The Dusty Dog: April 2006

April 29th in NYC

...........Thousands demonstrate in NYC on April 29th.................

I just love this picture. It's wonderful. It gives me heart. I was not able to be there yesterday, but I supported the effort with all I have.

Dubya and his neocon handlers are toast. It's only a matter of time.............

Dumb or Dumber?

There's a new CNN poll out, since April 25th. It concludes that 32% of Americans are still dumb as dead tree stumps.

In the telephone poll of 1,012 adult Americans carried out Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, 32 percent of respondents said they approve of Bush's performance, 60 percent said they disapprove and 8 percent said they do not know.

I'm kinda wondering about this 8 percent who don't know. What's not to know? Or, are they just not quite as dumb? Or, dumber, maybe...........

Crimes Against Humanity?

Votes Counted. Deals Made. Chaos Wins. That's the title of today's New York Times online article, accompanied by this photo above. Not very encouraging at all. We..... no, not we....... the neocons heading up today's US government have turned Iraq into a miserable place to be. The article goes on to state about the tent city that has been created:

According to the Iraqi government, about 14,000 families — probably close to 100,000 people — have been displaced by the violence. More than 80 percent, the government said, are Shiites. About 2,000 Iraqis have been killed since the Askariya Shrine, a holy Shiite mosque in Samarra, was destroyed in a bombing two months ago.

That's one thousand (1000) people per month; two hundred fifty (250) people each week; eighty plus (80+) people every day. Then, a number of paragraphs later, is this:

Full-fledged civil war, with widespread ethnic bloodletting and mass migrations, has not yet come to Iraq. But a week's worth of conversations with ordinary Iraqis leaves one wondering if the government, even with American help, can any longer prevent this from happening.

Am I missing something here? At what number of dead and displaced will this qualify as a civil war? Why are we dancing around the term?

Iraqis are ethically divided now in a way that appears to be similar to the ethnic bloodshed that took place in Yugoslavia during the 1990s. It's not just divided neighborhoods in Iraq; it's now cleansing on a massive, murderous scale. This is what Milosevic was tried for as war crimes as the leader of the Serbian state. Per Wikipedia, "He was one of the key figures in the Yugoslav wars during the 1990s and Kosovo War in 1999. He was indicted in May 1999, during the Kosovo War, by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and genocide in Bosnia. Charges of violating the laws or customs of war were added a year and a half after that." Is this what George W. Bush will be tried for as the Commander in Chief who brought on this Iraqi ethnic cleasing?

The buffoon in chief destroys everything he ever touches. He may not be in charge of the ethnic cleasing itself, but he instigated it. He set aside sane policies to enable this mess. He lied like a rug to allow it to happen. Were it not for him, as the buck-stops-here guy in chief, Iraq would continue to be the only secular and progressive country that it was under Saddam, albeit with his iron fist. Now, it's becoming a predominantly islamist stronghold, complete with ethnic cleansing and the harboring of terrorists, something it was not under Saddam. Iraq is just another of the buffoon in chief's failed ventures. But, he doesn't care. He's so freakin' enriched monetarily over this fiasco, that he'll just return to his drugged out oblivion after he steps down, hopefully via impeachment, and takes up the next venture to drive into the ground. Unless, of course, he's sent to prison for his crimes against humanity. One can only hope.....

I hate George W. Bush. I thought I hated Nixon. I thought I hated Reagan. I didn't even know what hate was when they were presidents. This cockroach in chief has really showed me what hate really is. May he rot in hell...... but, in prison first.

Mission Accomplished

Now that gas prices are over $75/barrel, and the oil companies are hauling record profits, it must be nice to know that "mission" was accomplished. Yes, boys and girls, the mission was accomplished........ But whose mission?

The US is firmly planted up the asses of the Iraqi people. If anyone thinks that we are leaving, s/he must certainly be in La La Land. We are there for the very long haul, and our tax dollars paid for it. As we speak, the US is building the largest American embassy ever, in Baghdad. It's a vast complex of 21 distinct structures, as described in this USA article:

U.S. diplomatic employees in Iraq are to move next year to a multimillion-dollar complex that will be among the largest U.S. embassies. The facility is slated for completion June 2007.

# New office building: Includes classified activities
# New office annex: For public diplomacy staff, consular affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development
# Interim office building: Designed for future use as a school
# General services annex: Facilities management, break areas, staff locker rooms
# Recreation building: Gym, exercise room, swimming pool, locker rooms, the American Club, commissary, food court, barber and beauty shop
# Six staff apartment buildings: Each has one bedroom apartments
# Residences for the chief and deputy chief of mission
# Marine security guard quarters
# Remaining buildings are dedicated to security, vehicle maintenance and facilities management, storage, utilities, and water and wastewater treatment

Sources: State Department, Mall of America, Disneyland, Architect of the Capitol, wire reports and Senate Foreign Relations Committee

The US now controls the oil production in Iraq. Mission accomplished. The fact that it's only producing a fraction of pre-war quantities is OK. It serves to drive up oil prices, which in turn, serves to pad the war profiteers and the oil companies. Interesting that our prez is an oil man and our veep is a clean-up man, both making windfall profits from this debaucle called Iraqi Freedom. Freedom, my ass. The Iraqis are screwed. And so are the Americans. And prez and veep are laughing all the way to the bank.

