Reagan Assassination Attempt: 25 Years Ago

As you’ve probably heard, today is the 25th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassination. John Hinckley missed, Jodie Foster wasn’t impressed, and George Herbert Walker Bush had to wait almost eight more years to be president.

If you like conspiracy theories, there’s all kinds of speculation about the attempt on Reagan’s life. I’m not making any accusations, but:

The Bush and Hinckley families were VERY closely allied. Some people think John Hinckley wasn’t just some wacko trying to impress Jodie Foster. It’s believed — by some — that Reagan’s (attempted) assassination was a plot to get the Bush Crime Family into the White House. (Bush 41 was Vice President at the time.)

Again, I’m not accusing anybody, but try this: Do a web search for “John Hinckley + George Bush.” You’ll get more links than you’ll know what to do with. Interesting reading.

If you want to see a tongue-in-cheek speech by George W. Bush commemorating this 25th anniversary, check this out. The “speech” is accompanied by actual news clippings from 25 years ago.

Food for thought…

GeorgeWBush.org: RIP

Anyone know what happened to this website? GeorgeWBush.org was an excellent political forum. Lots of great posts, discussions, hilarious Bush jokes, etc. If you click on the link now, you get a message that the site has been taken offline permanently.

Websites and come and go, of course, but in today’s climate you have to wonder. Were they shut down? Were they intimidated by the KGB Justice Department?

Their “going away” message just seems ominous, but maybe I’m just paranoid. What, come on, it can’t happen here.

The screen also has a field where you can fill in your name and e-mail address, and the webmaster will let you know when or if they set up the forum again. Is this for real, or is it a sting operation by the Hitler Youth Justice Department so they can add a few more subversives to their Watch List?

“Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep.” Those words have a lot more truth now than they ever did in the ‘60s when they were written.

YOU Are Subsidizing the Oil Industry

As we all know, the oil industry has been enjoying record profits. We can all argue about why they’re so wealthy. They’re brilliant entrepreneurs who’ve earned every cent. They’re a bunch of greedy bastards, engineering a fake “crisis” just so they could jack up their prices. Etc.

In any case, YOU have been giving YOUR tax money to the oil companies.

New oil drilling “incentives” were passed last summer. I would’ve thought the sky-high price of oil would be enough of an incentive. Did people need an “incentive” to go digging for gold in the 1800s?

With these “incentives,” oil companies won’t have to pay royalties on any oil or gas produced in publicly-owned waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the next five years, the oil industry will keep about $7 billion in royalties that they otherwise would’ve paid.

Hey, let’s pat ourselves on the back. We all took part in this $7 billion contribution to the oil companies. God we’re generous. (Or maybe “chump” is the right word.)

And that’s not all. Kerr-McGee Exploration and Production has filed a lawsuit to increase the oil industry’s exemption from paying royalties. If they win their case, that $7 billion could quadruple to $28 billion.

Rep. Edward Markey, (D-Mass.) said “The big lie about this whole program is that it doesn’t cost anything. Taxpayers are being asked to provide huge subsidies to oil companies to produce oil — it’s like subsidizing a fish to swim.”

An independent oil explorer in Texas agreed. He said “It’s hard to make a case for royalty relief, especially at these high prices. But the oil industry is like the farm lobby and will have its hand out at every opportunity.”

Global Warming = Economic Catastrophe

We’ve all heard the warnings about global warming: more extreme weather (hurricanes, droughts), disease epidemics, species extinction. So far there hasn’t been any sign of a pulse from our “leaders.”

But the latest warnings are speaking the one language that our “leaders” understand — the economy. NOW maybe the Bush Administration will peek out of its bubble and look around.

Last week England’s Prince Charles declared global warming “the No. 1 risk in the world, ahead of terrorism and demographic change.”

Last month, conservative Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) spoke to the United Nations Security Council on the urgency of this crisis. He said “The problem of climate change is real and caused by man-made emissions of greenhouse gasses, including carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.” He also said that climate change could “bring drought, famine, disease, mass migration and rising sea levels threatening coasts and economies worldwide, all of which could lead to political conflict and instability.”

