Bush not getting the praise he deserves.

Bush is not getting the praise he deserves. While he may not have put an end to illegal immigration (in fact, by failing to enforce the existing laws he seems to have encouraged it) by doing away with many of the constitutional protections and economic opportunities that once attracted the tempest-tossed to our shores, he has put a considerable damper on legal immigration.

She lifts her lamp, tempest tossed

Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.
Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. Our fathers fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

Here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

The BOG problem

The BOG problem (bands of disaffected guys) reported in Thursday’s LA Times will only get worse. As the veterans return from Iraq to find themselves without jobs, they’ll form their own BOG’s or join existing ones. And these veterans have not only been trained to kill but have had more than sufficient opportunity to develop on-the-job skills.
As the country sinks into depression, with roving bands of jobless terrorizing the population everywhere—a condition endemic for years in Mexico, will the retired George W. Bush finally remove his mask to reveal a Red Chinese? Twelve years from now, this once powerful nation, broken and depressed, will be ripe for invasion.
Can anything be done to prevent this? Yes, but strangely not a single one of the Presidential candidates has yet to offer a solution. And our free press seems more concerned with the candidates’ gender and the color of their skins than with their proposals.
The solution to our problems lies in a phrase our grandparents often used, “Idle hands make the devil’s handiwork.” We need to create jobs and this means that we, the government, need to raise money to pay our employees.
The least painful solution as it affects only the want-to-be-idle rich is to reinstate the inheritance tax: 50% on all estates valued over $5 million, 90% on all estates valued over $10 million. Electronic transfers of funds by individuals to banks outside the country in excess of $10 thousand per day will be confiscated. And that graduated income tax of ours will go back up to 75% at the top-most levels.
(Yes, we can raise the top levels of the State Income tax, too. Ain’t nobody enjoying California’s balmy climate going to move anywhere.)
The first jobs we’ll create are the obvious ones: Bring back the meat inspectors, the food inspectors, the port inspectors, the IRS agents, and the border patrolmen whom Bush let go. Next, let’s get rid of all the illegal immigrants. We need the jobs they’re now filling.
Finally, we need to rebuild the bridges, levees, water towers, water pipes and sewer lines that are on the verge of the collapse. No loss as all the money we spend on repairs over here, rather than on the repair of oil pipes in Iraq, will go directly into the pockets of hard-working Americans.
How will all these changes affect the middle class? We won’t pay a cent more in taxes. But the cost of labor will rise and you’ll pay more to have your garden mowed, to buy a big Mac, or to purchase made-by-slave-labor-in-China goods. Of course, store profits will increase as more disposable income will be in our population hands. And you won’t need to buy that Uzi to protect your home just yet.

It’s the Economy, Stupid

When President Bush asks for 65,000 more troops, he really is confessing that the civilian economy has lost 65,000 more jobs.

Prior to the start of Bush-Lite’s first term, even the least savvy neo-conservative was aware that while neo-conservative economic policies would bring great benefits to the select, the mass of Americans would need undergo great privations. The question (for them) became how best to hide the forthcoming shifts until it was too late for the electorate to protest.

But it took only a few months for Bush-Lite’s approval rating to slip to unprecedented low levels. What to do? With the cooperation of members of the Saudi Royal family, Saudi Arabian dissidents were provided with the necessary funding to launch an attack within the United States. Though the plot and plotters were soon detected by branch offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the word from Washington Headquarters soon came down to the branches: follow but do not intervene.

9/11 arrived and with it the remarkable (as much for being unchallenged as for its sheer chutzpah) decision to launch an attack upon Afghanistan. Afghanistan when the plotters had been financed by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E? Nonetheless, Afghanistan was selected and the war machine revved up as defective munitions and unarmored vehicles were churned out by U.S. industries. Domestic job losses were camouflaged by an increase in enrollment in the military and the conversion of national guardsmen from weekend warrior to full-time government employees. Indeed, so successful was the shift from civilian to military employment, that the manufacture of defective military goods could be outsourced abroad. Screw greedy American labor—let business keep all the profits.

As the domestic job market dried up—never mind that food products went un-inspected, water towers fell, defective sewer pipes were ignored, EPA clean-up sites remained uncleaned, and the rail lines essential to domestic defense were allowed to fall into disrepair—the need for a protective cover in the form of a second war and greater military enrollment arose. On to Iraq with its weapons of mass destruction.

