The short version: of the 1 billion set aside to address redress for those injured during work at ground zero in New York, 45k has been paid out, with 75 million going to lawyers. There. Incentive to riot.

I want to know who in this country can justify this in the least. I want to find the conservative republican Bush-lover who can say “this makes sense” with a straight face, and mean it, and not be so bat-snot crazy that he’s eating live bugs out of an old jelly-jar. Because that’s what this country has become– crazy– beneath and a Bush and a Cheney that have so abused our sense of right and wrong, we allow this sort of thing to go on.

I’m not here to tell people to break the law, and I’m not here to ask folks to do bad things. But if all of this is legal, then someone needs to pay. Whatever lawyer or congressperson made this possible needs to be tarred and feathered. And the lawyers who are doing this? Tar and feather them too.

Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that no claims are legitimate. Let’s just say the the 1 billion was set aside for something it should not have been set aside for. How does that in the least justify these lawyer’s taking it at all? How can you say they have earned the money they’ve taken to keep people from taking the money? I mean, if you even cap claims at, say 50k, that’s 1500 people, 1500 American citizens, who could have gotten this money and done something with it… and pretty much where ever they spent it, it would have gone back into America.

I’m speculating now, but lawyers who know how to steal 75 million probably also know how to keep from paying taxes on it, with off-shore accounts and such. Well hip hip hooray. That’s 75 million we’ll never see again.

It’s disgusting, and it’s wrong, and yes, I blame these damn hypocritical Republicans, the ones who preach “down with big government” while at the same time hollering “don’t question authority.” They’re the ones who have created this atmosphere of bruised complacency.

(article of inspiration: WTC LAWYER THE DEVILS ADVOCATE | By SUSAN EDELMAN | New York News | New York City News | NY News)

So everyone except our guv’ment ofishuls knows that we aren’t really fighting Iraq anymore, we’re fighting Saudi Arabia. That’s embarrassing, because Bush I is great pals with the royal family over there. Sure, they behead some folks now and again (including a teenage girl from Sri Lanka who was babysitting a baby who died– her fault? Nope, nor was she given a lawyer to help state that.) But for the most part they just can’t control their citizens.

That stings, because it’s not the ofishuls who are getting blown to pieces, its citizens. You see the problem? Our government sticks its head up its ass, pleasing another government but not the people, but rather than attack the gluteus ostriches, they attack citiznes who also aren;t pleased by their government’s actions. It’s like a wife, against her husband’s wishes yelling at another man for the sake of his wife, so he hauls off and hits the yeller’s husband.

I’m trying to find an article about Senator Sam Brownback, who I heard on the radio the other day saying something about how we can’t dismiss the possibility of invading Iran. Yes, Iran. Because Bush I doesn’t have any friends there, see. Meanwhile, Osama’s probably somewhere in Pakistan, and is that an option for Sammy? Nope.

Let me paraphrase the Dixie chicks. I am from Kansas, originally, and I am ashamed that Sam Brownback is from Kansas. Not quite as heavy as what they said. Still true though.

(articles of inspiration: Saudi fighters pose special problem , Death Sentence Draws Near as Maid Waits for Appeal )

He’s gone and admitted it. Bush has admitted that his office probably leaked Valerie Plame’s name to the press. And now he’s saying we have to move on. Hello? Mr. Bush? Just what country do you think you are president of? We don’t move on in this country. We sell newspapers and magazines. (And fornicate). Everyone says you’re stupid, but for the Love of God(tm), do you really think we’re just going to move on?

And then he tries to even shift blame back to the everyone else: “I’ve often thought about what would have happened if that person had come forth and said, ‘I did it.’ Would we have had this endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter?” If there was even a 1% chance we were going to move on, this statement shouts “Monicagate” louder than anything else. Someone, surely, will march out the money comparison chart.

Or the consequence chart. At the end of the day, Clinton lied about a BJ. I think the only repurcussion is that some men used it as an excuse to cheat on their wives. Libby, or whomever, leak a name in retaliation for intel they didn’t like, and now we’re in an illegal war with thousands of troops dead, tens of thousands injured,hundreds of billions spent. Yeah, sure, let’s move on.

(article of inspiration: Bush admits administration leaked agent name – Politics – MSNBC.com)

Students Trade Bibles for Porn – XBIZ.com

Not sure how I feel about this one. I mean, one the one hand, hurray for porn. On the other hand (the one I don’t use for porn, I guess,) I don’t see this converting anyone, helping anyone who is struggling with the evils of zealous fundementalism, or even being anything more than a way to fob off old Gideons lying around. If anything, it’s just going to rally Christians together, make them stronger in a united front. In sense, the ‘Smut for Smut’ traders are just preaching to the choir, pun intended. Now, if they were to trade Bibles for versions that pointed out the inconsistency, rampant hypocrisy, and downright foolishness, that might be worth the effort.

(PS using the Word Press “press-it” function to link articles of inspiration, which is why the link is now at the top.)

 I’m a cynic, I know, but still, who couldn’t have predicted what a hyporcritcal mess Live Earth would be. The problem with the human population on this planet is that there’s too many of us in any one place. Now, I’m not here to talk about population control or anything like that. But where, exactly, do we see the most devestating enviromental impact? In places with significant population density. So getting people together is going to necessarilly have serious enviromental impacts. I think the word we’re looking for is “duh.”

