Boy, are they gonna be surprised

When Pat Robertson kicks the bucket, he and his kind are in for a rude surprise when they find heaven is not the exclusive millionaires club they imagined but a place that doesn't allow him and his kind past its pearly gates. "Pardon me?" Pat will say, "doesn't he know who I am?" Yeah, he does, that's why you're not getting in.
Har-de-har-har! The look on their faces will be priceless

Senseless

Don't want to see it. Don't want to hear it. Don't want to believe it. These are the words that are guiding our country now. Gone is "home of the brave,” or "for liberty and justice for all." When did we become a country so afraid that we would rather believe the promise of an alcoholic, AWOL asshole, (love alliteration) than to believe what we see and hear?

Today's presidential press conference was a joke, as usual, but when discussing the possibility of an avian flu outbreak, Bush brought up something, so matter of factly, that it didn't raise the eyebrows it should have. He said that in the event of such a flu epidemic, the military might be called on to control the situation, as in overseeing the quarantine of infected individuals. WHAT? We should know from experience that if you give this administration an inch they hit you over the head and take the whole highway! Giving the power of enforcing quarantine is just another way of saying, "MARTIAL LAW!" And no, I'm not a conspiracy buff, I'm just using my common sense based on what I see, what I hear and what I believe.

This administration has too much power to let it go. Have you ever seen a dog protecting a juicy meat bone? That's what we've got here. On my bad days, I feel we are fighting a losing battle, that in the real world, evil will conquer good. On my good days, I think, maybe today will be the day the tide will turn and I wait for it to do so. Today is a bad day.

I need a pick-me-up.

Yeah, another day filled with nothing but bad news and worse bad news. Another hurricane is on the way and another member of the Bush Administration has been arrested. They're doing something about the hurricane and absolutely nothing about the arrest. The Bush team just gets deeper and deeper in doo doo and they keep coming out smelling like roses! So posted something that always brings me a smile and a chuckle. I hope you like it too.

Today's List

What’s bugging me today? Let’s see….

• My job
• Rita Cosby’s voice (oh my god! How can anyone listen to her?)
• My body’s inability to translate my reduction in calories into weight loss.
• My ever-expanding ass! (See above)
• My job, again
• But mainly what’s bugging me today is…
THE EVIL AND SELFISH CORPORATISTS WHO HAVE TAKEN OVER OUR COUNTRY AND CONTINUE TO REMAIN IN POWER! WHEN WILL THIS NIGHTMARE END?

It may be time to gather up our torches, picks and axes and storm the White House!

Karl Rove is going to be in charge of the rebuilding of New Orleans. Does no one see a problem with that? He will rebuild it all right. It will be whiter, richer and nothing like it was. We have paid mercenaries patrolling the streets taking guns away from licensed owner. Now, I’m not gun person, (I think weapons are the root of all evil--one root anyway,) but I am a bill of rights and amendments person and this is a violation of those.

Everyday I wake, hoping that today will be the day that this administration’s evil will be exposed and removed. Everyday I wake and find that nothing has changed. And the evils are exposed; they’re right there out in the open and yet this administration remains in power. The smiling idiot, who stole two presidential elections and is leading our country and our world into damnation, is still there.

The frustrating thing is, we are the ones in charge. We the people. We have the power and they know we have the power that’s why they lie to us. That’s why propaganda is necessary.

Fundamentalist religions keep their women subjugated because the men know it’s the women who have the power. The only way to control them is to keep them uneducated and in birkas. That’s what this administration is doing to “we the people.” They’ve put us into a birka and we’re allowing it

Family Values

This picture shows why this Administration is a master at propaganda. Look at them! Doesn't it just remind you of the days of Camelot? Of Jack and Jacqueline? Isn't that little girl adorable with the bow in her hair? So what if no little girl has worn a bow on her head in that way since the 1940's? How can anyone think John Roberts would be bad for this country? Look at him with his children! So what if he wants to limit the rights of women, minorities and the poor in this country? Aren't they just the cutest family? So clean and wholesome and white.

