Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns

All I can say is “Hallelujah! It’s about time!”

An Apathetic America is losing its Freedoms

King George has been systematically eroding away the freedoms granted to all Americans by the U.S. Constitution, all in the name of his illegal war in Iraq.

If anyone, at anytime, walks up to the President or the Vice President and makes a statement voicing their negative view of the war in Iraq, that person will be arrested by the Secret Service for assault.

If this statement shocks you, then you have not been paying close enough attention.

This very scenario played out in Beaver Creek, Colorado, when Steve Howards walked up to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was shaking the hands of supporters, and said “Mr. Vice President, I think your policy in Iraq is reprehensible.” Steve then walked away. The Secret Service then approached Mr. Howard, accused him of assaulting the Vice President and arrested him.

If you think this cannot happen in America, if you believe that an American citizen cannot voice his opinion to one of our top elected representatives of this ‘free’ nation, then you need to start paying closer attention to what King George is really up to.

There is a White House manual, written for the advance team of security people who show up at Presidential speech and rally sites ahead of the President and Vice President, that prescribes guidelines to ensure that protestors are out of earshot and to shout down any protestors that are deemed negative to the President and Vice President. This advance team recruits members from the Young Republican associations, from athletic teams, and from fraternities and sororities to stand in front of any protestors and shout them down with chants of “USA, USA, USA!”

Repressing anyone’s right to exercise their freedom of speech is un-American. Our own elected officials are advocating the suppression of freedom of speech.

Does this sound like the America our forefathers outlined for us? Does this sound like the America that thousands of soldiers over the last two centuries have died to protect? Is this the America that stands for freedom?

King George repeatedly reminds us, to the extent that it is nothing more than a brainwashing tactic, that the terrorists are coming to our shores. “Stop Al-Qaeda” has become his favorite war cry. I am all for stopping Al-Qaeda. He tells us how they can destroy this country. They cannot destroy this country. This country can only be destroyed from within. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are destroying this country by undermining the Constitution.

Bush has finally been given the right to spy on Americans, and without warrants, through the National Security Agency. Politicians who once fought against this very un-American attack on our basic right to privacy have now signed off on it. What happened? The first thing that goes through my mind when someone who so vehemently opposes an action and then is suddenly, mysteriously for it is that the person was ‘bought off’ or threatened. Can either of these things be ‘unheard of’? No. not any more.

The mainstream news media does not dig deeply enough to report the repression by our politicians or the un-American activities of our elected officials.

How many times has ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, or CNN reported that the Secret Service shouted down protestors of the Iraq war? I know, it isn’t sensational enough unless someone gets physical. And then the reporter would say that a protestor got ‘out-of-line’ and had to be removed and nothing would be said about the hired goon who strong-armed the protestor just for being there.

Repression is one of the tools of a dictatorship. The news media is facilitating this administration in behaving as a dictatorship by not reporting it. The American people are giving up their rights by not standing up saying something.

As a general rule, I don’t endorse authors books but if you would like to read more on the subject of how this administration is taking away our rights, then these two books should be read: “You Have No Rights” by Matthew Rothschild and ‘The Last Days of Democracy” by Elliot Cohen.

Go now and learn just how close to a Monarchy our 'Democratic Society' has gotten.

Killers go unpunished, society loses again

This falls under the category of eroding moral values and a weak judicial system that does nothing to curtail this type of behavior.

Michael Vick was suspended from NFL 'indefinitely' as a result of his ‘association’ with activities surrounding a dog fighting ring that he bought and paid for. This only goes so far (and not far enough) in the NFL’s efforts to make "a strong statement that conduct which tarnishes the good reputation of the NFL will not be tolerated," as spoken by Falcons owner Arthur Blank. But, Vick’s conduct obviously is not “incomprehensible and unacceptable" enough for Blank to completely cut Vick lose.

Vick is playing the legal system. And there are lawyers out there who are more than willing to facilitate his attempt to get off with as little punishment as possible.

This exemplifies how our legal system has become a ‘dog without a bite’. Please pardon the pun.

Just look at pictures of Vick surrounded by his lawyers. He is smug. He looks like he is challenging the world and he knows he will win. And why not? Our legal system has a long track record of letting people off with as lenient a punishment as they can.

Laws are written to prevent the type of behavior that Vick is accused of and has several witnesses to, but Federal prosecutors agreed to ask for the low end of the sentencing guidelines. Why?

Why is the court system always going for the ‘low-end’ of sentencing guidelines? Can they not convict Vick of the charges based on actual eyewitnesses who have already confessed to being a part of these charges?

Vick admitted to participating in a dogfighting ring. Vick also admitted that he and two co-conspirators killed dogs that did not fight well. This is not just ‘hear say’, the legal term for something that cannot be backed up with proof. He made these statements to members of the law enforcement community which makes them admissible in court. He should be charged with these crimes as well.

Vick said he would plead guilty to one count of "Conspiracy to Travel in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Unlawful Activities and to Sponsor a Dog in an Animal Fighting Venture" in a plea agreement filed at U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia. Why is he in control of what he will plead to? How is it that he is the one who decides what he will be punished for?

In an additional summary of facts, signed by Vick and filed with the agreement, Vick admitted buying pit bulls and the property used for training these dogs to fight, and to actually pitting these dogs against each other but the statement said he did not bet on the fights or receive any of the money won. He further states that gambling wins were generally split among co-conspirators Tony Taylor, Quanis Phillips and sometimes Purnell Peace.

Oh Please!! Vick expects us to believe he bought everything needed for dogfighting and for training dogs to fight but did not intend to benefit in any way from dogfighting. That he went through all of this expense for the sole benefit of his co-conspirators? What crap!! Nobody is going set up a betting situation and not take advantage of it in order to get his money back and then some.

You prosecutors cannot possibly be this blind. Everybody on the outside of this judicial system who is paying attention is laughing at you. The federal prosecutors, should be ashamed of themselves.

Vick also agreed that "collective efforts" by him and two others caused the deaths of at least six dogs. This is awfully 'big' of him to admit since he has witnesses that said he did exactly this.

Around April, Vick, Peace and Phillips tested some dogs in fighting sessions at Vick's property in Virginia, the statement said. "Peace, Phillips and Vick agreed to the killing of approximately 6-8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road and all of those dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning.

The prosecutors are not going to convict Vick or any of the others for killing these dogs. They are not going to be punished for the brutal, callous ways in which these devious minds thought up to ‘punish’ these dogs for the ‘crime’ of not having the heart to fight.

You know what they say about people who torture and kill animals? They ‘graduate’ to killing and torturing humans. This is a proven fact. This is not just made up by me to write something more sensational about these sub-humans. These ‘men’ are going to be allowed to live amongst law-abiding citizens after admitting to killing for the pleasure of it. There was nothing ‘humane’ in the way these dogs were killed. These ‘men’ took pleasure in it.

What saddens me even further is that there are NFL ‘fans’ who will think Vick should be allowed to go unpunished just because he is an athlete. Maybe these prosecutors are among those misguided, blind fools.

So, yes, Vick is playing the legal system using low-life manipulative lawyers. He is also playing on the fact that athletes and entertainers always get special treatment above all others. This is an indictment against the legal system and this society in general.

Raising animals to kill each other is barbaric.

These people who raise animals have a debased ‘killer instinct’ that they feel has to be acted upon and they do this by supporting this barbaric treatment of animals.

These dogs were not domesticated so that they can provide entertainment for a few Neanderthal-type individuals who think it makes them feel macho.

Michael Vick and his friends made money on raising dogs to kill each other. He brutalized and killed these animals when it became apparent that his training did not reverse the centuries of domestication that society has bred into these animals.

Our legal system is absolutely justified in punishing anyone who resorts to this type of cruelty against what has become “man’s best friend”.

And now some NBA ‘star’ who defends this activity with the statement “We don’t say anything about people who shoot deers and shoot other animals” should get some education on hunting before opening his obviously, under-educated mouth.

