happy holidays

Hello all! I have just replaced my broken monitor, which led to a week+ of no content on this page, with a new widescreen Dell. I will be as prolific as ever in the new year. I wish everyone the best, especially President Bush. He is having a really bad year. The way I see it, he should abdicate as he has so soundly bought into his own faulty logic that he is proceeding into battle with a shining sword that is bright with the strength of his own conviction and covered with the blood of everyone he has sent into Iraq. May the new year bring us new direction and the semblance of leadership.

happy holidays

Hello all! I have just replaced my broken monitor, which led to a week+ of no content on this page, with a new widescreen Dell. I will be as prolific as ever in the new year. I wish everyone the best, especially President Bush. He is having a really bad year. The way I see it, he should abdicate as he has so soundly bought into his own faulty logic that he is proceeding into battle with a shining sword that is bright with the strength of his own conviction and covered with the blood of everyone he has sent into Iraq. May the new year bring us new direction and the semblance of leadership.

who loves kids, certainly not you.

I've been busy at work, so I apologize for feeding you commentary on a subject that is yesterday's news. I still think it is pretty amusing though.

Democratic Congressman, Steny Hoyer (D-MD), announced that when the House reconvenes next year, he will be try to push for a five day work week. That's right, Monday through Friday. Just like the rest of us. A bold move for Congressman Hoyer, considering the House will have met... let say around 71 days during 2006. Not very impressive. A whole ~60 days less than the average for congress during the 80s and 90s. And you wonder why people are complaining about lack of government oversight. It's a Republican's dream, small government! What government? What oversight?! All that really existed was the Executive Branch... and he wasn't really there all the time either.

Republican Jack Kingston wasn't too happy at the news.

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Considering the rest of us work about 260 days (ok, with vacation let's go for 240 to be fair) a year and most of us also don't make $160k a year... do I need to continue? Sure, I understand that congressmen and women need to be in their home states with their constituents, but this is also the job they signed up for. So if Democrats don't care about families because they want congressmen to work more and be away from their families... big corporations, government organizations, and small business want us to work five days a week too, that would mean... I see where this is going? Uh oh.

The Myth of the American Free Market

An excellent article by David Sirota on the myth of the American free market. People should know by now that we have never been "free market capitalists". We are and have always been "what's best for the American economy and will put up whatever protectionist barriers and tariffs we want to" capitalists. We only push for free markets and rapid market liberalization in developing countries and those in debt before we go in and squash them even further into debt. But that's just the cynical extremist inside me talking, Sirota actually has a very detailed and thorough discussion on the subject. It is worth your time to read.

Flattening the Great Education Myth & the Free Market Fundamentalists
David Sirota

Partisan War Syndrome rages across the progressive blogosphere. Wall Street Democrats hide their corporate fealty by declaring a new era of "The Common Good," claiming as their own a term their arch enemy, Noam Chomsky, coined years ago. Democratic lawmakers cheer about bringing a "change" to Washington, talk up important efforts to better-fund education, then quietly begin reassuring K Street that all will be the same when it comes to structural economic issues.
And lost in the din is the most important question: will free market fundamentalism finally be openly challenged?

That is the question I pose in today's San Francisco Chronicle in an op-ed entitled "Flattening the Great Education Myth." The piece describes a recent community meeting here in Helena, Montana and how local officials, hamstrung by a national trade policy that undermines their communities, are forced to focus exclusively on education as the way to build the economy. But, as the hard data shows, we cannot simply educate our way out of the problems associated with a globalization policy whereby our economy is regulated exclusively to enhance multinational corporate profits - and not to enhance ordinary people's lives.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/flattening-the-great-educ_b_35511.html

Fear Has Gotten the Best of Us

Yet another disgusting example of how the War on Terror has really crippled America as a nation founded on principle, morality, and combating injustice. Radio host Jerry Klein, in a bit of a social experiment, suggested that Muslims in the United States be marked with some sort of identification, be it a arm band or a crescent moon tattoo. Instantly the phone lines lit up, some expressing how sick the suggestion was, and the majority applauding such a suggestion.

"'The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans." "'
"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL (http://www.wmal.com/), which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland

"For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.

"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."

Has our nation been profoundly changed for the worse by the War on Terror? Sadly, I would have to say yes.

Quotations from: Read Reuters article

Dennis Prager makes himself look like an idiot

Keith Ellison will be sworn in as the first Muslim in the House of Representatives when the 110th Congress opens up for business next year. Dennis Prager, a conservative columnists saw this as an opportunity to claim that Ellison would be sworn in and take the oath of office on the Koran, and subsequently went on a tirade about how such an act would be ridiculous.

