The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) recently released their 2nd annual “Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report” and it comes as no surprise that 21 of the top 25 most ethically challenged elected officials are members of the majority Republican party.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “The officials named in this report have chosen to enrich themselves and their families and friends by abusing the power of their office, rather than work for the public good. Their collective corruption affects all Americans.”

Seems that the old saying about power corrupting still rings true. And while those of our friends on the right can easily (and with a fair amount of veracity) claim that Democrats were just as corrupt when they held the reins of power in Congress, it is also only fair to note that in their great unethical efficiency, it has only taken the Republican party a decade to achieve the same level of corruption that it took the Democrats 40 years to master. So go ahead and give your party a big pat on the back, conservatives. You really ARE #1, at least when it comes to electing professional scumbags.

Surprisingly though, (or maybe not surprisingly at all in this era where most people bitch and moan but make no effort to create change) with a recent Harris Poll showing a 73% negative view of Congress, few incumbents have lost their bids for re-election in their state primaries. I guess all those people who think Congress needs a good house cleaning want people in other districts to do all the cleaning for them. It’s kind of like the old adage used by racists. They’re all corrupt, except for my congressperson.

And what ever happened to that ethics reform that so dominated the news for a few weeks early in the year? Oh, right. No more free meals for elected officials. Otherwise, pretty much business as usual.

So, did your elected representative make this years list? Only one way to find out…read the report.

(originally posted at Bring It On!)

(From a recent post at Bring It On! Special thanks to Tom Baker for posting this there.)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly- man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation costs because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or an unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the country would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state-funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax- payer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans.

The house didn’t have electricity until some big- government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals made sure Dad could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of himself, just like I have.”-

This November, Change the Course.

Last night, on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Bush addressed the nation with a speech that can only be described as an attempt to ‘catapult the propaganda’ yet one more time.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Bush again used the events of September 11, 2001 to further politicize America’s security and to drive a wedge between the American people. In the past, this effort has been successful, as so many American’s prefered to believe in the fantasies of their commander in chief. Today, fewer and fewer people are buying the administration’s version of reality. With mounting evidence to refute much of what the president believes, it’s no wonder that Americans of all stripes and political persuasions are turning away from Bush and his neo-con agenda. Much like a Hollywood film purportedly ‘based’ on real events, the difference between the real world and the world according to Bush is stark. Consider a few of the following points…

Bush Reality: “On September the 11th, we resolved that we would go on the offense against our enemies, and we would not distinguish between the terrorists and those who harbor or support them. So we helped drive the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.”

Actual Reality: Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taliban, and our ally in the GWOT, Pakistan, has made peace with some elements of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This is hardly a picture of a Taliban on the run. And what was that again about distinguishing between terrorists and states that harbor them? Of course, when you ‘cut and run’ from an unfinished military effort, as Bush did in Afghanistan so he could start a war in Iraq, this is not an altogether unexpected result. If only Afghanistan had a bunch of oil, maybe we’d have finished the job. Then again…

Bush Reality: “Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are still in hiding. Our message to them is clear: No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice. “

Actual Reality: The U.S. government has closed up the task force whose main goal was to track and capture or kill bin Laden. In fact, they haven’t been actively looking for bin Laden for years. After downplaying bin Laden for years, Bush has only recently begun to reincarnate this boogeyman as we near the mid-term elections, an election that most politicians and pundits believe will result in reversals of the Republican majority in one or both houses of government.

Bush Reality: “I’m often asked why we’re in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat…The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.”

Actual Reality: Hussein was an evil, brutal dictator, but he posed no threat to the United States, unless one considers his desire to create his own oil bourse using Euros instead of dollars as the primary exchange currency. The recent Senate Intelligence Committee report states as much by noting that Iraq had no WMD’s and no ties to al-Qaeda. Kuwait may be safer today. Maybe even Iran or Israel are safer today. But ordinary Iraqi’s seem to be no safer, and certainly the U.S., Spain, Britain, Indonesia, and scores of other countries are not safer because Hussein was militarily deposed. This assertion by Bush is just another in a long string of false information clearly not supported by the facts on the ground.

