DNC Part One

Well, the festivities have begun. The Democratic National Convention kicked off last night. C-Span is givng full coverage to the event, so I parked in front of the T.V. for a solid 3 hours last night. There is really so much to blog about I've gone a little stir crazy trying to pick just one. As memorable as Bill and Hilary both were, not to mention the empassioned speech by Rev. Allston who served on John Kerry's Swift Boat in Vietnam, I think that I really have to focus on something said by Jimmy Cater, God Bless him; he got up on that stage and gave 'em hell. I could just retype his speech here, but I am sure you could find it online.

The one thing I do want to focus on is President Cater's quote about America's place in the world. He said, "America cannot lead if our leaders mislead." Sadly, that quote sums up our current situation. We as Americans have been lied to over and over again. We were deliberately deceived into entering a war that has cost us our standing as world leader in freedom and justice. From the time this administration entered office, we were fed a set of lies and exaggerations that led to a deadly case of "Group think" so that when the time came for Bush to make his move, we were so misinformed that the citizens of the most powerful nation in the world were not able to even question the facts of our situation.

I recommend that all of you read the article "The Dots Never Existed" in the July 19th edition of Newsweek. It states that the bulk of the "evidence" given by the Bush administration was attained by questioning an "especially dubious Iraqi defector, dubbed 'Curve Ball' inside the intelligence community." Everything Curve Ball said flew in the face of conventional intelligence, and the only American who ever spoke directly with him (a pentagon analyist)concluded he was "an alcholic and utterly useless as a source."

On the other hand, the article reports that when numerous "Iraqi officials and scientists stepped forward to claim that Saddam had actually destroyed his weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and discontinued his programs (a claim that appears to be increasingly likely to have been the truth), they were branded as liars--while dubious sources like Curve Ball, whose stories were in step with the Administraion, were embraced."

There you have it: 900 young American Soliders are dead, the Arab world is once again ablaze with Anti-Americanism, and the American tax payers are being saddled with the burden of an 80 billion dollar war, all based on the word of a man named Curve Ball, who gave his only deposition while "nursing a terrible hangover."

The rest of the world knows that we acted on lies, they know that we followed a leader into war based on one inconsistancy after another, they know we attacked a country without any threat or provocation. We have lost our moral high ground. America is no longer seen as a leader of the world, thanks to a government that misleads its own people.

HIV/AIDS Round two

Rita Mae Brown once in Venus Envy wrote that “The Reagan and Bush [the first] administrations will be remembered throughout history as having the chance to stop an epidemic from taking place and refusing to do so because the ‘right people’ were dying.”  This claim was reiterated just recently by Andrew Miller in New York’s Gay City News when he wrote, “Reagan's conservative credentials would have allowed him to introduce sanity and scientific reason into the early days of the AIDS crisis. Instead, the Gipper played a moralistic game of political football. As a result, funding for treatment, research and prevention was needlessly delayed or denied and tens of thousands of Americans died prematurely -- nearly 30,000 by the end of his presidency."

However, if the generation of Reagan and George the 1st will be known for the fact that they allowed the world to fall into the global crisis that has become the AIDS epidemic, then the legacy of Bush 2 and the generation that accompanied him will be that we had the virus on the run and then became lazy, let down our guard, and allowed the infection rates to once again spiral out of control.  Only now that difference is it’s not just the “right people” that are dying.  It’s no longer just gay men and drug users.  Over half of all new infections in America are occurring in single straight women under the age of 30.  

Over 25 million people have died since the epidemic started in the early Eighties; over 5 million of those deaths occurred last year alone.  We are no longer in the dark about AIDS:  we know what causes it and we know what prevents it, and yet that number of new infections are once again on the rise.  Two main factors are responsible for this spike in infection rates, and ironically the first of these factors is the advances in AIDS medicine:  the new AIDS “cocktails” that extend the life of those infected with HIV as well as raising the quality of the years.  Don’t get me wrong; those drugs are a God-send, but they do not cure HIV/AIDS and they do not keep those infected from transmitting the disease to their sexual partners. Currently, 40 million people are living with either HIV or AIDS, and over 5 million new infections were reported last year.  AIDS is not over, and it is still every bit as deadly as it has always been.

