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New Site Next Year
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12/1/06
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Mike Lane
I haven't been posting a whole lot, when a vast majority of the USA finally woke up to the Bush horror show, my bush-bashing blogging flame went out. I will be putting up a new site next year to show off my new webmasterin' skills.
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Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self
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8/3/06
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WASHINGTON, DC—In a decisive 1–0 decision Monday, President Bush voted to grant the president the constitutional power to grant himself additional powers.
"As president, I strongly believe that my first duty as president is to support and serve the president," Bush said during a televised address from the East Room of the White House shortly after signing his executive order. "I promise the American people that I will not abuse this new power, unless it becomes necessary to grant myself the power to do so at a later time."
The Presidential Empowerment Act, which the president hand-drafted on his own Oval Office stationery and promptly signed into law, provides Bush with full authority to permit himself to authorize increased jurisdiction over the three branches of the federal government, provided that the president considers it in his best interest to do so.
"In a time of war, the president must have the power he needs to make the tough decisions, including, if need be, the decision to grant himself even more power," Bush said. "To do otherwise would be playing into the hands of our enemies."
Added Bush: "And it's all under due process of the law as I see it." - The Onion
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Meat Purveyors - Look On Your Face
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7/25/06
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The Meat Purveyors have a new album out and like their other ones, it's really good! I made this slideshow the other evening. It was just begging me to make it. I don't think I have ever heard them say that this is a song about Duhbyuh, but it has to be.
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The 2004 election was stolen
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6/22/06
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Ward Sutton
I was mad when Kerry conceded the 2004 election before they "counted every vote." I was not surprised that Kerry didn't fight back and I was quickly resigned to our terrible collective fate. Now we know that the Ohio election was a GOP-run fraud. I remember listening to Flush Rimblaugh the day after the election. He was singing along to the full, vocal, version of The Pretenders' "My City Was Gone"..."Ayy, Ohh, Way To Go Ohio". It was a lot of irony to endure while driving.
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Hanging yourself is now "Warfare" against America
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6/13/06
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Now we are told that the three prisoners who hung themselves at Camp X-ray should be seen as committing an act of warfare and making "a good PR move."
"They are smart. They are creative. They are committed. They have no regard for human life, ours or their own. I believe that this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us" - Guantanamo Bay camp commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris (Full quote transcribed from "Democracy Now!" podcast linked below.)
The men "had been held at the prison for up to four years and never charged with a crime. One of the men – 21-year-old Yassar Talal al-Zahrani – was first detained when he was a juvenile. One of the other men who committed suicide was due to be released - but did not know it." Democracy Now! 6/12/06
Offing yourself after four years in this hell-hole is not, in my mind anyway, proof of intelligence, creativity or commitment, but what the heck do I know? I have zero sympathy for terrorists, assuming that the two of them that were not going to be released would have been found guilty of some such crime, but what about us? What about our "regard for human life." I believe that the very idea of an offshore prison where people are held indefinitely with no contact with the outside world, with no hope of trial , or access to any legal system, solely at the pleasure and whim of one man (Bush) is an act of warfare against the rule of law, human decency and the American way. Impeach.
P.S. Seriously, can anybody please explain to me how it is that the U.S. military runs a base in Cuba?
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Bin Laden (remember him?) seems to be winning: Americans are now killed in the streets by terrorists on a near daily basis (in Iraq), our military bases are moving out of Saudi Arabia (Mission Accomplished), our economy is wrecked (yes, it is), and now the utter debasement of our constitution.
"Unable to get comfortable with what NSA was proposing, Qwest's lawyers asked NSA to take its proposal to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused.
The NSA's explanation did little to satisfy Qwest's lawyers. "They told (Qwest) they didn't want to do that because FISA might not agree with them," one person recalled. For similar reasons, this person said, NSA rejected Qwest's suggestion of getting a letter of authorization from the U.S. attorney general's office. A second person confirmed this version of events." - Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY, "NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls"
Who needs a judicial branch? Or even a Attorney General? Congress? A rather quaint idea, like privacy and the seperation of church and state. Our Homeland, America, is so easy to run now, that's more time for fishin'!
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Once.... Twice...Over 750 times a Decider.
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5/1/06
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"President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution." - 4/30/2006, Charlie Savage, Boston Globe
This explains why there have been zero vetos in nearly five and a half years. Bush and his Republican allies don't give a damn about the Constitution that they swore to uphold or the laws passed by the Congress. No reason to go through the trouble of a veto if you have no intention of following the law anyway. We need a law-abiding president, not a scofflaw "Decider". Impeach.
