Weapons of Total Distraction

Lots of juicy headlines in the news these days:

• Idaho Senator Larry Craig caught with his pants down cruising for gay sex in an airport men's room;
• Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales -- both resigning under the cloud of multiple Congressional and other Federal investigations;
• White House press secretary Tony Snow and Senator John Warner, both announcing their imminent retirements yesterday;
• The 10th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana;
• The 2nd anniversary of hurricane Katrina;
• Big Democratic donor, Norman Hsu, on the lam;
• The 2008 presidential election and whatever any of the 20 or so candidates said, ate or did;
• Will Fred Thompson announce his candidacy or not;
• War in Iraq;
• War in Afghanistan;
• Sub prime mortgages, the roller-coaster stock market, and the ever-widening wage-gap
  

Even if we ignore the melodrama of today's news, in our own lives there are many distractions in these last days of summer -- Labor Day weekend, starting school, and so on.

In the meantime, while we've been focusing on all these other things, George Bush and Dick Cheney have ramped up their war rhetoric against Iran:

• US Battleships and Bombers are at the ready.
• No new Congressional resolution necessary since Bush declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are a terrorist organization.
• Bush and Cheney believe they must "take out" Iran's nuclear program before leaving office.

And after we bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, what will happen?

Iran is a Shia Nation and the Iraqi population are 60% Shia. Thus the majority of Iraqis -- who we are supposedly trying to bomb into submission -- will naturally identify with Shia victims in Iran and will no doubt despise us even more than they do now. From Lebanon to Oman and beyond, the Shia will be understandably united in their sense of victimization.

And even if we were to crush their mortal enemy, the Shias, don't expect Iraq’s Sunni population to react any better. Whatever their feelings about Iran, they have been very clear about their hatred of a Western presence and expansion of U.S. operations in the Muslim world.

Don't believe us? Ask bin Laden.

The entire world will respond with revulsion. From Europe to Japan there will be much discussion about how to best distance oneself and protect oneself from a USA gone nuts.

Its almost as if Bush and Cheney want to create the perfect climate to foment perpetual war...

Now why would they want to do that?

Who gains from such a thing?

We know who will lose... the rest of us.

After all of the propaganda oozing from this Administration, how are we expected to believe that such distracting headlines are not intended to keep us from noticing under which shell the truth hides?

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four

How many Republican men are closeted homosexuals?

Why is this party so appealing to these self-loathing men?

Could it be that political parties reward deviant behavior by promoting the most vulnerable men to higher positions so they can blackmail them with threats of exposure in order to control their votes?

This latter suggestion really makes sense when you think about it. It explains the inexplicable as we sit around scratching our heads, wondering WTF is going on in Washington...

In Idaho, they grow potatoes and their hypocritical Senator is caught with his pants down.

In Iowa, they grow corn and their State's Supreme Court held that the ban on equal marriage rights violates Iowa's Constitution.

I don't know about you, but we’re having corn for dinner tonight!

Neoliberalism Dismantles Services to Make Elites Even Richer

Unless and until we American's -- queer and straight alike -- wake up to what is really going on in America and the World, our children and grandchildren are doomed to live a sort of feudal existence with perpetual wars, pollution, and strife.

From Alternet:

"Neoliberalism demands minimal taxes, the dismantling of public services and social security and union busting to make the elite even richer, while leaving everyone else to sink or swim.

If unchecked, Neoliberalism will catalyze crisis after crisis, all of which can be solved only by greater intervention on the part of the state. In confronting it, we must recognize that we will never be able to mobilize the resources its exponents have been given. But as the disasters they have caused unfold, the public will need ever less persuading that it has been misled."

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The True Cost of Conservative "Family Values"

Seemingly unrelated stories involving Mother Teresa's lack of faith or belief in a celestial, all-knowing creator, and Republican Senator Larry Craig's titillating bathroom sex encounters, have us contemplating the true cost of conservative "family values."

