The following got published as a letter to the editor in the Savage Pacer.

As the bumper sticker says, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.” It’s time for everyone to start paying close attention to the power grab being made by the Bush administration – and to be very concerned.

The most recent threat to our freedom was last Friday’s passing of the so-called Military Commissions Act. This bill was ostensibly designed to allow greater latitude in prosecuting the “War on Terror.”

What it really does is give unchecked power to the president. Under this bill, the president can indefinitely detain anyone he deems to have engaged in “hostilities” against the United States – and that includes any U.S. citizen. The bill allows the use of torture to extract confessions, keeps the courts from challenging the president’s actions, and (conveniently) gives retroactive immunity to any U.S. officials who may have been involved in torturing detainees during the latest Iraq war. It also lets the president interpret the Geneva Convention any way he sees fit. It makes the president judge, jury and executioner … and it’s wrong.

Our country was founded by persecuted people fleeing a monarchy. The founders of the United States instituted a three-branch system of government specifically to provide a balance of power. They knew, from personal experience, that no one person or branch should be trusted with complete control.

History is littered with examples of power-mad dictators and the resulting oppression of their people. We don’t need to be the next statistic.The Bush administration has a veritable laundry list of transgressions: illegally launching a war without ever going to Congress to have war declared, the use of torture and complete disregard for the Geneva Convention, illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens and, this week, evidence that both John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales (the two U.S. Attorney Generals under Bush), along with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and others, covered up the predatory sexual behavior of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to protect their political party. This all stems from an attitude that they are above the law. No one is above the law.

While this wrongdoing has taken place because of one political party – the Republicans – this is not a partisan message. It’s a call to wake up and see what’s really going on in this country. It’s a call to get involved with your government. It’s a call to ask yourself what the United States stands for: always doing the right thing, or sacrificing our principles when convenient. “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” – Plato

Check out this phenomenal speech given by Bill Moyers on 2006-03-14.  If we could sit down with every American and get them to listen to this, really listen to this, we’d have a new Revolution occur.  Or so I’d like to believe.

Carl Sheeler is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Rhode Island.  He’s also instigating a campaign to get the Rhode Island legislature to institute impeachment proceedings against Bush!  Seems that Congress can do that if/when a state brings charges against the President.  He’s put the groovy billboard you see above just outside of Providence, RI, and is trying to get more erected – you can support the cause at his web site.

You can read more about this at the Daily Kos or Democratic Underground.

Awesome.

I really think it’s time for some good old-fashioned outrage.  You know, the kind where people march in the streets, burn bras, and stuff flowers into the barrels of Charleton Heston’s guns.  I think we’re all so dulled by the constant tragedy, dishonesty, and lunacy around us that we’ve forgotten how to get in a real snit.  It’s Boston Tea Party time!  I mean, folks in Guangdong, China are not afraid to risk their lives in protesting their government’s actions; how come Americans aren’t going postal about Big Brother monitoring our personal communications illegally, our children dying in Vietnam II, and the increasing divide between haves and have-nots?

Oh, and one other thing: mathematical evidence virtually proving that the 2004 election was rigged.  That’s 2 for 2 in the Bush Jr. years.

“…Ohio’s exit poll discrepancies are consistent with the hypothesis that Kerry would have won Ohio’s electoral votes if Ohio’s official vote counts had accurately reflected voter intent.”

The full paper:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/OH/Ohio-Exit-Polls-2004.pdf 

Okay, so I’ve been out of circulation for a while – life, you know? Best intentions, all that jazz. So these are baby-steps back into the maelström.

This really made me laugh. That bastard Novak melting down on national TV…man, I wish I’d been watching! But I guess I can DVR it on The Late Show tonight at 10:30 (CDT) on Comedy Central, so perhaps all is not lost.

It’s another sign that the end times are near for the evil that has been overtaking our country. And even more good news: polls show today that Underworld Minion Bush is at his lowest ratings ever, with half the population thinking that he’s a liar – as if there were any doubt. And for some reason, 60% of folks think the country is headed down the wrong track. Hmmmmm…I wonder why? Maybe because that f–king idiot is killing thousands of Americans, destroying another country from within, only concerned with his own welfare, destroying this nation’s economy by creating the worst debt situation EVER, and ignoring everyone who is not in the upper 2% income bracket?

