Does God Hate You?

Yeah, he probably does. Especially if you're poor, a condition afflicting 99% of the people on this planet. If you have a Christian-based faith, we all know what you're supposed to do with Wealth.

Since you cannot serve both god and money, (and you cannot hold public office if you are Christian) then what have the atheists in charge of our livelihoods decided to do to serve humanity's impoverished?

A good question. It has to do with population.

People in my neck of the woods are always bitching about the huge influx of illegal immigrants that has swelled this great country's population by a staggering 5.6%. Oh, the strain on our resources!* I wonder what these people will do in another 43 years when the world's population doubles?

The UN has concluded that there is a link between poor health care (yo, that includes birth control), soaring population numbers and having to live on less than $2 a day.

Given that the population in the poorest nations has tripled since 1950 and is expected to triple again in 50 years (whereas the US has merely doubled and will not do so again in 2050, in spite of the immigrant onslaught) it would seem that to reduce poverty you would need to start bringing family planning and birth control (among other things) to these nations.

So what are those atheists and religious bluffers ** in charge of our welfare doing? Well, they're denying birth control world wide. But you should have already known that, as one of Bush's first actions upon taking office in 2000 was to cut money to any program receiving assistance from the US State Department -- ending basic health care for the poorest and most unfortunate on our planet.

To the poor, I am sorry. It seems neither god or our government is on your side.

*Right, that was some sarcasm there. Glad you caught it.
** Bush is not a Christian. Or is he?

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/

Better than the Enquirer

Are blogs quicker and more accurate than mainstream media? This one sure as hell is! Today, the Associated Press released an article titled, "Military Ray Gun Makes Targets Feel On Fire".

That's great, but DogPile brought you that story back on December 19, 2006. And it contained an audio clip that far surpassed the Ass Press's lame photo.

So there you go. Get your news from me. I know what I'm doing.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/

The Bill Richardson Spiral

I greeted the announcement of his running for the Democratic candidate for president with much enthusiasm, although I am no longer a Democrat (and I kind of think they are all bastards).

Richardson has impressed me with his involvement in Sudan. The governor for New Mexico, he's made repeated trips overseas to try to end the genocide in Darfur. Yea to that, right?

Some research shows that this is not an anomaly. He negotiated with Saddam Hussein to release US hostages in 1995. He's been in Afghanistan and Iraq and all over the globe it seems. Even Nigeria (with Enron).

This is all wonderful. Sure, he doesn't support my view on immigration (who does?), but he also doesn't think we should be building a damn fence between the US and Mexico.

Yeah, and ok, he didn't really support the anti-war movement in 2003 and while his official platform calls for the withdrawal of all US troop in Iraq, he doesn't mention fate of the private contractors, permanent bases being built, huge-ass embassy, or how to economically rebuild the nation.

Plus his statistics are off. He says 40% of Iraqis are unemployed (nearly twice as much of the population than during the Depression in the US) and my sources say 60%.

Er, and I guess it's not really his official platform, just a speech he's preparing to give in December 2007!!!

Speech to the New Hampshire Democratic State Party State Central Committee
St. Anselm CollegeSaturday, December 16th, 2007(as prepared for
delivery)

Thank you Kathy. You are a great State Chair. I'd like to thank the State Committee for hosting me. I hope you all take great pride in your work in this last election. The Democratic tidal wave that rushed across America last month started right here in New Hampshire.

Anyhoo, I can do it. I can throw Iraq under the bus if we can get someone a little more involved in other world hot spots. Hey, Iraq's a mess, a solution won't be pretty. I get it.

He's for a woman's right to choose, for more diversity, for health care and separation of church and state!

Yet, he likes school vouchers and killing inmates and tax breaks for the wealthy, doesn't think that children born in this country should be given automatic citizenship, wants to throw more money in the military toilet...still though, he's down with alternative energy.*

And here's a tough one, Greg Palast had some negative stuff to say about him in his book, Armed Madhouse (pgs 253-254, 255-256, 257). Apparently, Richardson didn't care to do a ballot recount in his state in 2002. And his dad worked for Citi (as did I for a few years).

