Smartass Whales

I was perusing Reuters for the latest news in politics, when I came upon an article about Humpback whales suggesting these creatures are more intelligent than we previously believed.

What, did you think I was all about politics, and nothing else? For shame!

Anyway, the article is incredibly interesting:

Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

This might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species of animals, the researchers said.

The finding may help explain some of the behaviors seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage, the researchers report in The Anatomical Record.

If this is true, it means we're going to have to rethink how we treat these creatures. But this fascinating revelation doesn't end with humpbacks:

The researches found spindle neurons in the same location in toothed whales with the largest brains, which the researchers said suggests that they may be related to brain size. Toothed whales such as orcas are generally considered more intelligent than baleen whales such as humpbacks and blue whales, which filter water for their food.

If this is so, then the orca and other toothed whales -- which typically have to go to greater lengths to hunt for food -- may be a bit more intelligent due to necessity. But that's not all:

Spindle neurons probably first appeared in the common ancestor of hominids, humans and great apes about 15 million years ago, the researchers said -- they are not seen in lesser apes or monkeys.

In cetaceans they would have evolved earlier, possibly as early as 30 million years ago, the researchers said.

Either the spindle neurons were only kept in the animals with the largest brains or they evolved several times independently, the researchers said.

"In spite of the relative scarcity of information on many cetacean species, it is important to note in this context that sperm whales, killer whales, and certainly humpback whales, exhibit complex social patterns that included intricate communication skills, coalition-formation, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage," the researchers wrote.

Wow. I mean, do you realize the implications of this? I do. And I've got to tell you, while I am pleased and fascinated I think this kind of knocks me off my pedestal. If whales' social development and comminication skills predate ours by millions of years, it means we're not the only species on this planet capable of complex, intelligent behavior. It means we're hunting and polluting out of existence another sentient species. Oone just as intelligent as ours, if not more so.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Daddy Lies Defending Junior, While Iraqis Die In Record Numbers

You've got to hand it to George H.W. Bush: he can lie better than his hellspawn.

Defending the Shrub at an Arab leadership conference, Bush Sr. lied, "My son is an honest man." This would be laughable, if it weren't so tragic. There are numerous books, intel reports, former and current government officials, and news reports exposing George W. Bush as the pathological liar he really is.

It's only natural for a father to want to defend his son from critics. But Pappy Bush wasn't just defending his brat from critics; he was lying in an attempt to salvage the Bush crime family's chances of successfully carying out future thefts of the U.S. presidency.

Daddy Bush went on, apparently to explain how his feelings get hurt every time someone dares to tell the truth about his traitorous whelp. I can almost hear the violins screeching out a pitiful dirge.

Lying to the American public on a daily basis; negligently allowing a terrorist attack to happen on American soil that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans; abandoning the hunt for the people responsible; invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, and that posed no threat to us; turning the U.S. into a fascist police state; driving the U.S. to economic ruin; negligently allowing hundreds to die in the disaster of Hurricane Katrina; manipulating intel; gutting the Constitution; helping to out a CIA operative...these crimes and many more have been committed by George W. Bush and his equally treasonous regime.

Yet we're supposed to shed a tear for the Old Man, who is guilty of treason himself for helping Ronald Reagan sell weapons to Iran and then use the profits to fund the Nicaraguan contras. We're supposed to believe the crocodile tears of a lying son of a traitor, who has committed treason himself, and whose demonic get has committed treason.

And what of Iraq, the invasion of which Junior launched with absolutely no care at all for the consequences? According to a U.N. report, Iraqis are both dying and fleeing the country in record numbers, as reported by Reuters.

Junior and his pals wanted to invade Iraq so they could control world oil proces and make obscene profits for themselves and the U.S. oil industry. They did so not caring how many people would die, or lose their homes, or suffer from disease and malnutrition. They did so for no other reason than greed. And now the country is in far worse shape than it ever was under Saddam Hussein.

It's enough to make one vomit. Happy Thanksgiving.

Why Give Gates a Free Pass?

Looks like the U.S. Senate is preparing to give George H.W. Bush's creature, Robert Gates, a free pass in his confirmation process to replace outgoing defense bungler Donald Rumsfeld.

I think this is bad for several reasons, but I'll list a couple of them here for the sake of brevity.

1.) Gates is Bush Sr.'s creature. This means he has skeletons in his closet. Dinosaur skeletons. According to The Nation's David Corn, Gates has his own history of deception as Daddy's former CIA director, and one of the intelligence fixers who tried to falsely label Nelson Mandela a communist. Gates was also part of the Reagan administration when the Iran-Contra business went down; he was originally a Reagan nominee, but was withdrawn when Ronnie-boy got caught red-handed selling weapons to Iran and using the profits to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. Reagan and Bush Sr. escaped prosecution and impeachment, but Gates' dreams of becoming CIA director were denied fulfilment until Daddy Bush got elected president.

