Johnny Wendell, a shock jock out of L.A. on KTLK AM 1150 made a good point yesterday that I think bears repeating.

For decades we have heard conservatives and Republicans bemoan the Federal Government. They have voiced their hatred and disdain for governmental agencies, programs, and its overall structure. The anti-government conservative movement really gained steam after Reagan’s election in 1980:

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. – Ronald Reagan

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. – Ronald Reagan

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. – Ronald Reagan

Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them. – Ronald Reagan

Ok, so we get it. Ronald Regan, the Godfather of modern conservative Republicanism didn’t like government. This message has been preached by the faithful such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh ever since:

Roosevelt is DEAD! His policies may live on, but we’re in the process of doing something about that as well! – Rush Limbaugh

The conservative Republicans are the ones who tell us not to rely on government. They tell us not to look for government when disasters like Hurricane Katrina occur. They tell us not to expect any government handouts. They tell us we need to reform our entitlement mentality. And they constantly berate any government program that was put in place to actually help people as being wasteful.

Yet these same conservative Republicans today are screaming that they want their government to solve the immigration issue. They want more big government to come in and wipe their noses for them and check under their beds for illegals before they go to bed. Be it Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage Weiner, Limbaugh or any other right wing nut job, these guys are on the TV and on the radio spewing xenophobic hate demanding that our government build a great wall and seal off our borders.

They’re also demanding that our government detain, process, and deport all the individuals that either came here illegally or whose papers have expired. No one knows the exact number but it ranges between 12 and 20 million people that we’re talking about.

How much governmental bureaucracy will it take to process and deport 20 million people? How much money will it cost? What HUGE government program do these conservatives want to build? Sounds like something that might even dwarf the mammoth Department of Homeland Security, another conservative Republican invention meant to protect them from terrorism.

Now I know the ultra right wing rabid hate mongers who have drool running off their chin have a solution for that: Kill them all. But even trying to kill them all would be a monumental task involving a huge governmental bureaucracy, billions of dollars, and untold amount of man power. Who are we going to hire to run the ovens? Illegal immigrants?

Ask Hitler what trying to exterminate an ethnic group of people did for him and what it cost.

So what the wet nose conservatives are asking our government to do is create a huge immigration bureaucracy and spend tens of billions of dollars not just making the border safer but processing and deporting tens of millions of people?

Since when can government actually be a solution to a problem according to conservative philosophy?

Ever since the invention of the “global war on terror” I suppose.

Posted by PoliShifter at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

OH - MY - GOD!

Terror! Terror! Terror! Fear! Fear! Fear! Terror! Terror! Terror! Fear! Fear! Fear!

breaking news...apparently

MSNBC reporter Stephanie Gosk just said that they have "most certainly a city on edge right now" and "people very nervous" in regards to the bomb found in a car near Fleet Street.

Meanwhile, the video MSNBC is showing in the background of people evacuating Fleet Street shows people laughing, smiling, and waving at the camera. Most certainly they are on edge and nervous...LOL

SKY NEWS! (That's Fox News in London) is reporting a third bomb has been found...but MSNBC is waiting to confirm it. Probably a good idea seeing as how it's being reported by SKY NEWS!.

I have not dared to take a look at Faux News. My guess is that a terror orgy is taking place over there with Brit Hume coordinating.

Speaking of terror, Bush is fishing right now off the coast of Maine with Papy Bush.

My guess is the right wing will soon equate this latest "potential" terror threat with the "fact" that Tony Blair is no longer prime minister. You see, using Right Wing Logic, this incident proves Tony Blair was keeping England safe.

I expect Bush to give a speech related to Blair keeping England safe from terror while Brown apparently fumbled the ball. And how now, if we want to keep Ameirca safe, we gotta keep Gitmo open, allow Cheney free reign, and not meddle in the President's affairs so he can keep ya'll safe.

Ofcourse, he'll be saying this as he casts his fishing line off a multi million dollar yacht.

Update: Did anyone notice? Five U.S Soldiers Killed in Baghdad Ambush

Posted by PoliShifter at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

As predicted, The White House refuses to answer subpoenas from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bush has really managed to cloud the issue and seemingly baffle Congress. One day Bush is asserting executive privelege as the reason for holding back documents. The next day Bush is declaring he is not part of the executive branch so he doesn't have to follow rules regarding the classifying and unclassifying of documents. When pressed for explanation, the White House simply says it would be silly to have the President enforce laws passed by the President on himself.

