New Element Discovered

A major research institution (majoring in "Intelligent Design") has just announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element has been named "Bushcronium." Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an Atomic mass of 311.

These 311 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Bushcronium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Bushcronium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second.

Bushcronium has a normal half-life of multiples of 4 years but it does not decay, instead, it undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Bushcronium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, which in turn forms isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass."

When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates FoxNewsium, an element which radiates orders of magnitude and also generates energy (albeit as incoherent noise), since it has 1/2 as many peons, but twice as many morons.

Mark Your Calendars Folks!

Mark this in RED on your calendars! Remember this date...because this may NEVER happen again!

I actually AGREE with republicans on something!
That something is immigration law.

I DO NOT support amnesty of ANY KIND for anyone who crossed our border ILLEGALLY--I believe amnesty rewards these people for breaking U.S. law. I say, round up the illegals and send their asses home. THEN, if they would like to go through the LEGAL PROCESS to imigrate to the U.S. and become citizens, they should be welcome to do so.

Think about it this way: If YOU were to enter Mexico (or Guatamala, Brazil, etc.) ILLEGALLY, would you be allowed to send your kids to public schools there? Would you be allowed access to that country's social programs...(their equivalent to our Medicaid, Food Stamps, Welfare, etc.)?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Why not? Because the immigration laws of those countries PROHIBIT it. These countries do not REWARD you for breaking their immigration laws.

Yet, these same countries expect the U.S. to OPEN our borders wide to unlimited immigration of their citizens to OUR country...AND expect us to give these illegals ALL of the rights that our own citizens enjoy.

BOTTOM LINE IS, THESE COUNTRIES GET ANGRY AT THE U.S.....FOR TRYING TO ENFORCE THE SAME IMMIGRATION LAWS THEY HAVE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES!

Why are they such hypocrites about this? It is because these countries have become DEPENDENT on the MONEY that these illegals send back to their family members in their homelands.

It makes me physically ILL to watch thousands of ILLEGALS carrying Mexican flags in OUR streets and DEMANDING the SAME rights as LEGAL immigrants and lifelong U.S. citizens. This amounts to thousands of people FLAUNTING the fact that they BROKE U.S. LAWS--they are PROUD of that fact! (Again, in my opinion, every last one of those protesters who ARE illegal should be rounded up and sent back to their native countries.)

If Mexico is SO great, then they should GO BACK! If they really want to stay here, they might consider trying to show the rest of us that....by flying the American flag instead of all those Mexican flags.

It also makes me physically ILL to watch Senator Ted Kennedy and others stand up and compare this situation to the Civil Rights Movement.

This is NOTHING LIKE the Civil Rights Movement, folks! (African Americans should be OUTRAGED at that comparison, in fact.) African Americans did NOT come here illegally--hell, they didn't even come here VOLUNTARILY! African Americans were FORCED to come here against their will.

***I should note right here that the part of U.S. immigration law which allows illegals to stay in this country if their child is born in the U.S. was written for the purpose of dealing with the situation of what to do about freed slaves.*** It was NEVER meant to be used the way it is being used today--pregnant illegals waddling across the border into the U.S. as soon as their water breaks so their child can be born here and they can stay in the country.

Second, this is NOT about "RACISM"--what it IS about is HOMELAND SECURITY!

I am NOT a racist. I DO NOT advocate COMPLETELY CLOSING our borders...but we NEED to KNOW EXACTLY WHO is crossing those borders and WHY-- for SECURITY REASONS. (And that became particularly important AFTER 9/11.)

Terrorists are NOT "stupid savages" as our current administration would like us all to believe. I'm quite sure they figured out a LONG time ago just how easy it is to slip across the border into the U.S. by coming up through Mexico. They KNOW how POUROUS our southern border is! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT! In fact, I have no doubt there are probably would-be terrorist learning to speak Spanish as I write this, so that they can more easily slip across our southern border.

Another issue at play here is the DRUG TRADE. I live in northwest Arkansas, where my state (AND the state of Oklahoma as well) have passed laws keeping psuedoephedrine (cold medicines, allergy pills, etc.) behind the pharmacists' counters to prevent folks from using them to make METH. This law HAS cut down on the number of meth labs operating INSIDE our state. However, it has NOT even made a DENT in the SUPPLY--the MAJORITY of meth found in Arkansas and Oklahoma today....is IMPORTED from MEXICO.

