Distilled Insanity

Not sure how many have heard of the Westboro "Baptist" Church headed by the lunatic Fred Phelps, who for reasons quite unclear has decided that homosexuality is the demon behind all evil on the planet. Forget about greed, envy, pride, sloth, gluttony, or anything else. The root of all evil is a sexual encounter with another of the same gender. That's the reason we're in Iraq. That's why gangs guard turf and drug wars shed blood on our streets. Homosexuality is the root of all evil, the cause of global warming, the health care crisis, poverty, hunger, genocide, racism, the plight of women in developing countries, domestic violence, drug addiction and alcoholism, extortion and organized crime, corruption, traffic congestion, and bad television programs. That's why our national debt is pushing $10T. Were it not for men touching other men and women touching other women, there would be no war, no famine, no crime.

Turkey, Iraq and Iran would peacefully concede territory to create Kurdistan, and Spain and France would grant the Basque people the turf for their own sovereign nation. God would love us and solve all our problems. Vladimir Putin and Russia would ignore hundreds of years of history and culture and embrace democracy and separation of powers, and the United States would not put a vegetable in the White House.

Can anyone shed light on this madness? Biology is biology. 4% of men and 2% of women are born with a sexual attraction to the same gender. They did not choose it any more than heterosexuals choose. Did you choose? What pathology causes an individual to develop an obsessive, compulsive, life consuming hatred towards a particular group? I can grasp the primitive mind experiencing initial fear of another race upon the first encounter, a simple fear of the unknown. Their skin color is different. What does that mean? Well, find out.

I acknowledge that if a silver craft lands in my backyard and gray creatures with big black eyes approach, I'll be nervous, but in the absence of data, I won't shoot first. If they are evil conquerers out to kill us all, and I am first, I'm toast.

What is it with Phelps living a life utterly consumed by hatred? He has organized his entire being around the hatred of homosexuality. Why? I will assume the reader has heard of the outrageous protests. Well, the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, a soldier killed in Iraq whose funeral was disrupted by these nuts decided to contact attorneys and sue these quacks. They won.

Somehow I don't think God hates. Fine with me, however, if the Almighty can kick serious ass when a serious ass-kicking is entirely appropriate.

An Unprecedented Election

The 2008 Election presents unexplored and new terrain for all participants and observers as factors and forces we are only beginning to understand wield their influence on voter sentiment, turnout, and behavior.

FACTOR ONE: Generation Next. Web 2.0 geeks familiar with the stratification of technophilia know that omnivore no longer refers to a vegetarian, but to Generation Next, a multi-digitally enabled Facebook networked cell phone camera text messaging iPod equipped population that cannot remember a world without a personal computer.

Now, they vote. Until recently, even at voting age, they were too into themselves and each other to care about politics. I trust my reader can guess what might have changed that. Hint: body bags, torture, lies, corruption. Hint 2: global warming. They inherit the frog we’re boiling. Among this crowd, word gets around in nanoseconds. While not news junkies tapping into CNN every hour, they are more aware than earlier youth.

Immediate considerations: Web advertising, YouTube, Campaign Web sites and donation functionality and strategies. Deeper considerations: Omnivores embrace diversity, care little about the border thing, even less about homosexuality, and really don’t get why children shouldn’t have health insurance. Some are quite religious, but even the most religious of them have a problem with intolerance, and speaking of that.

FACTOR TWO: Fracturing Faith. The NY Times has an outstanding David Kirkpatrick article on the fragmentation of the evangelical movement and US Christendom in general, and the fissures run deep and powerful. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and others are experiencing their own versions of soul searching and rifts from the pro GOP status quo, as increasing portions of the congregation start flexing their foreheads about all this damnation and rallying cry around two "demons" destroying society, homosexuality and abortion.

Some of these Christians read the Bible, and a few pay attention to the words of Jesus Christ. He says remarkably little about homosexuality or abortion but has quite a bit to say about the poor, peace, forgiveness, and this notion of judging and condemning others.

The Times article quotes Paul Hill, a young pastor who left his church to form his own, the Wheatland Mission in ultra-conservative Wichita. "Times have changed. I think people will hear the Gospel better when it is expressed not just verbally but holistically, through acts of hospitality and by bringing people together. In the evangelical church in general there is kind of a push back against the Republican party and a feeling of being used by the Republican political machine," he continued. "There are going to be a lot of evangelicals willing to vote for a Democrat because there are 40 million people without health insurance and a Democrat is going to do something about that."

Rick Warren, an evangelical minister and author of the highly influential The Purpose Driven Life, states, "If more Christians worked to alleviate needs in their local communities, the church would become known more for the love it shows than for what it is against."

One of the most influential leaders in US Christendom, Bill Hybels, whose Willow Creek Association includes over 12,000 churches, speaks of a renewed attention to Jesus’ teachings about social justice, "We are interested in more than your two or three issues. We are interested in the poor, in racial reconciliation, in global poverty and AIDS, in the plight of women in the developing world."

FACTOR THREE: The Iraq War. It’s a quagmire founded on a lie for the oil industry. Greenspan said what everyone knows, acknowledging the fat, greasy elephant in the room and the bloody mess greedy and arrogant warmongers inflicted on the country. The casualties mount and the GOP, in what could be an act of political Hara-kiri, continues to provide Bush the votes to prevent the override of vetoes or legislation to stop his adamant and inflexible position to "stay the course" despite increasing evidence that events are slipping out of control into dynamics not intended by Lord Cheney.

