...he said, throwing his arms in dispair

I think that I give up...I surrender.  The repugs have beaten me.  There is  a liberal media and it's evil.  Bush is my hero, and there's nothing more I want in this world than consensual, passionless missionary sex with Ann Coulter, while Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly stand in the corner and pleasure themselves.

AAAAAHHHHH!

Sorry...I think I was possessed there for a second.  Let me just reread....HELL NO!!!

Contrary to what you've been led to believe, the media is conservative to a fault.  If you don't believe me, just go check out Mediamatters.org and see if that changes your mind.  MM has become one of my favorite places to get news, because they will even send you the daily examples of Republican shit going completely unchallenged by the conservative media.  How do I know that they know what they're talking about?  Because Bill O'reilly is threatened enough by them to mention them on his show. 

Is there outrage welling up inside me about the new terror bill that Congress rolled over and played dead on?  Abso-fucking-lutely.  This piece of shit legislation will make Bush and his entire administration completely unaccountable for anything that they might have perpetrated that might be...oh, say, A WAR CRIME.  And not just from this point on...no, he made sure that it reflects all the way back to 9/11.

Are there some democrats that I hold accountable?  Of course.  Some chickenshit morons who care more about trying to hold their seat in this cespool of corruption than about actually following the laws that their leader swore to uphold when he took office.  What message does the passing of this bill send to the entire world?  Like those poor people in Darfur, and the victims of Saddam Hussein?  It's a big fuck you to everyone who has ever had to suffer injustice.  Don't tell me I'm overreacting, either.  These people we have in custody are human beings, captured in the pursuit of a war, and therefore are also subject to the rights afforded them by the Geneva Conventions. 

If any of you morons in Congress had a single brain cell, you'd listen to what your constituents are saying.  All I can say is , according to the leaked portions of the NIE report and the one that the UN just released, we've fucked up the Middle East quite well.  Terrorists are winning, I hate to tell you...stay the course or not, we're just pissing them off, and creating more people who dream of revolution...and guess who's offering them that option...Al Qaeda!  It looks like that whole dream of bringing children into a peaceful world is a pipe dream...

Currently listening: Go By Vertical Horizon Release date: 23 September, 2003

A Ship We All Thought Had Sailed

I thought we'd already passed the point of no return on the whole Jerry Falwell is batshit insane thing.  As is custom, I was wrong yet again.  Over the weekend, Falwell set about comparing Hillary Clinton to Lucifer himself.  At an event, he was asked for his reaction about Clintons intentions to run in 2008 and he said, in a paraphrased way, that he'd rather vote for the devil. 

Do we find it a little ironic that a Christian fundamentalist whack job would rather vote for the prince of darkness than a harmless liberal democrat.  I'm pretty sure Hillary doesn't commune with demons, and it's safe to say that that's right up the Devil's alley. 

Grow up Falwell, and talk about something worth talking about.  And look on the bright side, you already voted for the devil in the last 2 elections...maybe Hillary will be a refreshing change.

I'm telling you right now...I'm NOT going to fight for my religion.

Click here to see how the Crusades for the 21st Century will begin.  Oh Pope...you made a boo boo. 

In a speech in Germany yesterday Pope Benedict pretty much screwed us all by making what have been perceived as derogatory remarks about Islam.  Here is an excerpt from the Yahoo News report:

The pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th-century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," Benedict said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

The pope did not explicitly agree with nor repudiate the comment. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the Muslims that got all mad when a Danish artist simply rendered Muhammad as a cartoon in the newspaper?  Didn't they riot and blow shit up just because someone drew a picture of their beloved prophet? 

Benedict has drawn so much fire over his remarks that the Vatican has put out a release stating that they are sure that his words were misunderstood. The German Chancellor also came to the aid of her countryman.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the German-born pope, saying his message had been misunderstood.

"It is an invitation to dialogue between religions and the pope has explicitly urged this dialogue, which I also endorse and see as urgently necessary," she said Friday. "What Benedict XVI makes clear is a decisive and uncompromising rejection of any use of violence in the name of religion."

 See...my issue is that there are a TON of Muslims in the world, and a great lot of them are REALLY seething now.  They are mad at the leader of one of the sects of my religion.  Do I feel personally threatened by this new development?  Not terribly.  I do, however, feel that it was an insanely foolish time for Benedict to levy even a mild attack against Islam, since we seem to be teetering on the brink of god-only-knows what kind of holy war.

My main worry is the government of Pakistan, whose parliament put forth a resolution condemning Benedict for his speech.  That's good, Popey, just piss off the nuclear nations of the world.

I'm gonna just sit here and hope that no one approaches me to fight for the survival of Christianity.  I love my religion, but I think we can survive just as well in peace.

I read this and my head just about exploded

Let me start with a link for you to read.  Click here! Please read this before reading my entry below.....



