Robert Rouse
Born in the wilds of a Kentucky college town & raised by a pack of wild grandparents. Attended college 'til I knew everything (meaning, I ran out of money). Became an autodidact which isn't as prestigious as a PhD, but I got along with my professor. I have skewed opinions & a computer which in today's political landscape makes me a dangerous commodity. If you don't understand me, now you know what it's like to be a dumb cousin listening to pop culture references at a Dennis Miller family picnic.
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Articles by Robert Rouse
April 17, 2007
The death of innocents is never an easy thing to take. Into each generation, a new tragedy befalls us. Sometimes, as with a earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or tsunamis, it is at the unseen hands of Mother Nature. Sometimes it is a planned tragedy such as Pearl Harbor or the attacks of 9/11. Ther...
April 11, 2007
George W. Bush had an opportunity to become one of the most popular presidents in history. George W. Bush had an opportunity to raise the prestige of the United States. George W. Bush had an opportunity to change the course of history. George W. Bush failed - miserably.
The Baby Bush administrati...
November 20, 2006
Add former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger's name to the roster of top level Republicans who are denouncing the current Iraq war policy. Kissinger is now saying the United States (read: George W. Bush and Company) needs to back off their assertion that Democracy is the way to go in Iraq.
Com...
November 11, 2006
I stepped outside this evening and felt the brisk coolness of the nocturnal November breeze. Gazing around, the symbolism of the evening suddenly struck me
The kaleidoscopic colors of the leaves on the ground represented change. The living timbers were casting off the dying leaves to make way f...
September 13, 2006
Today is the fifth anniversary of one of the most brutal and devastating attacks in the annals of history. But that is only the first chapter of the story. Many lives have been drastically altered, some have remained untouched, and others have been been put on hold.
Like everyone else in the wo...
September 06, 2006
Earlier in the week, I wrote in my blog about a young man who would probably be called back up into the Marine Corps for a return trip to Iraq even though he suffers from PTSD and still has horrible nightmares about the things he saw. One of the people who commented recognized that I found this un...
August 28, 2006
It has now been one year since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and it is my sad duty to report that racism is alive and well within the United States. It is not enough to note that the response of aid to the mostly black city of New Orleans was not only slow in coming, but inadequate to boot....
July 19, 2006
John Dean, of Watergate infamy, has already infuriated Bush supporters with his book, "Worst President Ever" (and this guy knows bad presidents since he was an insider during the Nixon administration). Now he has released a new book that looks into what the conservative movement in this country has...
July 08, 2006
There are many people today who disseminate gloom and doom about the future of the United States. I can't say as I blame them.
We live in a country today where lies are distributed as truth by people such as Karl Rove. We are under surveillance by our own government in the name of security and saf...
July 02, 2006
We sometimes have to ask ourselves whether we are the only people left in the country who truly believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
In Fort Wayne,IN, we practice our right to assemble peacefully at least once a month on the Courthouse Green. We also exercise our ri...
June 27, 2006
We have some pretty thin skinned legislators. Every great now and then, we see images from other countries of people burning the Stars and Stripes - sorry guys, there is nothing we can do about that. Hardly ever do we hear of people in this country doing the same - to the contrary - demonstrator...
June 05, 2006
During World War II, Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of War, Hideki Tojo told the commanders of his POW camps, "guards must supervise their charges rigidly, taking care not to become obsessed with mistaken ideas of humanitarianism or swayed by personal feelings toward prisoners that might grow...
May 26, 2006
OMG! I can't believe I missed "American Idol" . . . AGAIN!
I have missed every single episode since it first aired back in 2002.
Why the heck don't they promote this thing? I see ads for "Anderson Cooper 360°", "The Situation Room", and "Larry King Live" all the time, but not a single p...
May 04, 2006
. . . George W. Bush!
Not that this was his intention, it just seems to turn out that way.
Environmentalists are up in arms because of Dubya's record - trying to destroy our pristine wilderness, his non-compliance with the Kyoto Accords, and the way he sets aside environmental regulations lef...
April 26, 2006
The genie of war has remained uncorked too long. I am amazed at the number of people who are not only supporting the occupation of Iraq, they also don't seem to have a problem with all the death and destruction any war brings with it. Those of us who are smart enough to know that George W. Bush ha...
