Shrub's True Nature

Know what this picture is?

It is of Bush trying to squeeze himself through the door of Clinton's library ahead of Bill so he can be the first one in at the grand opening.

Go ahead, look at his face . . . the child emperor just can't stand not being the center of attention.

He can't stand criticism, dissenting opinion, staffers with differing ideas, etc.

Is this the Rethugs idea of the "adults" being in charge?

-Panhandle Truth Squad

How Much do You Know

. . . about the separation of Church and State?

Take the Quiz ! CLICK HERE

-Prodigal Son

Welcome to Blogtopia

PTS has been graced by some conservative readers. After reading a few comments, I had a coupla' thoughts here. . .

This is a site for the democratic wing of the democratic party. We are not looking for middle ground, we are not looking to convince any moderate rethugs to come over to a reality based America.

The LAST thing we want/need is "friendly" advice from folks who refuse to recognize that by voting republican this Nov. 2nd "conservatives" voted for:
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-A mind blowing 7 trillion debt left to our kids CLICK HERE
-Putting politics over making America safe from terrorism CLICK HERE
-"Conservatives" now above the law CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
-A pension bailout crises costing taxpayers BILLIONS CLICK HERE
-Unchecked war profiteering costing the taxpayers BILLIONS CLICK HERE
-Putting "activist" judges (Guess conservative activists are OK!) on the supreme court CLICK HERE
-Getting rid of ALL checks and balances CLICK HERE
-A fascist form of government for the first time CLICK HERE

On and on and on and on . . .
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Can you be for these things and be "conservative"? Really?!!!

Republicans, this war you lied America into that has killed 1235 good men and women is YOUR mess, the massive debt is YOURS, YOU are now the "guv'ment" you constantly bitch about.
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Lastly . . . why this blog . . . because the Declaration of Independence calls patriots to dissent:

" . . .--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to ALTER or to ABOLISH it, and to institute new Government . . ."
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Here is the challenge for conservatives. . . admit that this sh** is happening, own up to the fact that it is wrong, and admit that you will hold yourselves 'accountable" (remember that little gem from Shrub in 2000?) Rhiiiiight . . .

Liberals . . . 51% is not a frikkin' mandate. WRITE, FIGHT, and realize that we are the ones struggling to never let the America we love go quietly into the night.

-Prodigal Son

PS: read THIS on a safe computer(Not at work)

Our Republican Gifts

In the Saturday Globe-News (11/27) there are several articles telling us about all the wonderful things we are getting from our conservative friends both nationally and in Texas. First, on the front page, we learn that our fantastic Republican controlled Texas legislature has spent all the money from the Toward Excellence Access and Success (TEXAS) program that has been promised our needy college students PLUS our president and national congress are going to toss 100,000 Pell Grant recipients off the rolls! (Page 1 "College grants get cut"). Then on page 3A our esteemed paper tells us "Audit: Halliburton lost property" to the tune of $18 million dollars! That's our V.P.'s company! And, on page 7A ("Massive Spending legislation becomes a habit for Congress") We see that our nation's congress, without being able to read the more than 3,000 page bill voted to spend $388 billion, on a bill loaded with pork, to keep our country running - and already over $400 billion in debt!

But at least one right-winger was very gracious. David Watson from Pampa (on page 11A in his opinion column), at the end of a convoluted discourse about Tony Tackitt I'm still trying to figure out, quoted one of our most revered liberal Democrats, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Thank you David, for your recognition of one of our country's outstanding LIBERAL presidents!

The Liberalator

Onion: Swift Boaters Still Hounding Kerry

The Onion does its part to prove that the third Bush regime will at least be good for satire. As long as the First Amendment survives, it goes without saying.

But the best line indicts Kerry:

"Kerry has not yet responded to the ads, but several former campaign aides said they expect him to issue a statement disputing the attacks before the end of next year."

SPACEDARK

P.S. Off to Ruidoso. Happy Thanksgiving.

You First

Have a read at this: CLICK HERE

Carl Fowler, former chair of the English Department at Amarillo College spits out this delusion, "The vindictiveness of liberal writers to this newspaper and other publications toward President Bush since his election in 2000 has created much of the divisiveness in the country today"

And this gem, "it should be apparent that the majority of the citizens of our country do not want a socialistic government."