2.) Senate Democrats, empowered by their incoming majority, should know well enough by now that anyone Junior nominates is a motherfucker, a ruthless sycophantic liar who will say whatever his master tells him to say. It doesn't matter that Daddy chose him to wipe Junior's ass for him after the mess he made in Iraq. He is a Bush family creature.

These are reasons enough to give him a gut-wrenchingly hard time as Gates lies his way through confirmation hearings. Had Republicans kept control of Congress, Rumsfeld would still be around. But they didn't, so now Daddy is coming to Junior's rescue again, wiping his shit-stained ass for him because he made another monumental mess he can't clean up.

The party is over. Democrats will resume control of Congress in January, after twelve years of being shut out of the legislative process. George W. Bush now faces a Congress that, for the first time in six years, will not be the rubber stamp he has enjoyed. For the first time, Democrats are in a position to investigate his crimes and those of the rest of his regime. His dismissal of Rumsfeld in exchange for one of Pappy's pets was a demonstration of mortal terror blossoming in Shrubya's foul gut.

So why go easy on him? Why give Gates a pass, without the threat of exposing his entire shady history for all the world to see? Gates wasn't picked to reform the policy regarding Iraq; he was picked to save the Shrub's useless, treasonous carcass. Democrats need to demonstrate that whoever Shrubya nominates is not going to be someone of his choosing, but someone to Democrats' liking. Someone competent, who will stand up to Bush and tell him he will do as he is told and get us out of Iraq, and follow whatever plan he has to extract America from that quagmire.

But no, that won't happen. Which is a real shame, because people are dying over there for no good reason, and it is far past time Democrats got tough with the traitor-in-chief.

87% Favor Impeachment

Just a quick bit of news for all of you out there who are concerned about public support for impeaching Bush and Cheney: The Raw Story is reporting that an MSNBC poll shows 87% of Americans think there is ample justification to begin the impeachment process.

An MSNBC online poll shows that the overwhelming majority of its participating voters believe [George W.] Bush should be impeached.

The poll asked the question, "Do you believe ... Bush's actions justify impeachment?" Four choices were presented:

"Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial." "No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching 'high crimes and misdemeanors.'" "No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching." "I don't know." Of nearly 360,000 people who had voted in the "unscientific" poll by 9:30PM Eastern on Friday evening, 87 percent responded "Yes."

Most of the public wants Bush and Cheney gone, out of power and in prison where they belong. Congressional Democrats should heed the wishes of the public, which put them in charge again after twelve years.

Just something to think about.

Why Democrats MUST Impeach Bush & Cheney

This week we witnessed something incredible. This week, we saw Democrats returned to power in the U.S. House of Representatives, with control of the Senate more likely now to go in their favor. Bush is already trying to kiss the collective ass of the Democratic Party, immediately dumping Donald Rumsfeld in the process, and for good reason: Shrubya knows full well he is fucked.

And he is, make no mistake about it. Even if control of the Senate ultimately stays in GOP hands (unlikely at this point, but still possible) the House has a comfortable Democratic margin. John Conyers of Michigan is set to become the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and that body is the most important one right now because it is where any impeachment proceedings must start. It is also where Conyers is in a position to launch official investigations of Bush's crimes in office.

A lot of people are on the fence about impeaching and removing George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. A lot of people are concerned about what would happen to America if we Democrats launched investigations and impeachment proceedings now, just over a year from the official start of the 2008 presidential elections.

I am writing this blog entry to explain to you some of the top reasons why Bush and Cheney must suffer impeachment. They are:

1.) The Crimes.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have committed a multitude of crimes in office, not the least of which are authorizing the torture of uncharged, unconvicted prisoners; the eliminations of habeus corpus and other key portions of the U.S. Constitution; the illegal wiretapping of American citizens in violation of both the Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a federal law; the rigging of two presidential elections; and criminal negligence over 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina; hundreds of signing statements declaring his intention to ignore laws passed by Congress...the list goes on for miles.

2.) The Political Ramifications.

