Democratic Candidate for Ohio, Charles Sanders, Has No "Intellectual Confusion!"

Frank J. Ranelli


Candidate Charles Sanders, running for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. House in the 3rd District of Ohio, understands the language of true change. No ambiguous statements, no pandering to political powers-that-be, but a true grassroots, working class civil servant that comprehends what is at stake in our country if we fail to ebb the flood of deceit that pours out of today’s politicians in Washington D.C.!

Sanders says what needs to be vitriolically said, and leaves no room for apologies. In plainspoken, clear terms, Sanders defines the rules of engagement to the opposition that currently drives our country further into debt, deprives us of basic civil liberties, and plunged our nation into an immoral and baseless war.

Treading into deep waters, Mr. Sanders has braved the rough seas -- that only anti-war champion Ned Lamont of CT has taken on so far -- to save our country from drowning in false fear, apathy and a mistakenly euphemistic outlook.

Pulling no punches, Sanders slams the Bush administration with tough body blows -- attacking their numerous failed policies and utter incompetence -- with heavyweight knockout-style! Appropriately, Sanders then counters with hard-hitting answers to a plethora of substantial issues that will restore confidence in our government and return much needed programs to protect our citizens most in need.

Courageous and intrepid, Charles Sanders goes where few seeking office are willing to go – straight at the heart of the matter -- the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney! Unyielding, he then tackles the malignancies that eat away at our once great nation from political corruption, to health care for every American, to bringing the troops home from Iraq, to rolling back the massive trust-fund babies tax breaks shamelessly passed during the past five years! Throw in a battle for rescinding greedy eminent domain laws and keeping the Internet Neutrality rules in place and Sanders is every neocon’s nightmare and every progressive’s dream!

As I have said before on this blog, I endorse candidates one at a time. Candidates do not receive blanket endorsements through the DCCC or the DSCC merely by claims of being Democratic. The candidate must demonstrate not only their grasp of the issues we face and the words to express them, but must reveal the actions they will take to accomplish the goals of a true progressive messenger of the people. I submit that Charles Sanders is the “real deal” and worthy of a vote on September 15 and again on November 7!

Visit Charles Sanders’ website with the link below, examine his solid strategies to repeal the abject horror we are currently facing with the Bush Administration and his crony-based, Republican Congress and donate to a candidate worthy of office and America’s trust!

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Charles Sanders For Congress!

Quote of the Day!

Today's quote is not my own, but one that quite effectively expresses the essense of the growing fascist attitude in this country:

"In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

Rumfeld Accuses Anti-War Crowd of Being Fascists!

Frank J. Ranelli


* Caution! Dementia and Demented Comments Below! *

Associated Press

Tuesday, August 29, LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counterterrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from "moral or intellectual confusion" about what threatens the nation's security and accused them of lacking the courage to fight back.

Rumsfeld also goes on to state,

[T]oo many in this country want to "blame America first"
and ignore the enemy.

No, Donald, we want to blame Bush, Cheney, Rove, and you! We are not ignoring the enemy, you are!

One question: Where's Osama?

Now, who is ignoring the enemy??

And the topper,

[C]ritics [are] suffering from moral or intellectual confusion

WE, have a problem with morality?? We are intellectually confused?? Wow! Where do I begin with a statement like that? Will the servers hold everything I can list here as to what is wrong with that heretical statement??"

I am certain that "Rummy", at his age of 73, is suffering from dementia, and needs to be seen by a doctor. I doubt he would be found "fit for duty"; now or at any other time.

If that isn't "the kettle calling the pot black", I don't know what is!!!

# # #

Sanity Check, Please!
__________________________________
Full Article Here: Rumsfeld says Bush critics suffer from moral or intellectual confusion

Bush Orwellian Watch!

Frank J. Ranelli


What has been termed, "positively Orwellian", by PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, is indeed frightening. It seems that the "Decider" has decided to "end public access to research materials" at EPA Regional libraries without Congressional consent.

"Public access to EPA libraries and collections will end as soon as possible", according to the report at PEER.

The suppression of information to the public and efforts to control the sciences has reached critical mass. Bush is dangerously close to banning and/or burning of books! Scientists are protesting, but at least 15 of the libraries will be closed by Sept. 30, 2006.

See, Bush positively does not want the American people to know about the real effects of global warming, mercury levels, air pollution, and any other topic, which if known about, would be bad for "Corporate America". Bush is unconcerned with your health, my health or the health and future of our children. What he is concerned about is the health of the bottom lines of the corporate trough from which his completely corrupt and dangerous enterprise feeds.

Bush believes he is at the top of the evolutionary food chain (if he believed in evolution) and can dictate the very nature of our environment and of the entire planet around us -- for his own needs -- and we are to sit idly by, ignorant, servile and likely very sick and ill!

The only thing "conservative" about Bush is his own adamant pursuit to conserve his master's big bank accounts. Those big bank accounts, of course, come at an enormous price tag, one that the rest of us are asked to pay, but certainly not those who put this buffoon in office!

At this rate, it may be irrelevant to think ahead to 2008; as by 2008 there may not be anything left to govern or save from the Bush regime!

For more information and to become involved, visit the PEER group and help put and end to Bush's "positively Orwellian" assault on access to public information!

Honestly, what's next, the alphabet?!

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


"The deflective shield of today’s mainstream media is a thinly veiled attempt at blinding the populous, the poor and the uninformed from the real realities we face using mindless entertainment and unabashed propaganda."

Nancy Pelosi Still Doesn't Get It: May Strip Conyers of Chairman Role This Fall!

Frank J. Ranelli


Don't look now, fellow Democrats, but House Minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, has intimated that she means business when she discouraged talk of impeachment, if Democrats win control of the House, earlier this year. Pelosi may strip John Conyers of his well-earned and needed role as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats win in the Fall election!

The Ny Times on Friday reported this:

Seniority is a consideration, but merit of course must come first,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, who has approved a review of party rules so Democrats are not left scrambling should they reach their political goal.
[snip]
And some Democrats are nervous about the prospect of a Judiciary Committee led by Mr. Conyers, who has raised the prospect of impeaching President Bush, a notion that Ms. Pelosi has sought to bat down.

