Where's Cheney?

WHERE'S CHENEY?

(Thanks to "old chum" for forwarding the above that's been making the rounds as "When you are in deep trouble, say nothing, and try to look inconspicuous". I just retitled it to what, for me, seems more appropriate. NOTE: Original source unknown.)

Cuttin' and Pastin'

Wow, oh wow! Are your juices really flowing like mine are after the strong stand the "opposition party" took in the form of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nevada) yesterday morning on ABC's This Week? If you haven't heard it yet, maybe you should be sitting when you learn what he said, because your glee may be too much for you to stand.

In one of the most frightening and impressive attacks from the Left upon our "leadership" on the extreme Right, Harry Reid suggested (are you sitting down yet?--if not, now's the time if you wish to avoid falling over yourself in pure ectasy!) Bush and Cheney "should apologize" to us for Scooter Libby!

Mercy, mercy, was that a pure assault of such overwhelming force it leaves you giddy like me?

So, okay, here's where I get lazy. See, with the time change yesterday I'm a bit out-of-tune with the Universe. Last night was the longest evening of the year. I was ready for to bed at 6:00 p.m. Thank heavens it wasn't Halloween! Hence, permit me to cut and paste a comment I left over on rkrider's great blog, pa04blue. It was written last eve while still in the heat of rapture after reading Senator Reid's attack on Bush and Cheney. It went something like this:
*****
Comment to "60 Minutes tonight"

Thanks for posting this so promptly, rk. I particularly liked the comment by a former CIA agt. and acquaintance of Plame saying the agency's in far more danger of being undermined from our own gov't (read "Bush and Cheney") than by the North Koreans or Russians.

And now Senator Reid says Bush and Cheney should apologize for Scooter Libby perjuring himself in the Valerie Plame case, which placed agent's lives in jeopardy and weakened our entire intel's capability and credibility all because her husband outed the admin's "creative" intelligence to justify their bogus war. Were you impressed as I was with Reid's gónadas?

Maybe eventually Reid'll get around to asking 'em if they'd like to also apologize to Iraq, collaterally damaged back to the Stone Age. Maybe he might ask for Bush and Cheney's contrition for the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in their hell bent war.

Or, the hundreds of billions of dollars lent us by the Chinese and others that were squandered to blow shit up or enrich their corporate cronies and themselves while giving tax cuts to the rich. Maybe if he'd ask for an apology there, too?

I'm sure that Bush and Cheney will also want to express their remorse to the friends, families and loved ones of over 2000 dead Americans killed in their Iraq lie. Oh, and Senator Reid, maybe you should ask they apologize directly to those 2,000 GI's who died for their bogus war. Oh wait, they can't. They're all dead.

No, far more than apologies are needed here. We need these American traitors and international war criminals to be brought to justice; to do some hard, hard time for a long, long time.

But don't hold your breath waiting to see that happen, Harry Reid. Oh, and don't hold your breath waiting for your 'apology' from 'em either. Bastards like these are above remorse--and the law.

Quote of the Day

Gee, I'm not exactly sure what's implied in the following quote. I'm thinking the author of it may be insinuating something bad about our very own government, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, "Mushroom Cloud" Rice, etc.. If so, I sure wouldn't want to post something so derogatory against our nation's leaders who are only doing their best to secure the peace and safety of we Americans, their beloved subjects.

But surely that's not the author's intent. He's probably talking about other despots outside our shores, not our own. So here's today's....

Quote of the Day

The ethnic conflicts and insurgencies of our time...are not clashes between cultures or civilization, nor are they the result of ancient ethnic hatreds. They are manufactured wars, born out of the collapse of civil societies, perpetuated by fear, greed, and paranoia, and they are run by gangsters, who rise up from the bottom of their own societies and terrorize all, including those they purport to protect.
From "War is a Force that Gives us Meaning" by Chris Hedges

Parallel Universe News

Shell Profit Leaps on Rising Oil Prices

LONDON (AP) -- A somewhat embarrassed Chief Financial Officer, Peter Voser, announced today that the profits of Royal Dutch Shell rose an obscene 67 percent over the same period a year earlier. Shell, one of the world's largest oil companies, said its third-quarter profit grew from $5.62 billion in 2004 to an incredible $9.39 billion this quarter.

Soaring oil prices far outweighed the loss of oil production due to hurricane damaged rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. And while repairs to rigs and refineries may cost as much as $350 million after taxes, Shell said in effect, "Not to worry," explaining most of that expense will be "shelled" out by insurance companies, thus assuring minimal impact on their huge profits.

"We are capturing the benefits of high oil and gas prices," Peter Voser said, finding it difficult to conceal his glee. He went on to say Shell's 275,000 barrel-a-day Port Arthur refinery will be back on line soon, although hinted there's really no hurry because short supply equals higher prices/profits despite consumer inconvenience and economic hardship.

When asked if 50-100% profit increases being reported by oil companies due to Gulf shutdowns and loss of refining capacity might not cause the industry to rethink its economic model by inducing future artificial, manmade shortages, Voser, appearing to restrain a smile, refused to comment.
________________________

The Nuclear Threat Expands

Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen announced Wednesday Finland's commitment to go forth with construction of a new nuclear power plant. Confirmed by a 107 to 92 parliamentary vote in favor of the proposal, Lipponen said, "We are very happy with this decision."

