One Democracy Initiative

Ok...I'm going to shill for a Presidential Candidate.

If your mind is already made up, go away, unless you care about ideas that could possibly make America work. (I said possibly)

So I'm a John Edwards fan, nothing new about that, but I keep wondering why Edwards hasn't gone straight to the front of the pack of Democratic candidates? He has great ideas and is much more electable than Dennis Kucinich. Maybe that's why the $400 haircut myth is still being pushed out there by his opponents in both parties...Edwards has great ideas...And he's electable!

Nothing scares political operatives more than something that would actually give "Power to the People," and it scares elected politicians even more...There goes the old meal ticket, should an actual thought process be brought into the act of making legislative decisions.

See...Scary!

Well John Edwards is backing just such a policy. It's called "A Citizen Congress."

"Wait a minute," I can hear you saying, "Isn't that what Congress was supposed to be when the Constitution was written?"

Well, Yea-uhhh! But that was back in the days of selfessness and idealism...You know, before Congress actually realized there was a lot of money to be had by whoring for Corporations.
Right now, this very second in time, is a very good example of why politicians shouldn't be allowed to get elected to office. (I know that sounds funny, but think about it) Congress continues to enable the Iraq war even though an overwhelming majority of Americans (68%) want us to bring the troops home. About that same number think we should impeach the President and most of his staff, and at least put the ones guilty of treason in jail for a little bit.

But Congress doesn't pay any attention to the people...Only Lobbyists, apparently.

So now there comes this idea that America belongs to the Americans and not Corporations, especially the ones that have some foreign ownership, which is just about all of them.

So John Edwards has this talk he gives about the Two Americas and it's a doozy. But now he has come out with this new one about:

One Democracy.

Wow...What an old fashioned idea.

Peace,

Steve

Thanksgiving for Peace Kids

If there's one thing an American believes he has it is the right to Free Speech.

First Amendment rights supercede all others, but only in theory. The most protected of all speech envisioned by the Founders was that of the political opposition. If we don't protect the speech of those "Not in power" our country could fall into the hands of an unprincipled leader who might get us into an illegal war against a sovereign nation that poses no threat to us, or something.

So on this Thanksgiving Day, I want to give thanks for those who stand up for our Freedoms by expressing and fighting for their own.

Since the American Media have abdicated their role in preserving Free Speech by being the gatekeepers for facts, It is now up to us. We know that it is not supporting our Troops when they are sent to be maimed or die for a cause, falsely presented by our leaders...Leaders who brand those who oppose them as traitors even as they commit visibly treasonous acts themselves, for no better reason than to harm those who oppose their schemes. With this in mind, I would like to present two groups of great Americans who fight for our Freedoms in their own personal way and at great personal cost.

First is a group I call, "The Bridge Chicks". Statements against them include such as these:

“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the
right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical
event.”

Note that had the little sign been in praise of Bush it would have been fine...No taking sides here? Another statement:

“It’s not that I don’t forgive them, but I still think they should be punished.”

So what did these women do? They waved American flags, hummed the Star Spangled Banner, and held up a sign that said,

"We did not vote for Bush."

The second group of great Americans wanted to form a "Peace Club" at their Florida high school.

Their posters were torn down or Swastikas were painted over them. Other kids wore Confederate flag shirts with slogans like,

"If Peace is the Answer, It must be a stupid question."

Another student had a peace poster torn off her locker and replaced by this one:

'I Love America, Because America Loves War' sign up.'

The school refused to allow the Peace club and has lied about it to the press, saying no written application was received by the Principal, but not only was that not true but the kids had a faculty sponsor. In dramatic irony, the Principal's name who won't let the Peace Kids have their club is...

Mr. Cool.

So today let us give thanks for these Great Americans who continue to believe in America.

Peace...And have a Happy ThanksGiving!

Steve

Sorry I'm a day late...It's not the first time, OK?

Before there were Simpsons...There was...

Squirrel

48 years ago Yesterday

I'm a total Peabody fan.

(Hey...It's a Holiday week, OK? )

Al Gore will be in the White House

So that's not my prediction..It's for a ceremony in the Oval Office recognizing America's Nobel Prize recipients.

I wish it were to be at a huge ceremony open to the public. Al Gore deserves great accolades and should be revered by this country. Regardless of his failure to defeat George W. Bush and his evil minions for the Presidency, our world is a better place because of Al Gore.

And I'm thinking about something that this brings to mind...When Democrats leave high office, it seems like they spend a great deal of their time and resources "helping" as Gore's Live Earth, Inconvenient Truth, Current TV (which you should watch if you don't already), and other tireless efforts demonstrate. Gore has even made good honorable money in the process, of which I am a huge fan.

Then there's Jimmy Carter's work with the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. His travels all over the world have done far more to promote fair elections than anything we have seen from a Republican.

I mean...Republicans spend their time...uh...what do they spend their time doing?

George H. W. Bush formed the Carlyle Group, an oil and war material corporation, and now owns northern Paraguay.

Dan Quayle...Remember Dan Quayle?...Qualye has made the big bucks as a financial operative.

But they've also done a lot of good for the world, right?...Ok, help me here...somebody...I mean aside from instigating a few wars, profiting massively, driving up the cost of oil by 300%, and causing the deaths of tens of millions, I'm sure there are some good things...Aren't there?

Well, anyway, how do you think Al will feel walking into the Oval Office to be congratulated by George?

*****

And here's another interesting news item:

T. Boone Pickens stood up at a gala and gave a speech defending his support of the Swift Boat Veterans, offering John Kerry one Million Dollars if he could disprove one single claim of the Swift Boat Ads. That should be interesting, since essentially ALL of the Swift Boat claims have been debunked.

Kerry has offered to take Pickens to visit the Veterans organization he will donate the money to, and has challenged T. Boone's honor if he doesn't live up to his wager.

Kerry should know better than to think a man who supports the Swift Boaters HAS honor.

This could be fun!

Peace,

Steve

Thoughtful Thursday?

Yes, yes, I know it's Friday but I'm just thinking about what an interesting Thursday we just had.

Barry Bonds was indicted for lying to Federal agents about what drugs he takes, and that seems to have been a huge deal. Do folks remember that Vice President Cheney was implicated in lying to Federal investigators about committing Treason...His Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, was convicted and, since he refused to testify against his Bosses, had his sentence commuted by a grateful George Bush. But that was just lying in order to cover up the treasonous offense of outing a covert CIA agent...Nowhere near as important as the integrity of baseball, Right?

Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein came under so much public pressure that Harry Reid might have had to remover her from the Senate Finance Committee if she had voted to give certain Telecom Corporations immunity for committing crimes against their customers at the request of the President of the United States. Remember that it was public pressure...phone calls, emails, and actual handwritten letters...so many that the phone lines into Feinstein's office were jammed...pressure from people not lobbyists that scared Feinstein so badly that for the first time in a long time she actually voted to represent her constituents. This is good for America...Bad for George Bush. If the telecoms go on trial they will point millions of dollars worth of fingers at George Bush, for instigating criminal acts...Thousands of them.

Wolf Blitzer asked the stupidest most prejudicial questions in the history of Presidential debates. Here's one:

If a million people die in the next 9/11, would you be willing to chill out about torture? Yes or no?

Right, Wolf...If we torture a bunch of people, the rest of the world will love America and not attack us any more right? Mathew Iglesias identified Blitzer's motive: "The point, after all, is to force a choice -- piss off an interest group, or say something that could be used in a GOP attack ad."

Wolf Blitzer is a Republican operative...Duh!

No event more clearly illustrates how disasterous CNN's editorial choice has been to become just another outlet for Faux news. Their ratings are dropping...Ever since they abandoned Ted Turner's personal mantra to "Tell America the Truth." CNN is just not news anymore, and now Keith Olbermann and MSNBC are rising.

Of course, If you want real news...You have to watch Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert on the Comedy Channe, or the late night TV monologues. Problem is, they are all reruns because the writers are on strike, because the Corporate media won't pay them what they deserve.

There's something funny about that.

TGIF

Peace,

Steve

Fred explains electoral and economic theory...It's all about the pendulum, or something

So Republicans are always promising prosperity and economic growth...Only, it ain't necessarily so, Right, Fred?

"You know, you look back in history... whether it's been in the 20s or the Reagan administration or the Kennedy administration or this administration, when you've lowered taxes and lowered tax rates, you've got economic growth. I mean, everything depends on economic growth."...Fred Thompson

Well, Fred...not really! As an actual researcher points out....

"In other words, Republican presidents produce poor economic performance because they're obsessed with helping the well off. Their focus is on the wealthiest 5%, and the numbers show it. At least 95% of the country does better under Democrats"...Washington Monthly

Also: ...if you make less than $150,000 a year, Republicans are your friends only one year in four. (That fourth year would be... Election Year...And then you're screwed for three years)

******

And then there's this...Susan gets email about the White House Thanksgiving Dinner:

....we'd start off with crow, sour grapes, trickled down crumbs, face-blasted cronyberry sauce, waterboard crackers, and pained-looking tight-lipped very neat serving of Condi rice pilaf.

More at: KissMyBigBlueButt

Fall in the Gorge

The forecast was for strong storms later on last night, so I wanted to take this before the leaves got knocked off the trees. We did have the storms and about 2 inches of rain.

Did anyone else think it was funny that Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue waited until rain was in the forecast before he held his prayer vigil?

Cheap theater.

The good news is that we still have lots of color left. It's a beautiful morning.

Sex, Lies, and Abstinence Ed...

This line caught my eye:

...U.S. educators wanting a piece of the nation's $200 million "abstinence only" budget must adhere to a curriculum that links sex to delinquency and explicitly precludes discussion of contraception.

So the Bush Government is spending $200,000,000.00 a year telling your
children that if they have sex they're more likely to be delinquents.

Two hundred million bucks...

So providing them a little health care is socialism but lying to them is just fine?

The required curriculum handed down by the Bush Government requires that the children...YOUR children...be told that sex is one precursor to becoming a petty criminal. They might as well add that becoming a Republican is a precursor to getting arrested in a public restroom for homosexual solicitation or paying prostitutes to dress you up in a diaper and spank you...Wait...those last bits are true...

Well anyway, early teen sex is NOT...repeat...NOT...a precursor to juvenile delinquency and if anything, kids who are sexually active turn out to be LESS LIKELY to engage in other forms of risky behavior including delinquency. I would term it the..."Happy kids aren't as mean as unhappy kids" syndrome.

"...the Virginia study found that adolescents who had sex at younger ages were less likely to end up delinquent than those who lost their virginity later. Many factors play into a person's readiness for sex, but in at least some cases sexual relationships may offer an alternative to trouble, the researchers say."

It worked for Mom and Dad.

What is clear in all this is that the Bush Government panders to anyone who it thinks can help it stay in power at any cost whatsoever to our society. Truth be damned! It also points out the bankrupt principles of an Evangelical movement willing to support any government, however corrupt, in order to advance its own oppressive and fallacious agenda.

Why can't we simply be honest with our children? Prepare them with knowledge, understanding...and the two commandments:

"Thy shalt be responsible for thy actions!"

"Thy shalt not have unprotected sex!"


Peace,

Steve

Sunday Sermon

I am in awe at the simplicity of all the solutions to all the world's problems.

You could point out that nearly all of them involve too many humans on one small planet and you'd be correct. The old joke about solving the greenhouse emissions problems by simply having all the people on Earth hold their breath for five minutes is obviously true but wouldn't be much fun for most of us. Reducing the human impact, whether by reducing population or, well, by reducing human impact, is the only way we can save our planet. Sorry, but for the aware, this is an inescapable conclusion.

We humans stupidly ask ourselves how to sequester carbon while we continue to dig it up and burn it, causing great environmental calamity at both ends of the operation. In fact, very little of the energy we expend actually improves the human condition, whether it's hauling a 120 pound human female around in a fossil fuel powered three ton SUV, or the inappropriately named "security light" mounted 24 feet off the ground with an inadequate reflector shield so that it uses three times the wattage necessary while simultaneously irritating the neighbors by shining an unwarranted light through their bedroom windows.

Perhaps we can rename them "Paranoia" lights since they actually statistically increase crime in their vicinity. Renaming them does nothing concrete but installing adequate shielding reflectors would greatly reduce their energy consumption and eliminate the crime of "light trespass", a term I have recently become aware of and like a great deal. By what tortured stretch of the imagination should anyone be allowed to shine lights on someone else's person or property? It is a crime, plain and simple, but even so, it pales when compared to the fact that escaped light steals the very stars themselves from all of us.

We actually, at one time in our history, had our energy problems well managed with our well equipped and self sufficient communities of the fifties, needing only carefully chosen technological advances from today's cornucopia to make them little heavens on earth. I remember a time when the grocery store, the pharmacy, the school, and the place where my Dad worked were all within walking distance. There was such a thing as a family farm. Gas was 17 cents a gallon and sirloin was $1.19 and the President was our hero.

Then the Oil companies and the Auto companies and the War companies became ascendant. Mass transit was labelled a communist plot and GM brought out the Edsel.

President Eisenhower warned us...The "Military-Industrial Complex" he labelled it... but Ike, grand as he was, did not have the courage it would have taken to set this nation and thereby the world on a better course.

