"The federal government should consider aviation security as a national security issue, and provide substantial funding for capital improvements.  The Commission believes that terrorist attacks on civilian aviation are directed towards the United States, and that there should be an ongoing federal commitment to reducing the threats that they pose." -- Gore Commission final report, February 12, 1997

When the Clinton administration tried to pass legislation that would have done what the Gore commission recommended, the Republican controlled congress refused to pass it. They said the $8 billion or so was too expensive. Would one of you Falwell lovers please explain to me why this happened. Better yet, explain it to any of the widows or orphans of 9/11. You bastards should be strapped to the front of a truck and crashed into the next KKK/Skinhead/NRA/Republican convention. Having a lot less of you cheap, greedy bastards around would make this world a better place. While you're explaining your cheap disregard for human life, please explain why Pennsylvania Ave. is still closed. It was in the Republican Party Platform that the street would be reopened. In fact, you pukes called Clinton a coward for closing it (on the recommendation of the Secret Service). Now you chicken shits have decided to keep it closed. Hmmm... How's that crow taste? And while you were calling Clinton a coward, blabbing on about Penn. Ave., here's what the Democrats put in their platform about terrorism:

"Battling Terrorism. Whether terrorism is sponsored by a foreign nation or inspired by a single fanatic individual, such as Osama Bin Laden, Forward Engagement requires trying to disrupt terrorist networks, even before they are ready to attack.

"We must improve coordination internationally and domestically to share intelligence and develop operational plans. We must continue the comprehensive approach that has resulted in the development of a national counter-terrorism strategy involving all arms and levels of our government.

"We must continue to target terrorist finances, break up support cells, and disrupt training. And we must close avenues of cyber-attack by improving the security of the Internet and the computers upon which our digital economy exists.

"As President, Al Gore will tolerate no attack against American interests at home or abroad: terrorists must know that if they attack America, we will never forget. We will scour the world to hunt them down and bring them to justice."

Gee. I wonder where W's strategists and speech writers are getting their material? So, all you dittoheads out there call Rush and ask him what to think about that. Then let me know, OK? Because I can't hear that blob. His blubberings fall on deaf ears here.

Trickle Down Economics still doesn't work

Apparently gun loving red-necks and abortion hating religious fanatics don't care if Shrub drives this economy into the ground giving away billions to his rich buddies. Now they're comparing Daschle to Hussein (real compassionate) for blocking oil wells in the ANWR, and calling him obstructionist because he wants a stimulus bill that actually helps ordinary people who were actually hurting. By hurting, we mean they can't pay their health insurance, can't buy food, can't make the mortgage. Apparently, Bush means can't get that new SUV, can't take the vacation to Europe, or can't move into a bigger million dollar house. Let's take a look at today's AP story where Daschle shurgs off shrubs bullshit. After mentioning that the study Daschle quoted, from Bush's own labor department (which is run by union hating, working people despising, elitist Republican business woman Elaine Chow) said every dollar spent on unemployment benefits puts $2.15 back into the economy, the story continues:

Bush had a study of his own, a two-page white paper [all they could write or all Bush can read?] produced by his Council of Economic Advisers [rich white guys who are good friends of the Resident who pretty much write what they tell them to] that said, without offering detail [sic, because there is no detail for these lies]:
       “The baseline impact of failure to enact the president’s stimulus package is to lower economic growth by roughly half a percentage point [roughly?] between the fourth quarter of 2001 and the fourth quarter of 2002, largely [largely?] due to the loss of investment incentives and accelerating the marginal tax rate [Again, they offered no details or proof for these claims, but, hey, redneck NRA members wouldn't read it anyway].”
       This slower economic growth — less than what private forecasters already anticipate in an economic recovery early next year — will prevent an estimated [Estimated by whom, these right wing assholes who make up stats to support their position because facts won't do it?] 300,000 private-sector jobs from being created, the advisers said. [How many jobs would be created by the 2.15 to one boost the labor bepartment says you get from unemployment insurance?]
       Bush’s proposals for expanded tax deductions on new business investments and for speeding up reduction of the 27 percent tax rate paid by most middle-income families will spur business owners and entrepreneurs to expand operations and hire new workers... [How can they expand operations and hire new workers if no one is buying their goods or services?].

This is trickle down economics again, people. Don't let your love of guns or your hatred of abortion cloud the fact that this man doesn't give a damn about your issues. He only appeases you so you will vote to keep him in office, so he can make his millionaire buddies into billionaires, at your expense. Do you have your assault weapons back? Is abortion still legal and safe? Give it up! This is class war. These rich assholes want to pull an Enron with the whole country. Smoke and mirrors! It isn't even fuzzy math! It's smeared math, designed to make the gullible think these people actually care about the little guy, when all they want is to rape the land and hog the profits. Daschle for President!

"Well, there's one terrible pilot."

Bush says this is what went through his mind when the first plane hit New York's World Trade Center. How dumb is too dumb, folks? Hell, this crack is double dumb. He's dumb for thinking it, and even dumber for saying it. I always imagine Karen Hughes cringing somewhere when he does those things. Hey, but Georgie boy has been on a roll lately. During the campaign he said he would only tap the Social Security surplus in case of war, recession, or national emergency (of course, he said he would support the Kyoto treaty too). Shortly after the terror attacks, Bush said, "Lucky me! I hit the trifecta."

This is compassionate conservatism?

And while he's screwing the working guy, and his buddies over at Enron, who gave him millions to get "elected" are screwing their workers and stockholders, Bush is making sure the NRA gets their way. Ashcroft has refused to let the FBI sort through the gun buyer background checks from the Brady bill to see if terror suspects bought firearms, like their Al Qaida manuals tell them to. Charlton Heston is fucking somebody here. But what can I do? Nothing. I spit on Heston's star on Vine, just south of Hollywood Blvd. But I do that everytime I walk by it. Sometimes it has been pissed or shit on. Yeah, we're really doing a lot to kick Charlton out of the Oval Office. Meanwhile, terrorists may have purchased firearms and we wouldn't know it. Damn dirty republicans. A little aside about Enron: Kenneth Lay, a close friend and major contributor to both Bush presidents made off with over $300 million over the last few years. The top brass did equally as well. Directors included former Treasury Secretary Jim Baker, former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, and former Commodities Future Trading Commissioner Wendy Gramm, wife of Republican Senator Phil Gramm.

In the middle of Ashcroft's double speak about anyone who questions him helping the terrorists, he laid out this little nugget. "Defending our nation and its citizens against terrorist attacks is now our first law enforcement priority." He's a liar.

To pursue his pro-gun agenda, Ashcroft is willing to make himself a hypocrite, misstate the law, defy the FBI and jeopardize his investigation of Al Qaeda. Even the fiercest Ashcroft critics couldn't have imagined it. The FBI is furious, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police has filed a protest." -- Jonathan Alter, MSNBC

Remember, when this right wing nut administration says thery're doing everything in their power to hunt down and stop terrorists, they're lying. They won't even let the FBI do their job. I'm sure somewhere in the white house the wizards of election stealing are figuring that they need evildoers. Without terrorists, Bush's approval rating wouldn't be this high. His reelection depends on having bad guys around and having the NRA convince enough red-necks in backwoods states to take advantage of the fact that their vote counts more than mine.

There's more! These greedy slime ball chicken shit sons of bitches running the country have the balls to stop a bill that would have protected children and teachers from pesticides.

"A congressional committee has killed legislation seeking to protect public school children and staff from certain pesticides. The provision was backed by Democrats, the nation's largest teachers union and even a pesticide group, but it was opposed by Republicans and the National School Boards Association wary of jurisdictional disputes and the possibility of costly, and unfunded, mandates". Jay Feldman, head of the group Beyond Pesticides, said in a statement, 'Children, teachers and school staff deserve the basic health and safety protections that this right-to-know and pest management measure would provide'...the legislation would have required public schools to notify parents about the use of bug-killing chemicals and states to develop a school pest-management plan that considers alternatives to toxic sprays...All Democrats on the committee voted for the legislation, as did one Republican. But all House Republicans voted against the amendment, ensuring its defeat." -- MSNBC

And, these assholes are attacking the man they know could beat them in a fair election. They have to use their money to spread lies about a true American hero who served in the armed forces instead of being AWOL from a little camp his Daddy got him into. He can speak in full, coherent sentances. He cares about people and proposes legislation that actually does something for working people. Obviously, these Republican weasels are scared of this guy, or they wouldn't be smearing him so early.

"In South Dakota last month, newspapers carried political ads featuring side-by-side photographs of Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D). The ads accused Daschle of helping to keep the Iraqi dictator in power by blocking oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The ad campaign -- sponsored in part by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council, a Washington advocacy group -- is part of an escalating attack against Daschle in his home state and elsewhere by conservatives and their allies on Capitol Hill." -- John Lancaster

DASCHLE FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004!

