i’m really liking the words and action by congressman John Murtha. granted, yes, he was retarded enough to vote in favor of the iraq war resolution. that’s not good (doesn’t anyone remember we were bombing iraq for 11+ years prior?). but, what i am liking about John Murtha is his brave stance on calling for pulling US troops out of iraq, that he is speaking up with ideas and solutions for getting out of iraq (where others remain conveniently silent and complacent), and how he fights for veterans & veterans rights - on both public and personal issues. it is sad that republicans are playing politics and rewording Murtha’s resolution (to guarantee it’s failure). and hearing dick ‘i got 5 deferments to avoid serving in the military‘ cheney attack murtha is pathetic. but that is the right wing neoconservative christian corporate chickenhawk republican party for you.
Archive for the 'politics' Category
you can’t make this stuff up. you just can’t make this fucking stuff up. this is not a spoof. how about a rock song by a group called the right brothers titled ‘bush was right!‘ to show america that, well, bush was right. no - it’s really real. here’s the mp3 file. and keith oberman put together a quick video for it too. repeat: it’s not a spoof. they meant to do this. wtf? has andy kaufman returned as a two man act? no - wait, i forgot - it’s real! it’s real!!
dark photo of graphs chronicling 30 months in iraq. sad but accurate. soldiers still have to buy their own body armor. disgusting. but hey, i may be off track. when it comes to honestly and concern for this country, dick cheney is someone america can totally trust. right?
there is an excellent opinion piece written by john cusack on the huffingtonpost. really worth a read as it touches on so many good points. such as ‘where are the democrats?’ very true. my thoughts are that our democratic leaders (who are not & have not been leading) are comfortable sitting back and just watching things fall apart. that is not strength but rather it’s being complacent and weak. this is the same behavior they exhibited that lead us into war and all the abuses of power we see today. that political cowardice means that the republicans will rise and end up taking responsible action. cusack’s post also touches on the power of the Daily Show and the very real dangers of having neocons on the program who get ‘reflected hipness just by sitting across the table from (jon stewart).’ all true. so why aren’t you reading it?
while keeping ANWR in mind, there’s a photo gallery show at san francsico city hall titled Crude Reflections: ChevronTexaco’s Rainforest Legacy. you can view the photo exhibit as a slideshow online. but there’s a lot more to read about and a lot more to see. take a look at the website chevrontoxico.com. you can read about the history of what is called the “Rainforest Chernobyl”.
From 1964 to 1992, Texaco drilled for oil in the northern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, known as the “Oriente”. The company left 627 open toxic waste pits and other facilities which continue to leak highly toxic waste, affecting more than 30,000 local people.
view maps of Chevron-Texaco’s operations, read about the PR firm hired to mislead the public on the contamination and devastation by Chevron-Texaco. read about the historic case Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco. or just watch a video titled Ecuador’s Black Plague to see for yourself. and here is that same oil company posting record profits (same thing last year) in the face of deliberately dumping 18.5 billion gallons of toxic waste directly into the rainforest. incredible.
what a great last 2 days! first, arnold’s lame reform agenda failed miserably. thank you! and what is reform? limiting the power of teachers and labor unions, or limiting the influence of big business like insurance & drug companies? seriously, what a waste of money. it would have been better to say ‘let’s give this money directly to our schools.’ but no. now, he’s as good as gone. and now today i read Alaskan refuge drilling pulled from House bill. from the SFGate article:
At least 22 Republicans had told the House leadership they would not vote for the sweeping bill unless the drilling provision was removed and they are given assurances that it will not return after House and Senate negotiators hash out a final measure.
so good to hear good news.
i don’t know how many zeros 1.05 trillion is - it’s either 12 or 18 (the number of 0’s depends on where you are from). but i believe $1.05 trillion in the USA is 1,000,000,000,000 + 1,000,000. that is also the amount the Bush Administration has borrowed from foreign nations (mostly china, japan, and saudi arabia) to keep our country afloat. that’s more than all 42 prior administrations combined. so right now our entire economy is kept alive on credit. very very scary. information gathered from the blue dog coalition website.
wow - a multinational corporation formerly headed by Dick Cheney has ethics issues? who knew? a lot of illegal immigrants lured over for $10 an hour jobs doing dawn-til-dusk labor on hurricane katrina rebuilding work found out. after weeks of hard work, many immigrants are more than often unpaid for Katrina relief work. this is especially sad for those brought over illegally as they have no recourse. but hey - Halliburton’s bottom line looks awesome!
here’s an excellent article written by Dahlia Lithwick for the slate titled The Dangling Conversation: The One-sided ‘Debate’ About Judges. a well stated piece & accurate piece regarding supreme court justice nomination and confirmation. judicial confirmation hearings have become infomercials for the conservative & religious right. how about another ‘justice sunday’ anyone? Lithwick insists the democrats must get some spine and stand up for real issues during these conservative infomercials, instead of playing along. i agree.
campus progress has a great interview with the hot (yeah, i said it) & politically savvy & funny & nerd glasses wearing (!!!!) janeane garofalo. same interview is also running on alter-net. worth a read. man, smart is sexy.
Q: how do you spell ‘fall guy’? A: l i b b y
i don’t know about you, but it seems there should be a few more indictments than just one.
here’s a really smart opinion piece in the LA times on why all drugs should be legalized. it’s written by the former police chief of the Seattle Police Department & a cop for 34 years, Norm Stamper. Stamper is the author of “Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing” (Nation Books, 2005). give it a read if you’ve got time.
these are the people in my neighborhood - all republicans trying to take over california! or is it ‘khelly-fohr-neeya’? didn’t you know about arnold’s promise to deliver california to the republicans? it’s called proposition 77. where instead of a voter determined process, appointed judges - not elected officials - would draw the voting district lines in the state. reminds me of a similar story from texas in 2003. that’s a no vote, by the way. so now watch this nicely done flash parody of arnold schwarzenegger’s neighborhood and see all his fwendz!!!
i love seeing things like this very powerful ad placed in a high school newspaper. the full text of the ad reads “You can’t be all that you can be if you’re dead. There are other ways to serve your country. There are other ways to get money for college. There are other ways to be all you can be. THINK ABOUT IT. Before you sign your life away.” the full ad layout can be seen here. the controversial ad was created and paid for by an anonymous sophmore at Warwick Valley High School in New York. the student who placed the ad is a member of the Bruderhof community, a Christian-based communal order in Sugar Loaf that preaches pacifism. more power to him! the full story is available via the times -herald record online (1st view is free. 2nd view requires registration - unless you delete their cookie) and also on michael moore’s website.
‘dick’ as in richard and ‘dick’ as in semi-flacid penis both apply. but in this case, i mean dick cheney. first i read that hot karl rove (the second kind of ‘dick’) may not be the focus of the CIA leak investigation nor even get indicted. then i read (though definitely a rumor) that colin powell may be providing delicious information on dick cheney and cheney’s direct involvement in leaking the name of a CIA operative. wow, as in ‘wow - that’s treason.’ then i read (not a rumor) a report from colin powell’s chief of staff Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson slamming the dick cheney and donald rumsfeld for hijacking the government and putting america in danger. wow again! you can read the transcript of Colonel Wilkerson’s speech here. i’d like to think that if once one person makes a stand for honesty, others will hopefully follow.
UPDATE: turns out this letter rumor is a fake (the letter is real, but the story/rumor is fake). there you go.
during a speech at Western Michigan University, a 24 year old punker shouting ‘Stop The Bigotry’ baptized Pat Buchanan in caesar salad dressing. and yes - there is video footage. welcome to april!