Bush and the criminals he runs with are COMPLETELY inncocent of;

Not lying about national security: CLICK HERE

Not lying this nation into war: CLICK HERE

Not Bush's lies about taxes and the economy: CLICK HERE

Not the swift boat liars: CLICK HERE

Carl Fowler and his fantasy based crew are SHOCKED at those big meanie liberals.

Get it? those pinkos criticizing dear leader should just roll over.

Tell ya what Carl . . . you start apoligizing to the families of those who were killed and wounded in Iraq, and those jobless and broke, and the 45 million uninsured, etc.

You first buddy . . .

-Prodigal Son

Federal Prison Blues

Per Josh Marshall, I just called up Congressman Mac Thornberry's (Texas 13th District) office to see if Big Mac Attack supports the Delay Rule allowing members of the House leadership to keep their leadership posts after they've been indicted for felonies. I was told that the caucus was closed but that Congressman Thornberry doesn't think the court system should decide who gets to be chairman. Something about former Congressman James Traficant and running committees from behind bars was mumbled.

Of course, if I was convicted of a felony, the court might want to decide whether I got to keep my job. Even under indictment, I doubt that I'd be able to go on teaching. But no matter! If you have an opinion of Congressman Thornberry's opinion that felons should be allowed positions in the House leadership, by all means contact him.

SPACEDARK

Dear Mr. Radio Preacher Part Deux

Thank you for responding.

We agree with you about "Deliberate Deception" as being the basis for a lie. See! Fellow Christians can agree on some things!

Now by your own definition, let's have a lookee at just a couple of Bush's lies and claims of a "Looming threat" as you put it from Iraq. (Too many to REALLY cover!):
__________________________________________________
Bush knew and lied anyway example #1:
“Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.” GWB, 10/2002.

Fact:
A 1997 report by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—the agency whose purpose is to prevent nuclear proliferation—stated there was no indication Iraq ever achieved nuclear capability or had any physical capacity for producing weapons-grade nuclear material in the near future.

In February 2001, the CIA delivered a report to the White House that said: “We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction programs.” The report was so definitive that Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a subsequent press conference, Saddam Hussein “has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction.”
_______________________________________________________
Bush knew and lied anyway example #2:
“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons…And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.” Bush, 9/26/2002 [Source: White House Web site]

Fact:
The Washington Post reported that Bush “ignored the fact that U.S. intelligence mistrusted the source” of the 45-minute claim and, therefore, omitted it from its intelligence estimates. Bush also ignored the fact that the Defense Intelligence Agency previously submitted a report to the administration finding “no reliable information” to prove Iraq was producing or stockpiling chemical weapons. According to Newsweek, the conclusion was similar to the findings of a 1998 government commission on WMD chaired by Rumsfeld.
____________________________________________________

I always like to state facts based on actual evidence, as I am sure you do on your radio show.

By the by, I failed to see one checkable quote in your response. Facts can stubborn little things!

Now onto your uninformed comments regarding my beliefs,
The 10 commandments:
My understanding is that these are not to be displayed, but were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, and "written on the heart" of every believer. Isn't placing monuments idolatry?

Abortion:
Are awful, terrible, and should be rare and legal. To my knowledge Christ never said anything about abortion.
_____________________________________________________
Two things:

1. Do you have enough guts to pray on the air for the thousands of Iraqis civilians killed?

2. Do you have enough guts to have a liberal on the air to state their case rather than spouting what you presume they stand for as you do in your email response?

Best,
Panhandle Truth Squad

Dear Mr. Radio Preacher

UPDATE: PTS gets a response to our email (Posted Below)
Folks, this is the kind of discourse we can look forward to from the Christian right.
Dodging, spinning, providing no evidence (links, actual quotes with dates, etc.), and if you dare question you are not a Christian yourself.
PTS's response forthcoming.
-PTS
________________________________

We were indeed attacked by terrorists. President Bush did not lie. Neither did I. First of all, the President acted on the intelligence that he was given. Almost everyone, including the U.N. and the French, and most of the anti-war liberals in this country believed that Iraq had WMD and that Saddam was fully intent on continuing to build his strength. Past history with him indicated that he was a threat to us. He was unquestionably a sponsor of terrorism. To act on that intelligence, especially after Saddam's rebellion against 17 U.N. resolutions warning him of consequences if he didn't cooperate, is not a lie. If the intelligence is faulty, that doesn't make the President a liar to act on it.

