Greed and Debt Didn't Kill Our Economy...We Need More Babies...

The Pro-birth Movement Strikes Again!

I found this photo of a sourpuss who has something to say about "the pill". Apparently, I missed a June 7, 2008 (cleverly on the anniversary of the Griswald v. Connecticut decision that allowed married people the ability to get birth control from their doctors) party where they celebrate how "the pill" kills. Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt!

They explain:

During any discussion of the birth control pill, it is important to keep in mind that scientists have confirmed that at the moment the sperm and the egg join (fertilization), a new human being is created who is completely different from his/her mother.

The birth control pill works in three ways:

1. It can prevent the release of an egg from the ovary (ovulation). However, while using the pill, women can and do experience breakthrough ovulation - meaning that an egg is released from the ovary and is available to be fertilized by the sperm.

2. It also causes the cervical mucus to thicken, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg. It is possible, though, for the sperm to break through the mucus and to fertilize the egg.

3. It also changes the lining of the uterus. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the five- to seven-day-old baby to attach to the lining, where he/she would receive the nourishment needed to grow. If the baby does not successfully attach to the lining, he/she dies and is expelled from the body during menstruation. This process is known as a chemical abortion. The fact that it can occur as a result of taking birth control pills is why the pill is referred to as an abortifacient.

I always said that eventually they will argue that menstruation is murder. Spontaneous abortions or miscarriages happen all the time, so God must be an abortionist too! (Gasp!)

This is why I have always referred to the pro-life movement as the pro-birth movement. They do not believe in birth control to prevent abortions.

"The birth control pill does not reduce the number of abortions. The only difference is that you are killing the baby earlier. It is estimated that over 70 million chemical abortions have taken place in the United States in the last 10 years alone." - "Pill Kills" website

They are really, really serious about you all having babies even if you don't want them since they are really, really serious about controlling your sexuality. Thus all the abstinence only stuff (that doesn't work -- details!).

Another Reason to Celebrate Bush Leaving

On December 18th, Bush's HHS department released their rules allowing health providers to deny birth control to women based on moral or religious purposes. This means the prick at your pharmacy can give you the finger instead of your prescription, because he thinks that you are preventing life. My take is if you cannot fill a prescription for birth control, you should not be a pharmacist. Another reason I voted for Obama, he is against these rules. Are you listening, PUMAs who call themselves "feminists"?

Less Bailouts, More Babies!
Silly me. I thought the current economic crisis was caused by easy lending standards brought on by loan bundlers who got greedy that drove up real estate prices. Apparently, our current downturn is caused by not having enough babies. It seems all that family planning is costing our economy like 30 trillion dollars.

“If you further take into account the number of babies lost to abortifacient contraception like the pill, IUDs, and RU-486, that number doubles,” the article says. For comparison, the 2007 Gross World Product – all goods and services produced by all of humankind – was only $65 trillion.

Release Us From This Dangerous Embrace

For anyone contemplating voting for Mccain, they should know that a vote for Mccain means more of Bush's failed policies.

The photo of Bush and Mccain hugging will be a constant reminder of his decision to tie his political fortunes with perhaps the worst president in memory with a 17% approval rating. They will try to distance themselves from Bush, but this picture will stand in the way.

Mccain used to have the reputation of being more moderate. In 2000, Mccain called out extremists like Farrakan and those on the religious right. He used to fight against torture, be for campaign reform, and used to be a maverick for moderation. Something snapped and he has embraced everything the Bush and the religious right wants him to.

If you like how the last seven years have gone, then voting for Mccain guarantees a continuation of the same old Bush policies.

“I’d be honored to have President George Bush’s support, his endorsement,” McCain responded. “And I’d be honored to be anywhere with him under any circumstances.” He added, “I am proud of this president’s strategy in Iraq.”

It is not just Iraq, but a dedication to appoint far right Supreme Court Justices, overturn privacy laws that protect the individual and the government via Roe v. Wade and Greenwald v. Connecticut.

