Sunday, February 19, 2006
Befuddled, not me...
Dear All,
And now we have another event in a very long list of the most egregious offenses committed by Bush and the 'Stepford' Republicans; who are so corrupt and out of control and who constantly engage in mentally incestuous thinking. The south has truly risen again, just as they promised, and our government is dominated by southern thinking. Sexual incest seems endemic to southern behavior just as is mental incest so it is no wonder they need a fundamentalist religion to control their behavior and most southerners seem to be fundamentalists. But, I digress---
This newest event is the Medicare part D prescription drug program. Just as our energy policy is constructed and controlled by the oil industry solely for the benefit of the oil industry, so too is this program constructed and controlled by the prescription drug industry for the sole benefit of the prescription drug industry. BTW, when a program or policy of the Bush/Repug government seems strange or weird that is a great clue that it was not created by and for the average, everyday, ordinary citizen but rather it is created by and for some special interest group such as the prescription drug industry. Wake up America, I have just given you a clue, which us government watchers already know.
This very same thing occurs in Saudi Arabia, where everything is done for the benefit of the Saudi family and little is done for the Saudi people. What Saudi Arabia needs is a far more democratic form of government. In other words the Saudi family needs to rule in a far more democratic way. By doing this they will greatly undermine the terrorism that their current form of government causes. Who does Bush support, he supports his friends, the current form of government in Saudi Arabia. That, BTW, is why there is so much trouble and terrorism in the world. The Saudi family causes it and Bush supports the Saudi family. Instead, Bush should be pressuring the Saudi government to allow more democracy.
The terrorist activity is directed primarily at America and England. British colonialism and imperialism greatly exascerbated the anger that remained from the 'Crusades' which were just religious aggression, very similar to today's religious fundamentalism that clings to the idea this war is an 'us against them' situation. The Bush/Repub control of the USA uses their power to promote this idea which just fans the flames of war. If Catholicism, my religion, and the other fundamentalist religions stood against war, Bush, and the Republicans, there would be no war.
So today this anger against middle east governments and kingdoms, which they repress in their countries because they are not democracies and don't claim to be, gets directed at America and England because our behavior in the middle east and toward middle east peoples is in some ways similar and in some ways far worse than that of their own governments/ kingdoms and aristocracies. George, your arrogance toward these peoples does to them just exactly what their own governments, which are not democracies, do to them. The aristocracy of the Bush administration and the aristocracies of the middle east destroy the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the middle east peoples just as you, George, are doing in America.
What we Americans must NOT do is to take our anger and fear over terrorism out against the peoples of the middle east, instead it must be directed (surgically) at the root causes of terrorist anger. We just need to do only that which is necessary to protect our people, while at the same time we must not attack and kill arabs/muslims because that only makes the situation worse as is obvious, at least to me. Equally important is that we, actually you George, cannot jam democracy down their throats because that just makes the situation more volatile, instead what we must do is try to win the hearts and minds of the middle east peoples. If we are able to do that in good way they will come to democracy of their own free will, if that is what they want. Moreover, they will come to their own form of democracy.
The answer is simple, Islam tells that 'we must do good works' and that is exactly what needs to be done. Attacks and killings do not help promote democracy in any way, instead they just further alienate, antagonize, inflame and anger the good people of the middle east. Doing 'good works' in the middle east will cause those peoples to come to their own form of democracy of their own free will. I, remember quite clearly from my religious education that "thou shalt not kill" and that God gave ALL of his children, 'FREE WILL' to choose and use as they see fit.
So George, you dummy you, your strategies will not work and you had better believe you are not doing them in my name or the name of most Americans. You are employing your strategies in the name of American oil companies and a very few other narrow special interest groups. Unfortunately, I must name my religion, Catholicism, as one of your special interest groups. If the Catholic Church hierarchy really followed the teachings of 'the true Christ' they would stand strong against you and you would loose the votes of 20 million Catholics and you would never have gotten elected in the first place. But unfortunately the Church hierarchy likes the power they get by being aligned with you, George, and with the Republican Party. The short term goals of the Church hierarchy may get it what it wants, but the long term damage to the Catholic Church and America may well be irreversible.
But, I digress once more---
I first became aware of this kind of undemocratic craziness/insanity which I call indirect voting when I learned, back in 1953 in Civics class, about the electoral college. I was incensed to learn that my parents vote did not really elect our politicians, instead it was the state government and the electoral college. Why should anyone in Ohio, my state, trust our governor and his republican apparatus. Why should anyone trust the electoral college to adhere to the will of the people. Adhering to the will of the people is true democracy but where does it say that democracy is true to the will of the people. This method of 'indirect' voting is stupid, crazy and insane, and yet it is very analagous to what goes on in many government functions. What I am saying is that though we claim to have a democratic form of government we really have under this Bush Administration a far lesser form of democracy than at any other time in the entire history of America. Furthermore our american democracy wanes, fades and dimishes with each passing day.
