Kudos to the Democrats in Congress who caved yesterday to the will of President Bush and voted in favor of the new wiretapping law that provides immunity to the telecommunication companies that helped the Bush Administration spy on Americans without a warrant. You see, I've come around and I understand now that the only way for our government to keep us safe is to simply break the Constitution. Terrorists are everywhere (probably even a couple working right here in Bay View), and we simply cannot wait for the Bush Administration to follow the law in order to protect us. Even through the FISA court was set up for this exact purpose, it simply was not enough. the Bush Administration HAD to spy on Americans without a warrant, because it is the only way to protect us from the Islamofascists who are jealous of our freedom and our love of romantic comedies starring Ben Affleck.

That being said, there are a number of bills coming up for vote right now that we absolutely MUST see pass. These bills are crucial in the war on terror and we simply cannot be safe without them:

1. Vote to "out" CIA agents who disagree with the president. If there's one thing that we've learned time and time again with the Bush Administration, it's that cronyism works. The more loyal underlings are to their leader, the more we can simply get done.

2. Eliminate the "right to bear arms." Spying without a warrant is crucial, and so is severely restricting gun rights. After all, we can't have would-be terrorists simply walking into gun shops buying guns, right? The Bush Administration must make it illegal for Americans to own guns. Don't worry--they've got all of our phone lines tapped to keep us safe.

3. Make it illegal to criticize the president. After the Dixie Chicks are officially charged with this crime, it's time to start going after all those anti-war advocates who are obviously emboldening the enemy. Free Speech shouldn't be free.

4. Declare war on Iran. We need to nip this one in the bud. We can simply take soldiers out of Afghanistan and Iraq, because both of those missions have been accomplished. The "surge" worked great, and the Iraqi government is finally getting a lot of things done--last week, almost ALL of them showed up to vote on a crucial bill providing no-bid contracts to foreign oil companies. Don't believe what the liberal media says--the Taliban are NOT regrouping in Afghanistan. This is a lie spread by the liberal media to undermine our freedom!

5. Pass the "Torture as many people as possible act." This bill is essential to the war on terror. There's no better way to suppress anti-American sentiment than by capturing as many Arabs as possible and torturing them into admitting they're terrorists. Really ... waterboarding isn't torture--it's just a dunk of water!  And we absolutely cannot allow these "enemy combatants" to have access to any evidence against them, or anything resembling a court system. They aren't traditional POW's, which means they don't have any rights under the Geneva Conventions, and so what if only a few have been charged. And so what if hundreds more have been set free after being tortured ... They're still guilty!

God bless our country, and remember: The terrorists will kill you if you don't sacrifice your Constitutional rights to President Bush.

Ken Brosky 

The terrorists are everywhere, and they're probably going to kill you soon. That is, only if we don't continue to provide  

Well, here we go! It's time for the weekend homework, and this week I'm going to provide you with a number of links to Web sites that you can use again and again. I'll try and do this again in the future, but for now, this will give you a great head start. Bookmark these.

Climate Progress -- Run by a scientist who's actually conducted empirical research on global climate change, this is a great resource. He's funny, intelligent and has no problem calling out Democrats or Republicans who are unwilling to accept scientific facts. Global warming is real, it's important, and we have technology available right now to begin combating the problem.

David Sirota -- One of my favorite columnists and author of Hostile Takeover. Sirota takes Republicans and conservative Democrats to task, focusing mainly on corruption related to lobbying issues and how bribery can affect a politician's decisions. In addition, he makes a point of showing the positive side of government and how grassroots organizations are making a real difference. Well worth subscribing to.

Paul Krugman -- A liberal economist, one of the best on this planet. Krugman's analyses on everything from the dangers of unregulated forces to universal health care to classic economics is always well researched and intelligent.

Enjoy these. The most recent posts are excellent.
 

Patriotism is not blindly following leaders. Patriotism means finding the truth and always questioning, no matter what. What's happening in Iraq belongs to the Bush administration. No presidential administration will ever come close to this one, but that won't stop neoconservative historians from whitewashing history. I strongly encourage you to watch Bush's War on Frontline. Know the truth behind this war, and understand that the Bush administration will not fix this problem. The Bush administration will pass this trillion-dollar quagmire onto the next president, and there will be no easy solution.

Try to count how many laws were broken. Count how many lies were told, how little planning went into the post-invasion, how little intelligence there was. Learn from this. 

Click here to watch Bush's War on Frontline. 

Congratulations, Wisconsin, on choosing Barack Obama. It's good to see that Hillary Clinton's recent populist rhetoric isn't sucking too many people in ...

Don't get me wrong, though. Clinton is definitely not a bad candidate, but her insistence that she's an economic populist is an entirely new thing, and it's beginning to show. No matter who wins, it'll be easy to support either candidate against John McCain. Speaking of which, why don't we take a look at some homework readings for the weekend?

John McCain's lobbyist connections -- In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of brew-ha-ha regarding McCain's cozy connections with one very pretty lobbyist, as well as others. When even HIS aides are getting nervous, there's definitely some substance to the story. Don't be fooled by Fox News ... McCain's lobbyist connections have existed for a long, long time. Whether more evidence surfaces or not ... we'll see. Keep an open mind.

Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted --  Yes, he does have connections to John McCain. Muckraker has more.

"A Trade Transformation" by David Sirota -- Read about Hillary Clinton's history on NAFTA.

 Turkish Troops in Iraq -- Following Kurdish separatist rebels, and of course this is making things a little sketchy in northern Iraq.

Al-Sadr will extend his ceasefire -- Do you still honestly think the "Surge" quelled the violence in Baghdad? Or was it the fact that the leader of the largest militia in the country called for a ceasefire? He's now calling for an extension to the ceasefire, which will make the "Surge" look even more successful. By the way, for those of you who remember Bush saying there was going to be a troop drawdown, that's not happening anymore, either.
 

In the interest of attempting to contribute positively to my community, I'm offering you a list of reading materials to help you exercise your brain during the weekend. Rather than wasting your weekend injecting electric heroin into your brain, here are some articles that are relevant to your life and may even help you learn something (gasp!). Not only that, each article only takes about ten minutes to read. Go ahead. I know, it's scary at first, learning on the weekend ... but maybe that kind of mindset is exactly why we're in so much trouble in the first place ...

"Guns Beat Green," by Naomi Klein. Why the security bubble is gaining more investments than green initiatives.

"The Democrats' Class War," by David Sirota.

"The Cost of Toppling Saddam," by Robert Shapiro. Even in 2002, economists predicted a recession related to the war in Iraq and the rising cost of oil.

"You're **** right I would," Cheney says in answer to whether he would attack Iraq. Of course he would ... he's made a handsome profit for himself and his friends.

Cheers,

Ken Brosky