Tuesday, November 30, 2004

If You Think Our Healthcare Is Bad...

Since the US invasion of Iraq, Iraq’s health care system, and the health of the Iraqi people have been on Bush’s hit-list. Consider this: Acute malnutrition of Iraqi children under fives years of age has nearly doubled since March of 2003. Furthermore, the Iraqi Health Ministry, the UN Development Program, and others have found that 400,000 Iraqi children are suffering from “wasting” (conditions such as chronic diarrhea and protein deficiency). UNICEF found that at least 200 Iraqi children are dying every day from malnutrition, a lack of access to medical treatment, and from a lack of clean drinking water. So how is our campaign of “winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis” going?

Bush’s Christmas Gift to Fallujah: Napalm.

Despite that the United Nations banned the use of napalm in 1980, after the famous photos from the Vietnam War, the US is still using napalm, this time in Fallujah. Napalm isn’t a “smart” bomb or a dumb one, it just kills everything in sight. Napalm is a deadly mixture of polystyrene and jet fuel, so that when it comes into contact with a human being it burns, but also sticks. Corpses have been found in Fallujah that have been melted from contact of the substance.

GI Threatens Suicide.

I saw this article in the Connecticut Post. I thought it deserved a reprint here.

GI threatens suicide over return to Iraq.
By FRANK WASHKUCH Jr. fwashkuch@ctpost.com

STRATFORD — A serviceman, apparently distraught over the prospect of being sent back to the war in Iraq, threatened to kill himself as he stood naked and screaming outside his house.

Police took the man into custody at his Fernwood Drive house. He was taken for treatment to Bridgeport Hospital.

Dispatched to investigate a report of a possible suicide attempt Thursday, officers saw the man naked with blood on his body in front of the garage area, police said. As officers approached, the man yelled at them and ran back into the house, according to police.

After struggling with officers, the man told police that he was scheduled to be sent back to Iraq in January, but didn't want to because he would be forced to kill more people, police said.

The man, who said that he had been drinking, told officers that “he just wanted to die,” police said.

Ohio Did Not Elect Bush, But Selected Him.

Ohio still has yet to certify the vote and has yet to count 93,000 “spoiled” votes, 155,000 provisional ballots, or its absentee ballots. Just as in Florida in 2000, Ohio’s Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell has two roles, overseeing the vote in Ohio, and is the head of Bush’s re-election campaign in Ohio. If this isn’t disturbing as it is, in Gahanna, a precinct in Franklin County, Ohio, Bush received 4,258 votes to Kerry’s 260 votes. That’s quite an accomplishment for the Bush campaigners considering only 638 people voted in that precinct on election day. As we all know now, Kerry won the exit polls in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, and New Mexico, all states that went to Bush in the “official” results. Considering this: in other countries, such as Mexico, exit polls used to see if the election was tampered with. If the exit poll data does not closely reflect the actual results the assumption is that the election was rigged. Why is it the assumption by the US “liberal” media that it was the exit polls that were flawed, and not the election itself, especially considering what happened four years ago in Florida?

The Crisis That Doesn’t Exist.

President Bush has been pushing on the idea of privatizing Social Security. We’re told over and over again that Social Security can no longer pay out to retirees as it did in the past, and when the Baby Boomers retire the entire system will go bust. So what is the problem? As it turns out there is no problem. The administrative costs of Social Security is a measly 0.6 cents of every dollar paid out in benefits. In contrast, private accounts, such as those in England and that Bush is pushing for creating, would cost 15 cents for every dollar paid out.

Ten years ago Argentina’s economy crumbled. Argentina went from one of the most promising and strongest economies in the world into a fiscal nightmare. It was a result Argentina privatizing their Social Security program, on the behest of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

So what are we to do? Social Security is heading for a disaster right? Isn’t it about to go bankrupt? Not exactly. The Social Security trustees' report shows the program can pay its benefits through 2042. Well maybe these people are just kooks, right? Not exactly. The Congressional Budget Office found similar findings, except they found that Social Security will remain just fine until 2052, just as it is today.

In The Election Debackle In Ukraine, I Keep Scratching My Head Saying, “What About Us?”

CNN recently REFUSED to run on a story on the election fraud in Florida, despite that Karen Hughes handed them extensive documents that that was the case. Republicans are getting better and better at this. Kathy Dopp has found something VERY interesting in Florida. Somehow, on all their Op-Scan precincts (and ONLY the Op-Scan precincts), nearly all the Democratic counties somehow magically went to Bush. The national average, as well as some places in Florida voted 90% with their party. Now, Florida registers voters by party. And somehow, something really weird happened in Baker county. Only 24.3% there were registered Republican, and 69.3% were registered Democrat. But somehow Bush got 7,738 votes and Kerry got 2,180.

