That picture is WOEFULLY misleading. People are just now starting to understand just how deep a hole the bastards have dug for us and continue to dig.


"The Republicans have squandered the huge budget surplus they inherited by spending not just on guns and butter but on guns, butter, and tax cuts. Because of government obfuscation, most Americans don't realize the deep fiscal hole we're in---and the fact that we're still busy digging. As David Walker, the head of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, pointed out, "The federal government's obligations, current liabilities, and unfunded fiscal commitments are over $43 trillion and rising. . . . Yes, that's trillions with 12 zeros rather than billions with nine zeros."

The estimated net worth of American families is slightly over $47 trillion, and nearly all of it---90 per-cent---would be needed to cover government's current obligations. And don't think we can grow our way out of this hole. According to the GAO, it would take real double-digit growth over the next 75 years to pay off our current debt--an impossible task, considering that the growth rate during the 1990s boom years averaged just 3.2 percent."

i like that Mortimer offers solutions for the problems he cites, 'tis rare in most newspapers. what we really need are a rash of single-term, directed politicians who are willing to sacrifice their career for political change. term-limits would be a good start. part of the reason i was so keen on Clarke, back in '00, was his LACK of political career. he was a smart, decently moral, war hero who wanted to enter government and change it for the better - his perspective would far outweigh his inexperience. i'm not sure he would have been the best president, but he certainly would not have been a corrupt president

i suppose right now, all we can hope for, in terms of ousting the B-regime, is a water-shed in '06 mid-terms. enough tide to turn his sludge

Oh, and re: hypocrisy:

Republicans only pass laws that they think do not apply to them. They are creatures of priviledge (literally: "private law") and enshrine that double standard whenever possible.

Remember: hypocrisy is unique amongst vices in that when you accept it within yourself, you are free to condemn it in others.

The current regime is perpetuating the medical industry's stopgap measure of treatment of symptoms rather than curing disease. There's no profit in cure, but plenty in treatment. Here's a prime example that just popped up in my mailbox:

"We are seeing increasing demand by consumers to know what is in the food that they are buying. As more consumers refuse to buy food that is labeled as containing potentially dangerous chemicals, big agribusiness knows that this is not good for them. Rather than clean up their products, they make huge campaign contributions to Representatives who are more than happy to craft legislation to kill the labels. This willingness to kill the messenger rather than to act on the message is a perversion of justice and exposes how badly broken our political system is when corporations can dictate federal law." -Organic Consumers Association Executive Director, Ronnie Commins

Full article here.

It's all about money. Who controls the money has the power.

i'm not so sure, to the purse goes the power. granted, limitless cash reserves certainly help to get out the word, but it hasn't always been enough to affect change. Kerry had just as big a warchest as Bush, but he tripped in the traces; Oberweis is a gozillionaire and he's still got no chance. not to mention, the Heartland of America (the people supporting B's bigotry and hatred) are, statistically, middle and lower class workers. there's hardly any money there at all. i grant that Campaign Finance Reform and Corporate Leash Laws are paramount if we ever want a healthy government but i think a more fundamental shift in ideology is necessary

i think you hit on it when you talked about symptom vs of cure. symptoms are present and immediate, they're glaring vibratos; cures are long-term, thoughtful crescendos. what the current regime feeds America is short-term thinking, what we need is generational perspective. but, as you said, there's no perceived profit in a functioning solution in five years - all the money's in nano-bandaids

I have to comment on your Goya icon. My friend and I often joked about the Saturn paintings, particulary the Reuben's version. Goya's version just looks cooler, Reuben's on the other hand, just looks like a man eating a baby. This brought upon lots of jokes.

I actually have no reason for posting this here. Accept my sincere apologies.

yeah, they are kinda disparate. what i find horrifying about Ruben's is the humanity in both the 'father' and the 'child's' face. in Goya's, it's easy to dismiss both humaniods as monsters, Ruben doesn't offer that luxury

though, it does put me in mind of my favorite dead-baby jokes. oh, the blasphemous beauty of insulting everyone