Finally, an update

This is the first post I've made in almost two years. In the meantime, I've stumped for & voted for Obama, & he won the presidency. In his first few weeks, the man was on fire. No one ever did more to put his pen where his ideals were in my lifetime.

But then... he stopped. Not only did he stop, it looked like he was in bed with the evildoers whose names he invoked to get elected. There are so many of these creatures--most of whom would be satisfactorily dealt with in military or criminal court--that I feel he's done a 180. He's not the man I was proud to get in an argument with my uncle over. I can't stand up & defend him.

I wondered, at first, if he just was a big wimp who subscribed to the popular belief that no one was ever wrong & that when two sides fought, they were both at fault. Bah. There is right & wrong. Bush, Cheney, Reagan & their henchmen were all wrong. It's not so far off to believe that 9/11 was a Bush/Hussein conspiracy. I won't get into that, or any of the hundreds of other conspiracy "theories" that are actually "conspiracy facts."

Here's what I want to talk about today, & on another day, I'll vent spleen: Obama subscribes to the oxymoron "clean coal" & is actively working on establishing nuclear plants in beautiful places. I live on Samish Island in NW Washington, & once upon a time, our in-bed-with-the-nuclear-industry governor, Dixy Lee Ray, a purported Democrat, wanted to build a nuclear facility right here on the north end of one of the most beautiful places on earth, among the thousands of herons & bald eagles, deer, rabbits, ducks, swans, frogs, oysters, crabs, clams & more wildlife than you can imagine.

I was part of a group that helped defeat the nuclear industry's plans in Washington State. Their unfortunate, taxpayer-funded (in the dark) nuclear towers bear mute witness to their corruption & our stupidity. It was here in this state that the Mahattan Project had its field day. It was on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation that the first atom bomb was built & dropped on Hiroshima. Upwind from Hanford, the highest incidence of thyroid cancer per capita exists.

No number of scientists--including my niece, Kris, a nuclear engineer who works at Hanford--have figured out what to do with nuclear waste. Plutonium is one of the products of nuclear waste. Plutonium is good for making bombs that killed tens of thousands of people with one shot. The land around Hanford, which butts up against an Indian reservation where no white man has ever walked, is polluted with nuclear waste. The Columbia River, which runs along there, is filled with nuclear waste from the ground water leaching. The salmon are almost extinct.

Obama wants to create more of this waste & destroy more environment with it & the radiation that comes from the creation of nuclear power--a form of energy "too cheap to meter," which was the seductive slogan they used to sell us a bill of goods back in the 1960s. How can he do this? How does this smart guy suffer such extreme tunnel vision that he'll collude with the enemy & destroy the earth.

So, here's the point: Let's say Obama wants to designate $10-billion for site research & development for nuclear sites across America. This is money spent before a dime is spent on construction of nuclear facilities. Sounds like a lot of money, doesn't it? This doesn't include buying into "clean coal," either, which is a huge oxymoron.

So, divide that money amongst the 115,000,000 households in the United States, understanding that a large percent of those homes are rented, not owned, & you end up with an energy division of $86 per. That doesn't sound like much, but the number can easily get bigger. Stay tuned.

The dollars would be used solely for harsh weather abatement--insulation, solar panels, individual windmills, etc. Future construction--most of which is NOT for the common man, but for those who can afford "luxury" condos & apartments--would be required to include these technologies.

These dollars can be matched by state & municipalities. Homeowners could qualify for even more rebates & no-interest loans by submitting their energy bills & dollars used to reduce them. There are so many ways to make sure the dollars get right to the consumers & to the construction workers & energy experts who could help reach energy abatement goals, the surface has not been scratched.

Legislation written in plain language, taking up no more than 200 pages, could take us right to the point. Implementation could start right away. The whole thing could become an entry on the mid-term ballot slip.

