Censor Wolf

Agenda

2006-11-12T11:27:00.000Z

Thankfully I was wrong and the anti-Bush wave that swept across America on Nov 7th was bigger than the Rove machine had predicted and any election fraud was overcome by the sheer numbers. Don't count on that happening in 2008 however. My new fear is complancecy.
Now that the Democrats have both houses of Congress, here's the agenda I think they should puruse in the following order (although I won't quibble over the priority order):

* Repeal the Millitary Commissions Act
* Establish a timeline for withdrawing from Iraq
* Open investigations into the corruption of the K-Street project
* Establish a paper trail election system (open to ideas on best system, but eliminate the requirement of user Republican donor Corporate machines e.g. Diebold)
* Open investigations into the Administration's holding of prisoners in Cuba
* Increase the minimum wage
* Follow up on the investigations begun by Conyers on the Ohio voting problems of 2004
* Follow up on the Conyers impeachment process - even if it's "too late" to pursue impeachment, at least open hearings on the corruption of the Administration, especially with regards to the defense contractors and how the country was mislead into war. If this isn't done, history is bound to repeat itself.

There will be no joy in Mudville on Nov 8th

2006-10-22T12:35:00.000Z

I’m concerned that the Democrats are taking this election for granted. With so much good news in the polls that the Republicans are about to lose the house and possibly the Senate and no apparent overt strategy emanating from the Rove White House, I suspect that we are all overlooking the obvious.
In 2000, the election was obviously rigged in Florida to put Bush in power and they almost didn’t make it, in fact having to fight right up to the Supreme Court to get the guy appointed.
In 2002, not much effort was needed to rig the elections since they had the voters scared that the Democrats would give the country to the terrorists, but there is evidence that the same tactics were employed and in fact were test runs for 2004.
“In 1996, Hagel became the first elected Republican Nebraska senator in 24 years when he did surprisingly well in an election where the votes were verified by the company he served as chairman and maintained a financial investment. In both the 1996 and 2002 elections, Hagel’s ES&S counted an estimated 80% of his winning votes.”
In 2004 there was much controversy over the Bush victory in Ohio, and in all of these elections, although there was investigations and debates, the outcomes remained.
Now in 2006 do we really think that the GOP will roll over and submit to the will of the people? Yeah and the Iraqis are going to welcome American soldiers with flowers to come get their WMDs.
I do hope that my prediction is just as wrong.
--hobbes.

I'm shocked to find out there's gambling going on in this establishment!

2006-10-04T01:20:00.000Z

Rove needed an October media blitz surprize to counter the buzz over Woodward's book "State of Denial". Little did he realize that would be Foley's resignation.
We now discover that the leadership either ignored the Foley situation out of ignorance or deliberately covered it up.
But maybe as the chair of the house caucus of missing and exploited children he was just doing some research.

Traitorous comments?

2006-09-21T01:27:00.000Z

Ahhh. I'm back. Yes there was quite a span there where I lay quiet on this front, but musing all the while to myself and others around me occaisionally.
Meanwhile I have been observing the state of the world and noted that Chavez has called Bush the Devil. I have also, but I didn't have much of an audience so it didn't get as much play. Chavez has some balls and I'm glad he's using them. I hope he inspires the rest of the world leaders to not be pushed around any more by the Bush-bully. But then again, he can aford to while some others are dependent on US aid. Chavez seemed to speak mostly off the cuff and recommended reading Chomsky. The assembly appeared to generally be amused by and applauded the insults he flung at the Devil (Bolton excluded).
	So the fact that I liked Chavez's comments will bring some criticism from conservatives that I dare support this guy because he is buddies with Castro and other "notorious" dictators. Well, unlike those conservatives, I don't practice blind ideological loyalty. It's ok to agree with what someone says during one speech and not be a full supporter.
I also liked some of the things that Iran's Ahmadi-Nej ad said in his UN speech, but that doesn't mean I think he's good for Iran. He's not the devil that Bush has made him out to be either though I bet. Here we have two religious fanatics in charge of the two major players in world peace at the moment. One doesn't believe in the Holocaust and the other one doesn't believe in evolution.
I am an atheist, but I am praying that more people both outside and inside this country will continue to speak out against the rodeo clown from Texas...God help us

I'll have the cake...

2006-02-24T19:07:00.000Z

The administration doesn't need no stinkin' congressional approval to do wiretaps, but on the other hand, since Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald doesn't have congressional approval to do his investigation, he can't prosecute Libby, attorneys for Libby (and thus an extension of the administration) argued Thursday (23 Feb.). Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?

Meanwhile...

Hannity and his girlfriend Coulter have been repeating that Rove mantra of "Democrats are pre-9/11", but I suspect (and hope) this may come back to haunt the Republicants, IF the Democrats can capitalize on this:

I think there is a desire of Americans to get back to that pre-9/11 era: pre-Iraq war, pre-Congressional corruption, pre-huge deficits, pre-fear-mongering. That's when Americans were NOT afraid of what trouble the government might get them into next, when the economy looked promising, when the worst problem we focused on was illicit sex, not illicit torture, illicit domestic-spying and an illicit war that is draining our future, our military and our youth, while filling the bank-accounts of Cheney and his cohorts and sending the tax bill to our children and our grandchildren.

Hobbes

(Still paying attention even I tho I've been quiet)

State of the Onion

2006-01-31T17:44:00.000Z

My prediction of Fearless Leader's speech tonite, boiled down to it's basics:
"Give me more power. We will keep America afraid because that gives me and my party more power. We will keep the eternal war going because that gives me and my party more power. I need to spy on American citizens to keep you from being against me. I will ask congress to continue giving tax breaks to my rich friends. I will ask congress to spend more money on goverment contracts for my rich friends. When push comes to shove, we will cut benefits for the needy because they don't vote for us anyway, and then give me more power."
Hobbes

Bush seeks advice from who?

2006-01-11T15:57:00.000Z

Check out this video: Ted Haggard appearing on Richard Dawkins' program "More Evil". What is scary is that this is one of Bush's advisors. We have only a veil separating church and state in this country.
Hobbes

Sword of God?

2006-01-06T21:01:00.000Z

Jon Stewart and the Daily Show take a jab at the Christian Pat Robertson's bizarre attempts to invoke the wrath of his imaginary friend on his good buddy Ariel Sharon.

It appears that Sharon did not do a sufficient title search on some of the land he has been giving to the Palestinians. Apparently God has a deed restriction and has used the Smite clause to recompense.

Actually, with all the billions and billions of stars in the known universe, several trillions of them probably with habitable planets, you'd think the Almighty would not care if Sharon were giving away some of his land on our little blue ball.

It's hillarious and also scary that Robertson and his followers think that Sharon's current condition is due to a supernatural force. But hey, maybe the Palestinians were praying louder than the Jews and God listened to them instead?

