Ashcroft on the run

– Bumper sticker of the week: The greatest sin is sitting on your ass. Flo Kennedy

– Quote of the week: "A religion true to its nature must also be concerned about man’s social conditions. Religion deals with both earth and heaven, both time and eternity. Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. It seeks not only to integrate men with God but to integrate men with men and each man with himself." Martin Luther King, Jr.

– It’s very gutsy of hospitals to give you staph and then charge you to get rid of it.

– Blagojevich ruffling feathers: In trying to straighten out almost 30 years of Republican mismanagement, Blagojevich is ticking off a lot of people, including the big boy, Mr. Madigan, who could use some ruffling. After running out all the Republicans who have made a living in Springfield over the last 30 years, Blagojevich is struggling to get some good advice. Virtually every department in state government needs to be cleaned up. It’s a total mess, and Blagojevich’s style doesn’t help. The first thing they need to do is raise the state income tax. We have the lowest in the country, which is why the state can’t make it. They need to raise it from 3% to 4%. This would give them more than enough money to start all kinds of pet projects for their buddies. He needs to stay after all the politicians and their business cohorts who have made a living off of the state over the last 30 years. I love to see them squirm. He’s making people who have cheated the state for a living look like they’ve got ants in their pants.

– Five more of Bush’s accomplishments:

16. Subverted Bill of Rights with USA Patriot Act, most of which was written before 9/11.

17. Endorsed secret military tribunals and extrajudicial executions.

18. Encouraged Americans to inform on each other. Proposed Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS).

19. Killed 3500 Afghani’s (a low estimate), then pretty much abandoned the country to warlords, famine and chaos.

20. Dropped cluster bombs, designed to maim people, on Afghani civilians. Dropped food packets the same color as unexploded bomblets.

– Bush and other world leaders hide from protestors: In his classic cowardly form, Bush instructs all security personnel working his kingly appearances to keep protestors a minimum of one and one-half miles from him. He doesn’t want any turmoil or dissent in the kingdom. In Italy, he was met by 500,000 protestors. Of course, they were kept a mile and one-half away. At a recent Republican rally, where there were countless pro-Bush signs, a demonstrator pulled out an anti-Bush sign. He was promptly arrested. Now, the G-8 Summit is held off the coast of Georgia, on an island. The world leaders don’t want to be troubled with protestors questioning their existence and idiotic decisions. These are our leaders, folks, afraid of us. Afraid to look us in the eyes and explain their lies and deadly agendas. Hiding behind security and secrecy are giant steps toward fascism.

– Ashcroft on the run: For the second time, John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney General, has been told by a federal judge to get his butt out of California and Oregon. He has interfered with California’s medical marijuana law and Oregon’s assisted suicide law. In both instances, federal judges have told Ashcroft to go home and keep his nose out of state’s rights. Recently, another federal judge has told the administration that their partial birth ban is also illegal. I’m sure none of this comes as a great surprise to Ashcroft or this administration. They could care less about the law. They’re too busy spreading their self-righteous, right-winged bullshit to worry much about the law, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights.

– Some must reading for any right-winger hoping to become a liberal:

1. A People’s History of the United States—Howard Zinn

2. Walden—Henry David Thoreau

3. Silent Spring—Rachel Carson

4. Nickel and Dimed—Barbara Ehrenreich

5. The Gnostic Gospels—Elaine Pagels

6. Working—Studs Terkel

7. Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism—Staughton Lynd

8. The Liberal Imagination—Lionel Trilling

9. The Autobiography of Malcolm X—Malcolm X

10. Why We Can’t Wait—Martin Luther King, Jr.

11. Labor’s Untold Story—Richard Boyer, Herbert Morais