Wounds Worse Than Death

If you think being killed is bad...try surviving!

According to recent Pentagon data, there have been over 9,000 US casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom, but we only hear about the number of Americans killed. Some of these wounded will also die, and add to that list. But we must not forget the wounded. They are the ones suffering the most. And that number is growing rapidly. Let us keep them in our prayers. The dead are beyond our hope.

Bush's Honeymoon is over. Get Him, Lenny! You too Howard! John! Dennis! Wesley!

iddybud

Remember that great scene in "Of Mice and Men" where big and dumb Lenny is finally allowed to unlease upon the brutal son of the Ranch-owner? Malkovich, as Lenny, grabs his swinging fist and nearly turns it to putty.

Well...goddammit the honeymoon that our killer president has received has gone on long enough, thank you. Clinton's lasted how long? A day? A week? And HE was a GOOD man! Have we completely lost our moorings?

The Democratic candidates are worried that they will not have enough money to bribe the Media Mafia into siding with them this time...as it had sided with Bush last time, since he offered them more money, frankly.

But the Democrats don't really need to even have a dime. They need to expose Bush for what he, and his, really are. If they can do that, even FOX will have a hard time defending him.

"Do what you love, the money will follow" is not bad advice, even for the Democratic candidates. If you truly love this country, its people and resources, and respect the wishes of the world...stand up and make your case. Be bold. Pussyfooting will get you nowhere.

"No Pussyfooting" should be your mantra...and let the chips fall where they may. The working-class Tories who now back Bush Inc. will come around once they realize that Bush really doesn't have their interests at heart. Many others as well.

Do your freaking job and diminish your opponent...by simply telling the truth, the whole truth. This will do more to help your campaign than bags and bags of mere money.

Do I need to repeat myself? Very well...
The honeymoon is over.
The honeymoon is over.
The honeymoon is over.

And if ye timid and pussilanimous media monkeys are listening...this applies to you too. Bush will soon launch a new war against Syria and possibly Iran, and we will all be expected to become compliant little flag-waving slaves. But remember, even Dubya's daddy said this war, these tactics used by the son, are foolhardy.

Before you are, once again, asked to toe to corporate line...think at the top of your intelligence, and manifest the Edward R. Murrow or Gore Vidal within your souls...and speak truth to power...before it is too late.

We needn't carry this ludicrous policy of preemption into the new millennium any further. It is wrong-headed and will eventually bring America to its knees.

If Dean has been a lesson, it is that people WANT someone to be the un-Bush. So...go get him, Lenny! Watch the movie if you don't know what I'm talking about. "Of Mice and Men" (starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinese). Maybe someone will emerge as a Man or Woman...and will stand stark against the mouse now in office.

Eek No more!

Here is Iddybud's take on the matter... Enjoy!

Madeleine Begun Kane, Humor Columnist, Fair & Balanced Song, a political song parody about The Fox lawsuit against Al Franken and Penguin Books, to be sung

"Ranting righties spouting wingnut madness"
Among the great and wondrous lyrics from the deliciously funny Madeleine Kane...

Madeleine Begun Kane, Humor Columnist, Fair & Balanced Song, a political song parody about The Fox lawsuit against Al Franken and Penguin Books, to be sung to Love and Marriage

A Cure for Conservatism!- Pill May Help People Overcome Fears

A Cure for Conservatism!
Pill May Help People Overcome Fears

Why do many conservatives act the way they do?

Fear. Fear of losing their job, their money, their position, their wife, their religion, their promotion, their raise, their SUV, their ego, their dominion over nature...and on and on ad nauseam. Since they are not allowed to evolve, they are afraid of change. Since they are not allowed to read Buddhist texts, they are unaware of the concept of the fearless bodhisattva ideal, and as such have not given the concept or reality of fearlessness much thought. In fact, many wallow in fear, and are great purveyors of fear. Our current administration has profited monstrously through the purveyance of fear...while fearful dittohead freepers gather weapons to protect them from all that they fear...while soaking their minds in crap like The Fear Factor or The O'Reilly Factor.

