Grokking Rush

Bernie Sanders ~
You said on Lawrence O'Donnell that there needs to be a conversation.

The 'conversation' goes on daily, 5 days a week, 3 hours a day. But it isn't a conversation, it's a monologue. A hypnotic, cultic, venomous injection of angry hate directed to all that is Progressive, Democratic, and Liberal. It's name is Rush Limbaugh.

 After all these years of hearing excerpts and reading transcripts, I finally bit the bullet and started listening to the entire 3 hour show every day, for 10 days or so. Now less, because it's so sickening, and it worms its way into your subconscious, which is what has happened over the last 20 years to the millions of people who listen to him.

Limbaugh is not just a commentator, he is a Savonarola in the true sense of the word, inciting Civil War. He is a performer in a new and unique way - filling three hours daily with a stream-of-consciousness rant aimed at Liberals, feeding on cherry-picked news, 'opinions,' and 'wild speculations.'

His venom could be called an additive; an accelerator for any kind of hatred of the Liberal, the Flexible, the Nuanced. He studiously avoids specifics; while wildly projecting his own defects onto the enemy, he always changes the subject before the hypocrisy becomes too obvious. This occurs during phone calls, which occasionally veer into areas that would provide a target.

His act is pure P.T. Barnum style pseudo-religious incantation, with preludes, crescendos, and codas. A word, phrase, or nickname, all derogatory, will be repeated thirty or forty times in a segment, to bludgeon whichever Democrat Liberal he's targeting. He cuts to break with "Liberals are Evil. Liberals want to destroy America." Using hypnotic technique, he cultivates outrage and fear in his listeners, in a thousand tiny ways, with verbal winks, groans, and eye rolls. He does it slowly, gently, and continuously.  And he is magnetic. I find myself eager to hear his latest, eager and slightly nauseated.

Like Kurtz in the steaming jungle, seething with madness, Rush commands a daily cadre of devotees, sharing and inculcating his miserable world view. A deaf man [with cochlear implants] projects his own flaws onto his targets, him and his microphone, in his tiny, billionaire-funded bubble.

Like the perverts who take animal shelter lapdogs and feed them to vicious pit bulls for entertainment [true story], Rush does the same thing with words: bludgeoning Liberal targets with jeering, snarling, derisive, fact-free rage.

When he takes callers, they are obsequious, and their obviously coached questions simply tee up talking points for Rush to riff on for the next hour.

I urge anyone who has not actually listened to the Rush Limbaugh Show, Progressive or Republican, dedicate some time to really learning what is at the root of this deeply influential and corrosive social force.

Senator Sanders, I don't know what the solution is. If we can't outlaw Corporate Looting, can we outlaw Incitement to Treason?

Mr. Maher, I urge you to actually listen to Rush's show all the way through a few times, to get the gestalt. His pernicious influence aside, one has to admit he has perfected a new kind of entertaining - 'Sociopathic Monologue,' we could call it. 

Here's some material:
The difference between Sarah Palin and a Pit Bull? 
A pit bull eventually stops whining.  [Bill Maher]

The difference between Sarah Palin and Charles Manson?
Neither one actually killed anyone... [Caroline Casey]

Daily Rush

I've been listening to Rush Limbaugh, and these are my notes. I have to store them somewhere, so I might as well share them. From here on, I'll make the daily notes as separate posts.

When it's in square brackets [ ], it's my own reflections, for example:

[In Rush's absolute world, ALL of the corruption is on the Left, and the Right holds no culpability. This is his focus, his continuous guiding principle.]

Snerdly is his imaginary friend, his prototype caller, a worshipful, softball throwing sycophant.

He has an odd thing that he does that I'm calling slash/cuts where he'll say a few lines with a punchline such as "Liberals destroy everything they touch" and then in the same breath without a pause switch to a completely different topic, or one of his pseudo-news story product pitches.

1/13/11

criticising rush = hating USA
Rush is our translator
Obama: "we don't know what jared thought"
Rush: "we do know, but we have to protect the slob"
Rush speaking for the left:
"This guy exists because america is unfair, we don't dare
lock him up, because we're PC"
use this to attack the right, first amendment
It was all to aggrandize Obama, not the families
too much applause, like a pep rally
Prediction:Civility a theme of SOU address"Democrats are civil, Repubs are not"
No backlash against Muslims, but a backlash against
Republicans?

We're minding our own business doing nothing, and they
attack our civility.

Obama: "I put the ME in memorial"

forced praise for the speech

why are there liberals? mars and venus

"Liberal ideals brought the economic crisis"

deep divide, never will be bridged

Hofstater - Paranoid Style

http://www.kenrahn.com/jfk/conspiracy_theory/the_paranoid

"They capitalize on any event, because its the only way
they know how to write. Purely agenda driven. They
believe they're objective. Their cocktail parties in DC and
LA

"when you're fighting evil, anything is justified" again,
saying what "they all" believe, they are mind numbed
robots"

'case closed, over with'

"Civility is the new word for censorship"

break
Go To my PC dot comListen UpLifelock
break

Criticising Palin is the true divisivness
extended riff about clinton faking crying at the Ron
Brown memorial
clips from the Wellstone funeral, how it sounded like a
political rally
what is the civil response to laws that take away
personal freedoms, that destroys our economy
"White house has released that civility will be in the SOU
humorous collage of democrats speaking at funerals
was Rev Wright , Bill Ayers civil, lots of examples of
incivility,
chanting "civility"
long sarcastic rant about uncivil democrats
"give me a civil reaction to "you're a bigot, you created
homelessness, if it was up to you, we'd still have
slavery, listing democratic firebombs
listing lots of bad economic news, sarcastically
pretending to be civil
a prolonged squeal of protesting too much, cracks about
civility

Extended riff of insulting questions for "The Sheriff," each one ending with "Sheriff," over and over, snarling, jeering, goading. 5 or 7 minutes, hypnotic, rambling.