First of all, let me remind you dear readers that the GOP had no problem investigating then-president William Jefferson Clinton over Whitewater, nor did they care about the ramifications of impeaching him when they trapped him into lying under oath about an extramarital affair, having failed to find him guilty of anything in the Whitewater hearings. They did not lose control of Congress, and they were still able to seize the White House in a hotly contested election. In fact, during the six years since the stolen election of 2000 they maintained their stranglehold on Congress and stole the presidency a second time. Democrats can do things quite differently. While Republicans had nothing of substance on which to convict or impeach Clinton, there are plenty of high crimes Bush and Cheney have committed that have a great deal of substance. We can reveal all sorts of things via subpeona power, leaks to the press, and controlling the discussion in the media. And the best part is, we'd simply be revealing the full truth and scope of what Bush, Cheney and the rest of the regime has done. No lying, no spinning, just the full revelation of the facts. I guarantee you that once the full truth becomes known the public will again reward Democrats, in 2008.

3.) The Consequences of Failure.

The American voters did not elect Democrats to power after twelve years just to watch us fritter away any and all chances to hold Bush and Cheney to account for their crimes. They elected us to power because they are sick of corruption, deceipt, criminality in office, and outright treason by the regime. Those lying fuckers outed a CIA NOC for political revenge, and posted twenty-year-old nuclear weapons specs on the Internet in Arabic for crying out loud! Do you honestly think those acts were not giving aid and comfort to America's foreign enemies? If Democrats fail to investigate, impeach, remove and imprison George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, not only will voters take it out on the party at the polls in '08 but there is a greater implication: failure to do these things will set a terrible precedent and send a much more frightening message to future generations, that an executive can commit any crime in office and get away with it, because no one wants to stop and punish him out of some misplaced fear over what it might do to the country. The truth is, it would do far more harm to America to not investigate the crimes of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and impeach them.

Congress, now that it is under Democratic control, has a duty to investigate the crimes of the Bush regime and make the full truth known. It must clean up the corruption, and it must stop Bush and Cheney cold in their tracks. The regime will not stop its warmaking plans against Iran simply because they no longer have a pliant Legislature, and the now minority GOP will do everything in its power to block and obstruct Democrats from anything and everything. Therefore, Democrats must unite and put a stop to them. If not, the party will lose in '08 and the American people, betrayed and let down by their government once again, might be inclined to take matters into their own hands.

A Night of Triumph, Disappointments, Hope

You may not read much from me on this blog for a while, because I am taking a short, but well-deserved break from politics. I am also quite sick (I hope it's not bronchitis). So I'm taking a much-needed rest after this entry.

Last night was filled with a lot of triumphs, some disappointments, and most importently, hope. Hope that George W. Bush and his evil regime will be stopped dead in its tracks as it tries to march to war against Iran, hope that it will now, at long last, be held accountable for its multitude of crimes.

Last night, Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives; four out of six much-needed U.S. Senate seats, with a close recount to determine whether Bush will finally have a check on his abuses of power in the Senate; and six governorships, including Ohio! This means Democrats now control a majority of U.S. governorships.

Democrats rolled up gains of about 30 seats in the House in Tuesday's elections, riding to a huge victory on a wave of public discontent with the Iraq war, corruption and Republican [dictator] George W. Bush's leadership.

In Virginia, the recount -- which will decide control of the Senate -- may not determine a winner between Republican incumbent George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb. If Webb wins, count on Republican Joe LIEberman to fuck Democrats over by caucusing with the GOP.

And that's where we come to the disappointments I was talking about; LIEberman managed to retain a Senate seat he no longer deserves, having taken huge sums of GOP money after losing the Democratic primary to challenger Ned Lamont in Connecticut. LIEberman is a vindictive animal, and he can be counted on only one thing if Webb is determined to be the winner: to once again stab in the back the party he turned his back on.

But the night had other good news; Democrat Sherrod Brown beat Republican incumbent and rubber stamp for George W. Bush, Mike DeWine, by ten percentage points. Democrat Ted Strickland won the Ohio gubernatorial race by over twenty percentage points, with Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell conceding early in the evening. Both DeWine and Blackwell, Bush's bitches, gave concession speeches rife with dishonesty and bitterness.

And some more good news for Ohio's minimum wage workers: voters gave them a raise last night, passing a constitutional amendment increasing it here in the Buckeye State. Ohio's legislature, long dominated by the GOP, has consistently refused to pass a minimum wage increase. But in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment sweeping the nation, and with wages for the poorest workers stagnant, Ohio finally decided enough was enough -- they were tired of watching a do-nothing legislature increase wealth for the richest citizens, while keeping the poor and middle class in a financial rut.

Expect a lot of corporations in Ohio to retaliate by laying off low-income workers, cutting their hours, or some combination of the two. But really, they've no reason to; when workers are able to afford to buy more, that's just more money cycling back into the economy. Which means, in the long run, businesses win. It's just that now, low-income workers win as well.

I will keep this entry updated throughout the day, as more information flows into my brain; when I went to bed last night, the races for Ohio Attorney General and Secretary of State were close, but with the Democratic candidates leading. Ohio desperately needs to win both these races, because if the GOP retains control the '08 election will see more rampant electoral fraud on their part to throw the presidency to their party again.

