Talk is Cheap!

Have you ever heard the expression, “actions speak louder than words”? Sure you have, it’s used often because it has the simple ring of a common truth. I think most people would agree with me on that. I think most people would further agree that it’s good to be patriotic and support the troops, especially when your country is at war, like America is now. I’m positive that our President would agree, in fact he’s said as much in speech after speech as he and his backers wave their little American flags. I mean let’s face it you don’t get any more patriotic than the Republican Party. They tell us over and over how much they love this country and how important it is to support our military sons and daughters. That’s what they say; now let’s take a look at what they do.

Let’s start with a look back in time. According to Dave Lindorff, in his 2003 article, “Dishonorable Discharge”, “George W. Bush, even more than his father or Ronald Reagan before him, is cutting budgets for a myriad of programs intended to protect or improve the lives of veterans and active duty soldiers. In fact Bill Clinton was the only president of the last four who cut weapon programs instead of veteran benefits”. Lindorff goes on to ask that we consider the following;

· With 130,000 soldiers still in the heat of battle in Iraq and more fighting and dying in Afghanistan, the Bush administration sought this year (2003) to cut $75 a month from the “imminent danger” pay added to soldiers’ paychecks when in battle zones.
The administration sought to cut by $150 a month the family separation allowance offered to those same soldiers and others who serve overseas away from their families. Although they were termed “wasteful and unnecessary” by the White House, Congress blocked those cuts this year, largely because of Democratic votes.

· This year’s White House budget for Veterans Affairs cut $3 billion from VA hospitals—despite 9,000 casualties in Iraq and aging Vietnam veterans needing more care. VA spending today averages $2,800 less per patient than nine years ago.

· The administration also proposed levying a $250 annual charge on all Priority 8 veterans—those with “non-service-related illnesses”—who seek treatment at VA facilities, and seeks to close VA hospitals to Priority 8 veterans who earn more than $26,000 a year.

· At the same time, the Pentagon also announced it was trying to determine whether to shutdown 58 military-run schools for soldiers’ children at 14 military installations.

· The White House is seeking to block a federal judge’s award of damages to a group of servicemen who sued the Iraqi government for torture during the 1991 Gulf War. The White House claims the money, to come from Iraqi assets confiscated by the United States, is needed for that country’s reconstruction.

· The administration beat back a bipartisan attempt in Congress to add $1.3 billion for VA hospitals to Bush’s request of $87 billion for war and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

· In perhaps its most dangerous policy, the White House is refusing to provide more than 40,000 active-duty troops in Iraq with Kevlar body armor, leaving it up to them and their families to buy this life-saving equipment. This last bit of penny-pinching prompted Pentagon critic and Vietnam veteran Col. David Hackworth to point to “the cost of the extraordinary security” during Bush’s recent trip to Asia, which he noted grimly “would cover a vest for every soldier” in Iraq.

In 2004, according to the United States Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the VA’s budget had been pushed to the limit. The House of Representatives voted and passed a 2004 budget which would cut funding for veteran’s healthcare and benefit programs by nearly $25 billion over the next ten years. In Dec. 2004 it was widely reported that the VA’s funding crisis had become so severe that it could no longer provide disability ratings to veterans in a timely fashion. The VA explained, “this is a problem because until veterans are fully transitioned from the active-duty Tricare healthcare system to the VA they are on their own with regard to any healthcare costs”. The Dept. of Vet Affairs also noted that the backlog of pending disability claims under review peaked at 421,000 in 2001, bottomed out at 254,000 in 2003, but went back up to 340,000 in 2005.

This post is getting long so I will break it up into 2 parts. Part 2 coming soon….

Sex, Sex, Sex

Why are Americans so obsessed with sex? Our American society spends more time and money on sex than it does on anything else. Don’t get me wrong, sex is an enjoyable and healthy interest when kept in perspective, but America has absolutely no perspective on the subject. Think about it for a second, how much money and energy is spent in this country either trying to have, see or talk about sex or trying to rid the country of any vestiges of it?