Typical gun control talking points, quick switch to, Bill
Maher [troll] and his civility, abortionist and their nag
supporters, nag convention "embodiment of civility"
lecturing us about civility

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
1/14/11
Obama wants to slash the military
Start Treaty, letting the Russians tell us what to do
he has designs on this country to lessen america's role
as a superpower

"school" is "screwel"

bumper:

"The Wonder of Rush"

Why don't they clean up HollywoodAll of his influences were deranged leftists
It's all political, left influences all media, "we must
identify with the depraved"
critique of Chinese robotic training of people and
children
the billboard is depicting liberals shooting at the
billboard
all the cult movies and violent video games are made by
democrats, they control the pulitzer prize
if we could just get a fox reporter a pulitzer /quick
segue/
nobel prize, obama, where's the peace
Obama's speeches, how it stands up
Which is more believable:1) A teabagger would do it2) the dems would pay someone to do it to frame the
other side
of course #2
caller says pelosi blames bush
limbaugh cuts to that all anarchists, terrorists, assassins,
are all leftists, 'democrats opposed the civil rights act'
we know the media will have to blame anyone but the
perp
break
ignoring bad financial news, in preference to smearing
palin and rhetoric
discussing Barney Franks friction with Obamaland of Obamaville, where the leader lies about
everything[does imitation of Barney Frank]
all these stupid animal rights regulations, the regime
it's socialism, make everything dismal, don't let the
market decide
fishing and oil industries being destroyed by obama -
the reason the drive-bys won't report it is because they
haven't found a way to blame it on sarah palin
breaktalent on loan from god
maharushi
Chinese parenting article
break
how dare they lecture usliberals: "we are defined by our imperfections"words in Obama's mouth: "we are not worthy"
what we have to do to make the country better is defeat
Obama
if disasters end partisanship, and they want to end
partisanship, then they want disasters.
Udall's proposal to sit together. he wants to dilute the
numbers to show how few dems there are. to disguise
how powerful Rs are.
megadittos. His callers are so psycophantic
"moving forward" infuriating, because the alternative is
"backward?"
democrats war on conservatives

January 18:
I'm not trying to be negative, can't be phony optimistic,
GOP has surrendered! "First black president, can't
criticize" - but we followed Tea Party principles "these
ideas"
Media used the shooting just to smear Palin, just to
influence the poll
Railroaded Delay, they want to do that to all of us
how can we pin tucson on the democrats?
Left constantly talking about how rotten america is,
create environment of misery, in this unjust society
obama apologises to anyone who will listen, lying
propaganda, we could say the left has blood on their
hands, the dems turn citizen against citizen, they love
talking about hate, they want people to hate each other
[civil rights is a "set up" war to allow Liberals to march
us to socialism]
"The message of the democrat party: "dispair and
pessimism"
We expose them because we love this country, and they
do not
the left creates victims
"every corporation wants to destroy you" [what they
say]
Rush "turn it around on them"

break
democrats are protecting jared, that's why he's smiling

bumper:
Rush Limbaugh media tweak

break
devoted to the truth 96.6% of the time
belittling the credibility of gallup polls, high
unemployment
bad news about the british health care system
to the feminazis, pregnancy is a disease, nicole kidman
"gestational carrier"
excerpts from Palin / Hannity encounter
you have to marvel at how wonderful Sarah is
break
story about an orgasm/allergy syndrome - just creepy
break
caller: Reagan book "alzheimers" just like me, he was a
great president even with that; part of the left agenda;
every family has whacko kids; petty and sad, that's real
civil isn't it
Rush just said this: "Liberals should have their speech
controlled and not be able to buy guns. They shouldn't
be able to use computers, or the internet. It would save
america. You would wipe out 95% of the hate, crime,
and lies from society. Society would just be fun and
peace loving!"

Bumper:
listen, learn, and spread the word
break
if you are weak mentally, and are told america is bad,
that you haven't got a chance because you're black, what
would you do? If you're told by Michael Moore, that Bush
caused 9/11 what would it drive you to. The Left is
responsible for Tucson. Name calling environment. Self
hate and loathing. If you're unable to succeed, it's
because the founders were racists, the system was
designed to beat you down - this is all the democrat
party agenda.
Fake pictures of iceburgs melting, unless you drive a
claptrap junk car, which you'll do to be fashionable.
Repeating the litany of complaints about bush, "Lied
about afghanistan, iraq - " framing them as inflammatory
lies.
the job of a community organizer to tell people that you
don't have a chance, that we're going to get even with
those people, that we're going to make them as
miserable as you are.
Quoting predictions about overpopulation, climate
change hoax, no wonder people become shooters. You
gotta hold somebody accountable. Corn is being put into
cars - wasting food.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

January 19
Sliming Health Reform
numbers, lying about the cost of the bill [like Iraq?]
entitlements will always destroy the budget
sex change operations paid for by
sell off the land the government owns, cut EPA, FCC,
Berkeley is going to pay for "addadicktome" operations
they don't have orgasms in the ruling class, I don't have
time to go into that
break

bumper:
"simply brilliant"
back
riffing on the evil of communism, democrats are
oblivious
no matter where you look, the news is bad about
Obamacare
the only blame AP can find is the weak economy is the
reason for slow home starts - no mention of Obama or
of the Democrats / slash to Aussie flooding, "what was
the role of warmists" Christopher Booker, made worse
by cockeyed decisions made by warmists.
what happens when Liberals run things.
plug for "askheritage.org" organizing to destroy
healthreform
break

bumper:
"America's Anchorman"
back

obsequious caller
"the state of the union show"

confrontive caller, wacky yenta, funny, no concise points

cohen on rollcall record about nazi lies and propaganda
and healthcare
cohen is jewish he has free rein to compare the
republicans to nazis
David Frum, asked about Newt Gingrich, ceding election
because of Palin, Rush loves her
/ slash segue to extended advert

XXXXXXXX

My Letter to Cultwatch.org
Jan 19:
I wonder if you would consider including the Dittohead
phenomenon as a cult? I has all of the earmarks: a
leader who is adored and never questioned; an
absolutist, isolationist creed communicated by coded
jargon; stonewalling those not in the club; avoidance of
all comment or documentation from externals - the list
goes on.
A month ago I might have thought this excessive, but I
have steeled myself and have been listening to Limbaugh
daily now, and have a new awareness of the situation.
His act is pure P.T. Barnum style pseudo-religious
incantation, with preludes, crescendos, and codas. A
word, phrase, or nickname, all derogatory, will be
repeated thirty or forty times in a segment, to bludgeon
whichever Democrat Liberal he's targeting. He cuts to
break with "Liberals are Evil. Liberals want to destroy
America." Using hypnotic technique, he cultivates
outrage and fear in his listeners, in a thousand tiny
ways, with verbal winks, groans, and eye rolls. He does
it slowly, gently, and continuously. And he is magnetic.
I find myself eager to hear his latest, eager and slightly
nauseated.
When he takes callers, they are obsequious, and their
obviously coached questions simply tee up talking points
for Rush to riff on for the next hour.
I think it would be instructive for the world at large if
Rush Limbaugh was included in your venerable
collection. I am so glad for the work you do, and
re-framing the Dittoheads as a kind of cult would be a
useful addition to the memesphere.

kl;'l.,./

bumper:

"With half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair"

me: [Having half of your brain tied behind your back doesn't
prove anything when you only have half a brain to start with. ]