Pfftt. Minor things. Except that little Enron deal. What he knew or did not know while serving as President Clinton's Secretary of Energy is almost as important as his acts of deregulation and denial that the California energy crisis was manufactured.

And then there's the whole Wen Ho Lee scandal.

What finally did it for me was his employment with Kissinger Associates. You can not work for Henry Kissinger if you want me to support you. That's just stupid.

* According to On the Issues Take their test and see which candidates match your beliefs.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government

http://goodusgov.org/

First Annual Gump Award

I've just created a new category of awards, similar to the Darwin Awards. Mine shall be called the Gump Award, in honor of the movie Forrest Gump in which we hear the quote, "Stupid is as Stupid Does."

For 2007, my award goes to the Monkey In Charge * ** who's response to Saddam's execution went like this:

Well, the message is that it's a confusing message. It basically says to people, look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn't give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing. And it sent a mixed signal to the American people and the people around the world. And it just goes to show that this is a government that has still got some maturation to do.

Try to remember that this is the same man who, on December 29th, 2006 said:

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

We are reminded today of how far the Iraqi people have come since the end of Saddam Hussein's rule - and that the progress they have made would not have been possible without the continued service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.

I didn't make that one up either, it's on the Whitehouse website.

The best part about accusing the Iraqi government of "fumbling" the execution of the man we removed from office and put on trial by people we put in power is the complete lack of responsibility The Monkey takes. Classic!

Perhaps the problem is, as Bush puts it, there's just no sex in your violence. There certainly was nothing sexy about that cell phone footage. Well, one thing's for certain, we'll never have to hear him say this:

"I'm sorry."

As always, this administration leaves me thinking about an old David Rees Cartoon.


*Dear Jane Goodall, please don't be mad at me.

**I know, it's kind of a given. He's made so many of these types of comments you can fill a calendar with them. Still, this one is pretty awful. It will be interesting to see if he can top it. He still has 11 months to go.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/

the dumbassity has hit a new high

Idaho Governor Calls for Gray Wolf Kill
Idaho's governor said Thursday he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

What a great way to celebrate the comeback of a species on the verge of extinction! To kill them.

With 1,200 thought to live in the Rocky Mountains, Governor Otter's plan to remove 550 from Idaho would single-handedly halve the population.

A species the nation had spent eleven years and at least 7.7 million dollars in Idaho alone trying to bring back from extinction will now be taken to 100 animals, just so the governor and his friends can have a good ol' boy hunt. It is an expensive tab the governor wants US taxpayers to foot, served under the guise of protecting elk and deer for Idaho's hunting industry.

Perhaps Governor Otter should read a few articles on the Baiji, a Chinese dolphin declared extinct in December, 2006. In the 1980's, the dolphins dropped to 400 in number, three times more than the number of wolves Governor Otter wants to keep in his state. Unlike the wolves, the dolphins were threatened more by habitat destruction than by hunting. In 1997, only thirteen Baiji could be found in China. None have been seen since 2004.

Governor Otter has been accused by many of trying to manage wolf numbers through politics instead of through what is healthy to the ecology of the state. It seems astounding that after working so hard and seeing so much success with the wolf recovery program that one man could so quickly allow that time, money and effort to be wasted in a mass kill.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/

Ha ha, Loser

So good old Zalmay Khalilzad is going to be our next ambassador to the UN. That's funny. Bolton, who's been criticized as being too harsh and assholeish, is being replaced by a man who is "unusually outspoken," a PNAC lapdog, likes to promote murderers to higher positions of power and failed miserably at the last two jobs he's held.

What are this man's credentials, anyway? Where was the last place that Zalmay Khalilzad represented Americans? Iraq. And as you can see by the peaceful rebuilding of that nation, he was a huge sucess!

And before that he acted for us in Afghanistan, crushing the Taliban and smoothing out relations for the US search for bin Laden.

Really. Why don't we just nominate Pat Robertson to head the Department of Homeland Security?

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/