ISIS beheads journalist. How does the United States need to respond?

         ISIS, also known as ISIL or Al Quadea in Iraq has struck a nerve with United States population. James Foley was kidnapped, held hostage and then beheaded by the terrorist organization.  This is just weeks after they attacked a rare religious sect in Iraq. Just weeks after President Obama authorized strategic airstrikes. It seems as if ISIS is tempting the United States back into Iraq. The war mongers are pounding their drums louder now.

ISIS had convinced the Iraqi people that they were unbeatable. ISIS owes much of its success to the fact that Iraqi military officers who were ousted by the U.S. have joined there cause. ISIS has not suffered many, if any losses until faced by the Peshewars and the United States military. When faced by these two ISIS backed off. ISIS claims that they are the leaders of the Muslim world. Where in truth, most Muslims want nothing to do with them. They are a radical element that Republican Marco Rubio says needs to be exterminated.

People were upset that the U.S. would not pay 100 million euros or $132 million dollars for the release of Foley. The U.S. does not pay ransoms to terrorist organization or any organization. If a group or family decides to do so, the government typically will let them do so, despite that money assisting a terrorist organization. It is a horrible tragedy and no one deserves to be harmed like that. But I am sure Foley knew what the dangers of this assignment were. Again that does not make them right, but he had to be aware of the risk he was taking. Anyone going over there, soldier, reporter or medical workers should have these risks presented to them.

When I heard President Obama authorized air strikes I was appalled. I knew it wouldnt be long until we had soldiers over there fighting again. Today I have heard that it may be happening much sooner then I thought. We do not need to fight another war. Our country is tired, devastated and broke because of the last 2. Our soldiers need to recover and be with family. This is not the answer. We have many special operations units and drones to do this work. Yell about drones all you want. I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER AMERICAN TO DIE IN IRAQ!!!!!! I cannot stress that enough. It will not end well. I agree that action needs to be taken. But noy another war.

I am an adamant President Obama supporter. I love many of his policies and agree with even more. His whole presidency has been one tough decision after another. This is no different. Congressman John McCain has been beating his war drum for years. The Republicans and there puppeteers have been trying to get us in every country that has a case of marital discord. President Obama and Democrats have held strong until now. The region has always had issues, religious zealots tend to hate a lot of people. We are not the country to fix it. I do not know if Iraqis are better off now or before the war but our country is not better off. We have recovered quite a bit but not enough to go to war again. Please President Obama, I implore you, do not go to war.

President Obama’s decision to seek Congressional approval on Syria attack is brilliant.

             President Obama has been criticized for how he has handled previous attacks on the Syrian citizens. Most recently the Syrian government has used chemical weapons to kill about 1400 Syrian civilians and bombed a bus full of kids. Our war weary country is split on whether to help or not. Many Republicans have criticized President Obama, calling for U.S. military involvement and saying his planned bombings were a weak show of force. Then they criticized him for thinking about attacking Syria. He put them on the spot now.

Despite the criticism, none of the members of Congress are rushing back from vacation to help come to a decision. Congress comes back September 9 and works for 9 days in September. They want to debate the Syrian situation. Despite calling for a decision from the President, Congress wants to spend tine debating it. Democrats have been for the most part silent on the issue. Of course every talking head media fool was calling for immediate action, all now seem confused by President Obama going to Congress for clearance. Shows the true difference between Republican and Democrat Presidents, Democrats respect the Constitution, Republicans think they are monarchs.

Of course there is the moral issue. How do we, the worlds big brother and policeman for the last 50 years not immediately help those in need? How do we watch genocide? First of all, we allowed the genocide to go on in Tibet for many years. The Chineese decimated that country and their spiritual leader, the Dali Llama, is no longer allowed in the country. We as a country only help countries of strategical interest. Morally, all countries should be obligated to help. Britain voted not to. How many others will follow suit? No President has been able to calm the tensions in the Middle East. Religious fervor cannot be reasoned with, that is why this region will never be stable.

