Wednesday, April 26, 2006

SNL Funhouse


Conspiracy Theory Rock

This is the funniest/most depressing/truthful thing I think I've ever seen. Everybody needs to see this, it's so good. If you don't have Quicktime or Windows Media Player, download it!
Watch it: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/04/25.html#a8046
......still think I'm crazy???

Surprise!


About a week ago, Scott McClellan 'resigned' as the press secretary for the White House. Either he got sick and tired of lying to the American people every day, or the axis of evil (bush, cheney & rove) decided to change the face of the administration under growing public discontent. They aren't willing to admit mistakes in any of their policy failures, so obviously they won't fire anyone that has anything to do with policy decisions. Anyways... Bush announced his new Press Secretary today.



And the winner is..... FOX NEWS ANALYST: Tony Snow! Surprise! Whoa, never would have expected that one.

A completely predictable decision; go with someone who already works for the right-wing propoganda machine that is Fox News and have him work directly for the propoganda machine that is the White House.

But the big twist to this story is what Tony Snow has said about the administration in the past (not very nice things). Here's a list of them:


– Bush has “lost control of the federal budget and cannot resist the temptation to stop raiding the public fisc.” [3/17/06]

– “George W. Bush and his colleagues have become not merely the custodians of the largest government in the history of humankind, but also exponents of its vigorous expansion.” [3/17/06]

– “President Bush distilled the essence of his presidency in this year’s State of the Union Address: brilliant foreign policy and listless domestic policy.” [2/3/06]

– “George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.” [11/11/05]

– Bush “has a habit of singing from the Political Correctness hymnal.” [10/7/05]

– “No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives.” [9/30/05]

– “When it comes to federal spending, George W. Bush is the boy who can’t say no. In each of his three years at the helm, the president has warned Congress to restrain its spending appetites, but so far nobody has pushed away from the table mainly because the president doesn’t seem to mean what he says.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

– “The president doesn’t seem to give a rip about spending restraint.” [The Detroit News, 12/28/03]

– “Bush, for all his personal appeal, ultimately bolstered his detractors’ claims that he didn’t have the drive and work ethic to succeed.” [11/16/00]

– “George W. Bush, meanwhile, talks of a pillowy America, full of niceness and goodwill. Bush has inherited his mother’s attractive feistiness, but he also got his father’s syntax. At one point last week, he stunned a friendly audience by barking out absurd and inappropriate words, like a soul tortured with Tourette’s.” [8/25/00]

– “He recently tried to dazzle reporters by discussing the vagaries of Congressional Budget Office economic forecasts, but his recitation of numbers proved so bewildering that not even his aides could produce a comprehensible translation. The English Language has become a minefield for the man, whose malaprops make him the political heir not of Ronald Reagan, but Norm Crosby.” [8/25/00]


---> reality is so much stranger than fiction; you couldn't write this stuff. I wonder what he's going to say when reporters ask him to comment on any of these statements. Probably something like: "Come on now, that was a whole year ago (month ago), it was just a joke!" Typical FLIP FLOPPER...
Oh the irony. In ten years, this whole period in american history is going to been seen as totally and completely bizarre.

Friday, April 21, 2006

4/21 Rant

Sometimes I just have so much built up that I need to get it all out in one good rant. Here's my rant for the day:

If the corporation Exxon Mobile owned the sun, they'd charge us for a tan. The only reason wind, solar, wave and hydrogen energy technologies haven't worked is because capitalism hasn't figured out a way of making money off of saving the planet yet.

$150,000 a day, 400 million dollar retirement package for ONE PERSON. Lee Raymond, no matter how much you outsmart and steal from the american consumer, you will still be the ugliest mother f*$#%@ I have ever seen in my life.

Iraq -- 10 billion of your future kid's money a month. Cross your fingers... it might hit a trillion in a couple more years.


