid and who know they must govern for all the people, not just those throwing money at them. Thus the White House staff is a sea of turmoil when they have no policy, executive nor practical experience in a bi-partisan world.
Such appointments are not necessarily a sign of weakness but a sign of inexperience. In time the polls and the inability of the president to govern make these mistakes obvious. Perhaps Obama has finally seen the light and realizes his strident and petty staff are his own worst enemy.
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been the most striking example of how a staff member can get a president in trouble. Every major failure of the Obama administration can be laid at the doorstep of the Chief of Staff from secret deals with the pharmaceutical companies and unions (SEIU) to interfering in local elections (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts).
When your key aide is the cause of your failure to govern the key aide becomes an untenable liability and now many people are questioning the judgment of Obama's Little Napoleon. I suspect the reason Obama knew about the Bayh resignation in advance is that Obama may have talked to Bayh about taking over as his new Chief of Staff. It was necessary for Bayh to clear the way to move to the White House and take over.
By announcing his retirement when he did, the day before the filing deadline for someone to run for his Senate seat, it left no one time to file as the Democratic candidate for Senate from Indiana. Since no one expected Bayh to leave no one was prepared to file the next day. This means the State Democratic party in Indiana can select the next candidate for the people, giving them time to recruit the best possible candidate for the race.
It is all too convenient for Bayh to end up taking over as Chief of Staff for Obama and solving one of the biggest headaches for the president, how to get Emanuel out of there. Bayh could resign at any time and his seat would be filled by governor's appointment. The governor is a Republican in Indiana but Bayh could make a deal with him on his replacement, appointing a Democrat who will not run for office in the fall. The Indiana governor is a weak form of state organization so he may very well make a deal to get the seat open and to get a friend (Bayh) in the White House.
If Obama does not make moves to fix his White House staff there will be a series of resignations by cabinet members like Hillary Clinton who are sick and tired of the backroom politics of Emanuel and the other staff members and see their ability to represent the United States being undermined by the politics in the White House. Bayh would be in a great position to help the president and smooth over the ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill.
Remember, President Reagan was successful because he had former Congressman and moderate James Baker as his Chief of Staff. Obama could learn from Reagan's experience. It was Baker who helped make Reagan one of the most popular presidents of all time. Oh yes, as an early supporter of Hillary in her campaign for president Bayh would go a long ways toward healing the deep wounds between Obama and the Clintons.
Stay tuned...
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In all the uproar over the new book by Bob Woodward, Obama's Wars, and the volatile internal debate, denunciations and recriminations raging in the media, we tend to get distracted from the underlying policy actions of the President in the midst of the internal conflicts.
What needs to be assessed is did the President come to the right conclusions in overriding the advice of his military commanders and attempting to contain the build up in Afghanistan?
What seems clear is this. The president redirected the war effort from one of nation rebuilding to one of targeted terrorist attacks. At the same time he greatly expanded the use of drones and other counter terrorism efforts and increased coordination with Pakistan in an effort to reach beyond the Afghan border in pursuit of Pakistan based terrorists.
History has demonstrated that no outside nation has successfully undertaken a war against Afghanistan and won including the world's only super powers the Soviet Union and the United States. Afghanistan is a tribal run society with no particular loyalty to anyone or any political philosophy.
Could a conventional war ever be successful in Afghanistan? Hardly, but war is seldom waged for conventional purposes. Prior to World War II it was the arms dealers of the world and the international bankers, both of whom were based primarily in Europe, who dictated the proliferation of war in the world.
With American intervention into World War II the American military industrial complex became the dominant world force in war, or the instigation of war more properly. We were warned of this danger in explicit terms by President Eisenhower, the Commander of the Allied war effort, just three days before he gave up his presidency to newly elected John F. Kennedy.
The haunting words of Eisenhower delivered to the nation are as follows:
Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
(Excerpts delivered 3 days before leaving office)
"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society."