Maybe Ann Richards as VP? Remember, you heard it here first!

All Things Must Pass

Ollie North Says Only Christians Will Go to Heaven

Yeah, he didn't mention whether Christians who smuggled drugs into this country and sold weapons to terrorists would get in. I guess a really bad guy who recants and is saved at the last minute can go to heaven, but kind, gentle, quiet, ethical Muslims will not. These are the kinds of right wing nuts in charge of this country now. Is anybody else sick of this my God is better than your God crap? Break out the Buddy Christ and start recruiting the children for the next crusade! Hey, Ashcroft's already got an inquisition going! Let's have a big hoedown with Falwell and Roberts and all the other perfect people who will want to celebrate the news that they won't have to share heaven with the infidels! I am so sick of these people. I hope they are all in the next building to be attacked by terrorists. At least these assholes have done something to deserve it.... Especially you, Ollie.

Hate Mail

I got this letter today from someone who apparently stumbled into my Bush quotes page:

Mr. Supak,
you can be as angry as you want about this past election, feel slighted, whatever. But how many times does a man have to win an election before he wins the election? The fact is that George Bush is doing an admirable job in dealing with this whole terrorist thing, although you being the liberal that you are will probably be against any kind of agressive action, and i can't even imagine how things would have gone had Gore been elected. I'd place my bet that maybe we'd lob some missiles and forget the whole thing, only so they could do it again. I personally think that the country is much better off with Bush as its leader and i think he has proven his worth and dedication to the American people. Sure, he has trouble with saying things correctly. I find it amusing as well, but we've all said stupid things. we all mess up our grammar and syntax occasionally, but that has no effect on the caliber of person we are. Moreover, the only reason your stupid phrases aren't posted on webpages is that you're not famous enough for it to matter what you say. You don't give interviews in front of cameras or speeches broadcasted nationwide. If you were famous and did have a microphone stuck in your face constantly, then maybe there would be a webpage about you...saldy, the internet is lacking :(
--
Danielle Karnes

Well, I suppose you never heard of the Gore commission report which advocated much tighter security at airports, making screeners federal law enforcement personnel, etc. When Bush stole the election (that's right, the media companies counted all the votes in Florida and Gore won), he tabled the commission findings and even agreed with the airlines that the proposals to save Americans from this threat were too expensive and bad for business. Now Bush and his fellow republicans are trying to give away billions in corporate welfare to profitable companies with no conditions that the money create jobs. This money will just go to the rich people who got him appointed as president, and, if you bother to read the bill, which I notice republicans are loathe to do, you'll see it actually rewards these big companies by making it so they don't have to pay profit on money they move OUT of the country. People are unemployed and unable to get unemployment in many cases. Many of these people are directly affected by the terrorism, and yet your compassionate conservative has said no more money for new york, no money for victims, just money for bombs and his rich friends.

Wake up, sweetie. This country was taken over by an oaf who is controlled by the same extreme right wing nuts that were mad when his Dad turned out to be a moderate.

I suppose you think killing abortion doctors is OK. Because Ashcroft the Pentecost has not investigated the Army of God for the Anthrax hoaxes sent to planned parenthood. Oh, and have you noticed how no one in the right wing got a letter. Only the liberal media and pro-choice politicians. I suppose you don't mind the government telling you what to do with your body. I suppose you don't mind letting people die of diseases that could be cured by stem cell research. I suppose you think it's OK to let Mexican trucks drive all over this country without inspecting them. I suppose you think it's OK to give your hard earned tax dollars to the rich. I suppose you think it's OK that Bush's family is invested in the Carlyle Group which makes money off of war. I suppose you think it's OK to ruin a pristine wilderness to drill for oil we wouldn't need if we increased SUV gas mileage by 3 - yes, just 3 - miles per gallon. I suppose you think it's OK to give children asthma and lung cancer by burning more coal instead of using alternative energy and conservation. I suppose you think it's OK to take billions out of Medicare and Medicaid, leaving poor people and their children with no health care. I suppose you think it's OK to kick people with kids off welfare, leaving them begging and dying in the street. Why don't you tell me where you live so I can send the little 5 year old I saw crying and hungry getting pushed around in a shopping cart by his homeless mother. Oh - wait - I know, you'll send the kid and his mom to church, where they can pray and God will make everything better! I suppose you think everything is OK - you don't worry about the environment, or health care, or any of the other things that actually help Americans. Because you're sure the rich people know best and will take care of you.

As far as what Gore would be doing in this situation, I think it's pretty damn obvious what has to be done here. I could do it. We certainly don't need Jr., who was coked up and AWOL while he was supposed to be in the Air Guard, which his father got him into to keep him out of Nam. Gore was in Nam - volunteered because he knew if he didn't go then someone else in his town would have to. Gore was Army. Bush was a dope head drunk. Our armed services are doing the job they are trained and paid to do and to suggest they would be doing differently under a president who actually served is utter hilarity.

Why don't you write me back when you've grown up and actually have something substantial to say. Oh, and by the way, I put up the bloopers because I think an idiot president makes us all look bad. The POTUS is supposed to be a representative of America. And, sadly, I guess he is, since there are so many idiots in this country who only care about god, guns and money.

Now if you'd like a little education on why people like Jerry Falwell should be strung up by their balls, and why Bush should too for supporting assholes like him, then read my real political pages:

http://supak.blogspot.com

And to see, interactively, how Gore won Florida if you actually COUNT ALL the votes (overvotes and undervotes), go here:

http://nyt.com/pages/politics/recount/index.html?rd=hcmcp?p=041TUJ041TRg47nWF012000mXfgkXflT

Then, when you take the butterfly ballot into account, there is absolutely no doubt who actually won. PLUS, the only way Bush could even get close is because small red-neck states have their votes count more than bigger states, because of the bonus votes in the electoral college based on a state's senate seats. So, a vote in South Dakota actually counts twice as much as a vote in California. Now that's real patriotic, huh?

And, you know, the insinuation that even if Bush didn't really win we're all better off because he's in there now, after the attacks, is utter horse-shit. That's like saying, hey, we should put Pat Buchanon in there even though he only got 1% of the vote, because he'd really be tough on terror. This is a democracy that people have fought and died to protect and that means that the person who gets the majority of votes wins. Sadly, assholes like you have destroyed that concept, and there are plenty of patriots rolling over in their graves over that.

For more on the Gore Commission report, which Republicans and the airline industry stopped the implementation of, go here:

http://www.algoreisourpresident.com/demrep-01.html

And, after you've gotten your head out of your ass and your compassion out of your wallet, write me back with something interesting to say. I'm sure they teach you better than that at James Madison.

Scott Supak
doing my best to piss off the religious right

PS - I'm a liberal not a pacifist. The fact that you generalized that deduction tells me a lot about you. I think we should be kicking ass over there, and I'm quite proud of the fact that we are. I'd bet we would be no matter who was president. Even liberals got pissed about the attacks. In fact, it really pisses me off that you would insinuate that your fellow Americans somehow care less about the country because we want more unemployment money for working people. And, finally, I have had microphones stuck in my face and I've never made a grammatical error on camera. I'm well educated and proud of it. And my Daddy didn't pay for any of it. I've also never snorted coke.

A question for a Clinton hater who wants to end all welfare

Except corporate welfare, of course. Which brings up the question of "Where's Ralph?" Is Ralph Nader driving around Iowa and New Hampshire in a brown Ford Taurus, without body guards? No, because Nader would rather hand elections to Republicans than try to run as a Democrat.

But I digress. Here's a question I'm sending to Stephen Moore, Clinton hater extrodanaire and Senior Fellow at the CATO Institute, who really wants to see thousands of starving children in the street. It'll teach their lazy parents a lesson.

Go ahead and delete now, you chicken shit. You don't have the balls to argue this one, I'm sure. It involves starving children of which you seem to think there's not enough.

Hey, the fact that corporate welfare is alive and well and Ralph Nader can't be found to comment should make you very happy!

I have a question for you. When welfare recipients in 26 states are kicked off the doles this Jan. 1, and they and their kids start lining up on the streets begging for food, are you still going to claim that Bill Clinton's welfare reform plan (which really belonged to the Republicans in congress) was too weak? These kids that will be starving should just tell their parents to get a job, huh? Maybe a job in the airline industry, or one of the other big companies who the government is bailing out? Republicans have argued that giving out corporate welfare creates jobs. So, if we give billions away to all your rich buddies that got Bush's coup into the White House, then they'll create jobs for all these people who are getting kicked off welfare, right? Or maybe the churches will take them in. Jerry Falwell's church will be the first to open its doors to these new homeless families, right?