Bush: "If There Is A Leak Out Of My Administration, I Want To Know Who It Is. And If The Person Has Violated Law, The Person Will Be Taken Care Of..." [9/30/03]
Scooter Libby: Bush OKed Leaking Classified Info... [4/5/06]http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/06/news/leak.php--looks like bush is going to have to fire himself if he's really "a man of his word" like he says he is. I've known this guy was a sneaky little rat as soon as he was nominated for the presidency in 1999 by the GOP. (the stolen executive didn't help his image much either)... Karl Rove cannot be trusted; him and Tom Delay play the exact same politics of deception and manipulation. As far as I'm concerned Karl Rove, George Bush and Dick Cheney are the real 'Axis of Evil' that threatens this country.

Top NASA Climate Scientist: "the most productive scientist in the world"--WH Rewriting the Science cuz you can't handle the truth! Watch the short 60 Mins. video."
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/main1415985.shtml

"In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public." -James Hansen

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Desiderata


These are sections from a poem that I came across yesterday while I was working. The poem is by Max Ehrmann; a poet, lawyer and philosopher. 1872-1945






Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him (Her) to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Douche Administration Part 1


"Eleven days before President Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union address in which he said that the U.S. learned from British intelligence that Iraq had attempted to acquire uranium from Africa -- an explosive claim that helped pave the way to war -- the State Department told the CIA that the intelligence the uranium claims were based upon were forgeries, according to a newly declassified State Department memo." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041706Y.shtml
--"the first piece of hard evidence and the strongest to date that the Bush administration manipulated and ignored intelligence information in their zeal to win public support for invading Iraq."

47% of the population strongly disapprove of the president
63% disapprove

That's worse than when Clinton lied about having an affair! Wait... what's worse? Screwing an intern, or screwing the country? Still won't make me happy until everyone in America realizes that these "neocons" are completely out of their minds. But that won't ever happen as long as the mainstream media ignores these kinds of stories. If you aren't pissed off about this you're not paying close enough attention to it.


Bush: "I don't think we ever said... at least I know I didn't say that there was a direct connection between September 11th and Saddam Hussein." -Press Conference '06

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein. Because of Al Qaeda connections, because of his history, he's a danger to the American people and we gotta deal with him. We gotta deal with him before it's too late." -- Speech November '02
"Saddam aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda." -- Speech '03
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/03/20.html#a7595

I know it's hard to believe Mr. President, but they have these things that actually record what you say and are able to play back what they record.... Yes even after a long period of time.


As soon as 9/11 happened neo-conservatives and powerful political figures blamed Osama Bin Laden. When they couldn't find him, they decided to focus they're thirst for war on someone else. That someone was Saddam Hussein; who happened to have an extremely weak military and whose country also just happens to be positioned geographically on one of the most oil rich regions in the world. The U.S. has always had very strong strategic interests in the middle-east ever since we started running out of our own oil in the 40's and 50's.

They thought: We can tell the american people that Iraq is part of the war on terrorism, that Saddam is somehow linked to al qaeda, and that he has nuclear weapons. They felt that they could actually manipulate the american people's grief, their suffering, their anger and their fear in such a way as to enable them to carry out something that they had been planning since 1997. 9/11 was a perfect pretext for them. But it had nothing to do with the reality of September 11th and nothing to do with the reality of their own assertions, which all turned out to be completely false.

Think about this: If Saddam Hussein was an actual threat to the United States, why was it so easy for us to take him out? Why didn't he use any of the WMD's that "he had" against us when we invaded him? Why did he run into a spider hole scared for his life?

The answer is simple.... He had no military. Iraq's economy had been in shambles since the first gulf war. After the war, the U.S. and our allies put economic sanctions on Iraq. A nation's military depends on it's economy. Every single piece of intelligence that we had on his military capabilities showed that he had none.

