Rants and Writings provoked by current events
- Various authors
Newest rants on top:

Despite what our media will tell you, despite what our President claims, the Iraq war has now caused between 420,000 and 790,000 Iraqi deaths according to a study by Johns Hopkins University. The study was published in The Lancet medical journal last week. The average current estimate is 655,000.

Human Rights Watch estimates that 290K Iraqis were killed by Saddam's regime -- EVER. That's 24 years from 1979 to 2003. That's 12,083 a year. So, the Bush war on and occupation of Iraq has Saddam beat by over 365,000 - and in just over three years! We win! Yippee!!! U.S. kicks butt!!!

As a follower of the teachings of Christ, the idea of our tax dollars supporting this senseless slaughter of human life repulses me. Calling ourselves a "Christian nation" as we support and/or turn a blind eye to these atrocities against God's children is shameful, inexcusable...

The American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) website has a petition to Congress that calls for an end to our occupation of Iraq: http://www.afsc.org/iraq/default.htm

Thank you for taking a moment out of your day to consider the ramifications of our actions and/or inaction.

(more information and link to pdf of study here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601013_truthdiggers_lancet_study/)
Human Cost of War pdf

INVOICE
to: Every American Household
re: Cost of the Iraq War

U.S. - led war in Iraq:
$244,700,000,000.00 (total cost)
$2,250.00 (per household)

Reconstruction Allocation:
$18,000,000,000.00 (total cost)
$165.00 (per household)

Sub total:
$262,700,000,000.00 (total cost)
$2415.00 (per household)

PROJECTED ADDITIONAL COSTS:

3-year Military Occupation:
(based on $6 Billion/Month)
$216,000,000,000.00 (total cost)
$1985.29 (per household)

Iraq Reconstruction:
$1,600,000.00 (total cost)
$29.00 (per household)

Projected sub total amount due:
$217,600,000,000.00 (total cost)
$2014.29 (per household)

GRAND TOTAL:
$480,300,000,000.00 (total cost)
$4429.29 (per household)

Household figures (108,800,000) are based on 2005 census projections.

Perhaps having YOUR money being spent on this first strike war and occupation doesn't bother you. However, the human death toll might:
American Deaths to date: over 2,600*
Iraqis Deaths to date: over 100,000
WAR IS NOT PRO LIFE
*Department of Defense Confirmation List 8/27/06

Figures compiled by the American Friends Service Committee - The Quakers (http://www.afsc.org)

What can we do?
Contact our representatives in Washington:
http://capwiz.com/thenation/dbq/officials/
Write letters to the media:
http://capwiz.com/thenation/dbq/media/
Get the facts out!

The BioFuel Smokescreen

I got to wondering why the big push for ethanol and biofuel and not focus on the better solution of raising gas mileage and creating more incentives for hybrid manufacturers. Seeing as how the fossil-fuel inputs required to grow and harvest the corn (and/or switchgrass) used in the manufacturing of ethanol actually exceed the energy yielded by the resulting ethanol (negative energy balance), it just doesn't make any sense.

Then I added good old capitalistic greed into the equation and the futile scheme to "green up our fuel" suddenly started to make sense. You see, if you create a highly fuel efficient car - a vehicle with the life expectancy of at least 150,000 to 200,000 miles, then you sell less fuel. Cars last longer much than a gallon of gas - fuel is rapidly consumed - cars, not so much (unless you drive the way my brother drives). So, while the technology has been around for decades to create high mileage, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles, the technology has been hidden from the consumer and brought out only in small doses for a gradual increase fuel efficiency - a dangling carrot that creates consumer demand for a new, more fuel-efficient car every few years - all the while consuming gallons upon gallons of fossil and/or biofuel.

President Bush (standing neck-deep in oil interests) stated with mock concern and a knowing twinkle in his eye, "America is Addicted to Oil." That may indeed be so (or at least addicted to the freedom that our cars afford us), but I think the real underlying issue is, "America is addicted to greed". If we start recognizing this as the real issue, then we can start solving a multitude of problems from vanishing fossil fuel to poverty.

- Tim Nyberg, reinform.org host

Above the Law?
The Bush administration has proven, once again, that it is above the law. Apparently anything is okay as long as it accomplishes THEIR agenda. And everything is hunky dory because THEY say it is. You know, like what they keep telling us about Iraq - everything is going just fine, we're making progress, working hard... (yeah, right - ask anyone who's been there and is not on the Bush payroll).

This administration, by their own admission, has been "creating their own reality". Well, that's nice in science fiction writing - but doesn't work in real life. In the real world we are paying for this manufactured reality with real human lives. Our environment is paying, our economy is paying, our credibility and foreign policy is paying, the grand experiment of democracy is paying. Oh, and by the way, WE are paying for Bush's folly - with our taxes (and sadly, with our children's and grandchildren's taxes as well). Correction: Not if you happen to live in the upper 10% - you alone reap the rewards of Bush's imagined reality... for now anyway.

