Marc Perkel Rantz

Bush Seeks Political Control of Churches

In yet another example of why the separation of Church and State is a good thing - Bush is making a blantant attempt at controlling the politics of churches. And - like he does with corporation that support him I'm sure he will dole out his faith based rewards based on the support the church provided during his election.

If this were legal - can you imagine the implications? Suppose Kerry were elected. Then he could pass out faith based initiative money to churches who support democrats and help them spread the word of God as seen by Christian Democrats as opposed to Christian Republicans.

Here are some of the things Bush wants churches to do for him.

• Send your church directory to your state Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters or give to a BC04 field representative.

• Identify another conservative church in your community who we can organize for Bush.

• Recruit 5 people in your church to help with the voter registration project.

• Talk to your pastor about holding a citizenship Sunday and voter registration drive.
  

Think about it. If you go to church - do you want your pastor to turn over your name to the Bush campaign - or to the Kerry campaign - or to ANY campaign? In fact - if your church turns over it's directory to ANYONE especially the government then the pastor should be fired and defrocked. When a person decides to choose a church, that is a private matter, and it's none of anyone's business. I would encourage members of churches who turn their church directory over to political campaigns to sue their pastor and to inform the IRS of tax exempt status violation.

Clinton Beats His Wife!

Thanks to Bartcop for this idea. This is how the right wing news media would spin this headline. The story is that Bill Clinton's book has beat Hillary's book in the New York Times Bestseller's list.

Did Saddam Gas the Kurds? Or was it Reagan?

It was the 1980s. Saddam was America's puppet in Iraq fighting the Iranians who has just turned into an Islamic state after America's puppet - The Shaw of Iran - died of cancer. Osama bin Laden was our buddy in Afganastan and the Teliban was know as the MujaHadine Freedom Fighters. Reagan was trading arms for hostages to fund an illegal war against the Sandinista-controlled government of Nicaragua. And now Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield was makking oil deal with Saddam Hussein. (pictured here)

We now accuse Saddam of gassing his own people and we want to put him on trial for it. And - if he did it - he deserves to die for it. But America gave Saddam the poison gas that he used to hill the Kurd - gas that he was supposed to use to kill Iranians.

Poison gas is illegal under International Law and America making it is illegal. But Americans are above the law - or specifically Republican presidents are above the law - and we make nerve gas and we gave it to Saddam to use to kill people in Iran - which Saddam also did.

So - you see - Republicans interpret the law differently than the rest of the world. It's OK to gas Iranians - but it's not OK to gas Kurds. If Saddam if found guilty then i- in my view - his partner Ronald Reagan is also guilty. Reagan gave Saddam poison gas to kill Iranians and Saddam did what Reagan wanted - but he just gassed some Kurds on the side.

Reality is different than American political fiction. Under International Law it's just as illegal to gas Iranians as it is to gas Kurds and the criminals include everyone who was involved which includes those who supplied Saddam with the gas with instructions to use it.

Reagan is dead now - and beyond the reach of the law. But Reagan was Saddam's partner in the gassing of the Jurds and a conviction of Saddam is also a conviction of Ronald Reagan - both of whom are criminals of war.

What are War Crimes?

Here's a little something I snagged off of CBS News - what are War Crimes? Their story is in reference to Saddam - but look at the list and see how many of these apply to Bush. Look to me like Bush has committed most of these crimes himself. No wonder Bush was so interested in trying to get the US to pass a resolution excusing Americans of War Crimes in Iraq. Glad they didn't pass that! Now Bush might some day be put on trial for his criminal acts.

Saddan is a bad man and deserves to be pout on trial. Bush is far worse and is the most dangerous terrorist on the planet.

The following definitions of these crimes were taken from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:

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Genocide
This crime occurs when "the perpetrator killed one or more persons" who "belonged to a particular national, ethnical, racial or religious group," if the perpetrator "intended to destroy, in whole or in part, that national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Genocide can involve any of the following acts: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, by forcibly transferring children.