(Remember the tunnels under our border with Mexico that were found recently? Remember what was found IN those tunnels? ILLEGAL DRUGS.) 18 wheelers are pulled over on I-40 here in Arkansas and searched all the time...and almost WEEKLY a truck driver or someone driving a large RV is charged with transporting cocaine or meth. That meth comes from Mexcio.

Here in northwest, Arkansas, we have a VERY high immigrant population--legal AND illegal. (The headquarters for Tyson Foods, George's Poultry Processing AND Butterball are all located here.) The (Mexican and South Amerrican) immigrant population has become SO large that last year, Springdale, AR had to build a SECOND public high school to make room for them all.

I lived in Rogers, AR for almost 5 years. I would walk into my local WalMart store and find that NO ONE around me was even speaking English! It was a strange experience--like walking into a foreign country...or walking onto another planet.

Which leads to yet another issue-- the CRIME RATE in areas with a large illegal population. The CRIME RATE in the Rogers/Springdale/Bentonville area seemed to SKYROCKET in the 5 years I lived there...and is STILL rising today. Whenever there's a murder, robbery, etc. reported on the local news...9 times out of 10, the perpetrator will be hispanic. I'm not saying this to be a racist or anything...it's just a FACT.

GANG VIOLENCE and incidents of GANG GRAFFITI have also skyrocketed in this area...and these are NOT white, Asian, or African American gangs either. They are ALL Hispanic gangs!

We already HAVE Immigration Laws in place, folks! ALL we have to do is ACTUALLY ENFORCE THEM! And they CERTAINLY don't need to be WATERED DOWN, as Congress is advocating.

These Senators and Representatives need to realize that ILLEGALS CAN'T VOTE. And the majority of LEGAL immigrants say that the immigration laws should be enforced and that penatlies should even be STIFFENED! There's a recent poll out there that SAYS just that!

The bottom line is...we NEED to KNOW EXACTLY WHO is crossing our southern border and WHY. The ONLY way to accomplish that is to CRACK DOWN on ILLEGAL immigration.

We can reform our immigration laws if necessary...AFTER we SECURE our BORDERS! For our own homeland security, we NEED to secure the border FIRST.

Where's the Outrage?!

Polls show that the majority of Americans now feel that invading Iraq was a mistake. It's about time these folks pulled their heads out of their hineys. (Too bad they couldn't manage that 3 years ago.)

So, if the polls say a majority of Americans disapprove of the war in Iraq, then why aren't there more protestors out there on the streets?

I'll tell you why: There are still way too many folks out there who are NOT DIRECTLY AFFECTED by this illegal war. They don't have friends family members, or even anyone they know who is serving in Iraq. So, they can still go about their everyday activities without what's happening in Iraq even crossing their minds. (The average American tends to be UNinformed, UNeducated, and Uninterested in anything that doesn't affect them DIRECTLY.)

What's more, Americans have not been required by this administration to make a single sacrifice in the name of this war. Other than paying quite a bit more to fill up their Escalades and their Humvees--and maybe putting one of those magnetic "yellow ribbons" on that aforementioned ga-guzzling SUV to "support the troops"-- nothing is really being required of us at all.

Wanna know how to get these apathetic folks to stand up and DEMAND an end to this war PRONTO? I've got 3 words for you:

REINSTATE THE DRAFT.

I'll bet if you pull those bright-eyed, shiny-toothed, gawd-fearing, corn-fed, white, fundamentalist, Sunday school going, conservative young folks from their families and send them down the road to the nearest induction center ... we'd see some hell-raising protests going on...REAL FAST!

The INSTANT their OWN kids were in danger of being sent to "defend our freedom" (and I use that phrase in the LOOSEST terms imaginable) in Iraq, I predict you'd see thousands of republicans raising nine kinds of hell--DEMANDING that the troops be brought home IMMEDIATELY.

Remember When...