The article, which can be read in full here:

Issues Await if Democrats Retake House

Strongly suggests that anyone who disgrees with Nancy will not be appointed their earned and rightful places as chairpersons on repective committees. Instead, senior members, such as Conyers, would be passed over for what, in my estimation, amounts to a bunch of Pelosi "lap-dogs" chairing key House Committees that would otherwise justly expedite the impeachment of Bush and inject sorely needed accountability into our government.

Nancy claims she is not a moderate and proud to be a liberal; but I guess she forgot the whole thing about being an American, a representative of the people and her obligation to protect and uphold the Constitution!

All I can add is: "thoroughly disgusted!"

# # #

Sanity Check, Please!

Lone Bush Supporter Claims, "She is surrounded by idiots!"

Update:
If you will look closely at Marge's sign, she used the possessive spelling of "idiot's," which further begs the question -- "Who is really the idiot in this picture?!"


By Frank J. Ranelli

"Marge Trowbridge, a lone supporter of President George W. Bush, carries a sign claiming she is surrounded by idiots as she walks in front of an anti-war protest on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport, Maine, Saturday afternoon." -- Yahoo News

Kennebunkport, Maine-- Several hundred anti-war demonstrators gathered Saturday to march on the road toward Walker's Point. The stone-and-shingle compound on a craggy promontory is owned by former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, and named after his mother's family.

The peace activists sang, chanted, beat drums, waved signs and even played fiddles to protest the Iraq war.

"Bush is fiddling while the world burns, just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned," said Pippa Stanley, 15, of Richmond, Maine, who was helping with the backdrop for pair of fiddlers dressed in togas.

Will Thomas, a Navy veteran from Auburn, N.H., carried a sign demanding that the president "honor the troops, mourn the dead, end the war."

The protesters are aligned with peace activist Cindy Sheehan, who planned to address them by phone. Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, gained international attention when she shadowed Bush last summer while he vacationed at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

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An Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month found that only about one-third of Americans support Bush's handling of Iraq.
***********************************************************

NOW, I MUST ASK, WHO REALLY IS THE IDIOT? 66% OF ALL AMERICANS OR "LONE WOLF WACKO", MARGE TROWBRIDGE?!

Marge looks too old to even meet today's relaxed recruitement standards, but I say, "Sign her up anyway! If Marge is so sure she is 'surrounded by idiots', then let's send her to a more 'sane' place, such as the front lines of fallujah!"

How 'bout it for, Marge?!

# # #

YAHOO! News contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060826/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Ohio's Dewine Shows Why He is Still Bush's Number One Apologist!

DeWine Says If Intel Had Been Accurate, Congress Would Not Have Authorized War In Iraq

From the Sherrod Brown Press Room, August 23, 2006
Re-posted by Frank J. Ranelli

COLUMBUS, OH - Standing next to Senator John McCain as he criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, Senator Mike DeWine said yesterday at a news conference in Columbus that Congress would not have had the chance to authorize the war had the U.S. intelligence on Iraq been accurate. "It would never have come up for a vote so it would have been an entirely different situation," said DeWine

Instead of rigorously investigating the intelligence that sent Ohio's brave men and women to war in Iraq, Senator DeWine slept through Intelligence Committee hearings," said U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown, who voted against the war in Iraq. "Mike DeWine rubberstamped the Bush administration's faulty intelligence and repeated claims about biological and chemical weapons that did not materialize."

DeWine said he was "not sure whether Congress would have voted to approve war in Iraq had lawmakers known intelligence indicating Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was based on second hand and unreliable information . . . We relied on indirect evidence, what turned out to be unreliable evidence"

Senator DeWine based his vote to go to war with Iraq on inaccurate and unreliable evidence that he had the opportunity and duty to review.

# # #

DeWine Still Can't Say "I am sorry" to Ohio

Yet, to this day, Dewine continues to be the echo-chamber for Bush/Rove talking points. He has failed to explain the failure of oversight, the mass manipulation of intelligence and his vote for a war that he knew, or should have known, was based on indirect, outdated and very wobbly evidence. Despite all this, DeWine still supports the war, still sucks up to Bush at every chance and has NEVER apologized to Ohioans or Americans for a wrong and misguided vote to support the war. A war that has now cost 300 billion dollars and the lives of 2600 American service men.

Senator DeWine can't seem to admit when he is wrong. Ron Paul of Texans and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, both Republicans, have recanted their support and vote for the the war since massive, contradictive evidence has proven Iraq did not possess WMD's and Iraq had, "Nothing" to do with the World Trade Center Bombings. ( A direct quote from Bush.)

Staying the course simply means perpetuating an infinite lie in order to save face for incompetent and lacking oversight. It takes a man to admit when he is wrong and a bigger man to correct his mistakes. DeWine has done neither. Which makes him neither a person of integrity nor much less, a man.

Ranelli Endorses Brown

Sherrod Brown voted against the war from the beginning. Even after it was approved, he advocated heavily giving the troops the tools, equipment and body armor they needed. Something that the Bush administration has poorly done or not done at all. Brown also wants Osama bin Laden found, contrary to the Bush position of, "I don't think much about him."

Brown also wants significant troop withdrawals starting this October. A first step towards rectifying a tragic error in judgment by Bush and company and the first step in the reparation process of how America is seen around the world.

As a political author and researcher, I take each candidate on their individual merits, issues, record and history. I study them carefully and take time to review as much material as I can about each one of them. This includes their voting records in Congress as a whole, not just on key issues.

As they say in the NFL, "after careful review", I have decide that Sherrod Brown is worthy of my endorsement for U.S. Senator for Ohio. He should be humbled and proud. I don't endorse any politician lightly!

Visit and donate to the Sherrod Brown Campaign at: Sherrod Brown for Senate

Are We a Nation of Liars?

Frank J. Ranelli


Famous falsehoods and fashionable lies is all the rage. In the lexicon of language, deception, not perception, is now king.


Within weeks of the nation’s first postal service delivery, some one must have uttered the now infamous and proverbial lie, “The check is in the mail.” Richard Nixon’s, “I am not a crook” and Bill Clinton’s, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” all certainly conjure up images of famous falsehoods. George W. Bush’s, “Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program” proved to be a toweringly tall tale. Have we become a nation of liars?


Lying, it would seem these days, is fashionable. Sure, politicians have always lied, but with each passing generation, they lie more and the lies become larger. Have once stately statesmen, which now lie with every breath and word, become the replica for our own deceitful deeds? Is this finally the generation that embraces pious propaganda, haughty half-truths and marvelous mendacities as the measure of morality? Fibbing, it would seem, is no longer faux.