Obviously, you don't know what a lie is. A lie is "deliberate deception". To believe something is a certain way and act accordingly may be acting on a lie someone else told, but it doesn't make you a liar to have acted in good faith and full confidence that you were being truthfully informed. If you are really a "truth squad", perhaps you should learn what a lie is. You call me a liar for stating that the President said he would take the war to the terrorists before they could bring it to us. He did say that. That's what I said he said. And, you call that a lie. I didn't say Iraq attacked us. Read my article again and you will find quite the contrary. I mentioned others that DID NOT attack us, but that we attacked. President Bush did not say Iraq attacked us.

Clearly, you aren't interested in truth. Apparently, you are interested in promoting your liberal agenda and promoting hatred of George W. Bush. Nothing he could do (short of resignation) would please you folks. Had he not attacked Iraq, and if they had attacked us, you would criticize him for sitting around while they built up their arsenal and killed our citizens. You "truth-proclaimers" would have been vicious in your attacks on him for not recognizing the looming and growing threat of Iraq.

How much do you really know about Christian virtues? I suspect that you are also on the side of removing the Ten Commandments from public places, and likely on the side of pro-abortion. And, if that is so, I will look forward to your next sermon to me on Christian virtues. It should be interesting.

I will read your e-mail on my radio program tomorrow morning.

Ricky Pfeil

kjrt@kingdomkeys.org

___________________________________________
Mr. Radio Preacher,
We read your column in Today's Amarillo Globe News.

You state, "We were attacked by terrorists. President Bush responded with force, declaring that we would take it to the supporters of terrorism" . . .

The truth is that Iraq did not attack us on 9-11.

Also, Bush's reason's for going to war in Iraq was that it was an immediate threat, and there is no evidence that Saddam supported Al Queda.

You are lying when you say different

Is lying to the public in our local paper a Christian value? Who lacks perspective and honesty here?

I look forward to hearing your correction on your Radio Shows

-Panhandle Truth Squad
(We are also Christian. Please see Beatitudes about peacemakers.)

PS: Any readers want to join us and let 'em know that lying is a sin?
kjrt@kingdomkeys.org

We Are Not Going Away

Think you are alone?
Don't know anyone else pissed off about dubya dubya 2?
Surrounded by Rethugs at work, walking around with smug expressions, poking you in the chest and spouting about their 'values'?
Afraid to scream out, "F*** you POS Bush!" because the brownshirts are out there, and they are watching you, so fall in line and report for re-education. . .

Take five minutes today and CLICK HERE

-Prodigal Son

Ted Rall Nails It!

Expounding on Spacedark's post below . . . we have to remember what OUR values as Americans are.

Sound off! We wanna hear from you. (Click on "Comments")

BTW, Dr. Dobson still has not responded to the letter we wrote him earlier. (See Post Below)

-Panhandle Truth Squad

When Will They Ever Learn?

The liberal side of the blogosphere's aflame with rumour. Apparently, our losing presidential candidate has been using his muscle to push Tom Vilsack for the DNC chair. Vilsack is the governor of Iowa, the Midwestern state whose denizens inscrutably live in perverse farmhouses with putrid enclosed porches that smell like someone's nearly-dead Grandma. Iowa, you will recall, gave us John Kerry for our nominee and then traitorously turned and voted for Bush on November 2.

I was in Vilsack's trashy little state in January, wearing the orange hat for Howard Dean. Dean is also being pushed for DNC chair by the Jesse Jacksons, Bill Richardson, and Donna Brazile. Dean's ability to fundraise and his fiery partisan loyalty make him a natural choice. Nancy Pelosi apparently realized this several months ago, but has now had her mind changed by Kerry.

Dean's fierce loyalty to Democratic populism compelled him to work his tail off for Kerry, despite bad blood stemming from the Kerry campaign's dirty tricks during the Iowa caucuses. Even after losing the nomination, Dean kept right on campaigning for the Democratic ticket. Right after winning the nomination, Kerry went snowboarding.