Mccain would continue the unsustainable tax cuts for the very rich, who refuse to come to our country's aid during times of war, global warming, crumbling infrastructure, lack of affordable health care, and a declining economy. Instead recipients of these huge tax breaks are supporting American jobs being shipped overseas. These very rich who are sucking wealth from what was the working and middle class, who are the engines of productivity in this country and Mccain isn't serving those interests. If you are part of the working and middle class, he is not on your side just like Bush.

It is these tax cuts that have run up our National Debt and made us vulnerable in the world because we depend on the Chinese to keep us going, and it only serves to lessen our respect in the world. How will we be able to keep our nation compatible if we allow our roads and infrastructure business depends to crumble for lack of funds? How can we invest in green technology to deal with global warming if we keep giving tax breaks to the very rich who do not care about investing in America and Americans. They do not care about global warming because they have enough wealth accumulated to not let the effects of global warming harm them.

These tax cuts will keep us from paying down the National Debt that effects the Dollar and the average American's purchasing power. I know that the republicans will always refer to repealing these tax cuts as tax increases, but it is really IRRESPONSIBLE FISCAL POLICY. It is reckless to accumulate obligations like the repayment of the Debt and war in Iraq and Afghanistan that are hemorrhaging funds from the public coffer and reduce the means of balancing the budget especially when it means asking the richest Americans to act like real Americans.

Long ago, republicans used to be the vanguard of fiscal responsibility. They lost that mantle when the religious right and the neo-conservatives took over the republican party. These forces pushed out moderates and fiscal conservatives. They pushed out the Eisenhower republicans who believed that investment in infrastructure was a prudent investment for business and national security. Republicans like Bush and Mccain have abandoned the what made republicans a necessary foil to make American governance work. Oddly enough for the past 25 years Democrats have become the guardians of fiscal responsibility fighting reckless spending without the necessary income to sustain that spending. The first balanced budget was under the leadership of a democrat.

Mccain thinks that NAFTA is just great and leads presidential candidates in taking contributions from Subprime Lenders.

While I myself support reasonable gun regulation, those who are against gun regulation and 2nd Amendment rights probably wouldn't like Mccain.

For all the huffing and puffing over the whole FISA fight, allowing the legislation to run out isn't going to endanger America. Without FISA there are plenty of mechanisms where law enforcement and intelligence agencies can obtain the means to track terrorists. What is really at stake about the whole FISA thing is that it is unreasonable to expect Congress to give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies without knowing what they would be giving immunity to. It is important that our representatives provide oversight to make sure they are not abusing the powers congress grants. Telecommunications companies have access to the communications of every American citizen and abuse of that access can ruin innocent citizen not just catch criminals. John Mccain doesn't believe in proper Congressional oversight in areas that can be abused against American citizens. Obama voted against granting retroactive immunity without knowing what that immunity would involve, and Clinton has expressed having the same concerns.

The Bush administration's past handling of wiretapping has even bothered ex-attorney general Ashcroft, so it is not unreasonable for Congress to demand to be given proper oversight. Mccain wants to protect Bush, and If you think that is right then vote for Mccain.

Mccain backing Bush in so many ways doesn't demonstrate good judgement needed. It does nothing to improve our image in the world to have another cowboy in the US presidency. Remember his song, "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran"?

Dear Mr. Nader

Mr. Nader:

I voted for you in 1996 and registered with the Green Party in the early 90s so Greens could get on the ballot in California. I had real respect for you and truly believe in the goals of the Green Party. In 1996, you passed up a real opportunity to grow the party when it was safe that the republicans wouldn't take the presidency. You were hesitant and spent more time saying you didn't want to run. I was disappointed that you wasted the opportunity to deliver the progressive message to middle America.

