Friday, December 30, 2005

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's time to think positively again...AND get rarin' to go for 2006!

2005 overall was a good year. Bush and Co., particularly after Katrina, has been getting busted over and over on their positively scurrilous and scandalous behavior and the people are reacting. I want to see how folks are going to react to the Justice Department feeling the need to inquire into who leaked the NSA spying story...cause you know, it's the fact that this story got out that's wrong, not the fact that the government has been spying on American citizens without warrants...

The NSA has had to remove illegal cookies from the files of people they've been tracking, Tom DeLay has been indicted, Scooter Libby has been indicted, folks are talking impeachment, and John Conyers is calling for censure of the president.

The president's approval rating is way down, Dick Cheney's is worse and folks appear to be waking up to what they elected and how WRONG it is.

There is still much work to be done...but it appears that more and more people are willing to do the work.

And that is why, as soon as you get over your hangover, KEEP E-MAILING!!!! E-MAIL, CALL, FAX, WRITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, THE PRESS AND YOUR CONGRESSFOLK!!!! IT'S WORKING!!! As long as you let these people know that you are indeed PAYING ATTENTION, and KEEP letting them know that, then THEY HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO YOU.

I do hope you all have a fantabulous, fun and peaceful New Year...and that you get ready for elections 2006!!!

Peace --Alex

Friday, December 16, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hannukah, Blessed Ramadan, Happy Yule, Happy Kwanzaa...

You gotta love it when, not only was there not a transit strike here in NYC but the first three headlines on Yahoo News this afternoon go like this:

Senate Rejects Extension of Patriot Act (AP)
Bush Won't Discuss Report of NSA Spying (AP)
Iraq Reports Some Complaints About Vote (AP)


And also, just know that Bush had to concede on McCain's bill on torture...wow, it just makes a girl all teary eyed...that's some of the best stuff I could get for the Holidays :)

With the whole NSA business, all I could think this morning, did Bush actually get advice from Nixon ("yeah, cause he's one of my favorite presidents")? And really, while scary and annoying, was it really surprising? I would be surprised if that's what led some of those Senators to refrain from reactivating the Patriot Act...

IN THE MEANTIME...

Not like I've been really good lately at keepin' up of late (I'm telling you they're makin' me WORK here!), it'll most likely be another week before I get back to y'all as I will be heading to MA for Christmas as of tomorrow morning and will, for the most part save for a potential trip to the library, computerless...but I will be able to do something there I can't do in New York; Listen to Stephanie Miller.

As you celebrate whatever lovely holiday you are celebrating, remember those less fortunate, remember those with no family, remember those overseas...

and remember to KEEP E-MAILING! Looks like some of this is actually WORKING!!! Keep e-mailing, calling, writing, faxing your friends and family, the press and your CONGRESSFOLK as it appears that they are listening and the Bush White House has cracks in its walls. Fight the Power people and have a lovely peaceful holiday :)

Peace --Alex

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

someone just not clear...

of the concept...

Okay...this is a time of giving, of love, of peace...And the Christian Right have decided that while those crazy liberal leftist Christians are protesting that the government should help the poor, the Christian Right has said...well "that's not our priority". Instead, according to a spokesman for James Dobson's group Focus on the Family (you know, the group that hates SpongeBob) they feel: "It's not a question of the poor not being important or that meeting their needs is not important," said Paul Hetrick, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, Dobson's influential, Colorado-based Christian organization. "But whether or not a baby is killed in the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy, that is less important than help for the poor? We would respectfully disagree with that."

Um...okay...2 things:

1) One percent of ALL abortions are late term.
2) As the majority of late term abortions are had by women who come from poor areas (see last week's New York magazine), perhaps if you HELP THE POOR with things like job programs, education programs, contraception and proper counseling, JUST PERHAPS there'd be FEWER LATE-TERM ABORTIONS, let alone abortions period...

Further proof that these are some of the least Christian people I've ever seen. Good lord.

IN THE MEANTIME...speaking of delusional Christian Right Wingers, George "the latest Zogby poll saying my approval rating is %38 is wrong and they're a bunch of Commies" W. spoke again today...and said THIS of all things:

"It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong," Bush said during his fourth and final speech before Thursday's vote for Iraq's parliament. "As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. And I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities. And we're doing just that."

I want to know how long his advisors had to hold him down before he agreed to that paragraph.

(He also apparently aid something about Japan being the "most free-est nation" I KNOW I heard that on NPR this afternoon)

Despite his giving in on this, there was an AP report on Yahoo news (now gone) about 41 Senators want Bush to be more frank about Iraq. While Bush did say he is responsible for our entering the Iraq war, and defended the removal of Saddam Hussein from power, he has yet to explain his connecting Saddam to 9/11, the lack of planning, the lack of support (on the Today show they mentioned a NY Times poll I can't find that said that Iraqis are less hopeful for their future than they were 2 years ago), the severe lack of OSAMA BIN LADEN...