George, you redneck cowboy, we want more democracy in America not less, as you seem to want in YOUR imperialistic way of thinking. King George you have lost sight of what democracy really is about. if you ever had it in the first place. To King George, democracy is just something that is in his path and therefore must be bent, warped and shaped by He,Alberto Gonzales,Ashcroft and John Yoo to get THEM what THEY WANT. To the Saudi family I say that the people of your country want more democracy not less as you seem to think in YOUR imperialistic thinking. Of course Saudi Arabia has never claimed to be a democracy, they are a kingdom and have a King and to some extent MAY be entitled to their imperialistic thinking. But then we in America have George as our King and the Repugs as his most loyal family with 'we the people' being his repressed subjects just as the governments, kingdoms and aristocracies of the middle east suppress and repress their peoples behavior and thinking.
Were Bush and the 'Stepford' Repubs willing to give 'we the people' more access to and transparency in the workings (aka machinations) of our/their government there would be far less strife and turmoil in America and far more democracy, but then is that really what Bush and the Repubs want in America, I think not. Were the Saudis' willing to give their people more access to their government there would be far less stress and turmoil in Saudi Arabia and the entire world. Bush's ongoing support of the Saudi family's control over their people just further reinforces, in the minds of those citizens of Saudi Arabia that America is just another supressor of arabs.
For example, the explanation in the Cheney shooting situation might have been more believable by the reporters and the American people but the enormous blanket of secrecy under which the Bush/Cheney government operates causes many citizens in America to be constantly suspicious and doubtful of everything Bush and the Repubs say and do. So Cheney, a Repub, was not believed. The public just has no trust for the Bush/Repub government. This ever growing lack of trust increases day by day and will continue to do so until 'we the voters' throw Bush and the Repubs out of office. Then 'we the people' will have to remain vigilant that the Dems don't do the same things, if they ever gain any power which seems unlikely.
Cheney had most likely consumed some alcoholic beverages and they controlled the entire situation to prevent this discovery by the public. They do not seem to ever understand that 'we the people' are not stupid. The time delay between when the shooting occurred and when it was reported was deliberate and intended, to allow the alcohol to dissipate from Cheney's body. The proof of this Rovian strategy was evidenced in their reference to the Kennedy/Chappaquidic event. They really tipped their hand with that comment. If Cheney had not consumed any alcohol he should have insisted that a blood alcohol test be done immediately, which if clear, would have given Cheney all the proof he needed to support his position. So once again, Cheney and Bush smear themselves and the Repugs with another deceitful act and at the same time insult the intelligence of the American people and all the reporters who weighed in on the situation. Their attempts at deceit go on and on--- in fact they just never end and will never end for these are 'small' people with few morals and very little character, just like Nixon. It is no wonder that no one believes them, they have long ago completely blown their credibility. The Bush/Repugs are constantly lying to the American people.
Just no 'street creds' any more---
The long list of lies began when the Supreme Court denied the vote to so many Americans during the first Bush election. dubya and his minions now have some control over our votes via the Supreme Court and the electronic voting machines. Electronic surveillance allows Bush to further control our ever waning democracy. Bush, now, will take this whole sordid situation to the next level, namely that of controlling the internet. He is certainly moving in that direction by requiring the internet companies to give the government access to their servers. Truly, democracy in America is fading every day.
Bush is on his way to gaining that control with his partially successful attempt to gain access to internet communications records by tapping into Yahoo and MSN Net. So far Google, to their credit, has refused to comply, but how long can they hold out. What I have not yet figured out is why the Repug controlled committee investigating Sisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for aiding the Chinese government in suppressing freedom of the internet to the Chinese people can help Bush in his attempts to control and suppress use of the internet by the American people. So far, the only thing I can come up with is that this Repug investigation is Bush's opening shot in a long term strategy to discredit these companies by besmirching their ation for protecting our privacy. in the eyes of the American people. Once their reputation is damaged the Bush/ Rove smear machine will gain a sort of moral high ground which will give them greater leverage over these companies. I and ten million other Bush/Rove watchers will be, well, watching them as they do all this in the name of protecting America against terrorism and pronography while at the same time ever so quietly and secretly fanning the flames of terrorism and turning a blind eye to the company that is the biggest carrier of porn in the USA. The acts of a few terrorists, once a small flame were fanned by Bush who threw gasoline on that once small flame and now just look at the results.
