Thanks Earl

I’m getting really tired of all the serious stuff with war and politics so I found some food stuff to talk about.

Seems Steve Gilliard has a list of his favorite 10 sandwiches up and Lindsay Beyerstein has done the same. Since food is my thing I don't want to be left out. So here is my list of favorites. These are not in absolute order of preference but close…

1) First and foremost has be the classic BLT which must be on toasted bread with very crisp bacon and lots of Kraft Miracle Whip. Don't skimp on the bacon!

2) Cream cheese blended with minced green olives…you know the kind with pimentos on really good pumpernickel. I like lots of olives.

3) Meatball and marinara sauce with provolone in a hollowed out baguette. The best of these used to come a place called Dixie Subs in Colonial Heights, Va. They had a special tool for pulling out the soft middle of the baguette and they would then fill it with meatballs and sauce.

4) Italian sausage with grilled peppers and onions on a good hard roll. Should be cooked over an open fire and you should use the hot Italian sausage.

5) The Muffuletta from the Central Grocery in New Orleans. A typical muffuletta consists of one muffuletta loaf, split horizontally. The loaf is then covered with a marinated olive salad, then layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, emmantaler, and provolone. The sandwich is sometimes heated through to soften the provolone.

6) Gyro from a real Greek place with lots of feta and Tzatziki

7) Real Italian Grinder. Got to be good bread (not Subway) and the sandwich should be soaking wet with oil and vinegar dressing.

8) Sliced cucumber and brie on a thin baguette. You can get these from the little kiosks in train stations in Europe and boy are they good.

9) Leftover Thanksgiving turkey on homemade white bread, lettuce and a good slather of Kraft Miracle Whip and don’t forget the freshly ground black pepper.

10 Last but not least….Pulled BBQ Pork(N.C. Style) on a toasted bun with good coleslaw.

Of course I left off some other favorites such as a chili and slaw dog from the Varsity, the Rhea’s special from Rhea’s right here in Roswell, Ga. (a freshly made burger on sliced and grilled French bread with the works) and many others.

Do you have some favorite sandwiches? I am always looking for ideas.

Did I mention a Shrimp or oyster Po’ Boy? I could go on and on…..

There Are Ways to Avoid the Disaster

Steve Bates over at Yellow Doggerel Democrat highlights an article published in the UK and available on Common Dreams.

Drastic Action on Climate Change is Needed Now - and Here's the Plan -- George Monbiot reviews Nicholas Stern's dramatic assessment of what we must do to avoid catastrophic consequences to civilized life in the coming century. It's not going to be easy... but it appears we have no choice. The only rational disagreements now are not over "whether" but over "when" and "how much." Monbiot examines the realities and proposes some goals... and some means... by which catastrophe may be avoided.

Elevator Speech

Arianna has distilled what this election is mostly about down into a pretty good meme.

This election is about the fact that Republicans have made us less safe and that Congressional oversight is critical to ensure that Bush and company, with their tragically misguided decisions on Iraq and homeland security, don't make us even less secure over the two years they have left. Period. End of message.

There is, of course, a lot more to this election than the above but we really need to keep our focus on the biggest issue and not confuse the folks that in their insanity are thinking of voting Republican again. This is a good tight "elevator speech" and gets the most important point out there with little room for dispute.

What Me Worry?

As one might predict in the current political environment the Stern Report produced absolutely no reaction from the media and a wimpy email from the Whitehouse that basically said it was just another report...Ho Hum. If you would like to see some of the highlights keep reading.

Stern by the numbers

The level in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, stood at 280 parts per million by volume (ppm) before the Industrial Revolution, in about 1780. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere today stands at 382ppm

£200bn, or 1 per cent of global GDP, must be spent every year to get carbon dioxide levels to "stabilise" at 550ppm.

