Monday, September 25, 2006

If he thinks Iraq’s just a comma, then he’s just a virgule

BLITZER: Let's move on and talk a little bit about Iraq. Because this is a huge, huge issue, as you know, for the American public, a lot of concern that perhaps they are on the verge of a civil war, if not already a civil war…. We see these horrible bodies showing up, tortured, mutilation. The Shia and the Sunni, the Iranians apparently having a negative role. Of course, al Qaeda in Iraq is still operating.

BUSH: ...I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is — my point is, there's a strong will for democracy.

Definition of virgule:
noun: a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information.

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Friday, September 22, 2006

Here comes your October surprise!

Amidst blog posts referencing emails from Karl Rove to Republican activists about an “October surprise,” I came across a scary report in The Nation about a US strike force of aircraft carriers being sent to the Persian Gulf, probably to attack nuclear sites in Iran.

According to the article, “The Eisenhower had been in port at the Naval Station Norfolk for several years for refurbishing and refueling of its nuclear reactor; it had not been scheduled to depart for a new duty station until at least a month later, and possibly not till next spring. Family members, before the orders, had moved into the area and had until then expected to be with their sailor-spouses and parents in Virginia for some time yet. First word of the early dispatch of the "Ike Strike" group to the Persian Gulf region came from several angry officers on the ships involved, who contacted antiwar critics like retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner and complained that they were being sent to attack Iran without any order from the Congress.”

I guess Bu$hco needs to launch its next war before they lose control of the rubber-stamp Congress.

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Fill ’er up!


I pulled in to my local BP Connect to get gas and was astonished when I saw that Regular was selling for only $2.39 a gallon. Seems like less than a couple of weeks ago it was more than $3.00. And then I remembered: it’s almost election time! Call me cynical, but I just wonder if Bu$hco has been putting pressure on their oily buddies to lower the prices at the pump so we’ll all forget about the recent gouging. Couldn’t be, could it?

Meanwhile, back in our oil war I think I read that 65 Iraqis were murdered today. Oh well, gas is cheap again. Fill 'er up!

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

Stratifying society by design


“As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.”

—Karl Rove


A new report out today from the non-partisan National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education confirms that a college education is increasingly becoming something only the wealthy can afford. From today’s New York Times: “The study...found that although the United States still leads the world in the proportion of 35- to 64-year-olds with college degrees, it ranks seventh among developed nations for 25- to 34-year-olds. On rates of college completion, the United States is in the lower half of developed nations.”

In the 1990s, Pell grants covered about 70% of the cost of a year of tuition and room and board at a four year college. Now, they cover less than 50%. College tuition is rising faster than the cost of living, faster even than the cost of healthcare.

Does anyone see a connection here? Could it be that the GOP leaders of our country really don’t want an educated population? Does it serve their purpose for there to be an educated wealthy elite, and a permanent, ever-growing underclass? Quick, let’s have some more tax cuts for the rich!

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