Category: I’m a flaming Liberal

Retaliation

On September 11, 2001 nineteen terrorists took control of four commercial airplanes.  Two of them were flown into the World Trade center, collapsing both towers.  One was flown into the Pentagon.  On crashed in Pennsylvania, as the passengers decided to fight back.

The total number of confirmed deaths for this atrocious act was 2,973 (not including the nineteen perpetrators).  When men come to our country and murder our civilians, we call it terrorism.

This act, the senseless killing of nearly 3,000 American lives so enraged this nation that we went to war.  President George W. Bush sent the troops to Afghanistan, where the mastermind of the attack was alleged to be cowering, and went after his ass. 

For a while.

Then we went to Iraq because Saddam Hussein may or may not have weapons of mass destruction that he may or may not intend to use on American Soil and he may or may not have some terrorists there too.  So we pre-emptively kicked the crap out of his country (that means we struck first.  We weren’t provoked).  We found and captured the man who hadn’t actually attacked us but probably was maybe going to.  We turned him over to the new government we installed there and they executed him promptly.  Scratch one bad guy. 

Meanwhile we’re not really focused on finding the guy who killed nearly 3,000 American civilians anymore.  Iraq was far more important.  The cost of the war in Iraq is well documented.  We paid for our invasion of Iraq with over 4,000 American Soldiers.  When we send our young men and women to another country and they get killed then, we call this patriotism.

Meanwhile, as a result of our invasion and conquer of the sovereign nation of Iraq, since 2003 100,971 of their civilians have died.  When we send men to another country and their civilians die, we call this collateral damage.

Just to recap:

American civilian deaths: 2,973 as a result of a terrorist attack.
American soldier deaths: 4,287* as a result of our invasion.
Iraqi civilian deaths: 100,971* as a result of our invasion.
*Afghanistan statistics not included. 

And we’re completely baffled as to why people in the Middle East don’t like us.

In Dalton Trumbo’s classic book “Johnny got his gun”, he added an additional introduction in 1971 responding to the then current Vietnam War.  To avoid possible copyright issues, I’ll paraphrase as much as possible, but I would much rather type it in verbatim. 

He says that 40,000 dead young men (the number of dead American soldiers at the time) was equal to 3000 tons of bone and flesh.  124,000 pounds of brain matter.  50,000 gallons of blood.  1,840,000 years of potential life lost.  With 4,000 dead, you can easily adjust these numbers for Iraq.

300 tons of flesh and bone.
12,400 pounds of brain matter.
5,000 gallons of blood.
184,000 years of lost potential life.

The math is a slightly harder for the Iraqi citizens.

7500 tons of flesh and bone.
310,000 pounds of brain matter.

You get the point.  These numbers should make you vomit.  If they don’t, you need to ask yourself why.

Fascism

I recently pointed out somewhat facetiously that the number of death threats towards President Obama is 400% higher than the number of death threats towards President Bush (II) during his term. 

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/new-report-find-secret-service-overwhelmed-by-increased-threats.php

While there’s a subtle understated fact that the irrational anger against him is reaching a frightening level, I put it somewhat ironically, stating that of course fewer people threatened Bush.  He was the only thing standing between us and Cheney as president!

It was in somewhat bad taste I admit, and I completely glossed over the fact that this completely debunks the right’s claims that the anger against Bush was just as extreme.  As an aside, Bush gave us some very good reasons for being angry at him, but I’ve been through that before. 

Someone pointed out the 2007 movie “Death of a President” as evidence of how much more extreme it was against Bush. I’ve never seen this movie, but I have to say now that I’m aware of it, I’m intrigued.  It obviously has some moral undertones to it, but the plot sounds fascinating.  What if Cheney really had become president?  How much worse might it have been?  And this hardly seems like a Bush hate movie.  It actually looks quite thought provoking.

The movie synopsis, though, reminded me about the Patriot Act of 2001.  There were so many contemptuous acts committed by the Bush administration, that it’s sometimes hard to remember all of them, but this one is important.  This was the point at which our civil rights began to be eroded.  If you don’t remember, go read up on it.  Right now.  I’ll wait.

