Lets think for a second: Thinkin' Dem

Disheartening

2007-03-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

Out here in the heartland, it is really disheartening to see so many ignorant people who are zombies in the sputum of Fox News. The Iraq War, rampant inequality, christian extremism, environmental genocide, it's everywhere. There are 201 Republicans in the House. Who is voting for these people?! If they're not explicitly evil, then they're retarded. Stop voting for them! Republicans, what are you trying to do to this country?!

Rudy Giuliani, Candidate

2007-02-06T16:37:00.000-06:00

Oliver Willis was noting that many of the Regressive factions within the Republican party believe that if Rudy Giuliani becomes the Republican't nominee, that the Democrats will win the election. I couldn't disagree more. Rudy Giuliani has a hard, crunchy, traditional Republican (fiscal responsibility) center, with a Progressive coating (nice social agenda). If Rudy were to win the Republican nomination he would win by a landslide. The only voters would refuse to vote for him would be the far reaches of either side. Moderates from both sides would vote for him in droves, no matter who he's up against.

With McCain, I think it would be a fight for the election. But I think that we would ultimately prevail, because he's shown his true colors via pandering to the religious right. Best scenario I can see, would be if another Bushite Regressive like Brownback took the nomination.

A 2008 Ticket Idea

2007-01-23T17:34:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about this the other day. I've never really supported John Edwards. Ever. At all. But I thought, suppose we have an Edwards\Obama ticket. I really think that John Edwards and Barack Obama would be an unstoppable force. Traditionally, no non-southern Democrat has been elected President in fifty years. Edwards does the southern gentleman thing, and everyone else loves Barack. Then, after Edwards two terms, Barack is set up to take a run. I think it's a really powerful combination.

Hillary Clinton

2007-01-22T20:04:00.000-06:00

I don't really want to say this, but I'm going to. It hinged on whether or not Hillary was going to run. I don't think bad of Hillary at all. I think she'd perform just fine as a President. That said, we, the heart of the party, can not allow Hillary to win this primary. I can promise you this right now, Hillary Clinton cannot win the general election. It doesn't matter who the Republican nominee is. Hillary is not electable. I'm not saying this because I think Barack would do a better job. I'm saying this, because it's true. I really don't want to lose another election. Lewis Black said it best in that, the fact that we couldn't find anyone to defeat George W. Bush, is beyond belief. Not to criticize Kerry, he was always my first pick. Hillary cannot win this election. I would love to see the first woman president, I really would. But it's just not possible in this case. I'm sorry, thats just the way it is.

You Can't Stop Me

2007-01-16T21:16:00.000-06:00

The President is pretty much walking around telling Congress, "You can't stop me." It's really giving me hope. I'm hoping that he does something with this troop surge, disregarding any laws that Congress passes to stop him. Even Arlen Specter wouldn't let that fly. Maybe, just maybe, if this does happen, then Congress would realize that they have a duty to impeach. I know that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid are trying to play to the center, but they do have a duty to impeach.

110th Congress

2007-01-04T23:47:00.000-06:00

The first day, of the first session, of the 110th Congress has concluded. I sincerely hope, that the Democrats use these next two years very wisely, in order to preserve, and improve upon their majority in both houses.

My hopes include (but are not limited to):
Ending unchecked corporate power
Aiding the middle class
Raising the minimum wage
Impeachment
Repealing upper class tax cuts
Repealing the Patriot Act
Removing unchecked executive power
Impeachment
Repealing the suspension of habeus corpus for POW's
Designating specifically, that Iraq is unrelated to the war on terror
Making petroleum obsolete in at least 10 years
Seriously working to end global warming
Implement instant-runoff voting and vote-by-mail systems, and repeal of the electoral college
Full disarmament of all nuclear warheads
Total renunciation and withdrawal of aid to Israel and the Palestinian state until they can act civilized
Impeachment
Enlarging the House membership for a smaller representative proportion of the people
Strengthening the separation of church and state
A renunciationg of involvement in foreign executives overthrow (Leave the Middle East alone, and Central America)
Ending corporate personhood
Applying public funding of all elections
Creating a solid, sustainable program to help those adversely affected by outsourcing, while not hurting the global economy
Ensuring that social security always has monthly benefits
Impeachment

Those are the most important things I can think of at the moment. If Congress could be ambitious enough to get this all taken care of, that'd be great. Keep me informed.