Hobbes

Iraqi "Freedom Fighters"

2006-01-04T15:46:00.000Z

Some have called the Iraqi insurgents "Freedom Fighters" while others say this is ridiculous, they are "Fighting for Control", rather than freedom like the American Revolutionaries did.

It's just rhetoric meaning the same thing. People fighting for the freedom to control of their own land.

Who one is fighting or how one is fighting does not change what one is fighting for.
What exactly are the "insurgents" fighting for and against?

From what I know they are fighting against what they see as an occupying force.

I am less clear what form of self-government they would like to see instead of the democracy now forming, and I suspect they would like to see a return to a Sunni controlled state.

Does that meaning they are NOT fighting for their own freedom? No it does not.

Regarding the Americans in the 1770-80's rebelling against the British rule,
this mainly benefitted the ruling American Aristocracy at the time, and certainly no one who was non-white or any indigenous peoples. They remained NON-free relative to the victors, and many of their decendants still have yet to fully savor this freedom 216 years later.

Meanwhile, the hoped-for democracy in Iraq may come to be a Shiite dominated and non-secular democracy, which may turn out to be a step backward for most Iraqis and leave them less free.

Activist Judge Cancels Christmas

2005-12-22T19:46:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, DC—In a sudden and unexpected blow to the Americans working to protect the holiday, liberal U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt ruled the private celebration of Christmas unconstitutional Monday. READ THE FULL STORY HERE!	Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals issues his ruling
O'Reilly's reaction is not yet known.

Hobbes

Liberty or death

2005-12-21T14:13:00.000Z

I'd rather get blown up than have people take away my basic rights. People are ready to die around the world for a glimpse of that freedom. Could americans please stop being cowards and face the world for what it is: a dangerous place, but one that we can at least roam free. This might sound like rhetoric but it's better than rhetoric about fear.

- daggotht / Wednesday December 21, 2005 01:52:14 PM EST (from MediaMatters.org comments)

Good point!

Conyers begins impeachment move

Rep John Conyers (D-MI) has brought three resolutions to the House which is carried would begin the impeachment process of Bush and Cheney.

House Res.635, asks that the Congress establish a select committee to investigate whether members of the administration made moves to invade Iraq before receiving congressional authorization, manipulated pre-war intelligence, encouraged the use of torture in Iraq and elsewhere, and used their positions to retaliate against critics of the war. The select committee would be asked to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment of Bush and Cheney.

The second resolution, H.Res.636, asks that the Congress to censure the president "for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that he and others in his Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of his Administration, for failing to adequately account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war, and for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958." (Executive Order 12958, issued in 1995 by former President Bill Clinton, seeks to promote openness in government by prescribing a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information.)

A third resolution, H.Res.637, would censure Cheney for a similar set of complaints.

Of course under current House leadership of Bushes close cronies, none of these measures stand much of a chance unless they hear from a large number of their constituents. Even then, the Republican leaders are unlikely to act according to the will of the people. Only by taking to the streets will these bastards be run out of town it appears.

Hobbes

The rise and hopefully fall of...

2005-12-20T16:10:00.000Z

I had always wondered how the German people had let Hitler take so much power and let their Republic wither away into a dictatorship. Oh yes I had read the history, especially "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer, and I knew the steps that were taken to consolidate power, but I never saw why the people let it happen, and when it happened why they didn't question it and protest against the rise of the dictatorial state.

Now I get it.

The recent news of the Bush/Cheney administration performing domestic spying, which was probably illegal, is being defended by the right wingers as necessary in our perpetual war against an emotion (aka "War on Terror"), rather than a group of agressors. Some are questioning the patriotism of anyone who questions it:

Democratic Senators Side With Terrorists!

What is crucial here is not that domestic spying has occured. We all know that is an ongoing necessary action and not many are questioning the need for it. The crucial issue is that there is little or no oversight of the executive branch by the other branches of government. Bush informing Congress is not oversight but rather after the fact on a need-to-know basis. Shame on Congress for not calling Bush on the carpet for this.
Of couse we can look back at the act that congress passed in 2001 in a frenzy of getting in line to look patriotic (aka idiotic) which gave the Bush administration perhaps virtually unlimited authority to do whatever it took to go after anyone that was involved with or supported the attacks of Sept. 11th. Right behind that was probably an effort to go after anyone that questioned granting that authority. I knew in 2002 we were living in dark times, but I didn't realize how dark they were until now that the shroud of secrecy has been peirced in a few places.
Is there a light at the end of this tunnel or is that an NSA searchlight coming after me?

Hobbes

Rep. Hinchey, Evolution, Hillary

2005-12-14T19:39:00.000Z

Hinchey

House Panel Keeps Alive Hinchey Measure To Obtain All White House Drafts Of 2003 State of the Union Address That Contained False Iraq Uranium Claims

Congressman Says American Public Deserves To Know How Infamous 16 Words About Iraq Seeking Uranium From Africa, Now Proven False, Made It Into Final Draft Of Speech

See full story

Humans in England May Go Back 700,000 Years

Humans Lived in Northern Europe Far Earlier Than Thought, Scientists Say
I wonder what the IDiots will have to say about this. It must be from before the flood...
;-)

Hillary

I got a bumper-sticker and a request for money from the Hillary for Senate campaign. I sent back the request in the biz-reply envelope and wrote "NOT UNTIL YOU OPPOSE THE IRAQ WAR" on it.
I hope more people do that.

Hobbes

1000 days of war

2005-12-13T18:22:00.000Z

I don't usually re-post somebody else's writing, but this one is worth it.

Iraq: 1000 Days of War
By Patrick Cockburn
The Independent UK
Tuesday 13 December 2005

From Shock and Awe to a country torn between insurrection and democracy.

