Ireadthenewstoday

Since George W has been President, the past 5 years the average health insurance premium has risen 71%. I heard this startling stat on the radio today. I wonder what those blue collar, red state voters in the midwest think about this? .............Patrick J Buchanan former Nixon speechwriter, conservative's conservative,always visible on all the cable news shows spouting the latest Republican talking points, came out with a shocking yet revealing column on Sunday. "Islamism on the March" It should have been titled terrorism on the march. Because he points out the Bush doctrine of promoting democracy in the Middle East is getting just the opposite effect in recent elections: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, all despicable terrorist organizations used the vote and the anti-American hatred Bush has created by his occupation of Iraq, to gain legitimate majority political power in the countries mentioned. Added to this Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a certified terrorist supporter and wacko, who denies the Holocaust existed stormed to victory in Iran. Shiite militants sympathetic to Iran, took the majority position in the recent Irag elections. And yes, the Taliban is making a comeback via the vote in Afghanistan..........Amazing that a Republican has to point this out and not one Democrat or media big wig has realized this or even mentioned it. WHAT MORE PROOF IS NEEDED TO SEE THAT BUSH AND HIS NEOCON PLAN OR RATIONALIZATION FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ "FREEDOM ON THE MARCH" IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS NOT WORKING AND IN FACT GETTING JUST THE OPPOSITE EFFECT.
HOW MANY MORE US SOLDIERS NEED TO DIE AND HOW MUCH MORE TAX DOLLARS WILL BE SPENT TO GIVE TERRORISTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST MORE LEGITIMATE POWER?

Ireadthenewstoday

Lets say as an anology, there was a plant that you needed to eat part of to sustain life, and there was a limited quantity of these plants in existence. By a little extra effort you could re-grow the life sustaining edible part of this plant by saving the part you don't eat and re-planting it. Yet, every where you went people and their leaders were too stupid or lazy to worry about re-using the unedible part and just tossed it in the garbage. And even more maddening the price of the edible part kept getting higher because it's demand was growing and it's supply shrinking. "62 percent of US oil is imported". If Iran or the Saudi's cut back dramatically the sale of their oil to the US, we would have a economic and social disaster far worse than 9/11 and Katrina. Yet there is not one politician, Republican or Democrat talking about the importance of recycling as an immediate solution to our oil dependency. "Recycling one ton of plastic saves, on average, the energy equivilent of 197 gallons of gasoline". "It takes 390 gallons of oil to produce one ton of paper. " I was recently at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas. It was estimated there was over 150,000 in attendance at the 4 day trade show. It would be a sure bet (and there are few of those in Vegas) that every one of those attendees drank 1 to 4, minimum, plastic bottles full of water. Because in Vegas as in most US cities plastic bottles have replaced drinking fountains. Where do you think those plastic bottles went when empty? Not in any recycling bins, because if they exist they are invisible in the hotels, casinos and at the convention centers. I tried hard to find a recycling spot for my empty bottles but ended up dumping them in the trash, which was literally overflowing with empty bottles and paper and plastic containers. I repeat...."It takes 390 gallons of oil to produce one ton of paper", "Recycling one ton of plastic saves on average the energy equivilent of 197 gallons of gasoline". the next time you are in a fast food restraunt, McDonalds, Burger King, etc. ; where everything you order whether you eat it there or take it with you comes in some type of recyclible container just look around for a place to recycle the containers? Instead you will see garbage containers loaded to the brim with potential replacement oil recyclibles, headed for the nearest dump. Lets put recycling at the top of the list of immediate solutions to our oil dependency. but here are a couple of other immediate fixes to cutting back US oil dependency on the Middle East. These stats are from the San Diego Union 12/28 brilliant article called "Crude Numbers". "If the tires of all cars on the U.S. roads were properly inflated , it would save an estimated 2 billion gallons of gas each year". "The amount of energy leaking from American windows each year is equivilent to 820 million barrels of oil . But if we had a President offering and enforcing these solutions Chevron wouldn't have made $14 billion in profit last year, gas wouldn't cost $2.50 a gallon and Iran wouldn't be half the threat they are.

