It's really gonna happen. Shrubco is goin' down.

[Jackpine Radical]

I have been a chronic pessimist about breaking the Neocon grip on the throat of the nation, but for the first time since November I'm starting to believe that the empire is beginning to crumble.


Downing St. isn't going away. They've got Rushbo & co. out desperately trying to inoculate the faithful against impeachment fever, and that's a good sign.

The Felt story has everyone from Liddy to Colson trying to re-write Watergate (in anticipation of all hell breaking loose?) (I never did trust Colson & his smarmy born-again act. His true colors are coming out now.)

The Gulag stories are expanding, not going away. Even CBS (at least in print) isn't backing away from the G-word, despite Chimpy's fulminations.

The apologists are being forced away from simple denial and are now trying to rationalize and reframe the excesses of the empire as necessary and laudable. That's a desperate strategy. Above all, it,s a losing strategy.

As I indicated the other day, I don't see this leading to a great sea-change, but rather to the restoration of a more reasoned and tempered variety of fascism. More like Poppy. Perhaps even more like the velvet-gloved fascism of Clinton. (I won't get into a lot of detail on what I mean by that last comment, except to note that Clinton was in many respects to the right of Nixon.)

[SpiralHawk]

1. Put that jug of maple syrup down, Jackpine, and back away slowly

Homeland Security has determined that you overdosed your pancakes this Sunday morning, and are in Severe Sugar Shock, and thus a threat to Our Beloved Homeland.*


* Screw that "Homeland" propaganda from Bush & Cronies. I am an American, a citizen of the United States of America. I don't want no steenkin 1984 Orwell "Homeland"...Give me America. (excuse my rant, I think I also may have been OVERSERVED at the maple syrup spigot).

[orwell]

6. Orwell's Homeland

I don't want no steenkin 1984 Orwell Homeland...

Hey wait a minute. You'd love me as a dictator. No more wars...free beer on Fridays...and mandatory sex on Sunday mornings.

Which reminds me...

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Jeez, that's weird, Spiral. Talk about synchronicity.

Just before getting on DU I was reading stuff online about how to tap maple trees & make maple syrup. We have a lot of box elders on our land & somebody told me you can tap them for a variety of maple syrup. I'll probly do that next spring.

[SpiralHawk]

13. Ye Olde Spiral Hawke, Wise Beyond the Realm of Feathers (once in a while)

Wise or not, I still don't want to live in no Steenkin "Homeland" marketing concept of a nation, and I do hope you are right about Bush & Cronies going down.

Good luck with your trees, Jackpine. My pappy always used to say "When you plant a tree you can never plant it for yourself because you will grow old and die before it matures. You plant trees for your children and grandchildren, and that's the best reason of all."

Happy Sugaring Off !

[hootinholler]

20. Um ou might be able to make Box Elder syrup,

Just remember it *won't* be maple syrup any more than Mrs Butterworths or Log Cabin are maple syrup. For that you need acer saccurum, the Sugar Maple.

Grade A amber for me please, pass the sausage would ya?

-Hoot

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Strictly speaking, you are in one sense correct and in another not correct

Box elders belong to the genus Acer (and are sometimes called ash-leaf maples), and both box elder and several other species of maple (e.g. red maple, soft maple) will produce a sap that can be processed into syrup. The sugar maple is the only one commercially available, largely because it has about 2% sugar in its sap, more than the other Acers. I'm sure there are differences in taste among them. If I had large hard maples (sugar maples) I'd make syrup from them. I have only small hard maples. I have large box elders. They have a soft, weak wood that is not very good for burning. I'm very happy to have found a use for them, other than as habitat for box elder bugs.

I'm still looking for a use for box elder bugs.

[emanymton]

2. Don't Get My Hopes Up.... GOP Have Guns, Money And ...

the will to use them to hold onto power.

[asjr]

4. And a lot of cement to patch it back together. They have been

overlooking their religious base lately, but watch them go back to it in a hurry.

[Arugula Latte]

24. Although,

fat lot of good that did them in the case of Schiavo.

That made a lot of people scratch their heads and think WTF? What a bunch of kooks.

[xchrom]

3. what do the corporations care?

they're the ones holding the reigns.

and they've got a whole new gaggle of randian, fundie judges to help out.

shrubco -- who i'd love to see go down -- is just the face to a much larger problem.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Perzackly.

"shrubco -- who i'd love to see go down -- is just the face to a much larger problem."

[LuPeRcALiO]

7. kicking George Tenet in the nuts was probably not a smart thing to do.

The CIA doesn't like to be trifled with (ask JFK about that) and if they've decided Junior is no longer a good investment we might see a lot more "leaks" that don't magically go away.

[DrDebug]

9. Exactly. Because where do those Downing Street leaks come from

I guess there's somebody in the UK who wants Blair and Bush out.

[Jade Fox]

26. Ask Nixon about it as well......

I speculated here on DU awhile back as to when the Intelligence community
would turn on Bushco, and was largely poo-poo'd. But it was them that
brought Nixon down in the end.

[KC21304]

10. Hope you are right. Another interesting angle I would like

to see mentioned. How could Homeland SECURITY lose 18.8 million dollars in such a short time ? And how about some comparison to the UN, which is much bigger, and gets pummeled for losing a few million here and there. Of course the UN is nothing but a corrupt institution bla bla bla.

