Musings 182--Happy Halloween!

Here are some political cartoons to ponder as you boil up the stew for the kiddies on Halloween. Enjoy these from allhatnocattle.com.

You can either laugh or cry. Sometimes I do both at once...with these guys.

And then there is always Rush!

It's a great life...if you don't weaken...or get hit by a truck...or get a terminal disease...or are against conservative gas-bags.

Musings 181--We've lost Will!

I read everything I can about the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. (I say terrorism because it is hard to make war on a verb.)

George Will, the columnist for Newsweek, has gone south on the war. (See Link) Just as in Viet Nam, when Walter Cronkite gave up; George Will has now given up on Bush jr. and Dick Cheney's journey into folly--a journey that has killed nearly 3,000 soldiers and maimed 20,000 others. This month has chalked up 103 dead American troops.

Each month there is more and more pressure on Bush jr. to admit to the fact that Iraq is in a Civil War, and that it is time for us to redeploy to the south and north of Baghdad. It is time that we let them kill each other instead of us.

Stay tuned. If we have lost Will, can the rest of the button down conservatives be far behind?

Musings 180--The October surprise no one sees.

Over the last few months the talking heads have been going on about Karl Rove's October surprise. You know, the bomb that will be dropped right before the November election that will take the Christian Conservative Party, aka, the Republican Party over the hump to victory.

Sitting at my computer in West Virginia, I ran on to this story: Court Official: Saddam verdict, sentence if guilty, to be announced Nov. 5 (See Link).

Ah, does anyone see this but me? Two days before the election, Saddam is going to dominate the news. Come on all of you journalists! Don't you see this?

The has been little, if any, coverage of Saddam's sentencing date reported on the networks or cable news shows. The print press has also not written much about this. Was he not the reason that Bushie jr. took us into Iraq in the first place?

Maybe Saddam doesn't mean much any more, but I am willing to bet that Karl Rove told the Iraqi's to have the sentencing date close to the election. All of the Bush conservatives will feel good about sending the "Butcher of Baghdad" to the gallows. Then, they will all run out and vote in all the bastards that have supported Bush's efforts in Iraq.

Hey, I could be wrong, but...I doubt it. In fourteen days we will know.

Musings 179--Big Brother Now Has the Tools.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is an affront to every American both alive or dead.

George W. Bush is now the imperial king of the U.S.A. Granted, congress handed it over without much of a fight. They allowed Bushie to declare a never ending war on an idea called "terror." Thus, the president's war powers make him the supreme ruler of everything.

According to the newly signed Military Commissions Act of 2006, Bushie can declare anyone he wants as an enemy and hold them forever without a trial. (See Link) The Bush Administration so hates the American Court system that they have now found a way to make it moot.

Here are some of the provisions:

--Certain sections of the Uniform Code of Military Justice are deemed inapplicable - including some relating to a speedy trial [Sec.948b (d)(1)(A)], compulsory self-incrimination [Sec.948b (d)(1)(B)], and pre-trial investigation [Sec.948b (d)(1)(C)].

--A civilian defense attorney may not be used unless they have clearance to view materials classified Secret. [Sec.949c(b)(3)(D)]
Based on his findings, the judge may introduce hearsay evidence [Sec.949a(b)(2)(E)(i)], evidence obtained without a search warrant [Sec.949a(b)(2)(B)], evidence obtained when the degree of coercion is disputed [Sec.948r (d)], or classified evidence not made available to the defense [Sec.949d(f)(2)(B)].

--A finding of Guilty requires only a 2/3 majority [Sec.949m(a)]

--No defendant may invoke the Geneva Conventions in legal proceedings on their behalf. [Section 5(a)]

--The President determines “the meaning and application” of the Geneva Conventions banning the torture of prisoners. [Sec.6 (a)(3)(A)]

--The accused may be tried for the same offense a second time “with his consent” [Sec.949h(a)].

--If the military commission returns a finding of Not Guilty, its convening authority is not required to take action on the findings. [Sec.950b(c)(3)]

Big Brother now has the tools needed to bend us to his will. The Patriot Act led the way to this piece of disastrous legislation. If the democrats don't take over congress on election day, the world may never recover from the wild, wild west foreign policy of George W. Bush.

Musings 178--Screwing with Jesus

So now it looks like the Republican Party has been screwing around with the Jesus-Loves-Me-This-I-Know-Cause-the-Bible-Tells-Me-So crowd. Wow! That's a flash. Of course they have. They are republicans whose real God is money. They really only worship wealth and power.

I think the religious right got what they deserved in George W. Bush. He and his fellow republicans have stuck it to them at every turn while professing the love of Jesus as they did it. I guess the Christians just wanted to believe in something so badly that they failed to see Bushies horns and tail.

There is an old adage which says, "you get what you pay for." Well, they paid for him...lock, stock and barrel. A narrow-minded egotistical bastard such as George W. Bush could only rise to power through deception, lies and theft. It is amazing that religious people flocked to him after the debacle in Florida in 2000, but they did.