I suppose being considered by most Americans as the worst president in US history is but a small price to pay for this venture. It was carefully planned during the Reagan years. It took years of positioning to execute, but yes folks, we are there. Mission Accomplished.

Now, allow me to embellish on deadeye dick's illustrious career in the political arena....

He started out in 1969 under the Nixon administration. Are you already getting the drift here? Yeah, that same Nixon, the crook who resigned in shame for his own illegal politicking. From there, he managed to be elected into Congress from Wyoming, rising up the ranks to become the House Minority Whip in 1988. He then served as Secretary of Defense under GeorgeHW, before going into the private sector, becoming Chairman of the Board for Halliburton. Sure thing, boys and girls, having been the Secretary of Defense, he knew the ins and outs of how to secure government military contracts. He made $millions$. Of course, now that he was selected by dubya to be the veep, while working for Halliburton, and stepping down as the CEO, he moved into the spot very comfortably as one of the loudest proponents of this American imperialistic mentality. Halliburton, his "old" company was awarded umpteen no-bid contracts, made record profits, and life was/is good. Except for that dang stone heart thang.

So, dear readers, are you all not seeing the connection here? Sure, I made it brief, leaving out all the interim shenanegans perpetrated by this heartless SOB, like voting against Aparteid sanctions and lobbying against Libya sanctions, both of which hurt the bottom line of his business venture. Feel free to read more at Wikepedia, for a nice, descriptive history of deadeye dick. He planned all this from the get-go, and found his "man", in the name of George W. Bush, to carry out the plan. It was years in the making, and Mission Accomplished.

Now, it's our turn..............

A Spy Speaks Out

This spy, Tyler Drumheller, spoke out on CBS 60 Minutes last night. What he has to say is harrowing, to say the least. Following is an excerpt:

According to Drumheller, CIA Director George Tenet delivered the news about the Iraqi foreign minister at a high-level meeting at the White House, including the president, the vice president and Secretary of State Rice.

At that meeting, Drumheller says, "They were enthusiastic because they said, they were excited that we had a high-level penetration of Iraqis."

What did this high-level source tell him?

"He told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program," says Drumheller.

"So in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam's inner circle that he didn't have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?" Bradley asked.

"Yes," Drumheller replied. He says there was doubt in his mind at all.

"It directly contradicts, though, what the president and his staff were telling us," Bradley remarked.

"The policy was set," Drumheller says. "The war in Iraq was coming. And they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."

Drumheller expected the White House to ask for more information from the Iraqi foreign minister.

But he says he was taken aback by what happened. "The group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they're no longer interested," Drumheller recalls. "And we said, 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said, 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.'"

"And if I understand you correctly, when the White House learned that you had this source from the inner circle of Saddam Hussein, they were thrilled with that," Bradley asked.

"The first we heard, they were. Yes," Drumheller replied.

Once they learned what it was the source had to say — that Saddam Hussein did not have the capability to wage nuclear war or have an active WMD program, Drumheller says, "They stopped being interested in the intelligence."

Unfortunately, the dubya cockroach supporters, those jingo Americans (the few that are left) who believe in their blackest hearts of black hearts that WMD's were only one reason for invading Iraq. To justify the invasion, they fall back on the notion that we invaded to topple Saddam and bring democracy to the Iraqis. Total hooey, for sure. Kind of sounds like the backpeddling that dubya is saying about the leaking of Valerie Plame's name to the press after initially stating that he would fire the leakers in that case: "I declassified it, and I did it because I can, and it's within my authority to do so." (I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it's exactly what happened.)

Nuff said. I'm already late for work.

Two Proclamations

I thought you all should know, in case ya don't already, that starting today, April 22nd, and running till April 30th is National Parks Week. Isn't that just so warm and fuzzy. Ya see, Dubya made a Proclamation, so that we all can feel so wonderful about one of the premier government programs getting such special attention. But, more importantly, so we can feel so wonderful about what a wonderful pres......... Oh God, I can't even say it.

Bullshit! Or rather BUSHSHIT!!! I find this rather infuriating. It's typical bushism to say one thing, and do the exact opposite. That's what is going on here. Dumbass dubya speak. How do people actually support this cockroach?

Garnered from the Democratic Policy Committee website, the 2007 fiscal year budget cuts $100 million from total Park Service funding, marking the sixth year in a row that the Administration has cut funding for the Park Service, which includes $91 million from construction and maintenance programs, resulting in a maintenance backlog that is significantly larger than it was in 2000. This, after promising during his 2000 campaign to fund $5 billion to eliminate the NPS maintenance backlog. Fucking hooey............

At the Democratic Policy Committee website, President Bush's Budget Cuts Environmental, Natural Resource and Energy Independence Programs

The President’s budget provides $27.9 billion for environment and natural resource programs for Fiscal Year 2007, which is $2.4 billion below the 2006 enacted level. Among many other cuts, the Bush budget proposal would reduce funding for clean water, national parks and forests, oceans, energy efficiency and conservation, and energy cost assistance for low-income Americans.

According to the New York Times, U.S Parks Retrench After Budget Cuts:

IT was one of the busiest days of the year at one of the busiest national parks in the country, but the sign at our planned campground declared: Closed. Because of budget cuts, rangers explained, the camp is not open this year .......snip.....

The campground closings, maintenance backlogs and cuts in the highly instructive interpretive programs that we found are symptomatic of a budget squeeze that is hitting the National Park Service hard from coast to coast this year.

