Is This Democracy?

Yahoo! News - Bolton Finds U.N. Nomination in Jeopardy:

GOP support for Bolton cracked during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing early last week, so the chairman decided to postpone a vote that Bolton would have lost.

Since then, the White House has defended Bolton daily and blamed Democrats for playing politics with the nomination. Yet each new day has brought fresh allegations that Bolton dressed down subordinates or behaved, as one former colleague claimed, 'like a madman,' when he was crossed.

Is this how a Democracy is supposed to work? Is this even how a Republic is supposed to work? You have a hearing, the hearing goes poorly, and so the Chairman decided to postpone a vote that Bolton would have lost.

This is preposterous! Following Tom DeLay's lead, I guess it is acceptable to gerrymander votes until they fall in your direction. STEP DOWN, Bolton. And, for the love of God, will you Republicans do SOMETHING for the good of the country, or are you so completely drunk with power that you do not know what that may be any more?

Bleed Them To Death

The New York Times > National > Medicare Change Will Limit Access to Claim Hearing:

"WASHINGTON, April 23 - A new federal policy will make it significantly more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to obtain hearings in person before a judge when the government denies their claims for home care, nursing home services, prescription drugs and other treatments."

"For years, hearings have been held at more than 140 Social Security offices around the country. In July, the Department of Health and Human Services will take over the responsibility, and department officials said all judges would then be located at just four sites - in Cleveland; Miami; Irvine, Calif.; and Arlington, Va."

Hmmm. So let me see if I have this straight: you are on Medicare (which means you DO NOT or CANNOT afford your own insurance), and you were denied a claim by the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, in order to see a judge, you have to fly, drive, take a train, or a bus to one of these four cities to see a judge about it--with your medical condition, or pending operation, or . . . .

Just a quick look at the math . . . and it is easy to see the implications. While these two-faced liars are standing up, talking their "double-speak," and passing proclamations about Terry Schiavo--how everyone has a right to live, they are clearly passing REAL, working legislation that is going to bleed the poor of our nation to death.

Yahoo! News - Lobbyist Target of Several Investigations

Yahoo! News - Lobbyist Target of Several Investigations: "WASHINGTON - Jack Abramoff is a man with a million connections and not many friends. The uberlobbyist's dealings are the subject of tangled criminal and congressional investigations that are attracting outsized interest, in part because of his close ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas."

I have some ideas for how we can deal with this! First, the Republican-controlled House and Senate can take their "Freedom To Act Outside Of The Law" policies and protection that they have implemented for Tom DeLay, and expand them to include Tom's friends, his family, and his business associates, of course. This single move would exonerate Jack Abramoff from his apparent "spot of trouble."

Next, if they can craft it carefully, they should expand the Congressional Immunity to include everyday activities (for Republicans Congressmen and Congresswomen only--if possible)--not just Emergency Congressional sessions. Why should they have to obey traffic laws, speeding laws, or even refrain from stealing on an everyday basis? With this next step, they can complete their immunization from the laws that apply to us "commoners."

Don't Give Up

Dont Give Up

This is an AWESOME video--as in, it inspires awe. I would recommend the site, as well. Don't give up. (And, yes--that is a rubber-pellet gun pointed at the pacifists HEAD from 5 feet away. I bet, at that range, even a rubber pellet to the head would kill him.)

The Times They Are A-Changin'

-By Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Tom Delay's House of Scandal

Tom Delay's House of Scandal

It may seem like I have spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the lies, the deception, and the illegal activities of Tom DeLay in the last couple of weeks. And, to be truthful, I HAVE spent a good deal of time reading, thinking, and writing about them.

His actions are outrageous. His statements are outrageous. That he is an elected official in our REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT is outrageous. And, I am outraged!

So, I am going to continue to write and publish information and opinions about Tom DeLay until enough of his constituency is outraged as well and vote him out of his elected position.

