The Role Of Government

Some of the rights' rhetoric against government would lead you to think no government would be preferable to having one. I see it more as what kind of government do you have. From President Kennedy:

"There are three great areas of our domestic affairs in which, today, there is a danger that illusion may prevent effective action. They are, first, the question of the size and the shape of government's responsibilities; secondly, the question of public fiscal policy; and third, the matter of confidence in America.".........
"How do we eradicate the barriers which separate substantial minorities of our citizens from access to education and employment on equal terms with the rest?"
"How can we make our free economy work at full capacity -- that is, provide adequate profits for enterprise, adequate wages for labor, and opportunity for all?".........
What is at stake in our economic decisions today is not some grand warfare of rival ideologies which will sweep the country with passion, but the practical management of a modern economy. What we need is not labels and clichés but more basic discussion of the sophisticated and technical questions involved in keeping a great economic machinery moving ahead."

When we all demand that the government be of, by and for the people again we will see a good government. Until then government will be a thing to be despised. A government run by some other interest.

Time For A New Adventure

Something sent to me by another of my midwestern friends. Glad to see you guys getting active. Thanks Frank.

From the close of a recent Bill Mahr show:

"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more
money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war
because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your
term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to
your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's
speaking to you. Mission accomplished.

"Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk
away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the
baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job.
How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so
many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please
don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with
Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space
program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving
embryos the vote.

"But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern
like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you
haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a
man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an
entire city to rising water and snakes.

"On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four
airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New
Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this
country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the
other side.

"So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.' "

How the right can even attempt to justify/qualify/apologist for this bunch is mind boggling. Hell, these guys aren't even conservatives, as a quick peek at the facts and comparison to conservative values should quickly confirm. They are the Democrats best friends. (grin)

Will Roswell Respond?

Lonna writes:

Saturday there will be huge anti-war demonstrations in Washington and around the country.

To support this cause, on Saturday, Sept. 24th from around noon until 2 p.m. or later -- aiming for the largest gathering to be at 2 p.m., -- on the sidewalks of North Main, we in Roswell, New Mexico, will be having a "Take Back our Country," event. It will be a "Take Back Our Country," "Bring the Troops Home," "Support Our Troops!! Impeach the Administration That Lied Them to Their Deaths and Maimings," demonstration.

When I gave my speech in Santa Fe on Labor Day, and the Abq. Journal reporter interviewed me, she said she thought there were no activists in the city of Roswell -- that the people of Roswell were complacent and never did activist things.

I am hoping hundreds of people will have the courage to come out and show her she is wrong!! Thousands would be nice!! I hope to see the apex of this huge gathering at 2 o'clock that day!!

I will be there with my "Republican" truck from 8 a.m. or so on. I will have impeach petitions for people to sign.

We do not want Bush impeached because he is a Republican, we want him impeached because he has proven himself to be incompetent over and over again. In every area. And dishonest. Many good Republicans recognize this, and, for the sake of the country all Americans love, they, too, want Bush/Cheney GONE!!

Please bring your own anti-war, anti-Bush signs. Please no profanity, and it must be a peaceful demonstration. IF we are cursed at, we will have to "consider the source" -- many Bush supporters are nasty as well as ignorant -- and take it.

Please tell all your friends and tell them to tell all their friends. E-mail them, phone them and tell them to keep the message going. Also, put up notices where you can. If anyone wants to stand in the medians during the week with a poster about it, feel free.

Now I Get It!

Thanks Tim

This really does explain it all.

Looking For Answers

Concerning the "Time to come together" post below:

First I think we need to understand that it is ok to be conservative in some areas. Economics is certainly an area. Being properly polite and humble(at one time this was a conservative virtue) is another. It should also be understood that it is good to be liberal. Especially when it comes to personal freedom and liberty. Those rights should be dispensed liberally.
Now some thoughts on how to make America strong again. First we must agree that government is there as a tool organized of the people, by the people and for the people. Then this tool should be used only for the common good. What does that mean in the Gulf Coast rebuilding. It means jobs go to local or regional companies with local or regional workers so free enterprise gets a real chance to flourish. It means that these situations where taxpayer money is used that there is honest oversight on the money spent. It means that it is done as economically as possible while at the same time making sure that the future is safe and environmentally sound. It means that people are paid a wage that helps them recover. That the work they do is something they can take pride in when they are finished. It means we look for the newest and best science and technology to get the job done and use an overall model that will make the cities less dependent on fossil fuels and more on advanced technology. And it means, even if it costs a bit more, that we use American made products and resources to the largest extent possible. If this gets done by the money grabbers and muli national corporations we will continue to have pain and bickering. If this project is done with Americans, for Americans, it will be something we can all be proud of and something that could provide a boost to our country now and in the future.

