Pat Robertson says Kill your Neighbor!

On August 22, 2005 Pat Robertson, leader of the Christian television network and self-proclaimed leader of 32 Million people world-wide called for the assassination of a twice-democratically elected foreign head-of-state because he wants unrestricted access to that nation's oil reserves. Please join me and remind Mr. Robertson of the Ten Commandments: I don't know about you... but it should be getting hard to stand up and be a Christian while condoning this behavior. If you REALLY do believe what you say and you value your immortal soul... then stand for the values you preach and speak up against this philistine.

'Thou Shall Not Kill.' and Thou Shall Not Covet, and Thou Shall Not Steal, and Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness and Thou Shall Not Have False Gods Before Me... Commandments 2, 4, 6, 8, 9,10— So what are you going to do?

Do you Keep Holy the Sabbath Day or are you Bearing False Witness as you recite sacred prayers! Looking the other way is harboring the criminal— a crime in God's eyes as well as Man's. Hold this mortal accountable for his actions here on Earth! What is your eternal soul worth?

Vocabulary Lesson

Before we continue to dismantle our language any further...
Lets look at some other words this nation's leaders seem
to have trouble keeping straight!

We have an environmental policy that opens forests for logging,
mountains for mining, rivers for polluting, plains for asphalting,
and lets pollution standards drop to levels before Gaylord Nelson
made Earth Day.... and we call it the CLEAR SKIES ACT!

We cut after school programs, drain our education budget,
gut our national coffers forcing States to find money from us
through other means... We treat our teachers like second class
citizens, we don't provide even marginal accommodations and
equipment for most of our nations poorest schools... while awarding
millions in fees to bussing companies.... and then incarcerating the
children as they don't fit into the suburbs they are bussed into....
and we call that LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND!

We call awarding millions in no-bid contracts to Diebold, Bush's
biggest campaign contributer and maker of the "paperless ballot boxes"
that were set to —reject errors— on rich white ballots causing the ballot
to bounce back til properly cast, but "mistakenly" turned to
—accept all ballots— for poor and democratic voting districts....
and we call that the FAIR VOTING ACT!

We enact sweeping policies to take our freedoms away...
allowing the government to invade our privacy... detain anyone
indefinitely with no access to lawyers, family or friends...
and we call it THE PATRIOT ACT!

We begin a war with a nation—first because it was alleged
to have had involvement in the September 11 attacks....
then to oust a mean dictator— then to find nuclear arms...
then to help them create democracy... now because we're too proud
to just back out.... and we call that PATRIOTIC!

We avoid calling this a WAR because then we'd have to abide by
the Geneva Convention and treat our "DETAINEES" with some
human decency.... instead we call them terrorists...
(people who carry weapons, wear no uniform, operate in secrecy,
answer to no specific chain of command, and commit random acts
of terror to create fear) - but we hire thousands of CONTRACTORS
who carry weapons, wear no uniform, drive unmarked vehicles,
answer to no chain of command, and commit random acts of terror
to create fear---- AND WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS??? and we're not
supposed to have our people abused when they are captured????

NOW we let a man commit treason and go unchallenged....
2 years ago—Karl Rove knowingly exposed an undercover agent
(Valerie Plame) working for our CIA, to punish her husband who
exposed facts that the allegations of Iraq's nuclear threat were false
and unjustified! AND WE CALL THIS JUSTICE!!!

I guarantee if it was a democrat who committed this act
they'd be swinging from a gallows pole!

AND because this administration thinks it gets more media milage
from Robert Novak than a lesser know woman reporter Judith Miller-
a loyal Bush Supporter... they arrest her instead of losing Novak
even though she had nothing to do with the article! She in-effect
took one for the team—and we call this POLITICALLY CORRECT!!!

We tax and jail our less fortunate for petty crimes while we let Enron,
Tyco, S&L Execs go free or with petty sentences... We let
Corporations enjoy powers or citizenship far beyond those of
actual citizens.... grant them unprecedented access to our legislators
in the form of lobbying...give them tax loopholes to allow them to
extort billions from paying what normal citizens have to pay every day...
We allow our legislators to act without ethics or moral standards...
awarding favors and contracts to contributers while accepting
all manner of favors in addition.... AND WE CALL THAT DEMOCRACY!

Sure- lets keep sending this stupid email around telling how some
priest in kansas thinks we have a funny way of twisting our language....

before we all beat our breasts about what great christians we are...
why not start asking the tuff questions like why are we killing
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians? Why are we going broke
paying for a war that seems to only benefit Halliburton and the
terrorists we call CONTRACTORS, why do we let an administration
commit egregious acts of incompetence and continue to operate
without some consequence??? why do we let Karl Rove continue
operate above our nation's laws while loading the offices of our
Public Broadcasting, Defense, Education, Environmental Standards,
Food and Drug, Media regulatory boards, school boards,
Appellate Courts, Supreme Courts.... with people fixed to preserve
his notion of a "FREE SOCIETY"

While we're at it since when did FREE SOCIETY become
synonymous with the RULING CLASS ELITE???

You wanna talk language misrepresentation watch your leaders!
Meantime please stop bringing God into this debacle... I don't think
he 'll like this when you chance to meet him at the end of times.

Ignorance Killed Easter Island- Are We Next?

Jared Diamond, author of Collapse, writes of Easter Island. Once, it was home to a thriving culture that produced the enormous stone statues that continue to inspire awe. It was home to dozens of species of trees, which created and protected an ecosystem fertile enough to support as many as thirty thousand people. Today, it's a barren and largely empty outcropping of volcanic rock. What happened? Did a rare plant virus wipe out the island's forest cover? Not at all. The Easter Islanders chopped their trees down, one by one, until they were all gone. Once the trees were gone, the civilization collapsed and spiraled into cannibalism. Trees were the only means to make the canoes used to fish for food. "I have often asked myself, 'What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?'" Diamond writes, and that, of course, is what is so troubling about the conclusions of "Collapse." Those trees were felled by rational actors-who must have suspected that the destruction of this resource would result in the destruction of their civilization. The lesson of "Collapse" is that societies, as often as not, aren't murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.

Diamond continues. "The values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs over adversity."

Actually, the inhabitants of Easter Island were doubly unfortunate – when their
environment collapsed they had nowhere else to go. The example of Easter Island should be chillingly obvious; thanks to globalization, we on planet earth are as interconnected and isolated as the clans of Easter Island. Their fate may serve as a metaphor for a potential worst-case scenario awaiting us.

Hey but its only our children and their children who will suffer for our actions today. One has to wonder what will the children say of us and our edifices to excessiveness

Save the embryo, kill the planet.
Drainability not Sustainability.



ISBN 0670033375

Sensenbrenner's Fiction

While its getting hot and sticky here in Wisconsin- the real heat and stickiness is happening in Washington... and Representative, Jim Sensenbrenner, seems a major source of that hot air and stickiness.