Yahoo! News - 20 Arrested in Crackdown on Internet Drugs

Yahoo! News - 20 Arrested in Crackdown on Internet Drugs:

"A study by the Government Accountability Office last year found it was easy to order drugs online. Some drugs received from foreign pharmacies were counterfeit and many came with no instructions or warnings, the GAO said. Others arrived in damaged or unconventional packaging."

I have a very simple question for the people in the Government Accountability Office: Do you NOT GET SPAM like the rest of us? Did you really have to run "a study" to determine that it was EASY to order drugs online. This seems absurd to me because I receive about a thousand unwanted offers every single day for online prescriptions in the Spam-box of my e-mail program.

That is the nature of bureaucracy. "We have just concluded conclusively that humans do, in fact, breathe to take oxygen into their bodies. Next year, we will be conducting a study to understand the nature of the carbon dioxide that is coming OUT of our bodies . . . . " I just wonder what kind of SPAM-BLOCKER they use . . . .

Big Red Button

On the lighter side . . . .

Big Red Button (Flash)

Enjoy.

What does DeLay Really Want?

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town:

"So there you have it, the DeLay agenda: no separation of church and state, no judicial review, no right to privacy. Next to this, the President’s effort to repeal the New Deal social contract by phasing out Social Security is the mewing of a kitten. DeLay may stay or DeLay may go. But the real danger is not DeLay himself. It’s DeLay’s agenda. It’s his vision. It’s his “values.”"

— Hendrik Hertzberg

The New Yorker has, in my opinion, the best Op-Ed writing of just about any publication in the United States. Point that firepower against the Champion Supreme of the "Most Frightening Politician" Award, Senator Tom DeLay, and you have one nice read. If we are not careful, Senator DeLay may undo 100 years of progress in just a few short terms.

This is a great read.

Tom DeLay, God and Guns . . . oh, and the Constitution

I am just going to put a couple of these things out there and see what YOU think. It is time for you to put your thinking caps on.

Yesterday, Tom DeLay (God-wielding Republican from Texas, and taker of bribes, and the Republican Leader in Congress--setting an example for other Republicans), addressed the NRA at their annual convention. Appraently, he was pretty subdued and went on to say that non-2nd Amendment supporters were just people who did not grow up with guns. It intimated in the times article that he was one of the people who were NOT bashing Democrats.

What he did say, however, was pretty interesting . . . .

"GOD BLESS THE NRA"

DeLay went on to assure the NRA he would work to pass legislation to continue to guarantee the right to have guns.

"It isn't just ourselves and our homes that need defending, it's freedom, ladies and gentlemen, freedom, freedom,'' he said. "God gives it, the Constitution guarantees it and together we will defend it. God bless the NRA."

Read the full NY Times article here

God and guns? A very interesting concept--it sounds like an argument being used in the Middle East right now AGAINST US and our troops. It reminds me of the crusades.

To counteract my oversimplification of the issue to a mere "God and guns," I wanted to mix the constitution into the cauldron. The actual 2nd Amendment to the Constitution says the following:

"Amendment II: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Read the entire Bill of Rights here

Does the NRA actually serve that purpose? And should they be (or are they already) "blessed by God?" What do you think?

Personality Profile: Our Next Shuttle Commander

The New York Times > Science > Space & Cosmos > To Revive Shuttle, NASA Calls on a Cool Leader

This is a great personality profile of the Commander of the next Space Shuttle flight into space, Col. Eileen M. Collins. Personally, I am glad that we are pushing the Space Shuttle program into a new dimension (but lament the loss of life that was the catalyst).

In the last two years, NASA has reduced the number and thickness of the tiles on the underside of the shuttle (making it less fragile), built a repair kit/refined techniques for in-space repairs, and developed a new rolling maneuver for docking that will allow space station crew members to photograph the underside of the shuttle as it docks. Then, while at the station, they will be able to inspect and repair any potential damage while at the station.