Lord Cheney and Big Oil’s blood for oil scheme has shifted onto precarious terrain where instead of the scrum delicious deals where Hunt, ExxonMobile, and others get to march into Iraq and turn that crank, the more traditional arrangements, like those in place with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and OPEC nations will occur, where the sovereign nations, not US corporations, run the show. Over 75% of the country sees the body bags and doesn’t give a flying F about Cheney’s finance project. Polls show outrageous disapproval of Congress, and amazingly shortsighted GOP mouthpieces think it’s a reflection on Democratic incumbents, and it is, sort of. Google your poll of choice to disaggregate the disapproval by party, and disapproval with the GOP towers over that of the Democrats. They are frustrated that the Democrats cannot get the votes to get us out. They froth at the mouth towards the die hard GOP goons letting Bush remain his obstinate self.

Cheney is now throwing his member around about Iran. Can you imagine? I don’t think I have ever seen a White House so utterly unconcerned about its political party or the people it is supposed to represent.

FACTOR FOUR: The Economy. We face a growing rich poor gap that is crucifying the middle class and a bona fide health insurance crisis the GOP cannot see if it’s placed in front of their noses. The Bush Cheney tax cuts and economic policies screw 99% of the country to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to multi-millionaires, marginalizing increasing portions of the population to meager or sub-meager economic conditions. The veto of the S-Chip legislation and (predictably) version two passed this week flaunts a loud “Screw Yourselves!” to over 80% of the country and popular GOP members of Congress. 80%!!! The GOP votes that sustain the veto draw political blood. If evangelical Christians are shifting to the left, what do you think is happening with the rest of the country?

Remember, every time the GOP candidates howl about tax cuts and keeping taxes low, they are talking about those who make over $300,000 per year. If you make less than $100,000, you get nothing. Astute Democrats will POUND this issue in 2008, and we have this thing called a national debt, and should I mention social security and the demise of pensions in the face of retiring boomers?

FACTOR FIVE: The Environment. Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth won him a Nobel Prize. The proliferation of evidence supporting global warming as well as the Bush administration’s blatant efforts to suppress, distort, edit, modify and LIE about scientific research clearly supporting the impending disaster have created resentment and green sentiments about sustainability that continue to escalate in strength, depth and volume.

Web 2.0 technology and voting omnivores, deep fissures in the religious right, the horrible war and the corruption, arrogance, and incompetence it spotlights, and profound concerns about the failure to address both the economy and the environment point to a razor blade laden path for almost every Republican defending or seeking a seat in 2008.

A Day in the Life

Tucson, Arizona. A friend of mine will die this weekend for medical reasons not worth describing. Perhaps he takes the red step tomorrow, maybe Sunday. He will not wait until Monday. AR still has all of his mental faculties, and although weak, he can walk and use his hands for simple tasks. He asked WP and me to spend some time with him a day this week, driving him to certain places including the desert. Of course we agreed.

We drove AR up north towards Oracle. WP knew the area well, so we ended up well off the road, so AR could walk around in the desert. For the entire drive, barely a word was spoken. No one had anything to say. We stopped the truck far into the desert after miles of dirt road. The desert was very quiet. AR walked slowly, watching his feet land on the ground and listening to the sound of it crunching with each step. I could tell he was listening to that sound.

AR walked up to a Saguaro and stared at it for several minutes, looking at its arms, needles, color, circling it. He reached out and pressed his hand against the needles, not hard enough to hurt himself. He looked up at the sky, then to the Saguaro, then down to a prickly pear. He asked us to help him sit. We cleared a patch of dirt, and AR sat down with the prickly pear. He pressed his finger into the petal to bend it slightly and felt its texture. He scratched it slightly and smelled the cactus. We spent almost two hours in the desert and barely spoke.

We brought food with us, and WP and I wanted to do everything for AR and serve him. AR wasn’t having any of this. He wanted to open everything himself. He really liked opening everything, especially cans. He popped open our soda cans for us, paying incredibly close attention to every detail.

AR wanted to see some flowers. Weak, he slept in the car as we returned to Tucson. WP and I did not feel like speaking. We took him to Tohono Chul Park. AR awoke, and we walked around the park. He interacted with all of the plants, but also looked at the other people, observing them engaged in their conversations. He looked at the people in the restaurant, every table. Some were happy, some not. One couple appeared to be fighting. He smiled at all of it.

AR wanted coffee. I forget the name of the shop. It’s on Oracle north of Ina, the west side. He ordered a medium coffee with two extra shots. He must have smelled that cup for ten minutes. I can’t describe it, but never have I been in a situation where talking seemed so completely ridiculous. With the exception of the trivial, "Let's sit here," our faces handled whatever communication needed to take place. Watching him sniff the coffee just killed me. I welled up something awful and almost broke, and I knew if I did, I’d be a blithering mess for at least ten minutes. AR smiled and handed me a napkin, which all but did me in. I pressed the napkin hard into my eyes and took several deep breaths over and over until it passed.

We took him to a bookstore. AR walked all over the store, fascinated with the children in the kids section, smiling at them. He sat and watched them, completely entertained as the little kids ran around, read books, interacted with their parents. AR then spent 20 minutes with Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane.

