Some days you think all the news is always bad. And so it seems to be. But every once in awhile, something good comes along. The American people have stopped drinking the Kool-Aide and have started thinking for themselves. Using the brain that they were born with. It is just baby steps, but it is a start.
First, Nielsen Media Research reported that Fox News’ overall prime-time lineup dropped 17% last month compared with a year ago (MSNBC grew 16% during the same period, while CNN plummeted by 38%).
Second, late last week, a reliable television industry website, TVNewser.com, reported that in April, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly had his worst month in nearly five years among viewers age 25 to 54, the most coveted audience in TV news.
As Mr. Bush’s poll numbers tumult into the basement, so goes Fox. The media should always be very careful who it gets into bed with. The prince they thought they were kissing, may just turn out to be a toad. Splat!

According to Mr. David Shuster, who has been right about so many reports he does, Mr. Rove is going to be indicted. It’s about time. I know that Mr. Fitzgerald does a slow, careful investigation, and when you are trying to bring an indictment for a crime of this magnitude to a man like Mr. Rove, you must make sure that you dot every “I” and cross every “T”. But even a blind man can see that Mr. Rove should be indicted and brought to justice.
I am surprised that Mr. Rove was removed only to another office in the White House and not kicked back to Texas. The further away he is from Mr. Bush, when this indictment comes down, the better for Mr. Bush. But I guess, you can’t have your brain too far away. One can only hope that we finally see a perp walk. But, don’t count on it. Those in power are never subjected to the same treatment as you and I would get, if we had lied to a Federal Prosecutor. more…

Mr. Bush is not playing with a full deck and yet, he is playing the world’s most dangerous game. Chicken. And he has the whole world playing his game. As his polls go down, (now at 31%) he becomes more desperate to prove that he is “The Man”.
He has said that Iran may not become a nuclear nation. That he will stop them, no matter what it takes. He and his Administration are all talking the same lines they used when they lead us into war with Iraq. At least this time, he has chosen a nation which has the capability of actually having WMD’s. Mr. Bush has stated that it is mere speculation, of the worst order, for those people who are claiming that he plans on using nuclear weapons to strike at Iran’s nuclear programs. Then he goes on to say that all options are on the table, which includes the nuclear option.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad then tells the world that if Mr. Bush attacks Iran, then Iran will strike Israel first and destroy it. In answer to this threat, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Monday, that “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, should bear in mind that his own country could also be destroyed”.
What has Mr. Bush brought to the world? Fear, war and death! more…

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001, something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress …The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated. (Washington Post, May 2005)

Almost everyone else except Congress has tried to get this information out of the Administration. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) filed suit in April 2002 seeking access to the records of Cheney’s energy task force. But one of those “liberal activist federal judges” dismissed the suit. The Sierra Club carried its fight for those records all the way to the US Supreme Court, which in 2004 voted 7-2 to uphold “a paramount necessity of protecting the executive branch from vexatious litigation.”
They did not have any problem with a “vexatious litigation”, (Paula Jones), when it came to President Clinton. This is old news. But don’t you wonder, in light of today’s gas prices, what was decided? more…

Finally, our Congressmen have remembered their Constitutional duty, their duty to the people of America as their Representatives and have found their backbone to stand up to a man who thinks he is King. Very late in the game, but it’s a start.
Will Mr. Bush accept the power that the Constitution gives the Congress? Or will he just ignore this as he does over 750 other laws? I would bet money on his continued grab for more power. This may bring on a Constitutional crises. But, it could also bring on an impeachment, finally.

It will be interesting to see what Mr. Bush’s response will be. It also will be interesting to see if it is an empty gesture. We do live in interesting times more…

When the US State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism last Friday, it listed numerous state-sponsors of terrorism, like Iran, and groups it considers foreign terrorist organizations, like Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hizbullah. Conspicuously absent from the lists, however, was the Taliban.
Was not the Taliban the first state sponsored terrorist that Mr. Bush just had to have a war with? The group which had supported Bin Laden and therefore the reason that we went to war with Afghanistan? Weren’t these the bad people who were not treating women right? Who weren’t treating Christians right? What has happened? Have we defeated them totally? Are there no more Taliban in the world?
Another puzzle which makes it hard to wrap your brain around this Administrations thinking. more…

Lobbying Reform Act. What does the word reform mean?

Dictionary definition:

1. To improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects; put into a better form or condition.
2. To abolish abuse or malpractice in: reform the government.
3. To put an end to (a wrong).
4. To cause (a person) to give up harmful or immoral practices; persuade to adopt a better way of life.

It is time for the citizens of America to take over the guarding of our hen house. The wolves are inside and they are becoming fat on their malfeasance. And we are the chickens that they are feasting on. The latest passage of what they call a reform of lobbying practices is the point that proves that they can’t do what is right or ethical, that the person committing the crime can not possibly be the person who prosecutes the criminal. If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. more…

A county social services department cannot be required to accommodate the belief of an evangelical Christian employee that he must share his faith with clients and others on the job, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
On balance, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the constitutional duty of the Tehama County agency to avoid entangling itself in religion outweighs the constitutional right of Daniel M. Berry to promote his religious views. {Source}

Finally, someone in this country is taking seriously the separation of Religion and State.

If I want to be preached at, I will go to church. There are appropriate subjects for workplace conversations. Politics, sex and religion are not. Hopefully this will spread across America. Keep your religion in your churches and your homes.
Since we do not all share the same religious beliefs, leaving religion out of our public lives is the only way to get along. We do not want to become like other countries which have one majority religion, which has all the power and makes all the rules and laws. History and even today, they hunt down and imprison or kill all the people who do not believe what the majority does. Think the Catholic Church Inquisition and the Taliban. Do we want this for our country?
A good start. Let freedom ring! And that includes religious freedom. Both to practice it in your homes and churches and to be free from religion. Free from religion everywhere else.

For the Cost of One Missile how many people could we feed in Darfur? While you sit down to several big meals today, think about that.

The UN is cutting in half its daily rations in Sudan’s Darfur region because of a severe funding shortfall. From May the ration will be half the minimum amount required each day. The cut comes as the UN said Darfur’s malnutrition rates are rising again. Nearly three million people depend on food aid after being driven off their land.
DARFUR DAILY FOOD RATIONS
Minimum requirement: 2,100 kilocalories per person
New amount: 1,050 kilocalories per person
Cut by half: Cereals, blended fortified food and oil
Cut by three-quarters: Pulses, sugar and salt. {Source}

Where are all those people in this Administration, from Mr. Bush on down, who claim to be Christians. Where are all the Christians in America? Wasn’t one of Jesus’ commandments to his followers, to feed the hungry? I don’t remember Jesus ever saying, “Go to war”. The amount of money we have wasted on the wars and on the military industrial complex, we could save not only the children, but the world. more…

Our Great Leader. What is the difference between George W. Bush and King George? Just a different century. Mr. Bush believes he has the same power that his ancestor had. Scroll to mid-page for reference to Mr. Bush being related to all monarchs in Europe. What he and the Republicans seem to forget, is that we had an American Revolution which threw that line out of power here. Mr. Bush is acting like that little bit of history never happened. He is claiming powers which our Constitution does not give him. He hopes that none of us ever find out, until it is too late.
Thanks to some great reporting, we now know that he has claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office. Some of these specifically passed because he has claimed powers which are not his. And since it is a Republican controlled congress, you know he has gone too far, if they see a problem. more…