Also waking up is the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In 2004 they lost a record $30 billion in hurricane-related insurance losses. In ‘05 they lost $60 billion just from Hurricane Katrina.

The good news is, only a few delusional rightwing nutzoids are still clinging to the idea that global warming is a myth. A few other wingnuts are keeping their heads in the sand (or somewhere else) and claiming that it’s just a natural cycle, totally unrelated to man-made pollution.

The bad news is, most of these wingnuts are in the Bush Administration.

Fuck South Dakota

You in the mood for a good rant??? Check this out.

Hat Tip to The Atheist Mama.

American Family Association Wants to Help YOU

If you’re one of them blasphemous self-loathing homasexials, the American Family Association has a Special Offer. Or, even if you’re not one of THEM, you’ve probably been brainwashed by that godless liberal media. Those infidels are trying to tell us that it’s OK to be gay, and too many innocent people are being led down the path of EVIL.

But, Rejoice!! Help is on the way from the Reverend Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association. They’re selling a $15 DVD that shows the true wickedness of being gay. And if you’re gay, they’ll show you how to become normal and decent again, as God intended.

Now, here’s the best part: From now until March 27th, this $15 DVD can be yours for only $10!!! ACT NOW!

Click here to order.

Just think, for only $10 (if you hurry!) you can be cured of your evil affliction, and/or you can learn the horrible frightening truth behind the Gay Agenda.

Order your DVD now. Remember, it’s not available in stores. You have to go here to order it. And always remember Jesus’ immortal words: “It’s OK to cheat, plunder and steal, as long as you’re not a homo.”

Government Finally Acts on Katrina!

OK, that’s enough about our government’s inept spastic “response” to Hurricane Katrina. Yes, FEMA officials had their thumbs up their yinyangs; the one entity Bush WASN’T spying on was the Weather Channel. Etc.

But let’s give them credit now. The federal government is finally acting.

Five days after Hurricane Katrina struck, a county sheriff in Mississippi took some initiative. Sheriff Billy McGee seized two FEMA trucks that were filled with ice, and distributed the ice to stricken residents.

Several diabetic residents probably would’ve died without the sheriff’s action. Without ice they had no way of keeping their insulin cold. One resident said “Man, I was wanting to hug Brother Billy when I saw that ice. We were glad somebody was there to help us.”

And now the sheriff might be prosecuted on charges of interfering with a federal operation. What, you mean there was one?

Exxon Tries To Squish Greenpeace

When it’s not busy purchasing governments and other companies, Exxon is using its tremendous clout to try silencing its critics. Exxon’s latest would-be victim: Greenpeace.

There’s a phony “grassroots” organization called Public Interest Watch. This group was founded in 2002 for the purpose of intimidating groups which “threaten” large corporations. About 95% of the funding for Public Interest Watch comes from Exxon.

Mike Hardiman, the founder of Public Interest Watch, is a longtime veteran of the “property rights” and “wise use” movements. In one of his earliest political battles, he tried to challenge the tax-exempt status of a non-profit hospital. Brave little shit, isn’t he.

In late 2003 Public Interest Watch persuaded the IRS to investigate Greenpeace. Greenpeace was audited, everything was AOK and Greenpeace has kept its tax-exempt nonprofit status.

Sounds like a sleazy lowlife tactic for a multi-billion dollar corporation. Exxon has a zillion times more money than Greenpeace but the public still has a higher opinion of Greenpeace. What to do? Launch an IRS audit. Intimidate them. Silence them. Assholes.

One of the world’s largest corporations turning the IRS on a non-profit organization — sort of like Goliath hitting David with a slingshot.

Hat Tip to Red Independence for posting about this.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Anti-abortion counseling. Abstinence education. Whether or not you agree with these programs, you’re paying for them.