We took him home to a waiting wife. At the door I have never heard such simple words weigh so much when he thanked us for taking him around. He then turned to us and added, "Let’s have this be it."

The following day he spent with his wife. I learned that he apologized to her for dying first, wanting to be there to support her on her last day.

Godspeed, AR.

An Interesting Statistic

Tucson, Arizona. Daniel Scarpinato has a piece today discussing fundraising results for the presidential candidates. Arizona raised about $1.2 M for presidential candidates in 3Q07. McCain got the most at $327,000, but unfortunately for McCain, his coffers pale in comparison, and he won’t win the nomination anyway. More telling is who ranked second in the state for campaign donations, someone who will win the nomination, Hillary Clinton, who got $281,000, who raised more than anyone except McCain in Arizona. According to Scarpinato, $225,000 of her contributions came from the Tucson area.

Nationally, Clinton dominates the field financially, and the woman understands campaign infrastructure from the bottom to the top as well as any politician. Enough of the presidential race and let’s talk about Arizona.


Let’s look at a something other than money: Voter registration. AZ Central has an article discussing the subject, and since July 35,462 individuals have registered to vote. They can sign up as Democrat, Republican, or Other.


Other: -------20,755
Democrat:-- 11,681
Republican: 3,026

The article notes the four-to-one Democratic advantage, but what leaps off the page to your humble blogger is not the ratio of Democrats to Republicans, but the Republican portion of the total, 3,026 out of 35,462. For the last three months, for every 12 people that registered to vote, 7 selected Other, 4 selected Democrat, and 1 selected Republican.

The dramatic rise in Independents should give both parties cause for reflection. The Arizona GOP has a numbing statistic to consider:

One out of twelve.

Corrupt to the Core

Everyone knows about the firings of eight federal attorneys that led to the resignation of Cheney's judicial bitch, the emasculated pathetic excuse of an Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, a truly spineless GW Bush groupie who, if all of the truth comes out, will end up in prison.

The eight attorneys form the tip of an iceberg that plunges deep into the water. Some of the truth has started to come out regarding the complete usurpation of the justice department to become a political operative at the hands of Darth Rove and Lord Cheney. They did much, much more than fire eight attorneys.

Cheney and Rove, commanding puppet Gonzales, directly ordered justice department officials to ignore GOP transgressions and INVENT transgressions against justice officials deemed "Democratic," prosecuting individuals in manners unprecedented and if uncovered by the light of day, completely illegal.

I want to keep this post short. The reader can read the piece in today's New York Times about the testimony of Richard Thornburgh. Lord Cheney and Harriet Miers, of course, have declared "executive privilege" about the sordid affair. I can't predict how much will come out, but if we dig to the bottom, we will learn much about Lord Cheney and Darth Rove and their abhorrent lack of regard for every principle on which this country was founded.

To summarize, the justice department conducted "political profiling" and then aggressively sought to prosecute identified targets. Innocence or guilt had nothing to do with anything.

THE QUESTION is not whether we will learn the whole truth. We will learn a large enough representative sample to extrapolate the rest. The big question, and the very nature of the future of this country depends on it, is whether we will learn from this travesty and implement mechanisms to insure our constitution is never raped like this again.

Driven

The OPEC wake up call of the 70s caused the United States to look at the fuel economy of its vehicles, and Congress told Detroit to get its act together. Detroit responded, and the miles per gallon performance of our vehicles spiraled from a pathetic 13 mpg in 1975 to 22 mpg in 1987. In 1988, we elected an oil man into the White House. Clinton inherited a four trillion dollar debt and got to work on leaving the country a surplus. He did other things as well, but fuel economy was not his mission. In 1997, instead of further improvements, we actually dropped to 20 mpg. Another oil man entered the White House in 2000, and now, 2007, we remain at 20 mpg.

In other words, 20 years ago our vehicles in aggregate operated at 22 mpg. Today, 20 mpg. For the depth and detail, the EPA Report.

In the words of our maggot-in-chief, "We need an energy policy that encourages consumption."

UNCONSCIONABLE.

I'm not a car fanatic, but I can't help paying a little attention. Instead of the fuel economy race, Detroit (and unfortunately, Japan and Europe, too) are in a horsepower race. Why? Correctly or not, they believe horsepower, not fuel economy, sells. I fear they are correct, which reinforces my argument that the free market left to its own devices, unlike the libertarians and many conservatives believe, does NOT produce optimal outcomes.

GM is introducing a new Corvette featuring 600+ hp, 14 mpg, and a six figure sticker price. It can reach 100 mph in a few seconds. Wow, we sure need a bunch of these on the road. Nissan considers it necessary to raise the horsepower of its Z from 285 to 330. Why?

Your humble blogger mounts a coffee powered bicycle to slog his over-sized arse across town every morning and afternoon. The car is a Mazda 3 with a 2.0 L that gets 30+ mpg. I'm not requesting approval or kudos but only saying that such decisions occur as common sense.

Our cars, like our clothes, transcend functionality into symbolism. They become statements intended to communicate. I appreciate a nice looking dress, but does a dress have to cost $2000? At least a dress doesn't hurt people. Sadly, vehicles do communicate. I am not the communist eager to homogenize everyone to the same Model T, but the arguments for an optimal, efficient, and standardized vehicle of maximal utility would generate savings amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.

