Framing The "Debate"

A friend called me early this morning. He's a default Texas John McCain supporter, which means : He won't vote for no split tail or no negro, by God.

A day before I had ripped McCain to this Truck Driver- and explained why he should be voting Democrat for the rest of his natural born life, apparently, 24 hours set in and he forgot the fifteen damn factors I had instilled in him via reason, logic, and historical example.

He called me from his cell as he was truckin along, and he asked me if I was still supporting Obama. Before I could answer, he followed up with : "Have you seen the news?" - Now, I am a news JUNKIE. I mainline C&L, I shoot MSNBC Straight, I chase it with NPR Radio , and while I'm at it, I have a slice of Yahoo and smoke a bowl of CNBC. And I wash it all down with a suicide of various blogs. So, sitting down at my desk that early morning, I hadn't even booted up my PC yet. All I had was my morning drive with NPR's tibetan updates.

I thought- 'Well, shit! what did I miss?'

"Obama got a terrorist working for him.Yep, it's all over the news!" He exclaimed.

Unawares of what the heck he was talking about, I kinda mumbled- "I didn't see that on the news" But nonplussed, I followed up with the standard West Texas talking point- "Well, hell, Rocky, I'll still vote for a terrorist over Hillary or McCain". That got a chuckle.

"Well, I just thought you should know that's what I heard. That your boy got terrorists working for him."

He couldn't cite a news agency or details, and he had to go abruptly. I quickly got online, thinking to myself- What-in-the-fck-now?

Unsurprisingly it dawned on me that there was no news concerning this soundbite. I had forgotten that the rest of the country isn't quite up to speed on current events. Maybe he had finally heard some shit about Madrassas. Maybe he had heard about Weather Underground. Maybe he heard some uppity black preacher was badmouthing the flag. But whatever bullshit he took in one ear, didn't quite make it out the other.

All that careful conversation I had with him the day before, meant nothing now. All he heard was that I was supporting a black man over the white one. And although he listened carefully and even told me what a sorrry ass Bush was, worst President ever- a day later all that registered was that crazy ass nigga's middle name was Hu-saaaaannnnne and he won't say the pledge of allegiance by damn!

...

He wants to vote Republican. Because he's been told to. But everything is shit and it has been for the past 8 years. Nothing has quite worked out like the Republican party told him it would. He just don't know. But ho-shit- It's not just a split-tail running for President, that's a god-damn Clinton! By Jesus, He'd take a bj in an outhouse with his wife holding a roll of toilet paper outside, but he cain't abide the Preznit getting his jollies in the oval office!

Not if he's damn democrat, at least! And then the other option is a half-breed! And half breeds ain't so bad, Hell this guy's grandson is a "half-breed". But this fucker is half (whisper- BLACK! whisper)

Sumbitch!

McCain is a white guy and hell he's even a War Hero. (If it all it takes to be a war hero is to be captured by a rice farmer in a paddy where you've been bombing civiilians)... So when he hears "Hussein" or "Farrakhan" or "black President" his mind is made up.

The wit and wisdom, the facts and the figures, the history and the truth isn't going to sway him.

UNLESS...

So, what I propose- is to fight like a dirty, piece of shit Republican. Do what they have done to Obama and to Hillary before him- Make up a bunch of bullshit and pass it down the line. Who knows? Knowing the Middle Amerkan dipshit like I know so well, they will PROBABLY improve on it as it goes in one ear and out their ass.

I'm sure you've heard some dirt on McCain. Well, do what THEY do, and just assume its true and pass it around. But frame it in the worst possible way to Right wingers and their ilk; Make a headline about McCain. Say that you heard it from a "reputable source" and let that fucker fly. We are dealing with idiots, slaves, and sycophants. For four years of blogging, I've laid out the truth in careful little lines only to be ignored by morons who want to know who's Britney's Sister's Baby's Daddy is.

FUCK THEM.

McCain wants to Double the Estate Tax! I read it in the Wall Street Journal!

McCain owns interest in a Chinese Nuclear Weapons facility! It was on FoxNews!

McCain called one of Mitt Romney's three wives' (the thirteen year old) a bitch! I heard it on Rush!

McCain beat his ex-wife as she lay in a cancer ward, then had sex with his mistress in the same room as she lay bleeding afterwards! it was on Drudge, I Swear!

McCain wants Cheney as his Vice President! (that might be true)

Rove threatens to blow the whistle on McCain's Bondage Affair with Condi Rice, her lesbian girlfriend and Jeff Gannon! I read it at Free Republic!

McCain secretly vows to George Bush in a satanic blood brother ritual that they will do a 9-11 in every major city until the Democrat party is no longer a majority in Congress! I saw it on Perez Hilton!

Because the horrible truth is- THESE Lies are more likely to get attention than Bush okaying Torture, Blackwater pulling guns on American soldiers with no consequences, Iraq going to hell in a handbasket, our President funneling millions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia and Israel, our government allowing crooked corporations to loot American stockholders, or our military being destroyed by the Incompetent Republican leadership.

So lie all you want. The truth is far worse.

