4 September 2012. One of the Cabinet on the Republican National Convention…

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I received this from one of the Cabinet:

I was amazed at the degree to which the Republican Convention speakers unabashedly espoused the philosophy of American Exceptionalism. It was pretty sickening, but it was enormously illuminating, too… it was the national-level equivalent of the Pharisee, patting himself on the back for being pious and holy.

That says it better than I could have… it’s why so many of us have DEEP reservations about the konvertsy. They’re so bloody self-satisfied, smug, and smarmy… and that’s NOT Christian in the least, let alone Orthodox. THIS is why this site isn’t a solo endeavour… God maybe didn’t give me money, but I’m a rich woman… friends are more precious than any amount of money is…

BMD

Romney is Another Obama… The Only Difference is that He’s a Mormon

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Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination. His final speech on the last day at the Republican National Convention in Tampa FL met with a storm of applause. As one watched the convention, it was easy to get the impression that Romney was already president. The question of whether America is ready to elect its first Mormon president is still open. It happens in politics, just like in business, that a product becomes more popular due to the scale of its advertisement. However, the advertisement doesn’t change the product’s quality. This is Romney’s main problem. Even Romney’s rather unusual “confessional orientation” doesn’t matter as much. Why not elect a president from the ranks of the LDS movement? After all, four years ago, America elected its first Afro-American President, Barack Obama.

Sergei Mikheyev, the director general of the Centre for Political Status, said, “The fact that Romney’s a Mormon will play a certain role in the election, but this role won’t be decisive. The religious views of the voters themselves are likely to have an influence on their choice. Let’s be frank, the Mormons’ reputation is a bit tatty, but at the same time, there are many undisclosed Mormons amongst famous and influential people in the USA. In any case, America is a country of sects, although they wear many different visages. That’s why America, where everything intermingles, turning into an undreamt of mélange, may elect a Mormon as president”.

Romney’s main problem is that he’s a “hard sell” to most Americans. He can be inconsistent, and very few people are able to discern where one Romney, the moderate centrist, ends, and the next one, the radical rightwinger, begins. Hardly anyone notices a fascinating fact. Just before the last day of the RNC in Tampa, the American press published an opinion poll of likely Republican voters, which revealed an interesting fact… Romney’s one of the most unpopular GOP candidates in the past 30 years! Even George W Bush was better “liked”. Bush, by the way, didn’t receive an invitation to the RNC in Tampa; he had to be satisfied with an “appearance” via a video link. It was too problematical for them to claim the legacy of the last Republican President. The Democrats, by the way, at their convention, will give much attention to Bill Clinton.

Compared to Paul Ryan, the favourite of the Radical Rightwing Tea Party and “conservatives”, Mitt appeared quite “moderate” at the convention. On the one hand, Ryan’s candidacy will attract Teabaggers, but on the other hand, it greatly disappoints moderates and “independents”, who may stay home on Election Day. Romney needs all the help that he can get in this election campaign, but his ratings numbers are abysmal. His “approval” numbers run from 15 percent all the way up to 40 percent. It’s been a struggle for him to get even that. In the end, if we average out the polls, they show that Obama beats Romney by anywhere from 1 to 8 percent. If we factor in that the contenders for the White House in the last four elections were separated by a difference of 1 to 6 percent (Obama’s margin in 2008), then, it appears that Romney may have a slight chance to win 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

However, looking at the Republican Romney-Ryan ticket, the “friends of Barack” should be satisfied… the facts are such that the chances of Obama’s re-election aren’t decreasing, but increasing. Unless the economy collapses, which is unlikely, it looks like he’ll be lucky again. It’ll be a replay of 2008, where he had the luck of being matched with John McCain, an unelectable old codger. This time, it’ll be a somewhat different kind of luck. Lucky for them, the Republican economic programme is so confused that it resembles a mushy concoction, a problematical mixture of unrelated ideas and programmes. On the one hand, they promise to cut taxes, reduce government, and boost spending on defence, on the other, they promise no cuts in Social Security and Medicare. How they could reconcile this on the basis of the current tax base, it’s difficult to understand. Nevertheless, the current election is all about the economy, jobs, and money in your wallet.

Many see Romney as a moderate conservative. When one takes into account that the American South is an especially-rabid hotbed of the Radical Right, as shown by its support for the so-called Tea Party movement, and that it’s the Baptist “Bible Belt” of America, where Mormons are thought of as worse than heretics or schismatics, it’s not so simple for him. If you averaged all the polls amongst American Christian believers {that is Radical American Sectarians, in real terms: editor}, it turns out that a quarter to a third of them aren’t ready to accept a Mormon in the White House. Whilst Mormons claim to be Christians, outside of their sect, members of the LDS movement still face a prejudiced and/or suspicious attitude. Mitt Romney isn’t just a simple rank-and-file Mormon… he’s former “clergy” of the LDS movement, the head of a ward (parish). I must say that Mormon “clergy” are more like businessmen than real clergy. Later, he became a bishop, the head of a stake (this includes several dozen wards).