You should also be happy that the corporations that give Bush millions while purporting to be the free press are all looking the other way on this one. Will you look the other way when you have to step over starving 5 year olds on your way to your nice office or house? I know, I know, you worked for it all and deserve it. Those starving kids, well, all they did was be born to some lazy scum who didn't want a job. They don't deserve the same chance as your kids, although, if your kind had your way, they could thank you for not being aborted.

I encourage anyone to send this viscious bastard any questions you might have about how giving money to corporations during a recession creates jobs (it doesn't, but he'll have some ready made mumbo jumbo to tell you why).

John Dean shocked by another secretive Republican administration

That's right. John Dean points out that when a president is this secretive, it's not a good thing.

If John Dean, yes the John Dean of Nixon fame, is worried that this Republican president has way too much to hide, then I think we should listen. This is VERY IMPORTANT, yet no one is getting upset about this! What the hell is going on in this country? We're just letting Cheney and Bush trample everything that matters: the environment, civil liberties, etc. The gun nuts and Jesus freaks are taking over the country and no body is doing anything about it!

Aw, hell, just read what Mr. Dean has to say.

Better Dead than Fed

The Republicans, so cozily protected by the Capitol Police (a federal work force) is telling American that we should be happy to have low bidders providing security at our airports. Well, this angry liberal just wants to wretch at this point. My friends say i need to calm down. But I say they need to get off their asses and do something about the right wing, big business, military industrial complex Ike warned us about. Why is it that when a man gets a blow job in the oval office the right wing nuts nearly start riots over it, but when Dumbya steals the election, puts his junta, taken from big business board rooms, in charge of giving our tax dollars to the rich and bomb makers, nothing happens. Everyone sits back and says, Oh, isn't it horrible? But what are we doing about it? All the people who voted for republicans because of guns or abortions need to get their heads out of their asses. Abortion is still legal and gun control will not go away. You've sold the store to a punk ass fraternity rich boy who couldn't find oil in Texas, was AWOL from the Air Guard during Nam because he was snorting coke and getting drunk on his daddy's money. He embarasses us all everytime he tries to speak.

Read the angry liberal's notes on airline security. I'd like see an answer from any republican Senator or Representative on this one.... Greedy fucks don't give a shit about this country - they just want to know what it can do for them....

Hawaii pictures Hawaii desktop wallpaper pictures

War Profiteering by the Bush administration

I can't seem to get off this topic. It infuriates me. This blantant hand off of middle class tax dollars to the wealthy and to corporations is making me sick. The fact it's being done by an administration that needed staged riots by congressional staffers and a crooked Supreme Court to complete its coup, well, that just makes it worse. And to add to that atrocity, take into account that the two biggest reasons middle America voted for this schmuck are abortion and guns. I don't see anybody talking about stopping abortion. And I sure don't see Ashcroft giving people their assault weapons back. This administration has turned out to be about one thing and one thing only: money to their friends. In a world where 50 million can buy the mayorship of New York, imagine the kind of money involved in stealing the presidency.

Now to the present. After Sept. 11, we need to spend substantial sums on reconstruction and homeland security, and the sagging economy could use a temporary stimulus. But George W. Bush has threatened to veto any additional domestic spending beyond the $40 billion already agreed upon — "We wage a war to save civilization itself," he declared on Thursday, but apparently this war must not cost more than 0.4 percent of G.D.P. And the administration favors "stimulus" proposals that have nothing to do with helping the economy, but everything to do with its usual tax-cutting agenda.

From Another Useful Crisis by Paul Krugman, NY TImes, 11-11-01

It's enough to make me sick.

Business tax cuts do not create jobs

Apparently all the Harvard Economists working for the Resident missed the day where any responsible Econ Professor teaches that Corporate Tax Cuts (corporate welfare) do not create jobs. The only time corporations create new jobs is when sales increase. When sales decrease, they lay people off. If you give a corporation a tax cut, that does not increase sales. If you give a poor or middle class American the same tax cut, they spend the money, which increases sales, which creates jobs. Coming to work today I heard another Republican saying we need to give these corporations money so they can create jobs. What a load of trickle down shit. It just doesn't work that way, as we discovered with Reagan's shit trickling down the legs of the rich to the poor. We learned from Clinton's middle class tax cuts that that money goes directly into the economy, instead of directly into a bank. Anytime a Republican says he wants to give money to rich people and corporations, you can directly translate that to mean "give money to the rich people who got me elected."

One way to create jobs is to have a war. The weapons manufacturers are doing very well. Companies that make smart bombs are doing very well. Interestingly, those companies are partially (substantially) owned by The Carlisle Group. The Carlyle Group is owned by some very interesting people, like Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci (college roommate of the current Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld), former U.S. Secretary of State and Florida election rigger James A. Baker III, George Soros, Fred Malek (George H.W. Bush’s campaign manager, forced to resign when it was revealed he was Nixon’s “Jew counter”--further ties between the Bushes and Nazis, but that's another story), and George H.W. Bush himself.

To get into that, I'd like to print my response to a letter from united4love.com that wanted me to send a letter to Bush saying, essentially, that "I believe love may be our best weapon to combat terror at home and abroad." While that is way to "touchy-feely" for me, I can understand the sentiment. I just don't understand why people would waste their time writing to Bush about it. Do they really think this guy will stop the bombing? All his friends and all his Dad's friends are getting rich building the bombs and cutting their taxes. Why would they stop? Here's my answer to these well meaning people:

You should start campaigning against Bush now. We must defeat this fraud who would shrug off your letter as a pitiful bleeding heart pacificist rambling. They are interested on ly in the manufacture and sale of weapons. The war in Afghanistan costs at least $1 billion a month. A lot of this money goes to weapons manufacturers, which are owned by the Carlyle Group, which James Baker and Jim Carlucci own $200 million stakes of, of which the Bin Laden family owns a $2 million stake, and for which former President Bush consults (he probably has a stake in it too).

So, welcome to another war for profit. Oddly enough, by going into debt to finance his tax cut, we are triply rewarding the rich by cutting their taxes and then selling them bonds which we have to pay off at 5% for thirty years, while we spend the money from the bonds on tax cuts and a war machine they build and sell to us.

"Beware the military industrial complex." -- Dwight Eisenhower

So, please, I beg you to put your energy into overthrowing this junta that took over the White House illegally.

Bush Blah Blah Blah

Once again the Resident was stuttering through a speech that was all talk and no action. He described public health officials as "real heroes of America," but once again has done nothing to reward these heroes. Instead, he supports the House "stimulus" bill, which is just a big giveaway to Cheney's favorite energy companies (like Enron, which apparently couldn't keep track of the money these politicians want to dole out). Hey, Georgie Boy, if you really think these nurses, EMTs, fire fighters, cops, and other public service employees are the real heroes, then why don't we double their salaries? Or at least give them a big raise? Instead, contracting budgets from falling tax revenues will force layoffs, less work, and smaller pay checks. If the way you greedy Republicans dole out the cash is any sign of what you really believe, then your heros are the CEOS who make hundreds of times more than the average employee, even when the company is crashing and burning. The Bush heros are the corporations that got him elected who will be rewarded for moving their profits out of the country. That's the Bush patriotism. That's DeLay's patriotism. And then they say, well we have to give these rich people their money back, because they create the jobs, well, Georgie, I hate to challenge that MBA you worked so hard for, but if a company isn't selling anything, they're not going to hire anyone, no matter how much cash you give the CEO for moving money out of the country. Wake up people! This regime has to go. Evict Resident Bush!

New pictures from Hawaii

Just put up these two pictures of Hawaii over at hawaii-stuff.com. This protea picture was taken at Olinda Country Cottages and Inn where there's a field full of them! This picture of Spencer was taken at Pearl Harbor from the bow of The USS Bowfin submarine, which is open for tours. It's really cool. And Spencer loved it when I banged my head so hard while crawling through a door that the whole sub rang like a bell!

I'm slowly but surely adding stuff to the Hawaii stuff site. I have plenty more pictures of Hawaii to put up there as desktop wallpaper pictures. This protea picture makes great desktop wallpaper! While you're checking out all our free desktop wallpaper pictures, don't miss the Italy pictures and New York City pictures at Robin's site. She takes great shots that make terrific wallpaper photos!

