A Saturday Morning. . .

Time For Some Lite Reading In The Light Of This Spring Morning
by The Old Hippie Because These Powerful Observations Shouldn't Be Missed

"Our New Pluto-Theocracy" - Molly Ivins - April 28, 2005 "The Insular America" - Derrick Z. Jackson - April 29, 2005 "Schlussel Carves Up Marla Ruzicka" - Bill Berkowitz - April 29, 2005 "The Colors Of Memory" - Renato Redentor Constantino - April 29, 2005

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"Troubling Beyond Words" - N.Y. Times - April 28, 2005

The CommonDreams.org's "Readers Most Forwared Article" of Last Week

Venezuelan President [Venezuela is our 2nd~3rd largest oil supplier] Says He. . .
"Will Not Return to U.S. Until Americans "liberate" Their Nation"

"You Are Going To Want To Read This" - Found at P.O.A.C. - April 29, 2005

That's enough, it's a springtime Saturday in Pax Americana. . .  Go out and have some fun.

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Land Of The Free?

We Americans Are The Most Imprisoned Nation On The Planet
compiled by The Old Hippie Because Most Americans Still Believe We Are The Land Of The Free

1 out of every 138 Americans in prison
Homeland Security take note: Americans are our own worst enemy, according to a new Bureau of Justice press release.  Last year, the jail and prison population grew by 932 inmates per week.  According to the Justice Policy Institute, this means the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria.  No wonder we don't feel safe.  We're more likely to end up in prison than we are to be attacked.
by Rachel, Staff Member - AlterNet.org, April 25, 2005

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America has more of its own citizens in prison, than any other nation on the planet.

In the whole of written history, no nation ever imprisoned as many of its citizens, as America has.

Of all nations on the planet, America has the highest percentage of it own citizens in prison.

We are not "the land of the free," we are the land of the most imprisoned.

And keep in mind, we now "officially" condone, and do, torture human beings in our prisons, both foreign, and domestic.

"Ya'all have a nice day now, ya'hear?"

[ If you're interested, you might enjoy reading this. . . "The Police State Road Map" ]

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Sez It All Day. . .

Some Items So Obvious That No Comment Is Required
compiled by The Old Hippie Because It Has Become Such A Dangerous Joke


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Click on the pic above to link to website,
then click on the same pic to watch.

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FOCUS
House Republicans Cave,
Restore Ethics Rules

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Image from Cursor.org

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The Daily MOJO

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Do The Following. . .

Do It In The Order It Is Presented, And You May See Through The Fog
compiled by The Old Hippie Because You Need To Know The Truth

First read/study the excellently researched article, "Some Like It Hot"
by Chris Mooney in the May/June 2005 issue of Mother Jones

Next Watch the Democracy Now! Earth Day presentation of the debate between:

Chris Mooney, the author of "Some Like It Hot"

Myron Ebell, a major Mobil/Exxon funded supporter that Global Warming doesn't exist

Ross Gelbspan, journalist and author.  As special projects editor of The Boston Globe, he conceived, directed and edited a series of articles that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984.  He is author of "The Heat is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened Climate."

Finally - Read/Study this report, "Put A Tiger In Your Tank," of ExxonMobil's funding of a network of groups that challenge the existence of global warming.

Now - Make an informed decision as to the truth - But, don't stop there, do more research on your own, and by all means - Talk about this with anyone, most particularly those who have bought the disinformation, hook, line, and sinker.

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Here are a few links to aide you in your further research:

"Just Do It. . ."

"Grim Signs. . ."

"The Heat Is Online"

"Union Of Concered Scientists"

"In Depth - Global Warming?"

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Consider, That Right Now. . .