April 24, 2006
"I'm concerned about the soul of America."? These were the words that echoed through the main tent at Camp Casey when Rev. Joseph Lowery spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of peacemakers.? He continued, "I have never seen the soul of America as imperiled as it is today.? The soul of America is being thr...
April 23, 2006
When it comes to running a smooth camp, you need that one person you can count on to make swift, intelligent decisions.? At Camp Casey, that person is Ann Wright.? The Colonel, as she is referred to by so many at the camp, exudes a breezy but brilliant demeanor.? She reminds you of that relative you...
April 19, 2006
There is an incredible duality at the end of Prairie Church Road.? On the one hand, you have the hundreds of peacemakers from all walks of life gathered to call for non-violence and peace - on the other hand, there are denizens of the Texas extreme Right - people who have not only been blinded by th...
April 18, 2006
I'm back. And I am inspired.?
This past Wednesday evening, I traveled from Fort Wayne, IN to Crawford, TX along with fellow peace activist, Bruce Hall. The nearly 17 hour journey led us to an amazing week-end where I met hundreds of others who made the trip from all over the country.?
(The...
March 17, 2006
Blogging - it wasn't all that long ago when most people thought you were speaking a foreign language if you mentioned a blog. No one knew what a blog was, what it did, or if it was safe. Now it seems as if one of every five or six people you meet has their own blog or have thought about starting ...
March 15, 2006
"The invention of printing added a new element of power to the race. From that hour, in a most especial sense, the brain and not the arm, the thinker and not the soldier, books and not kings, were to rule the world; and weapons, forged in the mind, keen-edged and brighter than the sunbeam, were to ...
March 05, 2006
Yesterday was a beautiful day for the monthly "Rally for Peace" on the Allen County Courthouse Green.? Citizens for peace lined the entire block north of Main Street here in Fort Wayne.? Many of these people have been attending these rallies since the 2002 and the months leading up to the war in Ira...
February 21, 2006
Iraq is quickly becoming the most unpopular war outside of Vietnam. The numbers are clear, according to the latest Gallup Poll - 55% of Americans believe the war was a mistake. These numbers have remained virtually unchanged since the early summer of 2005, and yet we are still there.
...
February 20, 2006
In honor of President's Day, I thought I'd let them speak for themselves.
GEORGE WASHINGTON: "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
JOHN ADAMS: "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ...
February 07, 2006
One of the biggest arguments that George W. Bush and his supporters have used in the recent wire-tap scandal has been that the wire-taps have only been aimed at people on American soil who are speaking to terrorists. But even if that was the case (and it doesn't appear to be), the law - that thing ...
February 05, 2006
Tomorrow, I will be 51 years of age. I mention this only because of a strange phenomenon that has taken place on February 6 of each year since the '80s. I should be able to enjoy my birthday, but because of my political standings, I have to endure news reports about it being the birth date of one...
February 01, 2006
This is my first chance to write about the annual State of the Union Address - I just started offering my opinions for the world to see in April of last year - and I decided after I had time to digest what Bush said and look over the transcripts of the speech that I would give a citizen's response ...
January 31, 2006
Okay, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released the nominations for this year's Oscar races. Each year, one of my favorite things to do is make my own personal predictions on who will win in each category - and I'm well over 50% in accuracy over the years, so I thought I would p...
January 28, 2006
The Bush team is pushing their agenda and Kenneth Bass III, one of the men who put together the law that resulted in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is talking about the answers (or lack of) President Bush and the guys have been giving about the illegal wiretaps. He said, "I just do n...
January 19, 2006
I am an unabashed fan of the Western. It is a genre I grew up with (thanks to being born in 1955). In the late '50s and early '60s, we only had three channels to choose from and nearly every hour of every night you could find a western. "Maverick" with James Garner and Jack Kelly, "Gunsmoke" wit...
January 18, 2006
Wow, I can't believe I missed Ben's birthday. He is probably my favorite of all our founding fathers. Yesterday (Jan. 17) Ben would have turned 300 years young. I say young, because of all the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin is the one who would be most at home in today's world - except of cours...
January 14, 2006
As the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart approaches the ways we listen to music has developed way past anything Mozart or even Thomas Edison could have imagined. From small theaters and opera halls to tiny MP3 players, man has constantly changed the way music was delivered to the ma...