First of all, the plural for deer is ‘deer’ not ‘deers’. Secondly, these are wild animals, they are not domesticated. (Look up the word domesticated in the dictionary so you can keep up.) Thirdly, if we did not hunt these animals they would overrun their natural habitat and become a threat to humans and livestock. And, yes, people are against raising animals for the purpose of shooting them. There are hunting clubs around the world that do exactly this and there are a lot of people who find it abhorrent. Oh, sorry, they find it very distasteful and mean.

So please, get up to speed on the morality of civilized society before you start showing your ignorance on the subject.

It is really sad that so many people look to athletes as their moral spokespersons. This society thinks that because a person can throw a ball, or run really fast, or take a beating on a sports field then that person automatically has some great intellect that we should all listen to.

Being a good athlete has always been a more desirable attribute than being educated. Beginning in high school, athletes have been given special consideration over education just to get them on the playing field. Then, when they get out into the real world people continue to look to them as if they are some special ‘guiding light’ for all of us follow. They are nothing more than entertainers. Pure and simple. They do not know what is best for society. They will never be listed among society’s greatest thinkers.

Given all of this, it is no wonder that the statement of an athlete would be spotlighted by the media as ‘important’ enough to tell the world.

Dog fighting is not a sport.

For our health, we raise animals for our nourishment. For our mental and psychological well-being, we raise animals as pets. For our entertainment, we raise animals in zoos so we can pay to see them in their ‘natural’ habitat and also to help preserve the species.

Dogs in particular have been a major part of our society as pets, protectors, and some would say friends.

Raising domesticated animals for the sole purpose of killing each other and then calling it a sport illustrates just how low and depraved these brutal and un-civilized people have become. It is truly reprehensible that these people are allowed to live amongst us, let alone be looked up to because they are athletes.

The world tries to defend itself from the U.S.

On Friday, August 17, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country’s air force is once again sending nuclear-equipped bombers on regular overseas patrols.

Mr Putin said the move to resume the flights permanently is in response to security threats posed by ‘other’ military powers. We all know who these ‘other’ military powers are.

Of course, the U.S. state department is trying to down play the maneuver by belittling Russia for taking ‘some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again’. They further attempt to downplay Russia’s action by pointing out that Russia halted its flights 15 years ago because it could no longer afford the fuel costs, while ignoring the fact that Russia’s coffers are stuffed full of oil money today and the Kremlin is determined to show it is still a military power to reckon with.

Instead of the U.S. taking this opportunity to work things out with Russia in order to prevent a return to the nuclear arms race, the U.S. chooses to puff themselves up and take a ‘superior’ attitude towards Russia. Which has become the typical arrogant response of the U.S. toward the rest of the world.

Russia is currently involved in joint military exercises with China near the Ural Mountains. Both of these former Cold War rivals are concerned over what they determine to be a heightening distrust over the United States' outsized role in global politics, and they have forged a "strategic partnership" aimed at counterbalancing Washington's policies.

NATO also is playing a role in fomenting this distrust by relocating NATO forces closer to Russia's western border.

The bottom line to all of this posturing against each other is over oil. Once again, access to resources continue to play a major role in what could lead to the end of mankind.

This incessant need to grow stronger than the other guy is a drive that needs to be curtailed. If all three of these major powers, United States, Russia and China, were to work together then there would no longer be so much money wasted on military muscle.

Washington supports plans for pipelines that would carry oil and gas to the West and bypass Russia (why does it have to bypass Russia), while Moscow has maneuvered to control exports (why do they have to ‘control’ it). China also has shown a growing appetite for energy to power its booming economy.

Why do they all need to be so selfish over this resource? We are all on this planet together like it or not. Lets work together to use it all up while spending the money saved on our oversized militaries on research into alternative fuels that would save us all?

Let’s have some faith in our scientist, from all countries, to work together and stop spending so much money on the military whose only role, it seems, is to destroy.

The military should stand only in a defensive posture. The U.S. is spreading hate and mistrust by inserting itself everywhere. This is patently wrong and backward thinking. It seems we have not evolved very far from the Neanderthals fighting Homo Sapiens for supremacy. Only the weapons have changed. And why does there have to be supremacy over each other? Why not fight for supremacy over this natural desire to kill one another?

With the U.S. aggressive actions to ‘take’ instead of ‘ask’ and ‘pay for’ we are going to end up losing all of it and strangle ourselves.

All of this terrorist activity in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in other places, is present only because of U.S. policy. We are in control of deciding whether or not that terrorism continues. We alone can stop all of it by choosing to stop being terrorist ourselves.

By the U.S. ‘forcing’ its beliefs on other countries, we are in fact using terrorist tactics. We certainly are not threatening to kill people if they don’t follow our example, but we are threatening to withhold aid to these countries if they don’t ‘become’ us. We have no moral authority to do this.

The world is fed up with the U.S. method of forcing its ideas on them. They are beginning to fight back. Russia with its threat of nuclear bombs, Iran with its threat to ‘punch’ us, Taliban with its threat to bring terror down onto all Americans, North Korea with its threat of nuclear missiles, Venezuela with its threats against anything American. There are many more examples.

The U.S. needs to read the writing on the wall and needs to start listening and learning to be a better neighbor. History has taught that being the schoolyard bully does not win friends or influence anyone but other bullies.

I am tired of living in a world full of threat and hate. I want the peaceful world that everyone outside of politics and the military wants and knows can exist.

We are at a major turning point in world history. We can change this world for the better. It will take a strong willed person to get the ball rolling and it will take a lot of faith to change thousands of years of hate, aggression, and mistrust but this alternative has got to stop.

Russia is minding its own business and now has to flex its military muscle because the U.S. and its paranoid, arrogant president is a threat to them.

China is trying to gain footing as a major industrial nation so that it can maintain its military because the U.S. and its paranoid, arrogant president is a threat to their control of the Asian continent.

Iran is trying to gain access to nuclear energy to provide a viable clean fuel resource for itself and if it is stockpiling weapons grade uranium it is only because the U.S. and its paranoid, arrogant president has become a threat to them as well.

The U.S. is flexing its military muscle around the world trying to force its ‘moral’ beliefs on everybody else and the world is fed up with it.

The U.S. is dismantling its industrial base and sending it all overseas out of greed by the corporate owners who are tired of paying high wages to its greedy workers and tired of paying high taxes, high insurance rates, and high social security to its greedy government.

The U.S. is slowly killing itself over an incessant need to have more, more, more.

If Russia, China and the U.S. were to all join together to play their little war games amongst themselves then there would be no one left to protect ourselves from. Then they could begin to scale back their militaries and re-direct all of that money toward more important issues such as feeding the world’s hungry, educating the world, and providing health care to the world. Isn’t that a nice thought?

But the world’s rich will not allow this to happen. Once again greed is the deciding factor. The rich get richer off of these wars and the only thing they gain from it is being the richest people in the graveyard.

Iranian Guards vow to ‘punch’ U.S.

Way to go George W., now you have pissed off another country to the point they want to kill all Americans. We who have nothing to do with any of your hateful paranoia. We who would rather just live our lives peacefully and let the Iranians live their lives are now targeted because you can’t keep your hateful military muscle in your pants.

You are such a jerk.

You are not a diplomat, you fool. Why can’t you just let the true diplomats handle these matters? You egotistical little runt.

Have you heard of the ‘little man’ complex? It says that short, little people tend to feel the need to over-compensate their small stature by doing grandiose things in order to ‘prove’ their masculinity. It can be a harmful, often destructive affliction in someone who is in a position of power. In your case, some other fool (Karl Rove) callously took the notion (to feed his own over-sized ego) that he could put a do nothing, loser politician in the White House. The fool pulled it off and now the whole country is paying dearly for it.

The only reason you have authorized an entire nation to be registered as a terrorist organization is so the U.S. can gain access to that country's money.

You are so blinded with rage because Iran will not 'bow' to your demands that they stop building nuclear energy plants that you have now further endangered the lives of every American citizen. How can you sleep at night? You sir are the true terrorist in our midst.

They have just as much right as the U.S. to have access to a cleaner form of energy.

Your paranoid little mind is convinced that the only reason they want nuclear energy is to stockpile nuclear bombs, which of course, you are also convinced they want to use on us.