$157 million in federal grants — that’s our money — has gone to religious/ rightwing “charity” groups. By a strange coincidence, these groups share George W. Bush’s views on “family values” and “bringing God back into the public square.”

One example is an anti-abortion counseling center in Charleston, SC. Ten years ago their budget was $51,000. Now they have a budget of over $3 million. Most of this money is from grants distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In Tennessee, the Life Choices Pregnancy Support Center is also moving up in the world. Their staff believes “without reservation or qualification that the Scriptures teach that human life begins at conception.” A few years ago their revenue totaled about $80,000. By 2004 their annual revenue was over $600,000.

Hundreds of other anti-abortion counseling centers have seen their budgets double or triple because of these grants. In 2002 Bush signed an executive order stating that religious groups receiving federal grants would be exempt from certain civil rights laws.

A White House spokesman says there’s no politics involved in grant-making decisions. Riiight. Psssst — hey, wanna buy a bridge? How about a great deal on some oceanfront property in Kansas.

The Vice President of the Sexuality Information and Education Council said “These are just slush funds for conservative interest groups. These organizations would not be in existence if not for the federal dollars coming through.”

So, when you hear about “charity” organizations pushing the Religious Right agenda, just remember — your tax dollars at work.

What Jesus Meant

That’s the title of Gary Wills’ latest book. Wills is a Catholic and a Pulitzer prize winning historian. He says the standard question “What Would Jesus Do?” is irrelevant. It’s more important to figure out what Jesus meant.

Wills says “We must ask what Jesus meant by his strange words and deeds.”

Wills has been a political chameleon. He used to write for William Buckley’s National Review. Later, during the Vietnam era, he turned against the war and joined the New York Review of Books.

Most Christians will be offended by something in this book. The church hierarchy probably won't agree with “Jesus did not come to replace the Temple with other buildings, whether huts or rich cathedrals.”

Liberal/humanitarian Christians won’t be happy with “Jesus does not work miracles from humanitarian motives.”

The Christian Right, especially their “leaders” who’ve become so powercrazed lately, will not be happy. Wills says “if they want the state to be politically Christian, they are not following Jesus.” Take that, Dobson/ Robertson/ Wildmon.

The Pope undoubtedly doesn’t want to hear that he, “like his predecessors, is returning to the religion that Jesus renounced, with all its paraphernalia of priesthood.”

Wills says the Gospels are “a deep threat to the institutional church,” since Jesus opposed “just about every form of religion we know.”

He praises Jesus as a “radical egalitarian,” a proto-feminist and a subversive who “was never afraid to speak truth to power.” He disputes the popular “Christian” view that sex is somehow “unclean.” And he delivers a blow to the Dobsonites (pardon the pun): “Those persecuting gays are persecuting Jesus.”

Wills describes Jesus as mercurial and unpredictable; not the bland one-dimensional person usually portrayed. He gives a new translation to one of Jesus’ teachings: “If one coming to me does not hate his father and his mother, his wife and his children, and his brothers and his sisters ... he cannot be my follower.”

Now there’s a new twist on “Family Values.”

With so many people claiming they talk to God, and millions of Christians “knowing” exactly what the Bible means (and how to use it as a club), Wills’ new book might shake things up a little.

cross-posted at Bring It On!

Iraqi War Demonstrations

Over the weekend, lots of people demonstrated for and against the Iraqi invasion. We found the WMDs, accomplished the Mission and our soldiers were greeted as liberators; showered with candy and ice cream by throngs of grateful Iraqis So far we've seen the deaths of 2,300 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. We're quagmired more hopelessly than ever, and we've alienated most of our former allies.

Now I’m not pretending this is an accurate statistic, but in our small town, the local newspaper reported that “more than 100” people demonstrated against the Iraqi war on Saturday. There was also a pro-war demonstration attended by “about twenty” people.

Biased reporting from the “liberal media?” The local paper here is way too small-town-y to possibly be labeled as liberal or conservative. You’ve seen papers like this. “Next Wednesday the Bridge Club will be meeting at the home of Mrs. Minnie Hagerton,” etc. Sorry Rightoids, this paper isn’t a fifth column for the terrorists.

