How Brilliant Is This?

From OliverWillis.Com. I love this guy.

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He's There For Terri

Terri Schiavo passed away this morning. Hours later President Bush went live with a message of sympathy. He took over a week to mention the shooting at the Indian Reservation. He takes five weeks of vacation every five weeks it seems. He'll probably never talk about a fallen soldier by name. He avoids press conferences and has had the fewest of any sitting President. He hates the press. But he loves Terri. "The essence of civilisation is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak," he says. So where has he put the essence of our civilization? In his bank account. Sorry if you're weak, the rich vote for him. I used to think that like lemmings, the rich would follow him over the cliff of our countries collapse. But I'm beginning to think that as the GOP continues to reveal how deep their corruption is, the followers will break ranks. If nothing else, than for self protection.

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Pre-Emptive Strike Policy Gets Pre-Menopausal

The Bush White House is getting sudden hot flashes from the final report of a Presidential Commission studying American intelligence failures. The conclusion? There were and still are massive failures of intelligence. Hard to say you can strike first in warfare if all of your intelligence is faulty. It's happened to us once, and we have yet to clean up the mess and get our kids home. Think the American public will be duped again? Just another chink in Bush's armor of ideology. Social Security falls next, then he'll go after making tax cuts permanent. Think it'll happen? States can't meet their budgets because of three tax cuts for the rich in four years. People are beginning to feel the belt tightening and smell the stink of hypocrasy. Think the people will trust this guy's values much longer?

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GOP Continues to Overide States Rights

Remember when these guys had a platform for smaller government? That States should be strong and individuals freed from Federal control? That was before they got into power in the House, Senate and Presidency. The Terry Schiavo bill is just the latest in a string of legislation that trumps state's rights. From education to election reform to capping the victories of trial lawyer's pay outs, the GOP is suddenly in the forefront with legislation that strips state's rights. Now if you voted them in, you can have that feel good feeling of pay back as they stick you with more limitations. The message: we don't trust you, let us take care of it. The reality: less freedom, less choices, another promise broken.

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If I'm Erring On The Side Of Life, There Must Be No Planned Executions Today

From Eric Alterman MSNBC: "When he was governor of Texas, George W. Bush presided over 152 executions, more than took place in the rest of the country combined. In at least a few of these cases, reasonable doubts about the guilt of the condemned were raised. But Bush cut his personal review time for each case from a half hour to a mere 15 minutes (most other governors spend many hours reviewing each capital case to assure themselves that there's no doubt of guilt). His explanation was that he trusted the courts to sort through the life-and-death complexities. That's right: the courts.

I bring up that story because it's just one of several ironies that have arisen in connection with the Terri Schiavo saga, in which the president said that the government "ought to err on the side of life." Fine, but whose life? The inmate who might not be guilty? The poor people across the country denied organ transplants (and thus life) because Medicaid—increasingly under the Bush budget knife—won't cover them? The poor people across the world starving to death because we won't go along with Tony Blair when it comes to addressing global poverty?" Thanks to the BalloonPirate for the link.

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We'll Be Coming Around The Bend, Well, No We Won't

Bush and his administration, the right wing money machine and GOP Philanthropists, have now taken the United States around a bend we'll never come back from. Because of the President and the Republican Congress, America is now seen as a war monger, who pushes this agenda forward regardless of international law or common sense. We outsource torture. We cut back on our aid to struggling nations. We include a provision in disbursements for the treatment of AIDS in foreign countries that condums can't be offered or used in education and now the AIDS epidemic has taken a staggering upswing. We create a new kind of war prisoner called a detainee, in a prison out of our country so domestic laws can't protect them and the Geneva Convetion won't apply. The Republican Congress shreds all ideas of domestic fiscal sanity and creates a deficit that will cripple the next few generations. And the Right marches on blasting how great it all is like the Chinese loud speakers blasting propoganda from the rooftops of Tibet. Bill Bradley lays it out in expert analysis in an Op Ed in the New York Times. This link from SeeingTheForest.