America is considered a modern nation, but our attitudes on sex are anything but current with international norms. We are one of the only cultures in existence today (the others being theocracies) that consider the human body itself a sexual icon. What I mean by that is Americans are one of the few nations in the world that see a simple naked human as somehow sexual. When confronted with a picture or images of a nude person Americans react by thinking, “SEX”. From there they either are happy to have seen a naked person because it’s titillating to them, or they’re upset because the idea of sex is not one they want to be reminded of. I experienced for myself how unique American ideas are on this subject when I spent four years of my youth living in Germany. My parents and I would go to the local public pool during the summer, and the people there would change into their suits right out in the open, no dressing rooms. No one there batted an eyelash or thought anything of it. That would never happen in the U.S. the person would be arrested and talk of it would be splashed across the news. Why is that? I know, we’re a nation founded by puritans, but it’s been over three hundred years since they hit our shores, isn’t it about time we stop acting like giggling, blushing five year olds at the mention of the word naked?

If my example doesn’t drive the point home for you look around, evidence that America is sex obsessed is everywhere in our society, from the marketing campaigns that sell the most asexual products on earth using sex, to the constant uproar and scandal caused over anything seen as even slightly sexual (remember the fervor over Janet Jackson’s nipple?). I personally think that it’s time for America to grow up a little on this subject and stop treating sex as if it’s the end all and be all of everything, good and bad. You may find it fun or find it evil depending on your point of view, but it’s been around since the beginning of time and it’s not going anywhere, so get over it and think about something else for awhile America.

Trick And Treat!

I thought this was appropriate for this time of year. If you think about it Halloween is really the perfect holiday for Congress ; they're great at disguising themselves, they take all the treats and they love to trick the American people.

Liberal Laughs!

Here are a few jokes to keep the left laughing!

Political Brains: A Guy walks into a store. He sees three brains on display. One is a Libertarian Brain, priced at $250. The second is a Democrat Brain, priced at $275. The third is a Republican Brain, priced at $5,000,000.
The Guy asks the sales clerk,” Man, why does the Republican brain cost so much more than the other two?"
Clerk replies,” Well, sir, that brain has never been used.”

Ancient Republican Proverb: Teach a man to light a fire and he will be warm forever. But throw him into the fire and he will never again complain about being cold.

-In his speech President Bush said we need to rebuild Iraq, provide the people with jobs, and give them hope. If it works there maybe we'll try it in New Orleans." --Jay Leno

-"A new poll shows that 66% of Americans think President Bush is doing a poor job on the War in Iraq. And the remaining 34% think Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church." --Tina Fey

President Bush said that he is worried that Iraq could be overrun by religious fundamentalists. Hey, if it's good enough for the Republican Party, it's good enough for Iraq." —Jay Leno

Dead Presidents: On one of his first nights in the White House, Dubya is awakened by the ghost of George Washington. Bush is frightened, but asks: "George, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?" Washington advises him: "Be honest above all else and set an honorable example, just as I did." This makes Bush uncomfortable, but he manages to get back to sleep. The next night, the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moves through the dark bedroom. "Tom," Dubya asks, "what is the best thing I could do to help the country?" Jefferson replies, "Throw away your prepared remarks and speak eloquently and extemporaneously from your heart," Jefferson advises. Bush isn't sleeping well at all the next night, and sees another figure moving in the shadows. It's Abraham Lincoln's ghost and Dubya thinks finally, a Republican, I'll get some advice that I can use. "Abe, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?" Bush asks hopefully. Abe answers: "Go see a play."

Stand Up For America!