Just because the United States took that evil, hateful and destructive action of actually using a nuclear bomb against our fellow man doesn’t mean everybody else wants to.

Given the violent, aggressive history of the United States of America, one does not need to stretch the limit of imagination to think that other nations would feel the need to protect themselves from what the U.S., under the leadership of a paranoid, egotistical president, might do to them. Especially if they have oil within their borders.

Iran is nothing more than an extension of George W. Bush's paranoiac hunt for weapons of mass destruction that he and a few of his buddies are still convinced that Iraq had. Weapons that were never found, because they were never there.

Why can’t you, George, just swallow your foolish pride, lock up your enormous hateful ego and step down from the Presidency? Allow someone who wants to move this country towards a more peaceful and benevolent society do so, so that we can once again be proud to call ourselves Americans?

Do the right thing George. Go home, don’t look back, and for God’s sake (and ours) take your lying, conniving, criminal cronies with you.

Lenient judges are killing us

Headline says "Vick court known for tough sentencing".

Why isn’t every court ‘known for tough sentencing’? That is what they are in place for. They are not there to protect the accused, as so many liberal judges and advocates think. They are in place to protect society.

If they followed the letter of the law, as our paid ‘servants’ the lawmakers wrote them then anyone who broke the law would fear the court system. This is as it should be. Instead, the lawyers know they have a very good chance of manipulating the court system to their advantage thereby allowing their low-life, law-breaking clients to receive lenient sentencing.

The law is not supposed to be a crap-shoot. You judges need to get your act together and start handing out justice with the common law-abiding citizens in mind. These law breakers don’t just make mistakes, they bloody well know they are breaking the law.

We have so few good law enforcement agents that these law breakers know it is worth the gamble to do the crime because there is so little chance of getting caught and if they do get caught the court system is so lenient with bleeding-heart liberal judges that they are willing to take their chances.

There is no incentive to not break the law.

Here is a case found on sixmeatbuffet.com July 23, 2007:
‘Maryland Circuit Court Judge Katherine Savage recently set a child rapist free because she was too busy downloading Melissa Etheridge MP3s to walk down to the community college and scare up an interpreter for her trial.’

‘Justice’ Savage also noted (off the record) that she was sad that she never really got to know Mahamu, the accused. Perhaps it was just a tribal family custom’.

Can you believe that a woman would bow to this man’s family customs of raping a seven-year-old girl? Where is your human dignity madam? Where is your sense of human rights? How dare you masquerade as a judge? How dare you call yourself an American.

This man was turned over to authorities by his family members for this crime against humanity. And this poor excuse for a judge allowed this scum-bag bastard to go back home. And then she has the nerve to excuse his behavior because it might have been a tribal custom?!?! Why hasn’t she been kicked off the court bench and thrown in jail for endangering our children?!?! Why isn’t anyone else outraged about this?!?!

‘Savage also lamented the fate of the 7-year-old girl. If the girl’s mother had exercised her right to choose, none of this bad publicity would have ever happened, she sighed’. This stupid, poor excuse for a woman pretends to care about the fate of the 7-year-old girl?? And then blames the mother and writes it off as ‘bad publicity’?!

This story is that this man walked because an interpreter could not be found. I say that is bullshit. He came from a country where English is spoken fluently, he went through high school and community college. He speaks the English language. He conveniently uses his nationality to hide behind when it is in his best interest to do so and this ignorant judge allowed him to do it.

The signal that we citizens are given is that this piece of human waste is afforded more protection under the legal system than his 7-year-old victim.

Does anyone out there see how this is fair??? Can anyone believe that this court system is working?!? Oh right, the ACLU. Talk about a bunch of ‘do good’ individuals who pat themselves on the back every day because they are fighting the ‘good fight’ to protect the rights of the accused.

This particular accused was turned in by his own family. His guilt has already been determined. We do not need to waste the courts time on this low-life. He needs to go directly to jail along with a few medical procedures I would be happy to sign off on. He should not be deported, because our immigration ‘service’ would just let him back into the country where he will do this despicable act again.

And here is another story that was all over the news. Jose Carranza, 28, also known as Jose Larchire, an illegal immigrant (he told the judge through an interpreter that he has no social security number, major red flag judge) was named as the principal suspect in the slaughter that outraged Newark New Jersey when he and three others lined up four college students and shot them execution style. This low-life (another reason for cracking down hard on illegal immigrants) had been ‘set free’ on two separate cases. He had been indicted by Essex County grand juries twice this year: once in April on aggravated assault and weapons charges; and once in July on 31 counts, including aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 years old and endangering the welfare of a child he had a duty to supervise, court records show. This child, by the way, was 4-years-old!?!?

Why is it that these damn judges think that it is okay to let these obviously lying, sack-of-crap, poor excuse for humans to walk on the ‘promise’ of returning to face punishment for their crimes. Are these judges so blinded in their liberal belief that all humans should be trusted no matter what proof to the contrary is staring them in the face??? Are they so convinced that these ‘fine upstanding citizens’ will honor anything they say??? Do these judges truly believe that these low-lifes are so scared of the courts that they will return just because the court says so?!!?

Wake up judges!!! Your words and threats mean nothing to someone who will rape a child. Your words and threats are lost on someone who carries weapons for the sole purpose of giving themselves power over others in order to get what they want when they want it.

How many other innocent people have to be murdered before you stop allowing this trash back on the streets???

And to add to all of this insanity is the bail bondsmen. These slimy opportunist put up money for these dirt-bags in the hopes that they will realize some financial gain.

The additional sadness surrounding the senseless deaths of these three college students who were poised to be beneficial to this society, as opposed to the vermin who so callously chose to end their lives, is that Carranza should have been, without question, held on the previous charges. This is a case where yet another judge failed our society. Now the blood of these four victims is on that judges hands.

Since our court system is not protecting us and not looking out for our citizens well-being, we citizens should demand the right to take justice into our own hands. We should be allowed to drag these scum-bags through the street ripping their flesh from their bones until they die.

But no, that same court system will find us guilty of murder and ‘make examples of our vigilante justice’ and throw us in jail for life.

Both of these cases are examples of why we should not have a bilingual education system. Make them learn our language if they want to live here.

But both of these cases reach so much deeper than a bilingual education system, it is about bleeding-heart liberal judges who think they are doing the right thing for our society in showing leniency to these scum-bags, who so clearly do not deserve it.

By these liberal judges ‘playing nice’ to each of these Neanderthals on a one-on-one basis, they are victimizing a much larger segment of our population. Each time these judges show these vermin leniency they are creating more victims. If these judges don’t have the guts to show that our legal system should be taken seriously then get them off of the bench now!!

Somebody, please put a stop to these judges crimes against society.

Have American workers lost their pride?

Recently a Chinese co-owner of Cheung Shu-hung, the company that exported toys that were recalled in the U.S. due to lead paint, committed suicide. The reason for his decision to take his life was based on the responsibility he felt he carried in bringing embarrassment to the Chinese government over this latest recall.

Truly, this man took his responsibility in this embarrassment very deeply.

This is something that American workers cannot possibly understand.

American business owners don’t take their responsibility seriously enough to consider such as rash action.

This would require things like ‘pride in workmanship’ and ‘pride in a job well-done’.

These noble ideas have become foreign to the American worker.

The American worker only cares about showing up for work for the sole purpose of collecting a paycheck. And there are a lot of those who scheme ways of collecting that paycheck without putting forth any effort at working for it. And all the while complaining that they aren’t paid enough.

They only perform their job duties to the point that it keeps the boss off their back. Nobody goes the ‘extra mile’ to produce a better quality product, except maybe the ‘new guy’ and then he is laughed at and soon ‘falls in step’ with the rest of the work force.

Everyone of you out there knows this is true. You have either participated in it or have witnessed it.

So when American companies make the decision to move overseas for a cheaper work force, think back on what you could have done to make them think a little harder about that decision. Maybe they would have stayed if they didn’t have to pay you so much to do such little work of such poor quality.