What's more ridiculous, the notion of Ellison taking his oath on a Koran or Ellison's lack of understanding about the House of Representatives and the US Constitution (and disguised racism)?

“If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book [the Bible], don’t serve in Congress... Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? "

These sorts of comments are written to incite a sort of xenophobia not seen in America for decades. It takes advantage of the current War on Terror and events of 9/11 to in effect, limit the rights of Muslims living as American citizens. What Prager repeats over and over again is that American tradition is being trod upon and that it threatens our very way of life. What nonsense. Keith Ellison is an elected official is deserves the respect of everyone, not for his religion, but for his character. Prager is trying to turn him into some anti-American monster before the man has even taken office.

The facts are this. The House of Representatives does not have people sworn in on any book, be it the Bible, Torah, or the Koran. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi will have the Congressmen and women raise their hands and take the oath on the floor of the House together, in the absence of any holy book.

It is ridiculous to think that one should even be required to take an oath on the Bible. The oath exists as a show of allegiance to the nation that as a public servant, the US Constitution will be upheld. Any ritual requiring those taking the oath to use a book, are impressed to do so as a show that they are willing to swear before that which they hold most holy. It would seem obvious that if you are pledging an oath, you would do so in the presence of your God(s), your holy book (if you are of the religious persuasion at least), so that your oath is meaningful to you. For Jews or Muslims to swear on the Christian Bible would be like asking someone to swear on some random person's first born child.

Also making the comment that 'those unwilling to swear upon the Bible should not run for office' is far more anti-American than any pledging upon the Koran.

Article XI of the US CONSTITUION.
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."


I can't tell if Dennis Prager is actually interested in American tradition or if he's trying to stoke the fire of American aversion towards Muslims. His words are not dissimilar to those of Joseph McCarthy during the second Red Scare.

Coulter: Mean and Nonsensical

The New York Daily News likes to pick on Columbia University a lot. Because FOX likes to invite Ann Coulter to opine on anything and everything, she jumped on the fray and made all kinds of ludicrous statements. Comments ranged from really mean to just plain weird.

Talking about a S&M demonstration: "they could go on the web to ask the Imam for how large the branch can be to beat your wife with"

Uh... "Christians have more sex, better sex, more sexual satisfaction, so you know they need to have to form clubs to figure out what evangelicals have right away, you want a sex club, become an evangelical."

Somehow insinuating that joining a S&M interest group is for the purpose of having sex that they couldn't otherwise have... "You don't expect them to have to join a club, that's why i'm saying they are the biggest losers on campus, they always are".

Speaking about culture back in the day "would such people be allowed to remain on campus"

Speaking on where this cultural crudeness comes from... "somewhat university campuses, most of all the culture of children raised without two married parents... let's take a poll of the members of that club and see how many of the girls in that club grew up sleeping in the same house as their fathers."

Why she laughs when the host brings up the question of the University regulating such behavior is beyond me. I thought I would never hear the day when Ann Coulter would say that you can go into private establishments and regulate what they do (assuming they aren't committing a crime); actually what am I saying? Ann Coulter has made a living out of distorting the truth and lying to people's faces, why should anything she does surprise us?

Watch the video here:
VIDEO!!

conservatives hang your heads

Tomorrow morning, regardless of if the Democrats sweep the House and the Senate or just one of the two, it will be clear who screwed up: Karl Rove, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Since the Iraq War began, the Bush administration, and thus the loyal Republican Party, has stood on the shoulders of one issue, fighting terrorism. It is not that the war on terrorism is an unworthy cause to rally around, it was that it was the ONLY cause that they rallied around.

Karl Rove has been credited by many people on all sides of the political aisle for being a genius; a master manipulator and strategist of epic proportions. His strategy was to find in all political races, a weakness that could best be exploited to the American public. To his credit, that strategy worked; it worked for a long time and it got many Republicans into office, but again, a one strategy approach is extremely risky. This midterm election, campaign races were ugly, they were the ugliest and the dirtiest I have seen since I developed a political consciousness. I speculate, given Rove’s history of pulling strings, that a lot of the negative ads were either suggested by or inspired by him. Americans saw that the ads were nasty. Americans saw that conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh were cruel. Americans saw that there was one issue that they were called to rally around and to be honest, I think we all were tired of being scared by the specter of terrorism.