And, over at Alternet, This National Park Is Brought To You By....

Over the past few months, the National Park Service has quietly imposed a hiring freeze, abandoned maintenance projects, cut visitor services and reduced park hours at a number of America's national parks. And, according to Ski magazine, "Forest Service officials appear to be leaning toward a policy change that would allow more visible displays of sponsors, whose logos, names or ads could appear on items they underwrite."

In fact, this is all very symptomatic of an administration that couldn't give a rat's ass about the people and lands it is tasked with governing. Under the dubya regime, Americans have been shortchanged at every corner. Now that dubya made his warm and fuzzy proclamation, the idiot has really served to highlight his failures, rather than his successes. Picture me scratching my head, wondering if there is a single success that these cockroaches can hang their collective hats on. By success, I'm talking about realy and truly helping people, about saving and preserving lands and it's species; about cleaning up the water and air; about actually preserving forests; and, of course, about preserving our national treasures, our national parks for future generations.

Yesterday was John Muir's birthday. He was born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland. He is considered to be the Father of our National Parks. I don't think it's accidental that National Park Week and John Muir's birthday coincide. But, it is ironic, given how this dubya regime disrespects our lands and waters and the agencies that are tasked to protect them, that dubya would highlight this major discrepancy in his extremely insincere proclamation.

The Sierra Club has a website dedicated to John Muir, called the John Muir Exhibit. It's an absolutely vast collection of everything and anything related to Muir and his life and accomplishments. On that site is a resolution made in the California Legislature in 1988 to Proclaim April 21st as John Muir Day. Following is an abreviated version:

WHEREAS, John Muir was the founding father of the conservation efforts which resulted in our national park system, which today has grown to almost 80 billion acres, and

WHEREAS, He began his conservation efforts in the 1880's, when the social consciousness of America concentrated on the Industrial Revolution and its expansionist philosophies which would have led to the devastation of the natural environment; and

WHEREAS He popularized the concept of conservation and land use and was instrumental in changing the direction of this country toward socially beneficial goals which resulted in the United States becoming a leading force that worked on behalf of global unity and the preservation of the environment; and .... snip...

Resolved, That this measure be adopted with urgency as this April 21st marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Muir who was born in 1838 on that date; and be it further

Resolved, That April 21st of every year after this resolution is enacted be designated as a commemorative holiday to observe the importance that an ecologically sound natural environment plays in the quality of life of us all and indeed the future of our own existence; and be it further

Resolved, That the observance of John Muir Day emphasize John Muir's significant contribution to the fostering of such an awareness and the indelible mark left on California and the world by him.

I'm afraid that Muir would be rolling in his grave right now, in utter disgust at this administration, dubya and his cronies, and their utter disdain for our nation's great lands. Some day, dubya will be nothing but a bad chapter in our history books.

Goin' After The Big Kahuna

As soon as the republican disgrace in Congress get the boot in November, bills like this can conceivably move forward. And, that's what the neocons are so afraid of. In fact, not only the impeachment of the dubya cockroach, but a full-scale investigation into criminal wrongdoings throughout the Capital. It could make Abramoff look like small potatoes in comparison.

Bill Status of HJR0125 94th General Assembly

Full Text

Short Description: PRESIDENT BUSH-IMPEACHMENT

House Sponsors
Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough, Sara Feigenholtz and Eddie Washington

4/20/2006 House Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough

Synopsis As Introduced:

Urges the General Assembly to submit charges to the U. S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and if found guilty urges his removal from office and disqualification to hold any other office in the United States.

Actions
Date Chamber Action
4/20/2006 House Filed with the Clerk by Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough
4/21/2006 House Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Sara Feigenholtz
4/21/2006 House Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Eddie Washington

Fear and Frustration

"I read the news today, oh boy."

We're in trouble.

A Spy Speaks Out. "The former highest ranking CIA officer in Europe, Tyler Drumheller, also says that while the intelligence community did give the White House some bad intelligence, it also gave the White House good intelligence — which the administration chose to ignore."

CIA Fires Senior Officer Over Leaks "The Central Intelligence Agency has dismissed a senior career officer for disclosing classified information to reporters, including material for Pulitzer Prize-winning articles in The Washington Post about the agency's secret overseas prisons for terror suspects, intelligence officials said Friday."

US Intel Report: Major Increase In Terrorist Incidents "In a report to be released next week, US government figures will show that the number of terrorist attacks in the world jumped sharply in 2005, totalling more than 10,000 for the first time. That is almost triple the number of terrorist attacks in 2004 -- 3,194."

Rising Oil Prices Worry Finance Ministers "Skyrocketing oil prices and massive trade imbalances between the United States and other countries represent serious threats to global growth and most be addressed, world finance leaders say. But they concede there are not any quick solutions to either problem."

I can go on and on, but I won't. Buzzflash, Old American Century, and Raw Story, to name a few, have already done that for us. But, my point here is the pattern exhibited by today's news stories; those that have made it into the headlines of major news outlets across the country and the world. The pattern, you ask? Oh yeah, the pattern. Every single freakin' example I posted above, combined with the stories you find all over the internet and the print media are about the fallout and results and ramifications of the incompetence, ineptitude, stupidity, and flat out criminality of the Bush White Wash, I mean House.

When the story was leaked that the US was sending detainees to secret prisons, dubya declared that he'd investigate the leak. Congress, of course, was silent on the whole issue of the secret prisons. Meanwhile, of course, the White Wash was busy leaking their own garbage and half-truths into the press. Fucking hypocrites and liars.