When is the last time you put in a solid eight hour work shift and truly felt you earned that money? Actually, it is unfair to ask any individual this question because I would most certainly be lied to. Let’s ask the question this way, look around you, how many people can you honestly say really work for their income?

I worked in this job market for over thirty years and I am not exaggerating when I say that clearly less than 20 percent of the number of American workers actually put themselves into their job based on pride toward the final product.

This is to say that very few Americans meet their employers expectations to ensure the final product is up to standard.

Most people will look at their job as something they have to do in order to collect money. It is nothing more than a nuisance. There is no pride in what they do and the end result shows it.

This is why our ‘quality of workmanship’ is falling behind the rest of the world. The quality of ‘American made’ is based on an idea that died decades ago.

American workers today just don’t care about quality.

The phrase ‘they don’t make them like that anymore’ is sadly true.

The phrase is very apt because it is based entirely on quality.

The quality of workmanship given to preparing the raw materials, the quality of workmanship given to the final product just isn’t there anymore.

When you see advertisers use this ‘gimmick’ to sell a product, everyone sees through it immediately as BS.

When you walk into any store or any restaurant and try to find someone to help you who actually acts like or looks like they want to help you will be in for a long and fruitless search. Hell, just try to find someone to help you, period! Those people that genuinely do try to help are few and far between.

There are many reasons for this lack of pride and they are all based in selfishness. Nobody wants to work harder than the next guy and get the same paycheck. Nobody wants to stand out as an ‘over-achiever’ which has somehow been twisted into being a bad thing. Nobody wants to look outside themselves at the bigger picture and take that extra step to ensure a job well done. Mainly because there are too many low-lifes ready to backstab you and take credit of your extra hard work.

The end result of this selfishness is that nobody does go beyond, nobody shows any real effort to do it right the first time. Therefore, quality and pride suffers.

Suicide because you brought shame and embarrassment to the U.S. government? Not going to happen in America.

What the U.S. is being left with when all of these manufacturing jobs move overseas is the service industry. God help us because American workers are not ‘into’ serving anyone. They think everyone should serve them.

We need to wake up and practice humility. We need to stop trying to convince ourselves that we are better than everyone else. We need to treat others as we want them to treat us otherwise there can be no respect and therefore there can be no pride.

Karl Rove Resigns!

This is excellent news! This lying, scheming, poor excuse for a representative of the people of the United States should never have reached this high in the political world.

Who, on the outside, knows what other devious schemes this poor excuse for a human has perpetrated on us. He has had the full protection of the Presidents office, as illustrated by the fact that he did not answer to the subpoena put forth by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, so we may never know.

He helped orchestrate the firings at the U.S. Attorneys Generals office, something he, in his role as strategist for the President, should never have been involved in. And if Alberto Gonzales wasn't such a lap dog for George W. Bush those attorneys would have been allowed to continue their work routing out the low-life politicians who have helped bring down the moral quotient of this political system.

A sometimes forgotten, or overlooked, fact is that this man orchestrated putting George W. Bush into the president's office. This act alone is enough to have this kicked out of the U.S. for the rest of his life.

The fact that Mr. Rove has resigned tells me that he is guilty of what the U.S. Senate Judicial Committee cited him for. He is also guilty of leaking former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters. This is a politicians way of escaping ‘the heat’ of political pressure when all else fails.

Karl Rove was nothing more than one of George W's 'attack dogs' who was used to ferret out anyone who gave the appearance of working against George.

Karl Rove’s resignation is the result of the Committees investigation into the firing practices at the AG’s office. His underhanded tricks resulted in eight attorneys losing their jobs because they did their job so well. And the sham investigation that took place as a result is another laughable charade put on for the sake of the American people.

These attorneys discovered, through their investigations, that certain republicans were involved in crooked deals and these attorneys had the temerity to bring charges against them. But, good ole boy George W. came to the crooked politicians rescue and instead of ending the careers of these scheming, solicitous, greedy politicians, he had the attorneys fired. And being such a good American politician he had his dogs do the dirty work to prevent him from getting his hands dirty.

We are not stupid George W and we see right through your foul antics.

Now, if only Alberto Gonzales would do the right thing and resign it would restore some semblance of propriety in the Presidents office. But I won’t hold my breathe.

Unbalanced justice, again

The father of a shooting victim leaped across a courtroom table and tried to strangle the scum-bag who admitted to killing his son.

Antonio Clifford, of Cincinnati, admitted in court that he robbed and shot 28-year-old Joshua Sweat, of Weirton, in a parking lot last year in downtown Steubenville. After the plea, Mike Sweat, the victim's father, leaped and began to choke Clifford. Amid screams from both the victim's and the killer's families, it took dozens of law enforcement officers to control the crowd. Moments later, everyone was ordered out of the courtroom.

Mr. Sweat knew, as do the rest of us, that this scum-bag does not deserve to live any longer. He took a man’s life, he should pay with his own. There are far too many of these scum-bags walking the streets who think a few dollars means more to them than a human life.

Since Antonio Clifford values money over life, he should have no problem understanding why he should die and we should be allowed to keep our money instead of supporting him. This scum-bag is going to cost us a lot of money. Much more than he is worth. He gets three meals a day, a free place to sleep, all the exercise he wants, a support system that will teach him the ‘ins-and-outs’ of dealing with the law and life on the streets (on the wrong side of the law), a new group of drug users and peddlers to ‘deal’ with, and we the taxpayers get to support him through it all.

He doesn’t have the morals required for this current form of punishment to mean anything to him.

Sure prison is not what any of us would consider a quality life, but he doesn’t place much importance on quality of life since he doesn’t respect life.

Why do you judges just sit there presiding over cases where you know the outcome is not going to be what the people want? The court system is supposed to put society’s best interest first and punish those scum-bags who choose to denigrate human life.

This court system does not put society’s best interest first, we see it everyday when perpetrators are allowed to live after their victims died.

This court system is not protecting us, we see it everyday when individuals are released from prison and then go on to repeat the crimes that landed them in prison the first time.

These people do not get ‘rehabilitated’ in prison.

In this particular court case, when the victims family’s were allowed to have their say, the victim’s mother said to Clifford "I truly believe if you are ever set free to live in society, there will be another victim -- another family -- that is shattered."

She is basing her statement on what we in society see every day.

You lawyers are not protecting this society when you let scum-bags like this live. When they get out and kill again, how is that ‘protecting’ us? But you hide behind the ‘spirit’ of the law so you don’t have to have any culpability in it. Well, you are misinterpreting the ‘spirit’ of the people you are supposed to protect, namely society in general, not this latest in a long line of scum-bags.

You judges cannot fight lack of immorality with a bleeding heart mentality, they will take advantage of you every time. And of course your misguided outlook will tell you to believe their ‘on-the-spot’ sad story.

You lawmakers should have learned by now that taking of life is the only thing these scum-bags understand. Not the loss of being able to live free in society. They are obviously fed up with society anyway. They no longer have to work for a living. And they still can get high when they want. Drug use in prisons is no secret.

The defense and prosecution came to a plea agreement after deciding that, based on the evidence from the crime, Clifford did not initiate the robbery that took place. Yet he got the stiffest penalty of the three, which still is the wrong penalty. Did you guys forget the fact that he brought a loaded weapon to the meet with him? This is a basic factor in determining first degree murder! As soon as he pulled that weapon on Sweat he was reinforcing his belief that money was more important to him than this man’s life. If he had brought this gun with him as protection, then it should have stayed in his pocket. He was not threatened with force that caused him to pull that weapon. He pulled that weapon to enforce his group’s intention to rob.

Clifford only got 33 years to ‘life’ (see the injustice here? He gets to live but the victim who only intended to fulfill his end of a purchase lost his life) after he pleaded to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence. The only reason a ‘plea’ had been put on the table in the first place was because to ‘prove’ first degree murder there would have had to be a jury trial and that would have taken longer and been more difficult to prove. I propose that could have prevented this lesser sentence that allowed this scum-bag to live, is that the law should be written such that he would have gotten death because he brought the loaded gun to the meet with him.

But, I suppose, then you lawyers would not have been needed, would you?