I would submit to my fellow Americans that it’s time to put away all the bullshit and practice what we preach. Each and every one of us claims to love this country, and yet we spend more time competing over who loves it best than we do standing up for it by demanding that our leaders, no matter their party serve with integrity, dignity, honesty and intelligence. America deserves nothing less than representatives who will truly serve for the good of the nation and its people, and not for the good of their wallets, their personal ambitions and their party allegiance.

Corruption and dishonesty run rampant through both political parties. Most of our political candidates run campaigns based on half-truths, and character assassination of their opponent. When campaigning they tell us they care about the working man and his concerns, but once elected they ignore our needs and concerns and allow lobbyists to buy their attention and their vote. These representatives of ours take all expense paid vacations, from jobs that they work part-time at best, while the average American struggles to put food on the table, and gas in his car.

Americans, do your representatives truly represent you, or do they lie to you at every turn and attempt to manipulate you into supporting them when they need you, only to turn their backs when you need them? I submit to you that it’s long past time for us, the people, to stop allowing our “leaders” to play us for fools and to stand up and tell them that they work for us, and if they’re corrupt, if they lie to us, or steal from us or ignore us then we will throw them out of our government and hire a new employee. We must be willing to fire anyone that deserves it, whether Democrat or Republican, not just this election, but every election until the people running for our offices figure out we are not fools, we are watching them and we will not put up with any more of their crap!

War Propoganda

Hermann Goering

“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country”. –Hermann Goering

It’s very interesting to me that we can take a quote, from a famous Nazi, spoken sixty years ago and it reads as if it were the current propaganda plan of the Republican Party. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear a modern American conservative using these exact tactics to attack and attempt to silence any criticism of the Iraq war and the Republican administration. Kind of makes you go hmmm…..doesn't it?!!

God Speaks to Bush

This one had me chuckling!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!

These are scary times. The current administration wants you scared. They want you terrified in fact. They build whole political campaigns designed to keep you up at night, quaking with fear, worried that even as I write this there’s a terrorist somewhere in the U.S. planning an attack. They want you to believe, not only that he’s out there, but that only they can stop him, that if, God forbid, you vote for a Democrat-BOOM-you’ll be toast, probably before you leave your voting booth. Obviously, they want you too terrified to vote against them so that their party can remain in power, but they want you quivering in fear for one other reason and it’s this underlying motive that should scare the hell out of you and all Americans.

Put simply, the President and his administration want you scared so they can do whatever they want and no one will object. They’ve discovered that if they play the fear card well enough and often enough, not only will the American people and most of our representatives roll over and allow the executive branch to flout the laws of this land, we’ll even applaud as they trash our constitution and bill of rights.

Does anyone mind if the government breaks the law and listens in on Americans phone calls without a wire-tapping warrant? “Nah, as long as it keeps us safe from the terrorists”. Does anyone mind if we ignore the constitution, suspend habeas corpus and can therefore pick up any American citizen we want, hold them indefinitely (forever!), in an undisclosed location without allowing them to ever speak with an attorney (or anyone else) or appear before any court. Oh and of course torture them in stress positions and simulated drowning, if we deem it necessary. “Nope, that’s just fine, as long as we’re safe from the terrorists”. Does anyone mind if we ignore the law again and read your e-mail, pour over your bank accounts and all your financial records? “No, heck sounds good as long as it keeps us safe”.

Now, I have a question for you, when we allow the executive branch of this country to assume an unprecedented amount of power and ignore the very foundations this nation was built upon, who keeps us safe from them? Who or what keeps us safe from this President or the next or maybe the one after that deciding to rule as a tyrannical dictator? Most people probably think that could never happen in America, but the only thing that prevents this democracy from possibly becoming a dictatorship is its constitution. The same constitution we’re allowing to be ignored and trampled upon. It established the set of checks and balances designed to keep any government branch from holding too much power. (The founding fathers we’re especially fearful of an overly powerful executive branch.) So I say again, these are scary times and this administration’s giving sound advice when it tells us to, “Be afraid, be very afraid”.

Funny Halloween Pics.