I'm In A Police State Of Mind

These guys were booted from a Bush social security rally in Denver by a Republican staffer because he didn't like their bumper sticker. The staffer's name has yet to surface - probably won't. They protect their own, while silencing dissent. Why are we fighting and dying for freedom in Iraq, while they're killing freedom here at home?

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How Does He Justify It? He Doesn't Care.

The "permanent campaign" continues in full gear as Bush glides across the country landing at events packed with only carefully screened audience members who support him faithfully. But this is a sitting President in his second term. There is no more campaign. And no one asks how he justifies it. The answer? He really could give two hoots about those that disagree with him. Why give them the time of day? A man of "vision", an idealogue, can't be bothered with dissent, it just slows down the process of him banging his square pegs into round holes. He's going to do what he wants to anyway, regardless of the rhetoric. Time for the red states to wake up and take notice of that as the looming deficit fuels a recession that bleeds their income, weakened unions can't protect them as corporate closings lay them off and cuts in medicaid can't provide a safety net of medical coverage. Ad in higher gas prices, slashed state budgets because of the deficit so they can't fund schools, their own police or even repair their roads properly, and that's George Bush's America. Run it like a corporation, skim all the profit off the top, then declare bankruptcy or sell and get out when things go south. Problem is, you don't have to live in your corporation once you've evicerated it. Maybe Bush will opt out of living in America once he's ruined it and hammer a bill through congress allowing Texas to finally secede. The rest of us? He doesn't care.

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Bush's Second Defeat

If the inability to stop Terry Schiavo's triumphant release from a ruined and already ended life with a hastily signed congressional act could be considered the first defeat, surely the defeat of Bush's insane social security bill will be the second. Remember, this guy is still touring the country meeting with carefully screened crowds who treat him like a rock star, and his social security cause is still falling on deaf ears. What's next, hire actors who will nod at him and then call their Senators? Don't think there's a casting call big enough for the cause. Finally the majority see it: the emperor truly isn't wearing clothes.

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Moral Values Rule until the Polls Drop

Bush Jr. and Brother Jeb fly back from vacation and attend late night sessions to help save Terry Schiavo, firing up their conservative base with their commitment to a pro-life agenda, until the polls show how unpopular it is and suddenly they back away and it's off everyone's radar. Remember, these guys survive by doing what's popular and manipulating the public. They don't really care. When an issue doesn't work, notice how the trumpets stop blaring and the flag waving stops.

From OliverWillis.com:

It's Because He Loves Her

From Workingforchange.com. "In recent days, Michael Schiavo has effectively and credibly pointed out the hypocrisy of mostly right-wing politicians and organizations that have injected themselves into his wife's case. But Schiavo's concern is nothing new. During an October 27, 2003 interview with CNN's Larry King, Schiavo told him that the Schindler's had offered him $700,000 "to walk away."

King: They have that kind of money?

Schiavo: They get money from the right-wing activists. The right wing -- the right-to-life groups.

King: The right-to-life group was willing to pay you $700,000 to walk away?

Schiavo: Right."

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Scarborough takes his lumps

Nuerologist Dr. Cranford, a medical expert on the Terry Schiavo case, gives Joe Scarborough of MSNBC his just due by tossing truthful sticks of dynamite into his standard partisan hack blather during an interview.

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Scarborough takes his lumps

Nuerologist Dr. Cranford, a medical expert on the Terry Schiavo case, gives Joe Scarborough of MSNBC his just due by tossing truthful sticks of dynamite into his standard partisan hack blather during an interview.

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Seems like much hasn't changed.

"There is no distinctly American criminal class, with of course the exception of the Congress" - Mark Twain.