January 08, 2006
There is an old adage that says if you give someone enough rope they'll hang themselves. And while I believed several of Bush's recent missteps showed he was nearing the end of his proverbial rope, it finally appears as if the tide is changing. This week, an AP/Ipsos poll showed that Americans wan...
January 05, 2006
2006 is the year when the Baby Boomer generation starts turning 60. I suppose it is a milestone of some sort, but it also is a reminder of our eventual demise. But death comes to us all. More often than not, it comes to us before we die. One thing about this huge generation is our propensity to...
December 31, 2005
I have to admit that while I was looking back at the events of the past year, in many cases I was looking through a 20/20 rear view mirror, filtered with a kaleidoscope and rose colored glasses. It was both memorable and tragic, funny and forgettable, squeaky clean on the surface with loads of gum...
December 30, 2005
One of the oaths every President and Vice President take when they assume office is to "preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States". How has Bush done in that respect (and I use the word respect loosely)? Let's take look at some of the articles and amendments.
Amendment I - ...
December 23, 2005
What's this I hear about a war on Christmas? So far there have been no casualties, but much like the Iraq war before it, someone made the decision to go to war before there was any proof that a war was necessary. From all reports I've seen, a preemptive strike against persons known and unknown w...
December 22, 2005
George W. Bush once gave a speech before a group of extremely wealthy and influential Republicans and during his speech he said, "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elites; I call you my base."
This was a defining moment for Bush. He was te...
December 21, 2005
During the last Presidential election and immediately prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq there was a huge outpouring from the right-wing admonishing celebrities who decided to voice their opinions. It was almost as if they were telling these movie stars and recording artists that because they...
December 20, 2005
I’m continually amazed and amused by the chutzpah of George W. Bush’s supporters. The President has admitted to authorizing wiretaps without a warrant and yet his supporters are jumping all over the people who simply ask that the letter of the law be observed. It seems as if every time something ...
December 19, 2005
FEAR - *n 1: an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight) [syn: fearfulness, fright] [ant: fearlessness] 2: an anxious feeling; "care had aged him"; "they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction" [syn: concern, care] 3:...
December 16, 2005
Remember the good old days when Richard Nixon had an enemies list? Those heady days may have returned . . . big time! It turns out that the Pentagon, that five-sided bastion of war, is probably making a list and checking it twice. They're gonna find out whose peaceful and nice.
I don't k...
December 15, 2005
I've read some grumblings on the net about Peter Jackson's "KING KONG" - rest assured, these people have some kind of grudge. This movie is nearly perfect. From the opening scenes of a depression era Brooklyn Zoo until the classic closing statement - issued this time around by Jack Black - Kong is...
December 08, 2005
"There are places I remember, all my life, though some have changed. Some forever, not for better." Yesterday was the 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For many Americans this is an event that is indelibly etched into their psyche. It was a turning point in the lives of so...
December 02, 2005
Woo-hoo! We did it! We dreamed the impossible dream. We beat the unbeatable foe. We finally reached the unreachable star. Kenneth Lee Boyd (isn't it great how becoming a murderer immediately makes people start using your middle name) became the 1000th person to be executed in the United States...
December 01, 2005
Is George W. Bush the biggest threat to the continued security and vitality of the United States? Wow, I cannot believe I just asked that question. As much as I dislike the President and as much as I am still upset over the 2000 election results, I normally wouldn't think about the lead...
November 21, 2005
Congressman John Murtha came out and declared we need to bring our troops out of Iraq immediately. To this end he has been derided by several members of Congress, several people have "respectfully" disagreed with his proposal and many on the right have called this 37-year veteran of the Marine Corp...
November 21, 2005
We have an amazing, albeit disturbing, propensity in this country to eventually try to tear down and destroy our heroes. What goes up must come down. That is pretty much because of psychological physics and societal gravity. Perhaps we cannot let anyone stay admired too long lest that become like...
November 14, 2005
I suppose we should just suspend the Supreme Court. Especially when we have Senators who, when they don't agree with the rulings, simply add an amendment to a bill to nullify a court ruling.
Warmonger extraordinaire, Sen. Lindsey Graham (left: putting on his very own judicial robe) of the great ...