This figure will rise as world GDP increases, and could be three to four times as large by 2050

40 per cent of the world's species would face extinction if temperatures rose by 2C

200 million people are at risk of being driven from their homes by flood or drought by 2050

6C is a "plausible" estimate of how much world temperatures could rise by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions are unchecked

60 million more Africans could be exposed to malaria if world temperatures rise by 2C

35 per cent drop in crop yields across Africa and the Middle East is expected if temperatures rise by 3C

200 million more people could be exposed to hunger if world temperatures rise by 2C

550 million more people could be at risk of hunger if world temperatures rise by 3C

4 million square kilometres of land, home to one-twentieth of the world's population, is threatened by floods from melting glaciers

35,000 Europeans died in the 2003 heatwave, an event likely to become "commonplace"

4 billion people could suffer from water shortage if temperatures rise by 2C

If the above doesn't move you to look back on the stolen 2000 election as possibly the beginning of the end then you might want to read the list again.

While You Were Sleeping

Thanks to this little story over at SF.Indy.Media.org, which by the way you will be hard pressed to find in more traditional media, we discover that that there was a whole lot more to Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" than we were told. The President signed this massive spending bill on the same day he signed “Torture AreUs” bill.

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions.

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007’s Defense Authorization Act contained a “widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation’s governors.”[bold is mine]

Senator Leahy went on to stress that, “we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders.”

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had “grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report,” the language of which, he said, “subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law.” This had been “slipped in,” Leahy said, “as a rider with little study,” while “other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.”

[snip]

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact.

Welcome to the dictatorship.

Housekeeping

Just in case you don't notice I have made some changes to the Blogroll. Welcome one new entry and that is Fred and company over at Mccs1977. Welcome Fred.

Sorry to have to say goodbye to Scriptoids but we haven't heard from Grace since early summer. We will miss her candid comments and bright observations here.

Somebody's Taking AL Seriously

A new report released in Britain warns that climate change will be devastating to the world economy if we don't do something about it:

The report warns unless the world moves to cut green house gases it is heading for a "catastrophic climate change" which would create the worst global recession ever seen.

....The review says failure to act early could end up costing between 5% and 20% of global GDP and render large parts of the planet uninhabitable with poor nations hit first and hardest.

Africa is likely to be most harmed by climate change and Sir Nicholas [Stern] says we have a "moral duty" to cut emissions.

Not only is the U.K. getting real, real serious about the very real threat of Global Warming but they have even engaged Al Gore to help the get the word out. According to Monday's Guardian newspaper: Al Gore has become an adviser to the U.K. on global warming.

Britain is to send the author of today's landmark review on global warming to try to win American hearts and minds to the urgent cause of cutting carbon emissions - as it emerged yesterday that the government has already signed up former US vice-president Al Gore to advise on the environment.

Sir Nicholas Stern, who this morning publishes an authoritative report on climate change warning that inaction could cause a worldwide recession as damaging as the Depression of the 1930s, will lobby politicians and business people in America at the turn of the year.

{snip}

The government hopes the review will gain traction in the US because it focuses on the economic case for change. Sir Nicholas's analysis warns that doing nothing about climate change will cost the global economy between 5% and 20% of GDP, while reducing emissions now would cost 1%, equivalent to £184bn.

Things To Do

Have you wondered why we are not getting any substantive discussion of real issues in this election? Have you wondered why we are seeing nothing from the GOP but desperate personal attacks? Do you even know that the Democrats have an agenda which is being ignored by the GOP? The GOP is incapable of pointing to their recent history of control with anything remotely similar to pride and are likewise incapable of answering the Democratic agenda with something of their own. That is why you are not seeing any "agenda" discussions" or meaningful ads dealing with the real issues facing America. Everything on the Democratic agenda is something the GOP has fought against since they took control of our government and they now face the real possibility of having it pushed down their throats with a new Democratically controlled Congress. The Democratic agenda makes the GOP crazy but if the polls are anywhere near accurate they are going to see a new Democratic Congress:

• Put new rules in place to break the link between lobbyists and legislation.

