Teasing ass Democrats

Damn.. I don't like Hillary, but she's talking dirty to me...

"robber barons"

"raise taxes on anyone making over $200,000"

OOOOOH baby

Now Whisper "Impeachment" in my ear...

Accountability and Conscience

British Teaching Union weighs boycott of Israel


The Ends Does NOT justify the Means.

The means justifies itself. Follow the right path, do the right thing. Live your life with integrity, honesty and personal honor. Hold YOURSELF accountable. Fight against the things that are dishonorable and wrong. Don't oppress others, simply in the hope that it will make your own life easier. Give what you do not need to those who need it.

What Israel is doing is wrong. Period. I can add supporting facts that would tell you that Israel's actions are creating terrorists in every Muslim country. I can add that America's support of Israeli atrocities is resulting in terror aimed at our people, not just theirs. I can add a hundred other reasons why boycotting Israel, cutting off money and aid, and stopping sales of clusterbombs and WMD to them is the RIGHT thing to do for our people, our nation, Israel itself and the world.

But I shouldn't have to. What Israel is doing is WRONG. Apartheid is WRONG. Building walls that steal land that isn't theirs is WRONG. Firing missles into refugee camps filled with starving people who are cut off from hospitals and medicine is WRONG. Sniping children is WRONG. Attacking countries who have not attacked your country is WRONG. Leveling Beirut is WRONG. Showering Lebanon with clusterbombs in the last moments of a cease fire is WRONG.

Israel is destroying itself as it creates its own Nazi nation - one race above all others within its borders. But that's beside the point.

What they are doing is morally wrong. The ends does not justify the means. All nations of conscience who truly have an interest in creating world democracy and ending terror must work to stop Israel's madness.

This is a good first step. I hope the conscience of Americans can follow suit with similar boycotts until our politicians will stop blindly supporting the current terrorist actions of Israel.

THAT is the first step in putting a stop to terror. Stop what is creating terrorists. Stop Israel.

Sir! No sir!

I attended my first Lubbock DFA (Democracy for America) meeting last night (on my birthday). My gf is not much for politics, but she respects my passion and she willingly tagged along. She had a great time, but not half as much as I did! It's just amazing knowing there are others in Lubbock, TX with a like mindset.

It was a damn near spiritual moment for me, whose only outlet has been A> Blogs. or B> Getting in fights with my less-informed friends, (including a 4 way shouting match on my porch last week-I managed to win over their dumb asses by creating an allegory of the Kuwait/Desert Storm/Iraq invasion by equating Bush sr as a druglord and Saddam as a street dope dealer... Yes, I know, I know- My old motto comes in here: Changing the world, one asshole at a time)

At the LDFA meeting, there was a screening of Sir!No sir! - a movie that just blew away about half my conceptions about the Vietnam War. Just a piece of historical drama that should be REQUIRED viewing for any and every anti-war activist out there, (AND EVERY SOLDIER). I am going to implement some way to get this movie out more to the local population, I don't know how yet- (SUGGESTIONS?) But - this movie MUST BE SEEN! Today is payday (yeehaw) so I am going to go buy a copy at the local Hastings if I can. If I can't, I'll rent it and "lose" it and pay for it. I want to sit down with the Vietnam vets in my family and watch it again and get some more insight on their feelings on this great documentary.

As good as the movie was, my heart was pounding as everyone pulled their chairs together in a wide circle and began discussing the movie, the vietnam war, and eventually of course, the war in Iraq. I didn't realize just how bad I NEEDED this- a real discussion and some real intelligent conversation right here, in Lubbock, TX, concerning (gasp) politics.

I tried not to put my foot in my mouth too much, and as this was my first attendance, I tried to bite my tongue a bit and go slow- but I just couldn't help myself at times. I didn't want to make a fool of myself with the first sane group of people I have met in Lubbock. My gf assures me I was fine. There was right at an hour of discussion after viewing Sir,No Sir! and it got cut short because of the time, but man, did it reinvigorate my sense of purpose!

I was one of a minority of younger folks- and that's a shame, but not very unexpected. But I went away with a renewed sense of getting my peers off their asses and into the fray.

I have let one thing or another come in the way of my attending the past few meetings, but I won't again. It also gave me a taste of getting things done on a local level, instead of working with media contacts, blogging, country-wide networking... Inside, I always believed my fellow lubbockites were almost a lost cause, except for those I could directly affect personally through friends and family. Last night gave me new hope for making greater things happen through the community.

So, I enjoyed a breath of fresh air being pumped into my lungs last night. I appreciate the energy and spirit that Kenny Ketner has put into last nights' meeting and all of his efforts to get Lubbockites mobilized.

If you get the chance to view this movie, Please do. Watching it, I believe you will come to the conclusion that I have- this movie needs to be passed along and shared to debunk the myths that have been passed down about the Vietnam war. Especially to the young who have been told that horseshit story about hippies spitting on vets coming back from the 'Nam for the past 30 years. IT NEVER HAPPENED.

Give it a watch.

Sir!No Sir! Homepage

SNS Affiliates

Buy a copy for a soldier

Freeper Madness

Uh make that Freeper "Sadness".

Der Shrubenfuhrer mocks his base. Jesus weeps for Bush's 23%ers and their foiled plans for Global domination...

Today on Athena

.

side note... My head hurts. I have been surfing Free Republic for the past hour looking for choice quotes made by these morons... and I just can't do that to you.

.

I should have known by now, I don't have to step in shit to know it stinks.

..

I can still hear a few brain cells dying, having endured the tortured logic of the torture-lovers.

Carnival of the Liberals

Doctor Biobrain is hosting Carnival of the Liberals 40

Submit!

Batocchio has a helluva post up at his place and Blue Herald

How To Hear A True War Story

Domestic Enemies

from Mike Finnigan via C&L:

Veteran and friend, Michael Graham, wrote me on Memorial Day:

What most liberals have so far failed to understand — because they tend to be people with kind hearts and sensibilities — is that the Republican Party has been commandeered by Nazis. They are not just the opposition party anymore, they are evil. This has been building for years, and I have been alive long enough to have witnessed much of it. There was the John Birch Society, and Watergate, and Iran-Contra and now this.