George W. Bush is a liar, Dick Cheney is a liar, Condileeza Rice is a liar, Colin Powell was/is a liar, and Donald Rumsfeld is definetly a liar. The Bush administration lies, lies, lies. They LIE A LOT.... seriously it's becoming a problem. They call all the shots, regardless of the facts and common sense; making absolutely no apologies. Just today, amidst criticism and calls for Rumsfeld's resignation by several military generals, Bush had this to say:

"I hear the voices and I read the front page and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

A true American patriot once said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---- Theodore Roosevelt

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Moran = No Brain


I love this country...

War and Peace

"The reason we start a war is to fight a war, win a war, thereby causing no more war!"-- George W. Bush at his first Presidential debate

Here is a short list of all of the wars recorded in just the last century of human history:

1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War
1905 Revolution of 1905 in Russia
1911-1912 Turco-Italian War
1912-1913 Balkan Wars
1914-1918 World War I
1916 Easter Rising rebellion in Ireland
1917-1918 Russian Revolution
1917-1920 Estonian Liberation War
1918 Finnish Civil War
1918 Georgian-Armenian War
1918-1919 Czechoslovakia - Hungary War
1918-1922 Russian Civil War
1918-1919 Polish-Ukrainian War
1918-1919 Great Poland Uprising
1919 Czechoslovak-Polish war
1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War
1919 First Silesian Uprising
1919-1921 Polish-Soviet war
1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War (aka the Irish War of Independence)
1919-1922 Turkish War of Independence
1920 Polish-Lithuanian War
1920 Second Silesian Uprising
1921 Third Silesian Uprising
1922-1923 Irish Civil War
1926-1927 Northern Expedition in China
1927-1937 Chinese Civil War
1932-1935 Chaco War
1935-1936 Second Italo-Abyssinian War
1936-1939 Spanish Civil War
1937-1945 World War II
1941-1942 Ecuadorian-Peruvian War
1944-1949 Greek Civil War
1946-1954 First Indochina War
1947 Paraguayan Civil War
1948 Costa Rica Civil War
1947-1949 Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
1948-1949 First Arab-Israeli War
1948-1960 Malayan Emergency
1950-1953 Korean War
1952-1960 Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya
1954-1975 Second Indochina War
1954-1975 Vietnam War
1959-1975 Laotian Civil War
1962-1975 Secret War
1967-1975 Cambodian Civil War
1954-1962 Algerian War of Independence
1955-1972 First Sudanese Civil War
1956 Suez Crisis (Second Arab-Israeli War)
1956-1959 Cuban Revolution
1957-1958 Ifni War
1960-1965 Congo Crisis
1960-1996 Guatemalan Civil War
1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion (CIA-sponsored invasion attempt by Cuban Nationals)
1961-1975 Angolan War of Independence
1962-1963 Sino-Indian War
1962-1966 Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation
1962-1970 Yemen Civil War
1962-1975 Dhofar Rebellion
1964-1975 Mozambique's War of Independence
1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
1965-1996 Chad Civil War
1965-1966 Indonesian Civil War
1966-1988 Namibian War of Independence
1966-1979 Zimbabwean Second Chimurenga (Rhodesian Bush War)
1967 Six-Day War (Third Arab-Israeli War)
1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War
1968-1970 War of Attrition
1969 Football War
1969 Sino-Soviet border conflict
1969-1988 The Troubles in Northern Ireland
1971 The Bangladesh Liberation War that in turn initiated the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
1973 Yom Kippur War (Fourth Arab-Israeli War)
1974 Agacher Strip War
1974-1991 Ethiopian Civil War
1975-1989 Angolan Civil War
1975-1991 Lebanese Civil War
1975-1998 War of Indepence in East Timor
1975-1992 Mozambique's Civil War
1977-1978 Ogaden War
1977-1991 Cambodian-Vietnamese War
1978-2005 The Aceh War
1978-1988 Ugandan Civil War
1979 Sino-Vietnamese War
1980-1992 El Salvador Civil War
1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War
1981 Paquisha War between Ecuador and Peru
1982 Falklands War
1982 Lebanon War
1983 Invasion of Grenada
1983-2000 Civil War in Sri Lanka
1983-2005 Second Sudanese Civil War
1984-1998 Free Papua Movement
1985 Christmas War between Mali and Burkina Faso
1989-1991 Mauritania-Senegal Border War
1989-1990 Operation Just Cause, United States invades Panama
1989-1997 Liberian Civil War
1983-2002 Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka
1990-1991 Gulf War
1990-1992 Rwanda Civil War
1990-1998 Tuareg Rebellion
1991-2001 Yugoslav Wars
1991 Slovenian War
1991-1995 Croatian War of Independence
1992-1995 Bosnian War
1998-1999 Kosovo War
1991-1993 Georgian Civil War
1991-1992 South Ossetian war
1992-1994 Abkhazian War
1993 Georgian civil war, western Georgia
1991-1997 Sierra Leone Civil War
1992-1997 Tajikistan Civil War
1993-1999 Burundi Civil War
1994 Yemen Civil War
1994-1996 First Chechen War
1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador
1996 Imia-Kardak crisis
1996-1997 First Congo War
1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea War, a border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea
1998-2002 Second Congo War one of the bloodiest recent wars, with an estimated 3.8 million dead
1999 Kargil War
1999-2003 Second Liberian Civil War