• Enact all the recommendations made by the 9/11 commission.

• Raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

• Cut the interest rate on federally supported student loans in half.

• Allow the government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

• Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds.

• Impose pay-as-you-go budget rules, requiring that new entitlement spending or tax cuts be offset with entitlement spending cuts or tax hikes.

Frightening isn't it. Congress making good on it's charter with America and actually addressing some of the problems that are strangling our country.

Lazy Fall Sunday

Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday. I took advantage of the extra hour and slept in this morning. Fixed a nice breakfast.... Hobo eggs (one eyed jacks) and sausage, and took a leisurely read through the AJC. I really turned out to be a pretty day though a little cool early and it was just perfect for a walk. Snapped this picture down the road and as you can see we are starting to see some nice color on the trees.
We know here that it is officially fall because Madam put the duvet on the bed for the first time last night. It was the new 100% silk one I bought in China and I must say it was nice.
See you guys tomorrow and don't forget the time adjustment. "Spring forward...Fall back!

Good Day for Soup

Updated: Added the picture of the resulting soup and cornbread. I really did make soup.

Well a rainy day here Georgia. Pretty much all my work is caught up and so I am catching up on all my backed up little projects. I installed IE 7 and Firefox 2.0 on both the desktop and the laptop.

I've also installed the latest version of Dragon Systems Naturally Speaking on the desktop and am now writing this post strictly by talking…amazing. The newest version of this voice to text program is quite impressive and so far in this document I have not had to back up and change anything that I have spoken...yet. Previous versions required you to speak slowly and very distinctly but this one is a lot more forgiving and you can speak pretty much normally and it required very minimal training(only about 30 minutes).

Madam is off on a tour with the Historical Society of Barnsley Gardens and it is a miserable day for such a journey. I think I am going to go to Whole Foods and get the ingredients for a nice pot of vegetable soup. I'm sure she will need something warm after spending all day in the damp tramping from place to place.

So, now that I've proven to myself that I can actually dictate a complete post with nothing but the microphone and no keyboard activity I will bundle myself up and head for the grocery.

When I get back from the store and get the soup started maybe I will sit down and get a little practice on the guitar in. I was thwarted yesterday afternoon when I sat down to practice and immediately broke a string (G) which is normally the string that breaks since it is the weakest of all. I didn't have any spares so after a trip to the music store I am now supplied with backups of all the strings and multiple copies of the G string.

If you guys are in the neighborhood this evening and would like a nice bowl of vegetable soup please don't hesitate to stop in. And Steve, this really is vegetarian vegetable soup since I use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth or beef broth so you are safe and welcome as well.

Oh, and another cool thing about the voice to text thing is that it doesn't misspell. ( I did type this last line.)

Please Let This Pass Us By

This is not a good thing. Via Crooks and Liars:

GlobalResearch :

There is a massive concentration of US naval power in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Two US naval strike groups are deployed: USS Enterprise, and USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The naval strike groups have been assigned to fighting the "global war on terrorism."

War Games

Concurrent with ths concentration of US Naval power, the US is also involved in military exercises in the Persian Gulf, which consists in "interdicting ships in the Gulf carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles"

The exercise is taking place as the United States and other major powers are considering sanctions including possible interdiction of ships on North Korea, following a reported nuclear test, and on Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council mandate to stop enriching uranium.

The exercise, set for Oct. 31, is the 25th to be organized under the U.S.-led 66-member Proliferation Security Initiative and the first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran, the officials said. A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed at strengthening America's ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing for influence" Read on…

© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch.ca, 2006

(h/t ColibriMama)

Good Money After Bad

As you listen to the Republicans tell you over and over ad nauseum about how great the Bush ecomomy is and how great the tax cuts were for the country. Remind any who flaunt this as an excuse to even remotely consider returning any of these bums to our government about this.

45.8% of the benefits from a reduction in capital gains and dividends went to people with incomes over $1 million. There were 284,000 taxpayers in this income group. This is .19% of all taxpayers.

