Officers and Gentlemen..

Bill Moyers makes an impassioned speech in his lecture at the United States Military Academy to a group of our future military officers.

(from Common Dreams): The Entire speech is, like all of Moyer's lectures, inspiring, thoughtful and poetic.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-21.htm

An Excerpt:

We were warned of this by our founders. They had put themselves in jeopardy by signing the Declaration of Independence; if they had lost, that parchment could have been their death warrant, for they were traitors to the Crown and likely to be hanged. In the fight for freedom they had put themselves on the line—not just their fortunes and sacred honor but their very persons, their lives. After the war, forming a government and understanding both the nature of war and human nature, they determined to make it hard to go to war except to defend freedom; war for reasons save preserving the lives and liberty of your citizens should be made difficult to achieve, they argued. Here is John Jay’s passage in Federalist No. 4:

It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it; nay, absolute monarchs will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for the purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans. These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by justice or the voice and interests of his people.

And here, a few years later, is James Madison, perhaps the most deliberative mind of that generation in assaying the dangers of an unfettered executive prone to war:

In war, a physical force is to be created, and it is the executive will which is to direct it. In war, the public treasures are to be unlocked, and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war, the honors and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed. It is in war, finally, that laurels are to be gathered; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venial love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.

I want to be clear on this: Vietnam did not make me a dove. Nor has Iraq; I am no pacifist. But they have made me study the Constitution more rigorously, both as journalist and citizen. Again, James Madison:

In no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war and peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department. Beside the objection to such a mixture to heterogeneous powers, the trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man.

Twice in 40 years we have now gone to war paying only lip service to those warnings; the first war we lost, the second is a bloody debacle, and both rank among the great blunders in our history. It is impossible for soldiers to sustain in the field what cannot be justified in the Constitution; asking them to do so puts America at war with itself. So when the Vice President of the United States says it doesn’t matter what the people think, he and the President intend to prosecute the war anyway, he is committing heresy against the fundamental tenets of the American political order.

The full article is an amazing trip through the history of our American military and the inherent duties of each officer. He concludes with this statement:

I know the final rule of the military Code of Conduct is already written in your hearts: “I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free...” The meaning of freedom begins with the still, small voice of conscience, when each of us decides what we will live, or die, for.

MCCS1977

Yo-
I am joining the Military Group-Blog MCCS1977 - Making Conservatives Cringe since 1977 headed by Frederick Bieling. That means my posts may be fewer and far between right here... I don't know yet. There's a great group of people over there that I am joining - Navyswan, Bacchus, and of course Fred, himself.

My weird mix of Ultra-Liberal, Extreme TRUE Conservative, Redneck Blue-Collar, Elite intellectualism will be tempered by their worthy perspectives.

So Check it out - Put it on your blogroll and comment away. I will probably still be posting my own fiery brand of West Texas tinged Political Turmoil here from time to time too...

http://www.mccs1977.com/

Here's my first post on MCCS- Where is RFK when you need him?

If not us, who. If not now, when

This is actually a reply to one of my longtime detractors, a fellow Texan, Caveman. It is response to his canned reply to yesterdays' post:

Caveman said:
"Fade do you belive everything the terrorist say?"

Fade said:
No, I hate everything the neocons stand for.

Seriously, How in the hell do you separate one of these terrorists from the other? How do you separate the men who sponsors kidnapping and torture on noncombatants, who has ordered clusterbombs dropped in civilian areas, (Rumsfeld,Bush) from the men who sends teens into civilian areas strapped with a suicide bomb (Hamas leaders)?

Both are evil men who use others to sow seeds of destruction. Both groups' acts do not Protect their peoples nor secure their holdings. The Iraq "War" is NOT a war. The Israel/Palestinian situation is NOT a war. A war is a battle between two organized sides for control. There are many on both sides of each of those situations that want only peace. But we are infiltrated by terrorists like YOU, Caveman, on every side; men like you who SPONSOR terror, murder, violence, mayhem and help fan the flames of hate towards their own people.

Do you want to know what a terrorist thinks, Caveman? Look in the mirror. Everytime you say that we need to kill them all, everytime you say it's okay to kill their children, everytime you turn a blind eye to yet another dead Palestinian family - You are condoning Terrorist activities. I don't cringe in fear of those who want to kill me. I don't want to kill their family members or their kids, or their entire nation in retribution for the hate of a few. I rise above the shit that you are wallowing in. I Hold out my hand in TRUE peace, in True Humanity to those who desire peace- and luckily for us all- there are more of US than there are of you bloodthirsty bastards.

I look at my kids, and I do have fears- Fears that my kids will live in a world of hate because people are too damn stubborn to give up their hates and find common ground in their humanity. Maybe one day, you can put your own humanity before your hate. I hope for ALL of our sakes, that everyone of you out there that believes that terror,murder,and torture is the answer can do so for the world's sake. It starts with each of us.

If not us, who? If not now, when?
Murdering each other endlessly is not an answer.

Israel's hypocrisy knows no bounds

"I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbours in the hope that it won't be returned empty." Ehud Olmert, Nov.2006

Olmert calls for peace with Palestine (from the BBC). Do his words mean anything?
Full Article

On October 30th, Olmert gave a speech to the Knesset in which he equated that all Palestinian victims over the last few months were terrorists. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed in the past four months by the aggressive actions of the IDF. Most of those were women and children.

If Olmert's appalling reaction to the Hezbollah conflict is any indication, his idea of holding out his hand in peace is simply to allow Palestinian leaders to kiss his ring. This is simply a ploy to mollify world opinion at the prompting of Bush, who is at his lowest point politically. If Israel continues their slash and burn method of the so-called peace process then pretty soon they will lose any credibility they once held. After Olmert's horrendous handling of the Lebanon situation, he doesn't have any political capital to spare either.

Olmert claimed that Lebanon was at fault for not disarming Hezbollah, and he began their pre-planned campaign to punish Hezbollah (and ALL of Lebanon- christians and non-Hezbollah be damned). Lebanon was a tragic mistake. And it gave the world, who had grown tired and forgetful of the atrocities committed against the Palestinians, fresh perspective of just how damned callous and destructive that Israel's policies are: 1,000 Lebanese civilians dead, $500 million dollars worth of damage, millions of dollars worth of missles spent bombing every possible target (including UN peacekeepers) and Israel still lost- having to draw back in defeat as Hezbollah proved a wilier foe than they imagined.