This scum-bag knew the penalty for taking this man’s life was worth the chance. Obviously, because he took the chance.

All three of these scum-bags are guilty of murder because they were all participated in the events that brought about Sweat’s death. Not one of them tried to prevent it. Not one of them tried to take the gun away and prevent this from happening. Not one of these low-life scum-bags tried to talk him out of it. They all participated in it. These guys clearly did not consider that it was best to just fulfill their end of the deal and walk away. You lousy, slimy lawyers ‘hash out’ some ‘letter’ or ‘spirit’ of the law trying to gain points for your brilliance at interpretation and the end result is this scum-bag gets to live. Where is the justice?

These laws should not be written as if murder has several levels of specialty and therefore should be answered with a specialized sentence. There should not be any differing ‘degrees’ of murder. If someone dies at the hands of another person then that perpetrator should be put to death. Instead the first thing they get is a ‘defense’ lawyer trying to get him off with as little punishment as possible. This tells the rest of us that the legal system is set up for those who stand in front of a judge and not for us. When you have a system that works in your favor starting the from moment your lawyer tells you to lie to the judge by saying ‘not guilty’ when you know you are, then that system is clearly working for you and to hell with the victims family.

Fed up with this terrorism crap

Now another threat video, telling us once again how we, evil American are all targets because of Bush’s policies.

The Muslims would like for us to believe that they are not all terrorist. I would like the world to know that Americans are not all spies, we do not all subscribe to what our military is doing, we are not all aggressive, self-absorbed, single-minded demons out to rule the world.

You are born Muslim. You are taught the Muslims ways. We are born American. We are taught American ways. This is just the way of a diverse world.

The ‘free-spirited’ individuals among us all have always had their thinking just a bit skewed from life’s main-stream. These individuals usually ‘branch off’ from society by thinking their outlook on life is the most righteous and honest path to follow. And then there are individuals within this group that are not content to ‘sit back’ and watch the rest of us ‘allow’ this life to be ruined. They preach their dogma of bigoted righteousness to the rest of us and think we should follow their ways without question.

These members exist within American society. These members exist within Muslim society. Why can’t those of us who see through their hateful rhetoric rise up and ‘bitch-slap’ them into sitting down with their noses in the corner until they can learn to ‘play nice’ with the rest of us?

We are all just trying to live our lives without violence and without the stress caused by the threat of violence.

The U.S. has a very bad track record when it comes to foreign affairs because our government leaders think everyone should live like us. There is a certain amount of good intention involved in how we view the rest of the world. But, let’s face it, not everyone wants the U.S.’s idea of how to live. Not everyone thinks the American lifestyle is ideal.

Granted, there are millions who want to come to America because they like our freedom and our opportunities to succeed. But those who want to come here are not representatives of the entire world population. As an analogy, Just because there are more people who purchase a certain product is no indication that everyone wants that product. And to try to force that product onto those people who have made the choice not to purchase that product is wrong. Especially when viewed through the eyes of a country that prides itself on its individuals ‘right to choose’.

Can’t you see, that trying to force our way of life on the whole world, we are denigrating the very principle we supposedly adhere to? The rest of the world sees right through this and view the U.S. as hypocritical, and because they feel the sting of our military when we try to force our way of life onto them they view us, rightly so, as nothing more than ‘schoolyard bullies’.

The U.S., in this current situation in Afghanistan and Iraq, has placed itself in a position that to ‘back down’ will make us look weak and dishonorable. But that avenue of thinking is only believed by the military. George W. Bush has bought into it 100%.

He surrounds himself with ‘advisors’ who supposedly have America’s best interest at heart. They are all basically good Americans. But their vision of what America truly stands for is tainted by a deeply seated ‘need’ to win.

There is no ‘dishonor’ in admitting you made a mistake and have ‘bitten off more than you can chew’. The ‘dishonor’ comes when you cannot admit to the mistake and stand there looking like a fool in the face of the facts. The ‘dishonor’ comes from continuing to bring about the deaths of innocent people who are caught between you and someone else who refuses to quit.

The only way for the U.S. to gain some modicum of respect and, yes honor, is to stop playing the aggressor in a part of the world where the majority of people do not want us.

I love America. As it once was, proud and honorable, giving assistance to those who need it. I don’t love the America that George W Bush and his gang of military thugs have created.

This situation has devolved into the Arab-Israeli scenario where there is no end in sight because both parties refuse to back down. Each side thinks it has to ‘answer’ the other sides aggression with more aggression. It is a never ending spiral and someone has to be the ‘adult’ and put a stop to it for the sake of the innocents.

Why can’t you aggressors go to an island somewhere and fight among your selves and allow the rest of us to live in peace? Why do you always have to take innocent lives to further your own narrow-minded, self-important ideas of how we should live, what we should believe in and how we should worship the same God we all worship?

Religion and Doctors

Some doctors are refusing service for religious reasons. This is unheard of!

It is bad enough that lawyers have made it possible so that contracts don’t mean anything anymore. Because you can always sue to get out of them if you have enough money and a ‘good’ enough lawyer. (Although there is no such thing as a good lawyer when using the term under it’s moral definition.)

Things have gone too far when an insurance company can seek out and find another judge that will give them a favorable ruling because they would have to actually pay out to their policyholders if they had to abide by what the first judge told them. This was made possible because they have enough money and a whole team of ‘good’ lawyers and lobbyists.

Now, the Hippocratic Oath has lost its meaning to a group of doctors who feel they can selectively provide their services to patients based on their own religious beliefs.

Next, the police will withhold assistance to a victim or take a little bit longer to answer an emergency call because they have decided the victim isn’t ‘moral’ enough to deserve their help.

This is the wrong path for medical doctors to take.

Granted there are moral issues that should not have been allowed to become ‘acceptable’ (but it was done for the ‘common good’, like it or not) but this is discrimination, pure and simple. And, again, for the ‘common good’ your religious beliefs need to take a back seat and you need to practice your profession as you have been trained.

Everyone should have the right to practice their religion as they see fit, that is not the issue here.

Atheist groups have been fighting hard to keep religion out of schools, now how about stepping up and fighting this one?

Here’s a sad picture of the U.S. if doctors are allowed this discriminatory practice: the Atheist Doctors Group, or the Jewish Doctors League, or the Non-Denominational Doctors Consortium and let’s go on with Christian Doctors for Jesus. This is absurd!

I don’t think anybody could have imagined that doctors would refuse their services to someone. This just changes the meaning of the term ‘specialist’ to a contemptible new level.

This is clearly an expansion on all that is wrong with the ‘me’ generation. These doctors no longer care about the ‘common good’ or the ‘general health’ of our society. They are placing themselves first, above all others.

We used to believe that doctors reached beyond social barriers and put aside differences in moral beliefs to bring their profession to those in need. That is no longer the case.

These people are making their own choices based on their own beliefs. Just as you are, but the difference is that in the capacity of a medical doctor, you have a moral obligation towards society to care for all of us, not just a select few. Your personal beliefs should not interfere with their right to seek medical attention.

Of course, the ACLU will defend your ‘right’ to make this decision, but they are part of the reason why this country is headed toward ruin by advocating their own version of what is considered ‘right’ without regard to the ‘common good’. (I will expand on this in a future blog). Please, don’t let the medical profession follow suit.

Let’s pander to your religious beliefs, just this once. God made us in his image. He made all of us. By you refusing to aid others you are refusing to accept his decision in placing those people you consider to be ‘immoral’ on this earth. It is the same misguided principle as killing someone based on a religious belief. It is ludicrous and if it wasn’t so heinous it would be laughable. You are placing yourself above God. Just how ‘religious’ do you think you really are?

Hiding behind a lawyer

How many times is this defense going to play out? I brought the gun to school but I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. What a load of crap!

A 16-year-old kid, in this the most violent gun-worshiping country on earth, knows what guns are for, that’s why he chose this lethal tool to force his principal to do what he wanted. If there truly was no intention of hurting the person this kid pointed the gun at then why was his finger on the trigger? If you don’t intend to use the gun then you have no need for it to be loaded.

Why is this case wasting courts time?