Love the War, Screw the Soldier

One of the GOP's most fantastic blind spots is the ill care for our own troops. The party of moral values has cut soldiers benefits during this war, added a new yearly $230 fee for them to buy into their own health coverage, has been unclear to the national guardsman and reservists that their health coverage will be much less significant that career soldiers (about 1/10 as much govt. support), and the ultimate kick in the ass, families of active duty soldiers are beginning to report by the hundreds that they're having trouble maintaining their homes, and that banks are quick to turn a deaf ear and begin procedures to foreclose.

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Rendition

Heard of it? Know what it means? It’s the official term for taking a prisoner in the war against terror and turning them over to a foreign country for torture. “Human rights activists long have charged that U.S. intelligence officers resorted to this practice, known as rendition, as a way to avoid U.S. restrictions prohibiting the torture of prisoners by allowing foreign agents to do so.” - Washington Post. We tend to use Pakistan, as it’s our ally in the war on terror, but we don’t limit ourselves to one destination.

Now the State Department Annual Country Report on Human Rights come out. 96 countries, all get demerits. The ones at the top of the list? Ironaically some of our allies in the war against terror.

The article continues: “"The State Department's carefully compiled record of countries' abuses may perversely have been transformed into a Yellow Pages for the outsourcing of torture," said William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA.”

Bush always said he wanted to run the country like a business. He’s finally done it, outsourcing our torture must be the ultimate foreign policy coup for him. The dirty work gets done, off the books with no accountability (the way he likes to run a busines - see GW Bush SEC investigation), and he gets to take the moral high ground and point the finger at these countries for lack of ethics. Our fine attorney general backs him up on the record.

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This is Rich

LA Times reports today that DeLay let his own father pass naturally in 1988 after a tragic accident after which doctor's diagnosis predicted that he would basically be "a vegatable." Article goes on to say: ""extraordinary measures to prolong life were not initiated," said his medical report, citing "agreement with the family's wishes." But now that he can fire up the pro-life conservative base with the Schiavo case he's all for continuing the same condition of life he didn't want to see for his own father. What a two-face this guy is.

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Addicted to More

We're addicted to "more" in this country, alway need more, always want more. Bush tapped into this so brilliantly with his endless touting of tax cuts and tax relief. Everyone always wants more, so the majority voted for more. But they didn't get it. In fact, as gas prices go up and the coming recession hits, we'll all have less. But Bush's hubris is so intense he continues to try and sell Social Security, even when he admits himself it's going to give everyone "less". Now that the Republicans are in charge of all three rings of government, watch them run themselves onto the punji stakes of their own greed as they charge ahead cut off and unconcerned about what anyone in the country might actually want.

As They Sow, So Shall They Reap

The Red States who proudly voted in their leaders with the "superior" moral values will be hit the hardest when the Medicaid cuts come through in the new budget and they can't keep proper care for their ailing parents, the record deficit creates a new recession squeezing houselhold budgets, gas prices go to $4 dollars a gallon, grown children can't afford state schools as state budgets are cut because of the deficit and state tuitions increase, but working kids who've graduated high school aren't covered under parent's medical insurance and can't afford their own, so have to pay out of pocket for every medical problem, but factory closings and corporate outsourcing take their jobs (and gives the corporations another nice tax break), and make any medical payments difficult, and now unemployed and forced to live on credit they'll soon be bankrupt, but unable to file for bankruptcy due to the bankruptcy bill and owe everything they've charged forever, with interest. It's when they've lost so much that they'll realize how they were used. These proud red state citizens will be the first to lead the charge when the revolution is televised.

Tell vs. Sell

Is this the problem? Traditionally there are two types of management. (says my friend the BalloonPirate). One is "Tell" where you literally lay down the law to employees and they follow it. The other is that you "sell" your principles and hope you rally the crew with deeper passion and loyalty. So, does the GOP use "tell" to their foot soldiers who follow it blindly and that's why 450 talk radio stations are always on message, GOP senators are always on message and Republican pundits are always on message polluting the media stream with the same half-lies word-for-word? And the Dems use "sell" and hope for the best? And some pundits are sold and others aren't, and every Senator has their own opinion, and our other media mouthpieces are all over the place? We need a better system. Who's going to put it in place? Dean? is he up to it? Thoughts on this?