I, and many others, have been watching this and other Republican stupidities since Reagan took office, whereupon he cancelled Pres. Jimmy Carter's energy policies and iniatives. Now, how stupid is that, and just look at the troubles we are in today. This would have never occurred if Carter had been reelected or if Reagan had an ounce of patriotism. But being the typical Repub, who is in bed with the oil "corporatocracy" he just proved his true allegiance was to them and his party rather than to America. Just follow the money. That was the launch of what America has today, A "Totalitarian Republican Theocracy", to quote myself. These people care only about themselves and their very narrow constituency namely, the Republican Party, the radical right wing religious fundamentalists (Catholics and Baptist fundamentalists) and certain corporations such as the prescription drug industry, the health care industry, the oil/energy industry, the military industries, the insurance industry, the chemical industry and a few others.
The Repugs have convinced all other industries in America that the Repug party is the party of the corporations. Corporations have been force fed a totally false bill of goods because the Repubs are only really the party of 'SOME' corporations. The R's have also succeeded in convincing the American people that corporate efficiency is a fact when it is to an increasingly greater extent a myth. The myth is that private industry can do things much, much more efficiently than can big government. Enter the Bush administration which wants to turn many government functions over to BIG private industry, since it is so much, much more efficient. Bush uses the greed of the people who think they will get the same services now performed by government at much, much lower costs (ie. less tax dollars) when it is performed by private industry. Wow is that ever a myth or what.
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We all should be ever mindful of the fact that the words 'Big Government' are really just a euphemism for government that supports the people. When the Repubs talk about reducing 'big government' they really mean reduce programs that help families, women, children, wage earners, education etc, etc, etc. They never want to reduce 'big government' spending that benefits the super rich, some corporations, some special interests, the Repub Party or their friends and cronies. 'Big government' doesn't fret one bit about spending billions for pork barrel projects while at the same time trying to eliminate any and all spending that benefits the American people.
Those idiots on that committee to study why America is falling behind technologically because we graduate so few engineers and scientists are missing the point, completely. All they have to do is think and wonder why the State of California is at the forefront and in the center of the technology revolution. California is at the center of and contributed immensely to the technology revolution because a college education was free to Californians. Bush and the Repubs will never allow this to occur all over America. But a free college education SHOULD/MUST be available to ALL Americans. Bush and the Repubs are very happy to spend billions upon billions upon billions for war. What would happen if most of those billions were spent on free college educations for ALL Americans.
But they say that our students do not graduate with the skills necessary for college. There are two replies I can give to that kind of thinking, the first is make a free college education available to all Americans and in one generation you will see a big difference because college educated parents do a much better job of educating their children. Remember education does not just take place in school, an enormous amount of education takes place in the home and in the earliest years of a childs life. The second reply is that money spent on education must occur at the preschool level and in fact at the level of the family and the wage earner. Minimize or deny this spending and anyone who is really looking can easily see the results because poverty is a vicious and continuously repeating cycle. So the CEO's of Boeing and Merck, who were on this committee, can lament all they want but they themselves are the source/cause of this problem, and for two reaons.
They are Repubs who want to eliminate 'big government' and they are the aristocracy who have what they want and they just keep getting what they want. Why don't they, for once, do what is right for America, not just what is right for themselves. These gentlemen are so far removed from the problem that they are unable to see it. I challenge these guys to get the 'balls' to stand up to George Bush and the Republican Party. I further challenge these guys to get the 'balls' to leave their elegant lifestyles for a year or even a month and live in a poor home, be it inner city, appalachia or rural, and see how these families have to live on a daily basis. If these CEO's have any humanity left in them this experience will change them forever.
These men will immediately do what is right for America rather than just what is right for themselves. Only then can they call themselves true and patriotic Americans. Now they are nothing more than members of the "corporatocracy" and aristocracy who support only themselves and the Bush Republican Administration. Where is their love for America and Democracy, they have NONE, they only love themselves. I, personally, look upon them as despicable people and absolutely feel that they are NOT AMERICANS. Furthermore they have no bravery or courage at all, they are completely bereft of these values. Just how much courage does it take to live their kind of life style. The truly brave and courageous Americans are those parents who live their daily lives wondering how long they will have a job and how will they feed, clothe and educate their children. So I say let these CEO's live for a year in the home of a poor inner city family and then they may begin to understand the true nature of the problem.
