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Impeachment (3160) Bush Enemy Of Civil Rights (498) Constitution In Crisis (468) Congress Failed Oversight Democracy (298) Dictator Dictatorships (145) Right Wing Selling Off America (115) Executive Tyranny (70) Executive Privilege (52) People John Bolton (33)
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:::: [1] Senator Russ Feingold (D) of Wisconsin, on Meet the Press, July 22, 2007 [2] 71% of Americans Disapprove of the Way Bush is Handling His Job; July 23, 2007, American Research Group http://www.ranellirants.blogspot.com/ Frank J. Ranelli is an opinion editorial writer, a research author and critic. He is a former senior editor and current feature writer for the popular online news website, OpEdNews.com. His erudite and chic style of writing has been lauded and extensively published in a variety of news outlets and across the Internet. These include the Naples Daily News, The Online Journal, Information Clearing House, Alternet, The Smirking Chimp, Diatribune, and the former progressive journal of thought, Wicked Philosophy. Frank is currently working on his upcoming book, Rise of the Authoritarians, and is participating as a co-author in prominent philosopher Russell Blackford's anthology, Voices of Disbelief.
A one-eyed man in a world of the blind is king, but a rational man in a world of the irrational is a fool.
Silky Sullivan, All American. Silky Sullivan (February 28, 1955 – November 18, 1977) was an American thoroughbred race horse, considered by many to be the come-from-behind runner of come-from-behind runners, the closer of closers. Out of all the legendary closers-Whirlaway, Stymie, and Needles before him, his contemporary Gallant Man, and Forego and John Henry after him-none could hang so far back, let the field get so far ahead, and then decide to overtake the rest of the runners like a bullet shot from a gun. Called the "California Comet" and ridden often in his career by the great Hall of Fame jockey, Willie Shoemaker, Silky once galloped along in a race until the field was 41 lengths in front of him-and still won by three lengths. To accomplish such heart-stopping feats, he had to clock the last quarter in 22 seconds flat. On one occasion, it was a hair over 20 seconds flat. His trainer, the West Coast veteran Reggie Cornell, said, "I've never seen a horse in my life, or heard of one either, go faster." Silky could also leave the starting gate like any other racehorse, run a few yards, and then virtually slow to a mosey for a while, never doing more than loping along, despite the best efforts of his jockey, finally coming in a very distant last. Whether it was due to an arthritic condition (one theory) or whether it was because he was a born showman (another, very popular, theory-which holds up rather well since Silky always did his stuff in front of the grandstand), or whether it was because he caught a cold as a two-year-old and forever after could not breathe properly until well into a race, or whether he was a natural born sprinter entered into long races he had to learn to win by saving his incredible power for the last minute (a very credible theory), with Silky, nothing was ever predictable. And yet out of his 27 career starts, he was in the money 18 times with 12 Wins, 1 Place, and 5 Shows. His career earnings were $157,700. Purses were much smaller when Silky raced, but it wasn't the money or the wins that made Silky "Silky." It was the style. Shoemaker once said Silky got so far behind that he couldn't see another horse...not because of dirt in his face but because the whole field was so far ahead. Silky won. It was his intelligence that made Silky Silky. Willie Shoemaker swore, "He knows when to move inside and then out. He knows when to make his winning move." . by
rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 8:08:07 AM
A correction Hi Mitch, I am well-versed in what both a republic form of government is and what democracy means. There were many reasons the founders chose a representative form of government, instead of a purely plebeian form of populous governing. However, that does not preclude, nor does it annul the sovereignty of the people or take away their autonomy and that the government obtains its powers from the permission of the people. However, we can both agree or your byline: “[Its] every American’s Patriotic duty to question our Govt. You don't have to respect or trust a man (woman) just because they are elected to office. Money determines who will represent a political party for each office” As I once put it, “don’t confuse leadership with people placed in leadership positions.” by
Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 379 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 2:33:45 PM
A life long Republican who voted for George Bush.Twice.I will spend the rest of my life actively trying to atone for my greivous sins and absolute stupidity.
