No Thanks Time Magazine, You Can Keep Your Stupid Award

Time's lame-ass "Person of the Year" has been the subject of much disgusted eye-rolling recently.

In case you haven'e heard, they gave it to "You". Well, you and I technically.

I don't know about you, but I don't want it.


This is the same award Time Magazine has given to Adolph Hitler and George W. Bush.


Not exactly esteemed company.


Personlly, I think that they should have given "Person of the Year" to the Amish in Lancaster, PA.

But apparently, that is just me.

An Open Letter to American Christian Conservatives

You guys have a lot of nerve.

Many of you are acting as if there is nothing wrong; As if you have
done nothing wrong.

You have a LOT of repenting to be doing.

This Christmas season should be a time of reflection and introspection for you.

Spend it thinking about REAL Christian Values.

This past election should have been a wake up call for you.

I was there, in Washington D.C. BEFORE the war. I was standing there
with my sign that said "PEACE NOT WAR", not even saying anything, when a self-described "Conservative Christian" came up to me and started telling me in detail why I was going to hell because I opposed this war and that I should "repent my heathenish Liberal ways". I tried to explain to her that I am a Christian. I am an ordained reverend in a non-denominational church. She would hear none of it.

The people are NOW starting to wake up and are realizing that this
invasion and occupation of Iraq was a disastrous mistake.

Not a blunder.

Not an "oops".

It was a horrific, disastrous, catastrophic, apocalyptic Mistake of
BIBLICAL proportions!

A mistake that YOU openly supported.

A mistake by a man that YOU overwhelmingly supported!

All because of a narrow set of comparatively small wedge issues.

Shame on you for lacking perspective.

Shame on you for your incivility during that time.

Mine was not an isolated incident and you know it.

So many people have lost their lives, their limbs, their homes, their
loved ones and worst of all their HOPE because of this action that YOU
supported.

Because of a general, pervasive ignorance among the American
populace about Iraq, the culture or the people living there, you had
no idea what kind of powder keg it really was.

Now that powder keg has exploded.

Tribes of people who were thrown together less than a century ago by
the British and labeled the nation "Iraq" have gone back to fighting
each other, like they did for a thousand years before.

And 150,000 of our Soldiers, our Citizens, and our Children are
standing around in the middle of that nation while it explodes.

What the HELL were you thinking?

Who am I kidding? I know what you were thinking.

You were scared after 9-11.

You had your sense of security shattered and you realized that we can be attacked here on our soil. You realized that we Americans can be victims too. Unfortunately you failed to realize that we can personally experience repercussions because of what our government does thousands of miles away. Distance and verbal disassociation from our government's actions are no longer enough to keep us safe.

So what did you do, when God challenged you? What did you do in the face of fear? How did you react when confronted by people who hate you?

You sided with the Republicans based on a narrow set of wedge issues and you enabled them to do everything they did starting with the Patriot Act, including the invasion of Iraq and right up to doing away with Habeus Corpus and Posse Comitatus.

Do you feel any safer because of what we have done in Afganistan and Iraq?

Do you think Islamic Fundamentalists hate us any less or are reduced in numbers?

If you do then you are, in the words of journalist Michael Ware, "suffering from the luxury of distance".

An example of how REAL Christians react when they are attacked is
right here in America's heartland, right under your noses.

Earlier this year the Amish in Penn were attacked by an insane man who executed several of their children in cold blood. He put them on their knees and shot them from behind.

How did the Amish React?

Did they attack the outside world for its wickedness?

Did they rightfully mention that this is not an uncommon experience for them and that earlier this same year they had several of their daughters fall victim to rape?

Did they invade and occupy two countries? (Couldn't help myself)

No, they immediately held a press conference and publicly FORGAVE the man.

Then, when the money and gifts started pouring in from all over the world, their first action was to create a fund for the wife and children of the man who murdered their children.

Pay special attention to that.

For future reference, THAT is how a real Christian reacts when they are attacked.

You all really need to reevaluate your principles. You need to reexamine what "Christian Values" really are.

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who
curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who
strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who
takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to
everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do
not ask them back."
- Luke 6:27-30

The Hugs for Jacey Campaign

This is a very touching campaign of support for a little girl who is battling Lukemia. My heart absolutely breaks watching the videos her mother posted of her. This wonderful woman started this campaign and it is very uplifting to see the huge outpouring of love for this little girl from total strangers.



Her Mother posts videos of her here.


This is a great statement from Jacey's Mother.

"We are NOT soliciting gifts or donations Please know that Most major cities have children's hospitals and they are full of kids like Jacey. Those kids would be just as happy to get gifts as Jacey would. People wanting to donate money should make a donation to the Leukemia Society or St Judes and all kids fighting leukemia and other cancers will benifit from it. THE BEST THING PEOPLE CAN DO IS DONATE PLATELETS. All kids fighting cancer need those to stay alive."

A Travesty of Justice

Noisy cell call lands party's host in jail

December 5, 2006
BY DAN CORTEZ

Carmen Granata, 23, of Eastpointe is serving 30 days in jail.

Monday was Carmen Granata's first day back to work as a veterinarian technician in Sterling Heights.

But the night for her ended the same way every other night for the past two weeks has ended -- back in the Macomb County Jail.

Granata, 23, of Eastpointe was cited for violating the city noise ordinance when a friend used a cell phone on her front porch about 4 a.m. after a barbecue last month. The punishment? Thirty days behind bars -- a much tougher penalty than even some felons face.

And then there are the two years of probation she was given. That means two years of daily breath tests for alcohol at the Eastpointe Police Department or 38th District Court, two years of drug tests on a random date each month and twice-monthly meetings with a probation officer.

And if Granata wants to have another party, she must receive approval from her neighbors.

Any violation of those terms would mean 60 days in jail, according to court records.

Granata's father, Joe Granata of Warren, said he is outraged at the punishment handed down Nov. 21 after his daughter pleaded guilty.

"I've missed work, I'm not sleeping well, I've lost weight," he said Monday. "It's been an emotional toll on everybody. If my daughter had done something to deserve to be in jail, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But this is insane."

Granata has hired a lawyer to try to get his daughter's guilty plea thrown out -- a plea he said she made under the assumption that she would only face a small fine.

Assistant City Prosecutor Richard Albright said he met with Granata before she entered the plea. He said he left the courtroom before a group of neighbors told the judge that Granata regularly caused problems in the neighborhood.

"I don't know what was said by the neighbors or by her," Albright said. "There was something that the judge felt deserved jail time."

Neighbors who testified that Granata was a disturbance to the neighborhood could not be reached Monday for comment.

Lori Shemka, the court administrator for 38th District Court, said Judge Norene Redmond could not comment on the case or the penalty she gave to Granata because it's considered an ongoing litigation.

Chrissy Dikowski lives across the street from Granata, who bought her house about a year ago. Dikowski, 29, said Granata was a good neighbor.

"She's a very nice girl, no problems at all," Dikowski said.

Granata's boyfriend, Erik Scudder, said she hosted the barbecue on Nov. 4 for about 70 friends. Most left in the evening to attend a concert at the Magic Stick in Detroit, but 20 returned about 2:30 a.m. to go to sleep.

Police were called to investigate a noise complaint, Scudder said, but no tickets were issued. When someone stepped out later to use a cell phone, an officer in the area moved in and ticketed Granata because she owned the house.