It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad.
There is no sign that the election for the 275-member Iraqi parliament this Thursday will end the fighting. The Sunni Arabs, the core of the insurrection, will vote for the first time, but there is no talk of a ceasefire. A leaflet issued by one resistance group in Baghdad yesterday encouraged its followers to vote but warned: "The fighting will continue with the infidels and their followers."
It was such a strange war because the US began a conflict in 2003 to change radically the Middle East, the most volatile and dangerous region in the world. This was in complete contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when the main war aim of President George Bush Snr was to evict Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and restore the status quo.
There was a further sharp difference between the two wars. Mr Bush Snr had expended enormous effort in creating an international coalition under the UN to fight Iraq. His son, by way of contrast, seemed to revel in isolation. He made the Iraq war the supreme test of American military and political strength. The US would fight it alone, aside from Britain tagging along behind, and win it alone. It did not need allies outside or even inside Iraq. The insurgents received vital if covert assistance from abroad, but the rebellion against the US occupation was always essentially home-grown. Disillusionment with their liberators set in among Iraqis almost as soon as the American troops captured the capital in April 2003. The poor poured out of the slums of Baghdad in a frenzy of destruction and theft. Everything was looted, even the stuffed animals in the natural history museum.
Iraqis expected much from the fall of Saddam. They had endured 23 years of war and sanctions. The Iraqi armed forcessimply packed up and went home. Nobody wanted to die for the old regime. Instead they hoped to enjoy the fruits of their oil wealth for the first time and begin to live like Kuwaitis or Saudis.
Instead the US installed a colonial regime. Iraqis were marginalised and their opinions ignored. Iraqi professionals with PhDs and fluent in several languages found themselves being ordered about by young Americans whose only qualification was links to the Republican Party. The army and security services were dissolved. The five million-strong Sunni community was enraged. The first attacks on US patrols and vehicles began. Whenever I visited the site of an ambush I saw young Iraqi men dancing in jubilation around the blazing vehicles.
By November 2004 a serious guerrilla war was under way. The 140,000-strong US Army was hopelessly ill-equipped for such a conflict. Once I saw an American artillery unit trying to quell a fist fight among Iraqi drivers in a queue at a petrol station. They had brought with them an enormous howitzer designed to fire a shell 30km because they had nowhere to store it.
The face of Baghdad began to change. The symbol of the new regime was the concrete block, enormous obstacles to car bombs looking like gigantic grey tombstones. Walls of them sealed off the Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad where the US and Britain had established their headquarters.
The suicide bombers began to make their terrifying impact. Nobody was safe. The UN headquarters was reduced to a heap of rubble, as was the building housing the Red Cross. Iraqi police stations and US positions were all hastily fortified. On some days there were a dozen attacks. Later they fell in number, but became more sophisticated, with one bomber trying to blast a way through the concrete walls so the second could reach the targeted building.
People in Baghdad and the centre of Iraq lived in perpetual terror of suicide bombers, kidnappers, Iraqi army and US troops. The roads to the capital were all cut by insurgents or bandits. Better-off Iraqis, fearful of kidnappers who preyed on their children, fled to Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In the face of Sunni Arab attack, the US relied more and more on the two other great Iraqi communities. The Shia make up 60 per cent of the population and the Kurds 20 per cent. Some Iraqi leaders had an acute perception of the American dilemma in Iraq. "Let them try to run the country without us and they will see what trouble they will be in," said a Kurdish leader in the summer of 2003. "Then they will come running to us for our help."
Last year the US learnt that it could contain but could not suppress the Sunni insurrection. This year has seen Iraq slowly coming under the control of a Kurdish-Shia alliance whose authority is likely to be reaffirmed by the election on Thursday.
Iraq at the moment is an extraordinary patchwork with conditions varying in every part of the country. Kurdistan is more prosperous than at any time in its history. The skylines of its cities are crowded with cranes. In Baghdad there is hardly any sign of construction, and richer districts are often inhabited only by armed security guards. Their inhabitants have fled.
A BBC poll yesterday showed that half of those questioned say that Iraq needs a strong leader, while only 28 per cent cited democracy as a priority. But it would be a mistake to think that Iraqis could agree on the same strong leader. The Sunni would like a strong man to put the Shia in their place, and the Shia feel likewise that the priority for a powerful leader would be dealing with the Sunni.
Iraqis are cynical about their political leaders. The election results are likely to show that the great majority of Iraqis will vote along ethnic or religious lines as Shia, Sunni or Kurds. The country is turning from a unitary state into a confederation.
There is no sign yet of the thousand-day war ending. Every month up to a thousand fresh corpses arrive at the mortuary in Baghdad. A new Iraq is emerging but it is already drenched in blood.

Hobbes

The World Can't Wait: Bush Step Down!

2005-12-12T21:02:00.000Z

On the night of the State of the Union speech, everyone is encouraged to go outside at 9:00 pm, just as the idiot is about to speak, and make as much noise as possible, banging on pots and pans, etc. (how about just yelling "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!").
Then on the following Saturday, a march on Washington DC is planned.
(dates will be posted here as soon as I can find out exactly when they are!)

BUSH STEP DOWN and take your program with you.

http://www.worldcantwait.org/ (to view a flash movie)
http://www.worldcantwait.net/ (to get to the main site which is thankfully swamped at this moment).

Contribute to have this organization take out ads in major publications at 866-973-4463 or at http://www.worldcantwait.net/

Hobbes

Bush finally admits mistake

2005-12-08T18:03:00.000Z

Bush appeared at the Council of Foreign Relations yesterday and admitted that some mistakes were made in the inital reconstruction plans for Iraq. Ok George that's good. Admitting you have a problem is the most important step. Now when you finally realize that your destiny is in the hands of a more powerful force, the people, we may see some real progress. [I'm not holding my breath].
The council's president, Richard Haass has called the war in Iraq a "war of choice" a label that has been rejected by the White House.
Bush was greeted with only brief applause, not the usual wild cheering he gets from the tightly controlled crowds of his loyal supporters at most of his speeches, and of course, Bush declined to participate in the traditional question and answer session following his speech. (Full Story...)
Spineless wimp.

Hobbes

If it's not torture, then it's OK to use it on Cheney

2005-12-08T17:29:00.000Z

Nevada Appeal Internet Editor

December 4, 2005

"We do not torture."

That's what President George W. Bush said, and we can believe him, right? After all, that whole water boarding thing is just a walk in the park. Here is how CIA sources described this technique to ABC News:

"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him.

Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."

And it seems to work pretty well. Another passage from the ABC story:

"According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in.

They said al-Qaida's toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last between two and two-and-a-half minutes before begging to confess."

Wow. Two-and-a-half minutes to get the truth. Not bad.

Perhaps the Justice Department could use this to speed up some investigations that are taking forever. How about that two-year investigation into who leaked Valerie Plame's CIA status?

Stick Karl Rove on the water board and we can see who really leaked what in just a couple of minutes. That would be fair, wouldn't it? After all, his boss says it's not torture, right?

And how about this whole question about whether we were lied into the war in Iraq. I bet Dick Cheney would have the answer for that one, though the water board may be tough on his bad heart. At least we would know for sure if 2,120+ brave Americans died for a lie.

Just for fun, we could strap Bill Clinton to the water board and find out a whole lot on what happened during his term in the White House. That's one interrogation people would pay big money to see on pay-per-view.

Think of all the situations this could be used for. Hook up Tom DeLay, see if he really did break Texas campaign laws. Get the Halliburton executives in there and ask what happened to all our money. Stick O.J. Simpson on the water board and find out if he killed his ex-wife.

Remember, it's not torture. Bush says so.

