Freezing to death for Feudalism for Jeeeeeesus

“Jesus is my favorite political philosopher” Watch

If there was ever any doubt that the overarching plan of the crowd now in charge is to create feudalism here at home and global hegemony abroad, it can be laid to rest in light of W’s recently released budget. Here is how this works: You take a country which is flourishing, and you do everything you can to create a completely regressive distribution of wealth. This creates a permanent underclass. You pour all of the resources of the government into “war”. (Orwell in 1984 argued that the state of constant war would allow a government to siphon off all of the wealth that might otherwise be used to improve a citizenry’s lives). Continuous war has several effects: 1) It drains wealth from the government, making it less able to watch out for the poor. 2) It makes all of the rah-rah jingoists line up to shout down all opposition, and it 3) enriches war profiteering companies.

How do you create feudalism in the US? You have to destroy the middle class. You do this by enriching the already rich and impoverishing the very poor, and squeezing the crap out of the middle, so that they all fall down. Bush is doing a great job with this agenda. First, he establishes tax cuts for the very wealthy, which even in times of great economic need can of course never be rolled back. The horrors of taxing the wealthy are too great to contemplate. Then you need to start a war to drain resources from the government for social programs (check! Thanks Bin Laden!). Then you need to say, “Well, since we can’t tax the rich and are spending gobs of money on this expensive war (and since we’ve been so irresponsible that we are getting to the point of economic collapse because of our debt), we have to cut social programs!”

And that is just what these thieves have proposed. Bush’s new budget cuts funds for clean water initiatives, for public health programs, for the heating oil programs that help the elderly poor in the winter, for block grant for poor communities, for Medicaid for working poor families with children, for housing and urban development, and most of all for education. Altogether 150 programs that help the poor are cut.

We are rapidly moving towards a poorly educated, underpaid, cold, hungry, and ill underclass, who will toil for their corporate masters, while the government is converted merely to a means to control our overseas military. Corporations like Halliburton no longer serve the military, rather, the military serves them, as a means to draw taxes from the people. Therefore, it is in Halliburton’s interest to start lots of wars and increase the need for Halliburton.

Someone please tell me how cutting off a poor old ladies access to home heating money is in ANY way resembling the Christianity that W claims to love so much?

Good News for a Change Watch

In a sign that Democrats (at least those NOT in Washington DC) have a bit of a clue for once, it seems that Howard Dean will be elected the next chair of the DNC. Dean talks as if he actually gets it, unlike most DC Democrats who are afraid to point out horrendous GOP policies. We have a long, long way to go, but this is a good sign that state level Democrats are tired of losing.

Great Quotes Watch

Just how scripted are Bush press events? Here is an example of an actual exchange between Bush and one of the “citizen”s/actors they use as stage things:

MS. STONE: I would like to introduce my mom. This is my mother, Rhoda Stone. And she is grandmother of three, and originally from Helsinki, Finland, and has been here over 40 years.
THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. Same age as my mother.
MS. STONE: Just turned 80.

He’s like the Great Carnac – he knew the age of that woman’s mother before she even said it! What a genius.

And via Digby, here’s another great moment in wordage from our dear Shrubbery, where he is trying to explain his great Antisocial Insecurity rip-off:

“Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

“Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

“Okay, better? I'll keep working on it.”

“help solve the red”??? “help on the red”??? WTF? Yes, Dumbya, it’s kind of muddled all right, you stupid shit.

Humor Watch

Just when you need a laugh, there is Betty Bowers of the Landover Baptist Church, asking the eternal musical question: “Is Bush Gay?”