These people arrested in the alleged plot to blow airliners out of the air to kill Americans have been tried on right wing radio and TV, convicted and sentenced to a life sentence. No matter what the truth is, these people's lives will never be the same.

For instance, the one they released today. The authorities said he was an "innocent" bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wow! Welcome to "Bushworld."

That poor kid will be lucky to survive. His name was released as one of the arrested conspirators, the right wing radio hosts have already had days to convict him during their daily rants. Oh, well, he's only a Muslim. No great loss, right, Rush? Right, Sean? Right, Ann? Right, Bill O?

And have you heard about the two kids arrested in Ohio for buying cell phones? The mother of one works for an airline so there were flight schedules in their car. That makes them GUILTY! It's been all over the airwaves.

Well, we have a new system of justice in the west. "Terrorists" are guilty until proven innocent.

Tried, convicted and sentenced before they are even charged. That's the new "Bush" America. That's the new "no civil liberties" world the right wants. That's the justification to listen in on our phone conversations.

Is anyone else worried about this fear mongering? Cheney has smiled for the past couple of days. That's the first time that's happened in YEARS! The administration is so happy this happened, they can't control their joyous rants about how they will "protect" us. Ain't life GRAND?

Here's the thing: Maybe we'll find out if this was a genuine conspiracy to kill thousands of innocent people but it would have felt a little more like the America I grew up in if we'd waited until the people taken into custody were at least arrested and charged before they were tried, convicted and sentenced.

Here is some of the information in a Democratic fund raising letter I received. It says what I've been saying so much better about the arrogance and incompetence of the Bush administration...

1. $319 BILLION dollars - Earmarked for the Iraq war with NO plan for success and NO end in sight.

2. $10 BILLION dollars - Value of the NO-BID contracts Halliburton received in Iraq.

3. $300 BILLION dollars - The projected 2006 DEFICIT under George W. Bush.

4. $40 BILLION dollars - How much the Bush administration reneged on for the "No Child Left Behind Act"

5. 1 in 5 - The number of American children living below the poverty line, an increase of 12% since George W. Bush took office.

6. 6 Million - The number of working Americans who have lost their health insurance since George W. Bush took office.

7. 0 - The number of mistakes George W. Bush admits to making during his first term.

Please vote in November. Impeach this monstrous regime's "Puppet King"

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are always great. I love their satirical look at our political system.

This clip is one of the best pieces of political satire I've ever seen. If we had a little "evil twin" voodoo doll of Bush/Cheney, this would be the pin sticking into the place where any human being keeps their soul. Fortunately for these two and unfortunately for all of us, they sold their souls long ago. Take a look at Jon Stewart in an amazing interview about the Opportunity created by the crisis in the middle east.

We bloggers sometimes step over the line and become so serious that we forget there can be humor in all this horror. The evil of the Bush administration and all their talking points which inevitably are identical. Every talk show, news show (and I use the term loosely when referring to Fox "News")and interview show on Sunday morning has a different face spewing the same rhetoric.

It's like all the pipes at the sewage treatment plant which come from every neighborhood but spill the same excrement into the pond.

The Lieberman campaign is claiming their website has been hacked. They are blaming the "Nerds" and "bloggers" for their email being down.

Sounds exactly like the kind of tactic Karl Rove used in Texas claiming a "break in" and "bugging" of George W. Bush's campaign offices during his run for governor. Allegations were later made that Rove himself was the culprit.

Lieberman's campaign blaming the bloggers for this activity stinks. If it looks like a fish, smells like a fish and swims like a fish then it must be a "dolphin"..

This will turn out to be just another ploy by the hate and fear mongers who run these campaigns to try to change the outcome of an election.

Keep your eyes on this ball. If there was hacking into Lieberman's system it wasn't done by bloggers. I'd be looking internally or maybe to Karl Rove dot com.