Some have made a living off of lying in order to enlighten us with the innocence of the not so innocent. Johnny Cochran’s impertinent “If the glove does not fit, you must acquit” tag line, during closing statements to defend O.J. Simpson, reveals just how useful uttering untruths can be. Linguistics matter and semantic-based summaries can sway impartiality over to injustice. In the lexicon of language, deception, not perception, is now king.


Others, from the tobacco industry, to the processed food manufacturers, to the pharmaceutical companies, have all engaged in pernicious campaigns of less than altruistic acts to gain access to our pocket books with nary a notion or thought. Each new precedent of pretend that is reached seems to embolden the managers of these misrepresentations and Holy Grail hoaxes to stridently strive at outperforming the latest act of obfuscation. Paying lip service, it appears, is profusely profitable.


Correspondingly, parents have parroted to today’s kids what past generations have told their own children -- mainly more lies. Guardians of America’s future legions habitually lie to eschew the ever escalating pain of child-rearing -- mainly telling the truth about life. Little white lies, the likes of, “sitting too close to the television will hurt your eyes” and “if you make funny faces, your face will stay like that” often plant the seeds in young minds that are later harbored then ultimately harvested for more disturbing acts of dishonesty. Parental piety sadly appears to formulate phony facades and venal veneers.


A review of today’s political landscape will divulge a litany of liars. Witness the Whitehouse’s whitewash of truths to twist and spin the facts to play on the softened sophistication of today’s sound-byte driven society. George W. Bush’s preposterous statements, such as, “We found the weapons of mass destruction”, “I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” and the whopper of them all, “When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so”, speaks volumes of our incurious culpability to seek legitimacy. Searching to find a seemingly elusive public envelope of trust to push open, magnificent lies by the powers-that-be have been foisted upon the public to feast on and no one has yet to notice the bitter taste and rancid smell of a rat.


Amid these weapons of mass deception was a ticking time bomb of more prophetic proportion. It was a revelation that the American people would soon learn of the evasive truths about the mass manufacturing of manipulation to launch illicit wars and limit liberty. When you begin to pull on the individual threads of democracy, the very fabric woven together to form this great nation, you start to unravel the whole cloth. A once pillar of weighty patriotism quickly becomes a tattered, rag-tag mess of messianic democracy that demotes democratic principles to rhetorical and emblematic use only. Political candor has now been beguiled and browbeaten away from the bully pulpit of civic leaders.


What we don’t know -- specifically the truth -- may indeed hurt us; mortally and spiritually as a nation. Not only have we become a nation of liars, but we have become a complacent populace all too unwilling to challenge and champion for the truth in a sea of hypocrisy and lies. When treachery and deceit are now the norm, it would rightly appear that, “In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is [truly] a revolutionary act”.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11

Frank J. Ranelli


George Bush blurted out on national television yesterday that Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9/11. It was certainly a rare moment of candor, but more important was the fact that it dispels the second myth that the Cheney/Rove propaganda machine has persistently perpetuated as a reason we pre-emptively attacked Iraq.

The first reason was Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That myth was put to bed a long time ago, yet radical right poster child, Rick Santorum, continues to this day to spout off this patently false statement.

Watch the below video and see how out of touch Santorum is with his facts. Watch as Bush tells everyone still in doubt that; 1.there were never any weapons of mass destruction and 2.that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Now, listen up Rove radicals, Santorum sycophants and Bush believers! The Bush administration LIED to you. They lied about 9/11, they lied about Iraq, they lied about the war and they even lied about getting warrants to wiretap American's phones! Any doubts, replay the video above over and over until it sinks into your thick-headed skull that Bush is a liar, Rove has zero morals and Santorum is just plain crazy!

This constant patriotic happy chatter, that went on for years; about we should just all trust and support the President, is finally a good idea! Let's all support and trust the president and his latest assertions that,

1. Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9/11.

2. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction

# # #

Sanity Check, Please!

Count on Cafferty! Bush Broke the Law!

Frank J. Ranelli


When no one else in the MSM will say what needs to be said, or heaven sakes, actually mutter the truth, Jack Cafferty on CNN gets the job done!

Jack Cafferty ripped apart the Congress, Bush and anyone else who bought into Bush's utter ridiculousness that spying on Americans was somehow legal and within the authority of the President, sans a warrant and probable cause!

Here is what Cafferty had to say:

"This Federal district judge ruled today President Bush is breaking the law by spying on people, in this country, without a warrant. The judge said the President is violating the First Amendment to the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act FISA, passed by Congress 1978, specifically to prevent this kind of abuse of power. It was being done before. That’s why the FISA court was created in the first place.

So what does this mean? It means President Bush violated his oath of office, among other things, when he swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It means he’s been lying to us about the program since it started, when tells us there’s nothing illegal about what he’s doing. A court has ruled it is illegal. And it means a 75 year old black female judge in Michigan has finally stepped in and done the job that Congress is supposed to do, namely oversight of the executive branch of government. But the gov…but the Congress is controlled by Republicans. They are controlled by the President, and they have done nothing in the way of oversight."

Watch the video here: Bush is Breaking the Law!

Nixon tried spying on Americans in 1972 and it didn't work then! Congress passed a law so it wouldn't happen again - at least without severe consequences - and what does ole' Georgie Boy Bush do? He not only spies on Americans, without a warrant, he lies about, and when caught, attempts to fabricate an absurd justification that he has some "special inherent power" not spelled out in the Constitution. Not only is it "special" but its reserved only for him as Commander-in-Chief!

Well, as Jack Cafferty so soundly put it,

"It means President Bush violated his oath of office...It means he’s been lying to us about the program since it started, when [he] tells us there’s nothing illegal about what he’s doing. A court has ruled it is illegal."

Thanks to U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit for saying what needed to be said and the courage to do it!

Judge Anna Diggs ruling:

"There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution -- It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights."

Final Thoughts:

As Jim Carrey's character, Fletcher Reed, says to one of his clients, in the movie Liar, Liar; "Stop breaking the law asshole!"

Saturday Cartoons!

Frank J. Ranelli

"Vote for LIEberman and it's a vote for Bush's LIE! "

Joe Republican: A Day in the Life of a Conservative

Re-posted by Frank J. Ranelli

Thanks to; John Gray, Cincinnati, Ohio

Like the Way You Live? Thank a Liberal!


