When I heard that Karl Rove was resigning from the Bush White House, I was delighted. I have felt for some time now that Rove’s master plan for a permanent one-party system in the U.S. would destroy everything that this country has stood for. With a multi-prong strategy based on establishing loyal “Bushies” in every square inch of our government, he actually got pretty close. And, it’s scary when you think that he almost got away with it. But of course, the funny thing about life is that the more you try to control something, the more slippery it gets. And, nothing could be more obvious when you look at all the dirty little tricks that Rove has perpetuated on our democracy over the last 6 years. But, it seems in the last year or so though, the more Rove tried to impose and permeate conservatism in government, the more people became suspicious. And, in time, it became obvious that the whole White House gang was entrenched in their delusions of grandeur. People were starting to catch on. It’s like that old saying…”You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” So, exactly how far did Rove go in fooling us?

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Snipped from dailykos.com.

In observing the propaganda that Republicans spew forth every day about “fighting them there instead of here” and “Iraq being the major front on terrorism”, etc., I get the impression that fear is about all their party has to offer. I have always felt that this campaign of fear is what many Americans fell for early in the Iraq invasion. But now that we have had time to step back and look at what really exists in the world, we can see that the boogie man may not exist in every mosque. But to hear the way Republicans talk, we are surely headed for disaster if we let up one inch in our war on terror. Why are they so caught up in fear-mongering and how is it hurting us?

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Snipped from slate.com.

If you have been watching the stock market roller coaster the last couple of weeks, then you may have caught the fact that the Feds are injecting billions of dollars into the market. When I heard about the latest infusion of $62 billion over two days last week, not really knowing that much about economics, I was curious as to how this happens. Where does the money come from, why is it necessary, and what does it mean? What is going on right now is what I would classify as the “funny money” game.

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Whenever you look up at the night sky, the magnitude of the universe is not only mind bending but difficult to comprehend. When you look at the picture to the left, those aren’t stars you are looking at, they are galaxies. This picture is a Hubble Ultra Deep Field image which is an infinitesimally slender core sample drilled out of the universe. This sample is as if you were looking at the Universe through a soda straw. Just from this picture, you can see that the numbers of galaxies in our Universe are astronomical. In order to put this into perspective, it’s good to review where we stand in comparison to this colossal existence of world’s without end. What the image of the night sky offers is oddly enough a glimpse of ourselves. For if we were to go the other direction and peer into the intricacies of our own bodies, we would likewise find incredibly small micro universes inside ourselves. But for now, let’s take a look at the marvel of our world that exists outside ourselves.

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Snipped from americablog.com.

I am always intrigued by the Pew Polling data because it gives a snapshot of where people’s opinions and views are concerning every aspect of the American political and social landscape. What has happened to our opinions of many trusted institutions such as the mainstream news media, the Supreme Court and Congress is very revealing about how Americans don’t trust them anymore. I can remember a time especially when Walter Cronkite delivered the news every evening, that I felt reassured and most definitely informed about what was truly going on in the world. But now, I don’t trust any of them and I’m not alone. You may be feeling the same way as what the polling data suggest.

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Okay guys, I just couldn’t believe this video. I caught it on YouTube. It is Dick Cheney explaining why when he was Secretary of Defense, he and Bush Senior, didn’t take Saddam out. It is amazing to hear Cheney talk about all the dire consequences if we invaded Baghdad at the height of the Gulf War. Now to hear him say that the Iraq War was not a mistake but the best decision we could have made, is unbelievable. Talk about a flip flop. Every dire thing that he predicted would happen in Iraq if we took out Saddam has come true. Watch the video. You won’t believe it! Here is the link: Cheney Video

Snipped from alternet.org.

Even though Bush and Co. keeps promoting progress of the surge through any means possible, we keep getting news that the government for which Bush is propping up, is deteriorating every day. Now we see that al-Maliki’s ties with Iran are giving him even more trouble. It’s as if Bush won’t even acknowledge that the precious fragile democracy that he exported to Iraq may be in trouble. Several groups, both Sunni and Shia, are quitting the U.S.-backed government. The al-Tawafuq block with 44 seats in the 275-seat National Assembly has left. What is driving this flight by Sunnis and others is that there exists the perception that al-Maliki is following sectarian policies in support of Iran. And, with al-Maliki’s highly visible visit to Tehran last week, the message is not encouraging.

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I am always looking out for ways to lower my stress levels. This is mainly due to the fact that the world is not as it should be. I don’t have to tell you what’s wrong with the world today. All you have to do is pick up a newspaper or listen to the evening news and you will quickly realize just how stressed out we all are in dealing with today’s realities. There are, to name a few, global terrorism, the war in Iraq, poverty, global genocide, global warming, energy dependence, high taxes, wage stagnation, eroding economic situation, political impotence and continuing decay of civil liberties and rights. Oh, and did I happen to mention an incompetent, nincompoop President? Mix all those together and you have a daily stress level that at times can seem to be unbearable. It certainly has caused me to consider moving to another country. I guess what galls me the most is having to pay taxes to a government that I simply don’t support anymore. So, what to do short of moving to an isolated Caribbean Island? Here are some quick stress solutions that may help you get through your day…

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Snipped from alternet.org.

There has been much discussion and debate about the causes of the disappearance of America’s honeybee. No one can seem to come up with a solid explanation basically because the bees just simply disappear never to return to the hive. No crime scene, no motive, and no evidence means no suspects excepts theories. Some researchers speculated that cell phone radiation may be interfering with their ability to navigate and find their way back to the hive. Others speculated that the deaths were due to tiny mites or bugs. Then others thought that it was due to a nasty virus that plagues honeybee colonies. Well, now we can add another speculation to the list…they are just plain worn out, tired, exhausted and just don’t want to do it anymore. Just as can happen to an overworked , modern-day American worker, in commercializing the honeybee in “honeybee factory farms”, the honeybee may have been pushed to their limits. Have we worked them to death? What have we done to our poor honey bee?

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Okay, folks, anyone who has been following this blog is familiar with my Health Alerts that warn the public about safety and health concerns that exist in our environment today. If you would like to check them out, just click on Health Alerts in our archive section. You will be amazed at the volume of warnings that exist today. This one pretty much takes the cake though. This time you have to worry about antidepressants, birth control pills, pain killers or just about any other drug that gets flushed down the toilet showing up in our drinking water. It seems that our water supply systems are not designed to filter out the myriad assortment of drugs that people mindlessly dispose of when they are out of date or don’t need anymore. I guess this could also include mind altering drugs for which illicit users are known to flush at the first sign of trouble. So, how is it that we are finding drugs in our water supply and what should you do about it?

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