The survival of this species is truly in question. Consider the specification of standards which must be met. Any entrepreneur or producer is free to meet such standards in any way they choose.

I'm not coming from Pluto. We've already done it, and big time, with information technology, or you couldn't read this blog. Want to see an entire universe of technology converge onto universal standards allowing countless devices to conform to guidelines allowing worldwide linkage? We're there.

Why can't we do this with vehicles? All oil filters fit this. All tires fit that. Everything adheres to universal standards that aid the common good.

Imagine.

An Orwellian nightmare? Sure? That's how we built the Internet. Is the Internet an Orwellian nightmare? Do you feel enslaved by adhering to the TCP/IP protocol?

Instead, we'll just trust the market, and a bunch of testosterone challenged overweight balding egos will buy stupid cars they don't need to pump crap in the air and think they look more attractive to the women who wince at the sight of them.

Of course, this phenomenon has no life elsewhere. House square footage has completely stabilized at reasonable numbers.

Critical Developments

In a news flash of vital importance, I inform my dear readers of recent profoundly significant developments:

1. Word is out that Dumbledore is gay. That some conservatives are upset by the revelation tickles me silly. Senator Larry Craig sent a birdogram to Hogwarts informing Dumbledore that the news makes it necessary to end their relationship. Craig insists that his time spent at Hogwarts was strictly limited to discussions on the practical application of witchcraft.

2. My football team rules. Don't even. My other team, due to roots of youth, Cincinnati, also won today. Cincinnati is better than their record. TR should be pleased with his team today, even though they aren't as good as Cincinnati.

3. The University of Arizona's football team's so bad they lost to my daughter's football team. When Stanford wins Palo Alto has to raid Milpitas for more alcohol, but only the students over 21 drink. At 19, my daughter has never had a drop.

4. Speaking of alcohol, the bit about astronauts drinking is stupid journalism. If I were about to pilot the controlled explosion of a bomb that really would rather just blow all at once all the way into space, I'd be sober and razor sharp. If I were a passenger about to ride a controlled explosion that wants to go all at once, I would consider smuggling a liter bota bag of Laphroaig inside my suit. Now that I think about it, even if I were the pilot, I would smuggle a bota bag of Laphroaig inside my suit, but I wouldn't have any until well established in orbit.

I am still amazed that the Russians took Cognac into space instead of vodka. There's something wrong with the fact that Cognac made it into space before Scotch, but I'd have to drink a lot to figure out what it is.

5. A graduate of my alma mater, Stephen Colbert, is running for president. When asked about his choice for Vice-President, he said he was considering Larry Craig, now that Larry isn't going to Hogwarts anymore, or himself, noting that the "Colbert-Colbert" ticket would be tough to beat.

6. A study sampling 7,473 adults (3,694 men and 3,779 women) has determined that sex is most enjoyable on Sunday mornings "when everyone else is in church." Couples who have Sunday AM sex once or more each month (followed by a good breakfast) were 47% more likely to report overall satisfaction with their romantic relationship and "life in general."

7. The GOP candidates for president have a debate tonight. The candidates will be asked to name their favorite novel. Romney, who has flip-flopped on a variety of issues including abortion, will flip flop on his favorite novel, which used to be Battlefield Earth. When campaign staff learned that his new favorite novel was going to be Nabokov's Lolita they pulled him aside. His favorite novel is now Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Campaign staff has not disclosed Romney's favorite film, but a staffer who would not be identified has said that the film version of Battlefield Earth has been rejected.

Given Romney's self declaration as a lifelong hunter of "rodents and other varmints" the campaign has removed Leave it to Beaver as a possible favorite TV show. Captain & Tennille's Muskrat Love was scratched from the initial list of possible favorite songs.

President Clinton and Congresswoman Giffords

Tucson, Arizona. Equity has many meanings depending on context. As the middle name of this blog, its semantics imply a sense of fairness, a level playing field where life can live. Equity is NOT equality. We are not born equal. My intellect far exceeds that of our president. I’m not bragging. The average aardvark has an intellect exceeding that of our president. The blog first explores equity at The Class with No Cake. At that post I referred to Robert Reich, and his wisdom persists.

Prior to 1980, growth in worker productivity translated to growth in compensation. At that time, a CEO typically made about 45 times the average wage of his workers. Since 1980, our government started serving corporations, not citizens. As worker productivity climbed, CEO’s and top executives kept all of the gains for themselves. Executive compensation spiraled while the median wage for the average worker stagnated. CEO's now make almost 500 times what their workers average. The rich got obscenely rich, and they bought the Republican Party (shameless corporate whores) and maybe (God help us) the Democratic Party as well. Time will tell.

Our economy is bifurcating into good jobs and terrible jobs with no middle ground. The abundance of lousy positions can’t be filled (attracting whom to Russell Pearce’s chagrin?) while the high paying jobs are increasingly rare and difficult to obtain. We have unemployed people with doctorates and master’s degrees while every restaurant, retail store, car wash, and janitorial service has slave wage positions they cannot fill. Over one in four adults struggle to live in terrible positions with no health insurance, no pension, no sick leave, no flexibility, no opportunity for training or advancement. I encourage interested readers to consider The Mobility Agenda’s 24 page report with deeper material.