Enviro-friendly President

2006-12-30T23:54:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about this. Our next President, (I mean "our" as in, the Democrats) needs to refuse to go anywhere in motorcade procession or via Air Force One or Marine One, until they run on something besides fossil fuels. I think that the President driving around in a biomass fueled car would change the entire country very quickly.

Saddam's Trial

2006-12-26T11:07:00.000-06:00

I don't like Saddam Hussein. I'm glad he's out of power. That said, this trial of his, has been a total sham. He, like all the terrorists in Guantanamo, should be tried at the Hague.

Military Expansion

2006-12-22T18:47:00.000-06:00

Bush and his cronies love to blame Clinton for everything, such as, letting the military lose some weight. The way I see it, if Bush and his cronies had performed their jobs as they should have, they wouldn't need any more troops. Oh, and just to reiterate... Iraq has nothing to do with the War on Terror. Deal.

Ahmadinejad Supporters Suffer n Elections

2006-12-18T15:32:00.000-06:00

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters have supposedly suffered a blow in Iran's elections. I have no idea what that means for our country while Bush is still at the helm.

Rumsfeld is gone

2006-12-16T00:48:00.000-06:00

He's finally gone. It disgusts me that he was praised at that ceremony. I hope he realizes that he is hated by millions of people. To be honest, being retired is to good for him. He needs to be stuck in the middle of something, ripping his hair out.

Detainees Can Not Challenge Imprisonment

2006-12-14T10:07:00.000-06:00

A U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that the new law restricting detainee's right to challenge their imprisonment, removed the federal courts jurisdiction. What a place this has become. George W. Bush can detain any non-U.S. citizen in the world, call him a terrorist, and keep him forever. What the hell is wrong with people? Why aren't more people outraged about this?

UCS Protest Statement

2006-12-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

The Union of Concerned Scientists has sponsored a statement signed by some 10000 United States researchers, protesting the governments intrusion into the scientific process.

Iraqis Worse Off

2006-12-14T09:44:00.000-06:00

More than 90% of Iraqi's believe they are worse off now, than they were before the war began in 2003. Anyone surprised?

Warmest Wishes for Freedom, from the ACLU

2006-12-11T21:18:00.000-06:00

This is absolutely brilliant! I received this Seussish\The Night Before Christmas-ey poem in a holiday email from the ACLU. I saw that it was another holiday email and I almost deleted it without reading. I am so glad I did. Fantastic.

An Overdue Visit

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the nation
Friends of Freedom knew it was a special occasion.
Lady Liberty stood taller just off the shore
Her torch shining brighter than a few weeks before

But it wasn't the flame turning her cheeks all rosy
It was thoughts of Snowe, Feingold and Nancy Pelosi
And leaders from every side of the aisle
Who would soon bring the Bill of Rights back into style.

The Amendments had all hurried out of their beds -
Which was no easy task, they were nearly in shreds -
And they rushed to the window on papery feet
As a jolly old man flew right over their street.

"Could it be!?" they inquired as the roof shook and trembled
And they crept toward the mantle, peaceably assembled,
Just as someone emerged from the chimney with flair
In a shiny red suit, with a shock of white hair

And a top hat, and pants all in red, white and blue -
"Wait a minute," the Amendments exclaimed, "Who are you?"
"Don't be frightened my children," he said, "it's no scam.
"You can't have forgotten your old Uncle Sam!"

"Holy crap!" said Free Speech. "Stop right there!" yelled Bear Arms
And Privacy cried "Who shut off the alarms?!"
The Fifth remained silent, but Uncle Sam said
"We've been having some trouble, but Freedom's not dead."

The Amendments were cautious. "It's just been so long
"We've seen Liberty lost, we've seen so much go wrong.
"The President's trying to mangle and warp us,
"The Fourth is in tatters, so's Habeas Corpus!"

The old man sat down - he had had quite a ride -
But he told them "Don't worry, the Law's on our side,
"'Cause the nation's fed up and more people are crying
"For Justice and an end to illegal spying,

"And secret abductions by the CIA,
"And laws that would take women's choices away,
"And Gitmo tribunals and secret detention,
"And other intrusions too numerous to mention - "

"Not so fast," said a grinchity voice from above
And Don Rumsfeld pushed past the Fourteenth with a shove.
He was covered in soot and he looked kind of scary.
It seemed like his Christmas had not been so merry.