Thank you to Senator Feingold for standing up and speaking out against the twisted realm of self-serving, pocket-lining, greed-driven, law-ignoring policy that the Bush administration has forced upon the American people. Too bad with our Republican lap dog "Representatives" and Senators we are, once again, experiencing taxation without representation. It's time to stand up against corrupt leadership. Follow Russ Feingold's lead and speak out against these egregious acts of delusion.

- Tim Nyberg, host, reinform.org

Note to readers: I'm going to let Jim Wallis have this rant on behalf of myself, my family, and all followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ whose souls are troubled - no, mourning - at our country's misplaced values, greed and outright disregard for "the least of these" whom Christ told us to care for.

Early this morning (11/18/05), the House of Representatives narrowly passed a budget proposal (217-215) that, if enacted, would make severe cuts to our nation's most vital anti-poverty programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and child care.  The margin was small because of your prayers, phone calls, e-mails, and letters to the editor. Thank you.  In the coming weeks, the budget will face a House-Senate negotiation, followed by separate votes in each chamber. We will continue to raise our voices to demand justice for the poorest among us.
Washington, D.C. ------(Friday, November 18, 2005) Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and Convener of Call to Renewal, made the following statement today on the narrow passage of the House Budget Reconciliation Bill.

STATEMENT BY JIM WALLIS:

The prophet Isaiah said: "Woe to you legislators of infamous laws ... who refuse justice to the unfortunate, who cheat the poor among my people of their rights, who make widows their prey and rob the orphan." Today, I repeat those words. When our legislators put ideology over principle, it is time to sound the trumpets of justice and tell the truth.

It is a moral disgrace to take food from the mouths of hungry children to increase the luxuries of those feasting at a table overflowing with plenty. This is not what America is about, not what the season of Thanksgiving is about, not what loving our neighbor is about, and not what family values are about. There is no moral path our legislators can take to defend a reckless, mean-spirited budget reconciliation bill that diminishes our compassion, as Jesus said, "for the least of these." It is morally unconscionable to hide behind arguments for fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. It is dishonest to stake proud claims to deficit reduction when tax cuts for the wealthy that increase the deficit are the next order of business. It is one more example of an absence of morality in our current political leadership.

Budgets are moral documents that reflect what we care about. Budget and tax bills that increase the deficit put our children's futures in jeopardy - and they hurt the vulnerable right now. The choice to cut supports that help people make it day to day in order to pay for tax cuts for those with plenty goes against everything our religious and moral principles teach us. It says that leaders don't care about people in need. It is a blatant reversal of biblical values - and symbolizes the death of compassionate conservatism.

The faith community is outraged and is drawing a line in the sand against immoral national priorities. It is time to draw that line more forcefully and more visibly.

I applaud those House members who have stood up for better budget priorities and fought hard all year to keep issues of basic fairness at the forefront of this debate. And I thank those on both sides of the aisle who stood up and did the right thing in voting against this bill, despite pressure from the House leadership. These strong voices provide some hope for getting beyond an ideology that disregards the role of government for the common good. - Jim Wallis

The "shrinking of government" as the Republicans call it, has meant shrinking our capability to care for our brothers and sisters. This is in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Many Christians (especially the conservative Right) have been hoodwinked (brainwashed, tricked, deceived...) into believing that the Republican party was GOD'S party - a carefully designed plan to get into power and then to line the pockets of their friends and mega corporations - all while ignoring the teachings of Christ himself. For God's sake - for humanity's sake - WAKE UP!

Many in Congress claim that Hurricane Katrina has driven congressional spending and budgets out of control, and that sweeping cuts to vital social services are justified because of these increases. This claim couldn't be further from the truth.

Fiction: Government spending is dangerously high.

Fact: Even with new Katrina funds, federal spending as a percentage of the economy is below the 30-year average. Arguments like these are driven by an ideological determination to shrink government, not reality.

Fiction : Deficits are spinning out of control because of reckless spending and new Katrina relief.

Fact : The root of the problem of skyrocketing deficits is new tax cuts for the very wealthy, not new spending. For the past three years, tax revenues as a percentage of the economy are at a 30-year low. Nevertheless, many in Congress will stop at nothing to enact new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Between now and 2010, the cost of the Bush tax cuts (if extended) will total $1.7 trillion. Katrina relief - even when you amount interest costs, is projected at $240 billion - less than 15% of what the tax cuts will cost. And yet there is momentum behind a plan this year to add an additional $70 billion in new tax cuts - mostly for the very wealthy. Simply put, this plan is out of touch with our values.

get active! Call or write your Senators and House Representative and tell them to oppose cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs that help "the least of us" - and to oppose any new tax cuts to the wealthiest among us. click here for contact information

George is worst natural disaster to hit country
By Beth Quinn, Times Herald Record

Well, folks, the only thing left up in the air now is whether George Bush is the worst president ever. Herbert Hoover has held the title since 1933. 

It's been neck and neck for a while, but I think Bush pulled ahead with his spectacular failure in handling Katrina. 

George Bush is a walking catastrophe. Far more than even Katrina, he is one of the worst disasters to ever hit America. His performance these past two weeks seemed a showcase for his utter stupidity and indifference, complete with flood, fire and floating bodies.

It was an epic performance that, more than anything else thus far, has revealed his true, craven self.