MBNA $3.0m Philip Morris $2.9m Microsoft $2.4m AT&T $2.4m UPS $2.3m Bristol Myers Squibb $2.1m Verizon $2.0m Pfizer $1.9m SBC $1.9m Enron $1.8m Citigroup $1.8m Federal Express $1.7m Time Warner/AOL $1.6m Credit Suisse $1.6m Ernst & Young $1.5m UST $1.5m Morgan Stanley Dean Witter $1.5m Lockheed Martin $1.5m Union Pacific $1.5m Freddie Mac $1.4m Bell South $1.4m Glaxo Wellcome $1.3m Amway $1.3m Price W'house Coopers $1.3m Deloite & Touche $1.3m Eli Lily $1.3m Goldman Sachs $1.2m Anderson W'wide $1.2m Merrill Lynch $1.2m Exxon Mobil $1.2m WorldCom Inc $1.2m Lehman Brothers $1.1m International Paper $1.1m General Electric $1.1m Global Crossing $1.1m MGM Mirage $1.1m Koch $1.0m Aflac $1.0m Paine Webber $1.0m American $1.0m Financial Gp Boeing $1.0m Southern Co $1.0m Ltd Inc $950k BP Amoco $950k KPMG $900k Am'can Airlines $900k Schering Plough $900k Brown & Williamson $880k Bank Pharmacia/Upjohn $850k One $850k Qwest $850k Anheuser Busch $850k Cintas Corp $828k MandalayResort Gp $810k Lehman Bros $810k Reynolds Tobacco $810k Fannie Mae $800k Bank of America $800k American Int Gp $800k GAF $800k Chevron Texaco $800k Paso $790k CSX $770k Burlington North $770k General Dynamics $750k American $740k Home Prods Joseph Seagram $740k PepsiCo $720k Chase Manhatten $700k FPL Group $685k Dominion Resources $680k Prudential $900k USX Corp $650k Northwest Airlines $650k Aventis $650k First Energy $640k Reliant Energy $640k Walt Disney $640k WalMart $630k Cisco Systems $630k Texas Utilities $630k AEI Resources $630k Westwood One $620k Amgen $600k K Mart $590k UAL Corp $570k Home Depot $560k Duchossois Inds $550k Archer Daniels Midland $530k Edison Int'l $530k Ford $510k General Motors $510k Daimler Chrysler $500k

The One Eyed Man

Paul Krugman's article in Halloween's New York Times seems to be the only thing I've seen in any major media that mentions the criminal activities taking place in the House of Reps and the White House. These people are ripping off the American Public under the guise of economic stimulation. The only thing they're stimulating is the salivary glands of the corporations that got them elected.

For example, it's not too surprising that calculations by Citizens for Tax Justice show General Motors, with its 380,000 workers, getting a check for $800 million. But it's quite amazing that TXU (formerly Dallas Power and Light), a company with only 16,000 employees, would get a check for $600 million. And there are a number of medium-sized companies that, like TXU, are in line for surprisingly big benefits. These companies include ChevronTexaco, Enron, Phillips Petroleum, IMC Global and CMS Energy. What do they have in common?

Well, they tend to be in the energy or mining businesses; and they tend to be based in or near Texas. In other words, the one-eyed bearded man with a limp looks a lot like Dick Cheney.

Why is it that no one is listening to people like Krugman and Huffington about this. Does everyone just figure this will all go away in the Senate Conference Committee? I wouldn't count on it. There are plenty of greedy Senators who would steal from the orphans of New York firefighters. In fact, by giving all this money to corporations, that's precisely what they've proposed.

In a bad economy, when consumers (2/3rds of the economy, stupid) aren't spending, companies won't produce. All the tax cuts, bribes, and payola in the world won't get these companies to create jobs that simply aren't needed. If we put money in the hands of consumers, they will create jobs by spending the money. When corporations see sales increasing, then they'll create jobs. We tried supply-side, trickle-down economics before. It didn't work. Bush can hide all the Reagan Era papers with proof that Bush Sr. was "in the loop" on Iran-Contra, he can hide all the papers that prove payola to the corporations that got rich under Reagan, and he can hide all the papers that prove Lindsey, Carlucci, and Baker are crooks, but Georige boy cannot hide that fact that he is the puppet of big business who just wants to pay off all these corrupt companies that paid for his coup.

Meanwhile, Guiliani is setting maximum firefighter and police numbers at ground zero at 24. In other words, there will be no more recovery. They're just going to scoop up the wreckage and remains together and dump them. Hey, Rudy, where's all the money going? If you're not spending it on Firefighters and Police to continue recovering bodies and body parts, then where are you spending it? I thought these people were our heroes? Yeah, like every other Republican, you talk a good game. If firefighters, cops, and teachers were really heroes, we'd double their salary tomorrow. See any Republicans lining up to vote for that? Ah, they're too busy voting to give billions to these Republican campaign donors.

Arianna Huffington amazes me again - she's ripping the House Republicans a new one

And it's a good thing too! Their heads are so far up their old ones that they don't work anymore. I knew there was a big handout to businesses in this bill passed by the House republicans. I didn't know that one of the many gifts to big business is that money they ship out of the country won't be taxed as long as it stays out of the country. In her well written article yesterday, Arianna wrote:

It allows multinational corporations such as GE and Ford to avoid paying taxes by shifting profits to their offshore subsidiaries -- but only if those profits remain overseas. Tell me, how exactly is providing incentives to keep money out of our economy supposed to stimulate our economy?

They wouldn't spend any money beefing up security when Al Gore's commission recommended it. That's because they don't give a crap about the safety of average Americans. They wanted to spend that money on tax cuts to the corporations that put them in office. And, ironically, it's not even the kind of tax cuts (the kind with provisions) that will create new jobs! This is war profiteering and these people should be put in prison for it.

Arianna Huffington's new book is called How to Overthrow the Government.

The Gore Commission Demanded Tougher Airline Security, But Airlines And Conservatives Said No

"The federal government should consider aviation security as a national security issue, and provide substantial funding for capital improvements. The Commission believes that terrorist attacks on civil aviation are directed at the United States, and that there should be an ongoing federal commitment to reducing the threats that they pose."
Gore Commission final report, February 12, 1997

Rumblings from people, especially "prominent democrats," about being happy that Bush is president, are the kind of Limbaugh fueled crap that makes me want to puke on the first dittohead I see. It's completely possible that the attacks would have been thwarted by the increased security a President Gore would have instituted, following his own commissions recommendation. I don't think Dumbya's ever even been on a commission. If he was, the report, no matter what the problem being researched, would have read "Cut taxes." It is the cure-all mantra of the Republican party that we heard for years while the country went deeper into debt and recession. The only thing that trickles down is the shit down rich people's legs.

Of course the right wing nuts said Gore's report was partisan, not cost effective, and stupid. OK. I guess we all know what they're problem is. Greed. Here's one of the partisan, wastefully expensive, and stupid things Gore's report said:

The FAA should work with industry to develop a national program to increase the professionalism of the aviation security workforce, including screening personnel.

Yeah. Like this guy -- who volunteered to go to Nam while Dumbya was AWOL, drunk, coked up, and losing his Dad's money -- like Al Gore would publish a report about airline security as a partisan effort to bypass the Republican led congress. And I have two big buildings in New York to sell you, you pieces of crap. If it wasn't Ashcroft running DOJ, I'd say we should prosecute every single Republican and greedy Airline executive who belittled the Gore Commission Report. They're guilty of, at the very least, depraved indifference, meaning about 5000 counts of manslaughter 2. Somebody call Ken Starr. I have a real crime for him to investigate....

Note to the NRA - it's not your guns the "jack booted thugs" want - it's the natural medicine used by cancer patients and others to alleviate pain

Yes, the jack-booted thugs of Asa Hutchinson's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyer's Club, taking pot and plants needed by people suffering from horrific diseases. Once again, Bush has proven he is not compassionate, just really conservative. In the middle of the biggest threat to this nation since WWII, the Bushies decide that the real threat is a bunch of sick people smoking pot to feel better. Even more atrocious is the fact that I searched google, excite news search, the LA Times, and the only news story I could find (besides the club's site, http://medmarla.org)was at the Marijuana Policy Project's web site. I originally heard the story on KNX 1070 News Radio in Hollywood.

The jack-booted thugs reference, for those of you who do not remember, comes from an NRA letter that was so disgusting that even former President Bush quit the group over it. The letter ranted that gun control laws that would give "jack-booted government thugs more power to take away our Constitutional rights, break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and even injure or kill us." Seems it's more important to Republicans to take pot from cancer sufferers than to take guns from dangerous rednecks. After all, chances are someone smoking pot in West Hollywood to help with pain associated with AIDS is not someone who's going to vote for Bush. But some redneck who wants to keep his assault weapon is.

I'm just glad I live in California, where, among some other progressive laws passed, out centrist governor just signed a bill making it mandatory that anyone who buys a handgun has to prove they know how to use it safely. Amazing! You have to take a test to get a liscense to drive, to fly a plane, to drive a truck, but not to use a gun. Now if we could just make it necessary to get a liscense for the most dangerous of all activities: raising children.