"We didn't want to wake up our friends, let alone our neighbors," Scudder said, adding that most in the house were sleeping.

Kristy Nadvornik, another neighbor of Granata, said that there's a group of people on the block notorious for calling police regularly to investigate noise complaints and other minor issues.

Richard Dreyfuss on Civil Discourse

A very intelligent and needed discussion about the lack of Civics being taught in America.

Bolton is Out! Who Should Replace Him?

I don't think anybody will miss Bolton at the U.N. but it is already time to look forward. Who should replace Bolton? Who would make a good diplomat to represent the United States?

Here I submit my list of recommendations:

Lincoln Chaffee
Joseph Wilson
Bill Clinton
Jimmy Carter
George HW Bush
Jesse Jackson
Jerry Springer (He has experience dealing with extremists)
Robin Williams (hey, CSPAN would be more interesting)

Ok, so maybe Williams was a joke... maybe. But the rest of these people would make good replacements for Bolton, in my opinion.

Something To Think About While Feasting Today

Happy Thanksgiving America! We have a lot to be thankful for this year. The doormat Republican Congress is out and hopefully accountabiliity has been returned to our government. Donald Rumsfeld and Ken Mehlman are out also. That was definately the iceing on the cake.

While many of us are sitting around today watching football or parades, stuffing our faces with turkey, take a moment to think about the 35 million people in America who are "food insecure". That is right, according to the USDA, 12% of Americans do not know where their next meal is coming from.

This year the USDA decided to stop using the word "hunger" and start using "food insecurity", which they define as:

"prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation."

According to an article in the Washington Post:

The number of hungriest Americans has risen over the past five years. Last year, the total share of food-insecure households stood at 11 percent.

That means that since this time last year, 3 million more Americans have become "Food Insecure".

I reccommend that everyone who reads this bring it up during dinner tonight. Suggest to your gathered family that you take up a collection for your local food charity. Give someone in need in your community something to be thankful for this year.

GOP Going Backwards

After the landslide victory by the Democrats last week, the GOP decided to bring back the guy who thought America would be much better if we didn't have the Civil Rights Movement or Desegragation.

Apparently they think that the answer to their loss is to get back to their racist, anti civil rights, pro-segragation roots.

In 1948 Strom Thurmond ran for President under the "State's Rights Party", who's entire platform was segragation.

In 2002, when attending the 100th birthday Party for Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott said this:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."

Lets be clear, by "all these problems" Trent Lott is talking about those darn "uppity" Blacks and their Civil Rights movement.

Why I Cannot Support John McCain

I used to like John McCain. I used to think that he was smart.
I am sure he is a nice enough man, dispite the rumors about his temper.
But last week John McCain proved to me once and for all that he is not competent to be President.



Last Friday, John McCain laid out his plan for Iraq...to send 20,000 MORE U.S. Soldiers.

We have already got 150,000 troops on the ground and the country is in a civil war, and according to Senator McCain, it is all because we are short by a measily 20,000 soldiers.

I seriously have to question his sanity.

I cannot imagine a more idiotic plan for Iraq. First of all, 20,000 is a ridiculous number. If we sent 100,000 more troops, it would not make a difference. The country has already deteriorated into Civil War. The time when a few more troops on the ground would have made a difference is long over.

A study done by the U.S. Military in 1999 said that it even if we sent 400,000 troops the country still could have slid into chaos.

At this point all our Soldiers are doing is standing around in the middle of a civil war, "watching the flames", as one soldier in Iraq put it.

Unless he is going to call for a serious number of troops, like 250,000, then he should be talking abuot how we are going to pull our boys out of that hellhole.

The Dangerous Lame Duck

Russ Feingold wrote a great piece warning about complacency or underestimating this lame duck congress.

A wounded animal is extremely dangerous.

Read it here.

-D

The Democrats may NOT have won the Senate

Ladies and Gentlemen, possibly one of the most powerful and scary men in Washington... Joe Lieberman.

The claim that the Democrats have won control of the Senate is based upon nothing more than a comment from Lieberman that he would caucus with the Democrats.

Nothing more then the word of a well known liar.

Lieberman is a NeoConservative.

Lieberman has been a staunch advocate for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

An occupation which most Americans, think was a mistake.

He has backed almost every single neoconservative initiative in the Bush administration, which has made him something of a celebrity among the kool-aid drinking Fox News Republicans and their talking heads like Sean Hannity.

Lieberman knows perfectly well that he only won because of the overwhelming Republican support he got. On election night he refused to take Harry Reid's phone call to congratulate him but he did take calls from Republican Senators.

Now this past Sunday, on Meet the Press Tim Russert asked Joe this question:

"MR. RUSSERT: If in fact they ask for discipline in the Democratic caucus, and you start to feel uncomfortable with it, would you consider crossing across the—going across the aisle, and joining the Republicans, if they gave you the same chairmanship that you had, and respected your seniority?"

Mr Lieberman's answer:

"SEN. LIEBERMAN: I’m not ruling it out, but I hope I don’t get to that point."

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that for the next four years, Lieberman is going to use the threat of switching over to the Republicans to force the Democrats to bend to his neoconservative will on important issues like Iraq. He can force our troops to stay in that quagmire needlessly dying all because he believes, as all the neocons do, that we should be using America's military to fight for Israel's security.

The Katherine Harris Meltdown - Crazy Woman Loose in Florida

Katherine Harris is a trainwreck that I cannot stop watching. She has completely lost it. She spoke to the Sam Seder Show after her loss in Florida this week but she cannot admit that she lost. She lost by 30%, over 1,000,000 votes, but she still thinks she will win in a recount that isn't going to happen.



Harris will never even be a dogcatcher after this performance.
Sad and very, very funny at the same time.

-D

Democrats' First Order of Business - Impeach Cheney

The Democrats first order of business upon convening as a majority party this January should be to target Dick Cheney for impeachment. They can use him as the starting off point for investigations into the entire energy industry. Perhaps we can finally find out what Cheney was hiding with his "Secret Energy Taskforce" meetings during their first term.

They can then use the threat of investigations against Bush to get him to agree not to use his Veto power on any legislation they pass. Then they can get to work repairing the damage done to America, starting with the minimum wage and hopefully moving on to repealing the Anti-American "Patriot Act".

They never said that impeachment was off the table for Cheney, so there will be no real political repercussions for doing it. By impeaching Cheney first, would also insure that should they decide to impeach Bush at some point, Cheney could not replace him. But so much more can potentially be accomplished by going to Bush and offering to leave him alone so long as he cooperates with passing the legislation. They may even be able to force Bush to rightly take responsibility for his lost war and preclude the GOP attempting to tar the Democrats with it.

Riverbend Blog Update

The girl blogger from Iraq posted a pretty incidiary update. She posted it a few days ago but I didn't see it until tonight.

When All Else Fails...
… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.

Bush's Suprising Press Conference

Big News of the day, Donald Rumsfeld is "being allowed to resign".
He will be replaced by one of Dumbya's Father's men, Robert Gates.

Bush seemed to have a mini-meltdown during the Press Conference.

When talking about why the Republicans lost so badly yesterday Bush said, "Some Americans seem to want thier representatives to be honest and ethical."

Whoa, maybe he does understand what just happened...

SPEAKER PELOSI.....I like the sound of that.

Good News for the most part.

The days of the Doormat Congress are over.

We have some oversight in our Government again.

Democrats take the House of Representatives. That gives them chairs of the committees and subpoena power.