But similar elation was not forthcoming by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who, during a visit to Paris, warned Finland it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council unless it refuses to back away from its defiant stance on nuclear proliferation.

Vice President Dick Cheney said that Finland was at the top of the administration's list of world trouble spots, posing an immediate threat to its European neighbors and conceivably the U.S. later this year or early 2006.

Emphasizing the gravity of the situation, Cheney noted the U.S. is drawing up contingency plans if Finland refuses to reconsider its nuclear ambitions. He would not say if those plans included a military option.

In the sternest warning to Helsinki, President Bush said "all options are on the table" if the Finnish refuse to comply with international demands to halt their nuclear program, pointedly noting he has already used force to protect U.S. security and will not hesitate to use it again.

In an off-the-record remark afterwards, Bush was overheard to say to a chuckling Secretary of Offense, Don Rumsfeld, "The Finnish may be more 'Finnished' than they know."
________________________

Prophylactic Aid

Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, in a meeting with diplomats in Geneva yesterday pleaded with member nations for additional aid pledges to Pakistan. Hundreds of millions more will be needed for the relief effort for the earthquake that has killed an estimated 50,000 Annan said.

Campaigning organizations such as Oxfam have accused industrialized countries for doing far too little. "The public will be shocked that so many rich governments have given so little," Oxfam said yesterday.

As a result, the U.S. has raised its relief commitment from the $50 million originally pledged October 8th to $156 million. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, warned, however, the funds do not come without strings. Rice strongly stipulated that none of the US aid allocated must be used for abortions, to fund family planning, AIDS prevention or free condoms for earthquake victims.

(DISCLAIMER: News by Dada from an alternate Universe--any resemblence to real news is intended, but strictly parody.)

Tsk, tsk, Marshall University students

In a passing note, I'd like to admonish some of the Marshall University students present at a recent women's volleyball match with the University of Texas, El Paso.

One of the members of the UTEP team is a full blooded Native American. During the game, this player had to endure taunts of racial epithets from some in the audience. This is sad, coming from university students.

If stereotyping is permitted, allow Dada to stoop to that level by suggesting those who partook in such "fun" might want to consider withdrawing from the university. Reason? Learning disabled.

Rosa Parks, 1913 - 2005

"Mrs. Parks’ arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the protest. The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices...Actually no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"
(Martin Luther King, Stride Toward Freedom, 1958)

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
(Rosa Parks from her autobiography, My Story)

Dada is reminded giants walk among us, indistinguishable from we lilliputians.

Update on word definitions -- "resigned"

Whatever happened to ol' whatshisname? Ah, "Brownie", yeh that's it. As in President Bush's post Katrina assessment, "Brownie, you're doing a helluva of a job!" Yeh, that Brownie, Michael D. Brown--Antoinette, former FEMA Director who resigned because of his agency's total ineptness in the face of castrophe.

Despite on-the-ground-FEMA-warnings from Marty Bahamonde in New Orleans that “the situation is past critical” and that evacuees had no food or water and “estimates are many will die within hours,” was told to just hang on while Director Brown went to dinner. I guess that looked a little callous to victims on rooftops without food and water as bodies floated by.

"Heads must roll!" was the reaction of many who viewed with disgust the nonresponse of Bush's multi-billion dollar preparedness agencies. And some felt placated by Brown's resignation. It appears now, however, while Brown "resigned", his head simply rolled--under the table.

According to the Chicago Tribune in an article this past Friday, FEMA spokesperson Nicol Andrews reveals "Brownie" is still on FEMA's payroll-- as a consultant! Ol' Brownie is working out of his home (in his "jammies", Dada wonders?), where he is "pulling all the documentation together" to aid in the investigations into the government's response to Katrina, according to Andrews.

In other words, Brown is investigating himself. And although he stepped down, he "resigned", I'm wondering if anyone else, like myself, is reminded of Bush administration's weird take on such word definitions by the lyrics of an old Eagles' Song, "Hotel California," that say, They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can't kill the beast?

I think it illustrates the evolution of language under the Bush regime. Words don't always mean what they used to. Things aren't always as they seem. Resigned doesn't necessarily mean someone's gone, deposed, "We're rid of that son of a bitch!" like it used to. Vice president Cheney's Halliburton "resignation" is another good example.

Other words evolving with the aid of the Bush administration? Well, when 3,000 innocent civilians die in this country, it's called "terrorism." If a similar number die in, say, Iraq, from US "friendly fire", it's called liberation.

ter·ror·ism (tĕr'ə-rĭz'əm), n., synonyms - liberation, freedom.

Democracy as illustrated by Iraqi elections emulating our own, means vote counting fraud and manipulated election outcomes.

de·moc·ra·cy (dĭ-mŏk'rə-sē) n., pl. -cies, synonyms - voter fraud, bloodless coup.

If some of these old words and their new meanings have you confused, don't feel too badly. This is just the normal growth of the language as being tweaked by Bush. Just think of it as an exciting time to be alive. To actually witness evolution!

Links to lighten the load

Okay, okay......sure I'm crazy. "What are you doing, Dada, linking to other sites that will take visitors away, probably never to return again?"

Well, I just want to see you all smile again, to recapture that sense of humor you enjoyed back in the pre-fascist America of Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ike (your choice). So just for the moment, suspend your dismalities, go forth and smile again. Why, feel free to chuckle even!

Bush in Freefall This one's too funny, or disgusting, depending.....

