Liberty

Watching the coverage of the Teri Schivo case. Jeb Bush made an either odd or stupid statement, call it what you will. He said, as close as I can remember, 'While I understand people may have differing views on this, I think we as a society ought to value life.' Well hell yes! I think the people who don't value life are definitely the bad guys. The problem is we have the same situation on this end as we do at the other end of "life". That is, when is it a "life". Is she for all practical purposes at the end of her life?
If a person MUST be kept alive as long as they stay warm what kind of numbers might we have at some point? I'm not saying we should have an expiration date. As a matter of fact I think we should do all we can to keep people alive if that is what is wished. This man has made a moral decision. Not moral by right or wrong but moral as in personal decision on what is right. The idea that the government should be pushing people around like this is outrageous . These truly are the radical republicans. This is not a life case, this is a "life" case. Disagree with his decision if you wish. Vow you would never do the same thing, but with the factors in this case as they are it sure looks to me like the rethugs are pushing there morality as what should be law. Do we really want to go here? This is why we must be a nation of laws and not theocracy. Do you really value individual liberty or are you one that just mouths the words? Lets take the spin and emotionalism out of this for a moment. Can't the family work this out? If not what should the law be on who makes the decision? If we are to have individual liberty those are the questions we must answer. So I say to you, what is the answer.

Our Friends

I'd like to invite you to visit one of our friends from right here in Roswell that is taking the fight seriously. For plenty of thought provoking reading visit The Black Flag. Make sure you click on the stuff in the sidebar too.
Thanks Lefty, let's organize!

Random Thoughts

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have been discouraged lately by current events. I hate being a Debby Downer. I prefer to point out a problem and try to offer possible solutions. I also enjoy hearing others thoughts on things so I can see different perspectives or at least if others see it like I do. I encourage you to post your comments on the articles. You can do it without revealing your identity if you wish.
We have the Atlanta shootings, the Wisconsin Church Shooting and the Administration trying to cause us to fear a terrorist attack and hope Daddy Bush will protect us. I've said it on the radio show before. I was shocked that America turned out to be so fearful of terrorism. We've had it here for a long time. The KKK, The SLA, Ted Bundy, Ted Kazinski, Tim McVeigh, The current neonazi and paramilitary groups who train in America every week. Now we have the 2 above mentioned incidents. Let's stop those that create terrorism here and the heck with the ones overseas. But by going over there we are stopping them from doing it here.? Really? How do you figure? Whats to stop them from doing it here tomorrow if they want to? Idiot argument that is just mouthed from person to person without any thought about the facts whatsoever.
Gas is 2.08, down from 2.11 here in Roswell. I've talked to people and talked to people who have talked to people and it's making everybody pretty damned sour. The mood seems pretty glum around here. Combine it with the trade deficit. Bolton at the UN. Wolfy at the world bank. We're headed for a fall. Like I said, I hate to be a Debby Downer but I see our worst fears and predictions of another Bushco Administration coming to fruition. Oh wait, Democracy is breaking out in the Middle East! Is it? I hope so. I'm not too confident that it would be much of a solution to all that is happening now if it is.
What is worse is it's all being sidelined by a far less imminent threat of Social Security. Just partially repeal the rich mans tax cuts and we've solved the problem. By the way, have you noticed that all George will do is talk. He won't really put forward a plan. There is none! Let's divert the peoples attention as long as possible.
I will have more when I work through all the muck. Please read the Anwar post below for a positive solution to a negative situation.

Bankruptcy Bill

What a crime. Committed by our own. It's no wonder that people have a hard time being enthusiastic about Democrats when they do something like this. Not all Dems voted for this but way too many(18) did. This bill allows the credit card companies and lenders to put the screws to low and middle income people and allows the rich to shelter assets in bankruptcy. Many on the right also see the crime being committed here. Note Tacitus. 50% of the bankruptcies filed now come from medical costs. Wouldn't it be a good idea to attack that problem first? If you want to know the size of the con job being worked on the American people here I encourage you to read these comments from Senator Russ Feingold. Under the bill as written even people that are victims of identity theft are under obligation..for debt they did not even create!
More good reading related to this and ratings on Democratic Senators so far are in this article from Jim Hightower. Also note this.
People should be responsible and pay their debts. That however should include ALL people. Situations out of ones control such as health bills and stolen identity et al should be taken into account. This whole thing is possibly the least "populist" thing I have seen in years. It's no wonder that all of those I look to for common sense agree that this is a vile, disgusting bill.

Coffee Table

Come on in and discuss whatever you think needs to be talked about. Hit that comments button!