Do you, my fellow citizens, really want corporations like Enron, Adelphia, Worldcom, Halliburton, Bechtel, the Bush family oil industries, the Condi Rice oil industries, the Carla Hill oil industries, the Frist family health care industries and so many others in the American aristocracy to manage your Social Security or health care benefits for you given their obvious level of corruption. These and many other BIG private industries are at best completely self serving and at worst very corrupt. I know that I do not want them managing my Soc. Sec. or health care benefits.
Just look at what they have just done with the Medicare Part D program. Since that program started just one of my medications went up from 24 dollars a bottle to 34 dollars a bottle on the very next refill. What Bush has done, via this program, is give the prescription drug industry 'carte blanche' freedom to set their prices at whatever they choose since they no longer have to bow to consumer pressure or congressional investigation. Private industry is largely beyond the reach of congressional investigation and control. Not that the Repub congress would ever investigate the drug industry since it gives them such large amounts of money. Again, corporate corruption goes hand in hand with political corruption, especially Repub political corruption.
Another example, Bush and his Repugs have turned much of the Iraqi reconstruction operations over to private security companies and private construction companies (Halliburton et.al.) via no bid contracts just as they did in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. The results of this BIG private corporate involvement is quite obvious in Iraq and in the gulf coast states hit by katrina. I may be wrong about this but these seem to be mostly southern companies. Has the south finally risen again, via Bush's redneck cowboy thinking and his corrupt politics.
Another example is that Bush has turned one of the DOE research facilities over to a Texas University and a private company, who will be paid 63 million dollars to manage it when the previous managers were paid only 8 million dollars to oversee the operations. For an increased cost of 55 million dollars the taxpayer gets nothing. Furthermore, the previous managers of the facility ran it efficiently and very productively for a very long period of time. What will this Texas University and private industry give us, I am reasonably certain, nothing more than continuously escalating costs. Similar to the continuously and rapidly escalating costs that we are encountering in the Iraq/Afghaniston war, the Medicare Part D program, the oil/energy industry corruption evident at the gas pumps and in our home heating costs, the katrina aftermath costs and lack of performance etc. etc. etc. and etc. Well so much for the so called myth of efficiency in BIG corporations. Small and medium corporations are probably efficient but they don't get the contracts.
The Repugs claim they are against big government but the Bush administration has pushed government spending beyond the stratosphere. America is so deeply in debt our grandchildren will be paying and paying and paying. The interest alone on these huge debts is burdening our economy such that the taxpayer and corporations cannot 'service the debt' as the economist types are given to say. Since the interest alone so heavily burdens our economy how will we ever be able to pay off the principle. Ultimately the american taxpayer/consumer is being saddled with the entire debt, while the Bush family and their wealthy friends pay little or nothing.
Terrorism arises from the peoples feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. That feeling is growing in this country and some day may/will explode in the faces of Bush, the Repugs, the Bush family and all their super rich friends. The American people are good people but this kind of lifestyle that Bush and his friends, in congress and out, are forcing on the average, everyday, ordinary citizen cannot go on forever and will cause irreparable damage to our democracy. I see a great potential for this to occur and wonder why all american voters do not foresee this very real possibility.
I am not Edgar Cayce and I have not made 14,300 and some predictions but I can very easily forsee some events, I can easily forsee the results of global warming. But then dubya says this is not happening and the voters seem to believe him. The voters also seem to believe him when he says he is the christ, the chosen--- my bible says that God chose his only begotten son and I don't think God chose dubya. I think I'll believe my bible not George. The fundamentalist religions ( Catholics, white southern Baptists and some others) seem to think George is the chosen one--- Even though I am a Catholic I choose to believe my bible not the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church which supports Bush and must, therefore, believe he is the chosen one. I think Pope John Paul made a huge mistake when he aligned the Catholic Church with the Reagan/Republican administration. This alignment by the Catholic Church causes Catholics to vote for Repug candidates. The Church continues their close alignment, to this very day, with the Bush/Republican administration. This allows the Bush Repugs to maintain their policy of corruption in America, which causes great harm to our democracy. I am dissappointed in the hierarchy of the Church and just feel they have lost their way, they have lost sight of the path Christ revealed to us during his life on earth as set down in the bible. I believe all fundamentalist religions have lost their way and forgotten the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are also examples of those who seem to have stopped reading their bibles and who instead worship the false gods/idols of power and greed. Why any religion would knowlingly support an administration that grows ever more corrupt with each passing day is beyond me. Why any religion would support a government that literally attacks women, children, families, wage earners and the poor is beyond my understanding. Why any religion does not speak out against war and demand that our politicians and diplomats find other ways to solve world problems is beyond me. Why any religion supports a government that despoils the planet that God has entrusted to our stewardship is completely beyond me.