Lots Of Unamericans

From the CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll:

Just 41 percent of the 818 adults polled between Friday and Monday said they approved of Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while 57 percent disapproved.
And support for his management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32 percent, with 67 percent telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is prosecuting the conflict...
Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake. That figure is the highest recorded in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.
Only 39 percent said the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do. Sixty-three percent said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country.
Just 35 percent of those polled approved of Bush's handling of the economy, with 63 percent saying they disapproved.
Bush's overall job approval number was 40 percent, with 58 percent of those surveyed telling pollsters they disapproved of his performance in office. It is the second time his approval rating has hit that low a mark.....
Fifty-four percent told pollsters they would cut spending for the war in Iraq to pay for disaster relief.
Thirty percent favored a full U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and slightly more -- 33 percent -- said they would support a partial withdrawal.

Are we cheering the failure of our pResident? No, he failed us a long time ago. We are cheering the fact that more and more Americans are finally seeing through the mighty propaganda machine. Remember if you criticize our president during a time of war you are unamerican. I guess a majority of Americans are now unamerican. Hopefully we can now put the end to that silly dribble.

Time To Come Together

From Digby:

Yesterday morning a friend sent me the following article from the Wall Street Journal:
After Katrina, Republicans Back a Sea of Conservative IdeasBy JOHN R. WILKE and BRODY MULLINS Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNALSeptember 15, 2005; Page B1Congressional Republicans, backed by the White House, say they are using relief measures for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf coast to achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies, both in the storm zone and beyond.Some new measures are already taking shape. In the past week, the Bush administration has suspended some union-friendly rules that require federal contractors pay prevailing wages, moved to ease tariffs on Canadian lumber, and allowed more foreign sugar imports to calm rising sugar prices. Just yesterday, it waived some affirmative-action rules for employers with federal contracts in the Gulf region.Now, Republicans are working on legislation that would limit victims' right to sue, offer vouchers for displaced school children, lift some environment restrictions on new refineries and create tax-advantaged enterprise zones to maximize private-sector participation in recovery and reconstruction. Yesterday, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would offer sweeping protection against lawsuits to any person or organization that helps Katrina victims without compensation."The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who leads the Republican Study Group, an influential caucus of conservative House members. "We want to turn the Gulf Coast into a magnet for free enterprise. The last thing we want is a federal city where New Orleans once was."Many of the ideas under consideration have been pushed by the 40-member study group, which is circulating a list of "free-market solutions," including proposals to eliminate regulatory barriers to awarding federal funds to religious groups housing hurricane victims, waiving the estate tax for deaths in the storm-affected states; and making the entire region a "flat-tax free-enterprise zone."Members of the group met in a closed session Tuesday night at the conservative Heritage Foundation headquarters here to map strategy. Edwin Meese, the former Reagan administration attorney general, has been actively involved.Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R., Kan.) said that the plans under development "are all part of a philosophy of lowering costs for doing business." ............In response, Democrats are pressing for other proposals that suit their ideology. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois has suggested creating a national emergency airlift program so that U.S. airlines can help evacuate Americans from areas before a natural disaster strike. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu unveiled a plan that would, among other things, preserve victims' Medicaid health coverage, provide $2,500 education grants to displaced students and give victims a 180-day extension on outstanding loan payments................Some of the proposals are unlikely to win quick passage. But congressional tax-writing committees hope to approve legislation within days to offer $5 billion in tax relief and other aid to residents of areas hit by the storm. The legislation would, among other things, let victims withdraw money from retirement accounts without penalty, give tax incentives to those who house evacuees and give companies incentives to hire displaced workers.Republicans, meanwhile, say they will also press for a new round of energy concessions, including incentives to rebuild and expand offshore drilling and clear the way for new refineries that were dropped from a 500-page energy bill that passed last month.............House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton of Texas and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe are working on bills that would encourage refineries to build new plants and expand existing ones by rolling back environmental rules and making it easier for refineries to navigate regulatory channels in Washington.Republicans hope Hurricane Katrina prods Congress to approve a second energy bill this fall that includes several provisions that were dropped from the first bill. ..............Then last night Bush gave a speech which many liberals are lauding, and conservatives are decrying, as a capitulation to liberal ideals..............I was confused. I had read that article in the morning, after all. Then I came home and fired up the creaky computer and saw that Karl Rove was in charge of the rebuilding effort. Ah. Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative" pushing the slogan of the very liberal Children's Defense Fund as one of his signature issues (No Child Left Behind.) He's always used liberal rhetoric and programmatic boilerplate to sell himself as a "new kinda Republican." It's just that being kinder and gentler has been out of fashion since he donned the codpiece after 9/11. There is nothing new in this. And it is in no sense some sort of capitulation................ Karl Rove knows what works --- and they know that the dipshit pundits love it when a Republican says it because anything counter-intuitive becomes "bold" and "politically courageous." And, I thought we all understood by now that there is no relationship between what the Republicans say and what they do. The model we should look at is the Coalition Provisional Government in Iraq. That too was going to be a bold and courageous experiment in laissez-faire wet-dream governance. Instead it was the biggest boondoggle in history with more than 8.8 billion dollars officially unaccounted for and undoubtedly tens of billions more wasted on fraud and corruption. Bush's base, by which I mean corporate America, did very, very well. They will undoubtedly do well in Boondoggle Part Two as well. I cannot believe that any liberal in the country would take George W Bush's word about anything at this point.