This is another example of how this justice system needs to be revamped. Prosecutors must prove that 16-year-old Eric Hainstock intended to kill John Klang, Weston Schools principal, the moment he pulled the trigger, three times.

This is nonsense. A loaded weapon has too great a potential to cause death for anyone to believe it can be used ‘just to threaten’ or wound.

The judge only needs to review the basic facts and match them up to a mandatory sentence and tell the defendant what the sentence is. The facts are, he took a loaded gun to school (it doesn't natter what his intentions were) and as a result his clearly intended victim was killed. There should be no room for lawyers to lie about extenuating circumstances in an attempt to get him off of these very serious charges.

And clearly, in hindsight, the principal was foolish to think he could be hero enough to wrestle the gun away from him. He should have let the police take care of it. I know it could have turned into a hostage situation but who can say it would not have anyway?

These school kids need to be given avenues of airing their grievances. They need to be aware that if someone in authority is not taking their complaints seriously then they can go to someone who can investigate and get the matter settled.

This boy should not have been made to feel that he was so alone in his troubles that this was his only option.

But, he alone chose this option and as a result, several families lives have been shattered and we, as taxpayers, will have to support him for as long as he is incarcerated. And, once he is incarcerated our stellar example of a prison system will only serve to damage this kids social skills and psychological outlook at how this society views him. And who can tell what the image of this man dying in front of him will do to this kid and all of those who witnessed it?

What led up to this event? He claims that bully’s were picking on him and that the principal and teachers ‘turned their backs’ to it. I don’t think every teacher turned their back on him. I don’t think the principal would not do something to end this behavior. Do I think there is some mental problem with this kid? Yes, there obviously is a problem if he thinks he has to use a gun to get attention.

The investigators, who I am confident know their jobs, need to investigate this and decide if his claims are true. If so, then charges should be brought against the school system and possibly those teachers involved in this so called 'conspiracy’.

But whatever the outcome of that investigation, this kid needs to spend time in prison for resorting to such drastic measures. That much should be ‘cut and dried’ regardless of his so called ‘attention deficit disorder’ and his claimed ‘abused at home’. These are nothing more than tools of deception used by manipulative lawyers to paint their client as the real victim in hopes of leniency.

Someone out there will say that because of his ‘mental problems’ and his ‘abusive home life’ he should be spared. To this I say these are not valid contributing factors. There are many kids out there who are abused (a very sad fact indeed) and they don’t use a gun to try to end any of it. Besides, if he was abused at home why didn’t he use the gun at home?

As far as ‘attention deficit disorder’ goes, his attention span was long enough to plan this course of action, to collect the two guns he took to school with him and to load the guns. His attention was clearly not deficient. He was focused for far too long to claim he was unable to focus on anything.

Don’t take this lawyers claims as truth. Any lawyer will lie and manipulate the facts to win their case.

This kid shot his principal three times, there is no way anyone can honestly think this was an accident. And his lawyer should be ashamed herself for trying to get leniency for him.

Ambiguous rulings and insurance policies

Okay, this is what pisses me off about this so called 'justice' system. If you don’t like the ruling on your case you can shop around until you find a judge that will side with you.

Why is it that one judge can say things like 'the facts are clear, I rule in your favor' and another judge will say 'the facts are clear, I rule against you'? Just 'how clear' are these 'facts'?

In the latest example of a justice system that is patently ambiguous and therefore unfair, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled in favor of the group of insurance companies that victims of Hurricane Katrina have been fighting to pay for flood damages.

This was after another judge in U.S. District court ruled last November that insurance companies have to pay out to their policy holders who are trying to recover damages caused by these very same flood waters.

What the hell is going on?

No ‘facts’ were changed in this case from the time of the first ruling to the time of the second ruling, except the judges.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. looked at these insurance policies and sided with policyholders arguing that the language excluding water damage was ambiguous. Of course it is, that is how insurance companies write them. He said that the policies did not distinguish between floods caused by an act of God, such as excessive rainfall, and floods caused by an act of man, which would include the levee breaches.

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Carolyn King, writing for the panel of three judges, said this event was excluded from coverage under the policies and that the terms of the policies were ‘unambiguous’.

So why is it that one judge would call this wording ambiguous and another would call the same wording unambiguous?

I think there is some sort of conspiracy taking place here. These insurance companies, through their paid lobbyists, are ‘stacking the deck’ against their policyholders to ensure favorable future rulings.

When this case first hit the news that these victims were fighting their insurance companies to get them to pay for damages to their homes, damage that was caused through no fault of their own, the nation was pulling for the victims. Mainly because many of them have suffered from an insurance company that ‘interpreted’ their policy differently than how the homeowner did.

Insurance companies are notorious for writing their policies in such a way as to allow them to ‘legally’ weasel out of paying for damages when the policy holders (their loyal customers) need them the most.

Are these policies written in such a way that homeowners don’t really know what they are paying for? Yes.

Is this some kind of diversionary tactic adopted by the insurance companies so that they can maximize their income (because people are forced to buy insurance on their homes) and then minimize their payout under some vague interpretation of the policy that supposedly ‘clearly’ sides with them? Yes! They are in the business of turning a profit. But to do so through the worst possible times in these people lives is morally wrong.

These people thought they were paying for insurance that would ‘protect’ them. The insurance companies clearly are not protecting them in anyway except to ensure their premiums are paid on time so the policy does not lapse. This is the only ‘protection’ you can get from an insurance company.

Recently, credit card companies were brought to task, by congress, to rewrite their credit card agreement terms in clear, unambiguous language so that card holders could easily understand them. Insurance companies need to follow suit.

There have been enough examples of the damages that nature and man can cause that the insurance companies know what is in the ‘realm of possibility’. Therefore it is, by no stretch of the imagination, possible to write these policies so that every possibility can be clearly spelled out as to coverage.

I call on the insurance commission of every state to actually ‘protect’ their consumers by forcing these insurance companies to change their ‘sleight of hand’ manipulations of the wording of their policies.

Also, this justice system of ours needs to back its own members and fellow judges and stop telling the nation that some other judge does not know what he or she is talking about. You are not serving any form of justice to victims by getting their hopes up and then dashing them because of your ‘alternating’ rulings.

People need to have faith in the justice system. Ambiguous rulings such as we have witnessed in this case are far too wide spread for the everyday citizen, who does not have the resources of a corporation with its high paid lawyers, to believe their case will ever get a fair ruling.

Just as in the case of insurance claim possibilities, we have by now seen every situation in which claims can be filed. Based on this knowledge, guidelines can, and should, be set up so that rulings can be more fairly passed down and justice can be more equitably meted out.

Who is protecting the American consumer?

This rash of recalls of China-made products needs to be looked at and the U.S. government does not seem too interested in taking any initiative. Why? Are they afraid of damaging relations with this behemoth of a trade partner? Are they worried that this lucrative market will take its business elsewhere? Not a chance. Are they actually choosing to make money over the safety of their fellow countrymen?

We have had a wide range of products recalled due to inferior quality that could result in injury or death to U.S. citizens. Contaminated pet food, faulty automobile tires, cancer-causing chemically-laden fish, toothpaste laced with chemicals and lead-laden toys have all been recently found coming from China. The scariest part is that these products were only discovered after they had reached the U.S. and most were already for sale to consumers.

Why don’t I hear more of an uproar about this problem?

There needs to be more oversight and inspection of these products before they reach our shore. One would think that given the fact that these items have been sent back (they have been sent back, right?) that China would do something more to ensure these problems are not repeated.

I understand that some of these products are made by U.S. companies that have either moved from the U.S. or have simply outsourced their production seeking cheaper labor costs. It is bad enough that these companies have forsaken the U.S. worker in order to save themselves money so they can realize a larger profit margin, but to completely disregard their fellow Americans health and safety to earn a buck is the height of greediness.

These companies need to be identified and their products boycotted.

In almost every situation in life when some crime or under-handed action is learned of it turns out to be only the tip of the iceberg. And with the limited resources available to organizations like the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, who is responsible for recalling inferior and unsafe products, you can bet their hands are full. In fact, Scott Wolfson, the commission's deputy director for public affairs says he expects to recall about 450 products this year, about 60% from China - up from less than 50% in previous years.