Ron Paul and Pizza Whenever the government creates a new organization like the Department of Homeland Security or raises taxes, it interferes with your liberty. We wouldn’t make our neighbors pay for our haircut or our next meal. So why does the government do it? The answer is that the government does it because we accept the tyranny of the majority at the expense of the minority. Think about it this way: You are with your friends and you want to order a pizza. Well, eight of your friends do. Your last two friends have been eating pizza for the last week and will absolutely not pay for your pizza. In most situations you wouldn’t force them to pay for your pizza; if you did you might not have very many friends, soon. So your two friends abstain and instead choose to go separately to a Chinese restaurant. The rest of your eight friends are divided between Papa John’s and Domino’s, most don’t really care, because they just want pizza. So you flip a coin and Domino’s it is. Six of you want pepperoni and three of you want anchovies. You could force the three to eat your pepperoni pizza, but that’s not a fair solution. Instead, you order two large pepperoni pizzas and one large anchovy pizza. Furthermore, three of you want onions and mushrooms and the other three don’t care. So you end up with one large pepperoni, one large anchovy pizza, and one large pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and onions. And Chinese take out. Seems like a very good solution. But what if we created a fictitious U.S. Department of Eating Out? What would the order look like? Well, they’d ask you for each individual’s social security number, look through their records, and determine that they will send you two medium anchovy pizzas for everyone in your eleven-person party. You argue with them on the phone and you tell them that most of you don’t like anchovies, but it turns out that three of your friends didn’t register with the the department of Eating Out. That’s why you are only getting two medium pizzas. And that’s why they made with anchovies. But don’t worry… Your pizzas will arrive in 40-70 minutes and they are free. That is until you look at how much the government is paying for your two pizzas: each pizza is costs 15 dollars, but the total isn’t 30 dollars. The total is 570 dollars because the government pays minimum wage and it was just raised to 13.00. The person who made your pizza dropped a bucket of tomato sauce on the floor and his friend slipped and had to be sent to the emergency room. But who cares right? If it wasn’t for the goverment, we wouldn’t have pizzas. Everyone would have to buy their own pizza, and who would deliver it? Does anybody outside the government even know how to make a pizza? No thanks. We’ll eat our cold and tiny anchovy pizzas and pay 570 dollars for them. We are scared of the consequences of abolishing the Department of Eating Out. As you can see, the only happy people in your party are the three anchovy aficionados. Eight of you are completely unsatisfied. This is an example where the tyranny of the “majority” affects the “minority”. Except it wasn’t the majority because the government had incomplete records and no incentive to please you. Now apply this scenario to Health Care or the Department of Education, or Homeland Security. These organizations are inefficient and have no incentive to please you. On the other hand, Papa John’s and Domino’s Pizza make money by pleasing you. Their greed is an incentive to make your pizza better, faster and keep you coming back for more. When you were ordering the pizzas from Domino’s your friends figured out exactly how to order without government interference. Your friends who didn’t want to eat pizza got their Chinese food and were happy. Everyone else got a share of the pizza they wanted and were happy as well. And it was done through unanimous consent, not majority rule. This is the way libertarians envision an ideal society. But if the government doesn’t make our pizza who will? If Papa John’s and Domino’s didn’t exist, someone would learn to make it and make a living off it. The first company to sell pizzas might sell at relatively high prices. But if this is the case, someone else will take advantage of those high prices to sell pizza at lower ones. As long as the government stays out of the pizza industry, pizza will get better and cheaper. So there is no need for the government to make our pizzas. As long as there is demand for pizza, the free-market will provide it. But what about the poor people? They can’t all afford pizza. No. Pizza isn’t free. Someone has to make it. To give pizza away for free would be to devalue the work of Someone. When we start giving free pizza away or raise minimum wage, we trigger a domino effect that reduces the value of our currency and the value of our work. Then other people can’t afford pizza either. But it’s free right? So they don’t need to be able to afford pizza… Well, wrong. Because nothing is free. In order to make pizzas, the government has to raise taxes. But the rich can have all the pizza they want. It’s wrong for them not to share. What have they done for us anyway? But in an ideal world everyone would have pizza. Not everybody likes pizza. If your neighbor doesn’t like pizza why should they pay for it? Think back to the example at your party. Everyone got what they wanted and nobody paid for anything they didn’t want, through unanimous consent. Stop being a good Democrat. Stop being a good Republican. Start being a good American. Do your OWN homework. NOBODY explains Ron Paul Here is an interactive audio archive of by