The Republican Party has abandoned 99% of the population to transfer wealth from taxpaying citizens to the robber barons of war (Halliburton, Blackwater), oil (ExxonMobil, Hunt, Shell), pharmaceuticals (Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline), insurance (Pacificare, Cigna, Kaiser), and agriculture (ADM, Tyson, Hormel).

The next President of the United States has figured this out, and she has built a strong base with roots penetrating deep into reality. Against this reality, the rhetoric on her negatives and divisiveness will shatter like brittle, overused props on a parched western movie set. Who is Hillary dividing? Those who know the descent from Dillards to Target to Walmart to used goods Thrift shops and the food bank?

I once had the privilege of helping families walk the other direction. A beaming father introduced me to his son, and shared that the son was wearing clothes bought new (not used) for the first time because of my math class. I cried that night. I promise the reader that I am real blood, bone, balls, success, failure, and that "life is messy." You bet I’ve cried, and tears have a taste. Sweet tears, bitter tears, profoundly moved tears, sad tears, and those hot razor blade scalding tears that carve acidic red streaks down cheeks under swollen, bloodshot eyes.

My bike ride to school each day takes me through the Tucson no Republican understands. A mile to my south lies more of the same. Take a walk a few blocks north of Columbus and 22nd. While thinking about the economic holocaust the country has become, I got a flyer from Congresswoman Giffords yesterday. My Sunday post was to be about Hillary. Surf the news sites and it's there. Let’s talk about Giffords flyer, which hits the nail on the head.

In 2001 and 2003 our country gave away hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to those making over $330,000 a year. It’s time we had a tax policy that helps middle class families, small businesses, and our men and women in combat. Smart tax policy also looks to the future by encouraging investment in renewable energy.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

The graph speaks directly to my rage and comes straight from her flyer. Bills she has created, introduced, sponsored, or supports include:

HR 2592 The Safe and Effective Drug Development Act (Her first bill signed into law)
HR 743 Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (In Committee)
HR 3388 College Affordability Tax Relief Act (In Committee)
HR 3648 Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act (Passed 386-27)
HR 3808 Combat Troops Tax Relief Act (In Committee – she introduced)
HR 976 Small Business Tax Relief Act (Passed 360 - 45)
HR 3807 Renewable Energy Assistance Act (In Committee – she introduced)

Some other bills are also mentioned.

What Hillary Clinton and Gabrielle Giffords understand that George Bush couldn’t see to save his life is that people stop caring about much else when they can’t pay their bills. King George has never paid a bill in his life. I don’t know if the man could enter a store and know how to buy something.

In 2008, Cheney's bitches (incumbent Republicans) defending their seats face tough elections. The instant they talk about helping the middle class, fiscal responsibility, intelligent foreign policy, health care, the war, education, the environment, global warming, they look like hypocritical idiots. The smart will resign. Bush’s rating is in the toilet, and the horrible rating of Congress reflects disgust with its inability to stop the war.

2008, like 1992, will revolve around the economy, except 2008 will have the added kick of a quagmire created with malicious deception and a boomer population starting to retire with the realization that their pensions will be stolen by the companies they served and their social security hangs by a thread corporate whores wouldn’t think twice about cutting.

The Beforemath

Probably nothing.
Jeb Bush, during his 1994 campaign for governor, when asked what he would do for blacks.

I applaud the Supreme Court for recognizing the value of diversity on our nation’s campuses.
George W. Bush praising the Supreme Court affirmative action decision that contradicted his administration’s position on the issue. 6/24/03

One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So does that mean that if you go into a black community, you cannot sell guns to any black person?
Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY) Congressional Record, April 2003

Why is this man in the White House? The American people did not vote for him. He’s in the White House because God put him there.
General William G. Boykin, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, October 2003

Well, you know what I knew – that my god was bigger than his.
General William G. Boykin, discussing fighting Muslims in Somalia, October 2003

God told me to strike al Queda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you can help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.
George W. Bush speaking to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, July 2003

The cost of the war will be small. We can afford the war, and we will put it behind us.
Treasury Secretary John W. Snow before Congress, March 2003

The fact of the matter is that this [increased American casualties] is a sign of the success of our operation, not its failure.
Republican strategist Ralph Reed, 10/28/03

Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is.
Governor George W. Bush, 4/9/99, on Clinton’s military action in Kosovo

I’m the commander, see. I don’t need to explain.
President George W. Bush, November 19, 2002

President Clinton is leading our country down the path of "mission creep" that will suck our military into a quagmire that resembles Vietnam – a situation that America has vowed never to repeat..
Rep. Terry Everett (R-AL), on Kosovo, 4/28/99

The first rule of diplomacy is not to make the situation worse. Yet, the administration’s lack of foresight and planning for the refugee crisis has compounded the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the Balkans. . . the military campaign has also suffered from deficiencies in political mismanagement and planning. The military deserves better political leadership than this.
Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO) , on Kosovo, 4/7/99

You know if there was any piece of legislation I would pass it would be to blow up the colleges of education. I know that’s not politically correct…
Reid Lyon, Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, adviser to George W. Bush on child health and education welfare. 11/09/02

We will abolish the Department of Education and federal meddling in our schools...We support eliminating the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding ... of The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Legal Services Corporation.
Republican Party Platform adopted 8/12/96, p.22