Watch this video

Montel Calls out Conservative

"Stop turning this into a political issue while I gotta man sitting there suffering. It's not a political issue"...

"This is not the time to get a soundbite. Tell me what you're gonna do about this man sitting here before you" ...

"Then let's get the President right now to take responsibility. He's the Commander in Chief- Quit turning his back on people who's doing his dirty work. Why not do that? "...

"I want a Republican and a Democrat to go tell that President- listen to me, you were a Reservist, you didn't even put your uniform on and do the real job-Why don't you now support the people who did?"

The truth is, if the President wanted to fix this, he could. And not ONE Democrat would vote against money for the healthcare of the troops.

So, the question is, Why doesn't the Decider do something?

I think we all know the answer.

There's plenty of money to finance Blackwater. But there is not a damn dime for troops that can't fight anymore. Once an American soldier is wounded beyond ability to serve in Iraq, the Republicans don't support them ANY LONGER.

UPDATE: Frederick has more on McCain and Veteran's Healthcare

True Patriots fight FOR Freedom, not against it

80 year old Anti War Deacon arrested for t-shirt

They are arresting American citizens for t-shirts that offend warhawks. They are arresting preachers in America for calling for an end to the Iraq war. They are arresting eighty year old men who openly voice their opinion peacefully.

They are arresting American citizens for exercising free speech.

We are not free to oppose the warlike among us. We are not free to express morality in a country run by the immoral. We are not free to assemble peacefully when our opinion opposes that of the corporatists.

We are not free.

Those who are for the war can assemble, protest, and even assault the antiwar crowd and not be arrested. But if you dare stand up for the thousands of soldiers who are dying to make money for the military industrial complex, you will be spat upon, you will be accosted, you will be harrassed, you will be arrested by government officials.

I don't know who I despise more, the government who is taking away our American freedom, or the pathetic citizen scumbags who assault other Americans for speaking out FOR THE TROOPS.

I take heart that more and more christians are standing up for true christian beliefs and morality against the war. I pick christians out because the pro-war, pro-torture crowd, by and large, is made up of those who consider themselves christians.

Another Gathering of Eagles brownshirt story. This weak ass nazi gets "assaulted" by an 82 year old woman after verbally abusing her veteran husband. She kicks the dumbass in his dumb ass. I guess those Octagenarian peace activists are really dangerous, after all.

She got a $25 fine. Where can I send her my $25 for standing up to these nazis?

More American Patriots, veteran and otherwise:

Amnesty International teen protest

Winter Soldier

Iraq Vet: we need to leave Iraq immediately

Voices speak out (World Can't Wait)

Give me a link to your favorite American patriot who is working to end the war now, in the face of those who would steal our freedom...

BONUS LINK: Matt Taibbi on the Rev.Wright

FRIST!'s Republican Leadership survey!

Take Bill Frist's VOLPAC "Republican Leadership Survey"


Because this man cares deeply...

The questions of course, are weighted to the Bushbot eleetz. And of course, no discussion questions, you know how the Repubs don't want to hear anything but their carefully selected talking point answers.

Sample Questions and the fristian results thus far :

So, Bush blowing too much money, Mexicans!, government having to collect more money to pay for Iraq, the dangers of improving Healthcare, the threat of addressing social issues, or Judges that don't favor corporations- Whatever could be the biggest Fear of Fristians?

Survey sez: MEXICANS! Closely followed by the horrors of attempting to fix social issues at home!

And, what do you believe that other Americans feel is the most important issue?

Hmm.. Apparently the economy didn't make the grade. Neither did healthcare, the environment, inflation, war, torture, America's global loss of prominence, the damage done to the military, corruption, or corporate outsourcing of American jobs. It looks like its neverending war, spying on Americans, Mexicans!, and ... Iran? Seriously? Bush just sold millions of dollars worth of state of the art missles to Saudi Arabia, the country behind 9-11 , and Frist is worried about Iran building a nuke to protect itself from Israel? Oy.

Survey sez: MEXICANS! Twice in One Survey! Odelay!

And, I guess even only 5% of Fristians think that Iran's nuclear program is of note. Hopefully Frist (and other Rethugs) will take note. And only 11% of bushbots think that the Surge needs more time. That's heartening, if nothing else.

I encourage you all to join up and become an iFrist volunteer and help steer Volpac back towards some true conservatism and away from the neocon-war profiteering path they've been stuck on, which has really hurt the Republicans. Help let them know what the American people really want. The best way to do that is from inside Volpac itself. Go forth and multiply, friends.

The Weakness of Republicans

Haven't had a good rant in a bit... But leave it to clueless assholes knocking on Obama's wife for her honesty to piss me off...

They are referring to this New Yorker quote about Michelle Obama:

Obama begins with a broad assessment of life in America in 2008, and life is not good: we’re a divided country, we’re a country that is “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime. And, doggone it, I’m young. Forty-four!”

A sampling of the brainiac right wing commentary:

this emotionally childish woman wants to be The First Lady??

You mean the woman who claimed in her thesis four years of exposure to a predominately White, Ivy League University has instilled within her conservative values?