Imagine how little meddling the world at large would be doing in the Middle East if oil were currently worth less than $10 a barrel? It's possible even even now.

I am an Idealist, of course, and have this insane idea that people should sit down together, paint a common picture of a realistic Eden, and work together toward achieving it as a goal. The journey may seem distantly inachievable but each single step is very close and not so big.

It would be so easy.

Peace,

Steve

Chamber of Commerce or Chamber of Horrors?

How about a little story today? Call it light reading, if you will.

This little story has ramifications in every community in America. It involves a United States Supreme Court Justice, Powerful Republican operatives including the just reelected governor of Mississippi, The Chamber of Commerce, bribery, corruption, and using the Justice system to unfairly prosecute innocent people who oppose the corrupt system put into service of the Corporate Political malignancy that currently rules America.

It starts with "The Count of Monte Christo" to show that Alexaner Dumas' France got nothing on our America.

A Minor Injustice

Pampleteers of the Resistance

The best writing on the web seems to be in the Blogosphere.

Some choose to remain anonymous and with some, it is an open secret as to who they are. The Freeway Blogger is anon and ever present, speaking our thoughts in the medium of cardboard and chainlink. But then there are the pamphlets that are not pamphlets. The bloggers:

"Rivulets of water ran down from his thumb and forefinger as he held them up, "I was this close... this f***ing close... to ruling the whole goddam world... but no, I had to be the power behind the throne of Bozo-the-F***ing-Clown..."

And also:

"I knew that a real journalist would’ve found a way to cross the river, climb the last line of mountains and then headed down to see the killing up close. Good journalists go to the places where people die: great ones get there in time to watch them do it. Once I realized that I knew I didn’t want to be a journalist anymore."

As we watch our Constitutional freedoms get picked off by fearmonger Fascists, we look to our elected officials for salvation but they are cowards. It is up to us to give them transplants of courage.

They can ignore our emails to the official Congressional web site..But they cannot ignore our cardboard screams. Will there be a price on our heads like that of John Hancock?

We are the Pamphleteers of the new resistance movement and it is an honorable company...But some of us are the essence of greatness are to be revered.

One such is Scarlet. Enjoy!

The Freeway Blogger

A Story

We are asking a great deal of our Troops. We are asking them to fight and possibly die for what we all know and believe, now, is a lie.


Of greater ultimate impact is the truth that each of us must face...it is you and I who are killing them by allowing this senseless war to continue:

More service members killed themselves while serving in the Iraq war last year than in any year since the war began, and the suicide count for 2007 is on track to surpass that. The dead are generally junior enlisted soldiers who are single, white and male.

One Story

Since you asked...

Tonight's the night in America when all sorts of strangeness hits the neighborhoods. The show in Rockwood is usually well over the top and was a stunner to me when I emigrated to Roane County 19 years ago. I knew you folks were wondering where the craziness originated so I did some looking.

In small town Georgia, my parents put a mask on me and took me around to the prominent houses around Dublin, Ga. My grandmother didn't understand why, since it was unheard of when she was a kid. I got candy, so what else does a four year old need to embrace a program?

Here's a little history for what's about to happen:


The earliest reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking America occurs in 915, with another isolated reference in Chicago in 1920.[9] The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do ot depict trick-or-treating.[10] Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Hallowe'en, makes no mention of such a custom in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America."[11] It does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the earliest known uses in print of the term "trick or treat" appearing in 1934,[12] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939...

...Trick-or-treating spread from the western United States eastward, stalled by sugar rationing that began in April 1942 during World War II and did not end until June 1947. Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October 1947 issues of the children's magazines Jack and Jill and Children's Activities,[16] and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs the Baby Snooks Show in 1946 and The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1948.[17] The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when Walt Disney portrayed it in the cartoon Trick or Treat, Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show,[18] and UNICEF first conducted a national campaign for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating...

Wikipedia

And Kids...Let's be careful out there!

Peace,

Steve

Forward

Do you ever wonder where those anecdotal emails come from?

You know the ones..They tell some totally insightful story about this or that candidate that either paints him as an unheralded low key saint...or the devil. I'll tell you in just a minute.

The emails will almost never ever have any link to a reputable source. If they do have a link, it might be to Limbaugh or Drudge, or some similarly untrustworthy source of manufactured propaganda. The Swift Boaters were the source of any number of now discredited attacks on John Kerry but there were other false emails that balanced the attacks on the opponent with glowing "You'll never read this in the Liberal media" emails that painted George W. Bush as a kind caring saintly President who cares deeply for the troops and prays for them every day.

Where did it come from? Tennessee voters might want to know:

"Snopes determined that a gushing pro-Bush e-mail from 2004 about watching the
President worship in the pews of St. John's Church in Washington was actually
written by the press spokeswoman for Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. Her
name is Laura Lefler, and she now works for Senator Bob Corker.
"

...Christopher Hayes, The
Nation (subscription required until the next issue comes out)

The email was false.

http://www.snopes.com/ is the Urban Legend site that checks these things out and publishes their findings, let the chips fall where they may.

Dirty tricks would have no place in a just world, but as long as we have the modern virulent strain of conservative loose in the world, we have to challenge every one of these emails.

Personally, I won't stand for it. When someone forwards something to me, they better have it checked out and know that it's true, or they get a rant about passing on a lie.

Wouldn't it be really nice if everyone who claimed to be a Christian would give the same breathless attention to those who break the "Thy shalt not bear false witness" commandment as they do the "They shalt not commit adultery" one?

For people who forward these nasty and destruction emails that are in fact, nothing more than character assassination, I would point out that by forwarding these lies...They themselves are the bearers of "False Witness".

Those who are throwing these stones are the sinners here.

Fight them with honesty, please.

Peace,

Steve

Sunday Sermon

The Sunday Sermon at WhitesCreek enlightens the stark differences between Islam and Christianity:

"Jesus lived a perfect life of nonviolence, showing kindness to humans and animals, without material possessions, and abstaining from sin."

Well of course...All Christians know that. But that is a description of Jesus, not from the New Testament, but from Islam.

"One of only 8 chapters (out of 144) named after a person, the Sura Maryam tells the story of a woman called Maryam, Umm Isa.

Maryam is a Semitic name which means Mary in English.

Christians know her as Mary, Mother of Jesus."

Link and Learn...

Peace,
Steve

Fake Fake News?

Fox News, among very few others, carried the live news conference from FEMA 's Southwest D.C. office with only 15 minutes notice.

So what's the big deal? It was a FAKE news conference! The "reporters" were FEMA employees. No risking an actual question about actual things that FEMA is actually not doing that could ACTUALLY embarrass this FAKE Government agency.

