So I heard on Fri or Sat afternoon that our witless leader was spending part of the day "rehearsing his state of the union address", which happens tomorrow early evening. My first thought is: The most important thing he could possibly address is the crisis of war plans against Iraq. We know he's going to come out with more bullshit, propaganda, and scare tactics, to rationalize his self-serving, racist, imperialist war plan. But here's what really gets me...the inspectors report only comes out today, Monday. And yet he was rehearsing his script last week!

The tactics of this administration are't really very disguised. They just bank on most of the country (and other countries) staying silent, blind, and apathetic. Wow, they are sorely mistaken. For possibly the first time I can remember, the majority of people I meet, in fact it sounds like the majority of our population, are questioning our gov't.'s policies and honesty. And of those questioning, hundreds of thousands of us are DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Keep marching my friends, keep thinking, and keep speaking out. Many in D.C. have forgotten that they answer to us, and we are here to remind them. Let us continue to honour those before us who have brought about social and political change, and honour our values of truth, love, freedom, justice, and all that we innately know to be right...with a hands on commitment to steer our nation back in the direction it was born to face. Our movement is strong enough to be optomistic, and intensify our efforts, determined to bring about peace. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

Love, Alec Marken of Deep Stirrings (SoCal folkrock singer/songwriter/activist)

They still call it a "Union"-a union of what-subjects? The real agenda for Shrub right now is more tribute-in the form of oil and cheap labor-from Iraq, and from his subjects at home, in the form of longer hours, less pay, more taxes(on the poor, not the rich, of course), fewer social programs and more fascist repression(aka-"Dept. of Homeland Security", Patriot Act, ad nauseum). More countries to be added, no doubt, to Shrub's demands for more tribute to him and his corporate buddies.

Stay tuned.

Stay tuned indeed, A.F. That's what I'm loving, how incredibly many of us ARE tuning in. You're all over it, friend, let's keep broadcasting their real agenda, leaving them no lies to hide behind! Great comments. Rock on!

Please bow your heads for a moment of silence in recognition of the Saddam appeasers who frequent this board. They've suffered yet another demoralizing defeat.

The opinion pollsters are beginning to assess the impact of President Bush's State of the Union speech. It was another home run for GWB.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/29/opinion/lynch/main538360.shtml

I'm not into appeasing Saddam, but I'm especially not into using American blood to make the middle east safer for Bush's oil cronies. Don't set up a false dichotomy, BA.

The Emperor has no clothes, and it's becoming more obvious all the time. Time to start a war to divert everyone's attention from the obvious.

Oil has nothing to do with this -- it's a non issue, a dog that won't hunt.

The reason GWB's popularity and support are rising is that he's an honest guy and he's telling it like it is. Middle America likes that in their leaders.

The dislike a worm like Clinton who lies whenever he thinks there might be a benefit from lying.

The left has already managed to marginalize itself in this country. Don't add to their misery with more and more bogus arguments.

"Oil not an issue"? How come everyone else in the world begs to differ? You say it's not an issue but offer not one shred of evidence. All the people in Bush's admin are oil people and stand to profit mightily from a takeover of the middle east. Cheney's company in particular, Halliburton stands to make millions out of an Iraqi reconstruction. You're either naive or lying.

Wake up BA, it's over for Weenie Boy. The Emperor has no Clothes. He got a little bounce after the SotU, like every president does, but even that was pretty miniscule. See the ABC poll at http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

A 3 point bounce after the SotU. Big whoop. Yeah, he charmed the nation all right.

if oil is really not the issue, then Bush will allow the oil industry to be nationalised by the new government (if indeed saddam's regime is overthrown).

"Chris Matthews' of MSNBC's Hardball hit a few homers, especially when interviewing retired Gen. (Stormin') Norman Schwarzkopf, star of Gulf War I: The Sins Of The Father. He told Matthews flatly that another invasion would be about oil and he "didn't believe for one minute'' that it was about anything else." - Antonia Zebrisas Toronto Star

Well BA - I hope you enjoy the above comment from that renowned Left Wing Pacifist General Norman Shwarzkopf. You just can't trust those loonie lefties. Next thing you know he'll be showin' up at Peace Rallies.

Y'know, if you do a regression analysis of Bush's steady drop in approval ratings since 9/11, you get the predictive equation;

y= (-.0613)x+2368.9

Apply this eqation to the date of 11/1/2004, and it predicts an approval rating of 21.6%...

...seems like Bush has a lot to look forward to come election time!

Diogenes - Norman's a great military battle commander, and clearly not up on the economics of the petroleum industry.

KPC - Dream on - GWB is looking forward to a huge landslide victory in the next election. I can't even imagine that the Democrats will be able to find someone to run against him. Hillary won't throw her hat in the ring, and even Al Gore has figured out that it would be certain defeat to run. Lieberman's a nice guy but wouldn't stand a chance. Senator Kerry is perceived as a liberal Yankee from Massachussetts and would score zero in the south and midwestern states. Edwards from NC is an unknown. They don't have anyone to run. My hope is that they'll make peace with the Greens party and nominate Ralph Nader. That would ensure GWB getting 95% of the popular vote.