Wake up America---
And now we have another event in a very long list of the most egregious offenses committed by Bush and the 'Stepford' Republicans; who are so corrupt and out of control and who constantly engage in mentally incestuous thinking. The south has truly risen again, just as they promised, and our government is dominated by southern thinking. Sexual incest seems endemic to southern behavior just as is mental incest so it is no wonder they need a fundamentalist religion to control their behavior and most southerners seem to be fundamentalists. But, I digress---
This newest event is the Medicare part D prescription drug program. Just as our energy policy is constructed and controlled by the oil industry solely for the benefit of the oil industry, so too is this program constructed and controlled by the prescription drug industry for the sole benefit of the prescription drug industry. BTW, when a program or policy of the Bush/Repug government seems strange or weird that is a great clue that it was not created by and for the average, everyday, ordinary citizen but rather it is created by and for some special interest group such as the prescription drug industry. Wake up America, I have just given you a clue, which us government watchers already know.
This very same thing occurs in Saudi Arabia, where everything is done for the benefit of the Saudi family and little is done for the Saudi people. What Saudi Arabia needs is a far more democratic form of government. In other words the Saudi family needs to rule in a far more democratic way. By doing this they will greatly undermine the terrorism that their current form of government causes. Who does Bush support, he supports his friends, the current form of government in Saudi Arabia. That, BTW, is why there is so much trouble and terrorism in the world. The Saudi family causes it and Bush supports the Saudi family. Instead, Bush should be pressuring the Saudi government to allow more democracy.
The terrorist activity is directed primarily at America and England. British colonialism and imperialism greatly exascerbated the anger that remained from the 'Crusades' which were just religious aggression, very similar to today's religious fundamentalism that clings to the idea this war is an 'us against them' situation. The Bush/Repub control of the USA uses their power to promote this idea which just fans the flames of war. If Catholicism, my religion, and the other fundamentalist religions stood against war, Bush, and the Republicans, there would be no war.
So today this anger against middle east governments and kingdoms, which they repress in their countries because they are not democracies and don't claim to be, gets directed at America and England because our behavior in the middle east and toward middle east peoples is in some ways similar and in some ways far worse than that of their own governments/ kingdoms and aristocracies. George, your arrogance toward these peoples does to them just exactly what their own governments, which are not democracies, do to them. The aristocracy of the Bush administration and the aristocracies of the middle east destroy the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the middle east peoples just as you, George, are doing in America.
What we Americans must NOT do is to take our anger and fear over terrorism out against the peoples of the middle east, instead it must be directed (surgically) at the root causes of terrorist anger. We just need to do only that which is necessary to protect our people, while at the same time we must not attack and kill arabs/muslims because that only makes the situation worse as is obvious, at least to me. Equally important is that we, actually you George, cannot jam democracy down their throats because that just makes the situation more volatile, instead what we must do is try to win the hearts and minds of the middle east peoples. If we are able to do that in good way they will come to democracy of their own free will, if that is what they want. Moreover, they will come to their own form of democracy.
The answer is simple, Islam tells that 'we must do good works' and that is exactly what needs to be done. Attacks and killings do not help promote democracy in any way, instead they just further alienate, antagonize, inflame and anger the good people of the middle east. Doing 'good works' in the middle east will cause those peoples to come to their own form of democracy of their own free will. I, remember quite clearly from my religious education that "thou shalt not kill" and that God gave ALL of his children, 'FREE WILL' to choose and use as they see fit.
So George, you dummy you, your strategies will not work and you had better believe you are not doing them in my name or the name of most Americans. You are employing your strategies in the name of American oil companies and a very few other narrow special interest groups. Unfortunately, I must name my religion, Catholicism, as one of your special interest groups. If the Catholic Church hierarchy really followed the teachings of 'the true Christ' they would stand strong against you and you would loose the votes of 20 million Catholics and you would never have gotten elected in the first place. But unfortunately the Church hierarchy likes the power they get by being aligned with you, George, and with the Republican Party. The short term goals of the Church hierarchy may get it what it wants, but the long term damage to the Catholic Church and America may well be irreversible.
But, I digress once more---
I first became aware of this kind of undemocratic craziness/insanity which I call indirect voting when I learned, back in 1953 in Civics class, about the electoral college. I was incensed to learn that my parents vote did not really elect our politicians, instead it was the state government and the electoral college. Why should anyone in Ohio, my state, trust our governor and his republican apparatus. Why should anyone trust the electoral college to adhere to the will of the people. Adhering to the will of the people is true democracy but where does it say that democracy is true to the will of the people. This method of 'indirect' voting is stupid, crazy and insane, and yet it is very analagous to what goes on in many government functions. What I am saying is that though we claim to have a democratic form of government we really have under this Bush Administration a far lesser form of democracy than at any other time in the entire history of America. Furthermore our american democracy wanes, fades and dimishes with each passing day.
