Fight Against The Democrat's Treason

Before those of you who have left leaning propensities start banging me on my head for slamming the Democratic Party over what is nothing short of treason in their attempt to sell out the American people to the far right once again, you should know that I am one of you. I have a bleeding heart just like you. I believe in socialized medicine, a woman's right to choose, fair taxes for all, the impeachment of this entire administration, and a return to the rule of law in our nation. I call for more help for the poor and middle class on an almost daily basis. I rail against the Republicans and their party of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich. I believe that Bush and his criminal administration should be sitting in jail cells, or at the very least confined to the mental ward at Crawford Ranch where they can do no more harm.

What I do not stand for and will not stand for is yet another attempt by Pelosi, Reid, Stoyer, and Lieberman, among others, to give the telecommunication companies immunity from lawsuits and prosecutions for breaking the law just because an insane neo-fascist oil baron government asked them to.

On a day when former White House Press Secretary McClellen testifies about what he knows of other criminal activity in this run amok corporate controlled entity that passes itself off as a by the people government, the Democrats are siding once again with the law breakers in both the administration and the corporate world and against the interests of the American people.

What does it say when the right wing Supreme Court of the United States beats back attempts by their Party leader to do away with Habeus Corpus, and rebuffs his Military Commissions Act, and the Congress, fearful of their own criminal liability for playing along with the madmen who started this mess, try to disobey the clear will of the people? Is this not treason? If by definition treason means to betray one's own people, then this Congress, both the House and the Senate, have stepped over the line from what was clearly collusion in the crimes that have been done to the People these past few years to outright treason, due to the fact that they are very well aware that most Americans do not want immunity for the telecoms, because that immunity is a de facto immunity for the criminals in this administration and those who allowed the activity to continue unabated.

"Impeachment is off the table." When those words left House Speaker Pelosi's lips, knowing full well that this president was guilty of everything from war crimes to law breaking, to outing a covert CIA agent, the slide of treasonous conduct by the power brokers inside the Democratic party was underway. In a clear rebuke of Bush and his administration during the elections of 2006, the people put the Democrats in a position to hold the nut job in chief at bay until he was out of office, but yet when it comes to matters of grave Constitutional concern, they themselves are turning out to be the biggest charlatans of them all. All this false president has to do is throw a softball at them, claiming they are holding up the 'war' on terrorism, and they capitulate like the Iraqi Army during Desert Storm.

It was refreshing to hear a mainstream media personality tell the truth about the reasons why the Democratic leadership would go along with this madness. Keith Olberman summed it up when he said that the only reason the Democrats would be going along with this was out of a fear for their own liability. Not because giving Bush unchecked surveillance power is good for America, or because of some major threat to our national security. But merely to save their own asses, they are willing to tell the American people to shove it, willing to further erode the Constitution, and willing to commit what amounts to treason to do it.

Barak Obama, as the new head of the Democratic Party, can not stand off to the side on this issue. He must speak up and make his position known. If he is against this, he must find a way to put a stop to it. If he also wants to play nicey nice with Bush, he must make that position known also. Because God help us all if his position is the latter, and he refuses to step in and stop this madness before it's too late. It would mean we still have no candidate for President that represents change, but just the same product packaged in a different box.

If there are any Democrats left besides Russ Feingold and Dennis Kucinich who have any honor left whatsoever, they too must step forward, political careers be damned. The People have long memories when it comes to acts of betrayal as large as this, and to allow for this President, this fascist administration, to get off scott free and even perpetuate their crimes against the People due to either political expediency or perceived culpability by the Democrats themselves, would be an act of betrayal never before seen in this country. The Democratic leadership had better step back from this precipice or they had better start making other employment arrangements come this November or for those awaiting 2010, we'll still remember then also.

We as Americans do not stand idly by when a mugger knocks an elderly woman down and takes her purse. Neither shall we stand idly by as our elected to represent us officials decide to represent the corporate interests over the people once again. Pelosi, Reid, Stoyer and Lieberman need to consult their criminal attorneys instead of abusing their offices to try to betray the Constitution of the United States for personal gain. If they can not see their way forward to do that, then they should step down, resign, and allow for honest men and women to take their places. Men and women who understand the rule of law, and will serve the people and not special interests. And should Mr. Obama continue to duck this issue, then it is possible that loyal Americans will have to rethink the entire electoral landscape and who we are going to vote for. Isn't Ralph Nader still running? Just something to think about if we can't get the entrenched politicians to do the right thing.