A Dozen Senators & Congressmen, Like Those Preferring Theocracy,
Consider "Democracy A Manifestation Of Ungodly Pride"
compiled by The Old Hippie Because They Are The-Tip-Of-The-Iceberg

Council for National Policy (CNP) - Is not a federal agency -
Focus On The Family (FotF) - Lobbyist front for the radical Evangelical Dominionists -
Family Research Council (FRC) Has little to do with family, and is a branch off the FotF -

Free Congress Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, Heritage Foundation, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and Intercollegiate Studies Institute - All sound like fine organizations, but they are all fronts for the radical Evangelical Dominionists who are successfully turning the American Democracy into a "Christian" Theocracy, right before your eyes, and right under your noses.

Most of America "has a clue," but few realize the extent of their success.  These "religious nuts" aren't running around the edges of the Democracy "trying" to get a piece of the pie, they in fact, with dollars and votes, now have majority control of the Republican Party, which has full one-party-rule control of the American government - With which they are successfully, right now, purposely destroying the Democracy, the Separation of Church and State, the Separation of Powers - to create a radical fundamentalist Evangelical Christian Theocracy.

Few Americans believe it can ever really happen, many still believe they, the "religious nuts," are the "fringe" of our Democracy - Most Americans do not realize that the "wing-nuts" have already succeeded, and are at the very center of the political power within the Republican party - Now.

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To Learn - Follow These Links - This isn't "conspiracy" theory - It's reality.
[ Some of these links link audio and video evidence also - Don't trust me, do your own research. ]

"Secret And Ties"

"Secret Society"

"Behind Closed Doors"

"Dominionist Bill Limits the Supreme Court's Jurisdiction
The Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 and Now 2005"

"They Said. . .  That It Could Never Happen In America. . ."

"Faith and Fabrications"

"By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them"

"Their Beliefs are Bonkers, but they are at the Heart of Power"

Frontline's Full Video Presentation of, "The Jesus Factor"

"The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians"

"Apocalypse (Almost) Now"

"With God on His Side..."

"The Bible College That Leads to the White House"

"Bush's Messianic complex"

"George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism"

"Holy War?  Is That What Bush is About?"

"Who Said The Following. . .?"

"Battlefield Earth"

"Jesus Plus Nothing"

"Religious Right Fights Science For The Heart Of America"

"Bible vs. Science War Rages On In Classrooms"

"Pharisee Nation"

Up, Up, And Away. . .  America Is Still On Its Way Up. . ."

"Recapping American Reality - Which Is Truly Simplistic Within Its Complexity."

"DeLay Criticized for 'Only Christianity' Remarks"
by Alan Cooperman - Washington Post (Page A05) - April 20, 2002

"House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) told evangelical Christians last week [3 years ago] that only Christianity offers a reasonable answer to basic questions about the purpose of life." - Speaking to about 300 people at the First Baptist Church of Pearland, Tex., on April 12, [2002] DeLay said that God is using him to promote "a biblical worldview"

"Antonin Scalia, the man most likely to be our next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, turned history on its head recently when he attended an Orthodox synagogue in New York and claimed that the Founders intended for their Christianity to play a part in government.  Scalia then went so far as to suggest that the reason Hitler was able to initiate the Holocaust was because of German separation of church and state."
-- Thom Hartmann, "Scalia To Synagogue - Jews Are Safer With Christians In Charge"

"...that's essentially what we're involved in, we're involved in a war. It's not a war fought with bullets, it's a war fought with ballots." - "To fool voters, Religious Right-backed candidates should hide, or disguise, their religious agenda by promoting popular issues such as tax reform:" - "I want to be invisible, I paint my face and travel at night.  You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag.  You don't know until election night."
-- Ralph Reed

"Anyone who still believes the Republican party is ruled by anything other than the ideological theocratic war-profiteering corporatists, using lies, death, and profit. . . to destroy American Democracy, which stands in the way of their profit/power agenda - Are either "part of them," or completely blinkered in-denial cowards, or total and dangerous idiots."
-- The Old Hippie, "The 46% Factor"

From The Project for an Old American Century.
One of the best reality-based news sites out there.
And not to mention, one of my personal favorites.

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A Few. . .