Forever Dada Weekly (no relation to Dada's Dally.....er, well, who knows? Maybe a distant cousin?)

Climate Mash (Watch for our Secretary of State Oil Tanker, Condoleezza Rice. While just a small part herein, it's Academy Award Caliber!)

Jib Jab (click on Big Box Mart)

Think Small(er)

Molly Ivins, whose opinions I respect deeply, wrote in her column this week of the mess Bush has made of the nation in less than five years. She delineated some of the misdirections we, as a nation, have flown off into.

Ivins then quoted the "First Rule of Holes" which says when you find yourself in one, stop digging. Sounds like good advice. She then offered some suggestions. Her very first was "we need a plan to get out of Iraq." Again, I totally agree. But, and here's where the big but comes in.....

We're not leaving Iraq. Not next year, in 2010 or 2020. That's because our presence there is all part of the Project for the New American Century which was crafted back in the 1990's, way before Bush seized control of the government. The tragic events of 9/11 were used to green light the neocon ambitions for American global dominance.

At this very moment, fourteen permanent American military bases are now being built in Iraq. But we don't hear much about those. Are we going to just abandon them when Iraq 'gets on its feet'? Hell no.

So, all this buzz and debate about when we should leave Iraq going on in Washington and the rest of the nation? Forget it! Hell, plans have been drafted for Syria. For Iran.

So why not save ourselves a lot of time because, WE AIN'T LEAVING IRAQ FOLKS. Maybe expend our energies on something we have some control over like, "What time shall we have dinner?" or "What we gonna watch on TV at 7:00?"

Until we grow the juevos, ala a Cindy Sheehan, to really make the point by the means necessary, better we just concern ourselves with things over which we have some control, like what's for supper.

We all must sacrifice

Back in the early 80's, my boss had a sister who received dialysis treatments through Medicaid. But Reagan slashed that program's budget. As a result, her treatments were cut in half. She died. My boss took it well. He was one of those good, silent Americans. I think I took the death of his sister from the Reagan budget slashings far worse.

But that gave me pause to ponder over the past 20+ years, how many thousands of others had succumbed to Reagan's cutting of social programs while anti-social spending such as defense soared like a sick cow with bloat.

This past Wednesday's announcement that the Washington Bush has approved a sweeping Medicaid plan for the Florida Bush was a shot of déjà vu all over again. In what may serve as a model for the many other states, Florida will set a ceiling on spending for each Medicaid recipient. Dada wonders how many poor folks will die--again.

But these are difficult economic times. With an expensive war ongoing and others on the drawing boards, post Katrina reconstruction costing unanticipated billions, sacrifices must be made. It's nice to know Bush is tightening the belts of poor folks while each of the 12,655 Florida millionaires receive an average of $136,298 in tax cuts annually.

Concentration camps in America? Hmm, let me think.

Earlier this week, I read an excellent post over on the Information Clearing House website by Sheila Samples. It was titled, "Good Americans -- Democracy's Grave Diggers?" In it, Samples describes the systematic dismantling of the United States by Bush's disciples and compares it to what went on in Germany in the 1930's.

I call it an excellent essay because it's so alarming. The part I found to be the most unsettling was Samples' talk of concentration camps, to wit:

Bush has done nothing with more treasonous malice and less forethought than dismantling and dishonoring the US Constitution and its attendant Bill of Rights. ..... He will not stop until the United States is a full-blown police state and he's the high-sheriff. We will soon discover, too late, that inalienable rights no longer exist, and both Good and Bad Americans who think Bush's bold "vision" of being a dictator is too fantastic, too unrealistic, to be taken seriously will soon find themselves in free-fall into one of the hundreds of concentration camps scattered throughout the nation. Staffed. Guarded. Ready and waiting.

Now before you dismiss Samples' rant as some anti-Bush extremist reaction, know that she's a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She may well know of things we are not privy to. Not yet anyway. Soon maybe.

Quote of the Day: Bill Maher talks to George Bush

Maher talks to Bush. And why shouldn't he? God talks to Bush.

"On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four
airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of
New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't
love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if
you were on the other side.

"So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a
hint.'"

(Dada notes Maher, in listing the things lost under Bush's reign, forgot to mention "Iraq." That'd be a minor oversight if it hadn't cost us several hundred billions of dollars, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, and a couple thousand of our own, more of which, unfortunately, is to come for all of those.)

God Bless You, Amy Goodman! God damn you, Judith Miller!

As part of my usual weekday breakfast routine, I watched "Democracy Now" this morning. Hosted by Amy Goodman, it's one of the few American news sources available to the public in this country that doesn't come owing to corporate sponsorship or ownership, thus it's news unfiltered through hidden agendas.

I wish I could assert such faith in the NY Times, but that's not possible. And the more that comes out about prison freed Judy Miller, seen strutting and smiling before cameras upon her re-emergence into public life, the more difficult it becomes reconciling the images of nearly 2,000 flag draped coffins of young Americans dead in part because of her phony reporting.

As reported by Greg Mitchell on Democracy Now today, even after Judy Miller was removed by her editor, Bill Keller, at the Times from from reporting on Iraq and WMD's "somehow she kept wheedling her way back onto the beat. And what an admission for the top editor to say he could not control her, and I think that's the thread that runs through all this is the incredible things that the leadership at the paper allowed her, the special privileges that were given to her, that she was able to run, as she called herself – 'Miss Runamok' was her nickname for herself. And there's an incredible hidden story there on how Judith Miller was given this – especially given her track record on W.M.D.’ s, it would seem like she should have been the one person that you would rein in, not the one person that you would let run free."