So it's time to start the email campaigns once more. It's time to let everyone, from your local council person to Queen Pelosi know that we are tired of these antics, that we want no more of these treasonous acts, that corporate interests do not come before the interests of the People, and that should this continue, we the People reserve the right to shuck off a tyrannical government that no longer serves us, and the first step towards doing so will be recall initiatives against those who will not serve the People's will.

Red Menace Rising

In the space of only one year, the U.S. debt being bought and held by Communist China rose by a full 25%. China, not only the world's second largest buyer of U.S. debt, is also the world's leading buyer of military hardware behind the U.S. itself. Outspending even the Russians, and the entire Middle East combined, the U.S. government seems to be turning a completely blind eye towards what can only be described as the largest conventional and nuclear military buildup in modern history.

As with any emerging global power able to project it's will through military might, China has already begun to swing it's hammer around in the Asian Arena. In December of 2007, the Communist Chinese government declared that it's newly formed Sansha City offices would now hold jurisdiction over the Spratley Islands, the Paracel Islands, as well as be the Macclesfield Bank. Disputed immediately by the government s of Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Malaysia, the Chinese merely ignored them and went about the business of assimilating the areas into part of their own country. Even when thousands of protesters showed up in front of their embassies in each of the countries disputing the claim, there was no reply from the Chinese as to the complaints, save for a declaration that they now owned the waterways in between them all also.

A simple test case for what is being seen as a platform for an even bigger plan of expansion, the Chinese waited for the U.S. reaction. None came. Not a peep. Emboldened by the non reaction, the Chinese have now set their greedy little eyes on Taiwan itself. Chinese President Hu's speech to China's 17th Party Congress in March, 2008 decreed a policy of unification between China and Taiwan, come what may. With the U.S. unable to offer more than a token resistance to any invasion of Taiwan, Hu offered terms to the government of Taiwan that you were not privy to in the U.S. media. They were told unification would happen, period. What the Taiwanese had to reconcile was whether it would be by force, or there would be a Hong Kong type of deal worked out. Negotiations are ongoing.

China's footprint is being felt in Africa also. We all know of their involvement with the criminal regime of al-Bashir in Sudan. We also know that they refuse to force an end to the genocide in Darfur because they import 7% of their oil from al-Bashir, and also because human life means nothing to the monsters in Beijing.

We here in the U.S. know of Chinese submarines surfacing behind U.S. aircraft carriers, and the shoot down test of one of their satellites. But here's some more numbers they don't want you to know about due to our corporations friendly relations with the slave labor Chinese. Such as the fact that right now, the Chinese PLA's Second Artillery Corps has enough long range intercontinental ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, and called Df-31's and DF-31A, aimed right at you and your children that they could wipe the U.S. off of the map. That's why we can not get rid of our own stockpile. Even more cause for alarm is that in 2009, China will have deployed it's new JL-2 ballistic missiles on their JIN Class Type 94 nuclear subs. Stealthy and almost undetectable, this new class of submarine, in the words of Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, "will sneak right up the Mississippi River undetected." Not could, but will.

All of this would seem to be a wake up call to someone somewhere within our corporate controlled government, but wait, there's a few more things they 'forgot' to mention. Such as the Chinese government's "daily" incursions into the defense networks of the U.S., the Germans, and the French, not to mention the state sponsored heists of billions of dollars from financial institutions the world over from cyber space. Combine these acts of what can only be called terrorism with the stepped up espionage being done by Chinese nationals and what we are facing is a menace far above any threat we ever faced from the old Soviet Union. Now called simply Russia, they and the Chinese now hold joint war games, and trade intelligence about us

The trade imbalance alone would argue that we need to stop catering to this out of control regime, but with so many make believe American corporations having their hands deep in the Chinese fortune cookie jar, with absolutely no concern for the welfare of the people from their make believe country of origin, nothing will change any time soon. That is unless we here recognize what is going on and understand that we are in peril, but not from some made up extremist boogeyman threat. But a threat from a nation intent of spreading Communism, or their brand of it, to the rest of the world, by force if necessary. a country that will allow people to be killed in any numbers so long as they obtain the resources they need, and who do business with rouge nations in order to capitalize on their misery.