XXXXXXXXXXX
Jan 20, 2011
"Dingy Harry" /on the cutting edge of societal education, if you're not
on the cutting edge, you're taking up too much space
Responding to critique of his feminazi remarks
"Sheriff Dipstick" just speculates
we are surrounded by institutional ignorance
snerdly: "does sheriff dipstick ever do his work?"
break""no agenda no wordgames""breakI'm your guiding light, talent on loan from God -
Moral Compass of the State Controlled Media
No talk about the political prisoners Nobel Prize winner,
about china's crimes, but criticising Rush
Steve Cohen Tennessee, comparing Repub noise to
Goebbels
A corrupt media with no moral compass
"Who are the new jews, congressman cohen? It's the Tea
Party."
The "Obama/Hitler" pictures were created by Leftists
who infiltrated the Tea Party.
The Klan was a bunch of racist pig democrats.
The KKK was the Terrorist arm of the Democrat party in
those days.
This guy is totally ignorant of his history.
F. Chuck Todd "history of throwing rhetorical bombs."
the media will justify the vitriol.
"The only way they can get noticed is to throw rhetorical
bombs." [you rush?]
"People will make asses of themselves just to be famous
- I've seen it."/
"The essence of civility"/
[Rush doth protest too much -] we're not the ones who do the society disrupting
how many abortions do the Democrats support
"These people are single handedly" *wtf******
caller: John Belushi racist for parodying Chinesecaller: critique that Rush criticised Obama for going to
the superbowl, Rush now explains that ALL presidents
present a huge logistical problem and rambles about
that, finishes with a swipe at the kennedys
break
tiny one liner between commercials:
French news story: "General Motors investing green in Mexico" who owns GM? - Obama and the Regime do
Break

If Democrats regrouping requires associating a national figure with mass murder, they'll do it. Creating a false narrative of Palin's responsibility. Obama lets his supporters savage her.

How the Left wing blogosphere will do it in their systematic destruction of candidates. Not a single Republican candidate can survive.

The left is terrified of her, that she would wipe the floor with Obama. That's why they're desperate. Both sides fear the threat of Palin. If Repubs don't stand up for Palin, they will all be targets.

break

"Life and death" meme on the left is a lie. "High Risk Pools" nobody is signing up for them.

incoherent caller: Who likes Obamacare, but can't explain it.

People are emotionally connected to the idea that Repealing Obamacare means they will die.

Break

Reads pro health reform essay derisively. "123 people die every day" - shouldn't that number be going down? He's outraged. Asks: Has anyone seen a death certificate that says: Cause of Death: No Health Insurance?

He's deeply offended that people actually believe that our health care system lets people die. We spend a fortune on people who don't have insurance. He rages about this for a while.

Long riff: "The truth is Obama's health care legislation kills health care for everyone, its aimed at all of us."

They believe it because they're Liberal Democrats. Take a cue from the Chicoms. Give 'em an aspirin. If they have a problem, shoot them and harvest their organs.

The leftists are shameless. "The Government Disease" George Will. Politics controls everything.

Government is a pool of incompetence. They want to regulate or tax every aspect of life. What don't they regulate. Snerdly: Prostitution.. jokes about that.

break

Answering the callers question about colon cancer, who will decide? Katherine Sibelius. Health care will be rationed.

/ slash cut

a stolen identity story, that turns into an advert. He gets you hooked into the story, addressing you, scaring you, then offering the solution: Lifelock. This is a 3 minute segment. Mention the "Golden Promo Code - Rush"

break

Last segment, 1 minute long:

Canada has their own version of Obamacare. Wait time for colonoscopy there is 6 months. We're coming to that, with "When the Secretary will decide" added on.

Republicans Ecstatic About Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Republicans are thrilled that there's something to distract the United States from the criminal activities of their so-called "President," if only for a couple of days.

Our country has been taken over by a fundamentalist corporate dictator who flaunts the law and the Constitution, who uses the U.S. Military as a political prop, and who is stealing us blind, but for a news cycle or two, all of that is on the back burner.

Rush, O'Reilly, Coulter and Malkin are busily scribbling out ways to blame the bridge collapse on the Clintons, the Tree-Huggers, and Al Qaeda, so their trained seals will have talking points ready after the dust settles.

Karl Rove feeds on his diet of excrement and shredded copies of the Bill of Rights, and Gonzo keeps on smirking. Now, that's leadership!

[This got flagged from Craigslist, so it must be good...]

Correcting the Timeline

Neocon propaganda claims that to leave Iraq would be a disaster, and that criticising the war is undermining the troops.

This pretzel logic, restated in context, with the truth included, reads like this:

Iraq already is a disaster. The disaster began when Bush invaded Iraq under false pretenses. The troops are already being undermined. This began also with Bush, in his attempt to destroy the Federal Government and our Military Forces.

How much more will we put up with?

IMPEACH CHENEY / BUSH / ROVE NOW

Traitor in Chief

In commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby, Bush has shown many things.

First, that he has no respect for the Rule of Law, the Judicial Process, the Constitution, or the American People.

Second, he has solved the 'mystery' of who betrayed the identity of an undercover CIA agent [whose expertise was in Iraqi WMD]. He did. At least he tacitly approves of it. His own father, the real George Bush, for many years the Director of the CIA, said that "anyone who betrays the identity of a CIA agent is a TRAITOR."

The Attorney General is an incompetent, lying, partisan criminal. Bush shelters him too, because he's the biggest lawman in the land.

Bush's biggest challenge is the law, the truth, ethics, and patriotism. And competence.

Alberto Gonzales, Tom Delay, John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Harriet Miers, Mike Brown - so many, many crooked, lying, grafting failures. How much longer will people put up with it? So many wrong predictions and falsehoods used to press us into a disasterous, bungled, expensive, and hopeless civil war. All for oil, and some naive notions about world domination.

Call your representatives. I did and I feel better. I told the guy that answered Allard's phone that his tacit support of traitors was a disgrace, and that he should take the United States flags down from his office. Also told the kid that answered the phone he should immediately enlist in the Army and go directly to Baghdad.

"If only all of Rome had just one neck..."

Rupert Murdoch, it seems, is poised to take over the world. Then it'll just be him and Dick Cheney running everything. Like two ancient Godzillas they will wreak havoc, then die. When will it end? When will people evolve?

Hello?

Paul Craig Roberts

The "Father of Reaganomics," this ultra-conservative economist and Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan, rips Dubby a new one. When ultra-conservatives start bailing on Bush, we know the truth is finally undeniable.

http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070611_threat.htm

Here's a quote:

"The Bush/Cheney White House, which told the American people in 2003 that the Iraqi invasion would be a three to six week affair, now tells us that the US occupation is permanent. Forever.

Attentive Americans of which, alas, there are so few, had already concluded that the occupation was permanent. Permanence is the obvious message from the massive and fortified US embassy under construction in Iraq and from the large permanent military bases that the Bush regime is building in Iraq. "

ARREST THAT MAN

It IS hard to believe that someone posing as "President" could be as incompetent and dishonest as Bush is, and our love of country makes us want to trust that our leaders have our best interests at heart. Sadly, this time, that's not the case.

The failed Presidency of the Bush administration is an illigitimate Presidency; he was crowbarred into the White House on the slimmest margin in the history of U.S. elections, and by fiat of a cowed Supreme Court. The Republican "platform" is a raft of phony partisanship and trumped-up wedge issues designed to appeal to wingnuts and win elections.

