Are YOU a Koolaid People

In 1978, more than 900 people committed suicide in Guyana
by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid at the behest of a religious nut
named Jim Jones. Thus the term "Kool-Aid people."

They are true believers committed to a political ideology or other belief system.
And no matter what evidence is presented to them, they are incapable
of change. They would rather go to their death (or in this case send others to their deaths) than to admit having made a mistake by placing their faith and trust in the wrong individual (s) or idea.

I have come to the conclusion that this is an apt description of
the people who continue to support George W Bush and his administration. They must keep lying to themselves and attack those of us who have tried to bring forward the truth about this administration.

" Koolaid People ".

posted by wanda at 4:15 PM

Another Disgruntled Ex Employee???

I saw on the news tonight where Bob Woodwards new book Plan of Attack is coming out next week. In this book Mr Woodward has some pretty uncomplimentary things to say about the Bush administration.
For one thing he backs up Richard Clarks claim that the President (In an interview two years later, Bush told Woodward that if the news had leaked, it would have caused "enormous international angst and domestic speculation." ) was adamant that a connection be found between Iraq, Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and September 11th. He also says that the disagreement about the need or wisdom of going to war against Iraq was so heated that even to this day Colin Powell and Dick Cheney hardly speak to each other (a claim denied by the White House**snicker snicker). It seems they made all their clever little plans but failed to include Colin in these plans. At some point Condi, said, 'hey you think maybe we should call Colin up and let him in on our plans'? I guess Powell like Clark just wasn't really 'in the loop' on a lot of things. Which might explain why we see so little of Powell anymore.
Supposedly Woodward spent a great deal of time with the President and his administration while gathering material for this book.
I wonder how the Repugnicans Republicans are going to spin this one?

Incidently tonight on The O'Reilly Factor, in the midst of a conversation with his guest O'Reilly inadvertedly let this little blunder slip in ...." so the Bush administration and the Pentagon are keeping this from us ...?" More secrets and lies. Even ultra conservative ( a stance he denies but his words speak louder than, well his denial) O'Reilly realizes (although he's probably loathe to admitt it) that BushCo are still lying to the American public.
posted by wanda at 12:05 AM

The World According to Garp George



I'd have to say, that picture almost says it all. Except he looked older, tireder, and less sure of himself.
I can only speak for myself, but here is what I saw.
A man out of his element, out of touch with reality and looking for someone to tell him what to say. Clearly no one anticipated him being ask if he thought he'd made any mistakes. Big mistake. I guess you could say that was his biggest mistake. Nah, maybe not.
I will touch on a few things that he seemed focused on. The uprising in Iraq. He says this is just a 'small group' of dissatisfied people. He might do well to remember that it was a 'small fraction of the people' who started the revolution in this country. Look what they accomplished. It's not the number of people fighting, it's their will and desire to prevail. People fighting for what they believe are their lives, are going to fight to the death.
Something that George Bush doesn't seem to have learned is, there is no shame in admitting you made a mistake. In fact it's only a fool who persist in standing by a decision they made that was the wrong one. People have criticized Kerry for being wishywashy, for flip flopping. Well at least he's man enough to admit he made the wrong choice when he backed the President in his decision to go to war. He, like the rest of us was mislead. Hindsight is 20/20. Even Bill O'Reilly admitted he'd been "hoodwinked". Yet the President persist in saying that he believes there ARE weapons of mass destruction to be found. Does he just not realize what a fool this makes him look like? There may also be gold underneath all that sand, but I seriously doubt it. Lets deal with reality not wishin and hopin.
Regarding Iraq. When is enough, enough? How much more money, and troops do we keep pouring into this little country before we admit, we are in deep shit there? How can he stand there and have the audacity to say he understands how the families of those who have died in Iraq feel? What an insult to these people. He cannot possibly understand. Does he have a child, a father, a spouse who is in Iraq? Even a niece or nephew? Even the child of a close friend? No. Has he ever lost a loved one in war? No. He hasn't a clue. Don't insult these people by being condescending or your fake platitudes. John McCain understands. John Kerry understands. George W. Bush can never understand. He's never been there and never will be.
As if it's not enought to say he understands, he then makes it worse by saying no matter what the cost we will stay the course . Cost to whom? It isn't costing him anything. Except hopefully an election.
Now, a question. Where are we going to find 10 to 80,000 more troops to send in? How many more of our tax dollars are going to be pouring into that country instead of being used here at home. For our children, our elderly, our highways, our economy, our health care ? When does the United States come first with this administration? Our foreign relations are already shot with 90% of the rest of the world. What's left to loose besides our ego and more lives? Buck up, take the hit, be a man, admit we made a mistake and get the hell out of Dodge while we still have some small amount of dignity left.
Of course there is one good thing , for every National Guard unit/battalion/brigade he allows to be called up, for every new troop he allows to be sent to Iraq thats one more family who's vote he won't get come November 2nd. So maybe there is a silver lining to this dismal cloud that his hanging over us.
posted by wanda at 4:41 PM

Real people

The next time someone suggests to me that we need to send even more troops into Iraq, I am going to direct them to this...



“We regret to inform you that Michelle Witmer was killed in action April 9th."

Her family is asking the military to stop her sisters from being sent back to Iraq after this week’s funeral.

“I can’t live another year like I’ve lived this one,” John Witmer told The Associated Press. “The sacrifice that this family’s made can never be understood by someone who hasn’t gone through it... It’s a burden I can’t bear. My family can’t bear it.”