Now that you've read it, I have to go ahead and scream, WHAT THE FUCK!!??  I don't want to crusade against organized religion here but this article literally scares the hell out of me.  In my honest opinion, religious conservativism has this country by the balls.  With a downhome religious zealot in the Oval Office, they have the world at their fingertips.  The puppet they've always dreamed about is displaying their agenda to the world, much to the chagrin of those who remember the US as a melting pot, a refuge for those who were persecuted for religious means.  Last I checked, this country has no state religion.  Why is it then that our federal government is being brought to a halt by all the issues that Religion wants us to focus on.  I'm not going to just pick on Christianity, so I'm going to just refer to it as Religion with a capital "r."

See this all goes back to gay marriage.  It's all about what kind of sex you have, and who you do it with.  As a proponent of marriage for all, I honestly don't see what the issue is.  I understand that the Bible mentions it briefly in the Old Testament.  It also mentions that women should not venture out in public without a covering on their head.  Check out Miami Beach and then let me know the percentage of women who are covered up there...That, and there's slavery in the Bible...is that correct, and something we should still observe just because the Bible mentions it?

From the article: Perkins and others are building a case file of anecdotes where they say religious people have spoken out against gay marriage only to be punished. Perkins specifically cited the decision by Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich in June to fire his appointee to the Washington area transit board after the board member referred to homosexuals as "persons of sexual deviancy."

Ok, so religion is under attack because there is a large contingent of people who disagree with them?  That just means that there is a debate.  I'm sorry that you feel repressed, but how are all those people you executed in the name of religion just because they disagreed with you.  Was religion under attack or just YOUR comfort level.  Homosexuals, much like African Americans in the last century, are people of just as much worth, intelligence, and morals as any other living person. 

While it's never been proven conclusively, I tend to believe that homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice, but rather a genetic marker, much like hair and eye color.  Is there something wrong with the parent?  No!  Would you blame a parent because a child was born with green eyes?


I find it hard to believe that Religion, supposedly the moral and ethical guidelines we are supposed to follow, would choose to say that one whole subsect of the population is less of a person, and therefore not subject to the same rights, and I REFUSE to believe that the loving God I've been told about since childhood would do so.  This god I've been told loves all his children...the one who sent his son to earth to die for our sins.  I've also been taught that there is no sin that is greater than another, none lesser.  That also means that the sin of homosexuality, if it is indeed something worthy of sin, has been forgiven in those who believe.  I fail to see how loving another person and commiting yourself to them is different just because your sexual apparatus isn't.  Love is love in my book.

Politicizing religion further will not lead us to the promised line.  It will only lead to more division among the people of this country.  Getting along and loving thy neighbor are parts of God's decree that I can get onboard with...why can't they?

I welcome any and all debate, comments and anger...please...this is a free country and I like to have intelligent debate about important issues. 

Currently listening: Drops of Jupiter By Train Release date: 27 March, 2001

Dubya Invokes Iraq During 9/11 Remembrance Speech

I know I shouldn't be surprised.  I know that I shouldn't be shocked that in the same breath where Bush says they're not connected, he pretty much invokes Iraq anyway.  I don't want to call people stupid if they think Iraq and 9/11 are connected, but since it's been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no al Qaeda/Iraqi connection, if you still believe otherwise, then you're an idiot.  It has even been shown that prior to our invasion of Iraq, Saddam actually refused and rebuffed Bin Laden's gestures of friendship and support, thinking the Al Qaeda leader too dangerous and volatile to ally himself to.

Irregardless, Bush had to go and ruin what was supposed to be a day of mourning and remembrance with this crap:

"I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks," Bush said. "The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat.  America did not ask for this war, and every American wishes it were over. So do I," Bush said. "But the war is not over, and it will not be over until either we or the extremists emerge victorious."

He also said the following:

"If we yield Iraq to men like bin Laden," Bush said, "our enemies will be emboldened, they will gain a new safe haven, and they will use Iraq's resources to fuel their extremist movement. We will not allow this to happen.  No matter how long it takes, America will find you, and we will bring you to justice."

If you've been paying attention over the last couple years, this should anger you...A LOT.  Of course he cares about and threatens Bin Laden on the anniversary of 9/11.  He wouldn't echo his sentiments from a couple years ago when he said, "You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him."[President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]

Thankfully, Ted Kennedy voiced his opinion as follows,

"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had nothing to do with 9/11.  There will be time to debate this president's policies in Iraq. September 11th is not that time."

and Rep Rahm Emanuel chimed in with,

"Partisanship would have been the one casualty the American people would have accepted following 9/11, but it remains the one thing the president refuses to give up,"

It wasn't the time or place...that's what it comes down to...more a little later as my brother-in-law departs for the Middle East today on a 12 month tour.

