An Enigma

Stumbled across a link via MSNBC to a post on Huffington: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/commanding-in-chief_b_114069.html

The article got me curious about the author who I began to research.

Stan Goff is a Vietnam era Army veteran with 22 years of service (70-73 and 77-96), who has a Special Forces background, was an enlisted instructor at West Point.

Separating from the Army, he studied Marxism, became a (now ex) Communist Party USA member, associated with the leftist National Popular Party in Haiti, is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and is involved with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (all this from Wiki).

He attributes his 'Left' turn to the time he spent in Latin America (with the Army, presumably)

A simple Google search will provide a lot of information, starting with:

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Stan_Goff.html

If you are curious enough, his own websites give a more than adequate perspective on his politics:

http://www.insurgentamerican.net/

http://home.igc.org/~sherrynstan/

http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/

He is well credentialed, educated, and his pieces are well written. He is the author of several books (Full Spectrum Disorder, Hideous Dream, Sex and War) and some more of his posts can be found on Huffington: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-goff/

I can't say I agree with his politics, or his analysis of, well, pretty much anything. I, coming from a similar background; conservative family, 24 year veteran, find his extremely radical shift to the left to be practically incomprehensible . I can't say in all my years of service I have ever met anyone as far left or as radical as Stan Goff. Having read quite a few of his posts and watched a couple of videos, he makes some good points, many (in my opinion) bad, yet he makes them from a political position I find untenable and somewhat disconcerting, all in all, an enigma.

~Finntann~

McCain or McLeft?

John McCain is at serious risk of alienating the conservative base of the Republican Party if he has not already done so.

Both John McCain and Barrack Obama pitched comprehensive immigration reform to the "League of United Latin American Citizens"

Might I inquire as to which Latin American country they are campaigning for President of?

According to the Associated Press: It's a poignant message for the audience, an organization that advocates social and economic policies benefiting Hispanics.

What ever happened to social and economic policies benefiting Americans?

Both candidates are also slated to address the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) later this month.

NCLR unabashedly defends its contributions to a chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) stating that while they 'disavow' their separatist rhetoric, they will continue to support programs that help Hispanics enter and finish college. Check out both websites:

http://www.nclr.org/section/separatist/
http://www.nationalmecha.org/about.html

Do tell me, precisely what does "MEChA was founded on the principles of self-determination for the liberation of our people" mean in the context of Hispanics in America?

How about: "the affirmation that we are Indigenous people to this land by placing our movement in Aztlan, the homeland of all peoples from Anahuak."

Google "Aztlan" if you really want a shock!!!

NCLR's statement is the equivalent of a German-American organization vowing to continue to support a chapter of the Nazi party, despite their political philosophy, because they help German-Americans enter and finish college.

I'm having trouble figuring out which candidate is the far-left liberal candidate! If Barack Obama continues to move towards the center and John McCain towards the left, we might eventually have to swap candidates between the parties.

JOHN McCAIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

I urge all readers, Democrat or Republican, to voice your opinions on this issue to their respective candidate. I for one, as an American, in vehement disagreement with the philosophy of NCLR and MEChA, am appalled at this shameless pandering for votes.

I am beginning to wonder if (hope?) a viable independent candidate will emerge.

Alan Keyes is even beginning to look viable. http://www.alankeyes.com

http://www.selfgovernment.us/aip/

Questioning the wisdom of a two-party system.

~Finntann~

By George I Think He's Got It

A must read from Senator Joe Lieberman in the Wall Street Journal on the ails of the Democratic Party.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121132806884008847.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

What ever happened to the Democratic Party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy?

What ever happened to the party whose philosophy was:

"it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Harry Truman

"pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of freedom." John F Kennedy

The Pendulum Swings Left & Right

Does Labour's worst local election results in forty years indicate a swing to the right? Dropping to only a projected 24% share of the national vote now places Labour in third, behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Labor suffered a loss of 331 seats in local elections in England and Wales.

The question then becomes, is this any indication of where the general American election will go?

An interesting idea to contemplate is whether or not the general population is voting based on principle, or whether simply in a reactionary fashion. Labour, in power in the UK, suffers a significant loss... is this due to the abandonment of Labour's principles by the population at large, or simply due to the current state of dissatisfaction with the economy, taxes, bank-bailouts, and immigration problems. Could it be that these same issues will prompt a shift to the right in the UK while simultaneously causing a shift to the left in the US? Are we voting for principles? Or against the incumbents?

We define ourselves as Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Authoritarian... but how much difference is there between parties as opposed to candidates? An interesting take on this can be found at http://www.politicalcompass.org/. Take the test if you care to see how they rate you, but more specifically, check out their ratings of the US Primaries... in which 16 of 19 recognized candidates are firmly in the Authoritarian Right block. (Not sure what to think of their methodology, as they placed me, close to the cross-hairs (Centrist?) in the Libertarian Right quadrant).

Is this clustering to the Authoritarian Right indicative of anything other than our common American and/or Western values? World-wide the majority of political figures wind up in this same quadrant. An interesting point to note, is that in playing around with the compass test I had to go to (what I consider) extremes to push my score to the outside edges, which is either indicative of a centrist bias on the test, or a personal centrist bias... I'm not sure which (lol).

I would be curious to know if the candidates positions on the chart are a result of participation, or an analysis by others... and if by analysis, how much reliability can we place in the assessment.

~Finntann~