Seriously now, how is that NOT a big step towards fascism?

And this is the part that confuses me.  The Tea Party marches and shouts “Obama is a Fascist”, he’s “destroying the Constitution” and “eroding our civil rights”.  These claims were all made over health care reform. 

Can some right-winger please explain to me how health care reform is more fascist, more unconstitutional, and violates our rights more than the Patriot Act?  If you can’t (and you won’t, just admit it), then where were you when this happened?  Why no marches then?

Have we all really gone THAT mad?

… what’s that?  Do I hear crickets?

The Republican record so far…

The Republicans make it hard to not side with the Democrats.  I’m NOT a Democrat and I have serious issues with them, including Obama, but I have to side with them because my only other choice is to side with the party that stands for everything I’m against.

The Republican Progress Report.

  • Label an attempt to fix a broken health care system that is resulting in as many as 44,000 deaths per year as Socialist/Communist/Fascist/some-other-ist: Succeeded.
  • Get the Democrats to pass 161 Republican-sponsored amendments to Health Care Reform that weakens the bill in an attempt to get bi-partisan support, then don’t vote for it: Succeeded.
  • Employ Dick Armey and FreedomWorks to manufacture the “Tea Party”, an angry “grass roots movement” that calls everything that doesn’t benefit multi-billion dollar companies Communist/Socialist/etc. etc.: Succeeded.
  • Get Fox News to promote the “Tea Party” as a legitimate movement instead of a corporate designed opposition to legislation that helps Americans and is detrimental to multi-billion dollar companies profit margins: Succeeded.
  • Stop Health Care Reform legislation that will help 30 million Americans get health coverage and possibly not die: Failed.
  • Oppose Financial Reform that restricts multi-billion dollar banks from becoming “too big to fail” and prevents them from engaging in the risky but lucrative practices which previously led to the economy imploding: In Progress.
  • Pass a law requiring all people who “look like illegal immigrants” (e.g. Mexicans) to carry papers while in the state of Arizona in an attempt to look “tough on immigration” while labeling opponents of this obvious civil rights violation as “weak on immigration”: Succeeded
  • Oppose Obama on EVERYTHING: In Progress.

Good job guys.  At this rate you just might get another maniacal war monger in the white house by 2012.  You do know that if you guys stopped being buttholes for five minutes, there would actually be time to level plenty of fair criticisms against President Obama.

Dear God…

Dear God,

First of all, let’s be honest.  I don’t believe you’re there.  Every type of logic I apply to the question indicates that it’s unlikely that there’s any kind of supernatural deity controlling everything.  I’m pretty sure the Christian Coalition is proof positive of that.  It also makes it much easier to answer the “How could God allow that to happen” question.  That said….

On the off chance that I’m wrong and you actually are there, I’d like to discuss your followers with you.  There’s a bit of a problem there.  Could you please make them smart?  While it’s not universally true, the vast majority of them seem to use religion as an excuse for staying stupid.  For instance, I live in Kansas, the one state in the union convinced that science isn’t important to teach to young growing minds.  It’s a little odd to be combating dark ages mentalities and beliefs in what should otherwise be a rather enlightened age.  For instance, I’ve considered calling the state in an attempt to force my wife to send my children to school so that they can learn science rather than some kind of absurd belief about how the world was created that has absolutely nothing to do with the core of what Christianity is about, but since that state is Kansas and Kansas doesn’t see the importance of science, that’s not likely to work.  Do you seriously want your followers to combat intelligence and science instead of concentrating on being good people?  Do you seriously want your followers to deny assistance to the poor rather than saving lives?  When did greed and stupidity become Christian values?  Why are your followers so concerned with the obscure or unimportant parts of the bible rather than the parts that tell them what kind of lives they should be leading like Matthew 25?  Why do they only seem to learn the parts of the bible they can use to condemn others rather than the parts that would make them better people?  You know, like Taoists do.

