When not as I do starts to take over for do as I say.

The latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that 57% of the 1008 people polled think that the War on Iraq is/was NOT worthwhile. It's not surprising when even the mainstream news seems to be reporting increased violence there. The 360 photos of flag draped coffins the Pentagon has recently been forced to release make any decline in the percentage of dissent doubtful. The capture of what is said to be al Qaeda's #3 man in Pakistan further typifies where Our War on Terrorism should be, if anywhere. Imagine if we took the $200,000,000,000.00 we've spent in Iraq and maintained our forces in Afghanistan (the Pakistani border in particular). Imagine Our eyes trained on the hunt for al Qaeda and its leaders and not distracted by the "evil" dictator no one thought was a threat worthy of invasion, except for the neo-conmen in charge of Our government. Unlike a coalition that seems to be forming in Venezuela, Our "coalition" is so strained that the struggling Italian government is using discrepancies in the story about Our troops killing their agent to showcase their ability to disagree with the current US administration. Reports of "fake interrogations" at Guatanamo Bay certainly haven't helped confidence. Lynndie England can't even plead guilty to the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib prison without a fight.

Maybe international relations will improve after the UN's month long conference on the Nonproliferation Treaty. I doubt it. We, especially this administration, like Our nucLEar options, literally and figuratively, intact. Don't believe me? Take it from President Jimmy Carter or better yet the current secretary of defense. The conference has been given about thirty more seconds of coverage than the "thousands" of anti-nuke, anti-war protestors that marched on the UN just prior to the meeting. So don’t worry about something interrupting the coverage of some cold footed bribe faking her own abduction or Macaulay Culkin’s testimony. After all, we do live in a place and time where the President of the United States gets cut off for Paris Hilton and Donald Trump.

Acting Minister of Oil

Ladies and Gentlemen!
One of the new Deputy Prime Ministers of Iraq and Acting Minister of Oil, the criminal friend of the neo-cons that was essential to the misleading of America to War and stands accused of giving US secrets to Iran,

Ahmed Chalabi

Iraq and Options of Governmental Destruction

With "elected" Iraqi's finding it hard to agree on a cabinet, there's is little hope of Iraqi oil barrels rolling in to help the supply driven side of our fuel price predicament any time soon. And even if drilling in ANWR was passed today (one of the keys to this administration's "energy policy"), it wouldn't provide its 3% of our oil needs for another 10 years. So its no wonder the president had the Saudi prince over for ribs at the "Western White House" (their words not mine). Maybe the fact that they're eating ribs and dogs at Camp Crawford will be enough to calm oil markets that reached record highs in April ($58.28 per gallon). Or maybe, just maybe, we should all start buying hybrids, a trend that seems to be taking off.

There seems to be no help from Iraq on the reasons we invaded, either. US inspectors, aka The Iraq Survey Group, found "no evidence" the weapons of mass destruction, that there was no evidence saddam had possession of, were moved into Syria. So much for that reason to invade Syria, which is a good thing considering the Syria national army's numbers will no doubt increase with the removal of troops from Lebanon. Once again, the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq has been declared over. Will the people responsible for the misleading Us into this horrible mistake of a war ever be held responsible for their deeds or will they just continue to be allowed to make more mistakes? $300,000,000,000.00 invested and soldiers still have to complain, in public, for more armor. To quote Senator Robert Byrd "Shame.... What a shame."

What Lott, Delay, Frist and the boys have found, in lieu of WMD, are OGD (Options of Governmental Destruction). Going against public opinion, the red army continues its threats to destroy the last check a minority party has against a president whose party is in the majority. At issue, currently, the 10 judicial nominees out of 215 that have not been approved by the Senate. 205 judges have been approved already. Seven of the ten are being sent back to the Senate for a second time. There was the fleeting hope of a compromise between Senators Reid and Frist, but the president's deputy chief of staff was the first righteous red to set that record straight. The "nuCLEar option" could turn future judicial nominees into presidential appointments. With an ailing and aging Supreme Court, the anti-choice, anti-gay, pro gun reds see this as a real opportunity to stack the life term courts. Maybe that's what gannon/guckert has been working on during his visits to Our White House when no press events were scheduled, the president wasn't home and without the knowledge of the Secret Service. We may never know the truth, but we should never stop asking for it.