Which brings me to the next point in this entry: electoral fraud. Republicans were bound to practice it, in spades. But the wave of anti-Republican sentiment now sweeping the nation prevented it from working. Voters turned out in enough numbers to counter it. If Democrat Mark Dann, a state senator running on the platform of investigating various crimes by state officials, is determined the winner in the A.G.'s race it means we could finally see some prosecutions in the 2004 electoral fraud that gave Bush another four years to fuck over America -- and that means Ken Blackwell's troubles may not be over just yet.

Blackwell, as you recall, was the Ohio secretary of state who abused his position as our chief elections official to rig the 2004 presidential election in Bush's favor; he simultaneously served as co-chair of the Bush/Cheney campaign in the Buckeye State. As I said, I'll keep you updated.

But again, the credit for taking the first steps in restoring America belongs to you, the voters. You didn't give in to fear, instead letting righteous outrage at GOP abuses, crimes and outright treason motivate you to give Democrats control of the House (and perhaps the Senate). Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We've earned a pat on the back, and a day of rest, but we must use that time of rest wisely. The GOP may have lost its stranglehold on political power, but it is not going to rest until it seizes it back. As I said, I will update this entry throughout the day to let you know of further developments in the 2006 midterm election.

But right now, it's back to bed for this happy Democrat.

UPDATE #1:

I just read in today's newspaper that Marc Dann and Jennifer Brunner, the Democratic candidates for Ohio's Attorney General and Secretary of State respectively, won their races. This means the 2008 election in Ohio stands a good chance of actually being fair, instead of a rigged travesty. What does this mean? It means, perhaps, a full investigation into the 2004 stolen elections and possible indictments. And, more importantly, court-documented evidence of electoral fraud by the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004 under the supervision of J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Sadly, Barara Sykes, the Democratic candidate for state auditor, was defeated. This means the Ohio Democratic Party did not pick up an extra seat on the apportionment board for redrawing legislative districts. However, two victories ensure the state's GOP will have a tougher time gerrymandering.

And John Boehner, the House minority misleader, kept his seat even though he has been implicated in the cover-up of Republican Mark Foley's sexual predations on the Internet. Now that Democrats have control of the House of Representatives, expect an actual investigation into this cover-up instead of the sham Boehner and former speaker J. Dennis Hastert tried to pawn off on the public.

UPDATE #2:

It doesn't appear to be official, but it looks as if the Montana and Virginia Senate races have gone in favor of the Democrats. I don't want to jynx anything by saying this with absolute certainty; Jim Webb in Virginia is projected winning over Republican incumbent George Allen by a 49.6% to 49.3% margin. Razor-thin, indeed.

In Virginia, Webb claimed victory — with an edge of fewer than 8,000 votes — over Republican incumbent Sen. George Allen.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Webb had 1,170,564 votes, or 49.6 percent, to Allen’s 1,162,717, or 49.3 percent.

A recount is probably inevitable, and C-Span is jumping back and forth from one race to another, with speeches by Nancy Pelosi and various Republicans and Democrats offering their spin on the election. Democrat Jon Tester's lead is even smaller:

In Montana, the outcome of Tester’s race against GOP incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns was delayed by equipment glitches, a heavy turnout and the narrowness of his lead — fewer than 2,000 votes.

I'll keep you updated on the electoral results for the U.S. Senate throughout the day. Otherwise, I will be laying down and getting some rest.

UPDATE #3:

I just heard on C-Span about Rumsfeld stepping down! Unbelievable! Former CIA Director Robert Gates is replacing him. Bush is speaking now, the stupid git asked why all the long faces. As if he doesn't know, the assclown. After vowing Rumsfeld would be Secretary of Defense for the duration of his regime, Bush has already broken that promise and hung him out to try -- all in an effort to save his own pathetic, lying, treasonous ass.

Bush has the look of a boy who knows he's in deep trouble now. Both the House and the Senate, apparently, are now under Democratic control. Rumsfeld is out. The orgiastic party enjoyed by the Bush regime, and the Republican Party in Congress, is over.

What does this mean? I'll tell you what it means. It means, dear readers, George W. Bush knows just how fucked he really is, and he is now trying to make nice in a desperate attempt to ease the inevitable shitstorm of official Congressional investigations, indictments, and perhaps even impeachment.

Christ, now Bush is trying to lie his way out of his earlier lie about Rumsfeld staying on through January '09. This guy is pathetic, absolutely pathetic. Rumsfeld is out. Now let's tell the new Democratic majority in Congress to make sure Bush and Cheney follow.

