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The big roll-over. I thought President Bush was a man of resolve, of character, a decison maker who sticks to his decisions? At least that's how he was marketed and sold to the uninformed voters who kept him in office. So what happened to his great resolve, that has cost us over 2,000 Americans in Iraq, but melted like a popcycle in the sun backing Harriet? Of course she wasn't qualified, everybody knew that when he announced the appointment. Except maybe dumb,demo Harry Reid who reccomended her to Bush, thinking he was pulling off some slick Karl Rove manuever. This woman thought George W. was the smartest man she knew.
So here is the big question her withdrawl brings up: Who the hell is running this country?
If the President picked her, than we know Rove and Cheney and Libby, and all their base including that fool James Dobson, support her, yet supposedly some even farther to the right critics forced her out?
Who is this secret right wing ruling class that the President answers to? I know Limbaugh wasn't thrilled with Harriet, nor were commentators George Will and William Kristol, but these guys can't have that kind of power? Who is pulling the strings on these jokers in office. Or maybe Bush is so dumb and arrogant that he thought he could appoint anybody and just wink and say trust me?
I wonder what those people that voted for George W this last time around think about what they have done to this country by keeping him in office. Unless you make lots of money to benefit from the tax cuts you've got to feel a bit guilty about your vote.
There has sure been an overt overdose of lying, cronyism, incompetence and criminal activity comming out of this administration since the re-election.
How do these "my President right or wrong supporters" explain, Harriet's withdrawl, Delay's indictments, Frist's investigation, Rove and Libby and even the VP's investigations, the cronyism of FEMA, and the failures in New Orleans. When you have a one party government and the President's and VP's top advisors are under serious criminal investigation and the majority leader of the Senate is under crimianl investigation and the majority leader of the House was already indicted on three counts of criminality you've got a very serious failure and dysfunction in the government.
Shouldn't Hillary and Kerry and Edwards be shouting out at the top of their lungs...we told you so!

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I just saw the movie "North Country" yesterday. It's a well crafted and acted powerful film based on the first class action sexual harrassment suit in the US. Although I doubt if the film is intended to project this, my left of center thought process couldn't help but see it as a allegory to our current arrogant Republican one party government.
The movie is about the first female workers at a coal mine in dismal northern Minn. The woman are subjected to extreme sexual harrassment dailey; but they are powerless and feel threatened to seek recourse, even from their union. The roles of the intimidating bosses could easily have been played by Bush, Cheney, and Frist, and the chief protaganist is Tom Delay in miners clothes. The star, Charlieze Theron (in another great performance since her Oscar), takes on these thugs single handedly against impossible odds. Yet, here is where the political allegory ends since there is not a Democrat male or female with half the guts Charlieze's character showed in the film or in real life since this movie was based on a real case.
For example, yesterday on Meet the Press, Demo Senator, Charlie Schumars was asked by Tim Russet, if he would still vote for the war in Iraq today as he did before. And Schumars didn't bother to correct Russert and say he didn't vote to invade Iraq, he voted for the resolution to give the President the power, if all other peaceful means to avoid war didn't work. At least kerry, for all his failures, tried to make this distinction, when he totally blew his answer to this question in the campaign. Schumars didn't say hell no he wouldn't have voted for this resolution especially if he knew how dis-honest this administration was and how they cooked the intelligence and mis-represented the threats to justify going to war. Schumar, instead, mumbled something to the effect he would vote the same today because he supports the war on terrorism........What is wrong with these Demos in sheep's clothing? Doesn't he know by now he can still support a war on terrorism and not support a war of choice on the wrong battlefield Iraq, fighting the wrong people Sunni insurgents.
I guess he thinks his constituents are too stupid to understand he can still be against terrorism and not support the dishonesty that got us into Iraq. And more important , just like the other female miners in the movie, who were so afraid they would lose their jobs if they spoke up about the harrassment, Schumars is a coward.
If a character like Charlieze in the film doesn't pop up soon from the ranks of the Democrats to say these Republicans are dishonest thugs and I don't care if it costs me my job......then we are in for a long stretch of one party government and political and economic abuse.

