Mitt and the Religious Right

If Later Day Saint Mitt Romney succeeds in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, it will have to be with the support of right wing religious fundamentalists. The problem here is how can supposed Christians support Romney? Romney's religious faith is considered a cult by both mainstream and conservative Christian denominations.

Want to know more about what makes Mitt tick and right wing fundies wince, check out Jon Krakhauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven."

For the so called Christian right to support Romney would be the ultimate act of hypocrisy. In fact, to support Romney, the Christian right would be guilty of apostasy.

Representative Brian Bilbray's Supporters

These are Representative Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) people. The "new Klan" also known as Minutemen. This from Orcinus.

While the claims that the Minutemen are not a racist organization are are dubious at best, for the sake of argument let's grant these Minutemen organizers' claims that they are not the KKK in fresh clothes.

Nonetheless, what their own words reveal, beyond any serious doubt, is that they are classic extremists, by nearly any standard.

The first sign of this is their paranoia:

A deep voice accompanied by the sound of shattering glass ominously warns of the perils posed by illegal immigration.

"Every minute, they're crossing our borders looking for quick-cash jobs, transportation and accommodations," the voice intones. "Some may be Mideastern terrorists with look-alike resemblance to our south-of-the-border neighbors."

The second message: "Did you know that your congressmen and the president take an oath of office ... to protect each state from invasion? So what about the millions of illegals from alien nations crossing our borders ... ? Is that an invasion? Would you call a burglar in your home a houseguest?"

And then the third: "These folks in Washington, D.C. ... are granting amnesty to illegal aliens, and giving them everything from Social Security to free health care is just the tip of the iceberg.... Is that what you want? We don't think so."

This will be the legacy of convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke' Cunningham's replacement, carpetbagging racist Brian Bilbray. He will be the politician that made the 50th congressional district home to the new KKK.

We should all be proud of the man who represents us in Congress.

NC Times Calls Bilbray For Racist Behavior

The North County Times finds Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) courting of the racist Minutemen "poor leadership." Guess they had better get used to that from racist baiting Representative Bilbray.

In an editorial about a Minuteman rally focused on evicting migrant workers, many in the United States legally, the NC Times suggests that Bilbray and fellow North County racist, state senator (elect) Mark Wyland are failing in their obligation to lead the county and country to find a meaningful solution, instead of simply participating in a series of new age Klan rallies.

It's worrisome that this is where the illegal immigration debate is heading. Even more worrisome are the elected leaders who align themselves with such actions. Assemblyman and state Sen.-elect Mark Wyland of Vista was at the rally, saying he supports "every single one of these people who came out here." Congressman Brian Bilbray, who keeps an office in Escondido, has headlined other Minutemen rallies.

That's just poor leadership. Instead of offering a real solution to the problem, our politicians are encouraging folks to roust the homeless out of their makeshift shelters.

Bilbray's contribution to the national debate is to bring the rope and a can of gasoline.

Just A Little Edit and History Is Changed

What happened to "Mission Accomplished?"



Creating their own reality over at the White House.

Hat tip to Eschaton.

Once A Dick, Always A Dick

Our boy Cheney sure hates the Constitution. Why is such a man in power? Oh, he's a Republican and they all hate the Constitution.

California Gas Price Manipulation

When the story first broke in 2003 that Shell Oil was going to shutdown its Bakersfield California refinery there was a great deal of skepticism. Insiders and analyists both suggested that Bakersfield was a viable operation and that even though it only produces two percent of California's demand, shutting it down would have an adverse impact on gasoline prices in the state.

Shell responded that there weren't sufficient oil reserves in the Bakersfield area to support an on-going refinery operation and that its small and antiquated facility was simply not cost effective. In fact, Shell was so sure of its position that it never considered trying to sell the refinery to another operator. At least not until public and political outcry drove them to reconsider that position.

The Associated Press tells the story of Bakersfield in the context of big oil's manipulation of supply and demand to keep gas prices and profit margins high for consumers.

Shell's position:

Shell portrayed its Bakersfield refinery as old and unfit. One executive said there was "simply no longer an adequate supply of crude oil" nearby.

Reality:

However, oil reserves are expected to last for decades around Bakersfield and elsewhere, according to industry and government estimates.

Shell's position:

Imports were impractical at inland Bakersfield, Shell explained. Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, the head of Shell Oil Products US, said the refinery here just wasn't viable anymore.

"For this reason, we have not expended time or resources in an attempt to find a buyer and do not intend to do so," Elsenhans wrote to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Reality:

Skeptics like U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., got more vocal. They began to suspect that Shell wanted to shut the refinery to sell pricier gas from its bigger refineries elsewhere in the region. By taking a hit at Bakersfield, maybe Shell could come out ahead.

"They were trying to squeeze the market in every possible way," Wyden insists.

Shell's position:

Shell spokesman Stan Mays denies that. He says it's "impossible to speculate" on whether Shell would have profited from closing the plant.

But he indirectly acknowledges that Shell didn't intend to make the refinery attractive for a competitor: "Who's going to want to buy it? We're not going to give crude supply with it."

