Abolish Dept of Education, Commerce and Whoops – Why, Then What and WTF?

In Rick Perry’s gaffe during the Republican Presidential Candidate Debate (11/9/11) he noted that he would abolish the Dept of Education, the Dept of Commerce and couldn’t recall the third department he would abolish…Dept of Energy.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION – Why?
Why shut down the Dept of Education. The mission is to “establish policy for, administer and coordinate most federal assistance to education, collect data on US schools, and to enforce federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights.”

It is also the smallest department in the cabinet. With the exception of “No Child Left Behind” – which should be abolished – the department doesn’t set school policies, they do not set education standards. Please tell me why abolishing this department is a good idea. Should we stop providing federal assistance to our education systems? Should we stop collecting data on our schools? Should we not enforce educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights? Is there another cabinet-level department that would absorb these duties?

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE – Then What?
The mission of the Department of Commerce is to “promote job creation and improved living standards for all Americans by creating an infrastructure that promotes economic growth, technological competitiveness, and sustainable development.”

While I would agree they aren’t accomplishing their mission, this is no reason to abolish the department outright. According to Wikipedia, “Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for business and government decision-making, issuing patents and trademarks, and helping to set industrial standards.”

Is Rick Perry saying we do not need the issuing of patents and trademarks? Is he saying the government shouldn’t be involved in gathering economic and demographic data? Without the department of Commerce which department would take on these duties?

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – WTF?
The world has witnessed the disaster of the Tsunami in Japan on 3/11/11 and the subsequent meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Fukushima. The importance of an incredibly detailed and thought through plan for how to manage nuclear regulations, waste and emergency situations with potential for disasterous consequences came to the surface of the worlds nuclear states. Germany went so far as to declare that all nuclear power plants be phased out by 2022. Belgium followed suit declaring it would be nuclear power free by 2025.

With this said, the Department of Energy’s responsibilities include “the nation’s nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production” (quote from Wikipedia article on United States Department of Energy). So why the f*&k would Rick Perry – or any candidate – want to abolish this department? What is his plan to manage radioactive waste disposal? What about the safety and security of our nuclear weapons program?

AMAZING
When I visited Rick Perry’s website to find the answers (www.rickperry.org) I am immediately greeted with the banner “Which part of Federal Government would you like to forget about most?” – and I’m given the opportunity to vote. What incredible disdain for our United States government. Brilliant idea – elect a man to a government office who has no respect government offices in the first place. Yes – rather than try to fix a problem, he’s apparently prefer to take a sledgehammer and destroy the problem – yes lets take the BAM! BAM! approach to our nations problems.

Please explain – Why get rid of the Dept of Education? What will you do after you get rid of Dept of Commerce? And WTF are you thinking regarding getting rid of the Dept of Energy. Oh – and let me guess – these were the Top 3 voted for on your web site – I couldn’t find out on my own because to vote requires providing personal information.

Political Abstinence (as heard on WFAE)

WFAE in Charlotte, NC aired my commentary “Political Abstinence” on Thursday October 30th.

Link to audio: listen now

Link to WFAE: here

Here is the transcript:

Six weeks ago, I was so consumed by this election that, I’ll be honest; I couldn’t imagine going even a few hours without an update.   

I spent all day on my computer hopping from web site to web site and blog to blog looking for the latest news.  I was just as interested in the scandalous gossip about lipstick and pigs as I was about the latest reform proposals from either campaign. 

     Then everything changed.

I went on a business trip and was so busy with meetings, presentations and working dinners that I had no time for my usual websites or talk radio shows.

     That made me realize how consuming all this mental chatter was and I started to wonder if I even needed it. I mean, really, at this point I’ve already made up my mind about who I’m going to vote for and there’s probably nothing that’s going to change that.

     So I went cold turkey on all politics until Election Day.

     The first week of my political abstinence was easier than I expected. Headlines grabbed my attention, but I resisted reading further. Turning off talk shows wasn’t as easy, but I found alternatives and to avoid the temptation I changed all my radio presets to music stations and sports talk shows.

I made an exception with the debates. I watched the first Presidential debate and I learned nothing new.

     But what really got to me was the second debate between Obama and McCain. All the venom they were spitting back and forth in their Town Hall left me with a sour taste. I felt like the smoker who quit and now finds the smell of cigarettes nauseating. I turned it off after 20 minutes.

