This one is real. A few of y'all who didn't call need to call me and tell me how you are doing.

There have only been 3 category 5 storms to hit the United States since these things have been recorded. Katrina is now the fourth. This thing has hurricane force winds at 45 miles from the eye. At 11 mph that is 4 hours long one way, followed by 4 hours of the end of the storm. The storm surges will probably inundate the city, and lord help those downtown buildings when the 160mph winds start hitting them.

This is the worst storm I've ever heard of, and recall that I grew up in New Orleans. I know hurricanes all to well.

Good god, what will be left of the city. The French Quarter has never been completely underwater. No one knows what could happen should this thing really hit at 20 feet high.

We will soon discover the power of mother nature, within 24 hours.

Fubar: F**ked Up Beyond All Repair.

Bohica:Bend Over Here It Comes Again.

[thanks to Bill in Portland, Maine.]

Kirk: Well there it is...war. We didn't want it, but we've got it.

Spock: Curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.

Wear it whenever you have to hear Mr. Bush speak.

From Think progress.

With the Bush administration asleep at the wheel, states have been forced to take the lead in combating global warming. Last year California adopted rules which “will require a 30 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from cars and light trucks by 2016, a target that will most likely be met by big increases in fuel efficiency.”

The approach is gaining popularity. The New York Times reported last Sunday:

"The Bush administration hates the California plan, and industry has challenged it in court. But George Pataki of New York and other Eastern governors have pledged to emulate it — which means the states may end up carrying a ball that Congress dropped. That would not be a bad thing at all."

Yesterday, the Bush administration released new federal fuel efficiency standards. (Not surprisingly, the standards will do little to increase fuel efficiency and may actually encourage automakers to produce bigger, more inefficient vehicles.)

Buried on page 150 of the draft rule is a provision that would totally undermine state efforts to curb CO2 emissions:

[A] state may not impose a legal requirement relating to fuel economy, whether by statute, regulation or otherwise, that conflicts with this rule. A state law that seeks to reduce motor vehicle carbon dioxide emissions is both expressly and impliedly preempted.

In other words, no state can have a fuel efficiency rule any different than the federal government. So much for state’s rights.

You need to get nervous when the corporatist monarchist Rethuglican's talk reform. Calling the "estate tax" a "death tax" the attempt has been to make this tax seem an onerous burden to hard-working middle-class families who scraped their way to little piece of economic pie. Although possible in rare cases, the estate tax only affects 1 to 2 percent of all estates. This tax can easily be adjusted to affect an exemption beneath a reasonable level (currently 1.5 million) to ensure against encroachment on the middle class -- rather than eliminating the tax entirely.

But elements of the spoiled vile aristocracy (and their groveling minions) don't care. Either through ignorance, pompous insular arrogance, or borderline misanthropic apathy, the result of eliminating the estate tax will only shift the costs of government onto the wage and sales taxes paid predominantly by the very middle classes the "death tax" is supposed to be damaging -- according to the lies of the orchestrated false (heavily-financed) grass roots campaign.

Here is a snippet from a recent New York Times article:

"But despite the populist rhetoric and oft-repeated horror stories about families being forced to sell their farms in order to pay estate taxes, the battle is over a very large amount of money held by a very small number of families. A report last month by the Congressional Budget Office found that in 2000 only 2 percent of all estates - about 52,000 - were subject to any estate tax. At that point, taxes were imposed only on estates worth $675,000 or more. The limit rose to $1.5 million in 2004, and if that limit had been in effect in 2000, only 13,771 estates - fewer than 1 percent - would have been subject to the tax. All but 740 of them would have had enough in liquid assets to cover estate tax liabilities, the office estimated."

"At the moment, taxes are imposed only on estates worth more than $1.5 million. Under Mr. Bush's tax cut of 2001, the estate tax is set to shrink steadily over this decade and disappear in 2010. But the 2001 bill called for the estate tax to reappear in full force in 2011."

One of the matters that bothers me most is when I hear historical ignorance, especially when this ignorance is used to further the justification of lies and stupidity. Or as the late Patrick Moynihan (the Senator from New York who's seat Mrs. Clinton now holds) has said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." (source)

Another quote by Moynihan:"The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself. "

So yeah,when I hear "the war on terror" and "iraq" compared to World War Two, I go completely stark raving mad -- and not just because I am psychologically unbalanced. That's another matter.

