The Reverends on Meet the Press Part 2

More on the continuing analysis of Nov 28th Meet the Press:

Marriage.

Falwell and most born again/evangelical Christians prefer to use St Paul's letters as the basis of moral theology. They do not take into account that these letters were written to specific people in a specific time and place for particular reasons. Therefore what he wrote 2000 years ago from Palestine during the Roman Empire is not necessarily meant for us today unless you're a born again Christian looking to restrict some civil rights and then St Paul is just perfect for that.

I studied St Paul's letters in the seminary and once I learned where he was coming from, I hated him less. St Paul should be used sparingly when arguing Christianity though as he is so misunderstood. I'm in disagreement with the early church fathers for putting these Pauline chapters in the New Testament because if you just read them without any historical and situational background, they seemingly contradict Jesus in the Gospels and St Paul looks like a male chauvinist pig. But then again the early church fathers probably liked that. They took a lot of St Paul to heart in forming some unnecessary dogma.

The first thing we must know is that at the time of St Paul, Christians believed that Jesus' return was imminant. They expected Jesus to return in his firey spaceship and gather up his people at any minute. This preoccupation with the end of the world is evident in Paul's letters and evident by the christians in the first century who volunteered to be thrown to the lion's den (they weren't going to miss much since the world was ending anyway). St Paul lived in the Roman Empire during a time when women had no rights. It was a patriarchal society. Men were in control. It was not dogma.

When Falwell or Dr Land whipped out some St Paul quotes to back up their ridiculous positions, it became evident to me that neither on had any real biblical training. And here ya go...

TIM RUSSERT: We can try to find common ground, but there are differences, and I want to see just how profound they are. The Southern Baptist Convention in 1998 passed this statement on the family: "...A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband... She...has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household..."

And, Reverend Land, you went on to explain it this way: "If a husband does not want his wife to work outside the home, then she should not work outside the home." Is that your vision of America?

DR. LAND: It's my vision for Christian families. I don't think that the law has anything to do with it. That was a statement about the theological belief of Southern Baptists. And, you know, George Will had a real great answer for that when somebody asked him, "Where'd they get this stuff?" And he pulled out the Bible and turned to Ephesians, chapter five: "He got--we got it from Ephesians, chapter five." We almost needed to footnote the Apostle Paul when he said that "Husbands should love their wives the way Christ loves the church," which means husbands will always put their wives' needs above their own. And they are to be the head of their home, which means that they're responsible. It's a servant leadership role.

It is not a servant leadership role today. St Paul is actually making a radical departure from the usual servant leadership role of the time.
These passages seem as if St Paul is anti-women but in fact he holds men to very high standards too and does not expect them to treat women as submissives or lesser beings in a marriage. So where Dr Land comes up with this "women shouldn't work outside the home" nonsense as biblically inspired, he is just plain wrong.

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife , even as Christ is the head of the church : and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing . Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (from Ephesians 5)

Paul doesn't expect men to only be on the receiving end of the marriage deal. It's a 2 way street. Paul expects a husband to love his wife so much that he is willing to die for her. If a husband truly loves his wife, he isn't going to demand that she stay at home 24/7 if that is not her wish. Get it? Good. I can't believe I defended St Paul. He's not my hero. But lets move on to another letter of St Paul that discusses marriage.

Here, St Paul only recommends marriage for those who are weak willed and lacking self control. (I just love this):

Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I (single). But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (1 Corinthians 7:1,8,9 )

When my dad was growing up Catholic, this was your choice: You either become a priest or get married. Period. My favorite line is "But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." It looks like St Paul is saying that marriage is a cure for horniness and those who get married are weak willed. Notice how the evangelists kind of skip this part of 1 Corinthians? St Paul is urging people who are living in the supposed end times to really try to refrain from getting married because technically everyone should be on watch for Jesus in the sky. It makes sense from a theological point of view. Evangelicals also believe that these are the end times and I am surprised that they haven't picked up on this passage and used it. It would make for fun debates.

MR. RUSSERT: I want to ask Reverend Falwell about something and broaden the conversation. We talked about Iraq and the war on terrorism. Something that you said two days after September 11, when you were with Reverend Pat Robertson: "I fear... that [September 11th] is only the beginning. ...If, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve ... I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle ... all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say `you helped this happen.'"

DR. FALWELL: And I went on to say in a sleeping church, a lethargic church likewise is responsible. I do believe, as Ben Franklin said, that God rules in the affairs of men and of nations. I believe that when God blesses a nation, as he's blessed America for a lot of reasons, things happen that don't happen other places. I believe when we defy the Lord, I think we pay a price for it. So I do believe in the sovereignty of God.

Jerry Falwell, always eager to blame others for any misfortune clearly placed the blame on homosexuals for 9/11 and on churches for not making it clear to the sheep that if they sin, God will in fact, punish us... deliberately. Falwell leaves out the part that really really shitty foreign policy by a greedy power hungry government had something to do with 9/11.

When Falwell said this he was right though, "I believe when we defy the Lord, I think we pay a price for it." Another way to say it is: What goes around comes around or You get what you pay for. Those who follow Jesus truly and/or those who are ethical, and are sensitive to the needs of the poor and the oppressed, those who put people before money (corporations) are less likely to be attacked. Anyone can be a greedy piece of shit. You don't have to be an atheist, homosexual, feminist or an abortionist. You can be a rich white man working in government or a church and cause a punishment to come on you and your country in the form of al Qaida. I'm just saying...

more later

I mean when they dropped the towel she's naked!

More hypocrisy from Lush Bimbo:

• Lush Bimbo had this to say about Desperate Housewives meets Monday Night Football (from NY Times): "I was stunned!" he told his listeners. "I literally could not believe what I had seen. ... At various places on the Net you can see the video of this, and she's buck naked, folks. I mean when they dropped the towel she's naked. You see enough of her back and rear end to know that she was naked. There's no frontal nudity in the thing, but I mean you don't need that. ...I mean, there are some guys with their kids that sit down to watch 'Monday Night Football.' "

Oh my God, the children saw some naked woman's back. Oh the humanity! I hope these folks who watch football never go to the beach. I was so traumatized by Nipplegate that I haven't been able to watch football this season. I'm surprised anyone with family values still watches football. Lush Bimbo doesn't want to see any nakedness during a sweet family values kind of game like football but he has no problem with torture:

• Lush Bimbo, May 6th on Abu Ghrab torture: "The thing though that continually amazes -- here we have these pictures of homoeroticism that look like standard good old American pornography , the Britney Spears or Madonna concerts or whatever, and yet the Libs upset about the mistreatment of these prisoners thought nothing of sitting back while mass graves were being filled with three to 500,000 Iraqis during the Saddam Hussein regime."

I've never seen a Britney or Madonna concert but do they torture victims during their shows?

• Lush Bimbo, May 5th on feminism:"I think a lot of the American culture is being feminized. I think the reaction to the stupid torture is an example of the feminization of this country."

Yes we are all a bunch of pussies for being outraged at pictures of our troops torturing Iraqi's.

• Lush Bimbo, May 4th on Abu Ghrab torture: CALLER: It was like a college fraternity prank that stacked up naked men -- LIMBAUGH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?

College pranks, huh? Is that what they do at conservative colleges? No one tortured anyone to blow off steam where I went to school. We had too much homework. I went to a liberal wussy Catholic College. We blew off steam at the local bar (as all good Irish Catholics do).

• Lush Bimbo, May 6th on Abu Ghrab torture: "And these American prisoners of war -- have you people noticed who the torturers are? Women! The babes! The babes are meting out the torture.

Babes? Family values? This piece of shit is the mouthpiece for the GOP? May the God of the GOP help them.

Limbaugh quotes from MediaMatters.org

The Reverends on Meet the Press Part 1

by blondesense

The discussion with Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jim Wallis, Dr Land and Dr Falwell aired on Meet the Press Sunday morning. What I learned is that Southern Baptists and fundamentalist Christians have a very narrow understanding of the bible and an incomplete understanding of family values and life issues. Simply quoting bible passages out of context and not once using Jesus as a reference in their "christian" arguments should be highly suspicious to anyone with a critical mind. To someone with an advanced degree in theology, it's an affront to modern biblical scholarship and a denial of God's continuing revelation to humankind.

It was no problem for Dr's Land and Falwell to agree with the war in Iraq while going on and about about abortion being murder. They cut off Rev Wallis when he tried to speak about what Jesus really taught. They would change the subject, accuse the other in a backhanded way of being anti-American or unchristian.

REV. WALLIS: But, Jerry, when you say things like what you just quoted, and you say God is pro-war, and so many things that you sometimes say...
DR. FALWELL: I said there is a just war in a theological position.
REV. WALLIS: You said God is pro-war.
DR. FALWELL: I don't believe God loves war. Everybody hates war.
REV. SHARPTON: But you said it was pro-Christian.
REV. WALLIS: Jerry, there are millions and millions of Christians who want the nation to know that you don't speak for them...
REV. SHARPTON: That's right.
REV. WALLIS: ...that Jesus, our Jesus isn't pro-rich, pro-war and only pro-American. We don't find that Jesus anywhere in the Bible.
DR. FALWELL: I don't believe that either. But I was also against Adolf Hitler, and if you had been...
REV. WALLIS: Well, most of us were.
DR. FALWELL: If you had been the president in World War II, we'd all be speaking German now.

Falwell can't argue rationally. No wonder Falwell has this idea that he is right. He comes out with the most inane rationale that usually leaves people dumbfounded and speechless.

REV. WALLIS: You know, we're not--no one's pro-abortion. How do you prevent unwanted pregnancies? I'd like to find some common ground to work together to dramatically reduce the abortion rate. On so many of these issues, we get in the polarized, ideological debates and then we don't talk about to solve the problem.
DR. FALWELL: You're a preacher, aren't you?
REV. WALLIS: "How do we make abortion"--Democrats--"safe, legal and rare?" Well, they're keeping it legal, but let's try to make abortion truly rare in the society. That is a common ground around which I think a lot of people, pro-life and pro-choice could and should support.
DR. FALWELL: Jim, let me ask you a question. Did you vote for John Kerry?
REV. WALLIS: I did vote for John Kerry.
DR. FALWELL: Now, he is pro-choice. How can you as an ordained minister--you are an ordained minister, right?
REV. WALLIS: Jerry--Jerry...
DR. FALWELL: How could you vote for some--I wouldn't vote for my mother if she were pro-choice.
REV. WALLIS: Yeah. You endorsing George Bush. That's fine. But you also called--you ordained him. You said all Christians could only vote for him. That's ridiculous. There are Christians who voted for deep reasons of faith for both candidates.
DR. FALWELL: Well, I don't think--I can't command anybody. I can only take the Bible seriously. You're certainly going to have to--Psalm 139:13-16--believe that life is sacred from conception on...

Once again, Falwell goes to the OT to find a passage to support his faux "pro-life" position. Of course all life is sacred. Progressives believe that. Being pro-life means you actually are pro-life across the board. Our country is in the active violation of many Christian and human ethics in pursuing the war on Iraq which Falwell's supposed family values organization refuses to address. What is he going to say? If we didn't attack Iraq, we'd all be speaking Iraqi?

REV. WALLIS: And Jerry, there are 3,000 verses in the Bible about the poor--about the poor.
DR. FALWELL: And I'm for all of those, too. But George Bush has taken the initiative because of the Democrats
REV. WALLIS: The Republican agenda--the Republican agenda was not satisfactory to many who support him.
REV. SHARPTON: Well, 1.8 million people added to the poverty lines in the last four years under George Bush. But, Reverend, I think you have the right to vote for George Bush. I defend your right to do that even though I disagree with you. We're talking about you not having the right to therefore bar others from exercising their personal decisions.

Jim Wallis was trying to say that there are over 3,000 references to the poor in the bible. Taking care of the poor is the most important issue in the bible. Why? Because humanity and ethics centers on how we take care of each other on earth overall. Modern theologians have concluded that the way God works in the world is by our treatment of the poor and those on the margins of society. Abortion is only one life issue. There is genocide happening in other parts of the world. Our country is killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. We have more and more poor people in America every day. Many of them work fulltime jobs and they are living below the poverty level. These are all life issues. Family values and christian values. There are no exceptions. either you are pro-life all the way or you are not pro-life. You may be anti-abortion, but you are not pro life unless you are against capital punishment, poverty and war as well.

REV. SHARPTON: It's strange to me, Reverend, how the right wing wants to privatize public policy and make public private lives. I mean, people have the right to their private decisions.
DR. FALWELL: No, I'm just trying--I'm trying to do what Martin Luther King did. I'm trying to...
REV. SHARPTON: Jesus--Jesus met the woman at the well. She was guilty of adultery. The state said she could be stoned. He stopped the stoning. You would condemn her for that.
DR. FALWELL: We have a home for unwed mothers.
REV. SHARPTON: He wasn't condoning adultery. He was not condoning adultery. He was saying that the state does not have that right to not say...
DR. FALWELL: You guys talk about that. We have a home for unwed mothers. We have a national adoption agency.
REV. SHARPTON: That was not just a mark. That was law on that day. That was law.
DR. FALWELL: You guys are great at spending somebody else's money.

Falwell does not listen to anyone. Look at how he ends the above portion of the conversation. He must have ADD. He has his pro-war, anti-abortion, anti-gay agenda and that's about all he cares about although he claims that he lives by the bible. Ironically, these bible christians are very selective in what parts of the bible they pay attention to.

REV. AL SHARPTON: ...And I think that where a lot of the misinformation and a lot of the debate went awry--and we're not talking about whether or not we don't share values. We're talking about whether we have the right to impose what we believe on people that may disagree with us. Even God gives you a choice of heaven and hell. We don't have a right to tell people we're going to force them to live in a way that we want them to live and, therefore, they're going to heaven. That's where I disagree.
DR. FALWELL: You still owe me a steak dinner.

Sharpton made an excellent point and Falwell did not answer it. As usual. Sharpton's point is that religious views should not be imposed on a secular society. America is secular whether anyone likes it or not. I believe that if anyone is even going to attempt to try to impose their religious beliefs on me, especially if they are Christian which I know all about, then they had better make perfect sense, be consistant and be sensitive to the rights of all the living with no exceptions.

REV. SHARPTON: I will give you a steak dinner. We bet on the election. But you will get a steak dinner, but you will also get a lecture on civil liberties while we eat it.
DR. FALWELL: But I've waited three weeks.

More later...

Greedy Hogs in Angel Costumes

by pissed off patricia

Okay, I admit it. I don't understand how the "faithful" are able to spend all their capital fighting against abortion and gay marriage when the future of our country is threatened by a plague of Greedy Bastards. Many too many of our problems today are the results of greed. We are earth hogs and we are financial hogs. Greedy hogs need to stop gobbling up our future.

I posted a report about the Repubs going after the Endangered Species Act today. There would be no argument with the Act if Americans weren't so damned greedy. It's all about me they cry. It's my land and I'll do any damned thing I want with it. Screw my neighbors both human and animal and plant.

Here's the deal. It's not your land, you're just basically renting some space here on earth. You aren't entitled to mow it down, poison it, rape it and then lay down your responsibilities when they lay you six feet under. No! You are the guardian of that land you are renting. You are responsible for any injuries you cause, because when you're cold and dead, the land still must function if the following generations are going to be able to enjoy its beauty and reap its bounty in the circle of life. Those who use the land entirely for their own personal benefit at the cost of the future are earth hogs.

Next, let's talk about trial lawyers. They wouldn't be talked about at all if it weren't for the greed of the US citizens. Many who wail and moan about lawsuits are first in line if they think they have some opportunity to get free money from someone else. Slip and fall in a store and they yell, get me a lawyer. If a neighbor's dog bites your kid when your kid is in the neighbor's yard, an all-points bulletin goes out for a trial lawyer. Greed is what drives frivolous lawsuits. Personal responsibility is so passé. Lazy opportunist are greedy. They want to take money from someone, no matter what, no matter the cost. I've seen this theory in action. For example, a friend was visiting and his child was acting up around our pool. The friend said nothing to the child, so finally I asked the little kid to stop monkeying around. The friend didn't seem to mind that I had admonished his child. "I said to my friend, I don't want him (the child) to fall and hurt himself." My friend remarked, "If he did fall and hurt himself, I would sue your ass off." I was dumbstruck by the comment. I said, "You would sue me?" He laughed and said, "I wouldn't be suing you. I would just be suing your insurance company. It wouldn't affect you." His logic was insane. Didn't he realize by suing me and my insurance company that he and all other insured would be picking up the tab in our insurance rates? My friend was giving the American example of greed without forethought. Greed steers many, many Americans when it comes to interaction with trial lawyers.

When did Americans begin to believe it was all about them? When did we become such pompous greedy hogs? What makes us believe we have no personal responsibility for what happens to our country? When did greed become a right instead of a sin? Don't talk to me about your moral values until you demonstrate that you have more than two. Don't talk to me about the right to life of a fetus as you spray poison in the air. Don't talk to me about what the bible says about homosexuals while you rob the pockets of your neighbors. Sure, you have the right to your beliefs but you also have a responsibility to the health and welfare of your fellow man and woman. Demonstrate to me that you are aware of what is going on in more places than your greedy, self-centered little world of ignorance and then maybe we can come to some sort of meeting of the minds. While we liberals from hell are trying to protect what is better not only for now but for future generations, you very well meaning conservatives are so busy being greedy with your moral values that you are blind to the hell you are creating for others. As you would force a mother to give birth to a child she is unable to care for, you won't notice that that child will be growing up in a poisoned atmosphere. As you protect the word "marriage" that you so righteously believe belongs only to heterosexuals, you will abuse the very earth we all must share. You are not morally superior. You are earth and financial hogs in angel costumes.

More Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

WE MUST FIGHT BACK!
BECAUSE EXTINCTION REALLY IS FOREVER!

Here it comes. We knew they would do it and they're going to. This is some very, very sad news.

"Congress taking aim at Endangered Species Act"

This is a part of what you'll read:

"We have hundreds of species that would not be around today if not for the Endangered Species Act," Kostyack said. "Success stories like the whooping crane and the bald eagle and the black-footed ferret are all things we should celebrate and build upon."

Environmentalists said they fear Republican lawmakers are more inclined to try to gut species protections to appease their allies in industry rather than craft changes that will enhance species survival."

and

"For example, the administration has approved a regulatory change allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to take steps toward approval of new pesticides without consulting the wildlife service on risks to wildlife."

and

"Earlier this year, the administration fired a wildlife service biologist after he publicly complained that the agency had manipulated scientific research to appease developers who wanted to build on land critical to the Florida panther, one of the world's most endangered big cats."

First they destroy the plants and animals. What will be next? Who will be next?

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Crime and no punishment. While many in my area of Florida were denied FEMA money, some in Miami stole it with their lies. Please read what happened.

"FEMA Paid $28M Bogus Claims in Dade County, Fla."

is my bush stupid!

It's worth it to deal with watching the ad to read Salon.com.

This article by Sidney Blumenthal describes our illustrious leader at the Clinton Library opening. More embarassement, but at least his did it in front of the "family".

Here's some excerpts:

"Bush tried to push his way past Clinton at the library door to be first in line, against the already accepted protocol for the event, as though the walk to the platform was a contest for alpha male."

About KKKarl Rove: ""You're not such a scary guy," joked his tour guide. "Yes, I am," Rove replied. Walking away, he muttered deliberately and loudly, "I change Constitutions, I put churches in schools ..." "

"On his tour Bush appeared distracted and glanced repeatedly at his watch. When he stopped to gaze at the river, where Secret Service agents were stationed in boats, the guide said, "Usually, you might see some bass fishermen out there." Bush replied: "A submarine could take this place out." "

"Upon entering the tent, Bush, according to an eyewitness, told an aide, "One gulp and we're out of here." He had informed the Clintons he would stay through the lunch, but by the time Peres arose with wine glass in hand the president was gone."

What manners! How much more will bushie lower the bar for American manners?


Anyway, while you're at Salon, there is a story that will cheer you up.
Scrooge's Nightmare
Despite Bush's election, the cranky old conservatives' days are numbered. The future belongs to middle-aged boomers and their kids, who embrace the tolerant values of the '60s.
By Leonard Steinhorn

Excerpts:

"All the claims about mandates and values notwithstanding, the very fact that one-fifth of voters cited moral values means that four-fifths didn't."

and

"How little the "moral values" voter represents the future is evident in surveys of today's youth, who may be the most inclusive, tolerant and socially liberal generation in our nation's history. From the media we hear all about the controversies of the so-called culture war, such as the occasional school superintendent who shuts down all school clubs to keep gay and straight high school students from forming "gay-straight" clubs. But what we don't hear is that these clubs have quietly formed in about 2,800 schools nationwide. In fact, research on young people confirms that they have little patience for intolerance, that they have no problem accepting homosexuality, that most even support the right of gay people to marry."

We're the silent majority. Just because the media likes to report on the big mouthed bigots of America who hide behind bibles, guns and flags, they do not represent the majority of Americans.

And since your at Salon.com, check out this piece by Eric Boehlert, Clinton to ABC News: It's payback time The former president chastises Peter Jennings for ABC's "sleazy" coverage of Whitewater -- and he's right.

Excerpts:

"President Clinton's prime-time interview with ABC on Nov. 18, in conjunction with the opening of the Clinton presidential library, was for the most part a feel-good, nostalgic affair, as Clinton looked back on his presidency with ABC anchor Peter Jennings. But Clinton flashed real irritation when Jennings suggested some historians thought that Clinton's presidency had lacked "moral authority," without mentioning its having been tarnished by independent counsel Kenneth Starr's multiple investigations.