I’ve discovered that without pundits pumping their poison into my veins everyday, the chatter in my mind has cooled off, and I’m able to focus more on the things that matter.

My friends and family keep asking, “Aren’t you afraid you’ll miss something important?” I tell them, “If something comes along big enough to change my vote I won’t be able to avoid it.”  And from what I’ve heard, the only big thing I’ve seemed to miss is Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

I’ve got to say, I’m still tempted to listen to my talk radio shows, but the interesting thing is the other night I got into a political discussion with a friend and we went back and forth on the same old issues. When I walked away I couldn’t turn it off, I was still arguing with him in my head and it didn’t feel good.

I’m actually not sure at this point if I’ll ever go back to my old political habits after Election Day. But if I do, I’ll certainly approach them in a brand new way.

 

“Political Abstinence” on Shape of a Box – YouTube

Shape of a Box is a new video literary magazine sponsored by Folded Word Press run by Jessie Carty of Charlotte, NC. Check it out here!

This week I recorded a version of my essay “Political Abstinence” for the video literary magazine. Check it out!

Thanks Jessie for the opportunity and best of luck!

See my original post on this subject here.

No More Politics for Me (for Now)

It was three weeks ago today when I made the decision — no more politics until Election Day. I was going into political abstinence. No more political articles, no more political blogs, no more political videos, no more political radio talk shows, no more political e-mails and I don’t watch TV, but if I did, it would’ve meant no more political television programs.

I was done! Three weeks ago!

I had the luxury (sort of) of being on a business trip for a week in Seattle. My schedule was so busy — morning, noon and night — that I had no time for my usual trolling of the Internet for news stories about Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin or George Bush (sorry Joe Biden, your just not a hot topic…which is nice actually). No stories about whose giving the best tax cuts, no stories about how Sarah Palin can see Alaska from her backyard, no stories about the character of a Vietnam POW and no stories about Iraq, the economy, Afghanistan, climate change, oil or anything else going on in the world that have a political spin.

And when the week came to an end I realized how good I felt.

I have strong opinions about politics and the political arena. When I hear about Sarah Palin’s international experience (or lack thereof) and how Karl Rove somehow tries to defend her I wind up having a political debate in my head, preparing my arguments for anyone who will listen. It steals my time, it steals my energy, it effects my days and my nights.

So when I arrived home from Seattle I had made the decision. No more politics! I’ve already made my mind up on Barack Obama. Goddess willing he is going to be the next President of the United States. There was nothing from September 19th until Election Day that was going to change my mind. So why should I allow political pundits to stir me up, to feed me their poison so that I can be consumed by negativity. No thanks!

There were a few small exceptions to the rule — I would allow myself to watch the 4 debates (3 Presidential and one VP) and I was allowed only to visit either Barack Obama’s website or John McCains for information, but no others. That was all!

This was like going cold turkey for a guy who is a complete political junkie! 90% of my IE favorites were political based web sites and a third of all my car radio presets (with XM radio) were political talk stations. No more!

When I got home I found my XM radio guide and reset all of the political stations to something else. Bye, bye Air America, NovaM, POTUS 08, America Right, FoxNews Talk, CSPAN…all of them and more…gone!

I also decided to remove all of the politcal favorites from my browser. Bye, bye ThinkProgress, RawStory, WorldNetDaily, DailyLeft…and many more…gone!

It wasn’t long before the first Presidential debate. I watched it in its entirety…and realized I’d learned nothing new after more than 90 minutes of chatter.

As time went by I could feel my spirit uplifting. The temptation to visit political websites subsided. I still saw the headlines on the major news sites, but I never clicked a link.

One night out of boredom I decided to visit RawStory, for old times sake. I told myself I’d just look for non-political articles, as they do find some interesting stories from time to time. When I opened the home page I read political headline after political headline. My mind began to spin and I just said No — click, closed the browser.

That was my only visit to a political website since my decision.

I attempted to watch the VP debate, but due to Internet issues I couldn’t…after watching two segments of highlights, I decided to forgo the rest.

Then I attempted to watch the 2nd Presidential debate. It was so full of negative attacks back-and-forth, with no new information that I turned it off after the first 20 minutes. This would’ve been unheard of for me in the past 8 years.