Now, you tell me....... are we safer from terrorism? No fucking way. The neocons mucked up the whole issue so severely that there has now been a triple-fold increase in terrorist incidents worldwide. If the world didn't hate us before the neocons stole the White Wash, they sure do now. They hate us with everything they've got, and that scares the bejeebers outta me.

Oil prices are through the roof, the gap between rich and poor is shameful, the holding of detainees in Gitmo even though the US knows they're innocent, the record profits to pharmaceutical companies and the oil industries and the CEO's everywhere, the 45,000 Americans with no health coverage, on and on and on.........

Sometimes, I just feel disheartened. Sometimes, I just get hopelessly frustrated. Sometime, I wonder why I even bother. This is one of those sometimes.

Nuff Said..............

Sure, it will be a tough job, but it's for the greater good. Or, as dubya himself says, "It's hard work."

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....................

No Shit Sherlock and OH GOD!

Rolling Stone magazine, and author Sean Wilentz have provided a profile of the dubya cockroach, The Worst President in History?

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

This article is being circulating around the internets (sorry, I couldn't help myself) these last few days cuz it's so on the money. Those of us who blog and read blogs and follow the horrific politics of this present administration have already come to this conclusion. Hell, we knew it was going to ring true before dubya even took the reigns (sorry, I couldn't help myself again). It was a predictable train wreck. More from Rolling Stone:

Bush, however, is one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures -- an unswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, Bush has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance.

The article goes on to articulate the specifics of this neocon nightmare. Or, shall I say, "this American nightmare?" Nah, neither. This administration is a global nightmare. It's that bad. And, it's only getting worse.

In anticipation of a possible nuclear strike against Iran, this den of thieves and liars is planning a test in the Nevada desert the first week of June, 2006. Defense News has the story. This ain't no conventional test.

The U.S. military plans to detonate a 700 ton explosive charge in a test called “Divine Strake” that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said March 30.

And, let's not think that people aren't concerned. This from My Way News:

No elected officials responded to the notice until Thursday, Morgan said. The test site is not required to seek public comment, he said.

"Given the level of contamination in areas where nuclear tests were conducted, I have real concerns about the dust and other pollutants that will be released into the air as a result of this explosion," said U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley.

Disarmament activist Pete Litster said tests at the site violate international law. Litster, executive director of the Shundahai Network, said the site belongs to the Western Shoshone Indian tribe.

It will be a blast of 700 tons of explosives so that the military industrial complex (Carlyle Group???) can calculate how much nuclear material would be needed to recreate the damage of 700 tons of explosives. You see, we don't have the technology to carry a bomb weighing 700 tons. It's just not possible. So, we need to scale down the weight of the bomb, using nuclear material so it will be able to be flown in and dropped onto some Iranian nuclear plant. Oh god, I just hope that if we get that far, the pilot refuses. Just flat out refuses. It would be our only hope. But, if we get that far, praying will be our next only option.

Is that it? Are they planning to bring on the Apocalypse, whereby everyone would now be praying? Is that how they plan to convert the masses to religion, and specifically their warped sense of Christianity? Isn't this the equivalent of the Islamist concept of paradise and virgins? I dunno, but I sure see the similarity.

Credit is due for the mushroom cloud artwork - The Hiroshima Special Exhibit

Oh Wow!! at Firedoglake

GREAT post over at Firedoglake. If anyone is struggling with the concept of the US bombing Iran, this Oh Wow post by Ian Welsh cuts to the chase and tells it like it is. A tiny excerpt:

"I’m in the odd position of being a Canadian who does most of his blogging on American politics for US blogs. It’s a kafkaesque exercise at times, and the recent Iran mess has reminded me yet again, that to a foreigner, the US really is “through the looking glass”.

Because to me the conversation on Iran isn’t sane. In fact, the idea of bombing Iran, either large scale conventionally, or, even worse, with nukes, is one I’m astounded is even being considered.

Let’s deal with the specifics from one Canadian’s point of view.

First: bombing a country is a declaration of war and Iran will react to it as such. ..."

Now, you MUST go read the rest of this article. Pass it along. Send it those who think invading Iran is a good thing. Send it those who think that bushtard's sabre rattling is a good thing. Send it to those who inately know it's a terrible idea, but don't know how to articulate the arguments. Send it to everyone.

Keep the discourse alive......

Massachusetts Universal Health Scam

Ever since the news broke that Massachusetts had developed a universal health plan, I had to wonder how they did it. It just seemed too good to be true. I dunno. Call me a skeptic. But, something seems kind of not kosher. So, I asked my sister about it, given that she is a health care provider. She has tons to say about it.

First off, according to her, there's nothing "universal" about it. It's merely a legal mandate that everyone in the state purchase health insurance. Kind of like auto insurance, but without the car. Secondly, the law does not, in any way, address the high cost of health care, which leads one to wonder how the state is going to fund this program. And given that it's a legal mandate to buy health insurance, even if it's provided on a sliding scale for those who cannot afford it, it still will cost plenty, according to my sister. In fact, for small business owners who are required to pay for their employees or face fines and penalties, these employers may find it cheaper to pay the penalties than carry the insurance. Finally, she gave me a website to check out.