Not our America, Michelle. Our America doesn't live in 1.6 million $ homes, and go to cocktail parties in fancy Northside penthouses. Our America isn't mean, cynical, guided by fear, or slothful.

Our America doesn't believe that wearing a flag pin on our lapel is a cheap, maudlin trick.

My response:

You people are in far right field, pretending that there aren't some major problems in this country. Maybe like the family killed today in Tennesse, kids shot and murdered in their home, an honor student whose mom is serving in Iraq who got killed in a drive by shooting, the young woman who died because the insurance company kept denying her claim, only to FINALLY accept it, 12 hours before she died - after months of wrangling to prevent her transplant.

What's worse? For Warren Buffet and Michelle Obama to actually speak out about normal people like me who are barely getting by - or for them To IGNORE IT? You people are really full of it. She's rich. And you people are pissed off that she's NOT burying her head in the sand like the Bushes, the Romneys and the McCains.

Conservative values? You fuckwits wouldn't know a conservative value if it bit you in the ass. You are Rush Limbaugh dittoheads, with the inability to think past what you are told by these scumbags. And as for your stupid hypocritics wearing flag pins- George Bush will wear one AS he strips benefits from the troops and pays Blackwater millions. Mark Foley will wear one while he hits on underage boys. Larry Craig will wear one while he blows random men in bathrooms and Dick Cheney will wear one while he takes a shit on the constitution.

The Republican party is in tatters because of moronic people like you. Enjoy what you are sowing, cause I guarantee you, you won't enjoy what you reap.

Ridiculous.

I could take apart several more of this nuts' posts- the oppressed Israelis, forced to kill 112 people in Gaza, mainly unarmed, because they still haven't figured out that force won't solve anything. Or crying about Melanie Morgan losing her job because the entire nation is tired of the stupid whiny lies of bushbots while our troops die in Iraq. But frankly, I've had all I can handle of dumbfucks with their heads in the sand for one evening.

And speaking of Master Rants- By way of Alternate Brain , I ran into Physioprof knocking one out of the damn park.

He reminds us that RIGHT NOW is a really good time to start reminding Americans that almost every single ideal that makes America great were and are Liberal ideals.

What is A Liberal?

Liberal Values are American Values

Jesus is a Liberal

A liberal is conservative with a conscience. There is nothing conservative about George Bush ripping our constitution apart, spying on our every move, failing to stop 9-11, selling millions worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia AND Israel, financing a private army while cutting money to our troops, robbing the treasury blind while trying to give Iraq's oil to Exxon to sell back to the American people at robbery rates, ignoring the criminal actions of his cronies, and bringing the Spanish Inquisition into the 21st century!

We've gotta stop being so nice to these Republican fuckheads. They aren't Conservative to our Liberal. Not at all. They are merely piss-stained pupppets who do anything the long arm of their Fascist masters tell them to do. Reaching across the aisle is fine, but we WERE and ARE right, and those who have followed Bush have been wrong about everything. We can afford to chastise fools when their ignorance has been laid bare for all to see. And if they get up in your face, Fuck em. Kick a Fascist's ass for Jesus. Or whatever. They really are a big bunch of loudmouth pussies who will fold after one punch. Its time to STOP being their punching bag and lay them out once and for all.

More on Felons wearing Flag pins

FRIST! VOLPAC!

It's important to stay abreast of what's going on in the Progressive world. I am certain that anyone visiting my site is probably on top of that. But it is also equally important to know how the other side thinks and what they are doing. Zipping through Crooks and Liars twice a day keeps me abreast of the mainstream activity of Der Shrubenfuhrer's SS troopers, but that's just really the scum floating on the surface of the deep black swamp that is the right wing mindset.

I don't mean hanging out at Free Republic or the Drudge Report and losing brain cells though. I get plenty of newsletters from all sorts of sources. One of them is the incomparable VOLPAC newsletter from good ole Bill Frist. Reading through the missives to teh Republican faithful (the bushbot eleet!) lets me know how they are framing the issues they believe are most important, and understand what the leaders of the Republican party consider the hotbuttons of the day.

And it's a lot less nauseating than having to earbleed through hours of Rush "I went to the Dominican Republic and all I got was this lousy std from an underaged sex slave" Limbaugh.

By beating these talking points to the punch and exposing their lies before they even have time to get them to McCain, we win half the battle.

So, what does FRIST! have to say to pep-rally up the sheep and get some money flowing his way? I will refrain from my usual smart-ass comments and just post the majority of it here.

EXCERPT from Volpac Email received today entitled "Democratic Iceberg Approaching"

It happened again.

Votes cast by Democrats in the recent primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Tuesday's Wisconsin primaries have greatly exceeded those cast by Republicans in each state. In fact, if you combine the total of votes cast for Senator McCain and Governor Huckabee in Wisconsin they don't equal the number of votes cast for Senator Obama (and come nowhere close if you add in those cast for Senator Clinton.)