The second cause for the rise in new infections has nothing to do with the disease itself and everything to do with politics.  The religious right is playing games with people’s lives, and it has got to stop.  While abstinence is a sure-fire way not to contract the disease, abstinence-only education shows a strong correlation with AIDS infections.  One recent example has occurred in Thailand.  Once pointed to as the great success in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the country has cut his prevention programs, and condom use is no longer being advocated as the best way to prevent spreading the disease.  As a result, new infections have spiked in young people.  By switching from a rhetoric of safe sex to one of no sex, in a matter of only a few years the country has gone from one of the world’s greatest successes to a nation in jeopardy of being overrun with the disease, yet the Bush administration is determined to send America down the same road.

In his State of the Union address, George the 2nd pledged millions of dollars to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, but he didn’t tell the American people that that money would not be given to the countries that are at the most at need.  Instead, it will only be given to those who will spend the money on abstinence-only education.  Here at home he has consistently slashed funding for any prevention program that even mentions safe sex.  Even if the programs focuses 90% of their time to abstinence and 10% to condom use, the program has been deemed unfit for funding.  In doing so, another generation of young people are being denied the vital education they need to protect themselves from this deadly disease.  Religious conservatism of a few is risking the lives of an entire population who were never allowed to make informed decisions for themselves.

The Bush’s policy is akin to a parent putting a pool in their back yard and telling the kids never to go near it.  No matter how many times the parents reiterate their warning, sooner or later the children will find their way into the back yard.  Isn’t it best that before they do, they are taught to swim?

A lesson in Clarity

Well folks some times my job is just too easy!  In this week's addition of TIME  George W. Bush is quotes as saying, I kid you not, "The American President must speak clearly and mean what he says!"
 
Welcome to the twlight zone.  Here a some of my favorite examples of just how well G.W. speaks clearly and means what he says.

"If you don't stand for anything, then you don't stand for anything." 11-02-00

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." 10-18-00

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question." 10-4-00

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness"

"We cannot let terriers and rogue nations hold this nation hostile"

 "I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me!" 5-27-04

"More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than—I say more Muslims—a lot of Muslims have died—I don't know the exact count—at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill." 1-29-04

"Why don't you volunteer? Why don't you mentor a child how to read?" 1-5-04

"The vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." 10-27-03

"[W]hether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be called themselves," 10-8-03

"It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America."  This comment was made in West Africa!

"I'm the master of low expectations." 6-4-03

"I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me," 12-18-02

Well the list could go on and on.  For more examples check out This Site.  I for one am just glad the American President can speak clearly and mean what he says.  Well maybe he knows what he means, anyway!

VP part Dos

Today I thought it would be fun to imagine what an interview would look like if the same questions were directed to both of the current candidates for Vice President.   Most of this comes from various atricles in Newsweek and Time, but anything in quotations are direct quotes.

Rachel:  So Tell me a little bit about your upbringings?

John: Well I am the son of a mill worker and I grew up poor.  We moved a lot while I was young, but I excelled in sports and by the time I graduated High School I had lettered four times. 

Dick: I can't remeber much it was so long ago, but I grew up the son of a wealthy business man in Casper Wyoming.

Rachel:  So tell me about college?

John:  I earned a walk on spot on the Clemson foot ball team, but wasn't quite good enough for a full scholarship so I had to transfer to North Carloina State becuase it was more affordable.  I excelled at my studies and was able to work my way through college and into Law school at the prestigeous UNC Chapel Hill.

Dick:  I went to the University of Wyoming for my undergrad in political science, and since I got comfortable there, I decided I might as well stay there and do a masters rather than push myself to go to a better school or try for a law degree.

Rachel:  Now both of you fall into the age range (albiet at different end) that could have gone to Vietnam, yet neither of you did.  Why not?

John:  I registered for the draft and was prepared to go if my number was called but it never wasw.

Dick: I "recieved a defferment from the draft becuase I had other priotities,"

Rachel:  So what did you do after college?

John:  I was offered several patnerships at major corportate firms, but turned them down so I could start my own firm and have more say in the quality of clients I took on.  Within a few short years I had become one of the best reguarded laywers in America.  However the most important developement in my life was I met and married Elizabeth and we had our first son Wade.