goldenequity (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 10:33:09 AM
Don't think of an elephant These are straight-line libertarian talking points – the “nature” is better than the “nurture” argument – and it makes you sound like a Grover Norquist devotee. If these are your political principles, then we disagree so fervently, a comment box is not the place to reply. I would instead direct Op Ed News readers to read a short book by George Lakoff entitled, Don’t Think of an Elephant, which assiduously proves these talking points are highly errant and ineffectual for a stable and interconnected society. Then, let the readers decide and comment. I am sorry you voted for George Bush twice, But I am glad you saw the error of your ways and readily admit your “grievous sins.” Thank you for that admission. by
Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 379 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 2:58:12 PM
Great article Frank By the way, have you noticed how well all that privatization has been going under the Bush administration? by
John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 612 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 4:18:03 PM
Thank you. Thanks for the kind comments. I am glad you found the article well-writtten. America needs to wake up to these facts and act or we won't be making history; we will become history....another failed republic burried in the necropolis of history's annuls. Frank J Ranelli by
Frank J. Ranelli (66 articles, 143 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 379 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 10:10:27 PM
Love is my religion; the world is my family.
Invaded and Occupied by Our Own Government The vast majority of the people in the United States can now be labeled insurgents just as are most of the people in Iraq. It's just a matter of time before we will have the military going door to door in this country. Maybe then we will really begin to have empathy for Iraq and other countries that this government has invaded and imposed their will on. We are simply seeing the results of our collective consciousness. by
carl (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 125 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 9:56:56 PM
i am retired military veteran. i served over 25 years in the Unites States Army. i retired in 1983. i served in the vietnam war. a total of 27 months in that war. i also retired from Boeing aircraft. i am 68 years old. i live in texas. iwork out on my treadmill each day. i am married. i like politics. but i dont like what is going on in our government. we need a better government with politicans that answer to the people of america. after all this is our government. ( we the people) according to...
talk about our government never in all my life have i ever seen a president and politicans in congress and the senate so far out of focus with the american citizens. they can not or will not do anything for the people of this great nation. what will it take for them to listen? WE THE PEOPLE DONT MEAN ANYTHING TO ALL THE FLUNKES IN OUR GOVERNMENT.THEY TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THEY CAN DO WHAT THEY WANT. we have a president and vice-president that are completely one sided. dont care about our Constitution that is just a dam piece of paper according to George Bush. they have there own laws, and hell with our justice system. IF THIS IS NOT A DICTATORSHIP then what is a dictator? i have said it for over 35 years, we need a new (3) third party in washington. THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM STINKS WORST THEN ALL THE SEPTIC SYSTEMS IN AMERICA. OR SHALL I SAY CESS-POOLS. i would hope that we have independents running for public office in 2008. i for one will vote all these idiots in the republican and democrat party's out. WE THE PEOPLE MUST TAKE BACK THIS COUNTRY. IT IS YOUR LAND AND IT IS MY LAND. BE ACCOUNTABLE TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY. IF YOU LOVE AMERICA DO IT. (NOW) ITS GETTING TO LATE. GO FOR IT. by
vincent passiatore (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 168 comments)
on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 10:48:23 PM
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