And now he wants to lay it on us. Soon we'll be seeing bumper stickers that say, "Buy gasoline or the hurricane will have won."

Somehow, all Americans are now "in this together" and we have to make up for his bumbling incompetence, beginning with picking up the tab for rebuilding the Gulf states.

To paraphrase the words of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, "Holy bullcrap!"

I've got to tell you, I get a lot of e-mails from folks who claim they're offended when I criticize this guy. But now I'm the one who's offended. Really.

I'm offended that Bush has only just now discovered that there are poor, black people in America.

I'm offended by the entire Bush family, who have established a culture of greed in this country and have been unable to disguise their contempt for the poor - an attitude evidenced in all its wild glory by George's mama when she said a week after Katrina hit:

"So many of the people in the (Houston) arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this (she chuckled slightly) is working very well for them."

Oh those greedy poor people who just want to take advantage of living like cattle in an arena.

I'm offended that Bush, upon his return to the White House - finally! - two days after Katrina hit, spent his first few hours back making yet another recess appointment of a federal judge, one whom the Senate had already rejected as too weird.


I'm offended that, when Bush finally realized he should at least pretend some concern for the dead and dying in the Gulf states, he carefully rolled up his sleeves for his photo op as though he were going to be fishing dead bodies out of the water his very own self.

I'm offended that, somehow, Halliburton won again when one of its subsidiaries was automatically granted a $29.8 million government contract to clean up New Orleans. Don't we have a bidding process in this country anymore? Everything has to go to Cheney's cheating company?

I'm offended by Bush's unwillingness to name a bipartisan panel to investigate just what - what! - the hell went wrong in our hurricane response.

I'm offended that those who lost everything in Katrina will be unable to declare bankruptcy because they can't possibly gather up all their drowned and burned paperwork to prove they've got nothing left.

I'm offended that Bush went on television to lay out a $200 billion rebuilding plan without saying a single word about how that might get paid for - just as the No Child Left Behind Act is unfunded; just as the Medicare prescription plan is unfunded; just as his insane war in Iraq is  unfunded and raising our deficit to dizzying heights.

I'm offended that Bush has bankrupt our nation of money, goodwill and morality.

I'm offended that no one in Congress has yet called for his impeachment.

Most of all, I'm offended by those Americans who still insist that this sociopath is a swell guy, a terrific leader, a fine thinker. What is wrong with you people?!

And if this column offends you, I don't care. Anyone offended by the truth is living in a bubble world, kind of like the Superdome. And we all know what happens when the roof gets blown off a bubble world.

Reality. Yuck. How offensive. 

www.recordonline.com/news/bquinn.html for other Beth Quinn columns 

I'm willing to bet that you will NEVER see this mentioned in OUR media! (see story below)

Speaking of irresponsible journalism - were you able to find ANY significant reporting of the over 100,000 anti-war protestors in Washington DC yesterday (9/24/05)? How about the over 10,000 who protested in Britain the same day?

As Hurricane Katrina has dramatically exposed the urban poverty in southern cities, it is important to remember that poverty is a national problem, and a growing one. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a few days ago that the poverty rate rose again last year, with 1.1 million more Americans living in poverty in 2004 than a year earlier. After declining sharply under Bill Clinton, the number of poor people has now risen 17 percent under Mr. Bush. Here are the numbers:
37 million - total number of people living in poverty in the U.S.
13 million - number of children living in poverty
1.1 million - number of people who fell below the poverty threshold between 2003 and 2004
4 - number of consecutive years in which the poverty rate has risen in America
Source: The U.S. Census Bureau
Related fact: Of America's 20 million dogs, 73% are overweight. This in a world where 500 million human beings are suffering from malnutrition.

Hopefully, one of the side effects of wading in the waist-deep sewage-infested waters of New Orleans is that it will help our mainstream news media grow some balls - empowering them to accurately inform the world how and why this tragedy REALLY happened. And then continue to reveal how the funding of the destruction, occupation and "rebuilding" of Iraq has tapped our human and financial resources to a level that has put EVERY American in deep doo-doo. - Tim Nyberg, reinform.org - follow this thought and read a BBC article that appeared the day after my writing this.

George W. Bush has been the demise of every business of which he's been put in charge. Why should the United States of America be any different?

Where are our National Guard troops when we need them? I believe they're presently occupied in Iraq. They should be rescuing and protecting in New Orleans and Biloxi. Instead, they are patrolling and killing in a country that was invaded and then occupied on the basis of presidential deception. How quickly we are required to pay for Bush's folly. Hopefully our elected officials will wake up and see that impeachment on the grounds of war crimes and gross dereliction of duty is in order.

You may find it interesting that this catastrophic flooding could have been avoided.
Why the Levies Broke:
Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to pay for the war in Iraq. Story @ >>>> http://alternet.org/story/24871/

Hugo Chavez, the guy that Pat Robertson wants assassinated, seems to be putting into real life action more of Christ's teachings than Pat Robertson could ever hope to talk about doing. Maybe that's why Robertson is yelling, "Crucify him!"

The following article will explain. It was published on Monday, May 16, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Help the Poor in Venezuela
by Jeff Cohen*

Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week?
And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty?
Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him "the Anti-Bush."

Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela - not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. There are 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the US. (Click here: Citgo Locator to find one near you.) By buying your gasoline at Citgo, you are contributing to the billions of dollars that Venezuela's democratic government is using to provide health care, literacy and education, and subsidized food for the majority of Venezuelans.

Instead of using government to help the rich and the corporate, as Bush does, Chavez is using the resources and oil revenue of his government to help the poor in Venezuela. A country with so much oil wealth shouldn't have 60 percent of its people living in poverty, earning less than $2 per day. With a mass movement behind him, Chavez is confronting poverty in Venezuela. That's why large majorities have consistently backed him in democratic elections. And why the Bush administration supported an attempted military coup in 2002 that sought to overthrow Chavez.

So this is the opposite of a boycott. Call it a BUYcott. Spread the word.

Of course, if you can take mass transit or bike or walk to your job, you should do so. And we should all work for political changes that move our country toward a cleaner environment based on renewable energy. The BUYcott is for those of us who don't have a practical alternative to filling up our cars.

So get your gas at Citgo. And help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela.

Jeff Cohen is an author and media critic http://www.jeffcohen.org

Remembering those who have died
I thought I should post my wife's response to spending the morning reading the more than 2,000 Iraq coalition casualties. While I am quick to blame President Bush for his ill-founded war and seek his impeachment and imprisonment for war crimes, she is much more tactful. She looks to the root of Christ's teachings for direction. I wish we all would. - Tim

Today at CNN.com I looked at the long listing of all the coalition dead. There I saw their faces, looked at their eyes and whispered apologies to their grieving families as I read how each person died. It took hours to read. It's a very long and sobering list shedding light on the real cost of war.

There have been 2,033 coalition troop deaths, 1,841 Americans, 93 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 26 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war on Iraq as of August 10, 2005. Additionally tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens have been killed.

As one who values the teachings of Jesus, I have to agree with the late Father  George Zabelka, a Catholic chaplain with the U.S. Air Force, who served as a priest for the airmen who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Father Zabelka gradually came to believe that war is terribly wrong and, that he had denied the very foundations of his faith by lending moral and religious support to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Let's not forget his powerful message. Here's what he had to say on the 40th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

"The morality of the balance of terrorism is a morality that Christ never taught. The ethics of mass butchery cannot be found in the teachings of Jesus. In Just War ethics, Jesus Christ, who is supposed to be all in the Christian life, is irrelevant. He might as well never have existed. In Just War ethics, no appeal is made to him or his teaching, because no appeal can be made to him or his teaching, for neither he nor his teaching gives standards for Christians to follow in order to determine what level of slaughter is acceptable... What the world needs is a grouping of Christians that will stand up and pay up with Jesus Christ. What the world needs is Christians who, in language that the simplest soul could understand, will proclaim: the follower of Christ cannot participate in mass slaughter. He or she must love as Christ loved, live as Christ lived and, if necessary, die as Christ died, loving ones enemies."

A Progress Report: 1382 Days after 9/11
The following was reposted from the American Progress Action Fund:

TERRORISM
Karl Rove Needs Therapy

On October 26, 2001, President Bush said, "The elected branches of our government, and both political parties, are united in our resolve to fight and stop and punish those who would do harm to the American people." That was before the administration's unwise, unfocused and unsuccessful approach to combating terrorism helped push Bush's approval ratings to historic lows. Out of answers, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove went back to his biggest strength, political mudslinging. On Wednesday, Rove said that "[l]iberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." We don't need an apology, we need a new anti-terrorism strategy.

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – TERRORIST ATTACKS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH: By objective measures, the Bush administration's approach to combating terrorism is an abject failure. Last year "[t]he number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled." According to State Department data, "attacks grew to about 655 last year, up from the record of around 175 in 2003." How did the administration respond? By halting the publication of the State Department report. The year before, "the State Department retracted its annual terrorism report and admitted that its initial version vastly understated the number of incidents."

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – OSAMA BIN LADEN STILL AT LARGE: More than three and a half years ago Bush vowed to capture terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." He's failed. The administration wants you to think we are hot on his tracks. CIA Director Porter Goss said he had "an excellent idea" where bin Laden is hiding. Vice President Cheney said he had "a pretty good idea of a general area that he's in." Note to the Bush administration: close doesn't count in terrorist manhunts.

1,382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 – IRAQ WAR MAKING THINGS WORSE: According to the CIA, "[t]he war in Iraq is creating a training and recruitment ground for a new generation of "professionalized" Islamic terrorists." An in-house CIA think tank concluded that, since the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq has served as "a training ground, a recruitment ground." In the poorly planned aftermath of the invasion "hundreds of foreign terrorists flooded into Iraq across its unguarded borders." There is a serious risk Iraq is now "creating newly radicalized and experienced jihadis who return home to cause trouble in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and elsewhere."

