A collection of insightful ruminations, reflections, and rants on the events of the day (with the exception of the weekend). We'll collect a week's worth here and then archive them. Come visit each weekday to see what's pushing Barbara's buttons.

October 22, 2004

"Sen. Biden should be ashamed of his below-the-belt rhetoric and personal attacks on the president," said David Crossan, executive director of the state's Republican Party. "Challenging policies is one thing, but calling someone 'brain dead' crosses the line." Nooo it doesn't, when describing an idiot the rhetoric is more than acceptable, especially when the harmful effects of presidential policies can literally affect the health and well being of America's citizens.  If you can't stand the heat of the truth, then for God's sake get outta the kitchen!   

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The Repuglican party has rigged the upcoming election in every way possible.  Touch screen voting machines with no paper trails and the possibilities of pre-programming for a desired result.  Mainstream media and right wing pollsters have skewed the news and poll results to appear as though Bush is ahead.  Right wing pundits are creating illusions to make boy Bush look good.  And it's all fashioned to staunch any questions of a Bush win in November.  The final nail in the Democracy coffin is the trump card that can be played if all else fails---the Supreme Court is in Poppy's pocket!  Democracy is in jeporady and we need to be vigilant, we need to call them on every underhanded trick they play!  Hillary was right when she said, "IT'S A VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY" and we need to stop them now!       

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I believe most Americans are honest, truth loving, hard workers, and because of that they believe others to be the same--especially the president of the United States.  The biggest scam ever perpetrated on the American people has been the Bush administration!  They have used tactics that most people don't expect from the leaders of the free world, using psychology that takes the very thing they themselves have done and turning it around to look as though the opponent is responsible.  Lying over and over until the people believe it to be true.  Muzzling the press.  It is despicable what they've done to this country and those who are honorable.  

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FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE SHAME ON ME.  Folks, the Bush administration has done a whole lotta foolin, starting with telling the American people they won the 2000 Election!  The same litany of foolin applies--"didn't know there would be terrorist attacks, Iraq was an imminent threat, Weapons of Mass Destruction, ties between Saddam and Al Qaeda, greeted with flowers and song as liberators, we would suffer no casualties in Iraq, tax cuts for the rich would provide jobs" and on and on.  How long will some in America be willing fools?   The Bushies' noses are so long now they stretch from D.C. to Baghdad, you'd think conservative Americans would be more interested in the truth than they are in having blind faith that Bush is the Second Coming.    

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Given time, money, and scientific dedication, embryonic stem cell research can and will do everything it promises.  These are not false claims manufactured to produce false hopes. Think back in time to those who believed it unnecessary to wash hands before delivering babies and performing surgery, and the lives that have been saved because research and development proved the naysayers wrong.  Medicine and science can and will produce cures, terminal illness can be overcome given the chance.  One must begin to change one's perception. How many lives have been saved thanks to Fleming's experiments with mold that developed into Penicillin?  Embryonic stem cell research is an avenue of cure that cannot be neglected.  

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On reading "The Costs of War, A Mother's View," I find myself feeling her same dread because I have children who could be eligible for the Draft that Bush says isn't coming.  In my heart, I hope he means it---in my head, logic tells me George Bush will say anything to get elected.  His administration told us America would be greeted with flowers and song as liberators, when in reality it resulted in a quagmire because there was no plan for keeping the peace.  Logic tells me he's lying again, and my children will be subject to the draft.  Then I will really know the fear and dread mothers feel every minute that their sons and daughters are fighting a senseless war in a land where they are not welcome, thanks to George Bush.    

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The latest thorn in the Wal-Mart crown is even worse than being a Bush backer.  They have decided to ban Jon Stewart's---AMERICA (the Book).  As far as I'm concerned, book banning is but the beginning of a fascist regime.  I will take a stand here and refuse to spend another penny in a Wal-Mart anywhere as long as they think they can censor reading material in America!  Book banning is not the American way!  

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So John Ashcroft thinks "the hand of Providence" is guiding the Bush administration.  From where I sit it looks more like "the horns of the beast who carries a pitchfork" that guides this administration.  It is mind boggling that all those church going people are 100% behind a man who doesn't go to church.  I suppose, if you lie to the masses long enough they really do begin to believe it to be gospel.  