I was raised a few blocks from Jim Sensenbrenner's Shorewood home... I used to walk past his house to Lake Bluff grade school... in fact as a child, I used to avoid stepping on the sidewalk divide lines in reverence to a man my parents supported... Today, this man is conducting an arrogant abuse of power- the likes of which our fine State hasn't seen since Sen Joe McCarthy became the scourge of Wisconsin history. I realize many of you receiving this may be fond of- and supportive of this man... and I grant you at one time, I thought he represented his people in washington.... after all- he is OUR representative!

So before you send me a courteous please remove me from this list response and return to your busy life, please take a moment to view the real life conduct of this arrogant, abusive, and dangerous person... who is OUR elected official... representing the 5th congressional district of Wisconsin, a BLUE state! For other, just send tis on to all your contacts.

For anyone to whom I am cc'ing this correspondence who has not watched the hearing last night, it can be found on www.cspan.org in the center of the page under Video/Audio with the heading:  House Hearing on Patriot Act Reauthorization (06/10/2005).

Watch this c-span coverage of Jim Sensenbrenner chairing a house meeting gathering information regarding the upcoming USA PATRIOT ACT reauthorization.

Look at the facts... not the news media spin. Watch the behavior and actions of this man with your own eyes... without editing, or bias, or media commentary- Watch how the United States is conducting it's business.

I urge you to write him a letter responding to his conduct and his attitude while residing as chair of this important and controversial fact-gathering session. Is justice being served?

sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov

This man deserves the same treatment as Sen Joe McCarthy... to be removed from office and remain another timeless reminder of what happens when the American Public is misled by the arrogant self-interest of a small ruling class.

As many of the people in the US during the communist witch-hunts of the 1950's would say, and as many of the citizens of germany up to and during Nazi rulership... "we didn't know any better". Well consider this another chance to become aware.

This is your country... so ask yourself, what have you done for it lately? There has never been a more urgent time to participate in the political process than now. With corporate control of media, legislature, the soon the judicial system, your financial, agricultural and entertainment lifestyles are being created for you, not by you...

While its easy to go on thinking otherwise, the facts are becoming widespread, and hard to refute. The arrogance some of our politicians display in the presence of the collective ignorance of our nation's upper-middle class is soon going to give way to a reckoning- likes of which will rival the failure of McCarthy's communist witch-hunt, and the realization of Hitler's abuse of power.

If you continue to render a blind eye to the FACTS, by choosing to watch, listen and read the "news" from corporate media giants like GE, Viacom, ClearChannel, Turner, Murdock, and Disney... or if you want to think PBS is still unbiased and a good place to hear both sides of the debate... then be warned that this was another wake-up call.

You are not going to learn about the issues that matter to you on television, radio, or newsprint that is holds its own interests before presenting facts... take another moment to bookmark the daily independent media news show on www.democracynow.org just look at the real news happening to your world... not this fiction about Michael Jackson, StarWars, and who Tom Cruise is dating.

Please take the time to learn the truth, then hold your leadership accountable for their actions. It is not acceptable to simply take what they are feeding you because it is cheap and easy.... unless that is your measure for quality of life?

Shoe on the other foot?

I'm really having difficulty coming to terms with what's happening in the united states right now.... I seriously can't believe anyone is able to support what's happening and have a conscience, or a true sense of morality.

This week this administration will tighten the noose on democracy to near stranglehold - ending filibuster and allowing the appointment of right-wing corporate leaning judges.... look what that means.... more of this....

30 yrs after the Vietnam conflict, Pham Thi Thuy Linh,11 uses her feet to do her mathe homework at the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Pham was born with no arms as a result of her parents exposre to Agent Orange. This year a US federal judge dismissed the class-acton lawsuit filed on behalf of 4 Million Vietnamese claiming War Crimes against US chemical companies for using Agent Orange during the war.



check this picture out... send it to your "conservative" friends and ask them if they think its okay for us to maim and kill and poison with reckless abandonment and have corporate-leaning judges absolve us of blame... so long as the stock market continues to give return on investments. Ask them what they think if/when other nations (like China) begin to do this to us....

What if the shoe were on the other foot? What would our leaders do if Vietnam poisoned us and created children like this... and their courts absolved them of wrongdoing?

Journalist Bill Moyer's spoke at a conference yesterday in Atlanta for the first time since retiring from PBS. Moyers refuted the allegations of Kenneth Tomlinson, head of PBS, that his program was biased... and went on to outline many facts that are not reaching the public through conventional media. Please take time to listen/watch to his public address on this link.
http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl

March Of Madness!

Hi Everyone,

Yes its almost spring and our lives are beginning to get very busy. In the last two weeks I
have had more days with multiple-conflicting events than days without!- how bout you?
Social calendar filling up faster than the price of gas at the pump? March Madness is upon
us, but what we need to realize is that THIS March Madness has nothing to do with
college hoops and brackets, but rather is a fight for our freedoms and a marginalizing of
our rights as citizens. This is the March OF Madness. Our nation's leaders are Marching in
new nominees for leadership roles faster than sportscasters are stumbling over
themselves to pick the outcome of the final four. New Justices, New UN Leaders, New
Ethics Committee Members, New Congressional Leaders, New Ambassadors in the Middle
East, New Rulers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine... New Heads of Corporations,
New Leaders of the FDA, New Supreme Court Justices, and hundreds of New regulations,
laws, mandates and "reforms" and New atrocities across the globe to be scuttled and hid
from our basketball-minded masses!

It is important that we keep focused on our duty as citizens in America, to participate in
the political process. That means we may have to adjust our priorities now and again to
fit-in important actions that help get our voices heard by neighbors and our elected
officials.

We are living in very precarious times... Judges who owe their loyalty to major corporations
and industries are again up for appointment to LIFETIME posts as adjudicators of our well-
being. It is not inconceivable that their ties to big business will affect their judgment. 20 of
these Judge nominees were narrowly refused two years ago by congress... now that the
conservatives control even more seats, these same "unacceptable" judicial nominations are
up again. Without your voice, they stand a chance of being successfully passed... with no
way to renege their seats as they turn our court systems in favor of big business and
against we consumers.

Don't remain silent and while companies like Enron and Tyco, big business' and their
shady banking partners get away with stealing billions of dollars from good citizens and
remain exonerated by a judicial system that is in-their pockets... don't let our leaders
insulate their cronies behind an impenetrable defense they call "democracy" Those same
cronies who boldly divert billions of dollars in off-shore accounts- free from taxation.
While we suffer to make up the balance of their Trillion Dollar Deficits! It's your country
too. Time is coming to defend it from the enemy- within.

Yes, don't sit back and watch March Madness Basketball —while the real March of Madness
happens all around you. The United Nations is being sabotaged by the newest Bush
appointment, US Ambassador to the UN, NeoCon dandy, John Bolton- who has repeatedly
denounced the viability of usefulness of the UN for years... now with the unilateral power
of the US behind him, he can singlehandedly castrate the very institution he has publicly
abhorred... and you won't see highlights of those games on any half-time report.

I hope you take time to participate in some of the many events that either are, or soon will
be coming to debate before our legislators - (Federal, Regional, State and Local). The few
minutes you spend now attending a local meeting does make a difference. The few phone-
calls you make to neighbors or legislators does make a difference. The time you take from
your busy schedule to attend events that educate you in alternative perspectives to the
rhetoric we are told is "news" - does make a difference.