""You don't want to go here, Peter," snapped Clinton, who proceeded to criticize the reporting of ABC News, in particular, in the 1990s. "Not after what you people did and the way you, your network, what you did with Kenneth Starr. The way your people repeated every little sleazy thing he leaked. No one has any idea what that's like."

"In truth, Clinton's criticism of the media's overheated and often conspiratorial scandal coverage could be applied to a host of mainstream news operations. But it was fitting that the comment was directed at ABC, which occupied a unique role amid the seven-year, $70 million media feeding frenzy surrounding Starr's probes. At times ABC, led by reporter Jackie Judd and producer Chris Vlasto, seemed to act as the broadcast counterparts to the print reporters relying on news from the Office of the Independent Counsel -- making an early investment in the Whitewater story and determined to see it pay off. "

... "In 1998 Salon's Joe Conason wrote, "After Murray Waas and I published an article in the Nation about Starr's conflicts of interest ... [a]mong the most hostile responses was a telephone call from ABC producer Chris Vlasto, who has worked the Clinton scandal beat at the network for several years. ... "

"According to Starr himself, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke on Jan. 21, 1998, Starr's top deputy, Jackie Bennett, spent the day talking "extensively" with a handful of reporters, including ABC's Judd, the one TV reporter on the shortlist at Starr's office. In November, ABC's loyalty was rewarded when it beat out its network competitors, including CBS's "60 Minutes," by landing the first lengthy television interview with Starr. ... "

Oh puhlease, that Clinton nightmare was such a conspiracy through and through. Did you see the Hunting of A President? Unbelievable. I'm glad Clinton didn't keep his mouth shut. Can you imagine a reporter asking Bush questions that he doesn't like? Oh wait. No one asks bush questions he doesn't like. The media loves bush.

Isn't This Dangerous? Just asking.

(AFP/Gerardo Gomez)

"I think my wife loved Jesus more than she loved me"

Arkansas Woman Killed in Mistaken Rapture
by Elroy Willis

ARKANSAS CITY (EAP) -- A Little Rock woman was killed yesterday after leaping through her moving car's sunroof during an incident best described as a "mistaken rapture" by dozens of eye-witnesses.

Thirteen other people were injured after a twenty-car pile-up resulted from people trying to avoid hitting the woman, who was apparently convinced that the rapture was occurring when she saw twelve people floating up into the air, and then passed a man on the side of the road who she believed was Jesus.

"She started screaming `He's back! He's back!' and climbed out through the sunroof and jumped off the roof of the car," said Everet Williams, husband of 28-year-old Georgann Williams who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"I was slowing down but she wouldn't wait till I stopped," Williams said. She thought the rapture was happening and was convinced that Jesus was gonna lift her up into the sky," he went on to say.

"This is the strangest thing I've seen since I've been on the force," said Paul Madison, first officer on the scene.

Madison questioned the man who looked like Jesus and discovered that he was on his way to a toga costume party, when the tarp covering the bed of his pickup truck came loose and released twelve blow-up sex dolls filled with helium, which then floated up into the sky.

Ernie Jenkins, 32, of Fort Smith, who's been told by several of his friends that he looks like Jesus, pulled over and lifted his arms into the air in frustration and said "Come back," just as the Williams' car passed him, and Mrs. Williams was sure that it was Jesus lifting people up into heaven as they drove by him.

"I think my wife loved Jesus more than she loved me," the widower said when asked why his wife would do such a thing.

When asked for comments about the twelve sex dolls, Jenkins replied "This is all just too weird for me. I never expected anything like this to happen."


PS. This is an urban legend.

more of God's will and handiwork

"God always stays ahead. He's a pro." Hannibal Lector, Red Dragon

Since it is Thanksgiving, I hope that you are able to give thanks for a family that understands, for a church that supports, and a government with priorities in order. Why is it that we expect the mentally ill to support themselves?

"DALLAS -- The minister of a woman who admitted killing her baby daughter by severing the child's arms said Wednesday that her husband seemed emotionally stable but was searching for answers and concerned about how God will judge his wife

"He's concerned, overall, about why this happened and what would happen to her and how does God view her right now," said [the minister], who leads a nondenominational church in Plano that [the parents] have attended with their children.

Dena Schlosser, 35, was charged with capital murder Monday after she calmly told a 911 operator she cut off the arms of 11-month-old Margaret. Police found Schlosser, who had a history of postpartum depression and psychotic symptoms, covered in blood and holding a knife, a church hymn playing in the background.

[The minister] said that when he talked to [the father] on Monday about funeral arrangements, the father seemed to be emotionally stable. He also inquired about his wife's fate. A telephone message left for a [the father] was not returned Wednesday.

"He's concerned about his wife. I mean, who wouldn't be? He asked me: 'What is God saying now? I mean, my wife's in jail,"' [the minister] told The Associated Press. "I said 'John, we'll have to watch the court system and how it works out."'

[The minister], who started Water of Life Church in 1980, said he believes God uses the courts to work his will. He said he told [the father] that although the Bible instructs not to kill, God also forgives.

"God will forgive every sin and he will forgive this woman. He's the only one who can lead her to repentance," [the minister] said. "My basic thing will be simply to pray that Dena will be brought to repentance to God and acknowledge her sin and then she'll be free."

[The minister] said he did not have a close relationship with the Schlossers. He said they attended the church sporadically for about three years. Dena Schlosser and her daughters, ages 6 and 9, attended more often than her husband, he said.

"I'd say hello and that was about it," the minister said. "I don't think anybody here had that much contact with them."

The Schlossers' daughters were placed in temporary custody with Texas' Family and Protective Services after an agency determined their father failed to protect them from their mother.

---30---

Is it really an expression of God's will that Dallas County may try this mentally ill woman for capital murder? Mind you, this is a question from someone who finds it difficult to believe that it was God's will that His Son was also tried for a capital crime.

One of the expressions of God'w will that I recall vividly from interning in the Family/Juvenile Courts in Harris County was watching His children dressed in orange jumpsuits in shackles and chains shuffling out of their holding cells to the courtroom.

The court system in Texas is hell. This family will not be able to afford the excellent legal counsel it is going to take to keep her out of prison and in a mental institution. The State of Texas will probably bill her family for her medication.

Why isn't it God's will that we rise above our ignorance and help make this life bearable rather than worrying that there is a next life?

Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe that evolution played no role in human development. We sprang from God's hands fully formed.

I am wagering if science does not occupy a certain amount of our reality, then understanding mental illness is beyond us.


Mental health must be difficult for some citizens of Texas to understand. We have a difficult time legislating enough money for it, churches have a difficult time seeing that mental illness is not a sin. Does a woman really need prison in order to get the help she needed? If it is a sin to be mentally ill and seeking psychiatric help, and this church didn't necessarily think that it was, but, it didn't help one of the flock when the lamb got lost? How about leaving those children or an infant alone with an obviously ill woman? Where was this woman's husband? He didn't think his wife or his children were in danger? Why didn't he think so?

Very few people in Texas can afford legal counsel skilled enough to fight the state's resources. This case is going to require a level of sophistication most cases don't need and don't receive.

Texas Family and Protective Services isn't indifferent. They are simply moving as much paper across their poorly funded desk as possible. Don't blame them. We are fortunate that they have the college education they do have, we are fortunate that they don't run away but go to their jobs everyday.

Another woman in East Texas killed two of her children and disabled one for life by crushing them with stones. When she got her prescriptions for anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medications, she said, "Why doesn't someone educate us about this? Why don't the schools? Why doesn't the church?" she pleaded.

Hell if I know, sister!

If the people of Texas think that government shouldn't be taxing citizens to pay for mental health then why isn't the church filling that gap? So her government fails her, her health care fails her, her church fails her, her husband fails her.

And she is supposed to confess her sin?

Thanksgiving Prayers

Mark Twain's Prayer for Soldiers (excerpt)


__________________________________

Blondesense Prayer for Liberals

Oh Lord, our God, please give us the courage to unceasingly pester
the government into getting our troops out of Iraq soon
whether they like being there or not
and not sit by and criticize it without doing anything.
Give us the courage to call upon our cable companies
and demand that they take Fox News off our television.
Give us the impetus to travel from all corners of the land
and march on Washington by the millions before inauguration day.
Give us the strength to say no to buying goods that we don't really need.
Especially me, dear Lord, I beseach you.
Help us to truly live in peace and fight all the injustices in the world
with perseverence and little regard for our creature comforts.
May we always practice what we preach.

If you're out there, please help.
Amen

My Holiday Wishes to All

from pissed off patricia

We are quickly approaching the day I happily refer to as National Eating Day. I guess you could also call it National Eating, Watching Football and Napping Day. Maybe even National Tryptophan Day. That would pretty much wrap it up nicely for most of us.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be the day religious people thank their god for all they feel grateful for and for all the wonderful things they have. Things like family, health etc. Non-religious people can be thankful too, they just don't have to write thank you notes to anyone. That's fine.

Luck seems to me to have a lot to do with what you have and don't have. I don't believe a god was punishing my neighbor for being an ass, which my neighbor surely is, by sending two hurricanes here this year. It would be kind of mean to blow the roofs off of so many homes in this area just to punish one jerk. It would be a very costly and very mean sort of way to let one guy know he needs to stop being so damned selfish and demanding. I don't think as Jeb bush does that a god sends hurricanes on a predestined path. I think we were just damned unlucky, unfortunate, call it what you will. I am grateful that the damage wasn't any worse and that we are on our way to total recovery.

I'm grateful that I found the perfect gentleman to call my husband. That wasn't luck, that was determination on my part. No thank you notes to anyone but me for that charming part of my life today. I found him, I love him so much and I'm keeping him, just as I have for 18 years.

I'm grateful that my pets are in good health and content little creatures. We are a mutual admiration family on that front. We have a bundle of love and it's shared.

You probably have a great and long list of things you are grateful for this holiday week. Would you like to share? If so, please do. We have spent so many months together complaining about the world, let's take one day to share with one another what makes us happy.

Have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday. And as the greeting card says, Gobble 'till you Wobble.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Affectionately,
patricia

Jim Wallis on Meet the Press

This Sunday, Jim Wallis of Sojourners is going to be on Meet the Press. Remember him? God is not a Republican... or a Democrat ? He's going to talk about Moral Values.

"It's time to spark a real debate in this country over what the most important "religious issues" and "moral values" in politics are - and how broadly and deeply they are understood. Religion doesn't fall neatly into right and left categories. If there were ever candidates running with a strong set of personal moral values and a commitment to be pro-poor and pro-peace, it could build many bridges to the other side. Personal and social responsibility are both at the heart of religion, and the two together could make a very powerful and compelling political vision for the future of our bitterly divided nation. -Jim Wallis"


(hat tip: Chuck Currie)

Ironic Isn't It?

Some anti-war movement we have...
"What seems to be today's antiwar position — it was a terrible mistake and it's a terrible mess, but we can't just walk away from it — was actually the pro-war position during Vietnam. In fact, it was close to official government policy for more than half the length of that war." -LA Times

Israeli Soldiers Jealous of Abu Ghraib?
"...another officer, 'G', who asked to be photographed next to the severed head of the Palestinian. "Everyone laughed at the idea, and they put the head on a wooden pole like a scarecrow and one soldier even put a cigarette in the head's mouth." " Al-Jazeera

American Values
"We [Americans] are surrounded by poor and low-income people. (The definitions can be elastic and easily blurred, but essentially we're talking about individuals and families that don't have enough money to cover the essentials - food, shelter, clothing, transportation and so forth.) Many of them are full-time workers, and some have more than one job. " -NY times

US Republican Officials Shocked at Ukranian Stolen Election
"Western observers immediately denounced the election. Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican sent by President George Bush to monitor voting, accused the Ukrainian government of supporting a “concerted and forceful programme of election-day fraud and abuse”. " -The Economist

I told you it was a good browser.
"...Microsoft is promoting Mozilla Firefox. (inadvertently) The company recently provided the press with a screenshot of MSN Search displayed on the open source browser. Microsoft's PR firm denied using Firefox for any of MSN Search's screenshots.
Alert reader Dror Levin read a review of the new MSN Search on the Seattle Post Intelligencer. He noticed something strange about the screenshot in the article, found a larger version of it and was surprised to find out that while the OS was Windows XP, the browser used was Firefox. The photo credit says "(AP Photo/HO/Microsoft)", which menas it was distributed to AP by Microsoft. "

by blondesense

The Funniest Thing I Read All Week

"... every year, just before Christmas, she would schedule a mammogram, knowing she would not get the results until after the holidays. The remote possibility of cancer was something to hang over her children’s heads..."

From the New Yorker

Bitchin

by pissed off patricia

Christ on a Fish Stick

You Are The Heartland
A Letter to Liberal America
by Barbara Sumner Burstyn

www.dissidentvoice.org

November 22, 2004

Since the election my liberal inbox has been filled with screeds of hand-wringing articles dissecting the ascendancy of George W Bush. They all talk of winning back the heartland, reinvigorating true democracy, fighting the red-blue war of culture, ideology, politics and psychology. But for all the column inches steeped in despair there were very few action plans and even less insight. The reason is simple. Democrats and Republicans are feeding at the same trough.

Drive through the liberal enclaves of any privileged blue state or through the conservative interior of a red state and you see the same big houses – or aspirations of big houses and the same super-sized vehicles.

Open the door of a liberal or a conservative home (a double-wide trailer, a mansion or a New York loft, it doesn’t matter which) and you’ll find the same wide screen TV, the same huge sofa, the same gigantic refrigerator overstocked with pretty much the same food.

Perhaps you’ll find more organic labels in the liberal fridge but the abundance and out-of-season array will be the same. Check the labels on the clothes of a liberal or a conservative and you’ll see they are all made in the same out-sourced, third world sweatshop factories.

One commentator declared the forces of Bushim would eventually be overthrown. But overthrown with what? The polite man who changed his suites and even his ties to match the President, who participated in sham debates, who never once deviated from the script, even when the whole country was watching and he could have turned to the President and asked him the real questions?

Some commentators have bemoaned the choice of Kerry. But did you, the so-called liberal America really want someone different? Perhaps you supported Kerry, who is neither a revolutionary nor a man of vision because you wanted business as usual, you wanted your politics like your cappuccinos: fluffy and comforting.

That’s why the streets aren’t overflowing with protest. That’s why you’re not massing outside the corporate owned television stations demanding they retract their lies and rescind their self- censorship.

That’s why all the columns about fraudulent electoral practices are no more than hot air. Because actually no one wants the system to end, because despite the increasing numbers of poor and working poor, the vast and growing gap between the haves and have-nots, the majority of you are just too damn comfortable.

It’s the great hypocrisy of the American left. Take the very liberal Democrat supporting Sarah Jessica Parker. Pay her more money and she’s happy to re-voice the newly edited, sex-free Sex in the City to keep the heartland happy.

Or Will Smith, the actor who respectfully declined to be present at last year's Academy Awards, supposedly in protest for the war, is happy to make millions in a film like I Robot with a gun super-glued to his hand as he saves the world from yet another black and white evil, with barely a bad word for the corporate greed that created that evil.

That’s because making money is the American way. Because money trumps conviction every time. If you’re a liberal it’s a sign you’re successful in a secular way. If you’re a member of the new force of evangelical conservatives it’s a sign of Gods blessing.

Where I come from the choice between Kerry or Bush is called a Claytons choice: the choice you’re having when you’re not having a choice.

Would the anguish and torment of the Iraqi people have ended under a Democratic leader? Would the environment have been given the kind of urgent priority needed to slow global warming? Would the rights of pregnant women be respected? Would the price of gasoline have been raised so high that Americans would limit their driving? Would coal fired power plants have been forced to control their pollution? Would the coded double-speak rhetoric that says one thing and means another have ended? Would the pharmaceutical industry be called to heel? Would anything have changed in any significant way?

Republicans may have co-opted religion and promoted morality over economics, the environment and human rights. But how is that different from senior Democrats such as Senator Harry Reid of Nevada?

A tee-totaling Mormon who is about to become the conservative standard bearer of the party, Reid’s stand on abortion would drop women back into a dark age. Or California Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein who recently commented that she believes very strongly the voice of the moderates in caucus ought to have some sway (as if the Democrats were somehow extreme). Or Sheldon Silver the Democratic speaker of the Assembly who supports the death penalty. Or Hilary Clinton who is being advised to represent herself as moderately pro-life. Or the scramble, as outlined in the New York Times last week, by Democrats to organize the “religious left” and phrase their positions in more moral and religious terms.

The great con is the idea that having an election makes you a democracy, that your vote makes a difference. A difference to what? The ideology of profit as the highest motivation? Or to the fact that the invocation of religion and morality is no more than a smokescreen to hide the reality of corporate feudalism. That perfect system that ensures your serfdom while sating your senses with consumerism and numbing your awareness that your country is run by and for the corporations who are your real leaders and where in exchange for your compliance you get your every whim sated in a consumer hog heaven.

That’s why you don’t take your idols to task; your hypocritical movie stars, your lying, Teflon suited politicians, your liberal neighbor in his SUV. Yourself. So this is what I want to say to the liberals of America. You’re not going to win the heartland no matter how committed you are to the environment or equality or if your heart bleeds for the poor, or for the innocents of Iraq because you are the heartland. Every time you switch the remote, start your gasoline engine, stuff another McDonalds, chug on a Starbucks, down another anti-depressant, muscle relaxant, painkiller, or shop at The Gap, you are the heartland.

The 2004 election was not a revolution of the right or a failure of the left. It made no difference who you voted for, because until you recognize the conscription of your consumption and your obedience to it, until you smash your widescreens and your SUVs, until you renounce your comfort at any cost and all the other methods of your mass distraction you will get the government you deserve. Because you are the heartland.

Barbara Sumner Burstyn is an award winning freelance writer who commutes between Montreal, Quebec and The Hawkes Bay in New Zealand. She has contributed to a wide range of media, and is currently working on a new novel. She can be reached at: barb@sumnerburstyn.com. Visit her website to read more of her work: www.sumnerburstyn.com/. © 2004 Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Arnold? C'mon

I have no problem with constitutional reform, but amending the constitution for Arnold? Puhleese. Out of all the people in the whole country who came here from other lands, Arnold is the best person they can come up with to promote a constitutional amendment to change the birth requirement for the presidency? This is just wrong and disturbing on so many levels.

He's not real! He's an action figure.

But

Every country has the government it deserves.
- Joseph de Maistre

"Marines don't shoot rainbows out of our asses. We fucking kill people."

From the Village Voice by Evan Wright, an embedded reporter in 2003.


Here's a couple of paragraphs from the article. The entire article is a must read!

"The Marines constantly debated the morality of what they were engaged in. A sergeant in the platoon told me he had consulted with his priest about killing. The priest had told him it was all right to kill for his government so long as he didn't enjoy it. By the time the unit reached the outskirts of Baghdad, this sergeant was certain he had already killed at least four men. When his battalion commander praised the unit for "slaying dragons" on the way to Baghdad, the sergeant later told his men, "If we did half the shit back home we've done here, we'd be in prison." By then, the sergeant told me, he'd reconsidered what his priest had told him about killing. "Where the fuck did Jesus say it's OK to kill people for your government? Any priest who tells me that has got no credibility."

He and several other Marines recently returned from Iraq (many from their second tours) whom I've talked to about the Falluja shooting say they are not sure they would have dead-checked the wounded man in the mosque had they been in the same position. Most say they probably would have, even though the mosque had already been cleared once. "What does the American public think happens when they tell us to assault a city?" one of them said. "Marines don't shoot rainbows out of our asses. We fucking kill people."

Another Marine in the unit I followed—a Democrat's dream, he returned home from fighting in Falluja in time to vote for Kerry—added, "Americans celebrate war in their movies. We like to see visions of evil being defeated by good. When the people at home glimpse the reality of war, that it's a bloodbath, they freak out. We are a subculture they created and programmed to fight their wars. You have to become a psycho to kill like we do. To most Marines that guy in the mosque was just someone who didn't get hit in the right place the first time we shot him. I probably would have put a bullet in his brain if I'd been there. If the American public doesn't like the violence of war, maybe before they start the next war they shouldn't rush so much."

(it's worth your time to read the entire piece)

Proof That We Evolved From Monkeys

Holy Fucking Shit.

If anyone who voted for this asshole is reading this. Fuck you.
And you called Clinton, Bubba?
This dry drunk is pretending he's at a goddang hoe down and his fucking fly is open!

I went out this morning to do some errands and I have to come home to this? It's thanksgiving week and I am trying to be thankful for something, anything, and this is the thanks I get from Chimpy McFlydown. Thank you Peter of LoneTree for bringing it to my attention. And a happy thanksgiving to you too.

First he's all macho with his SS guy, then he poses in the Juan Valdez look alike contest (see below) and now this. How can we send this boy anywhere?

What country am I in? Have I been so secluded living in New York? I must be. I had no idea Americans were such simpletons. We evolved from monkeys, dammit. Get over it.

Dammit, I want a northerner for the next president. I have nothing against southerner presidents because Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were real charmers, but it's time we had someone who represented the cold liberal states. I'm just saying...
What the hell was wrong with windsurfing? That's what coastal living people do. It's not elitist to do water sports and it's not a northern thing. Do we make fun of tractor pulls?
Don't answer that.

Now someone tell me some good news.