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is an organization of medical providers who are dedicated to the proposition of real universal health care, not what Massachusetts is mandating. The biggest difference is that real universal health care is a government program that would replace the insurance industry's role in profiteering from health care, thereby providing medical benefits for all citizens. In fact, this MA bill was actually lobbied for by the health insurance industry because they saw the profits. They spent $$millions$$ to get it passed. Oh, the dripping, nauseating greed. They know that any real universal health care would actually take money from their sleazy, greedy pockets. They can't be havin' that, ya know. So, they lobbied for, basically bought this legislation. Seems to be quite the dirty little secret, given that nowhere in mainstream media is that even discussed. In fact, nothing is really discussed or debated in mainstream media. Either I haven't found it yet, or it just ain't there.

At PNHP, they provide a carefully scrutinized reporting of the MA plan, and it just doesn't cut the mustard. Basically, they pretty much call it a sham for the following reasons:

Massachusetts Bill Fact Sheet from MASS-CARE

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

•Most uninsured people will now have to buy their own insurance without any or with very little financial support?

•The Bill will not help the underinsured or those with poor quality insurance, including those on Medicare paying high out-of-pocket costs?

•It will not attempt to reduce the costs of health insurance for individuals and businesses paying the highest prices in the world?

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

•40 percent of the uninsured in Massachusetts, the 292,000 who earn more than three times the poverty level income [approximately $30,000/year], will be forced to purchase their own health insurance without any help or subsidies from the state? Bad insurance for someone earning three times the poverty level will cost them 20 percent of their total income.

•The Bill raises only $170 million per year in new spending to help subsidize 748,000 uninsured people in Massachusetts? This is not enough to pay for 45,000 people. All other funds used by the Bill are a shell game, most taken out of Free Care - which provides medically necessary health services for the uninsured - and moved into more wasteful plans run by commercial insurance companies.

•This Bill, which will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands, was bought and paid for by healthcare industry lobbyists? Industry lobbyists spent over $7.5 million this year to make your health care Bill work for them. Forcing uninsured people into private insurance plans will create new business and new profits for insurers, without reforming the system of waste and discriminatory health care access for Massachusetts residents.

DID YOU KNOW THAT: every developed nation in the world offers comprehensive health care for all of its residents, except the United States? And they pay less for it? Let’s organize against these attempts to shift health care costs on to low-income people. Let’s fight for the universal, quality health care that we know is possible!

Now, let's talk about real universal health care. It's a real concept, valid, and there is already a bill that describes how it would work, eligibility and benefits, lower existing medical costs, and reduce the volumes of paperwork that we're all forced to endure right now. It's a bill that was introduced by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. from the 14th Congressional District of Michigan. Following is an excerpt from the Executive Summary of The United States Health Insurance Act (HR676):

Brief Summary of Legislation

The United States National Health Insurance Act (HR676) establishes a new American national health insurance program by creating a single payer health care system. The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered health care program that uses the already existing Medicare program by expanding and improving it to all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans, guaranteed by law, will have access to the highest quality and cost effective health care services regardless of one's employment, income, or health care status.

With over 42 million uninsured Americans, and another 40 million who are under insured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented health care system. The USNHI program would reduce overall annual health care spending by over $50 billion in the first year. In addition, because it implements effective methods of cost-control, health spending is contained over time, ensuring affordable health care to future generations.

In its first year, single-payer will save over $150 billion on paperwork and $50 billion by using rational bulk purchasing of medications. These savings are more than enough to cover all the uninsured, improve coverage for everyone else, including medication coverage and long-term care.

Employers who currently provide coverage for their employees pay an average of 8.5% of payroll towards health coverage, while many employers can't afford to provide coverage at all. Under this Act, all employers will pay a modest 3.3% payroll tax per employee, while eliminating their payments towards private health plans. The average cost to an employer for an employee earning $35,000 per year will be reduced to $1,155, less than $100 per month.

95% of families will pay less for health care under national health insurance than they do today. Seniors and younger people will all have the comprehensive medication coverage they need.

Apparently, good ol' corporate America is at it again. They are a bunch of pigs at the trough, slurping this country dry with their greed and utter disdain for America and it's citizens. They don't care. Apparently, Arianna Huffington wrote a book about this exact issue. Seems like a worthy read.

The Cheney House of Love

For those of you who don't read the New York Times, here's a real gem:

"WASHINGTON, April 8 — As the Bush administration confronts the Tehran government over its suspected nuclear weapons program and accusations that it supports terrorism, a newly created office of Iranian affairs in the State Department is poring over applications for a rapidly expanding program to change the political process inside Iran.

The project, which will spend $7 million in the current fiscal year, would become many times larger next year if Congress approves a broad request for $85 million that the Bush administration has requested for scholarships, exchange programs, radio and television broadcasts and other activities aimed at shaking up Iran's political system.

The effort, overseen by Elizabeth Cheney, a deputy assistant secretary of state who is a daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has been denounced by Iran's leaders as meddling in their internal affairs."

What's not to love about getting $85 million from daddy and his puppet directed your way to spend as you will to do what? Oh yeah.... develop propaganda.

Sheesh, am I in the wrong business...........

Arthritis Walk

One of my life problems is that I have one of the over 100 forms of arthritis. As a result, I hurt most of the time. Usually, the pain isn't excrutiating. The meds I'm on have given me my life back. However, the pain is more of a background annoyance, usually, but with an emergence of some nasty stab here and there to remind me that I've got this nasty disease. I guess I picked a short straw. But, it's hard to complain, as my short straw isn't nearly as short as others' straws. In fact, I really do OK.