1382 DAYS AFTER 9/11 - LOOSE NUKES: The Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemies is the greatest threat to America. Yet administration efforts to stop nuclear proliferation have been lackluster. In May, "a monthlong conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended in complete failure." U.S. diplomacy was so anemic the parties "never engaged in a detailed discussion of how to fix the gaping loopholes that many experts say have allowed a resurgence in the spread of the most dangerous nuclear technologies." And the pace at which we secured fissile materials -- the "gunpowder" used to spark nuclear explosions -- in the former Soviet Union did not accelerate after 9/11, according to a May 2005 study by scholars at Harvard University.

AN INDEFENSIBLE PHILOSOPHY: Rove said that after 9/11 conservatives "prepared for war." He's right. Immediately after the attacks Paul Wolfowitz and others in the Bush administration prepared for war in Iraq -- a country that, by the president's own admission, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. After years of deception, more Americans understand what happened. That's why now most people think the war in Iraq wasn't worth it and hasn't made us safer. Now, Rove is desperate to create distractions. - AmericanProgress.org

- Tim Nyberg, ReInform.org host

- Tim Nyberg, Liberalware.com host
More information in a couple of good articles here.

"Social Security is like a car with a flat tire. We need to fix the flat tire, but we don't need to replace the car." - Peter Orzag, Brookings Institute

Bubble Boy Bush
If Reagan was the "Teflon" president, then George W. Bush must be the "Bubble Boy" president. Our mainstream "liberal" Media appears to look the other way twiddling its kid glove-covered thumbs as Bush blunder after Bush blunder is manifested upon the United States and the world.

When will we hear the Media proclaim that "W" is a weak, ineffective and damaging leader? The world seems to know this. At the Pope's funeral thousands booed when our President was shown on the big screen television. But, did we hear about it? Heavens no! Not unless we've personally outsourced our news reporting to the international media, or listen to (God forbid) Air America's progressive talk radio.

I don't know about you, but I care deeply about the direction America is being taken. Our service men and women have given their lives to make this a strong and free country that was respected by the rest of the world. Shouldn't we demand that our media shape our awareness through exposure to real, hard news - not celebrity fluff, corporate-benefiting spin, and government propaganda.

We're not a fascist country (yet). There is still time, through a properly informed and actively participating citizenship, to restore and strengthen our democracy. Let's burst "Bubble Boy" Bush's bubble with some REAL journalism before he can do any more damage.

- Tim Nyberg, REinFORM.org host

As an American, I'm not complaining about the high price of gas... I'm hanging my head in shame for the actions of my country.

The High Price of Gas
Links to go with image:
The 100,000 Iraqi Death Toll was documented by The Lancet - a UK Medical Journal, 10/29/04 - click here: http://www.liberalware.com/war_casualties.html
The quote from the Marine Sergeant was derived from an article posted here:
http://www.liberalware.com/military.html (click on "Breaking Ranks")

Think it's not about oil? Click here.

April 15th is coming. TAX DAY.
If you're like me, you're somewhat sickened by the fact that up to 42¢ of every dollar that we pay to the IRS will fund the military machine. (Shouldn't this be disconcerting for people who profess to follow the teachings of Jesus?)

I've just posted information about the Peace Tax Fund.

Obviously, war is highly profitable. Perhaps with the existence of a Peace Tax, we can vote against this deadliest form of greed with our tax dollars.

This page has sample letters/emails that you can send to your elected officials to encourage them to vote for the establishment of a Peace Tax - a tax alternative for conscientious objectors.

Please consider participating.

It's like Magic!

Presto chango! The Neocons' slight-of-hand is changing our Democracy into a Fascist state under the leadership of master magician George W, Bush. And we barely notice that anything is amiss.

Misdirection - the primary tool used by magicians to fool the audience. Terri Schiavo's case was hand to provide the opportune diversionary tactic for the Bush administration with which to draw attention away from the other atrocities and other neo-con jobs that are currently being perpetrated on our nation and world. Note that this is coincidentally happening on the second anniversary of The War and occupation of Iraq. No mention of the over 100,000 Iraqis killed because of our military actions, hardly any coverage of the anti-war protests happening worldwide. And don't forget the Social Security scam which isn't being "sold" as successfully as they had counted on. Then there are the much despised Bush appointments of Paul Wolfowitz as the President of the World Bank and U.N. detractor John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations... (the list goes on). Just as the Michael Jackson arrest by Federal Marshals in November of 2003 was used to divert attention from the massive 200,00 person protest of Bush's England visit, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is now providing the perfect diversion.

At the same time our politicians are grandstanding on the Schiavo case many of the same elected officials are voting to take away Medicaid (which means life or death for tens of thousands forced to live in poverty). Why then should we believe that they care about the life of one person in a vegetative state?

We've been fooled again.

- Tim

President Bush's statement today (3/2/05) on signing legislation in the Terri Schiavo case:
"Today, I signed into law a bill that will allow Federal courts to hear a claim by or on behalf of Terri Schiavo for violation of her rights relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life. In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. This presumption is especially critical for those like Terri Schiavo who live at the mercy of others. I appreciate the bipartisan action by the Members of Congress to pass this bill. I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities."