UPDATE: Peter sent me more news. I don't know if it's good. It's news and I am not steaming from it. So that's good. It seems that a hypnotherapist in Boca Raton Florida is making money curing depressed people who voted for Kerry. heh. Anyway, he was doing really well and making lots of money until the people found out that Ohio is being recounted and now they are feeling better and don't need to be hypnotized in order to accept bush as their lord and savior.
Government Accountability Office to Conduct Investigation of 2004 Election Irregularities

Ok, so cheer up you depressed people. Snap out of it.

Surrender?

Never!

You might check out this pledge sponsored by Working Assets. I signed it.

"Take the pledge to Never Surrender"

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

That's What I'm Talkin' About

See, this is what I was talking about yesterday in my post, "Bitchin' in the Afternoon, The Three Billion Dollar Ass Kiss." I wrote: No one mentioned that perhaps the illegal drug trafficking was down in Colombia because maybe, just perhaps, it's because it's really picked up in Afghanistan.

Robert Scheer:
Cultivating Opium, Not Democracy
Afghanistan's crop 'has spread like wildfire.'

***

See, this is what I was talking about the other day when I wrote about what happens to some babies after they leave the womb. In my post "Doves Have No Talons and Neither Do I," I wrote: I also believe there is more to birth and life than exiting a womb. There is the life outside the womb and for some babies, that's a hell unto itself.

"I cut her arms off," Schlosser replied, as the hymn "He Touched Me" played in the background."

ABC News : Mother Charged With Murder After Telling 911 Operator She Had Cut Off Baby's Arms

***

In light of the deer hunter killing (now it's six people) and this woman cutting her baby's arms off allowing it to bleed to death, explain to me why human beings shouldn't be considered nature's most despicable and dangerous creatures. Yes, of course I know all human beings are not awful, but some surely are. Before we set off to fix the world, I think more time should be devoted to fixing ourselves.

That blinding glow you see just may be the sun reflecting off our own glass house.

Jesus is wrong for America

He's too liberal.
Check out this flash

Bush in Chile: the fracas

From the Buzzflash mailbag today (11-22-04)
Subject: Bush fracas during Chilean visit

I am a Chilean citizen but read your paper daily. Most of us here in Chile share your views and that of like online papers such as Truthout, Whatreallyhappened, Commondreams, etc.
Bush´s visit to Chile has left - so far - most of us chuckling because of the overkill in the security measures taken by his entourage, which is also disproportionate to those of the other leaders. By far. Especially in a town almost empty because of the three day weekend.

Two Jumbos filled up with secret service people; 40 (yes, forty) cars in his caravan including two limos just alike so to inspire doubt as to which one he´s in, a huge ambulance, ominous looking vehicles with 6 antennaes; Two planes (Awacs); 200 9mm weapons introduced into the country; Snipers galore; An entire hotel cut from all contact to the exterior for blocks around it; Bush sneaking in and out of tunnels and back entrances: he even refused, and was the only one to do so, to receive honors in the square in front of La Moneda, our government house, because he would have had to walk 80 yards to get inside the latter.

He broke protocol a few times arriving whenever he pleased with disregard for the other leaders including Putin who was not bothered by it, apparently.

The gala dinner that was scheduled for tonight (Sunday 21st) and was to be hosted by our president with an attendance of 250 ministers, government people, and big Chilean entrepreneurs was cancelled by my president due to the insistent requirements of the US Secret Service (SS?) to check everybody bodily for arms with metal detectors and such. Since we did not want to subject our people to such manhandling the dinner is going to be a smaller affair of 20 people. Hours before this happened, before Bush was to arrive to the CEO Summit, everybody had to leave the room (from all 21 countries, mind you) so the SSs could check seat by seat with detectors and dogs.

Then he made his grand entrance after ignoring the host of the Summit, a Chilean, and read a speech titled "Peace and Prosperity in the World." Of course the irony of it was not lost on us, simple spectators, or the press. All this to great applause, half of it real, and half of it pre-taped.

As for the fracas that your paper mentions, reading the news article one may think that Chilean secret service and police just interfered without reason. The truth is that the protocol indicated (and this was made known weeks ago) that each leader was to go inside the dinner place with only one bodyguard. They all complied, except Bush, that tried to enter with six. Of course five were stopped.

Some papers said Bush had "imperial airs."

I think he was hiding as usual.

By the way: My president improvised in his second language (English) while Bush had to read in his native one.

Yours truly,

M. Escudero
Santiago, Chile

Bitchin' in the Afternoon

by pissed off patricia

The Three Billion Dollar Ass Kiss

If you saw the press conference that bush and the president of Colombia held today, you just shook your head and repeated to yourself one more time, this guy got four more years, why?

Seems over the past four years we have given Colombia over three billion dollars to help them fight the illegal drug marketers. Ergo the ass kissing speech made by Colombia's pres. He basically said that he had never kissed an ass sweeter than bush's. At least that's what I heard.

Bush proceeded to say, in so many words, yes my ass is just that fine. Then he rattled on and on about how well the Colombian pres. had worked to cut down drug traffic and whatever.

Then came the question and answer part with the reporters. One reporter asked bush if the US would continue to give Colombia as much money considering the US's national debt. Good question, I thought. Bush said he would convince congress to continue the giveaway. What I heard was bush saying that he had his mandate and he wasn't afraid to use it. He would get his attack dogs in Congress to bite the ass of any who didn't go along with his plans.

Then bush looked down at his list and called a reporter, realized he had called the wrong name and changed the name he called. Then he repeated both names and said, "What the hey (or heck or hell, you really couldn't tell) This reporter told the story of the big dinner in Chile being cut to only a precious few because the US demanded that all guests pass through a metal detector and then he told about the bush secret service guy being in the melee and how bush had pulled him from the fracas. The reporter asked bush why he thought there was so much animosity toward him in Chili. Bush replied, "You call that a question?" Then he sort of skipped over the question and began repeating what a good job the pres. of Colombia was doing at fighting illegal drug trafficking.

Then bush turned to the Colombian pres. as if to end the whole thing. The president of Colombia asked if he would like to take one more question and bush said, "No". Exit, stage right.

Bush hates questions like I hate hurricanes. No one mentioned that perhaps the illegal drug trafficking was down in Colombia because maybe, just perhaps, it's down because it's really picked up in Afghanistan. Yep, no one talked about that at all and I'm betting bush shut the curtains on the news conference because he was afraid it was coming.

So, just so as ya know, bush plans to send more big old bucks to Colombia because they have had such success transferring the illegal drug trade to Afghanistan. At least that's the way I heard it.

Hunters, Hunting, Death

by pissed off patricia

My father was a hunter. He came home one day when I was five years old and he had a dead, gutted, bloody deer strapped across the hood of his car. Somewhere in the family there's a picture of this event. He boasted for years about that day. He recycled the deer's hair and hide into a rug, its hooves into a gun rack, and its head became a wall hanging. It was one of the first and most awful things I ever experienced. For years and years, our house was a shrine to an animal that walked in the wrong place at the wrong time while a half drunk man was holding a fully loaded rifle in the Tennessee Mountains. Over the years, I saw that photo of him and his kill dozens of times as I wandering through our box of old photos. Now, more years have passed since I last saw the photo than the length of time during which I was exposed to it. I would love to erase it from my memory completely.

Unless one is starving, I cannot condone hunting. It's not a sport if you use a bow and arrow or a gun. No other sport uses a gun or bow and arrow to best the competition. No other sport allows one of the competitors to be armed. Even the title "Hunting" is misleading. It should be called Animal Killing. That's all it is. There are even reserves where animals are hand raised and kept in small areas where hunters can go and shoot them. No hunting is even involved in that unless you count hunting the yellow pages for the location of one of these reserves It's not man against beast. It's man's weapons against beast. What's there to brag about?

I've heard all the stories about deer populations needing thinning due to over population or lack of food stocks. This comes about because we have "hunted" down all the deer's predators or development has scrunched the populations into ever smaller areas. Either way, it's our fault and if there is such a need to thin herds, wouldn't it be better to have professionals doing the thinning instead of lunatics with loaded guns? (see my Bitchin' post today)

What the hell was someone thinking of when they decided that we would have a season when people could go into the woods wearing camouflage clothes, drinking alcohol and carrying loaded guns? If that isn't a recipe for disaster, what is? If it had never before occurred and someone suggested it now, that person would be deemed completely insane.

Now if you're thinking about telling me how hunters are environmentalists because they appreciate nature and they appreciate wildlife, don't. Groups like Ducks Unlimited are concerned about ducks because they want to have more ducks to shoot and kill. It's self-serving, pure and simple.

My father used the death of the deer to portray himself as the mighty victor, even though the odds were stacked against the deer's survival thanks to my father's use of a rifle. I feel that a hunter uses hunting season as an excuse to legally kill another living creature because the primitive part of his mind still wants to remind the tribe that he is the most macho, even if he has to cheat with an assault rifle to do it.

Democracy and the Media

Fellow blogger, Doomocracy, has a really well thought out post about this subject.
Here's a snippet:

In recent history we have seen that in case of all revolutions, uprisings, coup d'etat's, regime overturns, the first thing that happened was always the take over of the national television stations, major newspapers and radio stations. Controlling the flow of news and information brings success to your cause. People need to know what's happening in order to side or oppose the events.

Democracy could not have been achieved without the help of the Media. The Media has a duty to defend Democracy. The Media is the watchdog of events unfolding and protector of democracy. It is the duty of the Media to inform the masses with fact based news and authentic stories.

I don't expect the media to join the conspiracy theories over the internet. That would be wrong and misleading, and would make people lose confidence in the system. But it is the Media's duty to investigate and dispel doubts about conspiracies. I believe that the conspiracy syndrome is a result of the failures of the Media to investigate, discuss and digress the anomalies of the political and physical events.

What really concerns me, that the Media fails to prevent disaster. Just like in law enforcement, preventing crime is more important than investigating a crime committed.

Read the rest

Shirts and Bumpster Stickers You Always Wanted

I have been designing all sorts of pictures and sayings for T-shirts, buttons, cards and bumper stickers. I'm not done yet. I'll set up a Cafe Press Store one of these days because I want to get some buttons and Tshirts made with snarky sentiments. Last year, I made really bad Xmas cards that only a certain amount of people actually "got". It was a picture of Jesus that said, Love Me or Burn. Ok, so that didn't go over too well. Not from a theology master. heh.

Anyway, do you brilliant folks have any ideas for this project? Snappy sayings on politics, values, god, ecology? Christmas Card ideas? A graphics idea? Dirty Biblical Quotes you like? Ironic Biblical Quotes? Quotes from our Forefathers that contradict America today?

I'll upload some of the ideas soon for your perusal and approval.

What say you?

Kevin Sites

Kevin Sites Blog tells in his own words, what he saw and what happened in the Mosques when the Marine shot the wounded man.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

A Huntin' We Will Go
A Killin' Will Result

"Five people were fatally shot and three others seriously wounded around noon Sunday.."

In Fallujah, right? Ah, no. This happened in the land of the free and the armed to the teeth.
A must read. Check it out. More morale values shot to hell.
"The shooting began after he was told to leave a deer stand on private land in the Town of Meteor, east of Birchwood, in northwestern Wisconsin."

"The suspect was “sniping” at the victims with an SKS, a military assault-style weapon, Zeigle said. He was “chasing after them and killing them,” he said."

"One of the fatalities was female, he said. Another was a teenage boy, and the rest were men. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

All five were dead when officers arrived, Zeigle said."



Five killed in hunting argument

World Leaders Model New Male Fashion Trend

Write a caption for blondie

Sunday Night Sidebar Update

I finally got around to updating blog links. If I forgot anyone, please let me know.
Thank you all for your links and kind words.
The other links have been moved to this page.

What if God Just Said No to the U.S.?

What if there is a god much like the one that many people believe in - the "Thy will be done" god. Let's pretend that we are "puppets for the big guy in the sky" and we're "war is peace people" for a minute...


What if it's god's will that in order for there to be peace in the world and democracy in Iraq, that the US must suffer a tragic and debilitating defeat? Would we be willing to accept the fact that god wants the US to lose big time and be subject to decades of despair and poverty in our country?

We should have a party

A real political party that represents regular thinking people with real family values. Not family values that spew hatred like Republican family values. Not a bunch of wimpy Democrats who pretend to care, but don't.

The majority of Americans need a political party that gives people a chance to take responsibility for themselves.

I don't need religion in politics. It's too complicated. I don't need the stinking 10 Commandments. Jesus gave us 2. Love God (all creation), Love your Neighbor as yourself. Period. Encompasses everything. If you love, then you won't hurt others or yourself. How simple.

I want a simple political party. Not a mewling puking bleeding heart political party nor a fascist, controlling my life, party. Give all people a fair chance and have social programs for those who really need it. If we help those on the margins they are less likely to commit crimes against the rest of us. duh. How sad is it to step over homeless people in city train and bus stations. How very ridiculous to have that in the supposed greatest country in the world. What a farce.

After reading this excerpt from Maureen Dowd this morning, I knew that I just don't fit in the picture:

At the Republican governors' conference in New Orleans, Ken Mehlman, the Bush campaign manager, answered the question, Who's your daddy party? "If you drive a Volvo and you do yoga, you are pretty much a Democrat," he said. "If you drive a Lincoln or a BMW and you own a gun, you're voting for George Bush."

Where do I fit in? I drive a Chrysler Sebring even though I can afford a BMW, I like to walk for exercise even though I could sign up for a yoga class but I like to be outside, I don't have a gun and I don't want one. Who am I gonna shoot? I'd rather play my guitar or work in the garden for leisure. Where do I fit in? Where's my party?

I want fairness
I want honesty
I want social and economic justice for all
I want less crime and less jails
I want there to be no toleration for those who are greedy.
I want a media and politicians that can't be bought by special interests.
I want anti-trust laws
I want mom and pop stores to come back cause I want one.
I want peace.

UPDATE: Ooops, in the comments, I suggested a 'Superman' party for Truth, Justice and the American Way. It just came to my attention as I was reading the morning news at NewScientist.com that Superman is Too Super a Role Model:

Superman is too good a role model. Fans of the man from Krypton unwittingly compare themselves to the superhero, and realise they do not measure up. And as a result, they are less likely to help other people.

---

They [researchers] asked students to list the characteristics of Superman, or alternatively superheroes in general, as part of a larger questionnaire. Later on, subjects were given the opportunity to volunteer for a fictitious community programme.

Students who thought of Superman volunteered much less of their time than those who thought about other superheroes. Furthermore, Superman-primed subjects were significantly less likely to show up at a meeting for volunteers held three months after they were initially asked to participate.

Nevermind.

Amputees Can Go Back To The Battlefield

With all this new fangled medical technology, troops who have lost body parts can be up and running in no time and rejoin their units in Iraq. If you lost an arm or a leg or both, you can be put back together and run away from bombs, climb rocks and walls, shoot guns, throw grenades, drive a tank into a residential Iraqi neighborhood and kill more people! It won't even hurt if your fake limb gets blown off a second time.

"If there's somebody who drove a tank, we can build a simulated vehicle and actually allow them to drive that,'' said Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, medical director of Walter Reed's amputee program. ``We look at the controls and figure out how they can operate it with either an upper extremity prosthesis or lower extremity prosthesis.''

I just love this country!

Voter Fraud Update

Astute reader, Jennifer, sent this link to more disturbing information about Florida elections from Jeff Fisher for Congress

Interesting...

Bitchin' on Sunday

by pissed off patricia

Hey, Mind if I Publish Your Tax Returns for All the World to See?

"Tax Disclosure Buried in Spending Bill"

I watched this play out on C-Span last night and it was reality TV at it's best. Stevens was about to explode and implode all at the same time. It appeared that a little hanky panky was discovered hiding in the Omnibus spending bill and it was rooted out by the Dems. Oops! According to Stevens it was a misstep by some staffers. Oh really? Staffers are inserting items into something like the Omnibus spending bill and it takes Dems to find it? The House must have missed this one when they passed the bill earlier in the day. Did they miss it? Mighty interesting.

My football fan husband got so caught up in what was happening in the Senate that he watched the discussion instead of part of the Florida/Florida State game. See, it was that kind of interesting. Too bad the addition of the limitations on abortions and women's rights had not gotten the same attention. At least though, it got some serious attention.

"Anti-abortion provision tucked in spending bill"

The Evil Empire: Wal-mart

After a recent post by my colleague, pissed off patricia, regarding Wal-mart, a visitor to this blog felt that liberals are hypocrites for knocking the very store that sells cheap stuff to poor people.

Funny stuff, but I thought you guys were supposed to be champions of the poor and friends of the underprivileged, unwashed masses. Where's all that compassion for those less fortunate souls who didn't win life's lottery or marry Teresa Heinz? Hypocrites.

I get that Wal-Mart is low brow, but could someone please explain to me why so many liberals hate Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart sells the cheapest stuff on earth. Where do you think all that welfare money goes? Po' folk shop at Wal-Mart. Hell, I shop at Wal-Mart.

Wouldn't it be better if all that welfare money went back to the people? To a mom and pop store? What happened to free enterprise? Wal-mart took care of that.

Sure it's hard not to shop at Wal-mart. Everyone wants a bargain. But is it worth it to be tempted by a bargain when Wal-mart (and their ilk:Home Depot) are making the gap between the top 1% and everyone else even larger? Is it worth it to give up democracy for a bargain? I think not. I'd rather live without stuff than give up my freedom. I miss the days of anti-trust laws.

What say you?

UPDATE: An astute reader and commenter left these links in case anyone had any doubts about the chilling effect of Wal-mart on our country.

1. The LA Times 2003 Series on Wal-Mart
2. Watch Frontline Series: Is Wal-mart Good For America?
3. Steve Gilliard: Working for Slave-mart

Saturday Funnies

Here's the preamble to the Republican Contract With America From 1994:

REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

We're baaaack

The US is building a case for war against Iran (like we're so shocked). I hope the thinking human beings who work for the media are awake for this. Britain France and Germany are trying to deal diplomatically with Iran, but of course the Bush administration is saying that it's unlikely that Iran will really stop enriching uranium.

Would you stop enriching uranium if a foreign superpower reduced your neighboring countries to rubble? I didn't think so. What would we feel like if China invaded, occupied and reduced to rubble both Canada and Mexico? How much do you wanna bet that the US wanted to invade Iran from the get go but went for the neighbors first? Maybe bush isn't that stupid afterall. Well one thing is for sure. This administration has no family values, no fear of god, no morals and certainly no integrity.

This administration laughs in the face of true christianity. This administration makes a mockery of Jesus' teachings. This administration is a fraud. Christian values do not include war, torture, executions and lying.

Liberals do not despise Jesus or his teachings as they like to proclaim. It's a lie. In fact liberals are more in line with Jesus' teachings, whether they are christian or not, than this administration and the Bob Joneses and Jerry Falwells. Natural law, endowed on us by the creator and embraced by liberals demonstrates the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Don't let the xtian right tell you otherwise. They are lying, deceptive tools of evil who spit in the face of everything that is good in the world. I am just fucking sick of the bad guys pretending that they own Jesus.

War and fear sure keeps our minds off the raping and pillaging of our democracy.

So where is the underground railroad to Canada for our kids?

Bitchin' on Saturday

by pissed off patricia

I wouldn't plan that vacation in Iraq just yet, if I were you. Seems the flowers haven't arrived yet, so they are showering us with something else. Wonder if some in Washington are questioning their decision to get our country into this disaster? What runs through their head when they read a report like this one?

"Insurgents attack Baghdad police station
Three U.S. armored vehicles were in flames after clashes broke out"

Election Fraud Update

It's still being investigated. Not so much to change the results of the election, but it could. It's to be sure that the voice of the people actually counts. I'm sure you all know that military ballots were not counted. I for one, would have liked to know how the military voted. Wouldn't you? I find it interesting that not all votes are counted at all.

Isn't it strange though how exit polls are usually counted on to determine a winner long before many votes are counted, yet this time the exit polls were discounted in favor of electronic voting machines which have proven to be inaccurate and easily hacked? What did the media tell us? Oh yes, it told us that the exit polling had to be investigated, not the evoting machines.

It's also strange that Kerry just conceded, packed up and went away even though he had lawyers and money ready.

As it turns out One-Third of Bush Fund-Raisers Got Appointments. Others got to sleep at the White House. Remember when Clinton had fundraisers and contributors for a sleep over? oy. This time. Not a peep. Oh that liberal media. I hope they don't make a big deal out of that again.

Links:

• Exit Polls and Voter Fraud: A User-Friendly Explanation Op Ed News
• 'Stinking Evidence' of Possible Election Fraud Found in Florida by Thom Hartmann
• Was it Hacked? Orlando Weekly
• Democrats take up fight over ballots -Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Voting Trends of the 29 Democratic Florida Counties in Question Graph Independent Media
• Researchers: Florida Vote Fishy Wired.com

Just Say No To Shopping.

What better way to stick it to the man?
Oh I love the smell of anarchy in the morning....

Check out RevBilly.com.
He has the 1o Commandments for Buy Nothing Day 2004 (11/26)

And Join the Christmas Resistance Movement (Praise the Lord!) xmasresistance.org
Hat tip to Jesus Politics for the good links!