I’m a cynic, yes, and I can’t stand Bono for some reason. Nevermind that I don’t like U2’s music. Never mind that I think they’re overrated to the point of absurdity. I think it goes back to some awards show that they couldn’t attend, so the did an acceptance speech via satellite from back stage at one of their concerts. And they were piss drunk and sweaty, with these prissy little grins on their faces, cause they are worshipped by millions for making schlock rock. So it’s no surprise I can’t get behind Bono’s causes. I can’t get behind Bono. The man’s a joke.

Sure, he’s trying to do good. Credit for that? No. Read the article. I don’t care if the concerts have a zero-sum carbon imprint. My ass– you can’t get away with creating that much pollution just by planting some trees in Madagascar. All those celebrities can just bite me. I’ve never been into hero worship. I just don’t get it. I like this band’s music, that director’s films. But why should they be treated with any kind of reverence? If anyhing, they’re servants. I’m not going to suggest we need to bring back a kind of class system. But they work for me. I pay them to do that. I’m not going to worship them too.

And I’m certainly not going to give them credit for having their hearts in the right place. Just stick to what you do. You make the music, which will help me relax, and then I’ll go make the world a better place. And if not me, than the guy I work for will do it, since I freed him up by doing some of his chores for him. See how the chain works? You’re at the bottom, rock stars, quit screwing things up by acting like you’re on the top.

(article of inspiration: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=466775&in_page_id=1879)

It’s getting to be almost entirely too easy to point out what a ridiculous clown Bill O’Reilly is. That’s not hyperbole, folks, that’s just the plain truth. Bill’s latest nonsense is to report on roving gangs of pink-pistol carrying lesbians, who go around attacking straight men, raping little girls, and recruiting 10-year-olds to a life of homosexuality.

I’m not making this up, or exagerating in anyway. What must it be like for Bill on a daily basis? Does he not have anyone around him who isn’t a complete yes man and a toady? I guess the gigantic size of one man’s stupidity is a testemant to his success. I mean, obviously, he makes enough money that no one wants to contradict him, for fear of losing access to his table scraps.

They can’t last, though– he’ll reach a critical mass of dumbness, and no one but the subscribers to The Weekly Sun will bother tuning in. Bill, at least dress your silliness up in the sort of Michael-Moorish rhetoric that makes us feel smarter for paying attention. Just hearing about Bill O’Reilly is making me feel dirty– the same depravity I feel knowing that facts about Paris Hilton are stored in my brain forever. (Sweet sweet Alzheimer’s, release me!)

Bill, you went from credible to discredible, and are moving into incredible. Next stop, well, as Michale Jackson (Alzheimer’s, where are you?)

(article of inspiration: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=274)

According to Fox News, and online columnist Jerry Bowyer, universal healthcare in the United States would breed terrorism. Yeah, that’s an easy one. You see, if the state ran healthcare, there would be bureaucracies, and terrorists are really good at hiding in between the cracks of bureaucracies. Just look at how they foiled the INS! Bowyer says, “And if one of your guys is a jihadist, if one of your doctors is spending all the time online reading Osama bin Laden fatwas, someone’s going to notice that.” Now, I’m trying to see how that’s relevant… I guess if you work for a government beauracracy, no one is allowed to watch your internet activity? Whereas now, private citizens can be monitored? Oh wait, that’s right, the good old Patriot Act. Silly me.

Sigh. Terrorism today is sort of like halitosis– it’s been invented by the powers-that-be to take your money. Listerine invented the term “halitosis” to scare people into thinking their stinky breath was a disease. Some people DO have stinky breath. There’s just no such disorder as halitosis– it’s like saying that being ugly is a disease. And there are acts of terrorism in the world, but it’s not based on this large international-scaled super network. It’s certainly not something that befits going to war over. It is a police matter. Let the police handle it. Investigate, interrogate, incarcerate. Done. And let me gets some healthcare.

(article of inspiration: here)

This is something you need to know about. The US Mint tradional runs at a profit, which makes sense– it doesn’t cost $100 to create a Benjamin Franklin bill. This is called Seigniorage. Also, the Mint strikes commemerative coins, which they sell at a profit. All of this is great- the profit flows into the treasury, where it belongs. But it turns out that pennies do cost more than a 1 cent to strike. So there’s a measure in Congress (HR 5815) to get rid of pennies, and requiring vendors to round all purchases to the nearest nickel. On the face of it, that might be a good idea. But buried inside this measure is a provision for the additional profit to roll NOT into the Treasury, but into the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve is not run by our government, despite that word “Federal” in there. Its barely even monitored by it– and it operates under a shroud of secrecy through which citizens to not have a right of access. The long and short of this is that if HR 8515 passes, more than 5 billion in Treasury profit will be funneled in a stock-bearing institution. Do you own stock in the Fed? No, you’re not a privately owned bank. You’re not a multi-milliionaire. You’re not a credit-issuing company earing billions of dollars in usury charges.

What can you do? Call your congressman. Even better– call your cousins in the Red states and have them call their congressman. This is pork beyond pork. This is like meta-pork. Don’t let the tax-dodging rich get tax-dodgingly richer.