How You Spell Victory...
Topic: State Of The Union
The Indy Voice has linked to articles by the conservative Paul Craig Roberts in the past but this one is really eye opening, Nuking the Economy.

It is time for liberals to grab the mantle of immigration policy reform. Liberals need to communicate to people that the policies of the Bush administration effectively reward the greed of the governments of other nations who starve their people to the point that the backbone of their societies must escape to manual labor jobs in the U.S. to the detriment of the U.S. worker, the economy and cause harm to the ability of our government to provide the resources and services that Americans have come to take for granted.

Liberals have to ask themselves, what is the true value of the rule of law when illegal immigration is met with a yawn? We DO NOT have to go to the extreme of building a wall across the borders of the southern U.S., which would be cost prohibitive, isolationist, incite more racism, ensure indefinite future conflict and would basically be a complete logistical failure but our government needs to apply REAL (financial, political, etc.) pressure on the governments of other countries who, for too long, have gotten away with using our country as a relief valve so that their people don't reach the tipping point of revolution.

This country is facing a major problem which is easily observable by anyone with a 5th grade economics lesson on the effects of supply and demand. A major thrust of the problem comes from the illegal supply of labor to employers in this country who have effectively outsourced (or in this case, "insourced") labor to foreign countries by employing the illegal emigrants of those countries here. Employers have been able to hire on a seemingly unending supply of not only extremely cheap labor but a labor force that is completely politically and economically detached from issues like workers rights, the right to organize and worker's safety and doesn't have to pay into systems that depend on collective efficiencies like Worker's Compensation, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the country's infrastructure and generally speaking, most taxes. Almost any employer that can get away with hiring this type of laborer will and will do so in place of the American worker who won't, shouldn't and can't financially and physically afford to.

Consider just some of the values that liberals hold dear, like worker and human rights and how advocating a policy which contradicts the Bush administration's would allow them to be upheld. Advocating illegal immigration reform would be tantamount to a Scrabble triple word score for Victory - with the victors being our way of life, our values and forcing the governments of other countries to work on behalf of their people instead of forcing them to escape to the U.S. To continue the present policy of indifference would be to forget the human, civil and workers rights reasons why people are leaving their native countries to work here and it would continue to ignore the tangible political and economic implications that it has on the people that already live and work here.

Globalization, unregulated free markets and the resulting outsourcing of labor to foreign markets combined with the "insourcing" of labor to illegal immigrants are a recipe for disaster and are the causes of the problems that Mr. Roberts describes. These problems are not going to go away anytime soon and they'll never go away if future administrations continue to follow the same failed policies.

In difference, Hope
Topic: State Of The Union
In this political atmosphere I have adopted a new outlook and policy of working on those things that I can influence.

I will no longer speak of the damages that are being wrought on this country at the hands of the Republicans and fail to mention those who let it happen. I will no longer speak of the President's latest ideological nomination to the Supreme Court without highlighting how many of those that should are not working on stopping it. From now on I am on a mission to expose the accomplices and capitulators that are in positions to stop these things from happening but sit idly by and do nothing. I long for the day when the truly strong and courageous people of substance and energy can rise to the top and begin to take action.

I realize that most of the time my comments will most likely never extend further than this blog, after all it is an election year and we do have to restore these ball-less wonders to office, but I will not be deterred. The status quo isn't working and I am liberal enough to admit it, announce the problem so that others may know, analyze it and start working on a solution to fix it.

In this instance I already have and this is my conclusion,

I call upon my liberal brethren; those people who value and are willing to fight for human rights, workers rights and civil rights, those who's political philosophy's draw them to the conclusion that those who would seek to uphold the traditions of the present framework are fools for expecting a different result from the same tired actions, people who follow the path of non-violence and diplomacy at all costs, appreciate and use our right to free speech, free press and religion, those who believe that human beings are not a unit of measurement to be analyzed in some cruel economic system, those who believe in the rule of law, that human beings can transcend dogma through rational God giving thought and especially those who welcome and embrace the greatness of the human race in all its different colors, sizes, religions and cultures and who recognize that just merely tolerating one another often is not enough to keep tensions from spilling over into violence, that empathy, respect and compassion should be the ultimate goal of every rational human being for the benefit of each other, all other living beings and the planet.

Those of you with this type of courage and spirit
know who you are and I respectfully
ask that you focus your attentions
where you can make the most difference.

Message to Dems: GROW A SPINE!
Mood:  irritated
Topic: State Of The Union
Below you will find a petition on John Kerry's website. Please fill it out and submit it.

Tell the Democrats that we the people have had enough of their complacency in the face of criminal, unconstitutional, unAmerican and inhuman behavior. Tell them that we've had enough of the ideologues who stand to drive this great country back into the barbarism of the middle ages. Tell the Democrats that you DO NOT believe that the President should have the powers of a King.

