Nobody Could Have Predicted...

Mountain Bike Rider

Mountain bike rider, mountain bike rider
Dear Sir or Madam will you take a look
It took lies and fear to promote this rotten crook
Based on promises which are not what they appear
He can't do his job, so he wants to be mountain bike rider, mountain bike rider

It's a dirty story of a dirty little man
His Stepford wife's in on the plan
His plan ain't working, he can't help but fail
He can't do his job so he wants to be a mountain bike rider, mountain bike rider.

A hundred thousand deaths, give or take a few
There'll be a thousand more in a week or two
He can peddle longer cuz it makes him smile
He could change things round, but he wants to be a mountain bike rider, mountain bike rider.

If you really trust him, you will lose your rights
Creeping fascism doesn't happen overnight
So it's off to Crawford for some photo-ops
Cuz he need a break and wants to be a mountain biker rider, mountain bike rider.

Mitch McConnell, who looks like what you'd get if ran a computer generated aging program on a Cabbage Patch Doll, was on Face the Nation repeating one of the preferred talking points when defending the Bush administration from charges of perennial incompetence. That is, "the fact we have not been attacked since 9/11, is no accident" as a result of Bush policies and actions.

I guess it was also no accident that there were no non-domestic originated terrorist attacks in the U.S. between the first attack on the WTC in 1993 and the attack in 2001.

It was also no accident that the Bush administration did NOTHING to prevent the attacks in 2001 when they were warned in advance. Then McConnell went on to make the outrageous claim that a democratic Congress would put out the "white flag" to terrorists when he knows full well that Clinton/Gore took the threat seriously and Bush basically put out the Welcome Mat after he came to office. That's where there was no accident. Bush and his incompetent cronies set the stage for the attacks on 9/11 which did not exist under Clinton/Gore.

Bush's Enron Lies by Robert Parry at Consortium News

California Energy Ripoff Wasn't Just Crime, But Terrorism

The Burial of the 9/11 Story that Got Away

Lay Convicted, Bush Walks (and Ahnold Gets Lay'd) by Greg Palast

A glimpse into the future: In their prison cell, Bush and Cheney revise their plan to take over the world.

We live in an age technological marvels. We have satellites than can read the license number of a car from space. We've sent machines to explore far away planets and send back pictures and data. The Hubble Telescope opened up space with spectacular pictures. Super-computers can keep track of every call made in these here United States. Communications can be monitored by sophisticated equipment that baffles the mind. Our televisions are high definition. TIVO can store programs allowing us to stop viewing mid-stream and resume where we left off. Home computers can play and record video, have massive amounts of memory and unprecedented computing power at a very low price. Our cars, our banks, our government depends on the reliability of the electronic marvels in our every day life. So why can't any of these companies, like Diebold, make eletronic voting machines that work properly, leave a paper trail and are tamper resistant?

Yesterday, on This Week, George Will finally gave me what I’ve been looking for a long time; the political positions that define a ‘conservative.’

It use to be, they talked about family values, fiscal discipline, accountability, transparency in government, and on and on. We know now that when they are completely in charge, they forget the tenets of their alleged conservatism.

So anyway, back to George Will. Donna Brazille made some remark casting doubt on John McCain’s conservative credentials. Will, ever the pedantic pundit, came to McCain’s defense, albeit with a caveat.

“I’m out of practice defending McCain. But let me just...(drowned out by laughter). You say he’s not a conservative. Pro life. Pro war. He now supports some of the president’s tax cuts to make them permanent. He voted to protect gun makers from liability. He’s going to vote, probably, certainly in Arizona, a state to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He’ll be against the federal version of that because ‘I’m a cultural federalist.’

Thankfully, Will spared us some obscure historical reference. He did not mention, however, the obvious tension between being both ‘pro life’ and ‘pro war.’ He also did not elaborate whether, in his view, McCain is pro war in terms of Iraq, or just likes war in general as part of a belligerent foreign policy.

As for the tax cuts for the wealthy, is it fiscally responsible to eliminate a source of income when you are in debt up to your ass? If this is conservative fiscal policy, lord help us.

“He voted to protect gun makers from liability.” Evidently, when it comes to protecting large corporate interests from the people, McCain is not a ‘cultural federalist.’ (See below). So, depending on the issue, McCain may or may not be for states’ rights when it comes to laws such a product liability.

As for the marriage act, conservatism apparently believes in the tyranny of the majority to impose their religious views on the nation and I discussed the ‘selective federalism’ already.

There is no 'right to privacy' when there's a draft-dodging poseur in charge.

An Omission Designed to Provide Political Cover:

Just heard a report by CBS News about the tax savings American can expect from the new "tax cuts." As is usual for the plutocrats, the lion's share of the tax savings is skewed to upper incomes. CBS News stopped their breakdown of tax savings by income analysis at the 500k to 1 million level with those taxpayers saving somewhere between 3 and 7 thousand dollars. They purposefully left out those taxpayers with incomes of more than one million who can expect a tax savings of $42,000.

What's up CBS? Why did you omit this fact? The wealthiest taxpayers receive the most benefit. Of course, the argument will be that this is just a result of progressive tax rates. If so, why not just lay out the facts? This repeated failure by the PMSM (Pathetic Main Stream Media) to just give us the facts and to not edit out unpleasant facts is making it increasingly difficult for an informed electorate.

Seems the story in USA Today shows that AT&T does not adhere to its own privacy policies when it comes to its customer's records.


The SBC family of companies respects and protects the privacy of our customers. As a provider of telecommunications services we recognize that we must ensure the confidentiality of every customer's telephone calling and account information.

All SBC employees are subject to the SBC Code of Business Conduct. The Code requires all SBC employees to follow every law, rule, regulation, court and commission order that applies to our business at all times. In addition, the Code specifically requires compliance with legal requirements and company policies related to the privacy of communications and the security and privacy of customer records. Employees who fail to meet any of the standards embodied in the Code of Business Conduct may be subject to disciplinary action, including but not limited to dismissal.

I was for the anthem being sung in Spanish before I was against it!

Iran responds, "Okay, you first!"

In an effort to turn Mr. Zarqawi's own propaganda against him by mocking him as an uninspiring poseur, the American military released the selected outtakes at a news briefing in Baghdad. A senior military spokesman said that American troops had discovered the tape among a trove of information captured last month in Yusufiya, a town just south of Baghdad regarded as sympathetic to the insurgency.

My Bad. Got my "uninspiring poseur" file mixed up!

Say, you lived in a country with a despotic ruler, would you want that ruler to be a "C" student with a limited command of his native language who routinely ignores dire warnings with catastrophic results?