Pillars of Strength

Liberals want your freedom, want your right to choose life, or death when there is no “life”. They want you to choose your religion. They want you to choose your political party. Liberals want you to be strong so that you can have a good life, and keep the country strong. They want good health insurance, they want a good strong church side by side with a government that helps you when you need help. Pillars of strength.

The conservatives are killing freedom. They’re using good god fearing people to instill fear time and time again. "Your values are being taken, your morality is being taken." The Republican congress cut Medicaid, putting the sick on the street. They passed the bankruptcy bill so that no one can seek protection from financial hardship, they weaken unions, cut taxes for themselves, and hardly for you. It’s the greatest con in the history of our country. Great Opportunists have taken over your leadership. They threaten you with fear, while taking away your ability to fight back.

A house divided, can not stand. Vote Democrat.

Top Reason I'm Burned Out This Week

Tom DeLay's incessant whining. It's exhausting me. Poor poor Tom DeLay. The excellent site Think Progress has this link (at end) to this Washington Post article which points out how Tom DeLay whines on about how liberals are trying to stop the conservative movement, and hit leaders like him with trumped up charges while all he's doing is trying to keep Terry Schiavo alive. All this while he's simultaneously marshalled through and voted for the biggest cut in Medicaid ($15 billion cut from the pending 2006 budget) in years that will terminate care for those like Terry Schiavo and force other families with similar problems into bankruptcy. Oh yes, he voted for the bill making filing for bankruptcy for us citizens nearly impossible. Oh yes, he's also been hit with those pesky ethics violations.

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They Think "Manipulate, Gain"

They use politics to increase power, not to serve. And until we accept and understand how they act, we'll never be able to take the power back.

See The Trees, or the Forest

Dave Johnson makes great point on his great blog Seeing The Forest on march 23rd.

"You're doing it again. You're not seeing what is really going on. You are missing the bigger picture. You are looking at trees and missing the forest. Do you really, after all this time and all these defeats, think the Right is stupid?

You mock the Republicans for blatantly acting politically, and ignore that they ARE ACTING POLITICALLY. In other words, they're acting in the way that will in the long term gain them more support for their candidates and issues."

Read the whole thing, he's right and we have to start thinking as "big picture" as they do.

Social Security Roadshow

The President is not at his desk. Not unusual. He's on the road again, facing pre-screened crowds of adoring supporters as he sells his current snake oil. Today's label is "social security reform". The downside? It cuts your benefits - that's a guaranteed cut over what you would get from the govt. if the system isn't changed - and it adds trillions of dollars to the trillion dollar defecit which is going to bring our country to its knees. Upside? Um...doesn't have one. Good deal, isn't it? Wait - one upside: it distracts you from the War, the gas prices hike, the cuts in medicare, the new budget bill that cuts every social program except defense...

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Conspiracy Revealed

This from MoveOn.org:
"Bush, Frist, and DeLay claim that they're acting out of concern for Ms. Schiavo. But a memo intended only for Republican Senators—uncovered by ABC News—reveals Republicans' true concern: "The pro-life base will be excited...this is a great political issue...this is a tough issue for Democrats." This story also takes the heat off Tom DeLay, who is facing a number of serious ethics charges and legal scandals.^"

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Top Reason I'm Paranoid This Week

Anyone remember this guy, Doug Wead, ex-aide to Bush who secretly taped conversations with him before he ran for office the first time? Then mysteriously a day after he broke the news and allowed media to listen to some of the choice items, Doug said he felt he should "give" the tapes to the President? He did. The white house considers the matter "over". What do you think they threatened this guy with? Doesn't it feel like it happened a year ago? It's been only four weeks. If this were the Clinton Presidency they would be available on Amazon.com in a boxed set, and right wing radio would be playing every second of the recordings for the next three years in loop, after out-of-context-damaging loop. How far do they go? We'll never know. Is history served? The GOP's version of it is. Wipe out the past, lie about the future. What did they say to Doug Wead? Who will be the first to step forward and spill it?