The majority of these products are made in Southern China’s low-cost manufacturing hub that is notorious for it’s lax regulations. Why is it, that since we know where the problem with lax regulation is, the Chinese government isn’t doing something about it?

Or, maybe they are. To give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now, that region has grown very rapidly in the past few years due to U.S. companies leaving the U.S. behind so they can take advantage of a cheaper labor force. In China, they don’t have to bother themselves with such ‘burdens’ as health care, social security, and workers compensation. Side note: if the U.S. had redirected the over one trillion dollars it has wasted to support the war in Iraq toward a better healthcare system and a better funded Social Security system and a better funded Workers Compensation program then these American corporations would still be in the U.S. spending their profits to pay American workers instead of foreign workers.

But, I digress. We will assume, until we have proof otherwise, that because the manufacturing region in South China has grown so fast that China has not had the time to create quality-control inspectors to ensure our safety. They have the incentive to do so. I know they are serious about product safety because they recently executed the head of their equivalent of out FDA for taking bribes. If only justice could be meted out that quickly here in the U.S. we would be infinitely better off in so many ways.

China needs to put safeguards in place quickly, and American companies in China need to be more vigilant about our safety, because the American public is, or will soon be, fed up with not being able to trust China-made products. Since, it seems, they are being ‘forced down our throats’ we better get used to the idea that China is going to be our biggest source of damn near everything. The first line of defense in preventing unsafe products from reaching our shores should rest with the companies producing those products. And the cost should be absorbed by them.

The second line of defense rests, now as it always has, with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. However, it is impossible to test all products coming into the country, especially considering the size of this regulatory agency. The commission has about 400 full-time employees, an amount some lawmakers say needs to be boosted. I agree and, again, if we wasn’t spending so damn much money on Iraq the commission could have more full-time employees to protect our citizens.

The FDA has a similar difficulty, in that it tests less than 1% of all imports, down from 1.5% in 1997. Here is another place where some of that money going to the pentagon could be spent where it would do more good.

So, you see, we never have had a history of inspecting 100% of all imports. To think we ever could would be fantasy. China has to step up and take responsibility for what they claim as coming from their country and the American companies that do business there need to work with the Chinese government to ensure that it happens.

For those of you who are interested, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Web site lists trinkets, toys and other products recalled because of dangerous lead content or other safety violations. The FDA has a similar recall page on its Web site, or you can visit www.recalls.gov for a compilation of government agencies recalling products.

Presidential double-speak

Remember Hurricane Katrina? Anyone? If you ask this question to a room full of politicians you are likely to receive stone silence, because they seem to have forgotten. After asking this question, this is what you would see: our ‘representatives’ standing around with their heads bowed, hands in their pockets, shuffling their feet.

The rest of the country remembers. And what we remember is Bush flying down there in the aftermath and giving a fine political speech about how he is going to put the full force of the federal government behind cleaning up this mess and getting victims lives back together.

Well it has been two years, and what has been done?

On the federal governments side, nothing more has been done than the awarding of high dollar contracts to large companies that have supported the Bush administration. Those small, Gulf Coast businesses that were promised the lion share of the contracts, well, a few 'token' businesses were awarded small contracts but the money was taken away due to the Department of Homeland Security ‘re-writing’ their contracts.

The review of federal contracts from five government agencies, conducted by the House Small Business Committee, is the latest to document 'missteps' in the award of billions of dollars of lucrative government work since the 2005 storm.

'Missteps'. You have to admire the number of ways these people come up with euphemisms for theft and mismanagement.

The federal government has failed us: The committee’s review found that small businesses in Louisiana had an overall net loss of $8.9 million in contracting dollars since April of this year, when the agencies reaffirmed their commitment to give smaller companies a share of the work. The loss was due in part to a decision at the Department of Homeland Security to modify several existing agreements instead of awarding significant new contracts.

And, they have lied to us: In addition, the review found the five agencies — Homeland Security, General Services Administration, Defense, Veterans Affairs and Small Business Administration — had claimed falsely that 259 contracts were awarded to small businesses when in fact they went to large companies or ineligible recipients. That created the false impression that more than $95 million in contracts was awarded to small companies, when they actually went elsewhere.

Only 7.4 percent of Katrina contracts have gone to small businesses in Louisiana, down from 12.5 percent in April.

Representative Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairs the House panel said “There is absolutely no excuse for failing to use local companies that are responsible for this region’s recovery. I can assure you that this committee will continue to hold the federal government accountable for making sure this money is properly invested in the region.”

Well, Mr. Velazquez, your threat to hold the federal government ‘accountable’ is weak. It’s been two years and they are still dragging their feet and mis-directing and lying. What are you going to about it besides threaten them?

Russ Knocke, a DHS spokesman, responded that the department has been working to fix errors but could not immediately say how many. He said the committee had not provided its information to the department despite requests by DHS; the committee said the data on which it based its analysis was available publicly.

You are at best ineffective in your work to ‘fix errors’ and you don’t know how many errors? Who are you anyway? The House committee hasn’t given the requested data to your department yet it has given the data to the public? Where is the respect? Is the House Small Business Committee telling you that you cannot have the data whenever you want it? Are they saying they will give it up when they are good and ready? Is this just more ‘power game’ playing that Washington politicians have become so famous for?

For many weeks after the 2005 hurricane, small and local companies were shut out of Katrina work in favor of large concerns with extensive government and political ties. I guess these ‘small businesses’ in Louisiana should have been ‘paying off’ and ‘sucking up’ to federal government officials just ‘in case’ they ever needed assistance. Just being American companies wasn’t enough. They had to have a lot more money too. And they had to give a bunch of that money to the political machine.

Following public criticism of the way FEMA handled the awarding of contracts, they pledged to rebid four large trailer contracts and give the work to small companies. FEMA ultimately rebid only portions of the work. Government investigators later found FEMA did not take adequate legal steps to ensure that the new companies were small and locally operated, resulting in a questionable contract award to a large company with ties to the Republican Party. Right, so the plan is tell them what they want to hear and do whatever we want to do and hope we don’t get caught. And, actually there’s no big worry about being caught because this government is so inept at every level that nothing will ever come of it.

Even after the public criticism and after the GSA testified in Congress about their screw-ups, Homeland Security still handed out 43 new contracts worth nearly $12 million to large companies or ineligible recipients. What it did to small companies in the gulf region was to modify their contracts which resulted in a loss of $9 million for them. So, they took away from the small businesses that Bush promised to help so that the money could be given to large companies that backed the republican party.

What a country! What a fine definition of what this government has become. The Department of Homeland Security has become the poster child of everything that is wrong with this administration.

They completely and totally took advantage of a natural disaster that destroyed millions of lives and reaped millions of dollars from these peoples misfortune.

I’ll bet the department was told when they were first formed that they would have the total and un-prosecutable right to do whatever they wanted with the money they received from the federal government. And they took it to heart.

Paul Schneider, DHS undersecretary for management, acknowledged in April that “there clearly has been errors in coding” and pledged action to fix them. These were not ‘errors’ sir. They were criminal acts of mis-appropriation of funds.

Knocke said Wednesday the department believed they have corrected those ‘errors’, but contended it couldn’t fully address the committee’s concerns without its data. That’s right hide behind the lack of respect the House Small Business Committee has shown you by not giving you that data.

Out of the $95.6 million in total contracts that were inaccurately claimed as going to small business, more than $77 million, or 81 percent, were awards by the Defense Department.

This is very disturbing proof that this government cares more about its own political backers than about the public who gave them the money in the first place through forced taxation.

It is also very telling in that this government knows it can award money to whomever it pleases without any backlash or penalty.

This government is more and more out of control everyday and absolutely shuns the notion of government ‘for the people’.

Turns out that ‘cruel and wasteful storm’ was even more cruel to the citizens of the Gulf Coast than any of us realized.

See the text of the Katrina Speech here.