It certainly does seem a good time to be alive for many of us... seems like we have much
to be happy about... great shows on tv, great movies in theaters, wonderful resorts to visit,
terrific vehicles to move about in, fabulous clothes to wear, wonderful clubs to be seen at,
sporting events elevated to near circus-like pagentry...I imagine the citizens of Rome felt
that way too- right up to their collapse. Don't let this artificial buzz our leaders call
"prosperity" lull you into submission... educate, activate, participate. Our children's future
is in the balance and we should feel obligated to do our best for them- as our parents did
for us and theirs before them.

No grandstands, no bleachers, no luxury boxes, no sidelines, its time to get in the game.

Happy new Year 2005

Happy New Year Friends,

I'm refreshed, renewed and ready to face a new year's fight for what is right... how bout you?

I'm nearly past a bout with my cluster migraines... (google the words and rejoice that you have had no knowledge-or affliction with this condition)- mine occur every two years for 30-40 days with dozens of 5hr hemispherical torture sessions. Fortunately this year, I found an actual remedy to my 14 year affliction in a couple non-western energy healing techniques - thank you Joelle and Holly 8^)

So- I am refreshed, renewed and refocused on the task at hand. Time to organize, educate and invigorate ourselves, our friends, our neighbors, families and foes... yes our foes... to we need to reach out and realize, retake and rejoice in our nation and what it truly stands for. Yes, the Residential Erection was not what any of us imagined... though we won our battle in Wisconsin, we lost the war in America. Yes there is an awful lot of good, sound evidence that this Erection was won through the use of some Erectile Enhancements in Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and Wisconsin... the Vote-agra was dispensed in the form of traceless electronic voter booths, pushy republican poll watchers (fluffers) equipped with wireless blackberry PDAs to record the votes- better than any exit poll ( I witnessed this first-hand in Milwaukee), and by Kenny Blackwell, the Florida Justice overseeing "Fair and Balanced" erection results, who had no conflict of incest in being co-chair of the Resident Bush campaign in Florida. The two brothers, both Bush Pionographers, who swore to deliver Ohio to Bush four years ago. The brothers who own Diebold and ES&S, the vote machine companies who sold Pimped-neocon-legislators to use non-verifiable voter booths because of the profilactic Powers of incorruptibility! Who needs a paper trail when we have a Secure Intercestnet Connection? ...... ball blah blah!

Yes it is good to get this out of our system... But more importantly, it is good to realize that the silver-lining that surrounds this black cloud-like next term of office - affectionately referred to as Resident Evil 2 - is that he did win. - and now (p)Resident Bush (the p is silent like the t in tsunami) -Resident Bush, who is a tenant in the White House -far worse than the one Michael Keaton played in the 1990 movie Pacific Heights ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100318/ ) has plans to infest- like rodents (er ROVEnts)- to every level of infrastructure in our society. These vermin need to be irradiated- or at least held in-check, no differently than the Orkin man would tackle that Pacific Heights home after Keaton was exterminated.

But we are human beings, not rodents (though I can see the confusion with the likes of Rove, Rumsfeld, and Rice). We are supposed to represent the pinnacle of evolution of our species on this planet. But I have to tell you, my Bees seem much more evolved than the majority or our voting constituency these days. Anyhow, we are human beings and we (despite the actions of Resident Bush and his Rove Pack) should take the high road of proper conduct in the face of adversity.

But this road is not a single-track trail with little room to pass... no, if we are going to outrun the masses who seem content to passionately pacify themselves on a steady diet of FOXTV, White House press briefs and Nascar races... a mass who is content to coddle themselves in the warm embrace of Jesus Christ our risen Savior and Lord- as told through his most prolific pastor Rev Jerry Falwell... contented by repeated rhetoric that after a measured number of views-becomes truth... then we need to work that trail, beat that path, and learn from our ROVEnt adversaries, how to lull the Pied Piper and his passionate pacified to sleep as they have done... in this last Erection.

One of the most powerful tools the ROVEnts and the Resident used in the last Erection was their Lexicon... their choice and use of words- and ideas. They effectively secured the words Patriot, Morality, Conservative, Commandment, Religious, Faithful, Leadership, Responsible, Righteous, Terror, and Evil... to their advantage. They distorted the factual definitions to their own actual definitions through a unified campaign of repetition and reenforcement and resolve.

It is now time for us to use the same technique to regain the true definitions... and regain the passionate pacified fold that was so easily led astray by the Resident and his ROVEnt Pied Pipers...

MoveOn is has returned from the holiday recess and is beginning its legislative wake-up campaign with a call to email your congressmen to tell them to resist the actions of the Resident and his ROVEnt administration.

Thursday, our nation's legislative leaders begin what is sure to be a difficult up-hill battle to help negate the effects of our power-abusive Resident Bush. Alberto Gonzales, the Calico Cat of Conservatism is up for nomination to replace John Ashcroft as Attorney General. Please speak out to your congressmen... empower them with your encouragement, pump them up to begin the resistance... for it is they who are the first line of resistance.... and we are the supply chain that helps keep them strong while in harm's way.

Also I encourage you to keep engaging in discussion and deliberation about these and all the other issues that will certainly be shafted to us by this administration during its 2nd term. I offer that it is best to not engage in sharp confrontation- though like my prior cantor- is fun... it is not very effective in swaying passionate pacifist opinion. Like meditation, you don't sit down one time and after five minutes- become a yogi master or bodhisattva... it takes repetition, rehearsal, refinement. So too your discussion will become more eloquent, more refined, and more effective... the more you practice it.

Education... make yourself a student of the issues... friend of the facts... learn through books, papers, web-quests and videos. Listen and learn... empower your discussion with knowledge and passion. Stay tuned... we've got work to do... and we're gonna get organized, enlightened and empowered together to begin to make changes - at home, locally and abroad. Everyone has something to offer... Everyone has a role to play. I'll be sending out opportunities to gather at my place and at others' to watch videos and discuss... to meet and plan actions, to come together for strength.... and to further our MoveOn ties.

I've attached my personalized portion of the Moveon petition below... take what you need, enjoy it, use it, repeat it... lets start to get on the same page with our lexicon... lets retake those words and teach the passionate pacified the correct definition of those words... and the correct way to honor our country. It's not really their fault that they can't see the truth... they've been played by the King of ROVEnts... the pied piper Karl Rove... lets take this technique and push it right back at his twisted sick criminal mind. Show him he has actually helped us... by awakening our sense of Patriotism... or Morality, of Chivalry, of Responsibility, of Leadership... and true Righteousness.

Lets Revisit the Ten Commandments

Do you know the ten commandments?
Its amazing to think folks actually post them to DEFEND the use of religion in government.... but if they'd read the words rather than just beating their breasts with the tablets... they might find themselves closer to understanding what the true values our nation was founded upon... and maybe rethink their loyalty.

I applaud the conviction and do not question the motives or passion of those who cry out the Commandments for justification... I just don't understand the logic they employ to make their conclusions and choose their allegiance.... They are unknowing victims of a deliberate plot to capture their old-time sense of values for the misguided needs a few, drunk on power who've become corrupt by it's intoxicating allure.