"if they insist on persisting with these filibusters, I'm perfectly prepared to blow the place up. No problem."
- Senator Trent Lott

Sounds like a threat to a Federal Building to me. Book 'em Homeland Security.

Boycott of the Week: Microsoft

Whether it's for Microsoft's recent change of stance on the rights of homosexual Americans or the $20,000.00 a month Microsoft is paying righteous red Ralph Reed's consulting group, consequences should be felt by the mega-company. Now I know switching from windows is a lot to ask, but changing from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox is a snap, and worth it.

Ideology not theology!

Tell senator frist what you think of preaching politics in church. One wonders if this is how the mullahs and iyatollahs do it.

Hypocrisy, Earth Day and Tom Delay

In yet another "THE FACT THAT HE RELIES ON FACTS..." policy move, the administration has eliminated a 19 year old annual international terrorism report after the top terrorism center found that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than any year since the report's inception back in 1985. Maybe it was those wacko lefty groups, like the Environmental Liberation Front, who have recently been added to the Homeland Security's terrorist watch list. It certainly couldn't be the right wingnut "domestic terrorists" that the Department of Homeland Secutrity have left off. Anyone remember timothy mcveigh's? Ah the hypocrisy of it all, or as Mikhail Gorbachev put it recently "I think the United States is sick." A comment that probably got about as warm a reception from the administration as current Russian President Vladimir Putin received from it's Secretary of State. Poor Vlad, I hope he didn't think that truck rides and hot dogs at Camp Crawford would last. Governor Ahnold changed his mind about people this week as well. After stating that California borders should be closed (if only they were before he got there), Ahnold came back with this retraction "Yesterday was a total screw-up in the words I used," "Because instead of closing, I meant securing. I think maybe my English, I need to go back to school and study a little bit." Uh, you're the Governor now Ahnold. You damn well better know the difference between close and secure. Who am I kidding? The man who so elequently stated "Our children is learning" is the president.

Today is Earth Day. This year it has been marked/marred by yet another ridiculous "energy policy", which includes drilling in ANWR, tax breaks for energy companies whose profits are rising as I type, and protections for the polluters by weakening things like the Clean Air Act, just to name a few provisions. Why be surprised? These are the "folks" who continue to argue the existence of global warming, despite news that continues to surface from scientists around the globe. It has gotten to the point that legislators in California are thinking about having a gas tax by the mile instead of the gallon, giving hybrids more of a tax burden (per gallon) because of their better mileage. Maybe we all should get up, leave our computers, go outside, take a deep breath, plant a tree and reconnect to a planet we seem to be in a constant battle for. If you can't make it away from your monitor there are some ways you can do something for Mother Earth. Give an elected official a call, email, or fax thanking for the work he/she has done on behalf of the Earth or curse him/her out for working against her. Me, I'm gonna go plant some basil.


"The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure."
The scandal plagued Tom Delay (R)- Floor of the House November 1995

Just relax congressman, this probe won't hurt a bit.

Holy Crap! Is that republican dissent I smell?

I watched a good chunk of this last night on C-Span, but turned it off before the surprise ending. Go Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio Go! A republican politician actually listened to what Democratic Senators Biden and Dodd had to say, and voted to postpone the sending of the nomination of John Bolton to the full Senate, while we all watched Senators Hagel and Chafee for their possible defection from the president's wishes.

"I don't know if I've ever seen, in a setting like this, a senator changing his mind as a result of what other senators said," Mr. Chafee said. "The process worked. It's kind of refreshing."

In other dissent news the republican-dominated Utah legislature passed a bill Tuesday that orders state officials to ignore provisions of the federal "No Child Left Behind" law. This in addition to the ethically challenged Congressman Delay attacking Reagan appointed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and other republican appointed "judicial activists". Are the walls of the red fortress starting to crack?