Of course, this method isn't foolproof. The confessions obtained this way aren't exactly trustworthy.

The ABC story recounts how one subject was water boarded into claiming Iraq helped train al-Qaida members to use biochemical weapons. This information then was used by the Bush Administration to justify the war. As it turns out, the subject had no knowledge of such training, and he fabricated the story in order to stop the treatment.

"This is the problem with using the water board. They get so desperate that they begin telling you what they think you want to hear," a source told ABC.

So maybe we weren't lied into war, just water boarded into it.

At least it's not torture. Bush said so. And we can believe him, right? Perhaps he can volunteer for the water board and prove he's telling the truth.
---
Kirk Caraway is Internet Editor for the Nevada Appeal. Contact him at kcaraway@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1273.

Playwright Takes a Prize and a Jab at U.S.

2005-12-08T15:18:00.000Z

New York Times
LONDON, Dec. 7 - The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Wednesday into a furious howl of outrage against American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship" in the last 50 years.
	"The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them," Mr. Pinter said. "You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It's a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis." The playwright Harold Pinter, who has cancer, addressed the Swedish Academy by video from London.

Brooks has a moment of Clarity

An online version isn't avilable (yet) but I actually agreed with everything NY Times columnist David Brooks said today - probably for the first time ever. In today's column he points out why the Conservatives have "Run out of Steam". I'll try to provide the text here later.

Hobbes

Declaration of War

2005-12-07T17:24:00.000Z

http://www.thegodmovie.com

Thank "GOD" someone has put into a movie the Mythology of Christ and how the Christian belief system is ruining our country. Don't get me wrong: I think the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 5) has some good things to live by, if only the majority of Christians (especially the loud ones) followed them. I guess I missed this when it was first released, but the timimg of this ad is superb during the HOLIDAY SEASON to promote this. I haven't seen the movie yet but I plan to soon. Meanwhile look for me at a nearby public nativity scene holding a protest placard (He he he!).

Specifically, this clip holds dire relevancy for today's political landscape and is required viewing.

Hobbes

Some web links for today

2005-12-06T20:05:00.000Z

This is disturbing: Ohio Republicans Plan Holiday Burial for American Democracy (truthout.org). Republicans are still attempting to have a one-party state (and that's not just the State of Ohio). Their love of authoritarianism and utter defeat of any opposing idea leads me to a comparison with the USSR. I don't think all of those agreeing with this policy can see where this ultimately leads. Hopefully the opposition parties will be able to challenge this in the courts. That is before the courts are also part of the one-party state.

1. http://www.politicalcompass.org
Take the test to see where on the political compass you sit. I ended up sitting alongside of Ghandi, the Dali Lama and Nelson Mandella. Why am I not suprized?

2. http://www.worldaudit.org/home.htm
Shows the civil liberties and democracy levels of many of the countries of the world. I can't see how US ended up with the same civil liberty ranking as Sweeden in light of this country's homophobia and belief in torture.

The Real Lying SOB's

2005-12-05T16:35:00.000Z

Dark Lord Dick insists that the Cheney administration did not mislead the country into war.

So consider these points:

1. Even after it was debunked by the CIA, the administration continued to claim that there were strong ties between Saddam and al Qaeda.

2. Even after the CIA confirmed that the meeting did not take place, the administration continued to claim that one of the 9/11 hi-jackers, Mohammed Atta, met with Iraq officials, supposedly in Prague, while Atta was in Virgina Beach.

3. The administration claimed that Saddam was importing nuclear material from Africa, more than a year after Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sent by the CIA, proved that it was untrue. Ironically, Cheney's office was the one who requested this investigation.

4. The administration claimed that Iraq had mobile bio-weapon factories, long after the source for this claim, "Curveball" had been discredited. The mobile "factories" were never found.

5. They continued to claim that al Qaeda had recieved weapons training from Iraq long after the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that it was most likely false.

6. Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld insisted that the administration knew exactly where the WMD's were. Three teams of UN weapons inspectors had reported that the likelihood of WMD's were remote. After the invasion, none were found.

Hobbes

Schmidt has to eat her words again

2005-11-23T15:14:00.000Z

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) called Rep. Murtha a coward in the House on Friday (11/18), by reading from a conversation she had with one of her constituents. After conferring with Republican leaders, she later asked that her remarks be striken from the record. Now that statement has been rebutted by the constituent she apparently mis-quoted for her own political posturing:

Colonel Denies Disparaging Murtha

By The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 - A colonel in the Marine reserves has taken issue with how his views were represented in a Republican attack last week on Representative Murtha.
Speaking on the House floor on Friday, Representative Jean Schmidt, Republican of Ohio, asserted that the colonel had "asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, marines never do."
But a spokeswoman for the colonel, Danny R. Bubp, said Ms. Schmidt had misconstrued their conversation.
While Mr. Bubp, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, opposes a quick withdrawal for forces, "he did not mention Congressman Murtha by name nor did he mean to disparage Congressman Murtha," said Karen Tabor, his spokeswoman. "He feels as though the words that Congresswoman Schmidt chose did not represent their conversation."
Asked to respond on Monday, the congresswoman's office said only, "Mrs. Schmidt's statement was never meant to disparage Congressman Murtha."

[HA! Reread that statement above: "SEND...MURTHA A MESSAGE"]

Also onegoodmove.org has the Murtha and Hunter resolutions for comparison.

And the reason is?

So the reason for staying in Iraq is:
Bush broke Iraq so we have to stay and fix it.
Making it worse is there was no valid reason for breaking it,
since the justification for war was based on lies and incompetence.
Furthermore Bush has increased terrorism by providing them a real-life training ground and giving more people reason to hate the US.

Hobbes

Republicans revise tactics

2005-11-22T13:59:00.000Z

VP Dick "Dark Lord, Five Deferments" Cheney for the first time has changed his tactics and has decided to attack his opponents' IDEAS instead of attacking his opponents personally. This is a new untested tactic for Republicans and no one is really sure how successful it will be, but their usual smear campaigns were backfiring.

Late last week, the White House, through Press Secretary Scott McClellan, attempted to deride Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) by aligning him with film-maker Michael Moore. Rep. Murtha [see below], a decorated career Marine who served in Vietnam, had called for a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. That attack, combined with Rep. Jean Schmidt's (R-OH) calling Murtha a coward (albeit through reading a letter from one of her constituents). Schmitt was later forced by her leadership to have her remarks stricken from the record and the White House did the back-peddle on their remarks also.

Now, forced to do something they have little experience doing, the Republicans are attempting to criticize their opponents' positions, which actually reflect the opinion of the majority of Americans, instead of personally attacking them. This bold new step can only be out of desparation. Rove must be bound and gagged somewhere in an undisclosed location because Bush and Cheney apparently felt obliged to actually PRAISE Murtha over the weekend and yesterday as "a good man" and "a patriot". You know that must hurt.