And speaking of things lacking...the Patriot Act is up for vote...and there are Senate Democrats who want to and claim to have the votes for filibuster. I say send a note to your Senator and make sure that filibuster happens...

all right, that's what I got time for right now...back to the Christmas cards and the phones...

But as you dive into your own holiday traditions, KEEP E-MAILING!!!

Peace --Alex

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Bush gets snippy...

But first, allow me to get snippy as duuuude, they've been making me do my JOB here...and I've been trying to do grant proposals and Christmas cards and blah blah blah- leaving no time to read and properly blog but dammit, I got somethin' to say...

Bush is on the defensisive...blinking and shifting and trying to tell the world that he is not a total dunderhead and that the war really is a good thing. He's made four speeches now on Iraq. yes he's still making people twitch...such as Peggy Noonan on the Colbert Report the other night who was expecting to merely talk about her new book on Pope John Paul II, but Colbert (despite being a devout Catholic) had other ideas such as asking her about how, while she came up with great ideas for Bush I, couldn't she write for Bush II, what has really happened with his presidency this year and after taking two months unpaid leave from the Wall Street Journal to work on his campaign, did she feel it was worth it? He also asked how come the Democrats didn't get the same "really good, supportive audiences" for their town meetings. After each question was asked, she did have to take a breath and come up with a proper (spun) reponse and held her own, but I don't see her coming back to that show right away.

On the Today show this morning, Matt Lauer interviewed Brian WIlliams about his interview with the president and they showed a clip from the interview that will be on MSNBC tonight. Williams asked George about the comment he made that he never reads the paper or watches the television news. George said that he does indeed read "the paper...I may not get to all of it..." but he does indeed check it out in the morning and he does watch the news (never said how much or what networks), but he does "get clips and summaries" from "very good advisors" so of course "how can anyone say that I don't know what's going on?". Williams and Lauer did also point out that George said that he didn't get to do much "in the morning..cause I'm working" but apparently "at night when he kicks back" he's able to watch...more news...before going to bed at 9:30...

our LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...good lord...

At least people are starting to wake up to the truth a bit...and even the Supreme Court is looking at DeLay's redistricting of Texas...start humming karma, saying prayers, crossing appendages in the hopes that the Court will see this case as the obvious case of blatant vote stealing that it is.

AND...the Alito questioning is coming up SOON. I can't get over the fact that Christmas is next week, let alone the Scalito vote. You might want to send a note to your Senator and let them know how you feel about the man...

You also might want to leave a message for your Senator about the Patriot Act vote as well as a proper exit plan for Iraq...

IN THE MEANTIME...I went to a meeting of Democracy for New York last week and while I could not stay the whole time, it was great to meet up with some more people trying to do something. The main thing they are working on is voting machines right now, but they are also working to promote Democratic candidates in 2006, including one who came to visit and observe the group. I hope to make the next meeting and get things goin' with them :)

All right, that's what i got time for this evening, but I assure you, there will be more to come...

and KEEP E-MAILING!!!

Peace --Alex

Thursday, December 01, 2005

is it just me???

I know it can't be. I am getting far too many e-mails from True Majority, Move On, Barbara Boxer and Tom McMahon among others not to be the only one apalled.

I guess the main thing again is that again, with all the scandals, such as the story in the LA Times yesterday about the military paying Iraqi news agencies to air and or write stories such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism", secret prisons for torture, and the New Yorker story by Sy Hersch, one has got to wonder...

"WHO THE HELL ARE THE 36% WHO ARE STILL SUPPORTING GEORGE W. BUSH?"

Bill O'Reilly on the TODAY show yesterday even himself was taped shouting about Bush's speech "It's the same rhetoric!" (Katie Couric was looking at him like "Who are you and where have you taken the real Bill O'Reilly?"

Mary Matalin today did her part and was not shaken on the Today show this morning, but she still did nothing more than spout the party line about how Bush doesn't need a stinkin' timetable. There was also something about how can we leave the Iraqis to the insurgency, an unstable government, and state of chaos...my first thought was "they're like that NOW" and then I was thinking "way to trust the Iraqis to take care of themselves..."

Also Wonkette yesterday had a great photo array showing Bush back in 2003 with the Mission Accomplished banner. Then earlier this year with a "Strategy for Victory" banner. Then at his speech yesterday with the "Plan for Victory" banner. Kinda moving backwards on this, aren't we?

It is just all so bothersome right now...it really just is time for a coup...