The Amendments said they weren't happy to see him:
"You tried to throw all of us in the museum!
"You've done so much the Constitution forbids!"
"And I would have gone on, but for you meddling kids!"

Uncle Sam told him "Rummy, your plans just won't do,
"So we've got a brand new timetable for you!"
And as Rumsfeld retired and crept into the night
The Amendments cried out "Have a good secret flight!"

From the distance they heard him reply with a snort.
"Bye-bye, Rummy!" they answered, "we'll see you in court!"
Uncle Sam rode the chimney up out of the room
And, like Frosty, he said "I'll be back again soon."

But they heard him exclaim "Oh, and just one more thing!
"This year, when the holiday bells start to ring,
"Try to honor religion. Honest faith can't be wrong.
"It's America, can't we all just get along?

"So, on Christian," he cried, "Muslim, Hindu, and Jew!
"On Quaker! On Shaker! And Atheist too!
"On Buddhist! On Taoist! And to show we're not chickens
"We'll file a few lawsuits defending the Wiccans!

"Your belief is your right, so get out there and savor it.
"Uncle Sam's not a preacher, and he doesn't play favorites!"
So this holiday season, whatever you do,
Warmest wishes for Freedom, from the ACLU.

New Guantanamo

2006-12-10T12:31:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post the article URL.

New Guantanamo

2006-12-10T12:23:00.000-06:00

A new maximum security prison has been opened at Guantanamo Bay. Just what we needed... Am I the only person who firmly believes that all the prisoners we've taken, for being suspected terrorists, should be at the Hague, being tried by the International Criminal Court? That is the only sensible things to do. These people, terrorists or not, are not American citizens, as such, they are should be placed in the custody of the International Court of Justice.

Progress

2006-12-09T19:27:00.000-06:00

The battle between the opposing political factions is one for all time. The elections in 2008 will be a nervous time for us. I know that the Left will win the battle over the hearts and minds of Americans, as I demostrate clearly in this GoogleFight.

The War on Christmas

2006-12-09T16:41:00.000-06:00

I've struggled before in justifying my observance of Christmas to believers. I really enjoyed this article on AlterNet. The tagline is: "Let's face it: Christmas is not the exclusive property of those who think God came to earth 2000 years ago as a baby in Bethlehem." Myself, I am a secular humanist. I explored a handful of different faiths before I realized the ridiculousness of it all. Here's that article.

Darfur

2006-12-09T02:24:00.000-06:00

I'm going to do some research on Darfur, and throw something out here in the next few days.

Israel

2006-12-09T02:18:00.000-06:00

We should cut off Israel, completely. No contact whatsoever. This is all totally make-believe in my head, but this is what I think we should do. Send Condi. She goes in and says, "Until you can be civil, and mostly peaceful, we want nothing to do with you." I guarantee, they would straighten up.

Baker Asks Congress: Adopt ISG Report En Masse

2006-12-09T02:12:00.000-06:00

... and the White House chuckled to themselves. James Baker, former Secretary of State asked Congress and the White House each, to adopt the all the resolutions of the Iraq Study Group Report. Or at least, the majority of them. The President is debating several different ideas. I have this huge feeling of deja vu right now. Here is the story.

Geneva Conventions

2006-12-09T00:30:00.000-06:00

I feel ashamed sometimes, that my country, America, wants to restrict the Geneva Conventions. They might prevent us from being mean enough to prisoners. Talk about evil... That's just wrong. It's despicable. It's revolting.

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq...

2006-12-08T15:51:00.000-06:00

All this talk about Iraq. Endless chatter. What are we going to do? The "way forward." When we finally leave Iraq, we'll be saying, "we should have pulled out years ago in 2006 when the study groups report came out."

Barack

2006-12-07T18:28:00.000-06:00

Is Barack really electable? I know they say Hilary isn't, and I really hope they're right. This election is far too important to be risking it, on a social experiment. That is, testing to see if we would elect a woman. This is not the time to be taking that risk, what with the neo-cons waiting in the wings like vultures.