Kitt Bond(R) MO just called us communists!

[TheFarseer]

"I don't want to tell people they can't purchase light trucks and SUV's because of something congress did. That sounds like the planned economy of the Soviet Union." He went on to say more about communism and planned economy but I can't quote that accurately so I won't try. "Raising CAFE standards 4 mpg would cost consumers 3.4 billion dollars" Well, a stupid war in Iraq costs that much a week! It's unbelievable to me that in 1960(ish) JFK challenged us to go to the moon and now it's unfathomable to raise CAFE standards by 4 mpg! Who's the party of pessimism and "no" and "we can't" now??? This is important and we're arguing over it because some Senators were paid off (dems included) This disgusts me to no end.

[rzemanfl]

1. Since most of the World likes Red China better than the U.S. is

that so bad?

[getmeouttahere]

4. Good one, rzemanfl....

beat me to it. My own cousin refers to socialism as communism. The conservatives can't even make a distinction. They lump the vast majority of the world into that category. This is just one more thing we're up against.

[deadparrot]

2. Ah...ol' Kit.

My rep...:puke:

Saving Parents as Teachers was the best thing he did for this country. Other that that, he's about as sick and deranged as it gets.

[whatever4]

11. Mine too

And...I'm sorry. Damn, isn't it getting to be a habit for Missourians though? Bond, Ashcroft...I'm sorry America. I never supported these clowns, I promise.

I can only hope that when the crap starts really flying that the folks here will get on their stubborn mule and ride these monsters out of town. We're known for doing stuff like that. I can only hope some of that spirit is left. When we refused to let the KKK highway signs stay up, 1998 or 1999?, I thought we'd developed something more, I don't know, liberal, humanistic attitudes. It was a big to-do here, and made national news. The KKK wanted to have their "group" on the clean up the highway signs for a stretch of hwy 55, I believe. They put up the signs, and the signs disappeared. A white guy in a pickup truck was the one to take down the last sign, just for himself, working with no group, and he said on the news it was for his conscious. One by one the citizens here kept taking those signs down until they quit trying. And then they renamed the highway to the Rosa Parks highway, so the KKK wouldn't, and didn't, want highway cleanup rights to it anymore. HA! I thought we had something going. I was so proud!!! I remember that feeling. It was a good feeling, to feel proud of who you were and were you lived, wasn't it? I miss it. I feel like a part of my heart has been burned away.

The neocons get their hooks in anyway. I can only hope the hicks get as mad at them as they've always been at us, us being anything that isn't conservative Christian, chauvinistic and homophobic. I know how angry these people can get. I hope one day they have the ability to direct that anger to the real source of evil; these monsters using them, along with the rest of us.

[Cha]

3. Fuck you,kit bond, and the Fascist Pig

you rode in on!

[EVDebs]

5. When facism comes to the US it will be wrapped in the flag and

carrying the cross-- Sinclair Lewis

And also watching FOX TV and Rush Limbaugh on the radio !

[LightningFlash]

6. Kit Bond, resign you traitor to the heartland. How dare you say that.

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. This remark is clearly hyperbole: Kit Bond should apologize

:evilgrin:

[NVMojo]

8. How embarassing, they can't keep their desperation to themselves!

[windbreeze]

10. the Pendulum

IS swinging back perhaps....and it will swing with a vengeance...
windbreeze

[Carolab]

9. Okay, so let's grow hemp. That will solve a lot of problems.

We can burn hemp for fuel instead. It even adds oxygen to the air!

The colonists grew hemp--it was a staple! Made just about everything from it, too.

[whatever4]

14. Hey there!

We got a name and place in common! haha :)

About that hemp...you know bio-diesel can be made from hemp oil? It's actually pretty good for it too, it's known as an "oil seed". And bio-diesel, a thoroughly renewable resource, can run in CONVENTIONAL diesel engines with NO modifications??? We could use this, we truly could, hemp grows virtually anywhere with no fertilization required, it doesn't drain the soil like conventional crops (in fact, it replenishes) AND the other uses include clothing, paper, and did I mention hemp seeds are as nutritious as soy? But mounds easier to grow??

Yes, it's all true. We should indeed be growing hemp, even just hemp, without the THC component, would save our nation. Cannabis could and should be used as medicine as well, but that confronts the drug war too directly.