For more about the Bush administration's Jihad against medicine the state of California decided was fine, click here. Anybody else wondering what happened to the Republican position of state's rights? Guess the only bring up that crap when it suits their purposes.... Read about the NRA's Jack Booted Thugs letter where they defended the child molesting, religious fanatic terrorist in Waco and compared government agents to Nazis. Seems the real Nazis are the ones in the Bush administration who think AIDS and cancer patients should live their remaining days in agony.

Another person the CIA should be helping and who, if here, the Christian Coalition would tell to shut up

The Afghan Women’s Association fights for women's rights in Afghanistan. Only very brave women would face the Taliban punishments for such actions. Does the CIA have women agents who can help the cause of women like Farah Naz Nazier who dare to stand up to these fanatical bigots and bullies? Are we dropping pamphlets intended for women - assuming some of them can read. Are we explaining to the women of Afghanistan that we are dropping bombs to help rid them of their oppressors? In a post Taliban Afghanistan, we need to make damn sure that groups like these are funded, educated, and supported.

Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice

The Taliban's Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice rides around in Toyota 4x4's and punishes people who fly kites, listen to music, take pictures, or fail to pray at the required times. They have been at the top of every human rights organizations violators list for years. They kill women for adultery. They also force female circumcision (which is more like castration) on girls.

Any doubt that these are the kinds of things Jerry Falwell would force on Americans if he had the chance? Hey, Jerry'd hold down those 8 year old girls if it meant an end to abortion! Nothing like removing the clitoris to make women want sex less! And since sex for pleasure, for the Taliban and the Falwellban, is a sin, then female circumcision is the answer!

Going to die if you give birth? Too bad! You have to die giving birth because God wants it. Pregnant as a result of rape? Too bad - you're having the baby anyway! Is that rock and roll or rap music? Ah, ah, ah! You're going to jail for that! Long hair, spiked hair, any hair other than Jerry says, and POW - off to jail with you!

We're familiar with ways to combat the Falwellban here in America. But women of Afghanistan have very little in terms of support for their captivity by the Taliban. The only women's rights group in Afghanistan is the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. This is the group the CIA should be helping, since so many men have died fighting wars in Afghanistan for the last 22 years, and the majority of the population is women. Apparently, they're not all that happy about life under the Taliban. Who would be happy living in a dark ages country ruled by religious fanatics like Jerry Falwell?

You know I love Jerry so much, and I want to help him so much, that I wrote him this letter full of good suggestions. You can write him too with your suggestions. He'll probably have his goon squad check me out now, but I'm not scared! I know my suggestions will help America see Jerry for what he is!

----------------------------------------------

To: jerry@falwell.com
Subject: The answer to abortion and other sins of today

Female circumcision!

If women can't feel pleasure, then they wouldn't be out being promiscuous! They would only want to have sex to procreate. In some countries, they remove the whole clitoris. But we would only have to remove the part that gives women the most pleasure. This would greatly reduce pregnacy, especially amoung young women, since the procedure is usually performed on pre-pubescent girls.

Meanwhile, my plans for furthering your dream of a religiously run country, or theology, include banning all music other than gospel, banning certain haircuts and clothing, making adultery punishable by death, as well as pregnancy out of wedlock (death to the mother after the baby is born, of course), bring back paddling in schools - especally for students who don't pray, or who pray to a God other than Jesus Christ our savior.

To enforce these edicts, I think we should convince President Bush to begin a new Cabinet level department: The Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. These federal law enforcement officials could travel around making sure people are ready for judgement day, pure in heart and free of sin. Finally, our Christian country will be Christian again! Anyone who dares to worship any God other than Jesus Christ, or anyone who dares to practist atheism or agnosticism, or anyone who worships Jesus in anyway other than the way you say is the CORRECT way, they will all be executed or deported!

Scott Supak
supak.com

Letter to Senators Boxer and Feinstein

Senators:

Considering the fact that the Ashcroft Justice department has no intention of prosecuting the anthrax hoax on planned parenthood offices by the army of god (see http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/290/metro/Ask_clinics_about_fear+.shtml ), please, I beg of you, do not let these right wing judges get in. Jesse Helms and his cronies held up all of Clinton's nominees, we can do the same. You will win this PR game. Remember, if you put the half a million votes Gore won by with all the Green votes for Nader, you can see that a big majority of Americans are center and left of center. Certainly a vast majority of Californians are.

If Bush stacks the courts with right-wing-nut judges, then even if we ever do get an AG who would prosecute the Army of God, which openly advocates the killing of abortion doctors, for its terrorist acts agains Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics, we wouldn't be able to convict them.

Please realize how important this is. The campaign of terror against abortion providers and family planning clinics has worked. Very few medical school students learn the procedures anymore. In ten years or so, it will be nearly impossible to find a doctor who will perform the procedure. These terrorists are winning. And with judges who think what they do is justified, backed up by a Pentecostal AG, they won't need to pack the Supreme Court with any more of their cronies.

Do not give in to the terror. And please expose Senator Hatch's diabolical and assinine comments for what they are. When he says that stalling on these judges hurts the war on terrorism, he belittles us all. He, and the rest of the republicans, are trying to wrap the flag around all their pet projects, and they should be publicly shamed for it. They see the war on terror as an opportunity to impose their religious fanaticism on all of us, and I hope you will not let them get away with making us a country run by religious fanatics.

Furthermore, I suggest that you immediately open an inquiry into Ashcroft's apparent ignoring of the 110 letters sent to abortion clinics, while he said that they would prosecute fully all anthrax hoaxes. Why has he mentioned stupid hoaxes of a singular nature, but not these 110 coordinated threats. Since 1998, mail purporting to be laced with anthrax has been delivered to clinics in 16 states. There hasn't been a single arrest.

These terrorists now feel empowered by having one of their own in the white house and at DOJ. It's time to make them realize that they are breaking the law, and they should pay for it. And while we're at it, the Republicans can pay for their inaction on this one.

Scott Supak
http://supak.com

The following is a quote from the above referenced article in the Boston Globe, by Eileen McNamara:

US Attorney General John Ashcroft warned yesterday that those who would perpetrate an anthrax hoax at this time are guilty of a ''grotesque transgression of the public trust.'' He did not cite antiabortion extremists as an example but mentioned, instead, an employee of the Department of Environmental Protection in Connecticut who, in a misguided attempt at humor, left a harmless white powder on a co-worker's desk and stood silent while the building was evacuated and the workers decontaminated. That stunning lapse in judgment could yield the jokester five years in prison and a multimillion-dollar fine.

Where, one wonders, is a similar vigilance to apprehend and prosecute those who aim not to amuse but to terrify women and their doctors, and to deny them their legal right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy?

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/290/metro/Ask_clinics_about_fear+.shtml

Organic Gardening - because there just might be an earth after all this

Despite the religious logic (there's an oxymoron) of Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt, who said we might as well go ahead and destroy the environmnet, since judgement day is coming soon anyway, I keep thinking about what got me started on the web: organic gardening. While the religious fanatics of the world, like GW Bush, may indeed destroy it, I have to look on the bright side. If there is something left after all this, we'll have to take very good care of it. Like we should have been doing all along. If you watch the IMAX movie Blue Planet (we should strap W down,like Alex in Clockwork Orange, and force him to watch it for days) you'll see the poisoned top soil washing down the rivers to the sea. You'll see vast swaths of erosion eating away American farmland. You'll see fires in the Amazon Rain Forest to clear the way for McDonald's beef.

Of course, forcing Dumbyass to watch it wouldn't make much difference, since his Dad and Uncle Dick are calling the shots anyway. But, say Dad and Dick keel over tomorrow, along with Rumsfeld and the rest of the Old Guard, then maybe Dubya'll would actually get a chance to show how compassionate he is. After all, any guy who was coked up and AWOL while other young men his age were dying in Nam can't be all that bad, right? Maybe he's a hippie at heart. Maybe he's even a closet tree hugger, one of the eco-terrorists who Alaska Congressman Don Young said could be responsible for the world trade center disaster just 9 hours, YES, NINE HOURS, after it happened.

Ah, who am I kidding? GW "hiding in the" Bush is just another right-wing-nut, ultra religous, bigot, just like the rest of them. He'll take advantage of this situation to further rape and pillage this planet for the sake of corporate profit. There is no doubt that every move he's made so far has been designed to help the Carlyle Group ( Pappa Bush, Carlucci, Baker, the Bin Laden Family) make more money. War is very profitable for the defense industries that the Carlyle Group is invested in. Think maybe the Carlyle Group is also invested in companies that help save the planet? Naaa... Where's the money in that?

