Our Government is a bad sitcom

Come and listen to a story about a man named Dub

A poor oil man’s son, barely a silver spoon scrub,

Then one day he was shootin up some coke,

And up through his brain came a bubblin' hoax.

War that is,

black gold, all for me

Well the first thing you know

ol' dub's a dictator,

Neocons said all you lefties are just haters

Said Guantanamo is the place you ought to be

So they loaded up the truck and killed what was free.

our laws, that is.

signing statements, wiretaps.

The Corporate Pharisees!

Well now its time to say good-bye to Dub and his bloody crown.

And he would like to thank you folks fer kindly bowing down.

You’re all invited back again to this locality

To have a heapin helpin of his hospitality

War profiteering that is.

dying for your country’s rich.

Empty your pockets.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

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

Coming out of the woodwork

And I thought I was the only one...

Found through The Alien Trucker

I felt like that little girl in a bee costume

Cept with better Tejas muzak...



More about the - ahem -ever less reclusive Redneck Liberals out there...

I found a book (Liberal Rednecks Read!Yeehaw!)

In it, they describe the Conservative Redneck-

ill-dressed, surly... unintelligent and slinking... the sort of people that lynch Negroes, that mistake hoodlumism for wit, and cunning for intelligence, that attend revivals and fight and fornicate in the bushes afterwards. They were undiluted Anglo-Saxons. They were the sovereign voter.

Sounds 'bout right... at first flush. But with a second look, I do take exception at several things-

Making fun of the way rednecks dress is pretty elitist. They were poor and hard working. What little clothing they had was stained with the evidence of their labors. Putting food on the table came in way above "How do I look?" in prioritization. And they were not lackin' in intelligence so much as they were in education. The things that the affluent take for granted often reveal their innate bias. "Just look at them. You can tell they have no breeding." No, what they didn't have, that the "well-bred" did- was bread.

The description in italics above reminds me of how average whites often look down on black folks. The "slinking" bit in itself is particularly damning. Shit, when you are poor, grew up poor, and have been raised busting your ass and having the notion kicked into you every single day that those who had money were better than you- "slinking" sort of came natural. You weren't allowed to look a man with money in the eye. That was arrogance and jealousy, don't you know.

If that description is apt- concerning poor black people and poor white people alike- well, it seems to me that you can take the color description right out of it. Why, to the well-to-do, we are all ni**ers, that is of a certainty.

Another question comes up, in light of this - Why does the racism even get worse, louder, and more obvious, as you go down the financial food chain of white men?

Several reasons. The desire to be one of "You" the affluent- made us disregard what we had in common with the black working class and strive to adopt your own prejudices against them as mimicry. Another- was the fact that our community, within the poorest of the poor, was in direct competition with the black families. If you hired one of us, we tried to get you to hire others in our family, our extended family. Every job, every dollar that a black man got instead of one of us was one we didnt get. And vice versa.

And finally, a big driving factor was shame. We were told that blacks were less than whites. We were told by our "masters" that whites were better. We were told that is why whites ran everything. And deep inside, faced with this line of thought, we asked ourselves- how did we, white that we were, end up poor like just another black man? How worse were we, white people who were no better than our black neighbors? We were told we were innately supposed to be in a higher echelon. Yet here we were- all at the bottom. No matter what our color.

And that just couldn't be right. The rich said so. So We poor whites couldnt be at the same level as the poor blacks. It was impossible! So, armed with the knowledge of our 'betters'- we decided that the blacks must be cheating us, must be stealing from us, must be tricking us, to 'drag us down' to the same level.

And how could we prove that we were above them? The only way we could. We put them in their place. "Shit rolls downhill". We took out our misplaced anger on the black people. We pushed, we insulted, we degraded, we killed. We made sure they understood the "difference" between a poor white man and a poor black man. Which was- that our rich masters exonerated us of our crimes. They used us and rewarded us for our dirty deeds. After all, poor or not, we were still white. But, at the end of the day, our color didn't really matter to the rich, after all. We still were poor dirty white trash- must be because we were lazy and stupid. White or not, we were still subhumans to those "god had rewarded" with the benefit of good birth and good family.

