Kerry rejects troop increase in Afghanistan – Washington Post

Finally!  The Congress is coming to its senses and finding the cahonies to stand up to the Pentagon, the war industry captains and the energy cartels.  Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post reports tonight that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has rejected troop increases in Afghanistan.

"May the saints be praised!" as my grandmother would have said.  She has been dead for many years now but I can hear her brogue very clearly right now.

Reason is coming back into vogue in American political decision making matrices.  The story is here.

When a heavy hitter like Kerry, a former Presidential candidate, says "no" to the Pentagon and the war industry/energy cartel lobbyists it means a lot more than meets the eye.  A decorated Viet Nam veteran with three purple hearts, Kerry has the chutzpah to say "no" and the street cred to make it mean something. 

We might be starting on the long journey back toward finding our national soul. 

This could be a turning point in our history. This could be the day that we looked into the haze of lies, distortions, PR manipulation and underhanded and under the table international energy deals and saw our own ugly visage in the waters of energy driven imperialism and said "no more!"

This could be the day we decided to find our own energy resources and get off the endless war-for-oil merry go round that we have been on since the 1930s. This could be the day that the American economy actually started to head back in the direction of providing for the American people instead of being a tool for the sole use of the super wealthy to make them into the mega wealthy.

This could be the day we became America again.

Would that not be something to remember?  Today might be the day that we turned our backs on the gods of oil dominance in the Middle East and Central Asia and said, "no thanks, we will find our own way out of this mess.  You have done enough damage already." This could be the day we decided to become leaders in the world community again.

God, if only this could be true!

On a related note, General Wesley Clark, another former Democratic Party presidential candidate from times past, gave a speech today where he said that providing for electric cars in America was actually a national security issue.  He is absolutely correct. The story is here.

This will not be easy and the road will be bumpy, but once we find a way to fuel our economy on home- produced energy sources we are on the road to retaking our economy back for the people. Once we stand up to the Pentagon we can win back our self respect. Oil and gas resources are the main reason to send working class kids to war in order to make fat cat war industry barons and oil and gas company Cheneyites even wealthier.

Perhaps that can begin to end now.  One can only hope.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)