UPDATE #4 (9:17 PM EST):

Folks, things have gone from bad to worse for the Bush regime. Not only have the Republicans lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives, they now have lost control of the Senate. MSNBC reports that Jim Webb, former Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, has been declared the winner of Virginia's Senate seat. This gives Democrats the 51 seats they need to take full control of Congress. Meanwhile, in other news, Republican incumbent senator Conrad Burns is refusing to concede the race for Montana's Senate seat. His opponent, Democrat Jon Tester, holds an even slimmer lead which could lead to a nasty recount and court battle.

It would be a lost cause, however; just as the GOP was quick to declare victory in 2000 and portray Democrats as sore losers, so now the Democrats have learned from their rivals. Tester and Webb have had their races called for them. Burns may or may not win in a recount and subsequent court battle, but it would be pretty well pointless. Even if by some chance Burns were to come out holding onto his seat, Democrats would still have a 50 seat majority.

The majority is not filibuster-proof. For that, Democrats would need something like 60-66 votes. They don't have it. But this is good news anyway. It means with both chambers of Congress under Democratic control, Bush's horrendous agenda is now checked. He is a true lame duck dictator whose vetoes and threats and bullying can only hurt the GOP in 2008.

I changed my mind; I am going to write up a blog entry tomorrow after all, detailing why Democrats can and should move immediately to begin official inquiries, and push for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The developments of the past 24 hours necessitate it, no matter how sick and exhausted I am. Until then, good night and God Bless.

Reasons to Vote November 7th, 2006

I can give you plenty of reasons to believe the election might very well be stolen out from under us tomorrow, just as they were in 2000, 2002 and 2004. I can provide you with all the information showing how the Diebold machines are likely to be hacked so as to keep Congress under Republican control so it may continue acting as George W. Bush's rubber stamp. And I could tell you to be afraid, very afraid, of this likelihood.

But I won't. I won't tell you to be afraid, because fear causes people to do stupid things they wouldn't ordinarily do -- like vote Republican, or worse: stay home and not vote.

Don't be afraid. Be angry. Be so angry, dear readers, that you turn out in great numbers tomorrow to vote Democrat. Get so angry, that you get as many registered voters as you can to vote Democrat. Get so angry, that you crowd the vote-counting rooms and offices and DEMAND your right to watch YOUR votes BEING COUNTED.

In Ohio, the stakes cannot be any higher; even though polls have consistently shown Democrat Ted Strickland leading Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell by double digits, the current state secretary has the means, the motive, the opportunity and the history to rig the election in his favor. Even if the rampant electoral fraud he is in the process of carrying out fails to put him in the governor's mansion, Blackwell will still try to take as many Democratic candidates down with him as his political career goes down in flames.

Democrat Sherrod Brown, who gave up his safe seat in Ohio's 13th U.S. Congressional district to run against incumbent and rubber stamp Mike DeWine, leads by a comfortable lead -- a number of polls show him ahead by double digits going into tomorrow's election. But Blackwell is a master at vote-tampering; he will make sure Democratic ballots are not counted. This sordid travesty of a tale will be replayed over and over again as the election unfolds.

These crimes against our democracy, or republic, or whatever you want to call it, will be carried out no matter what we try to do. But we can ensure that they fail.

The secret to winning against massive, systemic GOP electoral fraud to to vote. This is what the Republican Party fears most. It is why it has worked relentlessly to deny you that right, and get you to give up on the system YOU pay for with your tax dollars. The secret to winning against rampant GOP electoral fraud is this: DON'T GIVE UP.

This is my last entry before tomorrow's election, and time is short, so here are a few reasons why Ohioans should vote Democrat. On the local AFL-CIO website, the reasons for voting for Strickland and Brown are laid out:

Ohio working families are supporting Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland. Brown, a U.S. representative, voted 97 percent of the time for working families, while his opponent, Mike DeWine, voted against working families 80 percent of the time he has been in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Strickland supports an increase in the state’s minimum wage, where voters have a chance this election to boost the wage. His opponent, Ken Blackwell, opposes a minimum wage increase and will roll back prevailing wage laws and project labor agreements.

And that's not all. The Akron Beacon Journal, whose editorial board in 2004 was ordered to endorse George W. Bush for president or no one at all by its Republican publisher, posted the following letter to the editor on its website:

Six more years of Mike DeWine will only help ensure that change never comes. Make no mistake, I'm not implying that DeWine himself has been involved in corruption, but I am saying he has allowed it.

He has done nothing to help clean up the mess that Washington has become. He's been a member of the rubber-stamp Senate, which has allowed the Bush administration's lies, coverups and incompetence.