On the other side of all of this deceitfulness by the federal government is the fact that contractors are setting up multiple ‘levels’ of subcontractors so that they can get even more money awarded to themselves rather than trying to save the taxpayers dollars and trying to make it last longer. And guess who is actually doing the ‘grunt’ work, Spanish-speaking crews who are paid the least. These contractors sit back and collect millions from the government by marking up the actual cost of the job by 40 percent to as much as 1,700 percent.

If we had ‘honest’ government officials to oversee these companies that money could be spent in a much more beneficial method that would help society as a whole rather than buying new cars and homes for these short-sighted ‘slugs’ who think it is okay to steal from the rest of us.

These contractors actions drive the cost of cleanup higher than it needs to be. Their greed is costing us taxpayers, and ultimately themselves as taxpayers, ever more and more money. They say this is the way the system works. They know the government is screwing them out of money and so this is a chance to get some of it back.

What is the answer? This greed and mis-handling of money will never change. We are all screwing ourselves right into the ground and pretending we are blind to it.

The federal government sets up ‘oversight’ committees, one of their favorite answers to combat these problems, but are so ineffective that they become just another ‘mouth to feed’ at the giant lucrative tit that has become this government.

Honest people, trying to do the right thing, get the worst end of everything.

All in all, we, as a race of people, have turned out pretty poorly. Or is it just Americans?

Executive privilege has been abused

Once again Bush decides that ‘protecting’ one of his ‘good ole boys’ from questions designed to get to the truth is the best course of action for tis country. The integrity of the U.S. Attorneys Office is in the balance. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been ineffective at shaking Gonzales from his perch what does Rove have to afraid of?

Getting to the bottom of anything in this administration is the nearly impossible. Actually, we know the truth, but getting these guys to own up to it is what is impossible.

Bush blocks every investigation and hides behind ‘executive privilege’. Why is he covering up what a few simple questions will uncover. That is, assuming Rove would actually be adult enough to tell the truth. It cannot possibly shed any illuminate anything worse than he has already been guilty of.

It is a simple matter of whether or not Rove had anything to do with the wrongful firings of attorneys. If he is guilty then make him answer for it.

Bush has come up with the lame excuse for evoking this privilege by saying he is trying to 'protect' his ability to receive 'candid' advice. Giving advice is not criminal, acting on advice that results in wrongful termination is criminal and that responsibility lies squarely on you Mr. president. Aren’t you intelligent enough to know when advice can result in criminal activity? Aren't you moral enough to know what is right and what is wrong despite it's legality? Didn’t you know that firing attorneys for political reasons was wrong? If you are getting advice from someone who doesn’t care about the legality or morality of your actions then he should be discarded immediately. Don’t protect this low-life.

Taking this man’s ‘advice’ has put the U.S. Attorney General on the hot seat, has added to the pile of evidence against you that you are nothing without advisors, and at best it just shows that you have to be led around by the nose like a puppet. Don’t you have any original thoughts that you can call your own? Who is actually running this government, aren’t you tired of just being a mouthpiece? Have you no pride?

In response to the committees subpoena, White House counsel Fred Fielding has the unabashed temerity to chastise the Senate Judiciary Committee for not ‘asking nicely’ for information. As if they could expect the White House to answer truthfully.

Karl Rove had no problem discussing this matter with the media until he was told he needs to discuss the matter under oath. As soon as he realizes that someone doesn’t like what he said and begins questioning him on the facts behind his comments he clams up. He is all puffed up with importance by having been associated with something that gets into the media until someone calls him on it and then he shrivels away and hides behind ‘his daddy’. This is the behavior of a petulant child. The statements he made contradicted the U.S. Attorney Generals version of the events and as such deserve to be investigated. Bush is acting as a parent trying to protect his child from those who are rightfully seeking justice.

The White House already has invoked executive privilege to block previous testimony by former White House political director Sara Taylor and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who skipped a hearing in the House two weeks ago, and to keep Chief of Staff Josh Bolten from turning over documents subpoenaed as part of the inquiry.

The panel voted to cite Miers and Bolten for contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas. An action that would get anyone else thrown in jail. But this is the 'justice system of the double standard'. The decision on whether to pursue any action on those citations lies with the Justice Department. So we already know what will come of this.

The privilege claim can be challenged in court. But Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has said the courts would be unlikely to resolve any challenge before Bush leaves office.

So, once again, the highest ranking republican on the committee has taken all of the steam out of committee chairman Leahy’s power by saying nothing will come of it so why bother. The ‘good ole boy’ network at its best. Specter deserves a big pat on the head and a treat from Bush for being a "good, obedient 'public' servant".

Bush claims the firings was handled properly yet three top Justice Department officials resigned and the U.S. Attorney General lied by saying ‘he doesn’t recall’. Bush’s version of what is proper differs greatly from what any morally responsible person of integrity determines to be proper.

By Gonzales choosing to hide behind his self-proclaimed weak memory’s ability to recall something as important as interrupting eight peoples lives, he has trivialized the lives of these same eight people.

Just another event that defines this poor excuse for a human being.

Gonzales says ‘I may have created confusion’. I laughed when I read this. He is trying to be contrite by saying this. Notice he didn’t actually admit to creating confusion, he says he ‘may have’ created confusion. If he is sincere, and somehow I doubt this possibility, he needs to go before the committee and ‘correct his testimony’, in other words, ‘undo his lies’. But of course we know he won’t do this. This ploy is nothing more than a political show for those naive fools who still believe in him.

Where does the money go?

How much money does it cost to run this war?

I tried to find out through the internet and this is all I can come up with.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of "prosecuting" a war against Iraq at up to $9 billion per month.

One source, dated March 2006 said it costs at least $200 million a day. That works out to $6 billion per month.

Another source, dated September 2006, put it at nearly $2 billion a week. That works out to $8 billion a month, still in the ballpark.

Another source, dated January 2007, said that we have spent over $1.2 trillion.

That is a staggering amount of money to spend on anything. And what have we gotten for it?

We have had to buy new helicopters, tanks, troop transports, ammunition and weapons to replace that which was destroyed fighting this war. We have bought fuel and maintenance services to keep this equipment running. We have bought food to feed the military and new uniforms to clothe them. We have paid the salaries of support contractors and reservists that normally would not have been needed. We have paid and still are paying to rebuild Iraq.

That is a lot of money to cover these things. I am not convinced that these things actually cost this much.

Nor am I convinced that this was the best use of this money.

It is very easy to hide illegal and inappropriate spending when you are dealing with such a large sum of money. And given the fact that neither George W Bush nor anyone else in the White House can be trusted, I am willing to bet that a lot of illegal spending took place behind closed doors that cost the American ‘tax-donors’ a lot more money than it should have.

I as a taxpayer should be able to learn how much of my money is being spent on this war and where that money is going. I should be able to access more than data that is outdated at best.

Aside from the fact that the U.S. government would never release ‘actual’ figures to someone as lowly as one of the millions who actually supplies the money for this dark-hole, I wouldn’t be able to trust the figures as true.

Let’s take a look at how that money would have been better spent.

We could have funded Social Security for decades.

We could have developed the most complete public health care system in history.

Medical research could very possibly have been years ahead of where it is now.

Countless people’s lives would have been saved in poverty stricken countries around the world if the money had been spent there.

Our education system would have been second to none. Just think of what we could accomplish with the most highly educated people in the world living right here in the U.S.

Parenting programs to teach parents how to raise their children to be more responsible could be funded.

After funding all of these more practical issues, we would have had enough left over to have an extensive national security system that would protect us from the very terrorists that George W Bush says is best fought in Iraq.

The findings of the 9/11 commission were held up due to costs. ‘Costs’ would not have been a valid reason had this illegal war not been started. Recommendations such as better cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation, and a larger force in Afghanistan to stop the Taliban would have been given the green light.

In addition to saving this money for more practical things, we would not have lost over 3,000 military personnel. Medical care for those wounded individuals who made it back will cost us even more and put an even bigger strain on an already over-burdened VA system. And the lost productivity of these killed or wounded soldiers is immeasurable.

This amounts to a colossal mis-use of funds. Our tax dollars are at the command of people who have their priorities all screwed up.