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After Bush won the 2004 Presidential election by some 3 million votes a gloating Republican friend of mine asked me "if Kerry and the Demos couldn't beat bush with all the arrows sticking in Bush do you really think they deserve to run the country." Of course there is no way he would have listened to my serious concerns about voter fraud in Ohio and Diebold owned voting machines in other parts of the country. 3 million is a significant number of popular votes.
I think of this now when Bush has even more arrows sticking in his Presidency some so serious all they need is a push by a leading Democratic spokesperson or potential 2008 candidate, and again the Democrats are asleep at the wheel.

C'mon Demos, Delay indicted, Frist under investigation along with Rove and Libby and maybe even the Vice President. The Republicans wanting to cut the safety net of federal programs for the poor and unemployed another $50 billion to help offset their horrific defecit spending and tax cuts for the rich. And Iraq a bungled mess with stories everyday of billions of tax dollars being wasted, stolen or unaccounted for in the Bush/Rumsfeld reconstruction anarchy of greed and payoffs.
Yet not a peep out Hillary, or John Kerry, who's turning out to be the biggest wimp ever. When the Swift vote con men slapped him in the face he turned the other cheek. When the Ohio results had serious fraud potential, he turned the other cheek and conceeded. You can bet the farm if the roles had been reversed Bush and Rove would still be contesting the Ohio results as crooked or rigged. And now when Kerry should be on every media outlet telling those stupid red state Republicans I told you so.....where the hell is he? And Edwards, or should I say Casper the friendly ghost, he's building houses for the poor. Good for him. Al Gore gives a powerful speech every now and then, yet nobody, even Demos, have a clue how to hear it.
And where is Wesley Clark when we need him? And good ole boy Bill, he just doesn't want to offend anybody he's still trying to move toward a political center which has been torn apart by the Republican propaganda machine long ago. Stop promoting your legacy ( your never going to erase your antics with Monica) and start pushing on these arrows in Bush or at least motivate your wife to, until they strike a vital artery.

Speaking about Republican propaganda and Bush's culture of cronyism. Karen Hughes another totally unqualified Bush groupie appointed as a key US diplomat to change the hearts and minds of Muslims who haven't taken up arms against the US yet, was put on the spot yesterday, not by US media (of course), but by foreign media and Indonesian students. She found out that foreignors don't buy Republican propaganda as easily as red state Republicans when she said in a speech defending the US's invasion of Iraq that it was necessary because Saddam had gassed hundreds of thousands of his own people.
When she was confronted on her mis-reporting of this history by the students she was talking to, she just fumbled forward repeating it over. Afterwards the state department apologized for her lack of accurate facts. It was about 5,000 Kurds Saddam had gassed not 300,000. Later when Hughes was asked about the origin of her inaccurate facts by foreign journalists she said
"It's something that our US government has said (meaning the Bushies) a number of times in the past. It's information that was used very widely after his attack on the Kurds. I believe it was close to 300,000 ....that's something that I said everyday in the course of the campaign . That's information that we talked about a great deal in America".
She's not just a true believer in the Rove/Limbaugh lies and mis-information she used in the campaign but she and the President are too stupid to even check the facts before sending her out trying to sell Republican propaganda to future insurgents.

