Monday, July 10, 2006

WHEN CHICKEN HAWKS ARE ALSO FAKE COWBOYS

There is a lot of buzz going on here in Texas about W. and his so-called ranch. It seems that W. does not own horses, nor does he ride them. Worse, he is supposedly afraid of horses.

Clark, a volunteer for the Radnofsky for U.S. Senate campaign, suggested that Bush does indeed ride. According to Clark, our cowboy president rides the electric horse at Wal-Mart while wife Laura inserts the coins.

Randy, another volunteer, who also happens to be a professional airline pilot for a well-known U.S. carrier, told our group that Dub was also afraid to fly jets and planes while "serving" in the National Guard.

Chicken pilot, fake cowboy. This is the dude that duped this great land into war.

Sharon, a rare gem of a liberal in Wise County Texas, works day and night for Democratic candidates. Unlike W., Sharon owns a horse, and she rides. More impressively, she can actually rope. Alas, Sharon has little time for either because she is committed to getting rid “of the rot in this state.” All of the rot started in Texas, according to Sharon.

These are just a few of the folks who are seriously committed to re-establishing the real party of the people in Texas. LS

ARE REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS REALLY UNNERVED BY BUSH'S NEO NUT AUTHORITARIAN POLICIES OR ARE THEY MERELY WORRIED ABOUT THEIR OWN DERRIERES DURING AN ELECTION YEAR?

I think you know the answer to that.

From The Washington Post.com via Buzz Flash.com

Excerpts:

Hoekstra's four-page letter of May 18 was posted yesterday on the New York Times' Web site. His staff confirmed the letter's authenticity but said it was meant to remain private. Spokesman Jamal D. Ware said Hoekstra "has raised these concerns, and they are being addressed. He will continue to push for full disclosure so the committee can conduct vigorous oversight."

The letter is significant because few congressional Republicans have complained publicly about Bush's surveillance programs, which include warrantless wiretaps of some Americans' international phone calls and e-mails as well as the massive collection of telephone records involving U.S. homes and businesses.

WAPO: "BUSH IS PRESSED ON REPORTING DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE"

THINGS MUST BE REALLY BAD WHEN A NEWSPAPER IN BRIGHT RED MISSISSIPPI PUBLISHES A LETTER FROM A DISGRUNTLED CITIZEN WHO IS CRITICAL OF THE GOP.

IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY IN TEXAS. AU CONTRAIRE, MOST LETTERS CRITICAL TO THE BUSHIES ARE PUT THROUGH THE BUZZ SAW.

Maybe we all ought to send our letters to Mississippi! LS

Another great find on Buzz Flash.com

"WORKING CLASS HURT BY REPUBLICAN POLICIES"

MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE GOP CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IS ALIVE, WELL, AND GETTING RICHER BY THE SECOND

From The Washington Post.com via Truthout.org.

Excerpt:

No wonder Americans hate the nation's capital. Federal employees are prohibited from supplementing their incomes with money from private sources, especially from lobbyists who have business before the government. Shockey says his payment was justified and within the rules. But experienced lobbyists around town question both its economics and its propriety.

The situation is an example of a common occurrence - the spinning of the "revolving door" between the public and private sectors. Shockey is deputy chief of staff of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Before that he was a partner for five years in a lobbying firm that made its living extracting goodies from the same committee. And before that he worked for Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who was then a member of the committee and is now its chairman.

Along the way, Shockey made millions. As a lobbyist in 2004 he earned $2 million, which is double what the city's top lobbyists were said to earn just a few years ago. Shockey, in fact, was on track to make $3 million in 2005, the year he returned to government as the No. 2 staffer for the Appropriations Committee.

Lobby shops often give parting gifts to colleagues who go into public service as a way to maintain strong relations. But the amount tends to be nominal and strictly tied to past performance to avoid even the appearance of paying a federal official in exchange for favorable treatment - an exchange that would be illegal.

Why, then, would Shockey's former firm pay him so much? The reason, several seasoned lobbyists speculated, must have been the firm's desire to keep its communications with Shockey and the appropriations panel absolutely seamless. "There would be no need to pay out that amount of money unless you needed to maintain a superlative relationship with that person after he leaves," one veteran lobbyist said.

Spokesmen for Shockey's old firm say the company already had deep connections with Lewis and didn't need any more. Still, who can blame skeptics for thinking that $2 million might buy more than merely goodwill?

"$2 MILLION TO HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CHIEF OF STAFF QUESTIONED"

TRUE TO THE TALIBAN WING OF THE GOP, BUSH WILL VETO BI-PARTISAN STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL

Excerpt:

The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del. If the Senate approves the bill it would go to the president's desk.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who backs the bill, has said he will try to bring it up for a Senate vote soon.

"It is something we would, frankly, like to avoid," Rove said when asked if the White House would welcome, or dread, vetoing legislation passed by a Republican Congress, especially on so emotional an issue as embryonic stem cell research.

But Rove said that he believes the legislation will pass the Senate with more than 60 votes this month, "and as a result the president would, as he has previously said emphatically, veto the Castle bill."

"I'm appalled that Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to veto a bill that could help 110 million people and their families," DeGette said today after being informed of Rove's remarks.

Um, congress folks should be well beyond "being appalled" by Bush. They should have stood up to him many moons ago. LS

BUSH TO VETO STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL

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