Bush has made USA Less Safe Aravosis lists the ways Bush has made America LESS safe: 1. Osama is free and forgotten. 2. Iraq is now the biggest terrorist training ground in the world. 3. Our military is bogged down fighting the wrong war. 4. The 9/11 Commission's recommendations are being ignored. 5. The Homeland Security budget is being spent on pork. 6. The (bipartisan) 9/11 Commission gave Bush a "D" for efforts to stop terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear bombs. 7. Most of the world now hates us. Read THE WHOLE LINK for more details
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Advice for Post-Terror Living from WhiteHouse.org : Five America-tested tips on how to make the coming months and years of post-terror living as productive and meaningful as possible: 1. Rally behind your suddenly non-poodly leader, and DO NOT QUESTION HIM. 2. Refrain from any and all analysis of events which are more complex than "THEY HATE FREEDOM." 3. Turn in droves to jingoistic, Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets. 4. Smother your funny-looking Rovers and MGs and Minis with plenty of "We Will Not Forget" and "I Support..." ribbons. 5. Thirst for the blood of the oil-hoarding sand heathens.
Bush vs Bush – The Hypocrisy Continued In 1999, Governor George W. Bush signed the “Texas Futile Care Law,” which allowed hospitals to withdraw life support from patients, over the objections of the family, if they consider the treatment to be nonbeneficial. Sun Hudson, a six-month-old boy with a fatal congenital disease, died Thursday after a Texas hospital, over his mother's objections, withdrew his feeding tube. The child was apparently certain to die, but was conscious. The hospital simply decided that it had better things to do than keeping the child alive, and the Texas courts upheld that decision after the penniless mother failed, during the 10-day window provided for by Texas law, to find another institution willing to take the child . Today, the family of Spiro Nikolouzos is fighting to keep the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital from turning off his life support. This 68-year-old grandfather is kept alive by a ventilator, a feeding tube, and an emergency appeals court ord...
Students for Orwell Students for an Orwellian Society (SOS) is a nationwide student group. Although SOS has always been a nationwide student group, there is evidence to suggest that it first appeared at Columbia University. The mission of SOS is to promote the vision of a society based upon the principles of Ingsoc, first articulated by George Orwell in his prophetic novel, 1984. Read all about this organization at: www.StudentsForOrwell.org .
Happy V.D.! In the spirit of the Hallmark holidays, here's a little graphic to share some "VD" with the ones you love. I found this image at a website that digitized every single MAD magazine cover . It's worth noting that this is a Kelly Freas cover, not to be confused with Norman Mingo. When Freas died last month, a lot of mainstream media sources were posting Mingo art, stating that Freas was best known for painting Alfred E. Neuman, but they didn't even bother to show his work. They could have shown his science-fiction paintings, or even that Queen album cover, but I guess it was just easier to show a generic picture of the goofy-looking kid. What's really cool about this particular MAD magazine fan site is that they've documented the FBI investigation of the magazine . It's really quite an eye-opener! At least the FBI wasn't spending ALL their time investigating LOUIE LOUIE and Groucho Marx! Anyways, check it out- a great site! C...
How to Create Great Political Poster Art
I stumbled upon an excellent webpage of Political Poster Art by Dina Lydia. http://www.costumegoddess.com/antiwar/art.htm
You can see some of these signs in action during a recent Inaugural Day protest in Seattle.
http://www.costumegoddess.com/antiwar/i-rally.htm
Dina Lydia also created a wonderful tutorial on how to create effective political rally signs.
http://www.costumegoddess.com/antiwar/make-signs.htm
History Reminder
from politicalwire.com
After another electoral beating in 2004, Democrats should take note of Reagan's Revolution by Craig Shirley, a behind-the-scenes account of the only campaign Ronald Reagan ever lost. Though Gerald Ford ultimately prevailed, Shirley says it was during the 1976 presidential primaries that Reagan took hold of the future of the Republican party.
"By the late summer of 1974, the Republican party was in its death throes. Bereft, bedraggled, unloved, and unwanted, it stood for nothing and antagonized everyone. If the GOP had been a stray cat, it would have been hauled away to the animal shelter and immediately euthanized."
Sound familiar?
Willie Nelson = alternative energy mogul
Good ol' Willie Nelson. Not only does write some great songs, but he's also putting his name and money to very good causes.
