Bush stole the Election

http://www.chuckherrin.com/hackthevote.htm

Say it ain't so!

Response to Stew (since I can't post on his site)

My Brother wrote this...

Here's a boot in your ass
Jen and I were driving and she's listening to Toby Keith singing the Angry American song. Which me, being mostly a fan of talk radio (it's just more entertaining than listening to the crap on pop stations), I've somehow never heard. I think it's a great song.

Jen starts telling me about how Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks hates Toby Keith and I'm just wondering why?
So I look into this a little bit and sure enough, she's a war hating liberal.

Now I know this is old news and nobody gives a rats ass about it anymore but this is really amazing to me.
Are all liberals supposed to sign up as peacenicks? Is it mandatory to disagree with all warfare or is it just during conservative administrations? Are liberals also required to sign a disclaimer for intelligence and logic? Because to oppose the war in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc you'd pretty much have to believe that terrorists are doing works of good (and who knows, in the minds of some liberals they probably are).Here's a quote from Toby's song:

My Daddy served in the Army,Where he lost his right eye,
But he flew a flag out in our yard,Till the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me,
To grow up and be happy,In the land of the free

What is wrong with this?Terrorists would like nothing more than to KILL YOU. They would happily kill your parents, your children and anyone else that happens to be around.
But it's wrong for us to fight for our freedom.
Unbelievable.

Here is my response:

Stew, You are engaged in spurious logic and divisive rhetoric

When you say things like 'Are all liberals supposed to sign up as peacenicks? Is it mandatory to disagree with all warfare or is it just during conservative administrations? Are liberals also required to sign a disclaimer for intelligence and logic? Because to oppose the war in Iraq/Afghanistan/etc you'd pretty much have to believe that terrorists are doing works of good (and who knows, in the minds of some liberals they probably are).'
No one gets any closer to understanding the other side. It disturbs me that so many people are just not at all interested in the other side at all. Also I will answer your question as an American.
I do oppose war as a solution to a problem. I think what you are seeing here is an administration who looks first at warfare as a first choice solution, then to a rational discourse, or a political process. I oppose this administration. I do not think that it lessens my patriotism. That is what Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks objects to I think. The fact that in this American Society to oppose the Administration equals (or has been portrayed as by the NeoCons to equal) loving the terrorists. That is just not true.
The fact is that lobbing bombs at a people has never been effective at making them like you or admire your position. It creates hatred and fear. So perhaps it is that Liberals (it is so stupid to use a blanket categorization like Liberal to cover the diversity of people who oppose military action and reaction but it is what you understand) are more educated and as a result they are taking into account the perspectives that are not represented by the NeoCon ruling class. Imagine if you will being ten years old. Poor. I mean dirt poor. Living in a country that had very little in the way of a public infrastructure. You see your daddy fighting and struggling to provide food and safety to your brothers and sisters and your mother. Then massive warplanes show up and start to blow away everything that you have. Your chickens stop laying eggs because they are freaked out by the bombs, the goats get blown up, the camel or cow stops giving milk. Etc...
Your father goes to defend his homeland.
At this point I think I have lost you because you are still convinces that the Iraqis have attacked us and we are defending our country when it is in fact the opposite.
The kid learns from a neighbor that his daddy is dead because he tried to prevent an invading force from taking his land that had been fought and suffered over for generations.
That kid now knows who to hate and fear. It is now up to him to protect his family. He is going to do whatever he can to defend his world from the invaders.

That is what we have got now. Generations of children, who will always know that America killed their fathers and brothers, destroyed their homes, killed their livestock and ruined their lives.
Americans like you and Jen know that you were not trying to kill innocent people. You are trying to make a living and have some fun. You are being told that it is a necessary thing to do. We have to go get the terrorists before they come here.
The problem is that it is a lie.
So when you compare a dissenting viewpoint to support of those who would kill our families and destroy our lives think about the fact that issues are not polarized. There are more than two sides to a story.
Bush claims that he is a Christian. A lot of people voted for him for that reason. A lot of people in America think that they are Christians too.
Look for a second at what Jesus taught.
Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
When your brother wrongs you forgive him, and when pressed Jesus said when you brother wrongs you seven times forgive him seventy times seven.
Bless those that curse you
Blessed are the peace makers
Blessed are the meek
The old law of eye for an eye no longer applies
By their works you will know them

So how does the "Christian" Bush stack up here? I'd say 0-7 he is striking out on every teaching that Jesus professed.
Verdict, NOT A CHRISTIAN
At least not one that Jesus would recognize.
So before you start accusing people who oppose war, look at the motivation of those who embrace war.
Look also at their experience.
Who in Bush's Cabinet and Administration has served in combat or even in the Military at all?
What ties do Bush and the rest have to the Military Industrial Complex?
Is there a conflict of interest?
See, it is easy to demonize people who are taking the minority position. It does not mean that they are wrong though.
As for Toby Keith, he is just a capitalist. He is making a buck off the sentiment and selling what people are buying. Any hack can slap together a song about 'daddy getting blowed up an fightin fer justice an freedom an the flag an did ah mention freedom???'
He is just exploiting a climate of feverent Americanism. If he could sell songs about eating Brie and sippin Burgundy he would be on it like Rush on an Oxycontin bottle.
To sum up, as a Liberal peacenik I do oppose all war. I especially oppose this administrations use of war to further their agenda. I also oppose the demonization of anyone who dissents as unpatriotic object to the term "Fighting for Freedom" when compared to what we are doing in Iraq. We are colonizing the Middle East. Make no mistake about that.

