Riverbend

Americans shop and complain about the price of gas. we live our comfortable lives and fulfill our selfish desires. i spend most of my days trying to do things to bring sanity. i'm just one person but i will not stop. no bombs are going off in my town yet but there is no peace here. Riverbend weighs in from Iraq........



The Dead and the Undead...
She stood in the crowded room as her drove of minions stood around her... A huddling mass trying to draw closer to her aura of evil. The lights flashed against her fangs as her cruel lips curled into a grimace. It was meant to be a smile but it wouldn't reach her cold, lifeless eyes. It was a leer- the leer of the undead before a feeding...
The above was not a scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer- it was just Condi Rice in Iraq a day ago. At home, we fondly refer to her as The Vampire. She's such a contrast to Bush- he simply looks stupid. She, on the other hand, looks utterly evil.

wednesday may 18, 2005

the Filibuster

Our democrats fought off the power grab but these thugs will be back. CHIEF JUSTICE RENQUIST is tottering. the following post was made on my precinct blog before the compromise. the history lesson by Senator Byrd is a great investment in precious time. although judging from recent history this is pretty pie in the sky, it would be really cool if some of these moderate repubs would step up and say no to these corporatist, ethically-challenged nominees. at the very least i did hear today that they will be serving on panels. somehow i can't picture them playing well with others.
brace yourself effie, they'll be back!!!

Friday, May 20, 2005
Ending the filibuster.....
Also known as the “nuclear option”……..the republican party has decided that the rules of the senate, that have served us well for all these years, must go. This is a critical point in our history because what they are proposing to do will completely destroy our system of checks and balances. When I was talking with a friend today she was confused about what this talk of “nuclear option” was. The phrase was coined by Trent Lott in May of 2003.……The Hill quoted Lott using the term in a May 21, 2003, article: "'I'm for the nuclear option,' said Lott. 'The filibuster of federal judges cannot stand.'" And a June 25, 2003, Roll Call article quoted Lott saying of the nuclear option: "I am an advocate of that ... The Democrats are going to stop this or we are going to have to go nuclear."When the phrase didn’t poll well, as they started this latest assault, they changed it to the “constitutional option”. But they didn’t stop there. They started attributing the phrase “nuclear Option” to the democrats. They all stayed on message and soon the press was also attributing the democrats.The beauty of our system of government is that the minority always has a voice. And considering that the last election showed us to be split pretty much right down the middle we are a LARGE minority.Senators Byrd and Kerry gave amazing speechs on the senate floor yesterday. Senator Byrd’s history lesson should have brought every American to their senses!Senator Kerry was very presidential….This is a power grab that must be resisted. If you feel as I do, go up and support the democrats who are fighting as if our democracy depended on it.http://democrats.senate.gov/filibuster-form.cfmPeggy
# posted by peggy @ 10:13 PM

my letter to editor

in honor of Earth Day.....

Letters to the editor

We should focus on what we need

I sure hope the people of America will wake up soon. We are using up the resources of our Earth at breakneck speed. We must join with the rest of the world to figure out how we can all survive on this planet.
We are approaching peak oil worldwide or will in 10 minutes. As the oil that can be extracted decreases and become harder to pump, there won't be enough. No amount of military money spent or blood spilled will change that for any of us.
I rarely hear any of our leaders sounding the alarm. Every part of our lives will be changed. We are addicted to oil for transportation, energy, food production, manufacturing and more. We are facing tough times ahead, but if we start now we may soften the effects.
We should be treasuring our water as if our grandchildren's lives depended on it. We should be thinking about what we really need. Let's err on the side of caution and listen to the scientists warning about global warming. I hope people of all political stands and religious beliefs can come together and work with each other so our children and grandchildren will have a future.
Peggy Borgens
Ferndale

dick threatens America, again.....

only corporatist judges need apply.......
real Americans better stinkin' wake the flup up and do it yester frickin'day......they are stealin' all our resources including the blood of our children......and now they wish to take away the law....well, from us irrelevant pawns......here comes the ownership society!!!!.......and the fucking opiate is about to turn mean!!! specially for people like me and many others who are not guided by biblical teachings.......these people are just not that into you folks........

