LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

Shame on the U.S.A.

– Bumper sticker of the week: Bush for two terms: One in office, and one in jail.

– Quote of the week: "We know who the chickenhawks are," stated Sen. Frank Lautenberg on the Senate floor. "They talk tough on national defense and military duty and cast aspersions on others, but when it was their turn to serve, Bush and Cheney were AWOL from courage."

– Galesburg takes another hit: Butler goes under. Down under. Galesburg’s economic response: Gee, they should have made those concessions. This is the kind of mentality we got running this place. If the powers-that-be are so hot about concessions, how about them making a few? As taxpayers, we could use a few breaks. It seems none of them ever think about that. I keep hearing this strange sucking sound every time I pay my real estate taxes. It seems to be coming from city hall and the courthouse.

– You can judge a nation’s character by how it treats its prisoners.

– America’s media rolls to the right: The American media wants you to believe Bush’s lies. Remember, practically all the media is today owned by corporations. They prefer us to see and read about the status quo. Corporate marionettes for Bush. When Bush tells a lie, they echo it instead of calling him on it. A left-wing media is a right-wing Republican lie.

– Gambling for prosperity: When I go to the riverboat, I see tons of people who I have a strong hunch shouldn’t be there. It seems to me that gambling is yet another way for the rich to steal from the poor. That government approves of gambling in such a wholehearted, or more appropriately, cold-hearted fashion, demonstrates to me the level of degradation that our government and politicians have succumbed to. There was a time politicians built their political careers on fighting gambling, e.g. Paul Simon. Today, they line their pockets with this tainted, ill-gotten money. It is but a sign of our gradual sliding back into the primordial ooze. Perhaps in a billion years or so, we may once again come crawling out, although I’m betting God may not make that mistake again.

– Continuing Bush’s accomplishments:

11. Has often vehemently opposed important gay and lesbian rights issues such as child adoption, equal benefits for couples, and marriages, while sponsoring "faith-based initiatives" in social services and education that would funnel funds to churches that teach homophobia.

12. Presides over an economy where the rich are getting richer and the poor incredibly poorer. His rich buddies prop up the stock market in a perverted attempt to make the economy look good, when in fact millions of people are losing their jobs.

13. Reversed years of nuclear caution by suggesting that perhaps using some of our stockpile might be in our best interests. Lifted a ban on testing "small" nuclear weapons.

14. Bush has rejected germ warfare enforcement protocols...pulled out of anti-ballistic missile treaty… rejected biological weapons convention...failed to sign land mine ban treaty...continues to manufacture and stockpile nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

15. Continues to exploit fear and grief over 9/11 to enlist Americans in his world domination quest. He refers to this as a holy mission, a crusade, endorsed by God.

– Unions: Marx may have been wrong on a few points, but he was right when he said capitalism is never going to cut the working man or woman any slack. It didn’t in the 1800’s, and it won’t in the 2000’s. Capitalism is heartless and focuses on maximizing profits at the expense of the worker. Outsourcing jobs is just another way to get cheap labor, and in the process, break unions. We could have all the manufacturing jobs we ever wanted if workers would be willing to work seven days a week for minimum wage and no benefits. I do believe we’ve been there, and, if I read correctly, I think we told them to stuff it where the sun don’t shine. So eventually will the people of China, and Mexico, and Thailand. The world will soon learn that capitalism cannot work side by side with democracy. They are incompatible theories. Groucho was right.