And Nero fiddles...

Surprise! The dollar is continuing its slide, accelerated somewhat by last weeks disappointing employment numbers. Economists were expecting in the neighborhood of 200,000 jobs, only about 112,000 were created.

As a result, Japan is now threatening a huge dollar sell-off to protect its fragile economic recovery. According to Kaoru Yosano, chairman of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's policy committee, Japan is going to ask for a strong dollar policy from Dubbyuh's administration that amounts to something more than vague talk. Japan is also going to ask other G7 nations to demand that the Administration deal with the massive deficits that are the driving force behind the dollars slide.

But when we look at the policy stance of Dubbyuh's administration, social security privatization and tax-cuts, will deliver a $2 trillion plus hit to the US budget in the years to come. This could lead the US to a situation similar to Argentina, which followed similar policies and wound up defaulting on $100 billion in foreign debt in 2001. Given the size of the US economy, its outstanding debt overseas and its foreign trade deficit, the effects of such a collapse in the US are magnified far beyond the scale of what happened in Argentina.

The situation is reaching a point where Stephen Roach, of Morgan-Stanley, gives the US only a 10% chance of avoiding "economic Armageddon". This bearish outlook is being echoed by many others in the economic community.

The fact that Dubbyuh and his merry band don't find anything particularly worrisome here should give us all pause to wonder just how long our very own American Nero is going to continue to fiddle. With the US soaking up nearly $2.6 billion a day over overseas just to keep the doors open in Washington, one cannot help but wonder when the excrement is going to intersect the fan-blade. When it does, don't blame me...I didn't vote for his dumb ass.

Our only consolation is that the mid-term elections in '06 will allow us to put those members of congress, who have permitted the administration to spend tax-dollars like a drunken sailor on liberty, out to pasture. Hopefully, it won't be too late at that point, but it's not looking good.

PRESIDENT BUSH 'OUT OF TOUCH' WITH REALITY

By Joyce Marcel,
American Reporter Correspondent,
Dummerston, VT.

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the election recedes, there's good news and bad news. And we're not going to like any of it.

Welcome to the world of investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, whose remarkable career has been bookended by two of the most shameful events in America's military history: My Lai in Vietnam, a story he broke as a free-lance reporter, and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, a story he broke for The New Yorker.

During his 38-year career, Hersh has written eight books, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Pulitzer and a host of other prizes. His sources serve at the highest levels of many governments, including our own.

In person, Hersh is tall, stooped, rumpled, gray-haired and bespectacled. He speaks rapidly and intensely in a deep voice. Currently touring to "pimp," as he put it, his newest book, "Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib," he spoke last week at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., to a rapt audience of about 900 people. They greeted him with applause; he said, "Thank you, but you'll be less happy once I'm done."

Hersh's message is simple and frightening: "(George W.) Bush is an ideologue, a Utopian," Hersh said. "He wants to clean out the Middle East and install democracy. He doesn't care how many body bags come back home. There's nothing more dangerous than an ideologue who is completely bonkers and no one is going to tell him."

President Bush is committed to perpetual war, Hersh said.

The emperor continues to wander about with no clothes on and, seems intent on remaining in a state of deshabillé. This highlighted by the fact that he is stacking his cabinet with like-minded ideologues, also known as 'yes men'. In Condi's case, that would be 'yes woman'. Dubbyuh's cabinet, like so many bobble-head figures, will avidly nod yes at his every suggestion, no matter how ludicrous or outright mad it may be.

As his disconnect with reality continues to widen, events will spiral more and more wildly out of control and Dubbyuh will remain insulated in his blood-stained bubble. In the meantime, more of our soldiers will come home in body bags...Iraq will slide into civil-war...The US economy will continue to crumble, this as the world trades in euros rather than dollars...And our American Nero will continue to fiddle.

It's getting a bit drafty, don't you think

The number of US troops in Iraq is being ramped up by some 12,000 in advance of January's elections in Iraq. Dubbyuh's refusal to delay the elections ot the behest of Iraq's own political parties, is nothing short of simple, bullheaded intransigence. Especially in light of the decaying security situation in the country. When the folks on the ground and living there say, "Let's slow down a little.." it might be wise to listen to them.