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Sometimes life's parallels paint a strange picture!  In the Middle-Eastern countries, the fanatical radical fundamentalists have used the teachings of the Koran to promote Osama in the Islamic world.  Here in the United States fanatical radical fundamentalists have used the teachings of the Bible to promote Bush in the Christian World.  Now, Bush and Osama use the same primordial combative instincts that man has used since time began to exert their prowess over the world, which by the way, has never really solved the problems of man in the long run. In this, the Twenty-first Century, shouldn't our leaders be able to find a saner solution to disagreements?

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October 21, 2004

From truthout.org: "Phillip Butler, Vietnam veteran, says: 'I was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for almost eight years. I was a career naval aviator, and I support John Kerry for President. Kerry is a leader with proven courage, integrity, intelligence, and commitment. He served with distinction in the Vietnam war. After returning home he saw how our great nation was misled by our leaders' destructive policies, resulting in a monumental national tragedy. It took great personal integrity and special courage to testify before Congress, and to face his fellow veterans, many of whom were, and still are, in denial about the truth about that war. Some former Vietnam POW's have said their treatment was affected by Kerry's testimony in the Senate in 1971. I was there, in the same cells and camps with those men. No information on John Kerry ever came to us during those years, and his actions had no effect on our treatment, or on the length of the war. John Kerry did the right thing then, as he will now. That's why I support him for President of the United States.'" SO MUCH FOR WHAT THE NOT-SO-SWIFTBOATVET TWITS HAD TO SAY ABOUT JOHN KERRY!! The truth has a way of triumphing when all is said and done.

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You don't suppose that some religious leaders are starting to realize that any association with an unbalanced fanatic may just may rub off on them?? Have they decided that it can no longer be denied that Bush may not be playing with a full deck and that perhaps, just perhaps, it might be better to ditch him before everyone thinks his lunacy belongs to them as well? Or maybe, could they be just setting the groundwork to absolve Bush's responsibility, so the blame can be laid at someone else's doorstep?

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Wonder if those Repuglicans on the Hill are going to call it "Freedom Flu Vaccine" when the French Company Aventis Pasteur supplies the United States with additional doses of Flu Vaccine??? Will we see Repuglicans pouring doses of flu vaccine provided by the French in the streets? It's time some in America wake up to the fact that we live in a global community, and we depend on our friends and allies for a myriad of reasons. The go-it-alone attitude is for yeehaws without good sense.

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Noting the Repuglican dirty tricks and perhaps criminal activity involved with voting registration, i.e. Repuglicans only need register, it makes one wonder how in the world can these same people claim to be God's Own Party?? Obviously the messages they've been getting aren't coming from the Almighty.

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One of my earliest memories from childhood has been that God only supports truth and justice, He has nothing to do with lies and cheating. Now, if there is any validity to this belief (and I believe there is), if George Bush wins the presidency on November 2, we would all know GOD had nothing to do with it! According to the Good Book, there is another entity that has been given some control over the earth and its inhabitants, better known as Beelzebub. He would be the one more likely guiding the messages Bush has been receiving.

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I am a firm believer in everyone's right to their opinion, and the right to verbalize that opinion---so here's mine. Whenever I watch the Not-so-swiftboatvets ads against John Kerry and the wives of the POW's speaking out against John Kerry's stand against the war in Vietnam, I can't help but think, you ladies have ignored the fact that he helped end the war and bring your husbands out of the hell holes where they were being tortured. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT AN UNGRATEFUL PAIR OF TWITS WHO HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR THE MAN WHO HELPED TO BRING YOUR HUSBANDS HOME!!! I am fed up with the unrighteous indignation of a slimy bunch of people who would sooner stick a knife in your back rather than look you in the face!

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October 20, 2004

It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy! Through his bumbling George Bush has promoted a real allegiance between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Osama just sat back comfortably in his cave and watched while the moron perched in the Oval Office made one mistake after the other in his war on terrorism! Obviously Osama did not "misunderestimate" George!