Tell the Democrats that unless they do your bidding and stop trying to cover their own ass you are NOT going to contribute 1 dime to their party, nor are you going to vote for another Democrat until they stand up and fight the corporate/fundamentalist/militaristic/individualistic/short-sighted/manipulating and exploiting Republicans who have for the past 40 years been ruining the middle class, driving people further into despair and poverty through their myopic policies, creating a system of black and white and more and more punishment even as the world plainly sees that their way DOESN'T work.

Tell them that you are not going to sit idly by and watch as these wealthy, white, angry, men, destroy the country that you love and corrupt and make ugly the ideals of and everything that this country attempts to stand for.

TELL THE DEMOCRATS TO GROW A SPINE!

Direct Your Anger Accordingly
Topic: State Of The Union
To understand a person's opinion you first need to understand their perspective. So let me tell you about the view from here. In my short time on this earth I've watched as people in this country have grown increasingly cold and disconnected as communities have become places for dissimilar and disinterested people to temporarily hang their hats. Ask the man or woman on the street what's wrong with society and they'll probably blame the politicians or if they're being honest, the minorities, illegal aliens and the poor. Its always struck me as odd that the same people that claim to be true blue-blooded Americans always have someone else to blame when it comes to what's wrong with THEIR country. The problem is never them.

The same people that blame government regulations or lawyers for their woes never seem to find that the problem of what's wrong with this world exists within themselves. The never see their ignorance and their feeling of impotence as the source. It's always somebody else and it's usually some ambiguous group of "them." Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, Jews, trial lawyers, unions, the ACLU, liberals, women, the poor, take your pick, they're the problem. They never conclude that the problem with this world is their failure to understand how little they understand about their country, this world and themselves.

The destruction of the rain forests and polar ice caps? Not my problem. What problem?

Human rights, civil rights, workers rights being trampled on? Where? I don't see it, must not be happening.

The homeless and poor? Lazy bunch of degenerates! Get a job! Work harder!

You can hear them yelling at the strikers in New York, "You bunch of morally reprehensible, irresponsible, selfish, law breaking thugs!"

Maybe if they pulled their fat-asses off of their lazy boys and away from their plasma televisions long enough to miss a couple of episodes of "Fear Factor" and opened a damn book they'd learn about how from time eternal the wealthy and the powerful have always taken advantage of the meek and poor. Maybe they could read about all the great struggles of the self-less and self-sacrificing men and women that came before them that gave them this opportunity to take it all for granted. And maybe, just maybe, they'd realize that their fate and the fate of the meekest of the meek is inextricably linked.

Hillary Out, Jesus In
Topic: State Of The Union
What the hell is wrong with Democrats? I mean you have the most incompetent set of bozos that have ever run this country (into the ground) and Democrats can't seem to find a way to say "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WITH REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP."

Hillary's tripping over herself to appear like she's appetizing to voters she'll need in 2008. Rove, Libby, Cheney, the 3 musketeers, are performing acts of treason right out of the Oval office directly under fucktard's nose and Republicans are trying to finish the hatchet job they started, there is no budget, the deficit is ballooning to proportions that our great-great-great-great grandchildren will surely thanks us for and let's just get one other thing straight, the intelligence about Iraq wasn't fucked up, it was mucked up, and not a single Democrat has the balls to just say so.

The Bush administration fucking lied. Plain and simple. End of story. Just say it already and while you're at it say your sorry for trying to be Republican-lite so that you can win elections. And you're damn right you should say you're sorry for voting for the authorization for war, some of us are sorry for voting for your sorry asses.

And another thing, if you nominate Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for President I'll vote Republican for the rest of my life. Alright, I was just bullshitting and I went a little overboard about the voting Republican for life thing but let me just say this as plainly as I can, Hillary is (thankfully) the past, not the future of the Democratic party.

Here's my advice, "go left young man," (And Woman). Whether right or wrong the people of this country are longing for leadership and a clear direction. Pussyfooting around certain key issues is not how leaders do things. Of course people care about values and if you heed my advice and "go left" you can finally start putting those sanctimonious and immoral Republicans in their rightful place observing from the sidelines.

Even a simple mind like myself can come up with ways to explain to people that when you say that you're pro-elderly and therefore against the Republicans plans for destroying Social Security you're doing so because of your values. So kick all those capitulating DLC ding-dongs back to the dark side where they belong and try explaining to people how politics affect their lives everyday, in real, tangible ways and they can either choose for their leaders to be moral or Republican but at least let 'em know what the choice is.

Is it moral to ask the people of this country to sacrifice nothing while our soldiers sacrifice their lives?

Is it moral that we preach freedom and democracy and then run hand in hand with Kings and violent tyrants when it suits our self-interests?

Is allowing U.S. based companies to outsource jobs to other countries that abuse children in sweatshops so that stockholders in this country can make a few pennies more a share in profit moral?

Is it moral that many of us can have the opportunity to gorge ourselves to the point of obesity while people in this country and around the world go hungry?

Is it moral to continually destroy our environment and poison the environments of others around the world when they neither created or benefited from the processes which created the destruction?

Is it moral to allow people to die early deaths from a lack of health care when the private sector is doing absolutely nothing to help them?