My Letter to Rep. Murtha

Hon. Rep. John P. Murtha
PO Box 780
Johnstown, PA 15907-0780

Rep. Murtha:

Thank you for standing up to speak out for our troops.
I support your valiant efforts and want you to know that despite the numerous attacks from the Republicans that you are encountering over this issue, there are dozens of millions of people who regard your bold action as the watershed event in overcoming what has become a very dark chapter in the history of the United States.
Thank you for your service both in the Marines and in the House of Representatives.

Kind Regards,

Hobbes

PS: I recommend you to read Murtha's statement rather than just the reporters' synopsis.

The Murtha of All Disent

2005-11-18T16:03:00.000Z

	Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran, expanded on his comments: "I like guys who got five deferments and [have] never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."
Cheney did not serve in the military, and Bush was an Air National Guardsman who did not leave the United States during the Vietnam War.
Meanwhile opinions are coming in and they are bad news for Bush (BNFB):
EJ Dionne (Washington Post): An Iraq Deadline For Bush

More Tent Seams Heard Ripping
Charles Krauthammer, typically a neo-con supporter in his columns, blasts the IDiocy in Kansas

Bad check writer

Hobbes

Bush debris encounters rotating blades

2005-11-17T18:04:00.000Z

	Warning that other global threats "cannot be ignored," Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, a leading adviser on defense issues, called on Thursday for the *immediate withdrawal* of U.S. troops from Iraq.(CNN) In criticizing Cheney's speech yesterday attacking the administration's critics, Rep. Murtha added that "people with five deferments" had no right to make such remarks.
Now we're talking! This can't be going over well at the White House. Cheney must be sneering even more than usual if he isn't already apoplectic about this. Did they really think their critics would just run away with their tails between their legs? Sorry but the campaign is over. Now it's time to see if they can actually govern (NOT).
Actually I don't know how the Republicans can keep their coalition together much longer. Between the radical Christians on one side calling for the repeal of Science in favor of IDiocy, and the radical neo-cons on the other plundering our grandchildren's taxes while they wage a war based on lies, I can't imagine the seams of their tent are holding much longer without some new kind of super-glue, like the fear tactics they used on the American people after 9/11.

"The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out."

If you thought that was a Democrat that said that you would be wrong. That was Our Dark Lord (The Dick) Cheney.

(I decided not to display his image here in case you are eating)

According to Bill O'Reilly (aka O'Lielly) responding to the flak over his encouraging al Qaeda to blow up San Francisco "They [the 'far' left] are anti-American people. They hate this country. They do. And if you read their garbage day in and day out, we're the bad guys. We're always wrong. Blame America first. That's who these people are on the far left on the Internet. And they are well funded by George Soros and Peter Lewis, the radical billionaires. They're as dishonest as they come." (Radio Factor)

Well I agree with him only that I DO consider him (Bill) one of the bad guys, in as much as I consider myself part of the left on the internet (but not that far). [Notice that if you disagree with Bill you "hate this country"?]

So anyway, "Hey George! Where's my check?"

Hobbes

PS: I was really busy this week and had no time to post until now but that doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention!

Wizard of Gauze

2005-11-11T20:05:00.000Z

Bush today applied Rove-brand bandages to his wounded reputation and desperately tried to pull the curtain back over his exposed administration by claiming that people who criticize him are "rewriting history".
	Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., replied: "It's deeply regrettable that the president is using Veterans Day as a campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth about the clear manipulation of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war." Well said.
Strangley the "liberal" NY Times gave no quotes from any Democrat as a rebuttal. Expect more attacks on the messengers which is standard MO for these bastards.

Hobbes

Internet Intelligently Designed by Supernatural Creator

2005-11-10T19:04:00.000Z

	I've come to the undeniable conclusion that the internet was intelligently designed by a supernatural creator. I have been studying it for some time and the amazingly complex structure has led me to conclude that it is too complex to have evolved naturally. There are too many parts that exist to function together and could not have existed on their own.
I mean how did all these blogs get here? The blog species must have been created by a supernatural being because they are just too complex for me to figure out.
And how about routers, switches, ethernet wide area networks and wireless and bluetooth? You think these all just evloved? I mean, come on, really!
I hope that the computer science schools will come to the same inevitable conclusion and not burden our budding computer scientists with phony "theories" of the history computer "science". I would think that at least the University of Kansas is not afraid to teach this alternate view of the origin of the internet.

Hobbes

Post-Election Day Feels Better This Year

2005-11-09T19:40:00.000Z

Republicans feel the sting of anti-Bushism across the nation:
	Schwarzenegger Is Dealt a Stinging Rebuke by Voters Democrat Wins Race for Governor in Virginia Democrats score big in off-year elections
And on the IDiot side, you win some you lose some: Evolution Slate Outpolls Rivals Kansas Board Approves Challenges to Evolution
Activists wearing shirts reading "Exxpose Exxon," listen during a hearing on Capitol Hill today while Oil company executives attempt to explain record profits.

Hobbes

Deconstructing Cheney

2005-11-08T16:55:00.000Z

THE INDICTMENT of the vice president's chief of staff for perjury and obstruction of justice is an occasion to consider just how damaging the long public career of Richard Cheney has been to the United States.
	He began as a political scientist devoted to caring for the elbow of Donald Rumsfeld. As a congressman, Rumsfeld had reliably voted against programs to help the nation's poor, so (as I recalled in reading James Mann's ''Rise of the Vulcans") it was with more than usual cynicism that Richard Nixon appointed him head of the Office of Economic Opportunity, the antipoverty agency.
Rumsfeld named Cheney as his deputy, and the two set out to gut the program-- the beginning of the Republican rollback of the Great Society, what we saw in New Orleans this fall.
Read the FULL STORY by James Carroll, November 7 in the Boston Globe.

More dirt on Cheney

If you can stand it watch this and then tell me that the US should continue to occupy Iraq.

Hobbes

The Next Attack

2005-11-04T17:07:00.000Z

The Next Attack (by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon) shows how the war in Iraq has weakened the US in its war against terror(ism) and strengthened those who would seek to destroy it. I haven't read it yet but this NY Times review looks good.

Hobbes

It's the WAR stupid!

2005-11-03T15:22:00.000Z

Dennis Kucinich makes the point that the Democrats have to make the War in Iraq a central point of their 2006 congressional campaigns http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/103105R.shtml

Hobbes

Senate holds closed session

2005-11-02T18:25:00.000Z

Yesterday Sen. Harry Reid the Democratic leader, motioned for a closed Senate session after lambasting the Senate for not being critical of President Bush. Republican senator Frist claimed to be of course personally insulted.
	Sen. Frist, apparently upset about Reid following Senate procedures said: "It's an affront to the United States of America." The Senate held closed sessions 6 times during the impeachment process of Pres. Clinton. Was that also "an affront to the United States of America?"
Sen. Reid: "And now the question is, Will this Senate meet its responsibility under the Constitution to hold this administration, as every administration should be held, accountable?"