Things That You Might Have Missed In Your Daily Surfing. . .
compiled by The Old Hippie Because I Had The Time

1.  31 House Democrat Losers   2.  "Illegal but Legitimate: a Dubious Doctrine for the Times"   3.  Good News and Bad News   4.  Scoundrel Time   5.  Ratzinger, Past Member of Hitler Youth Movement & Luftwaffe   6.  John Bolton's Police State Tactics

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  7.  This Really Does Not Bode Well

  8.  The Real Assault On The Church

  9.  THINGS FALL APART (PART 2)!

10.  God's Army: Non-Christian Air Force Cadets Cite Harassment by Evangelicals

11.  How Rich is Too Rich For Democracy?

12.  By John in D.C. On Microsoft Caving-In to the Bigots

13.  Now We’re Talking ‘Real Money’

14.  The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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Never. . . Seriously. . .

Never Has It Been This Bad In American History
compiled by The Old Hippie Because It Is Getting Worse, Not Better

"There is a game played all over the world.  In some places—Canada and the UK spring to mind—it’s even achieved the status of a sport.  In the ultimate manifestation of this sport, smartly dressed TV presenters are shipped over to the United States, microphones in hand.  They descend upon the trailer parks, the small towns, the family farms, and the lower-income city neighborhoods, for candid, deliberately cruel interviews about global politics, foreign cultures, evolution, geography—anything that will elicit blank stares from their marks.  The message is abundantly clear:  Americans, as we all know, are hilariously stupid."

-- From the opening paragraph of "Stupid Nation?" at adbusters.org

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[ Note to Readers:  I often link to websites that require free registration, and just like the Air America Radio website, I also try to not link websites requiring a paid subscription.  For your convenience, you may access most of these free logins by entering the following login information:
Login:  links@airamericaradio.com - Password:  links;  Another handy website:  BugMeNot ]

Frist To Join Telecast Denouncing Democrats as 'Against People of Faith'
The Senate leader and self-confessed cat mutilator will help promote the message that "...activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the A.C.L.U., have been quietly working under the veil of the judiciary, like thieves in the night, to rob us of our Christian heritage and our religious freedoms."

Full Article Link Here

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[ Let's just see how stupid we Americans are. . . ]

From:  CBS News Poll - Nov. 22, 2004
FAVOR SCHOOLS TEACHING. . .

Creationism and evolution
All Americans 65%
Kerry voters  56%
Bush voters   71%

Creationism instead of evolution
All Americans 37%
Kerry voters  24%
Bush voters   45%

60 percent of Americans who call themselves Evangelical Christians, however, favor replacing evolution with creationism in schools altogether, as do 50 percent of those who attend religious services every week.

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[ The following facts are linked directly to their source. . . ]

44% of adult Americans do not completely read a single book in one year.

. . .And take a look at this table of acceptance of evolution by country:

Percent Who Believe in...
           Bible Inerrancy      Evolution
USA            33.5                     35.4
Britain           7.0                      76.7
Germany      12.5                     72.7
Italy             27.0                     65.2
Philippines    53.7                     60.9
Poland         37.4                     35.4
Russia          9.9                      41.4

[ The following is a direct quote from this The Harris Poll® #14, February 18, 2005 ]

"More surprising perhaps are the large numbers (albeit not majorities) who believe the following claims not made by the president and which virtually no experts believe to be true:

47 percent believe that Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the      U.S. on September 11, 2001 (up six percentage points from November).  [ My Emphasis ]
44 percent actually believe that several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11      were Iraqis (up significantly from 37% in November).  [ My Emphasis ]
36 percent believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded (down      slightly from 38% in November).

Another interesting finding is that only 46 percent believe that Saddam Hussein was prevented from developing weapons of mass destruction by the U.N. weapons inspectors, a fact which most reports now support."

[ Obviously, not only are we, as a nation, stupid/ignorant, we are becoming more so. ]

Here's more embarrassing proof. . .
From: "America By The Numbers - No. 1?"
City Pages - Minneapolis/St. Paul - Feb. 23, 2005

* Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth.
* Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day.
* The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder.
* Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified.
* Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe.

