The consequences of distraction

Bush is on his way to the White House.
He strays off the path to go to Iraq.
Look who he meets in his distraction with Iraq.

Third Parties

In listening to the third party candidates on C-SPAN this morning, I was struck by how they all seize on one piece of the social fabric and then pull hard on it. With that many people pulling in every direction on the social fabric, pretty soon the fabric will be in tatters. In fact, the social fabric is already in tatters. Pulling on it some more is not a recipe for restoring anything in society except the need to re-weave it.

We don't need more political parties. We need more forums. We don't need more ideologies or more labels or more shouting. We need more listening and giving people room to exist in the world. Most of all, we need more empathy and less selfishness.

If I were to advocate any political party at all, it would be the Human Party.

Statement from Gen. Wesley Clark

Statement from General Wesley Clark in Response to President Bush's Remarks Today

10/27/2004 1:35:00 PM

To: National Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Mark Kitchens of Kerry-Edwards 2004, 202-464-2800

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- General Wesley Clark released the following statement today:

"Today George W. Bush made a very compelling and thoughtful argument for why he should not be reelected. In his own words, he told the American people that "...a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your Commander in Chief."

"President Bush couldn't be more right. He jumped to conclusions about any connection between Saddam Hussein and 911. He jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction. He jumped to conclusions about the mission being accomplished. He jumped to conclusions about how we had enough troops on the ground to win the peace. And because he jumped to conclusions, terrorists and insurgents in Iraq may very well have their hands on powerful explosives to attack our troops, we are stuck in Iraq without a plan to win the peace, and Americans are less safe both at home and abroad."

"By doing all these things, he broke faith with our men and women in uniform. He has let them down. George W. Bush is unfit to be our Commander in Chief."

100,000 Iraqi Dead

From the New York Times, for what its worth...

PARIS, Oct. 28 - An estimated 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq as a direct or indirect consequence of the March 2003 United States-led invasion, according to a new study by a research team at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Using what they described as the best sampling methods that could be applied under the circumstances, they found that Iraqis were 2.5 times more likely to die in the 17 months following the invasion than in the 14 months before it.

Before the invasion, the most common causes of death in Iraq were heart attacks, strokes and chronic diseases. Afterward, violent death was far ahead of all other causes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if they were dying from most of the same stuff Americans die from, doesn't that mean that Saddam WASN'T killing Iraqis in droves like he is portrayed as doing by the Bush Administration? Geez, our old people can't even get medicine to stay alive and WE want to point fingers? Give me a break!

Tax Breaks and Free Riders

It's one week before the election and the whole thing is really getting to me. So, please forgive me for this break in our regularly scheduled program but...

Look all you weenie righties, I'm sick and tired of this business with tax breaks. You ever hear the term "free rider"? Well you know what, tax breaks for multinational corporations and really rich people is just a way for them to be "free riders" on the backs of the people they won't pay a living wage to.

This is America. It's the country club of the world. Pay your dues to live here or get out.

Now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.