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David Lazarus a columnist and business editor of the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out in his column today the seriousness of the health care problem facing this country. He pointed out that General Motors, the biggest private-sector purchaser of of health insurance revealed it was cutting back it's $5.6 billion annual health care spending for it's employees, retirees and families by a billion dollars.
If you voted for King George W. or a Republican congressperson in this last election and you are not making a minimum six figures a year in income, this should scare the shit out of you. Unless, you think keeping homos from getting married or woman from aborting unwanted children, or giving tax cuts to the top 1% or fighting insurgents in Iraq are more important to you, than being able to afford to see a doctor if necessary. There are about 45 million people out there who have no health insurance. And when they go to emergency care, you are paying for part of their care.
What the Bushies will tell you when you ask about what they are doing for affordable health care is they pushed through a big prescription drug bill this year for you. In reality this was a bill to pad the pockets of drug companies. It forbids the government and and anyone else to even negotiate with the drug companies for lower costs. It allows them to fix their prices with as much profit as they want. This was big time payback for their campaign donations to the Republican party. They lied about it's cost to get it through Congress first saying before the election it would cost about $400 billion and then after Bush got in, it was revealed the real cost would be in excess of $700 billion. And clueless Democrats such as Dianne Fienstein voted for it saying in effect, it's a step in the right direction, even though it's not perfect. Then when she found out how she was lied to about the actual cost she was silent. "We have seen the enemy, and it is us". This bill is not only a major rip-off, but the seniors it was supposed to help, want no part of it, nor do they even understand how it works.
When you ask conservatives why they hate Hillary, they usually look at you like you should know, it's so obvious. But few come up with any answers. Oh they will usually stammer about Watergate, and travelgate and missing files, and Bill's blowjobs. But when you laugh at these feeble reasons and really press them it comes out she wanted socialized medicine in the USA. Next time you get in that kind of dialogue tell them about GM cutting their payouts by a billion a year and tell them they are next, if they keep voting Republican.

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Over the weekend the Republican propaganda machine went into high gear with their new defensive mantra about the Democrats having nothing to offer for the country except criticism of Bush. Even the liberal San Francisco Chronicle, had a front page story by Marc Sandalow it's so called Washington correspondent, re-gurgitating these Republican talking points. How gullible the mainstream media is. Sandalow should be writing about the gross incompetence of this Republican administration and how they have mis-represented and mis-managed everything from the war, to taxes, to the economy to the environment, to the prescription drug bill, the energy bill, the transportation bill, Hurricane relief, seperation of church and state, and now, Tom Delay, Karl and Scooter and Harriet Miers. If the mainstream press was doing it's job instead of being sucker punched by Republican propaganda, the Democrats could get their message out. Instead the Demos have to try to expose the blatant hubris of this corrupt, self-serving, Administration.
Talk about invisible men; how about John Kerry and John Edwards. I saw Edwards for about 5 minutes on the Bill Mahr show Friday night. He's taken the Jimmy Carter potential replacement role, spending his time helping the poor. An admirable cause and you have to respect his desire to help, but this guy got 53 million votes in the last election. Shouldn't he and Kerry be on every newscast, in every magazine, on the internet, even on bumper stickers saying to the red state voters, we told you so?
My ticket for 08, either Hillary and Wes Clark or Gore and Clark. In either case experience and a warrior.

If you haven't been watching Rome on HBO, you're missing terrific adult entertainment. Larry David hasn't missed a beat in the new season of Curb your Enthusiasm, and Extras the new show from the "Office" creater Ricky Gervais is really funny, but it takes you about half the show to understand their English dialects.

San Francisco had a 36 hour free open house for it's spectacular new De Young museum this weekend. The weather was perfect and there were around the clock very long lines even at 3 am waiting to get in. Say what you want about San Francisco political values but I would certainly trust the political judgement of a city that has long lines waiting to get into a museum rather than a red state city with long lines waiting to get into a Nascar race.
This elaborate and expensive museum was built for $200 million. We are spending $5 billion a month in Iraq directed by Bush and Rumsfeld. Shouldn't we be seeing some new buildings and infastructure going up rather than increased bombings for our investment?