Peacemaking efforts ARE the answer. I just don't know how much of Olmert's "Peace" the middle east can take. He's a liar and like most of the "Kill them before they kill us" crowd, he's a violent, immoral fool who justifies the deaths of hundreds of children as a necessity that will eventually save Israeli lives.

He is wrong. Comparing the actions and words of Israel's ruling neocons with those of America's ruling neocons reveals that under such leadership any peace process has been disastrously hindered. Both governments' are now guilty of tyrannical atrocities that will NEVER promote any serious peace. And as the world recognizes this more and more, the opinion of both the United States and Israel plummet. It then becomes harder and harder to talk of peace believably or even implement diplomacy seriously.

A recent American visitor to Israel speaks of the hypocrisy:
A Vision of Peace, a Reality of Hypocrisy

Will Israel eventually become a victim of its own hate and aggression? Can Israelis who want to live in peace EVER take back their country from the far right wing radicals, who love nothing so much as spilling blood in the name of their country?

And, as an American, just how close to Israel's self-destructive behavior is the United States moving?

Related articles:

Israeli Responsiblity

Laying mines in Lebanon:

Previous blogs I have written about the Israeli/Palestine Conflict
House of the Rising Sons I: Palestine

Thanksgiving Prayer

2006 Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanks for a nation of new brown people to punish and kill
Thanks for our main stream media, to whose lies we can thrill
Thanks for our President's attention deficit disorder,
Thanks for our constitution, even though it's now a bit shorter
Thanks for torture, extradition and the secret tucked away prison
Thanks for the American flag blindfolds, to block out our vision
Thanks for our troops dying over there and not here
Thanks for our Pundit overlords, who assure us they aren't queer
Thanks for a most Christian god, and America so uniquely blessed
Thanks for tax cuts for the rich and our minimum wage repressed
Thanks for $10,000 plates at Political fundraisers
Thanks for a patriotic line that we can tightrope like razors

But Thank you the most for showing us the truth of our democracy
and forcing us all to kneel, bow and scrape at the altar of hypocrisy.

My Thanks this Thanksgiving are for Americans like Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, Keith Olbermann, Matt Taibbi, Navyswan, Actor212, Fred, John Amato, Mirth, Buck, QuestionGirl, Bacchus, Larry Johnson, Juan Cole, Amy Goodman, Johnathan Alter, Seymour Hersh, Ava Lowery, the crew at General de Jesus and the thousands of others out there who aren't afraid to tell it like it fucking is.

Salut!

More

http://despair.com/watchmore.html

This odd little video is Six minutes long, It's Quicktime. But it is ...

I don't really have the words for once.

Watch it.

Explosives Found Inside Iraq's Green Zone

Is this the beginning of the End?

From Americablog, two U.S. troopers taunt Iraqi children with a bottle of water...

And some comments from Americablog...

That kid will remember Americans for the rest of his life. He'll remember running through dirty streets with sewer puddles, in the heat and the dust, for a plastic bottle of designer water from the laughing Americans. If he survives our destruction of his country, could you blame him if he grew up to be another Bin Laden?What you sow, so shall you reap. Webster

There are 1000 actions like this happening every day in Iraq. Why DOES ANYONE think having our troops in Iraq is HELPING A damn thing? Our troops HATE the Iraqi people more and more day by day and the Iraqi people grow to hate the American presence every day as well. What happens when the Iraqis finally consolidate their power enough to make real strikes against U.S. troops?This is FREEING Iraq? THIS is giving them hope? THIS is helping the Iraqi people?I don't fucking think so.And when it all goes to hell and there's a mad rush back to the green zones and out- Will every damn one of these Pro-War fools say that they couldn't have foreseen it coming? Fade

War is Hell.
MC Haiku

"War is Hell" makes it alright? This isn't a War! This is systematically destroying an entire country so the military industrial complex can't make billions. This is most inept plan to steal Iraq's oil ever dreamed up in the mind of shallow millionaire pundit assholes like Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer. In the end, we are getting less oil now that we got from Saddam.No ONE can say Iraq is in better shape now than when Saddam was in charge. Anyone who defends and supports US Presence in Iraq at this point is a complete and utter fool who is SUPPORTING our troops being killed EVERY DAMN DAY.The mission was a farce if the goal was liberating Iraqis, controlling the oil or instituting Democracy. The mission was a complete success if the goal was destabilizing the Middle East, killing a million Iraqis, increasing terrorism and anti-american sentiment among muslims and making RICHER men out of the Cheney's, the Rumsfelds, the CEOs of Bechtel and Halliburton, AND - not to mention, bankrupting the U.S.treasury.How many dead American troops will the Pro-War types balk at? How many more Americans will have to die before you bastards see that you've been had?
Fade

Ah the magic of democracy and the beauty of taunting impoverished children for a mere laugh.George W. Bush's America ladies and gentlemen.-
GSD

How valuable or scarce is fresh water in Iraq that a kid would run that far just for one bottle? There's a underlying story about living conditions that would lead to the desperation shown by these kids. Once dropped, the kids on the street swarmed the lone bottle. WTF is going on with the reconstruction? Turk, Meister

How many more people, on both sides, will die before the Pro-War crowd PULLS THEIR FUCKING HEADS OUT OF THEIR ASSES?!?!

Time to end the illegal occupation. This IS NOT A WAR. There is no Winning. It's just a matter of HOW MUCH We WILL Lose in the end.

Bush's Vietnam Field trip

Olbermann's special comment on Bush's trip to Vietnam:

Full Article

EXCERPTS:

It is a shame and it is embarrassing to us all when President Bush travels 8,000 miles only to wind up avoiding reality again. And it is pathetic to listen to a man talk unrealistically about Vietnam, who permitted the “Swift-Boating” of not one but two American heroes of that war, in consecutive presidential campaigns. But most importantly — important beyond measure — his avoidance of reality is going to wind up killing more Americans.

And that is indefensible and fatal.

Asked if there were lessons about Iraq to be found in our experience in Vietnam, Mr. Bush said that there were, and he immediately proved he had no clue what they were.
“One lesson is,” he said, “that we tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is going to take a while.”

“We’ll succeed,” the president concluded, “unless we quit.”

If that’s the lesson about Iraq that Mr. Bush sees in Vietnam, then he needs a tutor.
Or we need somebody else making the decisions about Iraq. Mr. Bush, there are a dozen central, essential lessons to be derived from our nightmare in Vietnam, but “we’ll succeed unless we quit,” is not one of them.