Our Republican Party is going to have to get on it’s “A game” if we expect to curb this Democrat fervor. The good news for us is that this enthusiasm is being fueled by a flowery rhetoric and little substance and it won’t take Americans long to figure that out. That said, we need to start to work today, as the elections in November will be here before we know it. Because, while the enthusiasm Democrat voters are showing for their candidates is a real concern, it is far outweighed by the dangerous national security ideas the Democrat presidential candidates and the Democrat Congress seem committed to:

Before the Surge was even implemented, Senate Democrats declared the war was lost in Iraq. And today, in the face of obvious and overwhelming progress, they remain committed to their “retreat at any cost” position.

Senate Democrats dragged their feet on reauthorizing and the House of Representatives blocked reauthorizing President Bush's terrorist surveillance program. Letting lapse a critical piece of our national security efforts to keep us safe.

Finally the Democrats silence and downplaying of Iran's nuclear ambitions has likely emboldened the radical elements that control Iran, telegraphing a real weakness to our enemies in Iran and around the world.

And these are just a few of the items that should concern us about the Democrats foreign policy. I am certain there is more to this iceberg than what we know today, but the media will do us few if any favors in exposing the Democrats foreign policy agenda.

What can we do together to prevent this and return steady leadership to the Congress?

We can rally around our conservative Senate and House candidates and focus our VOLPAC support on the races where we can win and cut into the Democratic congressional majorities. Remember, it only takes a two seat pickup in the Senate for Republicans to regain control of the Majority.

This was followed by a call for donations to Volpac. So, they are running skeered. And, I do believe they have absolutely NOTHING to slow the S.S. Republican Titanic from sinking to the depths. At least not as far as the voting public is concerned. They have their glorious war in Iraq. They have the terra-rist threat. They have the Iran boogeyman. So, in short, they have their 23%ers. And that's about it.

Same shit, different decade. The tone of this email says to me that even Bill Frist thinks the Presidency is lost and is focusing on Congress. He's got one important point:

Remember, it only takes a two seat pickup in the Senate for Republicans to regain control of the Majority

Beyond the Presidency, we have more ground to gain locally, state by state, and in the halls of Congress. We need a much larger majority than we currently have to truly defeat the Republican traitors. And criminal sentencing aside, I will be satisfied by breaking the back of the Republican party for the next 20 years. Get out and support the candidates who will take a stand FOR the American people and not just to fill their pockets with government dollars.

And don't let the opposition forget just what that iceberg was that sank the Republican party. It wasn't liberals. It wasn't the Democratic party. It wasn't even us.

It was George Bush and the fake conservatives who support torture, war, global interventionism, and Big Business over the American people.

Okay - The time of mourning is over

Well, now that Rush and the rest are going to be amping up to Re-label McCain a true conservative to the Republican base, I guess I'm going to have to take off my shroud of mourning for John Edwards and get on the Democratic bus. There will be no more bitching about Hillary or Obama, unless they really do something stupid. My vote will go to whichever is the nominee for the Democratic party, because there really is no alternative.

I will still be pimping Ron Paul for the "I ain't voting for no women, no minorities, and no damn liberals!" crowd. Because like it or not, he's a thousand miles ahead of the Bush crony alternatives. And a vote for Ron Paul is, effectively, a vote for the Democratic party in the end.

So all of you undecided Republicans- Vote your conservative conscience! Vote Paul. Or just don't vote at all, that will show America!

Paul does have his strong points- he's one of the few who understand monetary policy among the candidates. And here was his view on Iraq, stated in the House of Representatives in 2002

I sure like the way he talks about ending the war in Iraq, not because it is a failure, but because it is and has been a farce, from the get-go. Hillary can't do that, because she can't admit she was wrong to vote for the war. I don't mind a little flip-flop, if its under the impression that she was fooled by the corrupt Republicans who wanted this war so bad they broke several laws and traitorously exposed our own anti-terror personnel to our enemies...

Whoever speaks out the strongest against the occupation and getting us out of Iraq will get the nomination. I understand that they are worried about how to frame the withdrawal. For that, they could definitely take a page or two or three from Ron Paul's playbook-

I understand the need to play it safe, but with 70% of Americans wanting our troops home, and most of the remaining 30% being die hard Republican hawks, I think You are safe to say "Support the Troops. Bring them home" And by the way, when we bring them home, we will be saving the American taxpayer a Billion a month (a week?) ...

Vidal on Bush, empire, and fall.

There's so much perfection in this post that I don't really know where to start...

You can read it all here but here are the choicest bits...

