General Walter Bedell Smith was General Dwight Eisenhower's Chief of Staff when the future president served as Supreme Allied Commander.  

Once that Smith culminated his lengthy military career with influential  involvement in West Germany's governmental transition at the close of World War Two, he went into the federal government with important positions in both the Truman and Eisenhower administrations.  

A CIA operation in 1954 overthrew popularly elected Guatemala President Jacobo Arbenz.  There were leaflets alleging that the democratically elected Arbenz was some kind of Communist stooge.  Mercenaries were sent in to aid "The Company's" activities, engaging in acts of sabotaging trains and oil supplies.

Arbenz, who won Guatemala's presidency in a 1951 landslide, hoped to transform Guatemala's former dictatorial leadership and feudalist economy into a vibrant and modern democratic nation, and was instead driven from power.

The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

In the age of Barack Obama, both the Republican Party as well as the South appear marginalized and out of step with the rest of America. Yet it wasn't so long ago that the South represented the foundation of America's conservative hegemony. Starting with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, the Republican Party prevailed in nine out of the next fourteen presidential elections with a reliable Southern base.

Specifically, the Republican Party exploited white Southern resentment against the cause of civil rights and integration. The "Southern strategy" as it was later called, enabled Republicans to end the Democratic Party's previous domination of the South following the Civil War. A key figure in that realignment was the renowned evangelist Billy Graham.

It is interesting to note how China came to the aid in investing in U.S. bonds at a time when our staggering debt and troubled economy needed a boost.

In that the issue of "healthcare not warfare" has become such a vital topic in today's progressive circles much can be learned from evaluating what China spends on its military compared to U.S. expenditures.

Retired Air Force Colonel Chet Richards wrote in the January 1, 2009 issue of The Washington Spectator:

"The new administration will take office in January 2009, inheriting a budget for the Department of Defense that will exceed $600 billion per year, roughly equal to the rest of the world.  Because we are not facing the possibility of armed conflict with the rest of the world put together, it's clear that some adjustment is appropriate."

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

So when did you first realize our country was led by liars? Was there a particular incident, campaign or speech resulting in an epiphany? Did a cynical role model let you know our country's decision makers could not be trusted to tell the truth?