Crime Against Humanity

This crime involves conduct that "was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population." The possible elements of crimes against humanity are:

• apartheid
• deportation or forcible transfer of population
• enforced disappearance of persons
• enforced sterilization
• enslavement
• extermination
• forced pregnancy
• imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty (Abu Ghraib - Guantanamo Bay Cuba)
• murder (Abu Ghraib)
• persecution (Abu Ghraib)
• rape (Abu Ghraib)
• sexual slavery or enforced prostitution (Abu Ghraib)
• sexual violence (Abu Ghraib)
• torture (Abu Ghraib - Guantanamo Bay Cuba)

War Crimes

War crimes cover offenses against soldiers as well as civilians that take place in the context of armed conflict. In addition to the elements listed under crimes against humanity, the possible elements of war crimes are:

• attacking civilian objects (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• attacking civilians (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• attacking objects or persons using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions
  
• attacking personnel or objects involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission
  
• attacking protected objects
  
• attacking undefended places (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• biological experiments
  
• compelling participation in military operations (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• compelling service in hostile forces (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• cruel treatment(Abu Ghraib- Guantanamo Bay Cuba)
  
• denying a fair trial(Guantanamo Bay Cuba - Patriot Act)
  
• denying quarter
  
• depriving the nationals of the hostile power of rights or actions (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• destroying or seizing the enemy’s property (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• destruction and appropriation of property (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• displacing civilians (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• employing poison or poisoned weapons
  
• employing prohibited bullets (Uranium Shells)
  
• employing prohibited gases, liquids, materials or devices (Uranuim Shells)
  
• employing weapons, projectiles or materials or methods of warfare listed in the Annex to the Statute
  
• excessive incidental death, injury, or damage (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• improper use of a flag of truce (Tricked into disarming - then attacked)
  
• improper use of a flag, insignia or uniform of the United Nations (Falsely Claims Justification by UN Resolution)
  
• improper use of a flag, insignia or uniform of the hostile party
  
• inhuman treatment (Abu Ghraib - Guantanamo Bay Cuba)
  
• killing or wounding a person hors de combat
  
• medical or scientific experiments
  
• murder (Abu Ghraib)
  
• mutilation (Abu Ghraib)
  
• outrages upon personal dignity (Abu Ghraib)
  
• pillaging (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• sentencing or execution without due process (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• starvation as a method of warfare (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• taking hostages
  
• treacherously killing or wounding (Fake War with Iraq)
  
• unlawful confinement (Guantanamo Bay Cuba- Abu Ghraib)
  
• unlawful deportation and transfer (Guantanamo Bay Cuba - Patriot Act)
  
• using protected persons as shields
  
• using, conscripting and enlisting children
  
• willfully causing great suffering (Abu Ghraib)
  
• willful killing (Abu Ghraib)
  

Can Republicans say "Go Fuck Yourself"?

I guess so? That's what Vice President Cheney said on the Senate floor. And - he refuses to apologize for it. So - I'm confused. I thought that the Republicans were the party of family values and that we had a Christian nation? What kind of example does it set for Christian children when Cheney says "Go Fuck Yourself" and doesn't even apologize for it?

On a side note - in the 1990s if Al Gore told a Republican to go fuck himself - do you think that the press would have given him a pass or do you think they would have carved it on his tombstone? You would think that the press would have covered Cheney saying Go Fuck Yourself as much as Deans screech - wouldn't you?

Price of Freedom Fries keeps going up

When France opposed the illegal war in Iraq and led the coalition of the unwilling against being suckered - Bush started calling them "Old Europe" and renamed French Fries to Freedom Fries. Now he goes crawling on his hands and knees begging the French to forgive him and give him money and troops to help bail him out in this important election year.

Now Americans are hated everywhere. He has empowered our enemies and alienated our friends. And his stunts like Freedom Fries will cost the lives of more Americans because he hasn't figured out that if you piss people off they aren't going to do you any favors.