"But the analogy becomes even more precise when it comes to the plague of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the Curse of Katrina upon a plainly incompetent president, as well as one who has been plainly jinxed by whatever faith he cringes before. Witness the ongoing screw-up of, say, prescription drugs, and the revival of an ancient race war in Louisiana. Who knows what further disasters are in store for us thanks to the curse Jonah is under? As the sailors fed the original Jonah to a whale, thus lifting the storm that was about to drown them, perhaps we the people can persuade President Jonah to retire to his other Eden in Crawford, Texas, taking his jinx with him. We deserve a rest. Plainly, so does he. Look at Nixon’s radiant features after his resignation! One can see former President Jonah in his sumptuous presidential library happily catering to faith-based fans with animated scriptures rooted in “The Pet Goat.”
...
In fact, close observers of this odd presidency note that Bush, like his evangelical base, believes he is on a mission from God and that faith trumps empirical evidence. Berman quotes a senior White House adviser who disdains what he calls the “reality-based” community, to which Berman sensibly responds: “If a nation is unable to perceive reality correctly, and persists in operating on the basis of faith-based delusions, its ability to hold its own in the world is pretty much foreclosed.”
...
Meanwhile, the indoctrination of the people merrily continues. “In a ’State of the First Amendment Survey‘ conducted by the University of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First Amendment ‘goes too far’; 46 percent said there was too much freedom of the press; 28 percent felt that newspapers should not be able to publish articles without prior approval of the government; 31 percent wanted public protest of a war to be outlawed during that war; and 50 percent thought the government should have the right to infringe on the religious freedom of ‘certain religious groups’ in the name of the war on terror.”
...
It is usual in sad reports like Professor Berman’s to stop abruptly the litany of what has gone wrong and then declare, hand on heart, that once the people have been informed of what is happening, the truth will set them free and a quarter-billion candles will be lit and the darkness will flee in the presence of so much spontaneous light.
...
Meanwhile, millions of adult Americans, presumably undrugged, have no idea who our enemies were in World War II.
...
We are assured daily by advertisers and/or politicians that we are the richest, most envied people on Earth and, apparently, that is why so many awful, ill-groomed people want to blow us up. We live in an impermeable bubble without the sort of information that people living in real countries have access to when it comes to their own reality. But we are not actually people in the eyes of the national ownership: we are simply unreliable consumers comprising an overworked, underpaid labor force not in the best of health: The World Health Organization rates our healthcare system (sic—or sick?) as 37th-best in the world, far behind even Saudi Arabia, role model for the Texans.
...
Meanwhile, China, our favorite big-time future enemy, is the number one for worldwide foreign investments, with France, the bete noire of our apish neocons, in second place.
Well, we still have Kraft cheese as of today and, of course, the death penalty.
...
Berman makes the case that the Bretton-Woods agreement of 1944 institutionalized a system geared toward full employment and the maintenance of a social safety net for society’s less fortunate—the so-called welfare or interventionist state. It did this by establishing fixed but flexible exchange rates among world currencies, which were pegged to the U.S. dollar while the dollar, for its part, was pegged to gold. In a word, Bretton-Woods saved capitalism by making it more human. Nixon abandoned the agreement in 1971, which started, according to Berman, huge amounts of capital moving upward from the poor and the middle class to the rich and super-rich.
...
I often think of that wise emperor when I hear Republican members of Congress extolling the wisdom of Bush. Now that he has been caught illegally wiretapping fellow citizens he has taken to snarling about his powers as “a wartime president,” and so, in his own mind, he is above each and every law of the land. Oddly, no one in Congress has pointed out that he may well be a lunatic dreaming that he is another Lincoln but whatever he is or is not he is no wartime president. There is no war with any other nation...yet. There is no state called terror, an abstract noun like liar.
...
Although he has done a number of things that under the old republic might have got him impeached, our current system protects him: incumbency-for-life seats have made it possible for a Republican majority in the House not to do its duty and impeach him for his incompetence in handling, say, the natural disaster that befell Louisiana and then the U.S. military itself.
...
Reason requires that we explain to the media and to this self-anointed “war-time president” whose “inherent” powers, to hear him babble, transcend the Constitution itself. But they can’t: First, we are not at war with another country; second, presidential powers are enumerated in the constitution, not inherent--despite the weird legal misreadings by ambulance-proud White House lawyers.
...
This is what we call dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship. And it is time we objected before he shoves us into World War Three.

American Investor Prosperity- Not.

In the investment industry in West Texas, I am very much alone in my position as a liberal Democrat . Most of the people I am surrounded by are die-hard Republicans and Libertarians. These are people who still use words like "Marxism" and "liberal media" with a straight face.

I find that the bedrock of their beliefs is mainly rooted in one thing and one thing alone- the ability of government to stay out of their business. The only thing they are interested in the government doing is cutting taxes, all day, every day no matter what. Terrorist threats be damned, axis of evil notwithstanding, they don't want to spend a penny of their money more than they already do for any reason at all for their country.

They also believe, with a zealot's fervor ,that the Republican party is good for business, investing, and their bottom line. Their patriotism stops at their account values. But although some specific industries and select friends of the Bush administration have made it big these past six years, most Americans have seen their account values stagnate.

There is an interesting letter to the Editor in a recent Wall street journal (Jan.9) The letter is obviously written from the standpoint of these types of people, however, this man has come to an interesting conclusion-

(from the Wall Street Journal)

I am the median-age voter (acutally, I am 46) as mentioned in Michael Barone's "The 16 Year Itch", The thing I remember about the 1992 election is that shortly after that inexperienced Arkansas governor was elected, my portfolio did a curious thing. . .it grew at a rapid rate. It continued to do so, right up to 2000, over doubling my net worth.