The sheer brilliance of President Obama’s decision is purely political. He put the Republicans who criticized his decision and non-decision on the spot. It is now on them, they can’t step back and criticize, they have to play a part in the decision. They are now on the hook for the outcome. The President no longer be the only object if hateful rhetoric. He has made it put up or shut up for his critics. Now we will see what is more important to Republicans, lobbyist, constituents or the proper moral decision. This should be interesting. Nice opening move President, lets see if the GOP can play chess.

Conservatives refuse to acknowledge Bush 43.

             Yesterday on Twitter I debated one, then several Republicans. Started off with one, then it became 6. I do not understand how their set of facts and truths are so different from mine. Nor do I understand how they refuse to blame George W. Bush for anything. I actually had one tell me that Bush was trying to fix the Banks, according to them he did not deregulate anything.

As the conversation went on, they blamed Bill Clinton and President Obama for everything that happened during Bush 43’s 2 terms. According to these people Clinton caused the financial collapse and housing market collapse. Bush did nothing to cause this, although he was President for 7 years when all of this happened. According to these people the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were run properly and there was no hidden agenda.

They blame President Obama for not creating jobs, but put no blame on Republican led House, although they shot down a Veterans Jobs Bill and a Jobs Bill. Collectively they would have created as many as 1.5 million jobs, effectively lowering the 7.6 unemployment rate and helping economy. They do not recognize this as happening. They attack President Obama about Benghazi, but say the 11 embassy attacks and near 60 deaths in Bush term were acceptable because we were at war. War on Terror is still in progress, not all embassy attacks happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The whole Republican party philosophy shows here. If they cannot convince you that act like young children. Yes it devolved to them calling names and cursing. If you disagree with their views, you are dumb, stupid, a terrorist and a Muslim. Apparently religious views are no longer protected by their beloved Constitution, which Democrats protect more. This is why Congress is in gridlock. Republicans have own facts and refuse to acknowledge any other views. In my experience many, not all are bigoted, short sighted people. It only matters when it happens to them. Of Trayvon Martin was their child, their opinion of him being responsible for own death would be different. We live in a country of many views and ethnicities, people need to be more open minded.

Snowden was wrong and deserves to be punished.

           Edward Snowden revealed the Top Secret NSA Surveillance program. The NSA is collecting phone records and they are also collecting Internet records under the PRISM program. Republican Senators chastised President Obama and said they knew nothing of the program, a blatant lie. There are records showing Congress having briefings about the programs, maybe they went home instead of going to the briefings.

Snowden dropped out of high school. Got a job as a janitor at the CIA and somehow worked himself into a low-level intellegence position. He apparently is a whiz with computers. As budgets for the NSA, CIA and FBI were slashed they began outsourcing a lot of the intellegence work. Snowden left the CIA and began working in those fields. He stole information he was not even supposed to have and fled the country. He worked with the Guardian newspaper to get it out.

There is no dilema here, ge broke the law and the contract hth e signed to be privy to Top Secret information. Giving Top Secret information to anyone not cleared to look at it can be considered treason. If someone dies because of the information he made public will he still be considered a hero? Releasing classified information like this hurts our National Security. We are a free state, not a police state, but we do have to take measures to protect our country.

I am a Democrat and a Liberal but I realize that National Security is of the utmost importance. Do you think it was blind luck we were only hit with one terrorist attack since 9/11. There is a reason for that. How many people were prosecuted because of these programs? These programs had to get renewed court orders every 3 months for 7 years and Senators claim they didn’t know. Republican outrage over this is a sham, they supported George W. Bush and his illegal wiretapping.

What Snowden did was wrong? If he sold these secrets to Russia he would be labeled a traitor. Instead he gave it to a newspaper who gave it to our enemies. He is a traitor, plain and simple. The Government looking at your Internet activity is wrong, but corporations doing it is ok. Snowden deserves to be punished. There is no way around that and any country that shelters him obviously has a vested interest in him.

Glenn Beck is a liar who believes he speaks Gods truth.

                 Glenn Beck the man who supported the Patriot Act when it was signed and until President Obama was in office. Glenn Beck the man who supported the TARP funds in 2008, then changed his mind in 2009. His reason for hating Liberals and Democrats is to keep people coming back to his show.