The town's voters — this is a red county in a blue state.

Aside from the numbers, there was one thing very noticeable about each protest rally. The anti-war rally was inventive; creative. There were public speakers and live music. And some of the signs and slogans were funny and maddening at the same time. My personal favorite was “torture those as you would have them torture you.”

The pro-war demonstrators had a grand total of TWO different signs: “Support Our Troops” and “God Bless America.” Oh, and you could go blind looking at all the American flags and flag decals. Talk about seeing red. And seeing stars.

Aside from being about as original as the 9,725th Ford Escort to roll off the assembly line, these two slogans say absolutely NOTHING about a person's stand on the Iraqi invasion.

Contrary to what you hear from armies of rightwing automatons, nobody is “against the troops” or “hates America.” Hate the slippery pukebag that’s currently blighting the White House? Absolutely! This is a great country that’s suffering from a severe infection, and that infection needs to be eradicated.

The country itself, and the “Leader” currently ruining it — two separate things. Unfortunately it’s very difficult for some people to grasp these two facts at the same time.

So again, this isn’t supposed to be an accurate survey, but: in a small town in a red county in a blue state, anti-war demonstrators outnumbered pro-war demonstrators by five to one.

Rumsfeld Really Said This

You can’t make this shit up. According to Rumsfeld, leaving Iraq now would be like giving postwar Germany back to the Nazis.

In a Washington Post column, he wrote “Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis.”

He said “the terrorists” were trying to fuel sectarian tensions to spark a civil war, but they must be “watching with fear” the progress in the country over the past three years.

::sigh::

How do you respond to anyone so clueless? If somebody tells you the sky is yellow, up is down, do you try to reason with this person? Or do you just shake your head in disbelief?

EPA: Do Your Job!

A Federal Appeals Court has told the Environmental Protection Agency to do its job. In other words a government organization called the Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to, well, protect the environment.

Fourteen states filed a lawsuit to prevent the EPA from loosening air pollution restrictions. And now the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in their favor, saying the EPA’s new rules would violate the Clean Air Act.

It’s kind of sad when an agency with “Environmental Protection” in its name has to be told to protect the environment. Thank God for “activist” judges.

The suit was led by New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. He said “This is an enormous victory for clean air and for the enforcement of the law and an overwhelming rejection of the Bush administration’s efforts to gut the law. It is a rejection of a flawed policy.”

A spokeswoman for the American Lung Association said “Today's victory means that thousands of Americans will not have their lives cut short because of the pollution that would have blown through this huge loophole.”

Former EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said that she was against the rule when she was in office. She said “I must say that I’m glad they weren’t able to finish the work until after I was home in New Jersey.”

This plan for gutting air pollution regulations was originated by Dick “Fuck Yourself or I’ll shoot you in the face” Cheney. It was one of the ideas that came out of his Top Secret energy task force meetings.

American Family Association (Again!)

The American Family Association is gloating about the FCC’s fine of $3.6 million against CBS for the “obscenity” of “Without A Trace.” The FCC also reaffirmed its $550,000 fine against CBS for Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction two years ago. (Move on, Biblehumpers! There's a world out there.) Hallelujah! Bookburners Rejoice! 1, 2, 3 — speak in tongues!

Donald Wildmon and his fellow snakehandlers want you to click here to thank the FCC for reviving the Salem Witch Trials. This site has a separate box where you can tailor your own message. (Now be nice. Or not.) I wrote:

“The Taliban, Osama bin Laden and the American Family Association join me in thanking you for upholding the imaginary spewings of God/Allah. Death to all Infidels!”

Please send YOUR message to the FCC. Tell them whether you want our government to remain a democracy, or mutate into an Islamofascist police state. Make your voice heard Now.