Today we have a new term. The White House isn't invoking executive privelege; after all they just said they are not part of the executive branch. Instead they are asserting "bedrock presidential prerogative":

Fielding said Bush "was not willing to provide your committees with documents revealing internal White House communications or to accede to your desire for senior advisors to testify at public hearings.

"The reason for these distinctions rests upon a bedrock presidential prerogative: for the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisors and between those advisors and others within and outside the Executive Branch," Fielding said.

I am begining to think everyone is correct; Bush is so successful at outmaneuvering Congress that by the time Congress gets anything rolling Bush and Cheney will both be out of office.

It's called the Texas Two-Step and Texas Double-Talk.

Posted by PoliShifter at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm sure you all heard about Ann Coulter already. I watched a little MSNBC this morning and the anchor interviewed both Chris Mathews and Joe Scarborough. Chris seems to really love Ann Coulter and thinks she really speaks for a sizeable chunk of the American People. Looking at the video again I saw a plethora of lanky blondes in sun glasses apparently emulating Ann Coulter. Mathews seems to think people really love her, "they cheer when she speaks" he says. People cheered when Adolf Hitler spoke as well.

Joe was the first to condemn what Coulter said but added the caveat that apparently Bill Mahr had recently suggested it would be a good thing if Cheney were killed in a terrorist attack and his crowd cheered that as well. This I guess proves that the left can be just as mean and cruel as Ann Coulter. While Joe thinks Ann is over the top and he would never say the things she says and if he was tempted to do so, he would bite his tongue till it bled, he still had to make sure we all knew he was a Conservative, that he was pro-life and a hawk. We wouldn't want people thinking ol' Joe was a lefty now, would we...

Then Mathews went into this rant about how he just loves Ann Coulter, that she's the master of attacking from a defensive position in politics. He thinks this is just brilliant. Basically, when the left comes after Coulter for some of her rancid remarks, she just attacks back with even more vitriol and more hate. That's considered brilliance to Chris Mathews.

I find absolutely no value in anything Ann Coulter says. I think putting her on the TV is a disservice to America. I also think O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage Wiener, Malkin, and Beck do a disservice to America. It doesn't mean they don't have the right to say what they say. It just seems if our media and press had an ounce of social responsibility, they wouldn't give these pinheads a forum.

Speaking of pinheads, Bill O'Reilly lost an arguement with a 16 year old. Radar Online has the video and the details. The High School student came prepared with transcripts and even used Bill's own book against him to win the argument.

Ok, that's it. I'm sure you can all get the latest from Eschaton who gets the latest from Think Progress who gets the latest from Crooks and Liars who gets the latest from Eschaton who gets the latest from Glenn Greenwald who gets the latest from the Washington Post who gets the latest from Talking Points Memo who gets the latest from Brad Blog who gets the latest from Greg Palast which Eschaton points out in a great circle cycle link love fest.

Somewhere in there it's also worth checking out Huffington Post, Raw Story, and Truthdig as well as Media Matters.

I still cannot believe Glenn Beck is going to be anchoring the news, even if it's just a fill in job. It's like having Tony Snow as White House Press Secretary...oh wait...

Cheney who? Mission Accomplished

Posted by PoliShifter at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, White People Can Be Scarey Too

Posted by PoliShifter at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Currently Cheney claims he is not part of the executive branch. This facilitates him being able to classify and declassify whatever documents he chooses and destroy whatever records he wants destroyed. But back in 2001 when Cheney was meeting with Big Oil Execs to plan the invasion of Iraq, his so-called Energy Task Force, back then he claimed any investigation by Congress “would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch.”

Cheney wants more than just having his cake and eating it.

Think Progress has video

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes:

Cheney has refused to comply with an order governing the care of classified documents; his office concluded that the order does not apply because he is not “an entity within the executive branch.”

That’s quite opposite the argument Cheney made in 2001, when he said that a congressional probe into the workings of his energy task force “would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch.” Cheney has, in effect, declared himself to be neither fish nor fowl but an exotic, extraconstitutional beast who answers to no one.

Posted by PoliShifter at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Had these men been Muslims this news would have been all the national rage perhaps even dwarfing Parist Hilton. Bush would have been on the TV claiming his failed global war on terror a success. Right wing blogs would have been high fiving while worshiping Bush for keeping them safe. If these men were black, hispanic, or illegal immigrants it would have made more news.