We condemn the [Clinton] administration’s policy of confrontation first.
Republican Party Platform, 2000

[Environmentalists] are a socialist group of individuals…they are not Americans, never have been Americans, and never will be Americans.
Rep. Don Young (R-AK), member of the House Committee on Resources, 8/19/96

Republicans consider private property rights the cornerstone of environmental progress.
Republican Party Platform, 8/12/96, p.28

A species goes out of existence every 20 seconds. Surely a species must come into existence every 20 seconds.
Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) 7/7/96

The best way to get the news is from objective sources. The most objective sources I have are people on my staff.
George W. Bush, 9/22/03

In the early days of the war, the plan was criticized by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios. But with every day and every advance by our coalition forces, the wisdom of our plan becomes more apparent.
Vice-President Dick Cheney taking a swipe at General Wesley Clark, 4/25/03

I would eliminate the payroll tax and institute a national sales tax to cover Medicare and Social Security. The sales tax would slide depending on need...
Bill O’Reilly, The No Spin Zone p.175, 2001

Tim Russert: Do we have evidence that he’s [Saddam Hussein] harboring terrorists?
Dick Cheney: There is. In the past there have been some activities related to terrorism by Saddam Hussein.
Tim Russert: Do we have any evidence linking Saddam Hussein or Iraqis to these operations?
Dick Cheney: No.
9/16/01

Emotional appeal about working families trying to get by on minimum wage are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist.
Tom Delay, (R-TX) 4/23/96

When I see someone who’s making $300,000 to $750,000 a year, that’s middle class.
Rep. Fred Heineman (R-NC) 10/25/96

I don't understand how poor people think.
George W. Bush 8/26/03

Tim Russert: Is $87 Billion the end of it? Will the American people be asked for any more money?
Dick Cheney: I can’t say that. It’s all that we think we need for the foreseeable future for this year.
9/14/03

George understands what a great president must understand. The first three words of America’s most sacred document are "We the People," not "Us vs. Them."
Governor Tom Ridge, 8/3/00

We must find new issues that polarize in our favor.
Anthony Fabrizio, Republican Strategist, 2/26/97

Americans should not sit idly by as our individual rights are surrendered. We should enlist the American people to rein in an out-of-control Court.
Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO) 3/6/97

Some members of the federal judiciary threaten the safety, the values, and the freedom of law-abiding citizens. They make up laws and invent new rights as they go along, arrogating to themselves powers King George III never dared to exercise.
Republican Party Platform 8/12/96 p. 13

In This Twilight

Flags, Fiascos, Fools ahd Hope

Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum has restored both US and Mexican flags over its facility and will now devote resources to improve security protecting innocent animals from malcontents regarding immigration reform.

I got a GOP flyer yesterday featuring Tucson Mayor Walkup with Republican city council candidates. It asserts the democratic city council has failed the city, noting the garbage fee. So the garbage fee is the fault of the democrats (no) and the garbage fee is a problem (no). Today's AZ Daily Star endorses the Mayor (his only opponent is a green party candidate) and the Democrats.

One does not require Tedski's network to know the Mayor and Democrats Rodney Glassman and Regina Romero will win, and Proposition 200 will fail.

Speaking of the obvious, stating what anyone paying attention can't help seeing, General Ricardo Sanchez has come out and declared the Iraq war a nightmare having no end in sight. What was his first clue? Former President Jimmy Carter, also stating what anyone paying attention can't help seeing, has declared that Dick Cheney is a disaster for this country.

Satan's wife, Lynne Cheney, observed, "Dogs don't bark at a parked car."

Yes, Lynne, one can anticipate hostile remarks when malignant evil devours the future of humanity for the short term gain of the super rich. Count me in as a barking dog. Washington considers Lord Cheney "Darth Vader" and Bush a mindless puppet because it's true. Your husband has succeeded and continues to succeed with his principle mission. Thanks to his efforts, we no longer have a constitution. The imperial presidency gets to do whatever it wants while an impotent Congress can complain but essentially do nothing, and the country now has the greatest rich poor gap since the 1920s. Eighty years of support for a middle class and the notion of prosperity for many have been wiped out.

Utterly unconcerned with the future, your husband has played the short term game masterfully. Clearly, the impending price tag and its brutal consequences are not his concern.

Meanwhile, as Turkish soldiers killed in the most deadly attack by Kurdish separatists in more than a decade are buried across Turkey amid emotional media coverage, and Turkey seriously considers invading Iraq to pursue Kurdish separatists, what does the House of Foreign Affairs Committee do?

As the above takes place, Iraqi officials are beginning to recognize the inevitable split of the country into three separate pieces each organized for the maximum profit of US oil corporations. The Iraqis themselves are introducing language supporting the partition. The conversation will grow, and the debate will have heated arguments on both sides.

I mentioned hope above. In a breathe of fresh air that points to the notion that perhaps in some way, some unforeseen sequence of sanity emerges, the Iraqi refugees, living one meal at a time, one day without violence at a time, have shed their divisional hatreds. Amongst the refugees, creating a sight that rips tears from the face and stirs the heart, we find Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds struggling side by side to survive, aiding each other and forgiving all differences for the sake of living to see tomorrow.

Imagine.