Cheney says he would vote to end filibusters if Senate deadlocks
By NEDRA PICKLER associated Press

..............WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday he would vote in the Senate to stop filibusters of judicial nominees if given the chance. That means President Bush is breaking his word to stay out of the fight over Senate rules, Democratic leader Harry Reid responded.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., wants to change Senate rules by banning judicial filibusters -- a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member body. Minority Democrats have used the tactic to block confirmation votes on 10 of Bush's appeals court choices.

my sister can stand tall today as the presbutts, as she affectionately refers to her kind, showed the kind of patriotism and leadership we can all admire!!!!!


....................Today, the National Council of Churches will sponsor a conference call with journalists to denounce Frist's participation in the telecast, sponsored by Christian conservative organizations in order to build support for Frist's proposal. Among those speaking on the call will be Clifton Kirkpatrick, a top official of the Presbyterian Church USA. ''One of the hallmarks of our denominations is that we are an ecumenical church,'' said Kirkpatrick, in an interview on Thursday. He added that ''elected officials should not be portraying public policies as being for or against people of faith.''


and of course Americans United for Separation of Church and State are following and reporting on all.....(they get amazing audio!!!!!)

riverbend on media

i just loved this.....as i sit in the comfort of water and electicity flowing and watch the propaganda/dumbing down of America by this corrupt, murderous crime family that has seized our country, i have often thought a reality show where people get dropped in a war torn failed state would be a real show........she just totally nails it!!!!!!!!! great post on the state of media in Iraq..
(april 3 2005 post)
.........I have a suggestion of my own for a reality show. Take 15 Bush supporters and throw them in a house in the suburbs of, say, Falloojeh for at least 14 days. We could watch them cope with the water problems, the lack of electricity, the check points, the raids, the Iraqi National Guard, the bombings, and- oh yeah- the ‘insurgents’. We could watch their house bombed to the ground and their few belongings crushed under the weight of cement and brick or simply burned or riddled with bullets. We could see them try to rebuild their life with their bare hands (and the equivalent of $150)…I’d not only watch *that* reality show, I’d tape every episode.

they're just not that into us......

bolton didn't secure the loose nukes and now they want him to be a loose nuke.....the American people get dicked again......

After all, the administration still owes Bolton a political debt for his role in halting the Florida recount in the 2000 elections. Cheney, who consistently voted to cut funding for the United Nations while a member of the House, perhaps saw Bolton as an ally in opposing the new multilateralism of Bush’s second term. Additionally, Bolton, a protégé of Jesse Helms, would be particularly adept at deploying anti-UN voices in Congress—like Tom Delay—to champion a unilateralist agenda.


Steve Clemons
April 05, 2005

Please Tell Me It's Not So: Bush Hoping to Schmooze Chafee on Bolton Nomination Using Papal Funeral and Air Force One

This in. . .but please note that what I have is all rumor. No one will talk -- but the rumors indicate some effort by the White House to invest more in acquiring Senator Lincoln Chafee's "aye" vote in favor of John Bolton's confirmation hearings.

look over there, nothing to see here.......

just one of the little manuevers going on while everyone's attention is being directed to a family experiencing one of the most painful times any of us will ever face. as tom delay claims terri as sent to him personally by god(even tho, as Randi Rhodes so beautifully pointed out, he never bothered to go meet her. nor did the jebster. even tho she was very close by) these people are sick!! meddling in people's personal private business so they can use this case to divert our attention from the ethically challenged bugman and their plan to stack the courts....
and this preemptive strike is one more abuse of power they feel entitled to....hmmm....now will the president be running this thru the congress. and if so will they tell the truth??? people of the world if you have oil under your soil, be afraid , be very afraid........

Published on Saturday, March 19, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times

Policy OKs First Strike to Protect USPentagon strategic plan codifies unilateral, preemptive attacks. The doctrine marks a shift from coalitions such as NATO, analysts say

by John Hendren

WASHINGTON - Two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon has formally included in key strategic plans provisions for launching preemptive strikes against nations thought to pose a threat to the United States.
......."The president has the obligation to protect the country," said Douglas J. Feith, the Defense Department's undersecretary for policy. "And I don't think that there's anything in our Constitution that says that the president should not protect the country unless he gets some non-American's participation or approval of that.""Our strength as a nation-state will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak using international [forums], judicial processes and terrorism," the document states.
......."Our strength as a nation-state will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak using international [forums], judicial processes and terrorism," the document states.
The concern, Feith explained, was that some nations would try to criminalize American foreign policy by challenging it in international courts.