The primary one — which should be as obvious to you as the latest opinion poll showing that only 31 percent of this country agrees with your tragic Iraq policy — is that if you try to pursue a war for which the nation has lost its stomach, you and it are finished. Ask Lyndon Johnson.

The second most important lesson of Vietnam, Mr. Bush: If you don’t have a stable local government to work with, you can keep sending in Americans until hell freezes over and it will not matter. Ask Vietnamese Presidents Diem or Thieu.

The third vital lesson of Vietnam, Mr. Bush: Don’t pretend it’s something it’s not. For decades we were warned that if we didn’t stop “communist aggression” in Vietnam, communist agitators would infiltrate and devour the small nations of the world, and make their insidious way, stealthily, to our doorstep. The war machine of 1968 had this “domino theory.”
Your war machine of 2006 has this nonsense about Iraq as “the central front in the war on terror.”

The fourth pivotal lesson of Vietnam, Mr. Bush: If the same idiots who told Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to stay there for the sake of “peace With honor” are now telling you to stay in Iraq, they’re probably just as wrong now, as they were then ... Dr. Kissinger.

And the fifth crucial lesson of Vietnam, Mr. Bush — which somebody should’ve told you about long before you plunged this country into Iraq — is that if you lie your country into a war, your war, your presidency will be consigned to the scrap heap of history.

(...)

And these lessons from Vietnam, Mr. Bush, these priceless, transparent lessons, writ large as if across the very sky, are still a mystery to you. “We’ll succeed unless we quit.”
No, sir.
We will succeed against terrorism, for our country’s needs, toward binding up the nation’s wounds when you quit, quit the monumental lie that is our presence in Iraq.
And in the interim, Mr. Bush, an American kid will be killed there, probably tonight or tomorrow. And here, sir, endeth the lesson.

Full Article

Crooks and Liars has the video up

Other Vietnam-related Insights: Kissinger says Military Victory Not possible

Civics and Duty

This is a simply stated and yet eloquent appeal to every American.

If our children don't understand what's at the heart of Democracy, and we fail to teach them- then we will lose it.

Hat tip to Americablog

Ok is Ok! Inhofe is still a dumbshit!

Global Warming is due... to... the ... SUN, says Nutball Republican Inhofe. "God's still up there".
uh thank you for the update.

Um. Not hard to see this guy's from Oklahoma is it?

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/17/inhofe-hoax/#comments

Is it politically correct to call this guy a fucking retard? Probably not, huh?

Not fair to the mentally retarded, either. My apologies. Now I demand an apology from the state of Oklahoma for electing this halfwit!

Well you can't expect much from a state that has this on their license plates ...
"Oklahoma is O-K!"

Mind blowing, isn't it? Thank God, if she's still listening, that you are not from Oklahoma.

Halfway through November

November's Casualties in Iraq

Life

They bruised my soul with a proverb,
They bruised my back with a rod,
And they bade me bow to my elders,
For that was the word of God.

They pent up my soul and bound me
Till life was a living death,
They struck the wine from my fingers,
The passion from my breath.

I reached my hands to living,
They hurled me back into school,
And they said, "Go learn your lessons,
"You innocent young fool."

They yowled till they woke the trumpets --
And the sword blade rent the plow,
And they said, "It is your duty
"To die for your elders now."

They cowered far from the battle
As I went into the strife,
And I spilled my guts in the trenches
In the red dawn of my life.

And the elders named me hero,
But more than their words and ire
Was the scent of a strange wild flower
There where I died in the mire.

Robert E. Howard

It has been a week since the elections and already ALL the news I see is Republicans talking about MORE Troops, More involvement, More "staying the course". And the Democrats snipe at each other and jockey for their own committee positions : "Whee! Let the lobbying begin!" The Democrats voted Steny Hoyer OVER Murtha. Who in the hell is Steny? Why are the ONLY times I have seen his name is when he's badmouthing other Democrats? And why is Carville attacking Dean, the man whose 50 state policy worked so well?

I don't think that some of the old-school Dem Dinosaurs get IT, exactly.

We voted out the bastards who got America where we are right now. We didn't kick those bastards out so you could merrily take their goddamn place taking kickbacks and sitting on your fat asses. Get our TROOPS out of Iraq. Fuck Bush I's and Bush II's "Study Groups". The only thing these cronies are studying is how to best separate oil from Iraqis. Redeployment plans IMMEDIATELY. Every minute that is wasted on the Republican's Failed plans is a minute that a new American soldier may die in.

If the Democratic party Fails in this, because they are too busy marketing themselves- WE WILL NOT FORGET. Do your damn jobs. The ones that Republicans HAVEN'T DONE For 12 damn years!

It's time to start fixing America.

Note to Lying Loser Republicans:

Fucking Brilliant!

http://www.thepoorman.net/2006/11/14/keyboard-kommando-komics-presents-9/




Note to the Republican LOSERS who are STILL in denial:

Liberals won the elections. Progressives won the election. Americans want us out of Iraq - NOW. Americans want George Bush Impeached and arrested. Americans want corrupt Republicans to be the only bastards locked up in Gitmo- and we've got a HELL OF A LOT MORE EVIDENCE on the Pedophile, closet-gay, Racist, White supremacist, radical, Class warfare waging, torturing, not supporting the military Republicans than we have on the Afghani sheep farmers that are in Gitmo now.

SO GET OVER IT. Stay in your parents Basement like Chad Castanegna and Don't come out, don't spin your useless cowardly bullshit at Freeperville and don't make insane statements parroting the Right Wing Propaganda machine that is Fox "news". Just, for the sake of Americans, SHUT THE FUCK UP. Every time you dipshits open your damn mouths, you somehow manage to make life worse for Americans everywhere while you blatantly lie through your teeth.

SHUT - UP.

The Destroyers and the Destroyed

This is how America defends itself?

from World can't wait...

Kim, long distance trucker and mom, writes about Marine returned form Fallujah, working at a Denny’s in Rollo MO:

"In Fallujah, it was like in the Bible,” he began slowly. “When they marked the houses with lamb’s blood, and the Angel of Death flew over and killed the firstborn sons in all the houses that weren’t marked. They marked the houses…and the ones that weren’t marked, they had us go in and open fire and…” He stopped speaking and only made gestures.

“The kids?” asked my co-driver.

