On A Lighter Note [recursively speaking]

This disturbs my wa...

If you Google for "it disturbs my Wa"
my site is the only one listed in the results. This seriously disturbs my Wa.

Stephen Cavers is Canadian, and writes a blog that could be classified as 'quirky'... very funny for those of us with isomorphic quirks.

Read him for a sanity break.
Eeeya a wa wa [good night Sergio, where ever you are]
CUBICLE DWELLER (.ca) industrial-strength non sequiturs. now even crunchier!

A New Pledge:

This story link points to a discussion on the Pledge of Alligance controversy. The arguments put forth by W Safir are interesting, but what caught my eye was the closing quote, and a comment.. The closing quote puts my concerns in a nutshell.

From the standpoint of a Christian, I always think it's a little sad when my fellow believers feel it necessary to use the state to coerce religious devotion and even "conversion."

They should read Paul more closely. His writing shows a clear break from the idea of a theocracy contained in the Hebrew Bible.

Christians should take Paul's advice and concentrate on making our own communities shining examples.

In the comment section, John Wilkens of Boulder Colorado puts forth an idea for a new Pledge. I think this reframes the issue nicely. I wouldn't mind if citizens [particularly congress] read this aloud daily. It is probably more in concert with the sentiments of the 'Founding Fathers' than the prestwent day Pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,

Defending our rights to speak, worship and live freely without coercion;

Holding our government accountable for its actions;

While safeguarding liberty, justice and due process for all.

Pledge Rhythms

Molly Ivins LOL:

She is straight to the point about distortions and campaign bushwa:

The people who spend their time keeping track of George W. Bush's fibs, exaggerations, distortions, misleading remarks and flat-out lies are working at a frenzied pace these days.

I particularly enjoyed the Bushies' sober new analysis that John Kerry's fiscal plan would leave us $1 trillion in the hole.

This is the same set of drunken sailors that wants to leave us $5 trillion in the hole over 10 years by making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Great, let's save $4 trillion and vote for Kerry.

Bomb Mexico

Another Jaw Dropper:

The county that was the site of the Scopes 'Monkey Trial' over the teaching of evolution is asking lawmakers to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.

The Rhea County commissioners approved the request 8-0 Tuesday.
Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the measure, also asked the county attorney to find a way to enact an ordinance banning homosexuals from living in the county.

'We need to keep them out of here,' Fugate said."

The Hamster:

A List to Keep

Your Government dollars at work.

Thank You, Rep. Waxman
Here's something to bookmark and keep forever. The Iraq on the Record Report , prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

The database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq. posted by Jerry Bowles

From the Best of the Blogs

Interesting Observation:

Given that your choice in November is between two hereditary members of the industrial aristocracy,
remember to vote for the one who is prepared, as FDR was, to betray his class rather than his country.

Mark A. R. Kleiman: Warren Buffet on George W. Bush's tax policies

Calvinist?

It starts so young...

At Harvard Business School, thirty years ago, George Bush was a student of mine. I still vividly remember him. In my class, he declared that

"people are poor because they are lazy."

He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools.

To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to "free market competition."

To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was "socialism." Yoshi Tsuru

President George Bush and the Gilded Age:

A Credit to His Profession

Another jaw dropper:

...Miranda, by his own admission, participated in Congress' first known case of cyber-spying, reading some of the 4,000 Democratic computer memos that a clerk on the Republican staff surreptitiously downloaded.

...Miranda, in an interview, dismissed what he called the 69-year-old Hatch's "antique and anachronistic" belief that "gentlemen don't read gentlemen's mail."

He said it was wildly out of touch with the take-no-prisoners atmosphere that has gripped the Judiciary Committee ...

"The problem," Miranda said, "is with senators who do not understand that there is nothing unethical with accessing anything on your computer."

I did nothing wrong when I hacked into Democratic computers


Rules of the game now: "Take no prisoners", "All is fair..", "Cheaters really do prosper, so you better cheat"

A cognitive dissonance moment...I feel so much better now.

I Wondered:

Krugman doesn't pull any punches here...

GREENSPIN. Paul Krugman explains -- in small words that everyone here can easily understand -- what Allan Greenspan's comments on Social Security amount to:

Mr. Greenspan pushed through an increase in taxes on working Americans, generating a Social Security surplus. Then he used that surplus to argue for tax cuts that deliver very little relief to most people, but are worth a lot to those making more than $300,000 a year. And now that those tax cuts have contributed to a soaring deficit, he wants to cut Social Security benefits.

The point, of course, is that if anyone had tried to sell this package honestly —"Let's raise taxes and cut benefits for working families so we can give big tax cuts to the rich!" — voters would have been outraged. So the class warriors of the right engaged in bait-and-switch.

TAPPED: March 2004 Archives