A refuge during Tribe outages

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triberefugees.ning.com/profile/Max
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See my profile on Tribe Refugees at Ning. Tribe Refugees can be a good place to hang out while Tribe works on its issues. Tribe Refugees' main page is here: triberefugees.ning.com/
Ms. Dynomite has provided instructions on how to join there.

Investigate Rumsfeld!

www.oregonlive.com/news/ore...index.ssf

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...23.html

news.opb.org/article/227...ntelligence/ <--the fastest read

^Background^

Message I just sent to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden:

Investigate Rumsfeld but don't stop there.
The deliberate deception of the President, Vice President et. al. has cost many lives and damaged others in ways that cannot be calculated. America has been diminished by their abuse of power. Most of us still believe the Constitution is more than 'just a goddam piece of paper.' I hope we are not wrong.

I've never written you before but I want you to know I COMPLETELY SUPPORT AND APPROVE OF A RUMSFELD INVESTIGATION.

Unless and until there is a big change in the Executive, Congress is our best hope of accountability and responsibility in government.

Wife slashes husband's penis, buttocks with knife

CALGARY - In the midst of an amorous fling with her husband, Abigail London-Fife pulled out a knife she had hidden under the bed and slashed him in several places, including his penis and buttocks....
www.canada.com/victoriati.../story.html

I'm 12% Republican and 32% Dem. Where does that leave the majority?

www.blogthings.com/howdemocratareyouquiz

www.blogthings.com/howrepub...reyouquiz

This and a bunch of other meaningless quizzes can be found at blogthings.com

Back in 10

I've not been abducted by aliens.
I'm getting away from the damp, dark and suddenly cold winter and going to Florida for a bit of sun.
No computers while I'm gone. No telephones, no electricity, so stores, no cars.
Life can be overstimulating. This will be a welcome change.

TTFN

Bush Proposes Tax Cuts for Rich, Republicans, and Heterosexuals

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President George W. Bush, leader of the free-world and defender of all that is holy, proposed a near $700 billion legislation package Friday, in hopes of bolstering the American economy and saving the free-world from certain economic ruin.

[see spoof.com for the rest of this story. Most of it is parody. The trick is figuring out which parts are not parody.] :

www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm

Are you registered to vote?

Are you sure?

The 2008 presidential primaries are in full swing and time is running out to register in most states. Make sure you're registered so your vote is counted. You can check your registration instantly at votepoke.org/

They ask for an e-mail address but promise not to use it unless you permit it. It's fast ...and I'm registered.

Interesting statistic of the day.

As of this moment, Tribe lists 583 member records named "Max".

Truth can be stranger than fiction.

www.house.gov/house/Contr...ONTRACT.html

Dear Reader,
Just in case you might think I'm making this up ^ here is the link to the page on the White House website where you can find the original. I don't know if it's linked from anywhere else on whitehouse.gov but it's the first thing to come up when I Googled it today. Other than the title of this post, I offer it here without expressing any opinion.


REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

* FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
* SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
* THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
* FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
* FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
* SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
* SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
* EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

The meaning of life American Style

"Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption...We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever-increasing rate."

-Victor Lebow

This advice was delivered during the Eisenhower administration. The objective was a good one, viz. to sustain in peacetime the lively economy brought about by war production and avoid the devastation of economic depression such as existed during much of the 1930's, the memory of which was still vivid.. We have been doing a good job of consuming, burning up, wearing out and discarding and our standard of living is high. The mistake is equating standard of living with quality of life.

I wonder if Victor Lebow could have imagined just how efficiently his vision has been fulfilled. This giant consumption machine is unsustainable. It's time to find something else to base the economy on. Ever-increasing growth with no limit is called cancer when it occurs in an organism and it eventually kills its host.