“Yes.”

The waiter’s words came a little faster now. “If people knew what was really happening over there, they’d rise up and say, ‘bring our kids home NOW!’ If people knew, they wouldn’t stand for it.”

Beit- Hanoun : Murder and Terror, IDF Style

More Murder to come... IDF not done yet...

Arming Terrorists : America supplies the world with weapons

Why Americans are clueless to Israeli Aggression: Media Bias

Israeli Atrocities : Nazi Solutions to Jewish Problems

Israelis killing more and more civilians ... Gaza deaths

And at the United Nations, the U.S. continues to Veto measures that would save lives and promote peace- just so Israel can continue their murderous rampages unchecked...

Fuck em they're just Arabs

The weapons that our Government is selling to anybody and everyone end up, time and time again- in the hands of those who would kill Americans. Clusterbombs are dropped hours before a CEASE FIRE in record numbers. Those clusterbombs are still killing Lebanese children TODAY, months after the battle is over. Israel not only kills Palestinians and Lebanese in their lust to blitzkrieg their enemies, but also kills jews among them who want peace. They run over American women with bulldozers, and apparently can do no wrong as far as the media is concerned.

It is well past time to STOP the arrogant racist attacks of the Israelis. Yes, I know, the Palestinians want to destroy them. And why WOULDN'T They after all of the above? There are peace activists on both sides. A big step in getting Israel to behave is cutting off American support for their immoral and murderous actions. Its time to cut terrorism's heart out and stop cutting off one of its arms only to watch it regrow them. And a large piece of the heart of terror is Israel's terrorist acts.

Protect America- It is time to disarm Israel. Let the Jews and the Palestinians enjoy an equal footing for once. Maybe that will teach them the lessons they DID NOT Learn from the actions of the Germans leading up to the holocaust. As much as Israel warmongers might want a Palestinian Holocaust- We SHOULD stop the IDF like we stopped the Nazis.

We are ALL Human. Let's not forget that.

A Liberal's Pledge

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.

Signed,

Michael Moore

Red State Blues

I'm from a Red State. And boy, don't I know it. I'm from Texas, so, needless to say (if you've ever met a Texan) I am a proud-as-hell-of-Texas asshole. But as for being proud of my fellow Texans lately... Well, let's just say... Not so much.

In the recent elections, RedStater Texans stood firm against the liberal Democratic nominees and kept our bevy of Republican rubberstamp incumbents just to be rebels. Fuck you, we're from Texas, as the T-shirts say.

My fellows Texans rallied around men like Rick "Why don't you just let us get on down the road" Perry, pork loving morons like Randy Neugebauer and Delwin Jones, who is fast approaching Strom Thurmond status as our oldest federal fossil. Voting for Delwin, who once WAS a democrat, is kinda like going to the grocery store- It's just something Texans do periodically. I don't know whether or not anyone knows if Delwin really goes to Washington or if he's just out fishing somewhere. And I don't believe too many Texans really give a damn either way.

But, in case you aren't sure which color state you are in: here's a list to let YOU Know if you are living in a red state or a blue state...courtesy of the fine Betty Bowers, a great Christian and Republican at Landover Baptist Church.

Full Article

Blue States: Home of good schools
Red States: Homeskooled good

Blue States: Want a big tent for their Party.
Red States: Wears a big tent to her party.

Blue States:Favor electric cars
Red States: Favor electric chairs

Blue States: Concerned about ballooning deficits' effect on capital markets turning gains into thin air
Red States: Concerned about whether it's demons that make balloons float in thin air

Blue States: Dream of making enough money to kite and swim with Czechs in Biarritz
Red States: Dream of kiting enough checks to swim in Schlitz

Blue States:Favor institutionalized health care for the poor
Red States: Favor institutionalizing the poor

Blue States: Forget that God did not give Adam a Steve
Red States: Forget that not only did God give Abraham three wives, He gave Solomon 300 concubines

Blue States: Enormous cities that serve as the engines of human progress
Red States: Enormous Hummers that serve as the engines for Arab oil

Blue States: Provide the "tax" part of "tax and spend"
Red States: Provide the "spend on a new 8-lane highway to link a Wal-Mart to the Olive Garden" part of "tax and spend"

Blue States: Believe we're all brothers and sisters under the skin.
Red States: Don't mind if we're brothers and sisters under the sheets.

Blue States: Fighting to clean up skid row
Red States: Fighting to clean up skid marks

Blue States:Concerned about global warming
Red States: Don't like to travel and are too fat to fit in an airline seat anyway, so glad to hear that the tropics are coming to Texas. Yee-haw!

Blue States:Follow Jesus, but doesn't believe in Him
Red States: Believe in Jesus, but doesn't follow Him

Blue States: Want to repeal the Patriot Act
Red States: Want to repeal the Emancipation Proclamation

Blue States: Looking for a method to weaken China every day
Red States: Sold everyday china for a weekend of meth

Blue States: Want the right for everyone to worship as they choose
Red States: Want the right to choose everyone's worship

Blue States: Champion women wrestling with the right to choose
Red States: Choose women's wrestling championships

Blue States:Want a rational energy policy
Red States: Want policy of energetic irrationalism

Blue States:Used benefits to assist victims on account of attacks
Red States: Used attacks to benefit Toby Keith's bank account

Blue States: Believe God loves us and gave everyone free will to be different
Red States: Believe God willed us to freely hate everyone different

Blue States: Believe absence makes the heart grow fonder
Red States: Believe abstinence saves the tart from plunder

Blue States: Believe in Mr. Darwin's theory of "Evolution"
Red States: Believe in Mr. Jesus' "Talking Snake" theory

Blue States: Slave to pay inheritance taxes
Red States: Inherited slaves

Blue States:Buy art
Red States:Collect Beanie Babies

Mr.Way Too Proud of Texas Guy

Victory, part one

Now, our job STARTS.

What!? As you spew coffee all over your keyboard... I know, you thought we HAD been working, fighting, clawing and exposing the Republican party over and over again until we could finally declare "Victory". Well we have. And we've done a good job - getting the word out to America about the dirty little truth about the Republican party.