Okay, I don't do math that well & I don't argue that well, but here's my bottom line: I plan to build a straw-bale house, which is super-energy-efficient. I plan to use passive solar & wind energy, among any other technology I can find by then, to allow me to live off the grid--or close to it.

But even though I'm willing to take personal responsibility for my carbon footprint, I have no control over what My President is planning to do. He might as well clear-cut the Amazon rainforests while he's at it. He's doing irreparable harm to our world & its ecology by advancing consumption of coal & nuclear energies.

Give the money directly to the consumer, in the form of a coupon that can only be used for energy abatement in the form of constructing new devices & technologies that have absolutely NO effect on our fragile ecosystem. Thats' what the government did with the analog-digital TV switch (which should never have happened, by the way--it sure didn't benefit me, or anyone else I know). Then there were the rebates--one under Bush, one under Obama. The rule was that these dollars should be spent on items that would stimulate the economy, not put in savings. That was the stupidest thing I ever heard.

Nevertheless, this is the opportunity for the government to get OUR money's worth instead of getting us into a boondoggle like the one we suffered here in Washington State.

Don't give it to the Halliburtons of the energy industry. Give it to the homeowners & make sure it's used for energy technologies that are already known to work & already available to the consumer.

I also have a rant about the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to donate to presidential campaigns. Does this mean our next president will be elected by Rupert Murdoch? Is that what you want?

Truth in Justice (& the fix)

April 14, 2007

E-Mail Identified G.O.P. Candidates for Justice Jobs

By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, April 13 — A Justice Department e-mail message released on Friday shows that the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proposed replacement candidates for United States attorneys nearly a year before they were dismissed in December 2006. The department has repeatedly stated that no successors were selected before the dismissals.

The Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail message, written by D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned last month as the top aide to Mr. Gonzales, identified five Bush administration officials, most of them Justice Department employees, whose names were sent to the White House for consideration as possible replacements for prosecutors slated for dismissal.

The e-mail message and several related documents provide the first evidence that Mr. Sampson, the Justice Department official in charge of the dismissals, had focused on who would succeed the ousted prosecutors. Justice officials have repeatedly said that seven of the eight prosecutors were removed without regard to who might succeed them.

Some of the new documents show the department’s acute awareness of individual United States attorneys’ political and ideological views. An undated spreadsheet attached to a Feb. 12, 2007, e-mail message listed the federal prosecutors who had served under President Bush along with their past work experience.

The chart included a category for Republican Party and campaign work, showing who had been a delegate to a Republican convention or had managed a Republican political campaign. The chart had a separate category indicating who among the prosecutors was a member of the Federalist Society, a Washington-based association that serves as a talent pool for young conservatives seeking appointments in Republican administrations.

Taken together, Democrats asserted, the e-mail supported their contention that the ousted prosecutors were dismissed to make room for favored candidates who were chosen on the basis of their political qualifications as much as prosecutorial experience.

The latest collection of documents, the sixth batch produced by the Justice Department in recent weeks, also cast further light on the frantic scramble by the Bush administration since January to contain the public relations damage caused by the ouster of the eight.

The electronic messages, some written as recently as last month, offer a rare and almost contemporaneous account of the tactics used by a sitting administration trying to manage a political firestorm.

One e-mail message shows the White House urging the Justice Department to call Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, to give him information about the placement of J. Timothy Griffin, a former aide to Karl Rove, as the interim United States attorney in Arkansas.

“WH political reached out to Sen. Sessions and requested that he ask helpful questions to make clear that Tim Griffin is qualified to serve,” said a January 2007 e-mail message from Monica Goodling, a former senior aide to Mr. Gonzales, to other department officials. “Here are the talkers on Griffin, as well as a narrative that can be used by staff, and his résumé. I think it would actually be helpful for all of the Rs to have it.”

It was not clear whether the “talkers," shorthand for talking points, were sent to Mr. Sessions and other “Rs,” or Republicans. But Mr. Sessions, in a later hearing on the matter, ran through all of the highlights, praising Mr. Griffin’s résumé, just as the White House and Justice had apparently requested.