In Al Gore's book, Earth in the Balance, he toyed with the idea of changing the way we do accounting to include assessments of the environmental impacts of various projects and products. Funny how no one talks about that anymore....

This is one subject where individuals can make a big difference. We can buy organic food. We can make our yards, lawns, and gardens organic. We can compost. We can talk to our neighbors about it. GO ORGANIC. It's easier, and cheaper, than using all those chemicals. You are throwing away kitchen and yard waste that could be composted to make your lawns and gardens healthier. This "waste" is going to landfills instead of back into the soil. This is something we can correct, each and every one of us. And voting with our dollars, by purchasing energy efficient, earth friendly, and environmentally packaged products, is the best way to show business that we mean business when it comes to saving the earth. Buy more fuel efficient vehicles. Buy compact flourescent light bulbs. Build smarter houses. There are so many things that we can do to save the planet, despite the apocalyptic leanings of the people who stole the White House.

Is the Army of God behind the Anthrax?

Odd, how no anti-abortion republicans have received anthrax..... Only a pro-choice Senator, the pro-choice Republican Governor of New York, the liberal media, and a tabloid.... Hmmmm.....

And even odder how almost 100 planned parenthood offices have received white powder in threatening letters from the "Army of God" -- a known domestic terrorist outfit - and I've heard no mention of it in the mainstream media. One field test was positive, and they are awaiting results. No one is sick. See, at planned parenthood, they've had to be careful of what's in their mail for years now.

The war is here

Here's a must read: The Battlefield in the American Mind By MARK DANNER.

"This is not aimed at our policies," Henry Kissinger said after the attacks. "This is aimed at our existence." That is precisely wrong. The "evildoers" who gave their lives on Sept. 11 and those who sent them have precise objectives and a clear plan to achieve them.

Read this article. It has given me hope that there are people in this country who understand what's going on here. And I have realized that W is on a path to be just like his old man. A one termer. Why? Because he believes the battle is in the mountains of Afghanistan, instead of in the mountains of the American Mind. And if, as I suspect will happen, a real man - someone who didn't spend half his life coked up blowing his nose and his old man's money - will run against him and win. Someone will run who actually understands that until we address the root cause of terrorism, we will not stop it. Someone will run who would actually listen to Colin Powell if he hired him. Someone will run who realizes that Bill Clinton's sex life has nothing to do with his near success at getting Arafat to agree to a Palestinian state. Someone will run who won't hire people with financial interest in war machines to be in charge of the Pentagon.

This is a guerilla war. We've been in those before. And the American public doesn't like them. We must make efforts to address all the frayed ends of this tapestry.

Robin's New York City Pictures

Robin just got back from New York City where she took some great shots, which I have, of course, sized for use as desktop wallpaper. She took pictures of the world trade center wreckage, of memorials, engine company 14, and the midtown skyline from the ferry.

Hypocrites in Chief Bush and Cheney will keep Pennsylvania Ave. closed

The Republican National Committee harshly criticized Bill Clinton for closing Pennsylvania Ave. They said it was done arbitrarily. That Clinton did nothing to protect ordinary Americans while he made sure he was protected. Here's the quote.

Bill Clinton arbitrarily closed off Pennsylvania Avenue, the nation's Main Street, for his protection, while his policies left the public unprotected against vicious criminals. As a symbol of our determination to restore the rule of law - in the White House as well as in our streets - we will reopen Pennsylvania Avenue.

Today on NewsHour with Jim Leher, Cheney said:

Pennsylvania Avenue ought to stay closed because, as a fact, if somebody were to detonate a truck bomb in front of the White House, it would probably level the White House and that is unacceptable.

Well, well, well. Maybe Clinton was right about that one. Maybe he listened to the same secret service people who now protect the Resident of the White House, who told Uncle Dickhead the same thing they told Bill.

I'd like to take a closer look at the RNC platform statement about protecting Americans. Besides the fact that crime rates went way down during Clinton's terms (I'm sure the RNC has some bassackward argument for how that's a Regan-Bush leftover), I think it's odd that they oppose the federalization of airport safety personel. Hey, here they are, finally listening to their federal safety personel, namely the secret service, but they don't think the American public deserves federal protection. While they criticized Clinton for wanting to protect himself and not the public, they are now doing even worse! They are saying that the public should have minimum wage security personel that are employed by the lowest bidders. Meanwhile, the hypocritical Resident in Chief has plenty of federalized protection, including a now permanently closed Pennsylvania Ave. which they said they would re-open. I'll just add it to another of his long list of lies that starts with Kyoto and just keeps going..... There's nothing compassionate about this conservative. I'd like to know what Rod Grams (Republican Senator and general loudmouth from Minnesota) and his outher loudmouthed Clinton haters have to say about their precious symbol of democracy that Clinton ruined now. Anybody want to step up and tell Georgie boy to open the street?

I didn't think so.

Now on to some other possibilities for truck bombs. Before September 11, Republicans really wanted to let unsafe Mexican trucks drive all over US roads, even though we can only, by the reckoning of the inspector general of the transportation department, inspect 2% of all the trucks coming across the Mexican border. Of course, everything's easier to get in Mexico, including a truck driving liscense, and explosives. I wonder if we're going to now take advantage of any national security clauses in NAFTA so we don't have to let thousands of big rigs into this country without knowing what they're carrying. In the Republican rush to put the Teamsters out of business (except for hauling oil out of ANWR), maybe we've given the terrorists a way to import hundreds, or even thousands, of bombs bigger than the Oklahoma City one.

At least we know that no Mexican truck will be getting near the whitehouse, despite the best efforts of the GOP....

Just another redneck who opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and that women should have to die giving birth rather than have a life-saving late term abortion.

He has gone on record as being anti-fourth amendment. He apparently also has problems with parts of the 1st and 8th amendments, and probably others. This terrorist attack has given Ashcroft and Bush exactly what they wanted, an excuse to crack down on the people in this country that they can't stand. While they preach Unity, and openness, and tolerance for different points of view, they are plotting to rob us of our freedom, give more huge tax cuts to the rich, and lord only knows what else. Just wait till Bush tries to tell the red-neck republicans from the Rockies that they'll have to carry a national ID card!

Why can't we just say United We Stand?

Probably because of the Jerry Falwell syndrome. Religious fanatics just can't keep their mouths shut. They don't want to be united because they can't stand the idea of agreeing with baby killing liberal atheists. I was happy to hear the that the ACLU is asking, on behalf of a parent who was "deeply troubled by it," to remove the words "God Bless America" from the school sign at Breen Elementary School, in Rocklin, California. Of course, the school is resisting, and the principle, Terry Thronton, is refusing to take these divisive words down. Great, another public school trying to instill devisive religious fanaticism in our children. Isn't that what they do in Afghanistan? What's next, Breen? Going to stop letting little girls go to school?

Here's my letter to these yahoos:

Terry Thornton, principle of Breen Elementary School, Rocklin, CA:

http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local06_20011006.html

I hope you will reconsider your school sign's message, "God Bless America."

When I was growing up, we were made to say the pledge of allegience. In the 6th grade, when, after speaking to my family and atteneding many churches where other religions were constantly belittled and denegrated, I decided that I didn't believe in god and I refused to say the pledge. I was disciplined for it. I was sent to detention because I wouldn't say "one nation, under God." I didn't have the ACLU to help me. I was ridiculed by the "christian" kids. I was treated badly by my teachers and my principle, all of whom apparently forgot that my atheist family paid property taxes too, and, therefore, part of their salaries. Part of your salary is paid by people who do not believe in God. And you are being a bigot by not changing your sign to read something else, like United we Stand.

Do you not realize that this kind of religious attitude is very similar to what they have in Afghanistan? That your intolerance for non-believers makes you a fanatic too? There are ways that we can all, as Americans, show our unity in these dark times. Forcing your religion down people's throats is not one of those ways. Your job is to give our children a fighting chance in this world - to teach them to communicate and to understand science. If any of our children want to learn about God, they can go to church. That's what churches are for. Schools should be a place where we teach our children that we can all get a long, regardless of our religious beliefs, or lack thereof. By putting God on your school sign, you have taught our children that yes, even in America, if you don't think like the white anglo-saxons who founded this country, you will be shunned and ridiculed. Just like I was.

Remember, the last time religion ruled the world, they called it the dark ages.

Please tell Mark Forbes, your district board of trustees president exactly how "God Bless America" hurts me. It hurts me by suggesting that, because I don't believe in God, I am somehow not American, or not deserving of the same good fortune that believers are. It is hurtful because it assumes that everyone thinks like he does. It is hurtful because many of us who do not believe in God, or who are agnostics, feel that religion is, once again, at the root of all this trouble. You might as well say God Bless our Crusade!