Bush Reality: “We’ve tightened security at our airports and seaports and borders…”

Actual Reality: Little to no action has been taken to secure American sea ports, strengthen security at our borders, or improve actual security at airports, unless you count banning water bottles and frisking grandmothers. It is almost as if by simply saying the word ‘security’ Bush expects us to believe that it is being done. But several million illegal border crossings do not suggest a secure border. Less than 10% of port cargo being inspected either before shipping or before being off-loaded into ports does not suggest increased port security.

I could go on and on and on deflating the president’s bubble of false assertions, but you clearly get the point. The president and his policies have offered little to America and the world in terms of security or success against global terrorism. In fact, his policy of preemptive war has only helped fuel the fires that create more terrorists. Time and again, the most successful efforts against terrorists and their plots have been won through persistent policing and investigative work. They have not been borne at the end of a gun, with the drop of a bomb, or by waterboarding some captured jihadist.

George W. Bush may not be a 21st century Nazi, but his propaganda tactics sure would make Joseph Goebbels proud. Indeed, by sticking to the Nazi propaganda minister’s primary dictum, that one must only repeat a lie often enough for it to eventually be taken for the truth, Bush has riden a wave of irrational exuberance for the last four years. It took total annihilation for the German people to rid themselves of their insidious propaganda government. Fortunately for America, we only have to wait a few more months. Come November, America will be changing the direction. We’ve had more than enough of the course we’re on now.

So declared President Bush Monday during a speech at the State Department.

“Hezbollah attacked Israel. Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis,” the president said at the State Department after a day of meetings with his top defense, diplomatic and national security advisers.

Whew! Let me tell you what a relief it is to hear that. I haven’t felt this secure since Bush informed us that major combat operations in Iraq had ended back in May, 2003. The only thing missing from the event this time was a showy banner with a catchy slogan. Guess in the midst of celebrating this great victory for Israel, Rove forgot to call the printer.

But wait a minute…it seems that Hezbollah, Israel’s partner in warfare this past month, has declared victory too. How can this be? What’s a neo-con to do? Surely there can’t be two winners in this thing?

But there can perhaps be two losers, and maybe more. For certainty, the civilian populations of both Lebanon and Israel have been losers in this contrived conflict. It is they who have suffered the most deaths, not their military or paramilitary counterparts. It is they who have to struggle through the bombed out cities as they try to go about daily life. It is they who will be burdened with the financial costs of warfare as their governments tax them to rebuild and rearm. Yes, the biggest losers in this whole macabre game of geopolitical chess are the civilians. But they are not the only losers.

Lebanon as a country striving towards their version of democracy has suffered a great set back. Even if they were only a shadow of what we consider democracy to be, they were a primarily peaceful and beautiful country that has been unfortunate to be in the hotseat between Israel and those who have chosen to seek that country’s demise. With a decimated infrastructure and a populace able to see clearly who holds the real reins of power, the elected government of Lebanon is likely to slide towards the doctrines and practices of less progressive (okay- downright regressive) Islamic theocracies who have helped keep Hazbollah afloat all these years. For those Lebanese who are not Muslim, the times ahead could be troubling at best. And for those Lebanese who are Muslim, but not theologically insane and murderous, being subjected to a harsh Islamic rule may not be all they ever dreamed of.

Israel loses too, as her previously presumed infallability on the battlefield bears the stain of hundreds or thousands of civilian deaths caused needlessly in an action that should have been relegated to stalwart law enforcement practices instead of the raining death of bombs. The bravado of Prime Minister Olmert at the beginning of the conflict, that he would cripple Hezbollah, has put a stark spin on the falsity of political rhetoric, leaving the beleagured Israeli population back where they started- surrounded by people who hate them and who now have more courage to strike.