REMEMBER WHEN CLINTON HAD A 60% APPROVAL RATING AND THE REPUBLICANS IMPEACHED HIM?

REMEMBER?! THE MAN GOT A BLOW JOB IN THE OVAL OFFICE! HE LIED ABOUT an ENTIRELY PERSONAL MATTER-- AND THE REPUBLICANS IMPEACHED HIM. REMEMBER?!

If there is one teaspoon of morality in the entire Republican Party, I'll kiss George W. Bush's ass in the middle of Broad Street. And the Democrat Party is a bunch of spineless weenies. My 1 year old great nephew has more sense than that entire sorry bunch in Washington.

Remember when Clinton was in office...and we had a BUDGET SURPLUS?! Remember when everyone had jobs?! Remember when we WEREN'T at war?!

**Just as an aside here, do you know WHY there were NO al-Queda operatives IN Iraq BEFORE we invaded? Do you know WHO was keeping al-Queda out of Iraq before? SADDAM! That's right, folks...Saddam's military and security forces were KEEPING them out! He didn't WANT al-Queda in his country! He wanted NOTHING to do with them!

So much for our Chimp-in-Chief's theory that Saddam had connections to 9/11....

Un-American, Unpatriotic, Unethical and Irresponsible...

It is un-American and against the principles and values of American patriotism for the Congress to not comprehensively investigate the illegal use of National Security Agency (NSA) human and technical resources for spying on U.S. citizens in any manner within the United States.

At the least, there should be an independent investigation headed by independent appointed counsel.

The disservice performed by both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate during the terms of George W. Bush against the American people should be addressed by law as well as by election. This Congress is a sham.... is clearly abdicating its oversight responsibilities spelled out by our Constitution... and the members of said legislative bodies, in the vast majority of cases, are not worthy of serving the people who elected them.

Exposing the CON in CONservative:

Let's count those wonderful CON "achievements" and expose the "CON" in CONservative:

#1) Emergency Management: Cons completely failed to manage the first large-scale emergency since 9/11. Despite all their big talk and hundreds of billions of dollars spent on homeland security over the past four years, this administration proved itself stunningly incompetent when faced with an actual emergency.

#2) Fiscal Management: RepubliCONs bankrupt America. America is broke. No wait, we're worse than broke. In less than five years these borrow and spend-thrifts have nearly doubled our national debt, to a stunning $9 trillion. These are not your father's Republicans who treated public dollars as though they were an endangered species. These Republicans waste money in ways and in quantities that make those old "tax and spend liberals" of yore look like tight-fisted Scots.

#3) Katrina relief: Eleven thousand spanking new mobile homes sinking into the Arkansas mud. Seems no one in the administration knew there were federal and state laws prohibiting trailers in flood zones. Oops. That little mistake cost you $850 million -- and counting.

#4) Medicare Drug Program: This $50 billion white elephant trampled many of those it was supposed to save. The mess forced states to step in and try to save its own citizens from being killed by the administration's poorly planned and executed attempt to privatize huge hunks of the federal health safety net.

#5) Afghanistan: Good managers know that in order to pocket the gains of a project, you have to finish it. This administration started out fine in Afghanistan. They had the Taliban and al Queda on the run and Osama bin Laden trapped in a box canyon. Then they were distracted by a nearby shiny object -- Iraq. We are now $75 billion out of pocket in Afghanistan and its sitting president still rules only within the confines of the nation's capital. Tribal warlords, the growing remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda call the shots in the rest of the county.

#6) Iraq: This ill-begotten war was supposed to only cost us $65 billion. Another LIE !!! It has now cost us over $300 billion and continues to suck $6 billion a month out of our children's futures. Meanwhile the three warring tribes Bush "liberated" are using our money and soldiers' lives to partition the country. The Shiites and Kurds are carving out the prime cuts while forcing the once-dominant Sunnis onto Iraq's version of Death Valley. Meanwhile Iran is increasingly calling the shots in the Shiite region as mullahs loyal to Iran take charge.

#7) North Korea: Ditto. Also add to all the above the example North Korea set for Iran. Clearly once a country possesses nukes, the CONS drop the veiled threats and want to talk... (not negotiate... because they WILL NOT negotiate with terrorist). Whatever!