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The Republican propaganda machine has these Wednesday morning meetings hosted by a jerk off named Grover Norquist. Norquist is a corrupt right wing radical anarchist in the sense that he wants to shrink the government's role providing social and economic safety nets for the majority of Americans whose incomes are not in the top 2%. He is the driving force behind the tax cuts for the rich and the paying off of big defecits by cutting all social services. He is buddies with Karl Rove, Tom Delay, and one of his former partners appointed by Bush as the head of the government procurements dept was recently hauled off in hand cuffs.
At these Wednesday morning meetings Grover and those in attendance including Republican Congress people set the propaganda agenda for the administration and the party in general for the week ahead. The agenda and propaganda talking points are sent to all the right wing media outlets and pimps such as Limbaugh and Hannity and OReilly, the Wall Street Journal editorial staff and all the right wing so called think tanks such as the Hoover institute and Heiritage foundation.
I mention this because listening to some of the right wing stooges on the radio today I heard over and over, the new talking point and soon to become the new Republican mantra to offset their shrinking popularity with the voters. "The Democrats can only attack the President and his policies. They have no policies of their own to offer. Thus, they have nothing to offer in the next election". I even heard this on the network news tonight as one of the lead stories. So not only does the propaganda get spread through the right wing media but the timid and brainwashed mainstream media (yeah the same one the righties say has a liberal bias) repeats these right wing lies as if they are facts.
So what are the democratic alternatives. I'm no policy wonk but they are pretty obvious to me, as they should be to any potential voter and especially to the mainstream news media:
D for defense, catching Osama and Al Queada,and not starting a civil war in Iraq
E for equal education, funding public education,supporting teachers,and affirmitive action.
M for money, and reducing the defecit, ending tax cuts for the rich, and creating jobs.
O for Oil, ending our dependance on oil, and seeking alternative fuel choices.
C for choice, conserving the environment,checks and balances, and affordable care (health).
R for individual rights and their protection and for regaining respect in the world
A for all inclusive, including gays, immigrants and minorities
T for truth, and an end to Republican lying.
S for a safety net for the poor and saving our consensus form of democracy.
Being a former male cheerleader even W can relate to this "give me a D........

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Maybe Bush is smarter than we think he is? What better way to establish a living legacy then to appoint yourself via a political and intellectual alter ego such as Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court for life. Then let some superficial right wing critics complain so the wimpy Democrats think they are getting a good deal in born again Harriet, and they in turn push her through.

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I don't like John McCain. Not just because he's a Republican, since he has actually sought some common grounds unlike Bush, with Democrats on issues such as campaign finance reform. But because he is a phony and a man of little character. But "how can you say this", you ask? "He survived the hell of a Vietnamese prison all those years". I know. I saw "Deer Hunter"many times and one of my favorite scenes ever is when DeNiro blows away those Commie bastards pistol whipping him in Russian Roulette. But McCain is no DeNiro. If somebody attacked the DeNiro character personally as brutally as Bush and Karl Rove and Limbaugh and Hannity did in the 2000 primaries he wouldn't be kissing Rove's ass and stumping for Bush in the 04 election as McCain did. Nor would he have turned the other cheek and zipped his lips while Bush and Rove bitch slapped fellow Vietnam vet, triple amputee, Max Cleland in his re-election campaign.
Nor would he have blown off Kerry's nonpartisan VP overatures with the BS that he's a Republican at heart.
Since when did party loyalty become more important than what's best for the country and the voters?...........When the Supreme court appointed Bush and gave us a one party oligopoly run by corporate criminals and hypocritical evangelicals. And McCain buys into this hook line and sinker. Even his supposed financial frugality is phony. He is currently stumping for our joke of a Govenor's special election which is costing California taxpayers $54 million dollars. A special election featuring issues that wouldn't have a prayer of passing in California's normal election in June, attacks on public school teachers and unions, giving more budget power to a Republican governor and allowing the minority party to gerrymander Democratic districts so more Republicans can get elected. But Arnold and now McCain don't care about public finance when they are pushing their Republican ends in a unnecessary and costly special election which will insure them a small voter turnout and a better chance to win.
Maybe Bush is a lot smarter than Democrats think? What better legacy than having yourself appointed to the Supreme Court when you are a lame duck President. Harriet Miers provides him that opportunity.

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How pathetic is it that wimpy, Al Franken and his dipshit, wishy washy sidekick Katheryn (lets give the conservatives the benefit of the doubt) is the featured liberal voice taking on the big 4 multi-media goose steppers of the right, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Savage? What a massive mis-match this is. And big Ed Schultze has the swagger to take them on but not enough facts to even handle conservative callers to his show. Mike Malloy is out of control and personifys all the right's complaints about vindictive liberals. I totally don't get Jeannen GarofoloThe best is Randi Rhodes. She has guts, she is entertaining and she takes no prisoners with conservative callers. Also, Bernie Ward is terrific, but he is buried on a San Francisco local station at 10pm, preaching to the choir. But hey how can one complain? A little over a year ago there was no voice of the proggresives on the airwaves. I actually agreed with the President in one part of his speech today when he described the enemy, the Islamic radicals. They are the scum of the earth (although he didn't use this term) and they have no conscience or regard for human life. They do a disservice to Islam. They are aliens to the human race, you can't negotiate with them and they need to be stepped on and destroyed like bugs. Yet Bush and crew are not the best answer to combating these bastards or protecting the US from them. He has proven this in his bungled war on the wrong battlefield, Iraq,and fighting the wrong enemy, the Sunnis in Iraq, while Bin Laden runs free.