In honor of Halloween, my favorite holiday, I thought I'd take a time out from politics and post this because it made me smile. I especially like the dog fries. Anyone else have a favorite?

"The Worst Congress Ever"

In my last post I mentioned that everyone should check out the great article in this months Rolling Stone, here's a preview of it to wet your whistles:

How unbelievably hopeless is the current Congress? One leading scholar told Matt Taibbi — author of this issue’s cover story, “The Worst Congress Ever” — that the 109th Congress is so bad, “It makes you wonder if democracy is a failed experiment.” Before you are convinced thusly by Taibbi’s unbelievable report, preview the five ways our lawmakers have become a stable of thieves and perverts.

RULE BY IRON FIST
Republicans are so brazen that when Democrats attempted to keep a meeting going longer than was convenient for House Judiciary chair James Sensenbrenner Jr., he simply picked up his gavel and left the room, disconnecting the microphones and turning off the lights.

DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE
House members will collect their $165,000 paychecks for only three months of actual work. On nine “workdays” this year, the House held not a single vote — meeting for less than eleven minutes. The Senate beat them with three workdays this year that lasted less than one minute.

LET BUSH DO WHATEVER HE WANTS
During perhaps the most significant hearing in advance of invading Iraq, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s venerable and powerful chairman, Sen. John Warner, went in deep and asked if the Army could fight in both North Korea and Iraq — at the same time. The presiding general said yes. And that was about as sophisticated as it got.

SPEND AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
This year, more than sixty-five percent of all the money borrrowed in the entire world will be borrowed by America — a statistic fueled by the speed junkie spending habits of our supposedly fiscally-conservative Congress.

POCKET AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
This is Congress in a nutshell: A guy like Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who took $2 million in bribes, is too dumb to know that he’s guilty. Find out just how dumb Cunningham is, read the article in this months issue.--Rolling Stone

Things Republicans Believe

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

"Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

Some of these are a bit dated, but I still found this amusing! If you want to read a good article which is anything but amusing, check out the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Their article on why "Congress Must Go Now", will amaze and appall you!

President Bushs' New Plan For Iraq War

That's right, the new plan is to send in the renown "Fighting Prarie Dogs". Pres. Bush expressed confidence that this would turn the tide of the war.

If you don't agree with me, you must be stupid!

America these days is a country of strong opinions. Liberals versus conservatives, Democrats versus Republicans, religious versus non-religious. Everyone has their definite point of view and expresses and defends it ardently. It's a wonderful thing really that we live in a country that allows different perspectives and the right to express them. I personally enjoy nothing more than a good debate of the issues. What I don't enjoy however is all of the rancor, name calling and disrespectful behavior that goes along with it these days.

It's easy to understand where the anger and digust come from when someone disagrees with you, it's perfectly natural to think to yourself, "boy, this person doesn't have a clue!". After all if you didn't think you were right you probably wouldn't be saying, whatever. I'm as guilty of this type of reasoning as anyone. It's the, if you don't think like I think then you're stupid, mentality. The problem I believe with this way of thinking is it doesn't allow any of us to actually listen to one another. Let's face it, not everyone who's on the opposite side of any given position is a complete moron. There are intelligent people on both sides of the fence. When we refuse to even hear the other persons points we've made a conscious decision to stop thinking and growing. It's a lot easier to say to yourself, "they're a moron" and stop there, than it is to give any actual thought to their argument and/or investigate their evidence further to see if it has any merit. Granted some peoples arguments, on both sides, are simplistic or not well thought out, but their are those that make intelligent, well researched arguments that deserve to be heard and considered. You may not change your mind, in fact you probably won't, but you may discover information you didn't have or a way of thinking about something that you hadn't thought of, or at the very least a small modicum of respect for someone who just happens to have a different perspective than you. I personally don't think that it's so farfetched to believe that we all have something to offer to the debate and that we could all learn something from each other if we would just stop trying to beat the hell out of one another for a second and listen.