Plus, everybody knows that Conservative Christians think that gays are all going to burn in hell. Few come out and say it, but it is what they believe. They believe that you can be cured from "being gay." It is a disease...kind of like the flu. I have even heard well meaning (but stupid) people talk about so-and-so who turned gay--like it is a choice to be picked on by every hate group in America.

Well, the republicans apparently have several gay folks that are causing them a bit of trouble. Now the religious right is wondering if the party of Ronald Reagan has been infiltrated by Satan and his spawn of homosexuals. Maybe they have been hoodwinked. Well, ah...yeah...they have, and some of us saw it coming. However, it was the straights, such as Karl Rove, that screwed over the Jesus voters.

I use to think that George W. Bush was the anti-Christ. I think I was giving him to much credit. He couldn't possibly be more than a monkey-demon. I know this because he like shiny objects and he blinks a lot. Besides, the anti-Christ would be more like Bill Clinton.

Musings 177.1--Big Dick

He is the vice pres and his name is Big Dick Cheney. He is the epitome of all things evil. He is the Dark Lord of the Sith. He is the dick of all Dicks. He is the king of the Richards. I give you cartoons from allhatnocattle, buck fush, etc.

And there are more...

and more...

and more...

and more...

and one more.

He's kind of like a real life nightmare. Oh, well...Halloween is coming, so...boo!

Musings 177--Choking in PA

Representative Don Sherman (R) PA, was accused in May of choking his 29-year old mistress of five years during a sexy back-rub. Sherman is married and is rated highly by the conservative coalitions. (Isn't there a commandment against adultry?) Maybe Don missed that in bible school. (See Link)

The religious right scores again! Literally...

Sherman has been in congress only five years. He picked-up this woman at a young republicans meeting, and they apparently forgot to pray before engaging in their sordid affair. Five years later, she has sued Sherman for 5.5 million but settled privately out of court.

Sherman is just more conservative scum that should be wiped out of congress.

The mainstream press did not pick up on this story when it broke. I wonder why? Now Dick Cheney is raising money for Shepard's reelection. The party of family values. Oh, yeah!

As I said in my previous column, if you stand on moral values there is very little wiggle room when you screw up.

Journalists should be snooping around looking to see if more of our elected officials are living up to the doctrine that they espouse. I mean, if you are righteous; then, you damn well better be on the straight and narrow. All the world hates a hypocrite.

Musings 176--Taking a stand on moral issues can kill you.

You would have thought that republican politicians would have learned by now that morality is a bad thing to take a stand on. Now I'm not saying that politicians shouldn't have moral values. What I am saying is that, as a politician, moral values should never be nailed down as to its exactness.

Everybody is against bad things. That is always a good stance to take. The absolute defining of the bad things, however, can be very hard to do, and usually becomes very dangerous to do. There are a few things that are considered universally bad. Murder and rape are at the top of the list, but after these two it gets a bit fuzzy due to circumstances of events. The court system has come to understand this. That is why there are so many different ways in which people can be charged in a case.

When the conservative republicans staked out morality as their center piece many years ago, they charted a course to where they are today. Democrats, on the other hand, are the party of forgive and forget. They truly believe in the old adage: "To err is human, to forgive is divine."

When morality is your main concern, there is no forgiving or forgetting. The self-rightness of owning the moral high ground does not let you slip up. If you do, you are tossed away forever into the biblical "lake of fire." Being straight laced is a full-time job.

Thus, when conservative republicans mess up, it is neat to watch them savage each other. What Mark Foley (R) of Florida did was very wrong. However, it could have been worse. He could have actually had sexual relations with a capitol page. He didn't--at least that is the evidence available now.

Foley has resigned from the House of Representatives and has checked himself into an alcohol clinc. Speaker Dennie Hastert is catching more hell than Foley. The conservative Washington Times has asked for Hastert to resign as speaker. He supposedly knew about problems with Foley months or even years ago. Thus, he tried to cover it up. Well...maybe, or maybe not.

Since the republicans are the party of morality; then, they cannot give Foley or Hastert a pass. If they do, they will look like the forgive-and-forget democats. Heads must roll.

Foley was a pretender who latched onto the conservative mantra that kids are the most important creatures on this planet. They have a real fascination with babies. Foley apparently had a real fascination with babies after they got a little older. Hence, he maneuvered himself into a position where he could be around these young men and women.

When a conservative republican learns of an immorality--such as Hastert supposedly learned about Foley--he has no recourse but to cut immediate ties with such behavior. If he doesn't he gets painted with the same ugly brush that now paints Foley. There is no maneuver room when you stand on morality and that is your only issue. Thus, standing on morality can get you killed.

Personally, I think it would be good riddance to both of them. Foley, who now admits to being gay like it is a disease, is definitely a pedophile. Hastert is a either a liar or senile, since he doesn't remember being told about Foley.

Stay tuned, this is just getting interesting.