I am f'ing sick of this election, but most of all I am sick of the fact that it's simply not over, case closed.

The Libertarian/Republican mantra of deregulate, privatize and let the magic wand of capitalism solve the problem is freaking broken and now we see it in our f'ing faces. The robber barons have stolen our money, folks. AIG and the accompanying companies are only the beginning. The Republicans INCLUDING JOHN MCCAIN screamed bloody murder anytime anyone even suggested that we make some sort of RULES that CEOs would have to follow when running these financial institutions that are somehow private and yet controlling everything we buy around us and the money in our banks. It is THIS philosophy that has failed us.

Let there be no mistake. You cannot let a financial system run rampant without rules and an inzone and transparency. We don't have to guess anymore where that road leads us. We're seeing it on the news and in our foreclosures and we're about to see it even more when the banks where we have our money invested no longer have a guarantee on them that we'll get our money out when we need it.

And don't be freaking fooled for an instant by McSame's backpedaling on this issue. Mr. "Maverick" has supported privatization of every little tiny thing everywhere for his entire 26-year political career and NOW he tells us he wants to reform stuff. It's all Bull.

When I was a consultant back in '00 I had a discussion with my Republican co-worker about Bush. I told that guy that if Bush got into office we'd see War. We certainly did. We saw a war of choice (that, by the by, had nothing to do with 9-11 except to use our anger and fear as an excuse) which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of U.S. soldiers along with helping to bring our financial situation to this brink of ruin.

I'm about to make a similar prediction. If we succumb to the "all politicians are the same so let's vote for the one that wants to shoot wolves from a helicopter" mentality and vote Grampy McSame into office, we're gonna have a Great Depression.

How can I be so confident in this? Because history is on my side. There's only one way to recover from a great depression that we've ever identified and that is with a new New Deal. Obama's plan is leading us to that New Deal. Raise taxes on the top 5% (mostly on the top 1%) and use that money to give people jobs fixing our ailing infrastructure. Meanwhile you stop the rampant privatization, take control of those top banks instead of just dumping money from our public treasury into them, and harness the power of the economy. Restore the rules that made sure CEOs of those and all companies have to report their dealings out in the open. Reform the health care system so that we can use the collective power of the American public to get the best health care at the least cost, instead of dividing us up so that we can have industry cartels and greed on the backs of our sick and injured loved ones.

And I have one thing to say to those folks who want to hunt and shoot guns for sport: WE'RE NOT OUT TO TAKE YOUR FREAKING GUNS!!!!
If you don't believe me, ask gun totin' Ed Schultz.

But if you DO own a gun, you'd better buy your bullets now while the gettin' is good. Because if Grampy McSame wins or, rather, "Wins" the election you'll need a wheelbarrow to carry the cash you'll need to buy one box of bullets.

The choice is clear: a new future for America or more massive trouble than we've seen in generations.

Please don't let me ever have to find out that my prediction is correct.

Current Mood: angry

I Am A: Neutral Good Elf Druid/Wizard (3rd/2nd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-12

Constitution-11

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-12

Charisma-13


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.


Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.


Secondary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

Current Mood: groggy

On October 9th at 7 pm I'll be speaking at an Interfaith event focused on GLBT issues. Mail me if you want to attend.

On October 28th at 7 pm S.J. Tucker, A.k.a. Skinny White Chick will be playing AND doing some FIRE SPINNING at an event I am coordinating.
S.J. Tucker is an amazing musician and poi fire spinner. This is a show you do NOT want to miss.
$8-$15 sliding-scale, $5 for students
http://www.sjtucker.com/
http://www.fireandstrings.com/
Mail me for location info.

Yes, this is the same S.J. Tucker who was at Pagan Spirit Gathering.

(these are just two of the many reasons why I'm swamped and not posting lately)

Current Mood: exhausted

I've been tempted to buy Weird Al tickets for Sept. 23rd. However, I don't want to go alone. I'll buy tickets if someone goes with me.

Anyone in my area interested?

Current Mood: geeky

See this movie. Then DO SOMETHING. Better yet, DO SOMETHING, then see this movie, then Do Something Again.

You can start by supporting H.R.676 and using this website:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/petitions/pnum649.php

to contact your congressional representatives and tell them to support H.R. 676 and a universal health care system.

Health Care is a human right, and the for-profit system is designed to DENY YOU COVERAGE.

I'm sorry if I'm being too forward about this for some people, but dammit this movie deeply moved me. We are being swindled, but we don't have to take it any more.

Current Mood: determined

I saw a rabbit when I was walking to the mailbox to drop off some mail. it jumped out of the grass and scurried across the sidewalk and across the street.


In other news:
Did Dick Cheney frequent and "escort service" that is now being revealed as a prostitution ring?

