In Canada the police are caught infiltrating a civil protest and trying to provoke an incident at a protest of corporate power supplanting democratic rule. In Canada eh?
What will the party conventions be like this summer? I have no idea, but if I saw people with mask and rocks in hand, I'd head the other way, self-preservation sor
Born on the 4th of July 1776 ..... died on 9/11/01.
Current mood: nostalgic
Category: Blogging
Ya I know ..... it's the 4th of July ..... well tomorrow is anyway.
During the Bicentennial celebrations in Philadelphia, Pa. 1976, I literarily carried the Grand Old Flag (48 stars) in the Marine Corp Flag Pageant. I was the WW 2 Marine. We, the old Marine Barracks Philadelphia, got a meritorious unit citation for outstanding contributions to the nation's bicentennial celebration. That's right I got a MUC for parade duty.
I have always loved the Constitution of the United States of America along with the Bill of Rights since learning about them in grade school. My mother helped by talking about the Democrats and taking care of all our neighbors. My father, the old SOB, savaged my life by teaching me to have empathy .... walking a mile in the other guy's shoes.
Then 9/11/01 happened and I'm told that everything changed. Every blessed thing changed.
Bush told us that the terrorist could .... "shake the foundations of our buildings but they can never shake the foundations of our freedom." What we didn't hear was him mumbling under his breath, "That's my job."
And boy did he ever do his very-hard-work job of destroying our way of life in the name of preserving our way of life. Your safe from the so-called evil doers .... maybe .... but at the cost of your liberties.
The government can listen to your phone calls and monitor your Internet usage .... the President can declare you an "Enemy Combatant" whisk you away to Gitmo .... give your face a frat-boy swimming lesson (water-boarding) and deny you any knowledge of your charges, your accuser, or access to a lawyer.
I will not be celebrating the 4th of July this year, the country I knew and loved that was born that date in the year 1776 died on 9/11/01.
It wasn't killed by an external enemy .... it was killed so that you and I could be SAFE. Some how I don't feel safer now then I did on 9/12/01. How about you?
"People who trade liberty for security deserve neither." ...... paraphrased founding father and lover of seasoned women Benny Franklin. My very favorite founding father.
But I thought that it was over.
Current mood: angry
Category: News and Politics
Everyone who thought that Bush was a lame duck just playing the clown until next January 20th .......... we were very wrong.
Oh sure, we all wanted to believe that he was done. There could be no further cluster to Fuk. That this contest of ineptitude in the highest office was over and we could asses the damage and how to go about cleaning up after the 'adults' that took office in 2000.
But like a greedy little kids at the ice cream bar the Neo-Cons of the Bush Administration want another bowl of chocolate while the strawberry and vanilla are melting all over the table.
The reverberations of the Cheney Secret Energy Meeting continue to shape the headlines of today as we destabilize Iran for get this, weapons of mass destruction. Again? Yes again, WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION ...... er, destruction. And guess what ...... Iran ...... sits atop a lot of oil.
Just like Iraq.
Bush/Cheney, the first MBA-President, will be using everyday left to them to check the sofa cushions of America looking for loose change to ship to their corporate pals.
They didn't destroy the Constitution and the Treasury to leave loose change around.
Currently
listening
:
Wish You Were Here
By
Pink Floyd
Release date: 2000-04-25
Hillary Clinton for a Supreme Court seat.
Current mood: contemplative
Category: News and Politics
Hillary Clinton for the Supreme Court.
I like it. I think it would suit Hillary's sense of dignity and importance. I like that for the rest of her life she can sit on the bench and influence the law of the land as she sees fit. The power to shape and influence the American constitution is considerable. Her ability to work well with her peers as she has shown in the Senate could even swing some votes.
It's not that I don't like her that much. When Bill was jerking us around about Monica, (first of all I admit I believed him when he said, "I did not have sex with that woman.") I was feeling Hillary and her loyalty.
Later, disappointed with the lie he told ME, I was forgiving and WTF it was only a B.J. and a little foreign object freaking. Disappointing yes, impeachable? Hell no.
But I digress.
Hillary on the High Bench is so natural a fit that I couldn't see why she wouldn't want it. The fact that she would never have to run another election, never have to watch and wonder WTF Bill was going to do on the trail should influence her desire for the blackest of robes.
What I would like the best of all with Justice Clinton would be this highly qualified woman, intelligent, charming and persistent, who would piss all kinds of people off for the rest of her life, just by drawing breath and being herself.