But, I WAS a Republican Conservative back in the Contract with America days. And I saw our party destroyed by greed and political gamesmanship. I sweated bullets during Bush/Gore 2000. I couldn't believe it- What were they trying to pull on George Bush. I couldn't sleep as I watched the elections. It all seemed kind of weird. Why Can't they just recount all the votes. What the hell WAS Going on in Florida? But still I was happy that Bush was finally "declared the President" even though it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Something wasn't right. Things never did quite add up after that. Then 9-11. Then Afghanistan. And then the workup to Iraq. At that point, I realized that "Conservative" notions had been thrown out the fucking window by the Republican party.

And so, here I am again- this time on the Democratic side. But I am not a blind cheerleader for a party this time. There are goals we have to meet. We have to stay on top of not ONLY the Republicans but also the men and women of the Democratic party. We need to make sure they do not become complacent in their victory. We need to make sure they don't set Americans by the wayside as the Contract with America crowd so quickly did. We need to follow their every action, their every vote and make sure they keep Americans at the heart of their interests.

The most disheartening thing that I saw on the news today was CNBC interviewing Lobbyists, Under the heading of "Lobbyists Suck up To Democrats". One thing about the Greedy Bastards on CNBC. They call it like they see it- Even as they PROMOTE the fucking lobbyists for the corrupt Corporate mentality...

That is JOB ONE- Making sure that Our Public Servants SERVE The Public and not the Corporations- Not the 10% of the super rich, but the 90% of Americans.

I won't play partisan politics any longer- The goal of getting the Corrupt Republicans OUT of control has been met. Now it is time to see them on equal footing- and for us all to make sure they do their JOBS.

We brought you into this world, We CAN take you out

I am not sure where this came from, I have been jumping around quite a bit this morning. I know that its from a comment on some liberal blog, but it sums up the liberal blogger attitude towards the Democrat Party from this day forward:

Okay, guys, this is good……

But I’m warning you NOW that we must be on these new Dems from day one. They must come to know our names and hate the sight of new envelopes and emails from us. They must be made to tremble in fear at the thought of the Samuel L. Jackson level of righteous assbeating we will bring down upon their sorry lives if they don’t take the Democratic party out of the fetid swamp its been wandering around in for over a decade now.

I realize that substanitive moves toward fixing the Iraq clusterfuck, simply by their very nature, must come first. But these guys need to be aware that unless we hear SUBSTANTIVE talk about a living wage (as opposed to a "minimum wage"), about real health care, about fixing the mess our schools are in, about doing something to strengthen environmental regulation, and reigning in corrupt business practices, we will send each and every one of them home crying to their mommas.

The fact that the Dems won is not the time to STOP being angry. It’s the time to START being angry. Really angry. This party has walked away from everything its supposed base believes in through the last years, and they need to be made painfully, painfully aware of this fact. Don’t ease up on them. As we have given, so shall we take away if the party doesn’t get its collective head out of its collective ass.

And they have to know this. Everything that every one of us has done over the last weeks, months and years to bring this about will be completely wasted if they don’t.

What is the Mission?

Redeploy our troops out of Iraq- beginning as soon as possible.

Raise the Minimum/Living Wage

Investigations of War Profiteering in Iraq - Lawsuits that may get some of the United States funds back that have been stolen by Bechtel and Halliburton,etc.

Block Gates from becoming the next Secretary of Defense, if possible

Cease Military Aid to Israel

Repeal the Taxes to the Super-rich- redistribute to College assistance

Developing a plan to better assist our Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq Veterans- on all levels, from the PSTD suffering homeless to the families who have been bankrupted by Corporate loan sharks.

Building A realistic Healthcare plan - perhaps using some of the money we WON'T be wasting in Iraq

Rebuild OSHA and the EPA- Move to get rid of Bush's energy CEO cronies

Building a Realistic Anti-Global warming/Anti-Corporation pollution plan

Roll back all Corporate taxbreaks on ANY companies that have Outsourced factories, defaulted on workers pensions, or whose CEOs make 200 times what their lowest paid employees make annually.

Get to work. The Republican Congress that led us here was the laziest in History. I want this Democratic Congress, upon whom so many hopes have been pinned - to be the Hardest Working in History. Keep your noses clean and kick a Lobbyist in the nuts for Jesus!
AMEN.

Impeachment is TOO Good.

"The Government, being resolved to undertake the political and moral purification of our public life, are creating and securing the conditions necessary for a really profound revival of religious life." - Adolph Hitler, in a speech at the Reichstag on March 23, 1933

"No matter what amount of talent is employed in the organization of propaganda, it will have no result if due account is not taken of these fundamental principles. Propaganda must be limited to a few simple themes and these must be represented again and again. Here, as in innumerable other cases, perseverance is the first and most important condition of success."Mein Kampf; the James Murphy translation. February, 1939

For President Bush, Impeachment isn't enough, by far.

3000 dead Americans. 25,000 seriously injured, some of whom will never lead normal lives ever again. A world that used to respect America for it's freedoms now fears and despises us for our hypocrisy. Lady Liberty's hands have been bloodied by a madman and a fool. An idiot who was so convinced that he was right that NO price was too high. No Constitutional law was important enough respect as he blundered along his destructive path. No immoral act was too shameful for him to lower our country to, in his so-called quest to "protect" us.

President Bush and his advisers, with the power of Congress behind them after 9-11 began making big changes to our Government. The first blow to the Constitution was the "Patriot" Act. Then he began spying on everyone whose agenda was suspect, chiefly not on terrorists, but on anti-war protesters.

He bought media sources and inserted pro-war, pro-fear propaganda wherever possible. He dropped taxes on the rich, effectively paying off Corporations and the affluent to help support his policies. To pay for these tax-cuts his Congress cut benefits for welfare and college tuition assistance. Who cares? The middle class doesn't mean anything.

He controlled the rich with promises of more tax cuts, and controlled the poor with threats of terror and inspiring fear among the common man. He used his religion as a bludgeon, he told us he did NOT NEED Complex reasons for his actions. He played the prophet while his Pharisees in Congress played the politics of sucking on the teat of Lobbyist cash. They scaled back the EPA, OSHA, and countless other important agencies for money from the Corporations. They traded the health and welfare of the very people of America for Corporate gold. They gave tax cuts to oil companies and cut alternative energy programs. President Bush appointed CEO after CEO of industry hacks into positions of "oversight".

He looted our Budget. Only one of his harmful plans didn't go as planned- And if you are retired, you better thank God for that. His privatization of Social Security would have worked as well as letting Halliburton "assist" in Iraq. In short it would be a nightmare that bled our nation's elderly dry. But as gullible as the American public was on WMD, and torture and spying - they didn't quite trust Grandma's money to Bush's Cadre of Larry Kudlow scumbags.