Riverbend remembers

as we mark the 2 year anniversary of our initiation of the criminal "shock and awe" by the bush crime family in our name, be sure to check out Riverbend's perspective(march 23 entry) we continue to live in comfort. the shopping and consuming goes on...water and electricity flows....cheap gas flows(even tho the gas guzzlers whine and complain that the price is going up).....the tax cuts for the rich go on....everywhere i go most people act like the world is still the same as it was before the whack job criminal neocons seized power(most people believe they were elected)......and i don't even know how it feels to be shock and awed but there is no peace here....

.....Remember when the fear was still fresh- and the terror was relatively new- and it was possible to be shocked and awed in Iraq? post on 3-23-05

stand up real democrats!!!!!!

watch this race in pennsylvania for senate in 2006.. this guy is running a grass root progressive honest campaign against the anti-choice rick santorum(slimeball incumbent) and anti-choice candidate the dems are running....they are testing the anti-choice balloon and it would sure be great to have a real democrat beat them both!!!!! yo, DLC, we the people are going to be heard...are you with us or are you with the cons?
http://chuck2006.com/

what do you get for being george's uncle bucky?

paid!!!!!

crony capitalism and war profiteering at it's best!!! couldn't have worked out better if they'd planned it.

March 2, 2005
It's a Family Affair
Uncle Bucky Makes a Killing
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR


...........Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, ESSI positioned itself to win a series of lucrative Pentagon contracts that would catapult the diminutive firm into the top ranks of defense contractors. Within a few short months, the company's shareholders were given the financial ride of their lives.
By the time of the Iraq war, ESSI was a brawny new player on the defense block. In the spring of 2003, ESSI acquired a military communications company called TAMSCO, whose prime activity was in developing military satellite terminals in the Gulf region and in US bases in Germany in anticipation of a US invasion of Iraq. After the ESSI buy-out, TAMSCO swiftly won contracts from both the Air Force and the Army for more than $90 million for the training of troops in the operation of the system and the installation of radar equipment in Kuwait.
...........As the flood of new contracts poured in, ESSI's stock soared. In January of 2005, it reached its all-time high of $60.39 per share. A few days before the stock hit this lofty peak, Uncle Bucky quietly exercised his option to sell 8,438 shares of ESSI stock. He walked away from that transaction with at least $450,000. The stock sale occurred a few days after ESSI announced that the Pentagon had awarded it $77 million in new contracts for the Iraq war and a few days before word leaked to the press that the company was under investigation for its handling of older Pentagon contracts. The timing of the trade was perfect.

What Bush is doing to us

The DNC website has information on what Bush's budget will do to each state. Washington state will suffer for being Blue. Some how we'll be getting less but owe more.

Homeland Security
>>The Bush 2006 budget cuts $420 million to state and local funding for homeland security, including a $21.2 million cut for Washington. These cuts will take police and firefighters off your streets.
>>The Bush budget cuts the COPS program, which has put 1,982 officers on Washington streets, by 96 percent.

Health Care
>>The Bush budget cuts $45 billion from Medicaid, enough to provide health care to 1.8 million children. Washington's share of these cuts is $748 million.
>>Bush's budget cuts the very same community and rural health care programs he touted during the campaign, even though more than 152,000 Washington residents have lost their health care coverage since Bush took office due to his failures.

Education
>>Bush underfunds his own No Child Left Behind Act by $13.1 billion in his budget. In Washington, that means a shortfall of $215.2 million, leaving behind 38,722 Washington children.
>>Bush promised to fund Pell Grants in his State of the Union address, but his budget is $6.6 billion short. That's $110 million less than what's needed in Washington, a real burden for the 81,450 students in Washington who receive the grants.