The ACTUAL story

Via KOS:

Turns out that one of the FAKE news people was also an advisor to Mike Brown, the famous "You're doin' a Heckuva job, Brownie" Mike Brown who presided over the destruction of New Orleans.

If you really want an inside view of a tragedy, check out this link to the actual emails in and out of Brownie's office at the very moment New Orleans was dying. Fascinating, enlightening...and sickening!

Vast Right-Wing Crazy People

Here's your morning reading assignment, only this time you can have a perverse enjoyment of the crazy person behind that "Vast Right-wing Conspiracy" that Hillary spoke about.

Apparently, his hatred of Bill Clinton is exceeded only by his hatred of one thing...Ex Wives

No screed about Richard Mellon Scaife, who shares more spoiled frat boy character traits with George W. Bush than I can recount here, would be fair without showcasing his counterpart on the other side, George Soros, who actually earned his money instead of inheriting it.

Soros actually had more to do with bringing down the Soviet Union than the idiotic policies of Ronald Reagan, but asks and receives no credit for it. His family life is a bit more discreet, but he certainly is no one woman man. What sets him apart is his dedication to creating open and honest societies across the world.

For that I honor him!

Peace,

Steve

Blogs are writ..

Evolutionary theory is fairly well misunderstood by most folks. It's fairly obvious really, but there are those who study ignorance, and those who prefer ignorance to knowing. I prefer knowing.

I was thinking about this while leaning on the deck rail in a break in our long delayed rain and looking at the various trees that have survived our record drought...And also looking at the trees that didn't. Every living thing is different from every other living thing...different, even, from those other living things it is most alike: Mother, Father, siblings, and various cousins. Taller, shorter, weaker, stronger...strong in ways that aren't obvious, like the ability to stand a shortage of life sustaining water.

I thought about that because some of my trees aren't looking too good. Ok, some of them are dead. But now that the rains have finally come, some of them have perked up and look fine. Some are toast, and some others are indeterminate. This is one of those evolutionary filters that take certain members of the gene pool...out of the gene pool. They have a combination of genetic materials that are unsuited for survival in years like this one. "Filtered out" they are.

Two of my native azaleas and a rhododendron or two got "filtered out". The ones that are left will have to take over and fill some gaps. So will some oaks and pines and cherry trees up on the ridge. Their roomates got filtered.

Whether this is an aberration or the new rule of climate for our area, we don't know. I think we're screwing it up and I also think we won't stop doing it anytime soon, so the trees better get with it.

It's filter time ...And while Blogs are writ by fools like me...

Only trees can make a tree.

Peace,

Steve

Old Green Teeth is an Expert now?

Charlie Daniels is pretty much the brain dead fat white right wing nut job you thought he was...And now he's a FOX NEWS expert on domestic spying. I think it was that pot he smoked in his early years. Did he ingest way too much? Or not enough?

I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.

Chris Dodd does what he can to protect the Constitution from Bush and his buddies.


It appears that every military leader with any fortitude is working as hard as they can, behind the scenes, to stop the Bush administration from starting another war, this time in Iran. These are the real heroes of our time. If they speak out, they'll be fired...If they refuse..they'll be Court Marshalled.

And lastly but not leastly, Ecuador says very simply that is Bush wants to keep the American Military base in Ecuador, all they have to do is allow Ecuador to build an Ecuadoran Military Base in Miami.

Seems fair to me.

Masters of Illusion

The great illusionists of the Republican party are at it again...Well actually they never stopped. There are so many red herring being flung around at the Republican debate it was fishier than a cat food factory. All they seemed to talk about was how bad it was going to be when Hillary got to be President.

They are blaming her for bad Military morale and raising taxes and having the Federal Government actually concern itself with the health of its citizens. Of course it is the Republican war in Iraq and their massive incompetence which might have had some effect on lowering morale, or maybe firing every General who dares to question the latest stupid plan from men who never served.

And ask yourself what health insurance corporations care about your health? Suppose a cure for cancer were discovered this afternoon...They'd do everything in their power to destroy it, obviously. They'd be out of business if people got healthy. Same thing with preventing illness...Bad for business...Can't have it. Hillary must be stopped.

So what do they talk about in a debate? Do they have ideas? Something new to show us the way out of this mess they got us into?

Ummm...No!

"...what masters of deflection Republicans have become. A debate about whether to invade Iraq becomes a debate about whether Joe Wilson's undercover CIA wife hooked him up with a sweet junket overseas. A debate on stem cell research becomes a debate about whether Michael J. Fox exaggerates his symptoms. A debate about the right to privacy becomes a debate about whether Terri's blinks were voluntary. A debate on Iraq policy becomes a debate about how mean people are to General Petraeus. A debate about health care becomes a full-blown investigation into the lifestyles of 12 year old Graeme Frost and 2 year old Bethany Wilkerson. A debate about curbing global climate change becomes a debate about how many compact fluorescent light bulbs Al Gore has in his house. A debate about the shameful level of poverty in this country becomes a debate about how much money John Edwards spent on a haircut. A debate about who's qualified to be president becomes a debate about who does or does not wear a lapel pin. A debate about executive accountability becomes a debate about whether Representative Stark hurt Mr. Bush's feelings..."

Georgia10

It's God's Fault

People so totally mistunderstand the Endangered Species act. These lesser children of creation are the canaries in our mine shaft. If we let them die, we'll not be able to recognize that our own lives are threatened with extinction.

I wonder what conservation measures were put in place to prevent the necessity of destroying the diversity of life in this river?

Idiots

The Ghost of Freedom Past

"What were we thinking?" said Jefferson.

"Boy, did we screw up" said Adams.

"Really" said Monroe.

"Here we were trying to make sure Americans would have and retain their democracy and freedom... and they didn't want that after all...They wanted an authoritarian fascism...Duh!" said all the ghosts of America in unison.

"Why did we write that thing about "Protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic? It's just like President Bush said, I guess...The Constitution is just a piece of paper."

P.M. Carpenter:

"Meanwhile, back to the Senate, where sits and testifies a Holocaust-citing
Constitution Denier... Retired federal judge Michael Mukawsey, batting for Alberto Gonzales...

"Technically and legally speaking, in any real constitutional environment the good judge would be handed his walking papers after that. But, to cite yet one more video scene, this one from "Patton," his confirmation no doubt will go through the Senate "like crap through a goose." Said crap will then sit over at Justice, and the crap will just keep flowing downhill. "

...And President Scrooge, who laughed at the Tiny Tims of America as he took their healthcare away, lit a fire with the signatures of the founders of America, but with much difficulty. In America today, the Constitution does not burn brightly.