Hank Aaron is a Classy Guy

Hank Aaron played ball for the Atlanta Braves back when I was a kid.

I used to go the the park with my brother and dad in one of dad's car's of the month.

We had the same old stuff that everyone has at a ballpark. Cotton candy was a favorite along with crackerjacks. Coke was king in Atlanta, so while all the men drank cold beers the kids got Cokes.
We had a great Team back then. I don't think we won a lot of games when I was growing up but I always had so much fun. It felt like I was a part of something that had always been. I didn't know at the time but the Braves had moved to Atlanta the year I was conceived.
Hank Aaron was the baddest slugger around, Phil Niekro was throwing great. I think he was one of the last great knuckleball pitchers. We had Gene Garber and Darrell Evans. I think Dave Johnson got 43 homers one season. Bob Horner signed on, but the club was not really able to make Atlanta feel proud.
We felt satisfied I think.
Satisfied that we had such a good team. Nobody was getting arrested for dogfighting or punching a fan. People were just happy that they could go to the ballpark and have some fun with their families. We won enough to make it worth the risk of caring about the team.

Dad had this habit of driving off one morning in our new car and coming home with a different new car. We had a Nova, Dasher, Duster, Dart, Gremlin, Pinto, MGMidget, Etc...
One I remember was this old OLD car, I think it was a Plymouth.
Huge!
I got lost in the back seat. It smelled amazing! Oh my god it had to have been like twenty years of sex, ciggies and suds, but to me it was exotic. We would take the car to the game and I always felt invincible.
Hank Aaron got older and a little slower but he would hit that ball so hard. Every time he connected it was like a little explosion.
The Atlanta Stadium had, as an homage I'm sure, a full sized tepee in the stands out in I think right field. That was the domain of Chief Knockahoma. I swear to god that was his official name. He would go out and dance around while stereotypical Injun music played and wave his tomahawk around whenever there was a home run. The kids could go and meet the Chief. I met him and I was awed by him. Even at that young age I think I could tell that he was fighting for his Country. He had a lot of wrinkles. I remember wondering how people got so wrinkly. We hadn't learned the truth about the Trail of Tears or any of those stories. They were so unflattering to our ancestors.
A lot of people might think that he was being mocked but it wasn't that way. At least not for me. I always felt a lot of respect for him.
Fun Times. Ahh yes.
So I guess I was thinking about all this because I read that Hank Aaron made a statement about the steroid abuse scandal. To this day he remains a real classy guy. He made it clear to point out that he didn't think that steroids could ever make a person hit the ball better, or at all for that matter. He just said that there was a limit to how fast he could recover after giving it his all. I think there was certainly a big factor there. Bonds will always be unquestionably a great batter. But I think it diminishes his effort knowing that he was not man enough to go to the plate game after game to slug away without a little booster. Just a little extra kick that no one will ever have to know about. I'm sure he had to struggle with that. But in the end I think he gave in because he was weak minded. He was too afraid to face the possibility that he was not man enough to beat Hank Aaron outright. So he cheated.
Thank You Hank Aaron. Thank You for being a classy guy after all these years. You will always be the best slugger in my book.

Wacky Weed

The Supreme Court is looking at the issue of medical marijuana.
Does the Federal Gubment have the right or authority to persecute individuals who have chosen to use the alternative to conventional treatments i.e. pharmaceutical drugs, synthetic THC and the likes?
These people lie in States where the majority has by ballot initiative made legal the production and consumption of marijuana. The laws are detailed in how much they can grow and store, who can be designated a caregiver (or grower) and set a fee structure to pay for the whole system.

This is the type of legislation that Bush is always talking about.

Power to the States.

Self-determination and the ability to have local governments determine what rules and regulations they want to enforce, or not enforce.

We are at a crossroads here in my opinion.
Bush’s lawyers are fighting the rights of the states in a, dare I say it???

FLIP FLOP. There I said it.

Bush and his Justice Department goon squad want to keep people from using pot. For any reason.
They want to claim that it is not an effective medicine. They want to claim that there is a conspiracy to subvert the legal system under the false pretext of “Medicine” to allow Marijuana to enter the mainstream society and eventually be legal for casual recreational use by anyone.
I have one thing to say.

IT IS ALREADY MAINSTREAM!