Claire McCaskill came back from behind to win in Mossouri, thanks in part to Rush Limbaugh.

Katherine Harris was decimated in Florida. That was a trainwreck.

The final tallies are not in but it is not looking good for Nancy Skinner, unfortunately.

I did a little work for her campaign and I liked her as a cantidate. I think she has a lot of good ideas and she seems very genuine.

There are just too many rich people here in Oakland County who actually benefitted from those tax cuts.

That said, Nancy came very close (48% last I saw) especially for such a strong Republican county.

Bush Salutes America

Great video inspired by Patriotboy:

Popular Photo Mocking Kerry is Fake

What a non-suprise. Photo of Solders with Banner mocking Kerry is Fake.

"A photograph mocking Sen. John Kerry that has gotten enormous TV, radio and online exposure has turned out to have Minnesota roots.

Members of a unit under the command of the Minnesota National Guard created the intentionally misspelled sign.

The sign, painted in thick, blue letters across a white banner says, "Halp us Jon Carry -- We R stuck hear n Irak."

The picture of the sign, held by eight soldiers, has raced across the Web and TV newscasts for the past three days.

Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a spokesman for the Minnesota National Guard, said Thursday that the "Red Bull" logo and the number "1-34," seen on the bumper of a truck in the photo, indicate that the soldiers pictured are under the command of a Minnesota unit.

About 2,600 Minnesota Guard members have been deployed to Iraq and attached to the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion. The unit has soldiers from Minnesota and five other states, Olson said."

Olbermann Compares GOP to Preston Brooks

When Congressman Preston Brooks finally realized that Slavery was going to come to an end as a way of life in America, and that his power structure was about to collapse, he approached Senator Charles Sumner, a leading Anti-Slavery activist, on the floor of the Senate and began beating him with his cane.


Mr. Olbermann is appropriately pointing out the similarity to the attacks on Michael J Fox and Senator John Kerry this week by a GOP powerbase that rightly feels threatened.

Part 1.


Part 2.


.

Arms Control Center talks about Tactical Nuke in Baghdad

Dispite the silence from the Pentagon, people are still talking about the video of the explosion in Baghdad earlier this month that had the telltale bright flash of light, rising column of fire and mushroom cloud.

According to the Arms Control Center (www.armsControlCenter.org) a "Tactical" nuclear weapon differs from a "strategic" nuclear weapon as follows:

"Strategic Nuclear Weapons" are the largest warheads, over 1 Megaton (1 million tons of TNT) in yield, with the highest yield blasts, designed to destroy entire cities or hardened military targets.

"Tactical Nuclear Weapons" are smaller warheads, with low yields from 0.1 to Kiloton (100 Tons of TNT) to 1 Megaton (1 million tons of TNT) designed to be used ON A BATTLEFIELD in a specific theater of operations. Hence, Tactical Nuclear Weapons create a much smaller blast, much lower blast area and far smaller blast wave (wind).

The Arms Control Center also says Tactical Nuclear Weapons can be as small as an artillery shell.

The explosion in the video seems to indicate exactly that type of tactical nuclear explosion. The brilliant white flash is key to making this identification. As seen in the video, the flash was far more spectacular (by a factor
of 100) and lasted far longer than any and all other explosions at the ammo dump. This fits what one would
expect to see with a 0.1 Kiloton tacical nuclear detonation.

Morgan Spurlock Making Sense

Did Tactical Nukes or Daisycutters Explode in Baghdad?

That seems to be the question of the year.

More footage by U.S. soldiers. This is good quality. The soldiers in the video don't even seem to know exactly what is exploding in front of them. You can hear them asking repeatedly what kind of ordinance was in there.

"That shockwave almost knocked me off my feet." - U.S. Soldier in background.

-----

"This shit is just beginning man." - U.S. Soldier & Cameraman

-----

"It would be a damn miracle if nobody gets hurt." - U.S. Soldier #1

-----

"Well, looks like we will be getting few more squads in." - U.S. Soldier #1

"To do what?" U.S. Soldier #2

"Stand around and look at flames." U.S. Soldier #1

These are truly the stakes.

The Camp Falcon Coverup

Did a Tactical Nuke go off in southern Baghdad on October 10th? Or was it a Dasiycutter that went off in the city?

This is possibly the biggest story of the year and most Americans won't hear a peep about it out of the Corporate American Media.

I have often wondered just how desperate the Republicans are right now. What lengths would they go to in order to preserve their power in the coming election?

We already know about the gerrymandering, and the crooked secretaries of state who are bought and paid for by republicans and their corporate masters. We know about Choicepoint, Inc. and the lists of votes that were thrown out.

But if we were attacked and the situation in Iraq has taken a serious turn for the worse, would they try to cover it up? For instance, if we had an Ammo dump in Baghdad attacked and a tactical nuke was detonated during that attack, would they tell the American people? Or would they clam up and hope nobody noticed?

If this breaking story is true, then it is going to be HUGE.

On October 10th, Iraqi insurgents launched at attack described as "one of the most sustained and ferocious mortar and rocket attacks in three years."

During this attack, the insurgents blew up an Ammo Dump at Camp Falcon. It was the largest U.S. Ammo dump in Iraq and reportedly contained some depleated Uranium and Chemical weapons. The size of some explosions have led to suspisions there were also tactical nukes or possibly daisycutters in that dump as well. The Pentagon initially reported no casualties but Arabic News Services have reported 9 cargo planes of casualties were unloaded at the al-Habbaniyah military hospital.

Pictures and video that have made it to the Internet show huge explosions that reportedly lasted three hours. Some pictures show explosions so large that from miles away it turned the night into day.

Here is a Video of the Explosions from an Arabic News Service. At 3:57 in the video there is a huge explosion and mushroom cloud. What the hell is going on over there?!?!



Here is a timeline of the story so far, titled Camp Falcon, What Really Happened?

The U.S. government is being unusually quiet about an attack of this magnitude, and as usual the corporate U.S. media is following suit and not asking any questions.
Fortunately, information is getting out via foreign and independant news agencies.

I will post more as more information comes out.

Catchy Nancy Skinner Ad

The Ads the Democrats Should be Running

These are fantastic.

Better,


Our Country,


Medicine,


And Finally one for Halloween,

The Infameous Corker Racist Ad

What is the RNC thinking? They are airing this slimy ad in Tennessee, against Harold Ford, Jr. The racist overtones are really hard to miss. There is one segment of the ad that feels like an old Sesame Street segment "One of these things doesn't belong here".



Every segment with someone talking on the street had something to do with public policy except one.

The apparently naked white woman claiming to have had sex with the cantidate who also just happens to be a black man... hmmmm...

What public policy does that address exactly?

Harold Ford Jr. put out this in response to the nastiness of the campaign being waged against him.



There is something I am missing in this story because I don't know what he meant by "I love my family and I won't speak ill of them."

Something That Really Touched Me

On October 2nd, Carl Roberts IV walked into an Amish Schoolhouse in Lancaster, PA, killed five young school girls, injured five others and then shot himself.

Carl Roberts IV was not Amish. He did not have anything against the Amish as a people. He chose them because he rightly thought they made an easy target. That’s the catch-22 of pacifism; it makes you an easy target and thus can attract trouble. He had some kind of fixation on young girls and he targeted these girls to take out his pent up frustration on. Mr. Roberts was obviously severely mentally fucked up.