As long as the religious wing-nuts continue to bribe Republican lawmakers with the promise of electoral victory by delivering "values votes" in exchange for a promise to recreate America into a CHRISTIAN- judeo* nation, we will continue to see more and more political figures facing a public shaming for their hypocrisy. * The judeo part is only temporary and will end with Armageddon.

And now, after they've destroyed their Republican hosts, these parasitic fascist wing-nuts are evacuating the party in droves as it smolders and burns.

As the unofficial leader of the Republican electoral strategy, Karl Rove is more responsible than any other single person for his party's downfall. The foundation of Rove's plan was to build a permanent Republican majority by catering to "the base."

Unfortunately for Republicans, their base happens to be a cluster of crazed and rabid religious fanatics who insist on controlling what the rest of us do in the privacy of our own lives.

Thus, the most recent scandals involving Republican Senator Larry Craig, Republican Senator David Vitter (not outed for gay sex but still shamed for a sex "scandal"), Republican Representative Mark Foley, and too many others to list, are simply the result of men spewing hateful rhetoric and passing mean-spirited legislation because they were directed to do so.

Now, the hateful, homophobic scheme that once seemed so clever, has come home to bite Republicans on the ass.

If LGBTQ citizens enjoyed equal rights, dignity and respect by our government, perhaps these self-hating gay Republicans would be able to express their sexuality in a healthy manner.

It almost makes you believe that God Himself directed the outings of these men as a way to remind His flock that a true Christian engages in activities that lift up the downtrodden -- not crush them.

And that brings us to Mother Teresa who apparently was having difficulty believing in God. Who can blame her? During her life of tending to the poorest of the poor, she knew that church leaders were protecting and defending depraved priests who molested children rather than using their vast wealth to truly end poverty.

She read the Bible and knew that its primary message was one of love, forgiveness and tending to children, the elderly, poor and infirm. How she must have suffered, seeing the great hypocrisy in her religion.

The real lesson is this: Greed and Lust are here to stay. They exist in religion, politics and in all areas of life.

Whether atheist, agnostic or a believer, some people try every day to live a meaningful life by giving back to those who are less fortunate.

Other people will cravenly and openly prey on and use anyone they can to get what they want, regardless of the impact that their actions may have.

In our quest for links to illustrate a few points we make in this post, we stumbled upon STR:The Freedom Blog, operated by Pastor Billy Bob Neck, who also happens to be running for president.

Here are a few of the "Christian" items we found there:

"What if Hillary Clinton were elected? Would she legislate the kind of immorality that would bring floods and greater harm to America’s infrastructure. Imagine the destructive power of hurricane Katrina and then multiply it ten-fold. That’s how angry God would be after Clinton turns America into a free-for-all for immigration, homosexuality and abortion. Could our insurance markets take a beating from God?"

and this...

"I’m recently returned from our own Christian summer camp, STR Young Patriots Freedom Camp, where as usual we all had a wonderful time praising Jesus and training up our children to be as strong in their faith and determination to defend this great country as our Muslim enemies. It was such a wonderful world of love, I can’t tell you! And Jesus was so happy he even helped us to beat all accuracy records on the shooting range."

and finally, this post about eliminating the two term limit for U.S. President:

"First of all, we need to petition our representatives and senators for an end to the absurd “law” that forces a President out of office before his work is done.

Secondly, in the event that we are unable to start a grass-roots movment [sic] which will correct this constitutional folly, we need to obtain pledges from all Republican candidates that they will uphold the principles of accountability, and rigor of the Bush Presidency. Only that will assure our fragile markets that prosperity can continue.

Finally, we must never forget to pray for the American people, we pray that they will continue to have the sense to trust George W. Bush and his loyal cabinet of patriots. This will help send a message to all of the candidates about the true meaning of conservatism."

We really thought this website might be a joke, but sadly, its for real.