As a veteran, Memorial Day takes on increasing importance to me every year. That's probably because the sh*t goes on and on. Twice in my lifetime I have seen our leaders betray the nation and especially the war-fighters by concocting phony reasons for wars of occupation — wars that were doomed to failure because they were wars of occupation. What they can't understand, these armchair heroes, is that the Injuns shoot back. It happened at Little Big Horn, it happened in Vietnam and it's happening now.

I mean, for Christ's sake, if there were a foreign army kicking down doors in LA, we'd all be f*&king insurgents. Duh!

And I need to remind my progressive friends that the last time a narcissistic a**hole from Texas with links to Halliburton used lies to launch a hopeless war, it was a Democrat.

When I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in USAF Officer Training Class 67-E, I took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." I have come to regard the Bush Administration and their supporters as domestic enemies. I hope the Democratic Party gets that, before it is too late for democracy.

Because it sure as hell can happen here! As for me, I think it already has.

Apocalypto Now and Then

I saw Apocalypto this weekend, on the heels of Children of Men. These are movies that will show you two different views of dying civilizations. Both are profound, both are disturbing, and both offer a tiny ray of hope at the end.

Apocalypto Review

Children of Men review

Two cinematic views of empires in decline: one in the future, one in the past...

And from the front line of our present empire burning:

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we are training and arming the people who are killing each other and us on Tuesdays, Thursdays, weekends and evenings.

Dear Democrats; Bush has walled up our soldiers in the Valley of Death and will fucking well keep them there until we’re all broke and they’re all dead or damaged for life. They need to be rescue from Bush’s Iraqi Fiasco as surely as New Orleans residents needed to be rescued from Bush’s Katrina Catastrophe.

On this point the landslides of 2006 made the will of the American people unambiguously clearly.

Your most vital civic duty is to save our military from their involuntary participation in an Iraq Civil War that is killing them for no damned good reason, and from the cowardly Republican sociopaths here at home that are holding them hostage to George Bush's ego.

(from Driftglass )

Unless, of course, you're a fan of the destruction of the American empire...

An Officer and A Gentleman

Democracy Now! - Amy Goodman's interview with Maj. Gen. Batiste proves he is both an officer and a gentleman. He answers every major issue that affects our military in Iraq, from our attempt at nation-building, to Watada, to Geneva Conventions, to WMD.

If only our President and our Congress gave more than lip service to worthy military men like this AND LISTENED to what they have to say.

http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl

That's the link for today's Democracy now (Friday, May 25) You may have to search it out if you are reading this after today...

No Moral High ground

Arthur Silber

The Proof

THE PROOF:

Criminal Intent

Our Democracy is in our own hands. Democrats value their own political power more than they value the truth. They will not press the issue any further than they are now. Just like signing Bush's continuance of the bs war in Iraq, they won't take these traitors down.

Rove is a traitor to our Democracy. Gonzales is a traitor to our Democracy. George Bush ordered and allowed it all. Thus, Our President is also a traitor to our Democracy. Bush has allowed his cronies to step all over the constitution as they push their loyalty to the Republican party OVER their duties to the American people.

What is left of our democracy and our cherished freedom is up to us, the American people. In Nov. 2006, not ONE NEW Republican was elected.We wanted the war stopped and we wanted the Republican party stopped. But the Democratic leadership has failed us. There's another vote.

It's time to not only purge the Republicans who are behind all this corruption, but also the incumbent Democrats who have acted as enablers for the criminal actions of the Republicans.
If you thought there was a house cleaning in November, you haven't seen anything yet. Take back your country. Vote out these incumbent do-nothings with their war profiteering ways.

Terror isn't a viable threat to America- But Corpotocracy IS.

Fire the weaklings, the sell outs, the con men. Vote in Americans who will hold the criminals involved in the attorneys scandalresponsible. (And every other scandal that a Republican majority has brought to our country in record amounts in record t ime).

The Nixon administration were boy scouts compared to this. Bill Clinton was a saint compared to this.

How many U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq TODAY for Record deficits to our country and Record profits for Halliburton and Exxon Mobil?

BONUS: David Iglesias IS The attorney Tom Cruise played in A Few Good Men.
Finally- a celebrity tie-in to grab the attention of the ADD American Idol crowd (I hope).

Asylum Nation

Welcome to where time stands still
No one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
Just labeled mentally deranged

Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, no windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred

Sleep, my friend, and you will see
That dream is my reality

They keep me locked up in this cage
Can't they see it's why my brain says rage

Sanitarium,
leave me be
Sanitarium,
just leave me alone

Build my fear of what's out there
Cannot breathe the open air
Whisper things into my brain
Assuring me that I'm insane

They think our heads are in their hands
But violent use brings violent plans
Keep him tied, it makes him well
He's getting better, can't you tell?
No more can they keep us in
Listen, damn it, we will win

They see it right, they see it well
But they think this saves us from our hell
Sanitarium,
leave me be
Sanitarium,
just leave me alone

Fear of living on
Natives getting restless now
Mutiny in the air
Got some death to do
Mirror stares back hard
kill is such a friendly word
seems the only way
for reaching out again

Betrayal

Games politicians play, while thousands die...

Our -Empire - has - fallen.

Keith Olbermann's special comment. C&L has the vid here.

This is, in fact, a comment about… betrayal.

Few men or women elected in our history-whether executive or legislative, state or national-have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear: Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution-half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

* The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president-if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history-who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats "give the troops their money";

-Snip-

And this President!

How shameful it would be to watch an adult hold his breath, and threaten to continue to do so, until he turned blue.

But how horrifying it is to watch a President hold his breath and threaten to continue to do so, until innocent and patriotic Americans in harm's way, are bled white.

You lead this country, sir?

You claim to defend it?

And yet when faced with the prospect of someone calling you on your stubbornness–your stubbornness which has cost 3,431 Americans their lives and thousands more their limbs–you, Mr. Bush, imply that if the Democrats don't give you the money and give it to you entirely on your terms, the troops in Iraq will be stranded, or forced to serve longer, or have to throw bullets at the enemy with their bare hands.

How transcendentally, how historically, pathetic.

-Snip-

For, ultimately, at this hour, the entire government has failed us.

* Mr. Reid, Mr. Hoyer, and the other Democrats… have failed us. They negotiated away that which they did not own, but had only been entrusted by us to protect: our collective will as the citizens of this country, that this brazen War of Lies be ended as rapidly and safely as possible.