I know. we need to look in the mirror ourselves. But we may not get that chance if the Chinese have their way. They are literally laughing at the destruction of our way of life, because their greatest accomplishment, and one they seek to implement eventually according to PLA leaders, is the domination of the United States by whatever means they deem necessary. And as a people who will start a plan in motion today, knowing that it will not bear fruition for a hundred years and being fine with that idea, we had better realize that the Chinese have been plotting our downfall since the Mao revolution, and that was almost sixty years ago. The only way out of this mess is to stop letting China buy our Treasury Bonds at such a fast clip, because if we allow them to be able to yank our economy to the ground, we will lie defenseless before them. But then again, maybe that's the eventual corporate plan also.

Something to think about as you wander the aisles of Wal-Mart, buying all of those Made in China products. Isn't it time to slow the Red Menace by demanding a return of manufacturing jobs to the United States? Should we not declare that companies who outsource our jobs to China are no longer considered American corporations, but Chinese, and apply heavy tariffs on the products they then import here? And can we not stop being the world's biggest hypocrites, as we give our nation and our sovereignty over to China, can we not end the Communist Cuba embargo? At least the cigars they make don't have poison in them.

Velvet's Bee

Blacker than night and four months old, Velvet came into our lives when she was barely weaned from her mother at six weeks. An ad in the paper, a desperate plea for homes for an unwanted and unanticipated litter was how we found each other.

Being the parenting types, and with the kids all grown up and going about their own lives, I imagine it was 'empty nest' syndrome that drove us to seek out a surrogate child, and while not generally a lover of cats, Velvet has become such a part of me that when she was injured this morning, I acted as though my child was being murdered.

I had no idea that I would love this animal so much. Having had cats before for the sake of my children, I pretty much gave them their space and they gave me mine. But something happened with this one over the course of the past couple of months. I would sit at the computer and she would hop into my lap, purring and kneading, head rubbing my arm while she 'groomed' me with her tongue.

What started as a desire to have something to take care of quickly blossomed into a full blown love affair, with toys and bedding, and scratching poles, and, well, you know what I mean. Only the best kitten food and kitten treats, the little hurried pattering of her feet when I shake the Whiska's treat bag making me giggle because I've never seen anything move so fast. Her constant presence and her desire to be loved and to give love in return has so endeared her to me, that were something to happen to her, I don't know what I'd do. Scratch that, meow, because I now know that I would become incoherently panicked.

I was awoken this morning to the sound of mewling. Not her usual amiable "Hey wake up and feed me" sound, but an insistent, frightened meowing that caused me to bolt upright. Wondering what she could have gotten herself into since the entire house is child proofed again, she flew past my feet flinging her head back and forth as though possessed. Trying to catch her proved a job in itself, and I felt the panic begin to rise as I realized that something was really wrong.

Finally scooping her up, I held her tight as she was trying desperately to escape, I saw at once that her tiny little nose was all wet, and that she had something sticking to it. While trying to get a closer look and touch it, she tried to claw her way out of my arms, and it took considerable effort to keep my grip on her. It was a stinger I realized, and wandered with her to see where she had been. Going to her favorite perch in the living room window, the evidence lie there in the form of a dead bee, Velvet's curiosity had gotten her into trouble.

Not being very well educated in the ways of feline propensities to withstand such things, terror struck me as I imagined her dying right then and there. Calling our animal hospital, they said that we should watch for her throat to swell, or any other outward signs of distress, and oh, pull the stinger out. Signs of distress!? She's freaking out! Well, yes, but......... But nothing! Help me! Send a pet ambulance for God's sake!

After they calmed me down enough to rationalize again, they pointed out that I could bring her in for a shot, but it was going to cost me, especially if I wanted her kept for observation. And so, out came the tweezers, and with two of us holding her, (not an easy feat), we got the stinger out, while she yelped in pain and leaped away like a flying squirrel immediately after. What sounded like sneezing brought fresh panic, as I imagined the sound to be a death rattle, and frantically found her and held her close, all the while feeling her throat for any signs of swelling. Her poor little eyes were all watery, and she was shaking a little bit, but she purred at me, and my heart dissolved into a reddish pool of water. I set her down and went and did the only thing I knew how to do, got her treat bag.