George, you redneck cowboy, we want more democracy in America not less, as you seem to want in YOUR imperialistic way of thinking. King George you have lost sight of what democracy really is about. if you ever had it in the first place. To King George, democracy is just something that is in his path and therefore must be bent, warped and shaped by He,Alberto Gonzales,Ashcroft and John Yoo to get THEM what THEY WANT. To the Saudi family I say that the people of your country want more democracy not less as you seem to think in YOUR imperialistic thinking. Of course Saudi Arabia has never claimed to be a democracy, they are a kingdom and have a King and to some extent MAY be entitled to their imperialistic thinking. But then we in America have George as our King and the Repugs as his most loyal family with 'we the people' being his repressed subjects just as the governments, kingdoms and aristocracies of the middle east suppress and repress their peoples behavior and thinking.
Were Bush and the 'Stepford' Repubs willing to give 'we the people' more access to and transparency in the workings (aka machinations) of our/their government there would be far less strife and turmoil in America and far more democracy, but then is that really what Bush and the Repubs want in America, I think not. Were the Saudis' willing to give their people more access to their government there would be far less stress and turmoil in Saudi Arabia and the entire world. Bush's ongoing support of the Saudi family's control over their people just further reinforces, in the minds of those citizens of Saudi Arabia that America is just another supressor of arabs.
For example, the explanation in the Cheney shooting situation might have been more believable by the reporters and the American people but the enormous blanket of secrecy under which the Bush/Cheney government operates causes many citizens in America to be constantly suspicious and doubtful of everything Bush and the Repubs say and do. So Cheney, a Repub, was not believed. The public just has no trust for the Bush/Repub government. This ever growing lack of trust increases day by day and will continue to do so until 'we the voters' throw Bush and the Repubs out of office. Then 'we the people' will have to remain vigilant that the Dems don't do the same things, if they ever gain any power which seems unlikely.
Cheney had most likely consumed some alcoholic beverages and they controlled the entire situation to prevent this discovery by the public. They do not seem to ever understand that 'we the people' are not stupid. The time delay between when the shooting occurred and when it was reported was deliberate and intended, to allow the alcohol to dissipate from Cheney's body. The proof of this Rovian strategy was evidenced in their reference to the Kennedy/Chappaquidic event. They really tipped their hand with that comment. If Cheney had not consumed any alcohol he should have insisted that a blood alcohol test be done immediately, which if clear, would have given Cheney all the proof he needed to support his position. So once again, Cheney and Bush smear themselves and the Repugs with another deceitful act and at the same time insult the intelligence of the American people and all the reporters who weighed in on the situation. Their attempts at deceit go on and on--- in fact they just never end and will never end for these are 'small' people with few morals and very little character, just like Nixon. It is no wonder that no one believes them, they have long ago completely blown their credibility. The Bush/Repugs are constantly lying to the American people.
Just no 'street creds' any more---
The long list of lies began when the Supreme Court denied the vote to so many Americans during the first Bush election. dubya and his minions now have some control over our votes via the Supreme Court and the electronic voting machines. Electronic surveillance allows Bush to further control our ever waning democracy. Bush, now, will take this whole sordid situation to the next level, namely that of controlling the internet. He is certainly moving in that direction by requiring the internet companies to give the government access to their servers. Truly, democracy in America is fading every day.
Bush is on his way to gaining that control with his partially successful attempt to gain access to internet communications records by tapping into Yahoo and MSN Net. So far Google, to their credit, has refused to comply, but how long can they hold out. What I have not yet figured out is why the Repug controlled committee investigating Sisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for aiding the Chinese government in suppressing freedom of the internet to the Chinese people can help Bush in his attempts to control and suppress use of the internet by the American people. So far, the only thing I can come up with is that this Repug investigation is Bush's opening shot in a long term strategy to discredit these companies by besmirching their ation for protecting our privacy. in the eyes of the American people. Once their reputation is damaged the Bush/ Rove smear machine will gain a sort of moral high ground which will give them greater leverage over these companies. I and ten million other Bush/Rove watchers will be, well, watching them as they do all this in the name of protecting America against terrorism and pronography while at the same time ever so quietly and secretly fanning the flames of terrorism and turning a blind eye to the company that is the biggest carrier of porn in the USA. The acts of a few terrorists, once a small flame were fanned by Bush who threw gasoline on that once small flame and now just look at the results.
