Someone Please Send Bush a copy of "Schoolhouse Rock"

Once again, President Bush has demonstrated that the Constitution he vowed to uphold and protect means less than toilet paper to him, and that he feels no law applies to him. Last month, he signed into law a bill which was never passed by the House. The Senate bill he signed varied by 2 BILLION dollars from the House bill that was passed, partially due to a "clerical error." So our Decider in Chief decided that sending the bill back to the House for approval was too dangerous, as it only passed by one tie breaking vote from the Vice President in the first place, and it might not pass again considering the political climate has worsened since then. So he just signed it. Who cares about the law? Or that "piece of paper" Constitution. After all, that was signed in 1787! This is 2006!

The Journal Gazette article confirms that a public watchdog group called Public Citizen has filed a lawsuit to block the law. It also states that most constitutional scholars seem to think it's an open and shut case; Bush's actions were illegal. It's just one more indication of the contempt Bush has for the American People. And still, the scariest part to me is the lack of outrage. The lack of action. How can the American People continue to allow this adminstration to violate our rights and our laws? What toxic ennui has infected us that we can allow this? Okay, we'll get a little upset when we have to pay more for gas, but where is the outrage over the erosion of the fabric of our country? The death of thousands in an illegal war? The pollution of our air and waters and ecosystems? The debt that he is going to pass on to our children? We have got to stop this. It's too important.

And the Procession into Hell continues...

As usual, when the country has a problem, our fearless leader comes up with the exactly wrong response. To answer the high gas prices, President Bush has come up with a plan! And that plan is.... to reduce tax breaks for the oil industry? No. To institute a cap on prices? No. To encourage conservation and alternative fuel research? HA! No, the answer is He Relaxes Environmental Rules, Suspends Oil Reserve Deposits. Once again, the President trashes the planet to save his oil buddies a few bucks. Ok, a whole big shitload of bucks. Thanks, Mr. Pres.

Harry Reid has a Gas Price Petition which of course, has no bite, in that the Republican congress will never allow it to mean anything. But I signed my name, just to have my opinion voiced. I added the following comment:

"While I am willing to pay a fair price for goods and services I use, I feel that the record profits of the oil companies indicate we are being charged far more than is fair. Tax breaks and giveaways to the oil industry in the face of these profits are simply obscene given the impact to the economy of these prices. It must end. Now."

I think about how a gallon of gas is about the same cost as a gallon of milk. Milk is a renewable resource, gas is not. Gas is valuable, no doubt. I understand that a large portion of the price we pay per gallon (especially in California) consists of taxes levied by the state and federal government. I don't even have a problem with that, though I'd like to keep better tabs on how that tax is used. But when the executives of major oil companies continue quarter after quarter to rake in record profits, something is wrong. The price at the pump is passed on to the poor and middle class over and over again, through wholesale increases in price retailers must pay in freight. Everyone spreads the costs around and the buck stops at the average citizen's wallet. It's not right.

And of course, gas prices are such a trivial issue, really, when taken against the horror of Iraq and God forbid, Iran, and the nightmare lives of Katrina victims who have no comfort nine months after the disaster. Our President's failed policies on every level, on every subject, have devastated this country. It will be years before anyone, Democrat or Republican, will be able to get this country back on it's feet, and regain our place in the world.

The Horror Continues

I haven't posted here in quite some time because the reality of the American situation right now is too overwhelming. Anyone interesting my crafting journal can find it at Homespun Dreamings. I decided to split the contents for the fiber arts people who may not be looking for political rants.

I just can NOT understand why or how Americans have allowed this to happen. It astounds me that the President's approval rating is as high as it is. What this man, this Administration has done is so much worse than anything anyone could ever have dreamed. The pundits keep saying Bush is "approaching Nixon's numbers" - Nixon was a poser! Nixon could not have conceived of the crimes Bush has actually committed. He didn't lie, straight faced, over and over and over again on every issue of import to the American people. He didn't violate the oath of office; "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He didn't destroy the economy, or alienate the entire world against the US, or trash the ecosystem or negate our civil rights. He didn't silence scientific and military experts. He didn't take a record surplus and turn it into a record deficit. Nixon might have manipulated the Vietnam War for his political benefit, but he sure didn't intentionally send thousands of Americans to their death for no better reason than money and power.

It's hard to know the cause of this debacle. Is it simple incompetence? Is it just lust for money and power? Is it some kind of messianic nightmare, trying to bring on the Second Coming? Is he in competition with his father? Is he really and truly insane, or maybe just drug addled and stupid? I don't have a clue. All I can do is look around me and see the devastation. And speak out, when I can. I know I'm not smart enough to solve all the problems before the American people right now. But I can try to let people know when I think they're making a mistake; and Bush is about to make a big one.

On June 2, the Christ loving military machine that is the Bush Administration will drop a bomb in the Nevada desert. A detonation large enough to generate a mushroom cloud. The Orwellian/messianistic name of this test? Divine Strake. There's a whole list of them; Divine Buffalo, Divine Invader, Divine Helcat, Divine Kingfisher, Divine Umpire, Divine Zorro, Divine Warhawk, Divine Albatross, and my favorite Divine Hates. Divine Strake is a 700 TON (1.4 MILLION pound) bomb. The stated purpose of the test is to see how computer equipment and tunnels would fare in a reinforced bunker deep underground. The problem with this stated purpose is that there is no possible means of conveyance for this payload. No single unit transport that can even come close to delivering this amount of tonnage. There's an excellent article at GlobalSecurity.org that helps clear through the spin and the misdirection and the outright lies in the nearly non existent media coverage of this event.

The rumored real purpose of this detonation is to calculate a nuclear equivalent, ie, how much nuclear payload would be required to bomb the Iranians and their proported centrifuges underground. Here is a letter from thirteen prominent scientists to President Bush, with their views on using nukes.

We cannot allow this President to get us into a third mismanaged war. Please, stop the bleeding. Stop the flow of broken, burned, and murdered bodies of our soldiers. Stop the abuse of power. Stop the madness of King George the Decider.