Yesterday I received a political e-mail from a family member…he likes to send me the threads he’s on from his Republican support group. The vast majority of what is sent is lies and exaggerations, but I often entertain them anyway. When this one arrived I was tempted to just delete it…but something possessed me to keep reading.

It was from a buddy of his who was talking up the logic behind a violent, armed revolution of our government if Barack Obama is elected President. I was in such a good mood that day prior to reading that e-mail. But once I read it a trigger had gone off inside of me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My productivity at work came to a screeching halt as my mind was obsessed with how I was going to respond to this hideous suggestion, laden with ignorance and hypocrisy.

I told myself I would not respond.

I told myself I would not respond.

I told myself I would not respond.

It was ridiculous. I walked away, I tried to get my mind to focus on something else. And then I decided how I would respond.

Here is a portion of what I sent:

I would like to request that you no longer forward or include me on any politically based e-mails into the future.  

While I’ve always enjoyed a good debate, I’ve decided to cease such responses for my own reasons.

 While my opinions are free to change over time, they will likely never change as a result of e-mails like these or other propaganda. I’m asking everyone who sends me politically motivated e-mails to remove me from their distribution lists. The negativity is contagious and I’d rather step away.

My request was granted.

Stepping away from politics in the media for only 3 weeks has had a profound effect on me. No longer am I watching Keith Olbermann or Karl Rove on internet videos. No longer am I reading political articles laced with negativity. No longer am I jumping from political blog to political blog to see the latest embarrasing thing Sarah Palin has said.

Forget it. And it feels so good.

Yesterday I also took myself off all politically motivated newsletters that arrive in e-mail. No more news from MoveOn.org or TruthOut or others.

I feel liberated.

“…but don’t you feel like you’re going to miss out on key issues?” — I am asked.

No.

My mind is made up this election season. I know where I stand on the issues. And trust me…something big enough to change my mind (if such a thing existed) would be impossible to hide from.

While I did make my commitment to political abstinence through Election Day…I’m curious how I will react post-November 4th. At this point it looks like this may be a long term thing.

God Has Been Hijacked — “In God We Trust” is Stale and Needs To Go

A new poll is out on MSNBC asks, should “In God We Trust” be yanked from our currency — of course! Take the poll yourself: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

While our nation’s motto, E Pluribus Unum, is more relevant than ever, the phrase “In God We Trust” has been hijacked by the Christians, needs modernizing and should be removed from our currency.

It’s not that “In God We Trust,” was ever a non-Christian thing. For most non-Christians it often went unnoticed or was met with compliance — at least it doesn’t say “In Jesus we Trust.”

Unfortunately the insecurity of some Christians out there has caused them to grasp tightly onto their mythology that America is a Christian nation, founded upon Christian principles — history (past and present) shows that this is not the case. As their collective ego fears the growth of other religions (or those not religious at all) they’re fighting tooth and nail for any such thread of hope that supports their failing optimism for a Christian America — and “In God We Trust” is one of those last beacons. It provides the boost their collective ego yearns for to demonstrate their superiority over other faiths, over other Americans.

The founding fathers were quite wise and deliberate to leave God out of the Constitution and largely out of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson’s creative genius is powerful as he leaves “God” out of the equation when declaring:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Jefferson and his compatriots knew that they were establishing a nation that would recognize religious freedoms — for Christians, Jews, Hindu’s, Muslims, Native Americans, Athiests and others. They knew that use of the term “God” was not inclusive, while the use of the term “Creator,” remarkably, was.

Sadly, the overzealous Christians have hijacked the term “God.” Now when we hear the word God it is always considered first in the Christian context. Many non-Christians have found alternative ways of expressing themselves by using terms such as “the divine,” “the universe,” “the great spirit,” amongst others to distinguish their beliefs from those professed by some Christians. It is time our currency and our government fully respected the diversity of our nation — as it did upon its founding.

E Pluribus Unum! Out of many, one! We are a diverse nation, growing more and more diverse by the day. We are a people of many ethnicity’s, many cultures, many races and many religions. Our government should honor and respect all of the people of this nation, excluding none.

