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Post by Mike on Mar 9, 2005 20:53:54 GMT -5
Hoy Hoy All, Is Haliburton our MM enterprises? While they are being awarded multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts (and being repeatedly investigated and fined for overcharging) to supply our troops, they are doing billions of dollars of business with our declared enemies. Didn't make it to the Rush Limbaugh show though. I wonder why? Peace j Hooray for Jashley-Alive and Kicking!!! The only enemy "they" have, albeit increasingly weaker and weaker, is...us (see Dan Rather bio). If Limbaugh ate all of the crow due him, he would be a fat pill popping pig......again! Peace back at ya! Mike
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Post by jashley on Mar 10, 2005 20:47:14 GMT -5
Hoy Hoy All
Does anyone else think it is very dienginuous for us to be all up in arms that Syria is in Lebanon.. They went there 5 or 6 years ago to stop the moslems and christians from killing each other. By the way Isreal was the only country that would take the moslem refugees form this war. I'm not saying that Syria should be in Lebannon but it takes a lot of gaul for Jr to bitch about being in another country to "help" them.
Gotta run.
Peace j
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Post by Mike on Mar 12, 2005 14:03:59 GMT -5
Hoy Hoy All it takes a lot of gaul for Jr to bitch about being in another country to "help" them. Peace j Here's a pretty good "truth" gauge for me. If Jr. was at all interested in "helping" anyone, our troops would ALL OVER the Congo area.
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Post by jashley on Mar 12, 2005 15:01:26 GMT -5
Hoy Hoy All,
Has Washington become Bizzarro World?
Credit card companies are dictating bankruptcy law.
Energy companies are setting energy regulations and law in secret meetings. (Do you know that when energy was deregulated energy prices in some places went up 1400%.)
Malpractice insurance companies and doctors are insisting on limits on malpractice judgements, even though malpractice insurance companies are enjoying record profits.
Big business is insisting on changes in the rules for class action law suits and getting their way to the detriment of average citizens. Heavy industry is having their way with enviromental law. In other words they are doing doing their best to gut it. Will someone please yell rape! When their is no clean air or water it won't matter how rich we are.
The defense industry has the military budget up to almost half a trillion dollars a year and this doesn't count the cost of Iraq or Afganistan. Did anyone watch the USSR spend itself out of existance on military junk? Yes it can happen to us too. And the defense industry is trying to con us into spending $2 Trillion on a "Star Wars" missle defense shield that has never passed one test of effectiveness and will violate every nuclear non-polifieration treaty. Not to mention that American defense contrators are supplying both side in "the war on terror" and this seems to be technically legal. Did anyone else notice that Jr has completely changed his tune about Iran now that it has come out that Haliburton is doing business with them? Who is setting our fogiegn policy? I find it ironic that one of the things we are now willing to sell them is airplane parts. They must not be in the "Axis of Evil" now that they are giving Halliburton billions to drill wells for them. Do they still have that nuclear site underground or has it risen to the service at the command of the all mighty Halliburton?
As noted above we are all up in arms about Syria occupying Afganistan while we are occupying two countries virtually next door. (All three are wrong).
We are protesting countries developing 5 or 6 nuclear weapons while we have thousands scattered around the world and no one is doing anything about the nuclear weapons that Russia no longer has controll over and could be anywhere.
We are concentrating on a Soc Sec shortfall in 40 years while we sit on an $8 Trillion deficit and set a new record deficit for a month last month. Is this like worrying about dying in 40 years while a mugger sneaks up behind you in an alley?
We have had an American citizen in jail for 2 and a half years without any kind of hearing. Aren't the republicans supposed to be the party that protects the constitution? Aren't they the party of induvidual rights? Of course, they are the party that is supposed to be the party of responsible spenders too. And the party of small central government who is growing government faster than any administration in history. FDR had nothing on these guys.
Rush and George Will are all up in arms because the supreme court won't allow the execution of 16 and 17 year olds anymore. Aren't there enough adults criminals to juice for them? N. Korea, Saudia Arabia, Iran, and Syria are the only countries to allow the execution of minors, great company huh?