Purity Pathology

Tucson, Arizona. For those that have an interest, on Friday evening the Arizona Baptist Children's Services group called the New Life Pregnancy Center is hosting a prom style "ball" for daddies and daughters to attend as a couple, dressed to the nines in formal clothing, and dance. The father and daughter exchange vows in a ceremony where he gives her a silver ring to wear. His vow: be a responsible daddy. Her vow: remain a virgin until she is married. She vows to be "true to her daddy."

The Arizona Daily Star ran an article on the event, noting a 24 year old virgin who will attend, stating, "I want to be a role model for the other girls."

I have a nineteen year old daughter. If she told me she wanted to marry a guy before having any sexual experience with him, I'd ask her if she were out of her mind. While it is possible, women are far less likely than men to be lousy lovers. Qualitative analysis studies have shown that men are over four times as likely to be inept in the sack as women. Make no mistake. A woman can also be horrible. I know a woman that, while physically attractive, exudes emasculating energy so powerful almost no one can be with her. A rapist with a gun tried to take her, and at the risk of getting shot she ripped into the guy verbally, remarking after he dropped his drawers, "No wonder you have to resort to rape, you pathetic. . ."

This blog does NOT advocate ridiculing the genitalia of a man holding a gun in your face, but it worked. Unprepared to shoot her and unable to rise to the occasion, he fled and she got dressed. Consider the situation highly atypical as this woman could bitch the chrome off a Harley Davidson.

Returning to abstinence, I've linked to studies showing that kids in abstinence programs have as much sex as those not in such programs, but they are LESS likely to use birth control because they are less prepared. Less birth control = more pregnancies. More pregancies = the scarlet "A," but that's not the subject of this post.

I am not advocating irresponsibility. In fact, I advocate the opposite, but as a society, we could not be more ridiculous. Our corporations bent on wrestling every possible dollar from teenage spenders pump them full of sexually suggestive content. Think Hollywood films (they know what draws a crowd), beer commercials (the boys don't drink until 21 of course), and the music industry and its videos? We expect them to spend their money as provocative ads suggest but not absorb any of the content? What a charade.

The marketing professionals understand biology. The abstinence crowd is not known for its command of science. They say things like "The devil put fossils into rocks to fool the faithful into believing evolution" and God put "star light in transit" so we could see the stars even though they're too far away for the light to have reached us yet, and the glaciers never happened. Let's not kid ourselves. If velociraptors were in the Garden of Eden, the Bible would be complete before the second chapter of Genesis.

Our children are far better served by teaching them how to make responsible choices and providing them the means to act on them. I accept and believe the notion that sexual activity prior to puberty is a grotesque violation that inflicts damage. I completely reject the notion that responsible sexual activity after biology has run its course (around 16-18) is violating anything. They're just doing what nature wants them to do. We should empower them to proceed in a way that is safe (in every way) and responsible.

Abstinence until marriage and biology had little conflict when people got married at seventeen. Waiting until thirty or later has become common. The abstinence until marriage conversation is obsolete, and pressuring these young girls with events like this ball and telling them they are "ruined" and "devoured" if they have sex before wedding someone is repugnant and unhealthy.

Apparently the 24 year old role model likes to wear a T-shirt reading, "Virgins are hot."

Think about that.

Power in Congress

Tucson, Arizona. A Web site called Congress.org maintains a scoring system for ranking the level of influence of each member of Congress according to various measures including seniority, committees, legislation, and perhaps other factors. Clearly, belonging to the majority party makes a difference. The majority leaders sit at the top of their chambers, and those in the majority party dominate the rankings.

In the US Senate, Democrats scored an average 24.0 while Republicans got an average of 15.5. In the house, Democrats scored an average 20.1 and Republicans averaged 10.2.


For our Senators we have the following (score followed by rank)

McCain(R)----26.75-----18
Kyl(R)----------23.1------31

For the House we have:

Ed Pastor(D)-------------20.34----102
Raul Grijalva(D)---------16.02----180
Gabrielle Giffords(D)---12.50-----252
Rick Renzi(R)------------11.78----274
Harry Mitchell(D)--------11.00----302
John Shadegg(R)---------9.28----335
Franks(R)------------------8.03----382
Flake(R)-------------------6.09----418

To eliminate the influence of minority/majority, let's just rank inside each party.

Among the GOP only, McCain ranks 3rd and Kyl is 6th, indicating what we already know, which is that both carry weight in their party.

Among the 201 Republicans in the house:

Renzi------61
Shadegg----103
Franks-----146
Flake------176

Among the 235 Democrats:

Pastor-----102
Grijalva---180
Giffords---201
Mitchell---221

The separation into parties does not eliminate the majority / minority impact on rankings. In the minority party, Renzi's 11.78 puts him at the 30th percentile in his party, while Giffords higher 12.5 only places her at 85th percentile. Such results do not surprise. It seems reasonable that the majority party, gaining power, becomes a far more competitive environment where all members, now chairing committees or gaining stature in committees, agendas, etc., measure higher, so the intra-party rank grows far more steep. Pastor's staying at 102 and Grijalva's staying at 180 implies Democratic domination of the top 200 slots, which is accurate. Only a dozen or so Republicans make the top 200, an indication of a problematic algorithm that does not take into account the reality of the system.