Me and My Big Mouth

So I'm over at the Raw Story website getting the latest news and I notice this ad. Now maybe I was in a bad mood to begin with but this struck me as rather bad taste. So, because I was already in a mood, I clicked on the ad and contacted him via email. He wrote me back! At first, I felt awful. This man lost his brother in 9/11!. I'd only watched the horror on TV, he'd been directly affected. But I've thought about it, discussed it with a few friends and now I still feel chagrined but I also still feel the ad is kinda tacky.

Here's the correspondence:
This is what I wrote to him:

Subject: Information Inquiry

You seem to be very qualified to run for office and I'm very glad you
are a Democrat, but I would hope you would reconsider the ad you are
posting on such sites as Raw Story. Identifying yourself as a "9/11
family member" in your ads reminds me of the way this Administration
repeatedly uses 9/11 whenever they need to bend us to their will.
Voters should vote on a candidate's abilities. Please don't use a
national tragedy as a qualifier.
Thank you,

This is Mr. Rice's reply:

Thanks for your opinion. You are correct that it is a sensitive message to
highlight how I was impacted by 9/11 in a political ad, although I do not
agree that it is "inappropriate", and I strongly disagree that it is even
remotely akin to how the Bush Administration has exploited the event that
killed my brother. I must say that I am offended that you compare this to
how they have dramatically exploited the deaths of 9/11, deaths they failed
to prevent.

It is highlighted in the blog ad. for 2 reasons:

1)- we made the ad the way we did to attract progressives from outside of
Oklahoma to be interested in a local race here, not unlike why people all
over the country we're interested in Paul Hackett's race in Ohio last month.
If it were just "Andrew Rice running for State Senate in Oklahoma" there
would be little to no interest. But to many progressives, 9/11 changed
politics and policy in this country, and they understandably would be
interested in a normal person affected by 9/11 who is reacting to it in a
way that is intended to better the system...similar to how people are pulled
toward Cindy Sheehan.

I do have some exposure to people outside of Oklahoma because of the work
I've been involved in around 9/11 national issues, particularly as a board
member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
(www.peacefultomorrows.org)

Why is it ok for us Peaceful Tomorrows members to do advocacy work as 9/11
victims and not ok for me to run for office as a family member?

And

2)- my personal response to 9/11 and the political/policy impact it has had
on my life is a direct and personal reason why I now find myself running for
political office. The page on my site that we link to should make that
clear. It is very relevant to why I am running.

I am not a politician, I am a normal person who has been offended by how
this government has used 9/11 to dismantle constitutional rights and
disparage our reputation around the world. And that is the central reason I
am running. There is a congresswoman on Long Island who successfully ran for
Congress after he husband was shot to death on the Long Island Railroad
massacre in the 1990s, on a platform of gun control.....was she exploiting
gun control? Or her husband's death?

Andrew Rice
Democratic Candidate, Oklahoma State Senate
District 46

www.andrewforoklahoma.com

tel. 405.823.5264

Hello? Have you had enough yet?

With the arrogant ease of the frat rat he is, this Bush a-hole is acting as though he had absolutely nothing to do with this disaster. Our Country is falling apart. We are witnessing the truth behind the curtain. Our infrastructure has been robbed. We have been robbed and I would hope now that all those idiots who voted for this privileged pig because he seemed like, "a good guy you could have a beer with," will realize that this guy would walk on your dying body to avoid getting his shoes dirty.

This article says, "it's time for symbolic gestures..." and propaganda is the strong suit of this White House, but this time I don't think sticking American Flags on your car and on suit lapels is going to cut it. Arrogance may prove to be the Achilles heel of this Administration. Bush is still strutting around waiting for the maids to clean up his mess, but not this time. If this doesn't wake up this Country, I will lose heart, but I will never lose hope.