No. Where are the tanks, planes, and armies of terrorists that are taking over the world? Hitler invaded Austria, Czechoslovakia,Poland,Denmark,Norway,Belgium,the Netherlands,France,all of East Europe, and then Russia. Where are the tanks threatening our civilization? Where are the planes dropping bombs on our cities like it was London in 1940 - 1941?

Don't try to tell me we are invading nations and toppling governments because there might be another criminal syndicate that could cause a "terrorist" activity. Don't do it. Because in the last 3 years, virtually nothing has been spent defending ourselves from just such attacks whatsoever. No vulnerable nuclear reactors and chemical plants. No upgrade of the Coast Guard and National Guard units here at home -- they went to Iraq. Most of the money the "department" of homeland security spends is spent on advertising (recall the Tom Ridge commercials, and the kids asking "mommy" what to do) and suspicious contracts to defense contracting firms, a lot of whom involve lobbyists and well-connected contractors.

And when America was attacked by Japan's bombing, there never was a recruitment issue. Sending a fleet of ships that were created by a national governement is 100,000 percent different than a saudi-Mafia operation that stole 4 planes and flew into buildings. Especially considering the degree of apathy and incompetitence which enabled the saudi-mafia operation to occur. And then, why was Cheney looking at oil maps of Iraq in Spring 2001 with energy and oil conglomerates when they were putatively discussing Energy Policy? Why did the August 6th memo of 11 pages get ignored by our President? Was Crawford, Texas more important, or did Mr. Bush really get that memo?

To even relate this invasion of Iraq to the war against fascism is facile at best, and sinister at the worst. We didn't have to "make-up" a threat of "WMD" or use forged documents to justify the war against Japanese and German aggression. We didn't have to justify the D-Day Invasion by saying that German industry (in lieu of Iraqi oil) will pay for the invasion. And we had a Harry Truman commission which ferreted out procurement corruption in the military contractors that put people in jail, cancelled contracts, and impounded bank accounts.

Saddam Hussein was abetted and carried to power by the Reagan administration and petroleum interests infested defense industry. United States chemical companies sold Saddam his chemicals and the sales were permitted by the Reagan administration to destabalize the region into competing nations. Democracy and freedom were always secondary, if they were ever a consideration.

"Freedom is on the march" according to George Bush.

Hmmm....

"By the most brutal methods of terrorism, a regime sought to maintain an existence that was condemned by the overwhelming majority of its people...I have tried to persuade the responsible authorities that it is impossible for a great nation ... to stand by and watch millions belonging to a great, an ancient civilized people be denied rights by their government... I have endeavoured to find some way to alleviate a tragic fate. One agreement was signed only to be broken. I then tried a second time to bring about an understanding. A few weeks later, we were forced to the conclusion that the government [of Austria] had no intention of carrying out this agreement in the spirit that had inspired it, but in order to create an excuse. I have determined, therefore, to place the help of our country at the service of these millions. Since this morning, our soldiers are on the march across all of Austria's frontiers."

This announcer gets paid way too much to scream, holler, and get excited about absolutely nothing.
Oh my God, I have no life and must buy this product so I can be somebody and start smiling intensely like a schizophrenic on speed.
You pay what we pay, just listen to all of the air-brushed sales representatives of every ethnicity tell you so, and then run out and buy a piece of shit car for less money then all of the exorbitant maintanence costs and repairs over the next five years.
How many stories of corruption does it take to topple a Presidency? None. All you need is one blow-job from a willing press secretary flusie.
Lets create a television mini-series, label it "shocking","profound","provocative", and "informative" -- rather than "propaganda".
When you need unbiased information, make sure you listen to convicted felons like Gordon Liddy. His expertise at breaking into the offices of political opponents and setting wire taps make his opinions about the political opposition absolutely reliable and sacrosanct. Indeed, the news organizations that allow him to speak publically should be applauded for their integrity.
How many hatchet men and women called "news analysts" or "news personalities" are there in the news media? If you did an autopsy of every one of their brains, inside their craniums you would find a huge stash of money.
"I'd like to teach the world to ...chill"??? That verb used to be sing, if you have a memory that goes back to the early 80's when Coca-cola taught the world to sing. Chill is like a voiceless grinning lump of thoughtlessness, whereas sing indicates active mental and spiritual participation. How do you "teach" someone to "chill" anyway? Are their classes you can take? And how does a bunch of generation x-ers on a roof-top equate to the whole world holding hands singing about a big ideal?
The more I hear the expression "for real real" celebrated in hollywood and advertizing, the more I recall George Orwell and "double plus plus." So, it is now groovy-coolistic to be unable to articulate or express one-self beyond a three-word idiom.
Boy scouts or not, the Midas touch will still pick your pocket and prey on your automotive ignorance. That's why the corporation franchise's itself.
Some brewers look outside their windows and see smoke-stacks, some travel far away from factories to stand in front of snow-capped mountains and act like they don't have factories with smoke-stacks. It's called the Coors silver bullet, because all of the arsenic dumped in the Colorado water by Colorado mining companies.