So, no- Impeachment is Not Enough. Although the best possible action for America would be removing this fool from the Office of the President as soon as we can.

But embarrassing this man isn't enough. He doesn't know what shame is. He's a cruel, vindictive little man who has disgraced our nation. He deserves more than simply losing a job that his Daddy's money got him.

I want him to apologize personally to every family who has lost a soldier for LYING TO THEM. I want him to ask forgiveness for sending those troops to die for a Lie.

I want him stripped of all possessions- I want him homeless, barefoot and befuddled. I want him starving and dehydrated for a week while under camera lights like he left so many Katrina victims. I want him to KNOW what it is to not have anything. Not Daddy's money, not his oil buddies bailing him out. I want "W" to be branded into his forehead like the mark of Cain.

I want him to walk the breadth of Iraq, wearing an irradiated uranium collar made from the shrapnel that our troops are exposed to. I want him to stop in every Iraqi city to see what he is responsible for. I want him to hold a dead Iraqi child killed by an airstrike in his guilty hands. I want him to bury that child in front of its family.

But most of all I want him to UNDERSTAND. I want him to OPEN HIS EYES and see the truth of what he has wrought on the world. I want him to comprehend how he has hurt America, Americans, and how his actions will hurt Americans for years to come.

I am an atheist, but I even wish there WAS a god, who could render a more perfect judgement than I on the miserable excuse for a human being that George Bush is.

But, I expect I will be lucky to get even an impeachment. I know one thing, for the rest of American history, the time President Bush II was in office WILL be considered a dark time in America's past. He will be vilified. Eventually we will ALL know the full list of his crimes and his "legacy" will be treated accordingly.

Good Riddance!

Rumsfeld commits seppuku - well resigns anyway. He doesn't have the required sense of honor to commit suicide over his part in the deaths of thousands of Americans.

And don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, you inept worthless murdering torturing cocksucker!

wow, I can breathe now..

Democracy ain't dead yet, praise gods, the founding fathers and liberal bloggers!

It's a grand day for America- that much is sure. But It ain't over!

We have come a long way. I am very glad to have men of vision and moral clarity who have made their dedication to our democracy and constitution their FIRST Priority. Men like John Amato, Glenn Greenwald, Keith Olbermann and the thousands of my fellow C&L'ers and bloggers who have helped expose this band of crooks for what it is.

Accountability starts today. If the Dems who got in today sit back on the laurels in the spirit of bi-partisanship then they will fail us.These Repubs aren't going to roll over. Look at Tom Delay, listen to Rush Limbaugh- Watch Tucker and company spin "bipartisanship" in the hopes that NO Republicans will be Held accountable for their despicable actions.There's a long way to go. But yesterday was helluva big step.

Democrats took the house, the jury is still out on Virginia and Montana for the Senate.
I shudder at how racist/sexist the state of Virginia must be, for so many people to vote for George Allen. I mean, that guy put a horse's head in the mailbox of his black neighbors as a joke, calls people niggers and macacas and spit in his ex wife's face. Classy.

Republicans are going nuts all around me. My boss is particularly upset today, he sent an email of pics of puppies out to "cheer up" his fellow rich republican/libertarian elites... They probably shudder at the fact that minimum wages may finally be raised. Thank god. Only a working man who busts his ass all day and still can't feed his family can properly understand what a charade making $200 / week for 40 hours of work is. Its fucking ridiculous but the Rich Republicans have fought this tooth and nail for the past 12 years.

God bless the working man- Only Democrats support these men. I don't know any Republicans that put in a full day of actual work. God knows that these rich fuckers that come in and out of my financial group all day don't.

The Bush/Rove Cult is irreparably damaged. I can hold my head high again as an American in light of the America's actions yesterday. Hopefully we can get rid of the corrupt closeted self hating fags and corporate sellouts in the Republican party and bring some Accountability back to our government.

The first step is deploying our troops out of Baghdad and into Afghanistan. Hell, there's no reason to LOSE BOTH WARS. Bechtel has given up on Iraq. They made 2.3 billion of American money, FAILED to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq and now are cutting and running. This is a big deal, people. The only thing we are building in Iraq NOW is our multibillion dollar Embassy/Castle/Mansion. And maybe one or two permanent bases...

But the point is- with no reconstruction efforts, our troops are stuck there with no American benefits coming to the Iraqi people. Our occupation becomes even less desirable to Iraqis (is that possible?!)

The Shia have put up with the occupation more or less = give or take a few fiery Al-Sadrs... But the fact is, Shiites Haven't put forth any substantial effort to killing U.S. troops the way the Sunnis are. The Sunnis are responsible for 80% of the U.S. casualties. But Al-Sistani is basically ignored by the Iraqi people in deferment to Al-Sadr nowadays, and Sistani is, in turn avoiding speaking to U.S. officials. Maliki is trying to show that he isn't another Bush poodle. The Shia politicians have pointedly asked the American occupation to end, immediately. Iraqis want us gone, except for the ones who were milking Halliburton and Bechtel- But like I say- that is ending. With the civil war getting more and more intense, the Mahdi army won't avoid open firefights with troops much longer. We need to get our boys and girls out of harm's way, immediately.

I need to check with the Iraqi blogs today, and see how the Iraqis are taking the Anti-Bush statement that was made yesterday. I predict that they will receive this news with welcome. The farther that the American people can push Pres.Bush and his cronies from us, the better the world will receive the United States. But still, welcome news to Iraqis or not- they want us gone from their country. Yesterday. And in that, I am in perfect agreement with them.

Callous as it may sound, Here's what I think needs to be done-

Redeploy our troops to Afghanistan. Crush the Taliban and hold a serious presence there, not the half ass job that is being done right now. Build permanent bases in Afghanistan. Crush the drug trade and build some REAL infrastructure for the Afghani people.

Let the Iraqi civil war begin in earnest. I hope the Shia win. And don't fret about Iranian ties just yet. Remember, as soon as Iraqis control Iraq- they will remember their distate for Iran. And if they don't, I must confess, I don't give a damn. Iran is not a threat. And the more we leave these people alone, the less they will fucking hate us. Got it?

Iraq will rebuild itself. It will be bloody, but its a necessary transformation. And for those of you who are only concerned about the oil: Relax, you immoral greedy bastards! Rest assured, the U.S. will wheel and deal with whoever ends up controlling Iraq. You can bet your last dollar on THAT.