The thing that has gotten to me was the reaction of the Amish people.

Before they even buried their children, they publicly forgave the man who lined their daughters up against a chalkboard, tied their feet together and shot them one at a time, execution style.

Damn.

I found that deeply touching.

But then... they did what really got to me.

As letters, flowers and donations started pouring in from all over the world, the Amish Elders set up a committee to decide how that money should best be spent.

One of the first things they did was set up a fund for the wife and children of the man who committed this horrendous offense against them.

These people exemplified precisely what Jesus really taught.

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.
- Luke 6:27-30

A lot of Conservative Christians like to talk about how America was founded on Christian principles but in my opinion nothing has exposed how far we have strayed from them more than these simple people and their generous acts of kindness.

Can you imagine a different universe where, on September 12th 2001 our President would have gotten on TV and forgiven the men who hijacked and crashed those planes and then announced an aid package for the families of the men who committed the attack?

Can you imagine how, in the real world, those same Christian Conservatives (along with most Americans) would have attacked any President who dared even consider such a reaction to 9-11?

Anybody who has ever been a victim of any violent crime can relate in some tiny way, to what it takes emotionally, to be capable of such forgiveness.

I think this is an example to aspire to.

ROFLMFAO!!!

Only a true computer nerd is gonna get this. My favorite part is the very end. "I am root!"

TV Ads the DNC Should Be Running

DailyKos has a link to some great parodies of the apple vs pc ads. They are doing Republicans vs Democrats and they are hilareous!

Baghdad Burning is Back

Riverbend, a girl blogger in Iraq, is finally back after a long absence from blogging to talk about the Lancet study.

The latest horror is the study published in the Lancet Journal concluding that over 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war. Reading about it left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it sounded like a reasonable figure. It wasn't at all surprising. On the other hand, I so wanted it to be wrong. But... who to believe? Who to believe....? American politicians... or highly reputable scientists using a reliable scientific survey technique?

The responses were typical- war supporters said the number was nonsense because, of course, who would want to admit that an action they so heartily supported led to the deaths of 600,000 people (even if they were just crazy Iraqis…)? Admitting a number like that would be the equivalent of admitting they had endorsed, say, a tsunami, or an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale, or the occupation of a developing country by a ruthless superpower… oh wait- that one actually happened. Is the number really that preposterous? Thousands of Iraqis are dying every month- that is undeniable. And yes, they are dying as a direct result of the war and occupation (very few of them are actually dying of bliss, as war-supporters and Puppets would have you believe).

For American politicians and military personnel, playing dumb and talking about numbers of bodies in morgues and official statistics, etc, seems to be the latest tactic. But as any Iraqi knows, not every death is being reported. As for getting reliable numbers from the Ministry of Health or any other official Iraqi institution, that's about as probable as getting a coherent, grammatically correct sentence from George Bush- especially after the ministry was banned from giving out correct mortality numbers. So far, the only Iraqis I know pretending this number is outrageous are either out-of-touch Iraqis abroad who supported the war, or Iraqis inside of the country who are directly benefiting from the occupation ($) and likely living in the Green Zone.

R.I.P HABEUS CORPUS

Keith Olbermann nailed it again tonight. Republicans have succeeded in their dream of destroying the Constitution.

Ask yourself:

If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an "unlawful enemy combatant" — exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not?

Thoughts on North Korea

When it comes to the secretive and nefarious North Korea, intelligence is limited. We should take every opprotunity to listen to someone who might know what he is talking about.

Hwang Jang Yop is the highest-ranking North Korean government official ever to defect to South Korea. He defected in 1997 at the age of 74. He was a high level official in the North Korean government who knew it's leader, Kim Jong Il personally for years. And he does not like Kim Jong Il. He has even described him as a "Devil".

He is described thusly:

He had been close to the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, the father of Kim Jong Il, and is often described as the younger Kim's former mentor. Hwang is also widely seen as the intellectual architect of the North's "juche" philosophy of self sufficiency.

Mr Hwang has known for a long time that North Korea has nuclear ambitions. He claimed that they signed a deal with Pakistan in 1996 for Uranium technology.

Mr. Hwang has also said that North Korea "Cannot use" Nuclear Weapons because they were only "intended as a threat".

That means that the Republicans' current policy of treating North Korea as a threat is playing right into their hands and legitimizing their quest for nuclear weapons.

Mr. Hwang says that "Six Party Talks are useless" with North Korea and that "sanctions won't work" because they won't hurt Kim Jong Il.

According to Hwang, the key to ending the North Korean threat is... China.

China is the last remaining ally and main aid donor to its impoverished neighbor, but their relations have been strained by Beijing's support of the U.N. resolution. Still, Beijing succeeded in blocking an even tougher one pushed by the U.S. and Japan.

"No Chinese officials like the North Korean leader, but they keep him in power," Hwang said, adding that Kim's regime serves Beijing's interests by helping keep U.S. influence in the region at bay.

Democrats Detail Solutions

Nancy Skinner, Democratic Candidate for Congress, wrote another fantastic piece, detailing her plan to revitalize America's economy, save our outsourced manufacturing base and significantly reduce factors that worsen global warming, all at the SAME TIME!

Meanwhile Republicans continued to stumble around, pointing fingers and making toothless threats.

Ask yourself next month, who would you rather see lead?

Democrats who have a plan to reverse our downward spiral...

or Republicans who can't decide if they want to "stay the course" or "Cut and run."

Republican Poster Child - Mike Tyson!?!

You Know You Are Desperate For Endorsements When...

If I were running for anything the last person I would want endorsing me is a convicted rapist known for biting ears off his opponents.

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio // U.S. Senate candidate Michael S. Steele garnered support from an unlikely source Monday -- former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.

At the news conference in Ohio, where he will return to the ring Friday night, Tyson wore a white-and-blue "Steele for U.S. Senate" T-shirt as he posed for photos with fans and signed autographs.

Mike Shared his expert knowledge of politics with the press:

Tyson said he used to believe black Republicans were "sellouts," but he said he changed his mind after researching the Maryland lieutenant governor.

Mike's epiphany that led him to support a Republican also leads him to believe it is now ok to fight women.

At a news conference at an Italian restaurant, Tyson said he would likely go just four rounds and that future stops on the tour might include bouts with women, possibly professional boxer Ann Wolfe.

When asked if he was joking about fighting women, Tyson said, "I'm very serious."

Republican Pleads Guilty to Bribery

This is not a good year for Republicans. All their chickens seem to be coming home to roost at once.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges in the congressional investigation into corruption and bribery involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to the Justice Department.

Robert F Kennedy Jr Endorses Nancy Skinner

Nancy Skinner's new campaign ad highlights the fact she is running on a platform of solutions and innovative ideas. All "Toilet" Joe Knollenburg has to offer, on every subject, is "Do nothing and we will be ok."

Nancy Skinner For Alternative Fuels

Nancy makes the argument that alternative fuels are possible, but we have to make an effort. This is from 2003 during her anti-SUV campaign. She proposes to take back the welfare money our government currently pays to the oil industry and invest that into making fuel cells viable in the near future, rather then the distant future.

Conservatism is a Mental Illness

I knew it!

A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".

Solving the Korean Stalemate, One Step at a Time

More solutions from Democrats.

While the rightwingers wring their hands, point their fingers and make blustering threats.