Then George Will asked in his column what countries have supported the arts. Now I have always had respect for George, but the answer is all of them, at least since the Medicis in the time of Michealangelo and DaVinci. Do you know that Cleveland did a study and last year the net revenue (to the city) from the Arts was greater than all of the sports that Cleveland has been subsidising for years, does it strike you as wierd that we are subsidising BILLIONAIRES in their ownership of sports teams.
We have a supreme court justice who can't read....the declaration of independence. Antonin Scalia said that, "it's a fact that government derives it's authority from god". This is exactly what our founding fathers were fighting against. The Declaration of Independence says, "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers form the consent of the governed." In other words their is no "devine right of kings", the PEOPLE lend the government their power and we can TAKE IT BACK. So we have a supreme court justice who doesn't even understand the basic concepts of our country. He should have been impeached and convicted when he accepted a hunting trip at a republican fiefdom and a ride on a republican's private jet when he was deciding the 2000 election. He of course didn't see anything wrong with it because he was ENTITLED to be comfortable and commercial flights are so inconvenient. And this is the guy Jr wants to be Chief Justice.
Well it's either bizzarro world or an oligarchy (of the rich) as noted above.
I'll give you a quick quote and shut up, "America is strong, everyone knows America is strong, but we need to be so much more than that." Susan Sontag. We have a chance to be the greatest country the world has ever seen. The fairest, the smartest, the most generous, the most just, the most tolerant, and the strongest not to mention the most beautiful and we are blowing it over greed for money and power and out of fear.
Sorry to get off on such a rant, I needed to vent or my head was going to explode. Please forgive me for my negative tone.
Peace j
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Post by Mike on Mar 13, 2005 17:40:38 GMT -5
# 1 small-mans complex in the world...Tom Delay is up to his ass in "questionable" Corporate and other special interest contributions ranging everywhere from fancy trips for special favors, funding to re-district Texas for electorate votes (money well spent on their part!) to now...his legal defense fund (how handy). Two of the "questionable" contributors, are also on the Ethics Commitee. Isn't this like Charles Manson being the lead investigator for the Sharon Tate murders? WE'VE BEEN HIJACKED!!!
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Post by Scott Hays on Mar 14, 2005 8:59:56 GMT -5
Just a reminder ... Oligarchy is a form of government where most political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). In your rant, you overlooked a couple of other signs of the times: • Don't forget that a group of certain (well-connected and well-funded) Christians have serious doubts about the fact of biological evolution and now have cleverly weaseled their beliefs into 19 states where decisions are being made to force science teachers to include those questions in the curriculum, and to adopt textbooks that place an intelligent designer (nudge nudge, wink wink, we don't know who this designer could be) alongside natural selection acting on variation as the prime force behind evolutionary change. The very same groups are also refining their "theory" (which so far has not seen the light of day as an organized treatise for anyone to review or make comments) to include questions about the size and origin of the universe, the forces driving geological change, the structure of matter, and more. "But hey," they say, "it's a democracy, and people should be able to debate the alternative explanations to the scientific point of view" and "science is a religion, too". Even Shrub says "the verdict is still out on evolution". • If large numbers of jobs are going to disappear (downsizing for "efficiency", automation, computer enhancements, outsourcing, etc.), isn't it advantageous to (1) have a lot of people qualified for the few high tech jobs remaining, making each person expendable and cheap because replacements are so common, and (2) have a lot of people with lower expectations because they cannot succeed in a kindly world where no one gets left behind (except nudge nudge, wink wink the terminally lazy, stupid or worthless), but they are clearly amenable to scripted lessons and mind-fluff/fodder from above, (including mindless reality shows and government infomercials about the "good life"), compliant and not particularly creative in their thinking or critique of the things happening around them. • When schools turned to models that included a lot of hands-on discovery and inquiry as the primary modes for delivering instruction, (turning their backs on dry and/or watered down textbooks and teacher lecture as the operative model), is anyone surprised that programs and accountability models emerged (heavily funded by the three major textbook publishing corporations -- McGraw Hill, Pierson Publishing, and Harcourt/Brace) that focused on direct instruction, right/wrong testing from textbook pages, and heavy doses of punishment for failing to toe the line. Is anyone surprised that these very same corporations also are the publishers of the major tests used to hold schools (and kids) accountable, and are making record profits on their tests, books, and test-prep materials which, in turn, are making more money than the textbooks themselves? And doesn't anyone find it ironic that the ultimate punishment for schools that are having troubles improving the monkey-see/monkey-do performance of their children (those in poor rural and/or inner-city poor neighborhoods) is to take away funding and place them under the direct administrative control of the state government that already is failing? Maybe this is what conservatives think is the proper dominion of "states rights". Okay ... I'll get off my soapbox, now.