Regarding another ranking, the Blognetnews Arizona ranking of most influential political blogs in Arizona seems to be stabilizing. Your humble blogger's place appears to be settling in around tenth. I don't know what Politico Mafioso is doing (link to right), but I suspect he's figured something out. Sure, it was fun to be ranked first a few weeks ago, but I knew it was nonsense and said so. Stacy hasn't posted anything in almost two months, and I don't understand why they aren't getting RRR and Blog for AZ.

As I've said, it would be interesting to see something rigorous about the influence of the blogosphere. Clearly, its importance in politics is growing, but I have not seen anything substantive, especially about anything local.

Excellent Videos

This post has nothing to do with politics and offers some of the richest material ever posted at this blog, although it features the work of others, not your humble blogger. I will offer a little commentary, but the art speaks for itself. I give my word that none of these works are trivial nonsense. Every video features rich and deep content worthy of not only watching, but considerable thought.

The first video is for Sirocco and the Navigator. It is border distilled and pure NIN. Both the lyrics and the imagery talk to the space between that which is between.

Now I am some where I am not supposed to be and
I can see things I know I really shouldn't see



The following, also a NIN song but sung by Johnny Cash and about Johnny Cash. Produced shortly before he died, a piece that doesn't hold back and punches straight, clean, and hard. Fabulous.



The only non NIN video of this post, it had to be incredible, and it is. Warning: The work, gifted and brilliant, will stay with you. Its depth transcends the intellect, and its implications reach spiritual altitudes.



I close with perhaps the most exquisite music video ever produced. It's so fantastic I think I watched over and over for an hour after seeing it the first time. Reznor is sheer genius and knows addiction from the bone marrow out. When the screen goes green he approaches the speed of the material I would like to produce if I get the chance.

The more I give to you, the more I die
And I want you..

My blood wants to say hello to you
My feelings want to get inside of you
My soul is so afraid to realize
Every little word is a lack of me

And I want you


For those interested, the original Nine Inch Nails version of Hurt.

Another Republican Hypocrite

An Alberto Gonzales appointee, Republican federal prosecutor John D.R. Atchison was found dead in his jail cell today.

At least Republicans Haggard and Craig, foot signals and all, sought consensual sex. Sure, we're talking about gay bashing hypocrites seeking gay encounters, but no rape was involved. Foley, self-proclaimed champion for protecting youth from cyber-stalkers, text messaged explicit content to teenage boys. Atchison, worse still, married father of three who coached girls softball and basketball, was caught traveling across the country to have sex with a five year old girl. I have a daughter. I remember when she was five. I'm glad he's dead, and we will probably never learn what other girls he tortured prior to his demise.

You can bet this guy was pro-life. Every abortion is a lost opportunity.

Distilled Hypocrisy

Today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)

The news is everywhere so I'll remain brief. Apparently Lord "deficits don't matter" Cheney's pals don't earn sufficient profits helping kids who can't afford health insurance get medical care. After seven years of squandering trillions, all of the sudden, something is too expensive.

For Lord Cheney, nothing is too expensive. Expense has nothing to do with anything. If this money were going to Hunt Oil, Cheney's pet couldn't sign the thing fast enough.

Bush took four years to veto something - scientific research with stem cells. Now he vetoes health care for children, citing cost.

Even the filthy GOP Congress has misgivings about this one. Ratchet the anger up another notch.

ADDITIONAL REMARK 1:30 PM: Of course this is about serving Cheney's friends, in this case big HMO and the insurance industry. We're getting close to 10 million kids without health insurance. Right wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation consider health care for poor children equal to socialism, and the insurance lobby sees it as cutting into their profits.

To make sure even more kids go without insurance, the White House in August short-circuited the legislative process by issuing a "guidance" that prevents states from assisting them. Even under the current plan, kids in Vermont, Oklahoma, and Louisiana would lose their insurance.

Alan Weil, director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, said, "It's outrageous. The dirty secret is that the Administration had been approving states to do what they have now told them not to do."

Even his Bush had his way to simply extend as is, coverage would have been cut below prior levels in terms of number of children helped.

The Party Left Me

Evidence continues to mount that apparently Lord "deficits don't matter" Cheney and his prostitution of the nation for his friends is beginning to reap what it's been sowing. The defections are just beginning as the morally bankrupt and completely criminal GOP whore house is seen for what it is, a collection of greedy malevolent snakes feeding the future of this country to robber barons.

Today's Wall Street Journal features an article discussing the growing defections and the increasing financial difficulties facing the party that represents billionaires. It seems the middle class that no longer exists and cannot afford health care is less enthusiastic about contributing to Exxon's bitches, stall stalkers, call girl johns, money launderers, convicted felons, and child molesters. Overall, Democratic presidential candidates have raised more than $200 million this year, about 70% more than their Republican rivals.

Shocking Development: The country is losing its trust in the GOP.

The WSJ article pretty much captures it. Independents previously leaning red now lean blue. Businesses caught by the health care crisis (think Detroit) are screaming to a GOP on its knees before big Pharma and big HMO. We know what Lord "deficits don't matter" Cheney says when the profiteering of his pals is called into question.

Some well-known business leaders have openly changed allegiances. Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive John Mack, formerly a big Bush backer, now supports Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. John Canning Jr., chairman and chief executive of Madison Dearborn Partners, a large private-equity firm, now donates to Democrats after a lifetime as a Republican. Recently, he told one Democratic Party leader: "The Republican Party left me".

THIS IS THE BEGINNING.