May Fortune smile upon us

May all evil sleep, May all good awake, In thy way.

America the Bankrupt

The economy, regardless of the what the Wall street cheerleaders on CNBC parrot, is NOT BOOMING. We will have to raise taxes, and soon. We need to repeal every single Tax cut that Bush has instituted in a time of war- to help pay for that war's effect on our federal deficit. If you are one of the many affluent who have enjoyed the tax cuts, that's all well and good, but the party is over-

It's time for a little "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." The following article explains more about how the country is doing, financially.

From the AP, Matt Crenson: GAO chief warns economic Disaster looms

EXCERPT:

David M. Walker sure talks like he’s running for office. “This is about the future of our country, our kids and our grandkids,” the comptroller general of the United States warns a packed hall at Austin’s historic Driskill Hotel. “We the people have to rise up to make sure things get changed.”

But Walker doesn’t want, or need, your vote this November. He already has a job as head of the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that audits and evaluates the performance of the federal government.

Basically, that makes Walker the nation’s accountant-in-chief. And the accountant-in-chief’s professional opinion is that the American public needs to tell Washington it’s time to steer the nation off the path to financial ruin.

From the hustings and the airwaves this campaign season, America’s political class can be heard debating Capitol Hill sex scandals, the wisdom of the war in Iraq and which party is tougher on terror. Democrats and Republicans talk of cutting taxes to make life easier for the American people.

What they don’t talk about is a dirty little secret everyone in Washington knows, or at least should. The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree: The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.

There’s a good reason politicians don’t like to talk about the nation’s long-term fiscal prospects. The subject is short on political theatrics and long on complicated economics, scary graphs, and very big numbers. It reveals serious problems and offers no easy solutions. Anybody who wanted to deal with it seriously would have to talk about raising taxes and cutting benefits, nasty nostrums that might doom any candidate who prescribed them.(...)

Walker doesn’t want to make balancing the government’s books sexy – he just wants to make it politically palatable. He has committed to touring the nation through the 2008 elections, talking to anybody who will listen about the fiscal black hole Washington has dug itself, the “demographic tsunami” that will come when the baby boom generation begins retiring and the recklessness of borrowing money from foreign lenders to pay for the operations of the U.S. government. He’s dubbed his campaign the fiscal wake-up tour.

To show that the looming fiscal crisis is not a partisan issue, he brings along economists and budget analysts from across the political spectrum. In Austin, he’s accompanied by Diane Lim Rogers, a liberal economist from the Brookings Institution, and Alison Acosta Fraser, director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.

Their basic message is this: If the United States government conducts business as usual over the next few decades, a national debt that is already $8.5 trillion could reach $46 trillion or more, adjusted for inflation.

A hole that big could paralyze the U.S. economy; according to some projections, just the interest payments on a debt that big would be as much as all the taxes the government collects today.

And every year that nothing is done, the problem grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion.

The Clinton years helped offset the issue that Ross Perot crowed about in the early 90's. But with the inscrutable tax cuts and the ultra liberal spending habits of President Bush, our country is broke again. No conservative in his right mind wants the U.S. to be beholden to China to keep us afloat forever.

It is time to stop money like there is no tomorrow. It is time for some real conservatorship of the United States and some real Fiscal conservatism to be applied. Taxes must be raised. And sorry, not only for the rich... Social Security is one of the few social entitlement plans that currently works:

Social Security currently pays for itself with a 12.4 percent payroll tax, and even produces a surplus that the government raids every year to pay other bills. But Social Security will begin to run deficits during the next century, and ultimately would need an infusion of $8 trillion if the government planned to keep its promises to every beneficiary.

But, to KEEP it working, we will need to raise the payroll tax percentage a notch, across the board. It will not take much of a bump, but a little bump nonetheless. We are all in the same boat in the end as Americans. Rich or Poor, we will all suffer if we don't pre-emptively strike in order to save the economy and STILL retain our necessary programs for the elderly. Our nation has been held by a freely spending buffoon whose policies have done more to hurt our country in six short years than any other President in the last 100 years. It's time to buckle down, and sacrifice a bit- on all levels- to save our country.

"We found the WMD!" For what good it does them

Well, here are two subjects that I commented on earlier at two of the most popular blogs concerning Iraq and the Middle East. One was on Moon of Alabama- the comments webpage for Billmon's Whiskey Bar. These are my thoughts on Todays' Topic of Treason: The Nuclear weapon plans of Iraq (finally discovered) and how the Republicans posted them on the Internet for all to see...

Freedom of Information

So much ado about nothing on either side? Or justifiable activity for both sides depending on what level of hypocrisy you want to take?

On the Bushbot side: Okay, so it is proof that Iraq did have plans for making nuclear weapons. The moronic part there is that the Republicans who were so afraid of nukes ARE responsible for other countries having access to this nuclear information. So I guess the loudest of both sides will attack the other for the next two weeks over this...

Meanwhile. Back in reality: the U.S. has over 6,000 active nuclear warheads. Israel has their own illegal nuclear stockpile which they got by ignoring UN sanctions. Is having the technology for nukes, or even building them as a safeguard against your enemies something that the US should be starting wars over? If we hadn't allowed Israel to do it, would we even be having this conversation? I think that it is ridiculous to believe that a country that might build one nuke would use it to immediately attack a country with 6000 of them. I, for one was and AM against INVADING another country PRE-EMPTIVELY for any reason. Being an oppressor will one day be the downfall of Israel, one day when the US can't protect them any more. And with the outrageous acts of the current Bush administration, we may be closer to not being able to protect Israel than we have EVER been.

So what's the point? Malkin and crew finally got their smoking gun. Much good that it does them. Would you rather Saddam had a nuke, right now, or have the U.S. bankrupted, overstretched, humiliated and excoriated as it is now? Some of us saw how this would end up from the start- for the rest of you : Hindsight is 20/20.
(Sigh) I wish.

And on No Quarter, Larry Johnson expounds on the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Over the rubicon, Into the Styx

In the comments I posted this:

Who in their right mind EVEN thinks we can hold on to Iraq for the Next 3 years?

Is Civil War the only thing keeping the Iraqis from outright ejecting our troops? I find it repulsive, in light of all the information that the progressive side has known for years now- (because we go into these situations without blinders on) that NOW that the Pro-Iraq war crowd FULLY understands there IS no good news in Iraq- that they can't take the next mental step forward. 105 US deaths in a month will likely look like a Good month if the militias keep consolidating their power. And I don't see ANY reason why they won't.