Scott Supak
American Citizen

And here's the lovely people who work at this school. Maybe a few of them agree with me. I suggest we all write them and let them know why they should take down their divisive, fanatic sign:

tthornton@rocklin.k12.ca.us; jbeyer-erickson@rocklin.k12.ca.us; rroth@rocklin.k12.ca.us; msweeney@rocklin.k12.ca.us; cwhite@rocklin.k12.ca.us; kbrown@rocklin.k12.ca.us; pcarras@rocklin.k12.ca.us; bderigolo@rocklin.k12.ca.us; jlucas@rocklin.k12.ca.us; pnishi@rocklin.k12.ca.us; cnunn-lum@rocklin.k12.ca.us; dpope@rocklin.k12.ca.us; tryland@rocklin.k12.ca.us; lstark@rocklin.k12.ca.us; swesselius@rocklin.k12.ca.us; kbaker@rocklin.k12.ca.us; ccaldwell@rocklin.k12.ca.us; rdetrich@rocklin.k12.ca.us; jeaton@rocklin.k12.ca.us; dgove@rocklin.k12.ca.us; mkageta@rocklin.k12.ca.us; ckinne@rocklin.k12.ca.us; slain@rocklin.k12.ca.us; dledford@rocklin.k12.ca.us; mleettola@rocklin.k12.ca.us; treed@rocklin.k12.ca.us; lreid@rocklin.k12.ca.us; bwilliams@rocklin.k12.ca.us; jwoodring@rocklin.k12.ca.us; lwright@rocklin.k12.ca.us; mwussow@rocklin.k12.ca.us

Huge deficits are coming back and what does Bush want to do with your money?

Bush, and his old cronies that date back to the Reagan era, are so happy we have a new cold war to fight and a crippled economy to use as excuses to give huge tax cuts to the wealthy and businesses. No rich people are losing their health care because of these attacks. No rich people will have their cars repossesed or will have to stop paying their children's tuition as a result of being laid off. But these rich people should get huge tax breaks. Will they spend the money we give them? Well, yes. On treasury bills, so they can finance their tax cut at a decent interest rate. Now that's standing united for you.

"The first duty of the government is the safety of the American people. And tax cuts will not pay for air marshals or baggage screeners." -- Rep. Martin Frost, D. Texas

Once again, the people who benefit the most from capitalism will have to pay the least for it. The people who are hurt the least by these tragic times will actually MAKE money on this tragedy. The people who are hurt the worst will get, if they're lucky, a big FU from the Republicans. Real patriotic, guys. Hundreds of thousands of people getting laid off and you delay the vote on an aid package to these workers because you know what a bunch of greedy fat cats you look like when you say no to them. I get angry over a lot, but nothing makes me more angry than when the dittoheads do something like this. Capital Gains tax cuts? WHAT ARE THESE PUKES TALKING ABOUT? WE'VE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD. WE KNOW WHERE IT LEADS. NOTHING TRICKLES DOWN EXCEPT THE CRAP DOWN THEIR LEGS. Money, in case people haven't been paying attention, tends to concentrate in the hands of the wealthy. That's why we all say "the rich get richer." Would we say that if it "trickled down"?

It took a president who invested in education and infrasturcture to create record growth and surplus. Putting big tax cut dollars into the pockets of the rich does not stimulate the economy. We've done this experiment. Why are we here again? Because single minded, single issue voters like gun nuts and religious fanatics said Al Gore was the devil and voted for Dumbya. Most of these people are middle class folks who were inflamed by the religious right to believe that Al Gore was going to force them all to be homosexuals and take away their guns. Lies. All lies so these same rich fat cats like Jerry Falwell could get their teeth, or their dentures, into some more federal tax dollars, in the form of tax cuts, big breaks to the dirty energy industries they invest in and get paid off by, or cash to religions for "social" programs.

It's all about money. It's always about money in this country. The greedy Bush family, which actually did business with Nazi's and has now been caught doing business with the Bin Laden family (which, even though it claims to have disowned it's son, is being investigated by the FBI anyway) through the Carlyle group.

The Nazi agenda did not die along with Adolf Hitler. It moved to America (or a part of it did) and joined the far right of the Republican Party. Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker, W's grandfathers, both helped the Nazis by laundering money before and during the war, and by giving the Nazi's who came to the US after the war positions within the Republican party. And, furthermore, the U. S. government investigated both Bert Walker and Prescott Bush, and under the Trading with the Enemy Act seized all shares of Union Banking, including shares held by Prescott Bush. The government held that "huge sections of Prescott Bush's empire had been operated on behalf of Nazi Germany and had greatly assisted the German war effort." For detailed info on this, see this story about Bush and the Nazis.

And who inherits that empire? The "president" of the United States, whose oil greedy family has made friends with anyone who'll help them drill. Nazi's, terrorists, racists, whoever. With their money and connections (like cousins in newsrooms) they can pretty well cover up the fact that they are Nazi scum. And if anyone gets too close to the truth, they'll just have Falwell spew some crap about Clinton. Throw crap on the left so they can't smell the crap on the right.

All I can say is, please call all your friends in Florida and tell them to make sure they get to vote for someone besides Dumbya next time. And, for Christmas presents, buy your Republican friends some books about Bush, if they can read, that is.

Pictures. Hawaii pictures. Hawaii wallpaper pictures.

Yes. A brand new, clean site where it's easy to find all kinds of stuff about Hawaii. It's called, aptly enough, Hawaii-stuff.com. Check it out. Especially the Hawaii pictures. I'm talking free desktop wallpaper pictures of Hawaii. There's also tons of great info on Hawaii vacation rentals, Hawaii travel, Hawaii rental cars, Hawaii books, Hawaiian music, links to other sites about Hawaii, Hawaii camping, coffee, posters, and lots more to come! I'm just getting started on this baby!

Some clips from my Sierra Club newsletter

"In my view, we need to know that vast natural areas such as the Arctic Refuge exist as we cope with the events of the past month. Nature reminds us of the eternal rhythms of life of which we are a part and which will endure over time. Ensuring an enduring refuge in the Arctic, no matter how uncertain other parts of our life may seem right now, provides us solace and perspective in these trying times. This crisis has reawakened us to the importance of protecting our values, and I believe that the Arctic wilderness has a place on that list."
-Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), quoted on October 2nd

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit seeking to dismantle the Clinton administration's designation of the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The National Monument designation, which protects 328,000 acres of Sierra Nevada Forest in California, prohibits logging, mining and off-road vehicles in a section of the Sequoia.

Judge Ricardo Urbina upheld Clinton's authority to create national monuments, a far-reaching decision that helps protect six million acres recently designated national monument land. These very monuments were featured on the cover of last month's Sierra Magazine. You can find pictures and descriptions of the monuments on page 40 of the magazine, or online at:

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200109/mcmanus.asp

Hey, this sounds like Falwell's idea of a great country!

I found this story about Bin Laden, written in 1998, which tells of his rebuilding after the missle attacks. Interesting info about the Taliban... Sounds a lot like Falwell!

Since the Taliban assumed power in Kandahar, four years ago, the religious police have ruthlessly enforced the fatwas, or "heavenly orders" of the Shura. They have banned an endless list of former pleasures, among them television, kite-flying, music, photography and alcohol. They have stoned adulterers to death, buried gays under walls and amputated the hands of thieves.

Nice, huh? Guess God won't drop his veil of protection on these people.....

Detailed Map of Afghanistan's Military forces, including Bin Laden's

Check out this detailed map of Afghanistan showing the locations of Bin Laden bases and troops, Taliban forces, and opposition forces. Maybe if we just wait the whole damn Taliban will fall apart. Just the threat of a US attack is enough to scare these people into deserting the Taliban. Then, it'll just be Bin Laden and his 5000 troops or so - no innocents to get killed. Clear out all the innocent people and only the enemy is left.... Hey, I heard the Vatican say that in that case, even the Pope is not a pacifist! Really! (LA Times, Sunday, Sept. 30).

A letter to Salon about biological attacks

I just read about "Scary Mary" a former FAA official who quit because of her disgust at the airline industry (and the FAA cheerleaders) saying airport security wasn't cost effective. They put the value of a human life at 2.7 million dollars. If these business friendly republicans (and democrats, to a lesser degree) are in charge of preparing public health systems to save lives in the event of a biological attack, then we're in deep D'oh now. Any talk of improving the public health system in this country has been quickly shot down by republicans. And anyone who even thought about trying to improve the health system (read Hillary) is quickly trashed from every angle by every dittohead in the beltway (and out). Most of these guys are controlled by industry lobbyists and campaign donors who say they can't do something like prepare the health infrastructure for a biological terrorist attack. That would cost billions, and, if a life is worth even as much as 3 million, then there'd have to be an awful lot of dead and dying people to make any improvements in our health care system cost effective. When will we start spending money on the people of this country, instead of on capital gains tax cuts? When we stop "electing" republicans, that's when.