Nearly 100 years earlier and just before his death President Abraham Lincoln also warned of the dangers facing America:
"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."
The passage appears in a letter from Lincoln to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864.
History would indicate President Obama has taken the right course in seeking a means to get out of the Afghan country as soon as possible. His compromise with the military by sending 30,000 more troops will make the path more difficult and his goal is opposite of the military industrial complex will to keep America at war. It will be a task he faces and one all presidents have faced throughout our history.
All Americans should support a path to a return to America's role as a peacekeeper, not an advocate of war. By now we should have learned the dangers of war after Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is time we return to traditional American values.
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Obama's criticism of Sarah Palin for inexperience is his own Achilles heel.
He campaigned by condemning Palin for her inexperience and the public bought it but in the end the disintegration of his own staff reflects on his own inexperience in policy and real world challenges. As the integrity of his economic, health care and foreign policy are challenged and word leaks out on how he constructed and pursued his agenda of change the cerebral approach to the presidency he displays is daily being undermined by the exodus of key staff and leaking of internal policy disputes.
First came the departure of three of his top economic advisors, the latest being Lawrence H. Summers, who will step down as director of the National Economic Council. His abrupt resignation follows that of Budget director Peter Orszag who left in July, and the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, who left earlier this month. Only embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner remains of the original Obama team.
Since when did the architects of the most significant economic changes in our nation's history, to paraphrase the White House spin, run for cover before their plans are even implemented? Could it be a forewarning that the White House intellectuals failed to understand the politics of governing and have decided to abandon ship before they are blamed for the failures?
Health care looms as a second backdrop to the policy problems of our young president as health care costs continue to rise after passage of the Obama bill while trillion dollar price increases were postponed by the White House until after the 2012 election and they cast a dark cloud over our future. More evidence of the policy failures and failure to read the public mood by the president's team.
Today's disclosure by The New York Times of the vicious policy battle over the war in Afghanistan as disclosed in a new book by Bob Woodward indicate Obama gave up trying to build a consensus in his own staff and made up a strategy with no basis in fact. Coming just six weeks before the midterm elections the impact of Woodward disclosures could be further devastating to the hopes of Democrats of keeping control of the Congress.
With Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, ready to jump ship and run for Mayor of Chicago those with the least practical experience will be left in the White House. One wonders why Emanuel would trade running the White House for being mayor of a city but he knows what we don't know about the state of the state.
Obama built an administration with many educators and friends and a cadre of former Clinton people but the theoretical world of academia is a far cry from the hard knocks of reality and many of the Clinton people were the previous architects of policies and procedures that caused the economic collapse. There are times when even experience is bad if it did not contribute to the public good, a fact President Clinton recognized when he apologized for the economic and regulatory changes these people made late in his presidency.
Obama can still salvage his final two years if he does not make the same staffing mistakes again as he replaces all those staff running for the turnstiles. Of course his administration still remains bloated with academics and arm chair activists with no clue as to the policy process, the art of compromise with Congress and the meaning of bipartisanship so the purge must go much deeper if he is to be a success.
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In one of the dumbest acts ever seen by a leader of the Senate, Democrat leader Harry Reid put his own re-election above the interests of America's fighting forces in Afghanistan and Iraq by loading a Defense Appropriation bill with social issues including the Don't Ask Don't Tell gay policy change for the military and illegal immigration amnesty, both extremely controversial to most Americans. To add insult to injury he denied Republicans the right to attempt to amend the massive bill or eliminate the unrelated social changes.
Now Harry is locked in a tough election campaign and the amnesty would directly help him but most of America is firmly opposed to it. This type of politics as usual and backroom deal making is why the Democrats are sinking into oblivion and why the Tea Party has become a dominant force in politics.
By the way, in spite of liberal media attempts to paint the vote as Republican obstructionism two Democratic Arkansas Senators voted against it meaning Democrats and Republicans blocked this travesty. One need look no further than today's headlines to see why Americans are demanding change again, this time change that works.
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