America also goes down swinging in this latest effort to bring about a ‘rebirth in the Middle East.’ Although a thinly veiled sideline player in this conflict, the U.S. once again miscalculated the amount of prestige and power she now has in that region of the world. Strangely, even after all the failures in Iraq, President Bush still lives in a reality bubble, where all is grand in the White House Magic Mirror. And no matter what the evidence bears or the rest of the world thinks, the mirror still tells George he’s the fairest of them all. America’s loss in this affair is a continued downswing in her own credibility. But (thanks to this Bush Administration) your reputation is already near the floor, it’s harder to get much lower. So at least our loss isn’t as great as the others.

Iran, ostensibly the biggest backer of Hezbollah also gets a little dirt on her nose too, if only because the whole conflagration has caused an increase in blustery talk from the Bush regime. Whether or not Iran really wants to go head to head with the U.S., their role in supplying Hezbollah with military arms and finances only adds fuel to the fire that they are indeed part of an ‘Axis of Evil.’ As if in cahoots with King George the Dunce, every word and action from Amedinijad brings the possibility of armed conflict between the two nations more likely, if only because they are being led by two undersized bullies at the sandbox.

The simple truth is this- nations that attempt to fight terrorist groups with conventional warfare will not be victors, even as they destroy much of those terrorists’ means of fighting. The costs in civilian lives will always be too dear in a world where warfare isn’t the public’s first choice for solving problems. The costs in infrastructure and materiel is too great to bear over a long term. And the loss of those things will only ensure that more of the affected civilian populations will join forces, either ideologically or practically, with the terror groups. The terror groups seem to understand this, just as they understand that conventional western governments will almost always choose the path of war against them, given enough time and provocation.

Gee, the more I look at things, the more it seems that maybe Hezbollah did come out the winners this time. After all, they do get to keep their weapons. They aren’t releasing the Israeli soldiers. And they’re still around to fight another day. Oh, and they are getting a lot of publicity too. Maybe even becoming hero-like to similar groups in the region and the world. And all because of an act that was criminal murder and kidnapping. Funny thing is that if Israel simply put Mossad on the trail of the actual perpetrators, much of this could have been avoided, or at the very least, delayed.

And who know what that delay may have achieved? Perhaps the nation of Labanon would have slowly purged the militant mullahs from their midst. Perhaps Hezbollah would have eventually become only a political band instead of the political-military apparatus it is now. Perhaps instead of another failed state in the Middle East, we would have realized an ally on the way to a more free and open system of government. But it seems we may never know now, and all because our President has advanced the use of war asa surrogate for diplomacy.

Hezbollah defeated? If that’s what defeat looks like, I’m sure glad they didn’t win.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Imagine that you work for the Border Patrol and that a big part of your job involves stopping the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs from crossing the border. Imagine further that as part of your training you become Task Force certified from the DEA, collect hundreds of arrests and thousands of pounds of drug seizures, and get nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year. Now imagine that as part of your ‘routine’ you and your partner encounter a suspected illegal crosser in a suspicious looking van. Your years of experience and training alert you that something is amiss. This does not seem to be a typical migrant worker. Now the man leaps from his van and attacks your partner. Now the man is coming at you with what seems to be a gun in his hand. As he rushes towards you you fire your weapon, not to kill, but to disable. Yet the man swerves away and rushes back across the border into Mexico. Once you and your partner regain your composure, you check out the van and find 800 pounds of pot. Another successful day at the office, right?

Wrong. At least according to the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of recognizing these two men for doing their job, these agencies of the Bush Administration decide to level charges against these guardians of the border. They even go so far as to grant the illegal crossing drug smuggler immunity to testify against the two men. Of course, as part of the deal, none of the drug smugglers actions become admissable, and neither do the service records and training skills of the agents.

A Texas jury convicted the pair of assault with serious bodily injury; assault with a deadly weapon; discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; and a civil rights violation. Compean and Ramos also were convicted of four counts and two counts, respectively, of obstruction of justice for not reporting that their weapons had been fired.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof said, Ramos and Compean had no business chasing someone in the first place. “It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing,” she said. “The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone.”