So lets quickly review those Ten Commandments that Republican Neo-Conservatives hold so dear to their core value.

1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Aside from actual idol worship... what have we americans done with this commandment? We worship the vanities as though they were god-like... don't we? Beauty, fame, wealth, status, desire and possessions... hell even our tv shows are all about idols and our satisfying our desires. As for Bush... he serves a God greater than the lord.... that's why he used the Lord's own commandments to buy the christian vote.... that's sick.

2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Kinda screwed here too. no mercy and love from god cuz we're not observing all his commandments- so what's the point ? And I don't know about you.... but the way we honored the death of Ronald Reagan surely bordered on idol-worship...


3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

I'm guilty of this one- every time I'm in rush hour traffic and some a-hole in an SUV with a Bush sticker cuts me off. Ol GW doesn't take the name in vain, no- he uses the lord's name as a means to win an election, wage war on other nations, and strike fear and respect in the hearts of his own nations people... no there's no vanity in that is there?


4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

oops, messed up on this one too. No delivery of the sunday paper... heck, no making of the Monday paper too! No TV, no football, no golf, no bars open... just quiet time at home- oh the horror! might actually spend time getting to know our family! And groceries? better have all the fixins in advance, cuz no quick trip to the store for butter.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Sure, we are all good with this one right? Isn't defiance an act of adulthood? And look at George W himself- defying his father's instructions not to invade Iraq- as written in Bush41's book.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

This ones a real tuff one- don't kill eggs in a woman's fallopian tube cuz they could possibly become a baby one day... but kill prisoners, detainees, political figures who don't agree with your party, civilians who accidentally were born in countries that you want resources from... insignificant peasants who can be exploited to make merchandise for our society- who die from mistreatment, poor living conditions and/or excessive demands on their productivity. Hmm, how bout giving arms and ammuntion to others that they might be better at killing our enemy... see- then we're just accomplises, not the actual perpetrator. Lets see, kill a three-time offender for petty crimes while letting a corporate leader off with hundreds of offenses-(lets call them counts, sounds much friendlier) offenses of knowingly and deliberately perpetrating wrongdoings resulting in the bilking of tens of millions of family's pensions and stock retirements... or corporations who deliberately proceed with known harmful products because their figures show the cost of settling with the few unfortunate victims, will be far less than the profits yielded by continuation of the product.... surely God would understand that!


7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Lets see, more than half the marriages in America in the last 30 years have resulted in divorce... and the most watched show on television is desperate housewives... hmmm..... nothing wrong here eh ?


8. Thou shall not steal.

Gee God didn't mean other nation's resources, or our social security, or an election or two.... he didn't mean steal our nation's wildlife and nature preserves by contaminating them with business ventures that exploit. He couldn't have meant stealing our money like the response in the 6th commandment.... he certainly wasn't referring to stealing from the coffers of government entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid... not stealing money through the junk bond fiasco of the former pres bush.... he didn't mean steal our trust with false witness or deception.... he was just referring to taking candy at a drug store... or those bad inner-city people who steal stuff from us rich white folk... to pay for their addictions... heck- do you think God doesn't know that through our marketing and legislating, we are stealing a future from our struggling lower and now middle class? Na nothing wrong here.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Oops- another tuff one to deal with.... or maybe not eh? No, God didn't mean it was bad for the Bush administration to lie to all of America about the need for war with Iraq, of the confirmed knowledge of the location and quantities of WMDs.... naw, its not lying to tell america you are not going to advocate "nation-building" as Geo W said repeatedly in his first term of office.... heck even I believed him and gave him my vote in 2000.... but heck he didn't mean to lie.... "it just worked out that way.... honestly"... Just like the miscalculation on mistreatment of prisoners... not a lie, just didn't have all the facts yet.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Yeah this one's a real pickle eh, God obviously wasn't referring to a nations resources.... or on a smaller scale a person's rights and entitlements... God wasn't referring to our penchant for taking advantage of others less fortunate than ourselves... raiding their stocks... coveting their desire for health by allowing drug companies to charge outrageous prices for products they manufacture- then creating a demand through advertising with false claims (refer to commandments 9, 8, and 6- and 4 regarding advertising on the sabbath).


So yeah, you're right... i don't know what all the fuss is about the ten commandments. We obviously are a nation who holds God in great trust... a nation who leads by example... and shows all other nations the truth that freedom brings... and that's why every nation on earth is begging to become free- just like Americo®....er America! I'm glad the Ten Commandments are on the actual Door to the Supreme Court... and written above their heads so our justices can clearly see how many of the Lord's laws they treat with the same respect and piety they use with our laws. Thank you for helping me to reaffirm my faith in this county and all we stand for..... NOT!

wake up my friends...

These are thinly veiled ploys to gain the respect and vote of true God-Fearing, God-Loving folks like you and me! It's time we stand up for what is true... stop listening to their rhetoric and commandment-breaking. And yes it is both sides of the aisle... Dems and Reps... but to tell you the honest truth, I'd rather have a President who breaks the 7th and 10th commandments than one that only seems to respect the 7th! Either way- we're not in good shape according to God or our Constitution.

Merry Consumerism Day!

Happy holidays to all my friends... on both sides of the aisle.

Thank God we passed that assault weapons bill in time for the holidays. It's hard enough to shoot one deer, let alone eight and that fat liberal, Santa. Hopefully we’ll get that concealed weapon amendment through so we don’t have to lug these heavy rifles around come Easter and St Patty’s day.












Glad we were able to put a stop to this foolish myth in time. Christmas is about consumer spending... er and Jesus Christ... Our Lord and Savior... Defender of our troops- watching over our fair and balanced-and just war, against terror -wherever we may take it. Thankfully someone brought an end to this silly ritual. This fat guy in red, telling us who's been naughty and nice... When we all know that's Donald Rumsfeld's job! Ah yes, now we can safely run out and charge our hard-earned money knowing our future is safe because social security is being transformed to allow us to take a "stake" in our future... and we all know how good we Americans are at saving and investing.

Thank God the gifts we are told we need to purchase to show we really love our family and friends- are made by multi-national corporations who are able to bring us such affordable prices- Helping us to spend even more- and thereby benefitting all those fabulous workers at home and abroad who've labored long and hard-and taken so little... that our christmas tree might show a great bounty beneath it... helping to ease any uncertainty and doubt about our leadership.

And thank God with the death of this Santa fellow, those poor small people in the north pole, can now be free from Santa's tyranny and unjust labor sanctions- We can now take the North Pole off our terrorist-threat nation status- allowing us to focus on Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.

And thank you Congress for clearing the anti-monopoly laws away for Wal-Mart to acquire the entire North Pole toy factory-making them the largest toy distributer in the world... and insuring fair and just treatment of the little elf people.

















-- At least until their jobs can be exported to the Chinese Wal-Mart Division... Giving us even better prices next Christmas!


And not to fear, the fat man’s sleigh will no longer terrorize rooftops and radar screens. Your nation’s leaders will carry presents along with it’s suspects and citizens who are extraordiniarily-renditioned to and from far away lands.



