Other documents show that Ms. Goodling, the Justice Department’s liaison to the White House, prepared a list of reasons in February to explain publicly why the prosecutors had been ousted.

Notes in handwriting identified by a Justice official as Ms. Goodling’s run quickly through a list of alleged transgressions by the fired prosecutors, like “incredibly fractured office, morale low, lost confidence of her subordinates and superiors,” in describing Margaret Chiara, the former United States attorney from Western Michigan who disputes the claims.

In the case of David Iglesias, who was dismissed as the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico, Ms. Goodling writes of a complaint from Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, a Republican: “Domenici says he doesn’t move cases.”

The e-mail was among more than 2,000 pages of documents released by the Justice Department as part of a continuing outpouring of more than 6,000 pages of e-mail and other internal records produced in the last month in response to requests by House and Senate committees as the furor over the dismissals has grown. Mr. Gonzales is scheduled to appear on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Justice Department said that Mr. Sampson’s e-mail message did not contradict either his sworn testimony or the department’s past statements. Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the department, said: “We have consistently stated that, with the exception of Griffin, individuals were not pre-selected for any of the eight U.S. attorney positions prior to asking the U. S. attorneys to resign. The list made public today had previously been shared privately with Congress, and it in no way contradicts the department’s prior statement. The list, drafted 10 months before the December resignations, reflects Kyle Sampson’s initial thoughts, not pre-selected candidates by the administration.”

Mr. Sampson’s lawyer, Bradford Berenson, also denied that the message contradicted Mr. Sampson’s testimony. “Kyle’s testimony regarding the consideration of replacements was entirely accurate,” Mr. Berenson said. “In December 2006, when the seven U.S. attorneys were asked to step down, no specific candidate had been selected to replace any of them, and Kyle had none in mind. Some names had been tentatively suggested for discussion much earlier in the process, but by the time the decision to ask for the resignations was made none had been chosen to serve as a replacement.”

The possible replacements selected by Mr. Sampson — with the exception of Mr. Griffin — never materialized, at least in part because the controversy regarding the ousters has pushed aside consideration of who will fill the vacancies. But it is clear from actions taken over the last two years that Justice officials had placed lawyers from department headquarters, who were known to be loyal to Mr. Gonzales and President Bush, into open posts.

The Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail message was sent by Mr. Sampson to Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and William Kelley, another White House lawyer. In the e-mail, Mr. Sampson proposed the dismissal of a total of seven United States attorneys and named at least one replacement candidate for each prospective vacancy.

Because of deletions in the e-mail copies turned over to Congress, the document discloses only the names of four United States attorneys slated for removal and five of their possible successors. The names of the replacement candidates, in most cases, are followed by a question mark, suggesting that Mr. Sampson might have been uncertain about them.

The United States attorneys identified for removal are four who were ultimately dismissed: Ms. Chiara in Michigan, Kevin Ryan in San Francisco, Carol C. Lam in San Diego and Mr. Cummins in Arkansas. Justice Department officials have acknowledged that Mr. Cummins was an able prosecutor who was removed solely to make room for Mr. Griffin, a former aide to Mr. Rove, the White House senior political adviser who was appointed to the job on a temporary basis.

“Please treat this as confidential,” Mr. Sampson wrote in the message. He concluded, “If a decision is made to remove and replace a limited number of U.S. attorneys, then the following might be considered for removal and possible replacement.”

Mr. Sampson testified under oath on March 29 at a hearing of Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no candidates in mind to replace any of the fired prosecutors. In his prepared statement, he said that “none of the U.S. attorneys was asked to resign in favor of a particular individual who had already been identified to take the vacant spot.”

At one point in the hearing, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, asked Mr. Sampson, “Did you or did you not have in mind specific replacements for the dismissed U.S. attorneys before they were asked to resign on Dec. 7, 2006.”

Mr. Sampson, testifying under oath, replied: “I personally did not.”

