Wreck of the UAW
Now Playing: cross canadian ragweed- a night at the wormy dog
Topic: surly
I am spending the Thanksgiving weekend with my friends and family. We are currently lapsing into our turkey comas. It has been a long week for me. I have been ensconced in front of a TV equipped with cable. Big doings in this neck of the woods. As I sit tonight 11:20 on mid November Monday night Andy Provenzano is telling us that an artic chill will be here by Thanksgiving. We are right now within twenty-five miles from where they used to build oldsmobiles. GM has announced the layoffs of thirty thousand employees. I sit in a bedroom community of Lansing Michigan. Our Governor is promising funds to help train for jobs of the future that won't be shipped overseas. Bless her for understanding our greatest fears. I would like to be able to point my finger at her but I am not a man in the know. Many of the people that I grew up with are going to be affected. Michael Moore would be pissed if this were Flint Michigan. In a musty old hall in Detroit no one is praying, the bell won't chime but once for the UAW Local 520. The sadness and strife will also affect people in Oklahoma and Tennessee among other places. I don't know much of anything about their communities but I can envision the stress this will put on a portion of the American community that is already quivering from the specter of a possible bird flu epidemic. The holidays will be sparse for the heartlands. But then again we are at war. With that all said I consider the opinion that I have a lot to be thankful for. I could express a litany of people I need to mention and make this a trite letter to my family and friends. Instead please remember you, know who you are, and so do we. Which brings me back to my favorite topic of dissertation. I was alarmed at the talks I have heard of quarantines and surveillance in anticipation of a bird flu epidemic.(oh yeah- check out the stock symbol RHHBY.PK. THEY ARE MAKING A BUCK ON THE SCARE. If you come to my neighborhood please remember that I am respectfully declining the opportunity to participate in your "little fire drill". I mean you no harm but please respect my rights as a United States citizen and leave my brethren and me alone. TWR

ad hoc ergo propter hoc
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: you might just let it go. Jack Johnson
Topic: more specific grumpiness
The Latin from the topic line was stolen from an episode of the west wing. The meaning as described by Martin Sheen is “ before therefore after”. The rough translation describing the cause and effect relationship that is often the case. Sheen’s character goes on to doubt this relationship. Much as our own administration has disavowed or ignored questions about their relationship with Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame. The administration has either misdirected reporters or refused to respond to allegations that the disclosure of Mrs. Plames identity as a CIA employee was the calculated payback for criticisms launched by Mr. Wilson of the administration. Recent indictments of Mr. Cheney’s aid Lewis “Scooter” Libby highlight the transgressions of this administration. For months I have been howling for the head of another top administration official, Mr. Karl Rove. While he is not yet under indictment for the affair his status remains in question. We are waiting for the other shoe to drop. While waiting I thought to ask the question, What did Dick Cheney know? When did he know this? I think they are two pertinent questions that should be answered by the Vice President.
Meanwhile with his polls plummeting the President has embarked on a trip to Southeast Asia to lick his wounds. Nothing-big there. He is borrowing a trick from Bill Clinton’s playbook. Here is what I find interesting about the trip. During this trip to the Asia/Pacific Economic Conference the President is expected to deal with two continuing American issues. First the ban on importing U.S. Beef into Japan and the lopsided trade surplus with China. Here is what his National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley had to say. “I don’t think you’re going to see headline-breakers” from the presidents trip. How is that for support from your own people? I imagine Karl Rove is all ready plotting some nastiness for that astute gentleman when he returns back to our soil. I have to applaud him for speaking truth to power. I don’t expect to see any major advances from the president either and the only head lines I can envision is if he pukes in the Japanese prime ministers lap like his father did. Anyway… Farewell, I am off to kill a turkey. I’ll catch up in a few days. As always harass your elected officials frequently with fervor. TWR

