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Only a few years ago, the [republican] party was considered a model of lockstep discipline with around-the-clock message control and seamless coordination of policy and politics. But from all appearances, it has entered a period of inner confusion, verging on the dysfunctional... How did so organized a party come apart so swiftly? One explanation is that it hasn’t been swift at all. The Republicans have been in decline for some time — and in recent years, even in disarray... Dating back to 1992, Republicans have won a plurality in only one presidential election — and that lone victory, in 2004, was not nearly the triumph it appeared to be at the time. Its architect, Karl Rove, spoke of establishing a “permanent majority” for the Republicans, but in reality Mr. Bush won by less than 3 percentage points — one of the narrowest re-elections in presidential history. And although he claimed a mandate, his two big second-term initiatives — privatizing Social Security and immigration reform — were easily thwarted. Some of the strongest opposition came from within Mr. Bush’s own party — further evidence that the Republicans were even then losing their cohesiveness.The rise of Repubican power, and their abuse of it as they became drunk with it and sought to crush opposition without considering the lives of Americans whom they also crushed along with their political targets, followed by their fall from grace, fascinates me.
"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."-- Oct. 8, 2003Well, no one in their right mind believed him, but that doesn't matter because the war was bought and paid for by corporate backers anyway. Nevertheless, his
"We acted, and there are no longer mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms in Iraq."-- Apr. 23, 2004
"Saddam Hussein now sits in a prison cell, and Iraqi men and women are no longer carried to torture chambers and rape rooms ..."-- Feb. 4, 2004
"Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist, mass graves are no longer a possibility in Iraq."--May 3, 2004
"At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.So, that's how supporters of the war in Iraq "spread democracy." That's the "freedom" we heard so much about. Freedom for full-blown depravity done in your name and mine, that is.
Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.
Maj Gen Taguba’s internal inquiry into the abuse at Abu Ghraib, included sworn statements by 13 detainees, which, he said in the report, he found “credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses.”
Among the graphic statements, which were later released under US freedom of information laws, is that of Kasim Mehaddi Hilas in which he says: “I saw [name of a translator] ******* a kid, his age would be about 15 to 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [name] who was wearing the military uniform, putting his **** in the little kid’s ***…. and the female soldier was taking pictures.”
The translator was an American Egyptian who is now the subject of a civil court case in the US.
Three detainees, including the alleged victim, refer to the use of a phosphorescent tube in the sexual abuse and another to the use of wire, while the victim also refers to part of a policeman’s “stick” all of which were apparently photographed."
Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the partyIs there no end to the evidence that we live in a universe where the only thing you can count on is that it will continue to be consistently bizarre no matter how hard you try to find logic in it?
...he wouldn't support any cuts in defense, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid — which, along with debt payments, would put more than two-thirds of the budget off limits.So there we have it: "Joe the Plumber" is leaving the Republican party and becoming a socialist. Hey, if Sarah Palin can be a socialist, then so can "Joe", right? Of course, that means those of us on the left might be stuck with the weird "exaggerator" Samuel Wurzelbacher aka "Joe the Plumber", who was not a plumber, not named Joe, and whose sociopolitical wisdom could fill a thimble with room left over to hide a family of subversive crickets and the printing press they use to produce their pro-cricket 'zine.
“…a group of Republicans are trying to re-frame and re-focus the party.”Because, as the article explains,
"According to a recent ABC poll, only 21 percent of Americans self-identify as Republicans. That's the lowest number since 1983. And only 39 percent of Republicans themselves [that's 39% of that 21%] say they have faith in congressional Republicans to 'make the right decisions for the country's future.'"No shit, Sherlock.
That last one explains a lot, doesn't it? The next time some rightie-tightie says we're living in a Christian nation... remind them that they'd better toe the line. I mean, that one about unfaithful husbands and wives being put to death would spell certain doom for the republican party!
- Don't let cattle graze with other kinds of cattle.
- Don't have a variety of crops on the same field.
- Don't wear clothes made of more than one fabric.
- Don't cut your hair nor shave.
- Any person who curseth his mother or father, must be killed.
- If a man cheats on his wife, or vise versa, both the man and the woman must die.
- If a man sleeps with his father's wife... both him and his father's wife is to be put to death.
- If a man sleeps with his wife and her mother they are all to be burnt to death.
- If a man or woman has sex with an animal, both human and animal must be killed.
- If a man has sex with a woman on her period, they are both to be "cut off from their people" .
- Psychics, wizards, and so on are to be stoned to death.
- If a priest's daughter is a whore, she is to be burnt at the stake.
- People who have flat noses, or is blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God.
- Anyone who dreams or prophesizes anything that is against God, or anyone who tries to turn you from God, is to be put to death.
- If anyone, even your own family suggests worshipping another God, kill them.
- If you find out a city worships a different god, destroy the city and kill all of it's inhabitants... even the animals.
- Kill anyone with a different religion.