                  Today was particularly appalling. Today he said that WWII was started so progressive European Countries could redraw the maps and create a new world. It had nothing to do with Germans killing the Jews or invading other countries. Only progressives trying to assert a new world order. I don’t think this man thinks about what he is saying. Is he trying to say the extermination of the Jewish people didn’t happen? This is nor of the most assinine things I have ever heard.

He supports a policy when Republicans are in office but disagrees when a Democrat is in office. Did the policy change because of a party change? No, it is the Republican way to withdraw support from anything a Democrat supports. Even if the policy is good for the country. Beck believes that God speaks through him. That in itself is enough to disregard what he says.

He claims support for the Constitution, but believes states have the right of Nullification. According to the Constitution Federal law is the law of the land, apparently Beck doesn’t agree with this part. Or with any other part that does not work in his favor. Glenn Beck needs to be exposed for the fraud he is. If more people work to expose him for the fraud he is, we may be able to grind his conservative lying machine to a halt.

Republicans need to get their priorities straight.

                 Republicans have the nations attention focused on the IRS and NRA “scandals”. While they have our attention, other very important things are slipping by. The Banking industry’s dirty practices are coming to the forefront, but no one is listening. They are concentrating on subjects that should be resolved but Republicans are hiding the truth.

                Bank of America’s practices are coming out and they are dirty. They were taking bribes to delay paperwork to cost homeowners more money. Telling homeowners they didn’t recieve the paperwork, delaying their applications for HARP, causing them to be denied. These illegal practices led to illegal foreclosures that cost real people their homes. But apparently this is not important to the Republican party, who are to concerned with finding a way to impeach President Obama. That is solid governing skills right there.

Every attempt at reforming the Banking Industry has been met with harsh resistance. Elizabeth Warren has made this her baby, she is attempting to fix it so average Americans don’t have to suffer at the hands of these wealthy banks. Republicans and even some Democrats are in the banks back pockets. Bank Industry lobbyist converge on the capital everytime Bank Reform comes up. Republicans are fine with the status quo, the American people are not. It is time for a change. The midterm 2014 elections are the key to change.

This has become a country where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The Income Inequality in our country is one of the highest of all developed countries. The Republicans keep the attention off of important subjects in order to avoid them. Avoidance is not a form of government. Now Republicans want boots on the ground in Syria, another unnecessary war where Americans will die needlessly. Republicans didn’t support President Obama on Libya, where he achieved regime change with no American lives lost. The hypocritical Republicans need to govern, to compromise in order for this great country to remain great.

Policies Republicans supported until President Obama did.

             Republicans have a nasty habit of supporting policies until President Obama does. As soon as he supports them Republicans withdraw their support and work against them. Here are a few;

1) Military intervention in the Middle East- If this doesn’t convince you that Republicans oppose policies because President Obama supports, nothing will. Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 all supported military intervention in the Middle East, yet when President Obama uses the military in Libya, Republicans come out in opposition. Their stand on this policy is very revealing. Under President Obama, Libya overthrew their dictator without on Americsn life being lost.

2) Minimum Wage- With Republicans talk about abolishing the minimum wage, you would have thought their were always against it. 82 House Republicans and 39 Senate Republicans joined the Democrat majority in passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. It is only now that President Obama wants to raise it that Republicans oppose it with large corporate backing, led by the Koch Brothers. If Republicans were so against raising the minimum wage they would not have voted to raise it 3 times.

3) Defecit Spending- Republicans have employed defecit spending since Reagan and were out of control during Bush 43. In an attempt to pass a conservative agenda and fund 2 wars, Reagan and George W. Bush both doubled the defecit. When Democrats were in control of the White House and Congress from 2008-2010, Republicans reversed their stance and still oppose defecit spending because a Democrat is President. If a Republican were President I am sure our defecit hawks would disappear.

4) Civil Rights- Republicans were once the champions of Civil Rights. They ended slavery adopted the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. They split apart over the 1964 Civil Rights Acts and have become more opposed to civil rights ever since. President Obama has called for an increased civil rights and Republicans seem to oppose civil rights for all but white male Christians.

