It Can't Happen Here - January 19, 2005 - Rae

http://www.freepressinternational.com/ronpaul_12202004_police_state_81726340jt543.html

This is scary - January 9, 2005 - Mar

Even Newt Gingrich is critical of Bush's policies. http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/09/gingrich.ap/index.html

Also, check out The Progressive's section on McCarthyism Watch page. Scary stuff.

Support Rep. John Conyers - January 5, 2005 - Mar

On January 6, the Electoral College vote will become official. At 1 pm, Rep. John Conyers will state his objection to the Ohio vote. Voting irregularities and voter disenfranchisement in Ohio must be investigated. But Rep. Conyers' cannot do it alone - a member of the Senate - any member - must second his objection in order for the objections to be heard. In 2001, when the Congressional Black Caucus tried to object to the Florida vote, not a single Senator would support them and their objections went unheard. 

Don't let this happen again! Write your Senator (www.Senate.gov) and encourage her or him to support Democracy and Truth and allow Rep. Conyers to have the floor. We must know what happened in Ohio.

Read Michael Moore's open letter to the US Senate. Read about vote fraud here and here and check out the news links page.

January 2, 2005 - Mar

Quote of the day: "Asked whether the US should have gone to war with Iraq if US intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or providing support to al Qaeda, 58 percent of Bush supporters said the US should not have, and 61 percent assume that in this case the president would not have. To support the president and to accept that he took the US to war based on mistaken assumptions is difficult to bear, especially in light of the continuing costs in terms of lives and money. Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information [7]." - Steven Krull, et al. quoted in Mark Danner "How Bush Really Won" on Tomdispatch.com.

December 22, 2004 - HotU Staff

"Get me to negotiate with myself in public." That's either code for "you're trying to get me to answer the question and clarify my earlier statements, and I'm not going to do that" or it's obscene. The reader can decide for herself. Personally, I don't ever want to witness GWB "negotiate" with himself. 

"I can't tell you what to ask that wouldn't be in the holiday spirit"  are you kidding me? Or maybe just maybe the president telling the press what to ask and what to say is in direct violation of the FUCKING CONSTITUTION.  I feel like sitting in a corner and rocking back and forth.

"Family Values do not stop at the Rio Grande River." Good to know that the brown people can have family values, too.

December 18, 2004 - A word on deficits and foreign relations - Bill

December 11, 2004 - Christmas Miracle - Thanks, Nancy

Newsweek Poll on American's beliefs about Christmas - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6650997/site/newsweek - 79% of American believe that the Virgin Birth is literally true. I knew we were a heavily Christian country, but having it put in such stark numbers like that is just, well, stark. 

A significant problem with the Virgin Birth is the interpretation of "virgin." Evidence abounds that the word that has been translated as "virgin" should actually be translated as "maiden" or unmarried young girl, or simply young girl. More to the point, however, is the fact that may rulers and prophets were said to be born from Divine or Virgin births as a way of establishing their status among the gods and their spiritual purity. To say that the Jewish prophet Jesus was born of a virgin shows the influence of the religion of Ishtar and the prophets Mithras and Zoroaster. To portray Mary as a literal virgin is to misunderstand the mystery and is a misreading of the prophecies. For more on this, go here.

December 11, 2004 - morality - Layla

so it seems we managed to loose the election based on the issue of morality.  apparently the only folks in the world that have morality are the ones who voted for a war-mongering fascist and the rest of us are just elitists who have no moral fiber.

huh…

so essentially what the left wing and the democratic party have allowed to happen is the entire discourse has been hijacked and we are too afraid to take it  back.  we fear standing up and claiming the moral truth of our own fight.  we are so afraid of alienating some mythic swing voter that we refuse to take a stand and claim the honor and morality of that stand.

morality does not equal going to church every sunday, fearing gay folks taking over the world, controlling women’s bodies, raping the environment, encouraging greed and mediocrity, embracing fear instead of love, finding division instead of unity and yet we let people with this belief structure run way with the banner of “moral values” without even putting up a fight.

we are talking about a party that condones the killing of thousands upon thousands of Iraqis but doesn’t want a woman to have rights over her own reproductive freedom.  a party that will execute retarded people but won’t allow stem cell research.  how does any of this make sense?

it is time for the left to stand up and embrace the fact that we are moral beings.   that you don’t have to fit into some tiny mold to have morality.  there are billions of people in the world that are not evangelical christians and yet they live their lives putting the good of others above themselves, being true stewards of the land, saving lives, living their dreams, opposing war,  saving the earth, birthing babies, teaching children.  there are millions of us here in america just waiting for a leader to come forward and say that wanting to protect the environment from greed and destruction is in fact a moral choice.

that wanting to protect women from back alley abortions and disreputable doctors is a moral choice.  needing for those women to have access to all of the information needed to make healthy decisions is a moral choice.

that wanting to be true to the spirit of the constitution and offer equal protection under the law to all citizens regardless of sexual orientation, gender orientation, race, religion, national origin, or any other defining factor is in fact a moral choice.