MSNBC news article on Willie's new venture
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6826994/
The Official Willie Nelson Biodiesel Company Webpage
http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman to be elected in the United States Congress. Her congressional efforts centered on children, women, education, black colleges, winning the minimum wage for domestics, and issues affecting Native Americans, Haitian refugees, migrant workers and the poor. She co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus. A candidate for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race.
Here's some great quotes from the unforgettable Ms. Chisholm:
"My God, what do we want? What does any human being want? Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else. All we want is for that trivial difference to make no difference."
"When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom profit that loses."
"It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is t...
Patrick Buchanan has common sense about Iraq situation There's a lot of things I disagree with Patrick Buchanan with, but today he provided a column that makes perfect sense to me. Here's an excerpt: President Bush needs to go on national television and tell us the unvarnished truth. Why are we still there? For some of Bush's countrymen, there is a sense of having been had, of having been made victim to one of the great bait-and-switches in the history of warfare. The president, his War Cabinet and the neocon punditocracy sold us on this war by implying Saddam was implicated in 9-11, that he had a vast arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, that he was working on an atom bomb, that he would transfer his terror weapons to al-Qaida. We had to invade, destroy and disarm his axis-of-evil regime. Only thus could we be secure. None of this was true. But the president won that debate and was given a free hand to invade Iraq. He did so, and overthrew Saddam's regime in th...
The Price of Death
Monday afternoon as I was about to leave the house for an appointment, it was announced that the jury for the Scott Peterson trial had made a decision on his punishment. After deciding last month that Peterson was guilty of murdering his wife and child, the jury decided that he should now be put to death by the state of California.
The San Mateo County courtroom in which this trial took place is approximately 20 miles from my home. Despite the semi-close proximity, I was never once ever tempted to attend the big spectacle that took place so close to my turf, but apparently many other people did. Watching the TV news, one could see a large crowd spectators surrounding the courthouse, hovering around the area like a pack of awe-struck voyeurs. In the hours leading up to the decision, TV news reporters asked some of the bystanders why they were there. One man holding a sign favoring Peterson’s execution was very happy to get his moment of fame on the TV news. L...
... and the story of Florida voting gets weirder and weirder.....
In sworn affidavit, a programmer publicly states he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman… then his dog gets killed…
There’s a lot of news emerging this week about Clint Curtis, a former programmer for a NASA contractor that said that he developed a vote-rigging prototype a few years ago at the request of a then-Florida state representative who is now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
While working for Yang Enterprises in Florida, the 46-year-old programmer says he was instructed by then-Republican state representative Tom Feeney to “develop a prototype of a voting program that could alter the vote tabulation in the election and be undetectable.”
A few hours after this story was exposed on the BRAD BLOG, Mr. Curtis’ previously-health German Shepherd was found mysteriously dead in his Florida home. As it turns out, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There was also a myster...
Some things to Do Before the Inauguration
1. Get that abortion you've always wanted.
2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.
3. Cash your social security check.
4. See a doctor of your own choosing.
5. Spend quality time with your draft age child/grandchild.
6. Visit Syria, or any foreign country for that matter.
7. Get that gas mask you've been putting off buying.
8. Hoard gasoline.
10. Borrow books from library before they're banned - Constitutional law books, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Tropic of Cancer, etc.
11. If you have an idea for an art piece involving a crucifix - do it now.
12. Come out - then go back in - HURRY!
13. Jam in all the Alzheimer's stem cell research you can.
14. Stay out late before the curfews start.
15. Go see Bruce Springsteen before he has his "accident."
16. Go see Mount Rushmore before the Reagan addition.
17. Use the phrase -- "you can't do that -- this is America."
18. If you're white -...
Dealing with Conservatives
And so, those of us with progressive values have been relegated to the status of the underdog. We are in the minority of the house, the senate, and the courts. Our voices are often muffled by the parties in power that administrate the government, control the corporate puppet strings, and speak the angry rhetoric on radio talk shows. The Neo-conservatives have no interest in moderation, and they continue to define the issues as they see fit. It’s an extremist movement that claims conservative values, yet continues to escalate massive government spending and increased control over personal freedoms.
Many of us continue to go about business as usual, believing that activism is futile when the powers-that-be continue to hold the upper hand of America’s interests. There was a lot of anger at the current administration on so many different levels, but it’s difficult to argue with a 51% advantage, even if it might have been manufactured with questi...