Chickenhawk of the Week: Sen. Wayne Allard

Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) has accused Russ Feingold of committing treason. According to Allard's “reasoning,” Feingold was “siding with terrorists” when he introduced his resolution to censure Bush.

Here is a petition demanding that Allard apologize. There’s a separate box for your own message. Please include a few choice words for our Wingnut of the Day.

Has this gung ho “patriot” ever served in the military himself? Come on, you know the answer to that.

Hat Tip to AGITPROP for posting about this.

Republicans: A Threat to National Security

The Senate Intelligence Committee has become paralyzed by partisan bickering. This infighting has been standard in Washington for awhile now, but this agency is too important to be derailed by petty grudges.

Thomas Kean, who was in charge of the 9/11 Commission, said this partisanship “is new, at least to my mind, and it’s distressful, because this is one area where partisanship does not belong. The committee is absolutely essential, and it can’t allow partisanship to get in the way.”

This committee was established thirty years ago, and until recently it’s been mostly free of the infighting and backbiting that’s plagued the rest of Congress.

An aide to a former member said “it was almost a brotherhood.” He said their motto was “you are entrusted with the secrets; you work together; you leave your rhetoric and partisanship outside the bulletproof door.”

Republicans on the committee have repeatedly stalled and stonewalled any investigation into how intelligence was used prior to the Iraqi invasion. They’ve also refused any sort of investigation into Bush’s domestic wiretapping. Their main priority seems to be protecting Bush from any kind of political fallout.

A Democratic member of the committee said “This Republican Congress is simply too much of a rubber stamp for this administration.”

When Republicans on the committee refused to investigate Bush’s wiretapping scandal, the committee Vice Chairman said the committee was “basically under the control of the White House, through its chairman.”

When these rubber-stamp Republicans sacrifice their integrity just to protect a crooked president, they’re not only threatening our civil liberties. They’re threatening our national security as well.

“Rally Around the President. We’re At War!”

Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) has proposed censuring Bush for allowing domestic eavesdropping. Republicans will undoubtedly get in their usual lockstep formation and prevent any sort of censure or investigation of their Leader.

Censuring basically means a scolding. A lot of people think this pisspoor excuse for a president needs more than just a scolding, but it’s a start.

Feingold’s censure resolution led to a very telling comment from Bill Frist. He said he hoped al Qaeda was not listening to the infighting. “The signal that it sends, that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer, is wrong.”

This is exactly how right-wingers always react to any criticism of their master. Say anything negative about the Iraqi war, and you're “demoralizing the troops” and “aiding and abetting the enemy.”

Any criticism of Bush is met with a thundering “We are at war!” Nevermind that it’s an elective, totally unnecessary war. Bush has chosen to make himself a Wartime President and this is supposed to make him immune from any disagreement or criticism.

If al Qaeda is listening in on our infighting, they’ll hear democracy in action. It’s not always pretty, but it sure beats the shit out of the fundamentalist police state they’re fighting for.

During the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973, Soviet Premiere Leonid Brezhnev was visiting the United States. Some people thought we should close down the hearings during Brezhnev’s visit so he wouldn’t see all the bickering and infighting. The hearings continued right on schedule, with the reasoning that Brezhnev should see the inner workings of a democratic government, blemishes and all.

It’s too bad the Republican Party has turned into a bunch of faceless mindless automatons.

Jack Abramoff and Social Security

When Bush was determined to hand your retirement income over to Wall Street “reform” Social Security, one of his main spokesmen was Peter Ferrara.

Ferrara plugged the idea repeatedly in his newspaper column. Now it turns out that Ferrara was being paid by Jack Abram Off to push for Social Security “reform.” Some of Jack’s “clients” wanted Social Security hijacked “reformed,” and Off gave them his best and sleaziest bribery tactics.

Ferrara is a senior advisor with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a rightwing think tank. (How many of those Goddamn things are there?)

Business Week Online broke the story of Ferrara being on the take. So far he’s refused to provide Business Week with any information about his slippery activities.

However, he offered a public apology. He said “I do that all the time. I’ve done it in the past and I’ll do it in the future.”