[Mist]

11. Right there with ya', Jackpine

I think an unraveling is about to begin. It's harder and harder for this admin.'s supporters to scrounge around for "talking points" and spin. And I agree w/you about the Clinton era - it eased in the Shrub era. But velvet-glove fascism is still a better place to try for genuine democracy.

[G2099]

12. I have been a chronic pessimist also

But the Downing Street Memo (DSM) has given me hope that "perhaps" we maybe able to "correct the wrong" and change the course of the future.

[zippy890]

14. He & Cheney are not going to finish

their second term. I said this after the election last year.

I just hope in the process of them going down they don't take the whole country with them.

[Double T]

15. The GOP Will Bring In Their Certified Executive Master Spinners...

....to con-cocked and prepare stories that only their stupid, idiotic followers would believe, and then everything will be OK.

[kentuck]

16. I cannot see an impeachment with this present Congress...

it's just not realistic to me.

[lonestarnot]

17. Well.... you may be right... but nothing is ever as it appears. I say go

for it! Proceedings could halt other bushitler plans.

[Cats Against Frist]

22. I agree -- the GOP house are the loons that came up with "freedom fries"

They're off their frickin' gourds, already. It's a perversion.

[in_cog_ni_to]

28. Did you hear Nader on Washington Journal this morning?

He says he has had conversations with Congressmen/women and behind closed doors they are talking impeachment. :bounce: He said he thinks, so far, 1/3 of the house is in support of an "inquiry/investigation" and THAT is a good thing. He also said a Congressman (can't remember his name) from NC, SC (? I think) has been on Bush's case and is in support of an investigation and HE'S A DIE HARD REPUBLICAN. I think the DSM is something they KNOW they can't spin.

Keep the faith. We may just get lucky this time. ;)

[aion]

31. URL for Nader

rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/wj060505_nader.rm

open it in real player

[bpilgrim]

30. true, but the fact that it's being discussed is whats important

and it will temper some of their more outrageous behavior and wake more folks up.

the DEEP-THROAT story is truly a blessing for us as it will force discussion and COMPARISONS.

just because something probably won't be successful in it's ultimate aim doesn't mean it can't be successful over all.

i've always believed it is a cop-out to not deal seriously with this issue based on it's likely hood of being accepted by the CURRENT house.

peace

[Triana]

18. In the word of a bu$h jockstrap:

'you'll never get bu$h'

They'll spin. MSM will march to spin. Public will swallow whole.

Nothing to see here....

[LuPeRcALiO]

19. they said that about Nixon, too

hell they said that about Gray Davis!!

[Triana]

21. Well I have hope...

...but that's about all. This crime cabal has gotten away with SO MUCH scot free it's unbelievable.

I NEED to feel like there is some damned justice - somewhere.

[welshTerrier2]

23. neo-cons down but Dems NOT up

i think the greatest threat to bush and the neo-cons is coming from inside the republican party ... bush is a lame duck and duck-hunting season is now officially open ... bush had a free ride in his first term and right through the election ... that's all history now and moderates in his own party will destroy the neo-con agenda that has led to nothing but failure after failure ... in the world of republican politics, 2008 is underway ...

but the Democrats have offered little in opposition to bush ... sure, we didn't like his judges ... we didn't like his Social Security plan ... Reid is showing that Democrats really do have spines ... hardly the stuff inspirational leadership is made of ... if you look at the reasons cited in the base post for bush's demise, you'll notice none of the factors is based on a superior vision from the Democratic Party ...

Democrats have to seize the initiative in the national dialog ... they cannot continue to spew empty slogans like we believe in "rebuilding the economy" ... Americans understand that "special interests" (i prefer to call them corporate crooks who are raping our democracy) have distorted our system of government ... but Democrats refuse to make renewing our democracy a central theme ... Americans see that Iraq has become a never-ending Vietnam ... Americans see our jobs going overseas and our economy being mortgaged for generations to come ... but Americans are not hearing a clear vision on how the Democrats plan to address these very real problems ...

bush will grow weaker and weaker every day he remains in office ... don't be surprised if he tries another 9/11 crisis to boost his ratings ... but, absent a catastropic event, real or "fixed", i agree that bush is going down ... perhaps not out but down nevertheless ... unfortunately, however, until Democrats offer a tangible alternative, they won't be going anywhere ... the opportunity is there; Democrats have not yet seized it ...

[Jackpine Radical]

25. I think you're pretty much on target here.

The DLC-types, including Clinton, have been pretty much doing "Me too, but not quite so much" for years. NAFTA, Don't Ask, Universal Privatized Nightmare Healthcare, beefing up the DEA, welfare "reform" ala Tommy Thompson, etc.

And, dammit, that wonderful economy of the mid-90's was 1)Not of Clinton's doing, really, and 2)largely a tech bubble, an exercise in "irrational exuberance," as DU's favorite economist :sarcasm: called it. Yes, Clinton ended up balancing the budget, but he had a helluva lot of help from Lady Luck in doing it.

[deutsey]

29. That's why I think we have to stop expecting the Dems to be

the opposition and to be it ourselves. If the Dems want to join us later after the momentum builds, so be it; but we're going to be waiting a long time for the Dems (with notable and exemplary and few exceptions) to lead us in opposition.