Big Brother in his new guise as a member of the TSA.

- jer 3:05 PM - [PermaLink] -

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All of a sudden, I really like The Dixie Chicks.

- jer 5:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Unlawfulness is the new law: Disregard for the rule of law and not of men throughout administrations goes back a long way in our country, and I believe is the root of the Civil War, which is still being fought along a racial/cultural divide. The Two Americas syndrome -- i.e., one set of rules applying to a wealthy privileged class -- the rule that rules need not apply -- vs. strict enforcement of a carefully calibrated set of rules designed to criminalize poverty and establish a permanent underclass to keep unemployment at a steady 6 % -- the same 6 percent, always, only now the permanent underclass (the other America, the unpeople who can be executed by the state as a political expediency) has swelled to an alarming degree, where 1 percent controls all the rest, which is to say everything and everyone beneath it, an intolerable monarchy that promises to tear us apart in bloody, violent revolutions. This isn't the Gilded Age we're talking about, it's more like 1791 and 1914 put together in a 21st century state-of-the-art nuclear warhead. At least the robber barons recognized the need to build. All this crowd knows how to do is destroy and plunder. Look what they did to California! That represents one-third of the U.S. economy. The rule of law in that case was entirely abandoned. If Reagan's plan to destroy the Soviets by a massive arms buildup that they couldn't afford worked, Bush is now applying the same principle to us. He's breaking our backs and destroying the U.S. economy, Reagan-style, for private enrichment. And of course the rule of law need not apply. That's what Supreme Court appointments are all about. Look how he got to be president!
As to the so-called objective mechanics of laws protecting citizens from the unbridled passions of people, what we have here is a human libido craving for power and deregulated greed driving those mechanisms, perverting them, corrupting them to shore up its advantage. What we see now is the flowering of an agenda in which selected wars bear fruits. But we don't share in any of it. It's all privately owned fruit, and sold to us at an exhorbitant price that thanks to them we can no longer afford. This is international gangsterism on a breathtaking scale, and it galls and frightens me because it's all done in my name. We're complicit and extorted at the same time. We have to live with the mass murder while a handful of men enrich themselves at our expense. Every dime I make and spend contributes to this. I'm supporting it. I'm paying for it. Now I must suffer the guilt and shame of the lie forever. I hate what these people have done to us, how hell bent they are on shoving everyone's faces in their shit while they rob us. And Americans applaud.

- Michael 12:38 PM - [PermaLink] -

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In regards to yesterday’s posting where I alleged that the obviously scripted (at least as to who was going to ask the questions) press conference of last week was such a charade that even the questions themselves had been pre-screened, well, according to reporter George Condon “As one who asked one of those questions I can tell you that no one from the White House informed reporters they would be called on or asked about possible topics. In fact, I did not know what I would ask until I was there and was actually called on.” (third post). Read more of various reporters’ comments though, you’ll see there are some interesting things going on with our “free” press. What kind of things? Here you’ll find a Washington Post reporter admitting that the quotes you read from the Whitehouse are not quotes. They are lies. A quote is what someone said, you do not change it to meet their approval. I’ve heard of interviewees reviewing quotes to make sure they are accurate, but to come up with an entirely new sentence…? That is not a quote. Scroll up to read what other reporters think of this. (thanks to MediaWhoresOnline for this).

- rob 11:00 AM - [PermaLink] -

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And the reviews for pResident Bush's primetime "press" conference last week are still coming in. The most troubling aspect of these reviews is that not only was Bush obviously working off a pre-arranged list as to whom to call, but that it is being alleged that he knew what the questions would be beforehand. I don't understand why he went to all that bother, as he only had one answer (two if you count about him talking about praying for peace) anyways (which he repeated over and over and over again).

- rob 2:39 PM - [PermaLink] -

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During the 2000 election there was often talk of Bush’s success as the governor of Texas, though even then there was little to prove it, since then things have really fallen apart, with a close to 2 billion deficit for this year, and the problems his Faith Based initiatives have caused becoming more apparent. So my fear is that what he did for Texas is what he really will do for the nation.

Ah yes, Texas, where the state GOP has added that “America is a Christian Nation” to their platform. The problem is, the people who come up with inane ideas like that assume that it would be their brand of Christianity that the nation becomes beholden to. But what if it was decided we should follow the beliefs of John Ashcroft? Would even dancing with your children become illegal? Or maybe the version of Christianity that should be enshrined into law should be the Snake Handling version? And before you say “plain old Protestant” remember that there are many differences between even mainstream Protestant churches, but instead of just being theological discussions as they are now, these differences could become court matters. You know the Bill of Rights really was a good idea. Let's stick with it.

- rob 12:29 PM - [PermaLink] -

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This is funny.