They won't touch changing hemp/cannabis laws because that threatens to blow the lid off the drug war. The drug war not only brings in huge profits, but also allows for the incarceration of a large percentage of our minority population. This has lead to our nation being number one in prison population. Number one by sheer numbers, and number one as a percentage of population as well. IN all ways; we jail more people than any other nation in the world. Over drugs. Over pot. A drug that hasn't killed anyone yet, that we know of, and that would do just the opposite in fact; it would save lives. In looking at all the problems with pain meds, they DO NOT want to confront this issue. The Supreme Court is lock step. It's such a farce. It's so hopelessly wrong. Imagine how this would stop overdoses, accidental and intentional, and some might see it as worthwhile for that ALONE, yet it isn't even considered, not even by the hypocritical Supreme Court, blind selfish fools, willing to sell our their nation for a dime.

Anymore, I have problems discussing it. The issues are too glaring, the facts too many to list, and lies from our representatives are all we hear. Far as I can see, baby boomers have no excuse; we grew up with this stuff.

Yes, hemp!! You don't have to burn it for fuel, but you could do that too. It grows quickly, to heights of 6,8, 10 feet or more. Check out www.norml.org for more info. Help us fight for hemp!! It would save us and the world, it truly would. The problems with food and fuel in the world would be solved, by US, giving us a much needed advantage in world affairs, as well as a method of saving lives all over the world. WE could feed the world. WE could stop global warming, because the emissions from bio-diesel are FAR safer than petrol distillates. There is no sulfur and no particulates; you can practically stand next to the exhaust pipe. I know, because I did. I'm a member of norml. I've taken rides in the hemp mobile, run on bio-diesel.

Trust me, the more you learn about cannabis, the more you'll be amazed we're not using it. But when you learn the history of DuPont, and how they wanted to shut out competition in paper and textiles, you'll understand why it's illegal, and of course, it has nothing to do with the common welfare of Americans; it has everything to do with profits, and keeping down the black man as well. It's one of the vile practices of our government, and law enforcement. And we had to fight a law just to advertise our movement; they wanted to ban our signs, and for a while were able to. In public venues.

I'd invite everyone here to join. In promoting cannabis, we are confronting issues of the drug war, safe medicine, global warming and the oil shortage and free speech, just to name a few, all at once. The drug war is one of the most insidious ways the government has of controlling us, and so many Americans are in jail over it. It's a very worthy cause. We're not just a bunch of stoners. But even if we were...we'd still be better people ;) I try not to drag my agenda into discussions too often, but I strongly encourage everyone to check us out. I'm not the best or the brightest in the effort, but as a poor spokeswoman, I can assure you, the more you learn about hemp the more you'll be amazed at what it can be used for, and the more you'll be enraged that we aren't. www.norml.org

I also wrote about this on truthout http://forum.truthout.org/blog/comments/2005/3/7/81955/24838/16#16

[Tesla]

15. I'll do my part to help out!!!

[Carolab]

25. I will definitely join up. I have been AMAZED about hemp lately.

Been reading up about it and telling people that this IS the answer to our problems.

I think it would REALLY engage lots of people if you explain that it can be used instead of oil without pollution! That seems to really amaze them!

Also, I like to tell them that the colonists used it for clothes, rope, etc.

I would suggest that NORML stress the BIG stuff like the alternative energy angle. Get people into thinking about hemp as a biofuel/biosource rather than as a "drug".

HEMP NATION!!!

Back to where we started!

[Justice]

12. He should tell people can't purchase light trucks and SUVs-Christian Thing

He is saying doesn't want to deny people their toys. Yet, raising CAFE standards would make our air and water cleaner, our environment better -- the environment God gas us.

We need to raise CAFE standards because it will help preserve the environment God gave us. Why is it important to follow God's teachings only when it suits Kit Bond?

[ikri]

13. Planned Economy = Bad

Batshit Crazy Economy = Good?

I'm sorry if I don't understand this, but how would raising fuel economy standards ever cost consumers money?

Surely raising fuel economy standards would save consumers money :shrug:

Of course raising fuel economy standards might cost businesses money when they fail to meet those standards. Got to get those priorities right.

[TheFarseer]

20. Because Detroit would have to invest in making more fuel .......

efficient cars. What I don't quite understand is, can't they just discontinue Hummers and instantly raise their CAFE standard into compliance? Of course that is supposedly their cash cow.