that wanting to provide medical care for all of our citizens regardless of income is in fact a moral choice.

that resisting a war that has been fought on lies and half truths and fear is in fact a moral choice.  standing up and being heard when your voice is being threatened with silence is in fact a moral choice.

dissent is in fact a moral choice.

these are not necessarily christian choices nor are the pagan or Buddhist or Islamic or Jewish or Hindu or anything else but they are the right choices based on the system of government we have decided on.  because putting the needs of a just society above our individual needs is in fact a moral choice.  these choices  will raise america up to the possibility of meeting it’s own ideals.

there are millions of us waiting for a leader to say these things…but maybe we’ve been waiting for too long…maybe it’s time to stop waiting and maybe we should just start saying these things ourselves

when you hear someone assuming that because they listen to a particular interpretation of a holy text they have some cornerstone on morality don’t just fade into the background out of fear that maybe they are right stand up for yourself and your morals.  don’t let them push us around anymore.

take a stand become the leader we need even if the only person you are leading is yourself it’s the only way we will take the discourse back.  it’s all we’ve got.  your morality is valid and it is good don’t let them take it from you just because they think they can.

November 28, 2004 - Politics of Hope

November 27, 2004 - Reports of Poison Gas used in Iraq

November 24, 2004 - Sec. of State Powell: Fraud and Abuse in Ukraine elections

November 19, 2004 - To Everything, There is a Season

November 20, 2004 - Mar - This Can't Be Good

It's a creative way for the government to avoid having to clean up the land - sell it and legally surrender all responsibility. Personally, I think all the land used for the missile silos should be cordoned off and declared a National Park - not a very cheery Park, I realized, but it should stand as a testament to the cold war. 

November 19, 2004 - Mar - Deficit

And to mark Rae's birthday, Bush signed into law today a bill to increase the US debt limit by $800 billion.  I find this unbelievable and outrageous. Remember all the rancor in the '90s about balancing the budget and the debates over whether or not it's possible? Remember when it happened? Now, regardless on your economic view about the feasibility of a "balanced budget," how can anyone truly believe that allowing the United States to incur $800 billion plus in debt is a positive move? It's the clear result of lowering taxes and trying to wage war simultaneously. Even if they cut every bloody social program that we have left, it wouldn't be enough to cover what's happening to the deficit and the National debt. I know Reagan did it too in his drive to destroy Russia (some people say that it was successful, but it really only hastened the end by a few years).  

Oh, and can someone explain how we can raise our own credit limit? Imagine being able to do that on your credit cards? Would you use the extra credit for an emergency or would you just buy a big home entertainment unit?

Remember the Surplus? Remember when the balanced budget amendment was a cornerstone of the "Contract with America"? 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60560-2004Sep29.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Budget_Amendment

November 07, 2004 - Rae - HotU in Post-election Mourning

We were optimistic and hopeful that there was more than a snowball's chance in hell of getting the war-mongering ignorant bastards out.  No such fucking luck.  It is a time of mourning at HotU.

Now what?

Well, the Democratic Party is asking for feedback.  Email any of us and let us know what you think went wrong.  If you're feeling really motivated, see the above topics under our call for submissions (that's submitted essays, poetry, cartoons, etc, you pervert.)

After we're done mourning, we'll take the rest of the Halloween decorations down and update the site again.  We'll post our thoughts and probably anything you send us, too.

In solidarity, HotU.

August 27, 2004 - Pentagon Spies, Exploding Russian Jets and Flu Vaccines
(aka Fear and Loathing in America)

The suspected spy has not returned repeated phone calls from CBS News.

Not only does CBS give up the name of the FBI investigator (and probably source), they admit to not only having the name of the suspect, but calling on the suspect, alerting him/her to the allegations of treason and the investigation. Why? Does this seem fishy to anyone? Do you think that the FBI goes around letting suspects know that their being investigated for spying? Wouldn't that generally be a secret so that said suspect couldn't cover his tracks?
____________

Explosives found in the two Russian jets that crashed within minutes of each other . . . Sure, it sounds like terrorism, especially with the alleged Chechen links and the (in turn) Chechen links to al Qaeda (which nobody really wants to talk about). It could be Chechen rebels acting independently, Chechen al Qaeda agents, or it could be faulty airplanes and a convenient cover story. "Oh, our planes are in fine shape, it was terrorists." The powers need to keep the fear in us in order to control us. 

It was probably terrorists, but it doesn't hurt to consider the other possibilities, regardless of how dark they may seem.
_____________

Meanwhile, the CDC wants to add to our fear by hitting on the flu vaccines already. Contamination at one manufacturer will hold up distribution of the vaccines, but have no fear, there will be plenty to go around, albeit a bit later than hoped for. Fear of illness, fear of terrorists, fear of Pentagon spies. We're so busy fearing our own shadows that we'll be unable to notice when our freedom is taken away. We'll be convinced that it's for our own good, to keep us safe, so that we don't have to be afraid. 

Oh, and while we're at it, let's not forget the 9/11 toys found in candy bags.

Eat your heart out, George Orwell.