No Obfuscation

Huckabuck is Caught In an Untruth

2007-12-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

A lot of Arkansans have known for a while that Mike Huckabee has a lot of trouble telling the truth. The reason he is doing so well in the GOP Presidential run is that the field is so pathetic. Not that the Democrats are much better, but at least they have Richardson, maybe Edwards, and definitely Kucinich. Obama is a rough read and Hillary will be, sadly, a more polished version of George W. Bush.

Ron Paul is interesting. Maybe we do need to tear the government down and rebuild it. In fact, it may be a necessity if this nation is to survive. Maybe we can return to OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE.

I hope my grandchildren will be able to live in a nation where those principles stand supreme.

"I believe that we are waking up from the spell that has been cast so well by those who profit from the fear........." Melissa Etheridge What Happens Tomorrow

Been a While

2007-03-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in a few months. Bush and Cheney just keep trying to push the marble up the hill with a straw while our brave young men and women keep dying in Iraq. Where is the moral outrage in this country? Have we gotten so fat and selfish we don't know how to care anymore? The Walter Reed scandal broke last week and that is another sad commentary.

I was watching Hardball the other night when Chris Matthews had John McCain on. They were at Iowa State and McCain asked how many of the students supported the war in Iraq. About a third of them stood up and cheered. Matthews then asked how many of them were ready to join the Army or Marine Corps and go over there. Every damn one of them sat down and rather quickly.

Somehow, we need to cut through the BS and call a spade a spade. The Democrats are betraying our confidence in them by still acting like Bush, et. al. has any credibility. How many lies do they have to tell before they can be classified as liars.

Bush and Cheney and Gonzalez need to go.

Things are hectic in my world and I hope somehow it can be made a little better because I do care.

Happy thinking!!

Baker Hamilton Report

2006-12-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting with bated breath since March for the Baker Hamilton Report. It came out today and the chances of the President doing anything with it are probably fairly small.

It seems that nearly all parties involved, with the possible exception of Senator Russ Feingold and Representative John Murtha, are completely missing the point.

The point is that the invasion of Iraq was a matter of choice for our President. It did not have to happen to begin with and, if it had not, we would not be in the mess we are in now. We did not have to lose almost 3000 service men and women nor did the Iraqis have to lose some 650,000 people (human beings and valuable souls in the eyes of our God).

The situation is analogous to having an arsonist come burn your house down and then having that same arsonist come by to give you hell about not rebuilding it fast enough.

We spend billions of dollars analyzing things that really don't need analyzing and then making a big show about presenting the findings which were obvious in the first place. And, there are so few voices out there in politics who are talking about the salient points.

The GOP and the Democrats both need to wake up and realize that the American people, almost a month ago, told them in no uncertain terms to end the Iraq error RIGHT NOW!

We don't need more studies, we need common sense. For God's sake, ten more US servicemen died today.

Big Democratic Victory

2006-11-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well, even the GOP get out and suppress the vote tactics didn't work. The Dems have taken control of the House by a substantial majority and are on the verge of controlling the Senate.

People have just had enough of the Bushboys. He'll undoubtedly be some kind of an asshole and the rest of the GOP leadership will be setting snares to try to win back control in '08. They played to their base so strongly and disappointed their same base so badly that it is a wonder they have anybody left at all.

Part of the Dems victory can be attributed to the election of moderate candidates, especially in the House. They don't need to forget that.

I've been doing some thinking on another topic. If you were coaching a football team and were coming up with a strategy, you would likely try to pick an area where your opponent was weakest and exploit that weakness to your advantage. So, I'm wondering if 9-11 would have even happened if Gore had been President. Seems to me that Al Quaeda picked a time when this country was at its weakest to attack, a time when the controlling party had used divisive strategies to win power, a time when "red" v. "blue" was in vogue. They chose to attack US when we were weakest.

To be honest, I've been a little depressed ever since Bush was declared the winner in 2000. He just casts a pall over every thing he touches.

Voting Day

2006-11-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

I early voted yesterday. Voted a straight Democratic ticket except for Arkansas Attorney General. Voted for the Green Party lady, Rebekah Kennedy. She appears to have more sense than either of the major party candidates, although the Democrat (McDaniel) will probably be ok.

Since I'm not part of the GOP base and am, by definition, not religious, this probably doesn't mean much. I am hoping and praying, though, that the Dems win enough seats to take control of both Houses of Congress.