Since 2000, my portfolio has remained flat. Today's S&P 500 index is almost identical to the value it had when George W. Bush took office.

I don't really care about modest overseas wars, except that the hundreds of billions spent seem to depress the stock market. I don't care about terrorism, when drug dealers kill many more people than terrorists ever will. I don't care about health insurance, I have that. I don't care about social security, I am quite sure I won't collect much of it, if any. My income has not gone up in real terms. My tax burden is modest, and changes in tax rates affect me very little. But, a 100 point gain in the S&P 500 means about $50,000 in my pocket.

It is odd that so many people forget the stock market boom of the late 1990s.

I will vote for the candidate that has the best chance of getting the stock market heading up. George W. Bush failed to do that. The stock market is the only chance that millions of us have to create wealth. Journal readers - and writers- should remember that. John Callister, Ithaca, NY

Unfortunately a lot of the "Bush base" are simply people just like this- those who are unconcerned with anything beyond their personal wealth. They cannot see past their short-term account valuations to view the bigger picture. Most of them still believe, contrary to the evidence, that Republicans = good for business.

This man understands now, obviously, that contrary to popular business belief, the Republican majority and presidency has NOT been good for Wall street this decade. Make sure you remind the people you talk to that the Republicans have been a disaster for the economy, except for Big Oil, Big War, and Big Pharma. And the seeds of recession that Dubya has sown haven't even begun to fully sprout. Throwing away billions in foreign wars and funneling money to corporations in a thousand different ways hasn't been a good investment for the American people.

The account values of a hundred or so Multi-millionaires have risen. The account values of everyone else have went to hell in a handbasket. I heard the word depression yesterday, for the first time in a long while.

Depression?! Are you nuts, you ask?

Well, for the past two years, the Wall street cheerleaders have been denying a recession. This week, the worst new year start in the stock market for the Dow since 1932, they are all finally conceding to the fact that the recession is in. Who you elect this year may or may not make you a rich man. But your vote CAN work wonders if given to the person and the party who will implement something to stop the madness of the Republican corporate welfare machine.

You tell me if that person is more likely to be a Republican or a Democrat...

Totally Off-topic Link: Fear as Foreign Policy - The Mindset of Israel

Prison's too good for him

http://www.fugly.com/audio/546/prison_bitch.html

.

Politically Correct Dis-claimer: Yeah, it's offensive. But I firmly believe the only thing that deters these republican crooks is when they see the dire results of one of their own getting busted and thrown into prison. If fear of prison rape keeps even ONE of these traitors from pissing on the constitution and dragging decent, patriotic Americans' names through the mud while they try to justify the deaths of thousands- then its worth the offensiveness.

.

Personally, I think this TRAITOR Scooter Libby could serve JUSTICE and prevent further trampling of our freedom by hanging on a gallows on the White House lawn. But until Bush is out of office and America becomes America again, and respects the constitution, I'll have to be satisfied by what punishment he has been given.

.

And if it hurts your feelings THAT bad, just remember that this white collar piece of shit will be protected way more than the average incarcerated American. I just hope he sees the inside of a jail cell instead of opting for suicide in luxurious Aspen like Ken lay.

Fed up with Right Wing Terrorist Supporters

"Do you want to win this war, or not" they ask, as if they have a fucking clue to what "winning" entails.

Those who think in broad slashes of black and white are missing the fucking point, as always.

Which war are you blithering morons speaking of?

The War in Iraq is over, at least the U.S.'s part in it. Bush's "surge" is a cruel joke foisted on the soldiers forced to play his pawns.

Or are you talking about The War on Terror? TO Protect the US we need to protect our borders and end the Root CAUSES of terror- not flail about at the end results. You kill it by removing its head, not slicing off toes.

You want to Win In Iraq? It cannot be done at this point. Not without realistic goals to be achieved. You have been HAD. Our current President and his non-military advisers have prevented any chance we had of winning PURPOSELY by raping the country and selling out our OWN TREASURY to their War Profiteer buddies. They wanted Iraq to be a miserable failure so they could get their grimy little hands on the oil.

Think, people THINK.

How could the most powerful country in the world fuck up in a little Podunk country like Iraq that NEVER EVER was a threat? It is because the Neocons NEVER wanted to give Iraq Democracy at all. The goal has been to simply destroy Iraq and steal the oil from day one. They weren't going to trade Saddam Hussein, who was actually IN Their pocket- for a DEMOCRACY.

What are you- fucking retarded? Saddam was taking too big a cut, making too much. So in a page out of the corporate playbook, they eliminated the middle man, much like Bush's pro-corporate stance kills small business in America.

And while they were doing it, they decided the best way to maintain control over the oil was by leveling the whole country while pretending to rebuild it. Then they insert a few puppets here and there to hold some semblance of order and begin looting. It's classic big business. And the cost to America for their Games?