Unless you ask the Border Patrol…

(Such claims as the Asst. U.S. Attorney’s) appears to fly in the face of the Border Patrol’s own edicts, which include “detouring illegal entries through improved enforcement” and “apprehending and detouring smugglers of humans, drugs and other contraband.”

If this is what this adminstration means when it talks about protecting the border, I guess we finally know who it is they are seeking to protect. And here’s a hint…it’s not the people living north of that imaginary line in the sand. I’ll bet recruits for the Border Patrol is going to really skyrocket now.

Welcome to the rabbithole boys and girls. Boy does it feel safe down here.

(cross posted on Bring It On! )

The following essays tell a lot about the real U.S. energy policies, the goals of Big Oil, and a solution that can help end our national energy dependency issues. Originally posted by me at Bring It On! and brought to you here for your reading enjoyment and edification.

Economy Is Great- If You’re an Oil Company or Defense Contractor

Boy, this Bush economy is really spreading the wealth around, at least for Big Oil and the Military-Industrial complex.

Third quarter reports show ExxonMobile reaping record profit levels, raking in over $10 Billion in profit in the third quarter alone. Since the costs of extracting, refining, and delivering crude oil has not changed much, this is pure profit for the oil giant. If this were simply a matter of passing increased costs along to the consumer, the oil companies would not realize such extreme profits at all, as their costs would also be rising. It’s not about supply and demand either, despite market economy apologists. And it’s not just ExxonMobile either. Profits at Royal Dutch Shell grabbed over $7 Billion in profit in Q2 and ConocoPhillips sucked another $5 Billion out of consumers pockets.

Can anyone say price gouging? Add these obscene record earnings to the record tax breaks given these oil barons by the Bush administration and it’s clear that the Bush tax cuts are working wonders- for the uber-rich at least. Meanwhile, most of the regular joes are cutting back on summer travel, family entertainment, eating, and so on.

But if that’s not enough evidence that America is just a subsidiary of the corporate crassholes, defense companies are enjoying earning increases too, from 17 to 54 per cent as the neverending Bush war doctrine catches on around the world.

Can anyone say war profiteering? Many of these defense contracts are allotted through Homeland Security contracts, the federal governments newest money hole, where rampant fraud and waste have been documented.

You want to talk about ‘wealth redistribution?’ There it is folks. Plain and simple.

America Addicted To Oil, Bush Addicted To Bullsh*t

In his 2006 State of the Union Speech, President Bush declared that America is “addicted to oil.” He then laid out plans to fix that problem, including, among other things, a call to change how we power motor vehicles.

“We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We’ll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years.”

Well that sure sounds good on paper, but the reality is that these comments were more rhetoric than reality. The reality is that no matter what technology develops, if you can’t get it into the hands of the consumer, it isn’t going to make a difference towards the goal of reducing oil use. It seems that someone in Congress figured that out too though, so a tax credit was passed for purchasers of fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. Seems the stage is set for some real progress to be made, right?

Wrong. For most people, even with the tax credit, the price of a new hybrid is still out of reach, especially with all other costs going up across the board, and with incomes growing at a snail’s pace. The tax credits were supposed to help level that playing field somewhat, but when drafting the law, Congress put a cap on the number of cars sold per manufacturer that would qualify for the credit. That magic number is 60,000. After that number of cars has been sold and given the maximum $3,500 tax credit, the next batch of cars sold only receive half that amount as a credit, and then six months later, half again of that. By October 2007, the credit will end altogether.

With over 258 million cars on the streets today, nearly 13 million cars would have to be replaced annually with hybrid vehicles just to replace the U.S. fleet in 20 years. That’s right…TWENTY YEARS. And yet the tool designed by Congress and touted by the president in his speech to the nation to help achieve the goal of ‘weaning America off foreign oil’ will barely make a dent in the effort, largely because it is too limited in scope and does not offer flexibility for those who couldn’t afford a new car ever. Even if eligible manufacturer’s pumped out and sold a half million units a year combined, it would take over 500 years to replace the cars we have now burning gas.

