11.22.2003

"For the sake of our national security and economic security, the Senate's got to pass this bill," Mr. Bush said of the energy initiative.
--New York Times article on the Ridiculous Energy Bill of Contempt

Go ahead, "Mr. President", you know you want to say it. A sentence starting with "I believe that 9/11 taught this country..." that we need that energy bill. Louisianna needs a new Hooters and a 14-screen movie theatre and a giant shopping mall so that the terrorists don't win. Our country needs to work together to provide an energy bill that provides "subsidies for power companies, a plan to provide legal immunity to producers of a gasoline additive blamed for water pollution" and fails to even address the fact that we greedy, oil-hungry pigs maybe need to glut ourselves a little less at the troff. No mention of improving fuel efficiency thanks to the auto and oil industries having our noble "president" in their back pockets.
The bill was composed behind locked doors where no democrat was allowed.

Call your senators!!!!

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11.19.2003

More from the Salon interview with Bobby Kennedy Jr. that is linked to down the screen a bit...

"If you read the American Heritage Dictionary definition of fascism, it says "the domination of a government by corporations of the political right, combined with bellicose nationalism. Well, we're seeing that today."

Of course the first people who start talking about this connection are going to be derided for it. Even though Rush Limbaugh calls feminists "Nazis." The right wing for years has tried to discredit anyone who believes in the idea of community as a "communist" or a "pinko." But it's time that people started telling the truth about what's going on in this country. And start realizing that democracy is fragile, that corporate cronyism is as antithetical to democracy in America as it is in Nigeria. "

and the absolute kicker, the most eloquent sentence of the week...

"I believe that George W. Bush is stealing my country, that he is absolutely stealing the environment from our children, stealing the breath from my children's lungs and stealing the Bill of Rights, selling off the sacred places, and trashing all the things I value about America. Our reputation across the globe, the love and admiration that other peoples and nations once had for America, the safety of our nation, the security of our children, the economy, the ability of our children to educate themselves for the future -- it's all being liquidated by this president for his wealthy friends and contributors. And I am so furious at this man for stealing the thing I love most, which is America, my country."


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If you live in San Francisco and still have a Bay Guardian from last week laying around, check out Mat's travel story about Calistoga on the Cheap!! I know that it is Wednesday, and that it is a little late for this announcement as there is a fresh new Guardian on the stands, hot off the presses. But check it out...

Or check it online.

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"... most Republicans are actually Democrats; they just don't know it. If they knew what was happening in the White House, they would be angry, they would be furious. And when they are told what is happening, they get angry. And that's the reaction I get all around the country. If we get the message out, we win." **I would like to think so.**

"... there is a marriage between the pollution interests and these right-wing paranoid movements led by people like Rush Limbaugh, Paul Weyrich, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. They got a huge infusion of money in the 1980s from big industrial polluters like Joseph Coors, and it suddenly gave them an enormous voice. This wing has come to dominate the Republican Party. And the central platform of all these groups is their anti-environmentalism. They're against any regulations that interfere with corporate profit-taking."

".....look at George W. Bush -- he knows nothing about any issue. He doesn't seem to have a single complex thought in his head or shred of curiosity. I mean, he claims he doesn't even watch the news or read newspapers. But people find something kind of charming and trustworthy about his manner -- and that's all they need."

from a really good Salon interview with Bobby Kennedy Jr.

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11.12.2003

The Senate slumber party starts tonight!
There's an articleon the festivities in the New York Times.
I wonder if anyone's bra will get frozen or if someone will put Tom Daschle's hand in cold water while he is sleeping to see if he will wet the bed. Maybe they will tell ghost stories and braid each other's hair.

Fun fun.

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TIM RUSSERT: Which Supreme Court justice do you really respect?
GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, that's -- Anthony [sic] Scalia is one.
TIM RUSSERT: He is someone who wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, he's a -- there's a lot of reasons why I like Judge Scalia.

NBC's Meet the Press, 11/21/99

--from the Democratic National Comittee's website

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HIlarious... excellent little video. Watch it!! Watch it!!! Oh, do watch it... and sign some petitions, make some phone calls, send some emails...

I love it

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11.9.2003

from a story on The New Yorker online entitled
"What would Jesus Test-Drve?"

Thirty-three percent of the public thought Jesus would not drive a sport utility vehicle, while 29 percent thought he would, 31 percent offered no opinion and 7 percent volunteered the reply that he would not drive, but walk.
—The Times, referring to a poll by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum.

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11.7.2003

Sometimes I am on call for work. That means that from 7am until 7pm, work can call me and ask me to go ride in an ambulance to pick up a sick kid at a hospital and bring it to our hospital. I am usually full of dread whenever the phone rings and a little anxious all day hoping that I won't get called. I have only been called once, and when it happened one of the sweetest people that I work with got on the phone and informed me of my mission.

I just saw a news video on yahoo news that showed One-of-the-many-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken (well, ok Skeletor Rumsfeld -- i swear that his face looks like an evil skeleton) announcing some horrific numbers of troops that have been alerted that they are going to be going to Iraq. My heart hurts for these people. I cannot imagine being informed that yep, you have to go in. They have a few weeks to say goodbyes to their families and try and muster enough courage to be flown by an evil administration into a land made more evil by the day.

And I'm sure that it wasn't a sweet voice on the other end of the phone either.

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