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Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi and other weak kneed liberals

Liberals change the world. Conservatives try to keep it the way it is. With force if neccessary. Liberals see a bigger picture, and are ready to paint a better one. Conservatives don't want to change the picture. The GOP is doing everything they can to keep the channel tuned to the same show in America. "Things are fine, the war goes well, we're thinking of YOU." But America is going to tire of the Terror War soap opera when they can't afford to buy gas, drive to work, pay for their hospital stays, or use their credit cards because they're in debtor prison. The GOP has greedily set the mechanism for our free market capital society to grind to a halt with the passing of the bankrupty bill, and voting down the measure to prevent tax breaks to corporations that outsource. Their disconnect with the "peopple" is so profound they don't realize they need a healthy middle class to stay rich. Now that they've put the tax burden of supporting the entire country on the middle class, their sacred money piles are going to vanish.

GOP Out Of Touch

Dragging the dead horse of Social Security reform behind their bandwagon, the Republicans continue to beat the drums for Terry Schiavo, have voted for the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve, and passed the bankruptcy bill. The fact that America is against every one of these issues seems to mean nothing to them. But as W. said of the the global anti-war protests before the invasion of Iraq, "I don't listen to focus groups". The GOP are no longer serving their constituents. They are serving themselves in a right wing feeding frenzy. Ever hear of the saying "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention?" People are going to notice it where it hits them all first. The wallet. Gas is up, medicare is down, deficit is in orbit, inflation and global recession are on the way. The GOP is arrogantly on their way to fueling a major liberal backlash.

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Who Would Jesus Bomb?

If the President is so righteous in his mission to save life, (like Terry Schiavo) and protect freedom (like ours from the terrorists), then why did he send his own people to die in Iraq, citing "urgent threat to our national security" where the WMD weren't just ideas, but that "we found them" and was wrong on both counts? There is no exit strategy. We haven't won the peace. Iraqi's who risked their lives to vote still don't have a government. Newsflash: they voted in an overwhelming majority against American backed Iraqi political choices. Maybe that's why they don't have a government.

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We need a better word than "conspiracy"

When Political Science shifts to Theology and then to Ideology for those in power, and the belief systems shift from "I'm right based on the facts" to "I'm right regardless of the facts", we all must realize the old rules don't apply. Nice ideas like debate, dialogue between dissenting groups, government reports that conradict independent reports, can all be ground through the shredder and used in a birdcage where someone may actually appreciate them. Nothing matters to the President besides his mission. A religous mission. That's why lying, pretending, deceitful behaviour is okay. Because it all serves his greater good. In his world every initiative is "faith based" and every underhanded trick gets him a pat on the back from his idea of what God is. To understand how deep the deceit of the President's public face goes, one must understand his private face. Bill Moyers puts up the mirror and looks at the President's reflection.

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Save the Woman, kill the funding

My friend Brian put it best:

"apparently it requires the full power of the gummint to shove one feeding tube down a brain-dead woman's throat. yes! this is the correct use of government power! oh, but wait--how is the husband of this woman supposed to pay for this feeding tube and the concommintant care? didn't the gummint just effectively pull the feeding tube out of medicaid by not funding it? so it's not right to let the body of a woman who hasn't really been around for twenty years to die naturally, but it's also not right to provide the funding necessary to help keep her alive? well, that's ok, the husband can declare bankruptcy, so that he can get some fiscal relief, and then continue his life with a fresh start. oh, but wait--didn't this same gummint just make it nearly impossible for him to do this, by making it much harder to declare said bankuptcy?"

Translate Schiavo

Has anyone brought to light that the translation of "Schiavo" is "slave?"