So much for breaking the addiction. But that’s no real surprise, is it? After all, we are being led by the biggest pusher and addict of all, our two-headed, executive branch oil monster known as Dick and Bush. Had the president been serious about his statements, he’d have pushed for a much more expansive tax credit program that would include more than just new car purchases, but for used hybrid cars, retrofitted engine replacements for older cars, credits for gas retailers who converted a portion of their businesses to flex-fuels, eliminated the cut-off threshhold for manufacturers, removed any cut-off date for the program, and established a one-per-person every five years rule that would ensure a spreading of the credits across a broader economic spectrum. Businesses with large vehicle fleets would have no such per-person rule.

But he won’t do that, because then Americans might actually make progress in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and oil in general for transportation fuel. And if that happened too quickly his buddies in Big Oil would stand to lose a big chuck of their outrageous earnings, and then where would the ‘ownership society’ be.

As with most things that come out of this president’s mouth, the claim that this administration wants to end the cycle of oil addiction is pure B.S. And that’s just the kind of thing we’d expect a failed Texas oilman to be addicted to.

Big Oil On The Right Track?

Just got the newest National Geographic magazine this weekend and noticed an advertisement (located on page 5) from our friends at Conoco Phillips.

The ad claims, in part, that our friends at Conoco Phillips aren’t willing to settle for just average when it comes to providing energy to the world. Claiming to be raiser’s of the bar and taking the lead in figuring it out, the ad goes on to say just how Conoco Phillips is moving forward to “solve the demanding increase in global energy needs.”

The solution? Finding new places to drill for natural gas and investing in Russia’s oil and natural gas reserves. WOW! These out of the box solutions will surely keep us in oil for decades to come right? Because we all know that oil is the only real source of energy worth pursuing, right?

The ad ends with this missive:

“Turning “what ifs” into “what’s next” – it’s what we do every day.”

Funny, I thought the “what’s next” might possibly include developing non-fossil fuel energy solutions, not just looking for new places to dig. Obviously, Big Oil isn’t interested in that at all.

Green Power

The ERA recently released this years list of Green Power Partnership Rankings and I’m proud to note that I Live near and work in this years list topper- The City of San Diego. By generating some of it’s own energy from renewable resources, San Diego saved many millions of taxpayer dollars and prevented as much as 91 million pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. Imagine that…saving money and fighting global warming at the same time. In all, San Diego generated over 65,000 megawatts of power derived from biogas, solar power, and hydro power. That represents nearly 25% of the city’s annual power needs. That’s enough to power 7,500 homes for an entire year.

In fact, the city is actually producing more energy than it is equipped to use, so they are selling it back to the power grid through the local utility, San Diego Gas and Electric. And this can’t be done elsewhere…why?

Sure, San Diego has the sun nearly year round, but it’s more than just a warm climate that is bringing success. By thinking out of the box with such ideas as converting falling water in its wastewater treatment plant into energy. Or by capturing the methane gas from landfills and other waste water treatment facilities. Or adding turbines to the city’s water delivery system to take advantage of wind power. And yes, lots and lots of solar panels.

The point though is that any municipality could do the same thing. All it takes is some leadership and commitment to doing the right thing. Right for the planet. Right for our own health. Right for our security. Right for our wallets. In fact, there’s nothing negative here at all, except that more cities aren’t doingthis too.

Rounding out the top five were the Austin Independent School District in Texas, the Montgomery County Wind Buyers Group in Maryland, the New York State Municipal Wind Buyers Group, and the East Bay Municipal Utility District in California. Only the city of Portland, Oregon had a more diverse mix of renewable energy sources than San Diego, as they already have a wind program in place. But Portland’s total green power generation was only 17,600 megawatts, putting that city 7th on the EPA list.

It’s obvious that alternative energy isn’t coming from the big oil companies or the federal government any time soon. But the answer can be found in our cities and towns. Contact your local officials and find out what your city is doing to help reduce fossil fuel consumption. If they are not doing anything see if you can help them develop a plan. Together we can make a difference.