Say a Prayer for the Pretender

"Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there"

The Pretender by Jackson Browne

Shortly after Karl Rove announced his resignation, we wrote a post called Is Karl on the Down-Low?, where we reported on an article we read about the guy who supposedly wrote a tell-all book about his dalliances with Rove.

Because it pains us to give this fake news reporter any more free publicity by continuing to use his name (if we do it will be picked up by search engines who will add it to the reams of already published articles about him) we have decided to anoint him with the moniker “Sham Man” since it is more descriptive of who and what he really is.

In an update on that earlier post, a few days ago we received an angry email from Sham Man lambasting us for “rumormongering” and getting the “facts” about his upcoming book wrong:

“First of all, I never spent a night at the White House, mysteriously or otherwise. The only exception was election night 2004… Further, I don't know anything about Karl Rove's personal life or anyone else at the White House for that matter…By the way, the phony ‘news story’ about my book got the title wrong…”

Even though we reported that the Rove expose was only wishful rumoring from another blog, and that our own report was laced with sarcasm, the story was actually confirmed (and later kinda-sorta rescinded) by Talon News, Sham Man’s previous employer.

We know that Sham Man wants us to blog about getting his letter. Ever since the rumors of his tell-all book surfaced, Sham Man has been busy writing to all those who sullied his reputation by daring to repeat the luscious little tid-bit.

To paraphrase (rather badly) Shakespeare, methinks Sham Man doth protest too much.

If we had the time or the inclination to follow the trail of bread crumbs leading back to originator of this little dicey piece of gossip (that the book will reveal a tryst between Rove and the faux journalist), we think we might find that it originated with Sham Man himself.

And why not? His “career” in infamy began when he used his White House press pass to call attention to himself by asking questions that were not designed to elicit responses but rather to kiss the ass of Bush and his administration. Either he was stupid or he knew his questions would get him the attention he clearly craves.

A recent article reports on Sham Man’s efforts to de-bunk the rumor and “set the record straight.” The article quotes Sham Man as claiming that the media “created me and now they have to deal with me.”

In truth, Sham Man wanted to be noticed. He created the buzz by doing everything short of swinging from a chandelier.

And now, afraid that he might drift back into the closet of obscurity, Sham Man has adopted the Ann Coulter style of book promotion: say something provocative and then -- after it produces the uproar you hoped it would -- claim that a cabal of liberal co-conspirators is out to get you.

Thus Sham Man -- the ersatz reporter -- hopes that what sells books for Coulter will also work for him.

All this attention seeking is a sad act of desperation from a man who wrote a book so full of nothingness that he was reduced to self-publish and promote it.

In the end, it is our fervent wish that Sham Man will finally get the psychological help he desperately needs. Furthermore, we vow to do what we can to help him by refusing to aid and abet his addiction to self-promotion.

From now on, you will not read or see his name on this blog and we look forward to the day where the only place you will see his name in print will be as a footnote on a Trivial Pursuit card.

Death of a Mountain

For years, travelers crossing the State line in West Virginia were greeted by a sign welcoming them to "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia." Recently however, those signs were replaced by new ones bearing the ominous message: "West Virginia, Open for Business."

When we first saw the new sign we were somewhat surprised and uncertain as to the meaning of its message.

Then, last Friday, we read about the Bush administration's proposal for new mountaintop removal (MTR) regulations and it all made sense.

Now we know that the sign change WAS a sign of change -- and not for the better.

Instead of promoting the Mountain State, the sign advises visitors that here in West Virginia business is paramount. And because coal IS the business of West Virginia, the people and the law must genuflect to the will of old King Coal.

For all of you flat-landers out there, MTR is a process whereby a mountaintop is literally removed -- trees leveled, critters buried alive or chased off, layers of rocks and dirt blasted, scraped, and shoved off the top of the mountain to fill in the rivers and valleys below with coal sludge and debris. This not only leaves an ugly scar where the mountain once stood, it also creates catastrophic damage to the local and regional environment. You can learn more about MTR here.