The fiasco in Iraq has Bush's fingerprints all over it; even now he continues to ignore advice of the adults who surround him, seasoned experts with viable alternatives to his childish Messianic delusions. Bush used dishonest scare tactics to start his War for Oil, and all of the hastily cobbled-together afterthought excuses about why we are there are as phony as everything else the Republicans have to say.

[They said we would be greeted with "sweets and flowers." They said the war would pay for itself. They said it would be over in 6 months. Every been swindled before? Well, you have now.]

There is no "winning" in Iraq for the United States. Silly Republican protests that we have to stay the course are ignoring the fact that the course we are on is a short trip to disaster. We can't even identify the enemy. Bush has NO strategy, except to further compromise our military.

One thing's for sure. The Democrats are not being forceful enough. They need to follow the advice of Pat Buchanan, and put a stop to this mess NOW. Bush and his cronies should be arrested for war crimes. We need to admit as a country that we have made a terrible mistake, that we've allowed a madman to take the reins of power, and that we have now come to our senses.

The Iraq Study Group has presented a comprehensive list of suggestions that the grownups in our goverment need to follow. Bush's approach is that of a drunken, cynical, spoiled frat boy, and is making a bad situation much worse.

There is no military solution in the Middle East. We need adults, people with negotiation skills, to bring the region to it's senses. The only ones who want the current anarchy are Bush and Al Qaida, both with their equally idiotic apocalyptic delusions.

Call your elected representatives and demand a public debate. Stop the Republican filibuster. Ask them how Bush expects to enforce Democracy in Iraq when he is destroying it here in the United States.

Global Weirding

The White House has finally admitted that Global Climate change is a problem. Dubya got concerned when another slab of ice fell off his mother. . . .

_^_^_^_^_^_^

Being aggressive is great, but aggressively running into an obvious trap, like Bush did with his Iraq adventure, is Stupid. This current insanity, blustering at Iran, shows that he still thinks it's a game. The Neocons are "doubling down," thinking it's a poker match. The Bush "strategy" seems to be to create a conflagration in the Middle East; to reduce the entire region to anarchy. Hmmm, maybe we'll acheive independence from foreign oil by destroying the source?

In the year 2000, the world was on the cusp of actualizing it's possibility - of becoming a well-managed, prosperous global community with increasing equality of opportunity for all. Bush and the people who "elected" him are responsible for destabilizing that world, and for changing the course of history into a radically darker direction. Bush and his supporters represent the worst aspects of human nature. Their world view and the future they have set in motion is vicious, brutal, and ugly. And now, it may be too late to stop what they have started.

The "Tone"

The New York Post, mouthpiece for Rupert Murdoch's distilled, concentrated bile and cynical distortion, had an editorial demanding that California Senator [D] Barbara Boxer apologize to Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice for pointing out that like herself, Rice has no children in Iraq. It predicted two years of "pettiness not seen here in a long time." Utterly idiotic. I fired this off to them:

"Rancorous? Bitter? Petty? Below the belt? Aren't you describing the Rove-Limbaugh school of politics that you support? It's Republican pettiness that has polarized and poisoned politics for the last ten years. Now the Democrats are going to have to clean up the mess. Barbara Boxer is a Patriot. Condoleezza Rice is an accomplice to the most criminal government this country has ever known. She has aided the war-profiteering, incompetent, lying criminals who occupy the White House. She is a traitor.

You are traitors for supporting her and Republicanism in general."

Oh yes, and some thoughts on re-framing some current memes.

"Monday Morning Quarterbacking" is the derisive term the Republicans are squeezing out lately to diminish Democratic critique of BushCorp, and it reveals a fundamental flaw in Republican thought. Using sports terms shows that they still see it all as a game, a way to win elections and power. It is not a game. It is not "Monday Morning Quarterbacking," it is "Criminal Investigation." Something Congress has been disgracefully negligent about over the last six years. AND, working to lessen the polarization in the U.S.A. does not mean making nice and sweeping Bush malfeasance under the rug.

And "Hindsight is 20 - 20." Not, apparently, for Republicans. They keep making the same stupid and expensive blunders, over and over. They don't learn from their mistakes, because of their Rove-colored glasses.

One more. Dubby keeps saying "failure in Iraq would be a disaster." Yes, it would be. The bigger disaster is that we're in Iraq in the first place. The disaster began when Bush and the Neocons got us in there by lying to Congress and the American People.

~|~|~|~

Everything the Bushies have said has either been lies, or criminally incompetent. Why should we believe or trust anything they say now? Expanding the war into Iran would greatly strengthen Ahmadinejad's credibility and power, and cause grave damage to the interests of the United States.

Take a deep breath -

It's ironic to those of us in the reality-based community to hear so-called "Republicans" attempting to weigh in on political matters. A Republican I know slipped in some Rovian bile the other night, trying to disguise it as a critique of divisive politics. . .

The Republicans have abused the opportunity they had, and created greater polarization in the United States and the world at large. They have done it using election-winning tactics perfected by Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh, using scorn, broad brush caricatures, and lies to divide people and create a sense of desperate urgency. The Public Interest or Homeland Security have been the least of their concerns. Their priority has been to keep power and gut the Federal Government and our treasury.

I say "so-called" because to me, "Republicans" are like bored 7th graders pretending to be "Nazis" or "Communists" because it impresses the girls. They scribble SS symbols on their notebooks in study hall and on their bodies in tattoo ink, with no more than a comic book notion of what they're embracing - it's like the Goth thing. OOOHH - Spooky! Yawn.

The primary function of the Neocon philosophy is to destroy Democracy. Plain and simple. Because of the damage they have done to our Armed Forces, our treasury, and our credibility, they are traitors and criminals. Like Linda Blair in the Exorcist, they will spew toxic vomit in every direction to resist correction, but corrected they will be. Call them on the carpet. Make Bush answer the hard questions in broad daylight.

Santa Claus, the Mushroom Shaman

It's true! Santa is a Nordic psychedelic mushroom shaman! Read about it Here. I'm not sure if the small versions of the pictures are working - the big ones do.

Speaking of big ones, and invasive species, read this great article about Burmese pythons!

Merry Chanukwaanza!

The Plot Thickens

The planetary nightmare has eased up slightly, only slightly, in seeing the Neocons cut off at the knees; their incompetence, dishonesty, and war profiteering are being curbed. By digging in his heels, our petulant Presididn't is making sure that throughout history it will be his fingerprints on this mess.

The Limbaugh/Rovian/Fox spin is now "blame the media and the Liberals," for the catastrophe in the Middle East - same old yapping nonsense.

Dubby said that Brownie was "doing a heckuva job," as New Orleans was drowning. He said Rumsfeld was "doing a fantastic job," just before his incompetence brought about his demise. Bush's "certainties" always seem to be wrong! Could it be that his other certainties are gross errors too? Eight out of ten Americans seem to think so.