DAS POPE

Not to come down on the pope on his first day, but after reading some of the initial reaction to Pope Benedict XVI, one may be inclined to think that he may make Pope John Paul II look liberal. He did, after all, intervene in the 2004 United States presidential election by ordering that no communion be given to pro-choice supporters, including Senator John Kerry.

Heaven help us.

Note from the Squid: I have deleted the "hitler youth" portion of this entry after considering the period of time that the now Pope was a child and teen in Germany. It is unfair to blame him for doing what was required of him at the time. His stance on gays, women, other faiths, and priests that screw little boys is definitely troubling enough.

A possible connection???

I caught this over at Knight Ridder, maybe I just missed it everywhere else.

The vice president and his wife reported $1,328,678 in earnings last year, which produced a $393,518 tax bill. These earnings included his $203,000 government salary, as well as $194,852 in deferred compensation from the good ol' boys at Halliburton, he Dallas-based company that may have overcharged the U.S. government by $212 million under contracts to help rebuild Iraq's oil industry and supply fuel to Iraqi citizens. I mean that's if you believe portions of audits recently released by those left wing wackos at the Pentagon.

I wonder why Halliburton is still getting contracts??????

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
President Franklin Delanore Roosevelt

Reds, Hope and Howitzers

So the reds in Congress show us once again that corporations (credit cards, in particular) are more important than the citizens they screw. The "culture of life" scripture continues to read the rich beget the rich, and the latter shouldn't be taxed for it. The United States Senate majority leader is preaching that the "liberal" Democrats are "against people of faith". Well Senator, it's hard to have faith in anything while you and the good ol' boys try to run rough shot over the seperation of powers in the United States government, while simultaneously lowering the ethical standards of two of its branches.

There are a few points of light (not the thousand that George I saw) coming from the abyss. T.A. Barron offers some of us tree huggers "Reasons for Hope", and comedian turned radio news man Harry Shearer joins the fray once again catching a fox "news" anchor telling his guests what to say. This as scientists turned comedians(?) name slime mold beetles after administration officials. Take that you technologically backwards, budget cutting bastards.

It's nice to see the "vast left wing conspiracy" branching out. AmericaBLOG makes a great point about the ineffective old groups failing, leaving it up to us neo-liberals to attack and attack with the same "howitzers" the reds seem to. But which new group should we focus Our guns through CREW, Democracy for America, Center for American Progress, America! Coalition, Progressive Bloggers Union (PBU)?

And just to lighten the mood, here's a video of the president of the United States of America.

And now for something completely different?

Eric Idle's "FCC Song" is a triumph, as is "Let them eat bombs" by his mate Terry Jones.

Python is re-releasing the Life of Brian and Spamelot is on Broadway. Buy tickets. They deserve our money.

"Always look on the Bright side of life"

Who they are and why I fight them.

They sent us to war on information they did not "know" (despite the assertions of the vice president, et al). They are the pro-death penalty "culture of life" . A "culture" whose operatives see one family's struggle over a dying loved one as "a great political issue" and turn a blind eye to a child and her defiant mother's "life and death struggle" in Texas. A "culture of life" who has presided over the most environmentally destructive four years since the industrial revolution. A "culture" where lobbyists and corporations buy off majority leaders with Russian vacations and baby showers. With control of two of Our three branches of government, they threaten and bash the third, in an attempt to circumvent Our Constitution. Their rhetoric calls for changes in Our Constitution that would discriminate against a portion of Our population, whose crime is love. They are the intolerant, hypocritical, righteous "religious" right. They are the money changers in Our temple.