Boo Hoo!

Poor Bush. Just when he was gonna spend his last days of vacation kickin' back, a big hurricane, an outta control war and a growing anti-war movement had to go and ruin his plans. Now he's gotta go back to work two days early! Boy, I hope he got enough rest.

Another Frat Rat speaks

As Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, towers high above we mere citizens, I need to inform him that the reason “liberals” use the term “chicken hawks” when we speak of this administration is to point out the hypocrisy of a situation where people who have never been to war, repeatedly ignore the advice of those who have, and send troops to war. It’s not a simple case of “name calling,” as Mr. Lowry glibly writes. And I would remind him, the Republicans are much more apt to stoop to “name calling.” Anyone remember, “flip-flopper?”

But aside from that, what really angered me about this article was the last paragraph. Mr. Lowry writes, “The Iraq war was arrived at through the democratic deliberation of the American public…” Oh really? How exactly did we make a “democratic deliberation” if the information we were given was a pack of lies? This war was arrived at through a series of lies and manipulations and some very powerful media propaganda.

We in the anti-war movement are not playing “dress-up” when we stand at corners with signs and candles just like the soldiers aren’t playing “war” when they die.

They actually pay this woman to write!

Hey, can I have Sally Jenkins job? If all it takes is coming up with a ridiculous topic and spinning it into a lot of words that add up to a pile of steaming you know what, I'm you're gal.
Come on! Am I suppose to seriously consider an argument for intelligent design based on athletes innate abilities? Gee, I'm sure the Third Reich thought the same thing about their "master race" theory.

Sally asks, "Crackpot speculation?" Let's see. No scientific evidence, in fact, no scientific anything, just a feeling of something too unknowable to know. Based on that I'd say, Yes, Sally, It is "crackpot speculation."

I believe ID (idiotic design) IS a form of sly creationism, a set of ideas that discourage thought!
Yes, the universe is more than we mere mortals can ever understand but that doesn't mean we should stop using our god given minds to keep trying.

Vote for God!

Today’s Los Angeles Times had an article titled, “Grooming Politicians for Christ.” What the article fails to point out is that the evangelicals’ dream of a country where leaders ask themselves, “What would Jesus do,” before every decision is no different from the method of government the Taliban practiced in Afghanistan. Once religion enters the political arena, all hopes of working towards a common goal goes right out the window. Each religion will believe they have the truth and until the higher power itself descends from wherever and sets the record straight, once and all, there will never be a consensus among humankind as to who is God is. Ever. Witness Israel and Palestine.
Our founding fathers specifically left religion out of politics because they knew it was the only way a country made up of individuals, each with their own ideas and beliefs, could ever succeed. Leaders and politicians are beholden to their constituents and have been elected to represent their physical needs not their spiritual needs.
It’s ironic this article should come out on the same day that the Iraqis finally finished their constitution. Article 2 of said constitution reads, “Islam is the main source for legislation.” That doesn’t sound like a democracy to me, it sounds like an Islamic country where religion comes first and country second. The problems are already starting before the ink is even dry, after all, not everyone in Iraq is Islamic.
I see no difference between an American Christian zealot like Eric Rudolph who blows up abortion clinics in the name of Jesus and the Islamic fundamentalist zealots who hijack planes and fly them into buildings in the name of Allah.
This article didn’t just piss me off it also filled me with horror and dread at the coming American jihad.

Drip, drip, drip

The permafrost is melting in Alaska. It hasn’t budged since the last ice age ended over 10,000 years ago. Of course, it’s only happening if you believe in evolution and global warming, if you don’t believe in evolution, everything in your world is just peachy keen.

Not so in my world. In my world, not only is the permafrost melting, but we are still in Iraq. In fact, the Army just released plans for remaining in Iraq for the next four years. Meanwhile, the vacationing Presidential thief is once again evoking September 11th as the reason we are mired in this horrible war in Iraq and the reason we will remain there.

