“Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans. Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others. Ours is a country based upon tolerance and we welcome people of all faiths in America.”

Remarks by President George W. Bush in a statement to reporters during a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
The Oval Office, Washington, DC
November 13, 2002

I never thought that the modern GOP would need to take a page from the playbook of George W., though these modern T-Baggers have decided to ignore the only decent things their former leader did. The ideas of tolerance and acceptance are now hated ideals in the GOP. Un-Christian perhaps, rude and ignorant as well, or perhaps they have just become susceptible to demagogues like Sarah Palin.

Losing an election is hard, believe me, we had to endure two Bush victories (both under wide-spread allegations of fraud). However the things that make us American are not embodied in telling Muslims to get lost. They are embodied in the simple fact that our …

California Gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman, the self-styled business Republican who has run on a platform that derides out-of-control government spending, is well on her way to winning the Republican nomination, and it only cost her $81 million so far with $71 million coming straight from her very own bank account. She will then go on to face Jerry Brown which will probably cost her another $80 million.

So let me get this straight, Meg Whitman has shattered spending records in California to prove that California spends too much?

Oh now I get it. Whitman is the Paris Hilton of politics. They’ve both spent a ridiculous amount of money on building their own fame! They’re both famous, connected to global corporate empires and know absolutely nothing about government.

Even worse, she spent $71 million of her own money to have what is probably the worst job in the country. California is ungovernable, thanks to a ridiculous rule in the Constitution that requires a two-thirds super-majority to approve a budget.
So no matter who wins the governorship, it’s a certainty that they will face a brick wall of opposition.

Democrats …

Mr. President. I can’t even comprehend how hard your job is and I know you are trying hard to do the right thing. That being said, you are swimming with piranhas. They are circling you, taking your every move and using it to their advantage. Taking ownership of this crisis was the wrong move. BP owns this disaster. You need to own the outrage. Your intentions were good, though the public is fickle and quite frankly, stupid.

I know you love history, so read the tales of Czar Nicholas II. His predicament is not far from your own. Isn’t that ironic. While your opponents label your efforts to save capitalism, “socialist", the enemies that face you are taking a page from the playbook of Lenin.

Please Mr. President, plug that damn hole! You now own this crisis and I will be hoping that you can make BP suffer. Take the advantage and have a public “change of heart", oppose coastal oil drilling and change with the public mind. Have PR photos of your outrage and you holding a dead oil covered bird change the mindset of this country to support offshore windfarms. You know that …

Keith Olbermann recently talked about Glenn Beck’s uncanny similarity to Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame. If you haven’t seen it, be prepared to laugh at the similarities. It is absolutely uncanny that this comedian some 15 or so years ago could see that far into the future. Or is Beck simply ripping off something from 15 years past?

How can you take this guy seriously when just today, Glenn Beck went off on an anti-Mother’s day tirade?

No wonder Glenn Beck’s ratings are falling, …

Not long after McDonnel’s stunning omission of slavery from Confederate History Month, he was forced to make an apology and once again include slavery in what very well may be the darkest chapter in American history, the Civil War. The pundits are calling it a stumble and the armies of pro-confederate Americans have not rushed to his aid. By all accounts, the rising star McDonnel is now a falling star. Yet I see a greater issue in this debacle: the future of the Republican Party.

Understanding how one can be fascinated with the bloody conflict is not very hard. Those four pivotal years witnessed the greatest and worst natures of men and women alike, from brave abolitionists that risked everything to grant freedom to their fellow human beings to Southern prison camps, like Andersonville, that produced walking corpses unlike anything the world had and would see until the Holocaust. Brothers were literally fighting against brothers, for and against the keeping of men, women and children locked in absolute bondage. There are great characters in two presidents, generals, soldiers, freedom fighters, journalists, …

Recently arrested scam artist James O’Keefe has been caught doing what we all knew he did, fabricate lies about ACORN.

Racheal Maddow recently aired the unedited tapes, fresh off the heals of CA Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown’s investigation, which cleared ACORN employees of any wrong doing.

Not only did he not wear the now infamous pimp outfit, he was wearing a long sleeve button up shirt, ACORN employees asked questions of the phony pimp and immediately called the police. This is clearly displayed in the video. He also used editing tricks and what sounds to me like voice overs (I do sound engineering and work in a studio so this is an educated guess).

It makes sense. O’Keefe was caught recently trying to tap Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phone and plans to plead guilty, proving that he will stoop to deceit, lies and criminal actions to prove his little point. It also makes sense that a clean, Conservative looking white boy (you know how they often have this creepy, Pat Boonish, Anglo and phony look) would not be taken seriously when dressed like a super fly 70s pimp (although the mugshot does suit …

Virgina Governor, Bob McDonnell has declared April ‘Confederate History Month‘ in Virginia.

You remember McDonnell? He’s the guy who gave the response to Obama’s state of the union by holding a speech in the Virgina legislature, filled with friends and allies so it looked like more than what it was: an ambitious Southern politician, interested in higher office, spewing the same old, tired Republican talking points, pretending to be President.

This is a new low, however, and a clear sign that things may be moving in the wrong direction when it comes to race in this country.

Confederate history is illegitimate. You cannot discuss one side of a war as if it were it’s own history. You must include the Union’s story as well and discuss the issue of slavery, impoverished Virginians fighting to keep plantation-slave owners rich (who didn’t have to serve) Jim Crow and the tragedies of Reconstruction. Civil War History month would have been fair, otherwise it is purely political.

(SEE UPDATE BELOW FOR MORE)

This is politics at its worst, pure and simple. He’s using a divisive issue to push impoverished and middle class white Virginians away from the growing Democratic …

Our dear friend and RNC chairman Micheal Steele today is facing another crisis. Politico is reporting that a mailer sent out by the RNC, disguised to look like a Census form (get the joke? wow the right has such a weak sense of humor), accidentally contained a return number that connects directly to a phone sex line.

Simply dial up the RNC contact number to be greeted with “live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl who will do anything you want for just $2.99 per minute.”

I know that the RNC is having trouble raising money but this is ridiculous! Having to resort to hot nasty girls to do the bidding of major corporations and the super rich elite is a new low, even for Republicans.

Just imagine the conversation:
“Oh yeah baby! I’ll do anything you want! Oh wow, you’re so hard big daddy! Why don’t you come a little closer, there’s something I wanna whisper in your ear: Barrack Obama is a socialist who wants to destroy freedom and your way of life by sticking the long arm of the government down your throat. Which reminds …

Republican National Committee Chairman Micheal Steele has recently come under fire for wastefully spending GOP donations on a host of expensive and lavish activities. From private jets to expensive hotels, nothing but the best was acceptable for Steele’s army, as he plotted the GOP’s 2010 election comeback. One of his staffers even hosted an RNC outing at a West Hollywood bondage strip club to attract young, up and comers (no pun intended).

Despite all this folks, Steel is ready to keep control of the party reigns and is more than ever ready to lead the charge to combat the lack of morality, honesty, integrity, fiscal, elitism, irresponsibility and hypocrisy that exist today in Washington.

He even had time to write this snappy response:

Don’t worry loyal family value, fiscally-responsible conservatives. You can still put your trust and hard earned money into the GOP!

Just because we blew your money before on topless-bondage strippers, booze, private jets and fancy hotels, doesn’t mean that we will do it again.

So please send us more of your money so we can hold back the crazy spending problem that Obama has. Please put more of your faith in us so we can curb …

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote an article attacking California’s so-called Tax Revolt of 1978, California’s Proposition 13. He claims that if California is the trend setter, than the U.S. is in deep trouble. I agree, and have agreed for most of my politically aware life, especially since I am a product of California’s senseless butchering of the education system.

Nobody likes paying taxes. It’s about as fun as paying rent (or mortgage), bills and getting a colonoscopy. That being said, these are all the painful things we need to do to stay a float in life and there is little any of us can do about them.

California Republicans thought otherwise. They used an issue that was sure to win: telling California they could have lower taxes and everything would be all right. That’s like promising people they can lose weight and eat all that they want. Sadly people fall for that one too!

Ignoring reality, listening to the advice of hucksters like Ronald Reagan, Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, California passed Proposition 13 in 1978. It cut taxes primarily for apartment building owners among other large …

I’m sure many Republicans feel all enthusiastic about their chances this Fall. I’ll bet they think that Americans are rejecting the policies of Obama and the Democrats. I’m sure they think that their party has found it’s new direction and that it’s going to be 1994 all over again. However if there is one thing I’ve known to be a constant in Republican thinking, it’s that they are always wrong.

They were wrong about cutting taxes helping the economy, wrong about Iraq, wrong about deregulation, wrong about security, wrong about Medicare Part D, wrong about Afghanistan and the list goes on and on.

Besides this, as mentioned in the previous article, there are alarming signs for Republicans that I just know they are too blinded by overconfidence to notice.

The most troubling sign for the GOP is that they have no direction, no cause, no platform and no ideas. They simply don’t have anything to offer the American people but fear, panic and more hate. There is no plan to fix health insurance, they simply want the status quo (oh and tort reform which would, according to the CBO, have almost no impact …

Not since the ascension of Barrack Obama to the Presidency has the Republican brand faced such a crisis. As the town hall shouting matches grow ever more distant and “Obama’s Waterloo” strategy continues to recede into oblivion, the right-wing party has become the ‘party of no’, no cooperation, no ideas and no hope.

It seems that everywhere you turn the news is grim, Republican identity has continued to slide. Less Americans consider themselves Republicans than any time in recent history, down to around 20%. The Birther movement has not only stalled, their foreign born leader, Orly Taitz, got smacked down in Federal Court. Judge Clay Land, appointed by George W. Bush I might add, hit Ms. Taitz with a $20,000 sanction and ruled that her conduct “boarders on delusional” and “demonstrates bad faith.” Even the darling of the Radical Right, Sarah Palin, has watched her approval ratings dip (40%) and her disapproval ratings soar to (53%). It seems all their numbers are down, everywhere you look and while they take glee in Obama’s ratings slip a bit, they are facing levels of low that make Dick …

Remember Betsy McCaughey?

She’s the woman who came up with the death panel argument that Sarah Palin made famous. It looked like she had some traction too, until she got smacked down by Jon Stewart last month. The results forced her to resign from her job (indirectly or directly). You can see all that here.

Yet she’s back. Getting smacked down once more, this time by MSNBC Morning Meeting host Dylan Ratigan and Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The Conservative argument for health insurance is generally emotion based without any facts. Yet Betsy is a rare exception, she deliberately uses her facts to deceive. Ratigan doesn’t let her get away with it, however, and calls her out. McCaughey’s argument degenerates into name calling and blaming Ratigan for his biased moderation.

“This may go down in history as one of the most brow-beating interviews in television history.” declared McCaughey.

“I hope it does” remarked Ratigan.

Biased or not, it is most satisfying to see her get the smack down she deserves. As Jon Stewart declared, her interpretation of Obama’s health reforms is “dangerous” and “misleading".

/>Weiner really drills her too. He get’s her to admit …

Have you ever heard a Bible-thumper tell you that the Bible was written by God and only God? Did they try and tell you that you must take the Bible literally and any attempts to do so otherwise was a violation of God’s law? Did they tell you that the Bible has not changed since its conception? Well get ready to watch these theories thrown out the window.

A Conservative group called Conservapedia (because we all know how knowledge has a Liberal Bias), has founded the Conservative Bible Project. Which is attempting to eliminate the Liberal passages in the Bible to better suit the Conservative political agenda. It is a Wikipedia-like project with a clear objective: to eliminate the possibilities of Jesus’ clear Liberal bias.

Imagine, that! Changing the Bible outright because the original author was too Liberal. Wait, doesn’t that mean God?

Steven Colbert has asked his viewers to add him to the re-authored Bible:
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c…

Republican Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-Ohio) must be having some serious social problems these days. With such a lovely mug and wonderful scowl, who would have guessed? He declared today that he hasn’t met one “Real American” who supports the Public Option. As political writer Glenn Thrush noted, he said it with a “semi-straight face".

Even Republican leaning polls (which effectively ask “Do you still support a Public Option if it radically alters your health experience, which is so laughably deceitful but anyway) still claim at least 43% in favor of a Public Option. So in order to believe that he has not met a single one we must assume that he’s been hanging around with nothing but tea-baggers lately. LOL

“I’m still trying to find the first American to talk to who’s in favor of the public option” claims the Boehner.

When you are in a position to miss as much as %65 of the country, it is clear that you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd.

So I decided to correct this little problem and introduce myself to the ill-informed Republican Leader. You can warm his cold lonely heart …

I have been debating on YouTube with Conservatives lately. Most of it is “you Lefty wacko” nonsense, which seems to be the typical response to anyone they disagree with, even Progressives like me. However I did get one intelligent responder who wanted to go beyond the entrenched political boundaries and discuss the differences.

I tried to convey the point that we need to work together and that I see the Democratic Party as a means to an end and not an ideology. I don’t know if I succeeded, yet the effort was there.

Question: If your not a lib and I’m not a neo con what the fuck are we arguing over than?

Good point. As a Progressive, I believe first and foremost in getting things done. In the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt, we need to work from the center to create a peaceful revolution, and our great nation is in serious trouble after the disastrous 8 years of Bush. The Conservatives of Teddy’s time worked against him and the Dixiecrats did too. We must come together to create positive change as democracy is like a …

It appears that pleasing your whacko-Conservative base may not be the end-all, be-all when it comes to Republican politics, even in the Red-State districts of South Carolina.

The big S.C., fresh of its heals from the its “next big thing” governor-turned-scandal-prone-embarrassment, Mark Sanford (here is the Fox, I mean Fixed, News story) is growing tired of its high profile morons and the tide may be turning for entrenched Republicans. Huff-Po did a story on the logistics and it doesn’t bode well for the Rightie Whackos.

Could it be that the Republican line of BS is not playing well, even in the Red-States?

I wouldn’t buy property in rural Alabama just yet. Still, the tide seems to be turning even regionally against the Republican’s grand strategy of appealing to Middle-Class White Voters in the South.

Let me put it this way. Picture the Cleveland Indians stacked full of Dominican and Puerto Rican players. One day, the owner completely insults Latin America as an affront to American civilization. How hard do you think said employees will fight to make their boss rich?

LOL

The tide has turned, the world has changed. Republicans, however, still believe in Reagan’s dying city on the hill. Too bad …

At long last, video has surfaced that shows Fox News manipulating the backdrop. Footage showing a Fox producer rallying an audience to show support during a reporter’s story that is supposed to be about the unbelievable outrage of the crowd. In other words, they took a crowd of folks, told them they’d be on TV and even gave them the big’ol applause sign.

You know what’s cool? Try to align the video so you can see the event happen real-time. It is hilarious as hell. Huffington Post has a page that pulls this off. You can see that nerdy chick do the “producer” role, than cower at the camera that she notices managed to capture her likeness.

No big deal you say? Reporters have coaxed audiences before, surely. Yeah, on crappy local morning shows who struck a deal with a movie or event. Those are mainly fluff stories that show a bunch of nerds at a Star Trek convention getting all revved up. This is clearly different.

This was supposed to be a grass roots …

The recent flap over Obama’s televised speech to public schools across America is the latest grave miscalculation from the Right, who’s strategy to oppose everything that Obama and the Democrats stand for is so transparent, so reactionary, it is drawing fire from it’s own side.

Conservatives from the main to the fringe (although mostly fringe) have been calling Obama’s speech to the schools as a platform to push his socialist agenda. The media tells us off families and even whole school districts that were pulling away from Obama’s speech. This, of course, turned out to be nothing more than the media’s love of controversy, as the decidedly apolitical speech that encouraged kids to stay in school and take personal responsibility caused all rational criticism to evaporate. When a transcript of the speech was released yesterday, even the Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, one of the speech’s most loud opponents backed off his early remarks and even allowed his children to see the speech. What remained was a bunch of fringe loons who looked as if they went too far.

Did the fringe Conservatives back themselves into a corner? Did they get the party worked …

A moment of silence for one of the greatest, most-effective and prolific politicians in our nation’s history, Senator Edward Kennedy:

…

His passing is a tremendous loss not only to our country, to others as well. From his fight against the Vietnam war, to leading the cause to sanction South Africa for apartheid, from voting against the Iraq War and fighting to end it to his large part in securing a peace treaty in Northern Ireland that ended decades of battle between the I.R.A. and the United Kingdom. He was even knighted (honorarily) for his role in the affair.

He has been a champion of the common man, despite his wealthy status, from his fight to bring justice to the underprivileged to social programs that helped to elevate the social status of many Americans. His life-long fight to bring health care to all Americans has left a legacy of hope and generosity that has inspired many Americans, like myself, to not give up the dream of creating a better world.

(Here is a brief listing of his accomplishments.)…

Just a quick update on the fanatical Glenn Beck’s recent loss of sponsors first mentioned in this article.

The total number of sponsors who have pulled out of Beck’s program has ballooned to 36, including a FOX News-wide ban from UPS. Among the losses are CVS Caremark, Clorox, Sprint and even the Right-leaning Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a clear sign that Beck is facing a crisis.

Despite his popularity, I mean Sarah Palin is telling people to watch Glenn Beck (isn’t that so typically reactionary of the dwindling celebrity politician?), the fact is ratings may not help Beck if he doesn’t bring in the cash. He will certainly be advertising poison for atleast the forseeable future.

Here are 10 reasons why.

Can he survive? Probably. Roger Aisles, head partisan dingbat over at Faux News, has stacked his lineup with whacko fringe lunatics anyway. I’m sure he loves Beck and will ride him out, that is, as long as Rupert Murdoch doesn’t get involved, which in all likely hood will not happen.

This may be a watershed moment for Fox News however. The point …

A new survey conducted by Survey USA (whose data tends to be used by conservative news sources like NewsMax) concludes that support for a public option remains high even among Republicans. 58% of all those surveyed support having a public option.

58% of Republicans and 56% of those who identify themselves as Conservative felt a public health insurance plan was extremely important to be in the final bill. 70% of Liberals support the public option while Only 60% of Democrats and 54% of Independents strongly support the measure, suggesting that the greatest doubts of the public option are coming from the Center-Left.

