That poster is scary....

But post what I want, really?  Ok, forget about that crap.  Let me share with you the most precious of simple pleasures that makes my life great, it's not politics.  I dropped of my 9 year old daughter of at school, and she wanted to hang back for a minute.  I asked, is everything ok?  She said sort of.  I asked aren't  you happy; what would make you happy?  I assumed there was some reason she didn't want to go to school.  She told me a puppy would make her happy.  And then she assured me she would train it and take care of it (we have a dog, my pic).  I let her have her puppy moment and didn't say anything either way, because I know she knows what the answer would be.  I gave her a big ole hug and now she was happy to go off to school.

After she got out of the car she turned around as she walked away, and I blew her a kiss.  Both of her hands were full, so she did the only thing she could.  She opened her mouth and caught my blown kiss, then clamped her teeth down shut.  I laughed all the way home.   

Politics schmolitics!

Yeah I'll be curious, after Georgie reluctantly admits to making a few mistakes, how he will justify his plan to add the 82nd Airborne to the troops in Iraq. Let's review, the Democrats don't want it, the American people don't want it, the Republicans don't want it, the military leaders don't want it....but he knows what's best. I'm sure he'll be wavin' the flag tonight, but his face will say....Nancy Grace.

Woof woof, Bush wants your child to have a cat instead. You want a puppy, you're daughter wants a puppy, the puppy wants a home....but George knows what's best!

See I forgot about the absentee ballot......

Anti----I let her know about the cat............

WHAT'S UP VENEZULA'S ASS! I heard this story.   Ok sorry, now we are taking over all businesses.  We the govt now owns you..  WTF?

Cease fire in Darfur?

Brokered by a Democratic Governor (and potential Presidential candidate...)

http://today.reuters.com/ne...

Wait a minute.  Did someone try to defend The Venezuelan dictator, for real?  Chavez is doing things that HE thinks is best for his country, but why shouldn't THEY be able to do this?  There is no THEY.  Its only a HE.  And HE is the inevitable end result of socialism, a dictator who thinks he knows best and can determine what is best for all of his people.  It seems to me that he is doing the very same things you guys are trying to convince us that President Bush is doing.  Yet you defend him and criticize Bush. 

Also, Ford doesn't say the Explorer is worth $40,000, you do.  The product is priced at whatever the market will pay for it.  And, why is it Haliburton's fault that the government can't control it's purse?  Do you think there would be less corruption if the government controlled Haliburton?

BJD, *HE* is the legally-elected President of Venezuela.  He has as much authority inside his country as Bush has inside the US.  Which one's doing better? 

.

Yes, I think there'd be less corruption if the government controlled Halliburton.

Venezuaela:  What about all of the reports of election corruption?  Is it so easy to believe that a US president is more likely to be elected under corrupt circumstances than a Venequelan one?  I've heard a lot of you guys claim as much.  What about all of the reports that poverty is worse under Chavez, only he's pushed it to the side so that no one can see it?  What about all of the new authority Chavez has taken from his parliment and given to himself (including the authority to take over private businesses)?  You guys just believe whatever you want to believe or whatever President Carter tells you.

Ford:  Sorry, even though Ford has set a minimum price, they are still subject to consumer demand.  If the price is too high, the product will not sell.  I really don't think people are paying $40,000 for an explorer because they don't have any other options.

Halliburton:  Please!  If Halliburton was controlled by the government, it would be controlled by President Bush.  After reading your opinions of him, I can't believe you would want that.  Also, the military has to buy stuff from someone.  Even if they were only buying raw carrots and potatoes like they used to, they would still have vendors.  The procurment machine for the military is larger than any company any of you guys have ever worked for.  There is a lot of corruption, because people, individual people, are greedy.  None of it is government corruption, only individual corruption in a government contract.  But its very difficult to manage because of its size.  We could do better, but we won't.

mattloch, thanks for the invitation, but I'm afraid I don't have any links to offer.  All I have heard recently are rumors as well.  Off the top of my head, the only real reporting I can offer is a National Geographic article from last April.  They try to stay as neutral as possible, but the caption under the first picture in the article says this:

"Slums like Barrio Experanza ring the high-rise prosperity of the capital, Caracas.  More than half of Venezuelans live in poverty, and the number of poor has grown since Chavez took office in 1999.  But free health care and food from government-subsidized stores are easing some of their burdens - and propping up Chavez's popularity ratings."

The article also talks about his increasing power, and about his ability to win elections, but as I said, as a mainstream magazine, they try to keep the accusations to a minimum.

One thing I think has been confirmed is that Chavez is moving towards ending the term limit which would prevent him from standing for re-election next time 'round.  Wikipedia has a good article on him.

dusty, thanks for the links, but as you suspected, I won't read them.  Since you read them, I don't have to take the time myself.  I believe you that there's a lot of corruption, as I have already said.  I just don't agree that the way to fix it is to get more government involvement in it, or hand all control of military procurement to the President, like they do in Venezuela.  In fact, back to the original point, if it were possible to do an audit of Hugo Chavez's personal finances, I would be willing to place a sizable bet that he makes a lot more money from his corruption than President Bush makes from his.

mattloch, the picture above the caption that I quoted before is of the slum mentioned there.  There are other pictures in the article of other slums too.  If things are better for the poor now, I would hate to have seen what they were like before.  These people (tens of thousands of them in slums all around Caracas) don't live any better than the homeless in New York or LA, yet they are not considered homeless.  They have "free" health care, but is it really free?  I think they pay for it in their inability to improve their lives.  And their children are doomed to the same fate because of the policies of Chavez.

dusty,  I agree.  Corruption is a crime of opportunity.  If we remove the opportunity, we remove the problem.