In that I really do OK, I am going to be using my body, so to speak, and this computer, and abject groveling to collect donations for the Arthritis Foundation. I will be walking for a cure. Ya see, there ain't no goddamm cures right now. Only medicated remissions, painkillers, and at times, sheer tenacity by those inflicted to get through every goddamm day. Therefore, please visit My Donation Site and make a donation. If all my readers made only $5.00 donations, then maybe I'll get to raise the bar high and maybe I can really contribute something really significant. Won't that be cool........

Of course, if ya wanna donate more, then who am I to protest?

THANK YOU!

Firefly, With A Message

Every once in a while, I come across a quote that sticks, has meaning, is a keeper. The latest one came from one of the characters in an episode of Firefly that I was watching last night. I don't know its origin, so, if anyone knows, please fill me in.

"Goverment is a body of people usually ungoverned."

With our American government running amok right now, this just rang so true. Fact is, those in control just make it up as they go along, lying and spinning and dodging and spinning and lying and....... you get my drift.

Firefly is a discontinued SciFi Network series about a crew of thieves on an old space ship, named Serenity. They fly around from one planet to another, searching for one job after another, with the intention of keeping Serenity capable of flying, and thereby maintaining their collective lifestyle. At the same time, being the bandits that they are (in a Robin Hood kind of way), they are always dodging the Alliance, the baddies who happen to control Space in a police-state kind of way.

It's a great show. Very formula, but fun and well done. And, the character development is superb. I have been renting the episodes from Netflix. When I run out of episodes, I've got the sequel movie, Serenity, in my Netflix queue for automatic delivery. When I've watched them all, I'll be sad, as I will have no more to look forward to viewing. One can only hope that the series gets resurrected, and in the same spirit and quality as the original. Firefly is great. I give it a ton of stars.

Scumsucking Spin Machine

I think it's a pretty safe bet that Clay Bennett was thinking about republicans when he drew this cartoon. Describing them as "lower than pond scum" also comes to mind.

The republican hypocrisy continues to just astound and amaze me. The shameless backtracking and outright lying is appauling, and the mainstream media rarely, if ever, covers it. Case in point.........

This week's case in point is their dispiccable excuse for immigration reform. Remember that, boys and girls? It was spearheaded by the repukes in Congress, including Long Island, NY's own Peter King. Their attempt to criminalize immigrants by making it a felony to bypass the daunting excuse for immigration laws, which does nothing but stall and separate families, is nothing short of horrific. King even tried to make those who help immigrants felons, including food banks and religious institutions. Scumwads, all of them. As we all know, when ya lay down with dogs, ya get up with fleas. But, in this image of dubya and petey, is rather debatable who's the dog and who's the flea.

But, it now gets worse. As we all may already know, this miserable effort to "reform" immigration failed in Congress. Yeah, that's a good thing. But, leave it to Ken Melman and his repuke henchmen to now blame the democrats for "criminalizing" illegal immigration. Huh????!!!! Wha?????!!!!

One thing that repukes are good at is spin. Of course, there are tons of other things they are good at, like lying, war mongering, and stealing the US Treasury blind. But, I digress. This time, I'll stick with their immigration spin.

First, I visited one of my favorite professional blogsites, Taylor Marsh. She's got this story about Melman blaming democrats for the failure of immigration reform. But worse, he blames them for supporting the felonization (is that a word?) of illegal immigrants. Yeah, he turned it completely around. According to Taylor Marsh:

Senator Reid and the Democrats were right to keep the Republican amendments out, which were meant to scuttle the bill, as far as it's been reported, while stopping a bad bill from getting through. A bad bill that was not going to solve the challenge we face on illegal immigration.

The first problem with the bill is that it wasn't funded, including border security. How can we secure our borders without funding what we need done? In addition, there was not any provisions to target employers, from what I've been able to gather so far. This is a critical part of it, also having to do with funding. You can't target employers if you don't fund the division charged with investigating employers to make sure they're following U.S. labor laws.

But, what Melman and the repukes have done is create a Spanish-speaking radio spot, directed specifically at Spanish-speaking immigrants, of course, because they are afraid of losing the Latino vote. This add serves to swiftboat the democratic minority, who you may remember have very little power in Congress, by blaming them for this immigration debaucle and the effort to criminalize the immigrants. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm repeating myself.....) The repukes are shameless liars, and more shameless spinners.

Now, off to Talking Points Memo (directed there by Taylor Marsh)......

The argument is really pretty egregious even by GOP standards. House Republicans put up a bill to make being an illegal alien a felony. An amendment was proposed that would have made it a misdemeanor. As the AP reports, "Democrats, including members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, voted against the amendment, arguing they did not support criminal penalties. Nevada Republicans Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons also voted against the amendment, which failed. The felony provision remained in the bill, H.R. 4437, and it passed the House on a largely party line vote."

So Democrats wouldn't vote for criminalizing at all. Ergo, they're for making it a felony.

Of course, the scariest thing about all this is that many immigrants are very poor, and their access to the internet and non-mainstream media sources may be very limited. So, they could actually believe the repuke crap. But, that's the point, and Melman knows it. Why else do it. He and the entire repuke party are doing whatever it takes to remain in control after the 2006 Congressional elections. To them, it's just a means to an end. Fact is, if they lose control, they lose the whole ball of wax.