November 13, 2005
In early spring of 1972, I was still a junior in high school. I was a seventeen-year old musician who was still hoping against hope that the Beatles would get back together. The first time I ever heard Badfinger on the radio, I was certain my wish had come true. It was never to be. But that sam...
November 08, 2005
The citizens of Denver, CO have spoken and now others are saying you can't always get what you want. A citywide vote on an initiative to legalize the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana decided in favor of the initiative.
But some people just aren't happy unless they can tell others ...
November 06, 2005
Saturday night, former president Bill Clinton told a group gathered at the University of Minnesota that "you can't possibly kill, jail or occupy all your enemies".
I suppose a statement like that would normally be taken with a response of "well, duh". But with all this talk of globalization, s...
October 30, 2005
In a recent speech, the Bush administration was criticized for "needless division, misplaced priorities and ineptitude." This same speech added "President Bush sought our nation's highest office pledging to be a uniter, not a divider, and has proceeded to divide this country more profoundly than an...
October 24, 2005
*frus·tra·tion (frü-strā'shәn)
n.
1. The condition that results when an impulse or an action is thwarted by an external or an internal force.
2. The blocking or thwarting of an impulse, purpose, or action.
The easiest way for a corporation to frustrate their customer bas...
October 13, 2005
While I was in Washington last month for the massive anti-war rally, I saw something I had not seen since the early 1970s. It was a poster of a crudely drawn flower with the words "War is not healthy for children and other living things." I was struck by its simplicity in design and how it spoke v...
October 10, 2005
There are many stories coming out of Washington that show sure signs of the Bush machine falling apart before Dubya's eyes. I say it's about time. Disaster after disaster is befalling the Bush administration. Over-spending, waning support for the war, falling polling numbers, Plame-gate, slow res...
October 06, 2005
I woke up this morning with one of the worst headaches I've had in a very long time. Excruciating pain. It didn't help that I had tossed and turned all night and seemed to awaken every hour on the hour. It was one of those mornings where my wife and I kept hitting the snooze button on the alarm. ...
September 29, 2005
I just finished reading Alan J. Porter's incredible little book about the teen years of four young men who would one day take the world by storm. "Before They Were Beatles" goes where most books on the Beatles rarely go. We get an intimate look into the teen years of John, Paul, George, and yes, eve...
September 29, 2005
There are many mysteries in the universe - what happens to objects that travel through a black hole, whatever happened to Jimmy Hoffa, when will Arby's bring back their Onion Petals, and why in the world can't I get my hands on a carton of eight 16oz. glass Coke bottles?
I was never really sure abo...
September 26, 2005
We are not alone. How many times have we heard that simple phrase in science fiction? And although what we've gone through over the past five years may seem like science fiction, it is not. We now live in a nation where our government seems more Orwellian than Jeffersonian. Our civil liberties a...
September 15, 2005
As a child, my biggest fear was a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It dominated my nighttime thoughts through my teen years. AIDS never frightened me the way it did some people; I wasn't promiscuous. Terrorism, through the very definition of the word should frighten me,...
September 15, 2005
Mason Weems, who wrote a biography of our first President is responsible for the following famous myth: Young Washington received a new hatchet and used it to chop down his father’s prized cherry tree. His father demanded to know how the tree had fallen. George was tempted to deny his misdeed, but t...
September 13, 2005
Purple haze all in my eyes
Don't know if it's day or night
While George Bush continues to deny the effects of an unchecked industrial convulsion of our environment, his actions and inactions are bringing the seemingly hallucination-induced lyrics of Jimi Hendrix to fruition. In many parts of the ...
September 11, 2005
Today there will be several TV specials, newspaper articles and blogs about 9/11. Most will center on the victims and the horrible tragedy that befell them . . . as well they should. These were innocent victims of radical religious action. I, on the other hand would like to look at something else we...
September 09, 2005
I've read reviews of albums and CD's where critics gush over an artist's ability to come up with that "Beatlesque" quality. For some reason, a musician who is able to capture that sound is given a lot of leeway and admiration . . . unless that artist is Paul McCartney. Here is an artist who has mo...
August 30, 2005
Winston Churchill is rolling in his grave. I know this. He has to be. It was Churchill who said, "We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down."
It appears the British people...