This ain't no excuse for our actions. In fact, it's the opposite. It's a conviction of our ignorance. We WERE ignorant fools and in our ignorance we allowed ourselves to be divided and conquered once again.

But some of us woke up.

Some of us finally figured out we had more in common with the black man than we did the rich man.

And a redneck liberal was born.

"And if that ain't country, I'll kiss your ass"

Okay, that's all I got for now... Thoughts? This is more emotion writing for me than it is conscious thought. But its how I see things. I could be wrong.

Back to the music- On a ZZ Top kick right now...




Love the older bluesy stuff..

My Favorite late-night-hand-me-the-last-beer-and-by-the-way-shut-the-hell-up-so-I-can-hear-the-music song... (Number 136 on the Jukebox at the Sand trap...)



And with that, I think I'll call it a night.

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.

Friends, Liberals, Countrymen

Followers of both sides of the the Democratic Civil War:

Whether you like Clinton or Obama- (or Kucinich, Edwards, Richardson, Gravel for that matter)

This is a public service reminder -

This IS our REAL (the really real) Enemy: REPUBLICANS

Try to keep this in mind, while you pimp (oops did I say pimp?) your favorite candidate

This is how Republican minds work:



This is their idea of a great leader:





They support these troops:



Not These troops...



They believe that Sept.11 is an accessory, not an atrocity



Their idea of "fair and balanced" is waaaayyyy off




Even their women don't want women to be able to vote



And here's the Republican platform. They support a whole lot of this:
Racism
Sexism
Hate
Torture
Republican fascism
Never Ending War
Xenophobia
Class War
Ancient Fundamentalist Dogma
Hypocritical Sex criminals
Ignorance

So whoever you vote for in 2008, just make sure it's not THIS Guy:


And things will be okay. Or at least you won't be entertaining hopes for the Rapture or fears of the Apocalypse on a daily basis...

Remember, back in 2000, some liberals were saying that Gore was as bad as Bush. I think, well I certainly HOPE, that we have learned our lesson. They may not be Progressive messiahs, but Obama or Clinton are light years ahead of the competition.

UPDATE: Dcup gave me some link love at American Street - Give the site a visit-
UPDATE2: Hi to all my friends visiting from C&L and Mike's Blog Round up!

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?) ...

Nosedive, bitches!

Christ with a futures contract, it's ugly on Wall Street....

Bet on the bounce with a totally oversold, cheap-as-hell American market?

Not so fast, with markets tanking globally and panic setting in (apparently everywhere but on CNBC, where they are still debating whether or not this may or may not, could possibly be, might be considered a - Recession).

Client money is off the table now. Too damn volatile. Money to be made, but money to be fucking lost, too. Check out this guy ... deyaaammmnnnnn... that video makes my stomach churn.

Dow @ 11730, the Nasdaq's doing worse (as far as a charting basis goes)... Barring news that Bush strikes the world's largest oil reservoir while cutting brush in Crawford, I think it's safe to assume there will be no bounce today. War in Iran, anyone? Just you know, to take your mind off visions of jumping off skyscrapers.

Roll the dice if you got the stones. I'd be long QID (Inverse Nasdaq) or short the Q's myself if I had any money to invest. But I'm not touching the paltry amount in my retirement account for THIS shit market. No thank you, sir.

And as for more rate cuts? Please- stop the fucking madness! These rate cuts are only making it worse for the long term economy. Somebody slap the shit out of that idiot Cramer, tie his goofy ass up or something. What's good for assholes like him is BAD for the rest of America. Wall Street take your fucking medicine and quit whining about the Fed. You made your fucking bed with your "Market corrects itself" horseshit. Enjoy.

.

UPDATE 1:"Bush guarantees Peace in the Middle East":

Palestinians blow up Egypt border in order to cross to Egypt to get food because of the Israeli blockade

.

W- Still the Prez . Aren't you just fucking ecstatic?

.