* Mr. Bush and his government… have failed us. They have behaved venomously and without dignity-of course.That is all at which Mr. Bush is gifted.

We are the ones providing any element of surprise or shock here.

With the exception of Senator Dodd and Senator Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidates have (so far at least) failed us.

They must now speak, and make plain how they view what has been given away to Mr. Bush, and what is yet to be given away tomorrow, and in the thousand tomorrows to come.

Because for the next fourteen months, the Democratic nominating process–indeed the whole of our political discourse until further notice–has, with the stroke of a cursed pen, become about one thing, and one thing alone.The electorate figured this out, six months ago.

The President and the Republicans have not-doubtless will not.

The Democrats will figure it out, during the Memorial Day recess, when they go home and many of those who elected them will politely suggest they stay there-and permanently.
Because, on the subject of Iraq the people have been ahead of the media….

Ahead of the government…

Ahead of the politicians…

For the last year, or two years, or maybe three.
Our politics… is now about the answer to one briefly-worded question.

Mr. Bush has failed.
Mr. Warner has failed.
Mr. Reid has failed.

So. Who among us will stop this war-this War of Lies? To he or she, fall the figurative keys to the nation.

To all the others-presidents and majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party-there is only blame… for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal.

Goodnight and Good luck.

This is NOT a Democracy. But, judging by the actions, or should I say the INACTIONS of us all- It's all that we deserve.

Slaves and Slave owners. And that's fucking it.

We may be able to blame others for a greater percentage of fault. We may be able to point at "him" or "her" or "them" - but look in the mirror too. Every one of us who didn't fight, rise up and storm down on the betrayers in our political office with our constitutions in hand, if not other tools of democracy, are to blame as well.

Corporatocracy. Welcome to the firm. Place your hand in the imprinter for your mark, and please- No Questions. We don't know the answers, and if we did, we wouldn't give them to you, anyway.

Hasten to your cubicles and await further instructions. And, ahem- try and look busy, will you? Just because there's nothing to do doesn't mean you can't appear useful.

Buy-Eat-Shit-Fuck-Repeat. Anything extra is frowned upon.

Be the Change you believe in

What's Your Presidential Candidate done for America Lately?

Here's what mine is up to...

Be the Change you believe in

Support the Troops - End the War

Take Action on Memorial Day-

Let the quibblers in Congress be aware, that Republican OR Democrat, we aren't going to let them back-bench every day on the Iraq War while our sons and daughters die.

We aren't going to blindly accept empty promises from Pelosi, Reid and our so-called Anti-war leadership.

There will be no more kowtowing to the Dictator-in-chief and his power mongering consuls. Let every Politician in your district, from your local reps up to your Senators know how the American public feels in no uncertain terms.

We've allowed the politicians to play their bloody games for too long. It is time to wipe the slate clean in some cases, of these greedy, vile bastards and replace them with men of the people, not servants of corporations!

We don't give a damn about "winning" the oil in Iraq. We are tired of paying tithes to Exxon Mobil, Big Pharma, and the Military Industrial complex for this bullshit "terror threat".

If we can't stop the career criminals in the Bush adminstration and their Democratic enablers now, then we are complicit in the Fall of the American empire. You are only as strong as your actions! Your freedom has been revealed to you to be a hollow dream under the men who have sold out our country to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China, all the while pretending to be patriots.

ACT for your country or leash yourself as a fearful slave. The choice- Right here, Right now- is STILL up to you. Vote, get involved, put your money where your morals are.

Our country's soul is at stake.

UPDATE: Edwards Speech today

Passed my final Test

Scuze me While I embrace my not-so-inner Redneck...

HELL-MOTHERFUCKING-YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrations to be held as Soon as I get the fuck out of this office!






Listen- get this:
Nobody with a good car needs to worry about anything
You unnerstand?

Nobody with a good car needs to be justified…

I come a long way since I believed in anything
I come half way round the world!

Where you come from is gone
Where you thought you were going to, waren’t never there
And where you ARE ain’t no good less’n you can get away from it

All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world
So there was only one thing that I could do
Was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long

Mother's Musings

Sad But True let me know that Pam's got the Open letter to Gonzales from his Harvard classmates up... And her recent post concerning Gore is a good find as well-

Check out Musings of a Working Mom

And while I'm out- be sure and surf down my blogroll- These are the best independent bloggers out there! (In My not-so Humble Opinion)...

Empty House...

Not much time lately.

I take my final certification test (series 65) on Tuesday.

I will be too busy studying to do much else.

Enjoy your weekend...

Informed Comment

EVERY SINGLE LINK today on Informed Comment is vital today.

http://www.juancole.com/2007/05/abdullah-ii-to-cheney-israeli.html

Delusions of Insufficient Grandeur

Everyone is an atheist for most gods.

Every "Believer" Disbelieves in every god but the one they were raised to believe in.

Pure Atheists just go one god further than a "believer".

http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusion

Carl Sagan:

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

Mother's Day Proclamation

http://mothersdayforpeace.com

Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have breasts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Julia Ward Howe, 1870.
(this was the same woman who penned the Battle Hymn of the Republic).

It's Fight the Man Friday!

Legally Fight The Man
Station Agent finds this Gem from Boston legal. A perfect indictment of Guantanamo Bay.
Why Gitmo is 100% illegal, Immoral, and Fucked up (my own title for the vid)

...

Politically Fight The Man

One by One by Thousands from my fellow C&L asskicker, Mirth, at Liberally Mirth

..

Woman Fight The Man

Mothers descend on D.C. to protest the war (from Common Dreams)

...

World Fight The Man

World bank closer to ridding itself of Wolfowitz

...

The Man fights The Man

Dictator-like leader of Russia insults Dictator-like leader of America for Nazi-like tactics while inspiring patriotic "Victory day" with military fanfare in front of the final resting place of one of Russia's past leaders. Pot slurs kettle...

(Wow, they really ARE hard to tell apart aren't they?)

...

RECREATE THE MAN

(from Graeme at Graeme's Blog)

Let the Ass kicking commence!

Well, actually, I feel a little beaten and bruised already.