Neil A. Lewis and Scott Shane contributed reporting.

Rupert? What's in your pocket? Let's have a look, shall we?

People whine on and on about not getting what they need or what they want. Americans, especially, are bound by self-interest when it comes to necessary boycotts that would assert citizen power. If a boycott affects their happiness, they don't do it.

It wouldn't kill you to boycott any entity on the following list.

And if you really cared about the state of our nation and the condition of the world, you would stop buying oil and gas from these evil people, convert to biofuels and/or ethanol, and suffer a little bit because you refuse to go to a movie from the 20th Century Fox family of studios.

So what?

Do you think boycotts don't work? How would you know? When, in your lifetime or 100 years of history, have you seen or known about a boycott? There have been small ones, yes, but a boycott of Rupert Murdoch's holdings would have to be huge before it would hurt him.

And it won't be huge if you continue to whine about getting what you need and what you want.

Oh, and yes, I am boycotting him and have been for more than a year. I do without and I can sleep at night, knowing he's not getting any money from me. There are a number of other businesses I boycott as well, but that's for another blog entry.

And I don't buy gas or oil because I don't drive. I do take buses, and they run on some oil, gas or diesel, but in Seattle and the Puget Sound region, the conversion to biofuels has been fleet-wide. You rarely see a bus that isn't a hybrid, or isn't running on vegetable oil or electricity (in the city proper).

Put your boycott where Rupert Murdoch's mouth is. If you don't, you are an accomplice to the enemy, to the Bush Empire, to the war in Iraq, to the destruction of constitutional rights in America, and to any possibility of freedom and happiness we might have.

Ignorance is no excuse. Get smart.

Rupert Murdoch's empire consists of:

From Wikipedia:

Books
* HarperCollins book publishing company
o ReganBooks
o Zondervan Christian book publisher

Newspapers
* Australia
o The Australian (Nationwide)
o The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)
o The Courier-Mail (Queensland)
o The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
o The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)
o The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)
o The Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)
o The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)
o The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)
o The Herald Sun (Victoria)
o The Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
o The Weekly Times (Victoria)
o MX (Melbourne and Sydney CBD)
o The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
o The Advertiser (South Australia)
o The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
o Messenger Newspapers (South Australia)
o The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
o The Mercury (Tasmania)
o The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
o Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
o The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)
* Fiji
o Fiji Times (National)
* Papua New Guinea
o Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National)
* UK newspapers, published by subsidiaries of News International Ltd.
o News Group Newspapers Ltd.
+ the tabloid The Sun
+ the tabloid News of the World
o Times Newspapers Ltd.
+ the broadsheet The Sunday Times
+ the 'ex-broadsheet' (Now in compact form) The Times
+ the broadsheet The Times Literary Supplement
* US newspapers and magazines
o the New York Post
o The timesledger Newspapers
Bayside Times
Flushing Times
Fresh Meadows
Little Neck Times
Jackson Heights
Woodside Times
Richmond Hill Times
Jamaica Times
Laurelton times
Queens village
Astoria Times
Forest Hills Times
o Caribbean Life

Magazines
* SmartSource
* TV Guide, via partial ownership of Gemstar-TV Guide
* The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
* Alpha Magazine
* Love it! (UK based Magazine)
* InsideOut (UK Based Magazine)
* The Travel Magazine (UK Based Magazine)
* Dannii (UK Based Magazine)

Music
* MySpace Records

Sports
* 50% of National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
* Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos, Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rugby league teams.