Instead, it was relegated to a few brief momments on Yahoo News.

Domestic terrorism is a far greater threat, and always has been, than terrorism coming from outside the country.

There are militias and neo nazis that want to destroy the government. They read books like The Turner Diaries as Timothy Mcveigh that advocate violence against the government.

Ala. militia suspect pleads guilty

By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - One of five men described as members of a self-styled militia pleaded guilty to federal explosives and conspiracy charges Monday after admitting he made hand grenades and other weapons for the ragtag bunch.

Bonnell Hughes, 57, of Crossville appeared before a judge a day before his four co-defendants were scheduled to also plead guilty to federal charges in the case.

Agents who conducted a series of raids in April found a cache of munitions at Hughes' home, including 80 hand grenades, 68 explosive projectiles and a machine gun. He denied having any plans to use the weapons.

Hughes pleaded guilty to conspiring to make grenades and a silencer, making grenades and possessing grenades and other illegal weapons. Hughes could receive a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison and $2 million in fines, but prosecutors said they expected him to receive a term closer to 10 years.

Continued Here

Posted by PoliShifter at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The results of a recent poll shows that 68% of Republicans don't "believe" in Evolution.

This demonstrates how dangerous political propaganda can be. I doubt any of those 68% have a problem using their cell phones or computers. I doubt they don't "believe" in their cars and yet by denying evolution they are essentially denying every creature comfort ever invented by human beings.

The Sun is at the center of the solar system, the world is round, and evolution exists. Not believing in evolution is like believing the earth is flat. I suspect what the majority of those who say "I don't believe in evolution" mean is that they do not believe humans evolved from ape like hominids such as homo erectus or homo hablis. In fact that may be the problem seeing as how Republicans reject anything with homo in it.

The debate really needs to shift away from "not believing in evolution" to a more specific "not believing humans came from hominids or apes". That's a debate we can have openly, honestly, and scientifically. But anyone who doesn't "believe" in evolution will lose the argument before it starts.

All one has to do is look at Ford Model T and compare it to a 2007 Ford Mustang. That's evolution.

Those who truly do not believe in evolution should be forced to give up all their technologies, clothing, and creature comforts and be made to go live out in nature. And since they don't believe in evolution, they should not be allowed to make tools or shelter.

There is a larger, deeper problem on our hands when such a large number of our politicians reject science which is what rejecting evolution is really about. What we are ending up with is less funding for scientific research and more funding for "faith based initiaitives".

Some may think this is great, that we should just give up funding science. That's fine, but then don't look for any medical cures. Don't look for any advances in technology. And more importantly for Republicans, don't look for any advanced weapons systems. All these require science and evolution.

Go build yourself and ark and smote your enemies with God's breath. If you don't believe in evolution and science, you get no guns, bullets, and bombs.

Posted by PoliShifter at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been 7 months since Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table". We've heard all the Republican talking points adopted by the corporatists wing of the Democratic Party (DLC): "we don't want to put the country through an impeachment proceeding", "Bush is almost out of office so what's the point?", "Impeach Bush, then we get stuck with Cheney". These talking points put out by Republicans have somehow become the platform of the Democratic Party.

There seems to be this pervasive mindset in the leadership of the Democratic Party that somehow impeachment is a dirty word. And no, we won't get "stuck" with Cheney, he needs to be impeached too. In fact to a certain degree, Kucinich may be right in going after Cheney first.

Our country cannot suffer another minute with the Bush Cheney rogue nation. It's not too late to impeach Bush and Cheney. It will never be too late. Ten years after they leave office it STILL will not be too late. They need to be made an example out of so that future Presidents do not try to assert absolute power. If we do nothing, we are telling future Presidents that they are basically dictators who can do as they please.

Look at the amount of damage Bush and Cheney have done just over the last 7 months let alone the next year and a half. Every minute we wait is a minute we move closer to a dictatorship.

We now have a situation where both Bush and Cheney are asserting some make believe right over official documents that the public and our government have a right to. They're classifying documents that were previously unclassified, unclassifying documents that can hurt their political enemies, shredding documents that implement them in vote caging, the U.S. Attorney scandal, the torture at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, and fabircated prewar intelligence.