Vilsack pretended neutrality during the Iowa caucuses, but his wife openly supported Kerry. And the Vilsacks delivered Iowa to the Massachusetts Senator in January. They could not do so in November, but no matter. The bills are due, and Kerry is paying back the man who handed him the nomination. It matters not that he must, once again, stab in the back a man who swallowed more pride for the good of the party than John Kerry will ever have.

This is ugly, ugly, ugly. John Kerry lost. He would have done even worse on November 3 had it not been for the spine transplant given him and the other Dems by Dr. Dean. The Republican-lite philosophy exemplified by Vilsack has been thoroughly repudiated time and time and time again. If we nominate a man whose website now features a box titled "Strengthening Iowa Values," we will continue down that ignominious path. We might as well nominate Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller. It's death to the party. It's also a slap in the face to all of us who bit our tongues and worked our grass-roots off for Kerry despite knowing in our heart of hearts that he was exactly this sort of a son of a bitch.

SPACEDARK

Dear Dr. James Dobson

Dear Dr. Dobson CLICK AND SCROLL DOWN

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.

1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual cleanliness - Lev.15:19-24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.

4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don.t agree. Can you settle this?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn.t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev.20:14)

Best,
Prodigal Son

What he said

As seen on BARTCOP

Hey, Bush voter, enjoy your tax cuts and moral values now because:

When the public school doesn’t have money for textbooks… When you don’t have money for a private school…

When you are forced to have your rapist’s child… When your parents have to choose between food and medicine…

When you are forced to work in a hazardous work environment… When your job gets sent to China…

When your child is drafted and dies in an un-necessary, illegal war… When you get sick due to the environment…

When you get sicker due to corporate malfeasance and lack of government oversight… When a treatable, but expensive medical condition debilitates you…

When you can’t get insurance because you couldn’t afford to fund your private account… When you are turned away at the emergency room for lack of insurance…

When you can’t get unemployment benefits because the program was killed… When you can’t get SSDI, because your private account is too small…

When you can’t find a job that pays the bills… When you can’t buy food because food stamps no longer exist…

When your son is thrown in jail for being gay… When your daughter dies from a botched abortion…

When you are homeless because Section 8 no longer exists… When bankruptcy laws don’t allow you to clear your debt…

When you can’t afford a lawyer and none is afforded to you… When you are put in prison to work off your debts…

When the prison has too few guards and you are routinely tortured… When you retire on your private account and a well-connected CEO takes the money…

Don’t ask the Democrats for help. It is not that they don’t want to help; they can’t; so they wont. Sit back and enjoy the “Neo-Con Show Part II”.

-Prodigal Son

RIGHT ON!

Feeling angry?

Read this great rant (not suitable for work, got some cussin') CLICK HERE

-Prodigal Son

Re: How Democratic Party can get back in the game

Greg Sagan's piece in this morning's AGN made some good points, but I take exception to other parts of it.

Sagan asks whether or not Kerry's failure to reach out to middle America is the fault of candidate or the party, and later asserts that Kerry "blew it." I disagree. If major fault lies with anyone on our side it is the Dems who picked the "safe" candidate in the first couple of primaries that set the tone for the others. I don't know anyone who had Kerry as their first pick. He's a stuffy, preppy millionaire and does little to counteract that image. Bush is every bit the wealthy, Ivy League-educated elitist that Kerry is, but he comes off like Tom Arnold, and a lot of the dopes out there bought into that. After 9/11 and the 2002 elections things were looking pretty bleak for the Dems and Kerry took back a lot of ground.

We've been bashing ourselves a lot over the past week. What did Kerry do wrong? What did we do wrong? What did we miss? I have a thought: What if we did a lot of things right? Instead of pointing a finger at ourselves let's point a finger at the people who gave Bush a second term despite his astounding record of failure, because when it comes down to it, it's their damn fault. Some voted for him simply because he is Republican, others because they are jerkoffs who believe in his jerkoff policies. How many voted for him because their preacher told them to? How many voted for him because they are just plain stupid?