I voted for Lamont this morning. Part of the reason I voted for Lamont was because of Lieberman’s asinine position on the Iraq War but it really has more to do with voting against the Democratic establishment that hasn’t prevented the mess the GOP has made of this country the last few years. Almost every single endorsement of Lieberman has gone something like, “he’s a nice guy, been a good Democrat, is tough on National Security and we need bi-partisan people like Lieberman in the Senate.” Well I’m a nice guy and I don’t hear anyone nominating me for a Senate seat (maybe I’m not as nice of a guy as I think). If he’s such as good Democrat why does every f—king Republican in the world like him so much? If he’s such a good Democrat why did he vote for cloture on the bankruptcy bill (and then vote against it another example of his insistence on etiquette as he gets trampled by the Senate Republicans), why did he vote for Roberts and Alito, why did he take so long to say he opposed the privatization of Social Security and why did he say that, “we (meaning us Democrats) undermine the president's credibility at our nation's peril." Does being tough on National Security mean that you support a war where our troops are dying every day and no one knows why? And to be completely honest I have had about all of the bi-partisanship I can take. You know what bi-partisanship means today? The Republicans do whatever the hell they want and Lieberman (and a few others to be fair) go along with them. Well I want someone to represent me who thinks the status quo sucks and wants to fight Republicans tooth and nail over every single issue. I also want this to send a message to every elected official that they are not safe because they are the incumbent or because they voted 88.3% of the time for progressive causes or they were once the Vice Presidential nominee. Every six years a Senator has to prove to the citizens of his or her state that they are worthy of sending back for another six. The only thing Lieberman proved was that it was time for a change.

Tears As Death Count Tops 1000

That means 10,000 new enemies if the ratio of family and friends is only 10 to 1. When will it end?

Unfortunately there is no end in sight. Diplomacy has become a last ditch effort in this conflict. Bombs, rockets, bullets... That's everyone's answer to the aggression of the other side.

Like the dialogue in the Robert DeNiro movie "Taxi Driver".. "You talkin' to ME!?" The players must respond to every threat with violence, to every violence with greater violence. What a system.

We've seen during the 60 years of Israel's existence that doesn't work. How about trying communication? Yeah, right!

That won't happen as long as both sides keep creating more and more future enemies 10,000 at a time. Until one side takes the higher ground of diplomacy, this conflict will flair up every few years. Why, because in order to continue the feud the Hatfields and McCoys must breed more offspring who hate the other just for the sake of hating.

Kill 'em all. Let God sort 'em out. That's a bumper sticker or T-Shirt slogan. As long as they each want their version of God to sort out the bodies of their enemies there will be war in the Middle East.

A Newsweek story reports that the Bush administration is planning to pull our troops out if there is a CIVIL WAR IN IRAQ

IF?! WHEN?!

I get dizzy sometimes listening to the spin from this administration's talking heads. The two generals who appeared with Rummy the other day before the Senate committee both stated that a civil war was "possible".. Wow! Do you think?

I just hope when they finally realize that the ethnic cleansing going on right now IS a civil war, it isn't too late to remove our troops without terrible losses.

Instead of pulling back like John Murtha proposed months ago they are adding more American troops to the shooting gallery that is Baghdad.

I hope I'm wrong to have this fear for our troops. I know they are a mighty force and they can take care of themselves but they would be terribly outnumbered if the do-do does hit the fan. They will be in the middle of a hornet's nest with everyone attacking from all sides. It will make "Blackhawk Down" look like a walk in the park.

I hate the rhetoric of the neo-cons. Since "civilians killed during a war" became known as "collateral damage" in order to lessen the effect of those words on American citizens who watch the news, I have been more and more disgusted by the way they attempt to dehumanize war.

As many of you know from my previous blog, "A War Story," about my experience during the TET offensive in Vietnam, I have seen too many bodies and body parts. It changed me in a way I can't explain.

I say that to warn you not to look at this page if you are squeamish. This page shows