August 29, 2005
People in Massachusetts and other parts of the east coast might not believe this, but where I live, you can't throw a rock without hitting a conservative who thinks the protests against the war are unpatriotic. I recently read a few letters to the editor of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that caused...
August 25, 2005
Feelings . . . right now . . . at this very moment, I'm feeling many different emotions. I'm angry, confused, determined, resentful and most of all, I'm feeling pity . . . I pity the poor souls out there who just don't get it.
The main topic of discussion on CNN today seems to be Cindy Sheehan's ...
August 19, 2005
I recently conducted an e-mail interview with one of the founders of Citizens for Approval Voting and Americans for Approval Voting. I actually had to do some real research before I conducted the interview, but I think you'll find the results interesting and enlightening.
Quickly tell us a little ...
August 18, 2005
I attended one of more than 1500 vigils for Cindy Sheehan earlier this evening. It was not so much a protest as a quiet remembrance of those who have died for Bush's little war.
Before I left home, I checked my e-mail and read a posting from the local organizer, Dave Lambert, who said 102 people ...
August 06, 2005
"But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not very transparent, that hide behind the—that don't let people in to take a look and see what they're up to." - George W. Bush, talking about North Korea
"I believe in open government. I've always believed in open governme...
August 03, 2005
Do George Bush and the Republicans have their eye on making Canada one of their first targets in World Government? The last time I checked, Canada was a sovereign nation of which we hold no jurisprudence over. Not that anything like that would stop our government when we want something. Last week, C...
August 03, 2005
Watching the Daily Show last night brought into focus many of my own thoughts.
George W. Bush really believes he was chosen by God to lead the free world, yet his actions come closer to a man chosen by that guy from Hades. Dubya thinks it's okay to send a man like Bolton to the UN while most rig...
July 30, 2005
I thought I was a little confused when I found out "gender reassignment” was a sex change operation instead of an editor sending a man to cover an afternoon tea social. Now it turns out the Global War on Terror has actually been the ”Global Struggle Against Extremism™”. While I can’t prove it, I h...
July 26, 2005
There is a conflict still brewing just north of Baffin Bay, the ripples of which could upset the balance of . . . oh, I don't know . . . a surfer?
The conflict is between polite power houses Canada and Denmark over Hans Island, a 1.3 kilometer dot nestled between the two much larger land masses o...
July 21, 2005
Good morning, class. Today we will be discussing the very addictive plant zea mays everta. This plant has been around for tens of thousands of years. It was probably used by cave people as scientists have found an 80,000 year old version of its pollen south of Mexico City. They believe this plant f...
July 18, 2005
Sometimes Americans can be too arrogant for their own good. When we took our case against Iraq to the United Nations and several of the countries stated their opinion that we were wrong in our assertions, we balked at them. "From this point on, we'll order nothing but Freedom Fries, we'll only dri...
July 17, 2005
With so much to worry about, terrorism, war, West Nile Virus, did Paula Abdul have sex with a contestant . . . there is a much more insidious enemy out there . . . and they could be living in your city . . . on your street . . . in your house. The police call them . . . CHILDREN. If you see one, don...
July 16, 2005
I read about people who are making comparisons between that little incident we were involved with in Southeast Asia and our current snafu in Iraq. While I can understand why they might choose to mention both in the same breath, I have to take exception to their homology. Some will be quick to po...
July 11, 2005
This twenty-year old young lady is quite bright. She graduated from high school a year early, she has plans of becoming a lawyer, and she spent nine months helping design and build a solar-powered boat. This young lady has a future . . . but right now, it looks like that future might not be in the...
July 09, 2005
What does it take to make regular viewers of the Fox News Channel understand that Fox isn't as "Fair and Balanced" as they claim to be? Living in the great Hoosier state of Indiana you run into multitudes who only get their national news from Faux. A quick tangent . . . I think I've finally figur...
July 08, 2005
The attacks on London impelled me to reflect on how I have always thought about terror. I've lived my entire life under the threat of nuclear attack, although, I did once learn we can protect ourselves by putting our arms over our head and hiding under a flimsy metal and wood desk. I believe I can...
July 06, 2005
I had too much to dream last night. There I was with a group of reporters standing around famed author and man about town, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Being a dream, it didn't occur to me that Mark Twain had been dead for 95 years or that I wasn't really a reporter, what was important at the time was...