This dereliction of duty on oversight has been allowed to go on because the Republicans have put partisan party politics and staying in power ahead of the welfare of this nation.

It was not only about the Bush administration, but also about both houses of Congress that the 9/11 commission said: ``Many obvious steps that the American people assume have been completed, have not been. Our leadership has been distracted.''

Mike DeWine has been a party to all of that.

And for a member of a party whose battle cry has been ``personal responsibility,'' he's demanded very little of it.

So if you want continued corruption and incompetence, DeWine is your man. If you want another do-nothing Congress, which works even fewer days than the current one (which worked the least number of days of any Congress in history), cast your vote for DeWine.

But if you are tired, as I am, of a party that controls both houses of Congress and campaigned on ``cleaning up Washington'' yet has allowed a cesspool of corruption and incompetence to fester there, then give Sherrod Brown a chance.

Robert Huddleston

Akron

DeWine, like Blackwell, is George W. Bush's bitch. And Ohio voters know it:

[DeWine] has continued to oppose national health care, which causes millions of children to have none. Some 45 million Americans have no health care thanks to a Republican-led Congress, which includes DeWine, that accepts millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the insurance companies and the medical industry.

DeWine should get credit for auto safety, also. But Ohio has lost more than 200,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs on his watch, with his approval by way of his voting record on such issues as international trade deals.

DeWine also supports the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11, at a cost of billions of dollars a week.

We have had the largest federal deficit in decades, due to tax cuts to the wealthy corporations and citizens. DeWine has voted to give corporations tax breaks for sending our jobs offshore. DeWine has a 92 percent voting record with the Bush administration. One might call that a rubber stamp.

Sherrod Brown will put the residents of Ohio and citizens of America first, not second or not at all. His record should speak for itself, the same as DeWine's.

Time after time, Brown has voted for middle-class Americans and the elderly. So if you're going to take credit for your record, it should be your entire record.

Jack Hefner

Vice president

United Steelworkers Union Local 2L

Akron

DeWine's record in the Senate is a travesty of rubber-stamping George W. Bush's criminal activities in an office he was never legitimately elected to. This may be confirmed by a simple Google search and a little bit of free time.

Strickland, whose various jobs include teaching and the ministry, showed moral fortitude by refusing payraises Congress gave itself despite the fact the poorest Americans make little or no money in dead-end service jobs. He has also refused participation in the generous Congressional health care program, which you and I pay for with our tax dollars; he pays for his own health care out of his own pocket -- unlike Blackwell, who cynically and falsely preaches about morality, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate actually practices it.

Blackwell wants to hand control of Ohio's turnpikes over to foreign nations; raise taxes on the poor and middle class while slashing taxes for the very wealthy; and enforce extreme right-wing, pseudo-religious persecution against gays. He is not even close to being interested in creating jobs in Ohio.

These are the stakes, and the reasons for you to get off your ass and VOTE. If you believe in the American Dream, if you know in your heart that the fascist Republican Party will do even more damage to this once-great nation in the next two years than it has in the last six, it is your DUTY as an American citizen to VOTE. Do NOT let the GOP steal another election.

Who's Weak On National Security?

All George W. Bush and his enablers, both in the White House and in Congress, can do is falsely accuse Democrats of being weak on national security. That's because if forced to defend their woefully inadequate, and even criminal policies, Republicans know they'd lose even bigger -- leaving no way to make elections close enough to cheat their way back into power without it being obvious enough to the public that it actually does something about it.

The problem for the GOP with this false accusationis that it's a lie. In fact, not only are Democrats not weak on national security, Republicans have proven time and again they are willing to compromise national security for the sake of political gain. Case in point: the outing of Valerie Plame-Wilson as a CIA operative, and posting nuclear weapons specs on the Internet for anyone to find.

Yep, you read that correctly, folks. The Bush White House, in trying to lie its way out of trouble over the fact it lied about Iraq's alleged WMD programs, had posted specs for nuclear weapon technology on the Internet. The revelation, made public by the New York Times, has Democrats in an uproar -- and rightly so.

Is there any doubt left, outside the increasingly smaller circle of kiss-asses Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld have surrounded themselves with, that it is the GOP which poses the greatest threat to American security? They gave out specs for making nuclear bombs over the 'net, for crying out loud!

And speaking of Rumsfeld, the four military newspapers keeping our Armed Forces "informed" about what's going on back home have decided to call for the arrogant, sanctimonious asshole's resignation -- no matter which political party ends up controlling Congress.

When even the military's branch newspapers are calling for Rumsfeld to go, you know it's bad. It means the sentiment among our Armed Forces about the civilian authority doing them so much harm has become one of absolute disgust. And it is showing. Publicly.