But I wax vehement. (deep breath) Okay…I’m better now. I’m trusting that the divine force in the Universe (call it Allah, God, what-have-you) has got these pathetic carbon-based life forms heading our government marked for a big surprise, and I’ll be content to watch it happen. Although I will be on the sidelines cheering.

I just got an email alert the other day from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Evidently the NRA and other psychotic American terrorists are trying to push through two bills (s 1082 and HR 1288) that would end Washington DC’s ban on the sale and possession of unregistered firearms, allow the sale of assault weapons, and allow assault weapons to be kept in workplaces. There are some other provisions too, like ending firearm registration requirements.

Let’s examine this critically:

• it’s not okay to possess firearms in the Senate, House of Reps, or White House, but they should be allowed in the cubicle next to mine?
• the mayor of DC doesn’t want the ban lifted, but those Second Amendment idiots know better?
• the DC police don’t want the ban lifted, but those patsies of the NRA have better data?
• the people of DC don’t want the ban lifted, but these Republican a-holes know what’s best for them?
• DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton reports that the murder rate in DC is approaching a 20-year low, yet we need to basically drop all gun laws in order to make the populace safer?

If these cornballs truly believe that it makes everyone safer when everyone is armed, I fully expect them to change the regulations surrounding Capitol Hill so that I can go take a White House tour carrying my Glock 10mm (with extra clips, of course). I mean, if Georgie is worried about his personal safety, he should be packing, too…right?

This story makes me think about the scene in LA Story where Steve Martin is driving down the freeway and hears the radio DJ announce that it’s the first day of spring. He frantically claws for his glove compartment, pulls out a handgun, and suddenly everyone on the freeway is shooting at each other. I can just see it happening. The idea that arming everyone will lead to less violence is so insanely stupid that I can’t believe someone would even posit it as an idea. It’s like, say, if I said, “Hey, these fringe terrorists from Saudi Arabia living out in the Afghan desert attacked us, so we should start a war on Iraq to stop them!” I mean, it’s so dumb that no one would buy it. Right?

If you’ve got a minute, send a message to your Senator/Representative and tell them to stop the madness. Or at least some of the madness. The CSGV makes it easy to do this: just click here and fill out the form. This is just another of a long litany of transgressions for which the NRA and its evil minion will someday pay, and we might as well give ’em hell every step of the way.

President Bush announces wedding to Prince Abdullah

That “sanctity of marriage” stuff was just b.s., Prez declares

In a stunning development today, President Bush announced his engagement to Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The royal couple plans to wed in Massachusetts “as soon as we can get our license!” said Bush. Asked about his previous statements declaring that marriage was a sacred institution between a man and a woman, Bush said, “Aw, that was just bullshit. I thought it might pump up my approval rating a few points.”

The proclamation ended weeks of speculation surrounding the two. Ever since they shared an intimate night and day on April 25 at the President’s love-nest in Crawford, TX, rumors have been flying that more than just a love of oil and oppression united them. Sources report that they’ve “never seen him happier” than the time he spent with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at the ranch. From romantic walks holding hands to frolicking in the pool to a candle-lit dinner, the two men “were hardly ever apart.”

The joy both men felt was palpable at the announcement, and they celebrated with a gentle kiss. Reaction from Washington and the nation was mostly stunned disbelief. Vice-President Cheney rallied to support his Commander-in-Chief, saying, “Well, I’ve already got a lesbo daughter, so a gay President doesn’t faze me. As long as he keeps his hands off my ass.” Reporters tried to get a statement from House leader Tom “Ethics are for the Little People” DeLay, but were unable to reach him at an important summit meeting being paid for and held by the Wealthy Caucasian Association of America at an exclusive Mediterranean resort in Mykonos, Greece.

Left out of the entire fanfare were Laura Bush and the four unnamed, unknown, unappreciated wives (property) of Prince Abdullah. One report is that the urgency to ram Republican judicial nominations through is in order to pave the way for Bush’s control of the Federal courts, thus allowing him to have his marriage to Laura easily annulled. Failing this, a new Constitutional amendment is being proposed that would give full power to the President to switch partners at any time for any reason. The wives of Abdullah are of less concern, as they can easily be sold off or traded in for other valuable prizes at any time under “modern” Saudi law.