Voting for the man.

So I've been using this venue to vent for a while now. Can you blame me? The hypocrisy, incompetence, and venality of the GOP is almost beyond comprehension.

I have not been keeping up too well on Jeff City, but you can and should go to Fired Up Missouri for that. They do a terrific job of exposing the sewer that is the GOP side of the General Assembly.

So, summer is coming up and it's time to get partisan for '08. I am so sick of the well-meaning voter who says "I vote for the person, not the party." Well, that high-minded but bogus attitude is what got us in the mess we're in. You can vote for the most moderate GOPer in the world, and guess what? He or she will still caucus with the GOP, and contribute to the bad guys getting the committee chairs and setting the agenda, locally, state-wide, and nationally.

So if you hear someone say they "vote for the man," gently remind them that even though GOP candidate 'X' might be a wonderful guy or gal, the folks he or she is beholden to are the same bozos who kill Medicare, women's rights, college loan programs, organized labor, child care, clean streams, national parks, privacy, choice, public education, and more. Remind them that "voting for the man" got us the Iraq occupation, added disaster in New Orleans, and the loss of our international stature.

It's basic civics. In a two-party system, it's all or nothing along party lines. In Missouri, that means Matt Blunt and his swift-boat contributors run the show. In DC, Bush and his corporate cronies run the nation and to a great extent, the world.

All because American voters mistakenly think it's noble to vote without consideration of party. Really, these days, that's a luxury the nation and the world can no longer afford.

Such exquisite hypocrisy.

So this GOPer named Tobias is a big wig in the State Department. Deputy Secretary of State, as a matter of fact. And before that he was W's AIDS czar. Yep, he was a big proponent of abstinence and faithfulness over condoms to combat AIDS.

And oh yeah, and he has just resigned because he was a customer of that madam who's squawking in DC.

This should make for a fun weekend.

Satan and immigration

The right-wing media loves to highlight some way-far-left kook as if to say, "See, all liberals are like this guy." What if I said, "See, all conservatives are like this guy"? And the Utah Republicans are actually going to discuss this craziness.

Still watching Fox Noise?

You shouldn't be. Because the boneheads at Murdoch's right-wing propaganda outlet can't tell the difference between a parody of news and the real story. Check this out.

It's not that the Tillman family was lied to...

...according to the fundamentalist Christian who "investigated" the fratricide. This right-wing nutjob says that the Tillmans' lack of religious affilliation keeps them from accepting the government's horrendous treatment.

That would be nothing unusual for the run of the mill religious crazy, but the guy who said it, and along the way called Pat Tillman "Worm Dirt", is the guy the Army put in charge of investigating Tillman's death.

Read more about it here.

A wider view.

I've always thought that it's only a matter of time before we find a planet outside our own solar system that harbors life. The universe is too vast, to old, to fertile for Earth to be the sole bearer of biology.

Science came another step closer to finding such a place today. This is a smaller rocky planet, and orbits its Sun in the region where water could be present.

When the day comes that we do find evidence of biology on a distant world, it will be fun to see the creationists spin their way around that one.

Here's a Marine who has the right...

....to tell Bush and Rove and the rest of the morons who got us into Iraq what they deserve to hear but will ignore. I can never comprehend her pain, but I can back up her conclusion.

The Marine who wrote this may have been a DI, because her language is rough. But you must read it. Over and over. Link it up everywhere. THIS is what Bush and his cronies have wrought, for no other reason than their fantasy of a permanent Republican majority. I agree with her last line.

May they rot in Hell.

This is why Karl never got laid in high school.

He goes off on Sheryl Crowe. What a wanker, not to mention a boorish prick. Read all about the Evil One here.

Consider A Vacation in Beautiful Vermont

Wonderful place, full of really smart folks who are not afraid to speak their minds.

Buy their maple syrup, ski their slopes, fish their lakes, reward them for standing up to tyranny 200 years ago, and today.

PS. A state with only 6 GOPers in their Senate! Really, really smart folks.

Sean Hannity: Just another chickensh*t Fox Noise blowhard.

Fox Noise likes to bitch about debates. How about the Hanitizer running for the tall grass from the Mayor of Salt Lake City? Candyass.

It's Medal of Freedom time, Alberto!

Gonzales had his butt handed to him in front of the Senate Judicial Coimmittee today, and that was just the GOPers. If he does as Senator Coburn(R-OK!) suggests and resigns, how long before W pins a Medal of Freedom on him?

It's called oversight, Al. Get used to it.

A well regulated milita...

Which "well regulated militia" was Cho a member of again?

Ooops. I forget that the NRA has vetoed that part of Amendment 2. My bad.

More proof that FOX Noise Channel makes you stupid.

The Pew folks found that Fox watchers are near the bottom of the pile in news knowledge.

Check it out here.

Update: There was some interesting editing on this story. Check out Hoffmania.com for the details. The upshot is the same. The Fox audience is clueless.

Green Zone Hit

A suicide bomber got into the Parliament building of the Green Zone today. We don't know the extent of the murder yet, but at least two members of the government were killed.