Bush will not fire Donald Rumsfeld, or ask for his resignation; the jerk is part of The Big Four of the Bush White House. They're staying in power as long as they can stay, so they can do as much damage as they possibly can before time inevitably removes them from power.

The Bush regime, and the Republican Party, have compromised national security on too many occasions to be allowed to remain in power. Even once is too often, but this current generation is the most dangerous. It is not Democrats who are weak on national security; it is not the party that has been completely shut out of the legislative process for years that is soft on terrorists. It is the Bush regime and Republican Party who are truly weak.

Don't be afraid. Be angry. The RNC is set to carry out an even bigger act of mass, systemic electoral fraud than ever before. And the last three election cycles were pretty big. The GOP's ability to maintain its stranglehold on power hinges on low voter turnout, low enough that they can rig the midterm elections to go their way.

Don't let them. I want you, dear readers, to get good and angry about this, and vote Democrat. Get as many registered voters as possible to do likewise. Vote Democrat in such numbers that election theft will be impossible this time for the Republicans to carry out. This is America's last chance to use the electoral system to change a corrupt and criminal government. Don't let the true enemy steal our country again.

A Message To Fundamentalist Whackos

Before I get into the point of this entry, a word about Bob Ney, who waited until he could collect one more paycheck before stepping down due to pleading guilty to multiple crimes:

Ney pretty much killed his successor's campaign. He forfeited his House seat by committing crimes in office, and not running for another term was the only thing he could do; Ney would have lost anyway. Now, having selfishly held out for just a little bit more money he won't be able to use in prison, he has ensured Democrat Zack Space's victory over GOP replacement candidate Joy Padgett. Space leads 58% to Padgett's 33%. One has to imagine the RNC leaders are thinking to themselves, "was it worth fucking us over just to receive that last paycheck, Bob? Thanks a lot."

And now, the point of this entry.

A lot of you extreme right-wing, religious fundamentalist assholes might be wondering if it's worth going out to vote for Republicans on Tuesday. You might be wondering, as yet another hypocritical shithead is caught doing the very things he regularly ranted and raved against while you sat on your lazy asses ceding all free will and thought to him, if you've been used.

You might be wondering, some of you undoubtedly having read Tempting Faith, if the Republican Party really cares about you or the bigoted, wholly ignorant beliefs you've chosen by "virtue" of your own intellectual laziness to embrace. You might be wondering, in the aftermath of revelations that top Republican lawmakers knew about the sexual predations of one of their own and covered them up in order to protect their party's stranglehold on power, if the GOP really represents you.

This is the Truth Zone, and more often than not the Truth is the most unpleasant thing in the world to face. Mostly by those who want to wrap themselves up in the warm, fuzzy blanket of self-deception.

And the cold, hard truth you fundies don't want to face is this: Republicans don't care about you, or your beliefs. All they care about is pandering to you, because they know from experience they can fool you into voting for them every time. They know their fellow frauds, like wannabe politician Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy, are ready and willing to lie to you every day until you're too brainwashed to think independently.

While you stupidly vote for corrupt men (and women, too; this is the 21rst Century no matter how badly some of you despise that fact), those very same corrput people are laughing at you behind your backs. Laughing, while they protect sexual predators in their midst and fuck you over on all the whackjob issues you've come to love because someone you handed your free will over to told you to love them. And you believed them all when they ranted and raved right along with you, hypocritically railing against gays getting married even as your jobs went overseas and America's sons and daughters were sent to be murdered in Iraq for the sake of the Bush regime's greed.

Even though Britney Spears treated marriage as if it were no more than a joke, to be played in a drunken moment of childish behavior, and the divorce rate is at over fifty percent, you let yourselves be lied to. You believed the corrupt politicians, who were busy having sex with male prostitutes while tripped out on meth and cruising the 'net for teenaged boys to seduce, when they told you letting law-abiding gay couples marry would destroy the sacred institution of marriage. You stupid fuckheads want to know who's really destroying marriage? Look in the mirror, assholes. If straight people can't be bothered to take marriage seriously enough to treat it with respect, what makes you think letting gay people marry will do anything to hurt it further?

Some of you may, at long last, be realizing the truth -- like slowly but painfully waking up from a night of drunken partying and feeling the incredible hangover you knew would come but didn't care because, hey, that's later on so why worry about it? Some of you might finally be waking up to the fact the Republican Party doesn't give a shit about you. That they only pretend to care because they want nothing more than power, and they need your gullibility and willingness to vote against your own interests to help them keep it.

With that realization, why bother to vote for them at all? Why vote for people who laugh at you behind closed doors, who don't really give you more than crumbs from the table, who lie to you as they pretend to share beliefs they know are batshit insane but too cowardly to ever tell you to your face?