Most remarkably is that the support numbers, much like the ones above, read pretty similarly across the board. Age, region and ideology change the numbers very little.

Overall, with 58% of the country in favor of the public option, is there any reason it should not pass? I mean, the Republicans have thrown everything they had at destroying the bills reputation, and while they have damaged Obama’s perceived ability to handle health care (which …

To my Progressive and Liberal allies:
This is MUST SEE TV and I don’t mean a rerun of Friends. Watching Jon “the man” Stewart cream both Fox (Faux) News and the lady that originated the “death panel” argument, Betsy McCaughey .

To my Conservative counterparts:
I dare any whacko right-wing gun-totting, over-weight, fast-food eating, Fox News watching, WalMart shopping, god’s creation hating, under educated, wasteful, redneck, war-mongering, poverty-stricken-capitalist who wanders on to this site looking to leave a big flawed radical right-wing talking point…
to watch John Stewart’s latest assessment of your beloved, low-standards, gossip source a.k.a. the Fox (so-called) News Channel. I dare ya, I double-dare ya!

I bet you don’t have the cojanes to watch it!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEOS.
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cFox News: The New Liberalswww.thedailyshow.com…

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, decided he has the perfect solution for health care reform: A series of tax breaks, less regulation of the insurance industry and a series of other idiotic ideas including Health Savings Accounts (you know those 401k styled bank accounts that pay for health services). He said as much in a Wall Street Journal OpEd piece that takes aim at the Public Option and Obama’s health care reform efforts in general.

Mackey, whose clientele and demographic, tends to skew to the Left, decided to come out of the closet and declare himself a conservative Republican who dislikes socialism (his article starts out with a quote from ultra-conservative Margret Thatcher) and even has the nerve to say that health-care IS a privilege! Amazing.

I for one will never shop at Whole Foods again. To think that my money goes into this CEOs happy-go-lucky pocket and all the while is behind and in front of the scenes pushing conservative policies on ignorant Americans.

I decided to leave a rather long comment on his CEO blog as well.

__ UPDATE: While many Comments were allowed that were critical. Mine was rejected, and I …

Notorious Right-Wing fanatic Glenn Beck has gone so far off the edge recently in his criticisms of Obama that he very well may be fired from the Radical Right Fox News. Could we be witnessing a backlash to the Conservative’s attempts to derail health-care?

You may have heard Beck’s name a lot in the news lately. He has been the loudest, most obnoxious cheerleader against Obama’s health care attempts. His unabashed criticism of those who wish to change what he calls, “the best health care system in the world” has garnered him footnotes in major media news stories while his support for the disruption of town-hall meetings has earned him open criticism from all across the gambit even in the town-hall meetings themselves. Congressman Rick Larson (D-WA), responded to criticism of health care at his town-hall meeting by saying “I’ve got the facts on my side, you’ve [criticisers] got Glen Beck on your side!”

Where Beck stepped over the line however, was when he went so far as to call Obama a racist who doesn’t like White people, among many other disturbing criticisms, on an episode of Fox and Friends. Co-host Brian Kilmeade actually …

From the whacko domestic terrorists to the pundits that spurred them on, recent events that have painted a picture of just how radical the Right Wing has become.

When I said a few months back that the Right Wing had lost its mind, I had no idea that they had lost all sense of reality as well. There has been a recent string of domestic terror attacks in this country directed towards African-Americans, Jews and the Pro-Choice movement. One example, is the shooting in Binghamton, New York a few months back. Another example, is the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller by an anti-abortion activist and most recently, the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that left an elderly security guard dead.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and …

In only took six seconds to prove to pro-waterboarding talk show host Mancow that waterboarding is torture and to prove that Sean Hannity is not just stupid, he’s a coward as well.

Erich “Mancow” Muller used to be among the ranks of Conservative and phony Libertarian talk show personalities that considered waterboarding, often called the “water cure", torture. He once so arrogantly proclaimed that having a little water poured on your head was not really that big of a deal. So when he volunteered to experience a very softened version of the integration technique as part of his radio show, he never thought that 6 seconds of the experience would convert his view on the subject 180 degrees, but it did!

After only 6 seconds of the exercise, his hands unbound, surrounded by friends and not subjected against his will, Mancow gave up. His initial response proclaimed that while he was not happy to say it, waterboarding is “absolutely torture.”

Visit msnbc.com for …

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman recently wrote an article attacking California’s so-called Tax Revolt of 1978, California’s Proposition 13. He claims that if California is the trend setter, than the U.S. is in deep trouble. I agree, and have agreed for most of my politically aware life, especially since I am a product of California’s senseless butchering of the education system.

Nobody likes paying taxes. It’s about as fun as paying rent (or mortgage), bills and getting a colonoscopy. That being said, these are all the painful things we need to do to stay a float in life and there is little any of us can do about them.

California Republicans thought otherwise. They used an issue that was sure to win: telling California they could have lower taxes and everything would be all right. That’s like promising people they can lose weight and eat all that they want. Sadly people fall for that one too!

Ignoring reality, listening to the advice of hucksters like Ronald Reagan, Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, California passed Proposition 13 in 1978. It cut taxes primarily for apartment building owners among other large …

We commonly refer to members of the Far-Right, here at Soapblox.com, as Right-Wing whack jobs or nut jobs or just plain idiots. It was true in its day, however no euphemism can describe how utterly loony-tunes the Republican fringe has become.

We all know that Rush Limbaugh is hoping for the U.S. to fail just to prove that Rush is right and Obama is wrong. I thought that was, perhaps, the stupidest political move that I had heard up to that point. Especially since the United States has historically bounced back from many a recession and even a few really bad depressions. I had no idea that things would only downward spiral into the realm of downright insanity.

When recently elected GOP Party Chairman Michael Steel began talking about Hip-Hop-ifying the Republican Party, that should have been my first clue that things would only get worse for a party so badly beaten, they don’t control a single plank of government and by a long-shot.

Then the Far-Right Fox News network’s key loudmouth lie machines began to cater …

A sign of how bad this recession is becoming, look no further than Motor City, USA. Detroit housing values are cheaper than some of the cars they are famous for producing and the economy is in such a state of disorder that they are printing their own currency called the Detroit Cheers.

Other cities too from North Carolina to Massachusetts are issuing their own currencies as well. It’s pitched as a way of keeping currency value local so value is not transferred to other regions. It was an excepted practice during the Great Depression.

It seems like an interesting idea, however to be honest it is the last thing I would have thought could happen in our supposedly advanced economic system. Just a few years ago, people talked about M2 Capital and that we were slowly becoming a ‘credit society’. The control of the currency system was clearly held by the Federal Reserve and any attempts to create duel currency would be under serious evaluation from the top bankers and media establishment.

Now, is seems with the news being as grim as it is, CBS ran this story in its ‘Silver Linings’ section, speaking …

I have spoken here at soapblox.com about a potential third party. I am not 100% behind this idea though I do believe it to be a possibility, especially when I hear prominent Republican figures like Newt the newt Gingrich talking of one.

Third parties, traditionally in American democracy, are avenues of complaint. The Populist “bull-moose” Party got a whole lot done as it lobbied the Democrat Administration of Wilson in the early 20th Century, as did the Know-Nothings did with the Republicans in the 1880s. The Peace and Freedom candidates leaned on the Dems in the 1960s and other third parties like the Free Silver Party have contributed significantly to the planks of the two major parties. The problem is that our current political system cannot support more than two parties. When the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s, the Republican Party was born, devoted solely to the abolishment of slavery. The Whig Party too was born of the collapse of the Federalist Party.

So could the Republican Party collapse and a newer more Conservative Party be born? Or perhaps it’s the Pro-Business Elite that will break away and form the Business Party?

It is …

It seems a bit too uncomfortable to speak in post-Bush talk these days. Just a few months ago, we witnessed the death of the Bush Age of Republican politics. Ever since, I’ve had this funny feeling in the back of my mind that closely resembles hope. Yes, hope! It is the hope that the age of Far-Right Republicanism is over. This hope is fueled by evidence here and there that confirm the Age of Reagan is at a close.

You really know that the nail is in the coffin when Time Magazine runs an article titled “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America”. The head of the article contains two contrasting photos, a photo of Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat and a profile shot of Barrack Obama with a serious look on his face.

Obviously what is implied by such contrast is what we have talked about here at Soapblox.com for years: the end of 30 years of Republican domination in the United States Government. Some Soapblox readers may remember the story titled “The End of Reagan” written way back in 2007 (man how time flies). After months of …

Obama wrote an article, published in Time Magazine, on his purposed legislation to expand the role of public service organizations, such as Ameri-Corps, and increase the sector by a quarter of a million jobs.

First off, it is refreshing to have a President that can write an article worthy of getting published in Time. The only thing Bush seemed to write was his own signature. Aside from that, it is an effective argument to get our nation working again fixing the broken American infrastructure.

When my Grandfather talks of the Great Depression, he talks fondly of his times in the C.C.C. or Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the New Deal programs started by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Grandpa left his family farm in South Dakota to work in the state forest, doing useful jobs for more than useful pay. It helped put food on the table for his family and gave him food, shelter and a sense of purpose while he did it.

A hand up, not a hand out! This strategy worked well in the Depression and it can act again to rebuild our dilapidated …

About 4 months ago I ran a story on the emerging tent cities, or Hoovervilles, that are popping up all over the country. The Corporate-owned media took very little notice, perhaps, trying not to make a fuss on the eve of the Christmas shopping season.

NPR today released a story on these new tent cities, on one large one in particular located in Sacramento just off the American River. They did a heart-wrenching column and a photo essay that really drives home the point of where the U.S. Economy stands.

There is little good news these days on the economic front. Unemployment is at the highest levels since the early ‘80s and the downward spiral is only just beginning. Many of those who have jobs are taking pay-cuts. Dubbed “the walking wounded” they are spending less and clinging to their homes while they watch their neighbors abandon the American Dream. Wall Street is closing below 7,000 which is 50% lower than the record highs of 14,000 posted just a year and half ago. Corporate America is begging for billions from the Federal Government, blowing it on bonuses …

Franken won the Senatorial election in 2008, yet Republican strategists have signaled an endless lawsuit to further their losing Repub strategy at any cost. This of course makes sense for the weak and embattled Republican party.

At the height of Bush incompetence, Al Franken was the voice of reason. This nerdy guy may have looked like a wimp compared to the fake ass cattle rustling, urban cowboys of Republican myth-talk radio and yet, he had the balls to stand up to this very machine and tear it down every chance he could. His book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot…", nailed the tub of lard literally right in the title and assaulted O’Reilly as just another “all talk” Right Wing chicken hawk.

Franken didn’t stop there. After piloting Air America to a shaky, yet successful launch, he left the network for greater goals, namely, the U.S. Senate, representing the great state of Minnesota.

Some called it a longshot, and, perhaps it almost was. Minnesotans were fed up with celebrity leaders, tired of the Jessie Venturas. How could a former Saturday Night Live writer and star gain any …

Editor’s note:
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For my political junkies, I apologize, as this article is more of a cultural rant. Which leads me to an important point about the future of SoapBlox.com:

The new Soapblox.com, coming this Spring, will finally realize the news magazine concept conceived originally in the blueprints first drawn before the disastrous Bush reelection. There will be a place for politics, culture and art. Please bare with our progress and enjoy the article below.
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Well, well, the charges have finally been dropped on our beloved fish out of water, Mr. Michael Phelps.

I suspect that Michael Phelps himself would prefer not to be elevated to the Saint-hood status that has been bestowed upon him. I mean. The guy knows he’s a great swimmer, though I doubt that he ever fancied himself a roll model.

Somehow in this country, however, wining gold medals makes you a hero, which makes you a role model to children everywhere. I understand that this guy should not go downtown and buy crack from some gang bangin’ wanabe and start puffin away till his teeth fall out, I’m simply saying that since this guy has won …

The recent withdrawal of New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg from Secretary of Commerce is a clear indication that the Grand Party of Old times is back to its old tricks.

Even after Obama made grand overtures to the Republican establishment, they seem to think that stonewalling the popular President will win them brownie points. Not even the Republicans that combated FDR’s New Deal had the nerve to attempt such a naïve endeavor.

They are clearly lining up to create a wall on which hasn’t been seen since ol’ Stonewall Jackson stood up to the Yankees in the Civil War (which the South lost btw). They simply think that being who they are and ignoring the sane voices of reason from the Center can save them from political wilderness. Yet, they have never seen the amount of political force that the country has handed to the Democrats. They just don’t get that they are on an iceberg slowly drifting off to sea, yelling ever louder, while the world slowly begins to tune them out.

These guys simply do not get it! I firmly believe that this “Stonewall Jackson Strategy” is as antiquated …

The Republicans have gambled their political future on the success of the stimulus package, both in the long term and the immediate future. They thought that unification and the tired, boring tactics of calling the package an earmark ridden, “pork-u-pine” bill could derail the new President’s first major legislative effort. Fortunately for the good of the nation, they have utterly failed to stop the bill and therefore set the tone of the new Obama Administration as one of success.

The GOP rallied around bloated, big-mouth, Rush “the racist” Limbaugh, who urged Republicans to root for Obama’s failure. Easy for a fat, rich guy to say! Doesn’t this just prove that Rush is not looking out for the best interests of America and instead desires political power? The Republicans too, still bitter from their stinging defeat in 2008, decided to stand their ground, resisting Obama’s efforts to reach across party lines and put all their efforts in to defeating the bill and for about a minute, it looked as if they might have won. They claimed that the New Deal failed, complete and utter nonsense, even blamed the Depression on FDR! …

As the high of the election and inauguration is beginning to fade, it still hasn’t sunk in. BUSH IS GONE and we at long last have a smart and pragmatic President who represents the people. It’s created a residual buzz that just keeps on giving.

For the past 8 years we’ve had a President, but not a leader. 8 years of failed diplomacy (for God’s sake, he started a war!) failed economic policy, failed legislative policy (thankfully) and politics as usual, on amphetamine, that led to the most divisive period in this country since the Vietnam War era.

Now, at long last, we have someone we can look up to, a good family man, with good morals and a strong background. Obama embodies the American Dream. He’s a self-starter who came from a single mom and a mixed racial background. He excelled at and achieved his ambitions to become the most powerful person on the planet, starkly contrasting the rich, spoiled frat boy that inhabited the White House for the last 8 immensely tedious years….

One of the most enduring legacies of the Great Depression is the image of homeless families, huddled together in small shanty-town communities. Dubbed Hoovervilles, named for the seemingly apathetic President Hoover, these towns were a blight on the image of Capitalism, showing the collapse of a system that less than a decade earlier boasted of unparalleled material success. As World War II and the commercialized consumerization of the Boomer generation prevailed, the image of the Hooverville was relegated to something of the past, something that could never happen again, a past failure that has now been corrected. It could not happen in this day and age, right? Wrong!

The receding of the suburbs is turning major cities inside out. The unfortunate and the desperate are flocking to new gatherings. The 1930s townships made of scrap wood and metal have been replaced with 21st Century plastics and plywood. New communities of hundreds huddle around 6 porta-poties and very little running water. The recent rise of these tent cities, signifies the end of our outdated American Dream. They’re continually springing up all over the country in church …

I stumbled across this blog that lays out a fantastic argument in favor of Obama’s healthcare plan. It discusses the numbers and lays forth a rather important point: that the cost of Obama’s “socialized medicine” costs the same as 4 months of the Iraq War.

If Obama’s plan, which relies heavily on the private sector is socialized medicine, then the Iraq War is socialized war, which is far less productive. The amounts of money procured by companies like Blackwater (which was started by a very wealthy war nut) and Halliburton, serve very few people and ultimately redistribute our hard earned tax dollars to a class of rich war hawks. It also establishes a mercenary army, but I digress.

The fear of Socialism, originates with the rich. They have hijacked the American agenda and forced us to fear spending on social services and less income disparity because it is communist. They point to Stalin and scare the average Joe by using patriotic mumbo jumbo. “Free market capitalism is the American way, do you hate America? You do if you’re communist!” How does universal healthcare make the leap to Stalin? The Conservatives are masters …

Obama has done it! Can you believe it? It’s a day we’ve all been waiting for far too long. It still has barely sunk in yet. Now the real fight begins.

The Progressives have been waiting for a new champion since the demise of LBJ. Today we stand united with a new transformative President who has brought the Conservative faction to its knees. A man who will restore the Progressive order and stop the Republican regression with the greatest weapon we have, Progress!

So it begins! Obama’s very satisfying and sweeping victory over Republican John McCain is the birth of a new era in American politics. It’s not just a Democratic landslide, it’s a political realignment so great, the Republican pundits are having to claim it’s not a major strategic shift in America.

We Progressives know better. Republicans are the masters of deceit and spin. They defeat the truth by changing the story, never acknowledging a loss, that is, until it’s unavoidable. Then they begin tearing it down with talking points. This time, they are claiming the anti-gay marriage initiatives are a message to Obama that his mandate is strictly economic. Well, you Republicans just suffered …

The Washington Post ran a story today on the splintering and divided Republican Party that sums up what we here on the rational Left have seen coming for almost 20 years.

The Republican Party is a bastardization of Social Conservatives, War Hawk Neo-Cons, Anti-Communists, small government enthusiasts and the pro-corporate order elite who wish to unite the nation under the banner of capital with extensive privatized law and order. The Cold War or the War on Terror were the only things that held the fabric of the party together.

As the article describes, now that Social Conservatives are becoming increasingly irrelevant (abortion and gay rights are faltering as issues), now that Bush spent more money than anyone in history fighting an unprofitable war and nationalizing our country’s failing bank system, now that the whole “trickle-down” theory has been utterly disproved, the party is spinning out of control. Even the War on Terror seems irrelevant and far from people’s minds. With Bush scoring the highest disapproval rating of any President in the history of polling the Party has lost its direction.