Your run and how you ran in 2000 was inexcusable. Your campaign stated repeatedly that there was NO DIFFERENCE between Gore and Bush. That was the most irresponsible statement. Do you really think that Gore would have appointed Alito? Do you really believe that Bush would do anything for the environment? How could you guys be so incredibly naive? You are complicit in contributing to 8 years of complete hell in this country.


You are the reason I had left the Green Party and will never return. You never bothered to earn any leverage with the Democratic Party because you never delivered votes to the party consistently. The religious right earned the right to co-opt the party by patiently and consistently delivering votes to the republican party for 30 years. What have you guys done?

You are around six years and whine when you didn't get all you wanted from the democrats, but didn't deliver for them. Instead, you have alienated the Democrats, who you could have influenced if you could mobilize votes and make the case for ideals. Great move for the movement guys. So now you are just a spoiler, who will be responsible for allowing John "100 Year War" Mccain into the presidency.

Mr. Nader you have shown yourself unconcerned about our country and the progressive movement. This is why I will actively oppose your candidacy as vigorously as Mccain's. You make me ashamed that I ever supported this party.

Sincerely,
Formerly of the Green Party


This is what I just sent to his website. I am sure that they will not take it seriously and do not care what I think or anyone who used to be a member. They do not care that we have a candidate in Obama that has a track record in government transparency issues and lots of the reforms that Greens supposedly care about. They never cared about women's reproductive rights, as I had been on numerous progressive green boards in 2000 arguing about his candidacy and no one cared about Roe v. Wade being overturned. I got so disturbed by their lack of concern for reproductive rights and the danger of the religious right I became a Green for Gore.

The argument goes that they want republicans to completely gut this country to teach democrats a lesson and somehow make their policies more persuasive. I never figured out how that was supposed to work.

The Greens have been unsuccessful not because the evil corporate media is keeping their message away from the people. It is because they don't want to do real work to build a grassroots movement in this country, and they are so disorganized and all over the place. Trying to plan a rally for a Florida Recount in 2000 was very frustrating because no one was willing to keep the message simple and focused. We also had to protest Mumia, Nepal, the WTO, and a whole bunch of leftist causes. I didnt necessarily disagree that Mumia and Nepal needed to be free, but not when we were supposed to be sending a message about voting in Florida.

It will be easy to fight both Nader and Mccain, because they are one and the same. A vote for Nader is no different that embracing the 100 year war and republican ideals.

The People You Meet in Heaven, Hell, and the Purgatory of Poor Fools

The Hell: Paving the Road to Hell by Convincing US it is going to Heaven

Red Rove'r, Red Rove'r send insane evil right over! Somewhere in Texas an arch-demon, MC Rove, re-enters his demon-cave from whence he spawned. I wish I could report that our long national nightmare is over now that this creature has retreated into his fiery liar with his "family" or demon-kin of fear-sprites, bible-twisting fire-imps, and oozing oil sludges.

We are still fighting this impossible war, which "Manchurian Candidate" McCain insists we are winning, when everyone agrees that a political solution rather than military might is far from being accomplished. There are no guarantees that we can prevent full blown calamity regardless if we stay or go. People will continue to die and be maimed with or without our assistance.

Then we have the economy that has been lauded as Bush's creation that is going downhill due to overly-permissive lending practices that will have far reaching consequences for all of us. People who were lead to believe that they could afford their no-interest or adjustable loans because the value of homes would continue to go up are going to lose their homes. The day-traders of the nineties turned into real estate flippers of the aughts have returned to the stock market creating the false illusion that the stock market can only go up. Due to recent volatile dips in the stock market, people will simply not know where to invest if they have any money left to invest. If people have trouble getting loans or refinancing they will be unable to afford to remodel their homes, effecting all the contractors: plumbers, electricians, furniture, landscapers, appliance makers, masons, home builders, and all the service providers that were making the economy seem to hum. Due to home values declining there is less incentive to make improvements even if the money is there, because there is no guarantee that you will get that money back on the resell of the home.

