Large amounts of people marched on Washington over the weekend, and yesterday Cindy Sheehan and 300 more got arrested protesting outside the White House.

Reactions from both sides have been predictable. The left sees the marches and arrests as the people “demanding…” - as if. As if a nation of cowering and/or distracted citizens can demand the largest military in the world to do anything. As if a group that can’t even unite behind the biggest and most vital issue facing us today- ending the war- without bringing up f’n Mumia or Roe v. Wade or, well, insert pet cause here. Focus, people. It ain’t about you.

And from the right, such as the single issue (roe) “conservative” blog redstate.org, who had this to say:

They must be defeated at all costs. Their message must be discredited. They must be pushed back into the margins of history, having failed to accomplish anything more significant than getting Cindy Sheehan’s picture on the Drudge Report. If we allow them to succeed by failing in Iraq, we provide a vital foothold to a fifth column whose end is the destruction of this country through increments of moral decay.

This must never happen, no matter the cost.

Whew. That’s some lofty rhetoric. Lofty, and of course, fraudulent. And if you have to lie to make your point, well, then you don’t have a point to make. And since we know that although I’m sure there were a few anti-American yahoos at the marches, the majority of those there were people fed up with our nations ACTIONS- not our nation. And since I have in the past marched against the war, and I have no intention or desire to “destroy America”, then Leon and his greedy, prudish ilk at redstate are lying.

For a more rational view, try It’s Happening Now by Karen Kwiatkowski.

outlaws will have guns, or so goes the bumper sticker.

Judge Issues Restraining Order Against New Orleans Gun Seizures
By Melanie Hunter

(CNSNews.com) - A federal judge Friday issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of two Second Amendment rights groups ending the seizure of firearms from citizens in and around New Orleans.

…Gottlieb challenged New Orleans authorities to explain how they will promptly “return all of those firearms to their rightful owners.” He said the ruling “affirms is that even in the face of great natural disasters, governments cannot arbitrarily deprive citizens of their rights.”

The corporate, political and religious right have converged, led by a president who, in his own disdain for science, reason and knowledge, is the most powerful fundamentalist in American history. And radicals on the Christian right are now the dominant force in America’s governing party. They control much of the U.S. government and are on the verge of having it all. Without them the government would not be in the hands of people who don’t believe in government. They are culpable in upholding a system of class and race in which, as we saw last week, the rich escape and the poor are left behind. And they are on a crusade against government “of, by, and for the people” in favor of one based on Biblical authority. So the Grand Old Party-the GOP-has become God’s Own Party, its ranks made up of God’s Own People “marching as to war.”

Continue reading Bill Moyers.

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 25 September 2005

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

Somebody can’t aim. 250,000 to kill one insurgent?

I’ve relaunched my original website mannormyth.com. Go take a look, particuarly at the purty picture by LH. And DH.

Currently it has some older writings, with more being added. And a look at my novel, Hide In Light.

Wow, this is a trip. I grew up on this, the soundtrack to American Graffiti. My father took me to see the film when it came out (1973) and I got the soundtrack soon after. At 11 years old, it was my introduction to Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, the Beach Boys and more. I find, 32 years later, that I can remember the song order, all the Wolfman Jack chatter in between songs, all of it. Ah, the power of memory.

You really owe it to yourself to see what the Republican congress plans to cut to fund the massive rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. Medicare, retiree benefits, aid to Africa, that sort of thing.

Nothing such as rolling back the tax cuts, or ending the wars, nothing like that. You know, that “optional” stuff.

If you’d like to see a plan from the “other side” look here.

Abramoff Probe May Threaten Leading Republicans as It Expands
By Jonathan D. Salant

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — The widening investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is moving beyond the confines of tawdry influence-peddling to threaten leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington.

Safavian once worked with Abramoff at one lobbying firm and was a partner of Grover Norquist, a national Republican strategist with close ties to the White House, at another. Safavian traveled to Scotland in 2002 with Abramoff, Representative Robert Ney of Ohio and another top Republican organizer, Ralph Reed, southeast regional head of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.

That, and the National Enquirer is standing “150%” behind their story of Bush drinking, saying that a “major newspaper” is going to publish a similar story in a week or so. Bad time to be a right wing nutball, it seems.

Boo f’n hoo.

In a statement that will only further enrage his critics on the right, Jimmy Carter drops a bomb:

Carter says Gore won 2000 election
John Byrne

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter delivered a shocker at an American University panel in Washington Monday: RAW STORY has learned he told the crowd he was certain Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election.

Well, duh.

Take a gander at this chart, and see what amount of our oil gets processed on the Gulf Coast, then read this to see the impact Rita may have on oil prices, and thus our economy.