Current Wars
2001- U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
2001- Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire
1964- Colombian Armed Conflict (aka Colombian Civil War, Colombian Conflict)
Late 1960s Islamic Insurgency, Southern Philippines
1975- Independence war in Cabinda, Angola
1977- Somalian Civil War
1978-2005 War in Aceh
1983- Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka
1984- Free Papua Movement, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
Circa 1987- Conflict in northern Uganda
1988- Myanmar Civil War
1988- Casamance Conflict in Senegal
1988- Somalian Civil War
1989- Kashmir conflict
1990- War of Transnistria (cease-fire agreement signed 1992, unrecognized state)
1991- Georgian Civil War, Abkhazia, South Ossetia in Georgia
1991- Nagorno-Karabakh (unofficial cease-fire signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan)
1992- Afghan Civil War - tensions subsist
1992- Algerian Civil War in Algeria - tensions subsist
1993- Ethnic conflict in Nagaland, India
1994- Zapatista Rebellion in Mexico
1996- Nepal Civil War
1998- Second Congo War: the bloodiest ongoing war, with an estimated 3.8 million dead
1999- Ituri Conflict (Democratic Republic of Congo)
1999- Second Chechen War (Russia)
2000- Intifada in Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories
2000- Conflict in Laos involving the Hmong
2001- Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire
2001- South Thailand insurgency
2003- Conflict between Pakistan and Baloch warlords in Balochistan,Pakistan
2003- Darfur conflict, Sudan
2003- Insurgent rebellion, Iraq
2003- Iraq War
2004- Haiti rebellion
2004- Waziristan War
2005-2006 Chad-Sudan conflict
2005- Western Sahara Independence Intifada

1947Kashmir conflict
1950-1953 Korean War (technically still going on because there is only a ceasefire)
1964- Colombian Armed Conflict (aka Colombian Civil War, Colombian Conflict)
Late 1960s Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines
1975 - Independence War in Cabinda Angola
1983- Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka see also tamil tigers
1984- Civil war in Papua , Western New Guinea, Indonesia
1986- Lord's Resistance Army rebellion in Uganda
1988- Casamance Conflict in Senegal
1988- Somalian Civil War
1993- Ethnic conflict in Nagaland, India
1996- Nepal Civil War
1999- Ituri Conflict (Democratic Republic of Congo)
1999- Second Chechen War (Russia)
2000- Intifada in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories
2000- Conflict in Laos involving the Hmong
2001- Civil War in Côte d'Ivoire
2001- South Thailand insurgency
2001- Afghanistan occupation
2003- Iraq war
2003- Conflict between Pakistan and Baloch warlords in Balochistan, Pakistan
2004- Waziristan War
2004- Darfur conflict
Chadian-Sudanese conflict and the Second Chadian Civil War, extensions of the Darfur conflict
2005- Western Sahara Independence Intifada
2005- Niger Delta conflicts