In order to cover this build-up of personel units are, yet again, having their tours extended. The ready and inactive reserves are also being called up. Contributing to a shortage of personel is the ARNG's failure to meet its recent enlistment quotas. As troop losses mount and raw recruits are shipped in to replace the losses, unit cohesion and morale begin to decay. But this doesn't seem to matter to the administration. But that's the beauty of an all-volunteer force. When the potential enlistees begin to see how badly they would be used in some misguided foreign adventurism, they simply stop enlisting.

Of course, given the nature of Dubbyuh's administration, they would find an alternative. It's getting a bit drafty, don't you think?

American Cowboy

America's number 1 cowboy action-hero, George W. Bush, seems to be under the impression that America can pretty much do as it pleases. He seems to think that America can "..go it alone, if necessary..." with military adventurism wherever and whenever it wishes. He's fogettting one important fact though...America is a debtor nation.

Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that our foreign creditors failed to show up at US bond auctions to buy that debt? The possibility of this happening grows with each day the dollar continues to slide.

The fall in the dollar’s external value per se may not cause additional financing difficulties, but if this fall is symptomatic of a generalised withdrawal of foreign credit, then the whole underlying credit structure could fall apart, as it has done many times before in other financial crises. Given the size of the US, the global fall-out will obviously be substantially greater. - Marshall Auerback

Remeber the peso crisis in Mexico? Remember the economic collapse of Southeast Asia in the 90's? As speculators dump US treasury notes on favor of euro based notes, the dollars decline will accelerate leading to a decline in the US economy similar to that which occured in those emerging markets. Only, because of the size of the US markets, the global effects will be much worse...not to mention the effects here at home. This also provides an economic lever to influence US foreign policy, in case you haven't figured that out by now.

So, America's #1 cowboy action-hero needs to wake up and smell the coffee, before he smells the ashes of his pyhrric victory on November 2nd.

A More Secure America?

I think not. Denny Hasturt has refused to bring the Intelligence Reform Bill to a vote. With the CIA in chaos due to Porter Goss' purge, we need solid, meaningful intelligence reform now, not a year from now.

But no...The House Reichpublican leadership is more interestd in turf wars and control of funding than they are in passing intelligence reform. While Dubbyuh has mouthed phrases of support for the bill, yet again, his actions fall far short of his words. Let us remember that Dubbyuh fought the formation of the 9/11 Commission tooth and nail, and he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to speak before it...This with Uncle Dick at his side telling him what to say. So, don't expect Dubbyuh to stand up and fight for intel reform.

Failure to pass these much needed reforms can be laid squarely upon the doorstep of the right-wing Reichpublican leadership. Their dedication to ideological purity over reality will be the undoing of us all.

So, contact your Representative and iform them of your displeasure, if not your being outright pissed-off, by their food dragging on this important issue.

American Hero...?

At least that's the way Dubbyuh's supporters would paint him. The reality, though, is far from the image.

The Israeli/Palestinian peace process languished...Dubbyuh did nothing.

The mean global temperature continues to rise, the Kyoto Protocols remain unratified...Dubbyuh does nothing.

The violence in Iraq spirals further and further out of control...Dubbyuh does nothing.

The social safety net continues to erode, leaving more and more people in poverty...Dubbyuh does nothing.

The budget and trade deficits continue to balloon, with no end in sight...Dubbyuh does nothing.

The dollar's freefall continues unchecked, threatening American and world economic progress...Dubbyuh does nothing.

We have not an American Hero, but an American Nero. Just as Nero was content to sit idly by while Rome burned, to rebuild it according to his own plans, perhaps Dubbyuh is content to let America burn in order to rebuild it according to his own ideological bent. And why not? After all, the blueprints were drawn up in "Rebuilding America's Defenses" written by the neo-con think-tank, The Project for the New American Century. Amongst its members are those who have played a role in either the Bush White House or the neo-con movement.

So, we have a choice. We can sit by and do nothing. Or we can start writing, calling, faxing, camping out in the offices of, our elected representatives asking them to do the right thing, not the politically expedient thing. Failing that, we remove them from office at the next election or begin recall movements where they are permitted. Failing these options, we have the The Declaration Of Independence to look to...