That's enough to make one suspicious of certain Times higher-ups in the run up to war.

Now, get a load of Vice President Cheney's assistant, Scooter Libby's 'welcome back' letter to Judy Miller while she was still in prison "defending the First Amendment" by not revealing a source. (Yeh, right.) Says Libby in the opening of his distant and coldly impersonal letter, “Dear Judy, Your reporting, and you are missed. Like many Americans, I admire your principled stand. But, like many friends and readers, I would welcome you back among the rest of us, doing what you do best—reporting.” (Source: "A 'Dear Judy' Letter from 'Scooter'--With 'Admiration'" Editor & Publisher, 10/1/05)

There's more. It's a fuckin' love fest. If Miller possessed any skills as a reporter, she prostituted them and herself by selling us Cheney and Bush's war. Two thousand kids are dead because she chose to bed the gypsies, tramps and thieves. And who else at the NY Times, that permitted her unreined reporting after being relieved of those assignments, coddled the agenda of these neocons?

Thanks Democracy Now! God bless you, Amy Goodman. God damn you, Judy Miller. Two thousand Americans are now dead.

What goes 'round

Day before last, I happened into the room where my wife was watching "Charlie Rose". He was interviewing George Clooney. They were talking about his latest movie. I was captured by what he was saying, mostly because of his boldness by making a movie about the president.

Apparently, Clooney decided to use real clips of Bush. He justified this by saying, "if we had an actor playing him, they'd say we made him look too much like a buffoon, and he does a pretty good job of that himself." I found myself sinking into a chair, so totally enrapt had I become at Clooney's chutzpah.

"His drinking became an issue," Clooney went on to say.

Sure, many of us know Bush is a dry drunk from Dr. Justin Frank's book, Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President, that describes Bush as an untreated alcoholic who's "cure" came through a rebirth of his faith in Jesus.

Clooney continued, saying something like Bush is out of his league and nothing hurts him more than himself whenever he speaks in front of cameras.

I turned to my wife in cosmic awe. "I can't believe Clooney's saying these things about the president!"

That's when she set me straight. Clooney wasn't talking about Bush. He hadn't made a movie about the president. He was talking about infamous Commie hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy, the paranoid meglomaniac's last days in the new movie, "Good Night, and Good Luck."

"Oh," I said somewhat disappointedly. "That's what I get for walking into the middle of a program, I guess."

But as I got up to leave, I couldn't help reflect how history is repeating itself.

Dusting off the blog

Recently, a friend observed several days had passed since I've blogged here in Dada's Daily Dally. He wanted to know if I'd run out of things upon which to comment. Certainly a valid inquiry.

In my initial exuberance establishing this blog back in mid-June, I made the mistake of misnaming it perhaps, i.e., the "daily" part. Perhaps it was done out of my love for alliteration. Dada's Daily Dally was, indeed, an ambitious promise. But it was a promise I kept faithfully for almost three months before faltering.

September saw a major upgrading project in the house with its consequent distractions and upheaval. Our amiable contractor, Tom, practically moved in with us. Access to current events was at times extremely curtailed, making blogging difficult. I slipped. I violated the "daily" promise.

But information of world events foregone during that month was supplanted by info gained in other areas. "Hanging" with Tom five days a week, I learned much about tearing out walls, commodes, sinks and vanities as well as replacing same with new ones and laying tiles. And from Tom, being an avid fisherman, I learned that fish have no memories and can't feel pain.

So the end of bathroom remodelings came as October began. News began to flow through the house again. But my recent lack of blog entries comes not for lack of news, but from an excess instead. From press secretary McClellan's loss of control of his daily conferences (he should probably be canned), Secretary of State Condoleezza "Oil Tanker" Rice's failure to get Russia to go along with her administration's plans to microwave Iran, to the first mainstream media's acknowledgment (on MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann) of the president's jerky jaw tic as possible side affect of medications he's on to control his meglomaniac paranoia (well, that's actually from Capitol Hill Blue) probably aggravated by the sense of White House foreboding of the impending Plame indictments.

There's just so much to write about. I'll try to be better.

Where are we going?

I confess, I wrote the following immediately after watching a story on last night's CBS news. I was so angry I didn't post it immediately. Decided to wait until this morning; to cool down. And so, I came here today to edit what I had written last eve. But to verify what I had seen last night, I listened to the story again just to be sure I'd heard it right. The anger once more overtook me. Hence, I've decided I wrote it correctly the first time.

Oh, and if any you flag waving conservative jingoes would care to refute my contention that Washington has sold the last remnants of the country for a few billion bucks in their and their crony-buddy's pockets, I welcome your comments. Now for my unexpurgated reaction to last night's news story:

*********************************
Okay, so I guess this is how it works for all you patriotic, Republican, neocon bastards. So successful have they been in Iraq, programs employed there by Halliburton (ahm, isn't that some company with Big Dick Cheney connections--STILL?) are being brought to America, to New Orleans, LA (NOLA).

