Fun Fact. The current U.S. defense budget is 396 billion dollars. The defense budget of those countries who are ranked 2nd to 21st in military spending totals 393 billion.




When the Bushies were making their promises and pronouncements about getting in and getting out of Iraq, I was hooting in disbelief. Jiminy Christmas, we're still in Germany, Japan and Korea with 150,000 troops, over 50 years later!




A congressman's work keeps him on the floor of the House a few hours a day. But far more time is spent with lobbyists, usually parked over an expensive meal. Most representatives in Washington have a life filled by meals and drinks and corporate “accessing,” followed by meals and drinks and more corporate accessing, then back to the Capitol Building for a vote on something (often something that will please their sponsors) and a few fund-raising phone calls, followed by a return to a restaurant to meet some more fat cats.

Where does the public interest fit into all this? The answer is barely at all, shunted to the side while our so-called representatives line their pockets with campaign cash and their bellies with free food and booze.




The fact that any of the Clinton lynch mob in Congress are still in office, let alone in positions of increased power, is a disgrace and a hard slap to the face of good governance. This hyper-partisan pack of jackals practically crashed the country trying to impeach the man -- for a ludicrously shabby non-reason, and against the obvious wishes of the majority of Americans. During the whole sorry episode the rest of the world could only shake their heads at the foolish American spectacle.




No candidate for president who doesn't vow to expose, fine and close corporate offshore tax dodges should be taken seriously. Enron had well over a hundred of these set up, while writing here-ya-go big checks to dozens of politicians, mostly Republicans, and mostly George W. Bush.

These thinly-veiled deceptions (the company doesn't actually move to the Caribbean) rob the U.S. Treasury of an estimated 60-70 billion dollars annually, money that the rest of us have to pony up.
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