Mitt shows signs of flexibility and political consideration. However, his Democratic rivals and opponents believe that he’s notorious for waffling, concealment, distortion, and God knows what else. For example, David Axelrod, who was the chief architect of Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, who’s now one of the leading lights in his current election campaign, called Mitt a “charlatan”, saying, “He takes two positions on every issue, one more moderate, and the other on the Far Right, but that doesn’t make you a centrist. It makes you a charlatan”. Amazingly, even fellow Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry claimed (prior to Romney winning the GOP nomination), “[Mitt’s] a buzzard, a Fibber, and differs very little from Obama in his gutter ideology”. Indeed, everywhere, Mitt seems to say exactly what he thinks people want to hear. He’s a furious Tory in one state, a moderate in another, and politically malleable in a third. However, any road, he’s still a Mormon.

The only trouble is that he doesn’t present any real alternative to the Obama’s economic course. This delights Obama’s camp, for it makes it easier for Obama to compete against Romney. As Professor Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute of the USA and Canada, said, “Romney doesn’t have much chance of winning. It isn’t because he’s a bad candidate, but because it’s difficult to defeat a sitting president, who has powerful administrative resources at his disposal. To do this, he should be someone outstanding, but Romney isn’t that. I think the strategy of the Republicans is only to give a formal opposition in this election; they’re focusing on seriously preparing for the next election, when Obama’s second term expires”.

Romney’s a graduate of Harvard Business School; he’s a lawyer, businessman, and politician, a very wealthy man, the head of Bain Capital, a major investment firm. In 2002, he was head of the Winter Olympics Organising Committee in Salt Lake City UT. He managed to eliminate waste in collected funds, and instead of a projected shortfall of 375 million USD (12.1 billion Roubles. 300 million Euros. 235 million UK Pounds), the Games gained a profit of almost the same amount. Mitt and his wife invested in about a million dollars of their own funds in the Games. When Romney was the governor of Massachusetts in 2003-07, he conducted an economic policy that was similar to Obama’s current economic policy. When he took office, the state treasury had a shortfall of 600 million USD (19.4 billion Roubles. 477 Euros. 378 million UK Pounds) to meet current outlays, and there was an estimated deficit of 3 billion USD (97 billion Roubles. 2.4 billion Euros. 1.9 billion  UK Pounds) for the following year. Yet, he raised taxation over expenditures by almost 700 million USD (22.7 billion Roubles. 556 million  Euros. 440 million UK Pounds). He solved his budget problems by closing tax loopholes for corporations, increased excise duties on petrol, and introduced higher fees for driving licences, gun licences, and marriage licences, and so on. By the way, his state was the first one to introduce a mandate that all citizens obtain health insurance. Obama was only able to do something similar on the national level after three years. In general, everything or most of the things that Romney did in Massachusetts, the Obama administration is doing now. Does America really need a second Obama, with the only difference is that he’s a Mormon?

31 August 2012

Andrei Fedyashin

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2012_08_31/Romni-vtoroj-Obama-tolko-mormon/

As John Robles Sees It… End of US-Russian “Reset”… Romney’s Cold War Thinking as a Threat to Global Security

THIS is the USA of the Republican Party… God do help us all…

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Cold War thinkers drew up Mitt Romney’s foreign policy stance, and it doesn’t look good, not for the USA, nor for Russia, nor for any in the free world. To continue the rhetoric that Russia is geopolitical enemy number one, promising to confront and make Russia kowtow to American interests proves that the Republicans have once again shown their complete disregard for diplomacy. Whether or not the Republicans are just playing to their base, or are seriously proposing such policies, they’ve proven that they’ll be a force for more instability and conflict in the world. Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, now, official contenders for the White House, would dangerously radicalise American foreign policy. In particular, they’d openly and with extreme prejudice confront Russia on a number of issues, and advance American interests and geopolitical policies and plans regardless of the wishes of the international community.

To say that Romney and his Republican brethren are a danger to world peace would be an understatement. Their “ultra-conservative” views and stances on a number of issues would bring about another era of neoconservative subjugation for the American people and the world, and their backward thinking and confrontational posturing would destroy much of the delicate compromise that’s kept the world stable for the last four years. Romney, who not long ago called Russia “Enemy Number One”, and his Republican advisors approved a programme for their party at their convention in Florida. They accuse the Russian Federation of being the foremost geopolitical enemy of the USA and a “traditional rival”, along with North Korea, Iran, and China. They also believe that the Russian government is authoritarian, doesn’t respect human rights, suppresses the press, aligns with dictatorial regimes, and, here’s the clincher… “It was guilty of an unprovoked invasion of Georgia”. In short, it’s all of the prehistoric, Cold War-style, holier-than-thou, self-elevating, self-advancing, blatantly false, confrontational rhetoric and talking points that the Republicans are famous for.