An additional 10.8% of the benefits went to people with incomes between $500,000 and $1 million. There were 593,000 taxpayers in this income group. This is .40% of all taxpayers.

17.4% of the benefits went to people with incomes between $200,000 and $500,000. There were 3,588,000 taxpayers in this income group. This is 2.46% of all taxpayers.

14.3% of the benefits went to people with incomes of $100,000 to $200,000. There were 14,039,000 taxpayers in this income group. This is 9.66% of all taxpayers.

H/t to Susie

The Mightly Wurlitzer

Update 1: Lance Mannion has a good take on this.

Update 2: Kos has the numbers that show the GOP had good reason to fear the Michael Fox ad.

It's always amazing to me and also quite disgusting to see the rapidity with which the traditional media fall into line with Rush Limbaugh's game. Rush Limbaugh's comments about Michael J. Fox were calculated to change the dynamic of the conversation and dialogue about the value of stem cell research and nothing more. The GOP is in serious danger in the upcoming elections and they cannot afford to let Michael J. Fox bring the stem cell issue to the voters in Missouri or anywhere else without responding. The only response they can manage (because the ads are true and accurate regarding Jim Talent’s opposition to stem cell research) is to change the subject. The media seem completely unable to realize that they are being played like a cheap harmonica, once again, by the mighty Wurlitzer.

They’re bound to recognize that Rush’s comments about Fox purposely exaggerating the shaking which stems from his Parkinson's disease were outrageous and ridiculous or that he purposely quit his medications to look sicker was simply a lie. They cannot be so dense that they cannot see what the hidden agenda is. While one shouldn’t doubt Rush's extensive knowledge of drugs, they should seriously question his leap of logic which boils down to… "doesn't everyone start shaking when they stop taking drugs" and the fact that it is not germane to those, like Fox, who suffer from Parkinson's.

Don’t forget to ask yourself another important question and that is why Rush even has to comment on the campaign ads in Missouri. Why? Because that is what Rush is paid to do. His job, which he admittedly does well, is to get this kind of ugly crap into the media and into the dialogue. Change the focus. Set up straw men and knock them down. He does this over and over. Pay attention folks! Can you not remember just a few weeks back when Rush pounced on child molester excuses to blame the House pages for tempting Mark Foley into his pervert shtick. This is what Rush Limbaugh does for a living and he does it all the time.

How is it that these vaunted “journalists” can’t seem to see the larger context around this attack? Do they all assume it is just another example Rush's ignorance. Do they think to themselves…Why is Rush concerned with Missouri? Somehow they are unable to grasp the bigger picture and bring these, at first glance, isolated instances into context with what is going on in the nation today. They should have figured out by now that Rush is a mouth for the GOP spin machine and that anything and everything that spews forth is a calculated piece of propaganda. Why can’t they recognize that the GOP is desperate to maintain control of the Senate? Do they not know that success in maintaining that control is going to be determined by a few races? In both Tennessee and Virginia they’ve fallen back to good old reliable racism, but the Fox ad in Missouri is dangerous in that it is accurate and Jim Talent’s position is clear. There is no other way to try and respond but with a hatchet job on Michael J Fox.

Rush has once again performed as required and the dialogue has been suddenly changed, Fox’s legitimacy and veracity are now considered legitimate to question, it is now OK to ask if someone suffering from Parkinson's disease is justified in making a campaign appeal or whether they are just being used to try and get more votes. Not only is Michael J Fox’s sincerity and desire for stem cell research being impugned but he is being treated as if he should have known better than to insert himself into politics in the first place because this is what happens if you do. Tragically, as Atrios pointed out yesterday, not a word was said by the mouth breathers a couple of years ago when Fox made commercials for Arlen Specter supporting his position on stem cell research. He wasn’t accused of faking his disease or being a dupe then because IOKIYAR.

Made in the U.S.A....Not!