I know, I know, maybe the people in Baker were somehow really well “informed” on who to vote for, or maybe they had a very active local church. But then you see the same pattern happen, over and over again.

In Bradford county with 28.3% Republicans and 61.4% Democrats, Bush got 7,553 votes and Kerry got 3,244 votes.

In Calhoun county with 11.9% Republicans and 82.4% Democrats, Bush got 3,780 votes and Kerry got 2,116 votes.

In Columbia county with 31.3% Republicans and 56.5% Democrats, Bush got 16,753 votes and Kerry got 8,029 votes.

In DeSoto county with 25.4% Republicans and 59.3% Democrats, Bush got 5,510 votes and Kerry got 3,910 votes.

In Dixie county with 15.0% Republicans and 77.5% Democrats, Bush got 4,433 votes and Kerry got 1,959 votes.

In Duval county with 36.9% Republicans and 46.2% Democrats, Bush got 218,476 votes and Kerry got 157,624 votes.

In Franklin county with 15.9% Republicans and 77.3% Democrats, Bush got 3,472 votes and Kerry got 2,400 votes.

In Gilchrist county with 30.4% Republicans and 58.6% Democrats, Bush got 4,930 votes and Kerry got 2,015 votes.

In Glades county with 24.8% Republicans and 64.8% Democrats, Bush got 1,983 votes and Kerry got 1,434 votes.

But here are my two favorites. In Lafayette county with just a measly 13.2% Republicans and a massive 82.8% Democrats, Bush got 2,460 votes and Kerry got 845 votes.

And In Liberty county with just a wee 7.9% Republicans and a huge 88.3% Democrats, Bush got 1,927 votes and Kerry got 1,070 votes.

You see the exact same pattern in Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Holmes, Jackson, Levy, Madison, Okeechobee, Osceola, Putnam, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, and Washington counties.

All of them went for Bush, even though they had more people registered as Democrats. It’s almost as if Florida switched the Kerry votes for Bush, and the Bush votes for Kerry. But of course, Jeb wouldn’t do that, would he?

Saddam Would Be So Proud.

After visiting Guantanamo Bay last June, the Red Cross has concluded that the US has been torturing its detainees. The Red Cross says that medical personnel at the base has committed “a flagrant violation of medical ethics”, and interrogators have used, “humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, [and the] use of forced positions.” Meanwhile, the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a criminal complaint against George Tenet and Donald Rumsfield on behalf of four Iraqi citizens who say they were victims of electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation, and sexual abuse while in US custody.

Al Qaeda Says “Boo!”

Al Jazeera just aired a new video from bin Laden’s top guy, Ayman Al-Zawahri. Al Zawahri says Al Qaeda will continue to fight the US until we change our foreign policies. Al-Zawahri said, “We are a nation of patience, and we will continue fighting you until the last hour.” NBC has reported that on the previous seven occasions when Al Zawahri has made broadcast statements, it was followed by an attack shortly afterwards.

Bush’s Latest Critic: The Pentagon.

Late on Wednesday, right before Turkey Day, the Pentagon released a report that concluded “Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies.” Duh. As an explanation of this the report continues by saying, “The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states.”

So This Country Was Founded On Christianity, Huh?

I keep hearing people on the right saying over and over that the good ole USA was founded on the principles of Christianity. Really? That’s strange. Maybe these people missed some of the things our founding fathers said, such as:

“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution...What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.”

-James Madison

“I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!”

-John Adams

“Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity.”

-Thomas Paine

The Ghost of Mussolini Says “Howdy” To President Bush.

Benito Mussolini (the father of fascism for those who don’t know...) once said, “Fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of state and corporate power.” That’s very interesting to note, considering that President Bush has nominated Carlos Gutierrez to head up the Commerce Department. Where did Gutierrez come from? He was the former CEO of Kellogg.

Those Goddamned French People!

The World Health Organization has found that it isn’t exactly the United States that has the best health care system in the world. Actually, it is those goddamned French. There’s another reason not to eat French fries. France has a lower infant mortality rate then the US, a longer life expectancy, and their universal health care system lets them pick their own doctors, and costs the French people HALF of what it costs us ‘Muricans.

Welcome To The Nitwit Planet. Try Not To Drool.

Come one, come all to my brand spankin' new web blog. I'm so special. The tag line of this blog (as soon as I can figure out how to do it) will be something like “Making the world a better place one moron at a time.”

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