Peace,

Steve

Tennessee Dems

The Munday Message

Gore's Challenge

Speaking in Norway today, Al Gore said he had a greater challenge on his plate than running for President of the United States...Fighting Climate Change and global warming. I think he's downplaying the challenge. I think he's not just fighting climate change, I think he's fighting a deep abiding ignorance generated by the lackeys hired by Exxon Mobile Corporation and others. .
This is starkly illustrated by the Scripps Howard published Knoxville News Sentinel which published this local editorial lead:

"It's not often that we're able to hail a native son for winning the Nobel Peace
Prize. So we take great pleasure in saluting former vice president Al Gore as the
recipient of the prestigious award."

But then there it was on the opposite page...this nasty bit of fraud by a bit player in the war on truth:

Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize for his error-filled, shrill campaign to instigate responses to global warming is not just a kind of ideological fraud worthy of a chuckle or two but, quite possibly, a very real danger, a precursor to devastation.

Had there been errors of any sort in Al Gore's Oscar winning movie, it would have been front page news all over the world. In fact, a court of examination in Great Brittain found that out of hundreds of statements of fact contained in the movie, a scientific panel was able to only quibble with the language and not the underlying claims in nine sentences in the whole movie.

And yet, the Knoxville News still allows venomous attacks such as this one to appear in its pages even though its claims are lies. How in Hell can burning fewer fossil fuels be "a precursor to devastation"?

This is horse shit on the face of it, and yet there it is...in the Knoxville News Sentinel.

So...Al Gore does in fact face a greater challenge than running for President. He faces a greater challenge, even, than global warming. In reality, Al Gore is waging a war for Truth...for Science...and for the very salvation of this planet.

Peace,

Steve

Protecting America

Warning...This is not for the faint of heart. These people act in our name and this is what they do:

Blackwater

Last Evening

Finally! We actually had a sprinkle of rain in October.

It wasn't much but it did kill some of the dust and bring the fall singers out in full voice last evening.

The Katydids have given up their heavy metal thumping and we're left with a softer trill in the night. I like to sit on the deck with a glass of something and listen for the harmonies of the night.

Sometimes I think it's just my tinnitus from playing in a bad rock band that makes the harmony but then who cares, right? Music is where you find it.

There are other sounds that I can identify and some I can't. I have to wonder what beast makes the sound that momentarily overpowers the crickets, but it comes once and no more. I can't even describe it, except to say I've heard it before.

From time to time something pulls their chain and the barred owls bark at each other and make other calls with amazing power, even though they are a fairly big bird it is still impressive how loud they are. I'm still waiting for the screech owls. They are my favorites, with trills and coos and sounds that used to evoke ghost stories in days when humans were still connected with the real world instead of sitting inside in front of a liquid crystal display feeding them fantastical impossibilities.

Why invest yourself in other people's realized hallucinations? Isn't reality strange enough?

I'll take the owls and crickets and true mysteries of a Fall night.

Peace,

Steve

Welcome to the New American Century

Update:

Air America talk show host was NOT attacked while walking her dog yesterday. A police source said Rhodes never filed a report and never claimed to be the victim of a mugging. Randi says she just doesn't remember what happened, but appears to have fallen down stairs. She's in a lot of pain but will be back on the air Thursday at last report.

The rest of this is quite true...Sorry for accepting other source's hysteria.

Thom Hartman, another Air America talk show host had three bullet holes found in his car when a broken windshield was replaced.

Michelle Malkin savagely lies about a 12 year old brain injury victim over an insurance debate.

Welcome to the America envisioned by Bill Kristol, Dick Cheney, and Paul Bremer.

I'm not sure we're going to like it here.

Peace,

Steve

Gore = Current TV = current.com

Al Gore's startup TV and Internet Network is CurrentTV.

These videos were uploaded Sunday. Do they look like campaign videos to you?


http://current.com/items/84987281_health_care_is_a_right

http://current.com/items/84986911_americans_deserve_more_protection#

http://current.com/items/84986481_get_the_troops_home

Hmmm??? Very suspicious...

Are we "Good Germans"?

Laura Bush has suddenly discovered Myanmar and the horrible human rights violations occurring there...Should someone mention to her...say...Iraq?

Are the Americans who continue to support the Iraq war simply the "Good Germans" of this generation?

Absolutely!

Frank Rich

Peace

A friend called and asked how what Al Gore does to fight climate change is related to Peace? "Why the Peace Prize?" he asked. Reasonable question and simply answered.

The militant disruption of the African continent is due to economic reasons...Essentially that there is not enough arable land to go around to the populations and armed tribal conflict is the result.

(You should all understand that "armed tribal conflict" is also what is going on in Iraq but for slightly different reasons, but anyway...)

Without economic stability there will be no possibility of relative World Peace. With global warming there will be no economic stability. The human disruptions will be massive and have already started. They will involve wars at every level.

Happy sane people don't start wars. So I hope that clears that up for everyone...

Then there's George W. Bush.



Josh Marshall has a meaningful take on Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

By every just measure, Gore won the presidency in 2000 only to have George
W. Bush steal it from him with the critical assistance of the US Supreme Court.
It's worth taking a few moments today to consider where the country and world
would be without that original sin of this corrupt presidency.

And yet this is a fitting bookend, with Gore receiving this accolade
while the sitting president grows daily an object of greater disapproval,
disapprobation and collective shame.

Don't miss the rest, including his question at the end:

Josh Marshall

Peace (prize),

Steve

Odds are 4-1 in Seden

Where's he going?

... five minutes ago I received an email from Barbara Boxer, saying that
Gore asked to reschedule at the last minute so that he could "travel abroad
tomorrow for an exciting and urgent mission that could result in a major
breakthrough in the fight against global warming".

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced late Thursday night... actually at 2am Friday morning, Pacific time.

Hmmmm??

...must... stop... laughing...

Trouble typing...two fingers...shaking...laughing hard....must...stop...actual recipe from US Senator:

Super Tuber is a great snack that uses one of my favorite vegetables: The
Idaho Potato. Of course, I suppose any type of potato could be used, but I
cannot guarantee that a Super Tuber made with anything but a true Idaho potato
would taste as good.

Sincerely,

Larry E.
Craig, United States Senator

This delicacy is apparently to be enjoyed in airport restrooms across the country.

Tom Tomorrow

Tom Tomorrow

Kingston girls VS Oliver Springs

Kingston was ahead 4-0 when I left but Oliver Springs is much improved and will be a good team down the road.

Get The Memo?

Gore-Nobel-President?

The Gore movement is gaining a lot of momentum --- if he does indeed win
the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, can anyone honestly deny that this is the most qualified man to be our next great President?

I have a different take on this...Al Gore is the most qualified person to be our next great President whether he wins a Nobel prize or not.

Al Gore

Via http://www.michaelmoore.com/:

Oct. 8, 2007 - Al Gore is not running for president. But might the publicity and
sheen of a Nobel Peace Prize change his mind? Some Democratic activists sure
hope so.