American Sacrifices

This speaks far more eloquently than I could ever hope to!

Should we stay or should we go now?

Anyone who's so much as stopped by this blog briefly could tell you that I'm a fairly liberal democrat. I wholeheartedly disagreed with the decision to go into Iraq and wish mightly that we hadn't. That said, until fairly recently I did not believe that we should simply withdraw all of our troops and call it quits. My reasoning was that since we invaded their country and toppled their government we had an obligation to stay and clean up our mess. I also worried about the power vacuum that would be left in the region with a completely unstable Iraq. However, unlike our current President, I tend to reevaluate my position on issues when the situation changes and the situation in Iraq has clearly changed.


Do I like the idea of withdrawing and leaving Iraq a disaster area, no, but if our staying is making the situation no better, and very possibly worse then I think it's time to pull out. Our position in Iraq was bad and tenuous enough when we we're fighting terrorists from outside the country, and some disgruntled Iraqis. For over three years we we're unable to subdue the violence or control anywhere close to the majority of the territory in Iraq. Now Iraq is embroiled in a full fledged civil war, and for the better part of the past year we've been attempting to fight all of the aforementioned terrorists while also quelling the sectarian violence of Iraqis torturing, and killing each other in massive numbers. When the situation has dissolved into us trying to keep the very people we're supposedly in Iraq to help from killing each other, not to mention our troops, I think it's time to reevaluate what we're accomplishing.


The other factor that has to be taken into account when talking about withdrawing or staying the course in Iraq is what we have to lose. Will remaining in Iraq longer help or hurt America? This is a tough question since we can't know the future, but I think we have to decide working with the premise that if the sun rose yesterday and the day before that it will most likely rise tomorrow. In other words, if in the four years that we've been in Iraq we have been unable to stop the violence, in fact it's as bad or worse, we've been unable to control the territory and a civil war has started under our noses, why should we believe another year or two or four will make things better. If the democratic government we set up in Iraq fails tomorrow because we withdrawal will that be any worse for America than if it fails after another four years of our troops being killed because we've stubbornly remained?


It's a valid question, but here's an even better one. Do we run any other risks to America by continuing our present course in Iraq? Yes, I think we run some major ones, which has become apparent quite recently. While we have the vast majority of our armed forces tied up trying to subdue Iraq, and to a lesser degree Afghanistan, countries who actually do present a very real threat to America thumb their noses at us, build up their rather large militaries and having nothing to fear from us, continue their nuclear programs. In the case of Iran, we've taken away two of the checks and balances that kept their nutball leader in line. His biggest enemy in the region was Saddam who he obviously doesn't need to guard against anymore, and while he may be a nut he's not too stupid to understand that while we may threaten him verbally we do not have a very big stick to wave at him militarily at the moment. As for North Korea, they are an even scarier proposition. First off, they actually have weapons of mass destruction and missles that are capable of hitting the west coast of America and secondly I don't think it's a coincidence that while our armed forces are overwhelmed with tasks N. Korea decides now's the time to test their nuclear arsenal. Then there's China, a good friend of N. Koreas, while everyone's busy focusing on Iraq they've continued an unprecedented (since the Germany of the 30's) military buildup. We were so concerned with the U.S.S.R.'s weapons buildup during the cold war, well the current Chinese weapons proliferation makes that look miniscule. Hmmm... you might ask yourself, China has no enemies that have threatened them in the last however many years, why are they investing so much in weapons and troop buildup? Good question. This country is so worried about terrorism, but perhaps we shouldn't forget that there are other real threats to our national security.


When it comes to Iraq, the question of whether we should stay or go is complex. A healthy, stable, democratic Iraq is an appealing idea, however the evidence we have at this point does not paint a rosy picture or provide any proof that we can succeed in accomplishing it. Simply having faith in our political leadership, or faith that America always comes out on top is I believe naive, foolhardy and the type of thinking that got us into this mess in the first place.