Reality:

In Bakersfield, government regulators eventually began to nose around, wondering if Shell hoped to game the market. But the company finally hired an investment banker to scout buyers. In January 2005, it announced a sale to truck-stop operator Flying J, of Ogden, Utah, which also runs a small refining business.

In Bakersfield, Flying J's 350 refinery workers now process 2.7 million gallons of oil a day _ as much as Shell did _ in the churning nest of boilers, piping and stacks venting six stories above the scrubland.

The new owner won't discuss current profits but acknowledges making money. With limited oil from Shell, Flying J has kept its boilers busy with crude from other wells, also right here in the valley.

In fact, the refinery is so full of promise that Flying J has decided to spend several hundred million dollars to nearly double its gasoline output. It hopes to make about $85 million more a year in profit.

Gaming the system to generate higher profit margins. Artifically reduce supply and drive up prices. Its a great system and its an easy scam when you have two oil men running the country and holding hands with Saudi princes.

"A handful of very large companies realize it's in their mutual interest to keep prices as high as possible," says Tyson Slocum, an energy expert at the consumer group Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader. "I don't think they're sitting around a table smoking cigars and price fixing, but I think there are sophisticated ways to manipulate the market."

Americans continue to enjoy the fruits of Republican control of our government.

Wilkes Legal Team Grows

According to the North County Times, George Bush Pioneer and Randy "Duke" Cunningham ATM, Brent Wilkes has added a new superstar lawyer to his legal team.

In the latest twist to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's tale of greed and corruption, celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos has joined the legal team of one of the former congressman's alleged conspirators in a massive bribery scam.

Geragos, whose former clients include pop star Michael Jackson, former first brother Roger Clinton and former Congressman Gary Condit, said Wednesday that he recently began representing Poway businessman Brent Wilkes.

Except for this choice of Cunningham as his congressional toady, Wilkes has always believed in a first class fronts for his taxpayer scams. With federal indictments on the way, Wilkes' new legal addition suggests that he intends to go in a different direction than Cunningham's other corporate cash source, Mitchell Wade, who cut a plea bargain deal with the feds and is now in jail.

Aside from hookers, Wilkes is alleged to have provided substantial monetary assistance to Cunningham.

The specific allegations against Wilkes, cited in the government's Cunningham case documents, are:

- that he gave Cunningham $525,000 in early 2004 to help pay the mortgage on Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe estate. The government asserts that Wilkes wrote the check only after getting Cunningham to agree to secure $6 million in government contracts for ADCS;

- that he wrote two unreported checks to Cunningham on May 1, 2000, one for $70,000 and one for $30,000;

- that he wrote an unreported corporate account check for $11,116 for a payment on a boat owned by Cunningham and made regular mortgage payments on the boat between September 2000 and April 2001;

- that he lavished Cunningham with unreported gifts exceeding $10,000. The gifts allegedly included meals at high-end restaurants where the tab often ran into the thousands, and private jet trips to three-star hotels and resorts. During the plane trips, the prosecutors said, there were catered meals featuring expensive wines and lobster.

Wonder what Cunningham is telling federal investigators about Brent Wilkes as he chokes down his gruel in the slammer?

Surrender Monkey

Another defeatist. Why can't we just "stay the course?"

The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq. The cost of combat in Iraq in terms of American lives, dollars and world standing has been devastating. We've already spent more than $300 billion there to prosecute an almost four-year-old war and are still spending $8 billion per month. The United States has spent more than $500 billion on our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And our effort in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, partly because we took our focus off the real terrorist threat, which was there, and not in Iraq.

Go to Hell George Bush

How To Divide And Conquer

Brian Bilbray (CA-50) was elected to congress because of a single issue. He may do the normal political glad-handing and baby kissing, but at heart Bilbray's only viable issue is his anti-immigrant stance. His nativist position is the only card he has to play and he is a shady enough politician to know that the less he says the better. He lets talk radio and hate groups such as the Minutemen speak for him and he just stands to the side and nods in agreement.

Why did Brian Bilbray win in the 50th district. What is going on in San Diego's North County offers an explanation:

October 18:

Marking the division of a community, a shouting match erupted Wednesday night outside of Escondido City Hall after the City Council approved an ordinance barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

What started as a crowd of about 30 people before the meeting then grew into two raucous crowds totaling about 100 people. One was predominantly Latino, carrying religious symbols and picket signs. The other was predominantly white, carrying American flags and photos of officers the group said were killed by illegal immigrants.

November 18:

A protest by several anti-illegal immigration groups Saturday afternoon on the edge of a canyon where migrant workers have camped for years was peaceful, but tense, as nearly 200 flag-toting demonstrators chanted, sang patriotic songs, and were confronted by a handful of human rights observers.

Brian Bilbray has a congressional liasion office in Escondido. He supports the city's unconstitutional housing ban.

Brian Bilbray actively courted the Minuteman vote.

These are his people.

First we have Duke Cunningham, liar and second rate crook.

Now we have Brian Bilbray, liar and racist.