Bush and Cheney are sitting on a mountain of paper that all points back to them. From Cheney's "energy task force" that devised the invasion of Iraq to Bush's nonchalent attitude over the Presidential Daily Briefings prior to 9/11 titled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S. August 6, 2001, they can't classify and shred documents fast enough.

Fortunately for them, Congress is moving very slowly at getting anything done. It's already clear that Republicans will gleefully violate the Presidential Records Act deleting emails relating to vote caging and the firing of U.S. Attorneys.

What Congress has done now is provide Bush and Cheney the time and cover necessary that they need to clean up their mess before it ever sees the light of day.

So Bush and Cheney are now saying they have the right to classify and declassify any documents that are in their domain and that their domain is outside of the Executive Branch. For all we know the shredders are working over time at Cheney and Bush's offices.

And what's Congress going to do about? "Demand" that Bush and Cheney cease and decist from any tampering with official White House records? And does Congress really think Bush and Cheney will listen?

We are at a crisis point with what's left of our government. Congress has become nearly irrelevant. Bush writes his own laws and chooses which laws he will obey and which laws he will break. Now is the time to be bold and shrill. Our Democratic Leaders should be going on the TV, the radio, and the internets explaining to the American People exactly what's going on and making their case for impeachment.

Instead all we get is silence.

Imagine for a minute if Bush and Cheney were Democrats and publically announced that they do not have to follow laws pertaining to the executive branch, what do you think would happen?

I'll tell you what would happen. We'd be barraged day in and day out by the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Malkin, Coulter, Savage Wiener, and every other right wing tool demanding their impeachment. The news would gleefully cover the demise of Bush and Cheney IF only they were Democrats.

But because they are Republicans, they get a magic pass.

America, you are on the verge of losing your country. You are on the verge of becoming a dictatorship. The Constitution has been relegated to a quaint historical document to be admired in a museum but not obeyed. The contempt Bush and Cheney have for our government, for our way of life, is on display for all to see. And yet we sit here and do nothing. Congress does nothing.

All the while the dream that was known as America slips away and turns to dust.

Posted by PoliShifter at 06:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

As you may have heard, Cheney recently declared the Vice-Preisent's office a rogue nation operating outside the Constitution and not belonging to the executive branch. It's fair to say Cheney is not a member of the Fourth Branch of Government but rather operates as a Fifth Branch. That is, Cheney and Bush exist to influence the Fourth who inturn influence the fist, second, and third branches.

Existing in the Fifth Branch of Government allows Cheney some extraordinary powers such as the ability to avoid oversight, the ability to break the law, and the ability to interpret and even craft new law.

Well Bush thinks this is a nifty little trick Cheney is doing and wants to do the same thing. In many ways Bush already exists in the Fifth Branch via signing statements. Bush is already writing his own laws, interpreting existing laws, and deciding which laws he wants to follow or not.

Bush claims oversight exemption too

The White House said Friday that, like Vice President Dick Cheney's office, President Bush's office is not allowing an independent federal watchdog to oversee its handling of classified national security information.

An executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 — amending an existing order — requires all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight. Although it doesn't specifically say so, Bush's order was not meant to apply to the vice president's office or the president's office, a White House spokesman said.

So what's really going on here? Well for one, it's obvious that the Bush Administration despises The Constitution and our government. Their goal from day 1 was to destroy our government from the inside out and they've been pretty successful at it one loyal Bushie appointee at a time.

But my guess is that Bush and Cheney are in desperation mode circling the wagons. The crap is really about to hit the fan over Gonzo Gate and I think both Bush and Cheney have a real fear of some sort of oversight coming down on them. Be it investigations, impeachment, or just disclouse of documents demonstrating how devious these two criminals are, they are obviously running scared.

And true to form, Bush and Cheney will test the limits. In their minds they have literally gotten away with murder, outing a CIA agent, violating the Geneva Conventions, violating The Constitution, writing their own laws, and breaking laws at will. So why not try this little stunt of claiming you're not part of the government and thus exempt from oversight?

No one will stop them. The Bush Cheney team look at our government as some sort of game and their goal it to beat it to death. So far they have been very successful.

Posted by PoliShifter at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Bush Pushes Vietnam Leader On Human Rights

Bush has no right or business lecturing anyone on Human Rights. Bush has systematically violated the human rights of thousands of people. Bush and Gonzales have called the Geneva Conventions "quaint". Bush has fought hard for his so-called right to torture people, detain people indeffinately without due process, render people to secret prisons around the world, and suspend Habeas Corpus.