Joe gets up at 6:00 am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure they are safe and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

Joe walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation days because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn't think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It’s noon time, Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposits are federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.

Joe arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican's would still be sitting in the dark).

Joe is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

Joe turns on a radio talk show, the host's keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn't tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, "We don't need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I'm a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have".

# # #

Self-delusional, not self-made!

Sanity Check, Please!

“Porn Again” Christianity

Frank J. Ranelli



In another stunning display of heretical hypocrisy, a recent poll taken by the self-proclaimed “World’s most Christian website”, Christianet.com, found that a majority of Christian men, 50%, are addicted to pornography! Additionally, the poll also reported that 20% of Christian women are addicted to sneaking a peek at others “doing it”. Refreshing the reader’s memory, these “porn again” Christians belong to the same group of revisionists that fervently lined up and espoused former Attorney General, John Ashcroft’s “Crusade against Porn” and stridently called for former President, Bill Clinton’s impeachment for a minor infidelity while residing in the White House.


Bill Cooper, President of Christianet.com, said, “We are seeing an escalation to the problem in both men and women who regularly attend church." The holy-roller Cooper, in usual self-righteous, sanctimonious style, offers his prodigiously pretend reason for the increase: “Technology has allowed pornography to flood the marketplace beyond a controllable level”. Evidently, Mr. Cooper feels he is having difficulty keeping his flock together and decided to blame his lack of dominion over the duped on the grass of which they graze rather than the shepherd in charge of herding his sheeple.


The website, Christianet.com, can only be described as a cornucopia of naked pandering of Christianity for profit and a brazen marketing of faith-based propaganda. A quick review of the site will find links on everything from “Christian jobs” to “Christian insurance” and the ubiquitous “Christian favorite”, “Chick-fil-A.” With an aficionado list of religious-right favorites from “Obeying the Creationist View” to the “Chief-in-Pharisee” himself, George W. Bush, the website abruptly turns more venal than venereal.


Remarkably, Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries, a co-sponsor of the Christianet.com website and poll, rather disingenuously alludes to a “paradigm shift” during the past four years in which the sexual behavior of so-called ‘Christians” has changed. This insinuates that Christians are more apt to stray as of late and search out a piece of finely purveyed filth on film. Perhaps it is not the behavior that has changed, but ironically, the inaptly blamed technology on the shift in seedy activities is the very mechanism that has exposed the religious-right’s voracious appetite for flesh peddler’s products all along.


Another salacious tidbit from their “poll on porn for Christians” is that, “60% of the women who answered the survey confessed [to] having significant struggles with lust." Furthermore, “40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year.” When a website offers such sinfully rich items to choose from like, “Second Glance”, a set of CD’s that intimate that an averted glance of sexual nuance ostensibly reveals you are going straight to the arms of Satan for such wantonness of admiration; it’s no wonder these women have “struggles with lust”.


The poll moreover feigns an implication that no one is immune from the “vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors” and that “repeated attempts at sexual gratification” can fell even the most stalwartly of faith-followers, including deacons and even clergy. What the poll in truth denotes is even more empirical evidence that we are creatures of a sexual nature that inevitably will follow our primordial instincts and yearn for that which we find pleasing to the eye and pleasurable to our senses. Clergy and deacons - or any other human’s for that matter - insatiable appetites for sexual gratification is purely an untainted attempt to honor our hormonally driven instinct to “spread our seed” and to continually re-populate the Earth. Sans any physical gratification, as Cooper and Jones rather dismally propose as a means to salvation, Homo sapiens would quickly fall extinct.


Scattered about all this Christian virtuous hyperbole is the banal bantering and over-looked double-standard being applied by the followers of this now fundamentally flawed faith. Their belief in a superlative set of human conduct laws, divvied out by dogmatic charlatans, provides suppressive camouflage for reprehensible, spiteful judgment of others. While those that deceptively declare to know Christ best misleadingly warn us of the ever increasing dangers of the bustle to the brothel of digital desires, they themselves gobble up cinematic sins of smut at a meteoric meter.


While the poll on porn among practicing Christians evokes evidence of an addiction to portrayals of hedonistic acts, a closer examination will reveal an addiction of another kind. It has been said that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. What the sanctimonious among us are in actuality addicted to is the hawking of old-fashion prostitution. Not prostitution in the literal “street walker” sense, but the degraded, twisted misuse and shameless sale of something of invaluable significance, in this case the Golden Rule of life, in exchange for power, politics and profits.

# # #

Contributing sources; Poll: Christians 'addicted to pornography'

Of Sheeple and Men

"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental -- men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack, or count himself lost. His one aim is to disarm suspicion, to arouse confidence in his orthodoxy, to avoid challenge.

If he is a man of convictions, of enthusiasm, or self-respect, it is cruelly harder."

--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


"All I can say about this Bush Presidency is that George Orwell would be either profusely proud or abundantly aghasted!" -- Frank J. Ranelli

America's Message to the Powers-That-Be!

From DailyKos, State of the Nation:

by SusanG., comments by Frank J. Ranelli



The Message is the Message!

"Let's make it even simpler, shall we? The oh-so-mysterious message to elected officials is: People are sick unto death of war, of unresponsive representation, of incompetence, of corruption, of ever-more-intrusive government, of a spiraling deficit, of lobbyist-owned and corporation-sponsored politicians, of a power-hungry president, of six years of attempts to pass stick-up-the-ass moralizing legislation telling us when and how we can die and when and how we can reproduce. Get out of our personal lives, get the hell out of Iraq and do your freaking job - run the government competently, economically and fairly. Period."


Pundits, apologists, sycophants and "Shock-Talk" TV and Radio show hosts, (Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage - you know I am talking about YOU) aside, the REST of America is sick and tired of all this hocus-pocus garbage coming out of Washington's hat! If ANY of these people paid a single bit of attention to the actual voices of Americans, they would know that we don't care that William Kristol and the PNAC "don't think its a good idea" to pull out of Iraq. We, the American people care; we care about how the world perceives us, how our money is spent and how our government - that WE elect - represents us on a global scale. We care that people, innocent people, are being killed and maimed in OUR good name!

If the Lamont win was not enough to send a stern warning over the "bow of your sinking ship" - that America is done with this propagandized, endless parade of politcizing a never-ending, illegal war for power, privilege and profits - then the message we will send ALL civil servants that serve "master Bush" and not the people of these United States will come by way of a "voting torpedo" into the bowels of your floundering beast of bureaucracy! The expulsive message will be this:

GET OUT & STAY OUT!