Immigration Top Issue In CA-50 Election

According to exit polls in the 50th congressional district election, single issue carpetbagging lobbyist Brian Bilbray (CA-50) at least selected the right "hot button" issue.

In the 50th Congressional District, immigration was a top concern for voters, according to an exit poll by Zogby International, a polling and research firm with offices in Washington. It showed that 21.2 percent of those questioned said immigration was the most important issue in their decision to vote. Change in Washington was the second-most important issue among those polled, 15.5 percent.

Bilbray doesn't have a plan or policy, just a loud voice and a simple minded message: immigrants bad, stopping immigration good.

Why Brian Bilbray Will Win

James Walcott breaks down the Republican Party with painful precision. This is why scheming liars like Duke Cunningham and Brian Bilbray garner the votes of Republicans. It's simple; Republicans are stupid and proud of their ignorance. Just as fundamental Christians will accept hypocritical liars like Ted Haggard; they will accept strutting hypocritical politicians like George Bush and Brian Bilbray.

Republicans learned how to exploit the intelligence gap, herding the dopey faithful to the polls, and depending on their docility between elections. "Karl Rove was there to recognize that there were substantial powers to be obtained by catering to stupid stubborn people, and George W. Bush would be the man to harvest such resources," Norman Mailer brilliantly proposes in The Big Empty (a series of dialogues between Mailer and son John Buffalo). "George W. understood stupid people well. They were not dumb, their minds were not physically crippled in any way. They had chosen to be stupid because that offered its own kind of power. To win a great many small contests of will, they needed only to ignore all evidence. Bright people would break down trying to argue with them." It's like trying to reason with a box of rocks. If Rove's vision of a permanent Republican majority comes to rotten fruition, America may well devolve into the moronic dystopia of Mike Judge's movie Idiocracy—a mentally handicapped superpower buried under a mountain of garbage where the Fox News Channel is the sole source of information.

Tell the uncurious lies and they will believe them. Tell the uninterested lies and the will believe them. Wrap it all up in the flag and they will believe any lie you tell.

Hat tip to Democratic Veteran.

Rummy Shakes Saddam's Hand A Year After Dujail Massacre

Rummy was doing a fantastic job back in 1983, when he went to Baghdad to make sure Saddam had all the ingredients he needed for chemical weapons and to make sure that the targeting of civilians would be improved by coordination with American intelligence.

Here is how Carpetbagger Report sees it.

Remember, a vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote to leave these sorry ass crooks in power.

New Poll Shows Huge Bilbray Lead

A new SurveyUSA polls shows that in a heavily Republican district, the best strategy for a Republican candidate is to hide from the voters. That's what Brian Bilbray (CA-50) has done in the 50th district and the latest poll shows Bilbray with a commanding lead. Remember, Republicans in this district flocked to the polls every two years to send convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham back to congress so he could steal millions. And, let's face it, if Cunningham were running from his prison cell, the loyal Republicans of the 50th would probably send him back to congress to steal some more.

This most recent polls suggests that it is Republican party loyalty more than any other factor that is deciding the election in Bilbray's favor. It seems that Republicans in the 50th don't want to hold Bilbray, his fellow Republicans and George Bush accountable for the disaster that this country has become. The most telling breakdown in this poll is the fact that of those who support President Bush, 95% say they are voting for Bilbray.

A vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote to continue the murder of American soldiers in Iraq because George Bush had no plan when he invaded that country and he has no plan now. Just keep the killing going until he leaves office and then the problem becomes someone else's. That is Republican leadership.

Close Race in CA-50

Invisible Republican lobbyist and carpetbagger Brian Bilbray vs. energetic Democrat Francine Busby. An unscientific survey of the mood of the 50th district suggests the race for convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham's seat is indeed very close.

...informal conversations with 60 voters in four locations throughout the district last week revealed that the race appears close in most areas. Many of those interviewed in the district, which extends from Clairemont northward along the coast to Carlsbad and northwest to Escondido, cited immigration, a desire to change the balance of power in Congress and dislike for one or both of the candidates as deciding factors in their vote.

Rummy Must Go!

A vote for Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is a vote for Donald Rumsfeld. A vote that each of the four military newspapers says is misplaced.

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

Donald Rumsfeld must go.

As long as Brian Bilbray and his fellow rubber stamp Republicans are running the show in congress, no one will hold Donald Rumsfeld accountable. That needs to change for the sake of our troops in Iraq.

Bilbray Is Next

A Vote for Bilbray Is A Vote For Bush

Remember who you are voting for on November 7. A vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote for George Bush!

Intervention Time

I'm not a big Andrew Sullivan fan, but this recent line certainly makes the point about the importance of next Tuesday:

"This is no longer an election, this is an intervention."

It's time to step in and save our country before the Bush Administration and its rubberstamp Republican Congress do irreparable damage to the United States.

Electing Brian Bilbray (CA-50) to Congress sends another Bush enabler to Washington. The cost of sending Bilbray will be more lost American lives, more squandered billions and continued erosion of the Constitution of the United States, the one thing these men have sworn an oath to "preserve, protect and defend."

Checkout the latest Busby commercial.