By JIMMY CARTER
Published: October 11, 2006

In 1994 the North Koreans expelled inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and were threatening to process spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, giving them the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

With the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula, there was a consensus that the forces of South Korea and the United States could overwhelmingly defeat North Korea. But it was also known that North Korea could quickly launch more than 20,000 shells and missiles into nearby Seoul. The American commander in South Korea, Gen. Gary Luck, estimated that total casualties would far exceed those of the Korean War.

Responding to an invitation from President Kim Il-sung of North Korea, and with the approval of President Bill Clinton, I went to Pyongyang and negotiated an agreement under which North Korea would cease its nuclear program at Yongbyon and permit inspectors from the atomic agency to return to the site to assure that the spent fuel was not reprocessed. It was also agreed that direct talks would be held between the two Koreas.

The spent fuel (estimated to be adequate for a half-dozen bombs) continued to be monitored, and extensive bilateral discussions were held. The United States assured the North Koreans that there would be no military threat to them, that it would supply fuel oil to replace the lost nuclear power and that it would help build two modern atomic power plants, with their fuel rods and operation to be monitored by international inspectors. The summit talks resulted in South Korean President Kim Dae-jung earning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his successful efforts to ease tensions on the peninsula.

But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Responding in its ill-advised but predictable way, Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled atomic energy agency inspectors, resumed processing fuel rods and began developing nuclear explosive devices.

Six-nation talks finally concluded in an agreement last September that called for North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and for the United States and North Korea to respect each other’s sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize relations. Each side subsequently claimed that the other had violated the agreement. The United States imposed severe financial sanctions and Pyongyang adopted the deeply troubling nuclear option.

The current military situation is similar but worse than it was a decade ago: we can still destroy North Korea’s army, but if we do it is likely to result in many more than a million South Korean and American casualties.

If and when it is confirmed that the recent explosion in North Korea was nuclear, the international community will once again be faced with difficult choices.

One option, the most likely one, is to try to force Pyongyang’s leaders to abandon their nuclear program with military threats and a further tightening of the embargoes, increasing the suffering of its already starving people. Two important facts must be faced: Kim Jong-il and his military leaders have proven themselves almost impervious to outside pressure, and both China and South Korea have shown that they are reluctant to destabilize the regime. This approach is also more likely to stimulate further nuclear weapons activity.

The other option is to make an effort to put into effect the September denuclearization agreement, which the North Koreans still maintain is feasible. The simple framework for a step-by-step agreement exists, with the United States giving a firm and direct statement of no hostile intent, and moving toward normal relations if North Korea forgoes any further nuclear weapons program and remains at peace with its neighbors. Each element would have to be confirmed by mutual actions combined with unimpeded international inspections.

Although a small nuclear test is a far cry from even a crude deliverable bomb, this second option has become even more difficult now, but it is unlikely that the North Koreans will back down unless the United States meets this basic demand. Washington’s pledge of no direct talks could be finessed through secret discussions with a trusted emissary like former Secretary of State Jim Baker, who earlier this week said, “It’s not appeasement to talk to your enemies.”

What must be avoided is to leave a beleaguered nuclear nation convinced that it is permanently excluded from the international community, its existence threatened, its people suffering horrible deprivation and its hard-liners in total control of military and political policy.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

Jeb Bush Goes into the Closet

This is too funny. The heat is on. The President's brother is not a popular person and he doesn't keep very popular friends.

By now, Mr. Bush was cornered. He was surrounded by signs that said "Pittsburgh is a Santorum Free Zone," "Honk if you're sick of Rick," and a crowd growing increasingly louder, according to Mr. Vandenburgh...

As a precaution, the governor was ushered into a T-station supply closet and stayed there until the crowd left.

The Democrats' Positive Message

100Actions.com has a post called "Spread Our Positive Message" that's worth checking out...

It's not enough to harp on unethical and incompetent Republican behavior. Remind your friends and family of the Democratic Agenda and the many reasons to vote for Democrats this fall.

Below are seven of the planned positive changes Democrats plan to make:

1. Double the size of Special Forces to destroy Osama Bin Laden and terrorist networks like al Qaeda.

2. Implement the bipartisan 9/11 Commission proposal to secure America’s borders and ports and screen 100% of containers.

3. Prohibit the Congressional pay raise until the nation's minimum wage is raised.

4. Make college tuition deductible from taxes, permanently. Cut student loan interest rates. Expand Pell Grants.

5. Pass initiatives for energy-efficient technologies and domestic alternatives such as biofuels.

6. Fix the Medicare prescription drug program, putting seniors first by negotiating lower drug prices and ending wasteful giveaways to drug companies and HMOs.

7. Promote stem cell research that offers real hope to millions of American families who suffer from devastating diseases.

Nancy Skinner for Congress

You Know Your Campaign is Going Badly When...

This is like Christmas in October.

The Backstory:

On September 15, 2004, a woman locked herself inside the bathroom of Sherwood's Washington, D.C. apartment, and called 911 to report she was assaulted. When police arrived, the woman, Cynthia Ore, accused Sherwood of choking her, though he maintained he was only giving her a backrub. No charges were filed because both Sherwood and Ore refused to provide any details.

The details of that incident went unnoticed until 2005, when Veronica Hannevig, who ran against Sherwood on the Constitution Party ticket in 2004, distributed a copy of the police report to several newspapers and television stations. Sherwood initially contended that Ore was merely a "casual acquaintance". [1] He eventually admitted he had a five-year extramarital affair with Ore, but denied abusing her. [2]

Ore later filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against Sherwood, accusing him of repeatedly assaulting her during their relationship. [3] On November 8, 2005, Sherwood and Ore ended the lawsuit by reaching a settlement, the terms of which were not released.

The Ore incident damaged Sherwood’s standing with some Republicans. In April 2006, Martha Rainville, a Republican running for the U.S. House seat in Vermont, announced that she would return a campaign contribution from Sherwood’s political action committee. She cited her belief in "strong family values". [4] But Sherwood received strong support from Republican leaders for the 2006 Republican primary in his district

The Plot in PageGate Thickens

Hastert only has days to save his job.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, under fire for his handling of the Foley page scandal, may have just one or two days to turn the affair around–or quiet it– or face being forced to step aside, say senior GOP House and party officials.

--------------------------------------------------

Congressman Tom Reynolds, who has been accused of covering up about Mark Foley's predatory practices, tried to hide behind a group of children today to avoid questions about the Foley scandal.

"Reporter: Congressman, do you mind asking the children to leave the room so we can have a frank discussion of this, because it's an adult topic. It just doesn't seem appropriate to me.

Reynolds: I'll take your questions, but I'm not going to ask any of my supporters to leave.

Reporter: Who are the children, Congressman? Who are these children?

Reynolds: Pardon me?

Reporter: Who are these children?

Reynolds: Well, a number of them are from the community. There are several of the "thirtysomething" set that are here and uh I've known them and I've known their children as they were born.

Reporter: Do you think it's appropriate for them to be listening to the subject matter though?

Reynolds: Sir, I'll be happy to answer your questions, I'm still, uh…"

----------------------------------------------
And if you think that is shameful, then check this out:
Matt Drudge blamed the victims. He said the pages were "egging the congressman on".

"And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I've seen what they're doing on YouTube and I've seen what they're doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You're not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven't got the whole story on this."

Cafferty asks, "What Are We Becoming?"