Drug Companies make a fortune manufacturing fears and then claiming to have a patent on the cure. Tsk tsk. Are you in the field of health, or are you in the business of harming people through the quality of life killer, fear, and then harming them more with questionable products? Just asking. If you want longevity, become true healers...and renounce the obscene superprofits so others may live better. There have been great miracle cures, and those are rightly applauded. Focus on doing well by doing good, and your souls will breathe from higher streams.

Excerpts from President Gore's Speech on November, 9, 2003

Excerpts from President Gore's Speech on November, 9, 2003

After I invented the Internet, I went on to invent flashmobs, smartmobs, the nuculus, Radiohead and metrosexuality, and I took the initiative in inventing Oxycontin -- which, as you may know, has some famous adherents, including Rush "With drugs on loan from a guy named Guido" Limbaugh.

OK...OK...so Gore never really said that. He did, however say the following thangs:

By closely guarding information about their own behavior, they are dismantling a fundamental element of our system of checks and balances. Because so long as the government’s actions are secret, they cannot be held accountable. A government for the people and by the people must be transparent to the people.

...

The administration is justifying the collection of all this information by saying in effect that it will make us safer to have it. But it is not the kind of information that would have been of much help in preventing 9/11. However, there was in fact a great deal of specific information that WAS available prior to 9/11 that probably could have been used to prevent the tragedy. A recent analysis by the Merkle foundation, (working with data from a software company that received venture capital from a CIA-sponsored firm) demonstrates this point in a startling way:

“In late August 2001, Nawaq Alhamzi and Khalid Al-Midhar bought tickets to fly on American Airlines Flight 77 (which was flown into the Pentagon). They bought the tickets using their real names. Both names were then on a State Department/INS watch list called TIPOFF. Both men were sought by the FBI and CIA as suspected terrorists, in part because they had been observed at a terrorist meeting in Malaysia.
These two passenger names would have been exact matches when checked against the TIPOFF list. But that would only have been the first step. Further data checks could then have begun.
Checking for common addresses (address information is widely available, including on the internet), analysts would have discovered that Salem Al-Hazmi (who also bought a seat on American 77) used the same address as Nawaq Alhazmi. More importantly, they could have discovered that Mohamed Atta (American 11, North Tower of the World Trade Center) and Marwan Al-Shehhi (United 175, South Tower of the World Trade Center) used the same address as Khalid Al-Midhar.
Checking for identical frequent flier numbers, analysts would have discovered that Majed Moqed (American 77) used the same number as Al-Midhar.
With Mohamed Atta now also identified as a possible associate of the wanted terrorist, Al-Midhar, analysts could have added Atta’s phone numbers (also publicly available information) to their checklist. By doing so they would have identified five other hijackers (Fayez Ahmed, Mohand Alshehri, Wail Alsheri, and Abdulaziz Alomari).
Closer to September 11, a further check of passenger lists against a more innocuous INS watch list (for expired visas) would have identified Ahmed Alghandi. Through him, the same sort of relatively simple correlations could have led to identifying the remaining hijackers, who boarded United 93 (which crashed in Pennsylvania).”
In addition, Al-Midhar and Nawaf Alhamzi, the two who were on the terrorist watch list, rented an apartment in San Diego under their own names and were listed, again under their own names, in the San Diego phone book while the FBI was searching for them.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but what is needed is better and more timely analysis. Simply piling up more raw data that is almost entirely irrelevant is not only not going to help. It may actually hurt the cause. As one FBI agent said privately of Ashcroft: “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack here and he (Ashcroft) is just piling on more hay.”

In other words, the mass collecting of personal data on hundreds of millions of people actually makes it more difficult to protect the nation against terrorists, so they ought to cut most of it out.