Sagan states that the Dems need to start defining themselves instead of letting the Repubs do it for them. I couldn't agree more. Dems have been painted as a party of snobs, elitists, hippies and Hollywood celebrities. Kerry's status as a wealthy New England aristocrat certainly didn't help matters. We need to demonstrate to the country that the vast majority of us are average working Joe's and Jane's and one of the best ways to do that is to get more us involved in running for office. Where is it written that the only people who can represent us are lawyers and wealthy business men? Not only do we need to make our own definitions of liberalism and progressivism, but we also need to do to right-wingers what they have done to us. We need to define them as the borrow-and-spend, bigoted, freedom-hating conservatives they are.

Sagan then suggests that Dems abandon the defense of the minimum wage. This is wrong for two reasons. First, I don't think we should concede anything to the Repubs. You give them an inch and they take a mile. You extend your hand to them and they will bite it off. We give them nothing from this point forward. Secondly, any kind reduction in the minimum wage is going to cause an increase in the number of America's working poor. It will do nothing to slow the jobs moving overseas. The jobs being lost these days aren't minimum wage jobs. They're professional and union jobs that paid well above the minimum. The minimum wage may be the only safety net that keeps people from starving even though they work 40 hr/wk at some McJob.

I don't know if I agree with Sagan's assertion that Dems should "give up the low row in campaigning." The fact of the matter is negative campaign ads work. Look what it got Bush. We should fill 2006 with the most vicious, black-hearted attack ads in the history of politics.

blogarillo

And awaaaay we go!

My feelings about black wednesday?

My personal feeling is that a slight majority of this country apparently craves a Christian Taliban. And with the gains Republicans made last week, they might get it.

And Republicans have wasted NO TIME. . .
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Druggists are now refusing to dispense Birth Control Pills CLICK HERE

Bush is now blocking assisted suicide law. CLICK HERE

Pro-life crowd is Pro-Death for doctors who do abortions. CLICK HERE

Unwed pregnant women and gays should not be allowed to teach in public schools CLICK HERE

Creationism not evolution now mainstream for our kids! CLICK HERE

America (sniff!) I miss ya!

GET MAD! FIGHT THIS WITH ME!

-Prodigal Son

You Say You Want a Cultural Civil War?

Republicans keep saying they want a cultural war.

Well, it's on.

SPACEDARK

Hey Kids 18 to 24 years old !

All you 18-24 year old kids that registered, but did not bother to show up and serve your country by voting. . . enjoy the draft!

Yep, and enjoy your maiming injury or death in a ME country so's Dickie boy can get his $$!

And with your shrinking good paying job prospects, you HAVE to go into the military. Hope that works out for you!

Hope you get a thrill outta having no affordable health insurance so your kiddo with a chronic problem suffers.

Ahhhh . . . breathe in that scent of republicans at work. . . POLLUTION! ENJOY!

And ya gotta love that ol' time religion! You just KNOW that the fundies will now be completely calling the shots, helllooo Torqamada, this kid looks different over here! She must be a WITCH!

Once again, generation Y, gotta say keep up the slacking and YOU TOO can visit sunny gitmo for protesting !!!

Love,
Prodigal Son

AGN's Struggle with Definitions - one more time!

On today's front page (Friday, November 5th) the Globe said "President ready to push his slate after his decisive win." DECISIVE? One percentage point above 50%? - One percentage point above half the voters that voted against him? And, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Bush's victory was "the narrowest win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916." The Globe isn't using the same dictionary the rest of the world is using! Give me a break!

The Liberalator

Political Capital

"I earned capital in the campaign -- political capital -- and now I intend to spend it,"

Oh, my god...that just scares the hell out of me. This is going to be a rough four years. Looking for the positive in this is proving difficult, but it is there. We got beat, but we didn't get trounced. Let them think they have a mandate...they don't. 49% of the voters in this country hate the ground Bush walks on. Barack Obama trashed Alan Keyes in Illinois. If there was one thing that made me smile on election night it was Alan Keyes' concession speech.

The gloating in the AGN will start soon enough, so brace yourselves. We can take at least a small amount of comfort in knowing that those Archie Bunkers out there are going to have their butts handed to them by the party they support. Their Republican vote isn't admission into some kind of exclusive club. They won't be shielded from anything. Health care costs will soar into the stratospehere. Manufacturing and professional jobs that pay a decent wage will continue to hemorrage overseas. Record deficits will merely add to our already monstrous national debt. The conflict in Iraq is just going to get worse. Anytime one of these things jumps up to bite them on the ass we need to be there to say, "Go talk to your president."

