Do you think it's just the byproduct of their formerly pristine Bush worship, and so easily jettisoned?

I must say, I find that picture seriously creepy.

Oh, here's part of the preamble to their platform:

That she starved herself into this coma?

I very much agree with this -- (I laid out my thoughts here) -- and also think that we have to be very careful about indulging in wishful thinking at this point, since it could put us in a vulnerable position ourselves.

There are indeed, at this moment, some fractures in the Republican coalition, and it would indeed be to our benefit to exploit them as best we can, but we're not in the best of positions to do that in regards to the religious right (who are the disaffected party here), and the mainstream moderate Republicans (with a couple of exceptions) haven't shown anything but concern for their party -- no signs, in other words, of their perhaps being interested in jumping ship.

I continue to think that we can't sit back and wait for the right to fall apart, we have to be proactive about things and give it a push, but I don't see a lot of activity in that respect.  I think we're missing an opportunity, and the net result is going to be zilch.

2. Out of 37 tigers in the last great tiger reserve
   - sirikar - a full 19 simply disappeared last
   year. The tiger became totally extinct in 20%
   of its reserves, leaving no pug marks in
   many cases, in almost half of the other ones.

3. The snows of kilimanjaro melted off and disappeared.

4. The PGA tour played the TPC two rounds on a
   

5. Savannah, Georgia experienced their coldest
St. Pattys day in 45 years

6. The siberian polar bear population woke up, in December, and started giving birth as if it were
spring.

7. 2004 was recorded as the warmest year in human history.

8. 2005 , February, is now privately but very, very definitely confirmed as the point in which
   

9. Since 2000, mercury levels in many states have risen nearly 400%.  Autism in america, curiously enough, has risen the same amount.  Parents note well: Autism costs, on average, 40,000.00$ a
year. If you spot it in your kids please take
my advice and invest some extra time NOW.
Especially young boys. Thanks.

-=-

To feel happy about the performance of either
party right now - NEITHER of which have
even touched ONE of these issues as a plank
is absurd. Kerry, for example, in the 04 debates -
caved so immensely when Bush said in the debate
(the third one I believe..) " I guess I'm just a
steward of the environment" - Kerry sucked up
to the same energy industry lobbyists.
He could have pole-axed bush then and there.
Why did he not?

Why are we so excited about social security?
Bush will simply enact his plan
by Executive order.

What about the war in Iraq?
It will go on despite anything we say.

How about Supreme court appointments
and the nuclear option. Please look carefully.
If the house and senate go for the nuclear
option - what can you as a voter, do
to change it.

NOTHING. ZERO.

Realize your own situation in this whole
matter. Just because you can sit on
your arse and think that the people
who support Terri are right wing
nut jobs, doesn't mean that you should
ignore the very real lessons that you,
as a voter, alone, should take away.

1. Congress drives for show, but putts for dough.
    If you're not on the green, you don't score
    with them.

2. Grandstanding and political theatre are
   used complicit to media coverage. Not
   one single thing would be happening if
   the GOP didn't cover the media.

3. Newspapers and television go out of their
   way to ignore boycotts, and grassroots action -
   they are covering only as much of
   terrisfight.org  as they think befits the
   sick spectacle of a country watching a woman
   die.

Folks, believe me. now is the time.
China will eclipse america - ONLY if the american
electorate releases their grasp on power.
Our decline in this past 20 years has been
primarily one of delegating our power
as voters, and participants  - to
lobbyists and corporations.

And corporations say "its cheaper in CHINA"

soooo..

1. Boycott all gas stations that import foreign
   oil. Generally, you can buy from Conoco,
   Citgo, BP, Hess.  Two others. Those guys
   are domestic.

2. Unite with the christian grassroots. Believe
   me, I've read the bible and there's nothing
   in there that says republicanism is a better
   way to govern by Caiphus' will, than democracy.
    Far from it - without Caiphus (a member of
    the religious ruling sect elite) whipping
    the crowd up to frenzy - the vile murderer
    barrabas would have been in prison, and
    christ would have never been crucified.
    Republicanism (the rule by the elite)
    killed christ. Just as surely as Tom Delay
    killed his own father, ripping the feeding
    tube right out of his mouth.

3. Take back our country. Dean, surely, is
   being corrupted right now in the halls
   of power. Carville and the rest of the
   Georgetown parlor boys are telling him
   all kinds of neat ideas about how to
   win an election, clinton style. Let me be
   clear: the governor of montana won
    his seat in 04 as a democrat, gun wielding,
    christian and utterly democratic.

4. Overthrow the liberal elite. Elitism is
   holding both parties back. Democracy
   should be hot,  and raw. Not cool and
   controlled.

5. Turn off your Cable TV. Cable TV has become
   the primary means of infotainment - news,
   a scourge upon america itself. Get a
   copy of the newspaper instead, and buy
   dvd's or go rent them cheaply. You'll
   save 50.00 bucks a month.

