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Liberal TreeHugger

I am a conservative but unlike the current breed of "conservatives" I do not believe that the Republican Party is conservative. The current administration is hell bent on spending money taking away rights and playing a shell game with our taxes. I am starting this post to be a direct assault on the radical conservative movement that seeks to distort the record, lie and dupe the American voters into believing they care, are right, and are conservative.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Bush is coming for your son too

WASHINGTON, DC—According to White House sources, President Bush is bracing for intensified criticism following Monday's report that the body of Tyler Sheehan, son of outspoken anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, was recovered from the receding floodwaters in New Orleans.

Although the White House has not released a statement, a firestorm of controversy is expected to follow the death of the dynamic, well-liked young man, who was working on a levee-upkeep crew while completing the EMT-certification training he needed to become a firefighter.

"Tyler was the very picture of an American hero," said Jorge Guiterrez, an Ochsner Hospital orderly present when Sheehan evacuated dozens of patients from its intensive-care unit. "He pulled off-the-clock double shifts moving guys in wheelchairs, guys without arms, guys on dialysis—you name it, he got them on a bus to Baton Rouge."

Before Sheehan moved to New Orleans, he was a struggling coho-salmon fisherman in Oregon's Klamath Basin. However, when the Bush Administration relaxed federal protection of the endangered fish, Sheehan's catch became contaminated with mercury. He gave up fishing and moved to Oakland, CA, where he opened a free clinic, which lost its federal funding in 2002 for giving out oral contraceptives to poor women.

A recent transplant to Louisiana, Sheehan reportedly went above and beyond the call of duty to aid imperiled New Orleans residents, dispensing bottled water and first aid to dazed hurricane survivors between shifts at the breached Canal Street levee.

Sheehan was last seen Sept. 4, hours after he and his levee crew sustained injuries while attempting to shore up storm-weakened levee pilings. According to sources, contaminated water laced with slicks of petroleum from a recently deregulated, poorly fortified refinery ignited, causing third-degree burns among the workers. Survivors recall seeing Tyler, badly injured and without the life jacket and medical kit denied him by recent budget cuts, digging survivors out of the wreckage.

"I don't know how we would have gotten out of there without Tyler," said Dom Ghivarello, Sheehan's crew chief. "Once we got clear of the break, we had no way of getting to high ground without our utility truck, which was requisitioned by the Defense Department last month for use in Iraq. But Tyler threw me his truck keys and went back to help others. That's the last I saw of him."

Sheehan moved to New Orleans in 2004 to take a year off from the University of California at Berkeley, where administrators had temporarily suspended the stem-cell research program in which he was enrolled in hopes of helping to combat his younger sister Ruth's spinal meningitis. Friends report that his public spirit continued in the Big Easy, as he delivered meals to elderly New Orleans residents affected by recent Medicare cuts, and doggedly petitioned the Justice Department for the release of his life partner, Amin Sagheer, who has been detained without charge at Guantanamo Bay for nearly three years.

"He made service to his fellow citizens his number-one priority," Ghivarello said. "He made that vow back in 1998, when his best friend, a developmentally disabled black juvenile, was put to death in Texas for a crime he didn't commit."

Cindy Sheehan was unavailable for comment, as she was busy trying to contact her lone surviving son Teddy, a meteorologist studying global warming with the International Geophysical Foundation in Antarctica, who is believed to be marooned on a 45-square-mile chunk of the shrinking Ross Ice Shelf that broke off Tuesday morning.

Credit The Onion Press

Friday, September 16, 2005

I believe

Everything I see or hear on the Internets to be factual and without question, the truth. Has there ever been a case of something being posted on the Internets Not being true?

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Equality in the Workplace

Random statistic:
CEO salaries are 47% higher than the average worker. Does the average CEO deserve 47 times the pay? Are they that crucial? If the CEO didn't show up tomorrow could the company still function?
Now ask yourself. If the person who answers my phone and checks in the customers could the CEO fill their position or would there be a mad scramble to get that spot filled?
Why then do they deserve that much more?

I am differentiating the CEO and top executives from the owners or founders here. If you start a business and employ people you should be entitled to the profits. Because one takes the risk and puts out the effort they deserve to be paid well. I think if we look at companies that are successful we will find that they have a balanced compensation plan.
Ben and Jerry's is my favorite example.
They get paid but they also have a rule whereby the highest paid employee makes no more than 20% of the lowest paid employee.
Does that effect the profit? No. Do they still get paid? Yes. Do they have a happy company that works hard and is committed to quality? Yes.
That is why they are not filing for bankruptcy. Even though their costs have gone up just as much as Delta's.
So stop bashing the unions for fighting on behalf of the workers for equality in pay and benefits.

Thank You

Just wanted to say thank you to Kevin from Strategy Revolutions for the gift he sent me.
It was a token of the mission they were on. I sent him a bag of some really good stuff...
He appreciated it.

Ya know it just goes to show that even when people disagree about politics they can sit down over a really good cup of coffe (even if it is across the globe) and find common grounds.

Since I can't seem to get this link in the right place I'll put it here: Strategy Revolutions

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

More Republican Compassion

My brother has insisted that the liberals and Democrats are heartless and uncaring and conversely that Republicans or conservatives are compassionate, caring and serve the best interest of all Americans.
I was interested in how he came to this opinion and if there were any examples of republicans doing anything to promote a compassionate agenda.
What I see is tax breaks for the top 1%, budget cuts for the social programs, education funding cut, and billions of taxpayer money going to Halliburton and subsidiaries. Not to mention unprecedented military spending on a new war that we can't win. Arrogance and selfish pride about our country. Our President has shown a remarkable unwillingness to see more than two sides to any issue.