NOW TELL ME WHICH ONE OF THESE WARS ENDED ALL WARS AND BROUGHT PEACE TO THE WORLD

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

POSTING COMMENTS

Everyone's opinion is different and everyone who reads these blogs has a right to contribute their ideas on all these subjects. If you think I'm wrong or right, let me know. I just figured out how to allow everyone on the web (not just members of this website) to post a comment. Just click on the comment link at the bottom of every post and type away. You can choose to stay anonymous if you want. I'd really appreciate some feedback, so the more comments the better.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Bury Your Head In the Sand

GLOBAL WARMING and ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION
Left Wing: Very real problem; is changing and is going to drastically change Earth's climate as we now know it.
Right Wing: Scare tactic by liberals.

This might be kind of a long post. I still can't finish it because I'm bogged down by everything else in life. Dave Matthews Band Concert this weekend in Alpine Valley baby! This is only part of my post that I've been working on forever now. I'll finish it when I get back, because it's not even close to being completed.

It's not just global warming, but water pollution, forest destruction and the annihalation of endangered species that bothers me. Every sane scientist in the world will tell you that the destruction of the ecology of our planet is very real. It isn't some natural variation in climate change. The planet is warming up faster than it ever has, and it's our fault. The destruction of forests and other environments that we depend on for our very existence is happening every second of every day all over the world, and it's our fault. Never before in the history of Earth has one species had the capacity to have such an enormous and direct influence on the environmental system of the entire planet. With great power comes great responsibility.

Life began on Earth because of carbon dioxide. Now through the same man-made emmissions, were speeding up the process by which Earth will become uninhabitable for most species of animals who now call it home and were doing this by pumping too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a 'greenhouse gas', which in short contributes to the rate at which our atmosphere absorbs solar radiation. The more CO2, the more solar radiation is absorbed, the warmer the planet becomes.

If you look at our two terrestrial neighbors, Venus and Mars, you begin to understand the impact that the gas has on planet temperatures. Venus has several times as much carbon dioxide in it's atmosphere, and it's extremely hot. Mars has very little, and is extremely cold. Both are uninhabitable. Our planet is the goldilocks of the solar system; not too hot, not too cold. This is in large part because of our distance from the sun, but the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has a huge impact.

The Earth is a living system, just like your body. It's extremely complex. The planet has it's own natural way of "staying healthy" just like the immune system in your body. Like your body, the earth isn't in perfect equilibrium, and sometimes like you, the earth can catch a cold now and then. Instead of white blood cells, Earth has trees, plants and algae that take CO2 in the atmosphere and convert it into breathable oxygen. Unfortunately our forests are being cut down everyday at extremely alarming rates. We are destroying our planet's ability to rejuvenate itself and pumping dangerous toxins into the atmosphere, delivering a one-two punch. We should be the protectors of our environment intstead of it's destroyers. After all, we wouldn't be here without it.

Not just CO2, but Methane, increases in solar activity and earth's positional orbit in relation to the sun can all have an effect on global warming. See: Study: Increase in Solar Radiation

Not only are we potentially endangering the livelihood of our future generations, but today we're putting enormous efforts and resources into perpetuating our state of complete and total denial. The Bush Administration is the leading force in this war on information. You would think that when you're the leader of the free world, you would be concerned about the future of the planet. You would hire scientists, or at least people who knew what they were talking about to lead agencies in charge of scientific research. You can't expect that kind of logic to apply to a person who thinks "it would be a lot easier if I were a dictator"....