#8) Social Programs: It's easier to get affordable -- even free -- American-style medical care, paid for with American dollars, if you are injured in Iraq, Afghanistan or are victims of a Pakistani earthquake, than if you live and pay taxes in the good old U.S.A. Nearly 50 million Americans can't afford medical insurance. Nevertheless the administration has proposed a budget that will cut $40 billion from domestic social programs, including health care for the working poor. The administration is quick to say that those services will be replaced by its "faith-based" programs.

Well... just saying it don't make it so...

"Despite the Bush administration's rhetorical support for religious charities, the amount of direct federal grants to faith-based organizations declined from 2002 to 2004, according to a major new study released yesterday....The study released yesterday "is confirmation of the suspicion I've had all along, that what the faith-based initiative is really all about is de-funding social programs and dumping responsibility for the poor on the charitable sector," said Kay Guinane, director of the nonprofit advocacy program at OMB Watch..

#9) The Military: Overused and over-deployed and run by a deserter from the National Guard and a VP Chickenhawk who took 5 deferments from Vietnam because he had "other priorities"! Some call him a chickenhawk... I consider him to be chickenshit.

#10) Trade: under current GOP CONtrol of ALL branches and ALL Washington, we are approaching a $1 trillion annual trade deficit, most of it with Asia, $220 billion with just China -- just last year.

#11) Energy: Record high energy prices. Record energy company profits. Dick Cheney's energy task force meetings remain secret. Need I say more?

#12) Consumers: CONservative economics finally did it last year -- they achieved a negative savings rate. (Folks in China save 10 percent, for contrast.) If the government can spend more than it makes and just say "charge it" when it runs out, so can we. The average American now owes $9,000 to credit card companies. Imagine that. Yeah, I know... CONservatives didn't force consumers into debt... they just led the way and set the example.

#13) Human Rights: America now runs secret prisons and a secret judicial system that would give Kafka fits. And the U.S. has joined the list of nations that tortures prisioners of war. (Shut up George! We have pictures!)

But don't bother George W. Bush with any of this. While seldom right, he is never in doubt. Doubt is Bush's enemy. Just "stay the course" and don't worry about a thing. How can he worry when he has no doubts?

What a PROUD record of "ACHIEVMENTS"!

THE IMPORTANT 9TH AMENDMENT

We don’t hear much about the Ninth Amendment. I like the Ninth Amendment. And for several reasons and the big one is that it leaves so much room for the imagination.

Here are the words of the 9th Amendment:

“The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

How about that? There are rights held by the citizens of this nation that are not enumerated. Damn right there are and the “right to privacy” is one of them.

We know that the 1st Amendment gives us the right to free speech and freedom of the press--that’s very clear--however, the right to privacy wasn’t listed and is held as a right under the 9th Amendment.

This gives further support to the 4th Amendment regarding search and seizure and warrants when it comes to listening to our phone calls, reading our mail, looking at our library reading list, etc.

Think about all the rights our forefathers had at the beginning of this nation. And think about all the changes and the new rights that have come into being. Of course they are not all written down. We take them for granted. And they are protected by the 9th Amendment.

At the beginning non property owners could not vote. Now, non property owners have just as much right to a vote as anyone else.

At the beginning of this nation people could own slaves--now, that is no longer a right. People have a right not to be slaves. And that condition has been made by an Amendment to the Constitution.

The right for a woman to have an abortion is not listed in the Constitution. It is a right demanded by the women of the United States and protected by a ruling of the Supreme Court. Women have made this a fundamental right. No one is forcing anyone to have an abortion and the government cannot prevent a woman from having one.

The right to disagree with this government is fundamental. The right to assemble and to furnish grievance to this government is guaranteed.

Some will say that we should protest in a quiet and dignified manner by writing letters. My friends, “quietly protesting” is an oxymoron. To get attention you have to raise hell. And “raising hell” so to speak aggravates governments and it scares governments--as it should.

Maybe the time has come to enumerate some more rights. And by doing so insist that others still exist and new ones will come into being.

Let’s read the 9th Amendment again:

“The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

I like it.