Anti-environmentalist Bushies prefer to live in their own waste, apparently. Are they the people living in trailers with 100 cats? No wonder they voted for Bush. They should stop being slobs and start being responsible citizens. Start by learning to read and write and becoming informed. We are 'defecating in our bed' on a global scale, and the Limbaugh-cons worship Fox News and gobble down the McLies.

Calling Nanny 911 to the White House

Andrew Sullivan, Republican [gay] pundit, said that "a month ago, Bush was in denial. When he said "Rumsfeld is doing a fantastic job, he had moved to being deranged. At that point," said Sullivan "he needed an intervention."

[an "intervention" is when the family comes in and takes charge of a member of the family that is out of control, and brings them to their senses. It's done with drug addicts, alcoholics, cult members, schizophrenics, etc.] Nanny 911 is a Fox reality show that sends proper British nannies in to bail out beleaguered parents.

So now, thank goodness, we are having our intervention. Nancy Pelosi, old enough to be Dubby's mom, is coming in holding all the cards and is going to help Little Lord Dubya deal with the mess he's made. It's so perfect that a woman is going to have to clean up the wreckage from this spoon-in-the-ass baby boomer clown.

Can Dubya ever tell the truth? He's lied so much, how can we believe anything he says?

Q. Why did Donald Rumsfeld resign?

A. Because it's hard to be the most evil guy in the room when you work with Dick Cheney.


The rePigliclowns will be crying because of the torrent of investigations, hearings, subpoenas and indictments that we'll be witness to over the next few years concerning the malfeasance of the Bush White House.

They forget, of course, the foaming-at-the mouth fake hysteria jinned up by Limbaugh/Rove in the late '90s and the endless stream of investigations into Clinton's Christmas card list, or the list of donors to his library. Ten years and 60 million dollars were spent in an industry geared towards bringing down Bill Clinton. The deed was finally done in a way that disgusted the whole world, appalled at how low the Republicans would go to appease their partisan power hunger.

We do not want to impeach another President. It would not be good for the country. Least of all, we don't want another frivolous impeachment, one based on partisan whispering, and petty gotcha politics.

On the other hand, now that we can, we will follow the evidence. Every instinct
suggests that what we will find will horrify us. The brazen criminality of the Bush regime will be unique in history, in its depth and craveness, and also in its negative impact on world political stability.

Unfortunately, when the Bush record is laid bare for the world to see, impeachment may be the BEST thing that Bush can hope for. Far darker fates would await him in the fascist/corporate/fundamentalist world that he was leading us into.

It's Morning in Washington! America is back! Fumigate the White House!

NAMBLA-Republicans want a police state

The Neocon rabble that has seized control of our government, if allowed to run their course, will:

Turn the USA into a corporate police state.

Expand their disasterous war fiasco into Iran and the whole world.

Force women into back-alley abortions.

Continue their decimation of the Middle Class, and enrichment of the top 1% of earners, their cronies.

Continue to cynically use “Christianity” as a way to win over gullible followers. (see “Tempting Faith, by David Kuo, An Inside Account of the Rise of Christian Conservatives, And Their Betrayal by the Bush White House - out this week]

Round up the war protesters, union members, environmentalists, Jews, Buddhists, Pagans, potheads and gays, and exterminate them. The Neocons have already been documented as classifying war protesters, bloggers, and even vegans as possible “terror threats.”

Like all presidents, Bush has had full ability to investigate or spy on anyone he wants, with the requirement be that he OK it with a judge within 72 hrs. He wants to get rid of the 72 hour wait, AND the judge’s OK. Real Americans, Democrats and thinking Conservatives, see that this is a basic threat to the Bill of Rights. The Repigs say their resistance to Bush’s madness means Dems want to coddle terrorists.

This broad-brush thinking is how the Neocon mind works. The Limbaugh technique of characterizing whole sections of the population with snide epithets is idiotic and dangerous, but it appeals to the trailer-park trash Repuglicons who are glad to conform to bumper-sticker ideals and broad-brush themselves into their squalid box. Broad-brush characterization of Bushies is not the same thing, because they ARE all cult-robot clones.

Just remember: BUSH IS A BABY-BOOMER TOO. He’s just one of the lazy, mean, anti-social and stupid ones.

“Bush committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society. President Bush admits no doubt and does not base his decisions on a careful weighing of reality. For 18 months after 9/11 he managed to suppress all dissent. That is how he could lead the nation so far in the wrong direction.
President Bush inadvertently played right into the hands of bin Laden. The invasion of Afghanistan was justified: that was where bin Laden lived and al Qaeda had its training camps. The invasion of Iraq was not similarly justified. It was President Bush's unintended gift to bin Laden.” Soros

SAVE THE UNITED STATES FROM THE NEOCONS - VOTE DEMOCRATIC THIS NOVEMBER!!!!

Just In:

Bob Ney, Ohio Republican, is convicted of conspiracy and bribery, the latest in a string of rotten Republicans to go down. He faces 10 years in prison, and in Ney's homestate, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett called Ney "a cancer in the Congress."

Republicanism is a cancer on the United States.

The Republican Disgrace

Republicans need to grow up and start taking things seriously. They apparently link it's all a game; that tit-for-tat gotcha politics is a legitimate way to spend their time.

Democracy and our country are in peril, from within and without, but smug, cynical Republicans spend their energy and time on name-calling and obscene misinformation campaigns.

Instead of facts, faith-based mythology dominates their rhetoric. Their negligent inattention to reality and worshipping of Limbaugh-Fox-O'Reilly propaganda shows that they aren't paying attention to what's going on in the world.

Glib, flippant, smirking and cynical, to them it's all about weaseling another Republican dominated election, using "terror" to cow the electorate into voting for them. Their priorities are tax cuts for Paris Hilton and pleasing the Christian-Taliban - not securing our country or preserving our Constitution.

They are war-profiteers, liars, and traitors, and so are their followers.

AND, they are turning the country into a Theocracy. It's not paranoia, it's reality. See: http://www.theocracywatch.org/

I can tell by his jargon he's from the other side. . .

"Democrat," as opposed to "Democratic" - as in "Democrat Senator," instead of "Democratic Senator," is a dead giveaway to a Rush-Cultist. Also when they talk about "haters" and "Bush-haters," you can be sure they've been drinking the Limbaugh Juice.

They are passionately misinformed. And proud of it. Hell yes.

Here's a nice summation of Bush so far from Noemie:

Some of the ravages that the Bush administration has inflicted on this beautiful country: the crushing of the middle class and poor, the trashing of our economy and environment, the shaming of our nation through state-sponsored torture, the corruption of hearts and minds of soldiers who trusted their military superiors, stolen elections, a war on false pretenses, manipulated media, secret propaganda used against the American people, science twisted and suppressed, death threats against judges who charge them with illegal acts, the undermining of state sovereignty across the nation, a ruined American city through gross and possibly purposeful negligence. Karl Rove is right at the center of this, the potential dawning of a Dark Ages for our country...