Soon more than a million troops were involved in support of the fighting. The good news: A million plus barrels of oil were consumed in transporting the troops across the sea. And billions were siphoned from the American taxpayer to pay for it all.

Did civilian jobs continue to vanish abroad or were doled out at starvation wags to illegal immigrations. Of course. But again, there was a solution. In the Spring of 2007, Bush-Lite prescribed the Iraq surge and 350,000 more troops. In July 2007, to replace 65,000 lost jobs, he requested 65,000 be put into uniform.

As the US dollar slips ever downward and Americans pay more and more for basic foodstuffs, one might ask what does the future hold? Here’s my prediction:

2008, a President is elected from the Democratic party. The troops are called home and within months, the United States is in a major depression with armies of the homeless and unemployed. Reforms are called for and Congress votes to give the next President dictatorial powers.

Isn't it about time the oil companies paid their share?

Rise in Profits of major oil companies from start of US Invasion of Iraq through 2005: 2.5 Trillion dollars.

Cost to American tax payer from start of US Invasion of Iraq through 2005:
25 trillion dollars

Isn't it about time the oil companies paid their share?

Bush critics proved wrong

Once again, those who claim George Bush is a captive of the oil companies have been proved wrong. Bush's plan for an Eastern European missile defense system (presumably to scare off terrorists) has led to Russia's President Putin increasing troop levels. Everywhere, weapons manufacturers are rejoicing, pleased that the monies they put into Bush's campaigns are paying off once again. (see Lords of War).

So Bush critics, hear this, it's not just oil companies, but weapon's manufacturers (three wars and a missile system), heroin importers (after Bush drove the Taliban out of Afghanistan), and tainted meat manufacturers (after Bush eliminated meat inspectors) who have profited from Bush's support.

Rich and Poor Still Equal in Eyes of the Law

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." (from The Red Lily, Anatole France, 1894)

Multiple Choice Quiz

Who said, "It is well that war should be so terrible,
If it were not
We might become too fond of it."

a. George W. Bush
b. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
c. Robert E. Lee
d. George Fox

Traveling in the 3rd World March 2007

Yesterday while traveling by railroad through a 3rd world country, I learned to my horror that a fellow passenger had been forced to detour thousands of miles and 24 hours out of his way, because a major east-west rail artery severed in a hurricane two years before had yet to be repaired. As is always the case in such banana republics, a thoroughly corrupt central government, rather than make repairs to the rail line through New Orleans, had chosen to spend billions on sweetheart contracts abroad (thus allowing that government’s close friends to avoid all taxes on their excess profits which surely they would have had to pay had the work been done at home).

Truth in 911 Conference, February 2007

Little truth was to be heard at the Truth in 911 conference held at Chandler AZ, the 23rd through 25th of February 2007, the latest in a series of such conferences that began in San Francisco in the summer of 2004. Relevant facts were omitted; factoids provided to replace them.

The basic facts concerning 9/11 are widely known and were made known within the first 30 days afterward: Nineteen of the 20 terrorists involved in the attack (including the one who didn’t make it to the planes) were from Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Financing for the attacks came from these same countries. Yet not one of the speakers at the Truth in 911 conference alluded to the terrorists’ origins nor to George W. Bush’s failure both to retaliate against these countries and to confiscate the funds of those who financed the attacks, something he had promised to do on 9/12/2001. (Come to think of it, the mainstream media including the Times never commented on his failures either.)

Instead, the speakers appeared to be groping for answers: Were the twin towers destroyed by beams from space, nuclear devices, or thermite charges? None seemed to feel that planes alone could have accomplished the task. (The Journalof911studies.com is devoted to academic research on the topic.) And as for the remaining two planes, including the one that allegedly hit the Pentagon destroying financial records and facilitating the theft of trillions of dollars, most said they never existed.