More ID nonsense

At the Dover PS ID trial yesterday Dr. Behe has a new definition for what makes a scientific theory valid: It's whether it fits in with Christian faith or not. "Because the Big Bang is compatible with Christianity, and because it makes some theistic views seem more plausible, that does not mean that the Big Bang itself is not a scientific theory. And in the same sense, just because intelligent design is compatible with Christian views, or because it makes such views or other theistic views seem more plausible does not mean that intelligent design itself is not a scientific theory."
(This is an example of Fallacy of Afirming the Consequent)

Hobbes

Can we trust our elections?

2005-11-02T03:02:00.000Z

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies:
Diebold and ES&S.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)

http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/

Hobbes

Give 'em hell

2005-10-31T15:30:00.000Z

"You can't say, 'Please don't be mean to me. Please let me win sometimes.' Give me a break here. If you don't want to fight for the future and you can't figure out how to beat these people then find something else to do." - Bill Clinton, 29 October 2005, Austin, TX

Bush has flip-flopped again:
BUSH PROMISED TO FIRE ANYONE INVOLVED: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid noted this weekend, "The president said anyone involved would be gone." Now, "we now know that Official A is Karl Rove. He's still around. He should be let go."
	But if Bush sticks to his word, Rove is just the beginning. Podesta added, "we know that senior Presidential aides National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan were either complicit in the leak and the cover up, or grossly negligent in their duties."
Also, "Chief of Staff, Andrew Card has presided over a White House staff that is guilty of a disservice to the President and the country," and should also resign. (American Progress Report)

Hobbes

Dr. Suess

2005-10-28T20:36:00.000Z

New Dr. Suess book based on this week's events: "Mr. Bush and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".

Hobbes

Hobbes is Back

2005-10-26T14:17:00.000Z

Letters in the Detriot Free Press in response to Fahling's IDiotic argument against Evolution (and one that supports him but is also amusing).

Hobbes

Off-Line

2005-10-16T11:44:00.000Z

I am going to be off-line until Monday Oct 24th, taking some time to commune with Nature in Vermont.
When I get back I expect to see Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby indicted, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Lielly appologize for lying all the time, and the impearchment hearings begin on Bush as Cheney prepares his resignation.
I also expect the American public to wake up from this nightmare.
Yes, someday this will all be over and we can laugh about it.
Until then......

Just released photo

2005-10-15T13:52:00.000Z

In the wake of Katrina's effect on New Orleans, Bush Sr. and Jr. were able to get some fishing in.

Quotes and Denials

2005-10-14T17:59:00.000Z

Quote of the day from Paul Krugman (NY Times columnist):
"Read the speeches Howard Dean gave before the Iraq war, and compare them with Colin Powell's pro-war presentation to the U.N. Knowing what we know now, it's clear that one man was judicious and realistic, while the other was spinning crazy conspiracy theories. But somehow their labels got switched in the way they were presented to the public by the news media."

Bush's teleconference with soldiers in Iraq was staged and the rehearsal was accidently(?) fed to the satellite. Press Secretary Scott McClellan got pretty irked with the press when they questioned why the troops had to be coached.
One Good Move has the "train wreck".

Hobbes

Circle of Trust

2005-10-13T14:39:00.000Z

NY Times columnist David Brooks gave an unusually reflective analysis of his fellow Republicans today:

"Republicans, who these days are as likely to be members of the corporate establishment as the evangelical establishment, are more suspicious of intellectuals and ideas, and more likely to believe that politics is about deal-making, loyalty and power. You know you are in establishment Republican circles when the conversation is bland but unifying. You know you are in conservative circles when it is interesting but divisive."

My guess is that now that Bush has come out in defense of Miers based mainly on her religion it appears (or is that just to appease the religious extremists?), she will soon withdraw her nomination, and Bush will be forced to pick someone outside his "circle of trust".

With the Republicans "on the ropes" now that their corruption has been exposed, watch out for more unethical tactics like those used in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Republicans will not go down without a fight, in fact I suspect that they will continue to try to win at whatever the cost. They are devoted to staying in power even if the public opinion polls are against them.
Don't forget we still haven't resolved the election issues yet. Remember that former Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) had a 7 point advantage going into the voting booth in 2002 and still lost due to electronic voting.

Oh my God!

NEWSFLASH:
Report Says White House Ignored CIA report on post-Invasion Chaos

Hobbes

P.S.: I had to remove commenting on this blog since I keep getting blog-spam.

Republicans and ID

2005-10-11T15:55:00.000Z

Republicans are getting nervous.

Bush's approval ratings are down even among his base of religious fanatics.

The GOP is having some difficulty in recruiting people to run for the 2006 Senate.

New York is almost certainly going to go back to a Democratic governorship.

I'm not sure what the overall House race outcome looks like, but I suspect that some GOP seats will be lost to Democrats, hopefully enough to break the back of the beast (one can hope).

Meanwhile we eagerly await some justice to come from the Fitzgerald grand jury.

Part II:

There are many opinion pieces flooding the newspapers these days supposedly showing how Evolution is flawed and Intelligent Design comes to the rescue of the objective mind. Here is one in the Detroit Free Press. I wrote a response as a letter to the Editor:

Re: "Comment: Intelligent design focuses on evidence, fills in origin gaps" (October 10, 2005, Brian Fahling)

Mr. Fahling's analysis of the flaws of the theory of Evolution is itself flawed.

I would like to specifically address some of the claims in his article.

1. The theory of evolution make[s] dogmatic religious or philosophic claims about the origin of life.
It does neither. The theory of evolution explains the observed process of evolution by means of natural selection. It makes no dogmatic claims since it is based on science not dogma. The only "dogma" of science is that we rely on observable phenomena not just speculation. Intelligent design speculates that only a supernatural intelligence could have created life, but has no proof of this intelligence. Science requires proof not just inference.

2. The theory of evolution, unlike intelligent design theory, [is] insular in [its] approach to science.
The theory of evolution is hardly insulated from other approaches to science but is instead integrated with accepted knowledge of geology, cosmology, organic chemistry and others. In fact, evolution is supported and corroborated by many other scientific fields of study.

3. Evolutionists...reason downward from an article of faith and conduct their science with the same dogmatic zeal and selectiveness [as creationist].
Those that understand the overwhelming evidence that supports the theory of evolution do not rely on any articles of faith except their faith in the basis of all science, which is the scientific method and observation. There is nothing selective about the theory of evolution. If there were any evidence that was contrary to the theory it would be discussed and debated in the scientific journals, as this is the method of peer review. No evidence has ever been found to disprove the theory.