Simple Math

One Million Seconds is 11 and a half days...

One Billion Seconds is 32 and a half years...

One Trillion seconds is Thirty-two-thousand, five hundred years...

We are spending almost 2 Billion dollars
a week on Dubya's botch-job in Iraq, all on credit, indebting ourselves to the Chinese.

Bush's response to Islamic terrorism is making it worse, not better.

Going into Afghanistan was the right thing to do, but we should have finished the job instead of going into Iraq [for oil].

Bush's "Bull in a china shop" approach is disgusting and ineffective. Being aggressive is great, but only if you're smart. Being
aggressively stupid, like Bush, is a disgrace.

His supporters are credulous fools. Democrats will have to straighten
this mess out one way or the other, why not start in November, instead of waiting until 2008?

Bush has put the national tit in a wringer, and there are no silver
bullets to solve the situation. But with military leadership in the Pentagon, instead of draft-dodging corporate board room hacks running things, there could be hope.

We need to maintain a strong presence in the area [Kurdistan]
and let the chips fall where they may in Iraq.

Bob Ney, Ohio Republican, has pled guilty to bribery and corruption charges,
after arrogantly denying any wrongdoing for months. The Republicans are rotten to the
core, and the White House urgently needs to be fumigated.

The few Republicans with morals are finally standing up to the rot
in the Oval Office, Thanks be to God.

(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.->

Bush/Rove/Limbaugh have divided the country to serve their own ends. The division they have defined and deepened is between those who believe, and those who seek the truth.

As believers, their biggest enemy is the truth. Today, Bob Ney finally told the truth. Many more Republicans and the American People will soon face more painful truths.

A recent Republican talking point is that "Bush is taking the long view," and "that in 20 years all of this will seem like brilliant, strategic prescience."

This convenient, phony excuse/evasion attempts to conceal the incompetence and hubris that created the fiasco in Iraq. When they first lied us into this mess, they said it would take 90 days at the most. Now they are trying to say it's a decades-long struggle. They want it both ways.

Donald Rumsfeld is on record, we learned this week, as having said he "would fire" the next person to demand a follow-up plan in Iraq. He was worried that if the American People were made aware of what was really involved they wouldn't permit Bush to invade.

We are now stuck in a civil war that we allowed to happen. Whoever we side with, half the country will hate us. Peter Galbraith, former US ambassador to Croatia, and currently senior diplomatic fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, is the author of The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End (2006), which argues that the U.S.'s "main error" in Iraq has been "wishful thinking" and advocates acceptance of a "partition" of Iraq into three parts as part a new U.S. "strategy based on the reality of Iraq" (The End of Iraq, pp. 4, 12, 222, 224).

Here's his latest op-ed.

Here's a piece about how the Neocons thought of themselves as being "creators of history" and scorned those of us in the "reality-based world":

Keith Olbermann is emerging as a powerful voice of truth. Here's his blog.

Sydney Blumenthal is always really good.

CBS polishes Dubya's turds...

They had Rush Limbaugh spewing his lies on prime time evening news. He made some glib, cynical swipes at those who question "a few little incidents at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo" and then returned to the mantra of "good against evil, free against totalitarian" that has been used to lie us into this rhetorical armageddon that's been concocted by the Bushies to keep us cowed and to divert the debate from the failed Bush presidency.

Here's the letter I just fired off to CBS:

"I am FURIOUS to see how you have become nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. Giving prime, “first in a series” airspace to a pretend-pundit demagogue like Rush Limbaugh is disgraceful.

It is an inflammatory gesture, and blatant pandering. Your fig-leaf of fairness left with Bob Shieffer. In his short screed, Limbaugh defamed the patriotism of more than 60% of the country and based his slander on distortions and omissions. Questioning the criminal negligence and war-profiteering of the Neocon occupiers of our government is our patriotic duty, and your propping up of a traitor who says otherwise is shameless, disgraceful, and treasonous.

You are giving credibility to a proven liar, and a close advisor to our most partisan president. In doing so, you are aligning with them and are obvious shills. I used to like CBS, now I hate you. You are traitors.

I will make a point to boycott all of your advertisers – though I don’t use pharmaceuticals, SUVs, or insurance, the three entities that own the Bush administration, and as we long expected, you."

And this emerged in conversation last night:

The War on Poverty [1968]
The War on Drugs [1981]
The War on Terror [2001]

Three disasterous Republican rhetorical "wars" that really stand for:

The War on the Poor
The War on non-corporate drug users
The War on Reason

There is a war going on - a war between Islamic Jihad-fury and Western bungling - with Bush as the ugliest American.

RAVE: Gore-Clinton in 2008

Al Gore for President, Bill Clinton for Vice-President. They'd win in a landslide, and it would be constitutionally legal. And the Repiglicans would go NUTS.

...And so castles made of sand...melt in the sea...

Like a topping forest fire, Republican Congressmen and their aides pass the horror around, trying to shed it, unable to hide from the growing web of Truth that envelops them all. [see: http://www.jackinthehouse.org/How Jack Abramoff Bought Congress - a 4 year old site, but kept updated - explains the whole sordid thing...] Norm Ornstein said last night on Jim Lehrer that as many as SIXTY Republican Congressmen may be implicated. Are "Conservatism" - "Republicanism" - "Neoconism" headed for the junk heap of political history? It's hard to say, except that after the next 3 grueling, lawyer-infested, Nixonian-Gotterdammerung years, a Republican probably won't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected, hopefully for decades.

War profiteers, looters, and incompetent cronies have taken over our government, wrapping themselves in flags and bibles. Exploiting social differences and leveraging them into huge rifts, they have divided our country deliberately to get into power, then defrauded the us into a disasterously bungled war. Draft dodging bureaucrats have control of the United States Military. They have squandered military intelligence, strategic advantage in the world conflict with Jihad, and almost 9 Trillion Dollars. They have sold us out to the Chinese, so their Enron-Buddies can funnel everything out of here before the sh*t hits the fan.

The Bush Davidians and their Dittohead President do not have a monopoly on patriotism. This is not a country where only those who agree with him support the troops and care about defending our country, no matter how Limbaugh and Rove twist it.

Now, any Republican hoping to get re-elected has to distance himself from Bush - which splinters his base terribly. Ouch.

The Disgrace of Tom Delay

January 15, 2006

Yes, the debacle in the White House is bad for the Republicans, and bad for the Bush administration and the "Bush Davidians."

But think about how good it is for the United States, the public interest, and the rest of the world! The sooner we remove the pestilence from our government, the sooner we can begin to heal.