The world goes on, spinning madly is our universe as the permafrost melts in Alaska and the war rages on and on.

What debate?

There was a story in the Los Angeles Times this Sunday, 8/21/05 about how attitudes towards the Iraq war are changing. There was one line in the story that absolutely pissed me off. The line was, “…the debate over whether Saddam Hussein’s regime had any link to the Sept. 11 attacks.” DEBATE? What debate? There is no debate! The FACT is Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The President said so himself.
“We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September 11th.” (White House Briefing, Sept 17, 2003)
There are human lives at stake, please stop spreading the lies that started this God-forsaken war.

At Least Nixon Tried...

RE: Conservative Compassion by Edmund Morris,The New York Times 8/17/05

If the point of Mr. Morris’ article is to explain that conservatives don’t wear their emotions on their sleeves and that Mrs. Sheehan should back off and stop demanding something from this president that he supposedly possesses but chooses not to show, all I can say is, BULLSHIT!
Mrs. Sheehan has repeatedly said she is not in Crawford looking for Bush to offer her a shoulder to cry on, or to have him say, “Mr. President, feel my pain!” as Mr. Morris so rudely claims. Mrs. Sheehan is standing under the hot, Texas sun because she wants an answer to her question: What is the noble cause her son died for? What is the real reason we are at war in Iraq? And she’s not the only one wanting an answer; over 60% of the country is asking these questions.
In an attempt to justify Mr. Bush’s apparent lack of feeling, Mr. Morris describes President Reagan as a benign emoter. Yet, as Mr. Morris says himself, who is he to know? Who is he to know whether Reagan really even understood what was going on around him as he was already showing signs of Alzheimer’s in his second term? It could be the reason Reagan was able to go on after his photo op with the blind state trooper was because he’d already forgotten about it. (My father is suffering from Alzheimer’s and he doesn’t remember the things he did five minutes earlier.)
Mr. Morris says Bill Clinton only cried when the cameras were running. That may be, but at least he looked genuine doing it. And Carter may have had a glass wall around him, but he still appeared sincere. And if Nixon was awkward at displaying emotion, at least he tried.
I do not believe, as Mr. Morris does, that Bush walks like Teddy Roosevelt and feels like Reagan. I think he swaggers like the privileged frat rat he is and feels only those things that interrupt his swagger, and then, he feels only inconvenience. I find it as hard to believe George W. Bush feels Mrs. Sheehan’s’ pain and the pain of all who have sacrificed family for his false war as much as I find it hard to believe he’s really reading the books this summer the White House claims he’s reading.
Oh, and Mr. Morris, by the way, there already is a historical document which reveals what President Bush feels about his own “honored dead,” it’s called The Downing Street Memo.

Little White Crosses

A man, using a pick up truck, ran over the crosses erected by Cindy Sheehan and her supporters. Ran over the crosses bearing the names of the over 1800 men and women who have been killed since the war started. He thinks he did a good thing. That man, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with America.
This administration would be thrilled if we all thought as this man does; thinking with blinders on, able to see only one side of an issue. One dimensional thinking will destroy this Country. Being unable to see things from anothers point of view will bring us down. Why do you think this administration has consistently undercut the education of the citizens of this country, from the elementary level to college levels? Because ill-educated people tend to believe those in authority because they can only think one dimensionally and because ill-educated people are easily controlled.
If we don't fight for this country by ripping the blinders off these cross destroying yahoos, we are in the truck with him.
Read everything. Examine everything, Question everything. It's what our Founding Fathers would expect us to do. It's what they're counting on us to do. I, for one, will not let them down.

We don't need no stinking timetable!

