Becoming An Informed Voter

Americans are facing one of the most critical junctures in U.S. history. We are asked to vote for someone who will guide us safely, prudently and honestly through the coming years. We are already being subjected to pre-campaign rhetoric.

But.. are we prepared to make reasoned choices?

This is no time to vote party, a pretty package, glib promises or with our hearts. Instead, it is incumbent on every voter to closely examine the records, both Congressional and historic, before voting. It is all too easy to be swayed by slick rhetoric and patent manipulation by the candidates. The nature of politics is dishonesty. It’s all too easy to let anger and frustration over unpopular actions by a sitting administration to color your decision making. It’s human nature to get emotionally captured by campaign promises that usually NEVER get fulfilled.

How many of us understand what the President of the United States role really is, as defined by the Constitution? Those of you that are not familiar, or need reminding can read it here:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article02/. Our President is only as effective as the sitting Congress allows him to be. That’s pure fact. There are checks and balances against the Office of the U.S. President, that our Founding Father’s prudently added to the Constitution, to prevent gross abuse of power. In this context, you begin to grasp the complexities of fulfilling ANY campaign promises made by polls, touting their candidate.

When a candidate promises health care reform, better and fairer tax breaks, broader programs to help those who need it, ask yourself: Where is the money going to come from? How can such programs be implemented within the context of a trillion dollar deficit? Would you manage your personal finances based on living within such a huge amount of debt? I hope not. The bottom line is we need to tighten, not loosen government spending, pursue a cautious and considered path to reducing our deficit, yet.. maintain a high level of security to protect this nation. It might be a wiser thing to ask more of private industry and individual states, in handling societal issues. A bloated Federal budget, has in the past, been a fiscal disaster.

Take the time to pull up the voting records of the candidates, and see what in reality, and more importantly how, that candidate voted on key issues. Check how often they attended Congressional meetings and votes. You might be surprised to find that what a candidate says he/she did, doesn’t quite match the actual record. http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php? can_id=S0421103, http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=S0421103, http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0421103. The last link shows clearly how the current candidate actually performed over the course of his Senate career. It doesn’t quite match his current standing.

Roll Call Number: 237
Bill passed
Full Member List

Senator John Forbes Kerry voted YES.

Vote to pass a joint resolution that would authorize the use of force against Iraq.

H.J.RES.114 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq

Vote to pass a joint resolution that would authorize the use of force against Iraq. The administration would be required to report to Congress that diplomatic options have been exhausted before, or within 48 hours after military action has started. Every 60 days the president would also be required to submit a progress report to Congress (Bill sponsored by Hastert,R-IL)

Note: Oct. 11, 2002, in the session that began and the Congressional Record that is dated Oct. 10, 2002.

Passed 77-23: R 48-1; D 29-21; I 0-1 on 10/11/02.

Bill sponsored by Hastert, R-IL

As I said, it pays to spend some time looking beyond the rhetoric and actually assess the performance of those who point fingers and promise such vast change, yet historically voted quite differently.

Be an aware and informed voter this election. Do your homework, turn off the TV do some reading and think for yourself.

There are several myths floating around in the backs of people's minds concerning both the parties and the candidates for the future presidential election. Many people suspect big oil interests as being the sole motivation for President George Bush's actions concerning Iraq, and that the Democratic Party and their projected candidates of hope are somehow distanced from petroleum.

In addition, much criticism has been aimed at this Administration concerning our Intelligence Agency's failure to forsee and protect us from 9-11. Many of you may be in for a major shock as you read the rest of this article. It goes some way in demonstrating how big oil interests dominated White House policy making during the mid to late 90's, during the Clinton administration.

As background to the players, you need to know that one of the world's largest oil reserves was discovered in Russia. Every major oil player, arms merchant and crook that could muscle their percentage of this find... did. That includes some big names in the Democratic Party. Ted Kennedy, Sandy Berger, Teddy's wife Victoria, Don Fowler (National Democratic Committee Chairman), Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Enter Roger Tamraz one of the slickest sharpest opportunists on this earth. Indicted for bank fraud by the Lebanese Government and turned into Interpol, he was considered an international fugitive. Yet, Roger Tamraz was meeting with Kennedy, Gore and Clinton, wheeling and dealing in NY and making millions, running go between the US and other interests, including Moscow.

The President of Azerbaijan Aliyev signed his deal on September 20,1994. It gave BP, Amoco, Pennzoil, Unocal, Ramco, Statoil,and Delta petroleum drilling rights to 3 offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea .The reserves estimated at 4.4 BILLION barrels folks, rivaling Saudi's fields easily. The consortium was named the Azerbaijan Operating Consortium, or AIOC. In his telling book, See No Evil, ex-CIA officer Robert Baer chronicles a conversation he had with Aliyev. He tells of Aliyev receiving a phone call in March 1995 from the US State Department's Undersecretary For Economic Affairs Joan Spiro. She told him she was calling on behalf of Secretary Of State Warren Christopher. During the call, in no uncertain terms, Joan told him if he wanted to maintain good relations with the US, Exxon had to have 5% of the deal-period. When Aliyev expressed concern about Iran, Joan brushed him off. He received similar calls from Deputy Energy Secretary Bob White, again on the same terms.

Soon after, the press broke the news that Tony Lake, former National Security Advisor and his wife, held $304,000 in stocks, during his tenure. Lake held Exxon stock, his wife Mobil.

While this ugly maneuvering was painting Foggy Bottom in petroleum, Usama Bin Laden was heading for Afghanistan, and we begin to understand of course why.

Meanwhile, at CIA, Richard Ames, whose nasty betrayal's rivaled Kim Philby, caused the agency to be examined by outside investigators. Already demoralized and sinking in petro-dem political games, many of the best people simply left. No one in the Clinton White House wanted to hear about Iran, Iraq or Usama Bin Laden. Oil was the buzzword of the day, and the rest be damned.

Agents were afraid to contact anyone foreign because of the Nazi-like investigations. Tell me, how does one gather intelligence when one can't do the job? Many good people were fired or so demoralized, they just put in their time and left. The political games inside were bloody and fierce. We had NO good intelligence from anywhere in the Middle East that was available, or if it were, it was ignored. This is how 9-11 happened people. At the hands of the Democratic party, it's President and political cronies.

This is an ugly reality, but nonetheless truthful. The Clinton administration and the petrodems-the same people desperately trying to get another wealthy oil hungry petro-crony elected, hobbled our intelligence community to such a point, we were blindsided by that vicious attack on the WTC. The petro-dems were in bed with China, Russia, Iran and any other country willing to help reap greater profits for their already bloated coffers.

Now the projected "candidates for hope" John Kerry, and his Tereza are simply playing us for all their worth, so they can reinstitute the same policies we had during the Bill/Hilary days. Before you vote I'm pleading with people to stop listening to slick hype and really LOOK into this yourselves. And if the worst should happen, you have no one but yourselves to blame.

Note:
Delta Oil is one of the companies being suspected of dirty doings in the Oil For Food Scandal

INVESTIGATION OF ILLEGAL OR IMPROPER ACTIVITIES
The Saga of Roger Tamraz