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"It...It's how I work. I'm a...uh...uh...Thanks!"
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Bush "...naked, defenseless in the public square."
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2/27/06
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As Chuck Mangione says it Feels... So... Good to know that America seems to be finally taking the blinders off and seeing what Duhbya is all about. When he was my Governor it took me almost 4 years to realize he was completely worthless. Governor is not a really important office in Texas, and Texas state politics are just too damned depressingly awful to even contemplate if you are not a Republican. (Go Kinky!) He just seemed to be another dopey politician. But I am reminded of his "specialness" now almost daily, as he continues to take poor leadership to new lows in almost every conceivable way. Skoal!
"Public support for his policies is dwindling; his own party is abandoning him; he seems naked, defenseless in the public square. Yet he has spent most of the past few weeks traveling the country, selling the vaporous "policies" he proposed in his State of the Union address. As the Dubai debate went nuclear, Bush was off trying to convince people that he was serious about developing alternative energy sources. (He isn't, really. His proposed budget increases for such projects run in the millions; a single tax break for oil companies proposed in the Interior Department's budget—a reduction in the rent they pay to drill on public land—will cost an estimated $7 billion.)" - Joe Klein, Time Magazine, "Bush's Broken Political Antenna"
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From Editor and Publisher: "The (Joint Chiefs of Staff) spokeswoman said a letter from all six joint chiefs to anyone, let alone a newspaper, is rare, but the cartoon so offended them, they wanted to let their feelings be known. "It was expressing their disappointment with the paper and outrage at using that image to make a political point," said Lt. Col. Diane Battaglia. "That is a rare occurrence, but the level of inappropriateness prompted a response of unanimous support."
I'd say this cartoon is very appropriate and relevant, as is usual with Tom Toles. Of course a cartoon of a limbless soldier is shocking, but so is the fact that there have been at least 16,549 wounded American solders in Iraq.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have time to comment on cartoons? Who has time to read cartoons when they should be spending all day and night trying to make sure our soldiers have what they need to keep from ending up in a real hospital bed?
Link
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Jeff Parker, Florida Today
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1/29/06
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Molly Ivins: "Not. Backing. Hillary."
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1/22/06
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| As usual, I agree with Molly.
"I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president."
"In World War I, (patriotic bullies) went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds."
"There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief."
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These are a few of my favorite Podcasts
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1/20/06
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| If you have iTunes and you click on the links below, you may read about these podcasts, then decide if you want to either download episodes or subscribe. It's all free and all commercial free. Let me know if you have any Podcasts you'd recommend for me!
Democracy Now!, CounterSpin, Radio Zero, Laura Flanders, Redd Kross, Al Franken, 2600, Le Show, Left, Right & Center, Morning Becomes Eclectic, Majority Report, Barack Obama.
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Dick Nixon Cheney
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12/22/05
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| From the Los Angeles Times 12/21/05: ""Watergate and a lot of the things around Watergate and Vietnam, both during the 1970s, served, I think, to erode the authority I think the president needs to be effective, especially in the national security area," Cheney told reporters traveling with him on Air Force Two. "Especially in the day and age we live in … the president of the United States needs to have his constitutional powers unimpaired, if you will, in terms of the conduct of national security policy.""
As long as the outcome is the same this time as last time, I don't mind Cheney comparing Bush's illegal actions in spying on Americans to Watergate. Impeach.
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Happy Holidays! *
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12/07/05
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| Happy Holidays * everyone!
* By the phrase: "Happy Holidays" I mean only that I wish you well during this time of year that traditionally stretches from Thanksgiving to the New Year. I do not by use of the phrase "Happy Holidays" intend to make War on Christmas , or challenge the very concept of spiritually itself. I also do not, by use of the phrase "Happy Holidays", intend to explicitly relate that I endorse gay marriage or that I would like to promote the secular progressive agenda. (The message "Happy Holidays" is brought to you by the big moneyman, George Soros.)
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| I bought the new Dar Williams album on iTunes recently. Tonight, when I was moving the plants in, the iPod hit me with this song. A powerful message, and in the great American Folk tradition, at just the right time. "For every five tanks, plant a sentimental story." |
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"Telling the whole truth is not an exercise to be limited to children before they reach the age of reason. It is the indispensable requirement for an effective democracy.
If the press and the politicians lie to the people, or hide those parts of the truth which trouble the conscience or offend a friend, how can the people’s falsely-based decisions be trusted?" Ronnie Dugger, December 1954, Texas Observer, 1st Issue. |
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