Help a canuck kid eh!
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: It's a shame about Ray
Topic: instigating
I have updated one of my links. There is a child in Canada who is proposing a boycott of McDonalds to draw attention to the unfair taxes we impose upon Canadian Lumber. Under NAFTA we penalize the Canadians because every summer they pay college kids to replant trees. While this is a sound environmental policy of a foreign nation we tax them because their government is subsidizing their timber industry. Please pass this link on to your friends and relatives. We should join with this young man with his boycott to show that we support the environmentally friendly policies of Canada. Peace. Talk to you soon. TWR

The party of Ideas
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Wide open spaces
Topic: instigating
If you my faithful readers were to take a consensus of my friends they would say that I have been nothing but critical of the President and his administration. Today I thought that I would try to find something good about him. I really admired his plan to go to Mars. Personally I propose sending him and all of his cronies. But seriously I think that is an admirable goal. It speaks to our collective human nature as explorers. Manifest destiny has stalled with the occupation of all corners of this planet. The other benefit that I see is that at the rate they are plundering this planet we will need a new planet to find resources on.
I have also heard it advanced that the Republican Party is the party of ideas. I tend to disagree with this premise. They have Ideas but most of them are bad. Like the elimination of taxes on capital gains and shifting the tax burden to people that toil too many hours for their wages. I have again lost my focus. This is not to be critical of the republicans. This is to advance a few of my ideas that are needed in this age to advance our nation. So here goes. Please hear me out.

1. I think that we should centralize the means of gaining access to our country. I believe that if we limited the number of international airports we would be able to better screen terrorist threats. I believe that we could get by with three international airports. One on each coast and one in the Midwest. This Idea is also contingent on an investment in high-speed rail. With the financial failures and dangers of commercial air travel this would be a wise investment. We could build a transcontinental line that would be able to transport travelers in a comparable time frame from coast to coast with out the risks associated with air travel. With the financial drain on the airline companies of higher energy costs this makes sense. An added benefit would be the jobs created by the commitment to this plan. I am not saying we eliminate air travel, I am saying that we should be selective in which markets are served and do it more intelligently.

2. If you didn’t like that idea you will hate this one. I expect it to be highly unpopular. I normally oppose privatization of public services as a knee jerk reaction to republican policies. I believe that public utilities such as phone and electric companies should be held as a public trust. I typically oppose deregulation as it allows corporations to milk us dry with assets developed by our tax dollars. However there is one area where we could privatize a public service that would be beneficial to all Americans. I think that the time has come to dismantle the postal service. With the advent of email, online bill paying and privately held companies servicing a need we could eliminate the U.S. Postal Service at a great savings to tax payers. Perhaps we provide an incentive to Bill Gates like a tax-free year if he donates a system and hardware to help us. The long-term benefits could help reduce the deficit that this administration is intent on saddling us with.
These are just two ideas that make sense to me. I believe a great many things. I also believe that it is time for us to review and revise our constitution. We should further enumerate our rights. We should eliminate the Electoral College. I believe that it is time for a new constitutional convention. We could redefine this great representative democracy. We now have tools that were not available to our forefathers. It is time to update our systems and processes for the benefit of all of our citizens. Let me know what you think.