Saddam has been sentenced to hang. I wonder if we couldn't review some of the tapes from '83 and '84 and just string Rumsfeld up with him.

I don't see anything Christian about this verdict nor do I see Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld as being significantly different than Saddam. If they thought they could have gotten away with it, they would have tortured and maimed their political opponents here at home.

Look at this info on Halliburton http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/ and look at the graphs on the right side of the page. All the info you need while you hear Cheney sneer that the American people don't have any say in what we do in Iraq.

I want a peaceful, kind world for my children and grandchildren to grow up in and it is not happening as long as the Bushboys are in charge.

Vital to Our National Security

2006-10-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Bush said today that winning the war in Iraq is vital to our national security. It is not, nor has ever been, vital to our national security. More obfuscation.

Besides, I thought we had won the war several hundred days ago. What ever happened to "Mission Accomplished"?

Bastard makes my head hurt.

We Ain't Staying the Course No More

2006-10-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Bush bullshit is almost beyond comprehension today. He says in his press conference, in reference to the Iraqi government, that "patience has it's limits.........", etc. Does the dimwit not remember that we invaded and destabilized the government. You might not have liked Saddam's methods, but he had the country stable.

Bush is like a guy who tries to pull a carton of milk out of the refrigerator and spills it all over the floor then blaming his wife for spilling it and criticizes how she cleans it up.

Had we not invaded Iraq and put our resources into finding bin Laden, we would have likely accomplished that goal and would have saved a shit load of $ to put to use solving some of our domestic problems.

Dumb bastard and people are dying all day every day because of him. Like my 3 year old grandson says, "It is not fair!"

Man of the Year

2006-10-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

Went to see Man of the Year this weekend. Cute little movie with a thinly veiled jab at the crock of crap the current administration has perpetrated.

One idea was put forth that I thought was something we ought to implement immediately with all our elected representatives. Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) was debating the other two candidates and got into a discussion of how lobbyists are hamstringing our government. He suggested we dress our officials the way NASCAR dresses up their drivers. You know, with decals and patches on their clothing that represent all the companies that have given them money and support for their racing endeavors. Maybe even put the pharmaceuticals on the back, oil companies on the front, big telcos on an arm, etc.

Sounded like a great idea to me. What better way to have a visual cue to help you read through all the bullshit coming out of their mouths.

Probably would see less $ donated since accountability would be so obvious.

We can dream......................

We are still allowing the media of all stripes to jerk our brains around. Remember, it is simple. Just follow the money and ask yourself if George W. Bush's motives are pure. Enough people have died and it is time we get our heads out of the sand and stand up to our government with one thunderous, synchronized voice -- STOP IT NOW, STOP IT NOW!!!

They are a ship of fools and do not deserve our serious attention as far as ideology is concerned. But their insane governance is hurting people. I know I don't have a son to waste for them and they by God better not try to take either one of them.

We have no reason to be in Iraq and must get that message across to all our representatives, be they DEMOCRAT or Republican. DEMOCRATS don't need to play footsy with the issue. Not one more American soldier or Iraqi should die.

On a slightly tangential note, I got an email the other day that was orginated by a man who knew somebody who knew one of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's children. The gist of the message was that FDR and Eleanor never intended for Social Security to be run the way it is. They went on a litany of how LBJ started the process of screwing it up, then Carter, then Clinton. All DEMOCRATS, of course. I figured out who had created the original email (it had been forwarded several times when it got to me) and sent them a note asking why in the hell the Republicans, who have been in power since 1994, had not corrected the problems created by these DEMOCRATS. Haven't heard back. He may have to call Rush to find out what to tell me.

Adios for now. As Peter O'Rourke says, "Never fight an inantimate object", so leave Bush alone. Just go vote in some DEMOCRATS and then hold them accountable.

Mark Foley

2006-10-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

Former Rep. Mark Foley has checked himself into alcoholic rehab. Is he not deflecting attention away from his real problem by trying to couch it as an alcohol problem? Looks like it to me. Why can't these guys ever take charge of their problems and deal with them? In short, what does being an alcoholic have to do with being a pervert.

Oh, I know, it just came to me. This Foley problem started during the Clinton administration................... Maybe ABC will make a docudrama about it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allocation of Resources

2006-09-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just think of where we would be now if we had allocated the same resources to finding bin Laden if Afghanistan that we have allocated to the stupid invasion of Iraq!!

$2 billion a week and what have we got to show for it except a lot of death and pain for people who don't deserve it and bin Laden is still on the loose. Not to mention the effects that reallocating $ has had on domestic tranquility.