And don't let the rumors swirling that the Bush Administration is going to close Gitmo fool you. Talks are already under way to open a Gitmo Style prison in Afghanistan.

It's purely a political move. Sure BushCo will close Gitmo now only because it has become a political albatross. But they will not change their behavior. They will still keep detaining people indeffinately without due process, they will still torture people, and they will still render people to secret prisons.

The only thing Bush is concerned about is keeping things quiet this time around. They're desperately vetting those who have been leaking informaiton on Bush's secret prison and torture program. With Gitmo closed, they are hoping the public will turn away from Bush's insane politicies and allow them to continue to torture detainees in private without the pesky public getting in the way.

Posted by PoliShifter at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The poor Oil Companies who are just barely eeking out hundreds of billions of dollars in profit each year were spared the humiliation of being taxed $29 billion by stalwart Republicans in the Senate. Big Oil is under constant threat from renewable energy, higher fuel efficiency, and Americans losing their nerve to back military operations with their tax dollars for the sole purpose of furthering Big Oil's interest.

After making nearly a Trillion dollars of pure profit in 2006, Big Oil, if they were forced to pay more in taxes, they would simply just go broke. I mean, $1 Trillion dollars minus $29 billion in proposed taxes leaves only $961 Billion dollars. That's just barely enough to get by on.

Thank God Republicans have the balls to stand up in the Senate and support the poor, helpless, and defenseless Oil Companies.

Senate drops tax package, boosts auto fuel rules

By Chris Baltimore
Reuters
Friday, June 22, 2007; 1:00 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate passed an energy bill on Thursday that would raise the country's automobile fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 30 years.

But the Senate dropped $32 billion in clean-energy incentives after Republicans objected to about $29 billion in extra taxes on big U.S. oil companies.

Minutes before midnight, the Senate voted 65-27 to approve the Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy, which would mandate a four-fold use in ethanol in motor gasoline by 2022 and raise vehicle fuel-efficiency standards by 10 miles per gallon, or to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Continued Here

Wow. 2020...now that's progressive, that's solving the country's problems, that's really moving to get us off Big Oil...Yeah, Right.

Posted by PoliShifter at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military announced Thursday that 14 of its soldiers were killed in the past 48 hours,including five in a single bomb attack.

In one of the deadliest attack, five U.S. soldiers were killed and four Iraqis, including an interpreter and three civilians,were killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb went off near their vehicle during combat operations in northeastern Baghdad, a military statement said.

Another U.S. soldier and two more Iraqis were also wounded in the blast, it added.

Also on Thursday, one soldier was killed and three others were injured when insurgents struck their vehicle with a rocket propelled grenade at about 12:30 p.m. (0830 GMT), the military said without detailing where the incident occurred.

In addition, two marines were killed while conducting combat operations in the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq,according to another statement.

On Wednesday, two soldiers were killed and four more wounded in a roadside bomb attack southwest of Baghdad, the military said earlier in the day.

Four more American soldiers were killed and another was wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad on Wednesday, another statement said.

More than 3,545 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the Iraq war broke out in March 2003, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.

Link

Posted by PoliShifter at 07:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This week I have been tuning into MSNBC for a few minutes in the morning just to see if there is any important major breaking news like Bush & Cheney bombing Iran, Turkey invading northern Iraq, or Bush declaring a State of Emergency and declaring himself Supreme Chancellor.

Instead there has been a heavy dose of dead and/or missing women, and not just white women but black women as well.

Now I don't for a second think that there has been an increase in the number of women being killed and/or abducted. I think MSNBC is just chosing to report on more of them than they did in the past. Apparently it must play well with their audience and boost ratings.

Or it just helps give them another excuse to NOT report on things like Gonzo Gate, Vote Caging, or the tragedy known as Iraq. I don't hear much about that on MSNBC. I'm sure I won't hear about it on Fox (I won't dare look) and until CNN fires Glenn Beck, I am boycotting them.

All I can say is, Thank God for Keith Olbermann. Countdown is becoming a Must Watch show for all Americans if they want to obtain any semblence of what's really going on. And yes, you'll get some fun stuff too like Odd Ball.

Posted by PoliShifter at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)