The Official Blog of PCPB

Bush said he would remind Western Hemisphere nations such as those that "respect for property rights and human rights is essential," that "meddling in other elections ... to achieve a short-term objective is not in the interests of the neighborhood," and that the United States expects other nations to stand against corruption and for transparent governance.

Notice how he said property rights first and then human rights...Notice how Republicans always talk the human rights line but when it comes to business and corporations wrecking havoc on the world around them, they always turn a blind eye. See no evil, hear no evil...Property rights trump human rights anyday in the Flying Monkey Right. So basically since corporations are considered humans even more so than real humans, the Bush Administration can cry and moan about a leader's attempt to lift up his people socially and economically.

Basically Bolivia nationalizes its natural gas reserves and this constitutes a human rights violation because corporations are furious over the move. This is human rights in the Age of the Litterbox.

"Let me just put it bluntly: I'm concerned about the erosion of democracy in" Venezuela and Bolivia, he said.

Perhaps if he were TRULY concerned about democracy, then he would do something about Diebold and the disenfranchsing of African-Americans in Ohio and Florida. It is laughable for a president who was appointed by the Supreme Court and who stole another election with the help of his lackeys to be concerned about another country's democracy. Of course, when corporations are allowed to rape a country of its resources without intervention from that country's government, this is a democracy because the will of the "people" is being respected. No matter if a brutal military dictatorship is in power. However, if a populist leader wants to take back power from the corporations and give it to the people, this is a dictatorship. If a leader wants to switch to the petro-euro, then Bush is concerned about democracy.

It's that time of year again...

Amid increasing partisan tension over President Bush's judicial nominees and domestic wiretapping, the panel voted along party lines to send the constitutional amendment — which would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages — to the full Senate, where it stands little chance of passing.

It is 2006 which means the gay-bashing homophobic Federal Marriage Amendment is hereby on the table again. With poll numbers in the dumps and many of the hardcore base turning against him, Bush is hoping that this will inspire conservatives to come out in droves to the polls because other than fear, Republicans have the tired, overused homophobia.

Specter says he opposes the legislation. Well he could have voted against it in committee and sent the bill into gridlock, virtually killing it, but that's not his intention. He wants to look like a moderate to fool his Pennsylvania base but he is just enabling the Chimpeviks to go on to use their wild card in desperation. That's how it is with so-called Republican moderates. They always speak their opposition to things but the way they vote is in lockstep with the White House unless they know their no votes won't affect the outcome.

The GOP is fearful that the Religious Right isn't falling for their shell game of Napoleonic rhetoric with Lilliputean results, and they're right. Hopefully the dominionists and the fundamentalists see through this because they should know by now that this federal marriage amendment is doomed to fail from the start. Hopefully they stay home or even better, vote for someone like Roy Moore if he decides to run for president in 2008. Perhaps they will finally notice that this is just lip service after seeing their agenda of banning gay marriage, instituting prayer in schools, and establishing harsher obscenity standards fall to the wayside in favor of tax cuts, Social Security privatization, tort reform, etc.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of reaction James Dobson or Jerry Falwell has to this. Will they come out in support of this or will they turn their backs on the GOP saying that playing games is not enough?

WELL NO SHIT they were not going to get clearance into investigating this domestic wiretap program because the Litterbox Administration thinks that it does not have to be held accountable for anything. This is bullshit. We have basically the Justice Department investigating itself. Of COURSE they were going to call off the investigation because Bush is a Man of God and his minions and groupies can do no wrong.

National Security is the excuse for EVERYTHING this FUCKING ADMINISTRATION puts out when they are being investigated. National security. Well you damn Republicans...you had no qualms investigating Clinton for baseless rumors and his blowjob when he could have spent his energy going after Al Qaeda and now you're sitting idly while the NSA cries National Security? Let me ask...what is the threat from Greenpeace? Peace groups in Fresno? What is the threat from UC Santa Cruz protesters?

It is clear that Bush doesn't really give a fuck about Al Qaeda but only on silencing his critics. It's clear that this administration doesn't really give a damn about national security but is rather interested in creating an atmosphere of fear that threatens to chill freedom of speech which is only for gung-ho, cheerleaders for the war.