OK, you’re forgiven.

Two of the newspapers he wrote for — the Manchester Union Leader and the Washington Times — publicly condemned Ferrara for being a sleazebucket. The Union Leader announced it would no longer be publishing his column. Their announcement was:

“When a columnist is a paid shill for a lobbyist — particularly a secretly paid shill — a trust has been broken. A journalist’s stock in trade is trust, and our op-ed pages are no place for columnists who have proven untrustworthy.”

Buh Bye Gale Norton

And good riddance. The Secretary of Corporate Plunder the Interior announced her retirement yesterday. She was never obnoxious like James Watt (Reagan’s infamous Interior Secretary) but she was a lot more destructive.

In fact, she and James Watt both worked for the ultra-rightwing Mountain States Legal Foundation.

In her announcement yesterday she actually said “Hopefully, my husband and I will end up closer to the mountains we love in the West.” Say what?? She must’ve been misquoted. There couldn’t actually be a piece of land somewhere that she doesn’t want to have clear-cut, strip-mined, bulldozed and covered from end to end with off-road vehicles.

This presidency — the most corrupt rotting festering administration in our history — has been full of foxes guarding henhouses. And she was one of the worst.

The Bush Administration is famous for using Orwellian names and descriptions, and Norton was one of the sleaziest. She referred to her approach as the “Four C’s of land stewardship: consultation, cooperation, communication — all in the service of conservation.” Hahahahahaha. Yup, that’s right up there with the Clear Skies Initiative and No Child Left Behind.

Her “Four C’s” translated into more logging in national forests, more oil and gas drilling on public lands and more snowmobiles in national parks. She’s been gung ho about pushing for oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Now that Bush’s political capital has been spent, he’s in less of a position to put another land-rapist in charge of the Interior Department. Hopefully the Democrats and moderate Republicans will grow some spines. We don’t want Pat Robertson in charge of gay rights or Strom Thurmond in charge of race relations. And we don’t want another shill for the oil and timber companies sabotaging our national heritage.

Oil Drilling in Alaska?!?!?!?

We all know the saying about neurotic people doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result each time. Every time I think the oil company prostitutes in Congress couldn’t get any more crazed and twisted, they do.

Hmmm, let’s push for oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. DUUUHHHH!!!! How many times did this plan get defeated last year??? But like a cat that keeps jumping up on the table no matter how many times you push him down, another oil hooker is pushing for drilling in ANWR.

Last year they used every slippery tactic imaginable to push for drilling. They failed every time. Their two most disgraceful examples: Ted Stevens attached a drilling amendment to a bill offering aid to Katrina survivors. When that failed, he attached an amendment to another bill to fund the troops in Iraq. Douchebag!

And now, Big Oil’s Skanky Slut of the Quarter is planning to attach ANWR drilling to a budget amendment. This way it can’t be filibustered. Congratulations Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) — your mother must be proud of her principled son. Go fuck another oil lobbyist. Bitch.

Now, this post wasn’t written just to make fun of Judd Gregg as a used-up hooker who goes down on the oil industry. Unfortunately the cancer of Big Oil corruption has metastasized throughout Congress.

Before you get too contemptuous of these Oil Sluts, find out about your own Senators and Representatives. Click here to find out how much campaign money your legislators have accepted from the oil industry. It's time we smoke out the oil companies' bitches.

This same site also has a petition you can sign to stop Big Oil’s financial stranglehold on Congress. Yes, it’s a pipe dream, but come on, make your voice heard. Do you want Congress to represent YOU, or the oil industry?

Vermont Leads The Way

If Congress is too complacent or too timid to impeach our dysfunctional president, local governments may have to do their jobs for them.

First in line: Vermont.

Vermont’s town hall meetings have been well-known. All the citizens get together and vote on local issues and resolve problems right then and there. Fixing potholes, the town budget, school issues — the matter is voted on, settled, and everyone takes part.