Studios
* 20th Century Fox film production company
* Fox Searchlight
* Fox Television Studios
* Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
* Fox Studios Baja, Rosarito, Baja California
* Blue Sky Studios
* Fox Entertainment Group



TV: Broadcast
* Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), a US broadcast television network
* My Network TV, a US broadcast television network
* Fox Television Stations Group, a group of owned and operated FOX television stations
* bTV, a broadcast television network in Bulgaria
* b1TV, a broadcast television network in Romania, in partnership with S.C. NEWS ROMANIA S.A.
* Fox Televizija, a broadcast television network in Serbia
* ANTV, a private television station in Indonesia, under the administration and label of STAR TV
* TGRT, a Turkish terrestrial channel
* Imedi Media Holding, a Georgian radio and TV broadcaster part-owned by News Corporation
* ITV, a british broacast television network and the UK's largest advertising revenue based broadcaster 17.5%

Satellite television
* BSkyB, United Kingdom (39.1% holding).
* DirecTV Group, North and South America (38.6% holding)
o DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider
o DirectTV Latin America
o Sky+Directv (Brasil) (co-owned with Globopar)
o Sky Mexico
* Foxtel, Australia (25% holding)
* Sky Italia, Italian satellite TV service
* STAR TV, an Asian satellite TV service
* Tata Sky, an Indian DTH TV service (20% holding)
* SKY Network Television , New Zealand (More than 40%)

Cable
* Fox College Sports, College Sports Network that consisits of 3 regionally aligned channels
* Fox Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox film library
* Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news channel
* Fox Reality, a 'Reality TV'-themed channel
* Fox Sports Net, a chain of US regional cable television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include "Fox Sports Southwest", "Fox Sports Bay Area", etc. (some affiliates still owned by Cablevision).
* Fox Soccer Channel, a United States digital cable network specializing mainly in soccer.
* Fox Sports en Español, a Spanish-language North American cable sports network; its sports lineup is tailored to appeal to a Latin American audience.
* Fox Sports en Latinoamérica, a Mexico-based Latin American satellite and cable sports network.
* Foxtel (25%), Australia's largest satellite and cable pay TV provider, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
* FX Networks, a cable network broadcasting reruns of programming previously shown on other channels, but recently creating its own programming, including the Emmy Award-winning program The Shield.
* National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
* National Geographic Channel International 50%
* Fox International Channels
* SPEED Channel
* Fuel Channel
* Big Ten Channel

Internet
* MySpace - Social networking website. (Acquired through purchase of Intermix Media).
* Grab.com - Entertainment/Games. (Acquired through purchase of Intermix Media)
* IGN Entertainment - Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes and Askmen.com)
* News.com.au - Australian-oriented news website
* What if Sports.com
* Scout.com
* Sibeliusmusic.com

Other assets
* (NDS) - Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs)
* Broadsystem Ltd (UK) - Telephony provider for media companies, bought in 1991
* Broadsystem Australia (Australia)
* Broadsystem Ventures (UK) - provider of cheap-rate telephone calls, particularly for customers of Sky Television. Bought outright in 1999.
* Jamba! - Mobile Entertainment/Mobile Handsets Personalization/Games. 51% majority stake acquired through deal with VeriSign in September 2006.

Other links:
Columbia Journalism Review

Purchase of DirectTV

THE MAN WHO RULES THE WORLD

A World of Loopholes, Havens Boosts News Corp.'s Profits

Corporate Connections/Business Interests

He even owns the rights to the Bible, people...

Rupey on MySpace

Thanks for the wonderful cartoon, Barbara.
©1983-2005 Barbara Baryenbruch Luhring (http://www.naotrc.com/pages/politics.html)

No Nuclear Strike

Women walk past a satirical mural of the Statue of Liberty on the wall of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, April 16, 2006. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl

Do you want to live in a world where the United States drops nuclear bombs on another country? No one has used a nuclear bomb in warfare for more than 60 years, and there's a reason for that. The devastation from the explosion and continuing to the fallout is far too great to justify its use.

This joke of a president who is hated by the majority of Americans is threatening to drop the bomb on Iran. Is that okay with you?

NO!!! NEVER!!! FOR GOD'S SAKE, NO!!!

Is the moron just posturing, or does he intend to make good on his threat? Either way, this is not a game.