The question is, after all of Bush's crony-assistants have been indicted, why should any of his judicial and administrative appointments be trusted? Why should any of his opinions be trusted? Why is he still President? Shouldn't we impeach him, now? Should a proven incompetent be allowed to fly the plane? How much more damage will he do in the next 3 years?
Here are some well crafted sentences:

"Tom Delay didn't invent the hyperpartisan system that has seriously damaged our way of government, ignoring everyday voices and concerns in favor of special interests. But he has championed that system, often skating on the ethical, if not the legal, edge and assuring that money speaks the loudest in Washington, and only with a Republican tongue.
It is a legacy of which he actually seems proud, which may be a bigger indictment against him than the criminal charges brought in Austin."

By CLAY ROBISON, Houston Chronicle

Foundations of Neo-Republicanism

Paraphrasing Shakespeare, from Measure for Measure:

"Bush, proud Bush, dressed in his little brief authority, most ignorant of what he's most assured, his glassy essence, like an angry ape, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep; who with our spleens would all themselves laugh mortal."

Neocon bigots are truly the pot calling the kettle black when they accuse Democrats of not wanting to hand over the store because of "anti-Arab bigotry." The real racism is in the Neocons themselves, in their arrogant assumption that the Iraqi "savages" [as Ann Coulter calls them] would flock to Western Ways the second we got rid of Saddam. Neocon hubris and racism drove us into this disasterous situation.

Dubya started a war he couldn't finish, and when he tells the threadbare lie that "they attacked us on 9/11 so we're taking the war to them-" he's just mouthing Dittohead pap - and showing that "them," to his dimwitted bigotry, just means all those people running around in their pajamas over there. [The 9/11 Commission stated definitively that Hussein did not have WMD and was not working with Al Qaida. It's Bush-Limbaugh-bigotry to assume "they're all in cahoots with each other."]

Neoconservative 'thought' derives from among other things a childish idolization of Ronald Reagan, and for the pinheads, the novels of Ayn Rand, with their survival-of-the-richest economic Darwinism.

Ronald Reagan's Hollywood bravado impressed the Neocons, but their sentiment blinds them to the fact that Islamic Jihad, or "terror" as Bush so clumsily puts it, cannot be swept away as easily as were the cobwebs of failed Socialism that Ronnie brushed aside. Reagan was not the "Greatest President of All Time," as O'Reilly droned during the funeral, he was a B-movie actor portraying the Greatest President of all Time.

Ayn Rand, that girlish romantic, also captured the narrow eye of the Neocons, and their surface analysis of her message has them John Galt-ing the United States into oblivion. Her adolescent fantasies about a Republican Shangri-la don't hold water, and don't forget either, kids, that Galt's Valley was entirely powered by a generator the size of a suitcase. Ayn's superheroes had sense, and didn't take their "Virtue of Selfishness" to mean they were entitled to trash the world in an angry, ham-handed tantrum.

Bush has painted himself into a corner. He has driven the ship of state into the rocks. He has squandered the position of strategic advantage that he was entrusted with. He has betrayed the trust of the American People in a bewildering array of stunts, from Terry Shaivo and Mike Brown, to his degradation of our Military, his decimation of Medicare and to the ocean of Red Ink that surrounds us. Not only are WE not safer, the world is not safer, thanks to George Bush and the Neocon rabble that run him.

In the adored "business model" of Republicans, does a CEO that bankrupts the company, bungles his management duties, and "loses" hundreds of billions of dollars [see: Halliburton] get to keep his job? When the company's jugular vein is being handed over to its arch-enemy, and the President says: "I hadn't heard about it-" do we sit by and do nothing? [This one was written 2/26/06, just after the Dubai Ports scandal, when they were getting ready to hand our ports to a potentially hostile Arab country.]

The Neocon Strategy

When Bush says, for example: "some people say Iraq is in a Civil War," "some people" is code for Democrats or other White House opponents. In describing what his opponents advocate, Bush often omits an important nuance or substitutes an extreme stance that bears little resemblance to their actual position. He typically then says he 'strongly disagrees' -- conveniently knocking down a straw man of his own making.

Below-the-belt strategies like this are what Neocon Republicans depend on. What the Republicans revealed during their muckraking frenzy in the 90's was that the gloves were off, honor was by the wayside, and now we're fighting like girls - anything goes. Power at any cost. Any lie was acceptable, as long as it was on the Drudge Report long enough to metastasize into the unwitting old-media, the ones who still played by the rules. Subsequent debunkings were always lost in the blizzard of new lies. The Fox Network provided a sheen of legitimacy while imparting torrents of lies, indistinguishable from real news to the credulous, advertising-dulled trained consumer-seals that make billions for McDonalds and who support Bush.

The monumental falsehood that Republicans stand for Morality, Ethical Behavior, and Fiscal Responsibility has been shown for what it is. Attacking the media, attacking the polls, and dividing the country with their "Culture War," Neocon Republicans are attacking the very fabric of our Constitutional system. What a lot of people still don't quite get is that these are madmen. They believe they are God-Empowered, and that the Apocalypse is nigh. Bush is flippant and cheerful because that worked for Ronnie, so they're using it again. They have driven the ship of state into the rocks, and are now passing the buck to the next Presidency.

The Republican mantra that "The Democrats have no ideas" is idiotic. Bumper Sticker slogans are the kind of ideas they're thinking of, the only kind of ideas they have. "Ideas," rather priorities for Democrats are the only priorities a patriot could possibly have - to wrest our country back from traitors before it's too late. Bush denies that Iraq is in a Civil War. Our own ambassador to Iraq flatly contradicts the President. Bush would probably deny that the United States is in a Constitutional Crisis - but reality itself contradicts him from the foundation stones of our Country.

We can take the Country back in November. Only then will we be able to demand accountability from the criminals currently in charge. Prosecuting Ken Lay is not "playing the blame game" or "vindictive partisan politics" - the parallel with Bush is obvious. Criminals, war profiteers, and traitors should be called to account. For prime examples of petty partisan politics, examine Republican behavior, it is their stock in trade. If we can take back the country, we can begin the process of restoring dignity to our military, by getting them out of an untenable, demoralizing situation. Iraq will descend into chaos, whether we stay or go, it makes no difference.

Here's a Democratic idea: Energy Independence. We went to the Moon, we went to Mars, we can figure out how to stop whoring ourselves to crooked Texans and Oil Sheiks. We've cured cancers - we can end our dependence on fossil fuels.

And then there's Public Financing of Political Campaigns - we have to control the pigs at the trough...

Climate Change vs. Rush Limbaugh

Republicans don't have to believe over 200 degreed and peer-reviewed scientists from around the world.

Republicans don't have to believe the people who live in the Arctic who say the permafrost is melting for the first time in human memory.

Republicans only need to believe Rush Limbaugh, a draft-dodging drug addict shill for the Oil Corporations that run the country.

Republicans are faith-based - faith in criminals. Faith in the cigarette corporation lawyers and "scientists" who say that cigarettes are harmless. Faith in Neocon war-profiteers who try to connect bin Laden with Iraq. Faith in market researched non-issues like Terry Schaivo's feeding tube.