Here's a BIGGER Reason to get the HELL out of Iraq right now: Do we REALLY want to get backed forcibly out ala the Israelis backing out of Lebanon? Our occupation of Iraq has quite a bit in common with THAT Failed Israeli operation. If we declare victory, turn it over to the Iraqis and get the hell out, sure it will deepen the chaos for a few months- but then, the Iraqis will have the situation in their own hands and they won't be able to blame everything on the US Presence. Face it, Our troops sit there (to borrow an earlier commenters analogy:) acting as an Anti-Gang police task force against the Bloods and Crips of the Sunni/Shia situation. Except in this situation, 90% of the population of Baghdad is a member of one of these two gangs.

It's a bloodbath for our troops waiting to happen.

THERE IS NO SECRET BUSH PLAN. It's going to hell in a handbasket.
If you give a damn about our troops then support redeploying them OUT of Iraq IMMEDIATELY.

Take back your Country

The right wingers HATED it when Pres. Clinton stood up to the GOP Media.
They hated it when Sen. Kerry made fun of their inept dysfunctional deity, Bush Alrighty.

They hate it when the only liberal in the main stream media, Keith Olbermann, speaks out in eloquent speech after speech about the immoral leadership of our country.

They hate it when Democrats hold the feet of the GOP to the fire.

Don't give in. Keep it up. Support the men who are fighting back, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, against the cretins who are ruining the United States.

Hold these damn Republicans accountable.
Hold The President Accountable.
Hold Rumsfeld Accountable -
and yes- even hold the moron down your street with the W bumper sticker Accountable!

Don't let them shout you down.
Their incompetence, their corruption, and their outright sexual harassment of Lady Liberty is OVER. Take back YOUR country.

While the rich cavort, regular Americans suffer

Only a few more days until the elections. If you have already voted, Great! I did the early voting myself. If you still haven't- make sure you vote for the candidates that have America's interests at heart, and not their own party's. There are many looming problems in the United States today, but what I feel is the largest is the way the country is being splintered into the haves and have-nots. This is especially disturbing in a time when we have 140,000 troops occupying a foreign, hostile country.

Middle and Lower class Americans have done their part to fight terrorism. They have offered up themselves and their children to the military to protect our country. While the rich and superrich have benefited by stock shopping the military industrial complex and milking the Republican party's penchant for supporting corporations over small and independent American businesses, regular Americans and their children are dying and being wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our health care is slashed, our 401ks are dashed against the rocks of a CEOs multimillion dollar bonuses, and our cities' crime rates soar as our police forces are depleted by the National Guard's increasing tours in Iraq.

In the industry I work in, 90% of the people I speak to on a daily basis are in the top 5% of affluent West Texans. They are the superrich of Lubbock. They may not compare to the bigwigs in Dallas, New York, etc= but they have more money, much more money than they know what to do with. Their investments make money hand over fist, and they only lose money in the riskiest of ventures. By and large, these people take every tax advantage possible, they have shelters and advisors like me and others, who they pay exorbitant amounts just to avoid paying taxes. And their greed only makes them hungry for more, in most cases.

They speak of the Republican party with an almost reverential tone. They understand exactly what the Bush administration has done for them - even as they dismiss claims of what the Bush administration has done to everyone else in America as liberal poppycock and socialist drivel. As long as they are making money, to hell with the Republic, and everyone else who was too stupid to have been born a millionaire.

Ben Stein writes a great piece about this entitled You're Rich. Terrific. Now Pay up

He addresses the facts that while taxes for the rich and superrich are lower than they have been in 60 years, our military dies for pennies while our middle class struggles to merely stay afloat. The men who run the country are cavorting in carefree fashion while our country rots from within. It is time, for the rich to ask themselves- what they can do to help our country in a time of war. He writes of a "vision" he had while surrounded by the superrich, enjoying their excess, and ignoring the rest of the country's maladies...

EXCERPT
Suddenly, as the men happily walked away from me, I had a vision. Here we all are under the gorgeous crystal dome of prosperity, drinking, making money, eating swordfish, changing money at the temple, showing off ourselves to others, bragging — and all of it, every bit of it, is made possible by the men and women who wear the uniform.

Every bit of it is done under the protection of the Marines, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard, serving and offering up their lives for pennies. And we're also under the protection of the police and the firefighters and the F.B.I., who offer up their lives for nothing compared with what others make trading money on computer screens.

Something flashed into my mind — something that my late father used to say, quoting loosely from the economist Henry C. Simons, a founder of the Chicago School of economics: that it is "unlovely" to see the extremes of wealth and nonwealth that are evident in contemporary America.

We may be able to live with it. Some of us may even be able to prosper amid it. But it's not pretty. The rich should simply not be that much richer than everyone else — especially those whose lives protect them from terrorism.

(...)

The real problem is the difference between the rich — (...) and the poor. It is up to the government to redress this extraordinary difference in incomes of the rich and the nonrich, even at the margins.

What Congress can do, and should do, is address the stunning underpayment of military men and women and the staggering budget deficits that will be a burden on our posterity for decades, by raising the taxes on the rich. It's fine that there are rich people. It's even fine that there are superrich people.

But if they are superrich, they derive special benefits from life in the United States that the nonrich don't. For one thing, they can make the money in a safe environment, which is not true for the rich in many countries. It is just common decency that they should pay much higher income taxes than they do. Taxes for the rich are lower than they have been since at least World War II — that is to say, in 60 years.

This makes no sense in a world at war, in a nation with so many unmet social needs, in a nation with so many people without health care, in a nation running immense and endless deficits.

America is becoming a nation of many rich people. I recently read that there were close to 10 million millionaire households. I read that there were hundreds of thousands who made more than $1 million a year. Good for them.

But it's unlovely for them to pay as little tax as they now pay. The real problem in this country is only temporarily about oil. That will right itself, or we'll get used to it and adjust.
The real problem is saving a nation that is beset by terrorism, and we cannot do that unless we feel that we are all in the same boat, pulling at the oars together. That includes the rich.
Whatever rationale there may have been in 2001 for lowering their taxes is long gone. It's time for them — us, because it includes me — to pay their (our) share.
It's not about oil. It's about fairness.

Because of Iraq...