“In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God” have become the exclusive domain of the Christians. And it is precisely because of the arrogance of some Christians that such phrases have become offensive to others.

Regardless of race, ethnicity or creed, let us remember that we are all Americans! Can we not agree to focus on what makes us a nation and to focus on what binds us? Why continue to to build walls that divide us? It is time for us all to recognize that which makes us and keeps us so strong — our beautiful diversity!

It’s Oil — Not Harry Potter (Yes Those Profits Are Outrageous)

Yes, the oil profits are outrageous and our government must step in. They are profiting off of the one commodity that is at the core of our entire economy and at the core of everyday life in America. They are selling oil, not copies of Harry Potter!

I recently received another e-mail from my Republican brethren — who believe any attack on big oil is an attack on capitalism. Clearly the Democrats hate capitalism and therefore they must hate America. Pure bunk!

The e-mail sited a recent editorial in Investor’s Weekly. It stated:

On July 31, Exxon Mobil reported an $11.7 billion second-quarter profit, breaking the record for a U.S. company that it previously set.

Naturally, politicians and the public, provoked by a financially ignorant media, reacted as if the company had stolen the money.

Barack Obama called the earnings “outrageous.”

In defense of Big Oil the article continued:

In the first quarter of this year, the profit margin for oil companies was 7.4%. That trailed the electronic equipment industry (12.1%) and the pharmaceutical and medical industry (25.9%).

Boo hoo for ExxonMobile, BP and Shell. Despite the billions of dollars in profit, their profit margin was a mere 7.4% (admittedly we should be equally enraged at the pharmaceutical and medical industry, but I digress).

Then the author bemoans the attacks on free-market capitalism:

Such is the quality of our media and elected officials, who seemingly don’t understand even the most basic rudiments of a free-market system.

Why is it so difficult for the Right in America to understand that oil is an essential commodity. ExxonMobile is selling the one commodity that runs our cars, heats our homes and fuels our economy. If we lose our oil we lose our quality of life. When the price of oil goes up 300% (which it has done while Bush has been in office) its difficult to find something or someone who isn’t impacted.

What if our water, which we also depend upon in our daily lives, were subject to the free-market system? What about electricity? Or even better, what about Police protection or Fire protection or Health Care (whooops, went too far).

Imagine a world where your water supply was controlled by an ExxonMobile type company. And imagine if that company was making billions of dollars of profit for the commodity you use to bathe your children and cook your family meals. Would the Right be crying out in defense of the free-market system?

What if every road you drove upon was owned by the free-market system. Imagine a world where every car was required to have a GPS system attached which tracked every mile you drove and upon whose road you drove…billing you each month as appropriate. Then let’s imagine this fictitious company named EzzonMotile had raised the cost per mile from $1 to $4 claiming it was merely the cost of doing business…yet somehow they became the most profitable corporation on the planet. Tough luck America, that’s free-market capitalism.

And because every mile comes with a cost — it costs you three times as much to drive to work, to take the kids to school, to visit your sick mother in the hospital, to take your grandfather to the dialysis center every day, etc…Then that would just be too bad. That would be free-market capitalism.

Some sort of regulation must be established upon oil, much like water and electricity. In our past our nation decided to regulate water and electricity…they became essential commodities. The time is long over due for big oil.

Big oil is not selling Harry Potter books or I-Pods. Our economy will not falter if Harry Potter books go up in price by 200%. Our elderly and poor will not die of exposure to the cold if the price of I-Pods goes up 300%. I will not have to cut back on bare necessities at home if the price of the X-Box goes up 400%.

If there is demand for I-Pods and the price goes up 300% and consumers pay the price and Apple makes an $11 billion profit — thats free market capitalism.

When the price of gasoline at the pump goes up $10 a week when there is speculation in Saudi Arabia, that’s exploitation. Our nation’s addiction to oil is being exploited by the big oil companies. Wake up America!

I have to admit, however, we cannot blame the oil companies. They have been permitted to run rampant in the free-market system for decades upon decades. It is their obligation to their employees and their stakeholders to turn a strong profit. We are in this situation because our government (Republican and Democrat alike) has not had the courage or audacity to put an end to the outrage.

And now we have few choices.

Regulate big oil or create alternative sources of energy.