Those large cargo planes will now have their flight logs altered to say carrying “presents”... Because to those “good” jailers in Egypt, Morrocco, Jordan, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia... the terror suspects are actually “gifts” from America’s CIA.... thereby allowing our leaders to continue to “not lie” when asked by journalists about transporting prisoners... they’re “gifts”!


















(special thanks to Karl Rove for coming up with that spin!)



















God Bless Us - One in Oil ...er One and All!





With Santa gone,
Its up to us. Dare-
to be different.
ReThink the season.

Defending the Right's Right to be Wrong.

Not sure where you get your "facts"... much is right, the rest are "right".

I sort of understand where you are coming from... your views have been galvanized years ago, through much truth and reason. I'm not sure i can say the same for today... in fact much of what you stand for is precisely what I stand for... with a few exceptions... but what gets me, is that what you "say" you stand for and what you actually support... are often in stark contrast... were it not for some clever semantics and marketing on the part of your neo-conservative leadership. I really don't understand how this came to be.

I also don't understand the propensity for violence that seems to run deep in your and the others you forwards' comments. I don't think anyone- myself included is thinking of slitting our throats... that is just silly and juvenile. But why the hostility? What's with the macho, muscle-flexing, bar-fight mentality? We are after all a civil nation... We have the ability, for now, to agree and disagree.... and according to the Constitution, we are supposed to be free to do that.

Because I choose to question authority... not tow the line, I'm unpatriotic? You better rethink your own geographic location. There are other countries better suited for ignorance and closed-minded acceptance of what is being fed you from your "friends" in the government. Me, I choose to research what is really written in the "kinder, gentler" laws this administration has shafted... er drafted.

I think it is treason to deliberately mislead a nation for something other than it's own best interest. I think it is larson to manipulate laws to help immunize corporations from governance and jurisdiction. I think it is deplorable to manipulate public opinion to support unjust actions against anyone... another country, a person or a corporation. I think it is vile that a man in our nation's highest office deliberately withholds information that brings light to his actions... for if he truly was without sin or error... would not his record exonerate?

So what do we REALLY know... the "islamic terrorists" you are so scared of - represent a miniscule fraction of the people we are terrorizing- in the name of freedom-... just as the number of pedophile priests in the catholic church do not represent the entire roman catholic religion... but to you... anyone wearing a cross, or attending mass on sunday... is the enemy. That does not make sense.

Many AlQieda members and other extremists are evil and need to be brought to justice... but killing 100's of thousands of innocent iraqi, Afghani, islamic and muslim people might make you feel good- but it is wrong, and evil- and the world knows it... but through our twisted information dissemination system here, good people like you are led to believe the contrary. Yes, 40 yrs. ago the media went into vietnam and showed the truth about war. Today, the embedded journalists are not free to report anything-duh. You think the military minds who watched and learned from vietnam would actually let that happen again? We have a "reality TV show called "kill the towel-heads" being played out before us.... and now that the war isn't going so well... the nightly news is not covering is nearly as much... only what they have to show - like the successful suicide attacks that are killing Iraqi citizens... and our brave soldiers... in harm's way.

But why are they in harm's way? You know the answer? Cuz Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, the sanctions were working to keep Saddam in check, and the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan were - for the most part, not interested in the US... just in their day-to-day existence. That is until some corporations began having trouble exploiting the resources from those nations... began to have trouble with Taliban leaders who rose to power in a turmoil that was created when America and Russia began to use people... mid-eastern people, as pawns to their power struggle. We supplied weapons and information to the Afghanis to help them win against the Soviet Union... then we abandoned them to starvation, civil unrest and the hardships of the aftermath of a 25yr war... from the chaos arose an extremist faction who's religious underpinnings helped to give hope to a broken people. (kinda like the right-wing religous folks helped GW regain his post) Meanwhile US corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel .... were trying to create a massive natural gas pipeline across afghanistan... when the radical Taliban leadership booted them from their country because they refused to agree to a fair and equitable price for removing Afghanistan's natural resources. Now with new "freely-elected" leadership, Halliburton is once again in full production. But alas... a pipeline is very hard to defend... and easy to sabotage... so we have to remove the threat to preserve our (US corporations who make huge profits) "right" to their resources... so we decide its better to kill off lots of folks... in the hopes of getting a few "terrorists".... but we can't have the silly press reporting this... and incorrectly presenting "our" side of the story... so we'll embed them and monitor their access to information-and truth. No nothing wrong with that right?

And then to give lip-service to some rhetoric that we need to preserve the institute of marriage... an institution that is so flawed and worthless as now more than half of American marriages in the past 30 years have ended in divorce... oh yeah, don't let some queer people who truly love each other join in a recognized union... far better to promote false affection, spousal abuse, disrupted family units and deadbeat dads.... that make alot of sense.

Oh and don't get me started on abortion.... we can perform late-term abortions on adult human beings - our men and women in uniform-and the innocent civilians.... in the name of war. But don't let a woman decide what is right for her own life. We can have insurance subsidize penis stiffening drugs to encourage procreation... no actually to promote fornication.... but let's not allow the sale or subsidy of birth control pills!!! so now its even a sin to think about having sex if your a woman... but atta boy get your lil willie all stiff and happy for the good-ole boys???? Come-on.... you buy into this too????

Patriot Act.... 971 pages... printed on a sunday night to be given out monday morning before a holiday recess that began the following day.... forced to make a vote before the recess. Sure Dave.... nothing wrong with that. Have you bothered to read it since you are so quick to defend it? I have read portions of it that are reprehensible... and I'm up-in-arms... so who's the one being led?

Do you think all these laws about Clear Sky, and Leave No Child and Homeland Security are actually about what they are named? Now we're gonna give freedom to all the immigrant workers...who do jobs we Americans won't do.... did he actually say that??? won't do... or we refuse to pay anyone enough to live on it... but an undocumented immigrant who doesn't pay tax on the paultry wage can fare better than the poverty of his/her home country... so what did he accomplish with that "great" idea.... now our southern borders are worse than ever with aliens hoping to become citizens, because they'll work at mcdonalds... oh AND we can begin to tax these new citizens. Who cares that the cost of border security has risen and the ability to defend against transgression hasn't. Another great Idea from that Great Republican Team?

Oh and then lets tackle senseless arbitration... we can't have people suing corporations, doctors, or insurance companies without cause! Which I agree- but watch how they word it.... its gonna be much better to be a big corporation when their version gets passed. Not good if you really are hurt by a really bad situation... oh- but thats okay isn't it?

And next on the plate Social Security... sure- it used to be illegal to rob from the coffers of Social Security... however the Republicans have been doing it..."leveraging the principal" since 2000... what a great idea... give the money to the people and allow them to spend it through regulated channels... to invest in their future! Of course there will have to be fees and service charges for the private companies who will be required to handle such an undertaking.... and gee, if the money isn't invested wisely, it may not pay off with the rosey figures this administration has estimated (and we all know how good this administration is about figures??? WMDs?, Iraqi support for our troops? economic recovery?)- so lets believe them that they got these figures right too! After all its just our future- or rather MY future... because the law is cleverly written to make it very clear that the aging population that you are a member of Dave, is clearly not effected - for your vote.

