Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Re: Elephants, ripoffs & juggling acts: How special elections bring Bush's circus to YOUR town!



PS: My friend Earle just e-mailed me.  "Bush will never leave Iraq," he said.  "He and his cronies are making too much money there to ever give it up."  And he's right.  Why would Bush Republicans ever want to end this bitter and terrible war -- when it is pouring something like a billion dollars a week into their coffers?
 
     "Halliburton makes so much money in Iraq that they don't know what to do with it all and Paul Bremmer alone managed to "lose" 8.8 billion dollars.  Why would they want THAT to stop?  Because they respect honesty?  For love of their fellow-man?  To save the economy?  To save the planet?  To save democracy?  To save our "non-negotiable" lifestyle that is now fast-disappearing into their pockets?  To save Christianity?  To save their immortal souls?  Or just to keep innocent women and children from being nuked and napalmed and American cities safe?

     Bush Republicans are NOT INTERESTED in that kind of stuff.  The Iraq war is their cash cow.  Period.  End of story.  The Circus of Greed is in town."

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 8:06 AM
Subject: Elephants, big tents & juggling acts: How special elections bring Bush's circus to YOUR town!

Elephants, big tents & juggling acts: How special elections bring Bush's circus to YOUR town!
     By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
 
     California is facing a special election this fall.  The issues on the ballot are petty and unimportant.  So why does Arnold Schwarzenegger call for one?  So that he can entertain himself watching Democrats, Greens, school teachers, nurses and labor unions run around like clowns just dumped out of a clown car -- desperately scrambling everywhere as they frantically search for money to fight the latest Bush Republican power grab.

     And this is not only just happening in California.  All across America, Bush Republicans are demanding special elections as vociferously as if they were barkers under the Big Top.  So watch your voting booths carefully, all you hayseeds.  The Bush Republican circus is in town -- and the shills are working the crowd!

     Arnie -- I would call him "Governor Schwarzenegger" if I knew that little old ladies with blue hair had counted the ballots that elected him instead of the ballots being counted by Bush Republican party hacks -- knows the same thing that every Bush-supporting one-trick pony politician in America knows:  They all have access to an unlimited "War Chest" that will allow them to put on a really Big Show.  Every single Bush Republican party-line-swallower in the country knows that they have enough money to keep this "special election" three-ring circus going -- and going and going and going.

     And where does all this money come from?  It ain't coming from Barnum and Bailey!  Apparently the U.S. treasury is financing this show.  Here's how it works:  Corporate cronies of the Bush family learned early on that for every dollar they "contribute" to these pseudo-GOP strong men, a Bush Republican-controlled Congress will pass laws giving them at least a 400% return on their money.  Watch the circus magicians on Capitol Hill as they magically produce de-regulations, access to resources and pork-barrel contracts for Bush's cronies -- and also watch spellbound as money magically disappears from our wallets as well.

     With such a gigantic amount of return on campaign "investment," you can bet that the Bush Republican circus is in your town to stay.

     With unlimited resources to erect their Big Tents in our cities and their own people manning the voting machine side-shows and selling the tickets, Bush Republicans can easily defeat Dems, school teachers, Greens, etc. by forcing us gullible little guys who still believe in democracy to spend money and spend money and spend money that we don't have on hundreds of one-ring special elections, leaving us poor naive hayseeds busted, broke and working without a net -- unable to compete with the pseudo-GOP ring masters at all.

     So nowadays the Bush Republicans instigate special elections, re-call elections, initiative elections, replacement elections -- you get the idea.  Give them ANY excuse for a ballot and they start setting up their show.

     And with the Democrats and labor unions and teachers and Greens and working stiffs' limited budgets, when the Big Boys set up their Big Tents, the small-town circuses ALWAYS get shut down.  Sorry.  No cotton candy and lion tamers for us!

     P.T. Barnum said there was a sucker born every minute -- and the suckers here are us.  But even though the Bush Republicans have cages and cages full of lion tamers and Fat Cats, you can't fool all the people all of the time.  Sooner or later Americans are going to finally notice that the pseudo-GOP performances are always big fakes and rip-offs  -- and that we NEVER get our money back after a bad show.

     But you gotta give the Bush Republicans credit.  They DO have a great high wire act.  There's always something going on up in the air to keep our eyes off the shills who are picking our pockets and working the crowd.  There's always some sideshow to divert us -- whether it's gays, abortions, feeding tubes, corporation-kissing Supreme Court nominees, the Rove-Plame scandal, fear, weapons of mass destruction, London, Iraq or 9/11.