Conservatives, you deserve all you get from this piece of shit administration. Your hatred for gays and fear that they'll come in and seduce your children to participate in the UNHOLY Bacchanalia bought us another four years of Bush. You wanted small government, you did not get it. You wanted tax cuts for the rich, but you lost your civil liberties over this. You thought Bush was going to keep you safe from Osama Bin Laden when a REAL LEADER would have caught him by now instead of playing into his hands by invading Iraq, a country that did us no harm on 9/11, allowing him to say we're on a crusade against Islam.

What do we have to worry about from the NSA? It's only investigating terrorists, you say. That's BULLSHIT. Hayden did not say ANYTHING when he was asked about this program spying on POLITICAL OPPONENTS, basically an admission that this UNCONSTITUTIONAL WARRENTLESS SPYING PROGRAM is. Why are those people protesting military recruitment in our schools being labeled as potential terrorists?

Because they're going against the establishment, the industrial-military-media-religious complex. Anyone who dares speak out is fair game for being called a terrorist sympathizer or unpatriotic.

YOU DESERVE THIS, Bush voters. You let your hatred of gays and the Swift Boat Liars hoodwink you into voting against your economic interests. You hardcore Bush voters believe anything he says to you without critically thinking, which brings me to my point about the GOP wanting to kill education until only those who can afford it can receive a good education. They just don't want you to critically examine politics and the candidates but would rather have you like sheep nod yes to everything their propagandists say. Good luck in pulling yourself out of the gutter, good luck in pulling yourself into the ranks of the top 2% because you and I will never get there. Thank the Man of God for your $50 tax cut while social services go down the drain, sacrificed to the altar of the $42,000 tax cut for those to whom $42,000 is a week's pay. Good luck in finding that job that pays in the six-figure range because you and I will never see that one now.

The current reaction is not simply to President Bush's low poll numbers. It's also a response to the failure of conservative policies and to the declining appeal of conservative rhetoric. Conservatives are trying to save themselves by offering progressive-sounding criticisms of the status quo, much as liberals offered ersatz conservative critiques two decades ago.

Might I add that this is more election-year posturing by the Republicans. Isn't it ironic how the Republicans who deride the Democrats for having no ideas are embracing what stereotypically is portrayed as what a hippie, pot-smoking Democrat would embrace? environmentalism and social justice? Bush prides himself for not looking or caring about polls, but it seems that his minions aren't living up to that lofty ideal. Now which is the party with no ideas or ideas that don't work? Republicans pride themselves for actually having ideas, for not pandering to the other side's voters by trying to sound like liberals. They pride themselves for never backing down in times of pressure and sticking to their beliefs much like how General Grant was portrayed as a bulldog who would bash his head against a brick wall constantly to knock it down. They pride themselves

I, like many others have complained about Democrats trying to out-Republican the Republicans. I have always complained that the Democrats were moving to the right and ignoring progressives and liberals out there because the media says if you're liberal, then you don't know what's best for your country, repeating the conservative mantra that has turned an honored word that has brought about the things that make our country great into a four-letter word. They were scared off into supporting this war based on lies to try to portray themselves as tough as the Republicans on national security even though all what the Republicans have done is fuck-up on this issue. They were scared off into supporting the Patriot Act even though it is the most gross violation of our civil liberties because they did not want to be seen as supporting Osama. Countless times the Democrats have succumbed to the pressure from the corporations into voting against the interests of the middle-class whom they supposedly represent.

Nonetheless, I savor Republicans trying to "out-Democrat" the Democrats as I agree with E.J. Dionne that this is more of a judgment against conservatism no matter how it's dressed, whether it's compassionate conservatism (no such thing unless you're a corporation) or the "we too follow the ideals of Jesus" conservatism which now tries to hype its members' "concern" for the poor. I have always felt that conservatism never worked and that the GOP always used the "liberal media" myth to blame for the failure of their ideas and this election-year pandering just confirms it. It amazes me how much these "strong, tough" men are backing down from their ideas.