It was at that moment that I finally calmed down a little, because as soon as the kitchen cabinet door opened, a streak of black fur raced into the kitchen and Velvet was right there, rubbing against my leg. Stinger in the nose? No problem. Can't see where she's going because of her watery eyes? Not a big deal. Because she knows the sound of that particular cabinet door opening, and she knew full well it meant TREAT TIME! Hallelujah for stupid bees and the TREAT BAG, because so far, even while I'm writing this, I'm feeding her more and more of the things.

The bee is now a little pile of mush. I put it in an envelope, (thinking to take it with me to the vet), and pounded it's stinger less body into nothing for hurting my baby. And God help any other creature that tries to harm her either. I know. She has trained me well, but I can not help it, God help ME, I love the little thing half to death. I don't know where such a strong feeling has come from, but I'm glad it's there, even though she is a pain in the butt when I try to sleep on my own schedule.

Velvet is fine now, her nose seems to be a little sore, but she's back to exploring and doing all of the usual cat things. In fact, she is sitting and looking at me as if I must be stupid for not catering to her instead of sitting here writing this. And so, I must beg your leave to do my master's bidding, as she now knows where the treat bag is, and is going to play on my sympathy all day long, probably gaining a pound or two before the day is out. Hopefully this will be the only time we ever have to deal with this, but knowing this particular kitty, we're going to be in for many more 'emergencies'.

Freedom To Blog Under Fire

With the advent of the Internet and the absolute freedom and ability to garner information from multiple sources, there was bound to be controversy in what many people who began 'blogging' had to say. For many many years before the web ever existed, people who felt compelled to shout out warnings of situations they believed to be wrong, or of persons they thought to be acting in a criminal manner, (such as politicians), would literally stand on boxes, loudly telling everyone within earshot of their grievances.

Called 'standing on one's soapbox', the practice was widely accepted for what it was. A person giving their opinion on any given situation or of any person. Someone exercising their right to free speech. Today's blogs, or at least the ones that are run by individuals, are the modern equivalent of yesterday's soapboxes, but the mainstream media, in one of their thinly disguised scare the populace pieces, loudly echoed an Associated Press story proclaiming the notion that individual bloggers must be afraid to write their articles for fear of being sued for libel.

Laughing as I read the warning, I instantly thought in my rebel brain of writing a story of how the Associated Press was little more than a make believe news organization comprised of a conglomeration of news organizations from around the country. I was going to tell everyone that it is none other than far right extremist Rupert Murdoch who sits on their Board Of Directors, and who imposes his will on the slant of their news reporting, kind of like he does over at Fox Noise. But I decided to get on my soapbox against what I believe is the attempt by the media to not only take control over the flow of information on the Internet, but to try to suppress the voices of dissent with terror tactics, in much the same way that an insane president has Americans looking under rocks for the boogeyman.

Not satisfied with taking absolute control of how information is disseminated and perceived by average Americans, the media now attempts to make it seem as if every person that is blogging is being sued by greedy corporations, and that so many are terrified of writing anything out of this fear, that bloggers should and must go through a training course in order to learn journalistic skills. Let's examine the journalistic skills part shall we?

The New England Courant was started by the brother of Benjamin Franklin. Contributed to by a group that jokingly referred to themselves as the 'Hellfire Club', they posted essays and satire on their front page that set all of polite society atwitter. Not one of the contributing 'editors' had any journalistic training, and Benjamin Franklin himself went on to incorporate several Philadelphia newspapers into one entity called the Pennsylvania Gazette. While he headed the Gazette, Franklin became essentially the country's first self proclaimed blogger, writing biting satirical pieces about people with whom he disagreed, telling everyone that he was just having some fun. Although the Gazette flourished under Franklin's hand, he himself declared that journalism was the forte of fools, and left to pursue other interests. Did Franklin have a university degree in journalism? Of course not.

One of the Founding Fathers and Framers of the Constitution of the United States was one of the first and well known bloggers in the history of our country, recognizing that in order for free speech to be truly free, all had to be allowed to say what thoughts were in their minds, and not be hamstrung by petty thinkers determined to impose their will upon the masses. He also said that for a free and unencumbered press to thrive and for the people to get the actual truth, media must never be consolidated in such a way that only the few control the information received by the many.

But yet today, here in Franklin's America, the U.S. media is owned and operated by mostly defense contractors, consolidated into massive corporate entities, answerable to no one, and in admitted collusion with the government to either with hold information from the public in order to not affect the outcome of elections, or to outright lie to the people. The AP alone consists of 1,700 U.S. newspapers, 5,000 radio and television outlets that use AP content as Gospel Truth, and 850 AP radio franchises.

It is because the people of this country can not get a straight story from the mainstream media that many have turned to the blogosphere to try to obtain other points of view. Imagining the world today, with the instant access to information, as a world where people must be afraid to write what they think for fear of being financially ruined is nothing short of the institution of a thought crime mentality, and must be resisted at all costs. MSM does not want you or I to be writing articles that run contrary to what they, the official gate keepers say, and run these scare tactic pieces to try to silence media critics.

What exactly is the difference between someone who works at Fox and the average citizen journalist? Well, to start with, most citizen journalists are better educated, more informed, will tell you that they lean left or right, and will tell you the truth as they see it. Secondly, citizen journalists are OPINION writers, whereas Fox and Newscorp tout themselves as official media sources.

If bloggers should be liable for libel, should not Murdoch then be open to the same exact standard? Can Obama sue his corporation for slander for insinuating time after time after time that he and his wife have some sort of terrorist ties? Or should Bill O'Reilly be able to sue Keith Olberman for what are clearly personal attacks? In the case of the former, they get away with it by phrasing it in the form of a question, as in "Terrorist fist jab"? In the latter, it's a case of satire and no suit would apply. But what about the people who post personal attacks and lies in response to the blogger's posting? Should they not then also be liable for some form of compensation for the damage they attempt to inflict on the blogger's reputation? Should Internet bullies who try to use terms of service twistings and the badgering of website administrators into barring people with whom they disagree be cause for a lawsuit?

This entire attack on the freedom of ordinary people to express their opinions is yet another insidious attempt to stifle dissent, regain control of the flow of information, and stamp out the voices of those who are shouting from the rooftops and using the net as their own form of soapbox, one that can effectively reach a massive audience with their message. Already taking what mainstream media says with a grain of salt, and then double checking what they report as truth, I for one will tell you that in my opinion, Rupert Murdoch can take his slanted to the extreme right scam media multi-national conglomerate and go back to Australia. The Associated Press can keep spewing propaganda pieces for the corporate elite, and threaten bloggers with lawsuits in an around a bout way. I, and millions more of us, will continue to call a lie a lie, and if MSM doesn't like it, then they should clean up their act, start telling the whole truth, and stop pandering to the government and corporate interests. Blog attackers who use rules like a weapon to try to silence those with whom they disagree are usually no talent riff raff bent on rabble rousing. Let the lawsuits commence, and we shall write about those too. We shall remind the media and the seekers of the destruction of Freedom of Speech about Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code. Bloggers uphold the First Amendment, MSM, Murdoch, and anonymous web attackers seek it's destruction for everyone save themselves.

And the other point that those who would stifle the voices of the people should remember is that the web is akin to being the replacement of the people marching through the streets by the millions. Should this attempt to destroy any semblance of autonomy of the internet by those who can not stand to hear views other than their own succeed, what alternative do you leave to the millions upon millions of bloggers who will have nowhere to vent their feelings again? Something to think about for those who seek to trample on our rights.

Death From Above

Amidst the carnage of tornadic storms that literally formed all along the collision of fronts that met over the eastern part of the state of Nebraska Wednesday, the few bright spots during this night of terror were the small towns and cities that could have sustained much more damage than they did.

The massive cold front that was met with hot moist air caused such a horrendous storm front to appear in an almost straight line from Omaha all the way southwest to Grand Island, that many thought the end of the world was at hand. Watching the radar screens as the beast crept slowly eastward, the sirens began blaring in the background. Not completely unusual for this part of the country, the insistence and intensity of the storms began to give way to panic among many residents.

Human curiosity being what it is, many people ventured outside for a glimpse of whatever tornado the sirens and radar screens decreed was on the ground in Lincoln, Nebraska. But as the siren receded, everyone began going about their business as usual. Not five minutes later, more sirens began blaring out their warnings, and this time people did take cover, as a humongous super cell formed seemingly out of nowhere directly over the city proper.

Torrents of rain flew almost vertically at high speed, enough to cause literal pain when waves of water slapped against the body, but yet, oblivious, people still ventured out again to watch the tornado that dropped out of the sky not ten blocks from where we all stood. Almost silent in it's sneaking down to the ground behind the Husker Stadium jumbotron, we were awestruck as we awaited it's destruction. At the last possible second, mother nature spared the massive electronic billboard, as the tornado dissipated as quietly as it appeared.

Within about one minute however, the super cell was passing directly over our heads, looking for all the world to be a hell spawn demon, blackest of black sky swirling in a perfect circle, with lighting streaming across the sky and striking so close to where we were standing on the rooftop, that the reverberation of thunder shook the entire neighborhood like a rag doll. By the grace of God, it passed over and dropped another small tornado onto 33rd street. Once again however it teasingly flew back up into the sky, moving off to the northeast until it reached 70th street, where it destroyed an indoor tennis complex.

Keeping track of happenings in nearby towns, we listened as Aurora was hit with a twister, as well as Beatrice, Crete, Elkwood, and as the storms intensified and moved towards Omaha and points north, Plattsmouth, Bellvue, the north side of Omaha proper, and finally Little Sioux, Iowa, which is about an hour's drive north of Omaha.

Glued to the live Internet broadcasts from Omaha television, we all knew as soon as they said the campground was hit by a twister, there was going to be a loss of life. Officials tried to put on a brave face at the beginning, but given the area that death from above decided to land in, the lumps began to form in many area resident's throats. A bunch of kids really. Not even old enough to completely understand what was happening to them despite their training, were flung threw the air like scattering paper, and mother nature did what it always does, kills the vulnerable. Four dead Boy Scouts, more than forty others injured, we learned from scanners and the web. Innocents, trying to do what we encourage of them, mainly learn to be good and honest in an insane world, are gone or mangled because of a whim of whatever power watches over all of us.

We pray with the families of those who were lost, and ask a speedy recovery for the injured not just at Little Sioux Ranch, but all the rest who were hurt the other night, all those who lost homes and businesses, because the damage is quite extensive over the entire Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas corridor. In fact, the entire Mid-West has damage in one form or another, but the major flooding downed trees, power lines and swath of destroyed buildings seems to be along the path of where the super cells passed over.

What used to be an event that happened maybe once a storm season has now become almost routine. This is the third major cell system to strike this exact same area in the last two weeks, with predictions for more next week or even this weekend. With the heat and humidity at almost unbearable levels at this early stage of the summer season, there is no doubt we in the Plains are in for a rough ride. Let us hope and pray that mother nature will stay her hand and spare the lives of innocent babes such as those she decided to take from us, and for whom an entire nation now mourns.

Mexico And Jordan More Important Than New Orleans

Stories from the Associated Press about the new war funding bill about to get the thumbs up from Congress, but eerily absent from major mainstream media newscasts and sites should so enrage every American, that the Congressional switchboard should light up like a Christmas tree.

The new demands from the liar in chief for $212 billion to fund his illegal war in Iraq have add ons for the country of Jordan to the tune of $100 million dollars that will go to directly aid their military. Also included are items such as $50 million dollars in military aid for the government of Mexico, and oh, by the way, $350 million dollars to help Iraqi refugees. The amount of money that would have gone to help Katrina victims who are mentally handicapped and/or disabled people would have been a mere $73 million. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the cut in aid to New Orleans is necessary in order to avoid a Presidential veto.

This new war funding will supposedly keep the Iraq war going through January of 2009, in and of itself a slap in the face to war opponents, but there seems to be a disconnect between the charlatans in Washington D.C. and the people who sent them there as to where the hearts and priorities of the American people lie. We would never begrudge helping the Iraqi people, but should we not be helping our own suffering two and a half years later citizens? And why in the world would we as Americans wish to arm a state sponsor of terrorism to the tune of 100 million dollars?

Rep. Allen Boyd, a Democrat from Florida, needs to have his head examined for making idiotic statements along the lines of 'we're cutting aid for Katrina victims due to the 9 trillion dollar national debt'. What? Somebody must have slipped something into this jerk's Kool-Aid! And Pelosi's fear of a veto from the chicken hawk in chief are unfounded, because were he to do so, he would be unfunding his own war. Even better. Let him veto the bill. Let the Pentagon, who ordered the destruction of interrogation notes at Gitmo run out of money for this illegal mass murder. We all know by now that it was outright lies that led us into this war in the first place, so let the money dry up. Otherwise, we are complicit in the lies of the worst presidency in American history.

Outside of the New Orleans city hall, in a park across the street, people are living in a tent city. No homes, no jobs, no food, no running water, no toilets, and no beds. There are American children in this tent city. There are American men and women living in conditions that we condemn third world nations for forcing their citizens to live in. But yet, this government that is supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people, has decided that military hardware for Mexico and Jordan is more important than helping Americans. They have decided that the Iraqi people are almost four times more important than the American people with this scam of a war bill.

And where will all of this $212 billion dollars really go? Oh, you know it. Halliburton, Blackwater, the Bush family's Carlyle Group, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, think tanks like the Council on Foreign Relations among a few of the biggest war profiteers. Oh, and let's not forget the oil companies who are over there right now, making sure that only a spit of Iraq's oil gets produced in order to push the price through the roof. They'll get there cut for 'oil field development'.

This outrage and insult to the very core of who we are as a nation must not be allowed to stand. We help our own first. Period. And don't start with the tired, idiotic arguments that this should not be attached to a war spending bill, because neither should allotments to help Iraqi refugees, nor giveaways to a terrorist state and drug dealer Mexico. Get in your Congress person's face. Call and email your local, state and federal representatives and tell them America cares about the starving and homeless people of New Orleans first, and we care about the rest of the world second. DO not let this trend of forcing hurting Americans to take a back seat to the needs of the power brokers continue, or the road to ruin is already behind us. That's OUR money they're playing around with, and Ms. Pelosi would do well to remember that. The Congress and this idiot in the Oval office would do well to remember that they are also supposed to be American citizens, and not some sort of aristocracy that makes decisions contrary to the will of the people.

Because even though Americans have their differences when it comes to right, left, and center, we all come together during a disaster. We pay our taxes in the expectation that our government will help the people affected by disasters. We do not countenance the tossing away of our money to foreign countries for military hardware when American citizens are starving in the streets and the city of New Orleans has virtual tent cities set up in their front yard due to a lack of caring on the part of our elected leaders. Wake up Washington. The people, slow to anger, have had a belly full of this nonsense, and will brook it no longer. Trim the giveaways to foreign countries, take care of our own people, and do it now.

And To Promote The General Welfare

Advocates who promote the idea of private enterprise being the only saviour of America's public housing crisis need look no further than the current mortgage scam pulled off by Wall Street to put an end to their argument. The consensus by otherwise intelligent individuals, is that the U.S. government has no business running public housing projects, and should turn over that responsibility to private Realtors and developers.

But these arguments for more giveaways to the corporate world are swept aside in one fell swoop when one looks at what has happened to public housing that was even partially privatized in the form of Congress's much vaunted, but now swept under the rug program called Hope VI.

Called the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere program, in New Orleans, the much ballyhooed and promoted idea of private enterprise going into business with the government to provide low income housing after the devastation of Katrina became the most corrupt building project in the city's history. Joining forces with developer Pres Kabacoff, the city tore down several perfectly good and salvageable projects for low income people, promising to replace them with a mixed neighborhood plan and a better life for all. What transpired was a criminal enterprise that shut the poor out of their former housing, in favor of townhouses for well heeled citizens, and a Wal-Mart store.

Seattle also has had it's fun and games with Hope VI. Three separate and ambitious attempts to integrate middle class and poor neighbors by allowing private developers to renovate public housing projects had the same effect as the New Orleans debacle. Developers went for the high end, profitable tenants, pricing the new apartments far out of reach for the poor tenants that should have been rightfully allowed to return to their homes. Senate Democrats have proposed cutting off the funding for Hope VI, but Republicans must repay their corporate sponsors and so the money that should be going to help the poor goes instead into the pockets of private enterprise.

By contrast, and just down the road from Seattle in Kelso, Washington are the Brian Baird Apartments, also public housing. The city sought and received money to renovate the housing units in 2005, and the result has been a low crime neighborhood because of it. Walking down S.6th street, one would never even know they were passing by a 'housing project' due to the attempt by the city to make sure their projects for the poor looked like everyone else's homes.

The arguments made in favor of privatizing public housing by saying that Big Business would better serve the poor are ridiculous by their very nature. Saying that Big Business would have any interest in helping the poor or putting any effort into making their lives better is like saying it's ok to let the wolf guard the sheep because the wolf is strong and powerful enough to do the job. But when one comes back to check on the sheep and finds them all dead and eaten, shoulders shrug, and statements of condolence are sent out with best wishes, yet that doesn't bring back the dead sheep. The wolf moves on to find another sucker, making the same tired argument that right wing fanatics embrace as Gospel Truth over and over and over again.

"And to promote the general welfare". Words long forgotten by Americans, or merely paid lip service to in a recital of an idea that has been eroded to the point of meaningless drivel. An idea that says that we are all in this together, and not here to promote the ideals of a fascist corporate dictatorship. The government is supposed to help ALL of the people to achieve a better life, and since the first public tenement building was built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1854, it has attempted to do just that.

To those who decry the massive costs of housing the poor, maybe they should take the time to read the 2008 budget again. Oh. They never read it in the first place? then it becomes clear that they would whine about $6 billion being spent on all public housing in the country, underfunded by over one billion dollars due to the ever present machete of the Bush White House that slashes all domestic programs year after year. Those who advocate for privatizing all domestic programs don't want you to know that all programs combined make up about 1% of the annual federal budget. They conveniently forget the fact that more than 50% of our tax dollars goes towards building bigger and better bombs, planes, ships, nuclear missiles, military, military, military, the people be damned.

Next they'll focus on the crime that occurs in public housing projects, and that because of this fact alone, they should be torn down and handed over to private Realtors. In order to make that false argument stick, they'd also have to agree that all white collar criminals should have their homes given over to private enterprise to handle. Oh yes. That's right. The rich commit just as many crimes as the poor, only the rich tend to go for the big money in the form of insider stock trades, ripoffs of government programs, massive fraud schemes, and yes, they steal from the poor. Evidenced by the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, violent crime tends to be committed by those of lower income out of frustration and a sense of futility, but the rich and the middle class commit just as many crimes, albeit in cunningly more inventive ways.

These fallacious and fascist attacks on the poor must cease in this country. Instead of looking at your fellow American's and seeing an adversary, would the nation not be better served if we as a people recognized the problem for what it is? If corporations would stop shipping all of the good paying jobs overseas and give the American worker a chance to make a livable wage, maybe there would come a time that we would no longer even have to be talking about who should be running what. Maybe there wouldn't be any need for public housing.

Because anyone who still believes that government programs should be run by private enterprise only need look at the Medicaid program. Massive cost over runs. Larger and larger budgets. But yet, less people being served by the program, and those who are on Medicaid unable to access medical care. What are you talking about you ask? Why, didn't you know that the Bush administration privatized Medicaid? That HMO's such as Kaiser and Blue Cross and Magellan are actually the beneficiaries of the largest heist in American history? That's right. HMO's run Medicaid now, and they get paid more money to ensure less people receive actual services. The poorest of the poor now pay 'co-pays' for every doctor visit, prescription and specialists cost more, meaning that they can't afford to go to the doctor at all, so who's getting all of that money? The insurance industry, that's who. Disabled people having to choose between food or medicine, that's privatization.

What do the advocates of handing over public housing think will happen once the corporations take over? Will they remodel the projects for the poor and charge them the same subsidized rents? No. They'll tear down the public housing and rebuild in their place some condos or townhouses, with a mall thrown in to attract the higher end renters, leaving the poor holding the bag once again. Will you give them a place to sleep? Or will you rent them space on your lawn to pitch a tent? If not, then know that giving government programs to private enterprise is the worst and stupidest idea anyone has ever come up with, period. Those who advocate this course of action need to take classes in compassion, and perhaps reflect upon why they think that kicking the poor around is perfectly acceptable. They wouldn't feel that way were someone they knew in the position of having to rely on housing and other programs in order to survive, and have a spark of understanding that the ranks are growing every day.