Is it moral to see a difference when someone explodes a bomb strapped to their back which kills innocent people then when we drop a bomb out of plane which has the same affect?

Is it moral that CEOs in this country make 1000 times more than what the lowest paid worker makes?

Is it moral that the poor of this country get a disproportionate share of justice in both the civil and criminal justice systems?

If you want to offer a doctrine that's in direct opposition to the Republican money changers in Washington look no further than the guy these hypocrites circle up to during election times,

15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

16 and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves.

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

How about a house of democracy where we cast out the Republican big business money changers and finally start addressing the people's needs? Now there's a novel idea.

Where Did You Shop This Weekend?
Topic: State Of The Union
Confessions of a Wal-Mart Hit Man

Unhappy Anniversary.
Topic: State Of The Union
Those of you, who in your infinite wisdom voted for George W. Bush, as of today have the blood of our 2001st soldier on your hands and a tarnish on your soul. Congratulations.

Everything happens for a reason so I will not say that those 2001 soldiers and the countless innocent civilians that have been murdered died for no reason but I will say that they didn't die because of the reasons we were given by this administration, they are not presently still dying in the "war on terror" and they are certainly and let me make this abundantly clear, NOT DYING FOR OUR FREEDOM!!!

Now you can call me un-American or an out-of-the-mainstream Liberal who hates America but frankly I don't give a damn. The emperor has no clothes and I won't shut up. And considering the fact that people are dying maybe you shouldn't take my words with a grain of salt. Don't you remember I was right and you were so, so wrong.

Iraq has never had anything to do with our freedom, was never until we preemptively invaded and occupied them a player in American directed terrorism and here's the point that should wake you up in the middle of the night begging for your depraved soul, the little so-called good that you claim hasn't been reported by the mainstream "liberal" media could have been achieved without the violence and had peaceful methods been used, would have been sustainable, albeit a longer and more patient and disciplined process. And by the way, those insurgents that you keep referring to aren't Syrians, Iranians, Jordanians or Saudi Arabians, they're Iraqi's and the overwhelmingly don't want us there. That's why they smiled and happily showed us their ink stained thumbs, they were saying "we voted, now you get the fuck out" but you were too ignorant to recognize that fact.

So you can go around spewing your ignorant propaganda until one day when 2001 more soldiers and untold numbers of innocent civilians have been killed you realize that we were lied to and you finally do something about it. Hopefully you don't have to lose someone who you care about before that happens. I'm sorry, I forgot, you Republicans just "support" wars with little yellow "Made In China" magnets stuck on the back of your cars, you don't actually sacrifice anything during them.

Unhappy Anniversary.

Don't DeLay, To The Slammer!
Topic: State Of The Union
Ahhh, the Republican party. If it weren't for these guys who else would try and convince us that they stand for "values" while they simultaneously anally rape the little guy at every chance they get. While I wouldn't miss them if they were gone I guess it's like they say "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't."

"The grand jury has charged that Texans for a Republican Majority and the Texas Association of Business worked together to circumvent the election code and funnel "massive amounts of secret corporate wealth" into campaigns, said Earle, the Travis County prosecutor."

Read more, DeLay Probe Winds Down; Charges May Loom

Just Remember: "INSANE GOVERNMENT"
Topic: State Of The Union
Hat tip for CrooksAndLiars.com for running this article, IMPEACH BUSH NOW by Paul Craig Roberts.

What CrooksAndLiars.com doesn't mention is this guy's resume as a REAL conservative and it's an extensive resume at that!

If there were to be a comprehensive book on the history of the Bush administration this 1 article could be the table of contents, the full contents and the index as far as I'm concerned. I could not have said it better. So straight and so to the point, I agree "IMPEACH BUSH NOW!!!"

Short Memory
Topic: State Of The Union
I'm just curious what it's gonna take for a Democrat to step up to the plate to tell the nation that the present state of affairs is exactly what you get when you hire a Republican to do anything. When will they explain to the American people in plain English that Republican leadership in modern times has been inept, ineffectual, corrupt, heartless, immoral and hypocritical. What I'm trying to say is that it's been pretty bad.

Just look at some recent events,

Republican response to 9/11 - Smoke and Mirrors
Economy - Doldrums
Taxes - Low (IF YOU'RE RICH!)
War - Losing
WMD - None
Debt - Great
No Child Left Behind - Contradiction in Terms
Family Values - BOMBS AWAY!
Christian Values - Christ who? (SEE ABOVE)
Schiavo - PAWN
Decisive Leadership - Where?
Lies - A plenty
Osama Bin Laden - Saddam Hussein
Katrina - VACATION!!!

I believe that the American people are smart, I just think they have short memories. They should be reminded of the Reagan days filled with paranoid delusional fear, the increased burden on the middle class and poor, the enormous debt and his high crimes and misdemeanors. The American public keep voting for these incompetent crooks because they keep forgetting that the Republican party has over a 40 year demonstrated history of these offenses. Do I need to bring out Nixon?

Why don't we remind the American people of what they'll be missing when they kick these losers to the curb?