Magnetic Personality

I have two dachsunds, Oscar Meyer and Chili Dog, so I got a kick out of this!

The Bigotous Ignoramus Found Thriving!

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, which have circulated over the last ten years, a new study (performed by Concerned Citizens for Rational Thought/CCRT) has found that the bigot species is not only alive, but apparently thriving throughout the world. Dr. Justin Hatenomoor (a renown American expert) was recently quoted as saying, "It is evident that our efforts to stamp out this insidious vermin have failed, and I fear the bigotous will continue to multiply at an astounding rate if we can not keep the general public and at times our own government from feeding them a steady diet of zealotry, fear and alarmism. What people need to know and understand is that while comforting to cling to at times, the bigotous is a pestilence and not a pet". For more information on the bigot (latin-bigotous ignoramus) species you can continue to read or check out our website: http://www.stompoutignorantfools.com/ (not a real site!-lol)

The blogosphere is a great place to observe a wide variety of the bigot subspecies. You of course have your ever present and proud homophobous, sounding off with their self-righteous trumpets of moral indignation. This breed is the easiest to spot, since they bleat loudly and feel little need to conceal themselves. This is due to their having very few natural enemies and superb survival skills such as a keenly honed ability to conserve energy by completely shutting down the reasoning center of their brains.

Less often sighted in public, relying on a remarkable ability to blend in and deflect notice with their camouflaged smiles, is the still numerous racialtrious bigot. At one point believed to be close to extinction it has recently been discovered that they possess a highly adaptable nature and while they we're obvious and loud creatures at one time, the current generation has evolved into a seemingly quieter, more subtle parasite given to trumpeting only when hidden from view or when in a large herd. Individual racialtrious are known to be cowardly, dimwitted creatures, given to fleeing at actual confrontation and reputed to readily deny their species with soft, insidious, "I'm not a racist, But" honks. Do not be fooled populace! The racialtrious is a simple, but devious Ignoramus.

Last, but certainly not least dangerous is the religious zealotrous bigot. This breed can be found with a variety of different markings, but their subspecies can be readily identified by a few shared traits. The foremost of these traits is thought to be self-righteousness (*You will note that this is also found in the homophobous phylum, and many researchers believe that these are not different subspecies at all, but one in the same). Other identifying characteristics are overt aggressiveness and illogical thought. Unlike their timid cousins the racialtrious, the zealotrous do not attempt to hide themselves, in fact they rely instead on their bellicose pronouncements, pack mentality and ability to sublimate their enemies. Yes, it can be argued quite convincingly that the zealotrous's inability to think for themselves, combined with their great numbers and unshakable faith that God has chosen them to inherit and rule the Earth, makes them the most dangerous bigotous the world faces.

That concludes our overview of the vile Bigotous Ignoramus species. Chances are you have already been confronted with one or all of these subspecies. Hopefully, armed with knowledge, rational thought, and a splash of empathy for others, you have fought the good fight and will continue to battle to vanquish them from our midst.

A Great "American" Poem

I'm not usually a big fan of poetry, but I stumbled across this poem the other day and it impressed the hell out of me. It's a unique and I believe a profound statement on American society today. The poet is a fellow who goes by the moniker, "Another Voice" and I'm reposting it here with his permission. If you like it and want to see more of his orginal poetry you can find it at his blog:
http://www.myspace.com/neorhymerforthispsuedoage