• People complain that Walmart ruins their communities, but they still shop there. It's cheap. People complain about the media, but they still watch it or read it.
• People complain about pollution but they drive SUVs and support the president who is devoted to industries who pollute and lowers the emissions standards and cuts down trees!
• People complain about corporations but they buy stock in them, they support them, they vote for an administration that gives more power to non-voting corporations than to the people.
• People complain about gasoline prices but they still drive gas guzzlers, take the car out several times a day for little errands, sit in traffic rather than use mass transit where available, drive a few blocks away, drive to work alone and keep the gas pumps pumping.

What ever happened to sacrifice? That's one thing that this administration is averse to, isn't it? When we were terrorized after 9/11, we were told to be scared, to be vigilant, but by all means to go shopping. What is wrong with this picture?

How much stuff do we need? Where do we put it? It's hard to get rid of it, isn't it? Stuff is a burden. Stop shopping.

Food For Thought

by Pissed Off Patricia

"The Politics of Victimization" by Mathew Gross
(thanks Uncle $cam for the link you left at the All Spin Zone)

And Mark Morford nails it again:
Monday Night Softcore
Who dares call into a TV network to complain about sex?
And can they be stopped?

"...Who are they who apparently have no problem having their gladiator-style violence interspersed with all manner of Barbie-doll cheerleaders who giggle and jiggle in a sea of Botox and silicon, but who cannot possibly tolerate the exposed shoulder blades of "Housewives" actress Nicollette Sheridan in a tame promo spot lest they clutch their hearts and call their senators in a seething colon-clenched fury?"

Movie Review: "The Hunting Of A President"

is based on the book by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons. The movie version which I viewed last night by Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry is a depressing look at the 8 years of Clinton bashing we were subjected to and also makes the current hijacking of the GOP even more clear to this viewer.

The movie was riddled with cutesy retro filmclips set to Morgan Freeman's narration. I could have lived without it, but I was watching it for content more than editing. The editing was pretty good though. There wasn't enough content, but I imagine Freeman would have to read the whole book to us in order for all the content to be covered.

The point of the movie was the smear campaign lodged against Bill Clinton from the get go. It featured interviews with Paul Begala, David Brock, Susan McDougal and various other journalists and people close to the McDougals and Clintons including some of the bad guys who hated Clinton in Arkansas and started this mess. Susan McDougal's account of what happened to her was chilling, especially the horrible way she was treated in prison. She is truly an American hero and patriot.

The smear campaign started with Arkansas right wing radicals who would do anything to smear Clinton including parading out Gennifer Flowers and that Paula Jones character. I remember that time in history even though I was very a-political at the time. I was busy doing the PTA and the mommy thing and only caught headlines in the paper and the evening news if I was lucky. I was a religion teacher, mind you, a recent graduate of a theological seminary and I was more disgusted at the pigs who went after Clinton than Clinton himself.

I was disappointed when I saw Paula Jones back then and disgusted when viewing the movie. Not that I have anything against hideous looking women, it was just that she was so sleezy and cheap. The whole story was so bogus. Honestly, a hunk like Clinton would never drop his drawers to seduce a woman. Nope. Men like him are used to women throwing themselves at them. He was no exception. We women used to discuss that at the playground. We figured that the people going after Clinton were just jealous of his charisma and charm. They still are.

Then the movie goes on to the Whitewater faux scandal. Watching that crap now in light of the worse scandals perpetrated by the bushies, just made me depressed. I am positive now that Whitewater was nothing. The journalists at the time sold their souls just like they did during the lead up to the Iraq quagmire we are in now.

When Hillary Clinton told the world about the vast right wing conspiracy, journalists scoffed, but in reality, many Americans knew it was true. I believed her because I couldn't believe the crap being paraded before us by the press about the president's private life. I always liked her and to this very day, I don't know why people hate her. Hillary was everything I wanted to be. Smart, self assured, outspoken, assertive and a babe. Only jealousy would make anyone hate her. But the movie wasn't about her. I'm just reminiscing.

After watching the movie, I'm interested in reading the book as I'm sure the movie simply glossed over the details. David Brock gave chilling descriptions of the time as did Susan McDougal. The depiction of Kenneth Starr didn't even come close to the evil and perverted man he really is but it did connect some dots I had missed. But all you have to do is think back to the Starr report and think of all the news coverage and your images of the giant circle jerk that must have gone on in the house when they read it. It was disgusting then and disgusting now. I never read the report and I refused to listen to it on TV. I guess back then the FCC wasn't into barring pornography and perversion on television like they are now. God, I hated the press and the senators questioning Clinton back then. What hypocrisy.

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone. -Jesus

The movie makes no apologies for Clinton's indiscretion with Monica. Everyone was disappointed including myself although sometimes I think that she was a plant. Even the Clinton library stories from yesterday included references to his sex scandal. How sick. How very sick and perverted the press is. Not everyone in America likes this stuff. Why professional college educated journalists would pander to disseminating sleeze still amazes me although I understand that it's all about money and the bottom line and not ethics and truth.

Think about this: During Clinton's administration, the press was more interested in his detractors than what he was doing for the country and during the Bush administration, bush's detractors are glossed over and his lies are reported as truth. Weird, huh?

I remember my mother in law always telling me about the liberal agenda. What liberal agenda? Hell, we need an agenda and should get working on it right now. The first thing we have to do is plant liberals in the media.

You should definitely get your hands on this movie or the book.
By the way, we watched 'White Chicks' after 'Hunting of the President' so we wouldn't go to sleep depressed. White Chicks is hilarious.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia
As Long as You Have a Roof Over Your Head....or Not

This morning the local weather dude said we'll have some rain today. Since Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne blew by this area, thousands of Florida residents cringe when they hear the words rain or wind. That’s because lots of us have roofs that are so incredibly damaged. Our shingles are gone and we are living under exposed wood roofs. If you flew over this area you would see so awful many roofs covered in blue tarps. It's been since the first of September that many of us have lived in these conditions. Just after the first hurricane, I began calling roofers. Most roofing companies in this area had no phone service due to the storm and the ones who had phone service were swamped with calls and pleas for repairs and replacement roofs. Then we had two days of heavy rain as Ivan was reborn. Next came the second hurricane. We were in hurricane hell.

Then there was the insurance company's involvement. Getting estimates on roof repair for the insurance company's satisfaction was another hurdle to overcome. How can you get an estimate for repair cost when you can't even talk to a roofing company? It was oh so frustrating. It was a nightmare.

But there is now a light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday afternoon the roofer that we finally contracted with called and told me that they will deliver our shingles and all that's involved on Saturday. Next Tuesday or Wednesday they will remove our old roof and place the first cover on our roof. When the inspector ok's that, then they can re-shingle the roof and we'll be done. So you say, that's no big deal. Yes, it surely is a big deal because once this roof is repaired we can repair and repaint the interior and then we'll get our new carpeting. That's a very big deal!

Since the last storm, much of our belongings are still in big black plastic bags sitting around in our house. Large parts of our carpeting have been removed because it was soaked from the storms and we have plastic runners placed over the bare concrete. Folks, this isn't a pretty scene. When I am getting ready to go somewhere I dig through the contents of the plastic bags to find shoes, purses, etc. There was no use to unpack the bags because even though we had the tarps on the roof, leaks could still occur. Also due to all the repairs that are yet to be done inside, all my things in my closet would need to be removed to protect them from damage. It's a major mess, trust me.

No one can have any idea how happy I am today. As I told a friend last night, I feel like someone has offered me a kidney just in case I ever need one. I'm that kind of happy about getting a new roof. I know you'll probably think this all sounds kind of pathetic and I understand, but in my world it's big time good news. Even the email that I received last night from an ex-commenter on this site didn't faze me. Stevens sent me a message to F myself. Well, F him, cause even his nasty message didn't and couldn't wipe the smile from my face. Who would have ever guessed in August that I would be this happy in November! It’s all about the roofing, baby!

Let's Tell It Like It Is

by pissed off patricia

Why don't we call war what it really is? It's open season on human beings. It's people hunting other people and when they find them, they can kill them legally. The group of hunters who kill the most people wins and declares victory.

**************

Go here, read this, be even more bummed out.
"Email From a Wall Street Journal Reporter in Baghdad-Truth!"

Friday Funnies

by pissed off patricia (via an email from a friend)

For all wine connoisseurs ...

BENTONVILLE, ARK (AP) -- Some Walmart customers soon will be able to sample a
new discount item: Walmart's own brand of wine. The world's largest retail
chain is teaming up with E&J Gallo Winery of Modesto,California, to produce the
spirits at an affordable price, in the $2-5 range. While wine connoisseurs may
not be inclined to throw a bottle of Walmart brand wine into their shopping
carts, there is a market for cheap wine, said Kathy Micken, professor of
marketing at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. She said: "The
right name is important." So, here we go:

The top 12 suggested names for Walmart Wine;

12. Chateau Traileur Parc

11. White Trashfindel

10. Big Red Gulp

9. Grape Expectations

8 . Domaine Wal-Mart "Merde du Pays"

7. NASCARbernet

6. Chef Boyardeaux

5. Peanut Noir

4. Chateau des Moines

3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!

2. World Championship Riesling

1. Nasti Spumante

The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with white meat (possum)
and red meat (squirrel).

The George Bush Library?

by pissed off patricia

As everyone knows, today is the day of the dedication of the William Jefferson Clinton Library. There are all sorts of memorabilia from President Clinton's years as president. It sounds as though it's a very interesting place. And no, the infamous blue dress isn't there but there is a reference to that whole nightmare.

Someday, I suppose there will be a George Bush Library. I wonder what will be on display there?
Any ideas, besides a copy of "My Pet Goat"?

Update: this post was moved to the top because it's so fun to participate in the discussion.

Republicans to Privatize Elections

WASHINGTON, DC—Citing the "extreme inefficiency" of this month's U.S. presidential election, key Republicans called for future elections to be conducted by the private sector.

"When the average citizen hears the phrase 'presidential election,' he thinks of long lines at polling places and agonizing waits as election results are tallied," U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told reporters Monday. "Putting the election of our public officials into the hands of private industry would motivate election officials to be more efficient."

"There's too much talk about the accuracy and fairness of our national elections, and not enough about their proficiency and profitability," Santorum added. "Who bears the brunt of bureaucratic waste? Taxpayers."

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) called for an end to "big government overseeing the election of big government."

"It's time we opened the election process to competition," Burns said. "The free market is the petri dish for innovation, be it in telecommunications, the healthcare system, or democracy."

read the rest

Hat tip to Patricia who found this in the Onion before you have a heart attack or a stroke.

More voter fraud research

Astute reader, Jennifer sent this article to my attention.
And no, I am not finished exploring voter fraud, black box voting irregularities, etc. I don't care if it changes the election outcome or not. It is appalling that the very people who are elected via these machines have a say in how we vote. It's about time that these issues are being investigated. We've known about it for 4 years. It's about time.

Research Team Calls for Immediate Investigation

BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ --
When: Thursday, November 18, 2004, 10:00 a.m. PST

Where: UC Berkeley campus, Survey Research Center Conference Room --
2538 Channing Way (intersection of Channing/Bowditch). Parking on Durant
near Telegraph.

What: A research team at UC Berkeley will report that irregularities
associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded
130,000 - 260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in
Florida in the 2004 presidential election. The study shows an unexplained
discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties where electronic
voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting
methods. Discrepancies this large or larger rarely arise by chance -- the
probability is less than 0.1 percent. The research team, led by Professor
Michael Hout, will formally disclose results of the study at the press
conference.

I Almost Forgot About the Environment!... no I didn't

Melting snow in the arctic will make a difference in my local climate and yours too. Ice melt will affect the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean thus messing up the Gulf Stream which keeps the temperatures moderate in my coastal area. We could have a mini ice age in the northern hemisphere. The British Isles and Europe are also in danger of a mini ice age because the Gulf Stream is what keeps the British Isles mild too. Not to mention, more water in the ocean will cause coastal areas to flood. Maybe Long Island and Manhattan will be the Atlantis scientists will look for in thousands of years. In 50 years, we could be under the water. (don't you love my scientific explanation for what is happening? heh.)

Sure this stuff can happen without our pollution, but isn't it possible that we are speeding it up?

Bush complains that controlling pollution will cause a loss of jobs in manufacturing and be too costly for our economy which is the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard in my life. There already is a loss of jobs in manufacturing and it isn't because of pollution controls. And what exactly is being manufactured that we can't live without which causes all this pollution? How much shit do we need and where are we supposed to put it? And when we run out of room in our houses for all this crap, it goes to a landfill and takes up more room. This "who gives a shit about the future because we won't be here" attitude displayed by the bush administration is irresponsible and disgraceful. The corporations in the US are making more money than ever! If they assumed pollution controls, it would merely make them make a little bit less money. Why the hell do they have to make so much money? It's not like it's trickling down to the poor schlubs who work at these corporations. What do they think they need so much money for anyway? Greedy greedy bastards.

If it isn't bad enough that the U.S. is ravaging oil rich lands for corporate profiteering, the CEO's obviously are stupid, ignorant, morons for not exploring alternate means of manufacturing cars and products for the past 30 years since we first realized that oil is a foreign policy commodity and there is not an endless source of fuel. Remember all the pollution scares of 30 years ago? Remember Love Canal? Does no one learn? We did clean up the environment quite a bit since then. But what happened? Manufacturers could have made a bigger fortune by inventing new technology and fuel efficient cars.

My area is adversely affected by air pollution. Studies have shown that the crappy air from the midwest industrial areas blows right over NYC and Long Island. Our air pollution has gone up since bush took the helm. I have had pneumonia twice and breathing problems. Of course we have idiot ass republicans living here too who wish to drive gigantic vehicles for local stop and go driving. And pretty much the NYC area is all stop and go driving. Asthma is up in our area too. Hardly anyone had asthma years ago. Now it seems like everyone has an inhaler. What is up with that?

My favorite Environmental Blog, Howling at the Waning Moon, points out this article that says that John McCain is outraged at the Bush administration's lack of concern for these environmental hazards. It turns out that he was just going along with bush to help him with the campaign. He has proposed a bill that he doesn't think will pass in the house. Nice. So what the hell good is John McCain? Too little too late. This party politics crap is ridiculous. Either you give a shit about your country and your planet or you don't. If John McCain gave a shit about the environment, he would have campaigned for Kerry.

There are trees growing in the tundra, polar bears are going to die, our ocean will be less salty, mild climates are going to get cooler, people have trouble breathing, we are losing jobs in our country regardless of the environmental disaster, we're running out of oil and it's just making me sick. Literally.


Ocean Climate Change Institute
Good Newsday Article about McCain-Lieberman bill and Kyoto
Grim Picture of Warmer World
After seven-year gestation, Kyoto Protocol set to be born

I'm not done ranting. But this is enough for the day. Bookmark Howling at the Waning Moon

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Bush Love and Whatever

Okay, this week we saw bush kiss Condi on the cheek. We saw him kiss Spellings on the lips. And, did you notice what he did with the pardoned Thanksgiving turkey, Biscuits? He grabbed the turkey around the neck as though he were going to choke it. Did he think it was a chicken?

Please Help Stop the Insanity of the Attack

by pissed off patricia

They are going after the Artic Wildlife Refuge again. Please, please, please go to this site and sign the petition to stop the madness. Then after you sign, send a link to everyone on your email list. They must hear us and maybe, just maybe, we can head off the attack. We have to keep trying!

Volusia

rhymes with Falluja.. but I digress

Doomocracy has a very interesting story coming out of Volusia County, Fla. It seems that a BlackBoxVoting.org investigation found memos and polling place tapes in the garbage.

Ewwwwwwwwwwww

What's going on here?
And here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

UPDATE: Astute commenter reminds us of this:
Rice was reportedly overheard saying, “As I was telling my husb—” and then stopping herself abruptly, before saying, “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, but a guest says the slip by the unmarried politician, who spends weekends with the president and his wife, seemed more psychologically telling than incriminating. Nobody thinks Bush and Rice are actually an item. A National Security Council spokesman laughed and said, “No comment.”

Astute blondesense contributor, Pissed Off Patricia, sent me this from BobandTom.com

ah much better.

no need for humanitarian relief when they're all dead

From WaPo: Iraq's Red Crescent Society sent seven truckloads of food and medicine to the city, but U.S. forces stopped the convoy at the main hospital, the Reuters news agency reported. Marine commanders said there was no need for humanitarian relief inside the city because so few people remained.

UPDATE:
"I don't know why the American leaders did not approach the Red Cross and ask us to deal with the families properly before the attacking began," said a Red Cross aid worker, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Suddenly they attacked and people were stuck with no help, no medicine, no food, no supplies," he said. "So those who could, ran for the desert while the rest were trapped in the city."

If the U.S. forces would call a temporary cease-fire "we could get our trucks in and get the civilians left in Fallujah who need medical care, we could get them out," he said.

Mosques have organised massive collections of food and relief supplies for Fallujah residents as they did last April when the city was under attack, but these supplies have not been allowed into the city either.

The Red Cross official said they had received several reports from refugees that the military had dropped cluster bombs in Fallujah, and used a phosphorous weapon that caused severe burns.

The U.S. military claims to have killed 1,200 "insurgents" in Fallujah. Abdel Khader Janabi, a resistance leader from the city has said that only about 100 among them were fighters.

"Both of them are lying," the Red Cross official said. "While they agree on the 1,200 number, they are both lying about the number of dead fighters." He added that "our estimate of 800 civilians is likely to be too low." -Dahr Jamail

This is worth reading and thinking about.

"The Tipping Point is Near" by Allen L. Roland

Mr. Roland feels that the bush administration may be on the edge of it's own disaster. Here's one of the three possibilities he mentions:

" The release of the second half of the 9/11 commission report which dealt with improper influence by the White house on intelligence gathering leading up to the Iraq war.

It is here that Dick Cheney's dark presence will be clearly seen as his office orchestrated misleading information via the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans ~ which was set up to justify our illegal occupation of Iraq."

(I bet you had forgotten all about this, huh? Me too.)

Wartime Abortion

by pissed off patricia

Okay anti-abortion people, how about this type of abortion? Is it okay if it's done this way?
Why aren't you raising your holy hell about this?

This from Dahr Jamail's website:

14 November 2004, The Sunday Herald - Scotland's award-winning independent newspaper

"She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide the shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her. “I cannot get the image out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body.”

Muna Salim’s sister, Artica, was seven months’ pregnant when two rockets from US warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1. “My sister Selma and I only survived because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night,” Muna continued, unable to reconcile her survival while eight members of her family perished during the pre-assault bombing of Fallujah that had dragged on for weeks."

(there's more and it's ugly)

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Selling Poor Little Souls and Their Health for Prizes
Poor Kids are Fodder for Experimentation

You are poor. You gave birth to your child. You didn't have an abortion. Now, the government would like to experiment with your child's health? In return they will give you some money and trinkets.

Where are the Right to Life folks on this? They are in Washington complaining about Sen. Specter. Yesterday they staged a complaint time/news conference. Of those at the microphone, I didn't see a single one who might be eligible for an abortion. Most were men and the women were obviously beyond their child-bearing years.

Here are some kids that have a right to life, so why don't their lives deserve to be protected? Is it because these kids have exited the womb and they'll get a T-shirt and mom and dad get goodies? These kids are out of the womb and poor. Why not fight for them too?

EPA WILL USE POOR KIDS AS GUINEA PIGS
IN NEW STUDY ON PESTICIDES

my congressman, Tom DeLay

Get on over to The Rude Pundit. He articulates the very being of Tom De Lay, my congressman, so well. His Rudeness also describes my current place of residence, Sugar Land, Texas with such accuracy, it makes me believe that The Rude Pundit is my neighbor!

I haven't written about DeLay because he makes me so angry that I simply can't string two words together about him. He is everything wrong with politics. Of course it is that very disgust that allows DeLay to grow stronger, like mold on the side of your doublewide, like cockroaches after a nuclear holocaust. One of my former students did walk up to him at church and tell him that she and I thought he was a hypocrite.

Really gave The Hammer pause, didn't it?

If there is a Gawd, Tom DeLay will be indicted. Those associates of his who were true billed by the Austin grand jury--you certainly couldn't get one in Harris or Ft. Bend County to investigate him--will roll over on him. The Republicans must be worried about it or they wouldn't have changed the rule.

More as this develops.

Why is Condi The Press' Darling?

Daily Howler has the scoop


Yuk. Look what the AP says. Could you vomit?

Rice will face major challenges across the foreign policy spectrum, trying to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians, foster democracy in Iraq and persuade North Korea and Iran to step back from suspected nuclear-weapons programs. She is considered more of a hard-liner than Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was out of step with more hawkish members of Bush's national security team.

Can you imagine her dealing with people the way she did at the 9/11 hearings? Her voice quivering and defensive... god help us.

Look Who's Enlisting

Intelligencer : Reporting for Duty By Jada Yuan

Who enlists the week U.S. troops invade Fallujah? Jada Yuan stopped by the recruiting station in Times Square to find out.

David Chen 22, Construction Worker
Bush or Kerry? Can’t vote, Taiwanese citizen.
Why enlisting: Chen has been trying to get into the armed forces ever since he immigrated two years ago. “If I die, I am asleep and I don’t have to worry about anything. The government takes care of my family. They never have to work again.”

Marc Policastro 25, Electronics Salesman
Bush or Kerry? Didn’t vote, but liked Kerry.
Why enlisting: Policastro comes from a family of vets. “I’m not a fighter, I’m a lover. But I want to have a sense of accomplishment. Instead of being that schmuck walking down the street looking for a $10-an-hour job, you can come back and make $25 an hour.”