Norm. aka CROSS-EYED TURKEY
IT’S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT THINGS

SOME WORDS ABOUT IRAQ....HUH?!?

1) Iraqi oil will pay for this war. **(Haven't seen a PENNY from Iraqi oil so far...and it's NEVER GONNA HAPPEN.)

2) They will welcome us as liberators. *(Yeah...riiiight!)

3) They have nuclear weapons. *(Found to be not true.)

4) They have chemical weapons. **(also NOT true.)

5) They have biological weapons. (Nope...not true either.)

6) Saddam has killed thousands of his own people. --(HUH?!?) *So far, Bush has killed thousands MORE innocent Iraqi civilians in just the past 2 YEARS than Saddam killed the ENTIRE time he was in power.

7) Saddam tortures prisoners. --(HUH?!?!) *We don't torture our OWN prisoners here in the good ol' US of A--we ship them off to other countries like Syria, who torture them FOR us. That way WE don't get OUR hands dirty. (or bloody as the case may be.)

8) Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism. --(HUH?!?!) *Well...it is NOW, but it wasn't until WE invaded. Saddam was actually fighting to keep terrorists OUT of his country!

9) The number of Iraqi civilians slaughtered --since the invasion--as many as 250,000. --(HUH?!?) **See item number 6.

10) Number of Iraqi's tortured by Americans--countless. **( again, probably a MUCH higher number than Saddam has tortured in his entire time in power.)

11) The number of U.S. Military Personnel slaughtered during and since the invasion--2,288.

12) The number of U.S. wounded since the invasion--19,000.

13) The cost of the war to this time--$243,402,318,292. **(to see the up to the minute cost, check out www.costofwar.com )

Saddam was not threatening nor considered a threat by his neighbors. **(soooo, remind me again--what the HELL are we doing in Iraq in the first place?!)

POVERTY AND REPUBLICANS

It’s difficult to talk to Republicans about poverty. They just look at you like there is no such thing or if there is it’s not a problem. And the minimum wage of $5.15 established in 1997 is fine with them.

I doubt if George W. Bush and his economic advisors even look at the statistics relevant to poverty. It’s just not a Republican thing.

The Feb. 12, 2005 Economist reported that in 2004, after-tax corporate profits reached their highest level as a proportion of GDP in 75 years. Yet, the gulf between the “haves” and ”have nots” is reaching crisis proportions.

Census data released this past August suggests that the number of Americans in poverty grew slightly in 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available) to 12.7 percent from the 12.5 percent recorded the previous year, representing about 37 million Americans.

Since 2000, the number of people living in official poverty has increased by 5.4 million. But according to experts, that number vastly underestimates the real total. There are studies that challenge this data and put the real number closer to 18% --or 48 million Americans currently unable to afford the most basic necessities. And there is another study that goes with 25% or close to 70 million Americans in poverty.

Whatever the real number may be--it’s not acceptable. Not in 2006. Not in an age when we can have such controls on the distribution of wealth.

Just take a look at the countries with a wide disparity regarding the distribution of wealth and you can see why we need to take action. Ours is a shameful condition. America can be a fairer and more decent nation in regard to money.

Norm. aka CROSS-EYED TURKEY
IT’S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT THINGS

On the Poor...

As long as Americans live in gated communities, don't provide monies for educating the poor, don't provide for the slow and sick and mentally ill (emptying instutions) and turn those unable to help themselves out on the street in the name of AUTONOMY... the rich aren't going to recognize the need.

SEEING how people have to live and just reading about them are ENTIRELY different matters.

JUST A REMINDER from Norm...

I and many others have served our government in defense of the Constitution of the United States. A Constitution that establishes a structure consisting of three equal branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. This Constitution provides for equal protection for all and for very strict protection of the rights of the citizens of this great country.

This Constitution is our country. Without it there is no America as most of us know it. And when someone comes at me with the view that this is a "Christian country" I want to remind them of the following:

THE BEATITUDES OF JESUS CHRIST

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven"
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. for they shall be filled"
"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy"
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God"
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you"

It is my view that our government is a secular government. Since no religion is mentioned in our Constitution except to secure freedom of religion and to make sure that no religious test is required to hold public office. In fact all religions are equally protected and all non-religion is protected.