We were shopping the other day and while Madam was busy perusing everything, as women shopping are wont to do, I took it upon myself to search the racks in the men's department of several stores for American made clothes. After considerable time in JC Penny and Kohl's I gave up without finding any garment made here at home. (I'm sorry Homeland.)

I got a little curious about exactly how much of the clothing we buy in this country is actually imported and started Googling. I only found one reference and that was in the transcipt of a "Daily Show" interview with Lou Dobbs on his new book War on the Middleclass.

Quoting Lou the U.S. imports 96% of its clothing or in other words, if it were not for imports we would all be buck naked. That is a huge percentage and while I suspected it was a large percentage I was floored by that number.

Just imagine how many American jobs that means and not just textile and garment workers but the shops and barbers and gas stations and restaurants and god knows what else is connected with manufacturing jobs in a community. Astounding!

We can't even clothe ourselves!

More Bush Boom?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices posted their biggest drop on record in September while sales fell for the sixth month in a row, a real estate group said Wednesday - the latest signs that the housing market is still weakening.

The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes fell to an annual pace of 6.18 million last month from 6.3 million in August, marking the sixth straight monthly decline in sales.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a rate of 6.25 million in the most recent period.

The median price of a home sold in September fell 2.2 percent to $220,000 from $225,000 a year ago. It was the biggest year-over-year drop since the record 2.1 percent decline recorded in November 1990, when the nation was in recession..

The group's August sales report was the first in 11 years to show a year-over-year decline in the price of a typical home.

I don't have the interest to research the number of people that have interest only home loans or balloon mortgages but this is a bad sign for the economy. The housing market is a major component of the economy and when it is trending down there will be a lot of fallout.

Wow! We're Number 53

If you didn't already feel it in your gut we now have confirmation from the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones....

[SNIP]

The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.” The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.

Stay What Course?

The weakness, inherent in this Whitehouse, is coming to the fore. All of a sudden "Stay the course." are damning words and Bush and the GOP are running as fast as they can from the phrase, even to the point of saying that they never said it. This sudden flip-flop, just two weeks before the election is a classic demonstration of desperation and fear.

The Washington Post today has a brutal front page slam at Bush's flip-flop.

...the White House is cutting and running from "stay the course." A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned "stay the course" into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that "stay the course" does not actually mean stay the course.

For good analysis of why Bush and by extension all of us are screwed when it comes to Iraq Josh Marshall at TPM has his usual keen analysis.

But President Bush can't and won't withdraw from Iraq because when he does, under the current conditions, he'll sign the epitaph, the historical death warrant for his presidency. Unlike in the past there are no family friends to pawn the failure off on and let them take the loss. It's all his. So he'll keep kicking the can down the road forever.

h/t to AMERICAblog

The Party of Abe

Shamelessly stolen in all it's truth from MandT at Adgitadiaries.

The Republican Party is the party of Honest Abe----Lincoln that is. We believe in three principles which are the core of conservative politics:

1.) Republicans support the protection of individual liberty and the Constitution. Based on Lincoln's opposition to slavery, we continue to work for the equal opportunity and rights of all citizen's except for gays, non-Christian's, uppity women, MSNBC, and people who might be terrorists. We are opposed to slavery, except for those countries who have oil and make cheap shit for Wal-Mart.

We believe in individual liberty and that's why we have changed the Constitution and did away with Habeaus Corpus (the right to a trial) because it has been a pain in the ass for nearly two hundred years. We know who are terrorists and they don't deserve rights. Besides, they are probably abortionists and Democrats.

We work for the equality of all citizens, and that's why we did away with equal opportunity laws. Why, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, and Alberto Gonzales are perfect examples of Republican opportunity.

We work for the opportunity of all citizens by exporting blue collar and middle class jobs overseas, importing cheap professionals on work visas so hospitals can make profits, except they are not and that's Hillary Clinton's fault.

We want freedom for all the world, as long as we get their natural resources, convert heathen Islamo-fascists to reasonable dominion and force them to live , well, like Christians. As old Abe said: "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and under a just God, can not long retain it." (1859) Just ask Cheney---so there!