Please do not insult me by trying to pin our politicians as financially ignorant. Their outrage is well justified as is my own. Big oil controls a commodity that is almost as essential as water and electricity to our lives or our economy — the fact that they are amongst the most profitable corporations on the planet is an outrage! It is time something were done about it.

It’s About Time — for Barack Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely brilliant!

Its been 45 years since Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream speech” in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial…and today I watched as a man — born of a black father and white mother — accept the nomination for Presidency of the United States of America from the Democratic party.

Bravo Senator Obama!

I was inspired throughout the speech, but I did not jump out of my seat until he mentioned equal rights for homosexual couples…I spilt my damn beer! While Obama does not support gay marriage, he supports civil unions and equal rights to ALL Americans regardless of sexual orientation! His comments about it being about time same-sex couples having the same rights to visit their loved ones in the hospital as heterosexual couples was so appropriate — because it is about time.

Bravo Senator Obama!

It is about time for Barack Obama. It is about time! America is a nation that symbolizes diversity and the American dream…and that symbolism and that dream is encompassed in its entirety in Barack Obama!

Its about time we had a President who not only bucks off the status quo like an annoying tick off his back, but one who stands up for true American values…stands up for the middle and lower classes and doesn’t cow-tow to the rich and the wealthy and the aristocratic class!!!!

It is about time for Barack Obama!

Its about time we had a President who understood the value of community — and that the American community needs to care for itself. That we, as Americans, need to provide healthcare to all of our citizens, that we need to ensure social security to our seniors, that we need to ensure a strong education to all of our citizens and that we need to ensure jobs for our citizens (and not reward those who send our jobs overseas).

Bravo Senator Obama!

And yes…we must stand up to our enemeies…and not cry behind our white pillars and declare “they don’t play fair so we won’t talk to them.” The policies of the Bush Administration will go down in history as some of the most immature and ineffective in the history of diplomacy! And by far the least effective!

It is time we had a President who’s not afraid to sit down with our emenies and talk!

And its about time we had a President who is serious about eliminating our dependence on foreign oil by investing in alternative fuels and not by hopelessly drilling for more and more oil — only to exacerbate the problem.

It is about time for Barack Obama!!!!!!

It is about time for Barack Obama!!!!!!

It is about time for Barack Obama!!!!!

Should we mix politics & religion?

Shouldn’t we vote in favor of our morality? A pagan responds:

A recent letter to evangelical minister Billy Graham asks:

I know you try to stay out of politics, but some very controversial moral issues will be coming up in the next election in our state, and some of us feel we ought to take a public stand and try to get them defeated. Should we?

A PAGAN response:

Dear Moral Warrior,

Morals and ethics are subjective and very personal. However, so many of us seem to vote based upon our values.

• Do you value the rights of women and their right to choose?
• Do you value the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation?
• Do you value peace over war?
• Do you value the environment?
• Do you value religious diversity?
• Do you value cultural diversity?
• Do you value the American community’s access to health care?
• Do you value human dignity and recognize no place for torture?
• Do you value our American civil liberties and the fourth amendment?
• Do you value habeas corpus and the rights of all citizens to a fair trial?
• Do you value freedom of religion?
• Do you value fiscal responsibility?

Clearly your answers to these questions will influence your vote. However, as Americans living in a religiously diverse and secular nation we should be very careful to ensure our belief systems are not infringing upon our fellow citizens right to their own pursuit of happiness.

The topic of homosexual marriage is a popular one these days — some religions do not believe homosexuals should be permitted to get married. If you do not believe in homosexual marriages do not permit them in your church, but we should not be legislating to deny Americans a right that should be freely shared by all.

The Bible teaches us not to marry outside of your faith, should this be legislated too? Certainly not in a secular society because such legislation would be as ridiculous as not permitting homosexuals to marry.

Let us all remember the words of our founding fathers;

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

While it is almost impossible to separate our morals and values from our politics, in a truly free society we must never legislate morality except in those cases where it infringes upon ones personal property or self (in other words, while ‘stealing’ may be morally acceptable to someone, it infringes upon anothers personal property and we should certainly legislate against such acts).

I actually don’t discuss politics in my book, Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith, but in chapter 8, “Doubting God’s Gender and Views on Sexuality,” I do have a section on why I doubt God opposes homosexuality.