In other words: "I appreciate the opportunity that this situation has provided to divert attention away from the other atrocities that my administration is waging. I like having the opportunity once again show how much I care by using phrases like "defending life" and "in favor of life" and even while my war on Iraq has killed over 115,000 human beings (but remember, only 1500 of them were Americans). I am resolute in pretending to care about any of this. And I will fight in favor of government control issues like this whenever it benefits our agenda to do so. Otherwise, I will insist that the individual states have the responsibility to decide such matters."

read on: It's not about Terri Schiavo - by Laura Flanders

It's time that we all start "reframing" George W. Bush and start calling him what he is: the Weakest President in American History. The fact is, George W. Bush and his cohorts are weakening America - they are weakening our economy, our social programs, our education system, our environment, our family values, our perception throughout the world community... Bush and company are weakening America and the principles that it was founded on.

Furthermore, the actions of the Bush administration most often directly opposite to the teachings of Jesus Christ that he professes (read, used to get elected). People of faith should be concerned, not only about the future of our country, but about the blatant disregard for "the least of these" which whom Christ has charged us. In the deception, manipulation, murder and greed that is being perpetrated under the guise of "Christianity", Bush is making a mockery of the Christian faith.

Understanding the concept of framing as explaned by linguist George Lakoff has satisfied four years of frustration by explaining why my friends and relatives seem to have swallowed the neocon frames hook, line, and sinker. Not familiar with framing? Here is a good article explaining "framing" - an interview with George Lakoff by Mother Jones magazine.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2004/10/10_401.html

More complete information about Framing at http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/
Recommended book: "Don't Think of an Elephant" by George Lakoff

Defend Marriage
I was just sent a photo of a group of kids with "Defend Marriage" signs. The original photo was decidedly anti-gay. With the help of Photoshop, I managed to change the message to a generic "Defend Marriage."

"Born-again" Christians are more likely to go through a marital split than are non-Christians, according to a new study by the Barna Research Group.
Using statistics drawn from a nationwide survey of nearly 4,000 adults, the Barna data show 11 percent of the adult population currently is divorced but that 25 percent of all adults have experienced at least one divorce. Among "born-again" Christians, 27 percent currently are divorced or previously have been divorced, compared with 24 percent among adults who are not "born again."

Defend Marriage! Absolutely! But begin by dealing with the log in our own eye. Then, we can deal with the speck in our [gay] neighbor's eye. - Tim Nyberg, Liberalware host

- Tim Nyberg, Liberalware host

Get Active! Sign a petition to the FCC: Click to http://www.stopfakenews.org

Consumer beware! Or, should I say, BUYER beware (since we are paying for this fake news with our tax dollars)? The Bush administration seems to acknowledge and even joke about the Faux News that it produces to disseminate propaganda to the American public... click to read a Maureen Dowd article on the same topic.

Social Security Reform Scam
According to the experts, our Social Security system in NO need of repair. The privatization that Bush is promoting would only serve to widen the gap between the halves and have-nots. The number of those forced to live in poverty would increase while the pockets of stockbrokers and investment firms will be lined with riches that rightfully belong to hard-working Americans. Administrative costs of Bush's "fixed" Social Security System would jump from their present .6% up to 20%. It just doesn't and shouldn't make sense to anyone who is allowed to hear the facts.

Furthermore, I resent President Bush's tour to promote this scam being paid for out of our tax dollars. There are REAL problems that need tending to that are being virtually ignored while Bush's "Cry Wolf Tour" is being executed.

This administration is weakening America. It is weakening our education system, our social programs, our economy, our families, our hopes for a better tomorrow, and it is weakening our image around the globe. It's time that America woke up and removed this misguided pawn, this weak, lying, NeoCon lapdog from the highest office in the land. It's time for American's to get informed and demand control of THEIR government.

STOP the CRY WOLF TOUR! IMPEACH BUSH! He is killing America.
- Tim Nyberg, Liberalware host

Read more from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR.net):
Center for Economic and Policy Research - Click to download a basic Facts pdf file

Disappearing News
When listening to a local radio host (who is given to picking and reading more obscure news from the AP wire), I learned yesterday that hundreds of protestors gathered In Brussels to throw eggs and beer bottles at the residence housing President Bush during his stay in Belgium. The report went on to say that police in full riot gear stood by and did nothing as the acts of protest continued - for three hours. I could find no other reference to this event in any American media - not even on the "liberal" NPR.

A similar thing happened in London during Bush's November 2003 visit. 200,000 jammed the streets to protest our President. A friend living in England called and asked excitedly, "Did you see 'em? Did you see the protests?!"

No. We didn't see any protests. And we didn't read about them in our newspapers or hear about them on our radio stations.

Something is wrong when the "balanced news" that we're delivered is so obviously lopsided - erring toward the side that has been proven time and again to be lying to us (or "acting on faulty information"). Something is wrong when the news we get kowtows to an administration that will go to any extreme necessary to accomplish its agenda - no matter how damaging its nice-sounding initiatives may be to our families, our children, our education system, our jobs, our environment, our foreign relations. And our mainstream "liberal media" sits quietly by and allows all of this to happen without so much as a peep to the American public.

How can we be responsible citizens, acting to protect the values that this Nation was founded upon, when we are uniformed/misinformed citizens? If you think about it, we're starting to look awfully similar to a Fascist state.