The Party of Reagan is in shambles. All philosophies have been rebuked by …

It’s funny how there is a myth that Liberals are femi-nazi, (to quote Rash Limbaugh) tree hugging, Frazier watching, latte drinking, elitist, limousine, out-of-touch and any other wussie mythological talking point falsities. There is virtually not one point in that entire array that is true, with the occasional latte, which is enjoyed by so many Americans that Starbucks became a global empire over night in Red and Blue States alike (uh oh! There’s another myth, we better stay on point). Point being is that from what I can tell, Republicans and especially those who call themselves “Conservative Republicans” are whinny little bullies with clammy pink hands, smoke big fat cigars (likely a phallic complex) and complain about everything! Everything from their taxes, to other complainers, all day long that is all they ever do is bitch and moan and whine and cry and always turn their poor wealthy, elite, powerful, out-of-touch, clammy-handed, whinny little agenda into their own personal victim list.

There is of course the rank & file. They are often poor, non-Anglo-Saxon White who have been suckered into an Elite White game. They “identify” with the …

“Fumbled the ball”, “slipped on ice”, “dropped the soap”, any of these statements accurately describe the McCain Campaign’s latest tactical & potential strategic blunder.

He has “suspended his campaign” so he can address the issue of the economy in Washington. He is calling for a suspension of the debates until a decision can be reached. On the surface, it sounds kinda nice. Our gray-haired, war vet is hoping on a plane to help to ‘get to the bottom’ of the worst economic crisis in 80 years. However, much like Chess, Poker and Go-Fish, any good move cannot be evaluated till his or her opponent has a chance to strike back (that is, as long as it is not checkmate, four of a kind, etc.), and in this case, Obama’s cards look pretty good.

The Line in the Sand

The old man drew a line in the sand, which I suppose, he thought it was the same old Democrats who would go “me too” and sit down and let McCain lead. Well, Obama is not from the ranks of the old guard. The Illinois Senator called his …

As the Bush Administration prepares for the largest and unprecedented bailout of the banking system in History, the major economic players are no longer pushing the idea of laziez-faire Capitalism. This is because it doesn’t work.

Much like the collapse of Authoritarian Communism, the U.S. has proven that letting the market make up it’s own rules is as idiotic as trying to control every aspect of the market as well. While we gloated and celebrated the collapse of the U.S.S.R., we dropped our guard and rejoiced over our economic superiority. Regan’s philosophy of trickle-down economics became heralded as the end all solution and Bush, Clinton and Bush II began forcing this system on anyone they could. Banks and investors alike became riskier and riskier making more and more money with greedier and riskier methods.

It really was two-faced, because there is no such thing as unbridled Capitalism. Adam Smith’s Capitalist Manifesto, “The Wealth of Nations” is vastly outdated as the U.S. Government pushes and pulls the invisible hand with interest rates, controls monetary values, negotiates trade arrangements and uses the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce to manipulate supply and demand. …

I wanted to avoid writing on this stupid “lipstick on a pig” flap. However as I found myself posting comments on blogs and news articles, I became ensnared in the diversion and decided to cleanse myself from the mud by reporting on a good old fashioned case of muck-raking: the growing scandal within the Department of the Interior which involves loads of sex, drugs and bribes. They don’t get any hotter than this! And here you thought I was going to be wholesome! Bare with me though, as this is no Lewinski-Gate (or whatever they call that pointless scandal), this cuts right through to a den of power and corruption that is costing the taxpayers billions, while the Bush Administration indulges in drugs and orgies! You couldn’t make this stuff up because, no one would believe you!

First, the Lipstick Diversion, see, it even diverts this article!

I’m sure you’ve been tuned into this whole diversion which kicked off when Obama described McCain’s economic plans as being the same policies as Bush. He referred to it with the classic “you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig” bit, you know, the same one John McCain used to describe Hillary …

John “P.O.W.” McCain is in trouble. Fresh off the heals of McCain’s Vice-Presidential pick, Sarah Palin’s highly mediocre speech, I thought it would be best to take a gander at the tactical and strategic value of this inexperienced hard-core Conservative.

John McCain’s choice of Vice Presidential nominee is either being praised or trashed, now trending negative. Praised mostly by Right-Wing whackos from notable rags as The Weekly Standard, or the National Review all praised Palin as if McCain had displayed pure genius. Of course, many on the Right did not agree, but the “Liberal Media” doesn’t want you to know that because they want to come into your homes and hold open your eyelids, like in Clockwork Orange, and force you to digest Commie-Pinko propaganda that will smear the poor, poor, poor, gentle great grandfather, John McCain.

While the Right is quietly divided (despite their staged unity), former Hillary supporters, from feminists to moderate housewives, have not been fooled. Polls suggest that it is not helping McCain with women voters and Obama’s bump continues to rise.

More alarming for McCain is that polls suggest independents are alienated by Palin’s whacko Right-Wing social agenda. If Palin has …

It is both funny and sad how fast a Presidential race these days moves. It lives in the moment to such a degree that one day can bring about a complete change in headlines. One day it’s all about Obama, the next it’s all about McCain’s surprise, gamble of a VP pick, Sarah Palin. If I didn’t no better, and paid very little attention to the reality of politics, I might think that McCain suddenly got a burst of momentum, which is exactly what McCain wants you to think.

Unfortunately for John McCain, his move is like watching the prime-time TV show the networks always plug after the Super Bowl. It may be on in the room, and some are paying attention, yet most are still talking about the game. The Media may think people care so much about their headlines but the harsh truth of this, is that most people don’t. Only hardcore lovers of politic like us give a rat’s ass (I’m guessing you must love politics to be reading this).

Most Watched Convention Ever

This year’s DNC was a grand slam, fast-break-slam-dunk, touchdown w/ 2-point conversion extravaganza. The final night, with …

Yes folks, it’s going to be ugly. Even though the Democrats, honestly, could put a large indianite object, even a large 16” black spring loaded toy of lewd sexual usage, in place of Obama and still win (although that wouldn’t go down with the “Christians” too well).
All signs of honesty point to an Obama blowout. All signs point to McCain being a tired old man with nothing to offer. Things change in politics, and Obama could blow it, although, I wouldn’t count on it. This man is a natural born politician destined to become one of our nation’s greatest leaders, I believe anyway.

You never know in politics. The tired old “maverick” could pull something out that is fresh and new, but not likely. This is a change election and the old, white, career politician has little to offer once the realities of his tired and old, white Republican base become the source of his power. None of his staff are current, their all old time Repubs still reeling from the success of Bush Part II.

Aside from that, McCain looks weak, tired, I almost feel sorry for him. He isn’t up to …

(Before I begin, a quick note. This is a Rated R edition of Soapblox, no kids allowed, must be 17 or accompanied by a parent.

I would curse here regularly if I didn’t have more class. LOL, my momma taught me better. However, since this article contains clips of the late George Carlin, not using the word Fuck seems kind of silly, especially since this rant is one of massive anger. I mean, our #1 American beer company was sold off to a country that puts a picture of a pissing statue on its own brew. So, in the spirit of Mr. Carlin, Fuck it, just this once. Now please proceed, let me tear your ticket and enjoy the show.)
This week has been an awful week for America. On the eve of celebrating our 232nd Anniversary, the time since the 4th of July has been plagued with trouble in the stock market, the near collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, numerous banks on the chopping block, the bankruptcy word thrown around in the same sentence with GM (remember, “what’s good for GM is what’s good for America”) and now, the selling off …

So Iraq calls for an American timetable for withdrawal. They essentially want us gone. American’s overwhelmingly want an end to the war in Iraq, so that means we want to leave. Why are we still there? Why are Bush and McCain REJECTING the demands of a sovereign nation’s government to tell us to get the hell out of their country?

Good Question!

Well the easy answer is exactly what you probably think it is, one word that can be read in every language: money. It’s not just oil, it’s all those no-bid Halliburton contracts, all those private security contracts, all those steel penetrating M855 bullet rounds (recently accused of being ineffective), Poorly armored HumVees, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, defective body armor, supersonic harriers, aka Joint-Strike Fighters, to fight a guerilla war / occupation, and more military gear that soaks up 50% of America’s yearly Discretionary Budget. Don’t forget as well, all the long term construction contracts that we will surely get if we maintain a longer term presence in Iraq. Plus permanent Military Bases means KBR contracts for food services, base repair and of course, all the …

Soapblox has turned 3. After a 9 month incubation period, we launched Soapblox on July 4th as I claim, because it is a very appropriate time for a 21st Century Pamphleteering Operation devoted to the progress of it’s beloved nation to begin, however, also, it was to ensure that I could remember the anniversary date, as I am terrible about remembering dates, and, let’s face it, Soapblox after 3 years still does not have a full staff of investigative reporters, nor does it have a fully catered office or a girl to get us coffee.

This operation is done the way it should be, guerrilla and under the radar. Which is probably for the best, as some of the things said on this site could land a one way ticket to Bush’s Dungeons of Doom, if broadcast on a wide scale. Which it is not. We are comparable to the truth-crazed pamphleteer on the streets before the Revolution. We simply want a better life, we simply want progress to occur, we simply want the nation to prosper and grow, to sustain it’s power and stability without damaging its own interests, which are …

When I wrote before the Iowa Caucus that nominating either an African-American man or a White Woman could backfire because the country wasn’t ready for it I was hoping to be wrong, I wasn’t. Recent actions by embittered Clinton supporters carry political rifts that reverberate across the media every hour. The sinking Hillary ship pulled the nuclear option and used race and gender to their advantage, now it’s all you hear race, gender, blah, blah, blah. It continues to play out even though Hillary lost. Especially now that some fringe feminists are threatening to vote for McCain. Enough already!

All the excitement in the base generated in the democratic party in the beginning has now dissipated. You had all these rank and file Dems rallying around Obama and Hillary simply because of what they were, not who they were, an African-American, a woman, I found that somewhat alarming before Iowa. I thought we were supposed to be gender and color blind I thought. I worried about the working class White Male voters as being key. Here we had a chance to reach out to the blue collar crowd and prove that the Democratic party …

You gotta love the Right’s pathetic attempt to make Obama look like an elitist. Here, you have extraordinarily wealthy, spoiled, fat, cigar smoking,, West Palm Beach pundits like Rush Windbag combined with well salaried, latte drinking, ivy league educated, insolated and out of touch “journalists” , and don’t get me started on the politicians (like Bush) who come from a long line of well-to-do political dynasties, trying to tell the average Joe what is elite. It simply doesn’t wash.

As Colbert satirized, conservative NY Times ignoramus, David Brooks, said “Obama is not the kind of guy you’d see eating at an Applebee’s salad bar”. As the brilliant Colbert pointed out, Applebee’s DOESN’T HAVE A SALAD BAR! This $1000 sporty tie wearing NY Times wacko Rightie pundit likely doesn’t know his Popcorn Shrimp Platter from his Red Hot Jalapeño Poppers. Of all people I can’t see eating at an Anytown U.S.A. corporate eatery, it’s political pundits like David Brooks, and while I CAN see Rush stuffing his fat face with Awesome Blossom grease puddles, it is highly unlikely that any of these spoiled brats have ever gotten a callous on their …

We finally know what the W in George. W. Bush stands for: Worst President in U.S. History. While this is something we rational beings on the Left have long known, now it has been concluded by the leading minds in the field of U.S. history. In a recent article on W.’s recent claims that history will prove him right, the Washington Post is reporting that of 109 leading U.S. historians, only 2 believe Bush will be judged favorably. Even worse for the bumbling Commander-in-Chief, a majority of those 109 believe that Bush is “the worst President in U.S. History!”

Take a moment to realize the gravity of that statement. If Bush was being tried in a court of history, a democratic assembly of the leading authorities in the field concludes that he did such a bad job, that there is no one worse! That’s behind such grand failures as the impeached Andrew Johnson, the incompetent Tyler, useless Buchanan and the scandalized Warren Harding, a President so bad, he would have likely been impeached had he not died of a heart attack!…

Turns out Bush and his Republican cohorts managed to do something about immigration after all. By destroying the economy, they’ve made America a less desirable place to work, which in turn has decreased the amount of immigrants venturing into the U.S. However the Republicans didn’t stop there. They’ve screwed up the economy so royally that immigrants already working in this country are going home, as opportunities are drying up, an article in Time Magazine finds.

Isn’t it ironic that while Bush has always been a proponent of exploiting immigrant labor (as it is one of the 3 fundamental components of capitalism), against the will of his party, mind you, his policies damaged capitalism and therefore achieved the desire of his party to put a stop to immigration. It came at the expense of our economy and, perhaps, damaged his party beyond control, but who can argue with success right?

It’s especially ironic since Bush was unable to get his way on immigration reform. Of course, by then, Bush had spent most of his political capital on Social-Security and Iraq like a jittery gambler at the …

Chris Mathews, who sways and bends with the political breeze is often a bit of a curmudgeon, however he tolerates all points of view, all frames of mind. His love of the political game is what seems to keep him going. What he doesn’t seem to tolerate is outright, baseless political jockeying, oh and one more thing: outright stupidity!

In comes Right-Wing Conservative talk show host Kevin James. Fresh from his radio show, talking up Bush’s recent diplomatic swipe at Obama and his weak argument that it’s similar to the Munich Conference (the same Munich Conference that gave Hitler everything he wanted to avert World War II, which obviously failed). James, however did not know even this much about one of the most talked about diplomatic events in history. He instead, thought he could talking point his way out of the enclosing box being inflicted on him by Mathews.

Click Here if video doesn’t show.

Only it didn’t work, and in his desperation, tried every Right-Wing trick in the book to no avail. Mathews had the 2nd tier talk show …

The times they are a changin’, a famous prophet once said. And while this statement is almost always true, its utterance is often a signal of its significance. That the winds of change are blowing in the mind (to quote the prophet again), or minds I should say, of millions of angry people all across this great land. With the events that are occurring and unfolding right before our very eyes, change is no longer a hope, it’s a reality, one that will rattle and unsettle and even uproot the systems of the past, the grand institutions of the present and our very belief in the future. Prepare yourselves my fellow countrymen, for the battle for control is drawing to a close.

I know it’s been hard to look around these days at the state of the world. The reality is often to grave to discuss. Disasters at home and abroad, two wars we are unsuccessfully waging, famine and hunger, global warming, recession, the list goes on and on. However there are seeds of very positive things to come sprouting in a very fertile field.

George W. Bush has been badly …

I’ve always known that O’Reilly was an angry hack. What I didn’t know was that he was a comedian as well. In an absolutely hilarious tape that has recently surfaced (and is all over YouTube), Bill O’Reilly completely flies off the handle like a baby deprived of a pacifier. His rage was apparently flared off by a teleprompter statement regarding a Sting video.

If video doesn’t show, click here.

“There’s no words there, I can’t read it!”, screamed the loudmouthed pundit. His larger than life Irish head damn near exploded, virtually popping a blood vessel, all for a Sting video, The Soul Cages, of all albums.

I got a big kick out of this and I imagine you will too. Be sure to spread it to every friend & loved one, political & apolitical, Democrat & Republican. Let’s make O’Reilly the next Internet star! He’ll give that Chocolate Rain guy a run for his money, that’s for certain. Oh and hurry! Before Inside Edition makes YouTube take it down!

Former Bush Undersecretary of Defense Policy, Douglas “Barney” Feith, and one of the main architects of the Iraq War, I must add, stepped into Jon Stewart’s “seat of heat” last night, pushing his new book like P.T. Barnum and defending what has been called the “worst foreign policy decision in American History”.

If you enjoy watching Neoconservative, Harvard elite, war mongers get bested by a late-night comedian, than you will enjoy watching the uncut version of last night’s Daily Show. Feith, who struggled in his defense, grasping for arguments wherever he could, was ambushed at every turn by a well prepared Stewart (who actually read his book). Jon was able to reduce an intellectual think-tank strategist with two word responses, that seemingly tore down everything Feith spent paragraphs of defensive ranting building up.

It really makes you wonder doesn’t it, just why weren’t these questions asked in the first place?!

Feith, who argued for the invasion of a country that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives, has taken on the …

Despite the corporate-owned media’s obsession with polls, controversy and the horse-race, last night Barack Obama blew Hillary Clinton out of the water and officially ended any realistic chance of her becoming America’s next President. Not since Woodrow Wilson has 14 points meant so much, and by 14 points, I mean the blow-out in North Carolina which was, as recently as Monday, being paraded as Obama’s last stand.

Hillary’s chances for the Presidency are effectively statistically impossible. It’s essentially to a point where Obama could come out and announce he was a hooker-loving, Muslim terrorist or something and Hillary may STILL lose. The sense that the race is over is stronger than ever and even Hillary supporters like George McGovern have announced that he would take his pledged super-delegate status and switch it to Barack Obama. In other words Hillary’s run for the President died on that fateful Tuesday night.

Can she be productive though? Will she go out strong and with dignity, or will she pull a Jerry Brown and look like a rebel rousing spoil sport at her party’s convention? I’m sure she will choose the former. When …

The recent actions of Hillary and husband Bill are about as despicable as despicable gets. They’ve proven, to those who see beyond the political gimmicks and tactics, that they are politicians interested only in there own legacy and care so little for the future of this nation or the American people, that they are willing to burn the village in order to save it. That’s the same village, by the way, that Hillary once said it took to raise a child.

I used to love Bill, that is, in the way that a voter loves a politician (which is one of the lesser forms of love) I’ve never really cared much for Hillary, but that didn’t really matter because she was just the first lady. While surrounded by wimpy Democrats and a wife that had done him more harm than good, Bill stood up to the Republican machine and helped to stop most of their destructive agenda. While he screwed things up royally by getting a blow job, he survived the obvious political desperation of the Republicans and cut the momentum of their movement in half. Hillary, on the other hand, was largely …

Wright, Wright, Wright has become synonymous with Blah, Blah, Blah. It’s all these morons talk about over there in media land. While the issue over some idiotic statements made by an aging and out of touch pastor have given Right-wingers more than just a chance to put together clever headlines like “Wright is Wrong” and “Wright is STILL Wrong” and “Wright Isn’t Right”, it’s also given Republicans a chance to use race as an issue, sparking fears of the revival of Southern racism.

Are the American people dumb enough to fall for this Media manufactured story though? Or is this just an example of sensationalized gotcha journalism? A new poll proves that they are indeed a little bitter about Obama and the Rev. Wright debacle, however there is one thing they are even bitterer about: President Bush.