Currently listening: Mary Star of the Sea By Zwan Release date: 28 January, 2003

As a nation remembers, politics take center stage

On Friday, just three days before the fifth anniversary of September 11, the US senate declared definitively that there was not pre-9/11 connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.  With polls showing that a significant portion of Americans still believe there is a connection, it is important that this distinction is made.  Now all the Senate needs to do is appoint someone to follow the president around and shock him with a cattleprod everytime he tries to reassert a false connection between the two.  Bush spent the last week ramping up his "be afraid, be very afraid" campaign.  Why do that when (1), he's not running, and (2), the country is already significantly afraid?  Because there are Republicans trying to keep their seats in congress...
Bush also announced last week that the secret prisons we've all suspected are there, are real.  They're real, they're run by the CIA, and they're all around the world, and if I keep blogging, I may disappear to one.

Also, ABC caused quite a stir with their miniseries about the 2001 terror attacks, as everyone and their brother in the Democratic camp came out against it, citing it as false, distorted and slanted to favor Republicans.  Shocking that a station controlled by Disney of all companies would be slanted in such a way, huh?  Supposedly, ABC edited the program before airing, but who knows.  The original supposedly blamed the entire thing on the Clinton administration despite the resounding crash that was heard when the Bush administration dropped the ball in the days leading up to 9/11.

I'm not going to say much more about 9/11 today because today shouldn't be about politics.  It should be about remembering those whose lives were senselessly taken on that day 5 years ago.  Much love and sympathy to those who lost loved ones that day, and to those who have lost more since in the war that sprung out of that tragedy.

My prayers and thoughts are with all of those who mourn today.

More tomorrow as I prepare myself for my brother in law's departure for the Middle East.

Currently listening: You Forgot It in People By Broken Social Scene Release date: 03 June, 2003

Waging a war...of fear

I hope that it's escaped no one's notice that Monday will be the five year anniversary of the worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor.  I hope that we're all vigilant in keeping an eye out for those who might wish to do us harm.  However, I also wish that our government wasn't so successful at cultivating a culture of fear.  The very word terrorist is a carefully planned word used to elicit hysteria and unrational panic. 

Am I saying that we should be ignoring the threats against this country?  Of course not, but we live in such a culture of fear of the unknown that we are suspicious of our very neighbors.  We peer stealthily through curtains at the Arabic people in the neighborhood, who just may  be Muslim.  We listen to our government refer to Islamic Fascists and the Network of terror, and we close the blinds just a little more.  We pull into ourselves more with each coming day, and that's what they want.  When you're scared, you don't think clearly, and they want you scared out of your mind.  The fear paralyzes rational behavior, such as wondering why the hunt for Al Qaeda's leader has all but stopped, while we sit as the occupation force in a completely different country...one that had no hand in the tragedy of 9/11.

We sit and patiently watch while the government takes away more and more freedoms and things that make this country great.  They get away with it because to question it would be Unamerican, and we don't want that, now, do we? 

We're capturing and killing Al Qaeda, though...in the wrong country, but we're doing it nevertheless.  We're doing what we can to break the insurgency in Iraq.  Those in charge of the military strategy should be able to tell you that the civil war that has erupted in Iraq is not something light we just have to put down...this is major civil unrest that will embroil our troops and military funding for many years. 

I'm rambling and spewing my own form of propaganda...yes...but I think it's important to know that almost 5 years ago, one of our biggest cities was brought to a stand still as two planes decimated two of its tallest structures...and another 2 planes did similar damage in our nation's capital and in a field in Penn.  I'm not saying we shouldn't be scared or even vigilant.  I'm saying that if we own that fear, instead of it owning us, we will be better equipped to make decisions and realize that our president is not working in the best interest of his millions of constituents.  A couple of years ago, after the invasion of Iraq, Bush was quoted as saying that he doesn't even think about Bin Laden anymore...doesn't care about him.  This is the same man that promised the American people that we wouldn't rest until Osama was caught and tried or killed in the days following 9/11. 

As we begin to mark the anniversary, please don't forget those that died, because our president certainly has...and he's keen to add more to that total in Iraq.

Currently listening: Spiritual Machines By Our Lady Peace Release date: 13 March, 2001

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING FROM THE MONKEYHOUSE(BY WAY OF THE TBON SHOW)

FROM OUR FRIENDS AT THE

T-BoN Show

There is a new STD that all citizens of the US should be alerted to:

Gonorrhea Lectim - The Center for Disease Control has issued a
warning about a new virulent strain of Sexually Transmitted Disease. The disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim...pronounced (gonna
re-elect him). Many victims contracted it in 2004 after having been
screwed for the previous four years.

Cognitive characteristics of individuals infected
include: antisocial personality disorders, delusions of grandeur with messianic overtones, extreme cognitive dissonance, inability to incorporate new information, pronounced xenophobia and paranoia,inability to accept responsibility for own actions, cowardice masked by misplaced bravado, uncontrolled facial smirking, ignorance of geography and history, tendencies towards evangelical theocracy, categorical all-or-nothing
behavior.

Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed at how the destructive disease originated only a few years ago from a bush found in Texas.

Currently listening: Switch By INXS Release date: 29 November, 2005