The Palm Sunday Compromise

This is what Republican lawmakers are calling Terry Schiavo's bill to force her to be kept alive in a "persistant vegestative state". A religous holiday in the name of a bill. Half of the Democrats present in the house voted for it. To keep this country fair and balanced, the Democratic party should step aside and let the Vatican be the second political party in this country so someone can appear less conservative than the Republicans.

Just a Little Past Right of the Far Right.

George Bush has never cut one of his very long vacations short during five years of his Presidency. Not Once. Except this week, to sit in his office and wait to sign a bill that would put Terry Schiavo back on life support. The state ruled against it, and to let her live "naturally" which means that her body can not sustain itself. Doctors have said she is medically brain dead. But the Right Wing that controls our government as slammed through legislation that over rules it all. Some people are saying Bush's action shows the Far Right how committed he is to them. People still don't get it - he IS the Far Right. He's not trying to impress anybody, this is what he really believes. He thinks it's proper to control the rules about how and when you live, what you can read, what you should see on the airwaves, that "freedom" is more of a brand name for America, and less about content. It's a great way to sell the country to the people if you put that on the box. He doesn't care if the box is empty. That's why he wants to put extremist judges on every bench he can.

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Government is finally working

The legislation to put Terry Schiavo's feeding tube back in has already moved through the House, President Bush said he's ready to sign it. This is the Republican controlled branches of government working together to get something done in 48 hours for the first time! Why suddenly does it work so efficiently? To help the people? No. Because of the date. Today marks the 2nd year anniversary of the war in Iraq. The peace is lost, over 1500 Americans dead, 10,000 wounded, no WMD ever found, election 7 weeks ago and no new government. And the American people are beginning to ask why? Why the cost? (1 billion dollars a day that take away from our schools, our police, our health). Why the loss of American children? (For Iraqi oil privatization). The answer? Deflect with Terry Schiavo and force her to testify before congress so that the feeding tube can be re-inserted. Hold hearings on steroids in baseball and get just as many answers about illegal steroid usage as you would from Terry Schiavo. All in the same week as the failed war's anniversary.

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GOP conspiracy? Or survival instinct gone bad?

Dr. Peter C. Whybrow theorizes that the "more is not enough" mania seen at top levels of business infrustructure (the kind that topple Enron, WorldCom and others), and the moral vacuum that envelopes our world leaders, may come down to the basic survival skills that are hard wired in the brain. Interesting idea, nice theory, but what do we do about it?

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Running to Mommy

You know, the President's illustrious pre-political history is a train wreck of failed business ventures, bankruptcies, SEC investigations of illegal stock sales, and a DUI hidden after the fact. In every case George Jr. went running home to his parents for help. Nice to see that so much has changed and he's finally matured.

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Being Paranoid Becomes Easier

BBC breaks story of Iraqi Oil privatization plan by Bush White House weeks into first term. England seems to have a media with journalists in it. What happened to ours?

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Republicans embrace new constituency

The brain dead and pre-born are now grouped into one convenient category of living tissue that can’t speak for itself. If only they could vote! Suddenly Terry Schiavo, and pregnant women all have one thing in common. Keep the un-alive, alive - by legistlation. So Congressional Pit Bulls Bill Frist and Dennis Hasfert once again lead the march for decency and good taste and try to – what? Can someone explain to me the GOP platform? Is it to shrink government and empower states, or to overturn state rulings and empower government to once again take away people’s right to choose?

What seems to create the shrillest frenzy with these right wingers more than blood in shark-infested waters seems to be – the need to legislate the power over life and death. Keep everything alive regardless of quality of life, or evidence of life - unless you're on death row and you're innocent.

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Other BPD's on the march

My friend Brian chimes in from the east coast. I couldn't have said it better:

"You forgot to mention, though, that our entire socioeconomic system is predicated on Big Oil/Big Auto (henceforth, BOBA) making money. When we finally squeeze all the oil out of the earth, there will be a paradigm shift that will make the dark ages look like a mild summer hangover. Especially since it looks like that's gonna happen at about the same time that the folks who buy into the Social Security bullshit will find out their retirement plans not worth spit.