It breaks down like this:
A "D C Madam" named Deborah Palfrey ran an escort service in, of course, Washington DC, that is now being investigated for prostitution, racketeering, and IRS fraud. The Madam has gone public with her phone records from the last 20 years, records which include prominent people like Randall Tobias, who resigned from his position as chief of foreign aid programs at the State Department (note that this is the same guy who insisted on only foreign aid that included absinence-only programs and insisted that no one should have sex before marriage).

Now at least one alternative media source is claiming that Dick Cheney's phone number(s) were on Palfrey's list. A judge has ordered her not to release any other information, and there is some suspician, as you can read below, that the story is being shot down by the "mainstream" media. It could be that ABC and CBS want certain confirmation before they release such scandalous info, but it could also be that the story is being held back by corporate interests. Insert your favorite conspiracy theory here.

How about another log to add to the conspiracy fire? Consider this: why is everyone defending Karl Rove? Alberto Gonzalez won't utter his name in front of congress, and it seems most people in the congressional hearings become squeemish whenever his name is mentioned.

What if Rove has the goods on the escort service and he has in-depth information on who uses prostitutes and how they do things? He could hold it over everyone's head in order to protect himself, the VP, and Bush by making sure no one talks about the wrongdoings of this adminstration.

Just sayin'.

Here's some info:

From Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18474027/site/newsweek/
"Sibley confirmed that Palfrey's clients did include Randall Tobias, the former chief of foreign-aid programs at the State Department.

Tobias resigned from his job as a deputy secretary of State last week after ABC News journalists confronted him about his involvement with the alleged prostitution ring. (Tobias admitted to using the service, but for massages, not illegal sex-for-money transactions.)

Sibley said that because Palfrey only had phone records indicating who her clients were, and did not know their identities directly, she was hoping that third parties—like the news media, especially ABC—would identify her clients so she could then call them as defense witnesses. "


From http://waynemadsenreport.com/
"May 10, 2007 -- WMR has received a third well-placed confirmation that Vice President Dick Cheney, while CEO of Halliburton, was a client of the escort service of DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey. In addition, one of Cheney's closest military advisers and friends was also a client of the DC Madam's Pamela Martin & Associates escort service. Cheney used the escort service while he was a part time resident of the posh Ballantrae section of McLean, Virginia.

After intense pressure from the White House and Disney executives, ABC News killed the DC Madam client story after having been given exclusive access to Palfrey's ten years' of phone call records."

Current Mood: devious

Pagans FINALLY get their symbol on military gravestones. It's been a fight for many years with the Bush Administration's Veteran's Affairs.

http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=9077&JServSessionIdr007=2tvm1x6wc4.app5b

Rock!

Current Mood: happy

Here's a little dead-serious news a friend allerted me to.

I remember a few years ago going to a conference to talk about the problems with GMO foods. Back then the problems were mostly theoretical what-ifs. This would be what-ifs as in "we don't know what this will do in the long term."

We might just be finding out. The genetic engineering might be killing off bees in mass-quantities. As Einstein said: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

According to this German article (because what American mainstream press would report anything that went against the Agrobusiness industry?):
"Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent."

and

"According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have 'altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know.'"
From: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,473166,00.html
And another article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/10/HOG5FOH9VQ1.DTL

Would Rep. John Dingell care about this? He didn't seem too impressed with Al Gore's concern for global warming.

Anyone wanna raise money for a communal ecological bio-dome?

Current Mood: worried

Rally in Ann Arbor to protest the War. It has gone on WAY too long.

Please check out: http://www.justpeaceinfo.org.

I plan to be at this rally, especially in light of the discoveries of neglect of our severely wounded soldiers.

For those of you who are not aware, soldiers who come back from the war with severe injuries including missing limbs, destroyed eyes or skin, etc, often have huge hurtles to go through to get the treatment promised them by the federal government in return for their service. This is partially due to "red tape", forms and justifications that can have these service men and women stuck without treatment for years. In addition to this, the supposed leading medical hospital for veterans, Walter Reed, was recently discovered to be in horrid condition.

We need to bring our troops home and we need to take care of those who have been injured in this war, whether they be our own young people or those that have been harmed overseas.

While such a rally alone may not end the war, we need to keep constant political pressure on those people who represent us to let them know that war is not the answer.

UU Principle #1 stresses the importance of the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
UU Principle #6 gives us a goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

To get to the ideals above, we often need to exercise #5: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process.

I hope those who can make it will join me at the Diag on U of M's campus on St. Patrick's Day: Saturday, March 17th.

Blessed Be.

P.S. I also plan on calling the Governor of Michigan and asking her to demand that the injured National Guard troops be sent back to their home communities so that they can be cared for by local volunteers, get pro-bono lawyers for their federal papers, etc.

Happy Solstice Everyone!

Current Mood: good