Meria Heller, the opening speaker at the conference, a webcaster of some renown (at least among this particular audience), took as her theme the Bush family's denial of the many holocausts they had caused. It seemed that George W.'s grandfather had been convicted following World War II for war profiteering and selling to the Nazi's. She provided the audience with a list of restrictions government had foisted over the years on the American citizen (or consumers, as they were now known) including the Patriot Act. The audience clapped and cheered with varying volume for each item on her list, with the loudest round of applause going to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Go figure! But then we’ve never understood the humor in the Millard Fillmore cartoon either.

Two beliefs that all participants at the conference appeared to hold in common were that 1) The federal government has withheld information about the attacks, 2) The administration allowed the attacks to occur as part of a larger “false flag operation” aimed at scaring the public into supporting tighter government controls (goodbye Constitution) and the profit-making (for Cheney and his cronies) invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The fear of terrorism has replaced our old fear of communism.

But as always, there are as many beliefs as there members of a movement. A full 40% of the participants, alas, feel that the same global financiers who introduced the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 were behind the 9/11 attacks. In their minds, the Federal Reserve Act, the Protocols of Zion, the World Wildlife Fund, the IRS, and the U.N. are part and parcel of the same global conspiracy. One even confided to me that it was these same Jewish bankers who had financed Hitler.

On Sunday, the final day of the conference, it split in two. The group who feared a global conspiracy met in a tent outside the hotel, while the remaining 60% of the participants gathered inside to plan the formation of a Citizens Grand Jury. This Grand Jury would further investigate the events of 9/11, including the foreknowledge of the Bush Administration and its failure to take subsequent action. It would recommend the prosecution of those responsible and, should the Congress and Courts fail to act, would undertake the prosecution itself.

But an event that occurred much earlier that Sunday, at 5:30 a.m. to be precise, best illustrates how the greater American Public stands with regards to the events of 9/11. Some one or something had triggered the fire alarm in the hotel where the conference was housed. A third of those we spoke with complained of being awoken at that early hour. (As one confided, ”I’d only gone to bed a half hour before.”) Another third said they’d heard the alarm, but hadn’t bothered to get up. And the final third asked, “What alarm?” and admitted they must have slept right through it.

Summing Up The War

Ave, Caesar, ave, 0 congressmen,
Ave, 0 Iliad gods who forced the fight!
You bring your carriages and your picnic-lunch
To cheer us in our need.
You come with speeches,
Your togas smell of heroism and bay-rum.
You are the people and the voice of the people
And, when the fight is done, your carriages
Will bear you safely, through the streaming rout
Of broken troops, throwing their guns away.
You come to see the gladiator's show,
But from a high place, as befits the wise:
You will not see the long windrows of men
Strewn like dead pears before the Henry House
Or the stone-wall of Jackson breathe its parched
Devouring breath upon the failing charge,
Ave, Caesar, ave, 0 congressmen,
Cigar-smoke wraps you in a godlike cloud,
And if you are not to depart from us
As easily and divinely as you came,
It hardly matters.

Steven Vincent Benet

Can we leave Iraq?

The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Colombia represent the largest make-work program in our nation's history, on a par with FDR's much maligned WPA. If we were to bring our troops home today, there would not be jobs for them. Still, as this make-work program is co$ting our nation trillions, wouldn't it make more sense to bring the troops home and put them to work rebuilding decayed water lines, pot-holed roads, and essential mass transit?

The Haunting of George W. Bush

One night George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing beside him. Bush looks up and asks, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.

The next night, "W" is astir again when he sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving silently around the bedroom. He calls out: "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?" "Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises, and then dims from sight.

The third night! sleep still evades Bush He sees the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed. Bush lowers his voice and asks, "Franklin, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?" In that golden voice of his, FDR replies, "Help the less fortunate, just as I did," and then he disappears.

George Bush still isn't sleeping well the fourth night. He tosses and turns, and suddenly another figure moves out of the shadows. It's the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. "Abe," Bush pleads, "what's the best thing I can do right now to help the country?" Lincoln pauses, then replies, "Go see a play."