Bush hired Phil Cooney to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Who is Phil Cooney? He's a lawyer, and was a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute before coming to the White House. If that doesn't make you want to kick and scream, I'm not sure you should be allowed to have children. But thats not even the best part. Mr. Cooney is the official White House "editor" of reports done by NASA climate scientists. All of NASA's climate reports are sent to the White House for verification.

Here is the entry for Phil Cooney on Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia if you haven't noticed):

Phil A. Cooney was chief of staff for White House Council on Environmental Quality for the George W. Bush administration, an institution that shapes much of America's environmental policy. In a position that may be viewed as requiring scientific training, Cooney is a lawyer and holds a bachelors degree in economics. Prior to joining the Bush administration, Cooney was a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute. In early 2005, Cooney came under fire for radically changing a number of 2002 and 2003 official reports on climate change, mostly to increase a sense of uncertainty around the scientific data on climate change. As a New York Times article reports:

In a section on the need for research into how warming might change water availability and flooding, he crossed out a paragraph describing the projected reduction of mountain glaciers and snowpack. His note in the margins explained that this was "straying from research strategy into speculative findings/musings."

In June, 2005, Cooney resigned his position in the Bush Administration and was hired by ExxonMobil [1].


NASA recently came out with a report that found that the alarmingly fast warming and melting of the arctic is due in large part to summer smog pollution, and not just CO2 emissions.
Here's the story: NASA: Summer Smog Impacts Arctic Melting

San Francisco Chronicle: Tim Barnett of the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "The debate is over, at least for rational people. And for those who insist that the uncertainties remain too great, their argument is no longer tenable. We've nailed it."
SFGate



I'll finish my post with an excerpt from The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson, the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, recipient of many of the world's leading prizes in science and conservation, Research Professor at Pelligrino University and Honorary Curator in Entomolgy of the Museum of Comparitive Zoology at Harvard University:

Environmentalism is still widely viewed, especially in the United States, as a special-interest lobby. Its proponents, in this blinkered view, flutter their hands over pollution and threatened species, exaggerate their case, and press for industrial restraint and the protection of wild places, even at the cost of economic development and jobs.

Environmentalism is something more central and vastly more important. Its essence has been defined by science in the following way. Earth, unlike the other solar planets is not in physical equilibrium. It depends on its living shell to create the special conditions on which life is sustainable. The soil, water, and atmoshere of its surface have evolved over hundreds of millions of years to their present condition by activity of the biosphere, a stupendously complex layer of living creatures whose activities are locked together in precise but tenuous global cycles of energy and transformed organic matter. The biosphere creates our special world anew every day, every minute, and holds it in a unique, shimmering physical disequilibrium. On that disequilibrium the human species is in total thrall. When we alter the biosphere in any direction, we move the environment away from the delicate dance of biology. When we destroy ecosystems and extinguish species, we degrade the greatest heritage this planet has to offer and thereby threaten our own existence.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Faux News: 'Liberal Media' Buries Good Stories


Fox News will tell you all the good stories coming out of Iraq, like schools opening and civilians voting for the first time.... but notice the stories they focus on here at home: Child pornography, gay marraige, serial killers, abortion, religious intolerance, every single possible wedge issue they can come up with, specifically aimed at dividing the American people. At the same time ignoring anything that might make the republican leadership look bad, i.e. incompetence, cronyism, lies, and corruption in it's most evil forms. You get the idea.

If they can cherry pick great sounding stories straight out of a country that averages 60 killings a day (not including military casualties because the american military "doesn't do body counts"), is ravaged by civil war, and can't pull a unified government together, than why can't they say anything good about what's happening here? Thats the double standard on the "Fair and Balanced" channel, hypocracy at it's worst. They blame the rest of the media for showing the reality of a situation in a war torn country, and then only talk about the bad things happening here in our own. I used to write polite emails to fox news and bill o'reilly, but they blocked all my email addresses after only two messages each.