In 1999, a then candidate Bush criticized President Clinton for not having a timetable for removing our troops in Kosovo, yet now, timetables are dangerous things. Yesterday, an American helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan by the Taliban, but didn’t Bush and Condi tell us that they gotten rid of the Taliban?
I saw the President’s speech last night and all I heard were lies, lies and more lies. I watched him effortlessly spew those lies and I thought of the schoolyard bully, who after pushing another child to the ground, adamantly insists, “I didn’t do it!” and then, “You can’t talk to me like that, don’t you know who my Daddy is?”
America needs to realize we have a spoiled child and his corrupt parents running this country. We have the power to punish them and send them to their room. We have the power to impeach them and send them to their cell.

Runaway Bride

5/4/05

Whatever happened to compassion? Jennifer Wilbanks, AKA The Runaway Bride, resides in a very Christian community. Her fiancé was quoted as praying to God for her return. It's been reported that they have both abstained from pre-marital sex, as keeping with their religious beliefs. 600 people were invited to the wedding. A big wedding for a small town so I'm assuming most people in that town and on that wedding list share some if not all of Ms. Wilbanks and her fiancé's Christian beliefs. So why is it these people offer no compassion only retribution? They seem to cling too closely to the Old Testament tales of revenge and retribution and not enough to the New Testament and Jesus' tales of forgiveness.
Jennifer Wilbanks was scared to death. She fled from those who love her rather than turn to them for help. I have a feeling she knew there wouldn't be much support for what she wanted, why else do you run from your family?
Poor thing, she had no one to turn to. She did it alone. No friends to support her. Either that or she's a little loopy.
Either way, she's crying out for help. I'm a lapsed Catholic, which, last time I checked, was still considered Christian, and even I can see the woman needs help. So quit blaming her and demanding apologies. Stop threatening to charge her with ridiculous fees. Instead, exercise your Christian beliefs and treat her with compassion and let her recover in privacy from this very public cry for help.
Isn't that what the zealous Christian Right is always saying we on the left lack?

This morning, The LA Times had an article about a Holocaust survivor and an another article about the rise of Neo-Nazi groups in Germany. I couldn't fail but see the irony in the two stories being in the same newspaper. One story dealt with the rise of the NPD, the National Democratic Party, a right winged political group. The group is gaining in popularity among large number of citizens in Germany who are unemployed, lacking in social support and ill educated. They will listen because they are depressed, hopeless and angry and desperate for help, they don't care who it hurts. Desperation does this to people.
The other story was about a Holocaust survivor who after sixty years was reunited with the friend he'd made in the camps. There was a picture of this man's arm with his tattooed number ID. The man's son told how his father never spoke of his experiences until a trip they took back to Auschwitz in the 90's. There his father calmly pointed out landmarks and narrated to them the memories they brought back. There is the spot, "… where there would be shootings," That's where,…"they hanged six mothers who's sons had escaped." This man had lost his entire family. Of the 973 Slovakian Jews on his train, he, "guesses maybe five…made it to the war's end." Yet, after all of this unbelievable horror and the pains we take to make sure it is never forgotten the seeds of Nazism are beginning to bloom.
If this can happen in Germany, a country that should know better than to allow the ground to be laid for another repeat, what would keep it from happening here? Will troops of Brown Shirted soldiers be patrolling us, picking on those who are different from them? It's already happening, only our brown shirts wear American Flags on their lapels and claim to talk to God. Want some proof? In this same LA Times issue is the story of an investigation taking place within the U.S. Air Force Academy looking into charges of religious intolerance. Evangelical Christians, no doubt in a hurry to save their fellow students from "the fires of hell", have been harassing those students who don't agree with their religious philosophies. Christian values my ass.
In America as in Germany, as in any country on this planet, unemployment, slashed social services and a poor education leads to a depressed, desperate and misinformed populous. Differences between people become reasons for hatred; differences between incomes become methods of control. Countries become enemies, wars are created and lives ruined in tragic ways.
The sight of my America flag fills my heart with pride and loyalty but beware
those who wear the mark of the beast upon their lapel. They're the bad guys.