Occasionally they make the news when a town votes on a national issue, but mostly they stick to local issues. Well, in a sense, the fact that we have a rotting festering president poisoning the White House IS a local issue.

A selectman from Newfane, VT said “It absolutely affects us locally. It’s our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, who are dying” in the war in Iraq.

Newfane and four other Vermont towns have called on Vermont’s only Congressman, Bernie Sanders (Independent), to file Articles of Impeachment. Grounds for impeachment include lying to get us into the Iraqi war, and illegal domestic spying.

The vote in Newfane was 121 to 29 in favor of impeachment. Another Newfane resident said “As a teacher I can’t say to my kids that what happens on the national level doesn’t affect us at the local level. Would that we could all be in a cocoon, but that is not the case.”

The chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, Jim Barnett, is against the resolution: “We should not be impeaching presidents just because we disagree with them.”

No Jim, Bush should NOT be impeached because people disagree with him. He needs to be impeached because he murdered 2,300 American soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians by lying to get us into the Iraqi war. He needs to be impeached for violating the Geneva Convention. He needs to be impeached for illegally spying on American citizens. Asshole.

Civil Wars and Global Corporations

In the Congo, the death toll is now close to six million people. Their civil war has been going on for ten years now, with no end in sight. Most of the deaths have been civilians — killed by starvation and disease.

And you didn’t even know there was a civil war going on in the Congo. (I didn’t either until a few days ago.) Who wants to hear about a civil war killing millions of people in some Third World country?

The war is between the Congolese army and different rebel groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda. This war has been called “Africa’s First World War” and “the world’s most neglected emergency.” They’re fighting over control of the natural resources in the area: diamonds, tin, copper, gold and most of all, coltan (I hadn’t heard of it either).

Coltan is a heat-resistant mineral that’s heavily used in cell phones and laptops. Because of the huge demand, coltan mining is bringing in millions of dollars to the governments and militias fighting over turf.

On the surface this looks like ethnic warfare. But the flames are being fanned by the corporations that are buying these minerals. All of the coltan is bought by just three companies: Cabot Inc. (American), H.C. Starc (German) and Nigncxia (Chinese). These are the only companies that are able to process coltan for use in electronic components. The final product is then sold to Nokia, Motorola, Compaq, Sony, etc.

In the “small world” department, Sam Bodman, former CEO of Cabot Inc. is now George W. Bush’s Secretary of Energy. When Bush was governor of Texas, he permitted Cabot and several other major polluters to maintain or even increase their levels of toxic emissions.

Weapons from all over the U.S. and Europe are pouring into the Congo — just what they need.

Congo’s civil war is affecting everyone in the country. Farmers who have been displaced have practically no choice except to work in the mines. Many other people are forced into prostitution. About two million people in the region are HIV-infected.

The deforestation caused by the mining has wiped out endangered species. The increased poverty and desperation has led people to hunt gorillas and other endangered animals for food. The biodiversity of the region is irreversibly damaged.

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla is close to extinction. In 1991 there were about 8,000 of them. As of the year 2000, there were less than a thousand of them left.

This article concludes with:

“Somehow, it’s not surprising that this information isn’t included in the instruction manual that comes with your cell phone. Perhaps mobile phones should be outfitted with stickers that read: ‘Warning! This device was created with raw materials from central Africa. These materials are rare, non-renewable, were sold to fund a bloody civil war and have caused the virtual elimination of endangered species. Have a nice day.’ People need to realize that there is a direct link between the gadgets that make their lives more convenient and the frightening reality of the violence, turmoil and destruction that plague our world.”

cross-posted at Bring It On!

Bush Administration is with The Terrorists

“You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.” — George W. Bush.

“The only people who want us in Iraq are Iran and al-Qaida. And I talked to a top-level commander the other day and he said China wants us there also. Why? Because we’re depleting our resources ... our troop resources and our fiscal resources. The war on terrorism is worldwide. In Iraq, it’s a civil war.” — John Murtha, Congressman and former Marine Colonel.