Okay, I'm back from indolence and lethargy, but I'm also so depressed about the spiraling mendacity of the current Presidential administration and the noted gang of thugs. We are in deep deep doo-doo folks.

Air force and military personnel are being asked to plan for a full scale war with Iran, according to another recent expose by the indomitable Seymour Hersch. Bush installs Bolton as a recess appointment to the United Nations -- a man who is belligerent, pompous, and narcissistic ( and undiplomatic). The UN boo's him on his first day. Yes, it's true.

War with Iran is part of the plan folks. Something will happen when Bush returns from his 50th vacation this summer, you watch. It's all in the plan, and the hope is that the "incident" will carry over into the 2006 elections so that the Rabid gangsters can beat any opposition over the head with the stick of Patriotism.

Speaking of Patriot, the Patriot Act was renewed. The Blacklists are being drawn up and soon the "Night of Long Knives" will be implemented to take out the opposition.

No I'm not insane, I'm going crazy. Is my country really slowly becoming a fascist state? How else can you explain the corporate media disconnection with reality and the permissivity of lies in the "public forum" ? A student of History knows the wickedness of men. You fill a bureaucracy full of sychophants and put a lot of money in their pocket and you get the corporate media. Then you need to consider that 90 percent of all printed, heard, and visualized media is owned by 12 interconnected companies with similar big investors. These people are in the background that you never see who own 5 percent of this, 12 percent of that for 500 large corporations and holding companies. They fund political campaigns and political schemes. They hire scores of lawyers to interpret and change the law in their favor.

Come on, you didn't think the history of Aristocracy is only a thing of the past, did you? Power corrupts, and those who seek to gain power and become powerful are by nature corrupted with power.

I see these "Proud to Be American" stickers and "GW BUSH 2004" stickers on the backs of suvees and mini-vans and I just want to throw up -- or scream, but that would be a waste of energy. By now, you can't reach the brainwashed and slavish followers of the daily Republican lies.

Proud believers of lies in defense of absolute corruption, certain of their patriotic duty and so woefully ill-informed. I'm sure most of these folks are sincerely thinking they are correct about what they believe to be facts, but their are a minority who care little about facts. They just "believe differently" period, and no tabulation of facts or details will shake their belief system.

This comes from a posting a baseball fantasy league from someone in the league. I thought it was right on the mark, so I will post it here.

Ever since this whole Tom Cruise fiasco I became interested in what scientology was all about.

Apparently this fucked up "religon" is based on some story about an alien named Xenu who ruled a group of over-populated planets. In order to cut down the population of earth, or teegeean as it was once called, he gathered all the aliens around the base of a volcano and placed a nuclear bomb inside killing them all. Once the body was killed it released the soul which Xenu captured and forced into a theater to watch movies about God and Jesus, therefore creating belief in christianty. All of the aliens souls wandered the earth attaching themselves to humans.

Now what scientology supposedly does is rid your body of all these extra souls, or tethans as they are called and allow you to live a happier life. It is said to even get this information you have to pay thousands of dollars for ridiculous seminars. To complete the program you have to pay upwards of $400,000. L. Ron Hubbard, who created the program, was a science fiction writer and appearently a real piece of shit who truly considered himself the lord of darkness. Most who try to leave the church either wind up dead or in serious legal troubles.

This is one fucked up, wacky-ass cult with a bunch of ignorant retards following. I think they all need to drink the kool-aid and just get it over with.