Why Can't I Live in Washington?
1/05/2005
Washington Congressman Jim McDermott has a thing or two to say about our beloved leaders.
Pentagon Opens Criminal Fraud Investigation Into Halliburton
I love this guy. He's a real sarcastic dude, good with puns. He wouldn't stand a chance in Oklahoma.
Here's something neat a group of vegetarians in my home state has done. World Farm Animals Day Vigil at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the largest Stockyards in the entire world. Can you imagine, vegetarian or not, what a place would be like that hosts the deaths of over 100 million animals a year? It must be dreary, with a permanent cloud hanging over it. Probably haunted.
It's a shame, really. As much as I go on and on about how bad war is, about how nasty Bush and his cronies are, this little unnoticed fact of life just keeps pushing along unnoticed. A Talking Heads song comes to mind. "They say compassion is a virtue, but I don't have the time."
I have been cordially invited to attend next year's vigil if they choose to have one. And I'll do my very best to attend. And I hope that it's as peaceful as this one was.
Lastly, if this were real, it might be some cause for celebration. But such is not the case:
John McCain Poised to be Vice President after Cheney Retires
Lastly, I'm an avid Nation reader, and so here is another cheeky article by John Nichols that you might consider reading: Bush Fails a Global Test.
Thirty other developed nations commit greater proportions of their gross domestic products to humanitarian projects than does the U.S. In fact, the entire U.S. commitment for humanitarian aid in 2004 -- $2.4 billion -- was about the same amount as the U.S. spends every ten days to maintain the occupation of Iraq. The contrast between the Bush administration's spare-no-expense approach to Iraq and its initial penny-pinching response to the crisis in southern Asia was devastating for America's image abroad. And, even as Bush tried to make amends, his administration's priorities remained out of whack -- the $350 million commitment that the administration now offers in response to the earthquake and tsunami damage equals less than two days of Iraq spending.
Goodnight, sweet dreams, whatever it is that you do.
posted by novachild @ Wednesday, January 05, 2005,
