I'm Still Kicking!

Hey y'all! (yes i said y'all...that does not make me a blind compassionate conservative member of the "Yay Jesus" Club) Anyhoo, we've got this special election coming up in California, costing us a hefty sum I might add, and pardon my french but these elections are arriéré mental. That means mentally retarded for you uneducated types. These initiatives limit unions, nurses, teachers, and other public servants, and will probably not pass muster in a standard election. But by calling a special election, Arnold makes our citizens majorly p.o.'d. He puts these issues on this ballot, and because these elections are not popular, many people will not go out and vote in them. Only those who have vehement enough beliefs will vote, and I harbor a distasteful misgiving that those who come out will support his policies. So those of you who can vote....which unfortunately doesn't include me, or the rest of the decaf team...get out and vote in this special election, and make your voice heard, for all of us.

So, what else is new?

Bush's presidency judged a FAILURE (AP via Yahoo!):

For the first time, more people say George W. Bush's presidency will be judged as unsuccessful than say it will be seen as a success, a poll finds.

Forty-one percent of respondents said Bush's presidency will be seen as unsuccessful in the long run, while 26 percent said the opposite. Thirty-five percent said it was too early to tell, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

In January, 36 percent said successful and 27 percent said unsuccessful.

The increasing pessimism about Bush's long-term prospects comes at a time when many polls have found the public increasingly is negative about Bush's performance and the direction of the country.

Could such numbers explain why Bush's much-touted video conference with soldiers in Iraq was actually STAGED? (New York Times):

On the screen today could be seen 10 soldiers of the army's 42d Infantry Division, based in Tikrit. They sat stiffly in three tight rows, joined by an Iraqi officer, apparently atop a building, under a blue-gray sky.

While the president asked the troops a half-dozen questions, appearing to do so extemporaneously, the troops evidently had prepared their answers. The format did not lend itself to more frank exchanges.

The event seemed designed both to bolster the troops' morale - "You've got tremendous support here at home," Mr. Bush said, before repeating that point later - and to underscore the determination of the United States in its mission in Iraq, as well as the importance it places on the referendum.While insurgents sought to "shake our will," Mr. Bush said, "I'm going to assure you this: that so long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory."

Mr. President, Why are you so afraid of the fucking truth?

Hm. Enough talk about weak, spineless Democrats. Somebody step up to the plate and face the truth. I don't care if it's John McCain in 2008. If he will be honest, that would already be an improvement... and plus, he'd have cleaned up SOME of this mess before a Democrat takes over in 2012. No, just kidding. We need to step away from this destructive neoconservatism. We need a swashbuckling Democrat (or even an able Republican/Other) to look us in the eye and honestly tell us that it will be all right, that "all we have to fear is fear itself." Yes, that's right... America is held captive by fear. And we need LEADERS that will lead the way (Daily Kos).

You know what? Even Newt Gingrich would be an improvement. (AP via Yahoo!)

"My hope is that five or six candidates are going to jump up, steal all of my ideas, and I will be able to relax and go golf," he said.

The former Georgia congressman said if nobody picks up on the ideas and the country thinks they are significant, a campaign is possible. But he added that's "so far down the road and so much less important than my two grandchildren."

Vice President Al Gore, where are you? Senator John Edwards, where are you? General Wesley Clark... actually, you're here and we're eternally grateful. Step up to the plate. Oh yeah, and LEAD, for Chrissakes...

Well, only until Monte turns 35, when he will set things right:

take the midwest, beat it over the head with a heavy stick, and then leave them alone in a room with ted kennedy

Oh man, I love this boy.

I pick...I pick...

Out of the many articles below, I'll take ...none. Instead, I'll just give a little blast on the fiasco as a whole. But, I'll concentrate and take excerpts articles 2 and 3 (below).


So let's see, where to begin...-Whoamg. It's about time the Republican dirt came out. I've been waiting for this for a long time. People always complain about how Democrats are too hesitant and are always the poorer party, but at least now we see that the sexy asses actually follow the law better than the Phat 'Phants do. Whee let's break down the action (DeLay) so far.

Speaking of following the law, the commercial in Austin says that

"it's not a crime to be conservative."

What the commercial fails to recognize is that it should be a crime to be so stupid.
The article on the commercial is pretty short, but here's the gist of it anyways:

"A prosecutor with a political agenda can be vicious," the ad says over footage of a snarling dog.
The ad, sponsored by the Free Enterprise Fund of Washington, D.C., reminds viewers that Earle, "a liberal Democrat," once tried to prosecute U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican.
The ad says Earle now is going after DeLay of Sugar Land because he is a Republican, too.

First off, prosecutors are neutral by definition. They analyze the law and argue for violations. Advocating the conviction of a criminal has been associated with personal political agenda since, oh, just about...way back NEVER. If the republicans are going to try to accuse an attourney of having a political agenda, they have to do better than whine about a prosecution of a fellow republican. No one gives two bits if it was a Democrat who tried to prosecute Senator Hutchinson. The Democratic party and republican party do not conflict in court about criminal acts. If Hutchison violated the law, or was suspected to do so, he deserved to be prosecuted regardless of the prosecutor's party affiliation. I'll bet that if Earle was republican who acted the way he did against Hutchinson, no foul cry would arise; this is just the republicans trying to politicize this. Furthermore, if this Earle was a loyal Republican who did not try to prosecute Senators who violated the law, wouldn't he be having a political agenda? Wouldn't he be disregarding the law to help promote his party? You bet, but would the republicans complain if things swung their way? nope.

"By pushing grand juries to issue politically motivated indictments of prominent Republicans, Ronnie Earle is trying to make it a crime to be conservative, to support an agenda of lower taxes and less government. That's un-American," Factor said.