Fernando Blanco 30, Club Bouncer
Bush or Kerry? Didn’t vote, but likes Bush.
Why enlisting: “If you’re a Hispanic male between 20 and 30 in New York and you don’t have a college degree, you sell drugs or work in a department store. I just want to get out of the city. Working security here is too dangerous.”

Lukasz Przybylo 24, Civil Engineer
Bush or Kerry? Can’t vote, Polish citizen.
Why enlisting: Joining will speed up Przybylo’s citizenship. “In the real world, my job would be boring. I’d probably be sitting at a computer, designing buildings. This is for myself, for personal satisfaction, for helping the country. It isn’t for Bush.”

Moses Laboy 30, Bar Manager
Bush or Kerry? Nader. “I figured it didn’t matter. We’re not a swing state.”
Why enlisting: His brother is shipping out the day before Thanksgiving, “and no matter whether we have an asshole chief commander, he still needs our support. My parents will be fine with it. My friends are gonna freak.”

ACTIVISM: Nagging Election Questions Linger

Florida's 8.2-percent spread -- between the early exits and the results -- is more than double the standard error rate. In Ohio, the spread is 6.5 percent. UPI

In Ohio: An analysis of the Franklin County Board of Elections allocation of machines reveals a consistent pattern of providing fewer machines to the Democratic city of Columbus, with its Democratic mayor and uniformly Democratic city council, despite increased voter registration in the city. The result was an obvious disparity in machine allocations compared to the primarily Republican white affluent suburbs.

Tom Paine: Across Ohio's minority-rich cities, there were fewer voting machines than during past elections, including March's presidential primary. As the number of voters grew by as much as 50 percent in some precincts, according to pro-Kerry field organizers, the number of voting machines on Election Day shrank by a third. Precincts that usually had five machines only had three.

StolenElection2004.org asks for your help in Ohio by making a phone call, sending an Email or Fax requesting that GOP shill Blackman recuse himself from any participation in investigating voting fraud. Sounds like common sense to me.

Alliance for Democracy has launched Ohio Honest Elections Campaign.


Randi Rhodes is calling for everyone to email F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the house judiciary committee. He has the power to subpoena the black boxes that hold the votes in the counties in Florida that have all those suspicious votes for Bush and all used optical scanners. These can be read and verified by a human being. Glenda Hood is the only other person that can do this, and she is never gonna do it.

Dear Chairman Sensenbrenner:

I am writing to request that as head of the judiciary committee you subpoena some black boxes that contain votes from the 47 Florida counties that have suspicious tallies.

One would be asked to believe that 100% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats, and 100% of Independents all voted for President Bush, despite exit polls to the contrary. To further arouse suspicion, all these counties used the same optical scanner system.

Perhaps if you would subpoena and examine the votes in some of these counties, you could put to rest the doubts and suspicions that many Americans harbor about the election. This would serve our country, our democracy, and help heal our great national divide.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Working for Change would like your participation: Contact your representatives and ask them for help. And yes, election day should be a National Holiday. This request by 2 former presidents has been ignored.

You know the drill. Visit blackboxvoting.org for updates. Ohio needs volunteers. And check out VoteWatch.us

Thank you, my fellow Americans!

Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching to Bush's War

I thought it a little strange when my son's draft card came in the mail shortly after his 18th birthday. We hadn't decided if we wanted him to sign up for the draft (ya know being that his father and I are former flower children) and finding out just how serious a crime it is to not sign up. Well that was settled. He got a draft card and there was no way to reply or tell anyone that he conscienciously objects to this.

So today, I happened to be reading the Beauregard Daily News in Louisiana and I see that even 15 year olds are being signed up for the draft in advance as soon as they get their licenses. This has greatly disturbed some folks. They contend that when a minor signs the dotted line for a drivers license, it should not be taken as an application for the selective service. According to the article, "Federal law only provides for ''early submission'' of information by a young man who is at least 17 years and three months old, he noted. When he turns 18, it is forwarded to the proper database."

The reporter asked some minors what they think about this:

''I don't care,'' said Mark Fontenot, a 16-year-old student at Apostolic Christian Academy.

Pineville High School student Josh Stokes, 15, said, ''I think it's good.'

''I think it's all right. I can't do anything about it anyway,'' said Stephen White, 16 and a student at Alexandria Senior High School.

Oh boy.

Should Canada indict Bush?

From the Toronto Star

When U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Ottawa — probably later this year — should he be welcomed? Or should he be charged with war crimes?

It's an interesting question. On the face of it, Bush seems a perfect candidate for prosecution under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

This act was passed in 2000 to bring Canada's ineffectual laws in line with the rules of the new International Criminal Court. While never tested, it lays out sweeping categories under which a foreign leader like Bush could face arrest Read More...

Can you imagine?

Aliens???

Didn't Ronald Reagan once say that if aliens attacked that it would bring the world together?

Idaho News: "UFOs are showing a keen interest in our nuclear weapons facilities, says investigator Robert Hastings, who has spent countless hours analyzing documents dealing with UFO sightings at nuclear missile launch sites and research labs in the United States over the past several decades.

"You have reference to these objects hovering, racing away at blinding speed," he told Idaho 2 News. "There is no evidence we have an aircraft that can do that or anyone else on earth."

...

"What they're doing is engaging in a decades long psychological preparation process whereby slowly but surely people on earth understand this is real, they're here," he said."

I'd like to see this.

Needing to Vent

by blondesense

How can you claim to be pro-life and hate the environment?
How can you claim to be pro-life and vote for the destruction of your planet?

We have created a climate of death in America and are spreading it around the world.
Women are having abortions in higher numbers since bush took office. The numbers were going down during the Clinton administration.
What the hell do you expect if you support a deadly administration? duh.

How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who want to stick it to the middle east?
How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi's?
How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who encourage jobs to go overseas?
How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who want to stick it to the elderly?
How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who advocate torture?
How can anyone be pro-life and vote for the people who have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world?

I'm pro-life goddammit. I don't vote for republicans and I don't support organized religion.

Blessed Are The Grilled Cheese Makers

What does Blondesense keep telling you? Worship God and his Mom, win great prizes.


Nah, this does not look like the Virgin Mary. It looks like an actress from the olden days, doesn't it? She looks too pert to be a woman from Palestine 2000 years ago.
Anyway, the Virgin of the Grilled Cheese is being auctioned at ebay.
The current bid is up to $5,100. Buy this sandwich and you will have good luck.

From the seller: You are viewing an extroidinary out of this world item!! I made this sandwich 10 years ago, when I took a bite out of it, I saw a face looking up at me, It was Virgin Mary starring back at me, I was in total shock, I would like to point out there is no mold or disingration, The item has not been preserved or anything, It has been keep in a plastic case, not a special one that seals out air or potiental mold or bacteria, it is like a miracle, It has just preserved itself which in itself I consider a miracle, people ask me if I have had blessings since she has been in my home, I do feel I have, I have won $70,000 (total) on different occasions at the casino near by my house

What did P.T.Barnum say again?

(hat tip to americablog for heads up)

Kissing Hanks Ass

This story is a bit lengthy. Try to guess who Hank is. What does this story represent?

========
This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first:

John: "Hi! I'm John, and this is Mary."
Mary: "Hi! We're here to invite you to come kiss Hank's ass with us."
Me: "Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who's Hank, and why would I want to kiss His ass?"
John: "If you kiss Hank's ass, He'll give you a million dollars; and if you don't, He'll kick the shit out of you."
Me: "What? Is this some sort of bizarre mob shake-down?"
John: "Hank is a billionaire philanthropist. Hank built this town. Hank owns this town. He can do whatever He wants, and what He wants is to give you a million dollars, but He can't until you kiss His ass."
Me: "That doesn't make any sense. Why..."
Mary: "Who are you to question Hank's gift? Don't you want a million dollars? Isn't it worth a little kiss on the ass?"
Me: "Well maybe, if it's legit, but..."
John: "Then come kiss Hank's ass with us."
Mary: "Oh yes, all the time..."
Me: "And has He given you a million dollars?"
John: "Well no. You don't actually get the money until you leave town."
Me: "So why don't you just leave town now?"
Mary: "You can't leave until Hank tells you to, or you don't get the money, and He kicks the shit out of you."
Me: "Do you know anyone who kissed Hank's ass, left town, and got the million dollars?"
John: "My mother kissed Hank's ass for years. She left town last year, and I'm sure she got the money."
Me: "Haven't you talked to her since then?"
John: "Of course not, Hank doesn't allow it."
Me: "So what makes you think He'll actually give you the money if you've never talked to anyone who got the money?"
Mary: "Well, He gives you a little bit before you leave. Maybe you'll get a raise, maybe you'll win a small lotto, maybe you'll just find a twenty-dollar bill on the street."
Me: "What's that got to do with Hank?"
John: "Hank has certain 'connections."
Me: "I'm sorry, but this sounds like some sort of bizarre con game."
John: "But it's a million dollars, can you really take the chance? And remember, if you don't kiss Hank's ass He'll kick the shit out of you."
Me: "Maybe if I could see Hank, talk to Him, get the details straight from Him..."
Mary: "No one sees Hank, no one talks to Hank."
Me: "Then how do you kiss His ass?"
John: "Sometimes we just blow Him a kiss, and think of His ass. Other times we kiss Karl's ass, and he passes it on."
Me: "Who's Karl?"
Mary: "A friend of ours. He's the one who taught us all about kissing Hank's ass. All we had to do was take him out to dinner a few times."
Me: "And you just took his word for it when he said there was a Hank, that Hank wanted you to kiss His ass, and that Hank would reward you?"
John: "Oh no! Karl has a letter he got from Hank years ago explaining the whole thing. Here's a copy; see for yourself."

From the desk of Karl

1. Kiss Hank's ass and He'll give you a million dollars when you leave town.
2. Use alcohol in moderation.
3. Kick the shit out of people who aren't like you.
4. Eat right.
5. Hank dictated this list Himself.
6. The moon is made of green cheese.
7. Everything Hank says is right.
8. Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
9. Don't use alcohol.
10. Eat your wieners on buns, no condiments.
11. Kiss Hank's ass or He'll kick the shit out of you.

Me: "This appears to be written on Karl's letterhead."
Mary: "Hank didn't have any paper."
Me: "I have a hunch that if we checked we'd find this is Karl's handwriting."
John: "Of course, Hank dictated it."
Me: "I thought you said no one gets to see Hank?"
Mary: "Not now, but years ago He would talk to some people."
Me: "I thought you said He was a philanthropist. What sort of philanthropist kicks the shit out of people just because they're different?"
Mary: "It's what Hank wants, and Hank's always right."
Me: "How do you figure that?"
Mary: "Item 7 says 'Everything Hank says is right.' That's good enough for me!"
Me: "Maybe your friend Karl just made the whole thing up."
John: " No way! Item 5 says 'Hank dictated this list himself.' Besides, item 2 says 'Use alcohol in moderation,' Item 4 says 'Eat right,' and item 8 says 'Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.' Everyone knows those things are right, so the rest must be true, too."
Me: "But 9 says 'Don't use alcohol.' which doesn't quite go with item 2, and 6 says 'The moon is made of green cheese,' which is just plain wrong."
John: "There's no contradiction between 9 and 2, 9 just clarifies 2. As far as 6 goes, you've never been to the moon, so you can't say for sure."
Me: "Scientists have pretty firmly established that the moon is made of rock..."
Mary: "But they don't know if the rock came from the Earth, or from out of space, so it could just as easily be green cheese."
Me: "I'm not really an expert, but I think the theory that the Moon was somehow 'captured' by the Earth has been discounted*. Besides, not knowing where the rock came from doesn't make it cheese."
John: "Ha! You just admitted that scientists make mistakes, but we know Hank is always right!"
Mary: "Of course we do, Item 7 says so."
Me: "You're saying Hank's always right because the list says so, the list is right because Hank dictated it, and we know that Hank dictated it because the list says so. That's circular logic, no different than saying 'Hank's right because He says He's right.'"
John: "Now you're getting it! It's so rewarding to see someone come around to Hank's way of thinking."
Me: "But...oh, never mind. What's the deal with wieners?"
Mary: She blushes.
John: "Wieners, in buns, no condiments. It's Hank's way. Anything else is wrong."
Me: "What if I don't have a bun?"
John: "No bun, no wiener. A wiener without a bun is wrong."
Me: "No relish? No Mustard?"
John: He's shouting. "There's no need for such language! Condiments of any kind are wrong!"
Me: "So a big pile of sauerkraut with some wieners chopped up in it would be out of the question?"
Mary: Sticks her fingers in her ears. "I am not listening to this. La la la, la la, la la la."
John: "That's disgusting. Only some sort of evil deviant would eat that..."
Me: "It's good! I eat it all the time."
John: He catches Mary. "Well, if I'd known you were one of those I wouldn't have wasted my time. When Hank kicks the shit out of you I'll be there, counting my money and laughing. I'll kiss Hank's ass for you, you bunless cut-wienered kraut-eater."

With this, John dragged Mary to their waiting car, and sped off.
+++++++++++++++
From KissingHanksAss Website by John Huber

Doves Have No Talons and Neither Do I

by pissed off patricia

What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I feel sorry for the injured, unarmed man who was shot in the head by the US Marine? Shouldn't I be able to say, like so many others have, well hell, they killed our soldiers with booby traps, etc. This was just one more death in a war. What the hell?

I can't see it that way. When both sides believe that what they're fighting for is right, how can either side be wrong and how can you justify either side's deaths. Could I be a soldier? Not a good one. I wonder what I would do holding a big assed gun and pointing it at another human being. I would be expected to shoot this person because they have a different point of view than I do? I'm not even sure I could pull the trigger on the big assed gun if the enemy was pointing a like weapon at me. Like an idiot, I would try to emotionally reason with this enemy. And I would probably wind up a corpse, but I would be a corpse who had never killed another human being.

Yes, I am adamantly pro-choice. And no, that isn't in opposition to my dovish attitude toward war. I believe until a fetus is able to live outside the mother's body it is just that, a fetus, not an independent human being. I also believe there is more to birth and life than exiting a womb. There is the life outside the womb and for some babies, that's a hell unto itself. Far too many people have children for far too many wrong reasons. Giving birth to a full term baby is not something you should do on a whim. It's much too big a responsibility to take it casually. Trust me, I know what it's like to be born into a family that never ever would have passed a “are you fit and prepared to care for a child” test.

So again, what the hell is wrong with me that I cannot get my war self on? Why can't I cheer for the home team and be blind to the injuries and deaths of the other team? Is that the difference between hawks and doves? Doves don't have talons but hawks do. Doves also are eaten by hawks. I've seen it happen in my yard. I cursed the hawk even though I knew in its natural world it had to have food to survive. I cried for the dove as it was tightly clutched in the hawks talons and staring at it's own death. See, even though I felt emotions for both the dove and the hawk, I didn't see a villain. I saw life's natural but necessary ugly side of survival.

War appears to be life's ugly side too. But unlike the hawk and the dove, I don't believe it to be a part of the natural world. I can't feel this war was necessary. It goes against my nature to see death through competition. Whether it's cock fights or dog fights or war, it's competitive killing. Death has so many avenues, so many ways to reach us, so many natural and unnatural soldiers carrying out its own mission. Why do we have to recruit and create more by declaring war upon our fellow human beings?


Maybe that's what's wrong with me. Maybe I'm so perplexed because I feel that life is too precious to spend any part of it killing. Maybe that's the way it feels when you have no talons.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Where is Super Man when we need him most?

Does anyone have his number because he needs to be here and help us. We need someone able to leap over tall buildings at a single bound and we sure as hell need someone faster than a speeding bullet.

I've never felt like this before. I want something magical to happen because I'm really and truly afraid of what may be about to happen. I don't see how we mortals have any way to stop it. Folks, we've been invaded by a force we never thought we would have to deal with, and if you're not afraid, good for you. Of course you have no idea of what is occurring, but good for you. Enjoy you stay in la-la land.

This second term is off to a frightening start. There hasn't even been a hint of anything toward the middle. Not only has the pendulum swung to the far right, it's being held hostage there. Now we have to wonder if it will ever swing back. Sure, its been over there before but this is now and it looks as though it's being held there pretty damned tight.

Basically our country is in the hands of Cheney and Rumsfeld. Now, doesn't that Super Man rescue sound a little more pressing? Yeah, I thought so. Two old white men who love the shit out of war. Two old white egos who don't give a damn about our future. Two old white men have your future in their hands and they are playing king of the hill. Two old white men in control of the most lethal weapons on earth. Two old white men who will lie as naturally as they breathe. Four more years is what some wanted and now they get that with a flourish. Let's see who, of which party, cries foul first.

If we had the ability to look ahead to see what things will be like in 2008, would we want to do that?

IE, You're Fired.

You don't have to tolerate Internet Explorer anymore. Your computer will not be invaded anymore. I use Mozilla and it's great. Yes, it will import your information from IE. Just get rid of IE. Blogs will work better too.

Read: Firefox Leaves No Reason to Endure Internet Explorer

More Stuff You Won't See in US Media

Read Dahr Jamail and you'll surely wonder if it's 1984 or 2004.

Dogs are eating bodies on the streets of Fallujah. Anyone can come across the border into Iraq by merely tipping the "guard" $3. Hospitals are ravaged and looted. Doctors arrested. Innocent people killed or arrested.

“I was with a woman in labor. The umbilical cord had not yet been cut. At that time, a US soldier shouted at one of the (Iraqi) national guards to arrest me and tie my hands while I was helping the mother to deliver. I will never forget this incident in my life.” - An Iraqi Doctor in Fallujah.

Patricia and I highly recommend that you bookmark DahrJamailIraq.com
to find out what is really going on in Iraq.
-------------
Ooops. CNN Covered one instance of cruelty. It just so happened to be videotaped. But what about all the other horror stories being corroberated by eyewitnesses?

And here are some very graphic photos you won't see on TV.


ELECTION UPDATE: Iraq's deputy prime minister has indicated for the first time that the much-heralded elections due in January could be derailed by the country's violent insurgency. Read more

Colin out! Condi in?

"Senior administration officials said Monday that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was most likely to succeed Powell."

read story

Just when you thought it might get a tad better it gets a shit load worse. Imagine! Just at the time when bush could go more toward the middle, he takes aim to the even right-er. Plus can you see her meeting with foreign leaders and answering their questions the way she answered at the 9-11 hearings? Is she bush's Monica? Sounds like it to me. Oh please, I do not want to look at her for another four years. What next?

Video of Condi at 9/11 hearings.(quicktime movie)

Bitchin' and Adam is Thankin' God Almighty

by Pissed Off Patricia

Okay everybody, this is the way one good Christian conservative speaks of the election. He is also kind enough to provide his email address on his site.

The words of Adam Yoshida:

"Four More Years! AKA: Take That, You Sons of Bitches"

"Let’s face a hard truth: this was the bitterest Presidential campaign in living memory. The Democrats and their allies staked everything on the defeat of this President. All of the resources they had accumulated over a generation of struggle were thrown into this battle: and they have failed. Despite all of their tricks, despite all of their lies, the people have rejected them. They mean nothing. They are worth nothing. There’s no point in trying to reach out to them because they won’t be reached out to. We’ve got their teeth clutching the sidewalk and out boot above their head. Now’s the time to curb-stomp the bastards."

and

"It was closer than we’d like, of course. Far too close. I still can’t believe that anyone voted for John Kerry. John Kerry was a personification of everything that’s wrong with the Democrat Party today. A traitor in his youth, he proposed policies of economic division at home and which would have brought military defeat abroad. The once-proud Democratic Party of people like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson has been reduced to such a level as to become little better than the party of AIDS, abortion, adultery and appeasement.

But, whatever, we won: to hell with the rest of them. Those who didn’t support Bush can go and perform a certain anatomically impossible act. They lost, now they can sit in the back of the bus.

Thank God Almighty."

don't do anything, just stand there

Powell quits. How would anyone know he was there?

Remember the scene in Mars Attacks! when the Colon Powell like character phones his wife and says, "See I told you if I did nothing I would get to be in charge."

General Sanctimonious did not act in My Lai, other than to cover it up. (Why the hell didn't someone slap those Swift Boat Liars with My Lai? Does anyone remember Lt. Calley?) He did not tell Bush to Cheney himself, no, he would rather lie to the world and the U.N.

How many times did Powell's apologists say, well, he can't influence them if he isn't one of them. He had no influence and if he did he consciously did not use it.

Put it in a book, General. Get out of my face, get out the executive. Now I have to look at clips of you doing nothing for the next news cycle. You have done quite enough nothing for quite awhile.

No Matter What They Tell You....

It's not over. The election is not over.

Bev Harris is not finished with her work. Please donate and visit her site for the latest developments. blackboxvoting.org

Read from Zogby: I Smell A Rat (thanks sukabi)

From the 14 Signs of Fascism:
14. Fraudulent Elections -- Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination of) opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

6. Controlled Mass Media -- Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or through sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia


Who's Telling the Truth?

Will There Be Consequences?

Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here trying to determine what is the truth and what isn't. This may take a while.

Do I believe the words of Baghdad george and his PR buddies in Washington, or do I believe the words of the Iraqi people who are actually trying to continue to live and survive in their own country? Do I believe the Iraqis are crazy about us, or do I believe that they hate our guts for what is being done to them in our name?

I try to listen to both sides of any situation before drawing a conclusion. I don't want to be suckered in by anyone, so I try to listen and evaluate.