(originally posted at Bring It On!)

Just two days after the U.S. House of Representatives decided that a religious icon in San Diego needed federal protection, California’s two ‘liberal Democratic’ senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, appear to have joined ranks with the bible thumpers as a bill heads to the Senate in defense of the Mt. Soledad Cross.

Excuse me, Senator’s…which part of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” don’t you understand? Or have you just decided that pandering to the religious majority is your best bet of holding on to your seats of power a little longer?

Right wing news sources seem to be agog in glee with the recent developments, but the fact that the federal government is about to get into the business of taking over public lands with religious icons is another sign that America is on the path to theocracy…that very form of government the Neo-Con agenda has been decrying in the Middle East. The only difference is the brand of religion being espoused.

What makes matters even more interesting is the fact that both of the Distinguished Women from California are Jewish. Not that that really matters except for the fact that it seems despite widespread public distrust of Republicans and their corporate-religious form of government, more and more Democrats are pretending to be Republican-lite instead of standing up for classic American principals.

What next friends? Will the government start using eminent domain to shut down mosques, temples, or Buddhist monastaries and transforming them into Christian shrines? It used to be scoffed when the words ‘theocracy’ and ‘America’ were uttered in the same breath. Now, with two Democratic senators from one of the country’s largest liberal states joining hands with the religious right, I’m not so sure you can dismiss the thought so easily.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

It’s the dominant religion in the U.S. claiming around 80% of the population as followers- clearly a majority. And they’ve got the government to do their bidding. Not a day goes by, it seems, that the world’s most powerful, secular-democratic legislative body in the world isn’t pandering to the Christian crowd. (Okay, to be fair, they’re really just sleeping with the far right element of the religiously minded, a minority of the majority if you will.)

Whether it’s tackling the vital issues of the day (gay marriage and flag burning) or ignoring those pesky problems that keep cropping up (mounting war deaths, skyrocketing energy and health care prices, a sluggish economy), this Congress is always there for their holier-than-thou base. Today was no exception as the members of the House managed to squeeze in the important national crisis revolving around the Mt. Soledad Cross in San Diego.

The history of the cross is now long and sordid, but to boil things down quickly, the cross was originally built on city property and maintained with city tax dollars. In the 1950’s, the current 29 foot cement cross was built and still stands there today. In the late 80’s the city was sued to remove the cross on the grounds that its ownership and care of the cross by the city and with tax funds violated the state constitution. In what became a long-running tug of war, the city lost that suit and 8 other court actions. Voters in the city approved one transfer, then rescinded, then reapproved. The city council sold, reclaimed, resold, reclaimed, and tried to donate the land. The mayor begged the president for help. The Supreme Court turned down one request to get involved and then recently issued a stay of all action. No one, it seems, can be consistent with this issue, except maybe the California Constitution which all of the court rulings were based on that states that

“State, County and local units of government can not use tax money or grant property to aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose.“

But Congress has come to the rescue, by way of San Diego area Congressmen Duncan Hunter (R), Darrell Issa (R), and Brian Bilbray(R) aka, Duke Cunninghams Pinch Runner, voting today (349-74) to accept the City of San Diego’s offer of the land as a donation to the National Parks system. The president has already indicated he’ll not use his newly found veto power (which he use to placate the zealot base by denying federal funds for research involving frozen embryonic stem cells.) So the Senate now has the chance to take up the cause.

Congress also did the hard work of telling the Judicial Branch that they should have no jurisdiction over the words in the Pledge of Allegience. Meaning ‘under God’ stays in there at all costs so long as the republicans stay in charge.

Is Christianity in such need of defense that over a decades worth of local and federal elected officials, judges and court personnel, elections employees, and many millions of tax payer dollars should be spent defending a giant cement cross? Is this what really matters to Christians? What about all that stuff about worshipping graven images? What about helping the less fortunate and peace and love? And do you really think Jesus wants to come back and see crosses all over the place? Talk about PTSD…..

