Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Reading the latest news this morning (what a waste of time), I read about the Senate's latest budget approval for 'fighting terrorism'... a phrase that encompasses anything that disagrees with the U.S. party line, doncha think?

Included in this bullshit I become stunned by this

The bill provides the Defense Department nearly $76 billion on top of $25 billion already appropriated mainly for Iraq for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. It also contains $5 billion for foreign policy efforts, including $1.28 billion to construct and operate a U.S. embassy in Baghdad that will be among the world's largest, $660 million for tsunami relief, $200 million for aid to the Palestinians, and $370 million in relief for the conflicts in Sudan.

This quote was borrowed from MSNBC.com... altho they probably lifted it from someone else... who knows..?

The underlined part is what really threw me - all of Saddam's so-called palaces throughout Iraq, and like we need to spend 1.28 billion dollars on the world's largest target for insurgents... Wholly Shit! What is really going on with this administration? I mean really going on? A Republican controlled Senate that is so fucking submissive to Bushco that tossing 1.28 billion dollars more into Iraq to flaunt its mission of control over the Mid East is rather appalling, to be quite mild about the whole thing.

Given what is already going on with our economy, despite "the latest figures", which are bent to make Bushco sound good, the great fluctuations in oil prices, despite the U.S. control over the second largest oil reserves in the world, despite the pitiful school systems this country is dealiing with... ah, shit! the list goes on... and on... and on...

So 'our' Senate approves 1.28 billion dollars to build (and maintain???) the world's largest embassy... Is this just me or does this make any fucking sense at all? To me it makes about as much sense as using a new $10,000 credit limit Visa card to build bird houses in Death Valley.

Who gets this money? One-point-two-eight-billion-dollars is not converted into one dollar bills and stacked into walls to make an embassy. This money is spent for materials (provided by who?) and for labor (hired by who?) to construct a monument to a U.S. Ego (Bushco) that, IMHO, will never be fully accepted by the people of Iraq.

Goddam... it! Bush is only in his 4th month of office! Fourth month! January 20th... second term!! Tom Delay! Condoleeza Rice! Bill Clinton buddying up to George Sr.!! Dubya holdin' hands with a Saudi! Georgie shakin' his booty in Georgia (the country)!!!

Gawd... is it just me..? Is this totally out of control or what? Where has common sense gone? What the fuck is happening? I am in a friggin maze - amazed... and it ain't good.

(I need another 2 week break from the news. It does me more harm than good to even skirt over the latest propa.. errr news.)

as many know, i decided a few weeks before the election that i supported bush...this wasn't a huge level of support, i merely thought he was the best of the bad choices available

i think i still feel that way, although my distatse for the available bad choices is growing...i am more inclined to believe today that this is all about safeguarding US interests in oil during the upcoming 20 crazy years (my estimate as to the length of time it will take to get serious about alternate energy sources and implement a plan...the term 'crazy years' comes from heinlein, and probably many others)

i really wanted to believe in man's noble intentions and all that...maybe i was trying to convince myself...but my gut is telling me otherwise...problem is, i don't think any of the other power-seekers would do it much differently

what you don't get is that this embassy doubles as the largest theme park in the middle east. Freedom World. it will be replete with Saddam effigy dunking booths, ferris wheels ("freedom wheels") and the highlight, a gigantic Rollercoaster of Democracy.

fun for all ages and creeds.

Hi, Knip! I think you are correct in saying," i don't think any of the other power-seekers would do it much differently," and that is the entire problem - Bush goes overseas and touts democracy, seeks democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan... blah, blah, blah...

Democracy goes pretty much hand-in-hand with freedom, and we cannot give up our freedom because of fear, and fear has been instilled by our politicians ever since (if not before... re: communism) 9/11. This 'fear factor' has been used to reduce freedoms, especially freedom of speech in very subtle ways... "you're either for us or against us"...

This admin may go down as the biggest giver of rights to the Military/Corporate structure in U.S. history, as opposed to the rights of the individual(s). As you and I know, this Military/Corporate structure works hand-in-hand but is in and of itself a non-entity... it is run by CEO's and FEO's and reliant upon the stock market to sustain itself... but it ain't human, Horace, and 'it' has more freedoms than the people and gaining more and more ground thru the bennies of the current admin. A few are making a financial killing at the expense of many - many taxpayers, many workers, many unable to protest in any way for it may hamper their earning ability.. i.e. their profession.

From the outside, I see the subtle manipulations of a two-faced administration that has both a flag and a christian 'god' on it's side... just ask them.
_____

those that run the world
run circles 'round all others.

those that own the world
see all men as their brothers.
_____

e_dog - LOL! With that as a lure, what Iraqi wouldn't wait anxiously for the Big Show! or any Mid-Easterner for that matter!! The future will surely outdo what Disney created in the 20th Century and we can shower the Regime Bush with prayers lifted from the Jesus-Minds by the Christian American cults that flourish on our televisions.

Whee! Jesus loves me like no other
He gave me freedoms Bush can smother

He gave me Life and Liberty
He gave me the likes of Dick Cheney

He gave me the fallen Towers of Mammon
He gave rap music to keep on jammin;

He gave me Rumsfeld, He gave me Rice
He gave Conservatism... He's so nice...

He gave me a world run by oil
Jeezus! that makes my blood boil

He gave me Bush burnin' outta control
He gave me reason to question the polls

A President, a Senate and of course, the House
He gave us a trinity - He ain't no louse!