UPDATE 2: The Amazing Guys from Area 51 have an exercise in visual interpretation concernng what the coming Recession will feel like...

UPDATE 3: It's 2:45 (Texas time), and the bounce has begun... Hang on...

The Totalitarian Mindset

This article by J.R. Nyquist "Alien Minds" seems to both condemn and condone the totalitarian thought process.

My response:

Your article is an interesting one, and with a very sound premise. However, I have to rebuke you for considering "the West" as being an exception to the rule. This is laughable. There are many of us in the West who do indeed wish for a world that is not in a constant state of conflict. But that sentiment is not shared by our current leaders in the United States, who do indeed, live by the thought of future (and present) world war. On one hand, you dismiss and bemoan the thought processes of the Hitlers and Stalins, on the other, you prop up Tocqueville's words to the effect that the opposite of these minds is weakness and capitulation.

Totalitarianism does not except this nation as it expands it conquest- however failed the efforts of our current government.

"History teaches that totalitarian regimes cheat when it comes to arms control." And indeed, the United States and Russia have. Our regime will never give up its nuclear arms, only a fool would suggest this. More's the pity. Everything that you write about our enemies supposed goals from the holier-than-thou attitude of a Westerner can be also be said of the United States. And with the added evidence that we have the been the only aggressor nation in the past 10 years.

The tone of your article, and the emphasis on fear and aggression have indeed have an effect on the regimes of the past. You fail to recognize that in the face of the world's history - in contrast to the major powers of the world, that America has risen to the apex of its power by a history of appeasement, diplomacy, and controlled aggression. We did not rise to power by conquest or invasion or reckless aggression.

Congratulating Moscow on their so-called "stunning achievement" is ridiculous. Of course they would not dismantle their nuclear armaments, not as long as they have plenty of men like Mr. Nyquist, on their side, who are loudly crying that the United States is Russia's most dangerous enemy.

Russia and America own 95% of the world's nuclear weapons. Other countries will slowly gain these same weapons; not out of Nyquist's knee-jerk fear that "they" drool and chomp at the bit to use them against "us" in a suicidal attack- but as bargaining chips that bring them higher up the food chain militarily. We have all the steel - so those around us are only too happy to trade up from their bronze.

The same men who are "worried" that nuclear weapons “could” fall into dangerous hands are the Kissingers who make back room deals to give these weapons to other countries in trade for oil, trade agreements, and enriching themselves.

Mr. Nyquist makes a big point of : "As alien as this way of thinking is to normal people, it is second nature to a man like Vladimir Putin." The sad truth is that the Bush's, the Putin's, the Kissingers ALL own the totalitarian mindset. And Nyquist himself seems to own this mindset, as evidenced by the entire article and his belittling of the opposite - the mindset of the normal people with their "bourgeois morality".

“One death is a tragedy,” Stalin once said, “but one million deaths is a statistic.” Of course, you'd have to prove to me that these shallow power brokers believe that any death but their own is a tragedy.

Conservatives hold the Economy Hostage

Sad but True over at Unruly Mob has an excellent post up- Conservative Ideology Deconstructed

'We won't help America unless we get our permanent tax cuts, waaa waaaa...'

Go Fuck Yourselves, you uppity rich cocksuckers. You ain't getting your fucking cuts made permanent.

Bush's horseshit has driven our economy into the ground by allowing corporations to do whatever they fucking want to and rip off America, both our government AND our citizens with their risky scams. Now, I know where your tax cuts money has gone... down the damn drain, along with your stock's account value. Damn the luck.

So YOUR money went to make some fat cat running a hedge fund somewhere that much fatter. Sorry 'bout ya. You aren't getting extra tax cuts that you can throw away funding the next Anthony Mozillo so he can exercise some good ole free market ass fucking on the rest of the country.

"Trickle down", my ass. Already the wing nuts are clamoring to blame the Clintons for the mess Bush has carefully crafted as he has funneled trillions into the Middle East.