Tragic. Maddening. Predictable.

If you've read Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, you know exactly how this could happen.

George Bush Tries To Outsource His Own Job

Evidently W wants to off-load the Commander-in-Chief part of his job. But there doesn't seem to be anyone dumb enough to volunteer. Is this what all those folks with W04 bumper stickers voted for?

Oh, and how about that 3-month extension for all the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan? Big morale booster there.

We are being led by a world-class putz. But then, you already knew that.

Iraq: I've seen this movie before...

The more I see of Iraq on my tevee, the more deja vu I get. Where have I seen this before... Now I remember! It was all right there in the movie Aliens. Remember when the clueless Lieutenant (that would be George Bush) sends his troops (that would be our brave airmen, sailors, soldiers and marines) into the alien's den (that would be Iraq) with no intel (that would be Fieth and Wolfowitz and the rest of the neo-con brain-trust) and then makes every wrong decision possible? Remember the brave space marines getting totally munched by the aliens until Ripley takes over and gets the remaining troops out of there?

Oh, and it gets even better. Remember later in the movie that it was a corporate geek (that would be Haliburton, Blackwater, Custer Batttles, Brown and Root) who set up the whole thing so he could get "a goddamned percentage," no matter how many troops got killed.

Great movie, Aliens. way ahead of its time.

City Elections: Lots of work to do

Well, that did not go so well.

But when only 3000+ people bother to go to the polls, I don't suppose we can be that surprised. The current crew that runs Raytown should be congratulated on their political acumen. They have been and remain in total control of every lever of power in this town. They have the Star, the Tribune, and Raytown Past. They have the Chamber of Commerce, the School Board, the Police, and almost all of the Board of Aldermen. They have the Mayor's office, again.

Nonetheless, the folks that we supported made an impact, and they and other will keep working behind the scenes for a better Raytown. We at RPA will keep working, and writing about what they are doing or not doing at City Hall.

But think about this: The folks who won are TOTAL CONTROL of the city. If in two years, the Old Baptist Church is still mouldering, if the downtown is still a regional embarrasment, if more young families leave for Lee's Summit, if property values keep going down, if there are no new streetlights and curbs and drainage, if the 350 development is still in limbo, perhaps the folks of Raytown will go vote for folks with new ideas.

Let's hold Mr. Bower and his people to his promise. Let's see if Realize Raytown is anything more than a cute political slogan. These folks have promised Raytown the moon. Let's make sure they deliver.

Raytown Elections

Tomorrow (Tuesday, April 3) is election day in Raytown. If you're a Raytowner, you have a chance to bust up the "Reaching for Tomorrow" cabal that has held Raytown in its fevered grip for way too many years. These folks have supported policies that have split the city into two factions: Mayor Frank's toadies and the rest of us. They have dithered on important development issues, and they have abused the executive session privelege to keep information from the citizens.

We have a chance to change this, folks. We have a chance to vote for these folks, who care about Raytown, and have real ideas for positive, dare I say progessive, change:

Mayor: Greg Walters. Greg is the one who got recycling into Raytown, and he's the one who kept it here when the vile Sue Frank and her cronies wanted to kill it. Whenever there's good legislation in Raytown, you look at who pushing it through and you'll find that it's Greg Walters.

Ward 1: Richard Tush. You want a guy who will fight city hall when it's going wrong? Richard is the one for you.

Ward 2: Well, not much going on here. More of the same GOPers. Maybe next time we'll get a progressive in there.

Ward 3 (4 year term): Janelle Rubelee. This is one sharp lady, someone who will get the improvements that her opponent has failed to work for in the past eight years.

Ward 3 (2 year term): Tommy Bettis III. Ward 3, you can put a guy on the board who has enough energy to light up the whole ward. With Tommy and Janelle working together, you folks won't be neglected anymore at City Hall.

Ward 4: You guys have been lucky to have Sandy Hartwell, one of the few Aldermen on the board with the courage to stand up for what she thinks, not what Frank and Schlapia and Fleming want her to think. Sandy is a keeper!

Ward 5: Diane Krizek. This is one sharp business lady. If you want the Raytown budget (which is currently rife with errors) to be up to snuff, and you want city government to be fiscally accountable, and you want someone who understands today's hi-tech world, AND whose a great listener on top of it all, the you're going to vote for Diane. A new voice, new ideas, proven business savvy.

City Collector: He may not want his name mentioned on a liberal blog, but Bill VanBuskirk will be the first (and probably only) Republican Committeman I ever vote for, or even recommend. When it comes to what's happening to the city he loves, you can trust Bill to do the right thing.

School Board: Of course, Bobbie Saulsberry should get your vote. Thoughtful, concerned, able. There are more words, all good, to describe Ms. Saulsberry, but you get the idea. Vote for her. For the second slot, go for Dean Bray. He's got the experience and the common-sense we need on the School Board. The other guy's sign is in Will Kraus' yard. Enough said.