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll outlines the simple fact that Americans are more enraged by John McCain’s links to President Bush than by any link by Obama to an angry black pastor or, LOL, a Weather Underground associate. It just underscores, once again, everything I’ve been saying. Americans don’t give a flying frijol …

I would be lying if I said I believed 2008 is going to be a great year. In fact, never in my life have I been more sure that we are in for hard times than I am now.

I’m trying to stay positive, as I’m sure you all are as well, however the writing is on the wall. Under the leadership of Bush and the Republicans, with a deregulated Corporate economy, with an overall decline in ethics and a cynical, useless media, the American Machine is now only churning out dreams for an increasingly smaller and smaller crowd, while giving the rest of us sleepless nights.

Bush calls the economy sour. Oh go choke on a Pretzel! I’m sick to death of some Connecticut born wanabe cowboy, cocaine abusing, Yale fraternity, spoiled-rotten, ELITIST PRICK, trying to sympathize with me. I’m also sick of Fox News and how they push their racist, corporate bullshit on a bunch of ignorant heartlanders, feeding them lies that perpetuate the problem. I’m sick of the rest of the media for being so out of touch with reality, thinking …

Recent Republican shills like Sean “Ins” Hannity are declaring their disinterest in the mortgage crisis as he did recently on his radio show. They claim that American taxpayers should not have to pay for someone else’s misfortunes stating boldly that it was their own stupidity that got them in financial trouble. They divide the middle-class against the lower middle-class claiming that it would take $Billions to bail out a bunch of dead-beats that can’t pay their own bills. A bunch of dead beats huh? What if I were to tell you some of these dead beats were members of the United States Military?

It’s true, apparently many members of the Armed Services are having trouble making their housing payments. The banks are often ignoring them (of course, like they care), and many soldiers are slipping through the cracks. This is not because they were discharged or anything like that, it’s just that financial institutions were in such a desperate need to take advantage of people looking for the American Dream, that they ripped off American soldiers! After all, corporations have no nationality, so why should it make …

A Washington Post article today is claiming that private debt collectors, hired by the IRS to pursue debtors, cost more than they bring in! Well isn’t THAT rich?! And I mean RICH, like richer than Dick Cheney with an army of convicts & thieves Rich (LOL, wait a minute, isn’t that the Bush Administration). As Progressives, this relationship between privatization and nationalization is complex and important. Nationalizing seems to let wealth waste away while privatizing TAKES maximum wealth away. The true answer must lie somewhere in the middle.

It’s funny, because this very topic came up the other day. While it wasn’t the IRS, it was the local Los Angeles city government, which pursued an associate of mine for thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes. The math didn’t add up, and when this person called, the city was forced to take a second look, which uncovered that, indeed, their math was wrong. Not just wrong, however, THEY ADDED AN EXTRA ZERO by complete mistake! DOH! How come they never forget to plus or minus a zero in our favor? I was wondering if it ended up …

One of the Presidential Candidates has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that their campaign for the Presidency has stalled, that they have deceived a great deal of the American People, especially the working class and should consider stepping aside so that a better, stronger candidate can proceed. This candidate’s campaign has become a pointless exercise of futility and their efforts to win the White House will be stalled by the absolutely absurd comments they have laid forth to achieve this goal. That is why Hillary Clinton should kiss her run for the White House goodbye.

You thought I was gonna say Obama didn’t ya? Well you should know me better by now.

I am not put off by manufactured scandals, especially one as transparent and idiotic as the ‘Bitter’ Gate (even the name is bad) scandal, that I’m sure most Americans know NOTHING about. If you haven’t heard it’s quite ridiculous. Obama made the following comments at a Democratic fundraiser, which where “leaked” to the press somehow:

“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment …

Presidential flop, George W. Bush, has made a series of decisions recently that essentially dump the Iraq problem on the next President, hyper-extend the American Military and leave the citizens of the U.S. with a debt their Grandchildren will be paying, all the while, he’s on a PR blitz to paint himself as a great “war President” who honors the military.

Recent outrages made by the President are a tell tale sign of his failure to find any success in Iraq. With his continued use of political moves that endanger the lives of our soldiers while portraying himself as a great fighter for soldier’s rights is nothing new, it’s just part of the Bush pattern. While he plays with headlines and press releases, he let’s the killing and violence continue, all the while trading away American interests for the sake of profit and greed at the hands of greedy contractors, making our supposed enemies like Iran stronger in a nation WE occupy! His absolute incompetence in diplomacy, his abuse of the American Armed Forces and his stubborn tin-ear on all matters in which he is obviously …

Today we recognize the loss of one of History’s greatest kings. He was not a rich and powerful lord nor a great noble aristocrat, and while he was one of the most devoted fighters of all time, he was no blood thirsty warrior.

Martin Luther King Jr., or MLK has become somewhat of a legend, a myth, a George Washington like figure, with a holiday named after him to boot. It’s easy to forget how truly great this man was. It’s also easy to forget that he was surrounded by a great wife and devoted followers. It’s easy to forget as well that he was not perfect, he made mistakes and despite our 20/20 hindsight, he was a man in jeopardy of losing the support of the very people he laid his life on the line for.

Society seems to forget how brave, how hard and how profound the struggle of MLK actually was. He wasn’t just one of many who stood up to the water cannons, attack dogs and police brutality, he was the symbol OF standing up to those same brutal tactics. …

Today’s quick linx is brought to you by our beloved El Presidente, George W. “stands for worst” Bush, who recently attended the opening day indoctrination of the Washington National’s new stadium. While Bush stepped out on to the field, he was treated to a mixed reaction heavily dominated by loud booing. The major media virtually shunned the story, treating it like a sports story, while Obama’s low bowling score was trumpeted as the end all definition of why Obama was not a REAL man (one guy even said Obama should “stick to shooting hoops”), Liberal media my ass!

Our nation’s love of sports and hatred of politicians collided this week in what can only be called a humorous, yet somber moment for the United States.

If clip doesn’t work, click here to see the Daily Show Clip

Wow, you know your not liked when your booed at the opening pitch. I mean, by the 7th inning, enough beer has flown through the stadium to turn a polite, church going dad into a longshoreman willing …

Well it’s official. The polls show that Obama was not fazed at all by the Reverend Wright debacle. A recent Pew Research poll, the same polling company that indicated a week ago that Obama WAS indeed hurt by the over-hyped story, NOW has a poll that shows he not only survived the mess, he shows the highest positive marks of any Presidential candidate and if the election were held today, he’d win.

While last week’s anti-Obama Pew poll, as duly noted in my previous articles, was taken before the historic “Profiles in Courage” speech, it was pounced on by conservatives and Hillary supporters alike as indication that Obama was on his way out. Once again, the media trumpeted this message through their loud speakers with no justification and attempted to bring down the Illinois Senator and potential President with an intense fervor, despite the fact that the only ones saying the issue was relevant were those on the Right. The issue did indeed, thanks to loud-mouthed fat Republican shock …

While reading the headlines of war, recession, division and sadness, I found this little tidbit on the thriving success of a magazine targeted at the super wealthy. I thought this little tidbit was perfect for today’s QuickLinx.

Apparently there is a thriving industry around selling to people SO rich, they view the Robb Report as the damn Pennysaver. If you’re making at least $650,000 a year and/or own a private jet; than your target demographic matches Doubledown Media, who’s readership is so wealthy, your yacht must be at least 40 feet to read it.

Doubledown Media is the producer of such fine publications as Corporate Leader, Cigar Report, Private Air (a rag devoted to your own private airplane(s) and their latest periodical to hit the press, The Players Club (and btw, “playas” need not apply, that is, unless you have an impressive portfolio). While this fine group of well-minded, young upstarts are doing their duty in a nation at war and recession, they’re also answering to a higher service: making money and apparently more now than ever before.

“We’re seeing very rapid growth,” brags …

It is absolutely hilarious the uniform reactions I’m hearing from the Republican punditry. It’s almost like hearing a talking wind-up doll, pull the string and listen to some pissed off Rightie Wightie loud mouth regurgitate a line on how Obama failed to reach the lower class White vote. It usually comes out sounding something like this:

“While Obama’s speech was very ELOQUENT, he failed to change the minds of middle-class White people.”

Nothing TOO shocking, however let’s examine this a little closer.

Firstly, even the compliment is designed to be an insult. After the infamous Joe Biden debacle, in which Biden called Obama “articulate,” it became widely known to White Righties that African-American men see such comments as an attempt to put them in a second-class bracket (oh he speaks so well… for a black guy). By the way, articulate is the third word for eloquent in the thesaurus, This is not apples and oranges, especially since Republicans are so obsessive about semantics.

Secondly… Where do they get off thinking they know what middle and working class people are thinking?! Most of these Right-Wing Pundicrats have never suffered a day in their …

The degradation of the Presidential race may have finally bottomed out. While the media, eager to prove that it’s being “tough” on Obama, pounced on some remarks Obama’s pastor Rev. Wright made recently, the clever and daring politician fired back with a speech as daring as John F. Kennedy’s famous speech on religion in 1960, and, much to the surprise of many, he succeeded.

While Hillary Clinton managed to avoid addressing the fiery and naïve remarks made by campaign aide and former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Obama attacked this issue head on. While it seems fairly irrelevant to me that Obama’s Pastor got angry at White America nearly 20 years ago, it was wise of the Illinois Senator to take swift and decisive action, as opposed to the slow and divisive tactic Hillary Clinton choose on her gender/race issue.

The decision to make a speech however, is only half the battle. Who could forget Romney’s speech on religion earlier this year that failed to energize his campaign? Romney could not reconcile his Mormon faith to the millions of evangelical voters and his momentum stalled, …

There is an uneasy tension in the air today. Anxiety, discomfort, even panic is on the minds of many, from the largest, most powerful financial houses right down to the lowliest blue collar family. It is a feeling that this great machine of ours, this United States of America, is perhaps on the verge of a total breakdown. From financial markets to the Presidential Race, times are tough.

Exaggeration? Well you tell me. The other day an NPR financial analyst sketched out a scenario where the American Dollar plunges out of control, thereby causing a meltdown in virtually ALL world markets. He stressed that the scenario was unlikely, however it was plausible. You know things are bad when the media begins to talk about the possibility of complete disaster! 6 months ago, no one dared say we were in a recession, 3 months ago, it was the “R-word” today it is reality, with even the likes of Greenspan and Bernanke using the word regularly. Even ol’ Bush claimed we weren’t in a recession last week, today admitted that the economy “is going through tough times”. UH OH! If …

As time passes, I am becoming increasingly convinced that Wall St. is not located in the bustling lower Manhattan financial district. I now believe that Wall St. is located in an exotic and happy place where candy cane light posts lead the way to the fantastic chocolate and marshmallow palace, a mere 2 miles walk from the realm of reality. What’s worse, ladies and gentleman, is that Wall St. appears to not represent the interests of the American People as well.

Today Ben “Edward II” Bernanke, our all knowing and all seeing Federal Reserve Chairman, announced a plan to inject liquidity into financial markets through a complex and intricate loaning plan, which will give capital to ailing financial markets. In addition they are playing with temporary reciprocal currency arrangements, which is an overly intelligent way of saying their playing around with loan agreements to other countries to make investment more enticing. You know, it’s about time they made temporary reciprocal currency arrangements more accessible to foreign nations, I sure know it will make my life better.

Forbes magazine is calling the Fed Chair “Super Ben” and Wall St., much to no …

It’s been a long time since we had an Orange Alert huh? Remember those? Seemed like every time suspicions of the Bush Administration’s mishandling of 9-11 came up, or bad times in Iraq, or my absolute personal favorite, The Democratic Convention, we were all running to the store to buy duct tape and check our mail with anthrax proof gas masks.

An amazing coincidence?

Anyone with half a brain cell who actually paid attention to the Bush Administration’s complete and utter exploitation of the multi-colored Terror Alert Level System will not be shocked by accusations that Bush used it to his political advantage.

Keith Olbermann’s recent Nexus of Terror Timeline however, will still disgust you beyond belief. He lays down 17 minutes of Bush abuse on the issue of terrorism for nothing more than political gain. He reads off an overwhelming array of evidence, laid out in chronological order that details just how low the Bush Administration sunk to maintain political power in Washington.

Fear, fear and more fear will be one of Bush’s …

Leading Conservative thinker and FOX News resident right-wing pundit, William Kristol made a daring appearance on the Daily Show last night. While I always love to watch Mr. Stewart grill hypocritical righties with intelligent humor and intensely backhanded compliments, I found it was both satisfying and disturbing at the same time.

For those of you who don’t know Kristol, he’s the son (or spawn) of what many consider to be the Godfather of the modern conservative movement. He rose to his own heights (as a member of the top-tier) becoming editor of The Weekly Standard (ultra conservative rag) and a player in many think-tanks, including the Project for a New American Century (you remember, the guys who said a Pearl Harbor like event could be manipulated to get America into a war with Iraq). He is a self-described Neo-Con who has actively called for a War in Iraq since Bush I called of the dogs in 1991. To me, he is everything that is wrong with America as he represents the war-hawks, the industrialists, the wealthy elite and he gives fuel to the religious whack-jobs as well. He is …

Super Tuesday is over, now comes the rush of political punditry. Large panels of angry white men appear across the news echo chamber to discuss race and gender issues they know nothing about. Who got the Latino vote? The Black vote? The Female vote? They flap their lips about political power in this country with all the statistical data and enthusiasm of a Monday morning sportscast. As an American comprised of many races and nationalities, I find all this talk about race tiring and distracting. Although, perhaps that’s part of being a mutt. I’ve never seen a point in choosing between my Latino, Irish, Muskogee Creek Indian and various other ancestral facets and never fill in those annoying race bubbles on questionnaires. Perhaps that’s why I’ve seen racial compartmentalization for what it really is: a political tool of division.

You’ve gotta love our media. They sure know how to entertain. Unfortunately all this entertainment draws from their ability to inform, not to mention their efforts to create drama have been absolutely destructive to the electoral process. …

More woes for the economy today as world financial markets took a nose dive, setting new record losses. the World economy is now facing a possible global panic. All eyes are on Wall St.

Last November, I broke my economic silence and posted an article on the inevitable recession that we’re all headed for. The December that followed, witnessed the owned media beating us over the head with rosy optimism, sunny sales reports and news story after news story about how this Christmas sales season was doing just great. The propaganda was so thick, with so few voices of descent in the crowd, I myself began to question all of the research I poured into that last article. I reminded myself that this was an increasing trend over the past 10 years that the media sings the same tune the Wall St. powers dance to (after all their part of the same family). You know the tune: it’s that one where all the economic news jumps up and down with a big “For Sale” sign when the economy hits a downturn and sings loud sweet praises of the marketplace to the …

Well the smoke has cleared from the first decisive battle of the campaign. While there are a few smoldering bodies left among the carnage Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, the wounded list is the real story. Hillary’s expected loss, of course is the bigger story on the Democrat side, somehow the media seems to forget that she hadn’t really invested a whole lot in Iowa and is giving the full swing of momentum to Obama. Meanwhile, Huckabee walked away with a stunning victory over billionaire Romney. While the David and Goliath metaphors are roaring with the Evangelical Right, their victory in Iowa may be more attributed to the vast center of independents and moderates that are abandoning the Republican Party in droves.

The real story is in the numbers. Three times as many young people voted in the Iowa Caucus this round with a 4 to 1 margin going to the Democrats. Both Obama and Edwards attracted record numbers of Youth, in particular, Obama, who galvanized Iowa college students to show up and caucus, a feat …

Everywhere I look I see the news media ready to put up victory flags and declare the so-called “surge” a success. Just a few months ago, the Iraqi government was on the brink of collapse, civil war was not only inevitable, it was happening and Sen. John McCain couldn’t walk down the streets of a Baghdad market without a whole battalion to protect him. So this must mean that the “Liberal Media” was lying the whole time about Iraq right?

It all seemed too good to be true to me. That simply putting in a few thousand more troops was turning the tide in Iraq. Turns out, most of the success has had nothing to do with military engagements, and been attributed more to the actions of Sunnis, tired of infighting and tired of war and the collapse of the Mehdi Army (Sadr’s military force). Much of the success, such as in Anbar Province, has had nothing to do with the Surge at all.

So what, if it works, it works right? However, the success itself is somewhat a myth. Attacks are not down as much as the military as led to …

I found this post (& picture I made) from 2 years ago, that I surprisingly still feel is right on point for this holiday season. While 2 years ago, I had hoped the Plutocratic forces that are destroying our Democracy would be swept aside, this has, unfortunately, not come to fruition. In other words: the old man Potters of the world are alive and well.

They’re working hard to create uniform Pottersvilles all over the country, (a.k.a. Anytown U.S.A.) pushing decadent consumption (alcohol, gambling, consumerism) and seeking to break solidarity of the middle and lower classes by turning us into consumers. All they while they brand this “democracy” and through a vast expansion of media consolidation, they are discouraging descent, calling the right of protest, one of the oldest and most sacred American traditions, “unpatriotic”.

It is no secret that our country has headed down the wrong path. The economic, political and social gauges are all reflecting decline. China and Russia are on the rise and we’re locked into a state of continuous war. Ol’ George Orwell’s classic 1984, may be proven true yet, and I’m not even talking about all …

President Bush is back at his old tricks again, antagonizing the authority of state governments in favor of executive power.

The latest blow is one of his pet projects. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) declared today that the recent energy bill, signed by Bush just the other day, was enough to override the state’s right to set emissions standards, which of course were far tougher. The federal emissions standards, largely shaped by the Bush politburo, favor the auto industries who claim that higher emissions standards would hurt their already weak business.

Aside from the fact that this has enabled Detroit to destroy itself, by not offering vehicles that are fuel efficient enough for the marketplace (the 70s all over again), it supersedes the Republican claim of “State’s Rights”.

This isn’t, of course, about fuel emissions, this is about power, namely, the ongoing battle between federal and state authority.