Can you see what a joke it is you are really defending?

And about the ballots.... nice you read up on milwaukee's process... nice that your info blog capitalizes on trinkets of truth that you can expound on to me.... but truth be told... the extra ballots were requested to insure that all voters had a chance to participate in the political process... and the extra ballots insured there would be enough on-hand if requested by people... we had thousands who voted in advance- I was one. I also was one who stood at the polls and watched as the republican poll watchers pushed the ethical limits of privacy as far as they could... I helped to have one belligerent well-dressed republican insurgent removed from one of my precincts for failure to follow rules and causing a scene. But I'll bet that didn't make your "information site" did it? And Wisconsin, as it turns out, wasn't the linchpin to decide the election- Ohio was... and there, the tactics were much worse...and documented. But you won't see that on your news either would you?

Ohio Sec of State Ken Blackwell- head of the re-elect Bush campaign... presides over the vote tally in Ohio.... can you say conflict of interest? Blackwell has all but locked down the the poll registers to stop citizens from revieing the votes... Exit Polls showed stark contradictions to what the "machines" had tallied.... in the Ukrane, exit polls helped to reveal corruption.... here in America- it was just a mistake.... but in Ohio the two companies who supplied vote machines... both staunch Bush supporters... with the help of Blackwell and other RNC legislators in ohio... pushed to have voter machines with no paper trail... no way to validate the vote.... Diebold and ES&S are the largest suppliers of ATM and video Slot machines... both of which have fully operational paper validation systems in place- and arguably both of which have settled many a dispute on folks bank statements and jackpot winnings.... But you're probably right... no tampering could have happened in Ohio. There as little at stake there... not as much as someone getting an incorrect balance on their bank statement! It was just the presidency of the United States at stake- no big deal- right?

You see, its not that I'm anti-American- though its easy for someone to make you think that- I'm anti-corruption of America... and ya know, I think, under all your passionate posturing and rhetoric, you are too. I think you have become an innocent bystander in this intense information society we have developed. You are honest and righteous, I believe you mean well in your intentions and are forceful in your need to stand by your beliefs. And I applaud you for all that.

I'm just sorry so many have been caught up in the deception and corruption dynamic that our society has evolved into. Through little fault of their own, the players at the table of power have manipulated them into thinking you are rightly defending freedom and justice, when in actuality, you are helping them to mislead, disenfranchise and render you unable to regain the powers necessary to harness their all- consuming need for power, control and money.... least of all money... because whoever has the power, controls the money.... even if they give it to us to "control" our destiny- like with Social Security. Its all advertising and marketing. Say one thing, and do another... package it with what they think you want to hear... and do what they want... and trust you won't have time or interest to scrutinize.

Oh and last year I transferred interest of my puter company to my partner and walked away from the business... and the government doesn't support folks who owned a company that don't profit from the transfer of ownership... so I couldn't even get unemployment... not a nickel of government help. I am making ends meet through my own means. I'm living a modest lifestyle and finding new meaning to the difference between "wants" and "needs"... and you know.... I've never felt better!

Walking away from the power-business world was the most difficult thing to do.... but it is so gratifying to know that i no longer help advertising agencies manipulate folks like you into promoting what they want- and actually making you think it was your idea.

But in the end, we all have to live with one another... and its okay that you think one way and I another.... and its my responsibility to try to make a difference... you've been through hard times... deceived by a woman and taken advantage of... I'm just looking out for you.... don't like to see that happen to anyone... especially from their own government.

Its not hate that I'm espousing, its love. Love for my country and what it truly stands for. Love for what freedom and democracy really represent, love for our republic and a true free-market economy- not ruled by multi-national corporations who's power extends beyond any nation's laws or jurisdiction. A country who proudly demonstrates what is good and right in the world.

happy new year

Charlie Koenen
American

MoveOn reCaps

One could argue that a big reason we missed seeing the outcome of this election was that people in general do not allow for another perspective to what we think is self-evident. I’ve heard and read a hundred times that the Democratic Party doesn’t stand up to anything. For many in America, Bush stood up for something. He was bold enough to make a stand and even if it was a horrible stand they still gave him their vote. This says something about what many people want, and more, of what we haven defined yet. I think the time is right to define our values, define our positions, and define our truths. But the challenge is to realize that all our values, truths and positions- even when speaking about something as simple as a glass of water, are different.

But if we were to find a forum to begin to share our opinions on truth, value and position, we would begin to understand each other’s perspectives better, and could begin to form a consensus that we all could embrace. Education is the missing component in our puzzle today. Educating ourselves to another’s perspective. If we can learn more from each other about how similar we really are, and realize we’re all coming from different angles we all can learn to understand what our truths, values and positions really are–without the distortion of our own perspective. Then we can begin come together, with insight and common ground. Only our common ground would be based in education and inclusion, not fanaticism and religious exclusion. This is how we will defeat the Conservative Social Groups who are on a crusade with Bush at the helm. They are excluding everyone but their flock–no nation, no religion, no faith, no loyalty, no political party, no geographic or social position, no thought but their own. This is how we can become stronger than their faith–by inclusion, education, and understanding. And in the process- we can even include them and their perspective-for one could argue that once they realize that this administration has its own agenda too- they will become disenfranchised too

But where is there a forum big enough for everyone to fit? Big enough for everyone to be heard?
One place is MoveOn’s greatest asset, the website and information infrastructure connected to a network of members across the nation. Using their motivated volunteers, we help organize a grassroot consensus generation/education network through regular house parties linked by MoveOn’s website– like what we have this Sunday. The purpose of these parties could be to get people across the nation to focus a question– to begin thinking, discussing, and learning about each other from each person’s answer to the question. The cool thing is that people in homes all over the nation, would be asking the same questions at the same time. If ever there was a chance for a greater goodness to intervene, it would be now.

Members would host parties at homes across the nation with broadband internet connections. A Facilitator would be chosen ahead of time, and there could be different ones each meeting. The Facilitator’s role would be to focus the group, and stimulate discussion. The group tunes to the MoveOn site at a prescribed time to link up, nationwide. They logon to a page on the MoveOn site, where at each meeting, an exercise/lesson is accessed (like a book club and the book they choose each meeting.) The lesson centers on a Circle Question – like a discussion point. Along with the Circle Question is a host of supporting information. A variety of content pertinent to the question- additional questions, discussion points, links to other websites, graphs, video and links to books or movies–all supporting the Circle Question. MoveOn will stream some live content- a speaker will begin discussion of the question then your group will briefly discuss the question and review the links and media sources. Then you break the meeting and everyone goes home and spends time researching and responding to the question themselves. Until the next MoveOn house party. Meanwhile, everyone posts their response to the Question on a MoveOn discussion board and answers some multiple-choice questions. Everyone can access the forum to read each others views. Then at the next MoveOn house party, your group gets together and one-by-one, read each other’s response to the Circle Question. Discussion inevitably begins as everyone begins to see on another’s perspective. Consensus begins to form as perspectives broaden and overlap. The result is a new combined answer to the Circle Question that gets sent back to MoveOn’s forum and through an online questionnaire. You get to see and hear from others across the nation in realtime through a MoveOn livelink map webpage just like you’ll see Sunday. Finally, at the close of the meeting, MoveOn presents the next Circle Question and links page for the next meeting.