Religion - what the hell's it good for?

Absolutely nothin'. Say it again. Here's 19 deeply religious men whose schools didn't teach evolution, Mr. Tom Delay.....




I guess they weren't very "evolutionized," eh, Tom? What we need is a good crusade - maybe send some children over to kill the infidels - and perhaps you'd like to burn a few of us atheists at the stake while you're at it? I can't believe these right wing religious fanatics are going to march us straight into a holy war.... I mean the republicans and the Al Qaeda. Welcome back to the dark ages....

I joined the fray today, something I rarely do, but the discussion over evolution (because of the new PBS series) was getting pretty deep over there, and I just couldn't stay out of it. I was reading this: Darwin's Sanitized Idea -
PBS's Evolution is an exercise in Creationist appeasement. Here's my response:

Screw religion. What has religion gotten us? 19 fanatics flying planes into buildings in the name of God. Supposed "christians" who want to bomb women and children in retaliation. Jerry Fallwell telling gay people it's their fault. What the hell do we need more crusades for? That's what religion has gotten us.

There is no proof of God. Take a philosophy course. There are arguments for the existence of God, but there is no PROOF. That's why we don't teach it in PUBLIC school SCIENCE classes. Don't pray in our schools and I won't think in your churches. We teach science in science class - and not very well in this country. When you have some scientific evidence of GOD, then we'll talk. Funny thing is, there can be no scientific evidence of God. By definition, God is METAphysical....

90% of Americans believe in some "higher spirit." When you ask about God, the number actually goes down. There are many more of us militant agnostics (I don't know and neither do you) than most people suspect. We have tons of evidence in evolution. It is a perfect ontology. GOD only complicates your ontology. Anyone wants to have God for desert after a main course of reality, go ahead. Just do it in church - not school. That's what churches are for, remember? Or have churches just become training grounds for idiots like Tom DeLay who grow up to show the world what kind of homegrown fundamentalists we raise here.... Guess we're not all as "evolutionized" as the next guy....

Anybody says evolution is to blame for punks shooting up schools like Columbine should have their entrails laid out next to pigs, so they can graphically see the similarities in our mamalian anatomy.

Shame on the DeLays and Falwells of the world for blaming science, which actually studies nature and FACTS, while they sit back and take money from people who are too stupid to realize what jerks these liars are, and how short a crawl out of the primordial mud these guys have made.

Evolution doesn't have to find a way to get along with religion. What we believe doesn't matter one bit. What matters is whether we choose to be a religiously dominated society, or one that teaches science. The two cannot be melded. They have nothing to do with each other. You can believe god started things off with a big bang, but the evidence is clear what happened after that.

If you want a country run by religious fanatics, move to Afghanistan or Iran. And remember, when religion ruled the world, they called it the dark ages.

The truth is the truth, and can be found in the evidence. If we choose to ignore it, it will be a sad day for human intellegence.....

Scott Supak
supak.com

From the why-I'm-not-letting-up-on-Bush files

He's not REALLY the president, and shrub and his smirk belong back in Austin and Al Gore (who's commision had plenty of great ideas to make airlines safer that were ignored and ridiculed by Republicans and the airline industry) should be running the show. The "election" of 2000 was just the beginning of Jr. ruining this country. Now he's on the "crusade" to kill the "evil doers." As if events weren't surreal enough, Dumbya's tele-prompter people are mixing up their comic book lines with the president's speeches.

Oh, and hey, I'll be the first to mention it when Bush Boy actually says something smart. I read that in a meeting with four key Senators, W actually said, "What's the point of shooting a 2 million dollar missle at a ten dollar tent that's empty?" I hope the Uncle Dick and the Joint Chiefs were listening.

Bush Rejected Terrorism Commission Report

Salon's Jake Tapper reports, "White House officials failed to embrace any of the recommendations to prevent acts of domestic terrorism delivered earlier this year. Bush administration officials told former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., that they preferred instead to put aside the recommendations issued in the January report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Instead, the White House announced in May that it would have Vice President Dick Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism -- which the bipartisan group had already spent two and a half years studying -- while assigning responsibility for dealing with the issue to [FEMA], headed by former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. The Hart-Rudman Commission had specifically recommended that the issue of terrorism was such a threat it needed far more than FEMA's attention."


The Gore Commission Demanded Tougher Airline Security, But Airlines And Conservatives Said No

In 1997, the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security - commonly known as the Gore Commission - issued 50 recommendations for defending air travel against terrorists. The cost: $2-8 billion, to be paid from user fees. But the airline industry dismissed the threat of terrorists, and attacked the commission. And conservative ideologues rejected the proposal on "cost-effectiveness" grounds. How much are 5,000 lives - not to mention the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and America's security - worth?

Phil Gramm (R-TX) Blocked Clinton Bill to Trace Terrorist Money

The NY Times reports, "Federal officials say they have not persuaded foreign banks to open their books to investigators and that in this country, a law that would have allowed the United States to penalize foreign banks that did not cooperate was blocked last year by a single United States senator... The bill, introduced by the Clinton administration, would give the Treasury secretary broad power to bar foreign countries and banks from access to the American financial market unless they cooperated with money-laundering investigations. It was strongly opposed by the banking industry and [Senator Phil] Gramm. 'I was right then and I am right now' in opposing the bill, Mr. Gramm said yesterday. He called the bill 'totalitarian' and added, 'The way to deal with terrorists is to hunt them down and kill them.'" According to the Times, Bin Laden's financial methods have not changed since he worked "side by side with the C.I.A. to support the rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan."

Why Did Bush Give $43 Million to Afghanistan in May?

On May 22, LA Times columnist Robert Scheer denounced "the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell... makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God... Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden." Is the US funding the Taliban? Bush needs to tell Americans the truth.

Yeah. Like that'll happen. And the immortal words of Wayne (Mike Myers): "And monkeys might fly outta my butt!"

NO COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Where are the voices for peace? I want justice, not war. Justice cannot be done with collateral damage. Collateral damage, as our military calls it, means innocent civilians who get killed for being too poor to get the hell out of the way. In every discussion I've had on this, even with my fellow Democrats, I say we shouldn't just go in there and bomb the hell out of innocent civilians - namely, women and children - and people say, well, they're all leaving anyway. Well, they're not. Many of them are too poor, old, or feeble to walk across one of the most inhospitable places on earth. I'm beginning to think that it doesn't matter now. We're going to kill innocent people. And that is going to make the Muslim world hate us even more.

I heard a good report on the World Round-up on CBS news radio this morning (apparently, they don't have a web site). A Muslim cleric was saying that the Koran doesn't say anyhting about this kind of horror being allowed. These freaks who call themselves Muslims are actually going against the teachings of Islam. Then, this same cleric went on to say that retaliation is allowed in the Koran, but only if it's retaliation against the individual who did you wrong. So, if the US goes over there and kills innocent people, then we will also be in violation of the Koran, which would further piss-off the Muslims who would then actually have a religious right to retaliate.

Can you say quagmire? Sure, I knew you could. How to stay out of this quagmire and still bring justice to the people who did this? Very carefully. First of all, Shrub needs to get himself a Muslim specialist to make sure he doesn't say things like Crusade any more. He needs to apologize for using that word, instead of having Colin Powel do it.

Next, we need to make damn sure we don't have any collateral damage. None. Because one glimpse of dead Muslim babies killed by US bombers and we're doomed over there. Justice will never be done because the whole thing will spiral out of control. We need to search the world for the people who did this. We need to arrest them. If they resist arrest, we can kill them in self deffense and try them later. Either way we must prove in a courtroom that these are the people responsible. We should extradite them to the US and make them stand trial, like every other criminal we've hunted down and captured, from Manuel Noriega to Ramzi Yousef.

That is how a civilized society responds to crime. In this case, we certainly need our military to go get these people, because they are a military outfit in a remote country on the other side of the world. But our military needs to be told, by the man in charge (who was AWOL in the last big war), that this is justice, not genocide. We're not over there to wipe out the entire country, like some of my red-neck neighbors would have us do. We should not go to the middle east intent on killing the infidels in some huge crusade against the people of these screwed up countries, as some of the more "religious" people here would have us do. Amazing how the religious fanatics come out on both sides when the shit hits the fan. While we're bringing the religious fanatic Bin Laden to justice, maybe we should arrest Jerry Falwell while we're at it. It's been proven he's a lying slanderer before. I'll stop short of saying we should round up all the religious fanatics in this country. That would be un-American, and far too Falwellesque.