I, and many others, have been watching this and other Republican stupidities since Reagan took office, whereupon he cancelled Pres. Jimmy Carter's energy policies and iniatives. Now, how stupid is that, and just look at the troubles we are in today. This would have never occurred if Carter had been reelected or if Reagan had an ounce of patriotism. But being the typical Repub, who is in bed with the oil "corporatocracy" he just proved his true allegiance was to them and his party rather than to America. Just follow the money. That was the launch of what America has today, A "Totalitarian Republican Theocracy", to quote myself. These people care only about themselves and their very narrow constituency namely, the Republican Party, the radical right wing religious fundamentalists (Catholics and Baptist fundamentalists) and certain corporations such as the prescription drug industry, the health care industry, the oil/energy industry, the military industries, the insurance industry, the chemical industry and a few others.
The Repugs have convinced all other industries in America that the Repug party is the party of the corporations. Corporations have been force fed a totally false bill of goods because the Repubs are only really the party of 'SOME' corporations. The R's have also succeeded in convincing the American people that corporate efficiency is a fact when it is to an increasingly greater extent a myth. The myth is that private industry can do things much, much more efficiently than can big government. Enter the Bush administration which wants to turn many government functions over to BIG private industry, since it is so much, much more efficient. Bush uses the greed of the people who think they will get the same services now performed by government at much, much lower costs (ie. less tax dollars) when it is performed by private industry. Wow is that ever a myth or what.
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We all should be ever mindful of the fact that the words 'Big Government' are really just a euphemism for government that supports the people. When the Repubs talk about reducing 'big government' they really mean reduce programs that help families, women, children, wage earners, education etc, etc, etc. They never want to reduce 'big government' spending that benefits the super rich, some corporations, some special interests, the Repub Party or their friends and cronies. 'Big government' doesn't fret one bit about spending billions for pork barrel projects while at the same time trying to eliminate any and all spending that benefits the American people.
Those idiots on that committee to study why America is falling behind technologically because we graduate so few engineers and scientists are missing the point, completely. All they have to do is think and wonder why the State of California is at the forefront and in the center of the technology revolution. California is at the center of and contributed immensely to the technology revolution because a college education was free to Californians. Bush and the Repubs will never allow this to occur all over America. But a free college education SHOULD/MUST be available to ALL Americans. Bush and the Repubs are very happy to spend billions upon billions upon billions for war. What would happen if most of those billions were spent on free college educations for ALL Americans.
But they say that our students do not graduate with the skills necessary for college. There are two replies I can give to that kind of thinking, the first is make a free college education available to all Americans and in one generation you will see a big difference because college educated parents do a much better job of educating their children. Remember education does not just take place in school, an enormous amount of education takes place in the home and in the earliest years of a childs life. The second reply is that money spent on education must occur at the preschool level and in fact at the level of the family and the wage earner. Minimize or deny this spending and anyone who is really looking can easily see the results because poverty is a vicious and continuously repeating cycle. So the CEO's of Boeing and Merck, who were on this committee, can lament all they want but they themselves are the source/cause of this problem, and for two reaons.
They are Repubs who want to eliminate 'big government' and they are the aristocracy who have what they want and they just keep getting what they want. Why don't they, for once, do what is right for America, not just what is right for themselves. These gentlemen are so far removed from the problem that they are unable to see it. I challenge these guys to get the 'balls' to stand up to George Bush and the Republican Party. I further challenge these guys to get the 'balls' to leave their elegant lifestyles for a year or even a month and live in a poor home, be it inner city, appalachia or rural, and see how these families have to live on a daily basis. If these CEO's have any humanity left in them this experience will change them forever.
These men will immediately do what is right for America rather than just what is right for themselves. Only then can they call themselves true and patriotic Americans. Now they are nothing more than members of the "corporatocracy" and aristocracy who support only themselves and the Bush Republican Administration. Where is their love for America and Democracy, they have NONE, they only love themselves. I, personally, look upon them as despicable people and absolutely feel that they are NOT AMERICANS. Furthermore they have no bravery or courage at all, they are completely bereft of these values. Just how much courage does it take to live their kind of life style. The truly brave and courageous Americans are those parents who live their daily lives wondering how long they will have a job and how will they feed, clothe and educate their children. So I say let these CEO's live for a year in the home of a poor inner city family and then they may begin to understand the true nature of the problem.