Another thing that spacedark pointed out earlier has been picked up elsewhere. Mac Thornberry ran without opposition. That can't happen in 2008. We've got four years to find someone to run against him. This is a big area and there has to be someone around here who can do it. Money shouldn't be a concern. Not with Kos and Atrios and Air America. People will donate just to make him come home and fight and drain Republican resources away from battleground states.

We can do it.

blogarillo

in four-and-a-half months . . .

. . . a small news item at the bottom of page A-12 will report that a media consortium has found that massive numbers of "machine errors" in Ohio almost certainly gave Bush a second "victory" he did not actually win.

And it will be too damned late to do anything about it.


SPACEDARK

I knew Jesus back when He was cool

A poster on dKos today said that she couldn’t understand the emotions she was feeling over the election until she suddenly realized that she was in mourning – in mourning for her dead country. Dramatic as that statement is, I respect and understand it. But it doesn’t express quite what I have been feeling.

I do understand her grappling with finding a way to describe her feelings. I’ve been doing that, too, trying to understand the strange mix of sadness, disorientation, and nostalgia I’ve been feeling along with the understandable anger and despair.

And, finally, late this afternoon, I got it. Living in Amarillo, Texas I haven’t experienced this feeling often, so it took me awhile: I was homesick.

Homesick. Homesick for the America I used to know and believe in.

It didn’t help that the election took place the week that we “fell back” from daylight savings time. It feels like the election of George W. Bush actually made this world a darker place.

I miss the America I sang about as a child, the purple mountain majesties, the land of the free, the home of the brave. Maybe that America was always more dream than reality; still, I miss it.

And I miss Jesus. I miss the Jesus I knew as a kid growing up in a small Midwestern generic Protestant church. But Jesus, like an old high school friend who made it big, has changed. I don’t care much for today’s Jesus—the one who hates gays and democrats and Moslems. I miss the Jesus who loved all the little children of the world, red and yellow, black and white. And Arabic children. And probably even Heather-who-has-two-mommies.

I’m thinking of one of the last Jefferson Starship tunes – from the moment right before they irredeemably became Starship:

I’d like to see Jesus and Mohammed on the road to Damascus.
What do you think they would say?
Would they fight with knives clenched in their teeth,
Like Jews and Arabs today?
Or would they walk and talk
Like philosophers and thinkers. . . ?

But those lyrics are so old-school. Philosophers? Thinkers? They belonged to another age: the Enlightenment. I'm also homesick for such a time.

Because it's apparently time to write an elegy for that Age of Reason.

SPACEDARK

From the mailbox . . . What was Prodigal Son saying about "Praise Jesus" being the new "Sieg Heil"? 

YOU CAN HAVE MY DEMOCRACY

when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

That day certainly seems much closer now. And that day might yet come.

But not today.

Keep fighting -- because you have children;
Keep fighting -- because you will have children;
Keep fighting -- because America always was more dream than reality;
Keep fighting -- because empire kills;
Keep fighting -- because reason, art and intellect are what makes us human;
Keep fighting -- because science saves;
Keep fighting -- because you have gay friends, or
Keep fighting -- because you are gay;
Keep fighting -- because you have female friends and lovers or because you are female;
Keep fighting -- for all people, red and yellow, black and white . . .
Keep fighting -- because the best things in life aren't things;
Keep fighting -- for a billion billion reasons, but, ultimately,
Keep fighting -- because there's nothing else to do.

SPACEDARK

checklist for america's future 

The nightmare continues...

Kerry just conceded.

I'm depressed. I'm disappointed. I'm horrified. The past four years have been bad enough. It's just going to get worse.

I want to vent some more, but I think I need to cool off and really mull things over. One thing is certain: If the dopes in this country are going to drag us into the abyss with them we are going to kick and scream the whole down. 2006 starts today.

blogarillo

Count Every Vote

No screwing around county by county. No stopping the count. Just count every frickin' ballot.

SPACEDARK

Election Morning

7:30 am on 11/02/2004

Well, I got out my vote this morning. Despite the nasty weather and somewhat early hour there were a fair number of people showing up at Paramount Terrace Elementary School to fill out their ballots.