Millions of Americans use pot every day for fun and relaxation. They use it for same reason they have always used it. In fact pot has been a part of our culture (I mean the species of homo sapiens) for eons. We have receptors in our brains specifically tailored to take in THC and the other components of marijuana.
There is a lot of talk about it being destructive and debilitating, but no real research. No research because the Government in the past few decades has declared the there is no redeeming quality to marijuana. There are no recognized medical applications of the “Drug” under the current Federal Law. They classify it in the same category as Heroin...
I could go on about that issue for hours but to sum it up, We the People area being denied the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Talk to the sick people who are having their lives changed by using pot. One of the plaintiffs in the case is a woman suffering from a brain tumor that cannot be operated on. She went from confinement in a wheelchair and wasting away to a self-propelled bipedal freedom lover.
Bush should lighten up since there is no doubt in my mind that Jenna is familiar with the benefits of marijuana. I’m sure Bush has on occasion, um, inhaled.

So I have to ask myself, “Why are there still so may people who refuse to let it go?” These PACS that want to keep pot illegal are the ones that could benefit the most from having a cookie.

I was once arrested for possession of less than an ounce. It was like a ticket but I had to go to the Judge and explain myself. I talked to the Man. The discussion was something like this…
“ J: Son how old are you?
Me: I’m 34 your Honor.
J: Well don’t you know that Pot is for kids??? Well no it’s not for anybody I guess
Me: silence (trying not to laugh at the Judge)
J: what do you use it for?
Me: Well I like to smoke but I can’t tolerate cigarettes at all. They make me cough and hack uncontrollably. I like to go camping hang out around the campfire and smoke a joint, play my guitar and enjoy the setting while drinking a beer.
J: Well I guess I know some 40 year olds who smoke pot, and I even know some 50 year olds who smoke pot. Come to think of it I know some Judges who smoke pot. (sits and has a strange melancholy look in his face)
Me: I am a productive member of society. I pay my taxes. I help out the community. Volunteer and recycle. I have a good job. I pay my car insurance. I take care of business. I just want to smoke pot. It doesn’t hurt anybody.
J: well you are breaking the law.
Me: It is an unjust law that violates my Civil Rights.
J: So if you went into a store and saw something that you liked or wanted you could just take it under this type of thinking. Right?
Me: No! That would be hurting someone. The store is hurt when I steal from them. Other consumers are hurt by the store’s loss. That would be clearly wrong. I do not have the right to steal something or hurt anyone for my own gain. I would pay for the item because I believe in personal accountability.”
J: Well then if you can pay the fine I’ll drop it off your record and you are free to go.”

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS

That was what the State determined my right to smoke pot should cost me.
This is true and I’m sure it is what the public record would reflect.

Now I am not talking about Medical use here. This was recreational use.
It is not wrong or bad. I am not a bad person. I care. I try to make the world a better place. I yield the right of way. I merge with my turn signal on. I pay taxes into a system that no longer represents me.
I think I go beyond the call of Civic Duty. Yet I am a criminal because I choose to use a substance that grows wild in every country in the world. Antarctica is the only continent that pot does not grow wild in.

I hope that We can as a Nation progress to the place where we are able to distinguish the difference between something that is truly dangerous and something that is harmless. I mean Bombs and Bullets kill people. They are freely distributed. Landmines serve one purpose, to maim and kill. They are available. Hell we manufacture them.
Bleach is deadly; you can buy it in the store.
Toxic chemicals are everywhere. They are WAY more dangerous than pot.

Cut the “it is for your safety” crap. Pot is illegal because it can’t be patented. It can’t be controlled. It can be used to replace trees as the source of pulp for making paper. It can be used to fix nitrogen in the soil rendering petrochemical fertilizers unnecessary. It can soothe and calm better than Prozac or Xanax. It relieves pain better than Celebrex. It also opens the mind to perceive the world in a different way.
When one is on a psychotropic substance the brain is acting basically the same. There is a slight shift of the awareness. The World is a different place and perceptions that normally are not available come forward. People no longer see the need to fear or hate because the rational given seems slightly wrong. Lies become more evident. Truths become more clearly fixed. I think that is the real reason for the illegality of Pot.
I hope the Supreme Court can see the value of letting the States determine what is right and acceptable. I live in a State where by a majority we decided that we are able to determine what works and what doesn’t.
I hope the States rights win. Strange the Bush Administration is against this one…. Well not really. They rely on blind acceptance and ignorance to get their agenda accomplished.We’ll have to wait and see.
Who knows I might still be a criminal after this is all said and done, even though I don’t feel like one.

No More Troops means More Troops in the Bush Lexicon

Bush has continued to play the American people like fools.

In the Election he admitted no mistakes.

He continued to portray the action in Iraq as a success.

He based his whole strategy on the fact that he was the only one who was prepared to deal with terrorism.

He claimed that no troops were needed because no one had asked for them. That was just not true.

Now safe into his second term of destruction he manipulates hundreds of thousands of peoples lives as if they were no more than cattle.
His arrogance and lack of regard for human life amazes me. Especially while he proclaims his religiousity and Pro-Life stance.

I think it is safe to say that Bush is not Pro-Life - rather that he is Anti Abortion. He is perfectly willing to send living people to go and die, cause the deaths of thousands of others and continue to create and atmosphere at home that is polluted and rank with death and disease.

For all those troops who voted for Bush I say, You got what you asked for, now go die like a brave American warrior.

This whole thing makes me sick.