Here's the call to action: Contact the media and request that we be allowed to experience real journalism, not homogenized information that has been sanitized for the Administration's protection. Then use the internet to find foreign news sources that are more apt to dispense complete, unfiltered information. Compare what we are doing as a country to the values that we profess to be founded on - and act accordingly.

- Tim Nyberg, LiberalWare.com host

"We are a peace-loving nation." Oh really?
Countries that the United States has bombed since the end of World War II: China, 1945-1946; Korea, 1950-1953; China, 1950-1953; Guatemala, 1954; Indonesia, 1958; Cuba, 1959-1960; Guatemala, 1960; Congo, 1964; Peru, 1965; Laos, 1964-1973; Vietnam, 1961-1973; Cambodia, 1967-1970; Guatemala, 1967-1969; Grenada, 1983; Libya, 1986; El Salvador, 1980s; Nicaragua, 1980s; Panama, 1989; Iraq 1991-2000, and 2002-present; Sudan, 1998; Afghanistan, 1998, and 2001-present; Yugoslavia, 1999.

Killing by the Numbers:
20% Maximum rate of U.S. soldiers who shot to kill while under fire during World War II
55% Firing rate in the Korean War, due to "improved" psychological conditioning by the military
95% Firing rate in the Vietnam War
16% Rate of U.S. veterans from the Iraq war who suffer from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder
Source: Christian Science Monitor

Click to our "Theology of War" page for more thoughts on War and Peace.

The Pro Life President strikes again! Yes, thank you SO BLOODY MUCH religious "right" for being ignorantly and blindly led into supporting this evil administration - and for giving them four more years with which to wreak havoc in the world. You've been DUPED by DUBYA and you should be absolutely ashamed! Sit back and watch with amazement at the destruction of human life and violation of human rights that will transpire with Bush's quest for FREEDOM and LIBERTY.

return to top

(portions sourced from Kelly Hearn, Alternet)
return to top

If Reagan was the "Teflon President," Bush must be the "Black Box President." This Administration seems indestructable and obviously feels that it is above the law. What blatant violation of law and/or civil rights will it take to wake up the American public and shut down the Bush regime once and for all? - Tim, Liberalware host (read on)

This week brought two more examples of the Bush administration disguising paid propaganda as "news" in order to advance its agenda.

In May 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) determined that the Bush administration violated federal law by releasing television "news segments" that favorably depicted a new Medicare law -- without indicating that the government created and paid for the segments. On January 6, the GAO announced that the Bush administration again broke the law by producing similar "news segments" about drug use, saying the segments "constitute covert propaganda" because they did not identify the government as the source of the materials. The GAO added that the administration "made it impossible for the targeted viewing audience to ascertain that these stories were produced by the government."

But that isn't the only new example of the Bush administration promoting its policies through the use of paid propaganda masquerading as news. USA Today reported January 7 that the administration paid television host, columnist, and commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote administration policy on his television show, and to encourage other African American journalists to do the same. According to USA Today, "The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams 'to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts,' and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004."

According to USA Today, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington noted that the payments to Williams may be illegal because of prohibitions on government propaganda.

(From Media Matters for America - you know, that communist organization that O'Reilly talks about. Read the stories with referenced links at http://mediamatters.org/items/200501070008)
return to top

Disgrace by the numbers.

• The United States spends approximately $270 million each day to fund Bush's war on Iraq (that's $150 billion in the last 21 months).
• We spend $225 million on one F-22 Raptor fighter jet.
• Currently the Bush Cheney Administration is raising $40 million to host its January inaugural parade and parties.
• In this election year, the Bush administration provided a total of $13.6 billion in emergency funding when Florida was struck by 4 hurricanes (more than 100 families lost a loved one).

How about America's tsunami aid?
The Bush Administration's initial offer of $15 million in aid, was increased to $35 million after international rebuke.

Here is a perfect opportunity for the United States to demonstrate some of the "compassionate conservativism" that we've heard so much about. Let's quit being the hated bully on the block and morph from the mega super power into a caring, helping, nurturing "mother country." We can start by withdrawing our military from the killing and destruction in Iraq, replacing their weapons with tools for construction and healing, and sending them to South Asia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, India...
The world is watching. Let's do the right thing.
- Tim Nyberg, LiberalWare Host

return to top

Donate to Make a Difference in the World
Lutheran World Relief
Catholic Relief Service
International Red Cross
Bread for the World

Our Shameless Administration

The world has witnessed the greatest natural disaster in the lifetime of most of the people now living. The expressions of human solidarity, stretching across countries and continents, is the one bright light. But even that light is dimmed by the reports and images of growing human suffering and loss that nearly defies the imagination.

President Bush, after days of silence, emerged from his Texas vacation to issue a brief statement. Following a public rebuke and the worldwide reaction of utter contempt, the initial aid offering of the Bush administration was raised from $15 million to $35 million. More is to come, Bush officials promise, as they jockey to have a U.S.-led "coalition" take the leadership of the relief effort away from the United Nations.

Many have commented on the paltry, really disgraceful U.S. aid offer. The U.S. spends approximately $270 million each day for the occupation of Iraq. The cost of one F-22 Raptor fighter jet is $225 million.