Oh...and we can also talk about our indebtedness to China, that seems to want to poison our kids with lead paint and pets with bad pet food. In fairness we cannot lay that on the laps of the pantheon of demon-kin that is the Bush Whitehouse alone. We can blame them though for our spiraling debt.


The Heaven: Coffee and Art

In the past days, I have been able to compare side by side Peets Coffee against Henry's House of Coffee, and we have discovered that hands down -- Henry makes better coffee. We have one of those Krup Carafe coffeemakers and often we reheat what is left over from the day before in the morning. Peets coffee turns rancid tasting if left over night, but Henry's tastes like it did when it was first brewed. I am telling you that with the free shipping Henry offers, there is no reason why you shouldn't be drinking his coffee. Walk in his San Francisco shop while he is roasting his beans and it is surely what heaven must smell like. You will be dizzy with pleasure. I promise.

Stop right now and dial: 1.800.578.5282 and order his coffee. I prefer his 1/2 french roast and 1/2 mocha java blend and Henry's Blend Decaf. He has a wide variety of beans. Do it. Do it. Do it.

I came across a wonderful art blog called dear ada, there are countless wonderful finds from the art world. It is my heaven when i want a fresh dose of art to discover.

Purgatory of Poor Fools: Pig Biting Madness In Print No More

I remember in my sophomore year in high school, my friends and I took a train to San Francisco from Menlo Park and we bought a Weekly World News. We were astonished by various tales of genetic mishaps of Batboy and Ed Anger telling us that he would would join the troops in Lebanon if it weren't for the fact that he had a steel plate in his skull.

The Weekly World News has recently announced that they will be going web only and ceasing to kill trees to bring us news of pending Armageddon or new mutant babies.

While I like saving trees for real news, I somehow feel like it is an end of an era of buying this rag and using it for wrapping paper for kitchy gift giving.

This paper lives in a space between heaven and hell. It is uniquely American, haven for Photoshop hacks, and provides empty calories of useless, false information (which FoxNews takes to a high art). I will miss the appropriately seedy and tactile experience of having the newsprint bleed on your fingers -- something a website just can't do.

M9 Dispatch: Interesting Videos

Thanks to my friend MMMMMMMMM (or M9 because I am a lazy typist and it sounds cool, don't it?) I finally got to see the ads from former Generals and vets against this war.

President Pelosi, Please!

Can We Call This Impeachment Thursday?



So I made my call thttp://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=1384o President...err...House Speaker Pelosi to register my support for impeachment of BOTH Cheney and Bush (in THAT order, please). If we can impeach a president for a trivial thing as lying about a consentual extra-marital affair no one cared to hear about in the first place, why not impeach these two incompetant and beligerant actors against our constitution and our security.

Here are Kucinich's documents relating to the impeachment of Dick Cheney for high crimes and misdemenors. Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Impeachment sites:

Impeachbush.org

Impeach for Peace

Democrats.com Impeachment page

CNN's Impeachment "reality check"

Quotes of the Day:



"The genius of impeachment lay in the fact that it could punish the man without punishing the office."

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

"When people ask if the United States can afford to place on trial the president, if the system can stand impeachment, my answer is, "Can we stand anything else?"

George McGovern

"Impeachment is not a remedy for private wrongs; it's a method of removing someone whose continued presence in office would cause grave danger to the nation. "

Charles Ruff

"The only conduct that merits the drastic remedy of impeachment is that which subverts our system of government or renders the president unfit or unable to govern. "

Charles Ruff

"[Imeachable conduct is] misconduct by public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust." - Alexander Hamilton

"All in all, the framers would probably agree that it's better to impeach too often than too seldom. If presidents can't be virtuous, they should at least be nervous."

- Joseph Sobran

Ideas for Protesting The Current Administration



There are emails circulating on A Great American Gas-Out, but this hasn't been verified as a real campaign as yet. I think instead we might want to really hurt the oil companies by pledging to Vacation in the Backyard in the Summer of 07. Instead of taking road trips like the Oil Companies are expecting, just stay at home and spend money at your local tourist traps or hold BBQ's where you talk about organizing politically and getting people registered to vote. 40 Summers ago it was the Summer of Love -- maybe this will be the Summer of Change?