Here's where I am so far. When Baghdad george says things are coming along nicely in Iraq and the only ones there who want to kill our soldiers are thugs and such, I kind of doubt him. See, if we had truly liberated the Iraqis and they truly were overjoyed about this, I don't think you would have to bribe and pay them to get them to protect what is theirs. I think, out of loyalty to their country, they would take up arms and fight for their own. Hummm, maybe that's exactly what they're doing. Maybe all those we call insurgents, thugs, terrorists, or whatever, are men protecting their neighborhoods from what they see as American insurgents. As for terrorists, well looks to me like we have done to Iraq what was done to us. And, when it happened to us, we called those who did it terrorists.

We've invaded a country and killed thousands of that country's people. What happens if the Iraqis elect a new head of their country and this new leader makes the statement, you're either with us or you're with the Americans. What happens then? Would we have to re-liberate the Iraqis?

***

The announcement that Colin Powell grabbed a parachute came as no surprise this morning. The surprise is that he could stomach this administration as long as he did. I'm sure that there were no bush tears shed over this as Powell was probably considered by the rest of this administration ot be the Secretary of Obstruction.


***

UPDATE:
Is the Geneva Convention out the window?
The way the attack on Fallujah has been conducted makes one thing crystal clear: the Geneva Convention has been overtly and specifically abandoned, not just in the treatment of prisoners, but also in the conduct of military assaults. Of course, the United States violates it in one way or another frequently and systematically violates the provisions of the more enlightened 1979 Additional Protocols (which it has never ratified), but in this case it is deliberately and systematically violating the basic core conventions themselves.

Read more from this NYU professor at Empire Notes

Gory Gory Poor Fallujah

Eyewitness reports show that Washington isn't affected by global warming.

A family came to me last night, asking if I knew anywhere they could get hold of some food.
When I mentioned that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had died, they were shocked.
"It's a conspiracy," they said. "They have killed him so that his death overshadows our plight in the news." -BBC Reporter

======

People leaving the city described rotting corpses being piled up and thousands still trapped inside their homes, many of them wounded and without access to food, water or medical aid. US commanders insist civilian casualties in Fallujah have been low, but the Pentagon famously claims it does not keep figures.

...

The US Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed last week that Iraqi civilians had been warned how to avoid injury. "Innocent civilians in that city have all the guidance they need as to how they can avoid getting into trouble. There aren't going to be large numbers of civilians killed and certainly not by US forces," he said.

The Iraq Coalition Casualties website reported that, as of Saturday, 1,181 US troops had been killed in Iraq. One Iraq-based report estimates civilian casualties to be 37,000. A report in the British medical journal The Lancet put the figure as high as 100,000. -Independent Report

Now for something completely different. News from America...

General Praises Speed of Fallujah Success
Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski told The Associated Press he and other planners took lessons from the failed three-week U.S. assault on the city in April, which was called off by the Bush administration after a worldwide outcry over civilian deaths.

This time the military used swarms of aircraft more than 20 types that pounded the city before and during the assault.

"We had the green light this time and we went all the way," Natonski said.

Here's a journalist's blog from Fallujah. With pictures.

===========

Well America sure as hell showed those people, didn't we? We blew them to smithereens and we should be organizing celebrations in the streets across America now shouldn't we? We won!
Oh yeah, and it's gonna cost us taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to rebuild Fallujah, get the people back to their homes and start a democracy in Iraq with a faux election. Probably much like our democracy here in America. As long as you don't say anything bad about our government, you're safe from their wrath.

We Are Going to Need This Resource

A LOT

First Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution
Bookmark this page You're going to need to reference it often.

This just in from The Raw Story and Newsday:

"WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

'The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House,' said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda.'"
---30---
That is just brilliant. Fire everyone who disagrees with you and surround yourself with people who will tell you what you want to know.

This president who claims to be "resolute" is just stubborn and out of touch with reality. Sounds like every drunk I have ever known. He is operating under that Wilsonian view of the world that dragged our nation's ass into World War II. President Wilson wanted to make the world safe for democracy while crushing dissent and labor movements at home. President Bush wants to make the world safe for Halliburton while crushing dissent, Democrats, and labor at home.

Wilson was so upset that the Senate would not ratify the Versailles Treaty, he had a stroke.

Religion loomed large for Wilson. His father had been a minister. Bush thinks that religion saved him, too. Saved him from what? He is still an untreated alcoholic with delusions of grandeur. How many missteps of the Twelve Steps is Bush making?

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable. (He is well managed.)
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ( Talked to Billy Graham, a power greater than the Bush family.)
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. (That would be the Old Testament Yahweh, right? The one that demands worship?)
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. (Oh,please.)
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. (Can't name mistakes he or his administration has made.)
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. (What would those be? Lying? )
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. (No, we just elevate our shortcomings to AG.)
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. (Does not attend funerals or visit the off loading site of flag draped coffins.)
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. (Those soldiers' families get death benefits, right?
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. (Holy Shit, Batman.)
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. (Well, Bush talks to God and he indeed has the power to carry out God's will.)
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. (You are kidding, aren't you.)

Isn't this depressing? Can't you see where this is going? Fire "doubters" and "non-believers." Make the statement that torture is acceptable by keeping Rummy and elevating Gonzalez. Send Ashcroft to the modern day John Birchers, the Federalist Society, and say that federal judges are a drag on Bush's efforts, label the Democrats as disloyal, fan the flames of hate, see enemies everywhere, say that Iraq, which is about as threatening as Poland was to Germany, is a threat to the United States. The list grows. How many lines do we have to cross before we lose ourselves?

Use BugMeNot.com to get user names and passwords for some articles.

Watch Your Mouth America!

From The Rocky Mountain News

Secret Service pays visit to Boulder High
By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
November 12, 2004

Bob Dylan's Masters of War is a hard-hitting, anti-war song produced more than 20 years before any current Boulder High School student was born.

More than 40 years after its release, the song has been resurrected at Boulder High with huge and confusing repercussions that prompted Secret Service agents to pay the campus a visit Thursday.

Some students and parents apparently let the Secret Service and talk-radio stations know they were unhappy with the plan of a trio of students to do a poetry reading of the song, accompanied by background music, according to Ron Cabrera, the school's principal.

Rumors were rampant that during an audition and rehearsal for today's talent show, the students changed Dylan's powerful last verse at the end of the song to say that they hoped that President Bush was going to die.

The last verse begins: "And I hope that you die; And your death'll come soon."

Secret Service agents interviewed Cabrera on Thursday to determine what all the uproar was about and whether any threats were being made against the president's life.

"They were following up and doing their due diligence," Cabrera said of the agents' visit. "They had been receiving calls from the community and, in the course of the talk show, felt like they had heard (the students) inciting physical harm to the president."

Cabrera said he talked to the students and teachers who have been working with them, and he was told the group, which calls itself the Coalition of the Willing, made no reference to Bush.

"I don't know why it surfaced," Cabrera said of the complaints. "I think they're surprised by all the allegations."

Cabrera said he also showed the agents the lyrics of the entire song. The agents appeared to have left satisfied that no bona-fide threat was being directed at the president, he said.

The principal said the students' performance of the song at the talent show upholds their right to express themselves, and he did not think it was inappropriate in a campus setting.

A Secret Service spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Cabrera acknowledged that the group did consider at one time naming itself the "Tali-banned." A teacher persuaded the teens to drop the title because it was offensive, he said.

Religion I Can Live With

by pissed off patricia

Last night we went out to dinner. As always, we left the TV on in the bedroom. We leave it on for the dog. Don't ask. Anyway, when we came home there was a program on, the guest was Sister Joan. Forgive me for not taking note of the program. I listened to Sister Joan while preparing for bed. Let me correct that, first I heard her, and then I listened. Oh my goodness, she made so much sense. She made one statement that rang out loud and clear. She said, regarding the Christian Right, "They're pro-birth, not pro-life." Think about that. She's so right! The Christian Right fight for the fetus to be born but once it's born they pay little attention to what happens to it after that.

This is a Sister with passion that I can live with. I wish all religious people could see life the way she does, because that's exactly what this country needs right now. We need dozens and dozens of Sister Joans. It's thinking and rationale such as hers that just might be able to heal the wounds and span the divide.

I am not a religious person. I know that not everyone believes what I believe. I am not anti-religion. I appreciate that religion is very important to many, many people. Sister Joan's words are religious words that I can believe. I don't agree with every single thing she says, but I think I agree more than I disagree. Her point of view earns and demands my respect. You just might feel the same.

From the National Catholic Reporter site:
"Yes, but what about the rest of us?"
"To tell you the truth, whatever the protocol of acceptance and concession speeches after presidential elections -- and I watched both -- I would not call what we just went through a national election. Or at least not a healthy one. I would call it a warning, a signal of things to come, the klaxon of what is clearly a crossover moment in time, perhaps, but not a real profile of the historic American character and hopes."

And, here's more:
"The fact is that what we saw is what extremism looks like, what cultural evolution looks like, what fear looks like, what religion run amuck looks like. We saw radical right fundamentalist religion pitted against the most shameless definitions of secular liberalism as weak, immoral and irresponsible. It was the battle of two one-eyed monsters writ large. No nuances. No common ground. No common sense. No real evidence."
(please, please, go and read the rest)

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

ABC News

"Courts are not equipped to execute the law. They are not accountable to the people," Ashcroft said.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, compared Ashcroft's remarks to those the attorney general previously made indicating that opponents of administration counterterrorism policies were assisting terrorists.

"It's entirely in line with his overt hostility to dissent, debate and judicial review," Romero said. "That further underscores the need for a wholesale review of Mr. Ashcroft's policies and a new direction in the Justice Department."

Ya think?

What's most frightening is Ashcroft's replacement may be even worse. He has a track record of walking right around laws and never looking back. I don't anticipate Mr. Gonzales will take a new direction. Looks to me like he will stay on course. This is not good!

all scott, all the time

Tanks greet protesters in L.A. Voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida. Ashcroft claiming that federal judges are undermining the war efforts by questioning Bush--

These stories are not on the mainstream news. It is all Scott, all the time.

Could any of these stories get the attention of Scott Peterson? I am sorry for the lives he stole and the ones left in his wake, but folks, it isn't news. It happens every goddamn day. The country is slipping into fascism and we are pretending to be interested in domestic violence. We really aren't interested in that, either because viewers are not informed of how common murdering pregnant women really is.

And the story is really about how good looking Scott is. How could someone that good looking be a murderer? Why doesn't the media report on the mail he gets from women who think they are in love with him? Why don't we talk about the murder of non white, affluent, not as pretty as Laci women who are murdered every day by their less than hunky husbands?

Use BugMeNot.com to get user names and passwords for some articles.

It's Not A Red State/Blue State Thing

Down With Fancy Book Learnin'
What's it mean that the big cities and college towns of America all voted blue?
From Morford today:

"...more to it than the conservative Right's hatred of same-sex marriage or French restaurants or fancy book learnin'. What to make of the astounding fact, for example, that the very places that are most in danger of attack from terrorism -- that is, places like New York, D.C., Los Angeles -- all went overwhelmingly blue?

"Put another way, if terrorism was, for the fear-drunk red states, indeed the most galvanizing issue this election, why did those places most susceptible to attack (or, in New York's case, still reeling from one) vote for Kerry in such astounding numbers? What do they know that, say, Kentucky doesn't?

...

"Yessir, I guess they showed those goddamn liberals. Guess they showed those damn college boys who's boss. Guess they showed those of us who are most at risk of terror attack and most open to change and most welcoming to the various variations of love and marriage and art and culture in this country who really owns the big stick. "

How very unfortunate, then, that we are all to be beaten with it "

Baghdad Burning

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Murder...
People in Falloojeh are being murdered. The stories coming back are horrifying. People being shot in cold blood in the streets and being buried under tons of concrete and iron... where is the world? Bury Arafat and hurry up and pay attention to what's happening in Iraq.

They say the people have nothing to eat. No produce is going into the city and the water has been cut off for days and days. Do you know what it's like to have no clean water??? People are drinking contaminated water and coming down with diarrhoea and other diseases. There are corpses in the street because no one can risk leaving their home to bury people. Families are burying children and parents in the gardens of their homes. WHERE IS EVERYONE???

Furthermore, where is Sistani? Why isn't he saying anything about the situation? When the South was being attacked, Sunni clerics everywhere decried the attacks. Where is Sistani now, when people are looking to him for some reaction? The silence is deafening.

We're not leaving the house lately. There was a total of 8 hours of electricity today and we've been using the generator sparingly because there is a mysterious fuel shortage... several explosions were heard in different places.

Things are deteriorating swiftly.

More on Falloojeh crisis here:
Aid agencies say Falluja "big disaster"...
Eyewitness: Smoke and Corpses...

Iraqis will never forgive this- never. It's outrageous- it's genocide and America, with the help and support of Allawi, is responsible. May whoever contributes to this see the sorrow, terror and misery of the people suffering in Falloojeh.
-Riverbend

And now for something completely different

My son is an avid videogame player. I am too. Well not that much lately. I have game cube and game boy advanced of my own. I bought my son a brand new video game experience for his birthday mostly because it looked like it'd be good exercise. And it is. It is like doing aerobics.

It's called eye toy. You stand in front of a camera that is on top of your tv and it's plugged into your Playstation. There are other games coming out for it too. You line up with the markers and then the game begins. You have to lean left and right, jump or duck, flail your arms around and keep on moving to make the character in the game know where to go or what to do. What an experience! It's like the future! I'm out of breath.

It seems like a great party game for adults and kids alike. But if you're worried that you or your kids aren't getting enough exercise, this is a great 30 minute fun and get your blood flowing type of amusement. Takes your mind off all the crap in the world for a while too.

Also coming soon is a surf board video game where you stand on a surfboard to control the character and there are shooting games where you use a gun, but we don't do guns in this house, a cordless steering wheel for a driving game, a bongo playing game with electronic bongos that control the game and also a drum playing game with sticks. Imagine this stuff? When I first got married, we had PONG hooked up to our TV. Everyone thought we were so fucking modern. heh.

A Sin Against Woman

The delightful Jaye, fellow blondesense reporter and blogger of Winding Road writes:

"NO MORE:

Women seeking abortions in Mississippi must first sign a form indicating they've been told abortion can increase their risk of breast cancer. They aren't told that scientific reviews have concluded there is no such risk.

Similar information suggesting a cancer link is given to women considering abortion in Texas, Louisiana and Kansas, and legislation to require such notification has been introduced in 14 other states.

---------
Enough lying to women. Enough. Women need to take control of their health and their bodies. If it isn't the pharmacist refusing to fill birth control pill prescriptions--Message to Women: I will not participate in facilitating your well being--it is abortion clinics lying to women about mythical cancer risk. Message to Women: Have an abortion, lose your breast, i.e. you womenhood, to cancer. "

Read rest of rant

Don't you just love this? Grrrrrrrrrrr

Please visit Jaye's anonymous super secret blog too. Incite!

Better Dead Than Red

Ohio's Secretary of State Ken Blackwell worked really hard to suppress the Democratic vote in Ohio. The liberal media is being very careful not to report any of this less it be seen as liberal. Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org, Keith Olberman of MSNBC and Randi Rhodes of Air America are the Woodward and Bernstein's of this post election outrage.

Selections from Better Dead Than Red:

6:23 am, Cleveland, Nov 2, 2004:
When the polls open, the line doesn't budge.
Four minutes pass. Then five. Then ten.
Voters start to fidget.
"What's taking so long?" someone finally asks.
The head poll worker looks up apologetically. "We've only got one pen," she explains.

6:51am, Cleveland, Nov 2, 2004:
"Are you sure you're at the right spot?"
"Yes," Heimburger says, laying her registration card on the table like a full house.
"Huh," the worker says, flipping through the book. "Well, we can't find your name, but what we can do is give you a provisional ballot."

9:30am, Akron, Nov 2, 2004:
He's voted at the same Akron precinct for 40 years, but because of precinct rezoning, he's been sent to Buchtel, where lines ringed the school and stretched into the street as early as 6 a.m. The polls opened 20 minutes late, with only four stations open. People say they've waited two hours. Some left because they couldn't be late for work.

1:30 p.m, Cleveland, Nov 2, 2004:
At the Addison branch of the Cleveland Public Library, the lines are so long that they loop through the building like skeins of tangled spaghetti. Of the 17 voting machines here, half don't work.

4:03 p.m, Cleveland, Nov 2,2004
"Are you making a movie about the election?" someone asks.
"The videotape exists as evidence," he says. "It's not to appear in your cineplex. It's to appear in a court of law!"
Michael Moore leads a stumbling charge into the school to capture the long lines, but blocking his path is Michael Vu, Cuyahoga County's election director. He looks like a little boy in a grown-up suit, plucked from a college civics course and thrust into the role of Evil Bureaucrat in Mr. Moore Goes to Cleveland .
I'm sorry, no cameras, Vu says.
But Moore is armed with a recent court ruling. "We're not letting anyone tell us that our camera can't go somewhere," he says.

Check out The Black Commentator: Reconstructing the Crime
*****************

Do you think it's possible that the chaos in Fallujah was orchestrated in order to take away from the stolen election?
Oh my, yes, and it's really hard to deal with this double whammy put forth by the fascists but 19 years ago today I finally delivered my beautiful, and way too large for the birth canal, baby boy after 4 days of labor. I can deal with this.

Happy Birthday, Will. Don't be discouraged. We'll fight a bit more before we move to Canada. Yes, these are interesting times indeed. Love, Mom

Why is it Unspecified? What action?

by pissed off patricia

From the Guardian
Iraqi Gov't Warns Media About Coverage

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government warned news organizations Thursday to distinguish between insurgents and ordinary civilians in coverage of the fighting in Fallujah and to promote the leadership's position or face unspecified action.
(there's more)

What Are the Odds?

by pissed off patricia

Check this out at Buzzflash
Here's part of it:
"BuzzFlash was forwarded a copy of a new research paper (271k PDF) on the exit polls from the 2004 election.
In "The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy," Dr. Steven F. Freeman says:

"As much as we can say in social science that something is impossible, it is impossible that the discrepancies between predicted and actual vote counts in the three critical battleground states [Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania] of the 2004 election could have been due to chance or random error."

The odds of those exit poll statistical anomalies occurring by chance are, according to Freeman, "250,000,000 to one." That's 250 MILLION to ONE."

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Dr. Bob Jones III, of BJ University (lol) is Tickled Pink About Bush's Win.
You'll Be Seeing Red!

From Bob Jones University:
Congratulatory letter to President George W. Bush from Dr. Bob Jones III

Here's a little hint about the contents.

"In your re-election, God has graciously granted America—though she doesn't deserve it—a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly."

When you get to the 4th paragraph you may explode or at the least go bananas. Thought I should warn you.

***
You knew this was coming. There's always waste matter. "We're Not Sorry"

So what's new?

Oh goodie, global warming is seen as a boon to the shipping industry. What a coincidence.

Oh goodie, Bush and Blair are going to bring peace to Israel and Palestine. How ironic.

Oh goodie, Army tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in California. (quicktime movie) How fitting.

Oh goodie.The election isn't over yet. Who is going to be the next Woodward and Bernstein? Bloggerman?

Uh Oh. The grand refusal has started. I can't stop shopping. Help me.

Oy vay. Bill Maher is being sued by a former model because he doesn't want to play "power couple" with her anymore. Take that, O'Reilly!

Oh goodie. Not only did Gonzalez counsel the president on torture. He counseled the former governor of Texas on who to execute.

Oh bummer. The terror threat alert was lowered to yellow here in NY. No more cute cops with big guns to gawk at perched at every Starbucks and tourist haven.

Oh cool. National Turn Off the TV Day. Jan 20. All Spin Zone Rocks

Mr Bush is killing babies.

And he's creating new veterans at this very hour.

And what's this about the US using chemical weapons in Fallujah?

And sure, I'd like to see the 9/11 investigation open. 75% of New Yorkers believe it was a coverup. We should know. We live here.

Looks Like Kabul-

"I am surrounded by thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil.
There was a big explosion a few minutes ago and now I can hear gunfire.

A US armoured vehicle has been parked on the street outside my house in the centre of the city.

From my window, I can see US soldiers moving around on foot near it.

They tried to go from house to house but they kept coming under fire.

Now they are firing back at the houses, at anything that moves. It is war on the streets.

The American troops look like they have given up trying to go into buildings for now and are just trying to control the main roads.

I am sitting here on my own, watching tragedy engulf my city.

Looks like Kabul"
-Fadhil Badrani
*************************

Now on the other hand, some of our troops are into it:

"Prepare to copy that 89089226. Direction 202 degrees. Range 950 metres. I got five motherf****** in a building with weapons."

Capt Kirk Mayfield, commander of the Phantoms, called for fire from his task force's mortar team.

But Sgt Anyett didn't want to wait.

"Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out - I'm from Alabama."

Two minutes tick by. "They're moving deep," shouted Sgt Anyett with disappointment.

A dozen loud booms rattle the sky and smoke rose as mortars rained down on the co-ordinates the sergeant had given.

"Yeah," he yelled. "Battle Damage Assessment - nothing. Building's gone. I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job."

Bitchin' About the Same Thing That The All Spin Zone is bitchin' about

by pissed off patricia

We here in the West Palm Beach, Florida area won't be able to see "Saving Private Ryan" tonight. Our local affiliate is afraid of the FCC or the moral majority or the reality of war. ABC has said that they would cover any of their affiliates that might be fined by the FCC, so why the hell not show the movie?