Damn, I try. I got accused of being a troll today. It ain't the first time, it won't be the last. I love going over to the Unapologetic Mexican. Like me, this guy is fired up about what he believes in. He is en fuego about the Mexican immigrant issue as I am about the Corporate destruction of America. I think that both issues have a symbiotic relationship in many senses. I am more focused on the issues that affect me, as a poor lower/working class citizen of America. Just like he is more focused on the issues that affect him, as a Mexican. I try not to go too far into the psychology of an issue, because I have found that you get bogged down in the tangents. I try to keep on the simpler side of things, although I am capable of comprehending the intricasies. My poor writing ability of course, holds me back, more often than not.

I got hooked up with a lot of new female bloggers via the whole HPV thing a while back. I am a parent, but as a guy, a lot of my opinions got immediately discounted. I am not a female, it's true. So, of course, I can't put myself in the position of one. But I don't think it means that I am less of a parent, although I have been told my many mothers that it does because I don't have the link to my children because of the womb and what-not. Well, nope, I don't have that whole womb-link (like their mom did- the mother that left her womb-linked 3 month old daughter and 18 month old daughter with daddy and disappeared for over a year). But I like to think my love and the attention I show for my kids is equal to ANY parent out there, female or male.

In the case of Nez, I ain't Mexican either. I made the mistake of trying to put myself on equal ground by showing our common ties via the American Indian blood both in myself and those of Mexican descent. It's a little trick I use- hey we have this in common, let's have a civil discourse. But merely by mentioning it I put him off, plus, he dissected my poor ability in racial fractions. ("largely half-indian", yeah, I really should edit my comments and posts, but I think it adds a somewhat rural flavor, but I digress)

So my point, (finally!) is this- Is it okay, since I am a member of the "master" race, (even if only by an unknown racial percentage) and a lowly male, as well- should I defer to all issues concerning women to the women, and defer all the issues concerning blacks- to the blacks, and all mexican issues to the mexicans? I do to somewhat extent already, but is my opinion really completely as invalid as some of these people make me feel it is?

The point of Nez's really well-written The True Front of Progressivism post was that white bloggers ain't writing about Immigrant issues. A lot of Feminists are griping as well, that we aren't writing enough about their issues, and so on and so on. But when we do, we aren't meeting their specifications. We aren't tackling them the way they would tackle them.

Therein lies the trap for white males who dare have an opinion on female-related or mexican-related isssues. And when I use 'Related' I mean that these issues affect me too. If it was purely a woman's issue- Like Abortion-I don't fucking touch it. Hill Country Gal taught me that one (well, plus my own experiences). I don't think I have anything to bring to the abortion debate concerning a woman's choice. I have my own opinion, but I think as far as THEIR bodies go, they can own that conversation.

But guess what? I have a special insight as well. As a man, I have insight there too, that may be - I don't know- useful in framing a debate that you are trying to use - with - MEN. And the same thing concerning my Whiteness, partial or not. When POC discount a white man's opinion, when offered in a honest way- that doesn't help anything. I know, the knee jerk reaction is Fuck the White man! All they have done is fuck over people and ramrod their own bullshit down peoples throats. Okay= no argument there. If your goal is a race riot, fucking have at it. But if you'd like to change things, peacefully and practically- you may want to build some empathy with ole Whitey here. Hell knows, I am trying.

But I got all that white guilt too, so I left off Nez's place yesterday feeling kind of shitty. So, thursdays the kids go to their mother's house (who has now been found :) ) and I went to my neighbor, Eden's house, popped open a beer and helped him sand the gas tank of a harley he was painting. We don't mince words, so I just asked him right out :

"You think I'm a racist?"
He uttered a long stream of mexican cusswords. "You? Who the fuck tol' you that, man"
"Some really smart Mexican activist on the internet"
"Shit. You're a wedo, you can't help that, man. But you're mescan too. We ALL know that."
The other guys in the shop all nodded, gave me sober (uh-somewhat) assessments of acknowledgement.
"Fuck that Mexican. He don't know shit. You're the second favorite white boy in the hood!"
Everyone toasted. Salut! And no more was said about that particular subject. We had a harley to paint, after all.

I'll have to take this Unapologetic Mexican's opinion over the other one. After all, he's my friend. And where I come from, friendship trumps race anyday.

(and just so you know, I'll never make the Number one white boy in the hood. He's dead. And he was real popular)...

Enablers, Saviors, Con artists ALL?

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone has taken the sorry ass Republicans to task several times this year. Now he lines up the enablers, the Democrats, for a little bit of accountability on this supplemental bill. It's an eye-opener...

AntiWar Americans versus the Democrats

EXCERPT:
There is a growing number of people out there who believe the Reid-Pelosi Iraq war supplemental is a gigantic crock of shit, and who think the Democratic Party leadership should now officially be labeled conspirators in the war effort. I've even seen it suggested that Reid and Pelosi should now be sent official "certificates of war ownership," to formally put them in a club with Bush, Cheney, Richard Perle and the rest of the actual war authors.

...

The thinking goes something like this: the Democrats, who are mostly the same people who voted for the war in the first place, don't really want to end it. They do, however, want to take political advantage of antiwar sentiment. So they will appear to be against the conflict but set things up in such a way that their "efforts" to end the war will fall just slightly short, like a fourth-quarter pass thrown by a point-shaving quarterback.

...

If they viewed the war as much of the world did, as a murderous and profoundly immoral criminal enterprise, they would understand that morally, they really have no choice now but to refuse to send Bush even a dime more for this war. After all, it's impossible to justify on any level voting to give George Bush more money for more troops "in the short run" if you believe that the occupation is fundamentally evil and exploitative. But the Democrats clearly do not believe it is wrong. They don't even mind having a big hand in it. They just don't think it's going very well, and understand that in the long run, it's a non-starter politically.

Please, read the whole damn, depressing thing.

So, the Democrats who enabled the war to occur in the first place are not saviors. Unless of course, you decide that if we control the Iraqi oil in the end (or if we give it to Exxon Mobil so they can sell it to the American people at enormous profits) we are saved.

It's the American way. We are going to get that fucking oil. The Democrats' bill tells us that much. No matter what Bush says or Reid says about ending this war- "What, the media has left the room? - Maliki-we are going to get that fucking oil FIRST you dirty filthy Iraqis. And we aren't leaving til we get it. Oh, here comes the media... And that's why this bill is so important to supporting the ahem, er - troops."

So that's our ruling class in action. And with THAT taste of bile in my throat, as I think of the American AND Iraqi blood wetting the sands of Iraq - AS WE SPEAK- I call it a day.