Motherfucking Brilliant, right? And hey- let's give those freedom loving Saudis some guided missles. They'll NEVER use them against us, right? Goddamnit, is there ANYTHING you morons on the right WON'T let this mental midget do? Some Saudi Royal and an Exxon Mobil Exec now have matching 24k gold plated Rolls Royces. Woo Hoo Free market!

Meanwhile the only benefit you upper middle class brainiacs can understand is a few measely tax cuts, which are far surpassed on the downside by the inflationary costs and the devaluation of the dollar, among a thousand other factors. Take another look into your stock market valuations. Guess what? It's all tied together, brother.

Conservative Ideology Deconstructed
Please, read it all. It's good stuff, not as profanity laced, but no one's perfect.

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

Murder Incorporated

Nataline Sarkisyan, 17 year old with leukemia dies while waiting for Cigna's approval on liver transplant. Cigna denied the transplant at first. The family, aided by nurses organizations and a netroots effort to protest Cigna, got the company to reverse the decision. But it was too late.

Hey! Cigna gets to keep the money! I wonder if the guy who denied the transplant gets a raise?

How about that free market solving everything, eh? Well, it won't save your child's life, even if she HAS insurance when some corporate accountant decides that they can get away with not covering a lifesaving procedure.

The most comprehensive article is here: emax health
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"On Dec. 14, Hilda Sarkisyan was told by the hospital that a healthy liver was available, but because CIGNA had refused authorization, the family would have had to make an immediate down payment of $75,000 to proceed, an amount the family could not afford."
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Other news articles concerning the murder by Cigna:
Yahoo news
Crooks and Liars
Daily Kos
Michael Moore

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I actually found someone who was calling this news his Christmas feel good story- a man who was defending Cigna's sound business decision to let this "cancer bitch" (his words) die. I won't link to that piece of shit's site, but here's my two cents on the business of insurance:
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Yes, it’s a business. And the family paid Cigna to provide INSURANCE, you know, to cover emergencies. And they got shafted by a company that refused to cover its own policies. I hope Cigna loses billions due to this. Well, i won’t have to hope. Cigna will lose plenty in court costs, time spent, and bad publicity. All to save $75,000 grand for the liver transplant.
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That is a bad business decision.
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Did the family try to get loans? Of course they did! A loan for $75,000 takes more time than it did to protest Cigna and get the company to attempt to take responsibility.
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The corporation made the decision to save money by not honoring its policy. They, knowing the full situation of Sarkisyan’s condition, stall for time. A child dies. A corporation is to blame and will be held accountable. I hope this case brings to light the thousands of crimes committed against policyholders each and every day by insurance companies in this country.
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This is the state of health care in America. Unfortunately, it is the state of many factors in American life, where corporate crimes make life a hell of a lot harder for the middle class American just so some Daddy Warbucks can pocket more money that he'll pay less taxes on than you or I.
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Protests, pressure, lawsuits, and voting out the incumbents and the Republicans who have created this monstrosity of a "free market" system- these are the steps we have to take to correct this situation.
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And President Edwards, a man who has fought big business all his life, is the perfect man to get the ball rolling...

2007 Dems Vs. Contract with America

Think Progress has my comments banned, has had for awhile- not sure exactly why. I go there almost every day regardless of their distaste for my perspective (heh), they have a lot of good stuff...

Today they had this graph - which shows how much more effective the Democratic Congress has been than Newt's "firebrands" of 1995, even considering the record-breaking filibustering of the Republican defeatists.



It's a little slow today, waiting on the traditional "Christmas Surge" of the stock market at the end of options expiration. Looks like it may not materialize. Et, tu , Santa?

But anyway, give me some cool links to waste time if you run across anything. Email em or leave them in the comments...

Improper Breast Depictions

Lubbock Art Censorship Recap

My hometown, ever mindful of the dangers of showing boobies, especially boobies doing what God (or perhaps... Satan!?) intended - has banned two works of art depicting breasts and breastfeeding at a local art event at Buddy Holly Center. (Lubbock = Mecca of the Arts! or, er, perhaps I should say, congregation of the arts so as not to offend the christian brethren).
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Wow, arresting Chippendales dancers last year pales in comparison to this.... Of course, with Lubbockites, you never know what they are offended by exactly. Upon speaking to my fellow conservative, high morally upstanding fellow Lubbockites (... I am starting to refer to them as "Bubba-ckites") I have amalgamated their righteous indignation into one response, to save time and trouble...