The EPA claims their following a “clear national solution” to emissions standards, not some “patchwork of states”. While this smacks of federal executive power, it also looks suspiciously like corporatist authoritarianism, also known as Neo-Liberalism. …

Privatization doesn’t work! It has brought us nothing but scandals, like the deregulation energy debacle in California a few years back, huge corporate disintegrations like Enron (ironically tied to the CA energy scandals), and the worst disgrace of them all, the horrifying actions of private companies in Iraq.

The appalling actions of Blackwater can fill volumes on why privatization doesn’t work. It’s tied the U.S. mission to the actions of a rag-tag group of misfits armed with assault riffles and RPGs. While they’ve been in the headlines a lot lately, they are now, apparently, only part of the privatization problem in Iraq.

Halliburton & former child company KBR, contractors in Iraq, have been implicated for rape charges and are being sued for punitive and compensatory damages. The accusations are pretty serious, not to mention disturbing. What’s even worse, the accuser, Jamie Leigh Jones, is one of a growing number of victims coming forward to accuse KBR of sexual misconduct. The recent actions have prompted one Texas Republican Congressman to call Iraq, “the wild West."…

Rudy “9-11” Giuliani has a new campaign ad that highlights a glorious achievement in the Reagan Presidency (I can’t say that more sarcastically), claiming the way to stop terrorists is to do what the “Gipper” did and stand up to them, let em know who’s boss. In the ad, Rudy claims that Ronald Reagan negotiated the release of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis to get the hostages released within 1 hour of his inauguration as President, despite the fact that this is 100% false. The REAL negotiation actually took 4 months between President Carter’s Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Algerian intermediaries and representatives of the Ayatollah’s government. Christopher blamed Iranian mismanagement for the delayed release of American hostages till just one hour after Reagan’s swearing in.

To think that anyone with half a brain would think that between Reagan still celebrating his swearing in as President and all the media attention that the word hostage even entered his mind! Especially since Reagan was such a hands off President, lazy …

Frequent Soapblox.com readers have probably noticed the lack of Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert clips lately. I am a proud Daily Show/Colbert fan and a firm believer that their comedy duo is not only the funniest programming currently on television (by a wide margin), it is also the most intelligent programming a person can digest with accuracy that rivals and exceeds most local and network news shows. I’m not the only one who has said that Jon Stewart’s curse-filled commentaries on the absurdity of the Bush Administration are more intelligent than network news programs like, hmmm, let’s say “To Catch a Predator.” Surveys prove that Daily Show watchers are more informed than all of the network news shows, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and even Newspapers! (FYI Fox viewers and the morning news watchers came dead last), but I digress. Where is Jon Stewart? He’s been supporting the WGA Writer’s Guild strike against the big studios, and while I 100% support Stewart’s move, I must admit, I miss Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert’s biting criticism of current events….

Since the Iraq War began, the United States has had a diminished role in world diplomacy. Meanwhile the rest of the world has chugged along, taking great advantage of Uncle Sam’s present status, ankle-deep in bloody dessert sand, and manipulated the distracted Bush White House to their advantage. This weekend proved how dramatically weak the U.S. President has become.

No one has taken greater advantage of this than Russian President, Vladamir Putin, who has returned strength and authority to his office. He’s limited the once free press, bullied opposition into hiding, even been accused of having a rival poisoned with radioactive material (remember that story?), all the while he grows more powerful by the day. Last week Putin checked Bush’s plan to install anti-ballistic-missile systems in former Soviet countries, by announcing Russia’s departure from the 1990 Conventional Weapons Treaty that limited the use of heavy conventional weapons in Europe. It is, a slap at Bush and a slap at Europe, who have become increasingly critical of Russia’s backslide toward a strongman government….

One particular topic I take great interest in is our nation’s correctional facilities. I have had the opportunity to see what lies just beneath all the “tough-on-crime” rhetoric and law and order mumbo jumbo. Let me tell you, what I found when I turned over the bright, shiny polished rock of justice, was a colony of privatized leeches, bilking the tax payers and inmates out of as much money as possible. So when I read a BBC article last week that called America’s prison system a “costly failure,” I was not surprised. What did surprise me, however, is how little coverage it got here in the states. In fact, most of the links here are from outside of the U.S. Media. I knew that Corporate America had its greedy, money grubbing hands all over the prison system, but I had no idea that the story would be squashed so handily in favor of other stories that have already come and gone, with little resistance from the people or press. The fact of the matter is, America’s “tough on crime” bs, has cost them dearly, pretending it doesn’t exist cannot …

I did not watch last nights YouTube Republican Debate, nor have I ever really given a complete watch of any Republican Debate for that matter, however all the news that is pouring through the wires is electrified with bitter exchanges and other warlike moments of verbal vulgarity between Rudy “I was Mayor of New York during 9-11” Giuliani and Mit “the Morman” Romney. Both sides are locked in a pathetic display of “he started it” and “I’m the REAL victim” with Republican dark-horse Huckabee riding the degeneration wave to his highest crest yet. Unfortunately for all of the Presidential wanabees, the real loser of last nights debate was the Republican Party.

Republicans have a tradition of choosing, internally by right of power, the candidate they are going to push on to the rank and file Repubs. Rebels like John McCain have discovered that any attempt to cross this decision can be met with brutal force, as he did when Rove spread via push-polling, an untrue rumor of McCain fathering an illegitimate black baby in the South Carolina primary. The result destroyed McCain’s chances of besting our now infamously disastrous George “WWIII” …

These days, the doom and gloom about the American Economy seems to lie just beneath the surface. Many people are talking about the events that are shaking our sense of stability, however the implications of these events is largely kept silent. The “R word” has come up lightly here and there, yet most media outlets are remaining largely silent. They’re afraid to cry “fire” in the movie theatre, while the projection room slowly burns. Especially since a recession is not really a possibility at this point, it’s an inevitability, and it might get much worse.

I tend to stay away from economic stories here on Soapblox. It is very easy for one to get carried away with the tide of news, so I waited till the writing was on the wall, and boy is it ever on the wall now. Last week, Federal Reserve Chairmen Bernake announced that the economy was slowing, and what’s worse, he couldn’t lower interest rates any longer, as inflation is rearing it’s ugly head. Essentially that’s like George Bush telling Americans we’re losing the Iraq War. Sure we all know where this is …

Since fast-food has been on my brain lately, I couldn’t help but comment on the recent headline that is jolting Americans. It appears, according to a recent AP article, that one of the greatest things we can do to prevent Global Warming from getting worse is to clean up America’s piss-poor diet and exercise routine.

It really makes sense when you think about it. Our glutinous demand for fattening foods causes far more damage than it may seem.

First of all, our lazy asses should walk down to the Kentucky Fried Chicken, instead of driving. More cars on the road means more pollution, more smog and more carbon.

Second of all, feeding our selves with deep-fried-processed carcass in turn feeds the Mass-Mechanized-Slaughter-Industry. Mass-factory slaughter is not only unhealthy for the land (such as the contaminating of the water supply with an-imaginable amount of animal urine and feces), but the processing plants are infamous for pollution, not to mention it puts the small town farmer, the backbone of America, out …

I don’t normally recommend movies. People’s tastes vary so dramatically that it is often a pointless task. However last night I saw Fast-Food Nation. I expected a comedy like approach to fast-food, a la Supersize Me, or perhaps an advocacy film that beats you over the head with the ideals of being a vegan. Instead what I saw was a dramatic, intense and realistic mirror image of America’s unsustainable system of mass-mechanized-slaughter, illegal labor and corporate greed. It’s not a feel-good movie, however Fast Food Nation is the kind of film that should be mandatory viewing, especially for people who joyously indulge in their fast-food without a thought in their minds as to where it comes from.

I never read the original novel, although many around me did, I really had no idea that the story had very little to do with fast-food, and more to do with how and where America gets its food. The film is primarily a scathing look at the meat packing industry and the system of fast-food outlets that peddle the low-grade beef to the …

I always get a bit of a kick watching black and white logic fall on its ass. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Black and white logic tends to be the refuge of simple minded people, you know: “you’re either with us or against us” style thinking that dictates all decisions can be made simple when you see it as either black, or white. This logic is a staple of our own fearless leader, George W. “the W stands for War” Bush, and is struggling these days to make his stubborn theories on Democracy work.

Unfortunately for him, it comes at the expense of looking the fool.

Today Bush spoke about the difference between the U.S. hardline on Burma, and the relatively mute response to Pakistan President and military chief Pervez Musharraf’s seizure of power. Musharraf’s recent suspension of his nation’s constitution is the ultimate destruction of Pakistani democracy, and our support of this matter is the ultimate bastardization of Bush’s pledge to support the flowering of democracy abroad. Get this: Bush claimed the difference is that Pakistan had been on the path to democracy …

One dictator our beloved ideologically inept el Presidente Bush failed to stop is Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. While Bush rationalized the ailing war in Iraq by declaring the deed to stop a brutal dictator who"gassed his own people” and “hated freedom” as the noblest of the noble deeds a nation can do, Bush defended his relations with this dictator as necessary for the War on Terror. Meanwhile Pervez Hilton over there began to work behind the scenes making provisions against a potential backlash to his rule.

Yesterday that work came to fruition as the deeply unpopular “president” was faced with the possibility of losing power. He struck hard and fast, declaring martial law and arresting many of his biggest enemies, even going as far as to black out non-state-run television and arresting a Supreme Court justice.

It is the kind of move a CIA-backed Latin-American dictator would play at the height of the cold war, consolidating damn near absolute power while the U.S. slaps his wrist.
“Bad Musharraf, Bad!”
The desperate dictator has had everything go his way with the U.S. until now, since Bush may be forced, due to ideological …

Halloween has become a major holiday in this country. I can’t help but feel as if that this is a reflection of our cynical times. The decadence is abundant in all forms: sexuality, consumption of junk-food and spirits, greed, selfishness, excessive capitalism and encouraging bad behavior. It is a holiday you would expect the evangelical Right to assault, and yet, it has become a rare opportunity for Americans to be open about our decadent nature, rather than repress it as we always do. If we looked in the mirror a little more often than we do today, I think we’d see that we wear that Halloween mask far more than we think we do, and I’m glancing over to the Right side of the spectrum on that one.

Halloween, like many holidays, demonstrates a major facet of the American lifestyle, while it may not be a uniquely American holiday, we celebrate the holiday in a uniquely American way.

Halloween is a celebration of life and happiness. It’s these little things that keep us going each day, so let us enjoy this holiday in truest American fashion: be bad tonight, than wake up, feel …

Monday’s story, Citizen Newt, demonstrates influential Republican, Newt Gingrich’s strategic shift on environmental issues. Apparently he’s not the only one who sees impending doom coming to the Republican Party.

Former W. Bush speech writer, Michael Gerson, is not only saying what the Newt is saying, he goes even further, claiming that if Republicans don’t embrace more compassion, environmental as well as humanitarian issues, they will not only lose big in elections, but they will deserve to lose as well.

He professed these ideas on a recent episode of The Daily Show.

While Gerson warns that the lack of progress in these areas is very frustrating, it is a clear indicator that the Post-Bush/Reagan Republican Party will look very different from the way it does now. I imagine that it will have the same solid heartless core that it has always had, a pro-business elite view on economics and the distribution of power to the masses. However, the whole religious rhetorical manipulation, as well as the hatred of all things left of fascism, seems …

Newt Gingrich an environmentalist? Well, not quite.

In a recent interview, Newt Gingrich discussed his recent adoption of environmental issues and his new book: “A Contract with the Earth”.

Newt, however is no environmentalist. While he may be one of the few Republicans who accepts Global Warming, he claims that we can solve this issue with tax breaks and a significant increase in Nuclear Energy.

Politically, Newt is being sly, trying to get the jump on 2012. Since Republican defeat is a high possibility, and the collapse of the anti-Global Warming, head-in-the-sand, “the science is still out” Neo-Cons is eminent, he’s trying to carve out a new niche, tailored to the enviromentally conservationist elements found in the conservative movement.

Of course he mentions Teddy Roosevelt, who created our National Park System, and manages to give Nixon complete credit for the creation of the EPA. He fails to mention that Roosevelt was a Progressive who later fled the Republican Party to create his own Progressive (Bull-Moose) Party and in respect to the later, the Democratic Congress in the 70’s that pushed for the EPA.

He …

I can’t help but notice a strange numbness in the American public. I see it locally and I see it in the media, an almost fatigue from hearing a steady stream of bad news. We sure have had a lot of it these days. China is on the rise, U.S. is in decline, Iraq is a mess, our President turned out to be the dumb ass we all hoped he wasn’t (that goes for all Americans) and now he wants to go to war with Iran. The world feels like it’s inching towards the brink with no certainty, no great glorious cause or purpose and now out of nowhere, another natural disaster, possibly caused by climate change, the Southern California fires burns across the major media. It’s enough to send anyone to the loony bin.

There has been a serious decline in the quality of the American machine. Even our celebrities, which themselves are of a poorer quality than in …

A new CBO (Congressional Budget Office) report estimates the projected cost of the Iraq War, assuming we stay till 2017, may reach as high as $2.4 Trillion! That’s a cost of $8,000 per man, women and child living in the United States. Higher than the cost, adjusted for inflation, than the Vietnam War!

So when someone tells you the war doesn’t matter. First tell them to look at this webpage, showing casualties of U.S. soldiers nearing 4,000 and civilians well over 100,000 confirmed, then tell them it will cost them $8,000 for every person in their family. That is the equivalent, by the way, of a $400 a month health insurance plan for 20 years.

Republicans like Bush love to spend money, they just don’t like spending it on the health and prosperity of the nation’s taxpaying citizens. They prefer to spend the money on tanks, bullets and killing the citizens of another nation. If Republicans are so good at business, you’d think they’d know a good investment when they saw one. Spend the money on healthier, happier, harder working citizens, or blow it all on …

Over sized mouth piece, Rush “to Judgment” Limbaugh, is, to be frank, as useful to the American discourse as a large bag of hot air. I have called him “the rash” in the past and the more I think about it, the more I see that this analogy is entirely accurate.

In past weeks the Rash lashed out at soldiers who spoke out against the war, calling them “phony soldiers”. Senate Democrats jumped on the opportunity and wrote him a letter (wow, sock it to em Dems [sarcasm]). A letter the bloated loud mouth auctioned off on EBay for a hefty sum, proceeds as you might expect, went to some right leaning charity that provides scholarship funds to the children of, specifically, Marines and Federal Law enforcement personnel (whatever that means) who are killed in the line of duty. The rumor mill has not been cranking out stories of typical Republican crookedness in regards to this charity, so we can give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume they’re not funneling the money into some sort of slush fund to …

There’s a rising tide of bitterness these days reverberating out of the right. I guess that’s what happens when your movement has failed and has nothing to show for it.

First off,
the fair and balanced team at Fox News unleashed a flurry of bitterness over Al Gore’s recent Nobel Prize win, going as far to equate the awarding of the prize itself to other controversial winners such as Yassar Arrafat. Sean Hannity went even further, saying he’d give the Nobel Prize back, if it were awarded to him, later saying he’d then give it to U.S. soldiers. Lol

Uhm, Mr. Hannity, I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about what to do with a Nobel Prize, although, if the Nobel committee ever lost its mind and handed out a Nobel for pathetic yammering of regurgitated mental mush, which you may or may not win, but if you did win, then I can think of a few places where you can stick it.

Seriously, he said it. Check out what Jon Stewart …

Virginia is becoming a blue state! Well that’s all right-wing divisive political strategy to begin with. However, by their own play book, they’re one election away from losing the grand old capital of the Confederacy to reasonably centrist Democratic candidates, or as Repubs call em, Communist, Left-Wing, Liberal, radicals.

Former governor and popular Democrat Mark Warner is so far ahead in the polls that it would take a force of macaca proportions to bring him down. Since this is the state that brought you George Allen and the great macaca collapse of 2006, I wouldn’t rule anything out.

If Virginia becomes a blue state, certainly the entire strategy of the Republican divisive culture war will begin to erode even further. While they play heavily on the heartland, their effectiveness in the South borrows from political plays first used immediately after the Civil War. The fear of government angle, was used for 100 years to scare poor white Southerners into fearing the big bad federal government from coming into their home counties and telling them that they couldn’t segregate a …

You know it’s funny, when I was a kid I hated to watch the morning shows because they were too newsy. Today I don’t watch them because they are garbage. All news has been confined to the first hour, the early 7am run, and that hour seems to get smaller and smaller with each passing day. Today I awoke to the first hour of Good Morning America with little expectations, and was disappointed still. They spent almost 12 minutes on the shooting in Cleveland (a far cry from the coverage given to similar tragedies in whiter schools) and less than 30 seconds on an insurgent attack on a U.S. base. Then they moved on to lighter fare. Did you know that a story like David Hasselhoff’s alcoholic relapse can make national network news these days? I mean as if Britney Spear’s custody battle was useless enough, now we have more information being piped into our brains with the nutritional value of a Twinkie.

Slow news day? Hmmm, let’s check:
Aside from the barely …

I would like to kick off our new rant section with a quick thought. In last night’s debate, John McCain, when asked about why the polls suggest Americans prefer Democrats to handle the economy, responded with a list of Bush’s failures. He topped it all off with a heavy emphasis on spending, saying “We’ve got to get wasteful spending under control.”

I may be pointing out the obvious here, it just really grinds my gears when Republicans talk about spending like it means something. It’s such a ho hum issue. I mean, I believe in the virtues of a balanced budget, but come now, I don’t have trouble sleeping at night thinking about quarterly fiscal reports from the General Accounting Office of Congress.

Don’t get me wrong, good things begin with a tidy financial house. That being said, the guys who talk about controlling spending the most ran the surplus Clinton made into the ground. So if it’s such a problem, repeal Bush’s tax-cuts for the wealthy and end the trillion dollar war. Problem solved. But to say that spending is the biggest problem facing America today? What a …

The Era of Reagan is over!

Well it’s finally official. Break out your Champaign bottles and shake them till it hurts. The Republican juggernaut has broken down, and they are in such a state of confusion, they are facing an ideological crisis that is comparable to the intellectual collapse of the Democrats in the ‘70s.