I wonder how many of the civilians who have died in Iraq, whether at the hand of the insurgents or our forces, had in the heart or mind doing any harm to the US?

Bush is also worried about people leaking intelligence assessments and branding everybody who disagrees with him as traitors (cut and run). That SOB needs to realize that WE are the taxpayers and paid for those intelligence assessments. WE, not he, is the government and the bastard needs to come to realize that. WE pay a small fortune (for most folks) for the spin machine they have set up in the White House to tell us what to believe and control the flow of information. When Tony Snow says the administration is "transparent", I guess he is referring to the space between Bush's ears.

Bob Woodward

2006-09-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

No disrespect to Bob Woodward, but his expose' of the ineptitude and delusion of the Bush White House is a perfect example of how out of it so many American people are. I'm by no means privy to most of the information Woodward has access to, but am able, from observation and other empirical means, to deduce how screwed up Bush and Condi and Dickie and Rummy are. My gosh, all you have to do is listen to them speak and it is pretty obvious.

Point is, why did we have to have Woodward tell us something that is so naggingly obvious to anyone paying even a little bit of attention?

Meanwhile, our troops and innocent Iraqis are in harm's way and some are dying every hour of every day because of Bush. Great conservative Christian, eh?

How Many More Funerals Before We Wake Up!!

2006-09-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

It is beyond my comprehension how the American people just go on from day to day to day without going completely nuts!! Our media debates the finer points of the war on terror and Bush's taking away our civil liberties and saying he won't enforce certain laws (700 +) through his "signing statements". They discuss whether or not torture laws should be "clarified".

What the hell difference does it make if the Chimp doesn't obey laws if he doesn't want to follow them?

There is nothing to debate. Nothing to discuss.

We are conducting an immoral and stupid war in Iraq, destroying innocent lives and taking resources away from our country while doing nothing to improve the lives of the Iraqis.

My head hurts when I think about how stupid so many people are................. There is a lady in my town who told me about the time we invaded Iraq that she is glad "we are fighting them over there so we won't have to fight them here." I asked her if she seriously believed the Iraqi army was on the verge of coming down the highway and taking our town. She said maybe not but she wouldn't have been surprised if they had invaded Little Rock. I am not joshing, she was actually talking Iraqi army units -- not Al Quaeda or shoe bombers or anything of that sort -- rolling in and taking over.

Just an illustration of how the Bush boys made their case. If enough people are as stupid as this woman, and there seems to be a critical mass, they could sell anything. After all, they had half of our citizens believing Saddam was flying one the planes that hit the WTC on 9/11.

Another related observation. If maintaining control depends on hoodwinking the people into believing your bullshit, the folks in control (Bush boys) don't have any reason to support educating our people. Reading and writing are important, but teaching kids how to think and discern and not be scared of science and reason is just as important.

My head hurts..............got to go.........

Later.

Today's Big Story

2006-09-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

Huffpo is featuring a story on how the retired generals are assessing the performance of Rumsfeld and, by implication, Bush.

The retired generals reiterate what most thinking folks have already figured out. We just need to keep hammering away at those who don't get it yet (the "fight them over there so we won't have to fight them over here " crowd).

I know this alcoholic Limbaugh fan. Most of his sentences begin with "Rush said..........." as if they were having lunch or something like that. He's strongly against gays but mostly hates Bill Clinton. He portrays the Democrats as the "tax and spend" party, but will acknowledge the huge deficits that Bush has built and will confess that he hasn't benefitted from Bush's tax cuts. He is strong on national defense but doesn't think we should be in Iraq. He is against liberals but can't tell you what the term means.

In short, he seems to the the typical GOP base voter. Confused, dazed, reciting the little talking point blurbs that Rove has burned into their teeny little brains. He told me the other day that we don't have to worry about Bush anymore because he is a lame duck. I told him that Clinton has been out of office for nearly 6 years and he is still obsessing about him, but that Bush still has the chance to kill several thousand more US troops and innocent civilians wherever we may be operating.. He didn't see the point at all and I'm not sure he is capable of it. Scary thing is, it is the simple stuff they can't get.

A lot like poor Condi Rice trying to make people think she has a clue. She had her chances to at least try to stop the 9/11 attacks and did nothing -- not one damn thing.

Simple -- Bush is a liar, morally bankrupt, and is not doing God's will. You tell me how giving to the rich and ignoring the poor is God's will. You tell me how slaughtering innocent Iraqis is God's will. You tell me how giving sweetheart deals to businesses who gave the $ that put him in office is God's will.