- Thousands of American Servicemen and Women dead.
- Billions of U.S. funds funnelled into the Military Industrial Complex.
- Tens of thousands of our soldiers crippled and maimed and unable to serve any longer.
- Our Country's good name has been dragged in the mud with torture and murder and mayhem by these bloody entrepeneurs.
- Terrorist activity is UP 1000% percent globally.
- America Is NOW the most reviled country on the planet.
- The rich are getting richer and the American middle class is getting poorer.
- Healthcare costs are shooting through the roof and our nation is bankrupt.

And STILL you don't get it. Still you cheerlead ignorantly for these corporate shills and backroom dealing TRAITORS.

It's YOU who supports Terror. It's you who IS A TRAITOR To the American way. By bending over and smiling For Big Dick Cheney everytime he snaps his fingers. YOU and stupid ass Americans like YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for the deaths of our military men, the weakening of our country's security, the looting of our own country's treasury, and the dismantling of the constitutions' protections.

You and those like you MAKE ME SICK. How much more do we have to show you before you get it? You CAN'T be this stupid. Which means you are willingly aiding and abetting terrorism by supporting the liars in our government.

You belong in a cave alright, right next to Osama and the other clueless zealots who have hurt their own countries with their stupidity, arrogance and willingness to commit murder.

Real Americans will render your kind impotent though. Be aware of that. Your cheerleading days are over, you terrorist-supporters. You warhawks have done enough to hurt our country.

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.

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!

"Victory" and the 30%'ers

On the Brink, a new book by a retired CIA Chief details how Bush's administration neutered the CIA and politicized the "need" to attack Iraq. As Nicole Belle, of Crooks and Liars says:

"Another nail in the coffin. How many are necessary before those last remaining 30-odd percenters stop defending the decision to invade Iraq?"

On the Brink

The answer is that they will Never stop supporting the failed policies of "their side".

Their tunnel vision stems from their ignorance, but their hate for liberals makes their limited vision become even less and less until they are completely blinded. For them to admit that they were wrong about Iraq is a very difficult indeed. But what is impossible for them is to acknowledge that Liberals were right.

The only thing that will turn these 30 percenters around on Iraq will be some grand excuse on their part. They need some talking point that will allow them to bow out with a measure of grace, if not in our eyes (not hardly) - in their own clouded illusion of how they see themselves.

I am all for the 30 percenters declaring Victory! in Iraq and allowing our troops to leave. You know as well as I do that "Victory!" in the form of bragging rights is ALL that these shallow people want. They don't care if Iraq falls apart tomorrow. They will cut and run to their hearts' content, as long as they don't have to admit defeat to the Left-wing. They will grind every soldier in Iraq to dust and blood to prevent THAT.

So, Let these fools declare victory so we can bring our troops home as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will Never allow our troops to leave the hell that the American invasion has made of Iraq.

Fear of the Democrats

If there is one thing the Republican party knows it's fear.

From President Bush on down the line to the man on the street, the prevailing emotion of Republicans is fear. Fear of terror. Fear of Iran. Fear of North Korea. Fear of Mexican immigrants. This President and his inner circle of self-servants tell the American people what they should fear and their followers run in circles screaming. They churn the waters and throw the bloody chum out until their base is caught up in a frenzy, frothing at the mouth and biting even themselves. They prop up the boogie men of Iran and North Korea to terrify the American public- to sidetrack the people from discerning their true motives: just enriching themselves and their associates- while America is weakened by their games. Keeping Americans scared keeps this administration safe, even though it does NOTHING for the safety of the country.

The real fears of all Americans should be the fears of unending war, of nuclear strikes initiated by a power drunk administration that result in global nuclear war, and of immoral, murderous actions that dishonor the United States and create MORE Terrorists across the planet who want to kill us. Those are rational fears.

But rationality is wasted on this new breed of Republican. As those of us on the left know, the leaders of this new Republican movement- the Neocon cabal- don't fear North Korea or Iran any more than they "Feared" Saddam. So what DO they fear? What does Bush fear? What does Cheney fear? What does Rove fear?

They have proved that they are not afraid of bankrupting the government - and still cry for more tax cuts for their millionaire friends. They have proved they aren't afraid of breaking the U.S. military- cutting military funds: to the VA, to disabled Iraq vets, to soldiers' wages - while simultaneous funneling BILLIONS to war profiteers, Private Mercenary armies FOR those war profiteers, and corrupt Iraqi pyramid schemes that do absolutely nothing to improve the situation IN Iraq (which could have saved countless lives and actually ACCOMPLISHED THE MISSION). They don't fear the constitution, or our nation's laws, or the laws of other nations- as they kidnap and torture citizens of other countries- under the flimsiest of evidence. They don't fear the Supreme court- ignoring the rulings and pushing through the destruction of Habeus Corpus without a valid reason at all. They don't fear the destruction of an entire American city- as they proved when they let the people of New Orleans die during Katrina.

The only thing these priveleged men of power and money fear is losing their money and power.

What do they Fear? The Democrats. The ones who can take their power, so gluttonly snatched up, in the wake of 9-11, away. And so, on top of everything else that they have told YOU, the American public to fear- they now tell you to fear the Democrats. They tell you to fear the "Unknowns" of a Democrat Congress.