Dick:  I ping-ponged back and forth between buisnessn and politics often mixing the two.  I made, I took over the helm of Halliburton in 1995 where I was making over 36 million dollars a year and use my political connections to raise Halliburton's goverment contracts 91%.  Under my guidence the company was able to get away with over 100 million dollars in accounting irregularity.  Oh I also got married and had two kids, but we don't talk about the daughter because she's gay.

Rachel: Why did you get into politics?

John: My son Wade had always asked me when I would run for office, but it wasn't until after he was killed in a car accident that I decided to answer him by running for Senator in N. Carloina.  I finally ralized that "If I couldn't help enough people being a lawyer, I needed to become a law maker."

Dick: Well I wanted to be able to make a lot of money in business and what better way to do that than to be come a law maker and set the rules to fit my needs.

Rachel: What have you done since you've been in office?

John: Well I worked hard to build a retooled patient's bill of rights to help protect Americans from HMO's and insurance companies, but the republicans never let it get voted on.  I joined the Senate Intelligence committee and called terroism "the gravest threat facing America" in the summer of 2001, but the republicans said I was crazy.  Later I was offered a spot on Senatorial Campaign Committee becuase I didn't want to aliagn myself with any big businesses.

Dick:  Well I took almost 2 million dollars from energy companies in return for turning their wish lists into a new Enery Plan, and used my close connections with Ken Lay of Enron to make this the most corportation friendly white house in American history! Oh I also backed a federal marriage ammendenment that would make it illegal for my daughter to marry her long time Partner.

Rachel:  How do you view the role of the Vice President?

John:  If I were elected it would be my to "offer my advise and counsel. It's Kerry's Job, not mine, to make the final decesion."

Dick:  I am wield more influence than any other Vice President in memory.  Don't expect that to change in November, in fact, you can expect my to become more powerful when I don't have to worry about facing another reelection.

Rachel:  Ok time to wrap up, any final words for the American public?

John: "Today under George W. Bush, there are two Americas: one America that does the work, another that reaps the reward.  One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks.  One America- middle class America- whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America whose wish is Washington's command,"  and I am filled with "a burning desire to level the playing field!"

Dick: "I'm not going to say anything signifcant at all, so stop taking notes!"

Well folks there you have it.  Decide for yourselves who you want to be second in command, but just rember all the figures I used were facts and all the quotes were direct!

 

VP part one

Well, I took Sunday as a day of rest, but there’s just soooo much to blog about I am going to jump right back in.  This entry may have to be a two-parter.
 
Today I want to deal with Vice Presidents.  I am very excited about John Edwards.  I liked him early on in the campaign but decided to back the more liberal Howard Dean, in hopes that he would drive the party further from the Republicratic center.  However, once the good doctor was out of the race, I couldn’t help but appreciate Edwards, the young “son of a mill worker” from the Carolinas.  He was handsome, energetic, smart, and an amazing public speaker.   As soon as the nomination went to Kerry, I knew Edwards was the obvious pick for a VP.  Politically, he has everything Kerry lacks:  charisma, vitality, modest background, and the South.  No wonder the Bush clan was scared. 
 
The President made an unprecedented attack on Edwards right out of the box by calling him a “Disingenuous, unaccomplished, liberal.” Usually presidents ignore VP nominees, and never before has one incurred such wrath.  Granted the President probably didn’t come up with those comments on his own (does anyone really think the President knows what the word “disingenuous” means?).  Perhaps they were planted on him by the “puppet master,” which leads nicely into my next point.
 
When asked how John Edwards stacked up to Dick Cheney “President” Bush shot back, “Dick Cheney can be president. Next?”  Tsk tsk George, such arrogance!
 
However, John Kerry answered the cowboy later that day by saying, “He was right that Dick Cheney was ready to take over on Day One.  And he did, and he has been ever since.”  
 
Can’t you just hear Cheney shouting, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
 
If I were Mr. Halliburton, I wouldn’t want to be attracting much attention right now either.  What with all his Enron buddies being sent up river, I imagine little Dick is trying to lay low.  I mean, how long can you get away with sending our men and women in uniform to war and then gouging them in the illegal contracts your company makes with the military. 
 