We have got to find leadership who can transcend the day-to-day politics of corporate America and stand for something. Tell the truth even when it is not popular. I believe the American people can handle that.

Later.

Mike Huckabee

2006-09-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

Mike Huckabee's name is being put forth as a possible GOP presidential candidate for 2008. He is touted as a "values" candidate and is hanging out with the likes of Falwell and James Dobson.

If we assume that telling the truth is a "value", the Huckster is a wee bit shy in that area. When he was campaigning for Governor of Arkansas in '04, he made the statement repeatedly that he would never favor consolidation of school districts on the basis of size, only on performance. Well, as soon as he was elected, he pulled a plan out of his hat that would require consolidation of all districts with less than 1500 students. That doesn't seem to jive, eh?

There are other examples.of his duplicity and dishonesty that will surface in time, especially if he makes a serious run at the nomination.

Credibility

2006-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

When you lie as much as George Bush does, it is hard to have any credibility. The man could say the sun was shining and most folks would want to look outside to be sure.

Clinton is getting mixed reviews over his confrontation with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Personally, I thought Bill handled it about as well as he could. There is just so much bs you can stand.

Focus, focus, focus

2006-09-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Still having a lot of irrelevant discussion in the national media. Only a few points are significant and they are:

1. Bush is a liar and and thief.

2. Bush's war is killing innocent Americans and Iraqis.

3. He claims to be a Christian but his actions do not connect with Christian teaching.

4. Big business is running the country with the help of the Bush administration.

Vote their sorry asses out. At least we will have to go through the process of having big business buy the Democrats out.

I really think women (not necessarily Hillary or Condi, but truly strong, nurturing women) should be placed in charge of world affairs. They couldn't screw it up any worse than men have!!

Later.

Gas Prices

2006-09-21T06:10:00.001-07:00

Sitting here watching Amy Robach on MSNBC interviewing a couple of folks about gas prices going down and whether or not is was politically connected. She did a good job of presenting a balanced view of the issue, ending with how a lot of American people were still pissed off about the record profits the oil companies have posted recently,

In simple terms, of course the drop in gas prices is political. GWB and the big oil guys conspired to screw the consumer with manipulated demand claims and will conspire to lower the prices to pacify the consumer. They have to give us a break so we will start buying big SUVs, etc. and get the demand back up so they can screw us again.

Still, gas was $1.67 when Bush became President.

A Starting Point

2006-09-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I watch and read the news every day and am forever amazed at how people get so confused about what is going on. Hence the title of this blog. This is an attempt to cut through the crap and get to the point. The use of deductive reason, logic, and the principles that have made this country great, all drilled down to a concise and coherent view of world events.

A classic case in point is how we allow the Bush adminstration to doublespeak and not really say anything at all. To lie and threaten and not be called to task.

It is time to call their hands and take back the power that rightfully belongs to all the people.

Something to think about today, go to http://www.capecodhistory.us/quotes/quotes. scroll down about half way and you wll find:

Currrent events:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron" - H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

11/11/2004 Reading the columnists about the election, it seems that the famous exit-polling question abut "moral values" was badly phrased. It works for Mrs Grundy — an inarticulate response in favor of the status quo, or a roll-back to the 1950s (or for some of them, back to the 1650s.) After all, everyone is in favor of "moral values" — they just disagree on what that means and which ones are most important. When I think about it in those terms: It's immoral to keep a conspicuously ignorant, flagrantly lying, arrogantly superstitious fascist in a position of power.

Peace may be signed between two nations
But for protection of your rights
My friend it's always battle stations
- James Keelaghan, Small Rebellions

Why, of course the people don't want to go to war, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders... All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. - Herman Goering, at the Nuremburg trials 1

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor with the cry of grave national emergency... Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real. - General Douglas MacArthur

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. - William Pitt

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison

Keep it simple and question everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Politics

2004-09-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

New blogger here looking for a way to express his thoughts on the current political scene in the United States.

Our President has started a war so he can be a "war President". Our Vice-President is getting rich from the war.

What in the world is going on in the minds of the American people? Is there no logical thinking going on any more? In four years, these men and their handlers have done more to destroy the foundations of our democracy than any period in the history of this great nation.

It is incredulous that the "Swift Board Veterans for Truth" ads against John Kerry can be seriously regarded by any thinking person. However, they are apparently having an influence on the voters.