"--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security --"

We can do, as the citizens of Massachusetts did in 1774 when they rose up and took back control of the mechanisms of government from the British after Governor Thomas Gage passed the "Massachusetts Government Act" which effectively violated the Charter of 1691 and disenfranchised all of the citizens of Massachusetts. The choice is ours. We can chose to "suffer, while evils are sufferable". Or we can act before the evils become insufferable.

A parable for our times...

George W. Bush and the Republican party support state's rights and trust the wisdom of the voters...Except when states and voters views are contrary to his.

Earlier this month, John "Beaten-by-a-Dead-Man-and-don't-let-the-door-hit-your-sorry-ass-on-the-way-out" Ashcroft, resumed his efforts to undermine Oregon's death-with-dignity law. This law was passed by a majority not once, but twice.

Now the Justice Department is putting the screws to folks using marijuana for medical purposes. This in states, and there are 10 of 'em, where the use of the ol' wacky weed is legal for medical purposes. The case they're bearing down on now involves a woman with an inoperable brain tumor. Ya gotta wonder, with the threats facing America and the world today, don't they have anything better to do? They've had absolutely zero, zip, nada for successful prosecutions of those accused of terrorist activities in this country. The best they can do is try to justify the continued imprisonment, without charge, of some ex-gangbanger from Chicago who's guilty of nothing but an excess of stupidity.

Yeah, I feel alot safer knowin' them scofflaw medical marijuana users are behind bars.

OUT AND ABOUT TO GET UGLY

How many closet cases does it take to reelect a president?

By Michelangelo Signorile

IF YOU DRIVE a Volvo and you do yoga, you are pretty much a Democrat," the Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman—soon to be the head of the Republican National Committee—reportedly told a meeting of Republican governors last week. "If you drive a Lincoln or a BMW and you own a gun, you're voting for George W. Bush."

Since he's so confident labeling people based on outward characteristics, Mehlman must understand why his being a 37-year-old "bachelor" who refuses to answer questions about his sexual orientation is a tip-off to many that he's a pathetic closet case, and a pretty vile one at that, having used antigay hatred (aka "moral values") to help elect Bush. Mehlman was actually boasting to the governors about his slick new strategies, telling them that the Bush-Cheney campaign studied voters' consumer habits—basically snooping into voters' personal lives—in targeting them.

Studies have shown that the most virulent homophobes are those who are the most insecure about their own sexuality or are deeply closeted homosexuals themselves. It will be interesting to watch as many stauch supporters of the "moral majority" are outed, and to see the hypocrisy of their movement revealed. Even more interesting is seeing who will be dragged kicking and screaming from their closets.

Reality does not enter into Dubbyuh's lexicon

Yet again, Dubbyuh's words and actions diverge from each other. Since 2003, the dollar has declined nearly 25% against the euro. Dubbyuh contends that he believes in maintaining a strong dollar. Yet the dollar continues the unchecked free-fall it has been in since 2001.

Granted, this makes US exports cheaper overseas, but America continues to import far more than it exports and the continuing trade deficit is saturating foreign markets with dollars. In some of these markets, China in particular, currency traders are exchanging their dollars for renminbi which they view as being safer than the dollar.

Despite its "strong dollar" rhetoric, the Bush administration sees a weakening dollar as a means of getting a handle on the trade deficit. The problem here though is that while it provides some relief for US exporters, it leaves the rest of us open to sharp inflationary spikes and higher interest rates. But if you don't play in the Bush League, which most Americans don't, you're just shit outta luck.

The only sensible solution to the problem is to address the ballooning budget deficit. There is a direct correlation between the dollars slide and the runaway deficit spending of Dubbyuh and his merry band. But that would put a crimp in their ability to provide tax-cuts to their corporate pimps and johns. And, a viable social safety-net doesn't even make it on their radar screen.

So when the dollar and the US economy crash don't blame me. I voted for Kerry.

US battle plans begin to unravel

By Michael Schwartz

In the New York Times this week the first crack appeared in the armor of the "victory in Fallujah" facade maintained by the major US media since the battle began. Eric Schmitt and Robert Worth discuss a secret Marine Corps report that reveals the major bind the US has gotten itself into by sweeping through Fallujah and attempting to pacify it. This US strategy has created exactly the dilemma that many critics of the war had been predicting: in order to hold Fallujah the United States has to keep large numbers of troops there, and then the Americans will not have sufficient troops to handle the uprising elsewhere in the Sunni areas.