And the proposed regulations will permanently legalize MTR -- already known to be a devastating and environmentally dangerous form of coal mining.

According to Joan Mulhern, legislative counsel for the environmental group, Earthjustice:

"The proposed change will say the rule requiring buffer zones does not apply to putting excess spoil into valleys near mines -- called valley fills -- or to impoundments that coal companies build to hold slurry -- water and fine particles -- left over from processing coal."

Have you ever been to West Virginia? Have you seen the sun rise over tree covered mountain tops as they peek out over mist covered valleys?

It is a breathtakingly beautiful state!

For most folks, West Virginia is just a pretty place you gotta get through on your drive to New York or Florida. We've actually met people who don't even know that West Virginia is a state unto itself but rather they believe it is merely the Western portion of the state of Virginia!

We know exactly where and what West Virginia is because it is our home.

Here we have found our own little paradise to live out the rest of our days -- surrounded by glorious mountains -- in the house we are building from recycled materials.

Our dream of living peacefully on this mountain is threatened by the fact that we live on top of the Pittsburgh coal seam and are surrounded by coal mines of all stripes -- deep wall, long wall, surface and strip mines.

Six days a week, fleets of enormous coal trucks lumber down these long and windy roads, competing with logging trucks, that carry West Virginia's rich resources to far off places where they are sold to enrich mine owners and operators who are smart enough to live somewhere else.

Sometimes called "strip mining on steroids" MTR does to mountains exactly what the term implies:

"MTR is a relatively new form of coal mining which takes the mountain off the coal. Up to 1,000 vertical feet of local relief are blasted away to get to the thin coal seams underneath. MTR requires that the targeted land be clear-cut (de-forested) and then blasted by heavy use of explosives. The debris created is typically scraped (literally pushed) into the adjacent river valleys in what is called a valley fill. At current rates, mountaintop removal will mine over 1.4 million acres (5,700 km²) by 2010."

Not too long ago, if you wanted to see the devastation with your own eyes, you had to charter a plane to fly over the mountains. Thanks to Google Earth, you can see the ravaged mountains from the comfort of your own desk.

From space, the mountains look like the coat of a once-beautiful animal with a debilitating case of mange. The mountaintops are laced with strangely shaped bald spots, where trees give way to brushy undergrowth. Giant hunks have been bitten out of the mountainsides, revealing sores of crumbling sand, broken rock and black tar. Once-neat layers of sediment are visibly torn asunder, cascading down hillsides. Strange top-hat-shaped protrusions of land rise up sharply. For miles and miles, it looks as if someone took a giant potato peeler to the side of the range.

On hot and muggy August days like this one, millions of Americans will flip on their light switches and turn down the air conditioner without ever realizing how or why they are able to enjoy such conveniences.

Today we are asking you to take a few minutes out of your day to make a difference.

We still have about 55 days remaining to submit public comments on the proposed rule. You can send your comments by mail to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Administrative Record, Room 252-SIB, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20240, or over the Internet through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

Please identify your comments by including docket number 1029-AC04 in the subject line!

We hope you will take some time out of your busy schedule to write a comment opposing the new rule. We need as much support as we can get to offset the powerful coal lobby which has many politicians, from the local to the national level, in its pocket.

This new rule is probably just a quid pro quo to Bush's big coal supporters who helped him get elected in 2000 and again in 2004:

"One of Bush’s big supporters in West Virginia, James “Buck” Harless (a Bush “Pioneer”), who raised $250,000 for Bush, had a private audience with the President at Bush’s ranch. What’s more, his grandson, James H. Harless II, was chosen as an energy policy adviser during the White House transition."

Remember, coal companies are just big corporations who only desire profits at any cost. We have seen in recent months how coal mine owners and operators will even risk the lives of miners if they think they can squeeze one last dollar out of a dilapidated mine shaft. Time and time again they have shown they will do whatever it takes to get at the coal, even to the point of choking out the the life out of our communities and the democratic process.