Apparently, FEMA awards huge no-bid contracts to Halliburton or one of its several subsidiaries (to make it appear they're spreading the wealth around). Bush suspends labor laws after Katrina permitting low-wage workers to be hired. FEMA then gives Halliburton $20+/hr. for laborers to rebuild all the destruction. Only, the NOLA residents who are out of home and job, are also out-of-luck because Halliburton imports Mexican laborers--legal and illegal--and pays them $5.00/hr. So where's the extra $15/hour going, Big Dick Cheney?

It's the same deal that works so nicely in Iraq. Lots of unemployed, destitute Iraqis. Soon, lots of destitute NOLA residents. For every $1.00 our government gives these blood sucking mega-corps, we get 25 cents worth of real reconstruction. Where's the the lost 75-80% of our tax monies disappearing to Big Dick Cheney?

You'd think, from our Iraq experience, the government would learn what becomes of unemployed, destitute people, but I guess when your dismantling the national treasury and the nation for your own greed and avarice, you really don't give a rat's ass. Right, Big Dick?
*********************************

I suspect it's shit like this that is causing us to see more and more stories pop up on the web like the following (these from just the past two days!):

"Reclaiming the American Legacy of Civil Disobedience"

"The Trouble with Authority: Should just people obey unjust laws?"

Seems there's this nascent "Spirit of 1776" sentiment growing among some of the population. Maybe the out-of-control and audacious corruption coming from our leadership has something to do with it. I don't know. Ya think??!!

CNN ~ Always the Joker!

Inadvertently caught a few minutes of Wolf Blitzer on CNN this weekend. In reviewing Bush's choice for latest supreme court justice, Harriet Miers, CNN chose no less an authority on the subject than Pat Robertson!

Okay, let's review Robertson's credentials that places him in the seat of "authority" that CNN and Blitzer would think anything Robertson had to say is worth listening to:

Robertson, a right-wing whack job, is the nut who described feminism as a "socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

On gays, Robertson stated that the acceptance of homosexuality could cause hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombs and "possibly a meteor."

After 9/11, Robertson went on record in accord with the Reverend Jerry Falwell saying those attacks were caused by "pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU and the People for the American Way."

After outcrys by many enraged by his remarks, Robertson tried to back-peddle. This apparently is a common tactic by the whacko as demonstrated by first denial, then apology, after calling for the assassination of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

The sad point being, CNN and Blitzer continue to validate this wing-nut by asking his opinion on public affairs as though anyone of rational mind gives a shit for anything Robertson thinks or spews.

The Government We Deserve

I wonder how well mainstream media covered what went on in our congress last Friday. Talking about the House of Representatives--you know--that body of folks we send to Washington, D.C. to represent OUR interests?

Try to imagine the football "big game rivalry" that's played all across the nation on weekends this time of year. The Michigan State vs. Michigan game. Texas vs. Oklahoma. UCLA vs. USC. Now, imagine at the end of regulation play, one of those teams is down by two points. Game over? No, not necessarily. Not if the losing team proclaims, "Wait, Wait! We need another 40 minutes added to the clock."

Well, that's what happened last Friday in Congress when it came time to vote on a bill to make it easier for big oil companies to build new refineries. Now, imagine the winners were you and I--or so we thought. But the losers 'extended the game'.

So while the House waited for the extended vote to end, Mr. Corruption himself, Tom DeLay, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and majority whip Roy Blunt all pressured other Republicans to change their votes! Obviously, there's a lot owed the Big Oil interests and our representatives saw to it they delivered to their constitutents.

So, what will we all get as a result? The legislation will streamline government permits for refineries, open federal lands for future refinery construction, weaken environmental protections, and offer subsidies to build refineries even though oil companies are drowning in obscene profits!

Oh, but the really neat part of the bill? Well, if Oil wants to build a refinery behind your house and you and a group of neighbors or some environmentalists want to challenge it in the courts? You'll have to pay the legal fees of the oil companies!

Okay, let me get this straight? "We the people", through our government, are going to subsidize the building of new oil refineries and, if "we the people" don't like where they choose to stick 'em, and want to challenge that, "we the people" are going to pay Oil's court costs--win or lose. And you can bet, with a deal like that, "we the people" will get Oil the best damn attorneys money can buy.

Democrat Henry Waxman asked, ''Doesn't this make the House a banana republic?'' Dada would contend it makes the whole damn country a banana republic. But that's what happens when we turn the keys to the store over to fuckin' business interests. We all get screwed.

Ah, the government we deserve!

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING....

Police states are easier to acquire than Americans appreciate.

The hysterical aftermath of September 11 has put into place the main components of a police state.

Habeas corpus is the greatest protection Americans have against a police state. Habeas corpus ensures that Americans can only be detained by law. They must be charged with offenses, given access to attorneys, and brought to trial. Habeas corpus prevents the despotic practice of picking up a person and holding him indefinitely.

President Bush claims the power to set aside habeas corpus and to dispense with warrants for arrest and with procedures that guarantee court appearance and trial without undue delay. Today in the US, the executive branch claims the power to arrest a citizen on its own initiative and hold the citizen indefinitely. Thus, Americans are no longer protected from arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention.

These new "seize and hold" powers strip the accused of the protective aspects of law and give rein to selectivity and arbitrariness. No warrant is required for arrest, no charges have to be presented before a judge, and no case has to be put before a jury. As the police are unaccountable, whoever is selected for arrest is at the mercy of arbitrariness.