5) Public Education- The founding fathers believed in education for all. Every Republican President in U.S. History has been supportive of the Public Education System. Reagan campaigned on axeing the Department of Education, but he notably didn’t eliminate it, he gave it a larger budget allocation. President Obama is seeking to improve the Public Education System and all Republicans suddenly oppose Public Education. When President Bush proposed improving Public Education, Republicans supported him. Now that President Obama wants to do it, Republicans decided that all Public Schools are evil liberal institutions that must be destroyed.

Obviously Republicans flip flop according to what President Obama supports. That is not the way to govern.

Radicalization and Terrorism. Can we stop the process?

            First the excusr that Jihadist Terrorism being a response to American foreign policy must be scrapped. Or the percieved difficulty faced by Muslim youths trying to intergrate into American society. Most Muslims are not terrorists and in fact most abhore the actions of the zealots who pervert their religion. The only way to defear radical Jihadists is not by beating the violence, but the underlying ideology of hate.

As of 2012 according to Wikipedia, the American government, CIA, FBI, DEA, the police and the military have prevented 29 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11. In that time there has been one successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The Boston Marathon Bombing, which was committed by 2 Chechens, one who was interviewed by the FBI. If Russia g ad shared the information they had, that one would have been prevented as well.

We are never going to prevent Radicals from hating America, regardless of changes in our foreign policy. George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan indirectly or dirictly complied with terrorist by removing U.S. soldiers from a specific area, it did nothing to change the Radical attempts to harm our country or our citizens in foreign countries. Radicals twist religious teachings to fit their hate, their mental instability and the fact that their situation was caused by Radicals before them. They prey upon weak people, lost souls and those looking for a group identity. These people are so immersed in their leaders teachings, they cannot see the forest for the trees. They do not realize that they are pawns in a sick game of revenge on a society not the individual “evil doer”. They also don’t realize their leader does not put themselves in harms way unless it comes to them, despite their claims that dying whole killing the infidels is glorious and guarantees a spot in heaven. They manipulate the weak minded, they are predators.

We can stopp planned attacks, which has been proven. The Intellegence Services pick up “chatter” and then figure out how to handle it. They usually find out if the “chatter” is true, narrow down the conspirators and then strike. We need to stop assisting countries that support or allow terrorist to hide in their lands, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran- which is subsidized by wealthy Americans like Mitt Romney and their controlling interests in the oil fields. Drone strikes make a lot of sense in these cases, cross border attacks on terrorist hideouts and training camps. We have made a lot of progress, but as a Free Society we will always be open to attacks. If we became a police state, the terrorists woukd have won and we still wouldn’t be safe.

Our leaders, intellegence services, police and other organizations have done an admirable job stopping attacks. Lone wolf attacks like the Boston Marathon Bombing or the attack on the British soldier will continue to be a thorn in our side. It shows how terrorists are adapting to our methods, finding alternate means of communication. If we cannot pick up any information about an attack, it cannot be prevented. We will never stop radicalization, we can change how we are percieved worldwide, it doesnt matter what we do. It us not our policies they disagree with, it is our freedoms and it is their theory that all people should live by Sharia Law. As we deal with more of this maybe we can develope nethods to stop radicalization.
In closing, Republucans; Democrats, President Obama or Joe the Plumber are not the cause, we are the victim. You cannot stop insanity, you hospitalize and medicate it. For radicalization to stop, it must be felliw Muslims that stop it. They need to preach what their religion is really about and erase the perversion done by zealots. All we can do is stop what we can and react well when it happens. We cannot kick people out of the country or hate all because of the actions of a few. We are America, we are better than that.

Radicalism and Terror, How?

             I know the why of Radicalization covered part of the how, but I want to find out how one goes about becoming radicalized. The recruitment part seems to b e the finalization of the radicalization process. The person then becomes indoctrinated and is a part of something “bigger”. The unemployed, minorities, minority religions and other people seen as being vulnerable are the main targets of the radical element.

Communication may include preaching, email posts, one on one calls and many other methods. While they do not radicalize alone, they lay the foundation, the first step in communicating urgency and outrage. As time goes on the message intensifies moving the subject towards action. The recruiter feeds the subject hate and enhances their need to belong, dragging the subject along, entrenching the beliefs into their way of thinking. Without absolute belief, radicalization cannot be completed. Free thought needs to be removed.

