Yellow Dog

From Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's Speech (Warning: Because the speech chronicles all of the lies of the Bush administration, the piece is very long):

Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism.

We are patriots. We're deeply concerned. And we demand change, now.
No more lies from Condoleezza Rice about whether she and President Bush were advised before 9/11 of the possibility of planes being flown into buildings by terrorists.
No more gross incompetence in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
No more torture of human beings.
No more disregard of the basic human rights enshrined in the Geneva Convention.
No more kidnapping of people and sending them off to secret prisons in nations where we can expect they will be tortured.
No more unconstitutional wiretapping of Americans.
No more proposed amendments to the United States Constitution that would, for the first time, limit fundamental rights and liberties for entire classes of people simply on the basis of sexual orientation.
No more federal land giveaways to developers.
No more increases in mercury emissions from old, dirty, dangerous coalburning power plants.
No more backroom deals that deprive protection for millions of acres of wild lands.
No more attacks on immigrants who work so hard to build better lives.
No more inaction by Congress on fixing our hypocritical and inconsistent immigration laws and policies.
No more reliance on fiction rather than the science of global warming.
No more manipulation of our media with false propaganda.
No more disastrous cuts in funding for those most in need.
No more federal cuts in community policing and local law enforcement grant programs for our cities.
No more inaction on stopping the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
No more of the Patriot Act.
No more killing.
No more pre-emptive wars.
No more contempt for our long-time allies around the world.
No more dependence on foreign oil.
No more failure to impose increased fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.
No more energy policies developed in secret meetings between Dick Cheney and his energy company cronies.
No more excuses for failing to aggressively cut global warming pollutant emissions.
No more tragically incompetent federal responses to natural disasters.
No more tax cuts for the wealthiest, while the middle class and those who are economically-disadvantaged continue to struggle more and more each year.
No more reckless spending and massive tax cuts, resulting in historic deficits and historic accumulated national debt.
No more purchasing of elections by the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country.
No more phony, ineffective, inhumane so-called war on drugs.
No more failure to pass an increase in the minimum wage.
No more silence by the American people.

Salt Lake Tribune - Transcript of Mayor Rocky Anderson's speech

I like Garrison Keillor's proposal--it makes a lot of sense:

Problem:
This country is squashing its young. We're sending them to die in a war we don't believe in anymore. We're cheating them so we can offer tax relief to the rich. And we're stealing from them so that old gaffers like me, who want to live forever, can go in for an MRI if we have a headache.

Solution:
Annual interest on the national debt now exceeds all government welfare programs combined. We'll be in Iraq for years to come. Hard choices need to be made, and given the situation we're in, I think we must bite the bullet and say no more healthcare for card-carrying Republicans. It just doesn't make sense to invest in longevity for people who don't believe in the future. Let them try faith-based medicine, let them pray for their arteries to be reamed and their hips to be restored, and leave science to the rest of us.

Cutting out healthcare for one-third of the population -- the folks with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, who still believe the man is doing a heckuva job -- will save enough money to pay off the national debt, not a bad legacy for Republicans. As Scrooge said, let them die and reduce the surplus population. In return, we can offer them a reduction in the estate tax. All in favor, blow your nose.

America eats its young | Salon.com

From "The Opinion Mill":

Depressed that summer is over? This new holiday may cheer you up:

Bushtemberfest, or the Festival of Fatal Fuckups, will give GOP-weary Americans a chance to celebrate the non-accomplishments of George W. Bush, the first president to let one major American city be devastated by terrorists and allow another one to drown, all within the space of a few years. The observance will start with the anniversary of the flooding of New Orleans and climax with the anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center, during which time we will pray — loudly and publicly — that no other disasters befall us while we await the blessed day that King George and his menagerie of religious hucksters, corporate bandits and ideological grifters get their eviction notice.

Cheer up! It%u2019s Bushtemberfest! � The Opinion Mill

As the rich get richer via Bush's corporate welfare and tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest, there has been a steady increase in poverty and in the number of uninsured Americans. Too bad the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent in Iraq couldn't be going toward a universal healthcare plan. Think of what we could do with 310 billion.

The new census date, which the Bush administration tried to block the release of, shows a rise in poverty from 31.6 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2005. The number of uninsured rose from 39.8 million to 46.6 million. Heckuva job, Bushie.

Think Progress � The Bush Record: More Poverty, More Uninsured

71 Days to the Election, according to Atrios.

Other Numbers of Interest:

50 people killed today in a car bombing in Iraq

9 US Soldiers killed this weekend in Iraq

310 Billion spent in Iraq so far

2,630 US soldier casualties in Iraq

19, 323 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

45, 399 Iraqi Civilian casualties

8.5 Trillion national debt

1833 lives lost in Katrina

38% Bush Approval Rating