4. It is not in dispute that one may infer an evolutionary process from the data, but that is not what the evolutionist does.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The theory of evolution has been validated from the study of millions of fossils, studies on DNA, studies of geology and various methods of dating, all of which work with available evidence, not mere speculation as does intelligent design.

5. The theory of evolution requires that a student affirm the creed that there is no God.
Again this is completely false. Many people who accept the facts about the theory of evolution also believe in God. The theory of evolution and science in general makes no such prerequisite.

6. There are gaps in Darwin's theory.
No scientific theory claims to be perfect. Even the Newton's laws have gaps that were exposed by Einstein's theory of Relativity, but it does not invalidate the model completely. Scientific theories use existing evidence to build and prove a hypothesis. Nothing has been shown to invalidate the theory of evolution.

Intelligent design relies on the concept of a supernatural intelligence in order to explain what appears to be unexplainable. By definition this reliance forces it outside of the realm of science and into metaphysics and religion.

Just a coincidence?

2005-10-07T16:21:00.000Z

Karl Rove (aka Turd Blossom) testifies in front of the grand jury again today, this time with no immunity, as the media has been re-focused on a new terror threat in New York City, immediately after Bush gave a speech harkening back to his glory days of 9/11. I surely hope, like other NYers, that this new threat is a fake and I suspect it is; just a diversion away from the real story which is Rove et. al.

Actually I'm glad that Bush has finally re-focussed on al Qaeda instead of Iraq. This is something they should never have lost sight of. But let's not be swayed by this administration back into a culture of fear that they pushed on us leading up to the 2004 election.

It's the OIL stupid!

2005-10-06T18:23:00.000Z

It was high time they attempted to re-frame the issue!

Bush now says we can't "cut and run" from Iraq because Islamic radicals are seeking to "enslave whole nations and intimidate the world." It's much better to do try to do that with the American military instead. Luckily for both sides slavery is allowed by the bible and intimidation is something this administration has been practicing for years.

Sorry, but the ends do not justify the means. The war was started and then perpetuated on lies. Redefining your goal afterwards with the use of fear and generalizations shouldn't get you a permission slip for more plundering of the treasury by the military-industrial complex.

Really this war is being waged for multiple reasons, none of which is admitted to by the White House or most of their supporters:

* It's the OIL stupid. Iraq has about 25% of the world's oil reserves (112.5 billion bbl) and the US govt. would love to control this, for both financial gain to the oil companies and as a strategic resource.

* It's the Christians vs. the Muslims. Let's be real. This is a (thinly disguised) war on Islamic Fundamentalism by the Christian Fundamentalists. Many Christians in the US see this as more than just a war on terror(ism) . To them it is a battle against the evil non-Christians.

* A great way for those who are politically connected to plunder millions and millions of dollars from the US treasury (borrowed from our future wages of course) and anyone who questions this is unpatriotic. What a great scam! This is a bonanza both to DOD suppliers and contractors (notice they're mainly from Virginia and Texas?). I would wager that biggest benificiaries of this are also the biggest benificiaries of the Bush tax cuts.

* War makes a great theme for re-election; or at least it did in 2004. Some Republican representatives who are looking at polls of their constituents have begun to distance themselves from this debacle for re-election in 2006 however.

Part II:

Two reasons NOT to confirm Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court:

* She's a born again Christian. Anyone who puts faith above logic should not be sitting on a Federal Court bench at any level, let alone the top level.

* She thinks Bush is the most brilliant man she's ever known. Clearly this shows her judgment is severely impaired. Someone please send her a copy of "Bushisms" to go along with "Judging for Dummies".

Hobbes

No Ideas

2005-10-05T13:12:00.000Z

Five Democratic Ideas (for those who have only listened to the Republican mantra that the democrats have no ideas)

1) make college education as universal for the 21st century as a high school education was in the 20th.

2) a summit on the budget to deal with the $3 trillion of debt that's been added up in five years and structural deficits of $400 billion a year.

3) an energy policy that says in 10 years, we cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and make this a hybrid economy.

4) create an institute on science and technology that builds for America like the National Institutes has done for health care; we maintain our edge.

5) have a universal health-care system over the next 10 years where if you work, you have health care.

- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, 2-Oct-05

[Frankly I would go further on point 5 and have universal health-care regardless of employment status].

No more Mr. Nice Guy

2005-10-04T13:46:00.000Z

Richard Cohen wants the Democrats to play nice (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301492.html). They shouldn't kick DeLay (hey isn't that a FRENCH name?;-) while he's down. His logic amounts to "That's the tactics of the Republicans and look where it got them" [Let's see: the House, the Senate, the Presidency and now increasingly, the ability to "legislate from the Judiciary"].

And enough of this crap that the Democrats don't have any ideas except criticizing the Republicans. I'm am so tired of that song and of the press playing it over and over as if repetition makes it true. I agree most people don't know what the Democrats stand for because their positions aren't hot topics that sell papers. Being anti-gay is a hot topic. Being for universal health care is not. Yes, I know, those Democrats and their same old ideas that we've never even tried.

Cohen also insists that William Bennet has the right to say that "you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down" and that it's OK as long as you conceed that it is a bad thing to call for. Well of course he has that right, and the KKK has the right to march down Main Street but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be criticized for it. This isn't about being politically correct, it's about being racist (regardless if you have statistics to justify your position - that more blacks are convicted of crimes). And since he wasn't the first to say it it's ok for him to cite it? I DO expect the Democrats to come out against Bennet for saying that even though he DOES have a right to say it.

Let's face it, the Democratic party has gotten where THEY are at in this country by being the nice guys; by compromising and by going along with the Republican agenda. Some of them seem to move to the right faster and more often than Frist does, thinking that being Republican-lite is going to get them votes. It just makes them look weaker. Folks, don't be afraid of the right-wing calling you a liberal. They're going to smear you anyway so you might as well get a backbone and stand up for what you know is the right thing to do.

My message to the Democrats is: "It's time to draw the line in the sand and refuse to move any further to the right." This country is already so far towards facism (<==Look it up), it doesn't look anything like what I thought this country might look like now based on the potential I saw 35 years ago. In fact the Republican party has been pushing to gut the EPA and other entities which exist for the common good, since they took the reins of power.

I'm sure the next Democratic presidential candidate will call for healing and uniting which is surely what this country needs, but not at the cost of catering to the religious zealots who want to return science to the dark ages, to the "moralists" who want to imagine we are back in the 50's when gays hid in the closet, to the extreme anti-federalists who want to shrink and then drown the federal government in the bathtub, and to the corporate elite who want to not pay taxes while plundering the treasury.