For those that hold Christianity in very high regard, I appeal to you to require your
Leaders--that’s church and governmental--to hold the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ in high regards. Shouldn't they?

Morality and ethics are important to those of us that may not possess the faith required of Christians. And while not limited to the following, I suggest that people in position of leadership in our government concern themselves with the following:

THE 7 SOCIAL SINS OUTLINED BY GANDHI.

1. POLITICS WITHOUT PRINCIPLE
2. WEALTH WITHOUT WORK
3. COMMERCE WITHOUT MORALITY
4. PLEASURE WITHOUT CONSCIENCE
5. EDUCATION WITHOUT CHARACTER
6. SCIENCE WITHOUT HUMANITY
7. WORSHIP WITHOUT SACRIFICE

None of the principals or so-called sins listed above seem to apply to the leaders of our federal government. The Republican Party appears to be devoid of any of the above listed traits. They are about power and corruption.

There are more Christians on the left/liberal side of politics than on the right, observed George Lakoff, but they are not organized to even remotely the same degree as the Christian right. It’s time to push back against the hate mongering of the fundamentalist.

Norm. aka CROSS-EYED TURKEY
IT’S ALL IN HOW YOU LOOK AT THINGS.

Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism...Sound Like Anyone YOU know?

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes.

Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

What WE Stand For...

ISSUES! ISSUES!

Howard Dean, speaking on Face the Nation, February 12, 2006 framed the Democratic platform/agenda for election year 2006 as:

ONE, we want honesty and openness back in government again.

TWO, we want a strong national defense, first of all, based on telling the truth to our citizens and our soldiers before we send troops abroad to defend America.

THREE, we want American jobs that will stay in America using energy Independence as a new industry to create millions of construction and manufacturing jobs.

FOUR, we want a health-care system that works for everybody, just like 36 other countries have in the world.

FIVE, we want a strong public education system so we can have optimism and opportunity back in America.

NO LONG LAUNDRY LIST! JUST 5!

Why the Democrats Lost...

The Democrats' mistake was in thinking that a disastrous war, national
bankruptcy, erosion of civil liberties, corporate takeover of government,
environmental destruction, squandering our economic and moral leadership
in the world, and systematic Administration lying would be of concern to the
electorate.

The Republicans correctly saw that the chief concern of the electorate was
to keep gay couples from having an abortion.

Interesting Prediction...from a Very Famous *Republican*...

"Corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people . . .until wealth is aggregated in a few hands. . . and the Republic is destroyed."

..........[Abraham Lincoln]

***Of course, anyone who knows his/her history realizes that the Republican Party of Lincoln does not even remotely resemble what is referred to as the GOP today. (Actually, the party of Lincoln's platform looks a HELLUVA LOT like the platform of the current DEMOCRATIC Party.)

So, all you republicans who like to take credit for "freeing the slaves"...well, that's technically not the case at all. Your current set of beliefs don't even remotely match those of the Republican Party of Lincoln.

I guess that means pretty much ALL "republicans" of today are RINO's, doesn't it? ("Republicans In Name Only")

A Few Interesting Quotes...

"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."
- George W. Bush in Trenton, NJ, September 23, 2002

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over
and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of
catapult the propaganda." - George W. Bush, May 24th, 2005.

"Some men see things as they are and ask 'Why?' I dream things
that never were and ask 'Why not?'" - Robert F. Kennedy

"A black man voting for the Republicans makes about
as much sense as a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders."
- J. C. Watts' father (a black man)

"HANNITIZED" PEOPLE = LOBOTOMIZED PEOPLE"

"The SPIRIT we have, NOT the WORK we do, is what makes us IMPORTANT to the people around us." --Sr. Joan Chittister

"When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is,
for the people and for each portion of the people,
the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensible of duties."
--Marquis de Lafayette

"How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace
be associated with it." -- Henry David Thoreau

"In Democracies, we, the people, have the power to
shape national and international policy
-- to seek the good and shun evil...
To have this power and fail to use it
makes us accomplices of the killers.
The job now is to spread the word
and inspire the public confidence that
the good we want can prevail."

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu