Opposition to Public Education

Why Republicans HATE Public Education.

In the Words of THEIR prophet Hitler “Universal Public Education is the most virulent toxin that Liberalism can inflict upon itself. It only makes the Lower Classes think more highly of themselves than they ought, and leads to discontent with their position in life. Truly, they only need enough education to be Efficient Coolies for our industries”
(Liberties taken with the exact English phrases, the Original was in German)

We often are accused of “ignorance” when the Anti-Semitic Supporters of Killing Palestinians, for example, or the one who calls him/herself “Friend” posts… publish their reactionary Angry Hate Speech on Not My Tribe.

In a slightly backward twist we are often accused of being “intellectual Elitists”, but Still ignorant.

Or “idiots”.

Without Public Education we would be left with home-schooling, or Parochial Education.

Those of us who weren’t born with silver spoons in our mouths would be left out in either case.

“Keep ’em Ignorant”

And for not just nearly but EXACTLY the same reason American Slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write.

I’m sure the Republican’t respondents will argue that it’s not like that, I’m just spouting Marxist Propaganda again, the Repukelickin’ Party doesn’t actually engage in class warfare or racism blah blah blah blah…

My grandfather was a cowboy.

Not like George Bush with his “ranch” and 5 cows bought and maintained by his Trust Fund, a trust fund which I’m once again going to point out came from an enterprise his family engaged in called Slave Trading.

They’ll say that, Yankee Puritans they claim to be, their family didn’t actually own slaves. Nor did their favorite “charity” the Yale Foundation.

No, they wouldn’t soil their own hands with the whips and chains necessary to “earn” their money for them…

They just owned a fleet of Slave Ships.

That and Grand-poppy Prescott Bush laundered money for the Nazis, which they don’t

a) apologize for

and

b) they’re still spending the money they got from BOTH enterprises.

No, Grandpa Brown was a REAL cowboy. So was his brother Loy and their brother-in-law Tom.

In Texas in those days that meant Impoverished.

Cowboys were just then being romanticized in the public IMAGINATION through those new-fangled movin’ picture thingies.

Uncle Tom wound up being the foreman of the Rolling Hills Ranch in Keene, Texas, until the ranch was sold to Halliburton in the late 70s to make a Game Ranch.

Like the one where Former Vice President and Current Active War Criminal Richard Cheney shot his friend in the face while they were “hunting” captive, hand raised “Wild” ducks.

They also have or had a website wherein you could with a click of your mouse or joystick “hunt” and actually kill actual formerly live animals (until you put the mouse pointer over them and clicked)

Uncle Tom described it as a place where they bought old, diseased “wild” zoo and circus animals dependent upon your actual skill level they would drug the animals or even chain them up for you so you wouldn’t miss.

That way you could go on an African Safari without ever leaving Texas.

Really swell, wonderful Republican People, they are.

But with a family background like that, working class all the way, impoverished…

Without Public Education how would I have ever risen to the position where I could contend with so many Noble Rich American (and Israeli, if you believe their story) Aristocracy like “Friend” and the Megaphone Users?

The short answer is that I wouldn’t.

Nor would most of us who oppose their monstrous schemes, we would simply have to take their word on any subject or issue, they would pat us on the head and bid us go back out into the cotton fields like good little childishly ignorant Peasants.

While they can’t do it literally, they do, in fact, precisely that by sneeringly dismissing anything we write, anything we Learn and then Share as being “ignorance”.

And sneeringly claim that we must be “idiots”.

But it’s not Racism or Class Warfare or Big Brotherism. No, it’s “all for your own good”

But in their underestimation we’re just too stupid and “ignorant” to recognize it.

Mr Haddad, I’ll try not to be mean…

JAN 18 rallyBecause there’s 7 billion persons on the planet and at any given time about a tenth of them really need to be spoken to in a harsh manner. Just because.

Sometimes, when dealing with people, some of them will practically beg you to slice off a big steaming hunk of Nasty and serve it to them RAW.

In a way, I’m flattered. You chose this particular site and my friends as the targets of your wrath or whatever the hell it is.

It shows that our opinion truly matters to you.

And really, I like people, even when they’re , a, je ne sais pas, on some kind of a quest to shout me or my friends down.

Of course the continued sniping wears kind of thin, and it could come to the point, easily, where those at whom you continuously snipe start to give less and less of a damn about what you have to say.

Unless you’re knocked out of work for a lang time, such as Moi, due to accident or to your boss being a dumbass or whatever, you could conceivably buy your own website and start your own blog.

You could then tell anybody who stumbles into your blog how stupid you believe everybody at NMT is.

And, overall, it would have the same “net” <<<—==<< funny joke there Effect as coming to this site repeatedly.

Unless you’re one of those strange individuals who thrives on abuse.

In which case you have my pity.

Salaam aleikut.

Yes that’s an English phonetic spelling of a non-English phrase.

No, I don’t really care if you actually WANT somebody to wish the peace of God upon you and your house.

I’ll do it anyway.

Just because.

And really, if you believe us to be Stupid and Insignificant, as you imply and sometimes much more than merely Imply, why exactly do you try to argue with us?

Israel’s ‘Internet Megaphone’ Psychological war propaganda machine is being used against notmytribe

megaphone
It seems probable that even NotMyTribe has now come under attack from the Israel war machine via Israel’s Internet Megaphone tool of waging psychological warfare, otherwise known as GIYUS, or “Give Israel Our Support.”
 
“To check out the power of the megaphone, I logged onto a website called GIYUS (Give Israel Your United Support) last Wednesday afternoon. More than 25,000 registered users of www.giyus.org have downloaded the megaphone software, which enables them to receive alerts asking them to get active online.”

To see more about this military weapon of propaganda being used against American and World bloggers and discussion groups, go to the Guardian article from which the quote above was taken. Israel ups the stakes in the propaganda war By Stewart Purvis.

Also see the information below, as it shows how Israeli spamming of antiZionist websites works to spam notmytribe and other sites.
—————————————————————

Israel’s Foreign Ministry provides Free Internet Tool to online activists -Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 26 July 2006

Screen image of the giyus.org website from which the Megaphone desktop tool can be downloaded.

The following letter was sent by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a variety of pro-Israel organisations, so-called ‘hasbara’-groups and other supporters of Israel.

Dear friends,

Many of us recognize the importance of the Internet as the new battleground for Israel’s image. It’s time to do it better, and coordinate our on-line efforts on behalf of Israel. An Israeli software company have developed a free, safe and useful tool for us – the Internet Megaphone.

Please go to http://www.giyus.org, download the Megaphone, and you will receive daily updates with instant links to important internet polls, problematic articles that require a talk back, etc.

We need 100,000 Megaphone users to make a difference. So, please distribute this mail to all Israel’s supporters.

Do it now. For Israel.

Amir Gissin

Director Public Affairs (Hasbara) Department
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs understands that today’s conflicts are won by public opinion. They mobilize pro-Israel activists to be active and voice “Israel’s side to the world.” The Megaphone desktop tool, built by Giyus, which means “mobilization”, sends desktop alerts on key articles on Israel and surveys, online polls where activists could click on the button to support Israel and click alerts to easily voice pro-Israel opinions.

The tool tracks down online articles and polls that members should act upon. After installing the tool, members receive alerts on those articles. With this tool Israel’s Foreign Ministry obviously thought it would help Israel’s fight in cyberspace. However, having used this tool, for others, it is quit useful as well. There is also a weblog and a forum.

For non Windows users and others who would like to to track the alerts being posted via RSS or the Web, visit this page.

Amir Gissin’s letter was posted on July 22 on the website of http://www.standwithus.com — an pro-Israel advocacy organization.

The Democrats, the Republicans, and Israel are threatening to incinerate Gaza

What happens when you drop bomb after bomb on a densely populated civilian area? It most likely will go up into flames right? It is a war crime to even threaten such a thing let alone do it.

Let’s face it, America, much of the US population just like much of the Jewish population of Israel want to kill off Arabs and Muslims because they are full of racial and cultural hatred of them. The following film posted on alternet’s website gives an honest portrayal of what these people are actually like. Pro-Israel Rally Attended by Big-Time NY Dems Descends into Calls for ‘Wiping Out’ Palestinians

They wanted to ‘Save Darfur’ but are promoting using White Phosphorous on Gaza instead!

olive treeIt seems that many of those who wanted to ‘Save Darfur’ are now actually out there supporting Israel and its daily bombardment of Gaza’s civilian population with thousands of half-ton explosives, cluster bomblets, and White Phosphorus shells, many if not most, made in the USA! What a puzzle?

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is one of those notables since he’s been a long time Zionist and demander of increased US military aggression against Sudan, but the group of newly gung-ho genocide advocates against the Palestinians also includes Hillel, the largest Jewish student group around the world. They fairly recently made ‘Saving Darfur’ the major focus of their political work. Now they have returned to the ‘Saving the Jewish State’ theme by killing Palestinians which is their #1 cause once again. See their website for the position Hillel Endorses JCPA Support for Israel. Now check out their ‘Save Darfur’ campaign for calling for military intervention by principally the US and Britain into Africa. Never Forget. Save Darfur and never save Iraq, Afghanistan, or Somalia, let alone Gaza?

OK, let’s go on over to another US group advocating vocally to ‘Save Darfur’, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum down in Miami, Florida of all places. What are they up to? Just check on CONSCIENCE at their website to see if they have located any problems in the world today other than Darfur? Oops, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Congo, Gaza are all missing! Gaza civilians not a problem for them…. ??? Neither are Armenians, Native Americans, nor Black African slaves. What holocausts? I guess there was only one with maybe an add on of Darfur? I’m surprised, in fact. Well they are worried about the Chechens, too, it seems. Just to be fair…

There are many others out there who wanted to ‘Save Darfur’. Some of them are the local peace do-nothings at the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission here in Colorado Springs allied with United for Justice and Peace nationally, which has had many a member concerned about ‘Saving Darfur’. So much so that they actually held a rally or two to show their desire for more intervention by the US government. I remember seeing some of them in tears even.

Today I’m not sure where they have disappeared to? White phosphorus and Gaza just not their thing I guess? Neither is Somalia, Congo, Afghanistan, nor really even Iraq! Funny group of people. They never really seem to get it together to demonstrate for anything other than themselves? Always fundraising though. Got some money for their office people? Staff salaries are always important! They may or may not show up at the next rally against war? You never know with these folk?

What about the group Stop Genocide Now? What did you find other than their concern about Darfur? They claim to be the following…

‘Stop Genocide Now (SGN) is a grassroots community dedicated to working to protect populations in grave danger of violence, death and displacement resulting from genocide.’

Only Darfur seems to be where they have found this ‘population’ though. Go figure? ‘Genocide’ seems to be only in Darfur? That’s amazing!

OK, I’ll stop here. I think the reader has gotten the picture by now. ‘Save Darfur’ as a rallying point really is not about saving people that much by promoting peace in the civil wars of Sudan. There is another and rather well kept hidden agenda behind this campaign, and the fact that so many groups have a blind side about this hidden agenda they are supporting is quite telling.

For many of these folk, Darfur is on the back burner and blasting away at Gaza is primary. Don’t worry though, since they’ll all be back urging humanitarian intervention quite soon. Oh wait! Supporting the US-Israeli war on Palestinians is seen by many of these people as being humanitarian interventionism. Ain’t that right, Willy Pete? Where else will they go next?

“Because you have drowned others, you were drowned…” –Rabbi Hillel

Semper Fi, Ollie- Again…

You know, this whole scene in Israel and Palestine right now has the marks of Bush double dealing again, playing all sides against the middle.

The cowboy-looking swarthy fellow who identified himself as a Jew AND a Marine. last night as he was cursing us…

…brought this back to mind.

I wonder, sometimes, how much guilt does the U.S. government share, in our name and with our tax dollars of course, and our kin on the ground… and under the ground.

Why, exactly, did the “smart money” give arms to Hizbollah?

Knowing of course that Hizbollah doesn’t like them and would do their level best to strike, but you notice, the so-called Patriots who struck the deal, they didn’t get killed.

Over 300 Marines, mostly the scions of the “lower” classes, got killed.

Likewise, when the deals were struck with the Medellin Cartel, same time, yeah? There was a “Massive Crackdown” on the southern borders, for those of us who smoked marijuana, it was a Famine in the Land.

Suddenly, though, “black tar” and smokeable cocaine were everywhere.

You might say, tongue firmly in cheek, there was a massive “smack” or a “crack”, down on the southern border.

When I was stopped by the Border Patrol and they were waving guns in my face, screaming in Spanish, there were actually death squads in El Paso at the same time.

And since they didn’t offer any badge or insignia type evidence to the contrary, at least primarily, yeah, I thought that was who it was.

The idea that these Drug Militia were financed at least partly by Yankee Government donations crossed my mind more than once.

Fortunately, a bullet hasn’t crossed my mind, not yet at least.

Then, Bush comes off with the strangest ever response to the 9/11 strikes… his operatives start saying that the Colombians in particular were funneling money to al Qa’eda…. and no explanation of why exactly they would know that.

The one that fits most perfectly is the connection between Saddam Hussein and Bush, Manuel Noriega and Bush… as in Bush the Elder and “Saint Ronnie the Incredibly Teflon Nice”…

USMC Lt. Colonel Oliver North.

I would say, and Mr North should listen, he’s been playing with some incredibly BAD boys.

North is now the biggest link left between Bush Junior and al Qa’eda.

He should look to what happened to the Other Major Links.

Probably with his assistance. Because he’s not averse in any way to lying, stealing, killing or betrayal…

Perhaps his “loyalty” to the Bu’ush Regime lies in his innate cowardice, he’s scared to testify.

How about it, Ollie? You’ve got friends“associates in town here who monitor this website and our activities, and our writings.

Somewhere under all that slime with which you coated yourself, maybe there’s a little bit, a spark, if you will, of actual Patriotism.

Truth, Ollie, truth… it’s the only path left for you,
I’ve looked down the barrels of your comrades guns before. The only way I survived was by standing my ground.

Semper Fi.

You know what it means. “faithful forever”.

You haven’t been faithful yet, not to the Marine Corps, nor to America nor to God Himself.

Nor to yourself. You’ve let yourself become the Lap-dog of the Empire.

Make that stand for the first time in your life.

Liability and the value of a human life…

How much does one person or all of society owe for injuries, deaths or other damages caused by actions that an individual or the representatives of Society take?

(I posted this on another forum, alfrankenweb.com. This hits at the core of a few issues that have been brought out in the forum recently.)

For instance, this time last year, an Insurance Agency, Cigna, made the decision to allow a young lady to die, even though there was a transplant liver available for her, under the notion that she only had about a 50% chance of surviving such an operation.

This mirrors the Terri Schiavo case, in several important ways.

George Bush, Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, just a representative sampling of Republican “Leadership”… not only didn’t condemn the decision but some actually applauded it.
(A Mirror doesn’t show the same image as a photograph, the orientation is that Left and Right are reversed.)

Mrs Schiavo had, apparently, about a zero percent chance of survival or ever recovering from her coma.

Richard Cheney, even though his company has surpassed Microsoft as the richest corporation in America and therefore the world, had a life prolonging surgery done, at Taxpayer Expense, even though:

his age, condition and personal habits will nullify the surgery within a decade anyway…

He has never contributed anything to Society in his entire sojourn on our planet…

And has himself denied and been an accomplice to denying the same types of life-prolonging surgeries not only to his own employees but also to any Americans who weren’t smart enough to be born, like him, with silver spoons in our mouths.

And he’s an accomplice to more than a Million murders.

Then there’s the issue of Guns.

The “Swimming Pool” analogy was brought up, and having car seats for kids too small to effectively be protected by seatbelts, and the issue of Seat-Belts themselves.

But it’s the Insurance Underwriters who brought legislation that ordered the Seat Belt and Car Seat laws, also not allowing people to burn toxic waste in their backyards, or burn anything that will set their neighborhood on fire or even their own houses.

Insurance companies = not social liberals.

In Texas, which the Frightened Wing love to proclaim as their primary territory, you can’t operate a motor vehicle without Fiscal Responsibility. You either have to have 50,000 dollars in a bank account specifically set aside for the purpose, for each vehicle, for liability claims… or purchase insurance for each vehicle.

If you own dogs which are prone to bite, your homeowners insurance goes up.

If you have a history of driving like you’re stupid your car insurance premiums go up, AND you have to carry more liability coverage.

Here’s where the disconnect begins… If you own a business,even if it’s a business like Construction which has a very high attrition rate among the workers (the ones who do the actual building both of the properties and the profits of the company) you DON’T have to carry basic Workman’s Compensation insurance. and there’s even moves afoot to Decrease employer contributions to Social Security, the ONLY disability insurance available to the vast majority of non-union Workers.

You’re also not required to carry insurance on firearms in case you, your kids, your spouse etcetera decide to do something either deliberately evil or blatantly STUPID and get people killed.

The “Poster Child Case” for this attitude was India v Union Carbide for damages done including Human Lives Lost (and yes, for those right wingers who hate being called Baby-Killers, a lot of the people killed or crippled for life were in fact infants.)

The Right Wing argue that the judgment was excessive because the “Third World” meaning dark brown people would never in their lifetimes earn more than $30K (conveniently ignoring the FACT that these were the families of Union Carbide’s Corporate Slave Labor Poolerrr… “Valued Employees” yeah, that’s the ticket) and thus the value of their lives was not equivalent to the lives of American White Collar Workers

They also, in cases of Capital Murder, or the global “war on terror” trot out the Old Testament law of “eye shall go for eye, tooth for tooth, stripe for stripe and life for life”

So, here’s an interesting theory of how that would work.

Say you’re responsible, through arrogance and ignorance, for your employee being crippled for life.

The catfish-processing workers Mr Bush declared to not be worthy of any compensation for their Carpal Tunnel injuries, for instance, every person who was crippled by that policy and the practices of the Catfish farms and their processing plants, should be able to demand that one person in the corporate heirarchy or amongst the investors in those operations should be taken out, and made to stretch his hand out across a cement block, and have it smashed irreparably with a large heavy object.

Because, you see, stripe shall go for stripe.

That refers to the seriousness of a wound.

The War on Terror, should have ended immediately at the time 3,000 of the people responsible had been killed.

Oh, wait, me ams forgot, instead of going after the ones actually responsible the Bush-Cheney people chose to go after civilian targets.

As Gilda Radner used to say, “never mind”.

Instead of the Right Wing screaming and howling about the victims and their families at Bhopal being compensated at a rate of One Years Salary for one of the Office Workers who were their Overseers on the Union Carbide Plantation errr … Supervisors and managers… yeah, that’s the ticket… for each HUMAN LIFE LOST and for those who merely had injuries that would cripple them for life, less money than it would take to have their injuries treated at anything other than a Third World hospital.

You know, the hospitals the same Right Wingers say are so very inferior to Our System…

Instead of that, for every life lost, starting from the CEO, the Board of Directors, on down, the Corporate Officers and shareholders, from the ones who own the most shares in the company on down, being taken out and asphyxiated in a Gas Chamber, just like their victims.

I think the Right Wing would scream very loudly about something like that.

Let’s turn it to a more pleasant subject.

If you have a Swimming Pool you have to have insurance on it. And routine inspections and random inspections.

If you don’t you get fined. That’s the way it is and even that wasn’t brought about by “Those Librul Elitist Latte-sippin’ Prius-Drivin’ Khaki pants-wearin’ sissy-boys” but instead as a cold, analytical business decision.

So, since that was the standard argument trotted out to counter the notion that gun owners should be held responsible for their TOYS

Let’s see the Masculinity Challenged Ones put their money where their mouths are.

Or at least find out, because, you know, unlike the freaks hanging out at the local firing range or the gun shop, Insurance Companies hire persons called “Actuaries” who maintain statistics like the number of accidental drownings per number of swimming pools, the number of Automobile fatalities as compared to the number of automobiles, the number of dog-bites by breed,…

Number of accidental and/or intentional gunshot wounds compared to the number and types of firearms…

Go to an Insurance Company Website.

And get the price quotes for Liability on your guns.

You’ll be asked questions, answer them honestly.

How many firearms you own.

How much ammunition you typically keep on hand.

Do you have a secured gun rack or safe for your firearms?

Keep in mind that your idea of secure probably isn’t as stringent as that of people who actually keep track of such things and actually know what the hell they’re doing.

Do you keep your ammunition inside your house?

If you do, you’re storing EXPLOSIVES in the same area where your family lives.

Buy some extra fire insurance, life insurance for every person in the house, and liability for your neighbors who might also perish or be seriously injured if you’re not SUPREMELY careful.

How many children do you have living with you or who typically visit?

How many of them are disabled and not as likely to survive without injuries if the Unthinkable Happens.

Hell with that, it’s not Unthinkable, if you don’t THINK about this you have absolutely no business whatsoever owning firearms…

Since bullets typically go through the wall of a house, even a BRICK wall, and into the neighboring house, get life insurance for each person living around you.

Answer all the questions honestly…

When you get through all the questions click the “Calculate your Liability” button or the “Calculate your Rate” button…. doesn’t matter which, and see what you’ll pay… IF YOU REALLY ARE HONEST AND ACTUALLY GIVE THREE QUARTERS OF A FAT RAT’S ARSE ABOUT ANYBODY.

If you can’t afford the premiums you sure as hell can’t afford the potential liability.

For those too lazy or not honest enough to go through that, if you shoot somebody, accidentally of course, BECAUSE I SIMPLY KNOW YOU WOULDN’T DO IT DELIBERATELY and the guy isn’t killed, just oh, let’s see, what’s a common occurrence with gunshot wounds, hey, I know, permanent brain damage where the person is on life support for the rest of his life…

Or simply made paraplegic or quadriplegic… that happens a lot too.

Your liability for his or her medical care could run into the MILLIONS, plus the cost of him to survive with as much normalcy and dignity as possible.

What’s that you say? You DON’T HAVE a few million laying around?

Hmmmm…….

Red Bull is dangerous

Red Bull gives you angel wingsRED BULL contains: caffeine, ginseng and guarana (all legal stimulants) sugars, artificial sweeteners, taurine (an amino acid said to lower blood pressure).
 
RED BULL promises: increased energy, better concentration, sharper cognitive performance, greater endurance, higher metabolism, faster reaction time.
 
RED BULL delivers: increased heart rate, heightened blood pressure, anxiety, jitters, hyperactivity, insomnia, hypoglycemia, dehydration.

A single can of Red Bull or any other “energy drink” increases your risk of heart attack or stroke. The caffeine-jacked soda pop causes blood to become sticky which is a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems. One hour after drinking Red Bull, the blood system becomes abnormal, functioning as it would in a patient with heart disease. This effect is seen even in young people.

Take a look at Red Bull‘s website. The company has aligned itself — through high-dollar sponsorships, which are nothing more than manipulative ad campaigns — with the sporting crowd. It started with rodeo; the Red Bull logo is tailor-made for a swaggering cowboy. The company’s tentacles have reached into the racing circuit, BMX cycling, extreme skiing, even soapbox derby. You’ll find athlete superstars wearing the Red Bull logo in arenas and venues across the globe.

It would be one thing if Red Bull was marketing its product to coke heads and junkies, providing them with a legal daytime buzz. But to suggest that athletes will benefit from the “energy” Red Bull offers is wildly irresponsible and evil. Unlike the electrolyte-balanced rehydration found in Gatorade, Red Bull is chock full of stimulants which cause rapid DE-hydration, making energy drinks exceptionally dangerous when used in rigorous physical activity. Loss of consciousness, kidney failure, and death are a few of the more troubling outcomes of serious dehydration. Even mild dehydration makes you feel like crap — foggy, sluggish, headachy — which doesn’t enhance physical or mental performance in anyone.

Threatening the health and well-being of rednecks and jocks the world over wasn’t quite enough for these bastards. Red Bull expanded its reach into the late night crowd. Barfare like “Vodka Bulls” and “Jaeger Bombs” combine Red Bull‘s powerful stimulants with a heavy depressant which can lead to heart failure and other health crises. Norway, France, Denmark, and even Uruguay have banned sales of Red Bull completely.

Red BullHistory has shown us that we can’t expect responsible behavior from corporations. They have an apparent duty to shareholders to make money, unfettered by ethical considerations. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration has been appointed our trusty watchdog. As soon as they’ve finished banning every natural supplement found in any organic health food store, I know they’ll muster the energy to take on Red Bull.

That day can’t come soon enough. Many of us are tired of running on empty promises.

A Modern Marvel.

So the show that was just on, Modern Marvels, this evenings episode was Fast Food…

basically an hour long commercial for McDonalds praising them for all the wondrous Gifts of the Kroc Magi.

Yeah, whatever, but then there were a couple of really offensive commercials, of the official kind, breaking up the Love Fest for Sloth, Gluttony and Avarice…

One of them a nervous investor talking to his investment counselor, being told to not worry about the Rapid Death Spiral of The Global Economy, don’t panic, just keep investing, we’re the professional and we’ll get you through it Just Like Our Wall Street Professionalism Got America through into The Mess in the first damn place…

And the other was a Video Game much like the one you can find on the Army’s recruiting website or is it the Navy’s doesn’t matter, the one where your fantasy onscreen character is an Elite Forces Person going around blowing people away…. to suck young dumbasses into joining the “service”….

This one is most offensive, though, the game is a role-playing version of The Civil War.

That would be the AMERICAN Civil War, which lasted about a lot less than half the time the English Civil War did yet still managed to slaughter almost as many people.

So, you can drive to Mickey Dees, cause you’re too damn lazy to walk, you can buy enough grease to give a Blue Whale a massive coronary, drag it home, plop down on the couch and enjoy a few hours of slurping down the Fake Food and Graphically Fantasizing Killing Americans.

How’s THAT for Patriotism?

A quick look at the Pretend for Peace Donkeys- Barack, Jimmy, Al, and Dennis

kucinich-2008The Republicans love war and that is all there is to it. But what about the Democratic Party crowd and their Pretend for Peace Donkeys? They got the US population snookered most of the time so what are they really doing to end the US government wars? Let’s go visit the Carter Center and other sites of these donkeys and see what they have to say about the War Against the Iraqi people, which has been going on now for YES, some 17 years or so! Kind of a relevant issue one might think?

Barack, perhaps the greatest Pretend for Peace donkey of them all, is setting up for continuing all the wars (and starting a few new ones, too), and all his Pretend for Peace donkey fans are temporarily tongue tied. ’nuff said. Let’s move on (pun intended) now.

Al Gore can’t work the Pretend for Peace angle too well, since he helped kill off hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as VP while Slick Willie was being sucked off on. Shame on you Tip! So he’s turned into Mr. Methane Gas Man instead. You won’t hear a bleep out of this ‘Man of Peace’ about Iraq. No Sir..eee Al Gore Action Center

That leaves us with the ‘Far Left’ of the donkey ‘Peace’rats, Jimmy and Dennis. Surely they got something to say now on their websites about how opposed they are to this US government war of 17+ and counting years aginst the Iraqi people? After all, the result has been millions killed, millions turned into refugees, and a country that is now squashed like a bug. I bet they’re calling for demonstrations to oppose this war?!!!!! After all, these folk are noted for their Peace activism! (sad joke it is, too)

So let’s head to the Carter Center that claims on its website that it is a place ‘Waging Peace’! I bet you’re getting excited now, after all this man has a rep of being so much a better donkey out of office than when he was in? What’s the Grand Dame of Pretend for Peace Donkeys have to say in his issues by country section there at the Carter Center? I bet he has really highlighted the US occupation of Iraq and the need to leave now? After all, Jimmy, haven’t ‘we’ (meaning you and your other donkey comrades) done enough yet? Carter Center Activities by Country United States

Wasn’t that impressive! Jimmy is really ‘Waging Peace’ here inside the country he is ex-President of! I mean isn’t he? You saw all that about Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia? He is just ever so deeply involved…NOT. So why does this prick always get such respect in ‘Peace’crat circles? Might it be that the ‘Peace’crat groups are not doing much anything to help get the US out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, either?

They just Yap, Yap, Yap away about Peace in the abstract, yet have hardly done an action to mention of about Iraq or any of the other battered by the US countries out there. Afghanistan is off the radar screen almost entirely for them. They, the ‘Peace’crats, are a big sham, and the Born Again Jimmy is their American super idol! The ‘Peace’crats always grumble that demonstrations don’t accomplish anything so they don’t demonstrate. Go, Jimmy! You don’t demonstrate either.

OK? Well! we do have one last hope amongst the Pretend for Peace donkeys it seems? Hold the applause! I’m talking Dennis now. The guy is practically a Jesus even! What’s he doing? Walking on water for his Believers? Surely he is out there fighting to free Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia from the US government? Let’s check out The Dennis the Menace issues page You see it there? Iraq! Iraq? Afghanistan! Afghanistan? Dennis is a real fighter for ‘Peace’! He is one strong donkey almighty!

I hope that this roundup and quick look at the Pretend for Peace Donkeys has been educational? You do want an education, don’t you? These Pretend for Peace donkeys are something else! I mean aren’t they?

‘Peace’crats refuse to be ‘United for Peace and Justice’

clinton-obama-flag
United for Peace and Justice is the national group that pretends to be the leadership for ‘Peace’ inside the US, yet they cannot even bring themself to speak out against the US war upon the people of Afghanistan! I call them ‘Peace’crats because they talk about PEACE in the abstract all the time, yet remain totally tied to the Democratic Party and do not actively oppose the war of US occupation of Afghanistan or speak out forcefully against it! They don’t want to embarrass Barack Obama and the Democratic Party and that is important to them above all else.

Go to the UFPJ website and see what I am talking about? Didn’t see the mention of Afghanistan there, did you? Go to their ‘Ongoing Campaigns’ link and then link again and check out their mealy mouthed, non-opposition to withdrawal from the US War waged against Afghanistan. Is this what you call an antiwar position? Peace? I call it their UFPJ Democratic Party apologist line of crap. On it, you will read this sort of BS…

What is the US responsibility to Afghanistan? How have US interest over the past few decades, including support for the Taliban, contributed to the destabilization of Afghanistan? How do we best fulfill our obligations to the Afghan people? What is the role of the US peace movement in advocating US tax-dollars to be used in ways that promote peace, stability, and international cooperation? What nonmilitary solutions can we offer?’ YES, and blah, blah, blah. No call for US withdrawal from Afghanistan here! Barack Obama is against it, that’s why.

Here on the local Colorado Springs scene the local ‘Peace’crats are even worse. Most of them play so dumb they would not admit to being able to find Afghanistan on a map and be proud about that, too! Their folk do have the local police telephone # handy, in case anybody would like to bring the subject up? That would be trespassing! And at the national fan club for the ‘Peace’crats, a website called ‘CommonDreams’, well they just target your computers ISP address and keep you from reading their comments, or commenting on what they are pushing. Afghanistan is best kept off the list of hot topics to discuss these days now that Barack Obama’s Democratic Party team is in the process of taking over fighting the US War on Afghanistan away from the Dubya crowd.

YES, the ‘Peace’crats refuse to be ‘United for Peace and Justice’. They’re only united for the Democratic War Party when push comes to shove. Afghanistan? Please don’t mention it!

The unmitigated gall of General Motors

networking-profits.jpg You might have missed it, but General Motors yesterday took out a full page advertisement in the National newspaper, USA Today? Today, that same newspaper’s website has this info online Bipartisan group of legislators craft auto bailout compromise So what was in the advertisement that poor little Ol’ General Motors paid for? They asked for $25 billion dollars, that’s what!

Imagine if you or I went bankrupt with the aid of The Lawyer online at Not My Tribe? Would he have taken out out an ad for us in the local Gagzette, asking for the government to give us $25,000 dollars to keep from going bankrupt and perhaps not being able to provide for our family members, give the landlord rental money, and pay the loan agency their monthly piece of pie? Just like GM, we have a lot of people depending on us, and would he run that ad for us asking for the US government to take taxpayer money and bail us out to save THE ECONOMY?

Maybe those on welfare assistance need to learn from the high paid CEOs and bless their hearts, take out a full page national ad in USA Today? Give us $25 billion now! We need it for our welfare cadillacs! Oops, they don;t actually have any of those cars, but the CEOs probably do. Big Pink ones!

Barack, what you going to do, Buster? Oops, I think we already know the answer to that. We haven’t been sleeping. All these dompanies aren’t advocating for their own brand of socialism at all. They are merely doing like the military industrial complex done always, even in the very best of financial times for them. They are merely looking for more governmental paid welfare for the super rich. What unmitigated gall they have! And they look down on the poor unemployed for asking for some scraps from time to time!

Palin/Stevens ticket Loses in Alaska, America WINS- Big Time.

Even if you’re convinced that it’s all symbolism anyway. It’s really contrarian of me as judged by D or R standards, but the main reason we win is because the Ice Princess Barbie has no chance now of getting into the halls of Federal Power.

Al Franken of Minnesota is putting some seriously advanced Whoopage on Norm Coleman, a Republican Incumbent whose campaign was based not on any accomplishment of his own, but on trashing Al Franken.

His campaign is nearly as nasty and Hate-filled as Palin’s was.

and then… There’s Georgia…

How can you describe Chambliss, a man who couldn’t get a majority in GEORGIA, Greater Redneckistan, because he is so repulsive.

Somebody who, if you threw him into a Tankful of Live Great White Sharks they would throw him back, with a court order for Cease and Desist, because they won’t Eat Junk food and we should stop dumping garbage in their dinner bowl.

One Republican comment on another website got my attention “Al Franken and Begich winning the recounts is “what I fear the most…” and “my only hope is that Chambliss wins in Georgia”

They’re so TERRIFIED of “That One” having such a consensus in Congress they would hold their noses and vote for Chambliss.

It’s (almost) expected that people on anti-war bulletin boards and blogs would dismiss the notion of somebody having his legs and one arm blown off in a war automatically making him a hero.

I think it’s a tragic reminder of what war is like, and aside from 9/11 people like Max Cleland are our only daily reminder of how badly war affects a Nation.

But Chambliss is a ChickenHawk. He proudly claims to have supported the Viet-Nam war, just, you know, not with his presence.

And proudly supports the current wars, just, you know, not with his presence.

Or, since he’s a U.S. senator, not with funding for rehabilitation of the people who DO go “over there” and leave pieces of themselves before coming back. Or for their long term health care, education, things like that.

Believes that “Born on the Fourth of July” is a Commie Propaganda play, and that Ron Kovic deserves far worse treatment than he got.

…and likewise Max Cleland, because Cleland spoke against going to war in Iraq.

Fellow Republican Senator John McCain, who rode the War Hero Horse into politics, gave him a stern tsk-tsk’ing for his slanderous attacks on Cleland.

And now, when it’s politically convenient for him to do so, is joining his Accomplice Chambliss in continuing such attacks. Against a fellow Viet-Nam veteran named Jim Martin.

Real Republican “moral values” in action.

Common Dreams? Or is it censorship in common with the corporate media?

Ira ChernusThe biggest liberal website out there online, Common Dreams, informs us with its headline today that ‘OBAMA’S PROGRESSIVES: HOLDING, PUSHING, TUGGING’. Common Dreams has become a major resource for the US Left and liberal community in the last couple of years through its posting of many important commentaries by Leftists and liberals plus its convenient links that many of us use quite often. Unfortunately there is a big weakness of the site, and that is their censorship of commentaries, writers, and readers who are not completely 100% on board with their ‘support the lesser of two evils’, pro-Democratic Party point of view.

As a result, when I go to read their headline, I today get the message that THE WEBSITE DECLINED TO SHOW THIS WEBPAGE (to me) HTTP 403 FORBIDDEN. What is Common Dreams scared of from me?

The exact post I made to one of their commentaries that got me blacklisted from their site was made on election night and was linked the following day to a commentary at Common Dreams, from the one I made here on Not My Tribe titled Sadly, Barack Obama will probably get us OUT of Iraq by getting us INTO Iran. Many people who read Common Dreams material link to other commentaries that back up their opinions and beliefs, and I merely did the same.

But this belief that Obama’s election will lead to yet more war ran counter to their cheeleading for the Democratic Party, and earned me their shunning. And you know what? I still think it is most probable that attacking Iran is a most possible final result, post national arrival of Obama into the White House. How will the Common Dreams’ censor feel if this actually happens? Will he/ she remember the decision to put me permanentl offline from their site, for simply making this observation? Probably not.

I certainly do not feel all alone at all in being treated so shabbily by the Common Dreams Democratic Party cheerleading censor on their site. The site shuns many others, too, including the Libertarian site ANTIWAR.COM that it has never chosen to link to and acts as if the site does not exist. ANTIWAR.COM, you see, is a major resource for those who oppose what they call one of the War Parties, the Democrats? Can’t do that per play book of Common Dreams censorship. Not at all if you want publication there.

Also of note, is that Common Dreams likes anarchists somewhat, linking to the giant academician anarchist site, Znet, but has no links to overt Marxist links. Major antiwar activists (and presidential candidates) like Gloria La Riva will never see any comment of theirs allowed the Common Dreams site. CENSORED by the CD group-ling of ‘OBAMA’S PROGRESSIVES:HOLDING, PUSHING, TUGGING’. More like BLOCKING, I would say, and Common Dreams doesn’t like people that are aware of that, and will comment to that effect on their pro-Democratic Party site.

I could list many people whose comments will never appear at Common Dreams, merely because they are activist Marxists. Many academic anarchists act at election time though as Social Democrats, and Social Democrats can be easily herded into voting Democratic Party in the US. ALLOWED.

The thing about Common Dreams is that they are not real honest, and pretend often to have no bias for the Democrat Party even as they push them with countless articles praising people like Al Gore and Jimmy Carter, et al. With the final days to push to get Barack Obama elected though, they seem to have dropped much of their camouflage and subterfuge and the long time effects will be to make their site less attractive to people who actually do want uncensored Left opinion, and not just cheerleading for the new DP executives in power. The CD approach to activism is to try to herd all ‘Progressives’ into voting the Democratic Party. It really is about that plain and simple, but it would be much better for activism if this major Left resource in the US had a less sectarian and less Democratic Party partisan approach.

So to the question is it Common Dreams, or is it censorship in common with the corporate media? I leave you to contemplate that question? For me, I just know that I can no longer read the site on my home computer, let alone comment on their posted articles, all because I do not share their ‘common dream’, which seems narrowly limited to getting the Democratic Party politicians into office, and propagandizing for them. That’s why I see them as being so like the corporate media itself, which will only endorse one of the two corporate parties, and will censor those who want a different world.

As to those whose commentaries are promoted by Common Dreams? I will be writing to at least one of them, Ira Chernus who lives here in Colorado, and asking him what it feels like to have article after article of his promoting the idea of voting Democratic Party this last election published on the Common Dreams site, and then finding out how Common Dreams has censors who keep opposing ideas to his own offline at their Common Dreams site? I don’t think that Ira, or many of the other nice liberal Democratic Party voting writers, have given this censorship much thought. It reflects poorly on them though, when Common Dreams publishes their commentaries and then keeps ‘Progressives’ from actually being able to challenge their POV. Ira, that is censorship. Have you anything much to say about this?

PS.. That picture above is of Ira Chernus, whose multiple articles framed the Common Dreams site the last weeks of the election. He is a professor who happens to live in The Democratic Party Peoples Republic of Boulder.

What Joe Lieberman says about Obama’s ‘new’ regime?

bush-lieberman-pinObama Wants Lieberman To Remain In Democratic Caucus The Huffington Post frames their thoughts along the lines of whether to have Lieberman ‘punished’ or not? But that is wrong. The real question is whether the 2 parties will have any differences between them at all, and Obama is answering that clearly by saying that it is not necessary?

The Obama presidency will in many ways be a modern day updated version of the Gerald Ford Administration. What happened with Gerald Ford was that he was a criminal inside the Nixon group (Nixon’s Vice President, in fact), who Nixon worked out an agreement with the Democratic Party and Gerald Ford himself, to have Ford be put into the White House and grant him a pardon for the crimes he had committed. YES, burglarizing other people’s papers is a felony and Nixon was a felon, but no charges were ever brought against him! And even worse, no criminal charges were ever brought against any of those most responsible for the entire chain of US government atrocities delivered across SE Asia over so many years.

Well, we now have the Barack Obama return of the Democratic Party to White House power, and Barack’s stance on Joe Lieberman is an indicator that no admittance of any criminal charges will ever be brought against the Bush Klan, an Administration that oversaw torture used against POWs, illegal invasions of other peoples’ countries, and many, many war crimes against civilian populations. His ‘let’s let bygones be bygones’ attitude towards Joe Lieberman underscores the direction he will take towards the criminality of the entire Bush collection of gangsters.

What moral bankruptcy here! How easy it would be for Barack Obama to state that YES the Democratic Party must stand for something different and Joe Lieberman is not that! Here is a man who supposedly ran on CHANGE and no change is obviously what we are getting…. JOE LIEBERMAN underlines that in spades. The ‘new’ regime in fact is not a new regime, but the very same old one that was there in place 8 years ago. That regime itself committed untold murders directed against the Iraqi people, and in fact, prepped the Bush Administration to do the dirty work it did. And all along, Joe Lieberman was there as part of that gang of Democrat-Republicans responsible.

Joe Lieberman also underlines the bankruptcy of those who have tried to turn Al Gore into some sort of cult figure. Her in the local ‘Peace’crats group, the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, they even had study sessions about the ‘Thoughts’ of Gore! At Common Dreams, a ‘Peace’crat group that has now censored me from being able to read even their website let alone post comments there, worship of Al Gore ‘thought’ is a steady feature. How easy it seems for these ‘Peace’crats to forget that Joe Lieberman was exactly who Al Gore chose to run alongside him in 2004. But Democratic Party tied voters are a rather shameless lot I think, and a rather thoughtless crew to boot.

No, there will be no prosecution of any of the major US war criminals for their crimes, and Barack Obama is playing his role as the modern day Gerald Ford to the hilt. The news will just keep getting worse and worse and worse in this regard. This is no regime CHANGE at all, and we have not gotten US troops withdrawn from their detrimental role throughout the entire world at all. The same gangs are still ruling over us, and Barack Obama is now head to the troop. No criminal charges, just pardons will rule the day.

Amy Goodman looks at Barack Obama

Amy GoodmanAmy Goodman gives Barack Obama a fair lookover during a discussion with investigative journalist John Pilger in Britain, Columbia University professor and Africa scholar Mahmood Mamdani, Laura Carlsen of the Center for International Policy in Mexico City, Iraqi analyst Raed Jarrar, Pakistani author Tariq Ali, and Palestinian American Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada.
President-Elect Obama and the Future of US Foreign Policy: A Roundtable Discussion The focus is on foreign policy and the conclusions are rather gloomy about what 4 years with Barack as the Great Helmsman in the White House will actually soon begin to look like.

What a breath of fresh air Amy Goodman gives America with this program. It is nice to see intelligent discussion of reality as opposed to adulatory and adolescent fantasies about the new president that border on worship services at a Pentecostal Church. It is clear that all of these people who participated in this round table discussion on Goodman’s program understand that Barack Obama is not alone at sail on The Seven Seas, but is clearly part of a leadership teem astride an American aircraft carrier armed to the teeth. None of them seem to be very positive about what the future will bring from this sad perspective.

Since the focus of this discussion with Amy is Obama’s future foreign policy, there is little mention of what his future domestic policies will probably be like. It would be great if she continues the dialog with yet another round table discussion that examines just that question! I rather think that the conclusions from an informed group of Leftists about the future Democratic Party’s agenda under Obama will be just as dreary if she does look at his plans on the domestic front as well. After all, we have already seen just what it will appear like with the bipartisan giveaway to the companies from the Federal Treasury that the Democrats and Republicans worked out together that is currently continuing to contribute to sinking the world economy, not to mention just ‘our’ own.

Without Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now, alternet, counterpunch, and antiwar.comm, we would only be left with a group of totally abject Democratic Party cheerleaders now. Each and everyone of these websites is worthy of any financial donation that you can make? We rely on all of them for informative reporting. Let’s hope that they keep up the good work and hope that other important sources of discussion and reporting can be developed, too.

The Plan: big & stupid ideas for America

Rahm EmanuelOur blog’s most fervent Democrat challenged me to enlighten about the new chief of staff for Barack Obama (Rahmbo) and his book, ‘The Plan: Big Ideas for America’. Well here it is straight from antiwar.com’s website… Obama’s chief of staff choice favors compulsory universal service Even a cursory look at this material illustrates that Barack Obama and his crew want to even further militarize America, using this plan as a Trojan Horse to capture the support of the politically ignorant and naive cheerleaders they now have. They want a military draft in place.

No, they will call it a Civilian Service Plan or some other cover up name for what they are planning to do. They will talk about IDEALISM, HOPE, and CHANGE. But what will remain in the essence is forced conscription of young people into a so-called “anti-terrorism response team,” militarized to the point of the Homeland Security nitwits at all our airports.

The Plan: Big and Stupidly Poor Ideas for America, brought to you by the Democratic Party. But we absolutely don’t need further militarization of this country’s corrupt military patronage welfare system of jail guards/ soldiers/ police/ and vets. Nor do we need the Democratic Party itself running things in cahoots with their Republican Party politician/ businessmen/ lawyer friends..

Pushing computers on school children

playColorado Springs D-11 is one of the worst examples of pushing computers onto children in a mindless and destructive manner. I have seen children that are forced onto the computers as supposedly a form of tutoring there, and the children often respond by just shutting the material out altogether from their minds.

Nobody likes to be programed by computers it seems, but the D-11 Adminstrators haven’t figured that out. Or is it that teachers work and get paid for it, but computers don’t? Never mind the actual results here. Never mind the damage to children done. Computers are in, and teaching is not.

There is big money in pushing these computers onto the kids, and the Alliance for Childhood does a good job of exposing that at their website. Also their film, Where do the choildren play? will be shown next week Thursday 11-13-2008 at 7pm locally at the Mountain Park Environmental Center in Beulah. Worth a watch if you have the time and can get out there?

And here is another question? Where do the children play in Iraq?

Rahmbo shoots down ‘Peace’crats fast

RamboHow fitting it is that the first announcement of a major figure in the newly forming Obama Administration is a pro-war Zionist nicknamed Rahmbo. Rahmbo accepts job as White House chief of staff Yes, with Rahmbo, Barack Obama is already shooting down the ‘Peace’crats who stubbornly refuse to do anything other than stumble about with HOPE in their teary eyes. It’s a HISTORICAL moment of stupidity on their parts for these Regressives.

Rahmbo comes straight out of the Democratic Party Mis-Leadership camp, too. A rabid Clintonite with a long history of toeing party line under Slick Willie. No… Make that he was one of the chief formulators of Slick Willieism and made the lines to be toed! Now how do we spell… NO CHANGE HERE?

Here from wikipedia is more info about Rahmbo Emanuel’s previous history… ‘Emanuel is noted for his strong style and his fundraising prowess.[2] He is co-author with current Democratic Leadership Council President Bruce Reed of the 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas for America.’ More like more deep doo-doo for America, don’t you think?

I already have run into trouble with the Democratic Party’s ‘Peace’crats, having had them call the police on us for trying to meet locally here as more Left leaning members in Colorado Spring’s so-called Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission tried to hold a planning discussion for Peace action. And just today, the major website of the Democratic Party loving ‘Peace’crats, CommonDreams.organization booted me off from being allowed to read material there! I kid you not! They put me into a loop where I cannot log into their site to read material that most all others can read without logging in. I have been shunned! Boo-hoo-hoo??? Oh, Praise Their Lord, Barack Obama! My crime? I linked to the commentary here on NMT where I said that Obama would get us out of Iraq by taking us into Iran… Sacrilege! Block the Messenger!

The directions Obama is headed towards is a pretty obvious political place for the Democrats. He is headed to being the Commander-in-Chief of a country glued to imperialism and war. His party is headed toward continuing to try to prop up the total system of Military Welfare spending that our country is known for. No change here, My Friends. And the rest of the world, contrary to corporate reporting in this country, is not waiting a ‘new’ Adminstration with baited breath. Rahmbo and others soon to be announced will shoot down the “Peace’crats fast. They already have. And the whole world prtty much knows that already.

El Paso County Board fine with long lines

el-paso-countyEL PASO COUNTY, COLO.- I visited the Board of County Commissioners today to seek their intervention with problems developing with the upcoming election. They’d already voiced their support for Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink’s voter intimidation of Colorado College students. In light of national criticism of vote suppression tactics such as the fewer early-voter stations, longer wait times, and the possibility of running out of paper ballots, I wanted to give the commissioners a chance to reassure voters of El Paso County. Long lines? They’re all for them. In their own words:

While disadvantaged citizens are particularly burdened by the prospect of long lines at the polling stations, this was not a concern shared by the commissioners. They saw long lines as a sign of greater voter participation. In particular, for that reason, Commissioner Sallie Clark said “I hope there are long lines.”

Two other commissioners also up for reelection on Tuesday held the same view. Commissioner Amy Lathen said “Long lines mean people are getting out and voting … I don’t think that’s a problem.” Commissioner Dennis Hisey added “Waiting to vote is an American tradition.”

County Treasurer Sandra Damron felt compelled to stand up and add that she thought “casting aspersions” was unwarranted. Damron reminded me of a typical small town administrator bucking at the oversight of Federal supervisors whose job it is to know better.

“I’m really angry that outside organizations, feel that they can come into our community, and try to cast aspersions, when there are none that are deserved. … Last time I looked, there is no constitutional right to avoiding long lines. They just happen.

Commissioner Jim Bensberg put the blame for long lines on voters who come to the polls “without having done their homework” in view of the lengthy ballot initiatives. Commissioner Wayne Williams thought that those who criticized our local election were “ignorant” and of “questionable judgment.”

Commissioner Hisey answered the criticism of no early polling location for the South East part of town, where there are more African American, Hispanic, and military families. He explained that the Citadel Mall early-vote facility was targeted for them. “We put a polling place in the heart of where the minorities live, shop and work.”

News reports reflect the turnout at the Citadel Mall has been primarily white.

Every commissioner wanted to admonish any complainants with the reminder that they had their opportunity to mail in their ballots. No one addressed the reports of many who’ve yet to receive such ballots, nor those who await confirmation that they are registered.

The County Attorney answered a concern about Absentee ballots sent in without photocopies of personal IDs. Even he was unsure if sufficient warning was given that such photocopies were required, but he consulted with a colleague before admitting that all such ballots would be considered provisional, and then duly discarded as insufficient.

By the way, every board member took the occasion to make an opening statement at today’s meeting. Each was a Republican partisan reminder to vote for the candidates who promise smaller government, etc, etc. Commissioner Bensberg ended with this anecdote.

“One of my constituents called me yesterday with a suggestion. He was concerned that there might be a long line at the polling place, and he came up with an idea that I think is worth pursuing. I’d like to pass this along to our Clerk and Recorder, and that is, that all Republicans should vote on Tuesday, and all Democrats should vote on Wednesday.

To which Commission Hisey said “I’ll leave that one alone.” I’d say Commissioner Bensberg was trying to be humorous, but if you wonder why that disinformation tactic reemerges every election, and has been reported recently in numerous precincts around the country. We can certainly question whether elected officials should be joking about it, without a preface, or explanation. In light too of the many serious violations that the El Paso County Board of Commissioners appears to be adamant to overlook.

You can observe the complete statements on Comcast Channel 17 tonight at 7PM or later at 10PM. Otherwise the audio file becomes available at this link on the El Paso County website.

Jim Bensberg also suggested that complaints about voting irregularities always came from the “other side,” suggesting questionable motives on their part. I paraphrase: Perhaps accusations of partisanship could be dropped only when complaints come from both sides.

Well, I do not wish for either. But maybe Bensberg should let us know the minute a phony “November 5” notice emerges which instructs REPUBLICANS to vote the day after. An example I doubt we’ll ever see. Number one, because believers in democracy don’t want to disenfranchise anyone, but two, Republicans don’t dare make a fake flier to discredit the Dems, because it would mean risking their own voters falling for the ruse. An entirely likely outcome.

A fake notice distributed in Virginia:
virginia-elections-fake-flier.jpg

The Colorado Springs Gazette favorably headlines local Communist Party activity in our fair city!

This is, as all presidential election years are, a circus year of American comedy at its best! I mean, we got a gift from John McCain of his female Dan Quail, Sarah Pale In town even! Still, imagine my surprise to see today’s edition of our Far Right Wing daily paper (The Gagzette) with a prominent headline for our city’s only active Communist Party member, gus hall Vivian! She’s been the deliverer of the Communist Party’s national newspaper around town for years now (and a reporter for that paper, too!), but apparently our Gazette ‘reporters’, ‘editors’, and ‘newsmen’ are unaware of that!????? Go figure?

They probably are aware though, that Barack Obama is a Big Bad American Communist? I mean, we are dealing with world class geniuses over that at Freedom Communications, Inc… lol. I hope that they do not now inform the national crowd about Barack Obama’s connections to Colorado Spring’s Communist Movement, now that they are getting the real scoop about my friend Vivian, the CP reporter and paper deliverer?

OK, here’s the link to the Gazette’s pro- Communist Party activity, though you have to buy the paper’s hard copy to get the full effect, as their website really doesn’t give a good idea of how much they actually headlined their pro-CP coverage. I’ll be laughing through the next year over this one, you can bet on that! Campaigners on different sides, but have same passion

Go Vivian! I love you even if you are an evil commie! Give me a call so we can get together some! I’m not surprised that you are pushing for Obama.

Could it be that the Colorado Springs Gazette’s editors are Lenin’s useful idiots? For more about the American Communist Party, go to The Gus Hall Fan Club website …I know that our local paper would want you to do that! Go useful idiot team at our local Gagzette! Good work! I’m still not voting for Barack Obama though.

RIGGED!

indy event
COLORADO SPRINGS- I attended the Every Vote Matters town hall symposium and I can cut through the unselfconscious evasiveness for you. The El Paso County election is RIGGED. The Republicans in charge are already folding their arms smugly behind locked glass doors. Many of the major bureaucrats showed up today to be seen smiling about it.

County Commissioner Dennis Hisey introduced the event with this assurance on behalf of the agency: “All those eligible to vote will be able to do so.” Give Hisey credit for taking straight aim to muddy the chief point of contention. Both the State of Colorado and El Paso County have been caught hindering voter registration. Promising to respect voting rights reserved for eligible citizens is a sick joke.

El Paso County’s purposeful mishandling of voter registrations has already excluded thousands who Hisey may well consider now ineligible.

What else? Here’s what else:

1. No redress for voter participation already suppressed.
2. Many newly registered will not be notified of their eligibility.
3. More will be sidelined with provisional ballots.
4. No early voting facility for voters more likely Democrats.
5. No paper ballot alternative to Diebold for early voters.
6. No nonpartisan oversight of Republican data technicians.

Neither Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink nor Secretary of State Mike Coffman showed up to answer the current accusations. Instead two representatives from the election staff were put forward to offer attendees the same reassurances crafted for the county website. Every vote matters, regardless the election, partisanship aside, yada yada.

The two women were besieged by complaints and worries from public at large, and though they had no answers, they were applauded by the Republicans in the room, most of whom were men in suits, many of whom were county employees. So much for partisanship. You’ve never seen such smug assholes.

In fairness, I’d guess neither Liz Olsen nor Terry Sholdt know the partisan shenanigans being pulled by their bosses. Probably the two are fully qualified office managers who enforce the rules they are given. Without a hint of awareness of the big picture. “Anyone with concerns should feel free to call us anytime.” I’m paraphrasing Olsen. Their office is eager to resolve any issue, so long as it’s brought to their attention. Fortunately someone was on hand in the audience to tell them trying to reach their office by phone was often impossible.

And is that your understanding of a voter’s rights? So long as a voter knows to call the Office of the County Clerk and Recorder, or try, he needn’t feel disenfranchised.

NOTE: Mark Lewis provides some video of the meeting:

US-Rwandan backed general, Laurent Nkunda, to ‘liberate’ Congo again- Watch out!

Laurent NkundaRenegade Congolese General Laurent Nkunda has told the BBC he is now fighting to “liberate” the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nkunda and Rwanda, alongside some other players, have caused around 6,000,000 deaths in Congo over less than the last decade, far surpassing the number who died during the genocide in Rwanda previously. So who all has their hand in this new state of affairs? To help answer that, first let’s trip over to the US State Department for some info about current US-Rwanda relations.

‘In 1998, Rwanda, along with Uganda, invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) to back Congolese rebels trying to overthrow then-President Laurent Kabila. Rwandan troops pulled out of the D.R.C. in October 2002, in accordance with the Lusaka cease-fire agreement.

In the fall of 2006, Rwanda broke diplomatic relations with France, following a French judge’s indictment of senior Rwandan officials on charges of having participated in the shooting down of the presidential jet in 1994. Rwanda rejects these charges. Rwanda, along with Burundi, joined the East African Community in 2007.

U.S.-RWANDAN RELATIONS
U.S. Government interests have shifted significantly since the 1994 genocide from a strictly humanitarian concern focusing on stability and security to a strong partnership with the Government of Rwanda focusing on sustainable development. The largest U.S. Government programs are the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative, which aim to reduce the impact of these debilitating diseases in Rwanda. Other activities promote rural economic growth and support good governance and decentralization. Overall U.S. foreign assistance to Rwanda has increased four-fold over the past four years.’

Information provided to us from the US Dept. of State website. And, information about Laurent Nkunda can be found at wikipedia and other sources.

Why is it that we think of there having been a Rwandan genocide, yet nobody in the US talks about there having been a Congo genocide? Part of the reason I think, is simply that US citizens don’t really know that much about any part of Africa, Congo and Rwanda included as well as Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia, the so called Horn of Africa. They tend to want to accept at face value the prettified US Government USAID version of US interventionism in Africa. However, aid to Rwanda involves much more than Macy’s sale items or other such silly little nonsense as highlighted at the USAID site.

US aid to Rwanda is also US interventionism into the affairs of Congo and General Laurent Nkunda is a primary player in what is being bought. In D.R.Congo, Laurent Nkunda Forces On The Offense Again

The US blocked the United Nations from ever having confronted and disarmed Laurent Nkunda and his army, simply because it was part of the Rwanda military in the region, a military allied with the Pentagon. Now, that may be about to unravel into terrible bloodshed once again?

Why is the US playing around in Africa in the first place? Isn’t AFRICOM now the biggest player in the region? How much is Laurent Nkunda really in rebellion against the US? Perhaps he is more allied to the Pentagon than opposed? And maybe the commander of AFRICOM, US General William E. Ward might have the answers to some of these questions, but wouldn’t it be better if we were not intervening into and stroking the flames of Africa’s internecine strife?

Both France and the US need to get out of Africa once and for all. These games for influence in the region are quite deadly to the people that live there.