[ I have to stop here - This is not bumming me out - It's pissing me off. ]

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Someone Tell Me. . .

What Does It Take?  Americans Must Stop This Insanity, Or Others Will.
by The Old Hippie Because I'm Starkly Amazed By The Fearful Silence

"Those Who Make Peaceful Revolution Impossible
Will Make Violent Revolution Inevitable. . ."
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

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[ All of the following is not new, or unknown, to anyone reading this, all of these facts are easily verifiable through simple web searches, with little effort or political expertize, or web savvy - Hell don't even believe me, do your own research.  Obviously - Since you are reading this blog - You are already searching - Don't stop. ]

There are more citizens of America imprisoned, right now, in raw numbers, and by percentage of population, than in any other nation, in the written history of this planet.

Peak Oil happens this year, yet our nation as a whole is doing absolutely nothing to wean ourselves off of oil dependency, and doing absolutely nothing toward, and worse, even cutting funding to, alternative energy research and development.

America is the number 1 producer of pollution on the planet.  Not to beat a dead horse, but - We Americans are less than 5% of the planet, and we use over 25% of its resources.  And yet "we" refuse to participate in any of the international environmental treaties, because "it would hurt us financially."  Just how long do you believe that is going to be allowed to continue?

America is dumping, and has been since the first Iraq War back in 1991, and much more so in this war - hundreds of tons of "depleted uranium" (half-life of over 4 billion years and still deadly radioactive) all over Muslim countries.  Its ability to kill and deform living matter is not depleted at all.  "We" use it in weapons, where non-radioactive tungsten would work better.  Why did "we" allow this in the first place, and why are "we" allowing it to continue?

Free-Speech Zones - Jesus Christ, Free-Speech Zones?!?  Wake the F___ up!

Tax-Cuts that openly benefit only the top 2 or 3 percent, during a time of war and economic depression, during the highest deficit in American history, during the largest trade-gap in American history?!?

America has been, and is continuing to use, cluster bombs on civilian populations.

"We" Americans killed over 500,000 children under 5 years of age with "our" economic and political sanctions, in Iraq, and when confronted with this fact, "our" leaders said, "it was worth it."!?!

Insane Evangelical Dominionists have been placed into positions of power throughout the whole structure of "our" government, including the office of President, and are changing this Constitutional Democracy into a Plutocratic Theocracy before our very eyes.  So far successfully destroying the Separation of the Church and State.

The one branch of "our" government that this single-party rule hasn't completely taken over, is now under intense attack - The Judicial Branch.

Just like all of the past failed fascist regimes in this planet's history, they are also attacking the "liberal intellectuals" in our universities, with McCarthy-like intensity and precision.

America - you, me, all of us, now "officially" sanction the torture of human beings, for the first time in our nation's history.

Over 96% of "our" mainstream media is owned and controlled by just 5 corporations.

The majority of "our" nation's prisons are run by private corporations.

Worldwide, the American dollar, because it has become so weak, and is continuing to weaken, is being replaced by the euro.  The political, not to mention economical, implications of this are staggering.

Our cherished Constitutional Democracy is being systematically, and purposefully destroyed, before our eyes, and "we" remain openly silenced?!?

Why?  Someone please tell me, just what does it take for us Americans to even start the process of stopping this insanity?  Before others do it for us.

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They Said. . .

That It Could Never Happen In America. . .
by The Old Hippie Because It Has Happened

From Congress Daily:

Christian conservatives and a core group of congressional supporters are launching a significant new push to restructure the federal judicial system to reflect a more explicitly biblical world view, in the hopes that these changes will pave the way for broader social and political changes, leaders of the movement said.

Some of the most prominent conservative leaders in the country -- including Vision America's Rick Scarborough, Coral Ridge Ministry's James Kennedy and the Free Congress Foundation's Paul Weyrich -- launched the effort Thursday in Washington.

Members of the new coalition said they would immediately focus on bringing an end to Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees before pushing Senate Majority Leader Frist to enact sweeping changes in the judiciary.