Of course, one must realize that this is an election year. Rhetoric does NOT match action, especially with the "opposite day" crowd in the GOP. Of course this also shows the contempt they have for you, the average American voter because they believe that you're either stupid enough or don't have the time to actually call them out on their "hippie, tree-hugging" rhetoric. They think that you'll be satisfied with rhetoric that "shows" that they're actually doing something. The best example was them crying out and criticizing Big Oil but refusing to cut its huge tax breaks. Everyone, including their base is mad at Big Oil and the GOP realizes that, but they do not have the courage, much like the DEMOCRATS don't of going against their corporate masters who allow them to rant and rave against them as long as they don't do anything. What will it take for the American voter to realize that the Republicans are best at masking the fact that they are doing less than nothing for them? What will it take to get the voter to see past this empty rhetoric? Yes I realize that the conservative base is mad at the GOP for trying to "out-liberal" the Democrats, but we're talking about the voter who doesn't care for politics and only votes on fear.

DEMOCRATS, take a lesson from this. Don't be afraid of liberal ideas. Don't be afraid of advocating for the environment. Don't listen to this hippie, environazi rhetoric that the right uses to demonize you. Don't be afraid to offer a new alternative to the Republican's tired and tired stay the course bullshit on homeland security. Don't be afraid to say you'll actually call for the inspection of ALL shipping containers that enter into the country and that it was the Republican Party that bowed down to industry. While you have to present your ideas, you have to ATTACK. You have to show that the Republicans don't care for homeland security if it goes against the interests of industry. You have to show that the Republicans are for a permanent occupation of Iraq. You have to show that the Republicans are using empty promises like a constitutional ban on gay marriage to get you to vote against your best interests.

Again, I fail to see how the Republican party and the Corporate Democrats are these so-called populists looking out for our best interest. The internets have always been a place where you could look up anything, a realm where the First Amendment held sway. It didn't matter if you were a liberal or a conservative, you could find sites that appealed to you. Sites like AmericaBLOG and free republic could be accessed by either side. Now the corporations want to control the message that you see as they are afraid of true freedom of speech that goes against them. Corporations like Telus which blocked a website sympathetic to its striking workers can hereby block access to any site they deem as a threat.

Soon are we to see a internet where only right-wing, free-market, corporate-friendly sites are allowed while other sites are blocked? Perhaps this is what Joe Barton and the Litterboxites want in Congress as they are afraid of what blogs are doing: exposing the scandals of the Litterbox Administration and Congress itself. Are we to see an internet where pro-Exxon-Mobil sites distort the truth and persuade the public that Exxon shouldn't be responsible for paying their $5 billion fine because it was the personal responsibility of the Alaskans affected by the oil spill not to live in that area where spills could happen? Are we to see an internet where websites like Theocracy Watch are suppressed because the Religious Right sees them as a threat?

These corporations have finally gone too far. We stayed silent when they tried to evade corporate taxes by setting up tax shelters in the Cayman Islands or heaven knows where. We stayed silent when they started lobbying up on K Street. We stayed quiet when they lobbied for an energy bill that basically served as a giveaway to the energy industry. We stayed silent when they helped pass tort reform and tried to evade their corporate repsonsibilities (cough* Exxon). America has become a nation where corporations are considered more than us as people, where Republicans and DLC Democrats bend over to do the will of these pseudopeople while fooling us real people with a populist agenda whether it's gay marriage, gun rights, or prayer in schools.

If it weren't for the INTERNETS, we would have all lost hope long time ago, having to only rely on a CORPORATE media that does not serve our best interests but rather plays along this shell game politicians play. We can start by TAKING AWAY the right of corporate personhood which of course conservatives put into play, proving once again that conservatives subscribe to a SELFISH ideology that encourages a dog-eat-dog world where you fuck over others in the quest to hoard wealth so that you could take it to heaven, because as Supply Side Jesus said, "It is easier for a rich man to enter heaven seated comfortably on the back of a camel, than it is for a poor man to pass through the eye of a needle.