# # #

Pro-American/Anti-Bush!

Civil Liberties: What’s Your Asking Price?

Frank J. Ranelli


Patriotic questions that must be asked if we are to remain a free society and understanding that ignoring your rights is an unpardonable invitation to tyranny and oppression - that silence is merely another form of consent.

The mantra and rallying cry of the continuous Republican spin machine is that any nonconforming voice opposing the Bush administration’s obstinate, combative posture on the Iraq conflict is cowardly and a “cut and run” strategy. While three-word sound bytes, intelligent-insulting slogans and contemptible political catchphrases sell newspapers and dredges up conservative pundits frothing at the mouth for air time, it addresses absolutely none of the current crop of critical thinking questions that Americans need to be asking.


It was with outright horror that I reviewed a recent, well-respected survey that found that a full 25% of Americans are still willing to give up certain civil liberties in order to make us feel safe. My first question was, “Feel safer from whom and from what?” Safer from Bush’s trumped up, manipulated and outright lies about Iraq and the absurdly laughable idea that Saddam was going to annihilate the U.S. in a mushroom cloud of atomic obliteration? Maybe it is the superfluous, arcane and esoteric notion that Islamic Fundamentalists “hate us for our freedoms” and ostensibly, the less freedom we have the safer we will be. Patrick Henry, if alive today, would be overcome with exasperation at the “cut and run” attitude of relinquishing liberty so easily and for such a hollow and subversive cause.


Reflecting on this “cut and run” strategy of such a cowardly revocation of civil liberties, the same unalienable rights this country’s originating founders of freedom so robustly and courageously fought with their lives for, begets an interesting premise. Which freedoms do we give up, in the name of safety, and which liberties do we keep? Which ideas of emancipation do we honor, for the sake of all those that died to preserve it, and which liberties are now mere dime-store novelties that now appear quaint and antiquated?


When we start deciding that certain liberties are so capriciously negotiable, and can be suspended in the name of spurious national security reasons, then would-be terrorists and oppressors of freedom have succeeded in the reduction of America to a country of breathing corpses. After all, isn't that the goal of terrorism, tyranny and despotic fanatics? Is it not their quest to obtain supreme control, subjugate and conquer nations through implacable fear? Perhaps I missed a change in U.S. policy amidst all the propaganda, but since when did the U.S. begin negotiating with terrorists? Who decided the ‘bargaining chips’ were the civil rights each and every one of us is Constitutional guaranteed?


It would seem we have developed a double-standard and a rather hasty system of judgment over which of the ten Bill of Rights can be summarily dismissed. The Fourth Amendment, the right to unreasonable search and seizures without probable cause, seems to have been deemed an archaic sovereignty that has no place in the 21st Century. Freedom of speech, the right to peacefully petition the government for redresses and grievances, has been met with unadulterated blind nationalism and the sentinels of this once noble expression of independence are now branded un-American and as “giving aide to the enemy”. The Eight Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishments, was certainly undermined and ignored by the Bush Administration’s treatment of suspects at Abu Ghraib and at the Guantanamo Bay detention center on and after September 11, 2001.


Yet, I am certain that the NRA, Republicans, Conservatives and most prominently, Vice-President, Dick Cheney would fervently balk if we were somehow to be asked to give up the right to bear arms, in the interest of national security. The tidal wave of outrage would ferociously pour onto the streets and every gun-totting, militant supporter might certainly begin to have a vastly different view of how civil liberties must be abated in order to make us all safer! Pragmatically, couldn't it be argued that giving up guns would make us far safer as a nation? How many people are murdered and die from gun shot wounds every day and every year?


Some people mistakenly say that our current government, the war in Iraq and the President’s policies are making us safer. At what point do the scales of obsession with national security out-strip our ability to live a life free from autocracy and tyranny, free from an over-bearing “Big Brother” and free to pursue life-long happiness? When, under such stringent acts of despotic rule, do we cease living and begin merely existing? These are all questions that true patriots, guardians of a free society and a justly democratic nation must now ask.


The reality is this; we can barricade ourselves right into a dictatorship, a police state and an Orwellian society, lose much or all of our independence and still be at incredible risk from untold and unthought-of atrocities. The truth is the only thing that makes us free and safe is the free will that allows us to choose our own destiny, in spite of the inherent dangers, and the irrevocability of all our rights to do so.


The next time you hear someone say that unconstitutional or inhumane acts are warranted in defense of the nation or that they personally have nothing to hide from the government, I suggest the following question: “Exactly what is the going price for civil liberties nowadays and which ones can you afford to irresponsibly give away for such a paltry price?”

America's Police State Begins!

Frank J. Ranelli


The picture at the right is not a still scene from the latest action-thriller movie, its a REAL photograph, taken by MIKE STOCKER of the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL newspaper! The caption read, "Miami Dade Police officer Mark Huetter patrols the concourse yesterday at Miami International Airport."

This is what a police state looks like, America! A heavily armed police guard walking around Miami International Airport carrying a loaded, high-powered automatic assault rifle! Is that much fire-power necessary to look for bottles of Gatorade purported to be "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale". The plain answer is no.

What this is, in reality, is another example of how the Bush cartel will use another fake, national crisis, just before September 11 and in front of the mid-term elections, to play on the easily duped American public through manipulation of fear.

A careful examination of this latest playing of the "terror card" to trump out logic and invoke irrational sentiment, is purely a ploy and a stunt by Bush and company to scare the people of this country into believing that a rigid police state, wholly controlled by Bush, is a safe state!

Not so fast, Georgie, boy! While the talking heads at FOX News are trumpeting another "failed terror attack" foiled by Bush's "war on terror", the rest of America is taking a "slightly" different view:

In a word, "WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU, ANYMORE!"

I say that because from MSM networks, such as CNN, to thousands of blogs, which encompasses tens of millions of people, the overwhelming belief is either this was another concocted, "galvanizing event" or it doesn't play-out well for the Republicans. Actually its quite the opposite.

A few examples:

From Think Progressive's Headlines:

White House officials have admitted — and news reports have verified — the Bush administration apparently had little to do with foiling the potential “second September 11.”