Picture this: democrats who control Congress with full investigative control and subpeona powers.

The Very Sad Truth.......

This is kind of funny..........

....... but not really ..... One of the most remarkable things about this is that both Rummy and dubya's dick were complicit in this activity when dubya's sperm donor and Ronald Reagan were presidents. The fact that they specifically enriched themselves in all this, and continue to do so to this day is so sickening.

I know that this is not new news. God knows there is tons of new news. We read about it every goddamm day. In fact, there is so much goddamm new news that I truly don't quite know what to write about. So, I tend to return to basics. The most basic thing there is is that these bums, these scumsucking vermin are killing people with the same policy they created in the 1980's AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS STILL NOT COVERING ANY OF IT.

Talk given at Teach-in on Iraq, Cornell University, October 22, 2002

What will also become clear in an examination of US-Iraq relations before the Gulf War is the extremely bad judgment shown by these same officials, and the pattern of deception, secrecy and lies by which they sought to cover up those mistakes. What we will see is that the people now running US foreign policy were in the 1980s directly responsible for supplying Saddam Hussein with the materials as well as the diplomatic and military support necessary for him to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction.

............... snip...............

Over the course of the 1980s, two Republican administrations, and individuals who are once again running US foreign policy, supplied Saddam Hussein with the means to wage brutal warfare against his neighbors and his own citizens; supplied him with the means to make nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, with the means to build missile technology. (All of these weapons, as well as the facilities, research and otherwise, were destroyed or dismantled before UNSCOM was pulled out of Iraq in 1998.)

Where was their concern about Saddam Hussein then? Why are Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney only now suddenly worried about Saddam Hussein, when as recently as a couple of years ago the company Cheney headed was doing deals with him?

Based on this history, there is absolutely no reason to take this administration's word on anything related to Iraq.

Arming Iraq: How George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan helped Iraq Develop their Weapons of Mass Destruction

The biggest irony aside from the fact that these men who avoided military service are so eager to spill blood is that Dubya would not be going to war in order to destroy Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction if his father had not enthusiastically sold them to Hussein in the first place. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons and provided the technology for Saddam's chemical, biological and nuclear programs.

...........snip...........

CIA contractors brokered deals for billions of dollars worth of weapons for Iraq. One such asset, Sarkis Soghanglian claimed the administration was aware of his sale of 45 Bell helicopters to Saddam.

Dow Chemical wanted to ship pesticides that acted like nerve gas on humans. Sidewinder components were transshipped through Italy to Iraq.

The gassing of the Kurds in 1984 by Iraq pilots, presumably flying these helicopters did not deter the administration which turned a blind eye towards Saddam's excesses. The administration then sold Iraq $220 million worth of trucks. They continued to provide backing for Saddam even after they knew he was developing a nuclear capability. Iraqi scientists were even brought over to the U.S. to attend symposiums on nuclear programs sponsored by Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore. Warnings by government employees about this dangerous program went unheeded. Whistle blowers were fired.

Anyone with a bit of energy and a bit of curiosity can find this information easily on the web. It's all here for the world to see. All I did was go to Google, and search on "cheney weapons sales iraq", but without the quotes. So, so sad.........

My Visit To the White Wash

I visited the White Wash, I mean House today. I never left my house to do it. My visit was virtual, of course. There are so many links to so many places to go, that I find the need to list the Issues Links here:

Budget Management
Education
Energy
Health Care
Homeland Security
Hurricane Recovery
Immigration
Jobs & Economy
Medicare
National Security
Pandemic Flu
Patriot Act
Renewal in Iraq
Social Security
More Issues>

Notice anything missing? Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh........ I see a huge omission here on the front page. But, I'm not surprised. Here is a president who thinks that golf course ponds and retention basins equate to productive wetlands, as described in this story from the St. Petersburg Times.

Yes, boys and girls, the missing link is Environment. Why have a link up front touting the the Healthy Forests Initiate when you know that the only purpose for that law is to sell off forests in the name of fighting fires in order to increase corporate profit? I suppose if you have nothing to burn, nothing will burn. Duh....... How about the Clear Skies Initiative, wherein dirty plants are allowed to spew more toxins into the atmosphere so that they can happily fill their piggy banks? Yup, just bury them in a back page link. In fact, this president is the worst environmentally conscious president since....... well, he's the worst ever.

I am venturing a guess that maybe these links were removed to the back pages(assuming that they were ever up front in the first place) since it became fully accepted, except by the dubya cockroaches, that global warming, sea level rise, and losses to wetlands, forests, endangered salmon species, etc. are all directly connected to this cockroach administration's failed environmental policies. But, that's really a misnomer, as I pointed out, and which is really the point of this article. There are no environmental policies. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

I guess potholes would also qualify as wetlands under the dubya cockroach mentality, and maybe we should stop filling them.

Condi Quote

Let the backpeddling begin.....................

A Walk In The Park

Were it not for my dog and my camera, I'd likely not have gone on this walk today, even though it was a beautiful day. I'm just like that. I tend towards lethargy and laziness. In fact, that's part of the reason I adopted my dusty dog a few years ago. I say that we kind of rescued eachother.

Nothing but a simple pine cone. The symmetry caught my eye.

The fresh water spring is a pleasant surprise encounter just a few hundred yards from the estuary.