Go here, to read more of this by >Paul Craig Roberts

Continue to spread the word, even as some among us begin mysteriously disappearing.

Bedbugs, smedbugs!

From Italy comes the story of Italians angered at the condition of their rail service cars. Seems many of them are infested with bed bugs and ticks. So bad has it gotten that AP reports "on Friday passengers stormed off a train crawling with bed bugs during a stop in Genoa along the Nice-to-Naples overnight run, and police had to be called to restore calm."

Apparently, this was the culminating event of other protests in recent weeks of train insect infestations.

As a result, the Italian state railway system has pulled 508 cars from service until restored to acceptable public standards.

Dada ponders if such a thing could happen in this country? Nah, probably not. Americans are far more accommodating of unacceptable conditions than those fussy, demanding Italians.

Why, just look at Washington D.C. It's crawling with bedbugs, lice, cockroaches, rats and other vermin. Still we continue to go along with the ride we're being taken on--with little objection.

This is NO JOKE!

Things are gonna get worse before the get a whole lot worse.

I was gonna get "cute" here, was gonna run through a brief resumé of the president's jobs before he became leader of the Free World. I was gonna joke about "Daddy" or how Daddy's pull in influential circles had landed Bush every job opportunity he'd had up to his takeover of the White House. About his skirting of military active duty to avoid Vietnam. How Bush had failed at all of them but always, he moved on to something else, something bigger to screw up. As governor, he left Texas with a huge debt/financial burden, then moved on. Why, even in his successful ascendance to the presidency, strings had to be pulled.

But there's nothing cute or funny about Bush's career in light of his total mishandling of his current job. I'm not saying he's screwing it up out of incompetence, although that's certainly an element of the reality we're seeing unfold. No, much of what he does is pathological, but make no mistake, it's precisely calculated and intentional. The consequences of which are deadly serious for way too many people, as more and more of us are going to discover I fear.

Judging from the most recent polls, the majority of American's have a sense that something's gone awry with this presidency. But if you're one of those disappointed with things now, I'm afraid you'd better clear some attic space for heaps more. Things are gonna get much worse if someone doesn't step up and take the keys to the family sedan away from "Junior".

As I mentioned recently, Bush is now hinting at quarantining parts of the country from the rest of the nation should a bird flu outbreak occur. Today, there's a headline of Bush urging, no, "pressing" vaccine makers to prepare, almost as if drooling in anticipation . Normally, I'd think nothing of any president planning to protect the public's health and well being. But this is Bush and the history of his administration shows such "concerns" for we the people are red herrings for a far graver agenda. So forgive my cynicism, but Bush preparing us for the isolation of parts of the nation under the guise of protecting us entails something far more malevolent.

How are these quarantines to be accomplished? By a little thing called martial law or the deployment of our own military to be used against U.S. citizens here, on American soil. And how is it this can be accomplished? Well, if Junior gets his way, our Congress will cede him the power by voiding an 1878 law that prevents the use of the military on U.S. soil for policing activities. It's called the Posse Comitatus Act. Keep in mind, our congress has given "the kid" everything he's asked for, hence, there's cause for deep, alarming concern here. If you sense the constitution has been attacked under Bush, hold on to your hats if Junior gets what he wants next.

Having loaned him the car, Bush is taking us all for a ride. And he has a resumé of some very reckless driving. But to properly place this latest quest for more power in proper context, let's look at Bush's recent authority acquisitions. (For this I credit Mike Whitney in his article, "Martial Law and the advent of the Supreme Executive.")

- "Three months ago, Bush issued an executive order that created the National Security Service (NSS); a branch of the FBI that now works entirely under his authority. It is America's first secret police; no different than the East German Stasi or the Soviet Union's KGB. It operates completely beyond congressional oversight and is answerable to the president alone. It is Bush's personal Gestapo.

- "Less than a month ago the 4th Circuit Court ruled that the president had the power to declare any American citizen an "enemy combatant" and summarily rescind all of his human and civil rights; including even the right to know the reason for which he is being imprisoned. The ruling confers absolute authority on the president and ends of any meaningful notion of "inalienable rights".

-"Last week the Senate Intelligence Committee "approved legislation that allows Pentagon Intelligence operatives to collect information from US citizens without revealing their status as government spies." The Pentagon may now conduct clandestine investigations of American citizens without the traditional safeguards that are applied to FBI. In effect, the legislation revokes the fundamental guarantees of privacy under the 4th amendment and "green-lights" the Pentagon to operate covertly against American citizens whether they are legitimate terrorist suspects or simply political enemies.

- "In another shocking development, President Bush said he will veto the upcoming Pentagon budget of $435 Billion if the bill contains any provision that limits the "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners". The President's action implies that he has the right to torture and abuse according to his own judgment, a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, the 1996 Treaty on Torture and the 8th amendment.

(Dada side note: Isn't it ironic that torture is something carried on by the lowest eschelon of our military enlisted, that Bush decries it, but he will veto the budget if denied it?)

- "The revised version of Patriot Act is quickly moving through the Congress. The new edition eviscerates the last feeble strands of the 4th amendment and paves the way for "administrative subpoenas", which allow law enforcement to carry out searches without judicial oversight. "

In light of the above power grabs of the executive branch, do you feel really secure that Bush is simply interested in protecting you from the spread of the bird flu by deploying military troops to dole out vaccines?