Never The Twain Shall Meet: Cheney and the Truth

It is not that Cheney wouldn't know the truth if it mistook him for a turkey (or a lawyer) in a turkey shoot. Cheney has a blatant disdain for the truth. Truth is to Cheney as water was to the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz. It would melt the latex off his cyborgian skeletal structure.

So the news today is that Cheney was trying to work his evil mojo over at Wolf Blitzer's place. He claims that talk of blunders in Iraq and/or lack of credibility are "Hogwash." He also goes on to say in regards to a Congressional resolution in opposition to the escalation of the war "It won't stop us." (How so very cyborg-like, Dick. It is nice to know how much you listen to the people's representatives)



Then he says that the bottom line is that they have had "enormous successes" in regards to Iraq. Yeah, that is why the American people booted the republicans out last November because you guys were having enormous successes. Then he says he thinks Rumsfeld did a "superb job."



Dick, can we talk? You have a credibility problem. Do you know why? You have been caught in so many lies they could fill volumes. I don't know anyone outside you, Bush, and your inner circle who would be able to say with a straight face that Rumsfeld did a "superb job"

The conventional wisdom and truth is that Rumsfeld was an incompetent bungler, who you didn't have the balls to fire until after your party got run out of town.



Dick you can go on trying to make the press, the democratic party, and all those who are against your plan on Iraq as wanting us to fail, be quitters, or any number of other ways to suggest your critics want to undermine the country or the troops. If we "fail" or have to pull out in a humiliating matter with all the consequences you claim will happen it will be solely your fault and the fault of the Bush administration and the republican party. It is not the troops that will fail, because they are courageous professionals, but you and George Bush who will be failures. It is this Administration who dragged us in under false pretense and then went on to bungle the operation and misuse our men and women in the Armed Forces. You cannot blame the democrats (ok, you can blame Lieberman) or any of your critics for your failures.

Truth, this is Dick.

Dick, this is Truth.

Lose-Lose

Despite what Bush says, there were no winners in the Hezbollah v. Isreali conflict. How many people were displaced? 1.5 Million. How many people were injured and killed? How much infrastructure and commerce was destroyed. All for what? Isreal still didn't get their soldiers back, nor did they render Hezbollah impotent. All it accomplished is another generation of righteous anger and hatred on both sides that will only fuel the next generation of conflicts. The world should of stepped in and kept both sides from escalating a conflict -- and have them take a deep breath.

Diplomacy is the tool of the strong and violence and military action the tool of the weak and inarticulate. Real strength is the courage to wage peace when it is the toughest -- when real harm has come to you. Diplomacy requires the strength to absorb blows and the intelligence to navigate through the nuances and complexities of geo-political relationships and strike the right deals that will undermine the extremists in the world.

It is the reality of modern military conflict that state militaries cannot really deal a decisive victories anymore. That was lost in the nuclear age and the emergence of the concept of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was lost in the electronic age where the planet has a front seat in any conflict. States need to worry that a conflict can spiral out of control into a nuclear exchange or have the world community hold us accountable for crimes against humanity.

Instead all we have is low intensity but nasty guerilla wars that fester and cause human misery and grudges with no satisfying conclusion and no winners.

Bush's declaration of victory shows how ignorant and how a negative influence he is in world politics. A fragile peace has been created, we do not need someone making this into favoring one side or another. It helps no one and it is absurd thought to think anyone won. It is why the Middle East doesn't see us as an honest broker in their region. Bush would have been wise to just shut up or at least acknowledge the human suffering that has occured on both sides and welcoming the halt in that suffering. This is the unhelpful and unstatesmanlike behavior of this President that swaggers and blunders that makes me embarrassed for our country.