     And what will they do next to "entertain" us and keep our eyes off all the smoke and mirrors?  I really don't want to know.

PS: My friend Earle just e-mailed me.  "Bush will never leave Iraq," he said.  "He and his cronies are making too much money there to ever give it up."  And he's right.  Why would Bush Republicans ever want to end this bitter and terrible war -- when it is pouring something like a billion dollars a week into their coffers?
 
     Halliburton makes so much money in Iraq that they don't know what to do with it all and Paul Bremmer alone managed to "lose" 8.8 billion dollars.  Why would they want THAT to stop?  Because they respect honesty?  For love of their fellow-man?  To save the economy?  To save the planet?  To save democracy?  To save our "non-negotiable" lifestyle that is now fast-disappearing into their pockets?  To save Christianity?  To save their immortal souls?  Or just to keep innocent women and children from being nuked and napalmed and American cities safe?

     Bush Republicans are NOT INTERESTED in that kind of stuff.  The Iraq war is their cash cow.  Period.  End of story.  The Circus of Greed is in town.

PPS: And exactly what is the product that the pseudo-GOP circus is selling us?  Is it entertainment?  No no no.  It is FEAR.  And this product is selling like hot-cakes!  Why should they stop selling it just because it might be hazardous to our heath?  It is making them money hand over fist!  Why stop selling a good thing?  These people are being rewarded BIG-TIME for turning America into a nation of cowards -- terrified out of their minds by a bunch of avaricious clowns.
 
      Let's stop buying the Bush Republicans' product and stuff them and their bare lying tigers into the next circus train out of town!
  
****
 
Impeach the Bush Republicans and then go see a REAL circus:  Wednesday, August 20:  Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus Oakland Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakl; (510) 762-2277. 7:30pm, $11-50.  This popular circus features feats of human daring, amazing animal acts, and hilarious clowns.  Through Mon/25.  http://www.sfbg.com/37/47/x_list_events.html
 
     From the daredevil hilarity of Bello (named America's Best Clown by TIME Magazine!) to the breathtaking majesty and magnificence of our amazing animals, the 135th Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth® is your ticket to thrills, laughter, and lifetime memories!  Step out of the ordinary and into the world of the circus! (Click here for show dates.)
 
**** 
 
 From Carolyn:  New GOP Money Laundering Scheme:  Before Congress left Washington for the summer, Republicans quietly inserted a provision into the Transportation Appropriations bill that would repeal the cap on the amount of money a "Leadership PAC" can donate to a political party.  The bill is set to come up for a vote in the fall and could be a political disaster for Democrats.

     By repealing the caps, Senators and Representatives will be able to raise substantial sums of money for their leadership PACs from the same donors who have already maxed out to their campaign committees.  As a result, they will be able to launder these contributions backs to their campaigns through the RNC, NRSC or NRCC.

****

 
From Frank [New rules for Congress]:
1.  There will no longer be meetings, secret or otherwise, behind locked doors. 
 
2.  Remove all doors from the offices, conference rooms and chambers in the capitol building. Place them on the front lawn and burn them.
 
3.  Give all the local fire stations the day off.
 
****
 
From Earle:  Bu$h's famous "resolve" to stay the course is really just pig-headedness to continue Halliburton's profit line.  I note that the funds for rebuilding Iraq, slim as they are, go almost entirely to pay the Halliburton security people.
 
****
 
From Kathy [I met her at a politcal luncheon in Berkeley recently and she told me about the special elecion ploy.  Thanks, Kathy]:  If you want to reach people locally and can't afford a TV ad, just take Downing Street memo fliers with you in a clear plastic backpack so that the people behind you can read them and find out the truth about the Bush/Blair WMD lies.
 
****
 
From Richard:  "I shot an elephant in my pajamas this morning.  How he got in them I'll never know."  Groucho Marx
 
****
 
From Carol:  What would you say to a Mutiny, Mr. Bush? By Jim Kirwan:  The Outlaws have several new problems of their own making.  The unilaterally declared wars in both countries [Bush Republicans] attacked are going very badly.  Troop morale is suffering and enlistments are down.  The war over hearts and minds, as well as the overall treachery behind the reasons for these wars hangs by the thinnest of threads – and credibility of any kind is nearly gone.
 
     MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Untold numbers of servicemembers residing off base will see their next paycheck shrink by as much as $250 -- and many of them may not even know the blow is coming.  http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,74425,00.html
 
****
 
From Jan:  Indictments in the Executive Branch:  Can the president of the United States be indicted?  ....Nobody should underestimate the upheaval that a prosecution of the president would cause.  But we went through it once before, in Watergate, and survived. The nation, in fact, could conceivably benefit from the indictment of a president.  It would teach the valuable civics lesson that no one is above the law.  As an appeals court told Mr. Clinton in the Paula Jones case, the Founders created a presidency, not a monarchy. http://www.digenovatoensing.com/inthenews/Indictments_Executive.htm
 
****
 
From MA [400% profits for Bush Republican backers?  More like 4,000%!]:  Blood and Gravy: The war on Iraq is "largely a matter of loot:  Although Halliburton has already entered the American lexicon as a byword for rampant cronyism, the true extent of its dense and deadly web of graft is only now emerging, most recently in a remarkable public hearing that revealed some of the corporation's standard business practices in Iraq:  fraud, extortion, brutality, pilferage, theft -- even serving rotten food to U.S. soldiers in the battle zone.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9678.htm 

****
 
From SonDee:  $8.8 Billion Slush Fund: Paul Bremer Steals Big:  Formerly of Kissinger Associates, US proconsul Paul Bremer "lost" $8.8 billion during Iraq so-called "reconstruction."  By the time US proconsul Paul Bremer left the his post as head of the CPA in Iraq, $8.8 billion of US taxpayer money had disappeared.  http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=134&contentid=2411&page=2
 
From Joe T:  Hey they could have taken all that money, bought all the goodies they could have laid their hands on.  Bombed Iraq with food and gadgets and sewage and electricity, shut down the hostilities over night and completely diffused the insurgents' excuses for continuing the battle [to say nothing of saving almost 2,000 American soldiers' lives.]
 
 Joe T. on Iran: Iran would have to directly attack the U.S. for the Psycho to receive any credible help from the European Union, Nato, the U.N. or anyone else.  Iran is a smoke screen for other crap they are into or will be into in the future.  He signed his energy bill today which gives billions in loans and direct giveaways to his friends in  the oil industry.  With all that  money in hand I think we'll see much less interest in the middle east and more in the drilling on federal lands here in the U.S.
 
****
 
Cartoon from Roger:  Duct tape and scissors:  http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/wpswi/

****

From Jeanne:  "Only when the last tree has died, the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money." --Cree Proverb  http://mytwobeadsworth.com,
http://eveningrain.com

****
 
From "Amy doesn't go to Peru":  This episode is written but not typed.  Someone needs to find a publisher who will give poor sweet Mary Straitwell mstraitwell@yahoo.com a big cash advance so she can get this freaking section TYPED.  It involves going to Peru and checking out Latin America as a good place to go when the Great American Bush Republican Depression hits.  IF we still get Social Security and it hasn't been all siphoned off to various pseudo-GOP Swiss bank accounts. 
 
     "Lima is a beautiful city but the part I liked best was the catacombs under the main cathedral.  They were spooky!  Down there in the basement, looking at large bins containing femurs and large bins containing skulls, my hair stood on end."   http://travelswithamy.blogspot.com/
 
****
 
Got any extra tickets to Tel Aviv?  I need to go to a conference in Jerusalem in October.  Does anyone want to pay part of my air fare in exchange for me being a correspondent for your newspaper or bringing you back anything?  Roman coins?  Something from Bethlehem?  E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com.  Thanks!
 
****
 
     I have become shocked and amazed lately at how bitter and cynical and mean my e-mails are becoming -- but ever since Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld and Cheney bombed several defenseless countries into rubble, failed to protect my country on 9-11, scalped our treasury  and blatantly STOLE two national elections, I've just not been the same.  I WANT to be a kind and loving and caring person but the example being set for me by America's "leaders" has precluded that from happening.  My apologies. 
 
     In defense of my country, I must fight fire with fire.  Those people in the White House are NASTY.
 
****
     If you like getting my outside-the-box essays but your in-box is too full and you need a break, that's okay.  Just e-mail me, say "Dear Jane" on the subject line and I will take you off my list.  Thanks. 
 
     And if you get more than one copy of this, blame it on my jankity old computer!

****

     "Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved:  World Peace in one generation!"