Over time, we begin to learn perspective, truth, and value from one-and-other. More house parties join as consensus builds. Eventually we begin to purposefully invite others of different opinion to the party to better understand and include them.

Now- better informed, and better connected we begin to form what we as a people need to have America become
along the way we begin to learn to sacrifice as we try to understand everyone’s perspectives
we also begin to see how everyone has to sacrifice at some point in some discussion

so we feel less “put upon” or singled out for having to give up one thing to help the whole.

Consensus is worthless without perspective, and perspective is nothing without relating it to each other.
True consensus will form enlightenment and enlightenment will show the path to a greater future.


So this meeting on Sunday is about discussing the future for MoveOn. If what I’ve illustrated above makes sense to you too, then lets enlighten them to the path of true consensus through the Circle Question/Discussion Group Consensus Model, and use their asset to help us unite and define our future.

Let me know what you think of this idea? There are details to flesh out, but the framework is there and seems feasible. Please take some time to flesh out your own ideas, or spin off from mine and lets give MoveOn a mandate to focus on at Sunday’s Meeting.

Thank you

Stay Tuned...

Okay Friends...

We're coming together... the clouds of confusion are clearing and the emotions are settling.
Our Election 9/11 tragedy has given s new found redemption and purpose.

Here is a draft of just one of the things that have been distilling in my consciousness recently.

I've spoken to most of you recently of an idea I have to bring about a change.
I'm working with some ideas for a vehicle and a gestalt to bring us together...
and hope you will all play an active role in it's germination, and fruition.

My thoughts stem from to directives- intellectual and emotional... both need healing.
I feel it is important for us to begin to differentiate these sources as we form a foundation for a dialog.

Emotional directives can have caustic implications... a silly picture of a leader, a telling joke... but in the end,
they serve to charge the recipient... I hope we begin to look beyond the use of these items... and find a way to
channel our emotions towards a greater good... anyone can make a funny picture of Bush, or catch him in a foible...
lets begin to move from that base and find a common ground to build a positive emotion...
one to truly effect change here at home.

This piece I've encluded serves the emotional directive through intellect...
Soon I'll have an intellectual directive to offer you.
It is in the works and really exciting...
I hope it will serve as a base for each of us to build upon.
All our voices are important- I'm simply channeling what is necessary through me,
and offering it up to you all.


First thing I want to say though- is to urge you to forgive... Forgive yourself, Forgive your neighbor,
Forgive your fellow citizens. I didn't say forget... just make peace.

We have an opportunity to make real gains from this... We must learn the lesson- humility is the first step to understanding our differences, and finding common ground.

Humility does not mean to lay prostrate on the ground...
it means to accept the news and reflect, and renew

More is coming...
Stay tuned.

Marriage, a sacred institution

Over the past year, a furious opposition to gay marriage has been voiced by many who claim to know how God feels about this issue. President Bush even went so far as to propose an amendment to the Constitution to make same-sex marriage a federal offense. According to recent polls, a majority of Americans believe that marriage should remain a union that is strictly between a man and a woman. We hear that same-sex unions would threaten and undermine holy matrimony, although not a single concrete example of how that would happen has been offered. Gay marriage is legal in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ontario, Canada, and thus far it has neither impaired traditional marriage nor subverted civil society in those places.

Putting gay marriage aside, what do we have to say about heterosexual marriage. In all the recent controversy, no one seems to have noticed how heterosexuals have devalued and defiled the sanctity of this purportedly God-given institution. Consider the following:

For millennia, straight-sex marriage consisted of a bond not between a man and a woman but between a man and any number of women. Polygamy is a recognized practice in the Holy Bible itself. King Solomon had 700 wives (not to mention 300 concubines) yet suffered not the mildest rebuke from either God or man. Other estimable figures in Scripture and throughout history have had large retinues of wives. Women in these kinds of overpopulated unions have been treated as little better than concubines, usually facing a dismal existence of enforced confinement.

Marriage has historically been more closely linked to property than to love, and the property arrangements tended to benefit the male spouse. For generations in the United States and other western countries a married woman usually could not even own property. She had to forfeit all her family inheritance to her husband, thereby being reduced to an appendage of the paterfamilias. And rarely could a married woman pursue an advanced education or professional career.

These days, arraigned marriages are relatively rare in the United States except on Reality TV, where young and attractive women-—selected by television producers---openly vie for the opportunity to marry a millionaire whom they have never before met. They put themselves on display, usually a dozen at a time, while some wealthy hunk takes torturous weeks to eliminate all but one. Then he and his final selection are married on screen before millions of viewers. Here surely is a heartwarming benediction of a sacred institution.

In the United States today, heterosexual wedlock is not a particularly uplifting or even safe institution for millions of women. Consider some statistics: An estimated two million females are repeatedly battered. Most of these victims are married to their attackers. Domestic violence is the single largest cause of injury and second largest cause of death to U.S. women. An uncounted number of wives are raped by abusive husbands. Every year, upwards of a million women seek medical treatment for serious domestic abuse injuries. Almost three million children reportedly are subjected to serious neglect or physical or sexual abuse. Each year tens of thousands of kids run away from home to escape mistreatment.

There is the additional problem of abandonment. Millions of spouses---including many white middle-class professionals---desert their families and fail to provide sustenance for their own children. Often they do not even acknowledge or stay in contact with their offspring. If heterosexual matrimony is so sacred, you would think it might produce less horrific results.

Speaking of results, the phenomenon of divorce comes to mind. To be sure, millions of heterosexual couples find lifelong happiness in marriage; still, the most predictable outcome of straight marriage is divorce: 51 percent to be exact. That is an extraordinary statistic not matched by too many others. If we said there was a 51 percent murder rate or suicide rate or student drop-out rate, a 51 percent vehicular accident rate, a 51 percent rate for alcoholism or deaths from drug abuse, this would be great cause for alarm. In fact, society would probably be uninhabitable with such rates. Perhaps, then, marriage is not all that important. Fifty-one percent of all marriages fall apart, yet society has not fallen apart. If anything, in the more abusive households, divorce is actually a blessing.

Nor do the more traditional marriages that take place in conservative circles show any greater rate of happiness or survival than those that deviate from the conventional norm. The man may be the head of the household and the primary breadwinner, and the wife may be the dutiful homemaker, and the entire family may pray together---but they do not stay together at any greater rate than the more secular unions. A 2001 study found that born-again Christians are just as likely to get divorced as non-born-again adults and other less confirmed believers, with 90 percent of these divorces happening "after they accepted Christ, not before." So those who claim that marriage is best fortified by religion have yet to prove their case.