As Mike Whitney warns, "If the congress chooses to overturn the Posse Comitatus Act, they will have removed the last bit of rickety scaffolding that protects the country from becoming a de facto military dictatorship. The power to deploy troops within the nation is the power to use the military against American citizens. It transforms the "people's army" into a direct threat to the democracy it is supposed to serve."

There's an old Chinese proverb that says, "May you live in interesting times." It's intended as a curse. But it's not old and it's not Chinese. (Best expert's estimates are it originated in America 30-40 years ago.) Just like the faux proverb, Bush's concern is phony as well. Our health and security are not the concerns that motivate his actions. Those are the ruses for his unprecedented consolidation of power. Power he is not afraid to use. We've seen it manifest in a number of heinous ways.

If granted, I wonder how he plans to use his new powers? It's certainly quite an addition to the resumé of one who's done nothing to earn his credentials!

Quote of the Day.....

.....er, ahm, well I mean from the day of June 5, 1999:

"I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long (U.S. troops) will be involved and when they will be withdrawn." -- George W. Bush, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, regarding Clinton's bombing of Kosovo.

News Notes

Just a few notes from the news. First of all, there have been stories recently about the Bush administration getting tough with Syria. Military actions in Iraq, just next to the Syrian border, are evidence Bush still hasn't "crossed the line" but may hint at his lusting to violate her. Talk of striking at a couple of towns a few miles inside Syria are surfacing.

But one has to wonder if the Bush administration doesn't employ its instruments of God, ala Pat Robertson, and the media, ala Bill O'Reilly, as mouthpieces to express administration lustful thinking outloud. No sooner had the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by Robertson gone on the back burner, comes the latest from O'Reilly who called for the assassination of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad if he “doesn’t help us out” with Iraq war.

Keep in mind, O'Reilly is probably just greasing Americans for the neocons. Just getting us in the right mindset for the possibility of U.S. aggression being led by Bush. It'd be outrageous normally, but these aren't normal times, as the next story attests.

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From Keith Olberman's MSNBC Countdown show comes the following story. I think it illustrates the over-reaction often employed here in America to "solve" a problem. (Or is it, Dada ponders, just more fascism citizens are being conditioned to accept? Either way, I think it a good idea we should set the alarm, wake up, and pull our collective heads out of our collective asses.)

"Watch Where You Park It"

"If you‘ve ever thought about taking a moment to relax on a park bench, you may want to think again. As one woman recently found out, if you‘re alone, you could be breaking the law. And you might even spend a few months in jail.

"Sandra Catena recently sat down on a New York City park bench. The 47-year-old was then greeted by two police officers on both sides. The cops told her she was breaking the law.

"Many public parks now require a special pass. You‘re welcome if you bring a child, a detail Catena and many others miss. She was ticketed for being here alone and now faces a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

“ ' I begged him for a warning several times,' said Catena. 'I told him, I will leave immediately and never come back. And he said, no. We need to give you a summons.'

"The rule was designed, in large part, to keep sex offenders out."

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Also from Olberman's "Countdown" comes the story of the Bush administration's business as usual. Using Katrina as an excuse to pork up the pigs, a contract for rebuilding a school in Mississippi has gone out to a no-bid winner, an outside company, that local contractors said could be done for considerably less than the $40 million being awarded somebody's crony "buddies".

Pleasant mid-week musings

As we head into the winter of our discontent (just wait 'til those heating bills start rolling in), there'll be much time for contemplation as we sit huddled in chilled rooms listening to our hand-cranked radios. Those demands of the family gas guzzler for pricey fuel will make getting around, like going back and forth to work, far more costly. Increased energy costs eating into our paychecks will be synonymous with taking sizeable paycuts.

We'll be able to read letters to the editor in our local papers (those of us who haven't yet cancelled our subscriptions for lack of funds) in dimly lit rooms before burning 'em to keep warm. Undoubtedly, there'll be the recurring rants like those on today's opinion page of our local paper:

"Enough of the Bush bashing. No president in history has ever had to deal with treachery of the magnitude that resulted on 9/11. No president in history has had an entire city flooded by a natural disaster.

"There have been those who have blamed the president for these incidents.

"How can someone possibly be blamed for 19 treacherous evil men who committed the most despicable act ever? Who can plan for a hurricane created and controlled by Mother Nature?"

I don't think the bitch is Bush is responsible for those events (although the pre-Bush "Project for the New American Century" did say it would take a Pearl Harbor type attack to initiate the neocons ambitious global agenda--and "Darn, if they didn't get one on 9/11!" according to conspiracy theorists).

No, I think the bitch from the majority of Americans is Bush's pre-attack and pre-hurricane inactions despite warnings, and his inept responses to 9/11 and Katrina. (Although, I am cynical enough to imagine what we're seeing unfold with the war and Katrina are precisely what the Bush administration wants!) But these are just the manifestations of a far graver event.

I'm talking about the death of some pretension of free elections this nation clung to pre-2000. I'm talking about the disastrous leadership we now "enjoy" that overthrew the last vestiges of democracy in a bloodless coup. Oh, and I'm not the only one who thinks this. There's at least one other--former President Jimmy Carter. American democracy is dead.

So what we see unfolding is a PNAC vision for the world as written by Paul Wolfowitz at the end of last century. The neocon spread of "freedom and democracy" around the world is nothing but a dangerous wealth and power grab under the guise of a "war on terror". So let us ponder that this winter while sitting in our cold cableless TV candlelight.