But hey--at least there won't be any steroids in baseball!"

Am I being too paranoid?

Why kill social security? The answer is simple: they are trying to eliminate old people as a demographic. Once dead due to financial hardship this aging and annoying demographic will no longer be a problem for Republicans as the geriatrics tend to vote Democratic anyway. The GOP also gets to terminate long memories of Bush’s lies and misconduct.

Terry Schiavo

Congress makes a new and brilliant move to help deal with the Republican fiscal disasters both domestic and foreign, by beginning to legislate for citizens one at a time. Why not? They've got so much extra time while the media sleeps through the deficit crisis, the social security campfire ghost story, the failed peace in Iraq and the list of domestic insults congress just passed.

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Peterson Guilty, Blake Free, Steroids on the Hill, American People Lose

If only the eye candy of American Psuedo-News could be bankable. When Social Security is privatized, has a shortfall and millions are plunged into poverty, perhaps they could all get a "Peterson Coupon" to be redeemable at the local grocery. Or when the first oil spill decimates the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, people could be issued "Jackson coupons" to help pay for the clean up. This seems to be on par with the level of fiscal sanity at GOP.INC.

If the Media put the same energy into investigating the Republican Crime Machine, Americans would have cleaner air, healthier water, and a secure social safety net.

Top five reasons I'm burned out this week:

1) Repeatedly beseiged by Anne Coulter on right wing radio/print as she defends her rascist slur “old arab” when writing about White House Press Correspondent.

2) Hearing how well the war is going from Fox News and other mainstream media. 1500 dead, elections six weeks ago and no new government, children without fathers, mothers without sons. And now they’ll all be able to get a credit card but not go bankrupt.

3) Hearing Tom DeLay talk about Moral Values.

4) In general, exhaustive conservative bullying on same dead horse issues over and over again regardless of common sense, good taste, or even good manners is always a bit tiring. See Anne Coulter “old arab” statement

5) Refusal of conservatives to stick to one argument, one point or acknowledge reletavistic facts during any single discussion.

Remember – to remain paranoid the rules are simple: Merely notice that the President does the opposite of what he says time and time again. He makes a promise and breaks it time and time again. He makes a statement, and we discover it’s a lie. He promises an action gets the supports to do so, and then he does the opposite.

But the bright side to this, or course, is that paranoids love that behaviour! In fact it reinforces our world view that everything is wrong and nothing can be trusted. Without such devious and deceitful behaviour starting at the top, we’d have to stop being paranoid, and we’re just not ready to do that.

Five Reasons I'm Paranoid This week

Five top reasons I'm paranoid this week:

1) Social Security: The President continues to blindly push Social Security reform in the face of statistical odds against it, the “blue dogs” of the senate (conservative democrats) against it, the public polls against it and his own party beginning to retreat from it. Seems like his campaign donors (merryl lynch et. Al. Are still for it).

2) Jeff Gannon: No mainstream press story or official investigation of one the greatest security blunders in post 9/11 washington. Fake journalist/male prostitue Jeff Gannon getting daily passes to the white house for two years. Scott McClellan has a lot of explaining to do, and this burned out paranoid would like to see it in front of a grand jury.

3) FCC crackdown on free speech continues. Soon criticizing the president, or being anti-war (not anti-troop, mind you) will result in a fine and prison time.

4) Repulicans turn the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve drilling bill into an amendment in the budget bill – so it no longer has to be approved by 2/3 vote in the senate (for which they don’t have the votes) but by a mere majority of 51, of which they do have the votes.

5) Bankruptcy bill that passed the Senate is morally bankrupt, but credit car companies will finally make better profits, going from 150% to 168%. As Bush has already put the burden of supporting the entire country on the backs of the middle class and the poor, we’re going to need those credit cards to keep commerce going. Then when we all go bankrupt, and wall street collapses, Bush will go to his 400 acre ranch and put in a new fence to keep out the poor.

Phil.

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