From The American Propective:

Terror Arrests Bolster Democratic Case Against Bush - "[That] the terror plot showed that the administration's homeland security policies were woefully inadequate"

From The Columbus Dispatch Hot Issue Blog:

"I believe this whole thing was fabricated to give us a false sense of security."

It's beginning to unravel and backfire for the neocon fascists illegally occupying the Whitehouse. It has taken 5 plus years for people to wake-up, catch on and open their eyes, but the revolt against the Bush empire and its insdieous plan to create a gobal hegemony and to recall and destroy our Constitution is finally underway. We must now be every more vigilant to those that took hostage our nation - as I am certain that they will only "ratchet up" the propaganda - now that a majority of people don't believe their "chicken little" defense and escuses any longer.

False alarms, stronger attempts to usurp civil liberties and vast amounts of demagoguery are sure to follow. Remember,

"People that steal elections, roll in the stench of obscene amounts of money obtained through war-for-profits manifestos disguised as exportation of democracy and believe they are on a "mission from God" do not go away quietly."

My new motto:

Pro-American/ Anti-Bush!

# # #

Update! Timeline: A Profile in Politicizing Terror

As reported in excellent fashion, Jesselee at The Stakeholder lays out in precise detail the timeline of how the RNC used the "terror card" once again in an attempt to scare Americans back under their so-called, "big tent". As I said in my earlier post today, this is pure propaganda, exploitation at its most sickening level and demonstrates the pure evilness at which these people operate.

What many Americans are now seeing is the perverse depths to which the RNC will stoop to politicize any event for potential gain; real, imaginary or pre-meditated. Nothing is too big and nothing is sacred.

I must add, with Rudy Giuliani being the front man of this latest spin to save the sinking Titanic of the RNC, one has to wonder, is Rudy Giuliani just another lap dog or a full-blown capo in Bush's mob of neocon conspirators? Read Jesselee's timeline and decide for yourself!

(Posted by jesselee Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 8:09 PM at The Stakeholder)

Timeline: A Profile in Politicizing Terror

Wednesday: Days after the White House learns that the London terror plot will be uncovered, Cheney says Lamont victory will encourage "al Qaeda types."

7:42 a.m., Today: The White House announces that the threat level has been raised to ‘Red.’

10:54 a.m. (CDT): The President announces, on his way to a Wisconsin fundraiser for congressional candidate John Gard, that the arrests in London are “a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”

12:26 p.m.: The RNC sends out a fundraising email penned by Rudy Giuliani saying “In the middle of a war on terror, we need to remain focused on furthering Republican ideas more than ever before… Please make your commitment felt with a financial contribution for $500, $250, $100, $50, $35 or $25 to the Republican National Committee today.”

2:53 p.m.: Bush official celebrates the terror plot. The AFP reports, "‘Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big,’ said another White House official, who also spoke on condition of not being named, adding that some Democratic candidates won't ‘look as appealing’ under the circumstances.”

4:22 p.m.: The RNC follows with a statement attempting to elevate the war on terror above those who would crassly use it for politics sake: "On a day when American authorities are working with our allies to stop a global terror plot, instead of focusing on political attacks, we should focus on the fact that we are at war and need every tool to win the War on Terror.”

All I can add is George Orwell would be either profusely proud or abundantly aghasted!

Source: Timeline: A Profile in Politicizing Terror

60 percent of Americans oppose war...Gatorade latest WMD!

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday.

Sanity:


"And a majority of poll respondents said they would support the withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops by the end of the year, according to results from the Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last week on behalf of CNN. The corporation polled 1,047 adult Americans by telephone.

According to trends, the number of poll respondents who said they did not support the Iraq war has steadily risen as the war stretched into a second and then a third year. In the most recent poll, 36 percent said they were in favor of the war -- half of the peak of 72 percent who said they were in favor of the war as it began.

Sixty-one percent, however, said they believed at least some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Of those, 26 percent said they would favor the withdrawal of all troops, while 35 percent said not all troops should be withdrawn. Another 34 percent said they believed the current level of troops in Iraq should be maintained.

Asked about a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, 57 percent of poll respondents said they supported the setting of such a timetable, while 40 percent did not and 4 percent had no opinion. Only half the sample, or about 524 people, was asked the timetable question."


Insanity:

"The Bush administration has maintained that setting a timetable or deadline for withdrawal would only help terrorists."

So just how does the neofascist Bush regime respond to such an unsettling poll that indicates more and more Americans are slipping from their hypnotic grip?

Why another terror scare, that's how!

From today's headlines:


-Bush says U.S. still at risk of attack

-Foiled plot brings new security, delays

-Air travel in chaos after terror threat 'busted'

People, when will we learn, whenever something at "Camp Bush" is perceived as a threat to their stranglehold on power over the people, they roll out a cloud of fear to force you back under their spell. The latest CNN poll (above) and the loss of Lieberman to Lamont in CT - if you consult the Karl Rove manual on oppression and tyranny - it states, "during boon periods of negative sentiment from the masses, a faux, bogus national crisis, such as a terrorist attack, is necessary to quell the restlessness and restore a Bushonian Order."

Honestly, just look at what some of the MSM news is reporting,

"Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," a DHS statement said.

"The plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale..."

And the winner is:

Plotters were to carry a "British version of Gatorade," detonate it with iPod or cell phone, source says.

I can't possible even begin to comment on the ridiculousness of that last statement...

Gatorade as a weapon of mass destruction?!

# # #

Sanity Check, Please!!!


Sources: CNN ; Yahoo News

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


"The stench of conservatism is the same acrid air one's nose is pugently exposed to when you open a crypt that has been sealed-off from the world and reality for several millenniums!"

Note to Bush Supporters: No WMD's Existed!!!

Frank J. Ranelli


For the record, regardless of what you have heard from the talking heads on Fox News or through the ear piece of Karl Rove and out of the mouth of George W. Bush, this is the official findings from the official, Iraq Survey Group Final Report on WMD’s in Iraq:

They Did NOT Exist!!!

Can I be any clearer than that?

We can save the reasons and arguments of why we got it wrong; bad intelligence, Bush was mad at Saddam for trying to “kill his daddy”, Saddam was a bad guy, it was “Clinton’s fault” for another day.

But, if you will take just a few minutes of your time and read just some of the report, you will see that,

“The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.”

Okay, again, for the record, we invaded Iraq for unfounded, highly suspect, if not out-right illegal reasons because Iraq did NOT have WMD’s!!!

