Americans are becoming completely disheartened by this primary season of ours for a multitude of reasons. Our voice doesn't count. The media picks who they want. Voting machines are rigged. Corporate money muddles the process. Superdelegates, for some unconstitutional reason, have a much stronger form of political speech than the rest of us. Many americans can't even define the electoral college.

In short,our presidential selection process does not serve the best interests of our people, our process, or our nation. Folly lies both in the primary and caucus systems. This is partly do to the variances from state to state. With a federally defined selection process we can create transparency, enthusiasm, and most importantly a fair system.   Read More »

It's recently come to my attention that, among some of the more juvenile aspects of this forum, there is a disparity in the way that we approach language and how others communicate. The site asks us not to use obscene content. So let's explore obscenity.

Read further if not offendable.   Read More »

With primaries and caucuses beginning in what is simply a matter of weeks, we as free thinking people need to judiciously examine our choices and reflect upon our national dynamic as a whole.

There is going to be a substantial portion of the republican voting pool that is going to abandon it's party and they're going to secede for a number of reasons. Some of these people are going to be evangelicals who are leaving the party because they believe that neither the Bush Administration, nor whomever the republican nominee turns out to be, truly reflect their values. From the fumbling of domestic aid and relief to even recent attacks on children trying to engage this political process. There's also a business side of the republican party that is going to defect because of the fiscal irresponsibility of our President.

And let's face it, both of those groups will also be motivated by the war.

As the evangelicals feel out our candidates, and our unions continue to build support for John Edwards, we should be mindful of where the corporate defection heads. And this brings me to Mr. Hannity.   Read More »

This was such a work of art.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I SAID... with all due respect."- Bill O'Rielly

Waiting for the YouTube of it.

Ok, so I went away for a family wedding in Chicago, and some Cubs games down in the Bay Area... I've missed a couple of weeks. What is going on with JP and The Fixer and more importantly, why does this site not seem so adult at the moment?

The telling of events, historically speaking, has been recorded by few for the dissemination to many. One of the greatest causes for this has been the time and expense needed for the travel of information. This can be no better illustrated than by our nation's relationship with it's military.   Read More »

Our troops in Iraq are no longer allowed to access the site ThinkProgress.org

Link

It is believed that because this site posted a blog from Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste that criticized our President and said it is time for withdrawal.

So our soldiers and marines are good enough to die for our president's war, but they aren't good enough to be able to hear it's dissent.

Oh, America, where has the land I love gone?

That is all.

I think we all know that PartyBuilder has some faults that cause a bit of consternation from time to time. Most of these faults are mostly because of a very small number of participants on the site, but could easily be fixed by a couple of site changes. Here's what I've got:   Read More »

Yesterday I said I would donate one hundred dollars to Speaker Pelosi's next primary challenger (under the conditions that Mrs. Ashcroft testified before Congress... blah, blah, blah, keep up with my blog).   Read More »

By now we all know that Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that in speaking to Mrs. Ashcroft he recollected that she was called by President Bush personally.

So here's my question...   Read More »

Iraqi Interior Minister Brigadier General Abdel-Karim Khalaf announced that news reporters and camera equipment will no longer be allowed at the scene of bomb attacks. Link

Iraq is no longer reporting it's casualty figures to the United Nations. Link
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And our own government isn't counting car bomb and suicide attack casualties in their own numbers.
Link

Why is all this??? It's simple my friends, the war is over.   Read More »

Thought some of you might like to see this.   Read More »

Nancy Pelosi's office is saying that impeachment is still off the table, despite Dennis Kucinich's promise to bring Articles of Impeachment.

According to today's New York Times, Nadeam Elshami stated, "It's off the table. We're focusing on tough issues like bringing the war in Iraq to a responsible end and energy independence.

Why won't Speaker Pelosi allow that start of the impeachment proceedings?   Read More »

Today Spc Bryan O'Neal, 2/75th Ranger Regiment, testified before congress regarding the death of SPC Pat Tillman and the events following. He stated that his battalion commander made it clear that he would get in trouble if he told anyone that SPC Tillman's death was a fratricide. He also added that it was not a good time for the family and that the news would hurt them. Testimony from others told of how Tillman's journal and personal property were burned for security concerns.

As a former ranger I am infuriated by this. Part of the ranger mentality is bringing home whatever you can from a fallen ranger, if for nothing more than the condolences it gives to the family.

But that's only half the reason I'm angered.   Read More »

After reading Freedom of Speech 2007 I entered into a conversation that has evolved into this post. Thank you for the stimulation Barry, I've needed it lately.

Let me start off by saying that personally, I really don't care what Joseph Frederick's banner said. I'm not going after this because it's a religious issue, because I'm not a person who is offended by such things. I'm not going after it because it's a marijuana issue, one of the things that I don't mention often is my 215 prescription.

Here's why I am going after this. Joseph Frederick was truant that day. He did not attend morning class. He was then caught by an administrator because he was holding a giant banner and not doing his best to be Ferris Bueller.

Now is skipping class enough to warrant a suspension... It depends on the disciplinary record of the student, but probably not. Is skipping class with the intent of going to a school event just to be literally foolish by trying to draw attention upon yourself so you can get on television egregious enough to warrant suspension... Yes.

I feel that Joseph Frederick is ultimately hiding behind the protections that the First Amendment has to offer, and in doing so, is only abusing a precious right. The protection of speech is for just that. Joseph Frederick wasn't trying to make any point about drugs, or the school, or God, or our nation, or anything at all. He has said this himself. We're in a fit over a kid without a message who got suspended, and we forget about the reporter imprisoned for not revealing sources. There's a man with a message, who's speech needs some protection.