Words from Bird land
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: don't fear the reaper
Topic: Catching up
Okay time for me to weigh in again. I don’t want to gloat about the indictments of Scooter Libby. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. How long before Karl Rove is indicted. Anyway better fish to fry. I live in fear. I live in fear that the redwings won’t make the playoffs. I live in fear that the Spartans will get a crappy bowl bid or not. What I don’t fear is what the administration has been hyping for a solid two weeks. The official panic of the month is over bird flu. There have been approximately seventy deaths attributed to this virus, most of which have occurred in Southeast Asia. For two weeks the major media have been talking of a potential pandemic. True these things have happened in the past but are we really going to start quaking in our boots over every new virus. In a rare show of foresight by Mr. Bush, he has proposed spending roughly seven billion dollars to prepare for the impending epidemic. Of course he wants to spend this money on a vaccine that won’t necessarily work on this strain. I applaud his ability to finally take on an issue before it becomes a problem but I believe that this is just a tactic to deflect from his current troubles. Sinking poll numbers. Does anyone remember what happened when he was suffering like this before? I can hear the conversation between him and Karl now.
Mr. Bush “we need them to fear something.”
Mr. Rove “how about the terrorist? We could raise the alert level. Quote some unspecified threat”
Mr. Bush “no damit that won’t work again. Come on think of something before I am forced to accept your resignation”
Mr. Rove “ Let’s see. How about something health related. With all of those people with out health care we can scare the shit out of America. No one will notice how much your popularity has plummeted and we can get on to messing with the middle class while I still have time. How about bird flu.
Mr. Bush. Brilliant!
Mr. Rove Brilliant!
Okay that may not be exactly what happened but how far off can I be. Mr. Bush’s commission on revising the tax code just reported back and decided to screw the middle class by eliminating the deduction for interest on mortgages. They have to have something to distract us with. Not to mention this new Supreme Court nominee. Oh, yeah. The other problem with his spending spree. We don’t have the cash to spend 7 billion dollars on a flu vaccine that won’t work. He gave the money away in his tax breaks. This deficit spending is going to screw with whomever takes over next. We won’t have cash to do anything, interest rates are going to spike. He calls himself a fiscal conservative. Yeah right. Back to the subject at hand. If we are in fear, he can come to our aid and we won’t question his other decisions. Sorry. I wake up everyday and tremble with my own fears. I won’t adopt the ones you need me to. All I fear is three more years of this dishonest spin we get from our so-called leadership. Remember all we have to fear is fear itself. Fear not. Go in peace.
TWR

Four new rants
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Una Mas Cervasa (tom Alverson
Topic: Catching up
Okay,
I have been taking it kind of easy on the GOP lately. Time for the gloves to come off. I refused to join in on the dog pile about the lousy response to hurricane Katrina. It was the kind of response I have come to expect from this administration when it comes to any domestic policy unless it is ramming morality down our collective throats. Today we should start with Tom Delay.
Apparently he funneled money from Texas corporations to the Republican National Committee then funneled it back to candidates of his choice. Really wouldn’t bother me. I expect that kind of corrupt actions from the hammer. What cheese’s me off about this is The Free Enterprise Fund is running ads comparing the prosecutor to a mad dog. Why does this irritate me? It reeks of obstruction of justice to me. What are they trying to do? It appears to me they are trying to taint a jury pool. Same old tricks from the exterminator. If he has done nothing wrong just face the charges. Quit trying to try the case in the media.
Page two.
Bill Frist being investigated by the SEC. Just hope they prosecute this to the extent they did Martha Stewart. I did once applaud the Senator for his stand on stem cells but he is still part of the GOP Juggernaut of injustice.
Page Three
The tar is ready. Karl Rove is appearing before the grand jury for the fourth time and he has not been afforded immunity for his testimony. I am confident that he leaked the name of Valerie Plame in retaliation for Mr. Wilson’s criticism of the Bush administration. I just hope they are all charged by the expiration of the grand jury at the end of October. By the way it will be interesting to watch W’s polls plummet even further without his brain handy. By the way did you catch his equivocation, first it was that anyone involved would be terminated then it was anyone convicted of a crime. On with the prosecution.
Page four.
I have stay quiet on the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. I have stayed quiet because I don’t know enough about her. She must be a skilled lawyer to keep this administration out trouble for so long. My concern is that if we ever have another close election that is in dispute she will side with the GOP and find precedent with Bush v. Gore and vote to hear the case. I am over that election. I just did not like the Supreme Court interfering. The constitution directs cases like that one into the House of Representatives. What ever her qualifications I do not want a disciple of James Dobson issuing edicts of Morality from the bench. As always if something here has struck a chord please harass your elected officials. Repeatedly. Thanks
TWR