The beauty about Fox News is that they pass off 24 hour Republican Opinion as actual journalism. The idea is genius, and at the same time extremely easy to understand: You put loud, entertaining pundits in front of a backdrop of american flags, constantly flash the patriotic colors of red white and blue, and repeatedly remind your audience that they're watching the "Fair and Balanced Network... Where We Report and You Decide". This combination of subliminal messages allows them to say just about anything they want to and get away with it, while looking "patriotic" in the process. I don't know whether I should admire them for their cunning propoganda, or vomit uncontrollably in disgust.

If you think Fox News is balanced, do a little personal research. Watch Hannity and Colmes; notice how strong and opinionated Mr. Hannity is, and then notice how weak and squirly his "liberal counterpart", Colmes is. I put that in quotations because Colmes agrees with half the crazy things that spew out of the jerk's mouth. Hannity mentions 9/11 100 times a day on his show in order to manipulate peoples emotions. He misinforms the public while preying on American sorrow and paranoia.

One claim that FNC states daily is that they have just as many liberal commentators as conservative ones. It's owner, Rupert Murdoch defends this claim by saying that 'its in the eyes of the beholder'. In Murdoch's mind, even moderate right-wingers are "liberal". Sure they might have some liberal commentators, but they're always nobodys. You look at the conservative lineup and you'll see all of the big guys, newt gingrich, the prez, dick, condi, rumsfeld, ann coulter (my personal favorite) and so on...

So called liberal commentators on the network also know that to challenge the host too much is dangerous and usually leads to the network dropping you and not coughing up that weekly check. It's well known by everyone in the business that Fox News is ultra right wing and they don't tolerate any opinion that disagrees with the neocon ideology.

Fortunately, the Fox audience is dwindling while the President's poll numbers continue to plummet. It looks like Faux News may not have entirely succeeded in destroying respectable journalism as we know it.

--- bill o'reilly is my sworn enemy

Defining the Democrat's Message In '06


Representative Jack Murtha (D - Pa.) gave a speech today on his redeployment plan for the Iraq war. Here is the text:

We should embrace change, especially when it is in our national interest to do so!

As many of you know, I introduced a Resolution to the House of Representatives to redeploy our troops from Iraq.

Some critics have described my recommendation as “defeatist,” others have characterized it as “cut and run.”

They couldn’t be more wrong! Nothing could be further from the truth!

My recommendations are a clarion call for a victory against the international terrorist movement.

It is a three step process.
(1) Redeploy. It is time that our military “footprint” in the region is converted from a pervasive presence inside Iraq to a powerful quick-reaction force outside of Iraq. Over three years after we implemented a policy to “liberate” Iraq and bring democracy, with the claim we would be welcomed with rose petals, almost one out of two Iraqis believe it’s OK to kill Americans. Our presence in Iraq is generating more recruits to the radical movement. Our departure would put tremendous pressures on the major factions within Iraq to have some semblance of a political settlement. I believe that upon our departure, Iraqi nationalism would force many Iraqis to turn on the foreign fighters.
(2) Reallocate. I believe we should reallocate much of the funds saved by redeploying.
(3) Reengage. In the wake of 9/11, America had overwhelming support around the world in the fight against terrorism. There was global support for ourwar in Afghanistan. Sadly, the diversion to the war in Iraq has frittered away much of that support and we must reengage with countries around the world to conduct a more effective war on terrorism. I believe our redeploying troops from Iraq will help considerably in that goal.

The President is using fear to keep our troops in Iraq. Fear of what might happen if we leave Iraq. He is saying we should have an open-ended commitment to stay in Iraq, yet he has NO plan. His plan is to cross his fingers and hope that the Iraqis will form a unity government. But hope is not a plan. And for as long as he continues down this vague, open-ended path, more American lives will be lost, and billions of more dollars will be spent.