"Troubles" no more?

This is such good news, I don't know what to say. Like the reporter himself, I am almost speechless for fear that I may be speaking too soon- with my fingers crossed behind my back for good measure.

The Miracle of Belfast

Peace in Ireland. Let it last. Let it grow. Let the walls separating neighborhoods come down and let the past be simply the past. Peace between the leaders, although important, is less important than peace between the people. Real peace may be at hand, but it will not be a lasting peace if the Irish people themselves don't embrace it.

EXCERPT:
Across the barrier, Michael Connery, a Catholic student, expressed a similar concern that progress in Stormont has yet to be reflected in the reality of life among ordinary people.

He said: "Just because Sinn Fein and the DUP have agreed to a return of the Assembly doesn't mean our communities are not still divided. Segregation is a problem that has to be addressed. Until the barriers come down and people really learn to live alongside each other then I think political progress will be limited."

But while any optimism was bound to be cautious, there was a firm belief that the co-habitation of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness made the demolition of the Peace Lines a distinct possibility as well as a long-held aspiration. Mr Williamson said: "It symbolises segregation and segregation institutionalises sectarianism.

"I remember my Dad saying to me 'good fences make good neighbours Tommy'. But he was wrong. Segregation has ruined this community."

Peace- it truly has become a terrible world to think it so outlandish. And when seeing it realized has become such an outrageous spectacle to consider.

Peace and war are both easy to embrace. It is time for us to embrace the right one.

UPDATE: Batocchio also has a post up about this at Vagabond Scholar
UPDATE II: Mick Fealty (of Slugger O'Toole fame) has this passionate commentary at the Guardian

Outsourcing ISN'T the answer

Yesterday on Crooks & Liars, Nicole Belle posted this: Senate Kills Import Drug Plan. She was upset at the failure of congress to allow Americans to get their drugs from other countries, because they are cheaper.

Two hours later, C&L had another post from Nicole Belle about problems with China's imported fish meal, which made its way into fish farms in America. Time to become a vegetarian

Obviously there are some cross-currents here. We've seen what Free Market foodstuffs from China have done to us recently.

Do you REALLY want cheap drugs made in Mexico that AREN'T even certified by the FDA?Good luck with THAT. Certainly the FDA has some major issues right now. Well, every industry oversight watchdog group has suffered under the dubious leadership of George Bush, with his penchant for appointing ex-industry officials into positions that call for someone with an bent on REGULATION, not looking the other way.

But besides that, America needs laws that affect Big Pharma's pricing here in America. "Free" market it's not. Our solution isn't outsourcing every single product we buy- That just hurts the country in the end. We need to fix our country and the corporate mindset that is ruining us from within. We need to fix the price-controls that Big Pharma, Big Oil have set up.

AND- We, as a people, need to stop buying the cheapest crap we possibly can. THAT is what supports the sweat shops and the child labor factories of the world. Why buy cheap crap that you have to replace six months later?

Spend a bit more for American produced goods of quality. If the American people were NOT in a race to the bottom of the heap in ALL of our endeavors, and were willing to invest a little more money in our own products, we wouldn't be in this mess.

And hell, I say that, and I'm broke. But I'll spend an extra $20 on groceries just so I'm not funnelling the profits to China via Wal-Mart.

Our country is disintegrating before our very eyes. And contrary to most progressive logic, I am telling you it IS a moral issue, just not the one you expect. Our greed is what is killing our nation, our incessant lust for more and more, fueled by a disposable economy and a disposable society.

Yes, for the time being, Americans unstoppable addiction to buying all manner of useless crap has kept dollars changing hands and somewhat fueled the economy. But when all the profits end up overseas, in the end we are destroying our own economy for some false sense of staying afloat.

Wal-Marts are in every major community in our country. Do you know what a Wal-Mart is?

"It's the cheapest place to get stuff, thats what it is!" you say.

Well, there's more of a price than you realize. Wal-Mart makes everything so cheap by short-changing their American workers, with no health care and no benefits and by their communist-like, union-busting ways. There was a time when every single object in Wal-Mart was American made, not too long ago. And Sam Walton got rich off that. But now, the people who run Wal-Mart get most of their goods from China, Pakistan, South America and other countries.

So the "discounts" you get are made possible by hurting America. Small businesses, that Republicans like to claim they support are dying off. Big business is the only thing thriving in the U.S. under an administration that bends over backwards for the ultra-rich. Regular Americans suffer, and CEOs get multi-million dollar bonuses for closing U.S. factories and opening up cheap factories in third world countries with an employee base that aren't much more than slaves.

There's a big vacuum over every major corporate operation- and that vacuum is effectively sucking money straight out of America and shipping it to every other country in the world, even countries that don't like us so well. Those small businesses, that used to line every main street in America- they are empty now. We have no one to blame in the end but ourselves.

Stop short-changing America. Spend a little extra if you have to, but I think that you will find that the few dollars you put back into American products and American workers is money well invested. This is how we, the people can save our country. Our politicians won't do it for us, they are too busy stuffing their own pockets to look further into the future than their own retirement. Our retirement? We won't have one if we don't start taking care of our own country RIGHT NOW.

UPDATE: A Question:
"How do you find "stores" that sell American made products without spending all your time and shoe leather? If you has an answer to this question, I would LOVE to hear it."

All you have to do is exercise a little effort. Products are required by law to state where they are manufactured. If you are forced to shop in Wal-Mart, then take an extra minute and buy American products. The Internet is invaluable for this information. And get others involved as well. Network your efforts and it makes everything easier.
Here a few links I found in the past two minutes:

http://www.madeinusa.org/

http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/

http://www.buyamericanmart.com/

Yes, it takes a little more effort and time, but Ask not what your country can do for you, but what YOU can do for your country!
;)

Class strugglin'

More fuel for the fire...

Middle Class continues to be hurt economically under this President's Policies:
Middle class suffers

Of course, I'll file this under Things-I-Already-knew, but there's some good hard facts in the post that may come in handy later. Yeah, life under Dubya just gets worse and worse for those of us who aren't making boo-koo cash.

Thanks Exxon Mobil! Thanks President Bush! Thank you 23%ers! Thank you dumbass middle class rednecks who don't see Bush is using you like $3 whores! "Oh, he's a christian, he can fuck up the country because he means well".