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Post by Mike on Mar 15, 2005 18:06:53 GMT -5
Just a reminder ... Oligarchy is a form of government where most political power effectively rests with a small segment of society (typically the most powerful, whether by wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence). In your rant, you overlooked a couple of other signs of the times: "Obligarchy"...is such an appropriate word for this administration! I didn't forget (are you kidding me?). I just knew that someone (like Scott) could word it more effectively. Thanks Scott. Clear vision can sometimes be an irratating thing, but keeps you accurate. Mike
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Post by jashley on Mar 15, 2005 19:30:34 GMT -5
Thanks for helping Scott and Mike,
There is so much to be p.o.ed about with this administration that it's hard to remember it all when you in the middle of a full blown hissy fit.
It is amazing to me that even when realities are shoved right in people faces they refuse to see them. Jr makes a big deal about bi-partisanship with Ted Kennedy in the federalization of education. Oh yea I mean "No Child left behind". What he neglects to mention is that after the legislation was written, Jr cut the funding by a third. This has so burdened our local school districts with unneccessary expense that every one of them in our area had to put massive school levys on the ballot. They all failed which has necessitated the cutting of important educational programs so that we can pay for this so-called federal oversite of our school. But yes the testing and publishing companies have gotten a big boost to their bottom line. Doesn't everything Jr. proposes come down to more profits for the rich?
Don't get me started on "moral values" but I will say this. Every state, 11 of them, that's outcome in the last election was questionable had a gay marriage initiative on the ballot. Children can you spell manipulation. By the way, did anyone know what a strong christian Rush was before the last election? Even he knows that Jr couldn't have been elected without our own taliban, oh I mean religious right. Aren't the Republicans supposed to be the party of personal freedom? I guess that only true if you're a straight Christian. Of course, when facts don't suit this administration's postition wether it be golabal warming, WMDs, structure of US government, or evolution; the facts can and will be ignored.
Delay. Scalia, and Jr (to be fair I'd like to see Zell Miller go too)have all done more than enough to deserve impeachment and removal from office and if Americans ever open their eyes to what is being done TO them that is exactly what will happen.
Another fact that the Republicans want you to forget in their whigning (yes I'm of English extration, don't you love the way we spell stuff) about Democrats blocking Jr's judicial nominations. They blocked way more of Clintons's judicial appointments and they used the filibuster many more times than the democrats have.
One more quick one. Heard on the radio last night that Halliburton is under investigation AGAIN for, among other things, charging the government $235 million to transport $87,000 worth of propane. Hate to keep harping on Halliburton but these guys are evil, and so easy to hate with all of their claims of patriotism while they stick it right up our...
Amen; Oligarchy is exactly what is destroying the greatest Democracy the world has ever known. How sad.
Mike and Scott thanks for all your help in pointing out just what is wrong with this administration. On the movie post Mark was saying he wasn't coming here any more because politics give him gas. I wonder if it was us or $2.30 at the pump. I would urge you to get involved in any of the causes we are all so concerned about or the opposition party, it's not very long untill the next election.
Peace j
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Post by Mike on Mar 15, 2005 21:02:33 GMT -5
Doesn't everything Jr. proposes come down to more profits for the rich? it's not very long untill the next election. Peace j Yep...it really is just that simple, but that fact seems to elude about half of this country. It may seem like an eternity until the next election, and sometimes I have to wonder if we haven't lost it (integrity) for good.
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Post by DPK on Mar 16, 2005 16:37:26 GMT -5
Time to start a new thread folks. Locking up now, move along to LTSPUIH #2
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