So much for the "mushroom cloud defense" and justification for going to war. Next...

“Are we clear? Crystal clear. Good!”

Sanity Check, Please!

# # #

Sources: Iraq Survey Group Final Report; Yahoo News

Quote of the Day!

Frank J. Ranelli


"It’s time for hope, peace and prosperity- not fear, war and hardship." -Frank J. Ranelli

A NEW READ ON RUMSFELD’S RED WAR: PINK!

BY FRANK J. RANELLI


The shifty and euphemistic Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is now starring down a trifecta of opposition to his woeful negligence involving Iraq. As Americans grows ever colder to the ethereal war on terror, Iraqis turned out in mass numbers in a show of solidarity to announce their resistance to the U.S. occupation. The message was clear – time for Rumsfeld to line up for his pink slip!


Bluntly said, Donald Rumsfeld should resign or be fired immediately. He has completely miss-managed a failed occupational overthrow of a once sovereign nation, with a blundering plan that has cost us the lives of nearly 2,600 Americans, wounded over 18,000 more and killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. Rumsfeld’s glib demeanor and rigid demands, along with his refusal to change tactics or to admit defeat, now has the U.S., our soldiers and the world staring down an anarchical, civil war in Iraq.


The heavy-handed Secretary of Defense, who claims “[he] never painted a rosy picture” about invading Iraq, during a recent Senate hearing, has done precisely the opposite. Among the many prevarications in the past about his now less than sanguine portrait of Iraq, Rumsfeld stated in February of 2003, “There is no question but that they (American forces) would be welcomed”. The boom in bloodshed, the unhappy majority of Americans with the handling of the war and the recent calls from two, prominent Senators for Rumsfeld to resign, all suggest its time for Rummy to go.


Rumsfeld and his counterpart, Vice-President Dick Cheney, once wryly claimed that America would be heralded as liberators and the bearers of democracy as they feigned and finagled a plot of endless terror and macabre to rain down on Iraq. The reward for such an apathetic policy of obstinacy is hundreds of thousands of Shiites now marching through the streets of Baghdad chanting, “Death to America”. The bold campaigners then burned American flags and proclaimed, “Saddam and Bush, Two Faces of One Coin”. These actions are hardly a ringing endorsement of their appreciation of Rumsfeld’s definition of deliverance.


The preposterous answer to this recent massive sectarian upheaval ─ send in more troops to deal with Iraq’s enormous strife ─ demonstrates his (Rumsfeld) complete failure as a Defense Secretary to understand the lethal dangers of staying the course, over and over again. As the debt precariously mounts and the bodies pile higher than the once gleaming, twin-towers that this imprudent provocation was allegedly engineered in retaliation for their precipitous fall, now casts an immense shadow of angst and outrage across American landscape. More aptly put, adding further fuel to an already out of control fire is never a suitable method for containment.


Benjamin Franklin once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. Not only is Rumsfeld lining up our soldiers for the “same thing” but more of it! This lunacy must come to an abrupt end. Throwing an endless parade of money and soldiers, at a problem that will never be solved at the working-end of a rifle, absent a lucid, alternative plan is destine to be a monumental failure for America! It must now be realized that violence begets violence and no amount of external force will solve a vastly internal problem.


The certain addition of many more names added to the list of slain U.S. service men and woman, from unnecessary combat in the Middle-East, will be matched only by the depth of shame and despair most Americans now share. This virulent, futile exercise of nation building and failed foreign polices by incompetent leaders, such as Rumsfeld, depicts a vacuous image of a man whose inerrant belief in his ability is more abject than able-minded.


There can be nothing more tragic than attempting to honor those who died in a falsehood for freedom, than to allow more precious lives to be squandered for a cause that serves only to shield those that unwittingly imparted on us all such a subversive act from their own humiliation and disgrace. Gravely, sending in additional troops to Iraq, up to 5,000 more, is precisely what Rumsfeld has staidly ordered.


It is abundantly clear that a changing of the guards, at the top, and the immediate withdraw of our troops is the only meaningful recourse to a disastrous, unfounded and baseless war of aggression. This war, guided by our meddling hand, which has plunged Iraq from a once stable country into a total state of mayhem, serves notice that an about-face is long overdue. Donald Rumsfeld, now in complete dereliction of his duty, once said he expected the conflict in Iraq to “[last] no more than six months”. He could have not been more egregiously wrong or proved to be so woefully inept.

Do We Want to Remain a Democracy? Watch This New Flash Video to Find Out How!

New Flash Animation: Why the People Must Take Back Their Government to Remain a Democracy...Watch It!

(Click to watch - opens in new window)

By Charles Mauch

# # #

Source: Afterdowningstreet.org

How to Erode Bush's Base: One Man's Journey from Blind Loyalist to Visionary Patriot!

BY FRANK J. RANELLI


A real-life story, of how one man was rescued from the jaws of the democracy-eating Bush regime, saved from drowning in a cesspool of war propaganda and found the Patriot Act was not so patriotic, after all!


As many of us do, we have friends, neighbors and relatives that have bought the Bush regime war propaganda machine, wrapped themselves in the flag, and have followed their irreverent, feckless, lying leader in the march towards fascism. Few, if any, ever really understood the true underpinnings of this remorseless, vile man. Few, if any, realized they voted against their own civil liberties and helped bring to power one of the greatest threats ever to confront our nation and its democratic form of government.


Many of these bravado-ridden nationalists had been frightened into false beliefs and refused to come out and greet the light of day for fear a mushroom cloud would appear over their head, let alone engage in a conversation involving uncovering the real truth. Yes, it was far easier to support a war-time president, chant "I am proud to be an American," slap ridiculous yellow ribbon bumper stickers on their cars, claiming that somehow supports the troops, and any dissenting voices were poisoned words and ground for treasons and death by a firing squad. Oh, how war brings out the best in us!


"Might makes right" was the mantra of the day – and the President was always right! Having role models the likes of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly painting anti-war activists as Communists, un-American and down right despicable human beings, one might possibly see how the uninformed, cable TV-drenched American could buy into the rhetoric of war and lies.


Rest easy, my fellow, liberal friends! The conversion of a Bush sheeple is possible! I must warn you, it's not an easy task; but with patience, persistence and a little thing called "irrefutable facts", it is possible! How do I know this, you may ask? Well, I am happy to report, there is one less Bush supporter in the world as of today! (Not that he had too many left, but hey, every "take-away" is one less barrier to restoring the rule of law.)