I may not be the most eloquent of writers- so this won't be as pretty as Arthur Silbur waxing philosophic- I write like I talk, which of course, proves that I am just a damn country boy-

But, this country is officially half-fucking-retarded. I may not know much, but I can sure as hell tell when I am being screwed over.

If you can't tell that George Bush is fucking America over- then you get what you deserve. But why- o -why?! do the rest of us have to suffer for YOUR idiocy?

Oblivious jackals feasting on the body of a great poet... who dies, not pained most that he is dying, but that he is being robbed of such an exquisite existence by animals that cannot appreciate anything better than their own scavenger shit lives...

They will never put forth great effort and so they will never have anything more.

Edwards first

I received this from DFA this morning...

Democracy for America members are keeping the pressure up on the Democratic candidates for President. We're demanding they stay true to progressive principles and articulate a clear vision on the most important issues of our time. In March, Senator Edwards was the first to state his position on Iraq in a video directly to you.

Last month, DFA members asked the candidates to lead America forward with a plan to stop global warming, encourage conservation and invest in renewable resources. Senator John Edwards is again the first candidate to respond:

Edwards Energy

Senator Edwards takes three minutes to lay out every aspect of his plan. You won't hear responses like this at the primary debates or in a T.V. commercial. The mainstream media acts like it doesn't have time and won't pay attention to the detail. But we will.
The core of Senator Edwards' plan is "to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war." Hear the whole plan:

Edwards Energy

There are many great candidates running for President. It is up to each of us to find the candidate that best represents our views and do everything we can to help them win. A healthy primary challenge will make our eventual nominee stronger and the progressive movement more powerful. That's why DFA brings these videos directly to you as an honest broker in your decision making process. This is NOT an endorsement of Senator Edwards' campaign. However, if you like what you hear today, you can join his campaign at:

http://www.johnedwards.com/

As of this moment, out of the current field of candidates, I support John Edwards whole heartedly. I like what Kucinich has to say, but as these two examples show, Edwards is leading the pack in illustrating Plans for success and laying out a concrete path for solutions to our current problems. This is of very real importance in today's political picture, when Democrats are daily being accused of having no plans. Edwards is going beyond political rhetoric and standard campaigning to give us a focus of what he means and not abstract ideals.

Get behind Edwards today. Implement your own plan to take back America from the do-nothing Republican party. That means backing a strong candidate who doesn't have the suspect motives of Hillary Clinton or the mediocre substance of Obama.

Let it sink in...

Bush Has Destroyed Iraq and America
by Paul Craig Roberts

Every American who voted Republican shares responsibility for the great evil America has brought to the Middle East.

The evil that America brought to Iraq transcends the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and maimed in the conflict. The evil goes beyond the destruction of ancient historical artifacts and the civilian infrastructure of a secular state and the decimation of the lives, careers, and families of millions of Iraqis.

The violence and killing that Bush brought to Iraq has spread antagonism between Sunni and Shiite throughout the Middle East with potentially draconian consequences. Bush’s war has turned Muslim hearts and minds against America and made terrorism an acceptable means to resist American hegemony. With his mindless war, Bush has created more terrorism than the world has ever seen.

The reasons given for the American invasion of Iraq have been exposed as lies, revealing America as either a country of fools and idiots or of war criminals. Worldwide polls show that America is no longer regarded as a guiding light but is tied with Israel as the second greatest threat to world stability.

The nuclear-armed Russians, alarmed by America’s gratuitous aggression and interference in Russian and Middle Eastern internal affairs and by Bush’s aggressive withdrawal on June 13, 2002 from the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty, no longer see the US as a partner in peace but as a dangerous militaristic aggressor. The chance for understanding and trust with Russia has been destroyed by the stupid Bush administration. The White House Moron, who cannot successfully occupy Baghdad, believes he can run over Russia.

Former CIA director George "Slam-Dunk" Tenet writes in a new book, At the Center of the Storm: My years at the CIA that Vice President Dick Cheney and the neoconservatives caused America to invade Iraq without ever holding a serious debate about whether Iraq was a threat. Tenet writes: "There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat."

The 2003 American invasion of Iraq is a war crime under international law. The invasion caused sectarian violence far beyond anything Iraq had ever experienced under Saddam Hussein. Tenet writes that "sectarian violence in Iraq has taken on a life of its own and that US forces are becoming more and more irrelevant to the management of that violence."

Tenet says that Dick Cheney made him a scapegoat for the disastrous war by misrepresenting to media what he meant by "slam-dunk." Interviewed by "60 Minutes," Tenet said that the administration misrepresented his comment to mean that the case was air tight that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Tenet states that the Bush administration’s misrepresentation of what he said is "the most despicable thing that ever happened" to him.
The American people have never been told the real reasons that Bush-Cheney and the Republican Party rushed us to war in Iraq. Americans have only been fed a pack of transparent lies.

The war has brought no honor, no glory, and no tangible benefit. The war has brought shame upon America for routine torture of Iraqi detainees and for the routine slaughter of unarmed Iraqi civilians – mothers, fathers, children, grandparents – by trigger-happy American troops. There are even reports of US mercenaries having fun riding around taking pot shots at Iraqi civilians.

Billions of dollars in "aid" are missing. The stench of corruption is heavy in the air. There are myriad investigations of Bush administration and contractor corruption. Who can keep up with them all? Cheney’s Halliburton, the greatest hog at the trough, has not been indicted. The missing suitcases of cash have not been recovered. The earnest efforts of Congress have taken on a pathetic, plodding life of their own.

In an article just published in the Armed Forces Journal, Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, one of the commanders of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq, condemns American generals as " mild-mannered team players" who "are not worthy of their soldiers" and who "underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq’s government and security forces and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq."

Captains, majors, and lieutenant colonels are frustrated with the political cowardice of their general officers and are leaving the service in droves. The Army is trying to improve retention by offering $20,000 cash payments to the officers – another stupid Bush administration policy as any officer who sells his soul is demoralized.

Col. Yingling writes that Congress must step in and break up the way administrations use promotions to acquire compliant generals as accomplices in deceiving the American people.
The most frightening fact about the Bush administration is that not a single office is held by a competent or qualified person. Integrity is so rare among Bush appointees that integrity has been silenced.