So if we re-phrase Stew's position to "the conservatives are the ones who care about Americans as long as they work for Halliburton or on of their spinoff companies and those lousy Democrats only want to waste the taxes on poor people forcing them to be dependent and servile forever" then we get closer to something that makes sense to me.

Social programs, public education, assisted housing, and healthcare are issues that conservatives hate. How is it compassionate to deny a level playing field?

Who has grown up homeless?

Stew was homeless for a brief period when he was 18. Remember that? You relied on another family for compassion and depended on someone else to care about you.
If you had been forced to live under a bridge with a dirty blanket and a cardboard box would you have been able to land any job?

I doubt it.

Now don't get me wrong. People still have to be able to rise above adversity and struggle to make their lives better. So I am not calling for a free ride. All I am saying is that there are a lot of things that happen to us. Sometimes we get slammed hard.
It isn't drugs or drinking that did it. It isn't a lack of work ethic. It is just circumstance.
People born into a bad circumstance didn't ask to be poor. Why shouldn't the best country in the world have the ability to care and help these people have at least a chance to fail because they are lazy or addicted etc..? For every one loser I'm sure there are ten people who would work hard and try to make their world a better place.
It is easy to be wealthy and look down on the poor and say "Oh they are just lazy. I had to work for everything I have. I never got a handout..." but when you really look at your life, did you start out at the same place? Did you momma get a private room or were you born in a free clinic?
Try being poor and having a legacy of nothing vs. a legacy of the middle class and see how undeserving of a chance you think you are.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Compassionate Conservativism In Action

Flak was deadly for bombers and fighter planes flying into Germany to fight the Nazi menace. Flak was just about anything that was metal and could be crammed into a shell. Just throw as much up as possible and hopefully a plane would either fly into some or get hit directly. It was also a distraction and caused planes to separate making it harder to defend by the fighter escorts.

We see a lot of flak after Katrina. A lot of stuff is just getting hurled around by those politically motivated with access to the press.
stuff like this from MSNBC:

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image about the government's response for victims."

So he waited five hours after the storm came ashore and one of his priorities was to make sure the preception of Federal response was favorable. That just shows how much he cares about the Bush administration. He really gets it. See we are all clamoringing about "poor minorities" and "failed Federal response to a crisis we saw coming for like a week"

Brown was looking at the bigger picture. He was watching out for his ass and the ass of his bosses. I mean there is so much tragedy here that we quickly forget about the real victims. Bush and Brown saw the real loss. Like Bush reorted yesterday...

Trent Lott lost ONE OF HIS HOUSES !!!

But we will rebuild... We will use Federal FEMA assistance to fix Trent Lotts legacy on the Gulf Coast. Bush and crew will sit on the porch and drink mint julep's one day soon and look back on this tragedy as a beacon of light for those who thought that the American spirit could be diminished by such a disaster.

Now THAT is compassion.

Steer clear of the flak Mr. Bush. Stay the course. You are made of teflon and none of this will stick to you. You have Mr. Brown looking out for you.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Why Katrina is Bush's Fault

So I see on a few sites and hear in the media about people claiming that the hurricane is Bush's fault. Now while Bush would I'm sure love to be able to order the winds to obey his command, he doesn't have that power just yet. There is no doubt a covert operation at this moment working on that...

So how exactly is Bush responsible for this?

Well he is not directly. We have had tropical storms for aeons. The last few decades we have had a condition in the Gulf where these tropical storms were not able to fully develop their potential. I'm sure it is a direct reflection of Democratic policies.

As a side note, Ever wonder why the Republicans aren't calling for a Republican government in Iraq? The always claim to want to spread Democracy. Why does the Democratic Party not capitalize on this? After all they are the Democrats...

So back to the topic of Bush causing the devastation in New Orleans...

I am sure there are going to be a lot of liberal die-hards who hate me for saying this but here goes,

Katrina was not Bush's fault.

There. I said it.

Now let me qualify this. Kat was no more Bush's fault that she was my fault of the rest of the nations fault for ignoring or not taking the necessary actions to stop the rampant warming of the Gulf of Mexico. We have allowed the emissions of greenhouse gases to heat the planet which has in turn heated the Gulf waters creating a breeding ground for killer massive hurricanes.

Argue away about whether or not Global Warming is a reality or an invention by wacko environmentalists. While you are trying to dispel the effect as a myth you'd better batten down the hatches.

SO Bush and his energy policies do nothing to stem the effects of warming. Any science except that paid for by Texaco or their ilk will show you that global warming is a reality. The actions the world takes in using oil as the sole means of transportation will doom us to an ever increasing climate of killer storms and the frequency will increase and so will the amplitude.

This is the reason why we as a nation need to stop driving around alone in our giant SUV's.

Ride Share
Take the Bus
Ride the Mono-Rail
Sing along...

Mono-rail Mono-rail

Get in touch with your co-workers and organize a car pool.

Ride a bike.
Reuse your grocery bags (especially if they are plastic)
Don't throw everything away.

If you don't act it is your fault.