According to this week’s TIME magazine (were I got a lot of the information for this post) Kerry and Bush are running a close race with Kerry having a very slight lead, but when asked about Edwards and Cheney, 47% said Edwards would make a better President while only 38% favored Cheney.   In fact, Cheney has become such a liability that many are calling for his resignation.   They say history is bound to repeat itself, and G.W. should know as well as anyone that when you are running close in the polls, vice presidents can be very damaging (can anyone say Dan Quayle?).  We can only hope that one-term presidencies run in the family as well.
 
Stay tuned tomorrow for a closer comparison of Cheney and Edwards. 
 

Change the Channel

I was looking for a recent body count from Iraq, meaning I wanted to know how many American soldiers had died over there.  I find that the mainstream media tends to shy away from giving us those numbers on a regular basis and because of that, most people have no idea how many soldiers have died in Iraq.  However, while I was searching, I came across something equally disturbing.  The web page is www.iraqbodycount.net and the body count it is tallying is that of innocent civilians killed in Iraq since the "war" started.  At a minimum the number is currently 11,164 and at maximum the number is up to 13,118.  They also have a data base that shows you where they got all of their figures.  Let's round for practical purposes and say 12,000 innocent civilians were killed in a little over a year.  When asked how the average Iraq citizens should react to hearing figures like that and seeing images of "innocent civilans being killed"  Big. Gen Mark Kimmit told them to "just change the channel."
 
Ok, so what I want to really know is why we think Iraqis are fundamentally different from Americans.  Do we think they love their families any less than we do?  Why do we think they could be any less appalled by images of their neighbors and co-workers being blown to bits on the nightly news?  How can we think that they are immune to pain and suffering and most importantly anger at the sight of "collateral" deaths.  Why do we think that they should be more able to turn the channel on 12,00 innocent deaths than we were able to simply change the channel when 3,300 Americans died on September 11th.  Despite what the Bush administration has tried to tell us, the average Iraqi citizen is not evil and they are not terrorists:  they are mothers and fathers and teachers and doctors and they are suffering. 
 
Remember how far the effects of 9/11 reached?  Did any of us not know of a friend, or a friend of a friend that suffered?  3,300 people died in a country of 293,760,300 people, and we were devastated.  The American people prayed and cried, banded together, and then we went out into the world and tried to avenge those deaths.  Now think of Iraq:  12,000 people killed in a country with a population of 25,000,000.  These people are human beings with the same human emotions and reactions as the rest of us.  To expect them not to act on the hurt and suffering they are surrounded with would be the same as watching America "just change the channel" on 9/11.

With Friends Like That, Who Needs Enemies?

Wow, G.W. declined to visit the NAACP's national conventional.  Way to be George, piss off a major voting block, not to mention the fact that the convention was held in a major swing state.  He also seemed to forget that a large demographic within the religious right he is catering to is the Black Church.  Kerry and Edwards were there though, thankfully.  Kerry vowed to be a President who has an open dialogue with everyone, even those who disagree with him.  In turn the NAACP has called for their members to "oust" the "illegitimate" president from the White House.  The White House responded by saying "President" Bush is not racist, the proof being "he's has black friends."   Wow, really?  Black friends? Well then he can't be racist!  Hey I think that's the same thing Laura Bush said when accused of being homophobic, that the Bushes "had gay friends." 
 
So, The Bush's have black friends, and they have gay friends, maybe even black friends that are gay (no that'd probably be too much for them to handle all at once.)  I wonder if they asked their black friends before they signed onto a law suit to try to break down Affirmitive Action.  Perhaps they talked to Colin Powell and Condi Rice about it, but no that wouldn't make sense; they are both major supporters of Affirmative Action, and why wouldn't they be?  It gave them the chance to go to school, rise through the ranks, and do countless other things they would have normally been denied.  In fact if it wasn't for Affirmative Action, Bush would probably never have met either of them!  As to their gay friends, I imagine those dinner conversations are going to be a little tense knowing you just called your guests a threat to the American family.  I wonder if the Bushes feel their family threatened when they are arround these so-called gay friends.  I can just hear them now.
Laura:  Georgie porgie
G.W. : Yes pudding pop?
Laura: Adam and Steve are coming over tonight
G.W.: The queers?
Laura: Yes, the queers.
G.W. Ok I'll go hide the sharp objects and load the gun.
Laura: Thanks honey, but don't put it where they can see it.  
G.W. Right, I'll put it under the table just in case.
Laura: They seem like such nice boys, but you never know.
G.W. You can never be too careful when it comes to queers!
 