A few days ago, well known conservative NY Times writer David Brooks, you know, that guy with the glasses and the annoying ties, wrote an article called “The Republican Collapse”. This comes one year after Tucker Carlson, from the more centrist wing of the Republican party, wrote a similarly themed article, although far less sympathetic. I took the opportunity after Carlson’s article to declare an official pendulum swing. I did not base that declaration solely on Carlson, the sea had changed, Carlson was merely the first sailor to jump ship, and therefore, a strong indicator that the ship was sinking. Today, on the heals of Brook’s article, we see not only the ship is sinking, it’s capsized!

Brooks’ public acknowledgment of the intellectual collapse of the Right, is long overdue. We over here …

You know, you really gotta hand it to good ol’ President Bush. Just when you think he can’t make any more of an ass out of himself, he tops his earlier efforts, each time, with actions that reach stunning new heights of idiocy.

In case you haven’t seen it, President Bush not only mistakenly proclaimed that Nelson Mandela was “dead", he attributed his death to Saddam Hussein!

You can see the bit on the Daily Show, the only news agency to cover the story. Check out the whole Daily Show clip over at ifilm.

Well, if John Stewart’s call did not convince you, lol, then check here at the Nobel Prize website, or this story, one of the few agencies to even cover the story (ironically the government owned Voice of America), in which the Mandela foundation fires back. Nelson Mandela was not indeed killed by Saddam Hussein, nor was he killed at all. He’s alive, old but still ticking, and still involved in political life, although he is retired. He …

Senate Republicans killed a measure led by Jim Webb, Virginia Democrat and father of a U.S. Soldier in Iraq, that would have required the armed services to give a soldier more time to recover after serving a tour of duty. The amount of time at home would have been equal to the amount of time served in a combat theater. Republicans claimed that the strategy would have forced a draw down of troop deployments and that ultimately Democrats were just playing politics with our soldiers. The same message has been echoed by the White House for just about every issue from Iraq right on down to investigations of the Bush White House itself. It is after all, politics, to criticize politicians for being politicians.

“They’re just playing politics” is a familiar cry. Former Attorney General “Gonzo” Gonzalez said the attacks levied against him were all politically motivated, that the simple fact he led the Department of Justice to what has been called the worst period in it’s history with the lowest morale, was just not enough to motivate Democrats. As long as Republicans went along with defending Gonzo, even …

Today Blackwater got banned from Iraq. What is Blackwater you might ask? Good question. Short answer: A private security company hired by the U.S. to “defend” high value targets like Ambassador Crocker. The long answer, includes a company known for pulling the trigger more often than it should and is basically a private mercenary army that is not accountable to the Iraqi government, nor the United States.

Here is an in depth expose in print to bring you up to snuff. Frontline also did an excellent program on these guys, as well as KBR, Halliburton’s old detachment. The entire show is available online for viewing.

The nation also did a short clip available on YouTube. click here if video does not show

So what does it mean that Blackwater got banned? A whole lot more than Bush wants you to know. Blackwater has been used by the U.S. as a back channel black ops force. I mean, these are the guys that guarded Iraq Chief Paul Bremmer, and now Ambassador Crocker. They are very influential. …

Comedian Leslie Neilson, of Naked Gun fame, could not play a better idiot than the character current President, George W. Bush plays every day. At the recent APEC summit, ol’ W. lived up to his reputation as idiot in chief by first referring to the APEC summit as the “OPEC” summit, then calling Australian troops “Austrian”.

I mean I know we all make mistakes, we all blunder sometimes. Slick Willie Clinton even f’d up a few times once in the State of the Union saying he wanted to make our neighborhoods more liberal instead of livable. Kerry’s botched joke was also a colossal blunder.

However, these guys have nothing on Bush, who is the reigning champion of engaging the mouth without proper coordination of the brain. We can’t forget his being caught on mic once talking smack about a NY Times reporter, the time he got caught on mic at the G-8 acting the fool and of course my personal favorite, the time he told a group of Japanese investors he planned to devalue the Yen instead of deflate it. The gaffe cost the Japanese stock …

The little Dutch boy would need to hire a crew of Mexicans to help him plug all the holes in the Bush Administration’s wall of defense. Unfortunately for them, Alberto Gonzales was not one of them today. His clear failure to defend the shady handling of the firing of 9 attorneys for political purposes has left Bush and his cronies defenseless to the Senate investigative committees, which are now looking directly at the White House. Bush and his cronies, coming off the fresh sentence commutation for convicted perjurer Scooter Libby, have refused to cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee, allowing two supenaed associates to simply refuse to show up. In other words Bush told the Committee to go f___ themselves.

Today, Gonzales took the stand in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend their recent actions. The Senate was baffled by this seemingly mafia-like attitude that they don’t even have to respect Congress enough to show up and lie. A lot of Senators have been rumbling on the Republican side of the aisle these days and they’ve been finding their unquestionable loyalty …

Our glorious leader today declared that he opposed expanding the nation’s small, but popular health care insurance plan for low income families, State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) based on what his staffers call “philosophical grounds.”

If that isn’t the height of just-too-muchary. He claims it is “enlarging the role” of the federal government and therefore he must veto the Democratic led plan because “you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government.”

Uhm. Duh! Private insurance has proven year after year with increasing velocity that it has failed. It puts too heavy of a burden on small businesses as well as large, too heavy of a burden on middle class families, especially low-income families, and has led to skyrocketing costs in the development of pharmaceuticals and fancy cutting edge treatments. Sure the rich have state-of-the-art medical care, its just that a vast majority of people don’t have access to good medical care. The myths of the long lines and wait times in universal health-care countries is blown way out of proportion and the horror stories told in Micheal Moore’s film Sicko are not isolated incidents. My own …

What is a Republican anyway? What the hell do they stand for? They now claim about the Democrats what we’ve been claiming about them for years: that they don’t really stand for anything. They define themselves by opposition to every single issue they believe in. They’re anti-immigration, anti-abortion, anti-government, anti-homosexuals, anti-civil-rights, anti-separation of church and state, and anti-union. The only thing they stand for is pro-business, pro-war and pro-intrusion on civil-liberties which they all mask behind cute little phrases like they do with abortion. Let’s take a look at these Republicans a little closer. While we see them as ultimately voting against there own interests, they see themselves as fighting for freedom and democracy. In truth they are victims of one of the most brilliant political rouses in history.

The point is that the Right’s lack of a true ideology is more than just mere politics, it is a grand façade for the pro-business elite to begin constructing a Neo-Liberal state in this country. Yes I said the L word, but I’ve been hearing Neo-Liberal used by the Right to explain why Bush failed and I have to laugh, Bush and the entire Republican Party are Neo-Liberal. They wish to create …

While the site went through 9 months of preparation, the official birth of Soapblox came on a warm summer day in 2005, it was July 4th. Since that day, not much has changed here at Soapblox. We have learned a lot in the past 2 years on how to make this site work. It hasn’t been easy, yet we’re still cranking out the material trying to stand up for the things we believe in the most. There are many more readers as well. The numbers continue to increase month to month and it certainly helps. Having people read this stuff is the sole reason we do it. Profit is not our intention, and believe me we haven’t seen it. What keeps us above water? Our passion. While we have grown, the spirit has remained the same. We are still very small, the bulk of the content comes from my own pen and the operation is still for the most part an underground broadside operation.

Broadsides and small pamphlets are what spread the fires of revolution across the Thirteen Colonies, making names for men like Thomas Paine and giving voices to those who sought …

I know we Americans like to think our health care system is the best in the world but it is not. Just because people with a good PPO plan and spend $1000 a month are taken care of, doesn’t mean the rest of us are. All the statistical data proves this, as far as quality, mortality rates, life expectancy, the U.S. falls to 37th in overall health ranking according to the World Health Organization. Michael Moore tackles this issue in his latest film “Sicko", and you know when Moore’s on the case, the powers that be start to feel the heat.

Michael Moore is equally as divisive a character as he is passionate. He’s stuck his neck out for so many tough issues like the factory closings of multi-national General Motors, the issue of guns, our culture of media induced fear and the ease of which nutjobs can obtain weapons, the war on Iraq and the crooked agenda of President Bush and now universal health care. So far, Moore has been right about all of his previous films topics, as proven with GM’s further factory closings, that wacko at Virgina …

Some would say that President Bush is a lame duck, others such as U.S. News and World Report are now saying he’s a dead duck, and not only dead, but the deadest duck since Richard Nixon.

What will be said of President Bush when all is said and done? What accomplishments will he be credited for? As far as I can see, the best thing he did was the lobby shaped, problem riddled buy out to the health care industry called Medicare D, A.K.A. the prescription drugs program. This program is so full of holes seniors came to it with very little enthusiasm and have spoken of it since with the same fervor. A third of it’s budget went to the Insurance companies and other health care providers so they would come on board, that’s $4 Billion! $4 Billion just so they would cooperate, perhaps the largest payoff in history!

He also made it harder for middle class families to file for bankruptcy, and easier for corporations to collect from those same middle class families with the 2001 Bankruptcy act. We all know how hard it’s been for the credit …

Some wars are about doing the world a favor by removing a great evil regime from power, some wars are about aggressive expansion and conquest, while others still are ill thought out ventures stubbornly clung to by a nation, too convinced of its own glory to accept defeat. So what is the Iraq War about? Well, unfortunately, it breaks the lines of traditional ideology. It’s proponents feel it was doing the world a favor, while it’s opponents feel it was aggressive expansion. Many see it as becoming rapidly or already is an ill thought out venture we are mired in.

In actuality, this was a war about the old corporate dollar. The finesse of companies like Halliburton in avoiding the inevitable talk of war crimes is absolutely disturbing. Halliburton has moved it’s offices to Dubai, out of the United States, to flee the possibilities of being prosecuted for their horrible crimes in this war. Halliburton then shed there military company KBR, so it can be said that it is a former Haliburton company, when the talk of fraud, poor oversight, negligence and ‘missing …

While Americans are all snuggled up to their viewing screens, watching cats flush toilets on YouTube or the latest quasi-celebrity learn how to do the Samba on the ol Idiot Box, American Troops on the front of our great war have engaged in a massive operation to retake the Iraqi Countryside, and bring glory and heroism to the war’s architects.

So far this week, which began with the quiet announcement of a major operation in Central Iraq’s Sunni territories, has claimed 30 American soldiers, 14 in the last 48 hours alone and an unknown number of Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire. This latest attempt to prove to the world that Bush and Cheney were correct to senselessly and recklessly invade a third world nation has come at a major price, paid in full with American and Iraqi blood.

Just a reminder to those escaping the realities of the world that every day your money is financing the death and destruction of good people, all for a cause that has changed so many times the White House doesn’t even know what for anymore.

May we soon bring an end to this awful tragedy….

This is too good for words. Vice President and potential war criminal Dick “the devil” Cheney is now claiming his office will not comply with a Presidential order requiring him to disclose the number of classified documents they generate because the Vice President’s office is not “within the executive branch". He is now claiming the Vice Presidency is part of the Legislative Branch, even though the office of the Vice Presidency is mentioned in the part of the Constitution that creates the Executive Branch.

Hell, maybe Congress can censure the bastard!

This is a dangerous argument as one, it undermines the executive orders of the President, and two, it undermines Congress’ right of oversight, while carving out an institution not mentioned in the Constitution, one that answers to no one.

What are you hiding Mr. Cheney? Is it information that will incriminate you for starting an aggressive war responsible for death in the hundereds of thousands? Is it information that proves you were in leagues with your former company and big oil, profiting from selling defective equipment to our soldiers at gouge-level prices? Or is …

In the spirit of the previous article, I threw together a quick Dick Cheney pic, nothing too shaby. I wanted to get that notorious smerk of his instead of the evil Dick pose (the man is capable of 3 expresions: cocky-smerky prick, slightly less cocky-smerky prick or what his allies call his charm and down right evil Dick), however I could not find the right angle so I went for the obvious.

As a hardworking, loyal, tax paying citizen, I die a little every day knowing that not only is my nation trampling over a foreign land with thoughts of imperial conquest, war economy and oil extraction, but the fact that I’m paying for it, like it or not, makes it all the worse. That soon to be trillion dollar war took money that could have been spent on improving our schools, creating mass transit, job training for our nation’s future economic hopes, improving our parks, building monuments and extending an economic hand to those who could use it. Instead we have blown our wad on the systematic destruction of a 3rd world country, killed 300,000-600,000 innocent people and set respect for America back 50 years.

What really grabs me by the jewels is the fact that not only do WE hard working citizens have to pay for it, the Oil companies, who stood to benefit the most, had Iraq worked, don’t feel they should pay into the American system. Thanks to Republicans, who blocked a measure Democrats hoped to pass that would force Oil companies to pay for green initiatives, today they can rest …

This is a classic example of reality in this country. On the one hand you have a bunch of right-wing ideologues righteously claiming the U.S. people should support our troops, and those same elitist people funnel billions of dollars to their own inner circle of arms manufacturers, contractors and private security forces while our own soldiers can’t even get their own mail! While Bush once said: “We should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm’s way,” he has proven that even in the light of the Walter Reed scandals, they haven’t even been able to turn around the mail system in our nation’s most prominent military hospital.

That’s right, a recent backlog of 4,500 pieces of mail was found at Walter Reed. That’s the same Walter Reed that proved incapable of taking care of our nation’s bravest, subjecting them to deplorable conditions and now, proving that they can’t even deliver the mail to the wounded, the very people Mr. Bush used and continues to use to sell his bloody war to the American public. These poor souls are facing …

(Updates at bottom of article)

Today was not a good day for World Bank Chief Paul “the ware” Wolfowitz. His allies are walking away from him as if he was a dead man walking, and his enemies are salivating at his demise.

As you may have read, we’ve been keeping a close eye on this story. If your new to Soapblox, you can catch our early commentaries here.

Today however, the story has finally broken wide open.

First off, as reported today by the Wall Street Journal, of one of his top aides, Kevin Kellems, has resigned, citing the scandal as a interfering with his ability to work. Now Kellems is no ordinary top aide. He’s been linked to Wolfowitz since his days at the Defense Department, so in other words, his career and fate are linked to Wolfowitz as well. His departure is a signal that even his closest allies see the scandalized idea man as a lost cause.

Salon.com sees it as an even bigger symbol. The demise of the Neo-Conservative (neo-cons) movement.

Listen to this quote on the end result of their movement:
Now their worldview is in tatters. Their …

Solid evidence that Republicans are signaling an end to support for the Iraq War has emerged over this past week. Republican centrists and those in leadership positions have revealed serious discontent for the current war and are hinting at alternatives to long-term deployment.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that the beginning phases will begin this year that will begin a long and slow withdrawal from Iraq. There will be no escalation beyond the surge. The surge is not showing significant results today and will likely not show them tomorrow. Republicans, who are now signaling that a September report of the Iraq Generals will make or break their future support for the Iraq conflict. It’s the opening, those who don’t wish to see the Republican Party die a painful death, are looking for, and that would constitute most of the elected Republican officials in office today outside of the White House.

Dick Cheney may not care about the Republican Party’s future, but for damn sure the rest of the party does.

The future of their party depends on ending this war. Therefore, being cynical and realistic here, I …

You know one thing that has always been true about the Bush Administration is it always keeps its priorities straight. With the war in Iraq going very badly, the economy heading into recession, the health care system in shambles and many of their own officials under investigation for everything from abuse of power to consumption of prostitution, they still know who the real enemy is…

Micheal Moore.

Yes that’s right. Michael Moore, who was over in Cuba filming “Sicko” his next endeavor and scathing criticism of the U.S. healthcare system, has been ordered to explain why he took 10 ailing rescue workers, allegedly sick from 9-11 clean-up, down to Cuba to experience their free socialist healthcare system for treatment.

Well isn’t it obvious what’s going on here? Michael Moore is planning to use the 10 ailing rescue workers to spark a Cuban take over of Guantanamo Bay, thus sparking international uprisings against the U.S. leading to a full blown commie revolt in all of the Americas and global oppression at the hands of evil authoritarian whack jobs like Mr. Moore. Thank God …

You might have heard by now of the amazing GOP tribute to Ronald Reagan given to him at the GOP Presidential Debate, and I don’t mean there was a moment of silence or a montage of highlights, I mean the debate itself. They competed with each other over who was the Reaganiest, and quite frankly, I was wondering when it would degenerate just a little further into a pissing contest:
“I’m more like Reagan because I’ve always hated taxes, way back to when I was 4 years old!”
“Oh yeah, well I’m more like Reagan because I love corporate money. Make me Prez and I’ll be an even bigger shill than he was!”
“Oh yeah, well I saw all of his movies, even Bedtime for Bonzo, and I never missed an episode of General Electric Theater.”
“Yeah well I had his DNA shot directly into my bloodstream! Top that!”

It really is amazing all the hoopla given to Reagan. Especially since the Gipper, all be it a very influential President, really at the end of the day wasn’t that great of a president.

Yes I’m going there. Not to disrespect the guy, I just really don’t …

Just look at that face. Shrewd and decisive. A “decider” if you will.
But what other emotions can we pull from this face? Keeping in mind this is emotion #3 from a short list of prefab emotions, concocted to convince you of his enormous down-home-ness,

Honesty? You say? Well I think we know the answer to that question. Integrity? Hmmm, no not quite, considering half his cabinet is either been indicted, under investigation, should be indicted or living it up with hookers. Intelligence? Wow, not by a long shot.

Turns out, that’s the face of command.

Today our fearless leader declared, in his usual condescending tone: “The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders? As you know, my position is clear – I’m the commander guy”

Can’t you just see him, slouched over that podium, talking to us Americans as if we have a hard time pronouncing the word ‘transmission’. “You see here, my fellow Americans, you come from a country called America, and I, am your leader. Just call me the Commander in uhm… uhm.. uh..
ah hell just call me the Commander Guy!”

What a maroon!

Well I’ll give him one …

Hookergate II (not to be confused with the CIA hooker scandal last year) is now in effect, and the D.C. madame and ABC News, who have her list, will be releasing some names. Once again, it is a laugh riot watching the media respond to any headline that has the word sex in it. It seems to me, that we live in a second age of yellow journalism, where anything that catches your attention, and sells advertising space, is news.