No siree... this Jesus is the man
If anyone can ruin U.S., He sure can

both the dems and the rebubs support this
with only a few progressive congressfolks agin it.

money for the embassy in the emerald city.

condi in the green fort.

less an less for medicaid.

america.
and what can we do?

what the hell do you think we've been talking about all these past months and years..
this administration is out of it's mind PERIOD.
I don't care how Zen we are, or aren't, that's not the point. We are in fact in danger, and it's taking a long time for people to get it. Too long.
too long living out of touch, and then, when it touches you, it's too late.......

I've got this T-shirt on order Cec, I saw it on the back of the Nation. Normally, I don't go for this kind of thing, but this t-shirt was really compelling to me, in it's simple truth.
It's a picture of some Indians, armed with bows and arrows, and underneath the picture it says:
"fighting terrorism since 1492"
I wonder, should I fear wearing it?

I can't help but wonder at the sudden closure of many of our military bases at home at a time like this either. My gut tells me to duck.

I shudder to think of the nightmare one can put together out of it all at this point in time.....
H

I can't help but wonder at the sudden closure of many of our military bases at home at a time like this either. My gut tells me to duck.

I didn't hear of this, hest. Please tell me more! What military bases are they closing?

They came out with the announcement on Friday the 13th, saying it was a bad day anyway, so why not announce it then, that they are closing down several of our military bases here at home.. i can't remember which ones, a few AFB's in the mix, Portsmouth is one I think, which is really puzzlingly....uh, er, blatent should I say?

Obviously, these closures will not only put thousands out of work, and home, (and thus available for recruit to iraq?), but they will subtly put us all in a more vulnerable position here at home, (duh!).
But why?
Why close down bases at home after getting 82 million more dollars to spend in Iraq?
Hmmmmmmm. What's one to think?
Oh, I know.
Better think "God", eh?


H

It's all over the news....check it out
Very scary stuff.

i don't get it...are you for more military bases? or just keep the ones we have now?



and i think i understand what people talk about...maybe i don't jump to conclusions os quick though

I dunno knip, sometimes I think not jumping to conclusions has been our downfall in this game.

Ideally, I'm for no military bases anywhere period.

I don't understand this latest move though, considering the position that our current administration has put us in.
It seems they want to dig us in even deeper.

We'll see what old Rummy has to say about it all tommorrow eh?

smoochies
H

What the hell is wrong with you people. We won the war, we have prevailed. All combat operations in Iraq are over. Closing those military bases is our peace dividend. You all need to get yourself a subscription to The Washington Times.

The U.S. closes its military bases at home, to save money in order to fund its imperialist adventures abroad.

Meanwhile, the police state grows. . . .

I yi yi! You are right. Police state. It's the logical answer. If only we'd not wasted time (years) thinking it illogical.

Where is "God" now? Heh.

And silly me! Here I was, worried about the US becoming a police state the day after 9/11, and rudely told then, that I was...."hysterically overreacting and unAmerican"

Boy, I wish there were a bunch of people who wanted to sucede from all this disunion with me.....

I'd have something to believe in again.....

Instead, I'll watch in horror while the right wing puts some of it's best criminals in the Supreme Court, all dressed up as Judges.

YEEHAW! Giddy-up Mr. B.!

H

oh well now they've reached a compromise.

anyhow the picture overseas in a nutshell:(
we got a string of armed camps from bosnia thru turkey down into iraq and kuwait and qatar

baghdud's green zone why the locals call it the emerald city

yeah they can change the local american't air bases into industrial air-parks, I guess, but hey, free enterprise has its limits, and yes, the army is hiring, and contractors too, overseaz.

oh i seen the big american't contractors, waz it cheny's company7 called?Helleburton over 30 yearz ago in Vietnam, now it is a symbiotic relationship between these dominant military industrial companies and their economic needs that parlays into american't foreign policy, the domestic curtain has fallen. that's the real meaning behind americam military policy, the fire breathing military industrial complex.

Where is god? God is offended by our immoratity. He will smite us until we restore family values. The real danger is gay marriage. The real danger is cheer leaders doing bump and grind. The real danger is a woman's right to control her own reproductive rights. The real danger is;;;

We got to concentrate on the real threats.

Don't you people read the news. Don't you watch Fox. Lets get our priorities straight. Just a bunch of un patriotic people concerned with free speech. Don't you know freedom is not free.

I think the time has come for another ammendment to the bill of rights. Freedom from the press.

Thank god we seldom see any pictures of dead american soldiers. I watch the numbers grow. But I missed a couple of days. I was waiting for the count to turn 1700, Then I saw on Sunday it was 1797. But by now it is probably over 1800. Of course the number of dead infidels is astronomical. But who cares about infidels. Stop all this anti Bush rhetoric. We need to stand behind our commander and chiefs and support our troops. Support them with our plastic flag decals and Chinese made yellow magnetic stick on ribbons. Support them until they get home and then just like Vietnam it will be fuck you we got ours. Go find another job, another leg, another wife, another life. At least they have stopped charging wounded soldiers eight dollars a day for meals while they are in the hospital. So I suppose we are making progress.

I have some dear christian friends who are trying to set me straight. So far I just get more pissed. That thing with tilly and judih and the post about stopping the violence. I figure the best place to start is with the people around me, my family. I like Brooklyn's comment about "Do we really want peace." Yes I do. But at this point I don't think my family will ever get back together again except at the next funeral.