Are we safer under Bush? No. Are we freer? No. Have you heard Bush's plan to militarily "quarantine" parts of the country from the rest of us in the event of a bird flu breakout? Sounds more Orwellian than "prevention" to me.

Do you cringe every time Bush speaks about giving small business opportunities to prosper and grow while Cheney and his cronies pass out billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to their corporate pimps? "Small business" is a term Bush likes to salt his talks with to give the illusion of "little guy opportunity". I'm sorry, but that's just Bush bullshit.

And how about Bush reassuring us he's gonna help those poor folks on the Gulf reclaim their lives and communities. How? By suspending federal wage laws and importing "Mexican" workers from Texas to rebuild New Orleans?

And what of the 'bring the troops' home cries from more and more Americans? Forget it! Read the Project for the New American Century plans that the neocons you didn't elect are executing. They're building 14 permanent military bases in Iraq that you don't want. Nobody's coming home anytime soon. Iraq is going to be occupied for a very long, long time.

And don't count on clueless Democrats to be part of any solution to salvage the country soon. They're so complicit with the Republicans, if they were aboard a tourist boat on a lake, it would capsize from too much weight on the right. Many would drown.

What's far, far more worrisome than the current state of affairs is our future state of affairs. I'm not certain how we'll transcend the hole being dug for Americans by our "patriot" chickenhawk leaders. The national debt being run up by those "small government" conservatives is increasing by trillions. Our bankrupting mid-east adventurism is being financed outside the annual budgets! Long after Bush has retired to some Caribbean resort island, our grandkid's unborn children can still expect to be impacted by the policies of this president's heinous herd. And by his Supreme Court. As may the environment we inhabit, the air we breathe and the water we bottle.

So where do we go from here? I don't know. Most of our media have been turned into houses of ill repute where their whores deliver us tricks for their corporate pimps. Real news is increasingly rare and hard to come by.

Then there's those higher class "houses". They employ our government representatives who serve their business masters interests while pretending to represent ours. Right now, we're pretty well screwed.

Some are not optimistic for America's future. Sister Carol Gilbert, one of those imprisoned for disarming an Air Force ICBM, is not even sure the American system can be reformed at this point. She believes it's too far gone, that the whole system needs to collapse.

But that's something we can save for this winter; to ponder in a more austere America. That, and that perennial question, "Am I better off now under Bush?"

The Loyal Opposition Party

So here comes Bush Nominee Number 2 for the high court. Having never been a judge, we don't know much about where she stands on anything. The president has confirmed that he will refuse to turn over internal White House documents that might reveal a little about Harriet Miers. Privileged information, you know.

In announcing her nomination, Bush had this to say about his pick: "I know her well enough to be able to say that she's not going to change; that 20 years from now she'll be the same person, with the same philosophy."

While many may find this reassuring, Dada finds it extremely disturbing. But not to fret. Harriet Miers is as good as confirmed. Besides having little information available to the senators who will review her qualifications, the Democratic minority leader of that body, Senator Harry Reid, has already confirmed her. You see, Reid reportedly announced that he had asked President Bush to consider Miers for the job because she shares his Anti-Choice ideology.

Once more the Democratic party presents a united front--of total fragmentation. It truly has become the party of loyal opposition!

Bigotry Language Lesson #37

Okay, okay, say you're in conversation with someone that you don't know real well. You're not sure how they'll react to what you want to say. But it's bubbling up inside you like acid reflux from an RNC fund raiser dinner. You want to say it. You know you're going to. You feel it coming and there's no stopping it. Oh, what to do?

Well, as politically incorrect as you know what you're about to say is, simply disclaim it! This absolves you of your momentary transgression but gets your hate filled, racist, bigoted ass exposed to the rest of us so as to leave no doubt.

If you're a faith-based compassionate Christian who practices love for all of mankind as Jesus advocated, it's very important that you disclaim your view immediately before or after saying it. Like, "I would never go so far as to call so-and-so an asshole, but....," and then proceed to explain why they're an asshole. This is a very common tactic, particularly in political campaigns when you want to call your opponent an asshole in the kindest, gentlest way. Of course, you don't really mean it.

One of my favorite disclaimers is Rush Limbaugh. When called out for something inflammatory he said, Rush loves to respond with something like, "Lighten up folks. I was only joking." Rush is always joking, he just doesn't always include the disclaimer, that big joker!

But perhaps a real example better demonstrates the point. As illustration, let's take ahm, oh, say Bill Bennett, a prime leader of the conservative movement. Former Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan and first U.S. drug czar, Bennet forgot to take his Zantac on his radio show this week. Feeling the irresistable urge to spew his bubbling bigotry in the following example, he employs the classic double disclaimer! by sandwiching his remark between two repudiations. This is excellent because it leaves no doubt in the listener's mind that Bill Bennett doesn't seem to believe what he just said.

EXAMPLE:

The prefacing disclaimer: Bennett prepares us by saying he doesnn't believe in what he calls such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations." Of course, this means the next thing he's going to do is extrapolate.

The point (or the act of tossing one's cookies): This is the part you cannot control. You just have to expose your hatred to us all with, "I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

The follow-up disclaimer: "That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

There, that was easy. You obviously don't believe what you just said, but you said it. And you didn't really transgress because you disclaimed yourself.

Praise Jesus, he still loves you!