Honesty -more than a title to a Billy Joel song
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Traffic on Devon
Topic: surly
I just read where Mr.Bush’s poll numbers are down. People generally don't believe he is honest. I really don't have a problem believing this proposition. I don't believe he is honest. I don't think it he was honest when he asked for a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages. I think he was trying to incite a non issue for his political gain. Fanning the flames in the Red States. It was brilliant political strategy. But it wasn't honest. I don't think it was honest when he spoke about yellow cake that was supposedly being purchased by Iraq. I think he knew those words were false before he said them. Then there was the payback. The deliberate outing of Valerie Plame. Again political strategic
brilliance. Honest? I don't think so. I don't even want to discuss want to discuss WMD'S and then to make fun of those remarks in front of the press club dinner that was caught on tape. But I must say their strategic brilliance is blinding. The press doesn't hold this administration accountable. Democrats have tried. They were able to build a coalition to filibuster John Bolton. The Bush administration wouldn't release records that were requested by the Senate. It's the same executive privilege that they are trying to use in regards of Judge Roberts records during his tenure in the elder Bush's administration. At the very least he is obstructing the constitutional mandate to congress to confer on
appointee's suitability for the Court. I don’t think that he has dealt honestly with the American People and he has made many bad decisions in the way he runs the country. Maybe my anger at the president boils down to jealousy. I would like a job where I got paid two hundred thousand a year whether I was good at it or not and was still allowed to take as many vacation days as I pleased. That is honesty. When I can admit my own jealousy. But seriously I am appalled at his lack of foresight. As our first CEO President he is running this country into the ground. The next man to assume the office will being running a bankrupt country. He learned this trick from his father. After eight years of his misguided leadership the pendulum will swing back to the democrats. They will have to contend with rising inflation and a huge national debt. You Red Staters elected this man based upon his pose as a fiscal conservative not a tax cut and spend idiot. Please be honest in the midterm elections and vote for candidates who actually talk about issues and not for candidates that play upon our fears. Please vote for candidates that understand that congress is supposed to have oversight of budget expenditures that will quit writing blank checks our children and grand children will have to foot the bill for.

What a concept
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: more birdy noise
Topic: instigating
I recently attended a major leauge baseball game with my daughter. It is something we get to do most summers together and while she mostly is just humoring her old man it was very enjoyable for both of us. One of the amusements on the centerfield scoreboard was a game where we tried to guess the days attendance at the game. This got me to thinking. We had also watched the movie National Treasure in the last week and a line from that movie struck me, it was something to the effect that people don't talk like that anymore as was spoke by Nicolas Cage as he read a portion of the declaration of independence that dealt with the people having the right to revolt and change their form of goverment. You may ask what do these two things have in common? Well these are the things that have been running through my head. In the early days of our revolution grown men attended meetings in Faneul hall in boston to discuss the events of the day. Our fledgling democracy was attended by men who took notice of the governments dealings and discussed the issues frequently in town halls. While the attendance in fanuel hall was hardly what it was at the baseball game i attended it made me think of the things that we value enough to attend. I also pondered the way religion was described by? as opiate for the masses and how that has been replaced by cinema and sports. i value entertainment as much as the next person but so much of it seems to be such pointless tripe that I can only stomach so much of it. My thoughts are about how we are so distracted by current entertainment that we hardly pay attention to the politics that affect our lives. As men use to gather around the alehouses they would discuss the issues of the day. I've tried the same thing recently and been tossed out with the rejoinder that there is no talking politics at the bar.(and that wasn't even a heated discussion.) Of course we could argue about sports all we want. i have come to the conclusion that politics is just not important to the general public even though it would behoove them to participate. Apparently the rat race consumes so much of our time that we don't have the time or energy to discuss what is in our best interest. Maybe that's why we pay our politicians. I think that it is time to hold another constitutional convention. I believe that we have new tools to help the progress of democracy. I believe that some of our practices are out dated, such as the electoral college. Let's convene a new constitutional convention. We can expand our representative democracy to more americans. Just a thought. Let me know what you think. TWR