...at this rate, he'll be at 45% and desperate by October...

...how far does his approval rating have to drop for you to stop sucking his dick?

Well KPC, his approval rating was 62% when they ran the poll a few days ago.

http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

That should take a leap up in the next one after the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the State of the Union speech.

Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, BushBlower..."His popularity is NOT dropping....Hundreds of thousands in the streets make NO difference....but sweaty little BushBlower all alone at his keyboard can shake up the WORLD!!!"

Hey, do the math dude...that data was included in the regression analysis....

....I know you're probably still strugglin' with fractions, but maybe your mommy can help you.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of San Francisco and bussed into Washington DC for a pet protest every 6 weeks or so doesn't impress me. When hundreds of thousands march in every major city in America simultaneously and constantly, you will have something. Until then, you're just a pack of misguided fools being rented by the Communist Party to pay for Mumia Abu Jamal's defense fund.

On Saturday in Laguna Beach there were a sizable number (around 100) of appeasment mongers shouting slogans and holding up their pro-Saddam signs.

On Sunday there were none. I guess the Super Bowl trumps the commitment of the appeasement crowd.

Not very impressive.

To a point, that argument is valid, Simon. If people feel strongly about something, they should get up off their cushy butts and do something. SuperBowl Sunday should have been an exceptional opportunity.

But lack of involvement or participation should not be construed as support for the war, either. Only laziness and/or indifference.

BA: "Everyone in the world doesn't beg to differ. Only left wing extremists beg to differ. Geez, Indy, give it a break"

Geez BA, get a brain! Peel your eyes away from the Fox propaganda channel. And spare us your/their lies and empty rhetoric. Check out this poll as reported in the Washington Post:

http://middleeastinfo.org/article1663.html

Excerpt:

"When asked whether the United States was more interested in achieving stability in the region or more interested in controlling Iraqi oil reserves, majorities in Russia (76 percent), France (75 percent), and Germany (54 percent) said "the U.S. wants to control Iraqi oil." In Great Britain, the public was evenly divided on the question."

Damn those left wing extremists - they're everywhere!

Once again you offer absolutely no proof fo your claims that this is not about oil, just lots of feeble fluff and bluster. That might cut it with your brain dead dittohead buddies but you'll need to do a lot better here.

The Emperor Has No Clothes.

ok if the war is not about oil then George Bush will not allow the Iraqi oil to be privatised by US oil companies but by Iraqi oil companies

X and Indy, if the United States wanted control over the Oil of Iraq, they could have it now. Saddam Hussein has offered it to us at rediculously low prices if only we would agree to work towards ending the UN sanctions. Lift the sanctions and we get all the oil we want.

The United Nations inspectors were ejected from Iraq in 1998 and the United Nations did nothing. The only reason they are doing anything now is because George W. Bush forced them to.

The French have for several years been enjoying the cheap Iraqi oil and work ceaselessly to end the sanctions and to thwart pressure to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

NO APPEASEMENT FOR OIL!!!

The Iraqi's are selling their oil for Euros not Dollars. The Dollar is in precipitous decline against the Euro.

The U.S. Federal Government is over 17 Trillion dollars in debt if you count unfunded liabilities i.e., Social Security (and others like the Bureau of Indian Affairs Trust Fund) which have been looted by both Demoncrats and Reflubicans. The government is broke and is operating by running the printing presses overtime. The U.S. Money Supply (measured by M2) is increasing at more than triple the rate of growth in the economy. "Inflation is a Monetary Phenomenon." - Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman

To boil it down the U.S. economy is near collapse and they (the elites behind the curtain) need to control the Iraqi Oil to sell rather than to buy. The U.S. Trade Deficit is currently about 1.5 BILLION with a "B" per day. The economy is hemorrhaging. The American manufacturing base has to a large degree moved out of the country. Manufactured goods, from raw materials, are the lifeblood of the economy and represent the real wealth - the production of working people. The American people are willing to work but the jobs have gone away. We are not going to keep the economy afloat by doing each others laundry (the "Service Economy").

Buying oil is one thing, but controlling it, and the surrounding countries is quite another. Don't confuse them.

This is about oil and about extending American hegemony (control).

Appeasement is a red herring. Hussein has been contained for years, and his military is a shadow of what it was in Gulf War I. Our military budget is larger than the next ten countries combined. How can you talk about appeasement with such a devasted country, one whose leader Rumsfeld and Cheney et al helped build up in the early 80s to begin with? Appeasement is a red herring.

And before you bring in the WMDs we're supposedly appeasing Saddam for, where's the proof? How come every person with any real military experience says this is folly? How come the only people who are gung ho on this adventure have 1) no military experience and 2) for the most part, come from oil backgrounds?

How come Bush's own CIA, before they were silenced, said there's no reason to worry about Saddam unless we kick him? And so that's what the Boy Genius wants to do. You and I and the rest of the world are going to be paying for this (and I don't mean just monetarily) for the rest of our lives and beyond.

The euro is basically rising as the war continues. It was up to

1.08 to day. That means the dollar only gets you .92 of

a euro.