The Bush-Cheney Presidential Inaugural Committee intends to raise $40 million in the next few weeks to host its gala parties and the inaugural parade. (How about having punch and cookies at the White House and giving the other 39.8 million to the relief efforts?)

This year, the Bush Administration provided a total of $13.6 billion in emergency funding to Florida (it was an election year) in response to the four hurricanes that caused so much destruction in the state. The death, suffering and property destruction was great. More than 100 families lost a loved one. But in the last week more than 100,000 people in South Asia have died. 5 million are now without access to the basic requirements of life - water, food and sanitation. In Indonesia (the largest Muslim country in the world) and in Sri Lanka and India whole villages and towns have been entirely wiped out.

Building human solidarity, especially at a moment of great crisis, is the cornerstone of the new world movement that opposes militarism and war, racism and globalized exploitation.

The Bush administration is shameless. Endless funds for limitless violence to take over Iraq is one thing (it is well over $150 billion in the last 21 months). Money to meet human needs and to alleviate suffering, however, that will only come as a consequence of political pressure and radical change.

(adapted from VoteNoWar.org)
return to top

"Now there is no question that these guys have been tortured," said Brent Mickum, a Washington attorney for one of the roughly 10 percent of detainees at the camp who have finally secured legal representation. "Every allegation that I've heard has now come to pass and been confirmed by the government's own papers."

Even more troubling is that the FBI agents make it clear this is not the work of a few poorly supervised sadists. Their reports refer to what they described as a new--and very much secret--executive order on prisoner treatment by the President at the top of the camp's chain of command, which allowed for severe interrogation tactics, including "sleep deprivation and stress positions" combined with "loud music, interrogators yelling at subjects and prisoners with hoods on their heads."

So, shouldn't such leaders who authorize state torture be on trial for war crimes? Ah, but the torturers always tell us, such high-minded thinking does not square with real-world exigencies. The "people" must be protected at all costs! Never mind that the inevitable revelations of such outrages cost immeasurable goodwill around the world in what amounts to a global war for hearts and minds. Short-term pain for long-term gain is always the name of the game. But in this case, there is not even that justification--not a single detainee has been proved in a court of law to be a terrorist.

This Kafkaesque gulag, like others in human history, is an expression of a governing doctrine that defines morality as simply an expression of power: Might makes right. What the system can get away with, it does, unless reined in by the people it claims to represent. The ideology invoked in defense of the indefensible does not matter, for it has by that time been reduced to noble-sounding yet ultimately empty slogans, which clumsily paper over a steady erosion of the sanctity of individual rights.

This is what we can see so clearly at the American military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, if only we have the stomach to bear witness. Yes, all of the above is a description of "Gitmo," the colonial-style US prison camp run by American soldiers and paid for with American dollars.

The President who apparently authorized a global reign of prisoner torture in the "war on terror" is our own elected leader, not a convenient caricature of a foreign dictator. The military and legal systems that have looked the other way are our own.

Unfortunately, we look more and more like our enemies every day. On an island invaded, sabotaged and barred from US trade and even tourism in the name of spreading our version of democracy, we have erected a massive torture chamber any deranged dictator would envy.

This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050110&s=scheer1228

Response:
Susan Sontag after a 1968 visit to Vietnam,damned the United States for its involvement in Indochina, calling America "passionately racist" and "a doomed country...founded on genocide".
It seems that we haven't changed much in 40 years.
Like it or not, this is OUR tax dollars at work - for torture and death. It is our "morally righteous" administration at work.
This isn't okay with me. Is it okay with you? - Tim Nyberg, LiberalWare host

return to top

Advent Reflection
Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected by power, because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status
of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. - Thomas Merton

Where does our cultural Christianity put Christ? Really?
Where do we 21st century Christians put the rejected that He found place with?
If we do not open the door of our "inn" to these, we are still closing the door to the Christ child saying,
"Sorry, no room."

What do I want for Christmas? To be able to see God in the eyes of "the least of these." That's scary. It will require approaching those rejected by the world and getting close enough to look into their eyes.
- Tim Nyberg, LiberalWare host

return to top

return to top

return to top

So, as it turns out, elections in the Ukraine are more fair and "democratic" than here in the United States - when election results there are called into question, they are voided and another election takes place.

In the United States, however, the 2000 election was tipped with obvious (and now proven) election fraud and corruption in Florida costing Gore the presidency. Did we get a "redo"? No, all we got were some cute "Sore Loserman" signs passed around the internet.

2004: It's happened again! In Florida and now in Ohio - with, among other infractions, over 250,000 votes (mostly from Black precincts) not counted.

But is Secretary of State Colin Powell concerned about possible election corruption in his own United States? Is there public outrage here? Is there picketing in our streets? Heck no! We just want to be left alone to return to our comfortable couches where we can catch the latest "Fear Factor" or favorite "reality" show.

It's time we get off our collective duff and demand fair elections in the United States. We must recognize our right and obligation to speak out before the staged reality and fear offered up on television is eclipsed by the fear of a reality brought upon us by greed and corruption.

Read more about the 2004 elections.

return to top

return to reinform.org main page