Fed Intrest Rate Hike - Might be the last straw

The FED raised the interest rate today and it might be the last straw that will break the fragile economy. We are running on totally false numbers. Gas prices and energy prices spiraling out of control - health care costs in double digit inflation - and wages continue to drop. This is insanity and things are about to break. America is on the verge of collapse.

Someone at Democratic Underground Met Clinton and said ...

Someone met Clinton yesterday in Santa Clara and reported tha Clinton is taking this election seriously. Let's hope it's true.

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My husband, a fellow DUer, and I met the Big Dog, the Honorable William Jeffereson Clinton, last night at a fancy, shmanzy fundraiser in California. Through contacts, we were able to gain entrance to this exclusive event of the Democratic Party elite. We dined on barbeque and enjoyed the view at a "hillrop retreat" in Santa Clara Valley.

We were interviewed by the media as we approached the grounds of the home. One reporter implied that my husband, who was carrying Mr, Clinton's book, had just bought it that morning to bring to the event. He launched into a tirade about how he'd had the book for days, and how Mr. Clinton was the best President of his lifetime,etc.

We waited out in the sun for an hour or so, eating and drinking, until the President made his appearance with Nancy Pelosi. Of course he was greeted like a rock star. I was about ten feet from him, and, if you will allow a personal comment, he was even more handsome than in phographs,and very svelte. He is really in good shape! His first move was to thank the jazz band that was playing. He shook every band member's hand and had a word with each of them. He thanked the firefighters who were manning the barbeques. Yay, firefighers!

But the President was in a serious mood, and he gave a serious speech. There were moments of humor, but the theme was urgency. He actually said that if, heaven forbid, the * wins this Fall, AND the repukes retain control of both houses again, our country will not the same. I think his exact words were "You won't recognize this great country." He ended with a plea to tell everyone we know what is happening and what is at stake in this election. He told us to talk to people in words that they can understand, and to explain to them what cuts are being made in education, health care, and after school programs just so that people like him can have a tax cut. He was particularly biting and sarcastic about tax policy and the deficit.

He made fun of the repukes selling themselves as the party of fiscal discipline. He said they were more like teenagers who had been given their inheritance too early and couldn't wait to blow it!

Brothers and Sisters, the Big Dog was serious last night. He did not smile during his speech. He KNOWS what's at stake and he was begging us to do EVERYTHING we can to stop *, and to win back the House, the Senate, or both. I'm just the messenger. Think of this man, of all he has endured and sacrificed on our behalf(knowing, of course, that he is not perfect). He is scared, and we should be, too. NOW LET'S DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Republicans Fail to hide raising Debt Limits

At least Republicans are at least still embarrased about their borrow and spend politics and have tried to hide raising the borrowing limit inside the defense spending bill. Basically ther way it worked was that there would be language in the bill that would make financing a national secutity issue and thus in times of (fake) war the debt limits wouldn't apply - allowing Republicans to borrow and spend without the embarrassment of being seen raising the debt limits during an election year. The Democrats finally found the balls to stop it.

Saudi's Own 7% of America

According to the Michael Moore movie Fahrenheight 9/11 Saudi Araiba owns 7% of America. With the growing deficit that percentage is increasing. Soon America will be under Saudi control and we will basically be their slaves.

Bush's tax cust are a means of transferring America's wealth and power to the Saudi royal family. The Saudi's no longer pay taxes - but the still pay - but now it's in loads. We are borrowing money from them - paying higher gas prices to them - making them richer - and America is becomming more indebeted to them. Once they own us - we will become Sauds.

Will we be forced to become Muslim and live under Muslim law? Will we have public beheadings like the Saudis do? Will women be forced to wear burkas? I guess we'll find out if Bush is reselected. Because the deficit will soon climb to over 1 trillion dollars a year - and the percentage of foreign ownership of America will grow. And once we are owned - you can kill American soveriengty goodbye.