Things to do with your $100 insult, uh, I mean, gas rebate checks

First off let's be clear, this ISN'T a rebate. A rebate is money you receive after buying something. And you never have to give it back. Republicans NEVER give you anything of benefit, and certainly not for free with no strings attached, we all know that.

This is a loan. A loan is something you have to pay back, and that's precisely what you will do with this. You will see an increase of $100 you owe the Feds on your 2006 taxes. Actually you'll see a little more than $100 because you will be charged interest on the money "rebated" to you.

What's more you can't say "NO." This is a loan from the Feds, actually Republicans, that you will be forced to accept.

So while you are pondering if you can squeeze more than a week's worth of driving from the $100 "relief" bribe, uh, I mean check you will receive, let me offer some other suggestions of what to do with the money:

• Give your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to Habitat for Humanity. Katrina victims still need our help. You can even do it through the Randi Rhodes show



• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to Democracy for America



• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to help our veterans by giving to the Disabled American Veterans.



• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to Greenpeace



• Give your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to American Progress Action Fund



• Give your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to MoveOn.Org



• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to Heartland PAC




• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to FAIR



• Donate your $100 bribe/insult/"relief" check to Media Matters



• Donate to any of the organizations in the right column

Oh there are more worthy organizations than those I've listed, just donate your bribe help those the Republicans have left behind, or to help our progressives candidates get into office and take back the house and senate, etc. etc.

Congress members arrested at Darfur protest

from USA Today

"The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest.

Four other Democratic Congress members — James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia — were among 11 protesters arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor subject to a fine.

Oh I'm so glad I live in Mass!

1st FEMA; then maybe the DOE or how about the ATF?

A day of two ago I wrote about they "bipartisian" senate panel to scrap FEMA. I then wondered if the Department of Education might be next. Well maybe the reticle is on to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (and explosives) - the ATF. (pun intended)

The image on the left is a T-shirt from Those Shirts, a right wing T-shirt maker. While the website has a "disclaimer" of humor, it is a window on how conservatives and neo-cons, the Republicans think.

So would scrapping the ATF be far fetched? Once we thought ending FEMA to be a far fetched idea too.

So make a list, what programs, agencies, etc. do the Repblicans hate? What might be on their hit list? They've had 5 years to undercut, make impotent, "bureaucritize," these agencies and programs. Five years in the oven, maybe it's ready to show the end result. Maybe it's time to yet again feast on the bread of social neglect the Republicans are so good at cooking up.

There is another T-shirt about journalists. Considering how hostile many of them complain the enivorment is now, do you think they are laughing?

The Right Tool for Every Job

Your shop teacher, home ec teacher, mom, dad, grandparent, etc. may have told you to always use the right tool for the job. You may not have listened, but the Republican's did, and they seem to have found the Democrat tool they need for the "bi-psrtisan" job.

Come Play

Well this is what I do to relieve the pressure, stress and sorrow over the Republican Robber Barrons raping my county and killing the middle class.
I play a game called Ticket 2 Ride. It's a board game but you can also play on-line.

Last night I played games with people from Austrailia, Wisconsin and LA. I have also played with people from Germany, France, Canada, Britian, New Zealand, Israel, etc.

Tutorials can be found at:
Game Basics

Come play and release your tension.

FEMA, the first to GO

The neo-cons, the face and blood of the new Republican party, had a plan. Take good, functioning programs and departments, in some case "jewels in USA's crown" and mire them in red tape, lack of funding, incompotent cronyism, political hackery, bureaucracy. Then have it falter under either the added weight of this new load, or so unworkable as to frustrate and cause abandoment of it, add in a trillon dollar debt so that there is additional pressure and voila! departments/programs will be abolished.

The first for this recommendation is FEMA "Senate Panel Recommends Abolishing FEMA"

Describing FEMA as a "shambles and beyond repair," Collins said the overall report "will help ensure that we do not have a repeat of the failures following Hurricane Katrina."

Well it wasn't before the Republicans took over... it worked well and was a jewel we proudly pointed to.

It [panel] proposes creating a new agency, called the National Preparedness and Response Authority, that would plan and carry out relief missions for domestic disasters. Unlike now, the authority would have a direct line of communication with the president during major crises, and any dramatic cuts to its budget or staffing levels would have to be approved by Congress.

It would also oversee efforts to protect critical infrastructure such as buildings, roads and power systems, as well as Homeland Security's medical officer. But the inquiry calls for keeping the agency within Homeland Security, warning that making it an independent office would cut it off from resources the larger department could provide.

But didn't FEMA have that during Clinton? Didn't FEMA WORK under Clinton? Wouldn't FEMA and the US taxpayer be better served if it were once again a separate stand alone agency, with compotent people at the helm.

What will be next on the chopping block? The Republican long despised Department of Education?

I seriously had one Republican lawyer tell me that his group does not believe the government should nor has an obligation to educate it's citizenry.

I can't afford my gasoline

Can't Afford my Gasoline