Iraq Today

'Groundhog Day' in Iraq
NY Times
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
November 11, 2004

I got a brief glimpse of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's news conference on Monday, as the battle for Falluja began. I couldn't help but rub my eyes for a moment and wonder aloud whether I had been transported back in time to some 20 months ago, when the war for Iraq had just started. Watching CNN, I saw the same Rummy joking with the Pentagon press corps, the same scratchy reports from the front by "embedded reporters,'' the same footage of U.S. generals who briefed the soldiers preparing for battle about how they were liberating Iraq.

There was only one difference that no one seemed to want to mention. It wasn't 20 months ago. It was now. And Iraq has still not been fully liberated. In fact, as the fight for Falluja shows, it hasn't even been fully occupied.

Taking in this scene I had very mixed feelings: a fervent hope that victory in Falluja will start to tip Iraq in the right direction, and utter scorn at the fact that we are now, once again, fighting a full-scale war in central Iraq, without an ounce of self-reflection by an administration that long ago declared "mission accomplished.'' But don't worry. Rummy has it all under control. He hasn't made any mistakes. Everything is going as planned. The plan was always to fight running street battles in Falluja 20 months after Saddam's fall.

So lay off. Shut up. Watch Fox. Wave a flag. Visit a red state. Don't ask how we got into this fix. Shut up. Lay off. Watch Fox. ...

Alas, I'm part of that dwindling minority who believe that a decent outcome in Iraq is both hugely important and still possible. But the "déjà vu all over again" battle for Falluja only reminds me that I still have the same questions I had before the Iraq war started. Free advice: until you have answers to the following six questions, don't believe any happy talk coming from the Bush team on Iraq.

Question 1 Have we really finished the war in Iraq? And by that I mean, is it safe for Iraqis and reconstruction workers to drive even from the Baghdad airport into town, and for Iraqi politicians to hold campaign rallies and have a national dialogue about their country's future?

Question 2 Do we have enough soldiers in Iraq to really provide a minimum level of security? Up to now President Bush has applied what I call the Rumsfeld Doctrine in Iraq: just enough troops to protect ourselves, but not Iraqis, and just enough troops to be blamed for everything that goes wrong in Iraq, but not enough to make things go right.

Ah, Friedman, what do you know about troop levels? Actually, not much. Never shot a gun. But I'm not a chef either, and I know a good meal when I eat one. I know chaos when I see it, and my guess is that we are still at least two divisions short in Iraq.

Question 3 Can Iraqis agree on constitutional power-sharing? Is there a political entity called Iraq? Or is there just a bunch of disparate tribes and ethnic and religious communities? Is Iraq the way Iraq is because Saddam was the way Saddam was, or was Saddam the way Saddam was because Iraqis are the way they are - congenitally divided? We still don't know the answer to this fundamental question because there has not been enough security for Iraqis to have a real horizontal dialogue.

Question 4 If Iraqis are able to make the leap from the despotism of Saddam Hussein to free elections and representative government, can we live with whomever they elect - which will be mostly politicians from Islamist parties? I take a very expansive view of this since it took Europe several hundred years to work out the culture, habits and institutions of constitutional politics. What you are seeing in Iraq today are the necessary first steps. If Iraqis elect Islamist politicians, so be it. But is our president ready for that group shot?

Question 5 Can we make a serious effort to achieve a psychological breakthrough with Iraqis and the wider Arab world? U.S. diplomacy in this regard has been pathetic. "It is sad to say this, but after 18 months the U.S. still hasn't convinced Iraqis that it means well,'' said Yitzhak Nakash, the Brandeis University expert on Iraq. "We have never been able to persuade Iraqis that we aren't there for the oil. There still isn't a basis for mutual trust.''

Question 6 Can the Bush team mend fences with Iran, and forge an understanding with Saudi Arabia and Syria to control the flow of Sunni militants into Iraq, so the situation there can be stabilized and the jihadists killed in Falluja are not replaced by a new bunch?

This time, let no one claim victory, or defeat, in Iraq until we have the answers to these six questions. (end)
-----------------------------

What are your favorite questions?
Mine are:
Is Iraq the way Iraq is because Saddam was the way Saddam was, or was Saddam the way Saddam was because Iraqis are the way they are - congenitally divided?

If Iraqis are able to make the leap from the despotism of Saddam Hussein to free elections and representative government, can we live with whomever they elect - which will be mostly politicians from Islamist parties?

Can you guess why? If it doesn't work here, how is it going to work there?

UPDATE: Dianne Suggests we check out Riverbend today. It's heartbreaking.


Use BugMeNot.com to get user names and passwords for some articles.

I Wish Today Wasn't Veterans Day

by pissed off patricia

I wish today wasn't Veteran's Day. I wish human beings didn't have a propensity for violence and greed. I wish everyone on earth could be able to see all the beauty of life and enjoy their own to such an extent that they wanted to share their joy rather than destroy the joy and life of others. I wish man was a completely gentle creature and could adopt and compromise with others to enable his fellow man, rather than destroy him.

Perhaps these are wishes for the impossible. Perhaps we have accepted that our lives depend on taking rather than sharing. Perhaps man is a nasty being who has little if any regard for life at all, except the life that is yet to emerge from the mother's womb. Perhaps killing criminals and foes in war is the sane way to a better tomorrow, but it doesn't appear that approach has any lasting effect. The only thing that lasts is the dead remain dead.

I wish there had never been any wars at all. I wish that instead of killing each other, that humans could compromise and share. I wish it wasn't a part of us to compete to death. I wish man was a completely rational being and that evil actions were not a part of any human's makeup. I wish today wasn't Veteran's Day because I wish there had never been a time when human beings pitted themselves against one another with death being their primary goal.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Forget the damned red and orange alert color codes and forget the damned red and blue states. It's not about colors and it's not that simple. Instead of finding more and more reasons to come apart, it's time to see the real reasons for coming together. As we squabble about the existence of heaven and hell, there is a war going on. And, as a result, those who believe in hell may be proven to be correct. One thing is for sure, we can accomplish more united than divided. We are already united in one way, the people in Iraq are praying for their god to take vengeance on all of us.

I still do not believe in hell, but I do believe that we have done a fine job of creating a hell in Iraq. While we here at home sashay around flinging disparaging words about moral values at one another, someone has determined that it is acceptable to kill innocent people in Iraq, and I don't see moral values playing a part in any of it.

Dahr Jamail is in Iraq and he sends daily reports. Here is the report for today.

Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches
November 11, 2004
Prayers for Vengeance, More Death…

Today Abu Talat meets me and he is in a somber mood.

He’s down because last night after the curfew began at 9:30pm, US
military helicopters were circling his neighborhood until 3am.

“How can we live like this,” he asks while holding up his hands, “We are
trapped in our own country.”

He tells me, “You know Dahr, everyone is praying for God to take revenge
on the Americans. Everyone!” He went on to tell me that even while
people are praying in their homes, they are praying for God to take
vengeance on the Americans for what they are doing in Falluja.

“Everyone I’ve talked to the last couple of nights, 80 or 90 people, is
telling me they are doing this,” he says somberly.

Later that night Salam shows up with a wild look in his eyes, sweat
beading on his forehead. “My friend has just been killed, and he was one
of my best friends,” he tells me, “I can’t imagine that he is dead,
really, but I guess it is ok.”

He talks to me about his friends’ family. “They are so poor, they live
21 people in a house with three bedrooms, and they are good people,” he
says, before going on to explain more about his dead friends’ situation.

He was working as a translator for the military because he had to earn
money for his family. Unfortunately, he was working with TITAN, a
private security company. It was either starve to death, or work with
the coalition.

He was on a military patrol in Baghdad when it came under attack near
the Taji airbase and his friend was shot by the resistance.

This isn’t all. A relative of Salam had been missing for six days.
Today, his body was brought to his family by someone who found it on the
road. The body, which had been shot twice in the chest and twice in the
head, was dropped off to the family. There were visible signs of torture
on the body, and the four bullet shells which were used to kill him had
been placed in his pants pocket.

This is life in Baghdad today.

“I am crazy today with this news Dahr,” exclaims Salam while holding his
hands up in the air, “The number of people killed here is growing so
fast everyday, it is shit.” He hangs his head back and takes a deep
breath, then exhales slowly.

He explains how it has been this way in Iraq his whole life, but not
ever has it been like this. “When I was a child, it was common to have
some family member who was killed in the war with Iraq,” he says, “But
now, everyone is dying everyday.”

I can feel the tenseness of being in Baghdad-the relentless threat of
being kidnapped or car bombed, or simply robbed, grinding on me
already…and I’ve been here less than a week. Sleep is oftentimes
interrupted by mortars exploding in the “Green Zone,” helicopters
rumbling low overhead, fighter jets roaring towards Fallujah, or gunfire
which is sporadic, yet persistent, in the streets of Baghdad.

Yet my friends, who are living here, how do they do it? It saddens me to
see them so increasingly somber, withdrawn and angry than they were a
year ago when we first met, as their hope for peace, resolution and true
sovereignty in Iraq dims a little more with each passing day.

The Great Ethics Divide

Very interesting poll found at Newsday today:

"This poll helps confirm that there are religious conservatives who care deeply about abortion and gay marriage who did turn out and vote in large numbers for Bush," said John Green, professor of political science at the University of Akron. "That's very real. But what it also shows is that there were a significant number of progressive or moderate Christians who consider issues like the war in Iraq and poverty the top moral issues, many of whom voted for John Kerry."

I charted the poll in a table here. What do you think? Were we right on track or what?

This is what I saw out my window very early this morning. About 5am EST. Awesome.

Someone's really pissed

and not too kind.
I wonder who wrote this?
Anyone know?
It wasn't Rude Pundit.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

CNN sent out the following message in a "breaking news" email today.
"President Bush announces White House counsel Alberto Gonzales is his choice to replace Attorney General John Ashcroft"

Does that name ring a bell? It should. Read, "Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings" and it'll all come back to you.

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

This morning we learn that members of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family have been kidnapped and the kidnappers are threatening to behead them if Allawi doesn't call off the assault on Fallujah. Let's think about this a minute. What would you do? Forget the Allwai/bush connection. Forget all the other stuff and put yourself in Allawi's position. Do you let kidnappers kill your relatives? Do you halt the assault?

The Morning Rant: Evolution

It's still not safe to go back in the water.
by blondesense

Just how unworldly can people be? They keep proving it everyday. I have no problem with unwordly people as long as they stay out of my government. Do the unworldly understand that we wouldn't have this great country if people of their ilk had been running it since the beginning? Well no, because they only 'sort of read' one book, the bible, and they still don't even get that the bible was not written in English for gentiles living in North America in the 21st century.

I cannot suffer the unenlightened when they fuck with my government. In this case I am terribly intolerant.

Now there is a lawsuit in Georgia concerning evolution. There is a fight over a sticker put in a science book stating that "evolution is a theory, not a fact" (paraphrased). Now excuuuuuuuuse me, but carbon dating is a fact in the 21st century and the 20th century and I don't know about the 19th century. Somebody help me. I'm melting. New discoveries happen all the time and the evolution story is being bolstered by facts continuously. I predict there will be a discovery that certain people who migrated to the southern regions of the United States have not actually evolved on schedule and their brains will need to be studied.

A person on the schoolboard concerned about the large section of the population that only believes in creationism asks: "... can you be sensitive and tolerant to their very deep moral feelings?"

If they asked me, I'd say NO! They need to be educated properly.
We have so called pharmacists who believe that birth control pills constitute murder and people who are insulted that they evolved and were not created in the garden of eden.

All separation of church and state issues aside, how can we possibly cater to the wishes of the willfully ignorant and be a part of the rest of world? Stupid question. We are showing the rest of the world how willful ignorance led our country to an unjust and barbaric war. We are acting like dumb christians on a crusade. That was so a thousand years ago. You can't be a super power and have unenlightened barbaric people influencing the government. Now that is immoral.

The Amish have a great idea. They have their own communities set apart from society. They don't bother us, we don't bother them.

There are many more enlightened people in the red states than not. It's up to them to get involved and overpower the willfully ignorant in their communities and schools.

Use BugMeNot.com to get user names and passwords for some articles.

Aw they don't want us blue states anymore :(

There is a hideous article by Mike Thompson being talked about on the net. eewwwww. It made my skin crawl. He suggests that the red states boot the blue states (like they could survive without the blue state's tax money). Hint:If the south and midwest want to secede, there isn't going to be a fight this time.
And another thing.... The bad guys fucking won it all. Why do they keep whining? Stop it!
But I digress.
Anyway, Newsy (the News Writer), a sane person living in a red state, covers this and other important points very well at What It Is Today Blog.

WE'RE NOT IN TINFOIL HAT TERRITORY.

Did you watch Keith Oberman last night on MSNBC?
This is on his blog:

"...for crying out loud, all the data we used tonight on Countdown was on official government websites in Cleveland and Florida. We confirmed all of it— moved it right out of the Reynolds Wrap Hat zone in about ten minutes.

Which offers one way bloggers can help guide the mainstream at times like this: source your stuff like crazy, and the stuffier the source the better.

Enough from the soapbox. We have heard the message on the Voting Angst and will continue to cover it with all prudent speed."

yay

Praise God. Be Healed. Win Great Prizes.

It's a Miracle!
... and they wonder why we make fun of the religious right.

There is paid programming on TV now. PeterPopoff.org to be exact. You send in for this Miracle Spring Water and then all your problems go away. I gotta get me some.
You pray and then you get cool prizes! Wow! Now this is a religion I can sink my teeth into. Let's all send away for the Miracle water and see what happens.

I can feel it! I can feel it! My gums are healing! My teeth are growing back!
God gave me a car! praise the Lord. Not a Toyota but a BMW!

Testimonials from the website:

• My sister can see color now and she can see people. She could not see anything before!
• My niece had cancer and I wrote and had you pray for her. I called her and she told me the cancer is in remission and not going anywhere!
• I have been healed of a bladder infection and Carl has been healed of bladder cancer.
• I wore the bracelet... I did what you told me to do with the number 7 and this week I had a supernatural blessing. I couldn’t pay my car note I’ve had for 26 months and never been late or missed a payment on. I called to ask if I could pay it by the next month and they told me it had to be paid now. I had no money and could not borrow it, but God paid it!
• It’s a miracle! You wrote to me... and asked me to sow a seed of just $7.00. You said it would be returned 100 times that. Well let me tell you what I have really received. I have won a sweepstake for 7.2 million dollars!
• ... we moved in to our new home built from the ground up. We didn’t even have to make a down payment. Again, thank you for your prayers.
• Thank you so very much for all you have done for me. I’m finally over my drinking problem.

The Fanaticism is Getting Worse

Ok, so the right wing religious folks don't want anyone to have abortions. Ever. We got that message. I promise I will never have an abortion. Now it appears that some pharmacists believe that using birth control pills are as bad as having an abortion. Oh come on now. Do you realize how close we are to mutilating women like they do in Africa? And oh my god, people are insisting that the creation story in genesis is accurate and that the glaciers aren't melting.

Well anyway, it's fair that people shouldn't be forced to do something that they don't agree with for religious reasons even if they are unfounded. But these pharmacists aren't supposed to withhold the prescription from the customers which is what is happening. The customer is supposed to be allowed to go elsewhere. I'm coming Elizabeth, it's the big one.

Here' the link to the story, thanks to Eric @ Sticky Blog
You can post a complaint to CVS here
or call (888) 607-4287 toll free

Bush's Pants Must Be On Fire

by pissed off patricia

"Asked as he left the Crawford, Texas, polling station about the polarized feelings he inspires in voters, Bush replied, "I take that as a compliment. It means I'm willing to take a stand." (Time Magazine)


Is this what uniter not a divider means?
There are soooo many more. Want to see them? Go here: Bush's Broken Promises

AshKKKroft Resigns

Attorney General and Commerce Secretary Resign From Cabinet
NY Times November 9, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday, the first members of President Bush's Cabinet to leave as he headed from re-election into his second term.

The resignations were announced by White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who said Bush had accepted the decisions of both secretaries.

"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved," Ashcroft wrote in a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush.

"Yet I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration," said Ashcroft, whose health problems earlier this year resulted in removal of his gall bladder.

"I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons," he said.

Both Ashcroft and Evans have served in Bush's Cabinet from the start of the administration. Evans, a close friend of Bush's from Texas, wrote, "While the promise of your second term shines bright, I have concluded with deep regret that it is time for me to return home."

Evans is going back to the oil and gas industry in Texas. Who knew?

Fascism Again

There is a great sermon by Davidson Loehr of The First UU Church of Austin called Living Under Fascism. He sums up beautifully what it is and what will come to America as a result. Many of us have been writing about all his points for months and months. Most of you already know this stuff, but Loehr makes a concise case in this sermon. I urge you to check it out, bookmark it, learn it and be ready to explain it to anyone who voted republican who seems to be fairly rational.

UPDATE: Citizens for a Legitimate Government have called for a Grand Refusal.

Stage one :Do not consume at normal levels. Do not buy any surplus goods or make other major purchases. Do not purchase entertainment goods and boycott the corporate media as much as possible. Only do what you have to do to survive. And, get others involved. Help get Citizens For Legitimate Government's Grand Refusal Coalition in motion. Help build the Grand Refusal!
Once we reach critical mass, we will launch Stage 2.
Stage 2 will include but will not be limited to: Protests in every city;
Stage 3 will include but will not be limited to: Inauguration protests (Block Bush Swearing In: No Inauguration for Bush!!) ;
Stage 4 will include but will not be limited to: Massive Walkouts!
Check it all out here.

He's got a point. Hitting fascists in their pocketbook is an option. Either we sacrifice now voluntarily and reduce consumption, or we will be forced to live without things we took for granted later. Oh my god, am I turning lefty?

Mandate my arse.

Winning 51% of the popular vote for an incumbent is no great feat. It's pretty pitiful and when was the last time you heard a president going on and on about a mandate? It wasn't a clear mandate when you win by a measly 3 million votes in a country this large. So now he thinks he is going to shit on the other half of the population? Bush had the narrowest win for a sitting president since 1916. (Woodrow Wilson)

If journalists don't get over themselves and quit repeating the WH spin, I'm really going to throw up. That is why I changed the blondesense logo. I've had it.


Speaking of elections...
Have you read Keith Oberman's blog? It's very interesting. He is staying on top of the voter fraud stories. Verrrrry interesting. Read a lot of the entries from the past few days. You know that Kerry's concession is not binding, don't you?

The Palm Beach post reported that Broward County machines start counting backward after 32,000 votes.

Interesting examination of the Florida elections here.

60 minutes (windows media movie) finally covers the election debacle. Gee thanks. Thanks for waiting so long. Jeez, how long have we known this stuff and NOW the rest of the country finds out. Any teenager could hack the vote, they say. But we already knew that.

Check this out. oh my. Slave states compared to red states. Mmmm mmm.

Thanks to IndependentMedia.tv

UPDATE: I found MANDATE MY ASS TSHIRTS
heh.

Sister Patricia's Recipe for What Ails You

by pissed off patricia

Brothers and Sisters, do you want to alleviate some of the pain?
Can I get an Amen?
I know your heart is hurting and I know your mind is in despair.
Sister Patricia is here to tell you that for a little while, Help is on the way!

If you haven't purchased the cd, "Genius Loves Company" then do it! Do it right now. When you get home with this jewel, plop it in the cd player but don't turn it on just yet. Wait until tonight when the house is drifting off to silence. Turn off the damned TV and the computer. Mix your favorite adult beverage or beverage of your choice. Get comfy and turn down the lights. Okay, when this is all done, hit cut six on the cd. Oh baby, if that doesn't take you to heaven, nothing will. If you can yet function at the end of that cut, mix another cocktail and play the entire cd from beginning to end. Let that music and those words soothe everything that's hurting you.

You must do this. You mustn't let world events take it all away from you. Turn to the music and turn it on. You really do need to.

Sister Patricia would not lie to the flock.

Can I get another Amen?

THE PASSION OF THE NATION: Part Three

It seems that we are blowing up Fallujah because Bush won the election and the people in Fallujah don't want to do exactly what they are told to do. Unlike American citizens who rollover and play dead when they are overtaken by fascists, the Iraqi's have chosen to defend their country and be deemed terrorists even though they are insurgents. I guess Paul Revere et al were terrorists too. Tell that to the Texas text book makers. History shows us that the US isn't going to win even if they kill most of the Iraqi's. My heart is broken for our soldiers and for those Iraqi's who have died and will die very soon... not to mention all the deaths from DU in the future.

This strange cult or sect called Christianity comes in handy for our troops getting ready to storm Fallujah. They recite warrior passages from their bible and ask the same god that the enemies pray to protect them. How arrogant it is to profess that there is one just god and to claim that god is on their side when they prevail and to declare that it was god's will for them when they lose. I guess if you don't mind being a puppet, that this 'religion' thing works.

From CommonDreams via Jesus General: "

In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle. "It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said first sergeant Miles Thatford.
"Sometimes, all you've got is God."
Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war. "

Just in case there is a god, it's a good thing to say your prayers before you go and bomb the shit out of people. Be sure to say them prayers when you lay dying in the mud as well.

"One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines 3 000 years ago.
"Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval.
The marines drew parallels from the verse with their present situation, where they perceive themselves as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed to all that is good in the world. "

Well isn't that nice? How can you tell which side is barbaric?

"But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side."
From "With God on Our Side"
by Bob Dylan: Copyright © 1963

Remember one of the Planet of the Apes sequels where the mutants worship the atomic bomb because they believe it can deliver peace?