That being said, let’s bring on the hookers!

Get this: Ms DC Madame now claims, the REAL reason she squashed outed hooker consumer and former Deputy Sec. of State Randal Tobias, was to help smoke out potential witnesses to help prove her services are legal. I suppose next she’ll say that her hookers were giving the money they raised not having sex to fight poverty and fund education. Considering her services were primarily college girls, she may have a point. Especially since that’s the same schlock that college girls who work in the sex trade tell others and themselves while they whore themselves for material gain. There have always been hookers, it’s …

Yes there is yet another scandal coming from the Bush Adminsitration. This time, it’s Condi Rice’s right hand man (and that now takes on new meaning), Deputy Sec. of State Randall L. Tobias has admited to ABC News that he was the customer of a D.C. prostitution ring.

But it gets better.

Tobias is one of those abstinence is the only way to stop AIDS advocates. Yes that’s right, one of Bush’s “moral” high grounders, who walked around to schools telling kids that the only safe sex is no sex and is married by the way, has admitted to being a consumer of illegal prostituion.

But it gets even better.

Tobias claims there was no sex. Like Ted Haggard before him, Tobias is one of those guys who meets with hookers to try and convince them that abstinance is the way to go. Also, he’s a man of principle. He understands that a hookers gotta eat, so while they spend their time locked away in a sleazy motel room praying for our troops and discussing how to convince youngsters of the evils of sex, he is sure to pay up front. Of course there was …

Yes, that is George W. Bush. No this isn’t a comedy sketch that was planned.

[If you can’t see the video click here to view]

I’ve got to hand it to him though; he is a better dancer than he is a president. Too bad he’s a lousy dancer.

Try to imaging if you will, that while U.S. soldiers are killed abroad, while Iraqi citizens are slain in brutal bomb attacks, while the U.S. economy goes to pot, while parents grieve in Virginia, while millions in Africa are dying of disease, which is what this whole press conference is all about…

Our fearless leader still takes the time to honor Malaria Awareness day with song and dance. Sure there’s nothing wrong with tossing one off once in a while, but while the President claimed that he wouldn’t tell jokes at last weeks White House Correspondence Dinner (opting instead to let famed antique comedian Rich Little tell 20 year old jokes [see below]), he goes off and makes an ass of himself in front of the whole world anyway. I think the President was right the first time.

Shut up and get to …

I found this interesting. Gonzales getting pummeled at a Senate hearing on his involvement in the U.S. Attorney scandals, by none other than Republican Arlen Specter. Granted Specter is really more of an independent or a Democrat at this point, he’s a traditional Republican in the truest sense, which shows you how far to the right the Republicans have gone.

Gonzales is trying to defend his position that charges members of the Bush Administration for leaning on numerous U.S. attorneys to act in the interest of political campaigns, including to drum up investigations against Democrats and to pull attorneys working on rape and murder cases to satisfy an illegal immigration Republican running in Southern California.

Here is a time line.

This is abuse of power if I’ve ever seen it. It is not unethical to fire attorneys because they are not doing their jobs, but to fire them because they are not helping Republicans get elected is not just a misuse of government resources, it sets a frightening precedent. If they use the U.S. attorneys for strictly partisan political ends, then how else will they use the law to further their cause? Where will it end?

___

Then the …

I’m a believer in the right to bare arms to a certain degree, and I understand why so many Americans want to defend that right. However, isn’t it just plain common sense to prevent guys like Cho, with a mental record and several police disturbances, from getting weapons so easily?

I mean come on, if we believe that guns don’t kill people, people kill people, then protecting the rights of gun owners is dependent on keeping people who kill people from getting guns.

You’ve seen him, I’m sure, but take a look again. Look into his eyes. Should this guy be allowed to own a gun? Should he be allowed to buy so many bullets so easily? Should he have been allowed to purchase multiple guns?

While this country wipes the tears from its brow from what is now being called the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history, I want to take a moment to share my grief as well as point out a few things I’ve noticed.

The nation seems almost dumbfounded by this latest catastrophe. Living in a docile state of severe confusion, trying to reconcile this absolutely pointless and horrible act with the increasing levels of violence that are surrounding us. What’s worse, this shooting spree was not a wake up call or a warning or anything that can be turned positive. It is an awful tragedy that claimed 32 lives because a mentally unstable South Korean student couldn’t find content in his life and blamed it on rich kids.

Is it fair that one distressed boy can take out his anger on more than 50 people? Of course not. This time however, there is no one to blame. The killer is gone, no justice will be dealt. All we are left with is hurt, sorrow and confusion.

The politicians jumped into the ring as usual. President Bush is of course at the forefront. Presidents often make political capital …

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

The Bush regime is so crooked, so backward, so prone to elitism that they can’t even stay out of trouble in places where its almost impossible to get into trouble.

Paul “the Where?” Wolfowitz is now caught in a scandal where he funneled a plush job and unjustifiable massive raises to a secret, Libyan-born lover. Sounds juicy doesn’t it?

Paul Wolfowitz was given the position of President of the World Bank as a thank you gift. A thank you for all the hard work he did to get this country to invade Iraq, but also a strategic maneuver. A Now that you’ve become a lightening rod, please take this well regarded, but quiet and out of the way, esteemed position where you can play with the lives of third world countries at your political will type of maneuver. Since Americans don’t care about the World Bank, it is supposed to be a quiet place where disgraced leaders, like Vietnam era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, can go to catch some R&R and even do some good in the world like combating the spread of diseases, a place to regain one’s lost soul.

Yet the werewolf …

Yes it is true, I have actually decided to write a new article here at Soapblox. It has been a long time coming, and I have had many planned articles, yet somehow, a brief hiatus turned into near cancellation. Well I suppose in the long run it was for the best. I needed some time away from the whole political scene as looking down the tunnel of our future light seems very far from vision.

They thought the party would never end.

Looking back on the 9 months of away time I’ve spent, a lot has changed in my own life, and in the hallowed halls of Washington D.C. President Bush’s rock star rise was met with the inevitable rock star fall, and ever since the great election of 2006, the pendulum of political momentum has begun a might swing in the opposite direction.

The Republicans in their late days of power had all …

I always knew someday conservatives would be asking the question prominently on the minds of most rational Americans: Is George W. Bush an idiot? I just never knew that it would happen less than 2 years after his re-election. Conservative talking head Joe Scarborough recently asked that question on his show, and posted in his blog what can only be called an attempt to put distance between him and Bush, effectively putting his Libertarian cloak back on, pretending to be a friend of the little guy, calling Bush “not conservative".

Scarborough is no friend of anyone left of the wrong right, but he’s no idiot. He obviously is preparing for a massive disaster in the Bush camp, and has leaned on the same strategy all conservatives have, either one, saying Bush is not a true conservative and pretend to be Libertarian (which are opposing ideologies btw) and rant and rave about how Bush never met a spending bill he didn’t like, stuck America’s nose where it shouldn’t have and failed in the efforts of war. Or there’s door number two, pretend Bush is not conservative enough, and chant the neo-con …

In a new oppinion peice, Washington Post Oppinion Editor E. J. Dionne Jr. slams the Bush Administration for using fear politics in what he calls “a crowd that has clung to power by dividing us into bitter camps” and goes further, saying we will never move beyond angry partisanship, bitter politics and divisive rhetoric until this lot “gets the rebuke it deserves.” AMEN!

You see, the Republicans, now feeling the sting from Lieberman’s loss, plus a new poll from CNN, which is all over the political sphere, claims that 60% of the country is opposed to the Iraq War. A new ground swell of grass roots Progressive politics is emerging from small towns, urban communities and even suburban track villages. This movement has not nearly achieved its potential and it is growing. It’s an undeniable force now in the world of politics, and Lieberman’s loss is our battle cry, a sign of the amazing potential this movement has to destroy the powers that be, and usher in a new era of bipartisan true reform. The powers that be, are afraid, and will do anything to keep the status quo …

Poor Joe,

His crusade to defend the average American Democrat who is indecisive on the war, loves religion and apparently believes anything Bush says has apparently failed. I suppose his twisted idealogy of warfare, do-nothing politics and religion garnered little sympathy from anyone left of the right-wing nutjobs that call themselves Republicans and/or moral human beings (you can fill in here with any insulting comment you like). Poor Joe! Oh poor pathetic Joe. I suppose it’s all over for you… or is it!

I’m guessing he may pull it out just yet in the arms of his new found Republican friends. Should we worry? YES!

This man is not one of us, but if he wins, he may, or may not cast the vote to the appropriate side. After all, it is most important that this right winger cast his official vote to the Democrats (not to specific bills, but to Senatorial power [which would add one more vote to the Dems]), ultimately deciding leadership rolls and the agenda of the entire Senate. Let us not as Progressives make more enemies than we need. We have enough enemies. Progressivism is about reaching out. About …

Everywhere I look now, I see the Republican movement faltering and in full retreat. It was not long ago that conservatives like Mary Matalin, high off their victory in 2004, proclaimed Liberalism is dead. Now, no more than a year later, it seems to many such as Tucker Carlson (YES TUCKER CARLSON) that the real proclamation is “What went wrong with the Republican Party?", as described in his Cato Newsletter entry “The Decline and Fall of the Republican Party.” Yes, it seems as if the era of far-right domination, ushered in under Reagan, carried forward during Clinton and the Republican congress and topped off with 6 miserable years under Bush, has finally run its course.

Of course many, such as your devoted muck racking writer, among many other more respected journalists have seen this coming for years. Hell, I’ve been predicting it for so long, many friends are angry at me for not seeing the prediction come to light. While it is still far too early to break out the champagne and celebrate, it is time to gather the dogs of war and encircle the …

Let me start by saying this: I own thousands of albums. I literally have
somewhere in the ballpark of 1300 CDs at home and also a fair number
sitting in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. They have called asking me
to clear out those CDs, as well as another 1000 albums on cassette and
vinyl, and even a couple of 8-tracks I once picked up at a pawn shop in a
misguided attempt to be cool. (Ah wayward youth!)

With almost as much clarity as I remember waking up hungover on September
11th 2001 to a frantic answering-machine message from a friend yelling
something about planes and terrorists, I recall the first time I loaded up
Napster (then a free and unenforced haven for file-traders). The program
that opened in front of me prompted me to search for an artist (a task I
had attempted many a time before on FTP-portal sites and IRC channels). I
typed Radiohead, and hit the enter key. The screen filled up with
hundreds…maybe thousands…of clickable links….albums, bootlegs,
singles, b-sides. The stuff I could buy at normal price and the rare items
with $50 Ebay reserves, sitting side …

Recently, Ventura Blvd. in Studio City has been littered with dollar bills that have bizarre and mostly unintelligable rants scrawled along the edges. At least that’s what it seemed like as bill after bill kept turning up in planters or nestled in the cracks in the sidewalk. Most likely a person would not have “spent” these dollars without a message or purpose that they thought was important. But if they did have an ultimate purpose, then it was definitely lost on me.

Fast forward a few weeks to browsing comments on Myspace. A graphic of a dollar bill with the same sort of writing (only more focused and politically slanted) was posted on the comments section of a blog. It turns out it was from a profile called Dollar Disobedience. They are trying to create a new type of protest flyer, one that people “can’t throw away.” It sounds good in concept, and it worked to the extent that I took the time to at read some of what was written on the bill. But did it open my eyes to anything new? Were these few words going to change …

Conservative anger grows over Bush’s foreign policy. Who wouldn’t be! Bush has led this country into one disastrous quagmire of a war in Iraq, another failing effort in Afghanistan, Somalia is now under al Qaeda backed Islamic control, Iran has nuclear capability, North Korea now has nuclear weapons with missiles, Israel has invaded Lebanon and the peace process is in ruins (decades behind) and the entire world hates us. Terrorism is much stronger today than it ever was before Bush came to office and the world is a far less safe place today than it was in 2000.

This is the direct result of what has been coined “Cowboy Diplomacy". It basically isn’t diplomacy at all. It is a declared statement of intent, followed by action. Sounds tough, but tell me what’s tough about rushing into a fight you know nothing about. Cowboy diplomacy also brought us indifference in the Middle East, allowing Israel to overplay its hand, and severe agitation among other world leaders, not to mention allowing Somalia to fall into enemy hands. How can anyone forget how Cowboy Diplomacy brought us a breakdown in dialogue with Iran and North Korea, which are free to …

Nasty Ann Coulter, the venomous foul mouthpiece of the Right, is coming under attack for plagiarism. Yes that’s right, her infamous new book, which no doubt will sell well to suckers who eat up her useless ramblings, is plagued with passages lifted literally word for word from other sources. Her work has also been called sloppy and lacking of academic merit, as she used passages completely out of context and intended to boost her credibility where credibility is severely lacking.

Ms. Coulter is famous now for railing on 9-11 widows as “harpies” who may have been divorced from their husbands anyway! She also told them all to shut up and sit quiet because she could not attack them! This unspeakable hypocrisy comes as she exploited the death of 9-11 victims anyway, using it as verbal ammunition to help propel this country in to a war it did not need. She says she can’t attack the widows, but apparently she can. Just as anyone in this country is free to use their fame to make naive and moronic statements. It is just simply sad that her books keep selling. Proving that one …

Happy Birthday to Soapblox!

While we had a large 9 month or so preparation phase, the official launch of Soapblox.com was on the 4th of July. We may only be one year old and there is obviously more growing that needs to be done, yet so much has changed in that first year and a lot of progress has been made.

We are born on the 4th of July and I would like to point that out, as our roots are American as American can get. I speak not for my self when I say that here at Soapblox, we stand tall for our nation and celebrate the pride of the world’s first modern democracy. While it may have been first, and it may be powerful, it is not immune from sliding backward into past mistakes and above losing it’s true democratic essence. Democracy needs participation! Which is why Soapblox.com was created, under the belief that anything that can be done, must be done to keep our population from sliding into a veil of ignorance.

This site is devoted to the Progressive movement, one which will ultimately save this nation from the clutches of those wishing …

Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is cracking his whip on slacking employees. No doubt do to the enormous decline in Fox News ratings. Last quarter alone, down 8%.

Probably because the Republicans are doing what they always do best, stick their fingers in their ears when reality hits the fan. I think they see they will be blamed for what is turning out to be a disaster of a war. I think they see that all their talk of big government and their fearless leader made government much, much bigger with Homeland Security and expanded war profits. I think they see that corruption, indictments, corporate welfare and war are not ways to bring “integrity back into the White House".

So they do what they always do best, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Well maybe the last one. Since we have already determined that corruption, indictments and corporate welfare are not good, perhaps they are evil, and some keep speaking in defense of it.

What a sad sort of events. That the party united behind Bush thought they would not only change America for good and make them good Christians, but …

It is hilarious that Republicans decided to turn the debate the Democrats forced on Iraq into a pathetic political war cry. They got up and rambled and said a whole lot of nothing about how Iraq is the central front on the war on terror. What makes it so much more black humorous, is that they think that slapping a bumper sticker that says “I support our troops” and passing a useless resolution that supports the war will achieve victory.

Unfortunately this resolution is not funny to our troops on the front line. They have to deal with the thousands of dead Iraqis we are blamed for. They have to deal with the thousands of dead brothers and thousands more of their wounded brethren. They make the ultimate sacrifice and we sit here like idiots and say I support our troops. What are we doing for them? Are we bringing them home safe to their mothers and fathers? What the hell are they dying and losing limbs and the ability to speak for?

I ask this of all you Republicans who went to church and listened to your pastor talk about war being necessary. I …

The Republican House may not be able to get anything done, and is on track to working less than the infamous Do-Nothing Congress, working as little as 97 days this year (must be nice!). Unfortunately for the American people, there is one thing they never have a problem with, giving themselves another raise! Wow that must be nice too!

You know it’s funny how Republicans rant about hand outs to the poor and how working families don’t deserve wellfare (many of these moms are working 40 hours a week), while under Republican leadership these nimrods can give themselves a $3,300 raise while working less than a third of the year! Can you believe we pay these guys $168,500 a year.

Sounds like hand-outs to the rich if you ask me!

Damn I sure would love to get paid to sit and say a bunch of useless crap and still only have to work a third of the year. Plus these guys get “The Franking Priveledge”, which gives them free mailing rights in the U.S. and a full staff of some 30 employees. They don’t even have to get their own coffee, or pay for their …

Yes it’s true, the Pentagon’s National Security Agency is researching data mining online sites like Myspace and Friendster.

Big Brother is watching you! “So be careful what you say” to quote the White House. With a vastly unpopular President presiding over an administration that sees itself as all powerful (using the emergency war powers of the constitution), this is a scary time to be posting personal information about yourself online. Information you post today about yourself could end up in a database at the NSA, and someday, when you grow successful, some crooked politician could “somehow” get information about your ignorant youth.

I know that sounds a little far fetched. Just think for a second how far-fetched it was to even imagine that the NSA was wiretapping American citizens without a warrant, or logging millions of American’s phone records, but the plain and simple truth is that it happened and will continue to happen. Especially as long as Democrats can’t get the investigation of such illegal actions through congress.

Come this Fall however, that can change. Do what all good American generations of the past have done when they …

Well it finally did happen, and I can’t believe the GOP was so stupid they didn’t see it coming. Latinos are leaving the Republican party by the truck-load. A new Washington Post Poll shows support for Bush and the Republicans slipping dramatically.

I’m shocked that it happened so fast, but I’m not shocked that it happened. Any GOP strategists should have taken a page from the California playbook. A popular initiative controversy that occurred here about 10 years ago known as proposition 187, should have tipped them off. In that initiative, all illegal immigrants were to be bared from public services including schools. The protesters came out in droves. I was actually in high school at the time and marched in the protest. I knew many of the Latinos in the school at the time, but I had no idea there were so many that would stand together, (just an observation, but people look truly more powerful when you see them together stand firm).

Needless to say the initiative galvanized Latino and White voters. What was truly interesting about this process was that it helped unpopular Governor Pete Wilson get reelected. This short-term …

Rupert and Hillary sitting in a tree? Yes it’s true. American politics most ambitious first lady and media’s most unethical king are not just becoming good buddies, Rupert’s holding a fundraiser for her!