main street, a mainstream, once two way roads is only one way now and burdened with loads … that "one way," the "right way" –all else, "the wrong way…" SUVs, hummers, and tanks heave and sway like hannibal-ed pachyderms shaking the earth imposing, enforcing, by numbers and girth .. . board rooms are war rooms, warlord CEOs robber-baron brokers of the black gold that flows . .. they broke family farms first, small business followed, those standing, defying, they chewed up and swallowed. wall to wall marts now, where mom and pop stood on the sixth day, broke unions and said "this is good." they happy-faced prices and low-balled the wage they poor-housed employees and robbed their old age .. . then brokered deals with the Party of no choice they brokered the white house and robbed us of voice … the generals of commerce redrew global lines rewrote policies –threw out world designs … they restrung their puppets, noosed florida too sodomized red states and embraced the blue .. . wrote government contracts, they rewrote old laws their puppet smirked "nationalism," made it his cause. they laid off workforces by the opening bell and robbed them of pensions –then two towers fell. a nation united in red, white and blue… so they sold them all flags –then sold them guns too… and then, under cover, like a thief in the night they stole language from us, to keep the reins tight. they redefined journalism, rewrote their script til news was a mouthpiece, weak upper lipped. they redefined "patriot" while war drums kept beat . . til the "withs" or "against" met each other, the street . . . on main street, the mainstream, was two streams instead black gold, for life's own, that ran only red … "patriot" defined those who stood up for war . . . the corporate war loads kept pushing for more . . . division and conquer –they made easy work made a buzz word of "justice" from their smug puppet's smirk .. . they redefined "enemy" –revillified "queer" made "prochoice" "abortionists" –while they filled us with fear. redefined "privacy," we held as dear right defined "unilateral" as justified might. "collateral damage" they buried, no press.. . gave them cards to play with . . and names to redress. the anchorman chuckled … the reporters would flirt . . while the nameless and blameless fell dead in the dirt. the "innocent civilians …" –but are there anymore? a flag you're born under, and then you're killed for? those who protested were "traitor" defined . . "anti-American" who spoke up their mind in a country where free speech was noblest right -that, too, a victim, the thieves in the night. "mission accomplished." they redefined that . . their puppet in jump suit and new shiny hat . . . they stole rainbows from us and gave us, in place red, orange and yellow, and dangers to face . . . they redefined fear everyday in the news . . there's nothing to win, but everything to lose . . . nothing to gain, as a faceless "have not" and you're told to be thankful for all that you've got . . . while the middleclass keeps losing more numbers each day there's no climbing up, so there's only one way . . . . those cracks "people slip through" turned chasming maw the "salt of the earth" for the ravens to gnaw . . . and the earth to reclaim –for it's all "dust to dust" the homeless to follow as the lower class must . . . detritus the mainstream can carry no more body bags stacking, the ruthless class war. childless parents, husbandless wives unpriveledged enlisted –to just lose their lives . . . no loved one returning, the once, flesh and bone a folded up flag for the ones left alone . . . no memories, futures, no laughter to share emptiness, aching, the no longer there . . . a last corporate gift, to the faceless, meak, poor but their faces remain, in the hearts that adore .. who will pause for them, and weep for the lost who will mourn for those who paid that dear cost and bankrupt the widows, those gave, for the dream the tears of the mourners now flood the mainstream. liberal is bad in the new dictionary "generous, tolerant" is now "evil, scary" a language of fear in this corporate empire of spiraling wages, while profits, soar higher .. . where governing puppets own big business too war profiteering that keep big chips blue . . . but its not profiteering if you own the press the media, servants to corporate largess . . . it's not "empire building" if you decide terms it's not really "killing" when you're feeding the worms it's not really "murder" if they died in the war it can't be "bad business" if the markets would roar and numbers add up, if you just switch their names and what's underhanded when you run the games? you can't social spend if you're business imbedded fighting for their future, best-day-aheaded . . . in the absence of truth, can a lie still exist in this misinformation age, web-hit-and-missed? when the bar is so lowered that pygmies can clear and ignorance, arrogance rule with fear … then national security is the biggest lie yet- it's all insecurity, the hovering threat and terrorism? originally a state-run affair .. . the French revolution, and we've heads to spare but no minds to question, and no mouths to speak to those who won't listen, while we all grow weak and fall by the numbers through those widening cracks the corporate empires weight breaking our backs. the weight of the minted coin, these states united is polarizing now, a country divided the haves and have nots, whom the haves have made slaves and keep us divided to our earlier graves .. we're so easier conquered, divided this way red and blue states, like the blue and the gray . . what "civil war," with civility gone? they won't redefine what they cannot bank on . . . . four years of misinformation, or lies or whatever they hide now beneath their disguise of national interest where business men rein this corporate take over. our losses, their gain they hold all the cards now, and the media, of course they've stolen the mainstream, dammed up at the source they point at the liberals, the traitors, their dream accuse them of daring redefining mainstream . .. they cry out "big spenders!" and "taxers!" and such but maybe this time we do need to spend much to get back so little of that robbed at night to shift to the middle from the way ultra right moderate measures will no relief find for all the lost wages and corpses behind . . . and you can't redefine something no longer there this rumored mainstream, it's flow is nowhere . . the CEOs used it for bodily waste and chemicals, needles, and other disgrace the puppets, they raged and they filled it with fears the mourners had only a place for their tears and artists and writers, the media made foes they went underground, but that how it goes . . . and the poor, uninsured, while health cost just soars they come and they weep, and they die on its shores. the stream finally stopped, dried up from no flow revealing lost treasures that once we did know the scales of justice, mangled, rust coated old laws, bill of rights, and more corpses, all bloated you can't redefine what was damned up instead there is no mainstream, it's a dry graveyard bed.