Indeed, while US forces have been occupied with Fallujah, the insurgents have simply packed up their toys and moved elsewhere. Mosul is now all but in the hands of the insurgents, and terrorists strike at will throughout Iraq.

And this is how it will go in Iraq. It'll be like that okd arcade game where you hammer a gopher only to have one pop up elswhere. For every brushfire insurgency the US tries to stamp out, more will erupt elsewhere.

All the while the US media fails to report the true scope of the story and Dubbyuh remains in his rose colored bubble. And all the while our troops are dying in an ill-concieved, illegal war.

But hey, y'all voted for him, and when the excrement intersects the fan-blade, I'll just sadly shake my head and say, "I told you so...".

Morals and values…? They’re certainly not mine.

When Republican operatives aren’t busy stealing elections, they’re apparently occupied robbing Native Americans.

Jack Abramoff, a fundraiser for the Bush/Cheney campaign, and Michael Scanlon, former press aid to Tom DeLay (now where have we heard that name before) are under investigation by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. These two apparently took a number of tribes to the cleaners to the tune of around $66million with promises of access and influence in Congress.

A case in point is that of the Tigua Indians. Their casino was closed down after a successful anti-gambling campaign was waged in Texas. Heavily involved in this campaign was Ralph Reed. Scanlon and Abramoff paid Reed $2.4 million for his involvement. After the Casino was closed down, Scanlon and Abramoff went to the tribe, claiming to be their saviors. They convinced tribal leaders that they had sufficient influence with both Dubbyuh and DeLay to get the restrictions on gambling in Texas lifted. Of course, there was a price tag attached…$4.2 million in fees as well as several hundred thousand dollars in political contributions.

Tigua representatives told the Senate Committee that Scanlon and Abramoff would be able to get Representative Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn, on board. Ney’s assistance came at the price of $32,000 to campaign fund raising groups he supported. Ney inserted language into the election reform bill that would have authorized the re-opening of the Tiguas casino. That particular bill failed.

Opponents of campaign finance reform say that there is no demonstrable quid pro quo between campaign contributions and legislative action. And while the language inserted by Representative Ney and the bill that contained it ultimately failed, there is a demonstrable link between the campaign contributions and the legislative action here.

The irony of the revelation of these activities is that the perpetrators have ties to both the Bush White House and to Tom DeLay. And this in an election that was decided on the apparent moral superiority of the Republicans. Well, hypocrisy is as hypocrisy does, and morals and values are obviously meaningless to this administration unless, of course, they refer to the moral short-comings of their opponents.

A long four years

November 17, 2004

AUSTIN, Texas -- My, my, gonna be a long four years. House Republicans have rewritten the ethics rules so Tom DeLay won't have to resign if indicted after all. Let's hear it for moral values. DeLay is one of the leading forces in making "Republican ethics" into an oxymoron.

The rule was passed in 1993, when Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was being investigated for ethics violations. And who helped lead the floor fight to force him to resign his powerful position? Why, Tom DeLay, of course. (Actually, it's sort of a funny story. The D's already had a caucus rule that you had to resign from any leadership position if indicted. The R's changed their rules to match the D's, except they deliberately did not make their rule retroactive, so the highly indicted Rep. Joseph McDade, senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, could, unlike Rostenkowski, retain his seat.)

DeLay has already been admonished by the House ethics committee three times on separate violations of ethics rules. Please note, that is the Republican-dominated ethics committee. The hilarious rationale offered by the R's for the new rule to exempt DeLay is that no one can accuse them of taking the moral low road here because, "That line of reasoning accepts that exercise of the prosecutor in Texas is legitimate."

Uh, that would Ronnie Earle of Austin, who is a known Democrat. One the other hand, Earle is quite noted for having indicted more Democratic officeholders than Republicans, so it's a little hard to argue that this is a partisan political probe. Or it would be, if facts made any difference these days to talk-show screamers. - Molly Ivins

Yep...A long four years indeed. And you gotta love the unmitigated gall of the House Reichpublicans for their dazzling display of ethical and moral behavior. Hypocrisy never entered into the conversation or the equation.

It's beginning to look more and more like one party rule in the next Congress. Of course, Tom DeLay might be incovenienced, what with having to attend sessions of Congress in an orange jump-suit and wearing shackles and leg-irons. But hey, its a small price to pay for bringing ethics and values back to Congress.