Bitchin' Using the Words of a Friend

by pissed off patricia

I want to share an email I received yesterday from a dear friend. We'll call him Jim, since that's his name.

"Nothing coming from that crowd would surprise me. The Clarence Thomas appointment worked politically for george 41; why not spin the wheel of fortune again? To Republicans, all's fair in war, and they still hope to increase their gains among black voters. But I'm not as concerned about the chief justice as I am about new appointments to the court. The bushies will probably try to surprise the gullible media folks while sticking it to Democrats... maybe a Latino, a Catholic, another woman, an Arab-American -- who knows, anybody but a gay. Isn't there a woman on the California Supreme Court who is popular with conservatives? Whoever the nominees may be, I believe the operatives will screen more for political gain than for expected votes on specific issues -- so long as they can pass muster with religious leaders. Among the hot-button issues, abortion and stem-cell research are less important to them than winning the next election. Besides, they need abortion as an issue, not a millstone.

And there's still the outside chance that a so-called "strict constructionist" judge, once on the Court, may actually rule in accord with established law, i.e., Roe vs Wade. Thus the political need to appease the sanctimonious elite by calling for a constitutional amendment to outlaw rights -- or perceived rights that have never been exercised -- of gays and lesbians. State-by-state amendments work politically for the moment, but voters may moderate their views if they ever understand the issues (assuming such a thing is possible). That's a gamble the extremists cannot abide. Imbedding discrimination into the U. S. Constitution itself will remove the issue from the hands of judges who, as mere mortals, may not fully understand the fears of the ignorant and the mind of God. Same-sex marriage is not the real issue anyway. Outlawing it is simply the vehicle for enacting discrimination against gays in a thousand little ways. Like most gays I know, I am not wedded to the word "marriage." I would be happy with "somewhat equal" rights enjoyed by other citizens, whatever the terminology. Bigots will be happy to deny those rights forever under the guise of preserving the "institution of marriage."

Since the election, I have not expressed an overabundance of outrage because I had resigned myself to the possibility of a bush victory. I had put my heart on the line by predicting that Kerry would win by 5 points -- but simply because I could not accept the probability that a majority of voters would return bush to office after seeing his first four years. Intellectually, I do not "misunderestimate" the mindset of religious voters and their dedication to fight sin and evil as defined by themselves. They have always considered themselves "outsiders" within a pluralistic, that is, heathenish, society. Now that they have tasted sweet victory, I expect them to work even harder to "save America" -- to further their agenda on a narrow list of cherry-picked "moral values" while blinding themselves to the broader spectrum of basic human rights and values. I grew up in an evangelical church; I even earned a BA degree in Bible from a religious college. I am all too familiar with what we are facing from people who see everything in black-or-white, good-or-evil terms. But that's another epistle....

Recognizing this year's national election as the most important of our lifetime was not an exaggeration, in my opinion. The people have spoken -- leaving me with little optimism for the country's immediate future. Still, two small rays of hope remain: The Democrats have the issues on their side, and with the election over, a small number of Republican office holders in relatively safe seats may rebel against the extremism within their party. Time will tell, but life must go on for the rest of us. We can't allow others to control our personal happiness; life is too short. If I had waited for "majority approval," I would have missed out on a wonderful life."

Sorry Everybody

Sorry everybody

It's Really Purple, You know

The map of the USA, that is.


You see? Don't let those red states fool you. The election was close. We all count. A 51% win is no landslide. It's those red maps, blue maps that are angering people. The media loves that. A good culture war. Let's be smarter than the media.

Most everyone who voted last Tuesday, voted on behalf of their morality and values. The right wing isn't any more moral than the moderates or the left wing. Rational people from both parties care about human life, their families, their safety and each other. People from both parties can be religious. God doesn't favor the right over the left. God doesn't bless America any more than he blesses the Middle East. Those Muslims sure pray a lot. You gotta admit.

A lot of the people, who were hoodwinked into voting for Bush because of his faux values, are going to be very upset in the coming months and year. Let's be kind to them. Let's try to forgive them for they didn't know what they were doing. They meant well even though they weren't looking at the whole picture as progressives tend to do. Maybe we can figure out a way to explain that progressives are against all killing, not just selective killing as in embryos, criminals and Muslims. If you are going to claim to be pro-life, then you must be pro-life across the board. No exceptions.

By the looks of the map above, we are all living amongst each other, aren't we?

I'm going to print out a couple of maps to use in my political discussions. And I am going to print out some pictures of what we have done to Iraqi's.

Here are links:

• Map by counties or precincts here.
• Big purple map here. Thanks to boing-boing
• Civilian victims in Iraq pictures
• Torture pictures
• Depleted uranium facts. Poisoning our own as well as Iraqi's and others.
• And don't forget that homosexuals are god's children too. God doesn't make junk.
• But then again there are an awful lot of idiots out there. Read Steve Gilliard's long story about those who cannot be saved. Stevens will love this.
  

Bitchin'

by pissed off patricia

Whew, have you caught your breath yet? I have.

I have thought about the election until I'm finished thinking about it. Now I want to think about the future. I don't want to argue whether or not this candidate got these votes or those votes. The election is over and I don't believe an autopsy will reveal that the victim is alive.

Now we watch. We watch what bush tries to do and if it doesn't meet our standards we use this wonderful tool, the computer, and we fire off emails to our representatives and our congress people. We raise hell if we see hell being raised. That's what we do because we can. At least we can so far.

Yes, we are going to see a lot more people die in Iraq and in my opinion there isn't much if anything that we can do about it. Even if Sen. Kerry had won I'm not sure that would have changed much in Iraq. No one and no thing will legitimize what is occurring over there, at least not in my opinion. It was broken in our name and the payment will come from our account. The Americans were duped into this war and we were also duped into a situation that is inescapable. Now our military is there and if we don't finance their needs we will not be "supporting the troops". Most of us support them coming home ASAP, but that's not going to happen. So, in order to avoid looking like a nation that abandons it's military, we have to send more and more money. This weekend Barak Obama made a wonderful statement. He said he would like to see some sort of break down on the next funding request. He wants to see which money is going where and to whom. Makes sense to me. He wants accountability and we wonder why that demand shouldn't be met. If you won't tell me where my money is going and to whom, why should I give it to you. Common sense raises its sane head and hopefully there will be more as determined as Mr. Obama.

Having said all this, I am going to take a "timeout" from writing. I want to settle in and settle down to determine how I feel about a lot of things. I want to put political things on the back burner for a while because they are done for right now. I am watching the slaughter that is commencing in Iraq and it turns my stomach. I hear that Chalabi may be teaming up with Moqtada Sadr. Interesting combo, don't you think? All this will be in my viewing scope, but so will other things. Basically I lost about two months of this year dealing with hurricanes, post hurricanes (still dealing with it too) and politics. I don't want to look back at Thanksgiving and Christmas 2004, and realize that I missed them too. I'm prioritizing in a purely selfish way. I want to spend some time enjoying my life. There may be days when world events or even personal events steer me to the keyboard. When that happens I'll be here with a vengeance, but until that day, I'll be living.

As a post script to this message, I want to thank everyone who has emailed me of late. I have gotten so damned far behind with my responses that I decided to make one blanket statement of gratitude. If you haven't received a response from me, please don't think I didn't read your message. I did read every word and I appreciate your time and your thoughts. It's always a reward to read what you have to say. Thank You!

The re-election of Israel's enemy

From Haaretz

"The United States has re-elected an enemy of Israel as its president. If George W. Bush's next four years in office are anything like the first four, the damage he will do Israel will be all but irreversible.

The headlines in the mass circulation papers here screamed, "The friend stays" and "Bush is good for Israel," but from Israel's point of view he is one of the worst presidents ever. An American president who will give Israel four more years of freedom to act as it pleases in the territories is not a friend of this country. A true friend would save Israel from itself, as some European leaders are trying to do by means of the criticism they hurl at Israeli government policy. In a situation in which Israel is not restraining itself, restraint imposed from the outside is a supreme national interest, even if it involves exerting pressure that at times can be brutal.... " read the rest

Do whatever it takes to get elected mandate

Updated post: there are so many stories going around about voter fraud. I don't think that the election will be overturned. I gave up on wishful thinking. We can do something to make sure that this will never happen again.

There is a good discussion going on in the comments below.

I've posted some interesting links below for those who are interested and want to get involved here. Post yours in the comments.

VerifiedVoting.org: This nationwide grassroots effort to restore the sanctity of our electoral process will succeed only through the efforts of volunteers who are willing to write letters, make telephone calls, visit legislators, and communicate our message to all our fellow Americans.

BlackBoxVoting.org (not .com): Support FOIA request by Bev Harris. Click on "clean up crew"

VoterProtect.org: Election Incident Reporting System

DemocraticUnderground.com/cu: Campaign Underground

Thom Hartman: Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked

Greg Palast: Kerry won. Here are the facts.

It's important to write to newspapers, your elected representatives and to make your voice heard. 4 years were wasted trying to get election reformed. Now we really have to get on the stick.

Consider calling for nationwide Optical Scan machines with a paper trail: voters make fewer errors. No hanging chads, no spoiled votes. It is against the constitution for there to be ballots with no paper trail.

Pressure the exit polling companies as they owe it to the public to give a reasonable explanation about what happened. This is not conspiracy theory. Make them accountable.

Complain about the long lines to vote in minority areas and urban areas. This is not acceptable in a first world country. This was absolutely an exercise in demonstrating that we are a fledgling democracy.

Donate money to organizations who are trying to fight for all of us so that we don't have to worry about stolen elections in the future if you are so inclined.

These are issues that must be addressed whether or not you think there was voter fraud or that it was a conspiracy. There were many incidents, too many incidents reported about voter intimidation, broken voting machines and erroneous results in certain communities. If we let these issues go now, it will just happen again and again and again.

How can we make election reforms happen?

Fascist economy mandate

Under-reported stories: The share of the economy going to wages and salaries drops for an unprecedented 14th quarter, while the share going to corporate profits has increased substantially. And lots more...

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, PDF File

For the 14th straight quarter, the share of GDP that consists of wage and salary income fell. Such a decline is unprecedented during the post-World War II era Previously, the share of GDP consisting of wage and salary income had never fallen for more than six quarters in a row.

In the current period, the share of GDP going to wages and salaries fell from 49.5 percent in the first quarter of 2001 to 45.4 percent today, a dramatic reduction of 4.1 percentage points. (A percentage point of GDP is equivalent to $118 billion per year.)

Economic Policy Institute:

The economic well-being of middle-income families has changed significantly over the last few years, largely as a result of three important dynamics.

• First, the recession that started in March 2001 was followed by an unusually long period -two and a half years of job losses, despite an increase in output of goods and services. Although employment has grown since September 2003, it has not done so at a sufficient rate to diminish the substantial labor slack generated by the downturn in 2001 (Mishel et al. 2004). Consequently, pre-tax incomes fell for three years in a row, leaving the typical household with $1,535 less income in 2003 than in 2000, a drop of 3.4%. This decline in income was primarily the result of lost work opportunities from fewer family members working and fewer hours worked per worker (fewer weeks per year and fewer hours per week).
  
• A second dynamic influencing family economic well-being is the income tax reductions legislated at the federal level, primarily those of 2001 and 2003. It is important to assess the degree to which shifts in taxation have offset the recession-induced income losses.
  
• Finally, the health care costs facing families have surged as insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs have grown rapidly over the past few years (Families USA, September 2004).

New Report Links Offshoring of U.S. Jobs to Bush Policies and Bush Campaign
From Public Citizen

A new Public Citizen report on the offshoring of U.S. jobs by major companies from the finance, computer and telecommunications sectors has found that the companies exported tens of thousands of jobs and benefited from a cozy relationship with President Bush. The president supported numerous pro-offshoring policies as the companies provided major financial support to his campaigns.

The report estimates that the 29 leading offshoring companies in the three skilled, white-collar sectors exported at least 53,000 jobs since 2000. Job losses are almost certainly much higher because the companies resist disclosing such information, and no federal or state reporting requirements exist for jobs sent offshore.

Public Citizen also found that executives, board members and employees of the 29 companies have been major contributors to Bush's presidential campaigns. Twenty-three Rangers and Pioneers from the three industry sectors bundled together a minimum of $3.5 million to assist Bush in the 2000 and 2004 campaigns. Rangers and Pioneers are the honorary titles given by the Bush campaign to fundraisers who bundle at least $200,000 or $100,000, respectively, in maximum $2,000 contributions.

The same 29 companies and their employees have given a total of at least $19.1 million in campaign contributions to Bush and the Republican National Committee since the 2000 election cycle, with an average of $657,000 per company contributed to benefit Bush

EPA Says Fuck you to science mandate

Public health? Feh.

From Harvard University, JFK School of Government:
The EPA's Risky Reasoning
By Cary Coglianese and Gary E. Marchant

Regulators must rely on science to understand problems and predict the consequences of regulatory actions, but science by itself cannot justify public policy decisions. We review the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to justify recent changes to its National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter, showing how the agency was able to cloak its policy judgments under the guise of scientific objectivity. By doing so, the EPA evaded accountability for a shifting and incoherent set of policy positions that will have major implications for public health and the economy. For example, even though EPA claimed to base its revised standards on a singular concern for public health, it set the new standards at levels that will still lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths each year. The EPA's claim to rely solely on science contributed to positions that ultimately failed to meet the law’s aspiration of reasoned decision-making by administrative agencies.

UPDATE: Bush Stands by Rejection of Kyoto Treaty from LA Times

President Bush is holding fast to his rejection of mandatory curbs on greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, despite a fresh report from 300 scientists in the United States and seven other nations that shows Arctic temperatures are rising.

Outsourcing blue collar jobs too mandate

And you thought only the white collar jobs were being outsourced.

From UMass: New study finds rising outsourcing in U.S. manufacturing
PERI researchers also studied the relationship between the level of outsourcing for a manufacturing industry group and the rate of job loss in that group. They found that industry groups with the highest rates of job loss in the 1997-2003 period, a period when manufacturing employment fell precipitously by over 3 million jobs, have also seen significantly higher rates of foreign outsourcing of the inputs they use in production. For the six industry groups with the highest job losses in 2002, the average share of foreign-sourced manufactured inputs used in production was 26.1%, compared with only 18.5% for the remaining 13 industry groups. These six high-outsourcing industries accounted for 53% of the total decline of 3.3 million jobs in manufacturing employment between 1997 and 2003.

Shut the hell up if you don't agree with us mandate

Free Speech? We wish.

From: Continuing Attacks on Nonprofit Speech: Death By a Thousand Cuts II Executive Summary A Report by OMB Watch October 2004 Whole Report

Retaliatory Action against Government Grantees to Limit or Stop Debate
Federal agencies have used audit and other powers to take action against federal grantees that exercise their right to advocate on issues with their private funds. Government funds and resources have also been used as a wedge to limit open debate and availability of information to inform policy discussions. Some government actions have been based on ideological objectives, ignoring sound science, adding to the frustration and consternation of the nonprofit sector.

Examples over the past year of how speaking out can lead to retaliation and stifle free and open debate include:

• Advocates for Youth , which has been the target of three Department of Health and Human Services audits in a year and had their funding cut after the organization criticized the administration's abstinence-only policies.
• Center for AIDS Prevention Studies which nearly lost its grant.
• Head Start grantees who first received an illegal letter from the Department of Health and Human Services saying they could not lobby with private funds on reauthorization of the Head Start program and then were required to submit an onerous survey that appeared to be an act of intimidation.
• Disability advocates , which faced loss of technical assistance contracts.
• California Rural Legal Assistance , which dealt with a politically inspired audit when it challenged new dairy products.
• Global Heath Council , which lost federal funding for its 31st annual conference because the government was unhappy with some of the conference speakers.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , which imposed a new censorship rule on nonprofits requiring conference agendas be pre-approved "to make sure there are no subjects that would embarrass the Government or be an improper use of funds;"
• Removal of information from government websites including data about what is happening to American women.

Jeso-fascist mandate

So it's really going to be fun now that bush got his man-date. (I told you he was gay)

It seems that religious people don't give a crap about the religious war going on between the US and Iraq. They are calling for a religious revolution right here in the US. Can we see if we can get churches to start paying taxes?
Read and weep:

"...If you don't implement a conservative agenda now, when do you?"

"...the defeat of the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, put them in striking distance of amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and approving the appointment of enough conservative Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade and other abortion rights cases. "

"... other measures conservatives had campaigned for this year, including an "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act," requiring some women seeking abortions to be offered anesthesia for their fetuses."
From: Conservatives: The right awaits its ‘revolution’ By David D. Kirkpatrick The New York Times October 5, 2004

UPDATE: After a weekend to think about it, Bush's mandate is to increase the national debt, take care of his corporate cronies, do away with social security and put more of the tax burden on middle class American families and less on the rich, and that includes those heathen Hollywood types.

My predictions: Roe v Wade won't be overturned. Bush isn't going to push a Defense of Marriage Amendment. Bush doesn't give a shit about family values. Just watch. Privatization of Social Security and Flat Tax come first. It will be fun to watch the conservative base go crazy.

Hmmmm

Last night, I ventured out into the world with Billydoom. I spoke to someone who voted for Kerry only because he didn't like Bush. He is a school teacher. He had absolutely no idea about any of the real issues. None. When I told him some, he told me he didn't believe me. He asked where I get my information. I told him I read the papers. He told me all the media is liberal except for Fox. I explained that that is not true. Fox is just wrong, but that doesn't make it "not liberal". He didn't believe me. He told me that no news reporting is to be trusted. He said that if a news source criticized bush, then it was liberal and lying. I don't know why he voted for Kerry.

I was telling him how the NH GOP is being sued because of their sleazy and dishonest practices to suppress voting during the election. They are trying to set a precedent so that more law suits can be brought up in other states. He told me I was lying. I had just been listening to it in the car on the drive out there last night. Does Air America make stuff up? No, that would be O'Lielly and Lush Bimbo.

This guy is a school teacher, that means he has a masters degree. In NY, you don't teach without one. So where did he get his information? Perhaps he watched the debates, believed everything bush said, but still came to the conclusion that bush was a redneck and voted for Kerry because he was more like us in the north. I don't know. Maybe it's because the teachers are in a union in NY and he understands the part about bush being anti-union. People are just sheep.

I should probably not talk politics to people in real life. Especially people I know. I am going to run out of friends and acquaintances at this rate. I'll probably spend the holidays alone watching tv and eating Ben and Jerry's by the pint.

Fear of Death and Politics

These guys are brilliant. Mad geniuses.

• If you don't vote wisely, you will be attacked by terrorists.
• The terrorists hate our freedoms.
• Terrorists may mess with drugs being imported from Canada.
• The terrorists want my opponent to win so that they can attack us again.

Fatal Attraction: A New Study Suggests a Relationship Between
Fear of Death and Political Preferences
American Psychological Society

This research is based on the idea that reminders of death increase the need for psychological security and therefore the appeal of leaders who emphasize the greatness of the nation and a heroic victory over evil.
...
For their current research, the scientists asked students to think about their own death or a control topic and then read campaign statements of three hypothetical political candidates, each with a different leadership style: "charismatic" (i.e. those emphasizing greatness of the nation and a heroic victory over evil, as described above), task-oriented or relationship-oriented. Following a reminder of death, there was almost an 800 percent increase in votes for the charismatic leader, but no increase for the two other candidates.

The only problem with this is that bush isn't charismatic. But it's an interesting read.

stupidity, Texas-style

As my maternal grandfather would say, some people are just eat up with the dumb-ass.

The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for high school and junior high school students last week after publishers agreed to change wording in the texts to define marriage as a "life long union between a husband and a wife."

Do you think that students who live with blended families comprised of their mommy and someone elses' daddy will beg to differ with this? Are kids going to wonder if their parents' marriage is legitimate because it doesn't look the way a textbook says it should?

What about children who live with two mommies or two daddies?

Yes this is a stab at gay families. It is also a stab at divorced families. It is unnecessarily cruel and it is ridiculous.

And it is coming to your state, too. Texas purchases so many textbooks that publishers usually use standards and criteria adopted by Texas in all of a publishers' catalogue. In other words, your school district will probably use the same health books that Texas schools use.

It has been my experience with education that students take their textbooks rather literally. They actually believe that if it is in a book, it must be true.

I hope that every school child in Texas and beyond writes in the margin of their textbook next to the picture of the "lifelong" mommy and daddy the words "Republican Propaganda."

From my mail: consolation

The Republicans today announced that they are changing their mascot from an elephant to a condom because the condom more accurately reflects their political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.

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Patricia pointed out that Michael Moore (MichaelMoore.com) has offered 17 reasons why you shouldn't slit your wrists. Gosh, I hope no one was going to do that. Bush isn't worth it.
#17 says: 17. "Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal."


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Mark Morford suggests that we don't move so fast: "... most hardcore Republicans would, of course, love it if you'd leave the country, and take your gul-dang gay-lovin' tofu-eatin' tree-huggin' pierced-labia values with you. They would love it, furthermore, if the libs in the morally shredded red states would split for the coastal cities and the major metropolises of America, all those godless heathen places where the neighbors won't yank the Kerry/Edwards sign outta your front lawn and chase you down and beat you with it and call it patriotism. Remember: bullies never deserve to own the playground."

Military hospital preparing for Fallujah battle

Marines say the toll is expected to rival those seen in Vietnam War
Knight Ridder Tribune News