It is time to change direction. We should fear only our failure to change. Iraq today is not stable and is not safe. The Iraqis must decide that stability and safety are worth fighting for. An all out effort must be made by the Iraqis to solve the problems and challenges that are facing them.

Today our military is unsurpassed in terms of strength, training and technology. We thought our military could do anything, but we found something we could not do. They are not a world police force. They are trained to destroy an enemy, which they do very well. But they are not trained to be policemen, or nation builders, or diplomats, and yet that is what they are being asked to do every day.

Let’s talk more about my plan:
First, my plan will strengthen, not weaken the military. My plan will strengthen and not weaken our nation.
What do I mean by Redeployment to the periphery? Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Turkey and/or Qatar.

How many? 1 Division

In addition, we must replace the people responsible for the failed plan. We will not be able to get international help without it. It must be seen as a change in direction.

I do not believe things will be completely peaceful when we re-deploy, but a democracy and a seated government does not guarantee complete peace either. There may be additional sectarian strife, but our troops will not be caught in the middle of it. We will have a quick reactionary force available to deploy if necessary.

In the meantime we can be rebuilding and strengthening our military and our nation and can begin taking care of the problems our war fighters will be facing when they return home.

--- i'll leave my whining about war crimes and the administration's misleading accusations that sent us to war in the first place for another post. Right now that's irrelevant. We need to think of a solution to end this conflict as soon as possible. The President's plan is 'to leave the burden of the war to future presidents'. Clearly the only strategy his administration has for Iraq is and always has been to just hope that everything works out in the end; forget leadership, forget diplomacy. Iraqi's have grown increasingly hostile, almost exponentially in the last year alone. It's time to try something different because this isn't working.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Pop Rock's Take On Fundamentalism


Whenever i step outside, somebody claims to see the light

It seems to me that all of us have lost our patience.

'cause everyone thinks they're right,

And nobody thinks that there just might

Be more than one road to our final destination

But i'm not ever going to know if i'm right or wrong

'cause we're all going in the same direction

And i'm not sure which way to go because all along

We've been going in the same direction

I'm tired of playing games, of looking for someone else to blame

For all the holes in answers that are clearly showing

For something to fill the space, was all of the time i spent a waste

'cause so many choices point the same way i was going.....

So why does there only have to be one correct philosophy?

I don't want to go and follow you just to end up like one of them

And why are you always telling me what you want me to believe?

I'd like to think that i can go my own way and meet you in the end.

But i'm not ever going to know..........

-Hoobastank, Same Direction
---Thanks to Petey for helping me see past how much Hoobastank's music sucks and instead see the message they're trying to convey. This is a key message that could help reverse isolation and conflict in our society. Everyone thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong. No matter how much you deny it, you think you have everything figured out. If people disagree with you, they're simply "not getting it". I'm no exception. It's hard to admit you're wrong, especially when you've thought you were right all along. But in the end, it's fulfilling. If your not open to any other opinion or belief other than the ones that you're already passionate about, your no better than any of the people you consider to be "ignorant". Unfortunately this is the prevailing thought in most belief systems on earth: "I'm right and no matter what you say, you're wrong". How can there possibly be so many wrong people? 1 billion Christians on earth... and some fundamentalist Christians believe the other 5 billion people on the planet are doomed to a life devoid of any "true God". That is just one example, and most (not all) of the other major religions in the world are guilty of stating this: "There is no way but our way". In religion class, I was taught the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Imagine that there are six blind men standing around one huge elephant. One touches the tail and says "it feels like a rope". Another touches the ear and says "it feels like a big fan", and so and so on. The blind men can be thought of as representing the different belief systems, religions and philosophies in our society all describing the same thing simultaneously, but in different ways and focusing on different aspects. There are an infinite number of roads to take in life. There is no 'wrong' or 'right' way to think about things. There's only your interpretation (or somebody elses interpretation). Ultimately, we're all heading in the same direction.