I saw a sticker on the back of a giant-ass truck the other day that read “I’ll take God and guns, you can keep Obama.”  Guns?  Seriously God?  Guns are a Christian value?  I kind of though Christians were supposed to be a peaceful lot, Bush/Cheney’s warmongering notwithstanding.  A gun in the hands of the stupid redneck driving that truck just sounds like a really really bad idea to me.  On the other hand, when he manages to shoot himself, perhaps people will believe Darwin after all.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t kill too many intelligent people first.

Some say religion is a crutch.  I say it’s not a crutch, it’s a tool, and it’s being wielded with great skill by douchebags like Pat Robertson, who uses the power of Christian beliefs to condemn the poor and unfortunate and those with liberal political values while making himself obscenely rich.  Didn’t you say something about the likelihood of rich people getting into heaven?  Seems like I recall something there.  I also seem to recall a phrase that read something like “demonizing the poor” is bad, but what do I know?  Surely Robertson has actually read the thing, right?

Oh, and one last request, would you mind please smiting Ray Comfort, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity from the face of the earth?  Pat Robertson really ought to go too for being a complete and total douchebag.  Also, if you don’t mind a few non-Christian (AFAICT) requests, the world would be better off without Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachman, and pretty much the entire staff of Fox News. I suppose if smiting isn’t how you do things these days, perhaps you could at least give them some kind of revelation that makes them less of a group of complete assholes?

Thanks,

The Cowboy.

Dear Dick Cheney

Dear Dick,

What do you use to wash the blood of our American Soldiers off your hands with?  I only ask because it seems really effective.  Based on your attitude one tell that you feel no remorse at the thousands of soldiers who died for your wallet.  I won’t even mention the almost countless dead Iraqis, because they don’t really count, right?

I really would like to know in case I ever find myself in a situation where I can make myself and my friends blindingly rich at the cost of hundred of thousands of lives.  Good trade off, eh?

Seriously, the United States of America has signed no less than two treaties making the use of torture by the American Government a crime punishable by international law.  One of these treaties is the Geneva Convention.  Why is the international community not pressing charges against George Bush and Dick Cheney?  The entire world knows they are guilty of war crimes just as much as Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler.  Where is the international outrage?  Obama is NOT going to do it.  The American people are not listened to by their government, or they would already be on trial.  The American Government proves this every day.  They listen to big corporations.  That’s who they represent, that’s who they protect.  Not you, not us. 

It’s up to you, the rest of the world, to make this happen.  Stand up and say “we will not tolerate war crimes, whether they be committed by Iraq, Iran, Germany, Italy, or the freakin’ U.S.A”.  Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech entitled “Beyond Vietnam” about a year before his assassination.  In it he spoke of a worldwide revolution.  I think this revolution has largely occurred, and just as he predicted, the United States is dead last in keeping up. 

It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

It’s time.

6-12-24

10 years ago, the average family paid $6,000/year for health insurance.

Today, the average family pays $12,000/year for health insurance.

It’s estimated, at the current rate of increase, that in 10 years, without reform, the average family will pay $24,000/year for health insurance. 

The poverty line has been defined as $20,000/year.  This hasn’t changed in a very long time.  If no health reform is passed, or even worse, if something like the Baucus Bill is passed that does not control costs or provide a public option, and requires every citizen to buy private insurance under penalty of fine, well… do the math.

People who make $30,000 a year or less will have to decide, give all or most of their income to health insurance or face a fine of up to $3,800?  Unfortunately, breaking the law will become the economical choice.  At least until somebody becomes sick.

If you oppose reform, do the math.

The way things are now…

Even Fox News reported this one.  Surprisingly they even reported the fact that their previous insurer raised their rates 40% for the audacity of having a baby.  Then the new insurer denied the baby health coverage.  