He says it so well:

Cafferty: President Bush is trying to pardon himself. Here's the deal: Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva Conventions are felonies, in some cases punishable by death. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Convention applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys were suddenly in big trouble. They've been working these prisoners over pretty good. In an effort to avoid possible prosecution they're trying to cram this bill through Congress before the end of the week before Congress adjourns. The reason there's such a rush to do this? If the Democrats get control of the House in November this kind of legislation probably wouldn't pass.

Republicans Protected Pedo-Foley!!!

There have been some very disturbing updates in the Pedo-Foley Scandal, the latest scandal to rock the Republians.

Also, turns out pages were being warned about Foley as early as 2001.

There have been more and more examples of what Foley actually said coming out and many of them are "too graphic to be broadcast."

Screw it, I'll publish it. This is what blogs are for!

Get a load of some of the CREEPY messages, from Congressman Foley to a 16 year old Page:

Maf54 (7:37:27 PM): how my favorite young stud doing
Maf54 (7:39:32 PM): you need a massage
Maf54 (7:46:33 PM): did any girl give you a haand job this weekend
Maf54 (7:48:00 PM): did you spank it this weekend yourself
Maf54 (7:54:31 PM): where do you unload it
Maf54 (7:55:02 PM): completely naked?
Maf54 (7:55:51 PM): cute butt bouncing in the air
Maf54 (7:58:37 PM): well I have aa totally stiff wood now
Maf54 (7:59:48 PM): is your little guy limp…or growing
Maf54 (8:00:12 PM): so you got a stiff one now

Turns out Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert has known for quite some time that Foley was compromised, but he did nothing because he didn't want to risk losing that seat.

Yes, that is right, he protected a potential pedophile purely to maintain politcial power.

It's good to see Reid and Pelosi displaying some Cahones for a change.

Even people I wouldn't normally expect to speak up about this are coming out hard with the condemnation of the Republcians for this disgusting protection of a homosexual pedophile.

How is this for Creepy?

H.R.5749
Title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to protect youth from exploitation by adults using the Internet, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Foley, Mark [FL-16] (introduced 7/10/2006)

ABC aired a segment about this scandal:

Nancy Skinner on Flashpoint this Morning

Nancy Skinner did a great job on Flashpoint this morning! She was articulate, forceful and stayed on message.

Good Job Nancy!

.

The George Allen Insult Generator

This really could have been used with just about any Republican these days.

CLICK HERE

Another "Family Values" Republican

Up till now Rep. Foley claimed the emails he sent to a 16 year old house Paige were innocent, but if so, why resign over it?

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Six-term Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida will resign from the U.S. Congress following allegations he sent inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old male congressional intern, Republican sources said on Friday.

Obviously the boy wasn't comfortable with it:

According to the CREW posting, the boy e-mailed a colleague in Alexander's office about Foley's e-mails, saying, "This freaked me out." On the request for a photo, the boy repeated the word "sick" 13 times.

Wesley Clark - What We Must Do Now

Wesley Clark wrote this article which will appear in the Oct 2nd issue of Newsweek. He titled it as though it would lay out his own plan, but it really seems more like a list of what we must not continue doing.

Bush was Offered Bin Laden before 9-11 and IGNORED It!!!

The scene is the White House Pressroom.
The date is February 27th, 2001.

Q- Ari, according to India Globe, the Taliban in Afghanistan, they have offered that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia if the United States would drop its sanctions, and they have a kind of deal that they want to make with the United States. Do you have any comments?

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me take that and get back to you on that.

There is no record of the Bush Administration taking any action on this offer!
Why isn't this reported in the so-called "liberal" media?

Our thanks to the guys over at Counterpunch.

Clinton sets them up and Olbermann delivers the K.O.

Bill Clinton's interview on Fox News this Sunday really started a firestorm on the blogsphere. As has been pointed out this interview served to energize both sides of the aisle this week, but it has become clear that it put Democrats on the offensive and sent Republicans reeling on the defensive and scrambling to spin the interview.

The watchdogs over at Mediamatters caught Wallace in the lie of claiming that he asked the same questions of the Bush administration.

The Fox Propaganda machine became extremely transparent Monday when users of sites like Youtube and ifilm started seeing this message when looking for the Clinton interview:

"This video has been removed by youtube at the demand of Fox News."

Then the Huffington Post exposed the fact that Fox posted an EDITED version of the interview that left out key parts of Clinton's argument.

This was so transparent it started a deluge of letters from angry Americans like myself who accused Fox of censorship. Apparently some well placed letters had an effect, because by this evening, Fox posted a corrected clip and transcript of the interview and they stopped censoring the videos on youtube. Or it is possible that Youtube simply stopped obeying their "demands". I really don't know for sure yet.

And finally good old Keith Olbermann, the best news anchor on television today, delivered the K.O. (appropriate initials, eh?) with his special comments on Monday.

After five years of skirting even the most inarguable of facts — that he was President on 9/11 and he must bear some responsibility for his, and our, unreadiness, Mr. Bush has now moved, unmistakably and without conscience or shame, towards re-writing history, and attempting to make the responsibility, entirely Mr. Clinton’s.

Of course he is not honest enough to do that directly.

As with all the other nefariousness and slime of this, our worst presidency since James Buchanan, he is having it done for him, by proxy.

Thus, the sandbag effort by Fox News, Friday afternoon.

Consider the timing: The very same weekend the National Intelligence Estimate would be released and show the Iraq war to be the fraudulent failure it is — not a check on terror, but fertilizer for it!

The kind of proof of incompetence, for which the administration and its hyenas at Fox need to find a diversion, in a scapegoat.

It was the kind of cheap trick which would get a journalist fired — but a propagandist, promoted.

Republican Hypocricy... Again

When the issue was Genocide in the former Soviet Republic, the Republicans were singing a VERY different tune. They were second guessing our committment to freedom from Genocide and demanding that we cut and run.

"President Clinton is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be
away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."

-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it."

-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/5/99

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."

-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."

-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of presidential candidate George W. Bush


Why did they demoralize our brave men and women in uniform?

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."

-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)


"You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo."

-Tony Snow, Fox News 3/24/99


"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years"

-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)


"I'm on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so you can trust me and believe me when I say we're running out of cruise missles. I can't tell you exactly how many we have left, for security reasons, but we're almost out of cruise missles."

-Senator Inhofe (R-OK )

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarifiedrules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"

-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

"I don't know that Milosevic will ever raise a white flag"

-Senator Don Nickles (R-OK)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"

-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99

"We Have Not Forgotten, Mr. President."

Keith Olbermann tells it like it is once again. I agree with the Nation, "Keith Olbermann is without a doubt the best news anchor on television today."

Daily Chimp-O-Matic

Well, we've made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action.

--George w. Bush

Washington, DC
04/28/2005

Mocking Bush is my patriotic duty

By Bill Maher
Sept. 8, 2006 | New rule: Bad presidents happen to good people. Amid all the 9/11 anniversary talk about what will keep us safe, let me suggest that in a world turned hostile to America, the smartest message we can send to those beyond our shores is, "We're not with stupid." Therefore, I contend -- with all seriousness -- that ridiculing this president is now the most patriotic thing you can do. Let our allies and our enemies alike know that there's a whole swath of Americans desperate to distance themselves from Bush's foreign policies. And that's just Republicans running for reelection.

Now, of course, you're gonna say, "But Bill, ridiculing Bush is like shooting fish in a barrel," or, as Dick Cheney calls it, "hunting." Maybe, but right now it's important, because America is an easily misunderstood country these days -- a lot of the time it's hard to make out what we're saying over the bombs we're dropping.