A real-life friend, who voted for Bush in both elections, solely based on the belief that George and company would "protect him" from the "axis of evil" has vehemently argued that Bush was a good and decent man, a great leader and a wonderful Commander-in-Chief. (Ugh!) When I began to propose to him that there was more than meets the eye of this miscreant and that Bush may not be on the level, he fought with a vengeance. (Mind you sans any evidence to support his claim other than the "trust me" lie).


Like a psychologist who plants a seed in a person's mind suffering from a psychotic condition hopes to snap people back to reality and their senses, I peppered him with pesky, thought-provoking facts. Facts, that at first, caused open denial and even angst, anger and anxiety. Undaunted, I present simple but logical explanations, figures, reports, interviews and web pages that supported what we already know about team Bush and his henchmen of hatred and deceit. To my dismay, he did not budge....at first.


As with any person, all of us being individuals, we all have our trigger points. One of his most foolish arguments dealt with the NSA's illegal wiretapping program. He insisted that as long as it was helping capture the "bad guys" and that he had nothing to hide it was okay with him for Bush to break the law in defense of the nation. Rather than barrage him with all the patriotic, rule of law and Constitutional reasons that giving up our Bill of Rights was beyond dangerous and ludicrous, I took a different approach. One that I highly recommend!


We all know that Bush ran into his own "Battle of the Little Bighorn" with the Dubai ports deal. Every Bush sycophant in the nation threw up their hands and said, "Hey if we are suppose to be fighting them over there, why are you inviting them over hear to watch out ports?!" I posited this very question to my friend and true to form he was anti-Arab and demanded Bush retract the deal. Forget all the other reason that makes sense to all us "critical thinkers". All he knew was he wasn't going to have Arab "towel heads" manage his ports! Problem was, his illustrious and revered Commander-in-Chief was in disagreement with 75% of the nation, including my friend! What to do, what to do?


Thinking quickly, I sent him a petition link to sign saying he was against the port deal. Once done I said, "Welcome to the revolution and being a dissident!" He was perplexed at first. Then, I calmly explained to him that he now, in fact DID have something to hide! He disagreed with President Bush. This made him a radical, a possible 'terrorist threat', a potential 'enemy combatant' and subject to the brutal provisions of the Patriot Act on how to deal with people that disagree with Big Brother.


Miraculously, like how the "Grinch's heart grew two sizes that day," he had an epiphany! "What if I did, in the eyes of George Bush, now have something to hide? Could I be taken away from my wife and kids, detained indefinitely and had no writ of habeas corpus? What if I was subjected to torture and unwarranted government intrusions in my life for peacefully petitioning my government, as the Constitution says I have the unconditional right to do?"


After a few days, I got back the following email:

"I just took some time and read through the stuff you sent me about Russ Feingold. I agree with you that we should not be under surveillance, by law, without a court order. I don’t believe that I have stuff to hide but my business is just that, my business. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this stuff you sent me and I think that President Bush should be accountable for what he has done. I think there is a fine line between breaking the law and protecting the nation. He broke the law so he should be punished and/or removed from office.”


This took place over a period of months, hundreds of emails and phone calls. The good news is, we have one less Bushite on the streets today and he pledges to never again bury his head in the sand, take politicians on their word only and to do his due diligence before the next election.


As a fellow progressive writer says, "Saving the world from stupidity, one republican at a time!"

Anti-gay group, Focus on Family, gets nixed from Atlanta Braves’ ‘Faith Day’ Events.

Frank J. Ranelli


James Dobson and his ilk of obnoxious gay bashers and homo-haters have wormed their way into America’s pastime – baseball! The Atlanta Braves “became the first team in major league baseball to sponsor a post-game Christian evangelizing event called Faith Day.”

What was intended to be a place where an already largely gathered crowd of baseball fans could find “spiritual purpose in life” quickly turned ugly. As reported on Thinkprogressive.org, Dobson and his reprehensible clan arrived on the scene to do what they do best: promote narrow-minded hate, bigotry and good old-fashioned, southern prejudice in the form of malicious and cruel anti-gay messages disseminated through hand-out literature.

Some of the “highlights” of their campaign materials were:

- Male homosexuality is a developmental problem that is almost always the result of problems in family relations, particularly between father and son.

- The following factors can also contribute to the homosexual orientation: pornography; spousal abuse in the home; molestation and pedophilia.

The Atlanta Braves didn’t find Dobson and crew either family oriented or spiritual in nature. Braves’ spokesperson, Beth Marshall, asked Focus on Family not to attend anymore of the Braves’ future “Faith Days.”

Have faith though, Dobson’s rancorous brood will be back in “fine form” in no time to destroy another family pastime. After all, football season is right around the corner and what (read with extreme sarcasm!) could be “more gay” than 22 large, beefy, sweaty men –- in tight pants -- lining up nose to nose, chasing each other around a grassy field for three hours of rough-housing and then lining up in the locker room to take group showers together!

What has the world come to, I ask you?!

Hurry James, maybe you can contact the new commish of NFL Football and convince him to suspend the games of the gridiron this Fall on the account of football having a covert homosexual agenda!

Sanity Check, please!

# # #

Contributing Sources: Thinkprogressive.org

Dem Leaders Pen a "Dear Mr. President Letter"

Frank J. Ranelli


Democratic leaders, including Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, sent a letter to President Bush today urging him to change course in Iraq and that,

"There is little evidence that the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans have a coherent strategy to stabilize Iraq."

Wow, that was insipid, banal and trite. A less than even pedestrian effort to convince the Idiot-in-Chief, Bush, that his failed foreign policy is, well, failing!

While the letter, which you can read here, Dear Mr. President, Simply Staying the Course in Iraq is Not Working, is at least, a unified message from every ranking democrat on virtually every House and Senate committee.

The problem is, writing letter to a man who publicly admits he does NOT read, is unlikely to produce results. Further, asking Bush to "pleease withdraw the troops" because we "asked nicely", is analogous to sending a letter to the neighborhood bully and asking for your ball back or to not get beat up again -- it is likely to fall on deaf ears and meet the circular file in a rapid fashion!

While I applaud the democratic leadership for finally bringing forth a cohesive message about the illegal act of aggression against Iraq after three years, I wonder how long or how many more people will die before a unified cry of impeachment will echo in the halls of congress?!