604

IM-not-so-humble-O, Bill Clinton set the progressive cause in America back years. Clinton compromised on his Democratic ideals so radically that, as Michael Moore observed, Clinton became the best Republican president we've ever had.

And now it's happening again.

For years, Congressman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, has been one of the good guys in the House — a strong and unapologetic liberal. So this morning I almost choked on my frittata when I read this in the Boston Globe:

Representative Barney Frank has proposed in a series of meetings with business groups a "grand bargain" with corporate America: Democrats would agree to reduce regulations and support free-trade deals in exchange for businesses agreeing to greater wage increases and job benefits for workers.

The details of Frank's plan haven't been announced yet, but it sounds to me like Frank is about to do for the welfare of American workers what Clinton did for universal health care — compromise it right out of existence.

Posted on 11/19/06 by Anthony Ioven | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (3)

If anyone thinks the Patriot Act will never be abused, read this:

A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act, intended for terrorist acts, and could land them in jail for 20 years.

So now we're using the Patriot Act against crude boors. When ogling becomes a violation, I'll have to flee to Canada.

Posted on 11/15/06 by Anthony Ioven | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (7)

If any president deserved impeachment, it's George Bush. But for years, Democrats just threw up their hands at the idea with the excuse that impeachment is impossible without a Democratic majority in Congress.

So now that the Dems have a majority in both houses, impeachment here we come, right?

Wrong.

Nancy Pelosi: Impeachment is "not on the table."

Howard Dean: "I know half [The Daily Show] audience wants us to impeach the president" — this drew wide cheers — "but it's not going to happen."

WTF?

"Fixing the facts" to justify the invasion of Iraq. Imprisonment without legal protections. Torture. Warrantless wiretaps. Rendition.

What kind of message does it send to Americans if we don't impeach this criminal?

Posted on 11/09/06 by Anthony Ioven | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (7)

604 to Dems — Be careful what you wish for.

Yesterday, the Democrats took back the House and probably the Senate. Now we'll see if they will finally find their spine and take back the country, too.

I'm not betting on it.

Posted on 11/08/06 by Anthony Ioven | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (5)

On Friday, a Boston talk-show host was fired for calling Grace Ross, a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, a "fat lesbian."

The schlock jock, who professed to be "stunned" by the firing, whined:

I didn't violate any laws. There was no obscene language. I know it's mean, but she is technically obese and lives an alternative lifestyle...It's amazing. I was sharing my thoughts.

Oh. Well all right, then.

As offensive as the on-air remark was, the context of the remark was, to me, just as offensive. The soon-to-be-former talk show host was indignant that, the night before, Ross, a Green-Rainbow Party candidate, had the "nerve" to participate in a debate with the Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor, along with an Independent.

"No, you're irrelevant. Get off the stage!" I couldn't stand her at the end. At one point I was about to yell: "Will somebody tell that fat lesbian to shut up..."

I find it offensive that the media continues to declare that there are just three parties in American politics — Democrat, Republican, and "irrelevant."

No matter that Ross is intelligent, articulate, and beholden to no one. No matter that she speaks in complete, thoughtful sentences rather than slogans and soundbites. She isn't a Democrat or a Republican. Therefore, she's irrelevant.

I refuse to cast an irrelevant vote tomorrow. I refuse to waste my vote. Tomorrow I'll vote for the candidate who best represents my own beliefs and ideas — Grace Ross.

Posted on 11/06/06 by Anthony Ioven | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (2)

According to Merriam-Webster:

dem·o·crat

Pronunciation: 'de-m&-"krat

Function: noun

The folks at 604 want Republicans and dittoheads everywhere to know that, no matter what Rush says, "Democrat" is a noun, not an adjective. To refer to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party" is, well, fixing the facts to suit an agenda.

Not that Republicans and dittoheads are above that sort of thing.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

According to Handicap International, "Civilians constitute 98% of all recorded cluster submunitions casualties." And many of these casualties — the majority being "boys and young men" — are caused by bombs that don't explode when dropped, but lie waiting until some curious child picks one up, or an unsuspecting civilian accidentally disturbs one:

In Iraq the coalition forces led by the U.S. have used 13 million cluster sub-munitions...Assuming that one out of ten do not explode on impact, there are [over] a million bombs lying around.

The gift that keeps on giving.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The British think George Bush is more dangerous than North Korea's Kim Jong-il. Canadians "consider Bush more dangerous to world peace than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah."

And these are our friends.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What's Arabic for "uncle"? Whatever it is, Israel isn't going to lift its foot off the necks of the Palestinian people until they hear it.

Months ago, the democratically elected Hamas government opened the door to peace talks. But until they say the magic word, there'll be no peace.

Hamas is only willing to go as far as saying hudna — a concept of a cease-fire that dates back to the Koran. And if Israel were really interested in a peaceful compromise with the people they once shared the country with, they would take Hamas up on this hudna:

A hudna is offered only to a non-Muslim party that controls its own non-Muslim land. In other words...by using the word "hudna," Hamas leaders are implicitly recognizing the permanent existence of Israel.

But "if" is also a magic word.

Posted on 11/04/06 by The Guests of 604 | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (4)

Suppose the Republicans' worst nightmare comes true next Tuesday and the Democrats win a majority of seats in both Houses of Congress. What will change?

Next to nothing.

We'll still be in Iraq, with no plan to get out. Almost 50 million Americans still won't have health insurance. We'll still be helping Israel punish the long-suffering Palestinians. Our 45-year economic warfare against the people of Cuba still won't end, even though our reasons for doing so are fuzzy at best. And at the bottom of it all, money will continue to be the root of all politics.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Among the strictest Thou Shalt Not commandments that the MSM lives and dies by is this: Never, ever, criticize American troops. But Seymour Hersh is no ordinary member of the MSM.

During an address at McGill University in Montreal, Hersh said that "there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq."

Hersh described a video he saw of America soldiers "open up fire" on Iraqis playing soccer, immediately after a vehicle with eight US troops in it was blown up:

About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day.

I thought crimes like that only happened on good cop/bad cop TV shows.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Computer Associates (aka CA) is the Enron of the computer industry. A few years ago, some oh-so-clever CA execs began inflating the bottom line by cooking the books and inventing the 35-day month — a little trick that insiders liked to joke and brag about. But now, one of those insiders, former CEO Sanjay Kumar, is going to jail for 12 years. Let's hope that every one of those years contains 35-day months.

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The British military is complaining that it's having a hard time finding qualified recruits because so many young people are too fat to qualify. To which every smart mom and dad can only say, Have another chocolate shake with those fries, sweetie?

Posted on 11/02/06 by The Guests of 604 | Link | Comments? | Read Comments (2)