So that’s it! No more whining from the 20 percenters on the far right about the War on Christmas or the sob stories about kids being able to pray in school. You’re clearly steering the ship, even if you’re the only ones on it. While the rest of the country is worried about the economy, the environment, health care, war, security, and education, Team Right-Wing Christian has Congress bowing to your religious wish list- a cross on every corner, a camera in every bedroom, and a plague on all who oppose them.

You may hold the short hairs of Congress now, but your over-zealousness to turn America into a theocracy will be your own worst enemy. Why don’t you listen to your savior and do unto others.

(Cross posted at Bring It On!)

Authoritarianism seems to be popular these days, or at least among those twenty-something percent of Americans who think the President is a swell guy. Recently, I had the good fortune to experience a bit of trickle down Deciderism at work right here in my own neighborhood. And then I got to see it smacked down hard by people who seem to have had enough of people trying to strip them of their freedom.

My neighborhood was built in the late 1970’s. It would have been a ‘development’ then, but now it’s just a nicely kept, diverse neighborhood where the houses don’t all look the same and the traffic is pretty tame. When it was new, the developers established a set of CCR’s that would regulate how people upgraded their homes and enforce certain ‘community standards’ like how long you could keep your garage door open or how often you cut your lawn or what color you painted your house. While not quite a complete HOA, it had all the earmarks of one. But over the years, the CCR’s were slowly abandoned, in part because there were now around 300 homes in the area, but more because the neighborhood had maintained, and even increased it’s appearance and value.

But it seems that some in the area decided that the CCR’s need to be revived and enforced and have taken it upon themselves to make it happen. But here’s the rub…they were trying to do it all in stealth mode. They tried to exclude the vast majority of homeowners from any kind of decision process. They obviously went to the Karl Rove School of Dirty Politics and Stealth Control.

This seems to have started when a couple of neighbors, who obviously couldn’t satisfy their controlling natures with their own families, couldn’t solve a beef or two through so-called official channels. So first, they went around to the places they felt to be trouble spots. They took pictures. Then they went to select neighbors of those homes and invited them to a meeting. Although they claim to have picked people at random to invite, they couldn’t have been too random if they only selected people near their target zones. This was clearly a group picked for maximum sympathy with their cause. Or at least they hoped. And they were mostly right. From that first, small, hand picked meeting, they decided to have a second meeting at which it seems they were going to elect officers and resurrect the CCR’s. Unfortunately for them, there was a secret dissenter in their midst. And this man told the entire community about this secret attempt to wrestle each homeowner’s freedom right out of their hands.

About 200 homeowners attended the second, not meant to be publicized meeting and really gave these guys hell. They were certainly surprised by the size of the crowd and were not prepared at all. They had only a dozen printed agendas, an indication that they thought they were in the clear and could proceed as planned. They had reserved the community room under the name of Sea Mesa Home Owners Association Election Committee. They were planning to take over.

But then we all showed up. And they had to pedal pretty fast. They made their case about property values, and trouble spots, but each point they made, at least five people could point to its fallacy. There were original owners who had only praise for the way the area has improved. There were newer owners who said they moved here because of the diversity and lack of an active HOA. Eventually, these guys said they just wanted to see if there was any interest and were trying to find out how to go about that. Want to know if there’s interest? Fine. At least ten times, the assembled audience suggested we take a vote. And every time these guys said there was nothing to vote on. Finally someone just asked who had no interest in reviving the CCR’s and over 90% raised their hands. Yet still these guys decided to press on.

They were roundly defeated by the will of the community, but were too stubborn to accept the facts. They seem determined to be the enforcers of standards that they will decide should exist. But they will fail because the rest of us won’t let it happen.

This event, this miniature play of democracy, was like looking into a microcosm of our current government and administration. Both had a small cabal of people who wanted to control the actions of the larger group. Both cabals seemed indifferent to the majority will of the group. Both cabals used deceit, subterfuge, and slippery language to achieve their goal. But that is where the comparison stops. Because unlike the bigger picture that is America, my neighborhood has the balls to stop petty wannabe’s before they get a chance to become tyrants. We’re tired of giving an inch and losing a mile.