And the penalty for his evil deeds that have eroded the foundations of our nation so severely, it will take hundreds of years to recover, should be death. He needs to be tried and found guilty of treason, then executed by a firing squad.

This is war--against the fake president.

More on the demise of journalism

Fake TV News: See It and Stop It!

Source: Center for Media and Democracy, April 6, 2006

Who's behind your news? Without disclosure, you just don't know if the report you're watching about a corporation was secretly funded by and produced for that corporation.

That's what the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) found in our groundbreaking exposé, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed." This multi-media report is the culmination of an intensive, ten month investigation by CMD. It provides the most extensive account to date of how corporate-funded video news releases -- fake TV news -- are routinely aired, without disclosure, as though they were independent news reports.

Learn which TV stations we caught and watch footage of the VNRs we tracked, plus see how TV newscasts incorporated them and/or related satellite media tour "interviews," by reading our online report, here: http://www.prwatch.org/fakenews/execsummary

And then tell the Federal Communications Commission that fake news must stop, by taking part in a joint CMD / Free Press action, here: http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fakenews

“A diverse workforce..."

Fifth Third Bank Employs No Blacks in Pittsburgh
by Deborah Todd
Special to the NNPA from the New Pittsburgh Courier
Originally posted 3/12/2006

PITTSBURGH (NNPA) – While Fifth Third Bank describes itself as a “diverse workforce of more than 22,000 dedicated and talented individuals,” on its Website, such diversity has yet to reach its Pennsylvania branches.

Representatives from Fifth Third’s main office have confirmed that none of the bank’s five Pennsylvania branches, located in downtown Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill, Wexford, Murrysville and Cranberry, employ any Black people.

Janet Petro, a media relations associate at Fifth Third, said the reason that none of the approximately 80 employees at the bank’s Western Pennsylvania locations are Black is mostly because of the way employees were brought on staff.

“We had what is called a de-novo entry into this market, which means we had no presence at all in the area, so we offered relocation to current employees in other areas within the bank,” said Petro. “A lot of employees came from the banks in Eastern Ohio.”

In spite of the bank’s equal opportunity employer statement, which says employees and senior managers will “ensure that the equal employment opportunity policy provides optimal results,” the bank made no extra efforts to bring Black employees to an area with a population that is more than 30 percent Black.

Petro admits that there is no real explanation as to why Blacks from within the company did not relocate, but says the bank has also made efforts to hire Black candidates externally.

''We have interviewed several minority candidates and continue to speak to them, (but) it’s a matter of timing because we didn’t have any positions open,'' added Pero.

Petro said that although the initial recruiting effort was not geared toward race, the bank has plans to hire minority candidates in the Pennsylvania branches this year. She also said the bank would seek out businesses and community organizations in Pittsburgh that would introduce them to qualified candidates.

“A plan is currently in place. (While) there are no current open positions as we open new banking centers we will fill the positions accordingly,” said Petro. “We are also looking for partners to help us recruit.”

The only reason we don’t have anyone hired yet is because we haven’t matched the appropriate candidate with the appropriate job skill at this time. We have to have positions open to hire someone.” 

Let's build on the momentum and throw the scoundrels out

Bush Approval Rating Hits All-Time Low in New CBS Poll

By E&P Staff

Published: February 27, 2006 9:20 PM ET

NEW YORK A new CBS News poll released late Monday places President George W. Bush's approval rating at an all-time low of 34% percent. Many in the media had noted a Bush "bounce" earlier in the year, but now his approval rating has plunged 8% in just one month.

The poll also showed that pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high, and 7 in 10 Americans, including 58% of Republicans, opposed the Dubai ports agreement.

In a separate poll, two out of three Americans said they do not think President Bush has responded adequately to the needs of Katrina victims.

And, for the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn't care.

Just 30% approve of how Bush is handling the Iraq war, another all-time low. "By two to one, the poll finds Americans think U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq are going badly – the worst assessment yet of progress in Iraq," CBS observed.