Of course, fundamentalist keepers of the public morals do bemoan the high divorce rate, but they don’t get exercised about it the way they do about gay wedlock. The point is, if millions of heterosexual divorces every year have not hopelessly denigrated the institution of marriage, why would some thousands of same-sex marriages do so? If straights like reactionary radio commentator and drug-head Rush Limbaugh can get married again and again without undermining the institution, what is so threatening about a gay union? Does Limbaugh feel that gay marriage makes a mockery of all three of his past marriages---and his pending fourth? If anything, happy gays wanting to get into the institution might help make up for all those unhappy straights wanting to get out.

If same-sex unions do violate church teachings, then the church (or synagogue or mosque) should refuse to perform gay marriages, and most do refuse. The gays I saw getting married in San Francisco’s City Hall were engaged in civil marriages, with no clergy presiding over the ceremonies. And what I saw opened my heart. Here were people, many in longstanding relationships, who were experiencing their humanity, happy at last to have a right to marry the one they loved, happy at last to exercise their full citizenship and be treated as persons equal under the law.

To sum up, here are some of the things that straight-sex marriage has wrought through the ages: polygamy, child-brides, loveless arrangements, trafficked women, bartered wives, battered wives, raped wives, sexual slavery, child abuse and abandonment, racist miscegenation laws, and astronomical divorce rates. If gays are unqualified for marriage, what can we say about straights? If George Bush and his homophobic worshippers really want to defend the institution of marriage, they can begin by taking an honest look at the ugly situations within so many heterosexual unions in this country and throughout the world.

This was written by Michael Parenti. His most recent books are The Assassination of Julius Caesar (New Press) and Superpatriotism (City Lights). He’s been married and divorced only twice.

Thanks for reading this.
No, I'm not coming out– I'm speaking up.
I feel it is deplorable that our "great uniter" president has stooped to such a low level as to divide the nation–even families by choosing Gay Marriage and Abortion as planks in his platform. Before we all go vote on November 2, lets really understand the issues.

charlie

Invade for Oil?—Invade for BEER!

Speaking of Brewers.... I'm kinda fond of German Beer. This administration, by their actions, is justifying a policy of "If you see something you want... just take it."

So I'm all for invading Germany and overthrowing that beer-hording nation's supply of Weiss Beer. There is overwhelming evidence of a growing danger that more Weiss beer may be going to satisfy their own people than we, the deserving American Consumers are being allocated. There are several internal sources who feel there reason to launch a preemptive strike on their population centers to vanquish their weiss-leeching loyalist insurgency . We must take the campaign through the population centers on into the forests and hillsides to rout out the covert storage tanks hidden in rathskellers through out the countryside.

Special agents embedded in beer gardens throughout Germany have given undeniable evidence of stockpiles of WMDs (Weisses of Mass Drunkification). Our Administration has been working round the clock to garner world support. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Fleisher and Coldi Rice have been sponsoring 'Toga Parties' and Beer Bashes around the globe in hopes of gaining allies in their efforts to crush the German threat of Weiss Hoarding.

The President has appointed ANHEUSER-BUSCH to head up of the bureau of stockpile management for Weiss beer. Their expertise in rice-beer production makes them a cinch for understanding the complex carbonation and refridgeration requirements necessary for the safe transferrence of the stockpiles to our shores. Additionally the President liked the fact that his name is the same as the contractor. Once the threat level dimnishes there will be a fair assessment of other companies capable of handling the job.

An A-B spokesperson said they hope to not only liberate the Weiss stockpiles, but also successfully procure substancial volumes of ales, lagers, stouts, and pilsners. By helping the german people raise their production quotas for America to
6 million barrels per day, we feel the infrastructure will be sufficient to support the yield.

Opponents to the Bush Weiss offensive elude to the fact that once beer is liberated, there is a danger that other commodities to become targets of the Bush Machine. The French are worried about baguettes, wine and cheese; Belgians, their Chocolates; Portuguese, their Port.

The Bush Administration is actively seeking 'contractors' to help consume vast commodities of Weiss beer both in Germany and domestically. Applicants may submit a one-time fee of $75 US to the RNC to receive details of how to participate in the Drunkification. "We must take the Battle to the Enemy" said President Bush of the need for the nation to take to the streets- visit the pubs, and drink the beer... we need to show support for our National Effort.

Response to the military idealog

Its not wrong to formulate views based on experience... we are all the sum of our experiences.. but with alittle bit of wisdom to discern how our experiences came to be. Look at the 'glasses' you were wearing as you made your observations. Being in the military puts you directly into the experiment- so to speak.

Your views were not unlike those of some folks I viewed one vacation trip a few years back.... I was in considerably better shape than today... in fact daily exercise (a mile in the lap pool in the morning, 3 mile run after work and jumping on my road bike to knock out a run up to virmond park) put me into triathlon shape... believe it or not. Well... I went on this barefoot island cruise with a bunch of strangers... and a girl i was seeing.... anyways

One particular day we went snorkeling off the shore of a small cay near the bahamas... while in the water with flippers, I found my ability to motor around was vastly superior to most of my shipmates on the trip. Well I found myself scooting far from the vessel- against the buddy system rule- but when have I ever adhered to rules eh! But in so doing, i came across an interesting revelation, when sufficiently distanced from the ship and shipmates, I began to encounter an extraordinary amount of aquatic life. Schools of beautiful fish were assembled just beyond view of my shipmates. They were just there assembled and watching as if to be amused that all us land lubbers wobbling about in the water were some kind of circus come to their reef.

When I returned to the boat, I realized that as my shipmates began to recount the fish they'd seen... that there was a great discrepancy between their experience and mine. The difference was I went beyond the port of call...

Its one thing to travel the world... its quite another to travel the world as a soldier of a superpower. Quite different, to travel to a port of call- verses the vast expanses beyond the sphere influenced by ships that pull into port and provide leave to military men. Sure you can say you went further out than most of your peers... but I'd imagine many others of similar stock, have also ventured out as far as you. Quite a different thing to travel incognito... or unencumbered with association to any nation... then you truly experience the real sentiment of a people.

Just like the fish waiting for our boat to leave, many people act differently when put in a situation where they know the origin of a stranger...

Not to say your observations should not be integrated into that which makes you up.. your perceived genetics so to speak... Its right to base your views on what you perceive to be your reality... but just as the rest of my shipmates went on to perceive the reefs in the bahamas are not very populated with fish... the reality is that they were wearing glasses when they observed... and being part of the experiment meant they affected the outcome. I just got lucky to stumble on the observation that by breaking the rules.. I got outside the experiment. And I'm thankful for the revelation.

One other point, I don't think most foreign people hate us at all... my guess is that most people pity us for being so complacent –so ignorant of the world dynamic. They don't hate us, they don't like our corporate and governmental arrogance as it relates to our actions round the world... much like kids on the block don't like the bully... unless he's standing right there.... then you acquiesce. People want in because the essence of our republic is the closest thing to self determination on the planet... but the trouble seems to be that we masses become so lax in our free civilization, that we get numb to the manipulations by a select few. I think if you really zipped off round the world and asked... you'd find that to be closer to the sentiment than actual hatred. - well that is except in the middle east... some of the masses... not connected to any government or policy... who've been caught in the middle of our war on terrorism... might not be so kind in their view of America.

Philosophy isn't worth salt if it's not put to the test.