This is just plain wrong. Earle is trying to make it a crime to be corrupt. Last time I checked, taking in illegal money was not supproting an agenda of lower taxes and less government. It's totally irrelevant. Even more irrelevant is accusing Earle of making it a crime to be conservative. That would be me.
Expanding, the ad states that DeLay's being prosecuted because of his republican status. First off, DeLay is being prosecuted for being suspect of criminal activies. Second, if all people needed to be prosecuted for was being republican, half the legislative branch and the entire executive branch would be in court right now. And the world would be a better place. Sadly, that's not the case. It's plain to see that republicans still taint everyday society and are in fact, not being pulled to court for being phat 'phants. So, DeLay is being charged with criminal activities, and the any accusation of party bias is just wrong.

Now, DeLay is being charged with white collar crimes including conspiracy, money laundering, and violation of state election laws. These are all serious crimes to be considered during the prosecution.

The private group Common Cause urged the House ethics committee to expand its investigation into a trip that Rep. Tom DeLay made to England and Scotland, to determine if it amounted to a gift in exchange for legislative favors.

Um, corruption. Enough said. I could go on for pages about the negative impacts of corruption. Anyways, trading in legislative favors for gifts is why our system right now is so messed up. Delay is also being charged with squandering 70,000 dollars on a golfing trip to Scotland from a lobbyist. 70k. For some poor families, thats an entire year's income.
This type of corruption must be eradicated from the American political system. Making corrupt policies and robbing Americans of health insurance and education is unjust, immoral, and downright infuriating. If there is any possibility of such violations, a trial must be carried out; unlawful activity, especially to this degree, cannot be tolerated.

Bottom line, the republicans are imbeciles for trying to politicize this. Prosecuting DeLay on accounts of money laundering and corruption is not undermining the "free market agenda." I swear, it'd be so ironic if someone the people on the Ad committee to put that phrase in. Politics aside, people get convicted because they are found guilty of violating crimes, not because of party affiliation.

Whoooo ok I'm done. I had to try so hard not to include a single cuss word in the post.

GOP Fraud Day

Which would actually be every day. It's almost IRONIC how all the dirt on the GOP leadership is coming out now... But I promised a certain SOMEBODY that I will go sleep, so I will leave the links here. If any of y'all have the time, decaf it, I'll wake up and be really really happy and therefore be able to finish my Evil School essays today?

DeLay phone records subpoenaed
... and it would be SO funny if he was involved in phone sex, a la Bill O'Reilly

Conservatives launch attack on prosecuter Ronnie Earle
... because in this country, TRUTH is a CRIME.

Probe into DeLay's Abramoff-funded trip to England
... and about time it happened, really.

DeLay's lawyers subpoena prosecuter Ronnie Earle
... to show how a man who prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans is totally partisan.

Security Exchange Commission subpoenas Frist
... and Frist consults Martha on the appropriate prison-wear for when Senator-colleagues come visit him.

And please note that only ONE of the links above is from Washington Post.

Sweet Dreams.

How desperate can you get?

Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago

It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.

"This is an important time," Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense secretary, said, coaching the soldiers before Bush arrived. "The president is looking forward to having just a conversation with you."

Barber said the president was interested in three topics: the overall security situation in Iraq, security preparations for the weekend vote and efforts to train Iraqi troops.

As she spoke in Washington, a live shot of 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd Infantry Division and one Iraqi soldier was beamed into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building from Tikrit — the birthplace of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"I'm going to ask somebody to grab those two water bottles against the wall and move them out of the camera shot for me," Barber said.

A brief rehearsal ensued.

"OK, so let's just walk through this," Barber said. "Captain Kennedy, you answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?"

"Captain Smith," Kennedy said.

"Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?" she asked.

"Captain Kennedy," the soldier replied.

And so it went.

"If the question comes up about partnering — how often do we train with the Iraqi military — who does he go to?" Barber asked.

"That's going to go to Captain Pratt," one of the soldiers said.

"And then if we're going to talk a little bit about the folks in Tikrit — the hometown — and how they're handling the political process, who are we going to give that to?" she asked.

Before he took questions, Bush thanked the soldiers for serving and reassured them that the U.S. would not pull out of Iraq until the mission was complete.

"So long as I'm the president, we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory," Bush said.

The president told them twice that the American people were behind them.

"You've got tremendous support here at home," Bush said.

Less than 40 percent in an AP-Ipsos poll taken in October said they approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq. Just over half of the public now say the Iraq war was a mistake.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday's event was coordinated with the Defense Department but that the troops were expressing their own thoughts. With satellite feeds, coordination often is needed to overcome technological challenges, such as delays, he said.

"I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect," he said, adding that the president wanted to talk with troops on the ground who have firsthand knowledge about the situation.

The soldiers all gave Bush an upbeat view of the situation.

The president also got praise from the Iraqi soldier who was part of the chat.

"Thank you very much for everything," he gushed. "I like you."

On preparations for the vote, 1st Lt. Gregg Murphy of Tennessee said: "Sir, we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this thing a success. ... Back in January, when we were preparing for that election, we had to lead the way. We set up the coordination, we made the plan. We're really happy to see, during the preparation for this one, sir, they're doing everything."

On the training of Iraqi security forces, Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo from Scotia, N.Y., said to Bush: "I can tell you over the past 10 months, we've seen a tremendous increase in the capabilities and the confidences of our Iraqi security force partners. ... Over the next month, we anticipate seeing at least one-third of those Iraqi forces conducting independent operations."

Lombardo told the president that she was in New York City on Nov. 11, 2001, when Bush attended an event recognizing soldiers for their recovery and rescue efforts at Ground Zero. She said the troops began the fight against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and were proud to continue it in Iraq.

"I thought you looked familiar," Bush said, and then joked: "I probably look familiar to you, too."

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."