They have the utter contempt for you, to tell you to fear that Democrats may HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!

They have the sheer arrogance to tell you to fear losing them as your Shepherds!!

Ask yourself what good has this group of corrupt and ineffective Republicans done for America.
Ask yourself what good has the Invasion of Iraq done for either America OR Iraq.
Ask yourself what good has this Administration done for ANYONE besides the top 1% of Americans.
Ask yourself what good has this group of incompetents done for our Superpower standing in regards to China and Russia.

These "Shepherds" are wolves. There is ONLY ONE THING That President Bush, Karl Rove, and the rest of these contemptible bastards FEAR more than they fear the Democrats.
And that is that the American public will put aside their fears for Reason and Democracy and morality.

Speaking the "Wrong" Language

Hat tip : to Daithi' of The Gaelic Starover and this post:
Ní Bheidhmid inár dTost

This blog is in response to the two or three emails I get every damn week from some of my fellow whitefolks about how bad it is that some people speak Spanish in America (the Horror!)

A little more insight on "Language Rights" from a completely different perspective can be gained from reading the Celtic League article linked below. Looking at Ireland and the sectarian strife instigated by the argument for English only speaking there may perhaps open the eyes of the anti-Mexican crowd.

Celtic League article

In Ireland, an Irish teacher was arrested for speaking Gaelic instead of "the Queen's English". Maybe you are well-versed in the situation in Ireland, maybe you are not- But either way, that story says a lot about how intolerance provokes violence and hate. It reminds me of the sectarian violence in Iraq- Sunni vs. Shia. You know, I can no more tell a Sunni from a Shia than I can a Palestinian from a Jew, or than I can an Irish Protestant from an Irish Catholic.

And it's too damn bad that all these groups can be incited into hating all those differences about each other so easily, while they blind themselves to how much they are alike. Sunnis and Shias didn't allow themselves to hate each other for a long while before the American invasion. It doesn't take long for political upheaval and war to quickly boil away man's humanity to one another.

There's a lot of enmity in the history of ALL the races, religions, and creeds of humanity across the globe. Some people can discard the centuries old primitive hate that they are 'supposed' to have for their racial enemies. Some people can see such bigotry for the counter-productive bile that it is. They can see the pain it ends up causing for everyone, including for their own people, over and over.

But, then - there are the ones who inflate these differences by voicing their irrational discord against those differences. They magnify the differences with rhetoric and vitriol. They begin actively avoiding those other people. And as they separate themselves from those people whom they desperately want to blame for problems in their environment, they separate themselves from the reality of those people. They allow themselves to believe their own worst fears about those people, and lose sight of our shared humanity.

The proper way to end this hate breeding is by rational discussion with those on both sides of the fence. It is to not allow separatism. It is not to avoid the other side, but to go to it- to understand that there is a common ground and to actively find it!

The Irish should know better. The Iraqis should know better. Americans DO know better.

Now. After 200 years of intense racism and segregation, we finally know better. Or I thought that we did.

Over the course of my life, I have seen (in West Texas, even) racism slowly slipping away. I see growing tolerance for people of other races and religions- I see people even talking about racism less and less. But, now- like the situation in Iraq- people who are in fear divide themselves. People who fear losing their "power" or their "control" draw lines. Racist white people start getting afraid that Latinos are overtaking the population of America. They fear for the control that white men have had in the past. They stop thinking about Americans as a whole and start thinking instead about White Americans. Where does the division end? Do we return to the whole English based superiority complex over the Italians, French, and Irish?

I believe that Americans as a whole DO know better. But that can change in a blink of an eye. Iraqis have lived in relative sectarian peace for a long while. There were no major Sunni-Shia troubles like we witness now. Where does this new aggression against Mexican-Americans lead? Where else can it possibly lead? In the past six years, I see more racism instead of less. It's the atmosphere of fear and mistrust that rebuilds the walls that Americans tore down in the past fifty years.

So to all the Americans who see fit to throw a fit about Mexican-Americans speaking Spanish: Please take a moment to see past your differences and put aside your racism. It can only lead to more and more hate. You may not think it is racist, or isolationist on your part. But it is. And bringing it up, over and over again- is NOT Helping. Maybe you think that if everyone spoke English your life would be somehow more rewarding? Maybe you believe that America should be homogenized and dumbed down by forcing everyone to give up their customs and traditions for something that YOU relate as "American" because it is your tradition and custom? That is ridiculous. Native Americans are the only ones who should have any claim on "American" traditions and language.

America was a melting pot in 1776. It took a lot of cultures to make America what it is. And America's strength IS ITS DIVERSITY. If it was up to those who want to isolate differences and eradicate them, then we would all wear the same colors, dye our hair the same color, eat the same foods, watch the same tv shows, and read the same books- so that we would all be more alike. I don't believe this would make our country any stronger or more honorable.

There is enough ridiculous hate in the world. There is enough division. Our world's very survival -for the benefit of ALL of mankind's children- relies on our tolerance and our empathy for one another. Put away your petty differences, for the sake of us all.