What Snopes.com can teach us about Democrats & Republicans

If I counted up the number of Republicans versus Democrats in my e-mail Address Book, I’d probably say its a 50-50 split. Curiously, I’ve always wondered why it is always the Republicans who send me political e-mail, usually phrased in such a way to incite fear and almost always, without question FALSE.

Today alone I received 3 e-mails from Republicans, slandering the Democrats. This past weekend about 3 more. Last week about 5-6 more. Its a regular occurrence and curiously my Democrat friends never choose to play these silly games…sending slander, racism, fear-mongering, hate or lies across the web.

I decided to do a little non-scientific research on Snopes.com. On their page of the Top 25 “Hottest Urban Legends” items that discuss Barrack Obama ranks #1. John McCain ranks #4. Remarkably George W. Bush isn’t even on the list.

Looking at the John McCain list, the investigative team at Snopes.com has researched 4 items pertaining to John McCain. Of those, 1 is True, 2 are Undetermined and 1 is False (John McCain did not say he bombed innocent women and children on 60 minutes).

Jumping over to the Barrack Obama list is a whole other story. Snopes has researched 29 items pertaining to Barrack Obama! Of those:

• 17 are false
• 5 are partially false
• 3 are undetermined
• 3 are true

What does this tell us about Republicans versus Democrats when there are almost 7 times more e-mail rumors about Barrack Obama than John McCain and of those rumors floating around they are 75% likely to be false (as opposed to 25% false if they are about McCain)?

Would it be foolish to ask my Republican friends and family to focus on the issues that face America rather than worrying if Barrack Obama wears a lapel pin?

Recipe for Disaster – Dems in Control?

I recently read an e-mail that pondered a House and Senate controlled by Democrats, the White House controlled by Barrack Obama and a swing in the Supreme Court toward the left. Such fear shuddered through this e-mailers spine that they quipped “It would be a recipe of disaster for the future of this country.”

Let me see…we’ve had a Republican President in office for 7+ years, we’ve had a Republican controlled house and senate for 6 of the past 7 years and the Supreme court is clearly tipped to the right. And what have we seen?

• We witnessed a President get “appointed” for the first time in history
• We’ve seen the most severe attack on American soil ever
• We’ve waged two wars that continue to this day
• We violated international law and the UN charter by attacking a sovereign nation without provocation
• We’ve killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people and displaced millions more
• We now spy on American citizens without a court warrant — a blatant violation of our civil liberties
• We now detain American citizens without habeas corpus — more civil liberties violated
• We detain “enemy combatants” indefinitely in violation of international law 
• CIA operatives have been outed without repercussion
• The Justice Department has violated the law by using political affiliations as a determining factor in hiring and firing of staff members
• Our Vice President has declared he is a member of the “Legislative” branch — and got away with it
• Our popularity around the globe is at an all time low
• Our President’s approval rating has consistently ranked amongst the lowest of all Presidents for 2+ years straight
• Our President is the most disliked person on the planet (a polling fact)
• The EPA is getting sued for violating its own rules
• New Orleans was underwater for 5+ days before our federal government reacted, demonstrating the cronyism of the Bush administration, the debacle that was FEMA and Mr. Brown
• Terrorism around the planet is higher than it was before 9/11
• Iran is marching toward nuclear weapons, as we’ve refused (up until recently) to talk with them
• Oil is at an all-time high
• Housing foreclosures are so high we’re in a housing “crisis”
• Banks are failing
• Stocks are struggling (unless you’re ExxonMobil, Shell, etc…)
• Corporations are posting the largest losses in American history
• Our government now tortures its detainees
• We have secret CIA prisons established around the globe to indefinitely detain whoever we want without cause
• Our government has violated the law by creating a propoganda program utilized by the Pentagon
• Our President lied before Congress (an impeachable offense), the American people and the world by declaring Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was seeking the ingredients for a nuclear bomb.
• Our President and Vice President consistently lied about ties between Al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein
• Our President misled the American people and Congress into believing Iraq was an imminent threat
• We imprison children
• The dollar is horribly weak
• Poverty rates have inclined for the majority of the Bush Administration
• Our national debt is over $9 Trillion
• 35 articles of impeachment have been brought against our President

And putting the Democrats in power is going to make things worse??????