Other Priorities
>>The Bush budget would require many veterans to pay a new $250 annual "user fee" to use the Veterans Administration health care system, and would double the prescription drug co-payment for the 670,628 Washington veterans.
>>Bush cuts Washington clean water programs by $6.7 million.
>>Bush's 2006 budget also cuts the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program -- which helps low-income families afford heating fuel in the winter -- by $234.4 million, including $4.5 million cut for Washington residents.

And Bush's irresponsible budget is a record $427 billion in the red, increasing each Washington family's share of the federal debt by $36,587.

sound familiar?????

Afghans Accuse U.S. of Secret Spraying to Kill Poppies
By CARLOTTA GALL Published: February 27, 2005
ANAI, Afghanistan - Abdullah, a black-turbaned shepherd, said he was watching over his sheep one night in early February when he heard a plane pass low overhead three times. By morning his eyes were so swollen he could not open them and the sheep around him were dying in convulsions.
Although farmers had noticed a white powder on their crops, they cut grass and clover for their animals and picked spinach to eat anyway. Within hours the animals were severely ill, people here said, and the villagers complained of fevers, skin rashes and bloody diarrhea. The children were particularly affected. A week later, the crops - wheat, vegetables and poppies - were dying, and a dozen dead animals, including newborn lambs, lay tossed in a heap.

saving seeds illegal?????

as a gardener and seed saver this is especially disturbing....amazing how we are planning for the people we went to "liberate"

Saving seeds in Iraq: Pay Monsanto or starve
..........A new report by GRAIN (http://www.grain.org/) and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations.This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.

New Iraq Law Outlaws Saving Seeds! Requires Licenses!by repost Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004 at 10:49 AM

wolfowitz-perle connection????

CIA Removes Papers from University’s “Scoop” Jackson

ArchivesGovernment officials have removed several documents from the archives of the late Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson housed at the University of Washington’s Allen Library in Seattle.
The five-member document-security team, which included three CIA officials as well as staff from the Defense and Energy Departments, spent several days at the library in early February going through 1,200 boxes of material, the Everett Herald reported February 15.

Sirota is on the case....

The DLC had their chance....we the people have to have a shot at it. They need us more than we need them.

No Surprise From the DLC

.......Just when I thought the right-attacks-on-the-left within the Democratic Party were over, the Democratic Leadership Council is at it again, once again attacking Democrats. The DLC's latest daily installment of vitriol and backstabbing comes from Al From and Ed Kilgore, who are calling for a purge of the left in the party, while laying down cover for those who might bail out on the party's core principles.
......So before anyone gets too crazy or upset about the DLC's latest display of selling out - remember, that's their job. It's our job to expose them for what they really are, and fight for real progressive politics.

my latest letter....

We'll pay for privatizing Social Security

This message is mostly to young people Bush is marketing his “problem/crisis” and “fix” of our social security. Would you borrow money to fund a 401k? That is what Bush is asking you to do. Even though social security is not a retirement plan. It’s insurance. The cost of funding the diversion of funds to private accounts and continuing to pay benefits will be borrowed. They will launch a 4 decade borrowing spree. The fees to brokerage firms will be up front. Paul Krugman suggests we look to the British experience of the privatization of social security. ......“The selling of privatization also bore a striking resemblance to President Bush's crisis-mongering.” http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0114-34.htm
They are 20 years out and it’s not a pretty site.
We can avoid needless tragedy if we choose to learn from their experience. Relatively painless adjustments can be made to social security as needed. This was done in the 80’s and 90’s.
I believe this is a giant shell game. At the end of the day, Wall Street will have our money. We will have no social security, only the debt for the heist. We’ll be singin’ “Where did the money go?” Inform yourself. Don’t fall for this.

Barbara... you rock!!!!!!!!!

Boxer Delivers Major Speech On Social Security

Speech Addresses Real Motivation Behind Privatization
February 11, 2005
San Francisco, CA - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) delivered a major speech on Social Security today at the San Francisco Senior Center. Boxer’s speech addressed efforts to privatize social security and the real motivation behind privatization.

new IOU's to fix "worthless IOU's"??????

huh????? the bonds with reagan's picture on them are no good but the one with smirks are???what the hell.....?????? incompetence is the nicest thing i can say about these thugs. wake up America, they're stealin' !!!!