This is a close-up of the pipe someone inserted to make this a really nice little oasis in an otherwise environment of sand and salt.

Birds of all kinds, particularly geese, ducks, swans and gulls, inhabit the shoreline

The mouth of the river, where it empties into the estuary is a very biologically productive area. And, breathtaking.

Dusty Dog relaxes in the sand.

Looking west over the estuary as the sun begins its evening descent.

The Corruption of Politics and Religion in America

How The GOP Became God's Own Party is an amazingly astute article in the Washington Post. In so many ways, it describes a country, the United States of America, to be one that has gone off the deep end to garner support for an agenda that otherwise would have no basis for religion. Specifically, I am speaking of American values that are corrupted by corporate money, obsessions with violence and war, and complete disregard for the environment. But, what I don't see in this article, for obvious reasons, I suppose, is a connection that many left-leaning individuals are viewing as a country going the way of the fascists, like those who ran much of Europe during the middle of the 20th Century. Specifically, as defined in Old American Century, and their 14 Points of Fascism, is Item 8 - Religion and Government are Intertwined: Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. As I was saying, we are a country speeding horrifically fast towards a point of no return over the deep end. We, as a nation, have gone totally bonkers.

The Washington Post article describes in amazing detail how the religious right, in their immoral connections to corporate interests, have sold their followers up the river. And for what, I cannot fathom. In that most of the neocons' agendas are antithetical to religious values, why the hell have so many God-fearin' Americans bought into the garbage coming from the White Wash, I mean House? I don't get it. But, then again, I don't buy into Christian fundamentalism. I don't buy into any religious fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism, by its very nature, is anti-progress, anti-science, anti-common sense. It serves to alienate populations, place religion against religion, and come full circle around to exactly what is often preached as sinful. That being murder, violence and war. Fundamentalist leaders go around with blinders on, deliberately dumbing down their constituents, and effectively rationalizing the dumbing down of themselves, mostly to make money. If not, then why the connections between religious dogma and corporate money at the expense of the environment, health and welfare of the peoples of the world, and educational opportunities to advance those objectives?

Religion does not belong in government for so many reasons, much of which has been articulated above. I also wrote about it in an article called Pledge Deemed Unconstitutional in September 2005. And of course, for the reasons articulated in the Post article. I truly believe that the reason that dubya's ratings are bottoming out is because people, even religious people, are realizing that they've been used. And, abused. And, made to be fools. It's a hard thing to admit, but God bless those who do. It's a hard thing to admit that you were wrong; that the mistakes you've made have cost tens of thousands of lives. But, there is hope. I continue to hope. I am waiting for the pendulum to swing back to the center, and the left of center. For it is the left of the center that healthful societal values are positioned.

Healthful societal values do not constitute anything related to gay marriage, homo/heterosexuality, or abortion. Healthful societal values are devoid of those wedge issues that have nothing to do with how most Americans live their lives. How we live our lives is based on our own choices, but obviously within the sideboards of good sense, like respect for other human beings, holding dear the fragile environment and protecting it for all we can. It's about saving our one and only home - Planet Earth. It's about keeping our citizens healthy, providing equal access to food and education and housing and health care. Why is this such a hard concept for fundamentally brainwashed religiously hell-bent individuals to understand? What is it about these basic human rights that go so counter to their religious thinking? Nothing, and that's the point. They've been manipulated by the fascists running the country, who have demonized the left in order to advance their own selfish monetary and corporate gains. It's so simple, really.

Below are a few excerpts from the Washington Post article:

Over a quarter-century of Bush presidencies and vice presidencies, the Republican Party has slowly become the vehicle of all three interests -- a fusion of petroleum-defined national security; a crusading, simplistic Christianity; and a reckless credit-feeding financial complex. The three are increasingly allied in commitment to Republican politics. On the most important front, I am beginning to think that the Southern-dominated, biblically driven Washington GOP represents a rogue coalition, like the Southern, proslavery politics that controlled Washington until Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860.

Besides providing critical support for invading Iraq -- widely anathematized by preachers as a second Babylon -- the Republican coalition has also seeded half a dozen controversies in the realm of science. These include Bible-based disbelief in Darwinian theories of evolution, dismissal of global warming, disagreement with geological explanations of fossil-fuel depletion, religious rejection of global population planning, derogation of women's rights and opposition to stem cell research. This suggests that U.S. society and politics may again be heading for a defining controversy such as the Scopes trial of 1925. That embarrassment chastened fundamentalism for a generation, but the outcome of the eventual 21st century test is hardly assured.

These developments have warped the Republican Party and its electoral coalition, muted Democratic voices and become a gathering threat to America's future. No leading world power in modern memory has become a captive of the sort of biblical inerrancy that dismisses modern knowledge and science. The last parallel was in the early 17th century, when the papacy, with the agreement of inquisitional Spain, disciplined the astronomer Galileo for saying that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of our solar system.

The Dusty Dog

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Sunday, April 30, 2006

April 29th in NYC

Dumb or Dumber?

Crimes Against Humanity?

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Mission Accomplished

Monday, April 24, 2006

A Spy Speaks Out

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Two Proclamations

Goin' After The Big Kahuna

Fear and Frustration

Friday, April 21, 2006

Nuff Said..............

Thursday, April 20, 2006

No Shit Sherlock and OH GOD!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Oh Wow!! at Firedoglake

Sunday, April 16, 2006