Debate over Modern Uses of Torture

Why is this debate even occuring? Study after study has shown that torture provides no useful information, and serves no other purpose than to strike fear into a population targeted for torture.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Th Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by the United States in 1948. Thus it has been the law of the land ever since. The Administration has willingly flouted its provisions. The administrations actions have left our own troops open to the same, or worse, treatment at the hands the enemy in the event of their capture.

The Bush administration abandoned the moral high-ground when it sought legal advice from Mr. Gonzales regarding the circumvention of the Geneva Convention and international law with regards to torture. Dubbyuh, and his merry band, have brought us down to the level of the terrorists, and the attrocities revealed at Abu Ghraib only served to fuel anti-American sentiment in the region. This, in turn, has provided Al Qaeda and similar organizations with throngs of new recruits willing to sacrifice their lives in an effort to drive the invaders from their soil.

We see the consequences, a barely contained Fallujah...Rebellion threatening to boil over in Mosul...Terrorists striking with impunity throughout Iraq, this despite a declaration of martial law. These are the bitter fruits of the Bush doctrine in Iraq, and the harvest has only begun.

Ohio hearings show massive GOP vote manipulation, but where the hell are the Democrats & John Kerry?

November 17, 2004

Columbus, Ohio---Hour after hour the testimonies are the same: angry Ohioans telling of vicious Republican manipulation and de facto intimidation that disenfranchised tens of thousands and probably cost the Democrats the election.

At an African-American church on Saturday and then at the Franklin County Courthouse Monday night, more than 700 people came to testify and witness to tales of the atrocity that was the November 2 election.

Organized by local ad hoc groups, the hearings had a court reporter and a team of lawyers along with other appointed witnesses. At freepress.org we will be making the testimonies available as they're transcribed and organized, and we will present a fuller accounting of the hearings, along with a book that includes the transcripts.

But one thing was instantly and abundantly clear: the Republican Party turned Ohio 2004 into an updated version of the Jim Crow South.

Indeed, just where are John Kerry and the Democratic party on this issue? Why haven't they made their voices heard? John Kerry and John Edwards did, after all, prominse not to give up until every vote was counted. Yet, after some people stood in line for up to 11 hours on that rainy election day, Kerry conceded the election not even 24 hours after the last vote was cast in Ohio.

Thanks for nothing Senator Kerry.

Morals...? Values...? We don't need no steenkin' morals and values!

The irony of the party, which swept into office on a rising tide of 'morals and values', setting itself above the moral and ethical standards THEY set for THEMSELVES is almost too much to bear.

House Reichpublicans decided to change their own ethics rules to allow their leadership to remain in their leadership roles should they be indicted, tihs on behalf of one of their more ethically challenged members...Tom DeLay. Such hypocrisy is, apparently, becoming part and parcel of the Reichpublican ethos.

Given their leader, George W. Bush, this should come as no surprise though. In Dubbyuh we have the embodiment of a man who has never been held accountable for his actions. From his arrest on charges of disorderly conduct to his insider trading at Harken Energy, Dubbyuh has been bailed out by family and family friends, absolved of all wrongdoing by the mere mention of his family name. Were he not the son of George H.W. Bush and grandson of Prescott Bush, he would be pumping gas in some dusty little Texas hell-hole, drinking his brains out and beating his pit-bulls every night.

Instead, though, he has America bent over the proverbial brass-rail, it knickers around its ankles, its skirts over its head, suffering the humiliation of his unwanted attentions.

The Artful, but Tactless, Dodgers

With any and all who have failed to toe the Administration line, or embarrassed the Administration in any way, dropping like flies, it behooves us to examine just what Dubbyuh is up to.

What he is doing, is further insulating himself from the real world. His appointments to his cabinet are based, not upon ability, but upon personal loyalty to Dubbyuh and his policies. This will squeeze the last vestiges of dissent out of his administration, and leave him in an ideologically pure vaccum.

This new cabinet will only serve to further isolate Dubbyuh from the consquences of his actions. But its nothing more than the logical extension of Dubbyuh's dodging of responsibility since he was a teen-ager.

Speaking of dodging responsibility, it appears that House Reichpublicans...er...Republicans are about to change their own rules of conduct to protect one of their own from certain leagal entanglements. I'm speaking, of course, of the the head of the GOP's Committee on Gerrymandering, Tom DeLay.