still pissed after two months off
Now Playing: silence--birdy noise
Topic: still pissed off
Okay I have taken a break because there was something completely stunning to me. I was incensed by the Medical Marijuana decision that the supreme court handed down. I don't know how in there arrogance they can decide this falls under the commerce clause of the constitution. It is a failed drug policy. Stop the prohibition. The problem as I see it is that one of our inalienable rights ought to be to ingest whatever makes us feel better as we are terminally ill. The other thing that stumped me was that i was going to remind the general public about how Chief Justice Rehnquist perjured himself in his confirmation hearings, then he ruled in favor of states rights and dissented from the majority opinion.
On to the other complaints. Judge Roberts, the current nominee for the high court served as solicitor general under the first Bush administration. Our current administration thinks they have the right to claim executive privilege over his writings during that time and refuses to release those writings to the senate. Again this administration is overstepping it's authority. The senate has the right to determine what it needs to confirm a supreme court nominee. What is the Bush administration trying to hide now?
John Bolton. Couldn't possibly be confirmed by the senate. Senators on both sides of the aisle opposed him what did the chump in charge do? A recess appointment. What a ball less twit. Find a new candidate.
Finally when can we string up Karl Rove. He violated federal law. At the very least he obstructed justice. By not firing Rove, Mr. Bush seems to have lost his Moral compass. He is equivocating. His certainty about firing anyone involved in the leak of a federal agent has been changed to anyone convicted of a crime. It is time to fess up Turd Blossom and take scooter with you on your way out.
Finally, my mother always told me not say anything unless you can say something nice so here goes. I applaud (golf clap) Bill Frist for advocating science above religion. His attempt to position himself as presidential contender by supporting stem cell research is laudable. Especially since it will piss off the religious right. Despite his self serving motives he is my least repulsive republican of the week. Unseating the prior recipients John McCain and Rep. Voinovich of Ohio.

Wake up!!
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Angry Young Man -Styx
Today,
I am generally chipper. Not much in the news to iritate me. Well of course I always find something. Today's rant will be rather short as none of my viewing public has saw fit to egg me on. Chickens. Anyway. New topics, oh yeah!
The FEC is actually looking at banning this form of free speech or at least limiting it. They are about to decide that this is an in-kind political contribution and should be regulated.. Of course I double dog dare them to try and regulate me. I will voice my opinions regaurdless of their decisions. I am not aiming to be a poster boy for the first amendment but I will not be silenced either. The other big news of the day is the outing of "deep throat" while the historical significance of this is not lost on me I am much more concerned about the sources of Robert Novack. The Valerie Plame case took another turn last friday when no one was paying attention. A Judge has ruled that two of Novack's sources don't have to reveal their sources. That is as I understand it. I may have missed a few things but the general gist is correct. Typically I would agree with this decision as it falls under the freedom of the press issue however, A federal agent's identity was compromised. That is a federal crime. Worse yet it appears to have been done as retribution for criticism of this administrations vetting of Mr. Bush's State of the union speech where he advanced the fallacy of Iraq attempting to purchase uranium. Valerie Plame is married to Richard Clark the man who debunked this false intelligence. It sure seems like payback to me. We have been promised a thorough investigation by Mr. Bush. That was last summer. And still time marches on......

One more issue,
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday defended the administrations handling of the John Bolton confirmation. Even agree with the administration that Senators have all the information that they need for the process. Apparently some Senators do not agree and want to look at the NSA records that Mr. Bolton has handled carelessly. I would think that such a blatant disregaurd for security protocol would be a relevent issue. The saying "loose lips sink ships' ring any bells. If this man can not be trusted to properly protect security of classified intelligence how can we rely on him in the corrupt united nations. Again I implore you to harass your representitives and senators. Till next time one of my favorite quotes.
"Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism" - Thomas Jefferson
TWR