Wow, black friends and gay friends even though you consistantly screw over their community.  Maybe what they meant to say was "We HAD black friends," and "We HAD gay friends," but we can't seem to find them.  And now that you mention it, when we drive by their houses we can't even see in the windows, what with all the Kerry/Edwards stickers in the way."

Embarrassment

Well, surprise surprise the anti-gay amendment fails. Not only did it not have the 2/3 support it needed it didn't even have a simple majority in the Senate. Yawn. What a waste, Bush couldn't even rally his own troops. 12 republicans voted against the measure. What a waste of half a week!

On the bright side, the Washington Post (usually pretty conservative paper) called the vote an "embarrassment" and a "failure" for the Bush administration, especially this close to an elections. Yippee silver lining, Bush looks as stupid and divisive as he actually is.

Well the House is supposed to go at the debate next week, hopefully they will spare us all the drama after this wash out.

P.S. the plan also failed because it has now sparked several lawsuits against DOMA, but that's a whole ‘nother post.

Until I write again...eat drink and be married

Wag The Dog

Ok folks, I hate to sounds like I’m one to buy into conspiracy theory, but I find this whole business about terrorist attacks a little bit too convenient. I mean not only does is happen at a time when Kerry and Edwards are getting a lot of media attention, the administration keeps saying this is so important for the American people to hear but the instructions they are giving us about it haven’t changed a bit since last week. The terror level hasn’t even been raised. If we are honestly under a greater threat than we were, why is our warning level the same? This is getting to be a little too much like the boy who cried wolf.

Furthermore, and here where the conspiracy theory gets thick, a year ago one of my best professors predicted we wouldn’t even be having elections this year. She is a specialist in political science and she said that if things started looking bad for Bush he could just declare a state of heightened security, raise the terror alert and postpone the election under the guise of national safety. At the time I thought she was beings a little over dramatic, but then yesterday I read the headline, U.S. Mulling How to Delay Nov. Vote in Case of Attack. If you want the whole story you can read it here, but the basic gist of it is that there is now “evidence” (although this can’t be released) that the terrorist want to attack on election day. This new evidence taken into consideration, the government may have to postpone the elections. Once again I hate to sound cynical, but, I bet they only have to postpone them long enough for Bush’s numbers to rebound.

Ok, I hope I’m wrong, but just incase I’m not, keep an eye out. The Democratic National Convention is coming up and the Dems numbers are sure to rise during that time. That many pissed of Dems should have ole GW wetting his pants. Watch closely, I think he’ll find a way to pull a rabbit out of his dirty little cowboy hat.

Gay as Le quatorzième juillet

So, I turn turn on the news yesterday (c-span) and what do I get in this pivitol election year? A gay marriage debate. On some levels I'm happy this topic is being discussed in our Senate, but as of right now I also find it very maddening. We are fighting two wars, one of which has gone disasterously wrong. We are the only industrialized nation that allows its children and elderly go without health care. We have an education system that is hanging precariously in the balance. Our president is trying to open up logging in what's left of our national forests, and we are STILL heavily dependent on foreign oil. However, the issue the Senate seems to find most pressing, one week before they recess, is my marriage.

Really folks, give it a rest! Are my wife and I really that scary? I wish some of those senators would come spend a day with us and then try to pinpoint exactly what part of my "lifestyle" they find so threatening. Maybe it's the part where I go to work at the YMCA or when I pay my taxes. Maybe it's when I continue to go to a university even after they hiked my tuition 14%. Perhps it's that I drag myself out of bed on Sunday morning to go to church. Breakdown of the American family? You've got to be kidding me! We are the American family, we pay the same bills, have the same worries, and want the same protections as any other couple out there.

I would really like the Republicans to take care of their own house and let me take care of mine. But since it doesn't look like that is going to happen, I'm going to kick back and watch them waste valuable time on an ammendent that has no chance of passing, then I'm going to go into my little voting booth in November and say G.W. Bush, "You're Fired!"