The Bush administration has centered on the Iraq War for a long time. We must stay the course. We must spread freedom in the Middle East. We must drum up Democratic inadequacy at protecting the average American. Placing all of their eggs in one basket was successful when things seemed to be going according to plan, but as most of us know, what we expect rarely occurs according to plan. Iraq has been a disaster. Thousands of American soldiers have lost their lives, a two-digit multiple of that number of civilian Iraqis have been killed, and there is no peaceful light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest at this point, the end of the tunnel doesn't even exist yet. Part of this can be blamed on poor planning for post de-Baathification Iraq, part of it on the shoulders of Iraqis not stepping up and taking control of their country and sectarian violence, and a large part of it is a single minded Department of Defense strategy that rejected those individuals and ideas who were best suited for Iraqi reconstruction and planning for war.

Republicans by an enormous majority margin supported the Bush administration in its march into Iraq. There were few voices of dissent and even less of a substantive effort to have the administration embrace accountability for its failures. If you ask the President, Rumsfeld, or Cheney, you will be told that there have been no failures, that we are on the right track, and that they will see their plan through to the end. The American public however views Iraq as a failure. In a Republican controlled House, Senate, and Executive branch of government, Republicans had an opportunity to bring a conservative framework to America, in both legislative and social aspects; a conservative ideology which in my opinion would be more than welcome by the majority of America. The true conservative spirit of America was failed, plain and simple. Government is not smaller, spending is out of control, our borders are not secure, and the focus of government has been on job retention and not serving the public interests. In six years we have not fixed a faulty voting system, we have not addressed illegal immigration, we have outspent every past Presidential administration to date, government has in fact gotten larger, we have not prepared ourselves for the jobs of the 21st century, we have left millions of children behind, and we have sacrificed our moral foundations that for centuries have made us great.

Without any other issues to fall back upon, the Bush administration came up empty. This was an extremely unfortunate outcome for a number of Republicans who have served their states and constituents well, the failures of the Presidency and Republican majority ruined their current career. Tom Keane Jr, Lincoln Chafee, Chris Shays (who right now looks like he might win, we’ll see tomorrow), Anne Northup, etc; people who are in my opinion, good public servants, who are being run out by general mass dissatisfaction with the Bush administration. By stubbornly clinging to a failed policy and focusing so heavily on one issue and one issue alone, Bush and his party have not only angered America but also put Republican legislators’ jobs in jeopardy. The American people have spoken and they are tired of being scared shitless every time the approval rating goes down and the economy is in not doing well. Tomorrow, if we are lucky, the United States gets back on track and checks and balances means something again.

Security straight out of the Middle Ages

The United States is pushing to build a 700 mile fence between Mexico and the United States. Israel is considering the construction of a moat by the Egypt-Gaza border. Not that they are bad ideas, per say, but I get the feeling that instead of actually solving problems we are blocking ourselves away from them. Should we catapult North Korea?

Republican Outrage!

In the aftermath of Mark Foley's being exposed at a pedophile and a page predator, we have not heard much about how to protect congressional pages. We have not heard much about how this went silent for more than four years (the truth is coming out as Republicans are stepping up during election time) and we have not heard much about the actual issue at all. What we have heard is that somewhere, somehow, it's all the Democrats' fault.

Newt Gingrich has bellowed that Democrats are hypocrites for their condemnation of Foley, Hastert, and the Republicans. More Conservative commentators that I can count on both hands have said it is disgraceful that the Democrats chose to reveal this during election time. When exactly was a good time for this? After the election, so that the election wasn't distracted and pages could exchange nasty emails with congressmen? Months before the election so that Democrats could be accused of trying to divert the conversation about their lack of persuasive plan for America? Many months before the election so that Bill O'Reilly could tear someone apart on TV and cite a general lack of concrete and substantive evidence?

The most likely scenario is that the Democrats found out about Foley recently, much more recent than the Republicans (and by that I mean the Republicans had a couple year head start to do damage control) and they waited a little bit to do maximum damage to the GOP during November elections. What is ridiculous about this condemnation is that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, slings the mud and digs up the dirt during election time. Why is it that when the Republicans do it, it is strategy, and when the Democrats do it it is moral depravity? Could the "swiftboat veterans" have attacked John Kerry earlier so as to not disrupt a PRESIDENTIAL election? Couldn't the GOP have waited until after the 2000 election to have called President Clinton out on his affair with Lewinsky, so as to not use moral bankruptcy and family values and Clinton as a weapon against Gore? Could Democrats have waited until... two decades from now to break out the big guns against Jack Abramoff? Democratic and Republican strategists exist to use every bit of news, scandal, and their opponents missteps or fabricated missteps to boost the chances of winning for their candidate.

That is how Washington works. I think the "OMG it's outrageous that you would expose this time bomb now" mentality is coming out of the woodwork because nobody expected the Democrats to grow a backbone, adopt Republican strategies and come out swinging.

Ideally campaigns should be about issues and not dirty laundry. That is something I will explore in my next post, right after I bake my pizza.