I may not be alone in this. Of course there are other "liberals", but when you see the Senate majority leader opposing the House majority leader's view on the United States judiciary, that often stifled feeling that republicans are starting to see the monster they've created starts to creep in. Stories of the US judiciary holding strong against legislative attacks, as well as the sentencing of a white supremacist, plotting against her judges, to 40 years in prison, demonstrate that the foundations set by the Constitutional Convention are strong. The nomination of a man, involved in Iran Contra, to head US intelligence, and another man, who worked to dismantle the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, renounced the International Criminal Court, and blocked the efforts to add a verification clause to the bioweapons convention, to represent the United States of America at the United Nations, bring back that feeling of dread. It's like having a lobbyist for the extreme trophy hunting Safari Club as the Head of Fish & Wildlife (oh wait). Our president's poll numbers are falling, as are Congress's, as he continues his multi-million tax dollar tour touting his Social Security plan/not plan. I wonder why? Can it be said that as Our soldiers fight and die in Afghanistan and Iraq, at least they can be assured that Our commander in chief and his administration is making the poor, hungry, huddled masses feel welcome in this land of Liberty. Is he keeping Our Constitution strong, leaving no child behind, bringing accountability back to the White House, and ending Our nation building policies? More promises broken, and you can be sure there are more to come.

But who am I to judge? I am just a citizen who pays attention a little too much. A person who works and volunteers for his community. So I don't have cable, a car, or a cell phone. I shop at mom and pop stores, cook most of my meals using as much in the way of organics as I can afford on a civil service salary. So I make my own pasta, so what? Well, if We shop a little less at the big chains and fast "food" domains they might change their low wage, no benefits, crush small town business ways. Maybe if We all paid a little more attention to a number of different news sources it wouldn't be quite as easy for the powers that be to feed us misinformation or distract us with tabloid news. Maybe if more of Us thought more about others instead of simply ourselves and our pocketbooks, one day we could regain the idea and dream of America that is now the stuff of legend.

What am I high?


The only way to support a revolution is to make your own.
-Abbie Hoffman

1920-2005
"When war threatens humanity's destiny, as it does today in Iraq, it is even more urgent for us to proclaim with a loud and decisive voice that peace is the only way to build a more just and caring society. Violence and arms can never solve human problems."
-- Pope condemns Bush's invasion of Iraq, March 22, 2003 

A quick review

In case you missed them here are some recent "news" stories of interest, at least to me.

By now I am sure you've heard that Terri Schiavo has passed away. She died thirteen days after her feeding tube was removed at her husband's request. A request that was upheld by any and all courts that were willing to review the case. Her condition almost unanimously agreed upon by the doctors that evaluated her. The big story of this media frenzied case may turn out to be the federal judiciary, with the US Constitution in hand, standing up to both Congress and the president of the United States. Leaving the likes of scandal ridden Congressman Tom Delay to threaten judges that upheld the law and did their job.

Meanwhile the presidentially appointed the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (like the ones recently destroyed in Arkansas) found massive failures in US intelligence (well duh). They also made strong reference to the damage those failures have done to US credibilty. Also revealed was the fact that the administration, Powell included, used information given to them by exile, codename Curveball, after being warned that he was "crazy". Of course, the commission's "mandate" did not include the "policy" made based on that intelligence. It's about time a "commission" takes that on. In other Iraq news it seems that double the amount of children are "starving" (from 4% - 8%) than were before we liberated them from saddam. This according to a UN report. A UN headed by Kofi Annan who was recently found to have no part or knowledge of the oil for food program scandal, except for not having investigated into it hard enough. I hope all those that call for Kofi's head on this matter ask for the same thorough investigations from Our president on any one of the scandals of the past four+ years. Also from the United Nations news desk, 62 former diplomats (republicans and democrats) have come out against the man the president wants to appoint to be Our UN representative, Mr. John Bolton. Another great choice by Our fearless leader.

So as we try and figure out how to change the world, hopefully for the better, we can go the route of Former Senator Bill Bradley and examine and restructure the democratic party the way the republicans have since the 70's or take to action like the William Kristol pie man and the Pat Buchanan Salad Dresser. Maybe Timothy Leary's "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" is the way to go. As my friend so eloquently puts it "Choose your own illusion." According to the latest report on Our natural resources we may not have that much time to worry about anyway.