They also warned that Frist and other politicians who have thus far been reluctant to force a confrontation with Senate Minority Leader Reid over the nominations would be held accountable if Democrats continue to block conservative judges.

Participants at this week's Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration meeting said the group also will focus on forcing Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against any judge who does not conform with their biblically based interpretation of the Constitution, as well as permanently curb judicial authority over matters of church and state, marriage and governmental acknowledgement of a Christian deity.

"What it is time to do is impeach justices," Texas Justice Foundation President Allan Parker extolled a crowd of a hundred or so conservative lobbyists, attorneys and activists. "The standard should be any judge who believes in the 'living constitution' should be impeached."

From This Old Hippie:
[ The Theocratic Insane are coming for their payback from the opportunistic corporatists and equally corrupt neo-con zealots.  And it is the rest of us, along with the rest of the planet, that will pay the price for allowing these groups such dangerous success. ]

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From Cursor.org:

"We don't know the identity of the corpse that will follow the pope in riveting the nation's attention," writes Frank Rich, apparently coining a term, but "What we do know is that the reality show we've made of death has jumped the shark, turning from a soporific television diversion into the cultural embodiment of the apocalyptic right's growing theocratic crusade."

"An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly," warns Dana Milbank, covering a conference on "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith," organized by a group calling itself the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, which includes Coral Ridge Ministry's James Kennedy.

Milbank quotes a speaker who invoked Joseph Stalin's "no man, no problem" slogan as his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court, and called for the impeachment of Justice Anthony Kennedy, saying his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law." Plus: Why "a Stalinist theocracy is not a contradiction."

From This Old Hippie:
[ They said it couldn't happen in America - A nation founded on a central core of a Separation of Church and State, because the Founders, one and all, had come to America originally to get away from the tyranny, and horror, of a church/state oppression.  The American Constitutional Democracy could never be converted to a Plutocratic Theocracy - But it has.

History has been re-invented within the minds of Americans so that the majority now actually believe the Founders were Christians, not the Deists they were.  Leaders in both chambers of our Congress are openly calling for violence against federal judges, the Executive Branch is doing absolutely nothing to stop it, and is led by an openly, proudly, smirkingly president that is one of the born-again "bring-On-The Rapture" Dominionists nuts.

It couldn't happen in America?  It has happened. ]

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Some More Interesting. . .

Things That You Might Have Missed In Your Daily Surfing. . .
compiled by The Old Hippie Because I Had The Time

1.  The Bush Syndrome: Dead Wrong And Proud Of It   2.  Expressed Outrage At Arrest Of Girl, 16, As Terrorist Threat   3.  The New PC: Crybaby Conservatives   4.  Just How Far Does The Rabbit Hole Go?   5.  Dissecting A Right-Wing Smear. . .   6.  Pulitzer Prize Winners Hate America.

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  7.  New Message For Schools: In God We Trust

  8.  Creating An Uncivil Society

  9.  The Assault Upon Trained Intelligence.

10.  The Scorecard On Globalization 1980-2000:  (Warning: Reality-Based Facts Galore!)

11.  The Road To Rendition - "Torture Air, Incorporated"

12.  And finally, For Greg Palast Fans Like Myself. . .  Baghdad Coup D'Etat For Big Oil

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Just A Commentary. . .

The Current Republican Party Observed
by August Keso, The Progressive Daily Beacon, Apr. 9, 2005

Progressive Daily Beacon Commentary
[ Link To Original Article ]

Crazies Run Republican Insane Asylum
[&] - Quote Stalin, 'No man, no problem' Referring to Judges

The Crazies are officially running the Republican Party Insane Asylum.  At a meeting put together by something calling itself, the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration or what I call The Base, which in Arabic is al Qaeda, the Republiqaedan Party's mainstream members met to stoke the fires of hate toward the United States judicial system.