I believe Joseph Frederick should have been punished for what he did. It's about the acts that he committed. If Mr. Frederick had shown up to class on time with a T-Shirt that said, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," and the school told him to take it off, I'd be fully supportive of his actions. But he didn't do that.

The school made a horrible mistake in allowing this case to be about the message, when there admittedly never was a message, and that's due to some administrators reacting to the wrong thing.

People are questioning the authority of the school at the event. How is this event any different from any other field trip? My high school allowed the physics students to go on a field trip to a local amusement park (Cedar Point, in Sandusky, OH, great place) for one day, but you had to go with the class and you had to do some calculations of vectors and velocities and what not. But if you didn't go with the class, i.e. you skipped your morning class to go directly to Cedar Point (and you were caught), you were put on the bus for the rest of the day, and then suspended the next day. If one of those kids happened to be wearing a T-shirt that said, "Cedar Point Promotes Unfair Labor Practice" that'd be cool?

It's said that Joseph wasn't being disruptive, but the purpose of the "field trip" was to watch an historic event. Mr. Frederick was simply trying to get on T.V., thereby trying to draw attention off of the event, unto himself. If that isn't disruptive, what is?

Maybe I'm way out of touch here on this one, MSNBC is saying that 76% polled say the kid's speech is protected... But I gotta say I feel good not being on Pat Robertson's side.

Link

It would appear that Senator Clinton needed a little help from the rest of us before she was willing to say that homosexuality is not immoral. Once again I am disappointed by the "Democratic Front-runner."

I move we hereby outlaw any and all political dynasties in our federal system.

Hello all,

I know it's been a while since I've last written, but I'll be writing more often from here out. There's too much going on right now, not too. I've been under the weather, and that will end up being a post in and of itself as well.

Until then, check out http://johnedwards.com/

It appears to me that there is an awful lot of chatter about our withdrawal from the occupation of Iraq. I'd like to open up a dialogue with any who is willing.

I simply cannot support the withdrawal of our soldiers from Iraq simply because we have a rising cost of the war in both human life and American dollars. Neither can I support withdrawal simply because conditions in Iraq have deteriorated (on our watch, I might add) to a state of civil war.

Simply put, we, the American people, are entirely responsible for the condition of Iraq. We elected the officials who created this dire situation. You may site that we did not elect George Bush, the man who ultimately is responsible for this war... After all, he was the decider. This is true, if only our people were more like Yugoslavians... But we're not. We didn't take to the streets en masse. And we did elect the Congress which did nothing in oversight. Again, I believe that we, the people of America, are responsible for Iraq.

Unfortunately, Iraq was not properly secured. That is our fault. The governing of Iraq was a series of missteps. Again, that was America. We continue to give no bid contracts away like nothing, instead of budgeting reparations to Iraq.

We mourn the loss of our soldiers. Iraqi's mourn each other 200 times more, using the low numbers of Iraqi deaths (approximately 600,000 and growing).

I've heard a few people say, "It's a civil war over there, if they wanna fight amongst themselves we should remove our sons and daughters from harms way." I would submit to those people that we ultimately created the civil war. Before American presence Iraq was a stable populace. Now, it's a combat zone. And it happened on our watch.

I cannot support withdrawal.

If you were to ask me what my plan is I would refer you to the posted letter I wrote to Gov. Dean. But as time progresses I find hope fading on that plan as well.

If you feel otherwise, please feel free to comment.

Merry Christmas to you all. Some of you may find it weird that I wish you a merry Christmas. After all I'm one of those magical people who Bill Orally thinks is a direct descendant of the Grinch... I'm a secular progressive.

As a secular progressive I'd like to say that I've never made a declaration of war on neither the festival of Christmas, nor the date of December 25th. I'm not offended when people wish me a merry Christmas. On the contrary, I tend to wish them a merry Christmas in return. Certainly, if someone takes the time to convey wishes that a certain day is pleasant, why would I take offense?

People like Bill O'Reilly tell you that there is a cultural war against the very fabric of Christmas. I find this absolutely ridiculous and would submit to you that Mr. O'Reilly, Ms. Colter, and their like have engaged in a war on inclusion. This past month when a rabbi asked if a menorah could be placed in the Seattle airport this story was spun many different ways. The man asked if his culture could be added into the seasonal celebration and ultimately was denied. He didn't sue. He never even mentioned a law suit. That was something that was made up.

It appears to me that the people who advance the idea of this war on Christmas are simply trying to out shout any other religion that has a holiday in December. I find that tactic simply unamerican.

I live in a multicultural family, in that I grew up in a christian household and my fiance's family in entirely jewish. So we wish each other Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas.

And don't tell Mr. O'Reilly this, but in a week, we will be celebrating the highest of all secular progressive holidays... New Years.

Until then, Merry Christmas.

Let's do this one just for fun.

There are quite a few people in this nation of ours that are concerned, if not down right fearful of electronic voting machines. This is understandable given the information that is widely available on the security of these systems. So let's play one little what if game...

What if these machines are fixed and the republicans maintain the majority in both houses of legislature? For the sake of this scenario, they lose a few seats in both houses, to make it more believable, but ultimately, through the electronic voting machines, they maintain control.

How long does it take to find out? Do we learn about it and do little to nothing (the way we have with Ohio '04)?

What would you do if you wake up Wednesday morning, to hear George Bush say that he has earned more political capital because Karl Rove was successful?

Just for fun...