You do it because in the end, you enjoy being lied to. You enjoy not having to think for yourselves. And you enjoy the mad rush of hatred that fills you every Sunday as hucksters and charlatans like D. James Kennedy preach the exact fucking opposite of everything Christ taught.

Do us real Christians a favor, will you? Pull your heads out of your asses, and your eyes out of the Old Testament, and start reading the Gospels. Start reading the Word of Jesus Christ. Did He tell you to hate gay people with such rabid ferocity that it isn't enough for you to deny them the same legal rights straight married couples take for granted, you have to hound them into their family lives by trying to deny them the right to raise families through adoption? Did Jesus tell you to deny the poor and suffering the charity He preached about, by way of fighting government programs designed to help the poor and suffering? Did He tell you to fight abortion as murder, even as you cheer on politicians who send our children overseas to murder other children?

No, He didn't. Jesus told you none of those things. Yet you let yourselves be brainwashed by false prophets, who twist the Word of God into their own personal political tool with which to control people too lazy to think for themselves. You let yourselves be fooled into thinking politicians whose only objective is power would look out for you, that they would hand the country over to the likes of you. It's not about morality as far as these lying assholes are concerned; it's about control. And you cede control of your own lives to them.

So on Tuesday, even with the knowledge that the GOP is not your friend, that it is not really on your side, you might still go to the polls and vote for them. You might still confirm, in the end, that they are right about you -- that they can rest easier knowing you are too stupid to abandon the abusive liars who use you and then ignore you until the next election cycle, throwing out crumbs over which you fight like starving dogs in heat.

The politicians you trust don't care about you, yet you'll vote for them anyway. The scam artists who pretend to be preachers, like Ted Haggard and Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, turn out to be the very insidious threats to morality they say you should look outward for. It never occurs to you to look inward for the true enemies of morality. And still you will vote for whomever they tell you to vote for.

But in the end, is it really all worth it? When the polls close on Tuesday, and the Democratic ballots are tossed out in the garbage by criminal Republican elections officials, will you really have what you think you want? Will America be any more moral than it was less than a month ago, when Republican Mark Foley of Florida was caught stalking teenaged boys over the 'net while his fellow GOPers were revealed covering up for him? Will America have saved the institution of marriage by persecuting gay people, who in the end make up a minority of the population -- even as pop stars continue to treat the institution as if it's a great big joke? Is it really and truly worth voting Republican this year?

The answer to these questions, of course, is no. But the question that really bears asking is, will you finally realize it?

WTF?

So John Kerry has apologized for a botched joke directed at George W. Bush. Whoopee. Never mind that he owed no apology. Kerry had spoken at a college early this week, tossing insults at Bush for his lies and incompetence over Iraq. As Keith Olbermann pointed out, there was no mistaking who the senator from Massachussetts had been talking about -- George W. Bush.

He essentially called the Shrub stupid. So what does the dictator do in response? Confirm he is too stupid to get the joke. He criticized Kerry for insulting the military, which the senator had not done. So even though there was no insult to the troops, Kerry sucked it up and apologized.

Yet we have John Boehner, Republican of Ohio and the #2 GOPer in the House of Representatives, actually did insult the troops by blaming the military generals for Donald RUmsfeld's incompetence.

O’DONNELL: Let me ask you about how to win and what the strategy should be to win. You have a number of candidates, Sen. Mike DeWine in Ohio who says Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. You have Anne Northrup, a congresswoman, who says he should resign. Congressman Shays in Connecticut, a Republican, Congressman Steele — he isn’t a congressman, he is running for the Senate — he says Rumsfeld wouldn’t be my secretary of defense. And yesterday you said Secretary Rumsfeld is the best thing that has happened to the military in 25 years. Why?

BOEHNER: When you look at the transformation that has occured over at the Pentagon, a lighter, quicker force, it would not have happened without the leadership of Donald Rumsfeld.

O’DONNELL: What about the management of the war in iraq?

BOEHNER: The management of the war in Iraq is being handled by the generals on the ground. Gens. Casey and Abizaid are doing the best they can given the situation. You understand that the terrorists coming out of al Qaeda have made Iraq the central focus in their war with us, and they’re also out there stirring up sectarian violence. This is the central front, and to blame it on Rumsfeld —

O’DONNELL: But the best the military has had in 25 years?

BOEHNER: I think he’s done a marvelous job.

In what crazy, fucked up world do we live in where the dictator cynically blurs the line between himself and the military after being insulted personally, with the guy who insulted him having to apologize, while a top Republican actually does insult the troops and gets away with it with not so much as a blip on the mainstream media's radar?