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In case you are wondering, no judge is beyond the American Taliban's hateful and dangerous ire.  Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, appointed by the Conservative icon Reagan, drew most of their venom.  The "Christian" supposed pro-life-coalition was upset that Kennedy voted against executing juveniles.  According to Phyllis Schlafly Kennedy's opinion forbidding capital punishment for juveniles "is a good ground of impeachment."  An idiotic comment that brought cheers from the crazies gathering for something called, "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith," Schlafly then went on to say Kennedy had not met the "good behavior" requirement for office and that "Congress ought to talk about impeachment."

The Republican Jihadists have a strange notion that "faith" is being persecuted in the United States.  Never mind that there is a man they equate to Jesus, "W" Bush, running the country.  Born again fanatics Bill Frist and Tom DeLay ruling over both houses of Congress and more "faith based" television and radio shows than there are reality TV programs.  In the mind of the zealots...the American Taliban...the Jihadis for Jesus..."faith" is being persecuted.

The gathering of spit drooling, religious fanatics pretend to focus their anger on America's judges but the reality is they just don't like the Constitution, because it doesn't allow for the formation of an American Taliban.  "The Constitution isn't," Phyllis Schlafly insisted, "what the Supreme Court says it is."

The country's "principal problem" isn't Iraq or the ever-growing massive federal deficit.  It is whether "we as a people acknowledge that God exists," this according to former Republican representative William Dannemeyer.

Edwin Viera took it a bit further when he told the gathering of the American Taliban that his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from -- no surprise here -- Joseph Stalin, "He had a slogan and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty, 'no man no problem.'"  Viera told the swooning crowd.  Stalin you see, figured if a person was giving him a problem...and the person no longer existed, neither did the problem.

Today, the "problem" is the men and women of the Supreme Court and America's judiciary who refuse to rule unconstitutionally and put Jesus into the document.  Eventually, at the rate the base's political clout is growing, they will if left un-checked, achieve their goal of "no man, no problem" as it pertains to America's courts.  But it won't stop there, because you and me and a about 82% of the American population don't exactly view religion the way the American Taliban does.  If and when they succeed in their goal of being rid of those on the courts, their purging...their "no man, no problem" doctrine will begin to focus it's attention on others.

Any rational person reading these quotes would be tempted to think, "Come on now, these are just a few crazies.  Nothing serious."  Well, that is the whole point isn't it?  These aren't a small minority of the fringe Republiqaedan element.  These people are the Republican Party.  They are the people Bush relied on, rallied and helped build the communications and infrastructure in order for them to become the potent political force -- though only a small fraction of the American electorate -- they are today.

The attendees included two House members; aides to two senators; representatives from the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America; conservative activists Alan Keyes and Morton C. Blackwell; the lawyer for Terri Schiavo's parents; Alabama's "Ten Commandments" judge, Roy Moore; and DeLay, who canceled to attend the pope's funeral, but who appeared via video to tell the crowd, "The judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people...But I also believe the executive and legislative branches have neglected the proper checks and balances on this behavior.  ... Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric."

These people ARE whom the Republiqaedans represent.  If there was any doubt after the Republican Politburo forced Terri Schiavo out of her deathbed, then think about the fact that Republicans allocated federal funds to religious groups for "job training," but allowed them to actually discriminate against American citizens who happened either to be gay, or not aligned with the rabid Christian doctrine.

Right now, today...the Crazies are Running the Republican Party Insane Asylum and their names are Bush, Frist and DeLay.  And the Crazies are damned dangerous!

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It's Official:

Most Americans Now Dislike Bush
by Bob Harris and 54% of Americans

Friday, 08 April 2005
A senseless war that has killed tens of thousands of people wasn't enough to do it.

The public identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA officer -- an unpunished act of treason in the White House -- wasn't enough to do it.

Four years of what is arguably the most secretive, incompetent, and corrupt administration in American history, which has invariably conducted itself with little regard for any objective whatsoever beyond its own self-interest... that wasn't enough to do it.

But high gas prices and non-stop chattering about screwing with Social Security... that did it in a matter of months.