Only 41% say that invading Iraq was "the right thing to do."
Some 54% say we "should have stayed out."

Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43% approve.

Vice President Cheney's approval rating, already dismal, still managed to plunge--from 23% in January to 18% now.

Quote of the Century:

This, regarding the proposed leasing of key U.S. ports to Dubai:

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., was even more blunt, telling the Washington Times that his initial reaction was: "OK, big boy, I'll just vote to override your veto."

Are you that stupid?

Do you believe this?

Asked about the rift within his own party, President Bush told reporters Saturday that Republicans are united in efforts to win the war on terror, keep taxes low and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. "I've heard all the stories about this rift or that rift. It's typical Washington, it seems like to me. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the leadership in the United States Congress, to pass an agenda that will keep America the economic leader of the world, and will keep this country secure," he said. "And [this] fall, I am looking forward to campaigning with our candidates. I am convinced ours is a party that has an agenda for the future, and ours is the party that has performed."

Who profits from high prices on oil and gasoline?

Who profits from rebuilding Iraq after tearing it down?

Who wants to develop a Republican oligarchy and effectively RULE the United States?

Who issues bogus terrorist warnings every time we forget to be intimidated?

Who sanctioned murder in the form of death penalty executions in Texas, deliberately delayed aid to African-Americans stranded in New Orleans, and dead American soldiers in Iraq?

Who has more money than he can ever spend, but a real lust for power?

Who is so out of touch with humanity that he makes everything into a joke?

Who is eroding the foundations of our Constitutional rights with the Patriot Act, eavesdropping on private citizens and sneaky earmarks in unrelated bills?

Who threatens to veto anything that doesn't go his way?

Who pals around with corrupt lobbyists, legislators, porn stars, criminals and spooks?

Who has made America a laughingstock, a terrorist in the eyes of the rest of the world, a nation of sheep?

Who has an approval rating in the low 30-percentile and support for the war in Iraq hovering around 17 percent?

Who was never elected to office, never able to form a coherent thought, never did an honest day's work in his life and is holding America hostage?Who has distinguished himself as one of the most evil rulers in history, rivaling Hitler's rise to power, with less ideology and more self-serving greed?

One man's name is the correct answer to all these questions. Republicans and Democrats alike have complicitly allowed him to establish a new low in presidential ethics, performance, patriotism, effectiveness and embarrassment. It's time to turn the Republicans out and demand that the Democrats grow a pair and start telling the truth!

If the electorate can't turn the tide in this off-year election, we may not be able to stem the flood of horror that's waiting for us down the road. We must take responsibility for our voting machines so they cannot be corrupted by any political party or machine. We must repeal the Patriot Act. We must DEMAND our freedom and if necessary, take it back by force, because evil people never give up, never return what they have looted, never feel guilty about what they are doing.

It's not about party politics, and yet, we lack the citizen leadership to overturn the two-party system.

But if we don't take back the power, the power will be used against all of us.

That's a reference to a January speech by White House senior political advisor Karl Rove, who urged Republicans to run on national security issues because, he said, Democrats have a pre-September 11 view of the world and Republicans have a post-September 11 view.

Let us RETURN to a pre-9/11 mindset, where we are not ruled by fear, the ultra-rich are not making money hand over fist, and we're not equipping one country with nuclear weapons while we ramp up a phony justification to start war with yet another in the name of oil.

Don't know what you can do? Start by parking your car, or better yet, converting to biofuels. Start by turning off FOX "News" and DirectTV and starving out Rupert Murdoch. Start by turning off your iPods, Gameboys, Xboxes, TiVos, cell phones, chat software, pointless forums where you waste your time arguing instead of acting, and contact your Democratic leaders, caucuses, precinct representatives, elected representatives, friends and family. Refuse to invest in companies that have ties to Halliburton or any other defense contractor.

Stop being such an idiot and start getting involved. This is not just YOUR world; it belongs to all of us, and only by working together can we make a change for EVERYONE.