NewsWeek

Help People?

The terms "Liberal" and "Progressive" are not the same thing. One could actually be a progressive conservative, even though that is highly unlikely, since Progressives tend to have a conscience and have difficulty in attempting to live in an alternate reality, which seems to come naturally to the brand of conservative loosed on the world today.

Saint Paul has something to say about this.

Paul Krugman:

For now, in other words, being an active liberal means being a progressive.
And being a progressive means being partisan. But the end goal isn't one-party
rule. It's the re-establishment of a truly vital, competitive democracy. For in
the end, democracy is what being liberal is all about...(Conscience of a Liberal)


The reason that Bush is so opposed to SCHIP, is the same reason he
was so determined to privatize Social Security, which is that they're both
programs that work. You have to understand, that is the point of view of
somebody who really wants to undo the New Deal -- and if possible -- I quote
Grover Norquist in the book -- get things back to the way they were before Teddy
Roosevelt and the "Socialists" came in. The worst thing is a government program
that actually does help people...(Buzzflash Interview )

Hmm...A government that "Helps people"...The conservative nightmare putting the lie to the conservative philosophy.

Peace,

Steve

Random Political

Let's see...

Hillary is slightly ahead of John Edwards in Iowa, but she made a gaff that may have some effect there. She refused to admit that her recent Senate vote allows George W. Bush to start moving down a greased slope into war in Iran, and then told the questioner he had been told to say that...Well...NO, Actually.

It's interesting (and tragic, at the same time) to see the Democrats tear each other up so the Republicans don't have to, while at the same time the Republicans simply attack Hillary, who in reality is nothing more than a moderate Republican who just isn't batshit crazy.

Oddly, the Republican attack on John Edwards centers around the claim that he's just too attractive to be President.

The other leading Democratic candidate is being whispered about in Republican quarters because he's black, of course, and his Daddy slept with a White woman. Why is it that the person with half Japanese and half white parents is "half Japanese" but since Obama's Mother was White and her husband was Black, Obama is Black?

That's not fair. I'm not exactly sure who it's unfair to, but I'm pretty sure I should be aggrieved about something. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Peace,

Steve

Slashed again

Slashed again, by the Keen edge of your corruscating wit!

Toles

Jepardy, or 110,000 new Jobs...78,000 of them bad

This United States President created the most jobs during his Presidency...

Reagan
Ford
Carter
Clinton
Bush41
Bush43

(doodahdoodahdoodahdump...doopdahdoopdahdoopdoopdump...brdadeep!)

Ok, times up...(Even though he only had a Four year Presidency) Who was President

James Earl Carter

Here's a look at the current numbers and why they are so freakin' miserable!

Watching the Dog

Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper wants to take away the President's power to fire Federal Agency watchdogs (OK... Federal Inspectors) and give it to Congress.

Gee, I wonder why? Just because President Bush has made a mockery of what a Federal Inspector is supposed to do? Aren't they supposed to fire anybody who causes problems for Republicans and hire political hacks as replacements?

Geez, Cooper!

A Butterfly

Robert Byrd has metamorphosized from a small time petty local politician worm into one of America's great statesmen. Here he warns his colleagues about being led by the nose down a path they should absolutely be wary of:

"Every foreign adversary is not the devil incarnate. We know now that Saddam Hussein was militarily a paper tiger. The intelligence that suggested he was an imminent threat was flat wrong. Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had not attacked our country. Saddam Hussein was a ruthless tyrant, but he was not an imminent threat to U.S. national security. And now we hear the same scare tactics and simple analogies trotted out again,this time with Iran. Analogies can be dangerous things; they risk oversimplifying complicated situations, and can lead to erroneous conclusions. While there may be some superficial similarities between Hitler and Ahmadinejad, it does not mean that our only option is to start World War III.

We are now more than four years into a war that was launched by false fears and scary hyperbole, and here we are again, being led down a path by chest-pounding rhetoric, without a clear idea of where that path is taking us.

As the philosopher George Santayana once said, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

"Are we condemned...?"

Senator Robert Byrd

Easy Pickings

Last week GOP Senator from my home state of Georgia ranted and railed against an ad run by MoveOn.org that asked a question. about whether General Betreaus was lying in his testimony before Congress. These ads were shameful and a disgrace, said Senator Chambliss.

How dare they besmirch the character of the only general Bush could find who would lie for him! A dozen or so United States Generals have resigned rather than serve George Bush in Iraq, by the way. General Petreaus makes me think about an old saying I just invented..."Turn over enough compost and eventually you'll find a worm big enough to fish with."

Senator Saxby avoided military service, claiming an old football injury, and he ran the most disgusting ads ever against a true war hero, Max Cleland, who had lost an arm and both legs to a grenade dropped by one of his fellow soldiers as they got out of a helicopter.

Saxby's ads said Senator Cleland was drunk and fell on his own grenade, which later testimonials proved to be totally fabricated by Saxby and his people. Senator Saxby Chanmbliss is a prominent example of why folks should detest the current leaders of the GOP.

Nearly everything they say is a lie...And did I mention what bigots they are?

"We need better intelligence. If we had better intelligence in the Civil War
we'd be quoting Jefferson Davis, not Lincoln."

...Saxby Chandliss... An easy pick for Hypocrite of the week.

The Now or Never date is soon

Millions of people in the USA are trying their best to get Al Gore to run for President.

The current polls show a strange mix in the electorate that makes a Gore run viable but will he, or won't he? We've been asking ourselves that same question for years now.

In nationwide polls Hillary is ahead of the othe Democratic candidates until you throw Al Gore into the mix. Another strange quirk of this years race is that, while Hillary leads the other Dems, in a head to head match up against any of the Republicans, John Edwards does the best, Obama, second, and Hillary third, although EVERY Dem frontrunner beats ALL of the Republican frontrunners by a handy margin at this point.

It appears that even in spite of owning the American Corporate media, America just doesn't like what Republicans have done to their country. Now all we need is for Democrats to take over their own political party again.

Howard Dean...Please tell Al Gore... The time is NOW!

A "Phony Soldier" Calls out Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh said any soldier who disagrees with the Iraq War is a "phony soldier."

In order to hide this monumental travesty from the American public, Rush has altered the transcripts of his show and removed the podcast. Then he claims Liberals are lying about what he said. Unlike the Democrats who are too cowardly to support their best ally, MoveOn.org, Republicans have circled the wagons around Rush in what may become Rush's Little Bighorn.

I think it won't be enough. Republicans know that Rush is an important ally in spreading misinformation but that may come to an end.