ireadthenewstoday

I've been trying to figure out why the Democrats are seemingly so ineffective in exposing this corrupt and incompetent administration. It's true that there are no clear cut leaders in the Democratic party, and for sure Hillary is not the answer. I agree with Molly Ivin's gutsy column this weekend saying she can't support Hillary's "triangulation, calculation, and equivocation". In other words stop playing it so cagey following your handler's advice and say what you really feel Hillary. After 5 years of scripted Bush bullshit directed by Karl Rove and not one successful accomplishment in those 5 years except his re-election, why aren't you leveling with the American people and shouting this President has been wrong on everything he's done. So what if you voted to give him the power to invade Iraq. Just say it was a mistake and the President and his men lied to you about the reasons for going to war. It's not about how you voted, it's about the unprecedented incompetence of this President and the corruption that is so much a part of his abuse of power. But instead she gives a tough speech last week, finally attacking the President's incompetence and corruption and she mis-uses the word "plantation" to describe the Republican controlled house, and her important content gets buried in the Republican trumped up criticism of "plantation". If she can't get it done against this President with all the arrows sticking in him from Iraq, the unwarranted domestic spying, the defecit, the oh so messy, medicaid bill, social security, Bin Laden's recent threats, the jobless economic growth,the cronyism of Katrina, Libby and Delay going to trial and Jack Abramoff bribes to the Republican party and his long time friendship with Rove, then she's not capable of governing. and that goes for all the other Democratic leaders that can't craft a message pointing this out.
After the Democrats lost a year ago with John Kerry taking it on the chin from the Swift Boat, hired guns, it took a actor to define what happened. Alec Baldwin said it best on a TV show when he said Kerry and the rest of the Dems thought they were at a polite washington cocktail party in the campaign, but the rules changed quickly when the Republicans came up to Kerry
during the party and slapped him hard on the face. He didn't know how to react and the voters picked up on this. Well the same thing is happening now. Every day the Republicans rip the Democrats as being soft on terror and instead of shouting back that bin Laden's still issuing threats 4 years later and the war in Iraq is a bigger mistake than Vietnam, and Iran is going nuclear, and worldwide terrorism and hatred of the US has grown dramatically under this administration, the Democrats complain about Roe Vs Wade being in jeopardy.
Here are the issues for the 06 mid-terms and the 08 election that will win it for the Dems if they could just get a leader to fight back: The failures in Iraq are Bush's fault,and in no way justify the his breaking the law with domestic spying . the defecit and the rising cost of health care and gas are Bush's fault. Abramoff, Libby and Delay and the Republican culture of corruption is Bush's fault and the staggering defecit and mis-guided government spending are Bush's fault.
My candidates for 08 are Al Gore and Wesley Clark. Gore has finally found his balls and his voice and Clark is a liberal warrior. If Karl Rove tried to slap him on the face as he did Kerry, he'd end up on his fat flabby ass.

ireadthenewstoday

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored". (Aldous Huyxley). In the case of the current administration and the media, one could update this by saying , the truth does not cease to exist because it is ignored. Remember Bob Barr, ultra right wing "holier than thou" conservative congressman in the forefront of the impeachment process drummed up against Bill Clinton. You couldn't turn on a cable news station during this get the nasty President frenzy whipped up by the Republicans, without seeing Barr spouting about Clinton not being above the law for lying about consensual sex. Well, it turns out on the current illegal Bush wiretapping, Barr is being consistent, although up until now he has been pretty quiet on Bush's lies about WMDs the economy, and the ousting of Valarie Plame. But there is something about this wiretapping issue that got to Barr to have him say in a speech "The President has dared the American people to do something about it. For the sake of the constitution, I hope they will". Maybe Bush's has finally gone too far for even some ultra-right wingers like Barr when he says his Presidency is above the law. Although, it's amazing how many other Republican politicians and media right wing talkers and columnists who are willing to defend their President, right or wrong, laws or no laws. And even more amazing are the number of Bush voters more interested in the superbowl and beer than a President's overt spitting on the constitution and the law. Al Gore gave a fiery and elequent Patrick Henry like speech pointing out all the reasons why a President breaking the law and not being held accountable for it is very serious. Yet, unless you tuned in on C-span you never had a clue about what Gore said. More and more, Gore is looking like the leader he should have been 5 years ago, and the last hope for the Democrats and anybody else who wants to preserve this once great democracy and country.

ireadthenewstoday

Happy New Year, but nothing has changed with the Republicans in Congress and the White House. Isn't amazing how quickly they are calling for an investigation of who leaked Georgie's dirty little secret of domestic spying on American citizens. It's all about changing the subject and the media's focus and covering up or counter punching with the Bushies. It doesn't matter if they break a law, they go after the whistle blowers. Except, of course when one of the whistle blowers is one of their own as in the Valierie Plame/Wilson outing. Then it's stonewall and cover up all the way.
Of course the impotent and super wimpy Demos can't get an investigation going on anything the Bushies have done, and even when they get a revelation from the 9/11 committee or any other bi-partisan credible source that Bush and his cronies are incompetent liers the Demos drop the ball and change the subject to complain about gay marriage and religion in every day life.
I suspect Karl Rove's favorite TV. Show is the Sopranos because he is running the White House and the country as if Tony Soprano was his inspiration.