How does that awful show "Lost" draw 23 million viewers? It must be all the idiots that voted for Republicans in the last election. This show is just like the Republican party, it promises a lot, teases you with possibilities and then delivers on nothing, but expects you to tune in next week for more of the same.

Thomson, the French company that owns RCA has come out with a fabulous new consumer electronic audio product. A compact stereo, receiver and 5 CD player and two speakers in an attractive silver finish that retails for under $200. What makes it so cool and unique is it also comes with an Mp-3 player, 128Mb memory built in, that you can plug into the top of the receiver via USB plug, press the record button and record off of the FM radio or any of the 5 CDs you have in. It's that simple. No computer needed to load your own mixes off CDs onto a very small MP-3 player. All of this for less than the cost of the Apple Nano.

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Well folks the big con is on. Bush's brain, Karl (Valerie who?), has planted the con with the lap dog mainstream media and with the his co-conspirators Rush and Sean, and the rest of the right wing radio barking dogs that Harriet Miers may not be anxious to overturn Rowe vs Wade and that some of Bush's base are not happy with his choice. Well guess what, she is as conservative as they come and as Republican partisan as they come. Harriet besides being Bush's legal alter ego, is enrolled in the Valley View Christian Church of Dallas. Her church states on it's web site that it" believes in biblical inerrancy, full immersion baptism, original sin, and salvation dependent entirely upon accepting Jesus Christ". When this unqualified partisan gets in and any vote comes up for "choice" you can bet the farm she will side with the evangelical religious alternative, of having the baby and then forgetting about it. But all the gullible Demos have to hear, thanks to Rove is, some of Bush's base doesn't support her, and they will vote her in. The defense of Tom Delay and the partisan attack on prosecutor Ronnie Earle by the Republican propaganda machine is amazing. If a Democrat came out with a cure for cancer you can be sure that Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox News, Ann Coulter and even Chris Matthews on MSNBC would come out with the argument that Cancer is not dangerous. The scary thing is these intellectually dishonest commentators have an audience of around 100 million people every day, and those people get there whole political education listening to this partisan propaganda. If you're a sci fi fan, you'll like the new film "Serenity".

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Harriet Miers is as qualified to be on the Supreme court as George W. is to be President. Too little to late, but don't you just smile as you read about Tom Delay squealing and lashing out just like one of the rats caught in the traps he used to set as an exterminator before he got into politics. Yes there is Karma. If starting pitching is the key to a short game playoff series, look for the underdog padres to knock off heavy favorites the Cardinals. The best new TV show on Monday nights is "Just Legal" on the WBN and TNT networks. Don Johnson is back, this time as a washed up trial lawyer inspired to make a comeback by a new whiz kid associate. They take on the big guys and every episode is a win for the underdogs. Johnson put on a few pounds but still looks pretty damn good for being close to 60. And his minimal acting skills continue to be overlooked by his cool image. Plus he shoots locally in Venice Beach with lots of shots of surfers, skateboarders, and playmates in bikinis on roller blades. The best show on Tuesday nights is also on the WBN network, "Supernatural". Two brothers set out, with a souped up classic car and a rock and roll soundtrack to rid the world of evil spirits, and avenge their mother who was incinerated by an elusive evil spirit. When they get to the White House and catch George, Dick and Karl, I guess the show will be over. Stay tuned, were just getting started.

day one post one

There is so much to write about in the days ahead: The Republicans and the structural damage they are doing to our economy, our once great consensual form of government and to our future. The new TV season, the cinema, right wing talking heads, and sports and consumer electronics are all topics I know something about and am not shy writing about. Stay tuned.