I am hoping that this real life example of average people coming together to stop needless authoritarianism is spreading. I hope that people all over this country are finally opening their eyes and seeing what their hearts and minds have told them is wrong. And I hope that we can collectively find the balls to put an end to the destruction of America, her people, laws, and freedom. Because if there is any silver lining to the disaster that is George Bush, it will be that Americans will once again wake up, take charge, and put America back on a good and moral path.

(cross posted at Bring It On!)

Sargeant, Did You Pay The Power Bill?

Seems like fighting the War Against the Evildoers and keeping the lights on at our Army posts at the same time is just too much to ask for. Oh well, just another sacrifice that our soldiers and their families will have to make while the rest of us keep shopping to defy the terrorists.

“A diversion of dollars to help fight the war in Iraq has helped create a $530 million shortfall for Army posts at home and abroad, leaving some unable to pay utility bills or even cut the grass.”

So basically, we have enough money for Halliburton to swindle in Iraq but not enough to pay the electric bill on our Army bases. Enough to give tax breaks to those poor, struggling oil giants but not enough to make sure that our Army bases have medical supplies or government communications like pagers or cell phones. Plenty in the coffers to fund proactive wars off the books, but not enough to pay the trash bill. Seems we even have enough money to give some more tax breaks to the rich, but at Fort Sam Houston (in our Dear Leader’s beloved TEXAS, no less) they might not be able to buy food for the horses that carry soldiers’ caskets to their graves.

In addition to not being able to pay the bills for utilities, U.S. Army installations worldwide are having to lay-off civilian contractors and close base services that those people staffed. Hmmm….what was that again about the blossoming economy and our growing ‘ownership society?’

Thank you again President Bush for all you do for our fighting men, women, and their families. Thank you Congress for all your support too, by giving all that he asks for and then some. We’ll just add this to the growing list of ways you’re Supporting The Troops. (Right next to sending them into a poorly planned battlefield, not giving them enough good armor, cutting funds to the Veteren’s Administration, cutting services that military families depend on like food stamps and student loans, or even constantly redeploying them into Iraq)

Gee, with leadership like this looking out for you, who needs radical religious enemies?

New and Improved?

Ever since I was a kid, I have enjoyed the clear, refreshing taste of 7-Up soda. So I was surprised to find out that The Uncola that had always been Crisp, Clean, With No Caffeine, was making a change. The recently unveiled 7-Up is now 100% Natural, giving soft-drink sippers “more crisp, refreshing taste.” Clearly, the soft drink geniuses have given us someting New and Improved to make life better than ever before.

But a cursory look at the fine print on the can’s ingredients label shows that where the old version had just citric acid, the new version has natural citric acid. Where there was once sodium citrate you can now find natural potassium citrate. And lo and behold, that old calcium disodium flavor protecter in the old stuff has been taken out completely. Seems to me that this New and Improved 7-Up isn’t really all that new or improved. And to tell the truth, I can’t taste a single difference in the two.

The analogy, of course, is coming.

As I though about the slick marketing campaign that 7-Up was plying on the public, I couldn’t help but think about our American partisan politics, especially during election times. We consumers, the voting public, are presented with any number of New and Improved candidates who promise to make our lives More Crisp and Refreshing, so to speak. But time and time again, we ignore the fine print and only belatedly (if at all) realize that we’ve just bought the same old thing again. Maybe when it comes to soft drinks, that’s not such a big deal. But when your country is going to hell in a hand bag, you can’t afford to forget to read the fine print.

Our ‘leaders’ are hoping that we’ll do just that, and that is why they trot out mostly irrelevant issues for us to sink our teeth into while they go about the business of bankrupting (both morally and financially) our country.

Sometimes staying the course is stupid.
This November, change the course.

(Cross posted at Bring It On!)