Lie, cheat, bomb, pollute, and break all the laws you want -- but do not dare screw with our pocketbooks.

George Bush's approval rating now stands at 44 percent.  [ <= Go read the full report ]

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The number of us who disapprove: 54 percent.

That's the worst number for this point in any second term in American history.

What will it take for the American media to call Bush what he is -- remarkably, singularly unpopular?

[ Link To Participate In His Poll On This ]

This Old Hippie's thoughts?  The most corrupt administration in our nation's history, and even with a complicit, and just as corrupt "mainstream" media, the majority of the American people are finally waking up, and they are waking up pissed.

I just hope that it's not too late.

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These Are. . .

The "Big & Important" Stories At "Our" Mainstream Media Today. . .
by The Old Hippie Because I Admire Their Success At Making Fools Of Their American Viewers

FOX, ABC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, all have the same basic "headline" stories. . .
The Pope, Prince Rainer, Michael Jackson, the new "pick" for president in Iraq, Schiavo's funerals, the sentencing of the white supremacists, Kansas OKs gay-nups ban. . . etc. . .

Nothing about taxpayer funds being used for the presidents "roadshow" against social security, and that they actively exclude any American citizen not "of the party."  This is a much more important story - Right?

Nothing about "peak oil" and it consequences on all of us, and the world.  This is a much more important story - Isn't it?

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Nothing about the fact that no one has been fired/punished for the 9/11 fiasco crimes.  Isn't this a more important story?

Even though "our own" military says that over 70% of the detainees in "our" torture prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan were innocent of any crimes, and had been arrested "by mistake" - They remain detained, and tortured, to this day - Isn't this a bigger story?

Nothing about the ongoing insane and purposeful destruction of this nation's Separation of Church and State laws.  Surely to God, (not to make with the pun,) isn't this a more important and bigger story?

Nothing about the facts behind all the money Bush is spending on war, and military industrial complex, is being "borrowed" from Japan and China, in the TRILLIONS of dollars, that we have no way of paying back, and that this is causing the dollar to drop at an unheard of rate, and that the rest of the world is turning away from the dollar for the euro, and the fact that they are taking monies away from every single social and environmental program that exist in our nation, and from the troops and their families also, and that they are doing this on purpose - To bankrupt the Democracy - - - This is the biggest and most important story - Right?

Nothing about the fact that this president has not attended a single fallen troop's funeral - That's important for Americans to know and understand - Right?

How the story about Tom Delay and Sen. Cornyn making a blatant call to their far-right-fringe-base to do violence against "activist" judges?  This isn't important enough for Americans to absorb to appear in any mainstream headline?

Or the story of how "our" own GAO told the administration that using taxpayer funds to produce and distribute blatant propaganda was illegal, and the fact that the president openly, publicly, and arrogantly, told all of "his" agencies to ignore the GAO, and keep pumping out the illegal propaganda.  Not important - Right?

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As An American. . .

I Am Pissed This Has Been Allowed To Get This Far. . .
by John Bolton Himself Because It's Not Believable From Any Other Source



[ Above image is from, and the link is to, Truthout.org ]
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[ Now that you have heard him "in his own words'" read the following. . . ]

Bolton Nominated to Destroy UN
by Marjorie Cohn - t r u t h o u t | Perspective - Apr. 4 2005

"As UN ambassador, Bolton would make the world a more dangerous place.  Bolton spearheaded a successful campaign to prevent the Senate from ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, clearing the way for increased testing of nuclear weapons.  He led both the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and the US renunciation of the International Criminal Court.  Bolton hailed his announcement that Bush was taking the United States' signature off the ICC treaty as "the happiest moment" of his government service."

Full Article Link Here

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Ill-Will Ambassador
by Jim Lobe - Inter Press Service - Mar. 8, 2005

"John Bolton is a man best known for sabotaging international treaties and alienating entire nations.  That's why he's been picked to be our ambassador to the United Nations."