Wesley Clark has called for Rush's removal from Armed Forces Radio, as have a lot of "phony soldiers". I agree with this move. Rush is a documented liar and a foaming shill for the worst of the Republican party.


Digby has it:

"You're a pompous coward and it's about time someone called you out on it and
that someone is me...My name is Eric Massa
...and you know where to find me."

I stood in the sand, snow, dirt, mud and dust of both Afghanistan and Iraq.
I spent over a week on a side of a mountain in Afghanistan during Operation
Anaconda. I received The Bronze Star medal for my actions during that battle. I
crossed the border into Iraq with the first wave of the 101st Airborne. I
sustained an open head injury on the streets of Mosul after a vehicle borne IED
exploded next to the vehicle I was riding in. I have seen the aftermath of a
real suicide bomber. I had loved ones who died in the 9/11 attacks.

I have friends and colleagues who returned from the war in body bags.How dare you call someone like me a phony soldier and a suicide bomber?

In the commercial I just taped, I told you unless you had the guts to say something to my face, stop telling lies about my service. Well you haven’t had the guts to say it to my face, but I am waiting and the offer is still on the table...

So Rush is a coward who avoided military service but still feels the right to criticize anyone who dares to speak the truth about Iraq.

I hope he gets what he deserves but in order for that to happen, National Democrats will have to grow a spine.

Peace,

Steve

Peace, Love, and Understanding the Terms of Service

Will Al Gore win the Nobel Peace Prize? The winner will be announced October 12 and we will soon know. If that happens...What next?

Just so you guys know...Al Gore is a consummate gentleman and would never say so out loud, but he's just not a Hillary fan.

The "Draft Gore" movement is picking up steam. Will he run?


AT&T's New Logo

Fincher Cracks me up!

Betrayed Us...22 Democratic Senators

So what choice do Americans have?

The United State Senate voted to condemn MoveOn.org for an ad that called General Petreaus the same name used by the troops serving under him., "General Betray-Us"

We should use that name for the 22 Democratic Senators who voted for this incredibly cynical resolution generated by the party of a President who retained undeserved power, in part through the actions of the most offensive ad campaign in presidential history.

A moral observer must watch these proceedings and think, "This is the same group of people who refuse to condemn the Swift Boat ads which, far from just offering opinion, told plain out lies to attack John Kerry."

Where is the resolution condemning lies of that nature?

How about a resolution calling for truth in campaign ads?

How about a resolution condemning lies spoken before Congress?

How about a resolution condemning abject the abject hypocrisy of 49 Republican Senators and the moral cowardice of the 22 Democratic Senators who cravenly supported this idiotic and blatently pandering piece of dung thrown in the face of the American people?

Be Strong, America!

Steve

MoveOn responds

Webb Kingston Girl's Soccer

General Betray-us got the name from his Troops!

That sort of puts the mock outrage of republicans in perspective, doesn't it?

Bad Move-on.org! How dare they speak they truth about one of Bush's lackeys?

And he's had it for a fairly long time, courtesy of those who served under him:


From Daily Kos

Oh Yeah...Alberto left at 3 pm today...

John McCain has now called for an end to the First Amendment and for me personally to be thrown out of America.

I used to think well of him but now, John McCain is just a crazy old man...and who holds a seat in the Senate of the United States of America. The fine folks in Arizona might have to deal with that one.

Alberto Gonzalez has left the building. The Justice Department is now in the hands of...Well, nobody.

I feel better, actually.

Steve

The Question of the Day?

In his speech last night President Bush told a few whoppers. The Associated Press has done a little fact checking and has a long piece with details of what Bush twisted in his statements but some of them are pretty much out and out prevarications like this:

Bush: "Anbar province is a good example of how our strategy is working," Bush said, noting that just last year U.S. intelligence analysts had written off the Sunni area as "lost to al-Qaida."


Associated Press: "Anbar is not secure, accounting for 18 percent of the U.S. deaths in Iraq so far this year - making it the second deadliest province after Baghdad."

Finally, our Corporate Media are even starting to lose control of their commentators, with fewer of them seemingly willing to outright lie...Repeat spin, yes, though, so be careful. For every Jack Cafferty there are still two Sean Hannity's.

We're finally seeing the more honest of our TV Talking Heads openly turn against the Bush administration. Watching CNN before the speech last night, you would have thought Moveon.Org had written the entire thing. The sense of what was said is that there is no question that we should leave Iraq...The question is...

"How do we leave Iraq?"

That is much more complicated than it seems.

Peace,

Steve

Pix from last nights hike

The water is the "blue hole" on Whites Creek looking back toward the house, which is hidden from the creek itself. The left side of the picture is Roane County...the right is Rhea County.

I hiked up to the high rim and took this shot of the Laurel Branch cut which comes in from the Rheas county side..

Quote of the Day

The Quote of the day is from General Petreaus testifying before Congress. When asked, "Is the Iraq War making us safer?"

His answer?

"I don't know."

Here's another answer to that question:
(By way of Lisa)

http://www.allhatnocattle.net/91107bet.gif

The Bottom Line...(nothing to do with Brittney)

Yeah, It's the anniversary of 9-11, and we are now having to listen to the Bush Administration's mouth piece of the moment talk about how swimmingly things are going in Iraq and why we should keep marching American Troops off a cliff.

Before I give you the bottom line about Iraq, let me point you toward a review of lies we have been told and a taste of the incompetency that got us in the sorry state which America finds itself:

Via Kos:

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, yet that country has paid no price for producing and harboring terrorists. Neither has Pakistan, the country in which Osama bin Laden is now hiding.

The PDB said: Bin Laden determined to Strike in U.S.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq.

Sitting in a classroom for seven minutes after being told "America is under attack" is a poor display of leadership, especially if you're America's president.

If the administration had tried to sell the Iraq war based on anything other than the fear of weapons of mass destruction, we never would have invaded.

Colin Powell, the most trusted man in the administration, said: "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

There were no WMDs. Not "in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat," and not even in the Oval Office "somewhere."

Four and a half years after declaring that "major combat operations have ended," major combat operations have not ended.

Taunting the insurgents by sneering "Bring 'em on" was really dumb because the insurgents brought it on.

The insurgency wasn't "in its last throes" then, and it isn’t in its last throes now.
The Taliban has bounced back in Afghanistan. The Maliki government has flatlined in Iraq.

Osama bin Laden has not been caught, either dead or alive. He is still making videos.

Ok, here's the deal...While General Petreaus was at Congress, I listened to the BBC interview the former British Ambassador to Iraq and a host of Iraqis who have escaped their country and a larger number of Iraqi citizens who are still there. The consensus is that America has transformed Iraq from a slightly crazy but stable Middle Eastern Dictatorship sitting on a huge load of oil, into a cluster-disaster on a biblical scale.