If the war is costing 12 billion dollars a month, (12 billion dollars is one hundred twenty thousand piles of one million dollar piles) why not skip a month of the war and create 120,000 new brand new millionaires in America.
That would spark the economy more then the $600 tax rebate per house don't you think?
Bush’s mad rush to eternal war in the middle east, seven months left.
Current mood: frustrated
Category: News and Politics
With President Bush in his final seven months and despite a National Intelligence Estimate (Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities, 11/07) to the contrary there are stories of American covert military operations in Iran over Iranian nuclear weapons programs.
Despite the NIE that states that there is no Iranian program in operation, the Bush Administration is beating the same WMD war drum it did prior to the commencement of the Iraq war ..... played by the same drummers.
With Afghanistan broiling with the Taliban re-insurgency and Iraq still at pre-surge levels, it is irresponsible to go picking another fight in the neighborhood, not to mention immoral, unjustified and preemptive.
If we still believe that we are the police to the world, I don't, then we need to expand the military to the draft. We can not count on the troops who have already been used to capacity to be able to increase their commitments to combat zones.
It is time now for the Congress to step in and check this warmonger with an impeachment. While I haven't thought that it would be necessary to impeach Bush before the end of his term, (not that it was undeserved but that it was late and they could always bring criminal charges after the end of his term) but now with another war on the line it is time. Hundreds of thousands of lives are on the line.
Once more Bush and Cheney have less time for inspectors and no interest in diplomacy.
What will it take to shame this country into taking the warmongering pigs in hand?
It would not be out of line to contact your senators and let them know if you oppose another indeterminate war in an oil rich country.
Too funny, Senators caught with their pants down introduce act to define marriage.
Current mood: aggravated
Category: News and Politics
Senators Larry 'Wide stance' Craig (r) Idaho and David 'hooker-gate' Vitter (r) La. announced that they will cosponsor SJ Res 43, a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage as a union between a man and a woman only.
In the last year both of the steamed ... er, esteemed Republican Senators have been embroiled in sex scandals.
The Washington D.C. Madam of scandal fame had Republican Senator Vitter's number in her little black book .... only the second hooker scandal for Vitter, his wife stood by his side as he admitted that he had 'sinned' and had asked forgiveness both from God and his wife. (I don't know how God feels about it but Mrs. Vitter looked fit to be tied.)
Senator Larry Craig has been a punch line in the American lexicon for his excuse for playing footsie with an undercover cop in a men's room stall. Larry told the arresting officer that he touched his foot to the officers foot under the partition because he has a "Wide Stance". This scandal was by far the funniest sex scandal since the blue dress mess and Impeachment.
Craig takes the cake for actual video of the police interview where Craig is on tape saying he has a "wide stance and I may have touched your foot ...." I am a pretty big guy, at one time I stood 5 foot 11 and 3/5's inches tall and 340 pounds. I wear a size 54 jacket. Aside from some weight lifters, few men are as broad at the shoulders as I am. I never in my life have touched another man's foot in a shit house stall. I haven't tried but wouldn't your pants restrict your movement?
Back to the legislation that these fine moral men have cosponsored. A constitutional amendment takes more effort and power then the waning Republican Senators can muster. SJ res 43 is as dead as my prostate.
But why even bother? Well Larry Craig isn't going to run for re-election because ..... he wants more time at home with his wife ..... because he isn't gay ..... not even amused ..... But you know he doesn't want to come out and an election would make it such an issue.
David Vitter is a classic Republican sleaze ball. This is his second hooker scandal. In the Canal Street Madam case his name came up a number of times with regard to a woman named Wendy. The Republicans closed ranks around him.
The D.C. Madam scandal came about when Vitter's phone number showed up in a Madam's customer list.
Ironically Vitter replaced Bob Livingston a La. Republican Congressman who had to step down because of a ..... sex scandal involving hookers that broke when he was being considered for Speaker after Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned for among other reasons, an illicit affair he had during President Clinton's blue dress impeachment.
So what? Well it's one of the wedge issues that are total bullshit and have no bearing on what is important. In a country where we are involved in an immoral and unjustified war of preemption these clowns are wasting our time and governmental efforts on nothing of import. Even worse is that these two clowns are hypocrites of the worst kind. They do, then condemn.
Hypocrites impeached President Clinton over a little nothing. Over a lie about illicid extra marital sex.
Now when President Bush is shown to have lied about the reasons for going to war ..... the congress has no time for an impeachment.
LIberal Evangelical? Why I believe in God.