Sex Ed Or Smut

From the rightblog Townhall:

This is absolutely unbelievable. It appears Montgomery County (Maryland) public schools can implement a new sex education curriculum singing the praises of condom use and homosexuality, and, apparently, teaching about anal sex, but state taxpayers who write the school board to complain of such trash are being censored due to inappropriate content in their emails!
That's right. Here's the exact message I sent to the Montgomery County Board of Education last night after being informed by a member of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum that the school district intends to instruct children in the practice of anal sex:
Dear Montgomery County BOE [cc: Gov. Robert Ehrlich]:I strongly oppose your use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate Maryland's public school students with the Left's visions of a hypersexualized society, including discussion of anal sex and the like. It is absurd that our schools would provide our kids with the knowledge to indulge in their basest fantasies, much less neglect to educate them about the potentially disastrous consequences of having sex out of wedlock. And please don't attempt to justify these actions; I'm a former Maryland public school teacher from St. Mary's County and am well aware of how our districts operate. It is because of ridiculousness such as this that I am now a "former" teacher in Maryland.http://www.therightreport.com/bothwell/2005/03/liberal_indoctr.htmlBest,Trevor BothwellHost, therightreport.com
Now, here's an automatically generated email that I received from the board of education's email administrator informing me that my message was not delivered due to "inappropriate content."
The message referenced in the details below was not delivered due to inappropriate content. It surpassed the threshold set in the Adult Content dictionary.
The action on the message fell into the following category:
Messages that were dropped (Content Filtering)
If you believe the message was blocked in error, please resend it to "Help_Desk@fc.mcps.k12.md.us" and include the name of the intended recipient so it can be forwarded.
E-mail Administrator, Montgomery County Public Schools
I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly which portion of my letter "surpassed the threshold set in the Adult Content dictionary," but my guess is that the words "anal sex" might have had something to do with it.
So, you got that? It's "inappropriate" for one adult to write to a group of adults expressing concern over topics addressed in a school district's curriculum (indeed, the board's own web server admits the terms "anal," "sex," "anal sex," "hypersexualized," or any combination thereof, violate standards of appropriate language laid out in the "Adult Content dictionary" and are thus filtered from receipt by the school board), but it's apparently fine and dandy to reference such terminology in schools filled with impressionable tenth-graders.
Email the Montgomery County Board of Education at boe@fc.mcps.k12.md.us. Oh, and be sure not to offend their delicate sensibilities by mentioning sexual terms that are good enough for our adolescents but not those who thrust this smut upon them.

If true the hypocrisy is fully apparent. I would have no argument with their point here. Next question, what is appropriate. First of all, if most parents would do this the schools wouldn't need to. Let's try to just stick to the facts.
Biological functions i.e. how a baby is born
Sexual contact diseases
Emotional stresses-Economic Stresses involved in a family vs single.
Percentage chance you will have a baby under various circumstances.
Obviously at the top of this list..or the bottom is abstinence. Per cent chance..0.
Teaching somebodys kid to put on a condom is an understandable objection. I figured it out without instruction. That means their odds ought to be pretty good. Anal sex? Needs no discussion because it doesn't result in biological process. Gay question? That should be discussed in theological or political circles and not at sex ed. Once again, does not result in a biological process outside of the afore mentioned sexual contact diseases.
Do even the wingnuts at townhall make sense sometimes? Sure, I'm sensitive to their concerns and even in agreement in some cases. Now I'm just waiting to see how long it takes them to do the same thing.

Conservatives Too?

Some conservatives see through the script and revisionist history too.
Like these.
Of course anyone in opposition are just America haters and freaky fringe guys who don't deserve even a hearing on their thoughts. Thats what Bushco would have you believe anyway.

What We Get Tired Of

The Repuklickuns never make a mistake. If you disagree with them or the pResident you hate America first.

The first thing I want to point out is the following: nothing is ever George Bush's fault. If something bad happens he is not to blame, and neither is anyone associated with him - because he chose them and that would mean he is to blame. Nor can any policy associated with his administration be to blame.

On the radio show I always enjoyed the Clinton haters cuz EVERYTHING was Clintons fault. I use to call it the 6 degrees of Bill Clinton. How few steps can you go, under 6, to lead it back to Bill Clinton. Caller Joe was particularly good at parlor games and a laugh riot.

The second thing that needs to be pointed out is that America's actions cannot be to blame. America does not do anything significant wrong. Therefore America cannot be at fault.
The caveat to number two is that certain people who live in America aren't Americans in the mind of George Bush's supporters. If you're a liberal, if you're gay, if you support abortion rights - you're not American.
Likewise old policies aren't really American - Social Security, Medicare - anything not associated with George Bush in specific and Republicans in general is not really true American.
What's the policy rule of the Bush administration?
The rule is that they know what they want to do already - and that anything that happens is an excuse to do whatever they already wanted to do. Remember the tax cut arguments and how they changed? Remember how the arguments for going to war with Iraq changed? Remember that SS privatization was discussed in the 2000 campaign? Remember how the Patriot Act was ready almost immediately after 9/11 - a huge bill - because it already existed?

Are Dems or others perfect? Certainly not. I don't see them stifling debate on a regular basis or calling those that disagree unamerican. Like it or not all legal U.S. citizens are Americans. As Americans they are entitled to the right of dissent. As a matter of fact dissent is a core principal to American style democracy. Or at least it use to be. That's what scares many of us. As good Americans we MUST fight back.

Follow The Money

Good stuff here allows you to see who is contributing to who in Congress. At the bottom is this link to lookup any Congressperson or Senator you are interested in.

The Scare Bears

"Postponing reform will leave our children with drastic and unpleasant choices: huge tax increases that will kill jobs, massive new borrowing or sudden, painful cuts in Social Security benefits or other programs," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Title of this story? "Bush attacks Social Security scare ads" . Nuf said.