But we are not all people who think putting a boot in your ass is the way to solve problems, because even allowing that my foot lodged in your ass would feel good, which I don't -- what then? OK, my boot is in your ass, but I can't get it out, so I'm not happy, and it's in you, so you're not happy -- there's no exit strategy.

Anyone who opposes the indefinite occupation of Iraq shouldn't be labeled an al-Qaida supporter. That's like saying that if I tell my exterminator that there are more efficient ways to rid the house of vermin than hitting them with a hammer, I'm "for the rats."

Questioning whether it still makes sense to keep troops under fire is supporting the troops. Asking for a plan supports the troops; asking when they'll be leaving supports the troops. Sitting around parsing the definition of "civil war" doesn't support the troops, it supports the president, and he's not a soldier, he just plays one on TV.

So yes, for the sake of homeland security, I ridicule the president -- but it gives me no pleasure to paint him as a dolt, a rube, a yokel on the world stage, a submental, three bricks shy of a load, a Gilligan unable to find his own ass with two hands. Or, as Sean Hannity calls it, "Reaganesque."

No, it pains me to say these things, because I know deep down George Bush has something extra -- a chromosome. Cruel? Perhaps, but it may just have saved lives. By doing the extra chromosome joke, I sent a message to a young Muslim man somewhere in the world who's on a slow burn about this country, and perhaps got him to think, "Maybe the people of America aren't so bad. Maybe it's just the rodeo clown who leads them. Maybe the people 'get it.'" We do, Achmed, we do!

And that's why making fun of the president keeps this country safe. The proof? I've been doing it nonstop for years, and there hasn't been another attack. Maybe the reason they haven't attacked us again is they figured we're already suffering enough.

If I could explain one thing about George W. Bush to the rest of the world it's this: We don't know what the hell he's saying either! Trust me, foreigners, there's nothing lost in translation, it's just as incoherent in the original English. Yes, we voted for him -- twice -- but that's because we're stupid, not because we're bad. Bush is just one of those things that are really popular for a few years and then almost overnight become completely embarrassing. You know, like leg warmers, or Hootie and the Blowfish, or white people going, "Oh no you di-int."

So while honoring the anniversary of September 2001, we must also never forget September 2000. That's the month when Gov. George W. Bush said, "I understand it's hard to put food on your family." If you don't believe me, you can look it up on both internets. The world changed on 9/11. He didn't. That's why we owe it to ourselves, and our children, to never stop pointing out that George W. Bush is a gruesome boob!

Olbermann Blasts Rummy

GOD BLESS Keith Olbermann!!!

Senate Calls Bush's Bullshit

The US Senate released a report saying that there was no evidence of any ties between Saddam and Al Queda before the 2003 Invasion.

So if even the Republican controlled Senate no longer believes the Bullshit used to justify the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq that has increased terrorism worldwide and led to the deaths of almost 3000 U.S. soldiers, that says quite a bit about the Republican party's imminent implosion.

Another article about this story pointed out:

As recently as an Aug. 21 news conference, Bush said people should "imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein" with the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction and "who had relations with Zarqawi."

I wonder if Bush will try to get ABC to make another fake dramatization to get the Republicans back on his side?

If We Didn't Laugh We Would Cry

John Stewart is a godsend to the American people in this time of need.

Condi Can Lie

Can we believe anything Condi says?

Apparently not.

CLAIM: "We decided immediately to continue pursuing the Clinton Administration's covert action authorities and other efforts to fight the network."

FACT: Newsweek reported that "In the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called 'Catcher's Mitt' to monitor al-Qaida suspects in the United States." Additionally, AP reported "though Predator drones spotted Osama bin Laden as many as three times in late 2000, the Bush administration did not fly the unmanned planes over Afghanistan during its first eight months," thus terminating the reconnaissance missions started during the Clinton Administration. [Sources: Newsweek, 3/21/04; AP, 6/25/03]

CLAIM: "The strategy set as its goal the elimination of the al-Qaida network. It ordered the leadership of relevant U.S. departments and agencies to make the elimination of al-Qaida a high priority and to use all aspects of our national power -- intelligence, financial, diplomatic, and military -- to meet this goal."

FACT: 9/11 Comissioner Jamie Gorelick: "Is it true, as Dr. Rice said, 'Our plan called for military options to attack Al Qaida and Taliban leadership'?" Armitage: "No, I think that was amended after the horror of 9/11." [Source: 9/11 Commission testimony, 3/24/04]

CLAIM: "We bolstered the Treasury Department's activities to track and seize terrorist assets."

FACT: The new Bush Treasury Department "disapproved of the Clinton Administration's approach to money laundering issues, which had been an important part of the drive to cut off the money flow to bin Laden." Specifically, the Bush Administration opposed Clinton Administration-backed efforts by the G-7 and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that targeted countries with "loose banking regulations" being abused by terrorist financiers. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration provided "no funding for the new National Terrorist Asset Tracking Center." [Source: "The Age of Sacred Terror," 2003]

CLAIM: "We moved quickly to arm Predator unmanned surveillance vehicles for action against al-Qaida."

FACT: According to AP, "the military successfully tested an armed Predator throughout the first half of 2001" but the White House "failed to resolve a debate over whether the CIA or Pentagon should operate the armed Predators" and the armed Predator never got off the ground before 9/11. [Source: AP, 6/25/03]

CLAIM: "We increased funding for counterterrorism activities across several agencies."

FACT: Upon taking office, the 2002 Bush budget proposed to slash more than half a billion dollars out of funding for counterterrorism at the Justice Department. In preparing the 2003 budget, the New York Times reported that the Bush White House "did not endorse F.B.I. requests for $58 million for 149 new counterterrorism field agents, 200 intelligence analysts and 54 additional translators" and "proposed a $65 million cut for the program that gives state and local counterterrorism grants." Newsweek noted the Administration "vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism." [Sources: 2001 vs. 2002 Budget Analysis; NY Times, 2/28/02; Newsweek, 5/27/02]

CLAIM: "While we were developing this new strategy to deal with al-Qaida, we also made decisions on a number of specific anti-al-Qaida initiatives that had been proposed by Dick Clarke."

FACT: Rice's statement finally confirms what she previously – and inaccurately – denied. She falsely claimed on 3/22/04 that "No al-Qaida plan was turned over to the new administration." [Washington Post, 3/22/04]


CLAIM: "The threat reporting that we received in the Spring and Summer of 2001 was not specific as to...manner of attack."

FACT: ABC News reported, Bush Administration "officials acknowledged that U.S. intelligence officials informed President Bush weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden's terrorist network might try to hijack American planes." Dateline NBC reported that on August 6, 2001, the President personally "received a one-and-a-half page briefing advising him that Osama bin Laden was capable of a major strike against the US, and that the plot could include the hijacking of an American airplane." Rice herself actually admitted this herself, saying the Aug. 6 briefing the President received said "terrorists might attempt to hijack a U.S. aircraft." [Sources: ABC News, 5/16/02; NBC, 9/10/02]

CLAIM: "When threat reporting increased during the Spring and Summer of 2001, we moved the U.S. Government at all levels to a high state of alert and activity."