The suspense is killing me...

blogarillo

I Won't Be Voting Today

Okay, I'll vote for John Kerry, obviously. And I'll be voting for Elaine King Miller for State Senator. And I'll vote for Abe Lopez for District Judge. And I'll certainly vote for kick-butt Dean Dozen candidate David Van Os for Texas Supreme Court.

But several of the races in this godforsaken part of the world feature Republicans running unopposed. And some of those Republicans say things like this:

Gays & Lesbians have taken over Washington. They even infiltrate the offices of the Congressmen. Some of the Congressmen told me with tears in their eyes of how women had been hired to seduce the Christian Congressmen so they could be caught in compromising situations. They also shared how money would show up in unmarked envelopes to get them to vote in favor of Gay & Lesbian agendas...

That's Rev. Joe Kirkwood, running for County Commissioner in Precinct Three of my county. And Mike Shumate, running unopposed for Sheriff of Potter County, first came to public attention in a series of ads for Crimestoppers in which he openly mocked the Bill of Rights:

Some people think Crimestoppers uses methods like airborne surveillance, hidden cameras, and their own neighbors turning them in . . . well, maybe we do (my transcription, from memory).

I won't bubble in the circles next to these dudes' names. I haven't voted for a Republican since at least 1998, and I won't start this year. I'm certainly no hero for taking this stance. It's the fault of all local Democrats, myself included, that we don't have a choice in these races. Howard Dean's Election Day column comments on something I've often said in response to the clichéd "if you don't vote you can't complain." Voting takes no heroic effort. True participatory democracy requires more:

On an A - F scale, voting gets a "D". It is the bare minimum required to keep our democracy alive. To grow and thrive, ordinary Americans need to run for office.

It's all of our faults that we'll be stuck with Joe Kirkwood, et al. Even though I abstain from voting in those races I won't feel guilty about complaining. But I challenge myself and all other local Democrats to find someone to run in those races next time.

SPACEDARK

And the winner will be?

It is Election Day Eve and I feel like a kid a Christmas. What will we get tomorrow? The Atari 2600 we begged our parents for...or a lump of coal? I want to be optimistic and call it for Kerry, but I really don't know. Cross your fingers...

blogarillo

Election Day

You know what to do.

PANHANDLE TRUTH SQUAD

P.S. We're Texas -- not by any stretch of the imagination a swing state. But you still must vote. Because we have to win the popular vote to give Kerry his mandate. Look how much world-destroying Geo. Bush did without a mandate. What can the "#1 Liberal in the Senate" accomplish if he has one? Universal Health Care, anyone?

Remember the ultimate goal: these Republicans must go the way of the Whigs. A solid popular vote victory will take us a long way toward that goal.

Another WTF moment from the AGN editorial staff

Yesterday, John Kanelis ran an editorial in which he allegedly criticized the use and abuse of religion to demonize other candidates:

Everyone should take something unique from an overtly spiritual message. Each of us interprets Scripture differently. Faith means different things to different people . . . Do not say that God is on your side in a political campaign and cast your opponents as devil-worshipers just because you disagree with them over
earthly political issues.

Of course, Geo. Bush and his Republican party are the Genghis Khans of using religion to political effect. Did Kanelis point this out? To be fair-- not that we're in the habit of being fair to the AGN-- yes:

Earlier this year, at the Republican National Convention, a GOP delegate from Randall County was quoted as saying, "If you believe in God, you'll vote for George W. Bush."

A couple of years ago, I heard someone at the church I attend actually question whether a politician was a true Christian merely because he is a Democrat.

Nice.

But Kanelis also pandered to his religious right readership by cackling about some religious comedian's "joke" that he'd "even found a Democrat who had been saved." Heh. Kanelis wasn't criticizing the "joke." He though it was funny.

It wasn't. This little joke lights Kanelis's indignant column about politics and religion aglow with hypocrisy.

SPACEDARK

Kerry 298 Bush 231

Acording to today's electoral-vote.com. New Mexico, which will go Kerry, still shows up as tied, so that's five more votes.

But the best part? We win even if Bush steals Florida.

SPACEDARK

Fair and Balanced? One more time

Sunday, October 31st one the front page above the fold "Bush says reject Kerry 'stand by me,'" and below the fold "Kerry to move fast on security if elected." Yeah, fair and balanced.

The Liberalator