Do you really believe the President is stupid?

Recently I was reading the blog of a rather nice conservative I know, and on it she was touting the Presidents leadership skills and asked (rhetorically I'm sure), "Do you really believe the President is that stupid?". My simple answer to this would be a resounding, YES, but that wouldn't be half as much fun as posting a few of our great and wise leaders' best quotes from the past sixty years, I mean Six years--feels like sixty doesn't it?!-lol

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000


"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000


"I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004


"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000


"You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska


"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004


"They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000


"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000


"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004


"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame, shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002




And to think that a degree from Yale used to be worth something?! Of course that was before they started letting just any old "c" student with a rich, politically connected Daddy matriculate there.--lmao

Of the People, By the People, For the People!

The older I get the more I realize how important it is to get involved in at least trying to influence this screwed up world in some sort of positive direction. Reading some of the blogs on here is encouraging to me as it shows that there are some citizens who aren't completely apathetic to what's going on in the world and in their own country. Unfortunately, I think they're in the minority-especially in America.

The prevailing attitude of most Americans seems to be, "politics are boring, news is boring, I just trust the government etc.". I believe this attitude goes a long way to explaining why Americas' young people are dying in a completely unnecessary war, why global warming continues to ramp up the volume with bigger and better natural disasters, why the middle-class has become an endangered species and why this countrys' leaders continue to act any way they see fit, lying, pandering to lobbyists, stealing, voting themselves pay raises, shipping american jobs overseas and generally shafting Joe Q. Public left and right. American politicians act this way for one simple reason, they know they can get away with it. This is because, one they think the American public is in general-stupid, and two they know that at the least the majority of Americans are woefully ignorant of the issues and are too busy being entertained by "Deal or No Deal", to realize they're being played for fools. The year leading up to the invasion of Iraq proved this to be true without a doubt.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't particularly care for being treated like an idiot. I don't believe that most Americans are stupid, but I do think they are underinformed, due to a misguided notion that being a citizen means simply existing, buying stuff, having fun and standing during the national anthem. True patriotism means paying attention, knowing what's going on and then acting on that knowledge by making informed decisions and voting . Anything less is a slap in the face of our forefathers and all of the men and women who've given their lives for this nation. Perhaps more importantly continued apathy by Americans will be the nails in the coffin of this democracy as a democracy can only thrive when it's people are knowledgable and engaged. Just one Americans opinion for what it's worth.