What does a brother have to do to get impeached up in here?

So it turns out that the Bush administration may have fudged the facts a weeeee bit in regards to Iraq's role in the war on terrorism. The Senate Intelligence Committee (I've never seen those words used together in the same sentence) has just figured this out. Incredible that it took these qualified geniuses this long to figure out what most of us have known all along. Dubya has used the Sept. 11 incident as an excuse to exercise a personal vendetta, and he misappropriated Government funds to do it. And they say that what Bill Clinton is accused of doing is an impeachable offense!

He essentially had the US Armed Forces do a contract hit. I hope he doesn't refer to the soldiers who have died or been injured, or the innocent citizens of Iraq as witnesses who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now it's no secret this country is run like La Cosa Nostra. Congressmen pass laws for companies who can pay them (through lobbyists) to do it. Bills are written, with provisions for this senator or that congressman. Votes being bought by the drug & gun lobbies. How is this different from some Mafioso putting the arm on a legitimate businessman? God forbid if one of us puts a note in someone's mailbox. We could be brought up on charges! But using the country's military might and misspending billions of dollars to settle the hash of a guy who dissed your daddy would buy any of us some time in the Stony Lonesome if we weren't the Chief Executive and his capos regime.

This country is basically run on what we would call, in organized crime circles, protection. The insurance companies charge us outrageous amounts of money "just in case something happens." They get pukingly rich, then turn away customers like those of Hurricane Katrina when they need that "protection" they've been paying for. Family medical coverage is out of reach for many. This country is on its way to being the Chinese & the EU's bitch, and it has happened on the watch of who has to be the WORST President ever.

Gas has DOUBLED in the last 2 1/2 years! This mamaluc's solution is to get behind alternative sources like Ethanol (which he or his rich golf buddies would have to be making money off).

I'm going to solve all our problems for you, Mr. President.

1 - Have the balls to admit you screwed up in Iraq, and bring the soldiers home to a hero's welcome. Pay for those young men and women to go to college and get homes, and the psychiatric help they will most certainly need. The factions that hate us so much would have reason to back the hell off. If you really want to get Bin Laden, send Whitey Bulger after his ass. That's one guy who could make that little problem go away.

2 - You like giving tax incentives to your rich buddies? Give them to the ones who at least try to do their businesses here in the good old USA, rather than the ones who outsource their crap to India, etc. Make it somewhat profitable for them. If you need a cheap place to make all of your "Made in America" crap, do it in Mexico. There is a HUGE work force of eager, honest people, who would LOVE to have those jobs and the training. People talk about the legendary corruption in Mexico's Government; frankly, they scare me a whole lot less than China.

By the way, it would go a long way toward helping the illegal immigration issue as well, and give la gente something else to do other than being peons and drug mules, and a legitimate economy.

3. You've bent over and allowed gas to cost us over $4.00 a gallon. Now do something constructive. Give your rich CEO buddies tax incentives for allowing their employees, where able, to work from home. Incentives. That's a language they understand. Not only would employees feel more empowered, the businesses' overhead would be lower, there'd be less pissed-off people on the road ready to shoot each other. The employees would have more moolah in their pockets instead of their tanks, so they'd be happy; the economy would get such a stimulation from folks having more disposable bank that it would need a cigarette after a while. If you're going to encourage alternative methods of energy, encourage wind and solar, encourage and assist farmers to grow and sell product, rather than paying them not to grow stuff.

4. Figure out a way to get medical care for EVERYONE! Put your best experts on that, instead of figuring out how to use executive privilege to tap people's phones.

5. Come correct and admit we are in a DEPRESSION! You've let banks and credit card companies bone us until we can't sit down. Now do something for the foreclosed-on. The economic stimulus was a step in the right direction. A barely perceptible step. A slight hand movement, really. Stop blaming the victims. Blame your CEO buddies, whose pockets bulge with money while their companies hemorrhage it.

There's more, but I'm afraid of getting carpal tunnel, and not having enough health coverage to deal with it.

Oh, and Illegals are the Biggest Problem Facing the Country

This sent by my good friend and fraternity brother Erich Coelho of Merced, California (do you still live in Merced, Erich?).

I couldn't agree more!

TO BE A REPUBLICAN, YOU NEED TO BELIEVE:

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Viet Nam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for y our recovery.

15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity).

16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.

17. Support for hunters who shoot their friends and blame them for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.