Because Republicans abdicate their responsibility of being informed, and cling to their anti-social ideology at the expense of science, the public interest, and the truth, they are immoral, depraved traitors.

Their "gotcha" politics, their glib, flippant swagger, their jingoism, their contempt for the truth, is juvenile and a disgrace.

Republicanism is a cancer, destroying Western Civilization. It's defenders are beneath contempt and beyond redemption.

RAVE: Rainbows /// RANT: Miserable, Tormented Neocons

For all of you hate-drunk, bitter, cynical, constipated Republicans, who love to uglify everything in your own image, this is from a CBS 4 Denver article about the Gathering:

"The next phase includes re-seeding the area. The Rainbows said they don't even want it to look like there were trails and roads. They want it all to be re-vegetated. The Forest Service complimented them on their efforts to clean up. They said they have a very good record when it comes to that. But they also told me it may be a couple of years before the seeds fill in the bare areas out there. They want to use native vegetation as well. The Rainbows said in time, you won't even know that they were there, that it would look like it used to, and they said to check other gathering sites for proof of that. It may still be a week or so before all of the work is done."

Andrea Lopez

Questioning a Failed Policy does not equal Terrorism

Neocon spin doctors push the drivel that questioning Bush is treason.

Cheney, mouthing the latest lie, knows damn well that, far from making us safer, "an aggressive posture" on Iraq has had the exact opposite effect. In a survey of 100 top foreign-policy experts (both Republicans and Democrats), 84 believed that we're losing the war on terror and 87 thought Iraq has had a negative impact on our efforts to defeat terrorists.

This is a war that 60 percent of Americans are against. A war that is the defining foreign policy initiative of the Bush administration -- an initiative that has been an abject failure on every level. A war that has put the GOP's back against the electoral wall. So it's firing back with it's favorite weapon -- fear -- trying to make the case that being against the war somehow makes Ned Lamont soft on national security or, as RNC chair Ken Mehlman put it, "a leading proponent of the isolationist, defeatist, blame-America-first philosophy."

The 60% in question know that being against the war in Iraq doesn't mean you are against fighting the war on terror. It means you are against a failed policy that has created more terrorists than it has killed, that has cost America 2,591 lives and $305 billion dollars, that has thrown Iraq into a bloody sectarian civil war, and that has so lessened our standing abroad that we are unable to be a real power broker in an exploding Middle East.

John Kerry effectively counterattacked the Republican's scare tactics nonsense today [8/11/06] -- and every Democratic leader should do the same every day, without fail, until the message finally breaks through the static. The thwarted London attacks, said Kerry, "expose the misleading myth that we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here. In fact, the war in Iraq has become a dangerous distraction... Nearly five years after the attacks of 9/11, we are not as safe as we can and must be... The 9/11 Commission's recommendations to secure our most vulnerable infrastructure remain virtually ignored. And homeland security funding has been cut for cities like Boston and New York.

One of the main reasons this has happened is that Congressional Democrats have failed to hold the Bush administration accountable for taking its eye off the national security ball in order to pursue its imperial adventure in Iraq. It's worth noting that the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee is none other than Joe Lieberman, whose belief in bipartisan comity has kept him from holding the White House's feet to the fire. No wonder Karl Rove wanted to help him out, and Dick Cheney feels so concerned by his defeat.

It's hard not to hate traitors....

The Bushies tearfully call anyone questioning Bush a "Bush-Hater," thinking, in their myopic and confused way, that it's an insult. It's not.

Bush, the Neocons, and the dupes who support them are the biggest danger facing the civilized world.

The Neocons are fundamentally confused about the situation in the Middle East, and have botched and bungled a critical situation, changing the course of world history in an extremely negative and dangerous direction.

At home they have handed the government over to rapist corporations, and have attempted to gut the great Middle Class that is the backbone of the country.

War profiteering traitors occupy the White House. Anyone who loves this country cannot help but hate them. The yapping of their supporters is a disgrace.

Desperate Republicans

Their strategy of blaming the messenger, calling their critics terrorists, and fearmongering are getting more and more stale. Their broad-brush Limbaughisms are believable only to the stupidest of people. Dubya's empty platitudes and slogans are transparent lies, and an insult to anyone with a brain.

They lied us into a disasterous war for oil, which they then bungled miserably. "Terrorism" was their excuse - but as a response to Islamic Jihad, invading Iraq was perhaps the stupidest possible thing we could have done.

Afghanistan, which we were right to liberate, is now coming under Taliban rule again, because we're distracted in Iraq. The civil war in Iraq puts us in the position of alienating half of the country, no matter WHO we side with.

They ignore their responsibility to the public interest. They sneer at the Middle Class. They are incompetent liars, war-profiteers, and traitors. THROW THEM OUT!

To The Carbabies

[This was from about 2003 when http://changingtheclimate.org was more radical...]

To the Carbabies:

Wastefulness is as American as Apple Pie! Throw it away! There's ALWAYS More!

What better way to compensate for being shallow and empty than to drive around in a prosthetic body extension that multiplies your personal real estate by a factor of 40 or 50?

Wallow in your big shiny status symbol, seal yourself off from the inferior masses, and thumb your nose at contemptible pedestrians.

Eliminate nagging doubts about the worth of your existence by pressing the gas pedal, and leaving them in your dust.

Seal yourself off from everything around you; experience the world through glass, metal, and filtered air.

Dive into the seething rivers of steel and wait; enjoy your wait with your cell phone, your laptop, your cd player. Do not connect with all of the other individuals waiting in their cars; do not make eye contact.

Drug yourself with prozac, nicotine, and a million other things, so you can ignore the famed Black Forest in Germany that is dead from acid rain, or the air in Mexico City that is so filthy that you can catch hepatitis from breathing. Turn up the volume on your 6 disc cd player so you can forget the thousands of wells in India that are poisoned with cyanide, the Black Sea in Russia, which is dying, or Semipalitinsk, where radiation deformities plague locals 30 years after the experiments.

Adjust your electric seat to distract you from thinking about what it will be like here in 20, 40, or 100 years, when it is as crowded as China, when there is no intelligent government, and everything is as trashed out as it is in Mexico, Russia, or India.

Flash your foglights at the idiot in front of you to remind you that you will somehow be lucky or rich enough to escape to one of the enclaves of cleanliness and order that will remain in the sea of trash.

Look around and luxuriate in all of the space inside your vehicle that is distinctly YOURS, and remember that everyone is implicated; everyone who eats or uses a toothbrush is part of the transportation grid. If you sneeze you're a polluter. Why try to streamline? Burn it up! You Worked for it. You Deserve it.

The two largest corporations in the world are General Motors and Exxon. Carbabies should be sent to a planet entirely paved with John Elway parking lots jammed with idling Excursions, Tahoes, and Suburbans, to give them a glimpse of the world they are creating.

Put a sticker on Every One of 'em.