A very critical part of Radicalization is making the message part of everyday life. It is not just thought of in the group, but alone as well. It must become a part of the subject’s unconscious thought process. For radicalization to work best, the convertion should be contained. All contrary messages must be kept at bay, isolating the subject to insulate them from external discussion. When this isn’t possible, Groupthink and other social means of ensuring conformance may also be used to keep the subject on track.

The leader will then require action of some kind from the subject. The action can be a protest, to small acts of criminality, as the subject works his way up to a larger terrorist attack. The limited success can escalate the acts of aggression. Many leaders build committment from the subject with requests. Starting of with small tasks and as the subject show his worthiness, the tasks become more important.

Fulfilling your duty is often linked to a promise of glory, from the admiration of peers to a guaranteed place in heaven. People who have taken action and succeeded are regarded as heroes. Their actions are glorified, which causes others in the group to strive for this success. All they need to do is something that the group truly believes in. This works best with people who are searching for meaning in life. They believe they are making a difference and therefore it creates self worth.

This sounds like something a scientist thinks of, not a group of terrorists hiding in camps across the globe. But this some of the how of radicalization. It takes a sickness and turns it into a plague. It takes lost and weak individuals and turns them into living missles. Because of the dehumanization of the enemy, it becomes easier to kill them. The preperation for the attack forces the subject to act, to back out would let down their “mentor” and group.

Republicans, Democrats, the Military, CIA, FBI, DEA or any other group cannot contend with this. The blind passion and hate of a radicalized group consistently finds ways around the people trying to stop them. For every attack that is stopped, their are 2 more ready to be launched. The only protection from these attacks are vigilance, by government agencies, the police and the people.

Radicalism and Terrorism, Why?

              What exactly is radicalization and what draws people to it? The process of radicalization often starts with some form of transgression by the other side. By breaking the rules the subject holds as very important. A common theme is mistreatment, typically by authorities or the military using methods that cause extreme pain or mental distress. More often then not it is not the subject being radicalized that is mistreated. It is most often other people are deemed martyrs and heroes. It can also be historical and go backs 100s of years.

In order to become radicalized, you need a movement or a cause. In order for the outrage to manifest it needs to be converted into an organization for action. Typically these groups seek vengeance that is outside the law. There needs to be a core organization to set up and drive actions. The core leaders generally preach or write their beliefs to firmly entrench them in the minds of their subjects. The key part to this is this is emphasizing the nessage, the message calls to those looking for similar thinking people.

There arw also a certain amount of radicalized terrorists who have a spiritual mentor. In 20% of cases it is a more experienced Muslim who gives specific instructions and directions during the radicalization process. The mentor may be accessed by a Mosque or the Internet. The mentor helps keep the radicalization process on track. They feed into the anger the subject feels to keep him coming back for more. These mentors twist the teachings of the Koran to make it fit their needs. One study said that 25% of terrorists had a percieved religious authority who provides specific theological approval for their activities, violent or not.

The ideology in much of the radicalization person meets the subject halfway. It gives them people with similar ideas and a safe outlet for their anger. Many teach the us versus them mindset, which appeals to the subject of the radicalization.The beliefs are regarded as absolute truth, dissuading critical thinking or questioning of the mentors teachings. In essence it eliminates dissent of any kind. It also adds a moral authority to the us versus them ideology. Core leaders consistently remind their subjects that the us is always under threat from the them. The need to join together with like minded individuals is intensified abd creates an illusion of safety. They keep building on the reasons why the subject searched them out, while expanding the subjects belief system. The mentor uses the hatred the subject feels to dehumanize their enemies, therefore making the idea of violence easier to understand.

The why of radicalization is like walking the pathway of insanity. To hurt people who had nothing to do with yout percieved wrong is a distorted version of reality. But in order to become radicalized your morality must have already been compromised. Terrorists bring the wrath of the rest of the world on their people, but blame the U.S. and the rest of the world for their problems. My answer, yes very opinionated it may be, stop being secular lunatics and deal with things like an adult. I did not have anything to do with what happened to your ancestors, just as an Italian neighbor had nothing to do with the treatment of my Irish ancestors a hundred years ago. Get over it, worship your god and realize life goes on. Attack those who personally attack you, not cowardly attacks on women and children.