That should concern all Americans. Even Republicans.

Full Fucking Circle

Chris Floyd is one of the best. For consistent, intelligent, well-written eye-opening reports. The only person that I believe came close was Billmon at the now boarded-up Whiskey Bar.

From Empire Burlesque today: Decline and Fall

General Sir Michael Rose, one of the most highly decorated British officers since World War II, has written a new book which began as a study of Britain's failed military tactics during the American Revolution and ended up as damning indictment of the Bush-Blair coalition's disastrous aggression in Iraq. In fact, Rose "argues that the [Iraqi] insurgents' tactics have been seen before - ironically when George Washington's forces succeeded in defeating the British Army -- then the world's greatest military power -- to win independence for the US in 1776," as the BBC reports.

We have come full circle. America is the British Empire and Iraq is the American Revolution.

Occupiers cannot be loved. We cannot bomb and kill Iraqis and expect them to thank us because we killed Saddam. However loathed he might have been, he was still an Iraqi. We will not be thanked for the destruction we have unleashed upon Iraq. We will not be respected for our "righteous benevolence" as our contractors built sub-standard projects all over Iraq, took the U.S. funds and ran off without any accountability for projects that they never completed. We will not be given accolades for our destruction of Fallujah. We will not applauded by the people of Iraq for putting our cronies in their political machine. They will NOT give up their national resources willingly.

I'm no Chris Floyd. I boil it down to the basics when I can...

...from that most patriotic of Insurgent movies, Red Dawn: (hell, I admit it, I love this movie)

Jed Eckert: [at the execution of Daryl Bates and a Russian soldier] Do you want blindfolds?
Russian Soldier: This violates the Geneva convention.
Jed Eckert: I never heard of it!
Russian Soldier: Dogface! I show you how Soviet dies!
Robert: I've seen it before, pal.
Danny: [who is tied up in the distance, with the horses] This isn't happening! Jed, let him go! He was one of us!
Jed Eckert: Shut up, Danny! Shut up!
Robert: He told them where we were!
Jed Eckert: He did. Now get your rifles.
Matt Eckert: *No!*
Jed Eckert: WHAT DID YOU SAY?
Matt Eckert: *We're not doing it!*
Russian Soldier: [to Daryl] Boy, say at me you are friend, so I will not die alone.
Matt Eckert: What's the difference, Jed?
Robert: I'll do it.
Matt Eckert: Shut up, Robert! [to Jed]
Matt Eckert: *Tell me what's the difference between us and them!*
Jed Eckert: Because WE *LIVE* HERE!
[kills Russian; Robert kills Daryl]

It's their goddamn country. Let them keep it and their fucking oil. It's not worth one more American life sacrificed in order for Big Oil to keep making record profits.

Support the troops. Hang a war profiteer.

It's Free Religion Friday!

I got the following from a "Citizen-Pain" out of the comments of a Think Progress story on Jeff Gannon's Bible reading "event" that drew four attendees... (Yes, THAT Jeff Gannon)

Bu$h is my emperor, I shall not want.

He layeth me down in fields of greenbacks,

he leadeth me besides mercury and arsenicfilled waters;

he restoreth corporate welfare and tax cuts for the wealthy,

he leadeth me in paths of self-righteousness, greed, and intolerance of others;

Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evildoers (all non-republicans),

for he is with me; thy Rove and thy Rice protect me.

Bu$h preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies (all non-republicans),

he anointest my head with Iraqi oil and American blood;

my Humvee’s gas tank runneth over.

Surely wealth and piety shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the white house of Bu$h forever.

Republican "Debate"

The Most Honest statement made last night by a Republican:
(A comment made by John McCain, about Bin Ladin)

“We will bring him to justice, and I will follow him to the gates of hell.”

You know, I don't doubt that a bit. I can see him and Bin Ladin now, like those two cartoon characters:

"After you, sir"
"No, no, After you, sir!" and on and on.
No worries, they'll both walk through those gates eventually.

Ah, Republican Debate- A group of men, talking out of both sides of their mouths, falling all over themselves to denounce Bush's Iraq strategy and then, in the same breath declaring Bush's "new" strategy is sound.

What a farce these "conservatives" are! There is absolutely nothing new about Bush's strategy. Bush's strategy is to maintain occupation of Iraq until there's not a drop of oil left in the region, no matter how many of our troops die. And that's about IT. (If we can't impeach him, try him, or convict him for his crimes, does the Democratic party even have the power to make this bloody-handed oil baron attend a few funerals for the soldiers he is responsible for killing?)

So, where did these candidates draw a line in the sand, if not in Iraqi sand?

Well, that would be religion. The Republican party is beaten, bloodied, and corrupt. Religion is the ONLY thing they have to fall back on. They are running back to the Christian Right wing, the heart of Dubya's base, falling on their knees in forgiveness, blaming every woe in America not on THEMSELVES, where a lot of the blame lies, but on Satan and "trying to run faith out of the public square" as Brownback said.

There's always going to be a certain portion of the population that will pin all their votes on the men who seem to mirror their religion and nothing else. It's sad to see such misplaced "faith" in these charlatans/career politicians.

War, torture, taking money from the poor, cutting programs for the needy in order to give the super-rich tax cuts, making it harder for those with major medical issues to file bankruptcy, destroying soldiers' families by forcing them back to Iraq for longer and longer tours, bombing civilians, destroying the environment, the list goes on. That is what these men's ACTIONS say they support. Heed not their last minute shows of prayer. Their deeds give the lie to their empty words of piety.

Never buy a used car from a man with Jesus all over his office. He's a crook, and he's trying to sell his religion to hide that fact.

These men, devoid of ideas or ideals or a way out of Iraq, fall into sycophancy once again. They have nothing new to add, so they sit on their hands and once again fall into preaching about God because that's it, that's all that they have. They are too weak to act, on Iraq, on foreign policy, on Bush's criminal empire, so they simply fall in line and ask YOU, the American people to vote for them, because, uh, they love God, just like you. And if you give THEM your faith, they'll pass it on to God, y'see, and everything will be alright.

Forgive me, lord, if I don't trust the men selling themselves, with you.

HOLY UPDATE, JEW ZEUS! Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee are Flat-Earthers!!!

Please, Rapture them today... Rapture them all, today, Lord.

The Hippies were right!

The Hippies were Right!