Yes that’s what I said!

Hillary of course defended the alliance with political dodging, however the truth is obvious. The writing is on the wall. This is politics at it’s best, and it’s as disappointing to Republicans as it is to Democrats.

I’ll bet all those righties who called Hillary a murderer and got all their news from FOX feel pretty stupid right now, as they should, as should we all. This is what politicians and corporate power mongers do, they manipulate the emotions of others to hold on to and gain more power.

Perhaps that’s why FOX news ratings are plummeting in the Neilsons.

I saw this coming and have been warning friends and family, but I never went on public record. First off, the righties have been shifting their views of Fox and some of the far-right have even attacked Rupert as being too far left (yes there really are people with no brain cells living …

As Bush is torn apart from the battle on immigration, an issue that stands only to taint his party as the anti-Latino selfish party of scared white people that it really is, our embattled El Presidente is now facing further decline, fresh on the reports of Gallup’s new Poll placing him at 31%.

The whole issue of his new CIA director is about to meet serious resistance in the Senate from his own party. Another crushing blow to a president that is only a few points away from Jimmy Carter’s lowest point.

The war is looking so bad, conservative Bloomberg is reporting that it is less popular than Vietnam in the same stage. Duh! Vietnam made no sense but still managed to make more sense than this war. Hell LBJ and Nixon could at least stick to the script, what was the excuse they gave again? Oh yeah, a battle against tyranny and aggression, in other words Communism. Turns out the Vietnamese saw it as a civil war, and traditionally hate the Chinese. Wow, we had so little empathy for Vietnam (the country we were trying to save) …

Republican Dennis “the concerned citizen” Hastert, Speaker of the House, gave a press conference about oil and future energy. He gave his speech, rambled on about some bs, then got in his hydrogen car and drove it a few blocks, got out, and hopped in his gas guzzling SUV to drive the remaining few blocks back to his office. Can you believe that? He actually got on stage talked about energy, got in a hydrogen car to show his concern for conservation, and drove a few blocks, got out and hopped in an SUV!!! I’m sorry I had to repeat that, I’m just still in disbelief. Can you get any more phony? From now on I shall dub thee, Hastart the Bastart.

I can only imagine the portly congressman, making little cracks about how small the legroom was, or how poor the torque was, while he laughed his ass off slithering into his extravagant vehicle. Apparently he needed to spend taxpayer money on a hydrogen car to show us how he can save oil in times of oil-shock. …

Republicans have decided to extend tax-cuts for Big Oil, even while they tell the American people that something has to be done to curb the massive profits of the oil industry.

Even Bush is calling for at least one of the tax-cuts to be allowed to expire. However his party disagrees. Isn’t it obvious where the true Republican heart lies?! When a man who’s whole family fortune rests on oil, half heartedly calls for higher taxes on the oil industry, and then his party allows the plunder to continue, shouldn’t that say something?

You can read the whole story in the
Washington Post.

If you still think Republicans care about the little guy more than Democrats after reading this, you should have your brain examined. Seriously, it should be covered by our insurance. Unfortunately, since Republicans have forced us to keep this wonderful health-care system they are all making a fortune off of (and we’re footing the bill), they will not be able to get the help they so desperately need.

COME ON PEOPLE! WAKE UP! Look what 26 years of Republican domination has gotten us! Absolutely nothing. They say they’re Christian, but look at society. If it sells, it’s Republican, …

I just got through watching a traditional Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. If you have not seen the film, you should make the effort. It is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of Americana Progressivism that ever did exist. It simplifies the struggle between good versus evil as any film does of course, only this film sides with the working and middle classes (especially in those days when the middle class was very small). Oh yes, as the above image shows, the Mr. Potter of modern times is good old Dick Cheney, and his little lackey (that goes for you too!) is our naive El Presidente, who preside over a party that cuts taxes for the rich, then cut education, Medicare and student loan funding. They even tried to destroy Social Security!

It is quite ironic, because Frank Capra’s incredible film It’s a Wonderful Life was a classic Progressive tale, and is now whored out by the Universal-NBC network (who purchased the rights to the film) to sell crap. On this celebration of Jesus’ birth, we make the even more powerful Mr. Potters even richer!

As I watched that film again …

The handwritten note Rockefeller wrote Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003

Looks like the Patriot Act is going down to defeat. Bush has such little sway with the moderates in his party, that they revolted against the controversial provisions in the Patriot Act, you know, the ones that allow the F.B.I. to find out what books you checked out. These provisions that give extended power to organizations like the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. (Whom Bush blames for the massive intelligence failures on Iraq, and why he wasn’t able to act quick enough regarding 9-11 btw), are set to expire at the end of this year.

If the Senate does nothing, the Patriot Act will be gutted of its liberty smashing abilities. The House has already approved all 16 of the controversial and expiring laws, so it’s all up to the Senate.

Senate rules allow the use of a Filibuster, (although Bill Frist [under investigation by the S.E.C.] has threatened to end this Senatorial right), according to traditional Senate rules, you need 60 votes to break a filibuster. This action, known as “invoking cloture” ends debate on the Senete floor and brings the bill or resolution to a vote.

Right now the Senate is split 52-47 on the Patriot Act, making cloture a …

While American’s focus on the Iraq War, a Supreme Court justice is being decided. The Radical Wrong want to slip this anti-abortion pro-corporate crony through the system while no one is looking.

The Washington Post has a current blog on the prevailing views toward Alito. Check it out! You may even see the following comment:

It is absurd to assume that the America of ‘81 or even ‘85 is the same America today. Times have changed, and the polls suggest a noticeable shift in public opinion towards Roe v. Wade. The Democrats have every right to defend the majority viewpoint, and I would hope they would defend other controversial decisions that have become the law such as Miranda or civil rights laws.

The conservative right wing will pull out any excuse to achieve their objective. This LaRue article is another classic case of politics as usual and the constant focus on the tactical battle, rather than the overall strategy.

The bottom line is that the Radical Right want to overturn Roe v. Wade, and will stop at nothing to do so. The Democrats should stick to their guns and hold their ground on what is a law that most American’s have come to …

Recently, the L.A. Times announced it would lay-off 85 staff members, claiming it was due to rising costs and other nonsense. Tribune (The Times parent company) made a fortune off their publishing division, despite a scandal last year where they falsely stated their circulations to increase ad-rates.

The paper has always had a solid core mid-to-left leaning audience, and they have been slowly pushing them away, leaning increasingly to the right, then they blame the whole thing on people’s disinterest in reading the paper, or the internet. While these reasons undoubtedly contribute, one must seriously consider the fact that alienating your audience is bad business. Another Tribune paper, Newsday, is following in the same direction. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Laurie Garrett ripped into Tribune and spoke of the way they ruined Newsday.

The thing that takes the cake was the firing of Robert Scheer, a renowned Liberal opinion writer. His writings were way ahead of the curve on the scandals in the White House, the involvement in Enron and the lies and deceit used to coax America into the Iraq war. How is his accuracy rewarded? They fired him.

Scheer said the following about Johnson (The L.A. …

Our good old wacky right-wing nut job pal, Bill O’Reilly, in a recent rant on his National Radio Show, apparently invited Al Qaeda to attack San Francisco.

In a response to the city by the bay’s passing of a ballot measure which prohibited Armed Services recruiters from entering public schools, the right-wing pundit said “[I]f Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off-limits to you, except San Francisco.”

The clip was then censored from the transcript and delayed broadcasts. The O’Reilly team apparently tried to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Lucky for him, the major media is in the hands of the corporations who think along the same lines as his distorted views, as the story had no traction in the major media. If a Lefty had said anything in the same vain, they would have been stoned to death by the right leaning media.

However, a few outlets, such as MSNBC, did report the story.

O’Reilly then promised to target and even …

I posted this response to a well-known Republican poster named Howard Kurtz (apparently this guy gets printed on the Washington Post and was mentioned on CNN). He tried to come off as Libertarian and objective, although there were serious weaknesses in his argument. So I pounced on him like a well-prepared mountain lion. I know, I should not waste my time battling a narrow-minded fool; I just could not stand it any longer! These righties and their stupid talking points have gutted my gills for the last time. He tried to confuse the readers on the details; making a horrible situation that offends the CIA (they don’t like it when their agents identities are in print. They even asked for the investigation), and he took the talking points straight from the source (Bush, Rove, etc.) and tried to look for any weakness in the argument against the White House. Well let me tell you something, I found plenty of weakness in him. I have been told that I kept the argument on the big picture. You make the call!

It is really amazing that so many Republicans are in denial. They once championed the cause of perjury in regards to …

Well the calm before the storm has now been broken, and the wild first wave has rolled in. Our poor beleaguered president has been taken down a few pegs and those of us who had to sit there and take it for so many years while the right wing attacked every thing that was near and dear to us are expected to not rejoice in the streets and pop open bottles of champagne. Sadly, the fact that justice is finally being dealt to a bunch of “alleged” crooks who ran the White House with such impunity, that they would use evidence they knew to be faulty, and attack those that would expose them, just so they could go to war. This truly is nothing to celebrate.

In case you don’t follow the news at all, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of Staff, has been indicted on 5 criminal charges and could possibly face up to 30 years in jail and over a million dollar fine (although maximum sentences are worst case scenarios) for perjury and obstruction of justice involving the outing (blowing ones cover) of a …

I just wanted to take a brief moment to honor the 2002 fallen men & women in Iraq who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their death in a foreign country may go largely unnoticed by most people here in America (even those that talked so loudly about nuking the Arabs after 9-11); I hope every day that I am not one of those people. I deeply respect the courage it takes to go out on the front lines in the first place, and I am very troubled by the loss of even one of our fighters. When I see their faces on the news each night, or hear their names, or read or see about their losses, a sense of grief washes over me. I know that with each name and face a family is destroyed emotionally by the initial loss, and then later by the economic loss and finally by the missing loved one who should have been there, robbed by some politician’s plans (enemy or allied).

I would also like to honor the 15,000 + wounded casualties, a large portion of whom would normally be deaths. The miracles of modern science have given many a second …

I know it may seem as though I have been absent these days. It’s mainly due to behind the scenes work here at Soapblox. Now is the perfect time to do such work. The Bush White House and the Republican leadership he is identified with is in complete disarray. Like a house of cards collapsing beneath the breath of a gentle breeze, a card here, a card there, till finally the whole tower of babble (that is purposely misspelled) comes crashing down. We are at the beginning stages of this, however I believe the 2nd act is about to begin on the collapse of Bush and his cronies. Or if this were a Faustian play, this would be the beginning of the 3rd Act. In other words, those that have sold their souls for power and greed will reap what they have sown, and in the end, you cannot escape what the Hindu’s call Karma and what many here simply call “what goes around comes around.”

Just take a look at these headlines:

Bush Approval Rating drops below 40%

2% of African-Americans Approve of Bush

GOP Split as Growing Number of Republicans Call for Withdrawal

Jitters …

I know the focus is on New Orleans these days, yet we cannot forget that we are still fighting two wars. I read an article yesterday in the Huffington Post saying that the U.N. Ambassador to Iraq is proclaiming that invasion of Syria is eminent. I couldn’t help but feel reminded of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict. I posted the following response, and then reposted here on Soapblox with hyperlinks (since Huffington’s doesn’t allow them), so that you all can be properly informed if you choose to be. I think it was a valuable lesson in our history that no one ever talks about, considering it was such a tremendous failure.

—-

An invasion of any other countries in the region is folly, and sounds an awful lot like the Cambodian campaign Nixon waged during the Vietnam conflict. The United States has learned this first hand in this case. The end result was a ravaged and devastated nation, and 1.7 million Cambodians killed.

In the case of Cambodia, American intelligence believed that insurgents were invading the country from the north along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which dips into Laos and finishes along the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. Nixon began …

Well my fellow world citizens,

I returned to my wonderful country to find what I knew I would find. That it had changed. I had this grim feeling that something horrible was going to happen, and unfortunately my gut was right. While I was off finding exactly what I already knew, that the rest of the world is very displeased with the U.S., in the back of my mind I knew that I was heading home to a different America. When I was in Munich, there was no mention of hurricane Katrina, when I was in Amsterdam 2 days later however, the evacuation of New Orleans seemed terrifying, last minute and poorly planed. One of my tour members had family in the area and I don’t think it ever quite sunk in how grave the situation was. I tried to convey the seriousness, yet he clung to this idea that New Orleans had been evacuated before. I knew this time things were different.

I remember the quiet storm that gave flash on the horizon before I left the U.S. Everything that night seemed so quiet. Just a brief pulse of lightening in the distance interrupted the midnight calm. To me, it was …

Today I leave for Europe with fellow Soapblox founder Ebb and Flow. He and I are hoping to discover if we are really as hated around the world as some people claim we are. We will arrive in London, tomorrow, which is by all accounts, these days, a hornet’s nest. I expect to discover interesting opinions and a lot of anger, interest, confusion and even a little sympathy. I can imagine I will discover a lot of things I cannot possibly foresee as well.

Please continue to check this site over the next 2 weeks as I report from the condition of events abroad. My posts will be shorter, yet I promise to keep my eye as sharp as ever.

Last night as I was driving back from a meeting, I drove by the new Orange line (Rapid Transit) here in Los Angeles. The preschool I have such fond memories of as a youngster has been cleared to make way for a parking lot. It is a true sign of progress, all be it a sad one. A rare electrical storm flashed off in the distance, as I drove off toward home. A strange feeling struck me that the America I know …

Last night, ABC news anchor Peter Jennings lost his battle with cancer. When the news broke, I was almost moved to tears. This wasn’t just the passing of perhaps one of the finest news anchors of his news generation (and perhaps one of the few that held high standards) this was the passing of the generation itself and a sign of decline for the major media.

I had heard Jennings interviewed a few years back by NPR interviewer Teri Gross (on Fresh Air), and he really impressed me. When asked who his hero was, the Canadian born Jennings responded by calling the whole concept of having a hero an American idea that is often overused, but if pressed for an answer he would choose his father. A fine answer I thought.

He was one of the few anchors to pull stunts like a prime-time news special on those annoying pharmaceutical ads and whether or not they were productive to the society at large. This was especially bold considering the nightly news is saturated with such ads. In an interview he referred to such a move as possibly “biting the hand that feeds you.” I never saw Brokaw or Rather …

The following is a letter to my congressmen (Henry Waxmen) to support a House resolution that would reduce troop strength in Iraq, at the bottom of this letter, you will find the opportunity to write a similar letter, or you can use the one they provide for you. Also please feel free to copy and paste this one in there too:

While it is never a pleasant situation to admit defeat, it is a common fact of life. Hardworking people lose jobs, political parties lose elections and we all make decisions from time to time that can cause a lifetime of regret. As much as we try to avoid these failures, they are situations that will occur, and then we move on. The idea is to keep these mistakes to a minimum. When speaking of war, you’re talking about the worst kind of failure. War in itself reflects a failure, a failure for human beings to sit down and work things out without having to resort to killing one another. Once a war is in place however, things can escalate very quickly out of control. In the Modern U.S. that war had better be …

America’s wannabe holy man on Pennsylvania Avenue is increasingly coming under fire as close friend and advisor Karl Rove’s involvement in serious allegations of playing politics with CIA agent’s lives, lying under oath and obstructing a special prosecutor increasingly fingers the White House. Is Rove the sole man to blame for outing CIA agent Valerie Plame? Or is perhaps Rove innocent? Or perhaps Rove is the first big fish to fry in what is becoming a scandal so big, so bad, it implicates the President himself in guilt for falsely starting the Iraq invasion.

America, for the first time in recent memory, agreed on something! 75% of all Americans, want to see the portly brainchild of Bush’s shady re-election thrown out of office if he leaked information that exposed an undercover CIA agent. I know the Republicans are all over this, trying to spin it in their direction. Claiming it’s all a smear campaign. I must say, that is truly remarkable that there are rational human beings out there that would buy that load of bull. And yet human beings manage to impress me …

I am greatly appreciative of the kind words that have been said about the launch of this site. It has been over whelming to say the least!

I proudly announce that over the next few months, a few additions will be made to wash this world’s mouth out properly on every cavity! Consumer issues, social dilehmas and political spins will be exposed for what they actually are!

Here we do not embrace party, but progress!

Lots of insultingly delicious satire is coming soon!

Thank you for staying true!

-Bryan

On this July 4th, 2005 I, Bryan J. Faragher officially declare Soapblox.com officially open! I pledge this website to uphold the highest standards in truth. If a mistake is ever made, I pledge to stand corrected. I pledge to write articles that I believe are in the best interest of the American people, and will not carry a partisan line of any sort, instead write only what I believe!

Before you and the other visitors to this site, I make this pledge.

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It has been an interesting couple of months getting this site ready. Ebb and Flow (my associate and resident coder) has been breaking his back to get this website ready for action. We have gone through many changes and the site is officially walking on it’s own two legs. There is still much work to do, so please bare with us over the next few months, as we work to make this site an important resource tool for people who may or may not follow the political and social ongoings of this country.

Soapblox is intended to be that informed friend you turn to when your looking for an opinion. It is just that, a collection of opinions that are intended …

There is a lot of talk these days about the liberal Left and the conservative Right being at odds in heated locked battle. We hear all of these other meaningless rants about how the Christians are rising stars in the US political scene, and how Americans want more God in politics. We even here utter nonsense about how Liberal politics itself may not survive; despite the fact we had one of the nation’s closest (and questionable) elections in history. While such stories sell newspapers and ad revenue, the truth of the matter is the Republican party is facing a deep state of crisis. The statue at the top may be elaborate and intimidating, but it lays on 3 equally important pillars: The Libertarian Pillar, the Religious Right Pillar and the Wealthy Elite Pillar ($319,100 and up tax bracket and wanabees) . If one pillar fails, so does the party. Off in the distance, I can see one of these pillars cracking and breaking, giving way to a new age of politics, the likes of which are comparative to Jefferson, Jackson, Teddy, Reagan and FDR.

It seems that every 30 years the Left or the Right gain control and dominate Washington for …

So what do we think of Mr. Integrity?