17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat – Children’s Health – FOXNews.com

I find it amazing that they can report a story like this, yet continue to defend a system that treats Americans this way.  Would the insurer have reversed their decision had the dad not been a local news anchor?  Not likely.  You can almost hear the “oh shit!” when they realized who they had screwed.  They’re expected to not cover their child.  This kind of insanity only occurs in this country, and the right wing continues to call this the best health care system in the world despite mountains of facts to the contrary, and endless stories just like this one.  Nearly everybody has a health insurance horror story.  I have more than one.

I just heard today about a friend of my wife’s, who had lost their insurance because the father had become unemployed (a fairly common occurrence these days), and now their baby has a serious condition.  They’ll never recover from this.  You have to wonder how they’re going to send children to college when they’ll most likely be paying for saving their child’s life for the rest of their lives. 

That’s all it takes to destroy a family here.  Lose a job, get sick. 

The right-wing takeaway: If your child is careless enough to develop a serious condition, let ’em die.  Serves them right for being so thoughtless.

My takeaway: This is like living in a George Orwell novel.  If our elected leaders can’t take this seriously and put a stop to it, vote them out. 

I’m making a list of politicians who A) support real reform, B) oppose any reform, and C) are pretending to care about reform but really trying to fuck it up as badly as they can (i.e. Max Baucus).  I will post this if reform fails.  I may post it anyway.  I’m going to use it as my voting guide in the next election.  I hope you do too.

Obama Derangement Syndrome?

I was as shocked as anybody that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.  I didn’t know he was nominated.  Now that the surprise has worn off, I’m proud.  The leader of our nation has won the Nobel Peace prize.  That doesn’t happen very often. 

The right is angry.  They think he didn’t deserve it.  They think he should give it back.  They think the world will view this as a huge joke. 

I have two questions for them.  Answer these, and we can talk. 

1) Is the Nobel Peace Prize awarded by an American institution or an international one? 

2) Why has no Republican president in recent memory won the Nobel Peace Prize?  I say recent memory, but I’m not sure ANY Republican has won one.

Should Bush have gotten a peace prize?  I don’t think they award it for starting pre-emptive wars on false pretenses.  In face, things like that usually lead to war crimes trials. 

Rachel Maddow cited a right-wing viewpoint from the beginning of the decade called Bush Derangement Syndrome.  It goes something like this: we hate Bush therefore he can do nothing right.  I guess that means that being opposed to two ceaseless wars, torture, ignoring the Constitution, undoing the Constitution, warrantless surveillance, and other things along those lines is only because I didn’t like Bush.  This is an interesting viewpoint, since I actually liked Bush until I found out about those things.

This viewpoint in interesting, though, because it seems that no matter what Obama does, they hate him for it.  Even on issues that should not have a political slant, they boo his successes and cheer his failures.  I don’t think Obama is perfect, in fact I’m keeping a running list of things he’s done (or not done) that upset me, but compared to Bush, he’s fuckin’ Jesus Christ. 

I don’t understand the hate that leads someone to cheer America’s loss regarding the Olympics.  This is from the same party that said “Country First”.  I don’t understand the hate that leads someone to be angry that their president earned the Nobel Peace Prize.  This is also from the same party that said “Country First”.  Apparently “Country First” really means Republicans First. 

Well, that’s not entirely fair, apparently John McCain had nice things to say.  I may not agree with his viewpoints, but at least he’s capable of showing tact. 

America… WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?

Message to Max Baucus: FUCK OFF AND DIE!

 

Max Baucus has introduced legislation that is basically a handout to the private insurance companies.  This legislation cannot pass.  It will bankrupt millions and make billions for the insurance companies in the process.  In other words, the rich getting richer off the misfortune of the poor. 

Fuck off Max.  You may be a Democrat, but you’re a fucking corporate stooge.  You might as well be George “I represent the top 1% of the rich in this country and the rest of you losers can fuck yourselves” Bush.  Jay Rockefeller is trying to get anything even remotely resembling something good for the people in this bill, and you stump him at every turn.  I hope they’re paying you well, fucker.  If there’s a Hell, I hope you like it warm.