EXCERPT:
There is but one conclusion you can draw from the astonishing (albeit fitful, bittersweet) pro-environment sea change now happening in the culture and (reluctantly, nervously) in the halls of power in D.C., one thing we must all acknowledge in our wary, jaded, globally warmed universe: The hippies had it right all along. Oh yes they did.

You know it’s true. All this hot enthusiasm for healing the planet and eating whole foods and avoiding chemicals and working with nature and developing the self? Came from the hippies. Alternative health? Hippies. Green cotton? Hippies. Reclaimed wood? Recycling? Humane treatment of animals? Medical pot? Alternative energy? Natural childbirth? Non-GMA seeds? It came from the granola types (who, of course, absorbed much of it from ancient cultures), from the alternative worldviews, from the underground and the sidelines and from far off the goddamn grid and it’s about time the media, the politicians, the culture as a whole sent out a big, wet, hemp-covered apology.

Here’s a suggestion, from one of my more astute ex-hippie readers: Instead of issuing carbon credits so industrial polluters can clear their collective corporate conscience, maybe, to help offset all the savage damage they’ve done to the soul of the planet all these years, these commercial cretins should instead buy some karma credits from the former hippies themselves. You know, from those who’ve been working for the health of the planet, quite thanklessly, for the past 50 years and who have, as a result, built up quite a storehouse of good karma. You think?

The final bit sums it all up nicely...

Of course, true hippie values mean you’re not really supposed to care about or attach to any of this, you don’t give a damn for the hollow ego stroke of being right all along, for slapping the culture upside the head and saying, See? Do you see? It was never about the long hair and the folk music and Woodstock and taking so much acid you see Jesus and Shiva and Buddha tongue kissing in a hammock on the Dog Star, nimrods.

It was, always and forever, about connectedness. It was about how we are all in this together. It was about resisting the status quo and fighting tyrannical corporate/political power and it was about opening your consciousness and seeing new possibilities of how we can all live with something resembling actual respect for the planet, for alternative cultures, for each other. You know, all that typical hippie crap no one believes in anymore. Right?

Read it All

Terrorist-in-Chief

Five Years Of Halliburton Stock profits
The only God Dubya worships is the almighty dollar.

This Veto should be the last straw. Bush is completely out of touch. Does the President have the sole right to continue a war forever? Hell NO! The American public AND our military is being held hostage by the right wing radicals who make up the Republican share of Congress right now.

The Republicans that voted to support Bush's veto will regret it, just like all the Republicans' who lost office in November. It's time for a surge of Democrats, Progressives and Conservatives with a brain and some form of understanding of how this democracy in America is supposed to work!

Not only has this fool of a Terrorist President failed to inspire a Democracy in Iraq, he has actively been destroying it in America.

Take the military spending bill, ADD a minimum wage increase to it and SEND IT BACK TO HIS SORRY ASS! If he vetoes that, add a war profiteers bill to it as well, that requires ALL contractors who have made money off the U.S. government, and off the bodies of our dead troops to bring their UNPAID taxes up to date immediately or face having their ill-gotten gains frozen by the government.

And if he vetoes that, strip the ultra-rich of their precious tax cuts. No More Bluffing! This is the time to have a showdown this fucking monster in the White House.

Gravel is right- Bring this bill to a vote Every Single Day. Let America know who is MAKING our soldiers die every damn day for NO REASON.

The Republican party won't survive this if they don't start following the will of the people instead of their Corporate lobbyists. And if the President doesn't EVER pass it, he will run out of money- and we will bring the troops home. And hopefully before Iraq's combative factions join forces to throw out U.S.forces, whom they hate.

"But what about the good news in Iraq?" Someone slap that fool silly. There is NO good news. Soldiers dying every day and Iraqis dying every day IS NOT GOOD NEWS YOU FUCKING TWITS.

This President is a psychotic murdering fool who has sacrificed thousands of American lives in some vain attempt to make himself into a hero.

He wasn't a hero hiding in Oklahoma during the Vietnam war. And he's not a hero now.

Impeach this fool before he destroys our whole military with his grandiose war rigging!!

Pitiful Buffet

Saw this on MSNBC this morning. It hasn't been up long, but man those numbers are just horrible for Republicans-

Average Positive Response: 16.1%

Average Neutral Response: 37.1%

Average Negative Response: 46.8%

The Republican with the highest positive response is Giuliani, but his negative response is only 2% lower. He is followed by McCain, whose negative response is 13% higher than his positive, and the same goes for Mitt Romney, in third according to the ratings so far.

Bleak days for conservatives. Not that a majority of these guys are ACTUAL conservatives. But hasn't the American public heard of Ron Paul? He and Duncan Hunter were the only two I gave positive responses to. Duncan has crossed party lines and voted his conscience against the Bush rubberstamp a couple of times- that shows initiative and spine. And Ron Paul is just... well, he's the biggest conservative badass there is left. A hardcore constitutional literalist who wants our troops out of Iraq now.

.

Paul's like the Democrats Dennis Kucinich- By far the smartest candidate, but probably not electable by the American Idol crowd, where appearance and bullshit sound bytes trump sound policies everytime.

.

Unless Gore, Clark, or Dean get back into the race, I'm going to have to stick with Edwards. So far the worst thing anyone can say about him is that he spends too much money on his hair or he talks too slow. Or that he's a fag. Oh please, at least he's not dressing up in drag like Giuliani.

.

Give me a candidate with some real policies and fabricated faults over the reverse any day.

.

Hillary = Lieberman's Evil twin sister. Watch and see.

Obama= Hell, the jury's still out on him, as far as I am concerned. But he falls behind Edwards concerning Iraq, diplomacy with Iran, and fighting the Repubs head on.

Kucinich? Smart, on target. Electable? Still watching...

.

Edwards also has managed to stay out of the mudslinging on the Demos side thus far. That's more points in his favor. A lot of bloggers are still miffed about Edwards nixing some of our fellows from his campaign, but it was a sound strategy. He can't be called on the carpet to defend some of our wild ass blogging and stay on task. I am glad that "controversy" got stamped out early and we can try to keep these guys focused on real issues, not distractions.

.

So, get out there and find out what these guys are really about. Cull the McCains and the Clintons from the race. We don't need either of those two low-life self-serving politicians replacing George Bush with George Bush lite, mkay?