2.) Republicans support a strong United States. That's why we are losing the war in Iraq at a cost of a billion dollars a month, over 600,000 dead civilians, nearly 3000 American casualities, 50,000 wounded, and a brand new terrorist insurgency. But that's all temporary because Rummy says it will improve and President Bush doesn't smirk when he says Sadam did it and it's Clinton's fault.

We support the promotion of economic development. Why just look at the billions in profits made by the energy companies thanks to us, not to mention the thriving recovery of New Orleans. What's in your wallet? By ending the vitality of American manufacturing, we are ensuring that your children and grandchildren can get an equal opportunity job at Wal-Mart and MacDonalds.

Republicans are leading the war on terrorism at home and broad. You can just tell by the heightened alerts at election time, and by the fact that we have created tens of thousands of new terrorists in the Middle East so that we can fight them forever with your tax dollars and the lives of your disadvantaged children. We are saving a fortune by cutting benefits to our brave soldiers and their credit challenged families. Your kids will have as much opportunity to die as the rich kids have of going to good colleges and running the next government of Republicans. Is that American or what?

We also encourage policies that unite us as Americans rather than divide us along racial, ethnic or other lines. (Just kidding!)

We continue to pursue terrorists everywhere: The Internet, the world, outerspace, and your backyard. We have joined a coalition of nations such as Albania to rid the world of Islamo-fascists. We will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization, hate our freedoms, and will bomb the hell out of them with small atomic weapons (except for North Korea) if we feel like it.

3.) Republicans believe in a limited government grounded in Constitutional principles that support big business. That's why we have the largest government bureaucracy in history, are changing the inconvenient parts of the Constitution, creating an executive branch more powerful than Congress, support NAFTA and CAFTA to circumvent Supreme Court decisions against enviornmental disasters, support such principles as torture, and condone higher levels of mercury in our water supplies to get things moving along.

As Ronald Reagan tried to remember in 1988:

"We who live in free market socities believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down" . That's why we have exported all our manufacturing to southeast Asia and India, so that those countries can be like America.

"Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create----can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free." That's why we have one of the worst educational systems in the world, believe in Christian faith based science, believe that life begins with lust in our hearts, and therefore abortion is Jimmy Carter's fault and he's a Democrat.

"Trust the people." Particularly trust the people if they are base and born again. Rove the afterbirth demographics. Nancy Reagan told Ronnie that he wrote the above in 1988, but he forgot.

We, the GOP, must ensure that the ideas and character of all legitimate candidates must be heard. The Reverend Dobson says "No bastards allowed." (Just kidding!) We need to level the playing field so that only the very rich can run for office and pass laws to discriminate against the stupid poor who are obviously lacking in moral character or God would have made them rich Republicans.

We are the party of fiscal responsibility. We tax the poor and middle class and have amassed a huge trade deficit, hocked our assets to Saudia Arabia and China, and established a 9 trillion dollar federal debt. We blame it on the Mexicans, except for those who work cheap for friendly corporations. To solve the financial drain of illegal immigrants on local and state budgets, we propose to eliminate social services and social security. That'll teach em!

We are the conservative party and we ask for your votes to conserve what is absolutely the worst tendancies of human nature: hypocrisy, envy, betrayal, greed, perversion, fraud, theft, injustice, war, pillage, intolerance, and subugation. We know, because we are the Republican Party. We know the enemy and it is 'us.' Check http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Republican_Values . Keep close the enemy you know, rather than the one you don't. Right?

The Real Deal?

There is a lot of noise right now about Barack Obama running for President in 2008. I honestly don’t know that much about him, only glancing knowledge from a blog post here and there and an occasional news story. Evidently, at the Kennedy Library forum on Friday night, Barack Obama declined to rule out a Presidential run in 2008 and in an appearance on “Meet the Press” yesterday, he said in so many words that he was considering a run.

The fact that this is being taken seriously is somewhat telling about the state of our nation right now. We are desperate for anyone that is smart, attractive, sensible and apparently trustworthy to step forward and provide some leadership. I am not so sure, however, that Mr. Obama is the right man, right now. He may be capable of being a great President someday but with the country in the state it is in currently, I am looking for someone we will not have to train on the job. We need someone with heavy experience on the national scene, preferably having been in close orbit around the presidency. We need someone with experience at serious foreign policy and that has had to develop diplomatic skills in the real world. It has only been a couple of years ago that Mr. Obama was just an obscure state politician. His short tenure in the Senate has not proven his skills and frankly he has been unimpressive to date. If anything, our recent experience should tell us that we need to be a lot more careful about who we pick for President. We need to be real, real careful.

There are currently some serious questions in my mind about how committed Barack Obama is to the progressive agenda that I feel America is desperately in need of. While he appears to have a firm understanding of the problems facing America he has not yet demonstrated the willingness to make the hard stands and defend his beliefs on the floor of the Senate. His willingness to praise Bush and then turn around and pander the whacko Christofascists is very disturbing. He also has a tendency to come across as contemptuous of progressives and liberals. More than once his remarks are seen as talking down to the progressive left. The choice he made to not go to Connecticut and campaign for Ned Lamont was, I think, a serious breach of faith with the Democratic Party.

Another disturbing fact is that you are not hearing much negative energy coming from the other side. Why is that? It could be because the GOP would like nothing better than for the Democrats to nominate someone like Obama for the run in 2008. It would be very easy for them to field an opposition candidate with a deeper résumé, more national experience and foreign policy credentials than Obama. While the Republicans may be in deep guacamole now and most probably still will be in 2008, they could easily put together a ticket that would annihilate the likes of Barack Obama.

All of the above being said it might be a good thing for him to at least get in the mix for the nomination. We might at least get to see him debate his ideas and give us a better understanding of who he is and what he could really to for the country with a little more experience. My personal opinion is that there are just too many unknowns and way too little record for us to truly judge him. Maybe with a couple of more years in the Senate, especially if the Democrats can regain control, he could build a record of accomplishment that would tell us who he is. Not to mention that with a few more years of national political exposure he could earn some of the thick hide and mettle necessary to weather a national presidential campaign.

He could be the real deal someday only not today. I will give him one thing. He has been consistently against the invasion and continuing debacle in Iraq even as he was running for his senate seat in Illinois.

Creeping Fascism or Rampant

Mandt over at Adgitadiaries has a great collection of reading up. It is well worth your time to go through it and even follow the links to the sources. I found the following especially meaningful.

2.) Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration. Bush Has Achieved America's Demise: The United States as Defined by the Founding Fathers No Longer Exists October 11, 2006 http://www.vdare.com/roberts/index.htm:

Americans are too inattentive and distracted to be aware of the grave danger that the neoconservative Bush regime presents to American liberty and to world stability. The neoconservative drive to achieve hegemony over the American people and the entire world is similar to Hitler's drive for hegemony. Hitler used racial superiority to justify Germany's right to ride roughshod over other peoples and the right of the Nazi elite to rule over the German people. Neoconservatives use "American exceptionalism" and "the war on terror." There is no practical difference. Hitler cared no more about the peoples he mowed down in his drive for supremacy than the neoconservatives care about 655,000 dead Iraqis, 100,000 disabled American soldiers and 2,747 dead ones.

When Bush, the Decider, claims unconstitutional powers and uses "signing statements" to negate US law whenever he feels the rule of law is in the way of his leadership, he is remarkably similar to Hitler, the Fuhrer, who told the Reichstag on February 20, 1938: "A man who feels it his duty at such an hour to assume the leadership of his people is not responsible to the laws of parliamentary usage or to a particular democratic conception, but solely to the mission placed upon him. And anyone who interferes with this mission is an enemy of the people."

"You are with us or against us."