George W. Bush and his republican enablers have created a hole in Iraq into which a stable government must be inserted and that government is probably going to be Iran as things now stand...And there is very little hope of any better outcome, unless you consider region wide armed conflict and chaos, in the guise of a civil war with no predictable result, a better outcome than having the Iranians in possession of the mother load of what is currently the most monetarily precious resource on this planet.

In a showdown between the Iranians and the Saudis, I'm betting on Iran, because they are much more crazy, having years ago, summarily executed the last rational human being who dared to speak out loud. ( a couple of hundred thousand of hangings is a serious demand on rope, by the way)

What President Bush has managed to achieve is an entire country that hates not only us...but most of it's own people. What Bush is having General Petreaus ask us to do is to allow the little Dutch boy to hold his finger in the Dike until Bush and Cheney can get out of town. (Karl Rove has already left.)

Is it any wonder why the Bush family has bought 100,000 acres in a South American country?

Bush Boy Petreaus is asking Congress to let him run out the clock so that the Middle Eastern Armageddon will actually come down on the next President's watch. He's also lying his ass off and we all know it.

Iraq is in a civil war that can only be ended with brutal outside aggression and takeover by some powerful entity that speaks "desert", or a fight to the death among internal factions. Neither bodes well for us, and there is nothing we can do about it because of the massive F.U.'s of George W. Bush and his masters.

I say, Work the best deal with the powers in the region to attempt an armed standoff between the Iranians, the Saudi's, and anybody else we can sucker into that mess....

And bring our people home.

That's the bottom line.

Peace,

Steve

Tennessee Stud

I think that's going to be the slogan for the Freddie Thompson Campaign for President.

It's a lot better than the one under his picture in his high scholl yearbook:

"The lazier a man is, the more he plans to do tomorrow."

Freddie has trouble managing his money and his women. As Senator he wrote a note to Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff stating that he "shares the President's taste in cigars."

Apparently "cigars" is code for something else.

Freddie has taken a look at the Bush Presidency and decided he can read lines better than that, so why not? Reagan and Bush have proven conclusively that you don't have to pay attention or even stay awake to be a Republican President.

Only Democratis Presidents actually try to govern the country... Who needs that?

Peace,

Steve

More

Now Playing...Osama's Greatest Hits

Word from the Middle East is that Osama Bin Laden will release his video tapes from prior to 9-11.

Boy! America is really got the terrorists on the run, right?


Ok...I write a "lefty blog" and I admit that. I feel like I can be labelled a "lefty" because I insist on the facts instead of the republican administration's marketing phrase of the day.

"Mission Accomplished"

"They hate our freedoms"

"The Surge is working"

"Weapons of mass destruction, Saddam, Al Queda, Blah. blah, blah..."

Whatever. Speaking and demanding that others speak the truth. An obvious "lefty" tendency.

If you believe anything the Bush Adminstration says, you need help, but I'm a lefty because I want the truth.

Now I find out that I'm helping Osama...and now, I'm the same as Osama...

How the Hell does David Brooks come up with something as stupid as that?

Actually, I think David Brooks is a creep and a liar. (he's the PBS commentator who said that lefty bloggers are the same as Osama)

PBS has been headed by a Bush appointee for five years now and it shows. We used to be able to trust what was said on PBS...even if it was said in the most incredibly boring manner possible...It was the truth. Now we have to be careful.

Osama Bin Laden is the mastermind responsible for the 9-11 tragedy, the younger brother of George W. Bush's first business partner, and the enemy of every patriotic American. George Bush should be fired for severe incompetence in not apprehending Bin Laden and David Brooks should be fired for lying on national TV.

Lefty Blogs, such as this one, demand the truth...facts...Justice, and the American way.

Peace,

Steve

Meteor Blades got me started!

Catholic @ Kingston Girls Soccer

Fred Thompson's Tax policy

Bruce Bartlett, the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department from 1988 until 1993, thinks Fred Thompson's tax ideas are solidly grounded....

In science fiction.

"...the FairTax is a crackpot scheme from beginning to end. That would be true even if the Scientologists hadn't authored it."

Lying Bastards...

On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail...

Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq.

Blumenthal

A Short Car Ride...

I've followed this Iraqi girl's writing from inside her destroyed country for a couple of years now. When my President stands up in front of a camera as he did yesterday and says, "We're kicking ass!"...I know the truth because of what she has written.

My President is a liar.

The Iraqi girl's blogger name is Riverbend, taken from a poem she herself wrote in better times. After a lifetime lived in war torn Iraq, she has escaped to Syria. here is her story:

How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.

I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…

How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away?

The complete essay is here. It paints a picture far different from the one of our moronic "We're kicking ass!" President.

RiverBend

Free Market?

Conservatives say the words "free market" but that's the last thing they want.

Most of our national debt was created by three presidents. Reagan, Bush, and Bush. Since 1776, all of the other 40 American heads of state combined failed to match up to the incredible credit card debt of president all by himself...George W. Bush...After being handed a balanced budget by the Clinton-Gore, which included a surplus.

How was this done?...WAR!

Let's hear it for the "free market" which works every time:

...What the Bush administration has created in Iraq is a sort of paradise of perverted capitalism, where revenues are forcibly extracted from the customer by the state, and obscene profits are handed out not by the market but by an unaccountable government bureauc­racy. This is the triumphant culmination of two centuries of flawed white-people thinking, a preposterous mix of authoritarian socialism and laissez-faire profit­eering, with all the worst aspects of both ideologies rolled up into one pointless, supremely idiotic military adventure...


The great Iraq swindle

That great investigative piece was not from the NY Times or the Washington Post, but from Rolling Stone.

I guess this is where we are in America today.

Peace,

Steve

Say...What?

Needy? Boy, does this ever validate some long distance psychiatric speculations:

The Washington Post reported Monday that in the book -- "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush" -- journalist Robert Draper reveals that Bush was intent on picking Cheney as his running mate, despite his warnings against it.

"Selecting Daddy's top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick -- it was needy," Draper quotes Rove as saying.

And have we ever known a more destructive Vice President in all history?

His Lips are moving...

I have a tough time with Congressmen just flat out lying to this country, but when you hear things like "The surge is working" and you know danged well it simply isn't, how are we supposed to not think of these people as traitors?

It's like, "How do you know when a Republican is lying?"

an exchange between CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA). The
congressman rattles off a series of statistics from the approved Republican
talking points about declining numbers of casualties. And Blitzer runs down the
list demonstrating pretty clearly that Boustany's numbers -- and thus the
numbers pretty much all president's supporters are dishing -- are simply false
on their face.

Send in the Clowns (White Powder?...Wife Power?)

"One last time they screamed “White Power!”

"The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

Digby has links