Apparently, if the leader of the House Reichpublicans is indicted for a felony, he/she must give up his post. Since three of DeLay's staffers have been indicted in Texas, and Tommy seems to be next on the list, the House GOPers are taking pre-emptive action. They are seeking to change the ethical guidelines which would require Tommy to give up his position as Majority Leader, should he be indicted. They're calling the investigation into his fund raising activities "politically motivated". I think it's up to the courts, and not the House leadership to make decisions as to Tommy's guilt or innocence.

The utter hypocrisy of this stance should be obvious...The Reichpublicans swept to power this year on a wave of concern for "values and ethics". Apparently they have neither of these qualities.

Colin and Condi-mima

So, Colin Powell resigns. No surprise that, but he should have done so when it became clear that Dubbyuh was up to no good in waging war on Iraq. But no...He sat before the United Nations and lied, and you could tell he was pissed off at having to repeat the bullshit the Administration was spewing. But did he do the right thing...? Did he resign in protest...? No. He played the "good soldier" and followed his marching orders without question. But you know what...? From Nuremberg forward, obeying orders hasn't shielded war criminals from responsibility for their actions.

Yes, Colin turned to the dark side. He, not always quietly, lapped up the excrement the Administraion put forth as manna from heaven and did nothing to stem its abuses of power.

But now, we have the "New and Improved" Condi-mima as Secretary of State. And we thought Colin was Dubbyuh's lap dog.

What Price Security?

For those of you who remain unconvinced as to Alberto Gonzales' willingness to ignore, not only the Constitution, but also international law, I suggest you goto "Alberto Gonzales: A Record of Injustice". It provides a full disclosure of his past actions with links to the memos(pdf) in question.

Now, let me ask you...Why are you willing to give up the freedoms, paid for by the blood of our forefathers, so easily? Why so eager trade these hard won freedoms for a small measure of illusory security? If it's for fear of further attack, that is the price of living in a free and open society. Unless you are willing to live in a closed and tightly controlled state, you should be careful what you wish for.

I know I feel safer...

Dubbyuh's disconnect from reality continues to grow. While 15,000 troops are slogging through Fallujah, the guerillas are striking at will throughout Iraq, Mosul has all but fallen to them...All this under a state of martial law declared by Iraq's puppet prime-minister. In Dubbyuh's little world, however, everything is absolutely peachy.

Dubbyuh and his merry band continue to underestimate the forces arrayed against our troops in Iraq, and their policies reflect that lack of understanding. But all those loyal Bushies voted for him. Now, despite the spectres of war, poverty, soaring healthcare costs, a crumbling social safety-net and budget deficits as far as the eye can see that still ahunt us, at least we are now safe from the horror of same-gender couples being able to have the same rights, benefits and responsibilities of straight married couples. I know I sleep easier at night.

Homeland...? Security...?

Today in a small town just south of Columbus, OH, Dick(less) Cheney spoke of the Bush administration's commitment to preventing NBC attacks on US soil. This commitment rings hollow in light of the facts.

Our seaports are largely unsecured, and only a tiny fraction, about 5%, of cargo containers entering the US are inspected. More money is spent on the war in Iraq in 3 days than has been spent on securing our seaports in the last three years.

Thanks to the Republican controlled Congress a bill to tighten security at nuclear facilities and petro-chemical plants was scuttled. "It would cost too much..." industy lobbyists poor-mouthed. 123 of the sites are in areas where 1 million or more people could be sickened injured or killed outright.

Nearly half of all cargo on US airliners is screened, and instead of no-fly zones over US nuclear and chemical facilities, they are instituted over Disneyworld, Disneyland and the SuperBowl.

Nearly $99 billion is needed to bring US first responders up to even mininmal capacity to deal with large scale attacks, yet in its 2006 budget, cuts are made in funding to firefighters and first responders, with funding for police cut nearly in half.

Yes boys and girls, America is (not) safer under the firm hand and steadfast leadership of the Bush administration and the neocon chicken-shits...er...hawks that currently infest the halls of our nation's capitol. So, you can('t) sleep safer tonight knowing that the Bush Administration is(n't) on the ball and (sure as hell) is(n't) working hard to keep America secure.