Fuck'em I say. No more Mr. nice guy.

Hobbes.

Those lying AP bastards

2005-09-28T15:28:00.000Z

Sorry for no new posting until now but I was catching up on life in general.

After more futile email exchanges with members of the illusioned radical right I realize that although I am enjoying replying to them, I think it only entrenches them in their positions. Email is the worst way to debate anyway. My points are backed up like a college research paper using AP reports and "Sciencemag" journal entries etc. only to be derided as lies in the response because after all, AP reporters are lying bastards and scientists are all liberals anyway so they can't be trusted either.

Actually I almost feel sorry for these people because they can not trust just about every source that could be used to backup a doctoral thesis. But then again that would be in the academic world which I'm sure is also not to be trusted because those people are all un-American liberal eggheads with an atitude. So they turn to a narrower set of people that say what they want to hear and close-off everyone else, then accuse the rest of the world of being close-minded and brainwashed.

I do believe that this is a self-defeating phenomenon where these people are eventually outnumbered by the more reasonable people in the world (actually weren't they always?). I began to see the end of the right-wing's grip on power this summer and the turning point I think was Cindy Sheehan's protest. Katrina just pushed it over the top. However, as the powerful begin to lose their grip on power they will become more desperate so watch out for more smears and mis-information in the next few months.

For those who didn't see it (like me), here's where you can see the replay of Donnahue vs O'Lielly: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002412.html. I'm sure Bill is proud of his performance but I think Phil clearly bested him.

This site also has a number of other videos to watch in Quicktime, including Maher's "new rules" segments which offer a humerous look at the twisted "values" or the radical right. I can usually see nothing humorous about these people but Maher and John Stewart find it somehow.

Final note: Georia schoolchildren will generously give up two days of education in order to provide 250,000 gallons of fuel to NASCAR racing fans, Escalade and Hummer owners.

Hobbes

Frodo rules the day

2005-09-26T14:51:00.000Z

Zane didn't come with us due to a tired ankle, and just as well since we covered many miles both by car, the DC Metro and especially by foot.

We parked in Greenbelt MD Metro station at around 1130 am and found that we were in good company. The station at the end of the "Green" line was packed with people going to the rally. We just missed getting on one train and when the next one arrived, it was quickly packed with protestors getting on with us.

We arrived in DC and joined the march which wound around downtown and went past the White House. We did see a group of Pro-Bush people, probably about 50 or so, in front of the FBI building, behind baricades and a line of police protection. Of course their signs indicated that they naively thought we were all promoting terrorism. I suspect many were paid RNC members there to get press. At this point I had lost John and Dave so I stood there for about 15 minutes waiting for them to catch up.

I wore my "BUCK FUSH" t-shirt and held up two signs:
"Frodo Failed: Bush has the ring" backed with "Asses of Evil: Bush, Cheney and Rove" as well as "Mission Accomplished: Now bring'em home" backed with "BUCK FUSH". Many people wanted a picture of the Frodo sign and it definitely got the most comments. Unfortunately the point of it was completely lost on the Bushies who seemed too full of hate to think rationally.

The march ended up at the mall where Camp Casey had been set up at the entrance. We met Ira there who had travelled down also.

Later we stood on the mall where people were coming and going, holding our signs and took turns holding the popular Frodo sign and posing for pictures. We stayed until about 7 pm and left hungry, tired but also inspired.

Hobbes.

Mission Accomplished: Now Bring'em Home!

2005-09-23T12:45:00.000Z

Hope to see you all Saturday 24 Sep. in Wash. DC. Dave, John, Zane and I will be driving down early Sat a.m. and hopefully make it in time for the 11 a.m. rally at the Ellipse.

OK so they won't listen to us and they won't change their policy but that's not the real point of this weekend. The real measure of success is to heighten awareness in the rest of the public. It's to get more people to wake up and smell the rot that has taken power. Any small amount of change in the right direction is an accomplishment.

Hobbes.

Mis-Leader

2005-09-22T19:02:00.000Z

I recently got into an email battle with a conservative (friend of my wife's conservative cousin) who berated me for criticizing the Bushies. I used references to published accounts like AP's reporting of the FBI investigation of Halliburton for example. His reply was that Halliburton was a great company and you can't trust those lying AP reporters.

I have noticed a bit more desperation in the conservative side about lashing out at those who are critical of their guy. Those that are left behind to defend him are of course his staunchest supporters and are getting desperate as they see their conservative movement failing to keep growing as they see the numbers who approve of Bush drop weekly.

Some conservatives are disdainful of the faction of Democrats (and anyone else) who are very critical of the Bush administration. But shouldn't we be critical? Should we instead only be putting forth own own policy ideas without pointing out the ineptitude of the current mis-leadership?

The conservatives would like to believe that Bush is virtually infallible and that any criticism of their guy is just frustrated emotional venting, but I wonder if they have considered that much of the criticism is actually justified and that it is the opposition's responsibility and patriotic duty to point out where Bush and Co. have lead this country astray.

Censor Wolf

Agenda

There will be no joy in Mudville on Nov 8th

I'm shocked to find out there's gambling going on in this establishment!

Traitorous comments?

I'll have the cake...

State of the Onion

Bush seeks advice from who?

Sword of God?

Iraqi "Freedom Fighters"

Activist Judge Cancels Christmas

Liberty or death

Conyers begins impeachment move

The rise and hopefully fall of...

Democratic Senators Side With Terrorists!

Rep. Hinchey, Evolution, Hillary

Hinchey

Humans in England May Go Back 700,000 Years

Hillary

1000 days of war

The World Can't Wait: Bush Step Down!

Bush finally admits mistake

If it's not torture, then it's OK to use it on Cheney

Playwright Takes a Prize and a Jab at U.S.

Brooks has a moment of Clarity

Declaration of War

Some web links for today

The Real Lying SOB's

Schmidt has to eat her words again

Colonel Denies Disparaging Murtha

And the reason is?

Republicans revise tactics

My Letter to Rep. Murtha

The Murtha of All Disent

More Tent Seams Heard Ripping

Bad check writer

Bush debris encounters rotating blades

Wizard of Gauze

Internet Intelligently Designed by Supernatural Creator

Post-Election Day Feels Better This Year

Deconstructing Cheney

The Next Attack

It's the WAR stupid!

Senate holds closed session

Can we trust our elections?

Give 'em hell

Dr. Suess

Hobbes is Back

Off-Line

Just released photo

Quotes and Denials

Circle of Trust

Republicans and ID

Just a coincidence?

It's the OIL stupid!

No Ideas

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Those lying AP bastards

Frodo rules the day

Mission Accomplished: Now Bring'em Home!

Mis-Leader