Well, there you have it. We know whose side Bush is on.

Murtha was responding to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the war in Iraq is going “very, very well.”

Murtha said “Why would I believe him? This administration, including the president, has mischaracterized this war for the last two years ... So why would I believe the chairman of the Joint Chiefs when he says things are going well?”

He said Iraqis would be more able to root out terrorists after U.S. troops leave their country. “I’m convinced they know where they are, they know who they are. But they won’t tell us because they’ve turned against us. We’ve lost the hearts and minds of the people.”

He also said “We have a situation where our military is in such bad shape, it couldn’t deploy to a second front. And the Iranians know this. North Korea knows it. China knows it. We’re depleting our resources in Iraq.”

And on top of all this, the American public still identifies Republicans as better able to protect us against terrorism.

Hellllooo!!!!! Anybody home???????

Katrina: The Spin Never Stops

Every time the Bush administration gets caught in another embarrassing lie, I think “they can’t possibly spin their way out of this one.” But so far they always have, and there’re always enough slow-witted voters that keep getting sucked in by Bush’s PR scam of the week.

As you probably know, a newly released video shows that Bush was fully warned about the impact of Hurricane Katrina before the storm struck. Breached levees, flooding, death and destruction — Bush was told about all of this. He didn’t ask a single question. And he sure as Hell wasn’t gonna let some hurricane interfere with his vacation in Crawford.

“I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” — nice try, lying sack of shit.

But like the Downing Street Memos, Plamegate, Spygate, our Iraqi quagmire — Bush / Cheney / Rove will always find a way to squirm, slither and spin their way out of every lie they get caught in.

And sure enough, the White House has issued a point-by-point press release, denying everything that's clearly shown in the video.

Harry Reid said this video “confirms what we have suspected all along, that this administration did anything they can to hide what really happened.” He said the administration “systematically misled the American people.”

Integrity, humility, admission of mistakes — these are all things we won’t be seeing as long as this spoiled pathetic little pusbag is still in the White House.

Save the Internet

Some of the largest telecom executives are viewing all of us — Internet users — as a giant cash cow. If you’ve enjoyed blogging and net surfing, savor the memory. It might not last much longer.

I’ve posted about this before (so have lots of other people), but this is the first coverage I’ve seen from the Mainstream Media. Is this a good or bad sign? The mindless entertainment blitz mass media has taken away valuable coverage from Lindsay Lohan and Bode Miller, just to bring us this story. What’s this mean?

Is there more and more momentum behind this corporate pirating of the Internet? Or have bloggers and “alternative” news sources generated so much interest that the mainstream media can’t ignore it any longer?

The Progress and Freedom Foundation (how’s that for a euphemism) is a think tank that’s promoting this corporate takeover. Funding for the Progress and Freedom Foundation comes from — you’re gonna be shocked — telephone, cable and media companies. This group also has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry and Newt Gingrich. Birds of a feather…

A member of the Progress and Freedom Foundation says “I don't think this is corporate greed. This is the beginning of a new business model for the Internet.”

Right. And Adolph Hitler developed a new model for race relations.

When AOL announced their plan to start charging a fee for certain types of e-mail, they provoked a storm of online protests. This corporate hijacking of the Internet should be an issue that unites people of all political viewpoints. After all, if you think global corporations are just dandy and Bush is the greatest president we’ve ever had, you won’t be able to say this online any more if these telecom companies have their way. Or, you’ll pay through the nose for the privilege of saying it.

MoveOn.org and Gun Owners of America were two of the biggest protesters of AOL’s "pay up and nobody gets hurt" plan.

On the left sidebar, in large red letters, is a link that says “Save The Internet. Act Now.” If you haven’t already, please click there and sign the petition — while you still can.

American Cancer Society

Mulligan from Can't Keep Quiet will be taking part in the Relay For Life on March 25th. This event is held by the American Cancer Society every year to raise money.

Please check out her site. Any contribution you can make will be greatly appreciated.