Full Article Link Here

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59 American Ex-Diplomats Oppose Bolton
by Barry Schweid - via Associated Press - Mar. 29, 2004

"Challenging the White House, 59 former American diplomats are urging the Senate to reject John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations."

Full Article Link Here

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From: The "Foreign Policy In Focus" Website
From their "Profiles" section

"Additional evidence of Bolton's extreme, take-no-prisoners worldview is not difficult to find.  He is a prolific writer and speaker.

In an article for the right-wing Weekly Standard (10/4/99) entitled 'Kofi Annan's UN Power Grab,' Bolton excoriates the UN Secretary General for trying to limit warfare and to establish the supremacy of UN forces.  In Bolton's words, 'If the United States allows that claim to go unchallenged, its discretion in using force to advance its national interests is likely to be inhibited in the future.'"

Full Article/Profile Link Here

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Wake Up!

If You Read Nothing Else - Read This Article ASAP - Pass It Around
by Chalmers Johnson, In These Times, March 31, 2005

Wake Up!
Washington’s alarming foreign policy

Full Link To Original Article Here

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[ The following is just one paragraph from this article - Go Read It Link Here ]

"In 2004, the United States imported a record $617.7 billion more than it exported, a 24.4 percent increase over 2003.  The annual deficit with China was $162 billion, the largest trade imbalance ever recorded by the United States with a single country.  Equally important, as of March 9, 2005, the public debt of the United States was just over $7.7 trillion and climbing, making us easily the world’s largest net debtor nation.  Refusing to pay for its profligate consumption patterns and military expenditures through taxes on its own citizens, the United States is financing these outlays by going into debt to Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and India.  This situation has become increasingly unstable, as the United States requires capital imports of at least $2 billion per day to pay for its governmental expenditures.  Any decision by Asian central banks to move significant parts of their foreign exchange reserves out of the dollar and into the euro or other currencies in order to protect themselves from dollar depreciation will likely produce a meltdown of the American economy.  On February 21, 2005, the Korean central bank, which has some $200 billion in reserves, quietly announced that it intended to “diversify the currencies in which it invests.”  The dollar fell sharply and the U.S. stock market (although subsequently recovering) recorded its largest one-day fall in almost two years.  This small incident is evidence of the knife-edge on which we are poised."

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Well Now. . .

What A Surprise. . .
by The Old Hippie Because The Obvious Is So Apparent

Who has Bush chosen as the acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

A former chief lobbyist for Safari Club International.

The Safari Club International is an extremist trophy-hunting organization which. . .
promotes the competitive killing of rare species.

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Bush chose John Bolton to be the American Ambassador to The U. N.

Mr. Bolton is the foremost politician who openly/publicly wants to destroy/hates the U.N.

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Bush sent Paul Wolfowitz to be the president of the World Bank.

Mr. Wolfowitz is an open and proud neo-con extremist zealot, who was the chief architect of the administration's illegal Iraq invasion.  Every single thing - every single thing - he said/predicted before the actual invasion was dead wrong and/or a proven lie.  He has no training for, nor any experience in, international finance at all.

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Bush, in fact, has successfully replaced all of the federal regulatory agencies management with ex-CEOs and/or lobbyists from the corporations that where being regulated by the agencies.

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The highest ranking person, so far, punished for the revealed torture scandals. . .
A Staff Sergeant.

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Yesterday Tom Delay said, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior..."  Referring to the judge and hospice in the Terri Schiavo circus. Which insane Evangelicals take as a call for the death of. . .  and he is unpunished, remains the Speaker.

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The 10 states with the highest divorce rate, the 12 states with the most unhealthy kids, and the 10 states with the highest rate of bankruptcies, are all "Red States."

9 of the 10 states with the lowest divorce rate, 7 of the 10 states with the healthiest kids, and 10 of the 10 states with fewest bankruptcies, are all "Blue States."

Of all American children, the ones to most likely to participate in oral and/or anal sex, and to have the highest rate of the spread of STDs. . .  Are those children that went through the "abstinence-only/virginity-pledge" program.

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