To take their points apart one by one is to give them credibility they don’t deserve, but in case you just arrived from planet Sirius 7, Russia didn’t invade Georgia, but rather prevented the genocide of Russian citizens in South Ossetia by the Georgian Army, the press in Russia is freer than ever, the USA is currently supporting and creating more dictators than ever before (Bahrain anyone?), the USA’s engaged in a program of global domination and instigating régime change wherever they see fit, and the USA, through its military surrogates such as NATO, is attempting to subjugate the entire planet and bend it to its will by placing it under its military control.

Romney adviser Rich Williamson at the “round table” on the Foreign Policy Initiative, a paper filled with misconceptions laying out Republican foreign policy posturing and their political stance, stated that the Romney Administration would end the “reset” and confront Russia on issues such as Georgia, Iran, Syria, and others. I’ve already mentioned Georgia; Syria and Iran are points of contention, for the most part, only when it comes to American plans to invade these two countries in an attempt to make these sovereign nations bend to Washington’s diktat and bring their peoples to their knees. Williamson also said that Russia has “chosen the path of confrontation rather than cooperation”, apparently such blatant lies are more rhetoric for the Republican “base” who as I have already said see no difference between a “Sheik” and a “Sikh”. To say that Russia has chosen such a path, when the entire Republican platform is based upon the premise of a confrontation with Russia is disingenuous and a complete and total lie.

Embarrassingly, Russia’s bent to almost every American encroachment upon its sovereignty, its geopolitical position, its internal administration, and its military security since the collapse of the Soviet Union, even going so far as to attempt to repeatedly work with NATO and the USA in their plans to surround Russia with their missiles. To listen to Romney and his Republican ilk, and to read how they plan to “curb Moscow”, “confront Russia”, surround Russia with missiles, and the like, is to get the impression that he’s talking about some small Third World nation they can just obliterate at any moment, and not the largest country on the planet, which is a formidable nuclear power.

Shamelessly, the Republicans also said they’d meddle in European affairs in an attempt to reduce Europe’s “dependence” on Russian oil and gas, which Europe obtains cheaply. I suppose if the oil- and resource-starved USA succeeded in remaking the Middle East and seized control of all of the oil and resources in the region, they’d offer Europe a cheaper alternative. As for the Asia-Pacific Region, Romney said he’d strengthen ties with Asian countries, it seems whether they want it or not, and reduce Russian influence in the region. Lastly, according to Pravda.ru, “Romney expressed his willingness to be the godfather of the Russian opposition and organise training for opposition activists at American educational centres”.

As for the Republican Convention, once again, Republicans let their hypocrisy shine. Tampa’s expecting a wave of strippers and prostitutes, who’ll “service” the “family values” of the Republican conventioneers. Even a porn star named Lisa Ann, who impersonates Sarah Palin, is making money on Republicans’ lustful desires for the Alaska Governor and right-wing propaganda mouthpiece. Not only have prostitutes descended on Tampa, but also those opposing the Republicans’ narrow-minded platform, including Occupiers from all over the USA. According to Jeffrey Billman at Orlando Weekly, the Republican plan to gut Medicare, bring back the gold standard, eviscerate abortion rights, ban gay marriage, deport brown people, and more. The Huffington Post was not very “optimistic” in its look at the GOP’s extreme positions, in short, promising hell, not only for Russia, but also for Americans, if these people come to power. From where I’m sitting, even taking into account the fact that Romney’s playing to his base, he’d no doubt be detrimental to Russian-American relations, and would be a “tyrant” and a “threat to global security” if he became US President. I hope that Americans won’t let this happen.

29 August 2012

John Robles

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/by_author/62493347/

Note to REAL Orthodox People:

This post should warn you, not only about Republicans in general, but about konvertsy in particular. The latter are Far Right nutters in the main… they hang about Far Right think-tanks like the Acton Institute and American Enterprise Institute, and they want to ram Far Right notions down the throats of everybody in the Church.

I’ll say this… in a pig’s arse. You see, not only do they have oddbod political beliefs; they’re thoroughly contaminated with heresies like Imiaslavie and the Branch Theory. I’ll go so far as to say that if an Orthodox “clergyman” was once a Proddie clergyman of any sort, I’d say that they should be defrocked forthwith. Those who were only layman didn’t receive a heterodox formation… they’re OK. However, people such as Patrick Reardon aren’t Orthodox in their souls, and their writings show it. Note well that those who push such idiocies like “St Pavel Florensky” are usually also rightwing Republicans of the most noxious and odious sort. That is, their political cluelessness is as deep as their spiritual confusion (at best… all too many are downright deluded).