The government itself must be on the verge of collapse.
Bush Talks Trash About U.S. Bonds
by Joe Conason
........For at least five years, George W. Bush has been muttering about his determination to "reform" Social Security, but he may never get around to articulating a specific plan until the question is moot. The sketchy notions floated by the White House sound so unappealing that even legislators of the President’s own party are backing away from his campaign against the nation’s great social-insurance system.
In this instance, the bogus threat conjured by Mr. Bush and his conservative supporters is the U.S. government’s abandonment of its commitment to generations of workers who paid taxes into the Social Security system. They tell us that the system is going bankrupt, that the system is "flat broke"—by which they mean that the bonds held by the Social Security trust fund are worthless. The catch phrase they use is "worthless I.O.U.’s."
..............This scare-the-rubes rhetoric is what makes the President’s Social Security scheme so darkly comical. He is talking down the same bonds that would have to be marketed to pay for his plan’s transition costs. So while he warns us that those old bonds held by the trust fund are worthless, he is simultaneously proposing to sell trillions of dollars more in new bonds to finance his privatization plan.
........The Democrats standing united to protect Social Security should demand forthright answers, and they should enunciate their own response loudly: There is no reason, and no chance, that we will default on our obligations.

CON-passionate CON-servatism or reverse robin hood????

Paul Krugman is on the case!!!! and his conclusions are right on!!! take the fight to them!!!!

Bush's Class-War Budget
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: February 11, 2005

...........Until now, the administration has also been able to pretend that the budget deficit isn't an important issue so the role of tax cuts in causing that deficit can be ignored. But Mr. Bush has at last conceded that the deficit is indeed a major problem.
Why shouldn't the affluent, who have done so well from Mr. Bush's policies, pay part of the price of dealing with that problem?
Here's a comparison: the Bush budget proposal would cut domestic discretionary spending, adjusted for inflation, by 16 percent over the next five years. That would mean savage cuts in education, health care, veterans' benefits and environmental protection. Yet these cuts would save only about $66 billion per year, about one-sixth of the budget deficit.
On the other side, a rollback of Mr. Bush's cuts in tax rates for high-income brackets, on capital gains and on dividend income would yield more than $120 billion per year in extra revenue - eliminating almost a third of the budget deficit - yet have hardly any effect on middle-income families. (Estimates from the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution show that such a rollback would cost families with incomes between $25,000 and $80,000 an average of $156.)
Why, then, shouldn't a rollback of high-end tax cuts be on the table?
Democrats have surprised the Bush administration, and themselves, by effectively pushing back against Mr. Bush's attempt to dismantle Social Security. It's time for them to broaden their opposition, and push back against Mr. Bush's tax policy.

eventually archived at

kudos to the bloggers!!!!! you're awesome...

this is such a great story.....everybody's talking...well they should be......come on mainstream media, do your stinking job...grow a set if you have to....the administration has a phoney journalist with press access to the president for almost 2 years......a new(fake) news organization pops up and 5 days later the fake journalist gets credentialed and wheeeeeeeeee.......he asking softballs questions side by side with the real press in the ovam!!!!!! and simple scotty just loves to pick him......propaganda anyone????? and the scrubbing of jeff was good too.....so glad salon had a photo......i didn't really want to see him in his undies anyway.
this is a great article at salon and the short ad i watched to read it for free wasn't bad either(if ya like really cute little dogs!)

"..........Talon News reporter "Jeff Gannon" lobs White House spokesman Scott McClellan a question at a Feb. 1, 2005, press briefing.

Fake news, fake reporter
Why was a partisan hack, using an alias and with no journalism background, given repeated access to daily White House press briefings?salon.com gannon affair

and then there is kos dailykos.com

and http://mediamatters.org/
Some "Jeff Gannon" highlights ... no longer available on the Talon News website

oh and then there is my afternoon addiction!!!!! the randi rhodes show

and how bout' this for drama....(could be "queen" or in my business it's "code")
http://www.jeffgannon.com/

but wait there is breaking news.......heee's back.....