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Hardly a month in office and Porter Goss has shown the world how partisan a CIA director he promised not to be---he's withholding a CIA report naming names regarding 9-11 from the Congress of the United States. Who will benefit from suppressing this report until after the presidential election??? When Bush said, "He is the right man for the job," little did we know he meant the Bush right-hand man! We the public must demand release of this report.

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If Florida citizens are truly concerned about their vote, they must get rid of the current governor and put the Democrats back in charge. Otherwise the Florida vote will forever more be in question. Remember, George told the world, "My brother guaranteed me Florida." Just how do you think Jeb was able to make that kind of guarantee? Felons lists, absentee military ballots, lost votes, disenfranchising voters, that's how -- and we are about to witness a repeat of the 2000 election.

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I find it ironic that conservative bobble head pundits, Bob Novak in particular, seem overjoyed in reiterating John Kerry's positive statements regarding Mary Cheney. It sounds to me like this ultra conservative is ecstatic at being able to out Ms. Cheney at every opportunity and then blame it on John Kerry! If the Repugs were really concerned about Mary Cheney, they would just shut-up.

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What a revolting development this is. In his ignorance and without enough troops on the ground to win the peace, Bush guarded the oil fields instead of nuclear storage facilities in Iraq. George Bush is Osama bin Laden's gift that keeps on giving. Not only has Bush's Iraq created impetus to recruit more terrorists for Osama, he has given them nuclear material to make bombs that can kill us! If you thought we were safer, it will behoove you to think again. George Bush is a delusional incompetent who can't find his way out of a paper bag, or the quagmire he created in Iraq. We will pay for his mistakes.

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"REACTION FORMATION: Is a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously develops attitudes and behavior that are the opposite of unacceptable repressed desires and impluses and serve to conceal them---an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires." All goes to explain a man who would join the National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam but who supports wars where others have to fight! In his own mind he becomes the hero. And by the way, it's a symptom of mental illness.

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Considering the mess Bush has us in in Iraq, I have to say the military General suck-ups are also to blame for the needlessly lost lives of our troops. Where's all that bravery we've been told our military leaders possess? Why haven't they had the balls to demand the support our troops need??? What military code of ethics says one must bow and scrape to a delusional administration instead of protecting the troops who are dependent on them for their very survival?? Like Bush, those generals are supposed to be protecting our children but have knowingly sent them into harm's way without the proper equipment or a proper plan to succeed.

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Remember Andrea Yates? She claimed God told her to kill her children, and even though she was proven to be mentally incapacitated, she was prosecuted and sent to jail. Bush is convinced that the pre-emptive war he ordered, killing thousands of innocent people, was ordained by God. When all is said and done, George Bush should be held accountable for his crimes against humanity.

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Just what kind of example is the United States when it comes to democratic elections? How can we claim the moral high ground in the election process in Afghanistan and Iraq, when Repuglicans are allegedly throwing Democratic voter registrations in the garbage right here in America? What message does it send when the president's own brother is using a seriously flawed felon list to disenfranchise voters in Florida? How can we guarantee honest elections in other countries when the votes in our own country cannot be verified? How can our own citizens trust voting machines that are known to be faulty? If you want to tell someone else how to do it, then you better damn well KNOW how to do it yourself without question!

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I again thank Jon Stewart for having the guts to point out just how Crossfire has become theater, rather than giving the public some honest debate. CNN has become an arm of the Bush/Cheney campaign, either out of ignorance or greed. So THANK YOU JON STEWART, for putting into words what a majority of the public has been feeling for a very long time.

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October 19, 2004

It's one thing to be patriotic and quite another to be downright ignorant. America better wake up to what's obvious to everyone else in this world, as well as some of the so-called leaders in our government who are afraid to speak out: George Bush is incompetent and should never be in a position where he can put a finger on the button that would annihilate the world. Wake up people, we need someone with some sanity in the Oval Office, not some delusional, overbearing nincompoop suffering from obvious mental fragility.