6.  Calculate your own greenhouse situation -
    how much do you drive, etc. and then plant
    trees. Make a conscious effort to correct
    your own problem.

Works of the world! Unite!! >:)

The only - and I mean only judge that would
have sided with Terri Schiavo would
have been a judicial activist. Period.
Husband is legal guardian. Finding of
fact that she said not to turn her life
into a veggie tale... all kinds of stuff.

Congress totally overstepped their bound.

But the worst part wasn't that they did
that, I'm saying - the worst thing was -
they did it in a crude, crass and grandstanding
manner.  Tom Delay pulled the plug on his own
father.

Mark Shields wrote an excellent article called
the  Democrat's 'big tent'. quote marks included.

read it here:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/22/big.tent/index.html

and with excerpt rights granted by the
great US constitution, I'm posting just
a snippet to help make my point (and
steer you to his column too)

"The truth is that on the abortion issue, the pro-life GOP has been much more of a "big tent" than the "liberal" Democrats who have insisted upon orthodoxy from convention speakers.

Just look at the 2004 New York convention. where coveted, prime-time spots were granted to the pro-choice, pro-gay-rights governor of California and the pro-gay-rights, pro-choice and pro-gun-control former mayor of New York City. Did the Democrats in Boston hear anybody who was even mildly pro-life? Not on your life."

BTW chris is going to love that article
by shields coz its mostly about pennsylvania.

Enjoy.

:~(

doinkicarus
www.blamp.com

-you'll know what i mean when i punch you in the sac.

Which commandment was the right to bear arms?..i keep forgetting.

I hope that many start to see how they have been used, this fiasco cant help their cause, but i dont think it is enough for them to jump ship en masse. I am concerned about them being thrown more tidbits, like supreme court nominees, more abortion restriction legislation  and letting churches beome political.

Don't just dismiss people opposed to removing the feeding tube as nuts or you will bring liberalism the same undeserved reputation in the 90s when college feminists went about equating every frat drunken sex incident as date rape.  I think both sides come off bad on this issue. The pro life nuts raving hysterically over how she is being starved when all medical accounts say she won't feel anything because of no brain activity. But then, you had the left wing side that will cry hoarse over some convict getting the death penalty and equate that with this. They ask the stupid question that if one values life, then why don't the prolifers protest the death penalty? I heard this too often in the last few weeks and it is a ridiculous analogy. It is possible to wish death upon criminals and be pro life to the innocent. Not everyone supporting the parents right to take care of the child when the husband wants to move on is a moron like Randall Terry. Maybe parents are clinging on to some faint hope that there could be a medical advance regenerating whatever is needed? I don't know what they are hoping for. It doesn't matter.

This thing that congress should not interfere is bullshit. We would be supporting it if it came down to supporting one of our issues. Let's not be hypocritical. It is true most of the politicians are interfering for the sake of politics. it is true the judges who ruled on this issue are from both parties. But it does not make it wrong to try to save a woman. Even if I am pro death penalty, I would want Congress to interfere in case judges shafted a death row accused who is actually innocent and are unwilling to give him a fair chance. Doctors have been wrong before. In this case, I personally believe there is no hope for Terri. But if the parents want to take care of her, and since some right wingers are willing to fund her care, who the hell is Michael Schiavo to stop that?  Michael has kids with another woman and no kids with Terri. I hardly call that a lifelong bond. These days, husbands come and go, and parents stay parents. When it comes to these matters, I would side with neither the parents nor the husband arbitrarily. I would side with whichever side wants to take care of her and err on the side of hope.

If dems want to fight back, then they should be highlighting the fact that this is not a party related issue, this is a personal issue and the judges who ruled against Terri's parents were not all liberal. Some were conservative.

We can't pin hopes of winning elections on the idea that a few zealots will leave the GOP. Instead, I think, we need to use this episode as a chance to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the entire GOP, and hope to persuade moderate voters to switch sides.

In the end, what we'll probably see is an increase in Theocratic PACs and educational funds, and whatever-the-heck-kind-of-group M o t G o L qualifies as.

I read Birch's concurrence last night (from the last 11th circuit appeal)-- there really is an unbelievable split on the Right... Birch, who comes with strong conservative credentials, essentially said that by invading the judiciary's "rule of decision" function**, Congress attempted to legislate his court into a group of "activist" judges. What's truly amazing is that the court wasn't even tasked with the question of the law's constitutionality -- yet this conservative felt compelled to defend his turf. What's truly ENCOURAGING (imo) is the apparent unity among judges -- regardless of approaches -- in defending judicial independence.

Also, it's time to re-characterize the public debate about judges: it's NOT that we have "activist" judges running rampant; it's that there is an ASSAULT on the judiciary by the real "activists" here on the Right, who want to trample it.  

**He declared T's law unconstitutional because it "legislated" a standard of review and defined how the court was to examine the case -- an authority clearly within the exclusive province of the courts.

Hank

Nader's campaign was financed by the very people he made a career of opposing in order to divert liberal support from Gore and Kerry.

It's time to Nader the Republicans.