For future reference, this Bubbackite pseudoynym will be "Sam Houston, defender of the West Texas Way."

So, Sam (pronounced the proper Lubbock way, with 3 syllables) why did you demand these breastfeeding pics be taken down?

Sam Houston Responds:

You damn lefties are trying to corrupt the good morals of this here community by showing women doing pagan activities like feeding kids from their bare breasts!

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How many jobs will be lost if all women start breastfeeding? How many formula manufacturers in China will go out of business, causing the commies to spend less money buying up the U.S. dollar and be forced to funnel that formula money into Iran's nuckleer program?

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If every child gets healthier by breast feeding instead of being raised on synthetics then Pharmaecutical companies will lose a ton of money! And every time a U.S. corporation loses a dollar, the terrorists win!

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Ya'll need to unnerstand the bigger picture out here! No red-blooded West Texas man wants to see a woman's boobies doing something as unnattractive as feeding some rugrat. Breasts should be only shown in glossy magazines in the bottom of our sock drawers, for a man's privacy in his own home. Or at private stag parties in the basement of the Lubbock City Council's chambers, away from the eyes of split-tails who may be offended by such imagery which God intended only for men of strong character.

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I do, however, like the fact that the women is bare-foot in the picture- that part is good Primitive Baptist doctrine . But other than that, its purely porn-aw-graffy! I ain't never been so fired up since they tried to put idols of Zeus blowing the wind on ever overpass in town! Damn heathens! Don't make me get my rope out, now.

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So, there you have it. The Sam Houstons of Lubbock strike again in the name of decency and keeping images of women safe from perverts.

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UPDATE: "Nurse-In" protest planned ...

Bush versus Bush

Something really big is happening.

Bush senior has stood aside for too long. He had high hopes, he gave a thousand second chances, but in the end, the father knows his final duty to his son, his country.

Baker was the first hammer blow. Dubya, losing on all fronts, finally went to his dad's men for help. What he got was Baker. Bush was led to believe that Baker's ISG was supposed to set the course for more illusions about Iraq. He was wrong.

Gates was the second hammer blow. But without any other options, Bush pushed Gates instead of another of his loyalist cronies, who were sure to be grilled much more than Gates ended up being. Gates was a thousand times more up front than ANY of the Republicans who we have seen expound on Bush's policies, as they repeated them verbatim.

I have been holding out on my judgement on Gates. My fellow liberals want to throw him to the wolves, but I have some good things from some people close to him. Gates holds no sense of loyalty to Shrub.

And the day after Gates attains his position, the ISG comes down hard on "staying the course"= which they had to. Bush senior knows what the entire Republican party (except perhaps Lincoln Chafee) does not- Iraq IS a Failure and Immediate withdrawal is necessary for all the reasons I have expounded upon before. Plus One: The House of Saud is no longer happy with Iraq. The seismic echoes from Baghdad are being felt more and more in Saudi Arabia. Bush Sr. knows what he has to do.

So the orders have come down from Daddy Bush- which is another reason he was crying in Jeb's arms the other day. He has just orchestrated the final nail in his own son's political coffin. But only after George jr had put so many nails in the Republican party's coffin.

Bush has ruined the Republican party for the next decade, maybe longer. Bush Sr. can't let his son drunkenly screw the pooch any longer. It's over for Dubya, and a father cries for a son that even he has to admit is a complete and utter failure.

It's about goddamn time Bush whipped his son's miserable ass.
It's about time.

A Liberal's Pledge

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

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

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

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

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Signed,

Michael Moore

Red State Blues

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

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

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

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

Full Article

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blue States:Buy art
Red States:Collect Beanie Babies

Mr.Way Too Proud of Texas Guy

"Victory" 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.