Bush's Parrot

Bush's parrot is asleep on his perch; Bush is at his desk staring vacantly into space. Suddenly, the parrot wakes up and cries, 'Here comes Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense.’
Bush stops working. What goes on? Then the door opens and it's Rumsfeld. So Bush and Rumsfeld start to talk, but the bird interrupts. 'Here come Condoleezza Rice, minister of propaganda.' And, lo and behold, a minute later, it's true.
Bush tells what's going on, but Rumsfeld and Rice think he's kidding. 'Ah, go on, George, it's a trick, you're giving the bird a signal.'
'No, no,' Bush says. 'This bird somehow knows who's coming, and I'll prove it to you. We'll hide in the closet, where the bird can't see me, and wait for the next visitor.' So there they are, in the closet, and the bird starts up again. But this time it just trembles and hides its head under its wing and squawks.
After a minute, the door opens, and it's the Vice-President. He looks around, thinks the office is empty, and goes away. 'All right, people,' the parrot says, 'it's safe to come out now. Cheney is gone.'

Airport Insecurity

while I too worry about liquid explosives, I know you can't drink them without a) immediately throwing up, b) choking to death. I also know that in the abscense of water I can't swallow a decongestant just before takeoff (and I mean just before, not prior to boarding, not while we sit at the gate with the plane's doors closed, and not while we are number 19 in line for the runway) without a) immediately throwing up, b) choking to death. So here's my plan:

When I show up at the airport with my Camelbak--ask me to drink from it, a good long swig. If I keel over, it's a fair cop gov. Of course, I'm too old and too non-Arab to fit the profile of a terrorist, but that carries no weight with our security force anyway.

Nothing in Common

What do Republican and Democrats have in common?



Nothing.
Democrats propose nothing and Republicans will stop at nothing.

Republicans are the party of slavery

Two obvious solutions to immigration present themselves. Both require that the U.S. enforce its immigration laws, expelling illegal immigrants and imposing heavy fines on those who hire them.

Solution 1: Leave the Immigration Law unchanged.

Solution 2: Modify the Immigration Law to provide for unlimited admission of immigrants from Mexico.

Both methods would ensure respect for law and payment of a decent wage to labor. Both methods would allow the border patrol to concentrate on excluding terrorists.

How the present slavery system works is best illustrated by my current relationship with Seniso the proprietor of All-Star Concrete. Sensio speaks English--better then he lets on, and is, I believe a legal immigrant whom I pay almost $50 an hour for the services of him and his firm. The latter consists of an illegal immigrant whom Sensio pays $5 an hour and to whom he relays almost all my instructions. (Occasionally, I've seen Sensio, a tool in his hand, demonstrating an operation.)

With either solution in place, the gap between what I pay Sensio and what he pays his employees would diminish. No wonder so many Hispanics, like so many freed slaves in the 1800's, embrace slavery, the present corrupt Republican-sponsored illegal-immigrant system today, the Confederate/Dixicrat system in the latter century.

Let's tax gasoline

The experts say the price curve for gasoline is inelastic and will stay so for the immediate future. That is, people aren’t going to stop buying gas regardless of the price. They may look for jobs closer to home, may even quit working for a while as many have already done, but they’re not going to stop refilling their gas tank when their tank is empty.

So here’s my plan. Place a $1.00 State Tax on every gallon of gasoline. Unfair, outrageous? Not at all, either that dollar goes to us the taxpayer or it goes to the oil companies as soon as they realize they can raise the price of gasoline and get away with it.

Now, I know your favorite talk show host says that taxes are bad, that all they pay for is welfare, people who couldn’t otherwise afford medical care, supplements to education, inspection of scales, highways, and the environment, and crooked politicians. But then your talk show host probably owns stock in those oil companies. I don’t. My surplus cash gets eaten up at the pump. And some of those State services sound pretty good to me like more employees at the DMV, more teachers per pupil, and more law enforcement directed at putting away crooked politicians and welfare cheats.

Fac ist Bullshit and Airport Security

In line with its well established policy of rewarding the rich and our Saudi Arabian occupiers while methodically destroiying the rights, privileges, and income of the middle class, airport security--a government, not an airline function--actively discriminates between first class and economy class passengers. First class passengers are provided with a special security line--thus increasing the over-all cost of the inspecection system, while middle class passengers are herded like cattle. Once aboard the airline, first class passengers have access to any toilet, economy-class passengers are barred access to the facilities in first class. Does our shit stink or what?

Sign this Pledge

I'm not a Nazi. I will vote for only for those candidates for federal office who pledge to have my country sign the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war.