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Okay right up front. I don't evangelize, I go to an evangelical church and I've been on the executive board for going on six years. But I am not comfortable telling people what they should believe. It is enough for me that I believe that the Spirit moves whoever is brought to God.
I see all this stuff, I've seen it all my life. It's the other people, the grass, trees, sun, stars and universe. Where did it come from?
Science tells me that there was a big bang. I am no astro physicist, it is all a little blurry to me. But according to my little understanding, and you all could Google it, there was a little something, (a speck?) then BIG BANG happens and there are galaxies flying around and expanding ever outward.
Okay, that explanation sucked. It's a huge subject, the big bang, but the long and short of it is that there was nothing much ..... then it became the all and everything we can see or detect.
In the beginning was the Word .... it works as well as anything else I've been told.
When I first met my wife she got me to read the Bible. I read the red printed word of Christ in the Bible I got. It was beautiful, loving and human.
Later that same summer I met some kids from the Point Loma Nazarene University, PLNU, on a homeless out reach program. I was talking to Kelly T. and telling her I thought that Jesus was a social rebel against the establishment. She said that she thought so too and that I should met one of her instructors Doug. Long story shortened, I audited Doug's intro to the New Testament and he invited me to the church where he was an Assistant Pastor, The Mid-City Church of the Nazarene in San Diego. I've been there ever since.
Mid-City is a different sort of church. Our head English Congregation Pastor John Wright, is a Professor of Theology at PLNU. A PHD graduate of the University of Noter Dame he is a passionate Preacher of the Gospel.
I say the English Congregation because there are five Nazarene congregations in our church separated by languages, Spanish, French, Cambodian, Samoan and English. We come from around the country and around the world. We have Haitians, Nigerians, Cambodians, Samoans, Sudanese, Mexicans and hispanics from central and South America. Many are refugees who fled death at home.
We worship as individual congregations on most Sundays and four or five times a year worship as one church. When we all worship together it looks like the face of the entire world.
Last year the church bought a refrigerated truck to pick up donated food from stores around the San Diego area. On a budget of under $74,000 the church has distributed free of charge to everyone who comes, as long as supplies hold out, over a million dollars worth of bread, produce and milk products. Fishes and loaves.
So when I read the Bible Jesus tells me to love my neighbor and honor God. How do we honor God? By obeying the one he sent, Jesus.
Simple isn't it?
Okay, it takes faith. Faith is the belief in a thing without proof.
I want life to have meaning. In God I find meaning. In Jesus I find enlightenment. I have faith that my belief in Jesus as the Word will bring me life everlasting if I an obedient to his teachings.
KISS ..... Keep it simple stupid.
If your belief in Jesus brings you cross wise with other people then your doing it wrong. Jesus said if a town doesn't accept the Word, "dust your heels off as a sign against them." He never said stick your nose in their business.
Look, as a western man I look to the western tradition for an explanation to my questions. It is in Jesus that I can find an answer.
What I’d really like in the next administration.
Current mood: pessimistic
Category: News and Politics
Total candor with the American people.
Not the state and national security secret stuff, once we have eliminated the secret prisons we don't have and torture interviews that we don't use, the science stuff.
I'm a Christian. I will not be arguing the existents of God here on this post. At the very factual level I see all this stuff around me all the time. Other people and plants and planets and suns and galaxies and so on .... like the kid said, "with all this pony crap there must be a pony somewhere." My point being that I accept science while believing in a Creator.
But science is for real, factual and provable stuff. Some of this stuff is, get this, deadly important. Global warming is less of a political debate for the American people that it is the death toll for life as we have known it until recently.
If we were indeed the leading nation hereabouts we would have been all over this. We would have turned out our intellectual capital for real practical problems as opposed to MBA's, the greed looking for their own. No offense MBA's, it's just that you've had your hand on the tiller for the last eight years and WTF, OMG, we are the most feared and hated nation on earth. But I digress.
Federal funding has been used to promote "Intelligent Design" while suppressing the use of condoms in Africa. Both of these misdirected uses of our money are based not on science but on fundamentalist beliefs.
Facts bent to reflect a religious belief are not facts any more but dogma.
You can not base government policy on dogma. To conflate the church and state in matters of science is unbelievably stupid. Okay, I got carried away and forgot how incredibly stupid this country has acted under the fascist hand of Bush Inc.
So getting back to the title of this rant, I want the cold hard facts. I'm sicker of spin then the cat caught in the drier.
We can no longer chart the course of this nation on notions.
aroused
nostalgic
angry
contemplative
annoyed
frustrated
awake
aggravated
pessimistic