Read the full article here..... Family ask military to keep sisters at home

Frankly, I don't think this country can bear much more of this.
I have a suggestion here. Lets send one of George Bush's daughters, and Dick Cheney's daughter Mary in as replacements for Rachel and Chairty.

posted by wanda at 4:23 PM

Where I Stand, and How I Got Here

I'm really tired of people assuming that because I can't support George W. Bush and his administration, that automatically makes me a Democrat or a 'pussy' liberal. So let me set a few things straight.
For probably the first 20 years of my adult life, I would have been considered a Republican. The first president I ever voted for was Ronald Regan. I detested Lyndon Johnson. When the whole Watergate mess came out, I thought "What's the big deal? Everybody does that kind of stuff...". I felt bad for Tricky Dick when he resigned. I didn't think Nixon was the devil encarnate. I still don't. I never really got the whole "John Kennedy is a God" thing. He may have been a decent president, but he was a philanderer (even Clinton pales in comparisome to Kennedy) and I'm fairly confident he was in bed with the Mafia as well. Jimmy Carter was a nice guy, but he didn't have the balls it took to be a 'great President'. Who was Gerald Ford? Did we have a president by that name? I didn't vote for Bush Sr. because, he had it sowed up and didn't need my support or my vote. My first vote for Bill Clinton was not so much a vote for Clinton as much as it was a vote against Bush Sr. He screwed up in Iraq and I was pissed at hell at him. The next time I voted for Clinton, I did so because he was doing a great job. The country was rolling along smoothly and I saw no reason or need for change. In 2000 I was fully prepared to vote Republican. Especially since John McCain looked like he might be the nominee. Then came the ides of April and North Carolina.
The dirty, rotten, underhanded , low down crap that the Bush people did to John McCain was unconsconable. They outright spread lies, about McCain and even his wife. They accused him of being mentally unstable. They accused her of being a theif. They questioned his integrity, even his sexuality (now to some that might not be signifcant, but to Republicans it's a damned big deal). They even questioned his alligence to his own party. Something they continue to do to this day. Of course in the end it all proved to be untrue, but the damage was done. They did everything they could think of not to just beat John but to destroy him. John was lucky to even hold on to his Senatorship. The day that John McCain ended his campaign for the Republican nomination , I cried. The first time in my life I'd ever cried over anything even remotely political. I cried not just for the damage done to John, but the loss to our country of the man I thought would have been the greatest President of the 20th century. John McCain is a man who has served his country honorably we will never know how different things may have been if he had been President. One thing I feel confident in saying, I don't believe we would be mired down in Iraq the way we are now, if McCain had been the man making the decisions post September 11th.
When it came time to vote in November, my vote for Gore was not so much a vote for him as a vote against Bush (sound familiar). Then began the fiasco that we call the election of 2000. Just as they had with McCain, when Bush & Co thought they were losing they set into motion the seek and destroy machine. With the help of his brother and the Supreme Court, Bush stole what he could not win fairly.
Let me say this, I don't think that George W. is a bad guy. Not at the core. I just think he's a man who's accustomed to getting what he wants. If it don't come easy, then Daddy's political clout, or Mommy's money can buy it for him. I don't even think he is the evil within his administration. That would be Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, and John Ashcroft. Especially Rove and Ashcroft. For the right amount of money, Cheney could be bought. So he's no big threat. Rove on the other hand is the most dangerous man in the free world. Because the only man he answers to is his puppet. Ashcroft is dangerous because he is a religious zealot that will re-write the Constitution given the chance. Given time and opportunity, he will change our nation in ways you have yet to even contemplate. I am going to borrow a line from 'ranting dick' here , but put my own spin on it. If you are not afraid of John Ashcroft and ALL that he stands for, then you are a damed fool. Sorry if that's offensive, but so help me God, I believe it to be the truth.
Now, let me tell you what I belive in. I believe in freedom for ALL. I believe in the right to bear arms and the right to choose abortion. I believe public education should be free. I believe teachers should be paid as well as politicians. I belive in the right to marry or divorce anyone you choose. Regadless of your sex. I belive in the freedom to worship, or not, however you choose. I believe that paying taxes is the price you pay for living in this great country. What you pay should be determined by what you make. The man who makes a million bucks a year should pay more than the man who make 30k a year. If you think you should get to keep everything you make, then go live somewhere else. In this country we pay taxes. I believe the government has no place in our bedrooms or boardrooms. I believe campaign donations should be limited to $1,000 period. Nothing above that, not by individual or company, or union. Too damn much money is wasted on political campaigns. I believe in a job for everyone who is willing to work. Stop sending them to fucking Mexico or India, because it's cheaper. I believe that when people are jobless because the only kind of job they ever had has been taken away and outsourced to another freaking country then the freaking government has a responsibility to support them and their families until they can be retrained and re-employed. I believe there should be some kind of nationa health plan. No one should have to go without medical care because of a lack of money. Not in the richest nation in the world.
Finally (yeah, I know what your thinking) I believe that we do not belong in Iraq. We never did. But we are there now and we have to see it through. It's the only decent thing to do.
I don't know if I think that Sept 11th could have been prevented . Probably not. They aren't called terrorist because they are predictable. We weren't prepared for the Oklahoma bombing either. Which was homegrown terrorism. I do think that those who's job it was to know about that kind of thing weren't taking it seriously enough. I think when John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airlines he was obligated to tell the American public, I'm not doing it and maybe you shouldn't either. As far as the World Trade Center goes, there had already been on attack there. People knew it was a possible target. It was a risk working there. Everyone who worked there knew that. It was tragic, but it was forseeable, not just by government officials but by everyone. As symbols of the mighty American dollar one might say it was inevitible.
So, now, call me what you want, but now you have the facts. Personally I call myself 'one angry American' who is sick of the crap that is happening in this country and isn't going to just sit back and bury my head in the sand anymore. Like me or not, this is who I am.
posted by wanda at 12:42 AM