- rob 10:54 AM - [PermaLink] -

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What is with Bush and his Dad? We all know Bush Jr. had an… um… extended childhood. When he was 25 or 26 he was still driving home drunk yelling at Dad to fight him Mano a Mano. Barbara Bush has told how her husband would give the kids the silent treatment when they did something wrong, but now they are adults and Dad finally is breaking his silence. Bush Jr. (the shrub) has said he should get Saddam because “they tried to kill my daddy.” Maybe we should get Dr. Phil to sit those two down and leave the world out of it.

- rob 10:48 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Speaking of Duct Tape. You really have to hand it to the Bush administration. Everything has a purpose, even Duct Tape (read down to second item):

News Item: Jack Kalh, CEO of Henkel Consumer Adhesives Inc., makers of nearly half the duct tape sold in the United States, is listed as major donor to the Republican National Committee.

- rob 4:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Even Iraq is jumping on the Duct Tape bandwagon...

- jer 4:26 PM - [PermaLink] -

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"This song is not an anti-American or pro-Saddam Hussein statement. This is a statement against an unjustified war."
- Adam Horovitz

- jer 1:51 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Bill Moyers and the flag. Why have we let people who don't love American steal our flag? Some how right wing extremists have taken our flag as theirs. The flag represents us as well. Take back the flag!

- rob 11:21 AM - [PermaLink] -

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It probably won't have quite the same bite as the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, but Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic was shot, dead.

- Alex 11:12 AM - [PermaLink] -

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The great comic artist Art Spiegelman recently quit The New Yorker after 10 years because of their (in his opinion) acquiescent editorial policy towards the current administation. This despite, or perhaps exemplified by, Hendrik Hertzberg's editorials in the Talk of the Town.

- jer 9:13 PM - [PermaLink] -

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The Pope as the ultimate human shield. Who said all Catholic clergy were bad?

- jer 9:01 PM - [PermaLink] -

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No French Fries, no Boeuf Burgers. Apparently France's lack of cooperation in the UN has instigated a drastic change of the American dining lexicon. I expect to see a congressional writ ordering California to rename their wines any day now.

- Alex 3:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Florida first, then Iraq I guess....

- jer 2:24 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Perhaps there is nothing more American than voicing your opinion of governmental policies, whether you agree or disagree. The purpose of protest is to sway opinion of the people and of the government, sometimes it is the only means of getting people’s attention. It certainly is important in these days of a docile press corps. But the protesters who did this are idiots. I always though flag burning should be legal, but I also thought it was stupid. But a memorial? That’s like giving Rush Limbaugh & Bill O'Reilly a blank check. Those people would do the peace effort a great service by going back to their parents’ basements.

- rob 10:33 AM - [PermaLink] -

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Oh, I forgot, here's something that makes Monday's fun: Top 10 Conservative Idiots

- rob 5:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Gary Hart has a great piece in The Washington Post.

- rob 4:37 PM - [PermaLink] -

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With all of us concentrating our anger at Bush, it is easy to forget he represents something larger: America gone bad. A dangerous place where Nationalism equals Patriotism, and I’m not just talking about Texas.

- rob 4:32 PM - [PermaLink] -

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What has been troubling so many people is: Why? Why are we having this war, why now? It isn’t 9/11. This war was planned long before that, 9/11 was just the excuse the warlords needed. An atrocity turned into PR. Some people think it is money . Halliburton seems to be doing well by war. Not really a Just Cause is it?

Much has been made about Bush and his faith. Often a leader's religious background (be it Christian, or Judaism, or Muslim) brings him or her to make decisions based on a higher moral code, a larger good, rather than just what is politically expedient. In those cases, thank God for religion. But Bush’s faith seems only to allow him a moral excuse for brutal decisiveness. No one seems to note that almost all of his decisions seem designed to help friends and donors financially. Lives are being lost for profit. Perhaps we should ask again what he actually believes in, because I thought his religion taught that the Love of Money was the root of all evil.

- rob 4:21 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Does this century really suck? Well for me, personally, no. I began this century with a wonderful son, and less than a year into it I received a beautiful daughter. So no, this century doesn’t suck for me. This weekend I watched my son ride down a snowy hill on his saucer and slide out on to a water covered icy plain at the bottom of the hill. He was laughing and splashing (and not getting cold as he had a snowsuit – do they make those in dad sizes?). This century suck? For me? No.

But you see, I am a member of a community, of a nation, and of a world. I love them all, and when they hurt I hurt a little too. What affects me in my life is more than just what affects family, my friends, and me. This is what troubles me most about this administration, it isn’t that they could care less about the world; they could care less about the nation too. They see their friends and business allies as who they are working for, not the voters, the voters are an annoyance, easily circumvented.

- rob 3:46 PM - [PermaLink] -

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