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Hmm, Putin the man who has taken serious steps to become the dictator of Russia, has looked into the eyes of George Bush and seen the soul of the man who would like to become the consummate dictator of the United States! What's that old phrase, "birds of a feather"??? Seems these two really do have a lot in common!

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Another of the GOP darlings who use intimidation to obtain desired results! And if at first you don't succeed then try, try, again. And when that doesn't work, then by God just threaten the pants off of them! It's the Repuglican way of doing monkey business in George Bush's world. Ego-maniacal low life like Bill O'Reilly should be prosecuted to the fullest. I hope Andrea Mackris finds justice when she has her day in court!!!

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I wonder if those whose names have been wrongly put on Florida's Felon List have legal grounds to file a class action libel suit against Jeb Bush, the State of Florida, and the company who assisted Florida in producing this slanderous list? This would not be a "frivolous" lawsuit but would protect the integrity of a citizen's right to vote as provided by the Constitution. It's about time someone took some action against those who would use any means, including criminal activity, to thwart that right. 

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Sinclair Broadcasting requiring its 62 television stations to run a negative documentary about Senator John Kerry just before the election, and Jeb Bush sending a flawed felon voter list to county election offices in Florida after being advised to throw the list out, are just a couple of Karl Rove's October Surprises. Given the history of Rove's last-minute dirty tricks, what's next??? These guys will do anything because they are desperate after the debates showed Bush to be a moron.

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From CNN's Crossfire: "NOVAK: Let me say something about Jon Stewart. I don't think he's funny. And I know he's uninformed." I can't think of anyone more uninformed than Bob Novak, who knowingly outed a covert CIA agent. How could he still be allowed to comment as a credible political expert on Crossfire? Jon Stewart has more credibility in his little toe than Bob Novak has, and better ratings too!

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George Bush really doesn't care if the troops are properly equipped, he sent them to war knowing the equipment they would need was not available. As far as George is concerned it's an all volunteer army and they knew the risks! Any excuse will do for him so long as he and his family are outta harm's way!

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Speaking of shit for brains, that terminology applies to some members on the Supreme Court given that they, and not the electorate, selected George Bush to be president. Maybe they gave us George because they owed something to Poppy or they were afraid of what Poppy could do to them. Worst thing the Court has ever done to America and the democratic process. 

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October 18, 2004

For proof that the Bush administration distorted the intelligence pre-Iraq invasion, all one has to do is listen to the distortions about anyone who opposes their policies. Take a long look at how they've distorted John Kerry's record, or the negative picture they paint whenever someone in their administration breaks away and speaks the truth. It is a pattern of deception. It tells us they don't give a damn about honesty and integrity and a Democratic America.

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I believe that people have a right to marry no matter their sexual orientation. In a country that professes democracy for all citizens, discriminating against a major segment of that population based on religious ideology is intolerable. In America you are allowed religious preference so long as you don't impose your beliefs on other individuals. We must maintain separation of church and state as set forth by the forefathers when they wrote the constitution. The bigotry of religious zealots should never be allowed to enter civil discourse if we are to continue a democratic society.

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For all those who believe Bush is a messenger from God---remember--- Matt 7:15-20. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Jesus Christ was the Prince of Peace, not a purveyor of war that kills innocents. I doubt seriously this passage from the Bible meant to convey the fruits of war as having come from the good tree as George Bush would have you believe!

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Well folks, Let's prove Karl Rove's "band-wagon" theory on election finishes WRONG again! Let's get out and vote. We are now painfully aware, thanks to the Supreme Court and not to the voters of America, that looking the part does nothing for doing the job. George Bush and the gang are not capable of doing the job of the president. Let's show them the electorate of the United States is not as stupid as Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and George Bush seem to think we are!!!!

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GET OVER IT ALREADY. It is incomprehensible that anyone would find fault with the statement made by John Kerry in support of Mary Cheney's sexual orientation! And just in case the critics haven't noticed, Mary Cheney is not, as implied, a child, she is an adult daughter directing her father, Dick Cheney's, campaign for Vice President! All this brouhaha sure enough tells us just how really ashamed the GOP, the Cheneys, and all the bobble-head right wing pundits really are, otherwise they wouldn't give a damn who said what about anything.