FACT: Documents indicate that before Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top billing in their strategic plans for the Justice Department, which includes the FBI." Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until Oct. 1, 2001, said during the summer, terrorism had moved "farther to the back burner" and recounted how the Bush Administration's top two Pentagon appointees, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, "shut down" a plan to weaken the Taliban. Similarly, Gen. Don Kerrick, who served in the Bush White House, sent a memo to the new Administration saying "We are going to be struck again" by al Qaeda, but he never heard back. He said terrorism was not "above the waterline. They were gambling nothing would happen." [Sources: Washington Post, 3/22/04; LA Times, 3/30/04]

R.I.P. Steve Irwin - Crocodile Hunter

I am actually kinda bummed about this. I liked his show and the energy the guy had because he loved what he did.

Steve Irwin killed by a stingray.

Motto for Contemporary Progressives

"Illegitimis nil carborundum" - Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Quote of the Day

I apologise for the lack of any updates over the last month. I have been dealing with a painful case of diverticulitis.

Here is the quote of the day, from John Edwards:

"It's clear that bloggers played a big role. They've shown how much influence they can have. Influence in a positive way. Bloggers are going to play a big role, not just locally, but nationally."

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing
industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home or go hungry because of his temporary misfortune.

It's noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his
below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck
his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

Republican Calls for Democratic Majority in Congress

It looks as though some Republicans are so disgusted with corruption in their party that they are supporting a Democratic Majority in Congress in order to restore checks and balances.

It has been difficult, nevertheless, to conclude as I have, that the Republican House leadership has been so unalterably corrupted by power and money that reasonable Republicans should support Democrats against DeLay-type Republican incumbents in 2006.
- Pete McCloskey, former Republican Congressman

Republicans - The Party of Death Threats?

Why is it that the average Republican reaction to someone that they don't like is to either make death threats or wish death upon them?

Is this the Compassionate Conservatism that George Bush Sr. spoke of?


Ann Coulter calls for Execution of New York Times Staff.


Bill O'Reilly Wishes death on Jerry Springer.


Coulter AGAIN calls for NYT staff to be executed.


Michael Savage advocates killing 100 million Muslims.


Coulter Wishes death on Bill Clinton


Coulter suggests someone put Rat Poison in Justice Stevens's Creme Brulee


This one makes me laugh:

Defending Coulter, O'Reilly and Limbaugh claimed she "doesn't lie"

George "Stay The Course" Bush... Changes Course!

George W. Bush is once again getting the usual kid glove treatment from the Corporate Media.

The Chimp in Chief said two very important things today, but they were spun so well by the Media that you would think it came straight from Karen Hughes' desk.

WASHINGTON -
President Bush said Tuesday a new plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in the besieged capital of Baghdad will help quell rising violence that is threatening
Iraq's transformation to a self-sustaining democracy.

"Obviously the violence in Baghdad is still terrible and therefore there needs to be more troops," Bush said in a White House news conference with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

First, Bush admitted that the situation in Iraq is, in fact, not improving, it is getting worse.

Second, he changed his message from "Stay the Course" to "We Need a New Plan".

Gee, where have I heard that before? Oh yes! John Kerry's campaign in 2004!

Too bad President Arbusto was too busy listening to his ipod during the debates instead of the very salient and relevent points his superior opponent was making.
He could have figured out this no-brainer 2 years ago.

Congratulations Paperclip Guy!

Kyle MacDonald, who singlehandedly restored the value of the barter system for the 21st century, has completed his quest to trade one red paperclip for things of increasing value until he gets a house.

He got a house!

Why Lieberman Needs To Go

Congressman Joe Lieberman has stated recently that if he lost the Democratic primary then he might consider running for President as an indepentant.

That would be a huge blessing for the Democrats.

Lieberman is considered a Benedict Arnold to Most Democrats, who know him as the Fox News regular who has nothing good to say about his own party. Lieberman is a favorite of Republicans who like to point to him to claim they are not partisan. There is even a movement on the right to have Lieberman run with McCain.

If Lieberman ran as an independant he would draw off more Republican votes then Democratic, and would actually be helping the Democrats by leaving their party.

Lets face it, after witnessing the Republican election antics from 2000 and 2004, the only way the Democrats can win an election now is for it to be a landslide, so that Republican manipulation of the votes can't cope with the sheer numbers.

If Democrats are smart, especially in Liebermans's district, they will oppose his bid for the Democratic nomination because that is clearly what is best for the party.

How Much Fear Can The Fear Mongers.... um, Monge?

Is Bush wagging the dog again?

For a week, the Conservative Media has been inundating Americans with the idea of a threat from North Korea because they were going to test fire some missiles. Just a couple of Months ago the threat of the day was Iran, but that story lost ratings as America's tiny attention span was distracted by important issues like American Idol. As soon as they sensed slow news cycle begin, that could cause the media to slip into covering relevant issues out of boredom, this wonderfully convenient story pops up.

The Conservative Media, in all their fear-mongering glory, have managed to convince many Americans of a few erroneous things:

1. That North Korea's "new" missiles constitute a threat to America. This is technology that America was testing back in the 1960s. The farthest that their new "long range" missile can reach would be Alaska. We have submarine based Trident Missiles with longer ranges than that, parked right in North Korea's backyard.

Now, while it would be an ecological disaster if they did Nuke Alaska, the reality is that Alaska is a target of negative strategic value. If they bombed Alaska it would gain them nothing and would immediately unite America and the world against them.

North Korea would have a better chance of inflicting damage on American soil with a Submarine launched missile, which they have possessed for years but have not used. The only realistic possibility is that they might try invading South Korea in an attempt to reunite their country. America needs to ask itself, after the fall of the Soviet Union, is "Communism" still such a threatening concept that we would risk nuclear war to oppose it? It was Stalinism that was the real threat in the 50s, but Chinese Communists are our "Most Favored Trade Partner".

2. That America is capable of actually committing the necessary forces against North Korea right now. We are already fighting on two fronts, Afghanistan and Iraq. Our Military is already "strained and at risk" because of our current commitments.

3. That Bush's empty threats constitute "diplomacy". One of Bush's first actions in office was to cut off direct talks with North Korea and he has refused to talk to them since. Instead of just sitting down and talking with North Korea, Bush was demanding six party talks with North Korea so we could gang up on them. Who in their right mind would accept that? This is High School Diplomacy, where Bush can't even talk to the big bad bully nation without his entire friend's behind him.

Consider the timing of this new "threat". Bush is one of the most unpopular Presidents in history. He has had approval ratings below 50% for his entire second term. His domestic policies have done nothing but cause the middle class in America to disappear even faster. The gap between the rich and the poor in America is larger then in any other advanced country.

Bush's foreign policies have all been bungled from the very beginning. His War of choice in Iraq hamstrung our efforts in Afghanistan, weakening the new government we helped create there and allowing the Taliban to regain a foothold in that country.

The "plan" Bush used to invade Iraq turned out to be one of the most inept, overly optimistic and shortsighted mistakes the U.S. has ever made.

Bush and the entire Republican Party, which dominates and controls all three branches of our Government right now, need a distraction. They have nothing to offer America except fear mongering. They are trying their damnest to keep America scared. From Bird Flu to Gay Marriage, from Iran to North Korea and their favorite standby, the ever nebulous generic threat of "The Terrorists". They are trying their damnest to keep America scared out of their wits.

Why?

Because if Americans do come to their senses, they will call for regime change at home.

But the Republicans only need to continue this until November.

The Clock is ticking...

Will America wake up in time?

Tune in tomorrow and see!