Have a care. It’s not over yet… there’s going to be some blood on the floor before it’s all over, I’m afraid. God DO watch over us…

BMD 

 

Republicans Choose Presidential Candidate and Demonise External “Enemies”

All those not Radical Sectarians should fear a Republican victory… they wish to use the power of the state to ram their sectarian notions down our collective throats…

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A political convention is a boring affair for the average man. However, in the USA, especially, when it nominates a presidential candidate, a convention becomes similar to a reality show. The Republicans who gathered in Tampa FL proved this once again. The Republican National Convention named Mitt Romney its candidate for US President. His wife made the most emotional speech; her half-hour long speech raised a storm of applause, which ended when her husband went onto the stage and kissed her. One should mention that Romney’s nomination was only a formality. The main aim of the congress was endorsing the Republican candidate and disparaging his Democratic rival, current US President Barack Obama. Public opinion polls show that neither of the candidates holds a decisive advantage. The struggle is going to be tough, but the Republicans used a velvet glove for their first punch… the heartfelt speech of the US first-lady candidate. “This man will not let us down”, Ann Romney said, speaking against the background of old family photos. The audience gave her a standing ovation.

Mitt Romney is due to make his policy statement at the congress on Thursday. However, the main points of his election programme are already obvious. Its larger part is dedicated to a wide range of internal problems, such as the restoration of economic growth, fighting unemployment, dealing with the government deficit, the problem of abortion, and opposing homosexual marriages. Not much attention’s been paid to foreign policy; however, this part of the programme raises lively interest abroad. As for Russia, the Republicans have confirmed that they look upon Moscow as an opponent. Earlier, Romney called Russia the foremost geopolitical enemy of the USA. Now, this position is enshrined in his programme, even though without undiplomatic wording. The programme stated that the growing hegemony of China in Asia, Russia’s activist position, and the threat of cyber-espionage and terrorism are extremely dangerous. However, the Republican Party points up that the USA and Russia have common interests, such as fighting terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and developing trade.

Valery Korovin, the Director of the Centre for Political Expertise, explained a reason for such harsh rhetoric, saying, “It’s a fact… Russia and the US are geopolitical opponents. This logic is based on the confrontation of two kinds of civilisations, and the Republicans openly speak about it. The Democrats think the same, but use more roundabout expressions, and choose to use soft smart force. As for Romney, he’s only a presidential candidate, so he doesn’t care about beating around the bush and bluntly calls a spade a spade”. At the same time, Korovin doesn’t think that people should get carried away by forecasts and comparing the results of public opinion polls on Romney’s and Obama’s popularity. He emphasised that the US election campaign has little bearing upon real presidential election mechanisms. Party conventions are part and parcel of this process. This makes Obama’s sarcasm about the Republican convention understandable; he called it an amusing show.

29 August 2012

Andrei Ilyashenko

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_29/Republicans-choose-presidential-candidate-and-external-enemies/

Editor’s Note:

Both major American political parties are hostile to the weltanschauung of Orthodoxy. Full stop; that’s all that there’s to say. However, the Republican Party is MORE hostile to us… it hates our Church… it hates our People… it hates our Civilisation… however, it hates our Sobornost most of all. You see, the Republican Party of today is based in naked and unashamed GREED… in “individual rights”. Russia holds to a Communitarian code that’s held the Russian Narod together from the beginning.

Americans are full of hubris… they actually believe that they can overturn our Civilisation and Church and turn us into mindless animalistic nihilistic consumers just like they are. That’s the challenge facing us. Indeed, it sharpens for us what we are. We are NOT “Americans who profess Orthodoxy”, rather, we are “Orthodox who happen to live in America”. We have to face a harsh fact… contemporary America is based on an ethos that’s profoundly wicked and anti-Christian. In fact, the ones most sunk in the morass of the zeitgeist are the so-called “Religious Right”. What they profess bears no resemblance to the Christianity of the Holy Apostles, and we should say so, loudly.

There is MUCH more to Christianity than the mere illegalisation of abortion or a blind witch-hunt against “immorality and depravity”. We can follow Franklin Graham (who spits on his sincerely-believing father’s legacy) or we can follow HH (who said, “We respect all human choices, including those in human sexuality. We do reserve the right to disagree”). I follow HH, what about you?

Of the two political parties this year, the Republicans are the greater of two evils. No sincerely-believing Orthodox Christian should vote for them. God do save us from fire, flood, and the Objectivist views of the Grand Old Phonies… please, do.

BMD