Well, nobody thought George Bush had suddenly turned into a Liberal did they? I'd be willing to look at the ideas they have and maybe even come part way. I think their bully/bulldozer way they and their supporters come across is a detriment to me wanting to play with them. Things have been so propagandised these days that I think we need a whole new look at the whole idea of conservative and liberal philosophy.
I can without hesitation say I like the free enterprise system and appreciate its positives towards business and society. I can also say that I believe in a nation and society that cares for each other and helps build their nation together. How do we find the best of both worlds and do something we can all be proud of? Let's talk about this before the pundit, opinionspinners, liberal media, conservative media, politicans get ahold of it and tell you what to think. I'll give you time to comment before I give you my thoughts.

Coffee Table

Whatever pops up!

Reading Room

Hard to rebuild a country in the middle of a civil war.

No it's not political. This is all for the "good of the country". You can volunteer your money for the war.

The only other reason for the delays - and it's a nasty notion - is that FEMA is intentionally foot-dragging the response so people will get fed up and give Bush the 'expanded role of the military' he seems to want so badly.
Wow, I'm not the only one with this theory!

Yep, This was a great plan.

They love that buses story don't they!- By the way it took SIX thousand buses 3 days to evacuate the 100,000 people..and some are still there.

Now if we are only smart enough to pick the good from the bad we're set!

Will Americans Take Their Country Back?

When you vote for people who profess to hate anything government does you get people who care nothing about governing. Here

Adversity builds character," goes the old adage. Except that in America today we seem to be following the opposite principle. The worse things get, the more frivolous our response. President Bush explains that he will spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding the Gulf Coast without raising any new revenues. Republican leader Tom DeLay declines any spending cuts because "there is no fat left to cut in the federal budget."

Bush will go down in history as the most fiscally irresponsible chief executive in American history. Since 2001, government spending has gone up from $1.86 trillion to $2.48 trillion, a 33 percent rise in four years!...........Bush is not the only one to blame. Congressional spending is now completely out of control. The federal coffers are being looted for congressional patronage, and it is being done openly and without any guilt. The highway bill of 1982 had 10 "earmarked" projects—the code word for pork. The 2005 one has 6,371. .......The U.S. Congress is a national embarrasment, except that no one is embarrassed.

There are a few men of conscience left......Today's Republicans believe in pork, but they don't believe in government. So we have the largest government in history but one that is weak and dysfunctional. Public spending is a cynical game of buying votes or campaign contributions, an utterly corrupt process run by lobbyists and special interests with no concern for the national interest. ......

It is time to get serious. We need to secure the homeland, fight terrorism and have an effective foreign policy to advance our interests and our ideals. We also need a world-class education system, a great infrastructure and advancement in science and technology. For all its virtues, the private sector cannot accomplish all this. Wal-Mart and Federal Express cannot devise a national energy policy for the United States. For that and for much else, we need government. We already pay for it. Can somebody help us get our money's worth?

I often say that this administration is in power just to raid the peoples treasury. I'm then often called a (pick your adjective) Liberal. So be it, call it what you want but I fail to see how anyone with a hit of objectivity could deny it. My only rationalization is that there is a form of brainwashing going on in the "liberal media". They aren't conservatives!!! They are your dreaded New World Order!

Links

I have been trying to get a links bar on the side of this thing to no success. I even asked for assistance from someone who knows far more than me( which doesn't take much). To no success. I have decided to once a week post some links each week. I home they will keep you sufficiently informed and entertained. Thanks to everybody who has been reading and commenting. WE are America.

One of my very favorite Blogger/Commentors Digby.

Sadly, I could care less, but it's a handy research tool.

My crazy life. You'll notice lots of people moving.

Yep, I look at Drudge. He did a great job of compiling links, and the other stuff? Well ya just gotta look even if it is just curiosity.

And A site that has a bit of Drudge with a different focus. I love Sploid !