Do you, my fellow citizens, really want corporations like Enron, Adelphia, Worldcom, Halliburton, Bechtel, the Bush family oil industries, the Condi Rice oil industries, the Carla Hill oil industries, the Frist family health care industries and so many others in the American aristocracy to manage your Social Security or health care benefits for you given their obvious level of corruption. These and many other BIG private industries are at best completely self serving and at worst very corrupt. I know that I do not want them managing my Soc. Sec. or health care benefits.
Just look at what they have just done with the Medicare Part D program. Since that program started just one of my medications went up from 24 dollars a bottle to 34 dollars a bottle on the very next refill. What Bush has done, via this program, is give the prescription drug industry 'carte blanche' freedom to set their prices at whatever they choose since they no longer have to bow to consumer pressure or congressional investigation. Private industry is largely beyond the reach of congressional investigation and control. Not that the Repub congress would ever investigate the drug industry since it gives them such large amounts of money. Again, corporate corruption goes hand in hand with political corruption, especially Repub political corruption.
Another example, Bush and his Repugs have turned much of the Iraqi reconstruction operations over to private security companies and private construction companies (Halliburton et.al.) via no bid contracts just as they did in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. The results of this BIG private corporate involvement is quite obvious in Iraq and in the gulf coast states hit by katrina. I may be wrong about this but these seem to be mostly southern companies. Has the south finally risen again, via Bush's redneck cowboy thinking and his corrupt politics.
Another example is that Bush has turned one of the DOE research facilities over to a Texas University and a private company, who will be paid 63 million dollars to manage it when the previous managers were paid only 8 million dollars to oversee the operations. For an increased cost of 55 million dollars the taxpayer gets nothing. Furthermore, the previous managers of the facility ran it efficiently and very productively for a very long period of time. What will this Texas University and private industry give us, I am reasonably certain, nothing more than continuously escalating costs. Similar to the continuously and rapidly escalating costs that we are encountering in the Iraq/Afghaniston war, the Medicare Part D program, the oil/energy industry corruption evident at the gas pumps and in our home heating costs, the katrina aftermath costs and lack of performance etc. etc. etc. and etc. Well so much for the so called myth of efficiency in BIG corporations. Small and medium corporations are probably efficient but they don't get the contracts.
The Repugs claim they are against big government but the Bush administration has pushed government spending beyond the stratosphere. America is so deeply in debt our grandchildren will be paying and paying and paying. The interest alone on these huge debts is burdening our economy such that the taxpayer and corporations cannot 'service the debt' as the economist types are given to say. Since the interest alone so heavily burdens our economy how will we ever be able to pay off the principle. Ultimately the american taxpayer/consumer is being saddled with the entire debt, while the Bush family and their wealthy friends pay little or nothing.
Terrorism arises from the peoples feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. That feeling is growing in this country and some day may/will explode in the faces of Bush, the Repugs, the Bush family and all their super rich friends. The American people are good people but this kind of lifestyle that Bush and his friends, in congress and out, are forcing on the average, everyday, ordinary citizen cannot go on forever and will cause irreparable damage to our democracy. I see a great potential for this to occur and wonder why all american voters do not foresee this very real possibility.
I am not Edgar Cayce and I have not made 14,300 and some predictions but I can very easily forsee some events, I can easily forsee the results of global warming. But then dubya says this is not happening and the voters seem to believe him. The voters also seem to believe him when he says he is the christ, the chosen--- my bible says that God chose his only begotten son and I don't think God chose dubya. I think I'll believe my bible not George. The fundamentalist religions ( Catholics, white southern Baptists and some others) seem to think George is the chosen one--- Even though I am a Catholic I choose to believe my bible not the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church which supports Bush and must, therefore, believe he is the chosen one. I think Pope John Paul made a huge mistake when he aligned the Catholic Church with the Reagan/Republican administration. This alignment by the Catholic Church causes Catholics to vote for Repug candidates. The Church continues their close alignment, to this very day, with the Bush/Republican administration. This allows the Bush Repugs to maintain their policy of corruption in America, which causes great harm to our democracy. I am dissappointed in the hierarchy of the Church and just feel they have lost their way, they have lost sight of the path Christ revealed to us during his life on earth as set down in the bible. I believe all fundamentalist religions have lost their way and forgotten the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are also examples of those who seem to have stopped reading their bibles and who instead worship the false gods/idols of power and greed. Why any religion would knowlingly support an administration that grows ever more corrupt with each passing day is beyond me. Why any religion would support a government that literally attacks women, children, families, wage earners and the poor is beyond my understanding. Why any religion does not speak out against war and demand that our politicians and diplomats find other ways to solve world problems is beyond me. Why any religion supports a government that despoils the planet that God has entrusted to our stewardship is completely beyond me.
Wake up America---
# posted by t bob @ 12:12 PM 