What was truly insulting was Carl Levin who spoke after Bond telling us that American cars were actually more fuel efficient than Japanese cars. Then he tells us that higher CAFE standards hurt safety and cost lives. I'm no expert but it seems to me that they put out these behemoth SUVs and then to save their CAFE, they put out all these cheep shitty "rolling coffins" made with less metal than a soda can. Why can't we have real choices in high mileage cars from Detroit like the 4-cylinder Accord or Camry, the Civic and Hybrid Civic and dare I say the Prius.

[bunkerbuster1]

28. You're on the right track, but the econoboxes are for the bigger cars;

that helps balance out the 27.5 mpg CAFE standard for cars.

To balance out the 19.5 CAFE standard for "Light (my ass!) Trucks," automakers whine and beg to allow very non-truckish but relatively fuel-efficient things like PT Cruisers to be designated in that category.

Of course, if you make an SUV big enough (over 6,000 pounds), it doesn't have to meet any fuel economy standards, hence your Hummers, your Ford Excretions, etc.

(Also not that if you make a vehicle a "flexible fuel" vehicle it's exempt from CAFE as well, even though the odds that it'll ever be fueled by anything but fossil fuels is are microscopically slim.)

Those are the work-arounds, and Detroit plays them especially well.

[TheFarseer]

32. I did not realize vehicles over 6000 lbs

were not part of CAFE. I knew they were taxed like trucks or something but that was news to me.

[bunkerbuster1]

33. yeah, ain't that the livin' end?

For a few years (it mercifully ended this year), there were actually very serious tax incentives for a self-employed person to buy an over-6000# vehicle; they could be depreciated more quickly than a car and for a couple years, the amount that could be depreciated was (IIRC) 100K.

That's right--many of those Suburbans and Hummers were purchased primarily because Uncle Sam subsidized it.

That got trimmed back this year, but it's still an absolute outrage that it ever happened in the first place.

[elehhhhna]

16. The marriage of Corporations with Government is FASCISM, not Communism.

Let's call it what it is.

[Darkhawk32]

17. Kit Bond is my Senator, unfortunately....

And unfortunately, we'll have to deal with his stupid ass until 2008.

[struggle4progress]

18. Try to remember to take your meds, Kit! You know how unbalanced you get!

[nickinSTL]

19. great...my senator makes me wonder...again...why I live in Missouri

Bond, Talent, Blunt...

Only good news is that Blunt is screwing up so badly, that the Repubs may have trouble come 2006.

[sweetheart]

21. Does he know what a planned economy is?

Does he understand that huge subsidies, government giveaways to
military companies, the petrol economy and massive corporate welfare
IS a planned economy?

No. of course not. He's just another stupid republican fuck.

[TheFarseer]

23. Using his logic

Anti-asbestos regulations, clean coal technology, and motorcycle helmets are all examples of communism. No one is suggesting banning light trucks and SUVs although I wouldn't mind seeing Hummers banned. If you want big SUV's so bad all they have to do is make some hybrids or other high milage vehicles to balance it out, right?

[sweetheart]

24. Road tax by weight

Frankly, i don't see any need to block the manufacture of such vehicles.
Rather, i think that the annual license fee for a vehicle should be
a factor of engine displacement, miles on the odometer since the last
registration, and vehicle weight. These factors determine air pollution
and road damage. With a proper tax regimen to recover the cost/damage
to public goods, i've no problem if they pay the price; and that price
could be quite impressive that it be fair.

The problem, as ususal, is externalizing the effects of automobile
economics. The public pays the real cost of a Hummer and a giant super
mega truck 4500 2 axel save our troops super vehicle. The public is
being dumped on with the costs... and the problem can be simply
contained by making the costs payable by those who use the resources.

I'll tell you, if the full cost of the iraq war and the full petrol
economy were charged fairly to the owners of these uber-SUV's, the
market would self correct. Light market intervention is the social
democrat's friend, and we certainly need some.

[Totally Committed]

22. Looks like it is officially Open Season on Liberals...

in the US. A country truly divided, is a country more easily conquered. It's a strategy. And it disgusts me.

TC

[geek tragedy]

26. How many millions of people died or were imprisoned because of

vehicle regulation?

Can we start Durbinizing these fuckers?

[samsingh]

27. name calling only emboldens us.

[TriMetFan]

29. I just e-mailed the sob

and asked for apology.

[Vickers]

30. Hmmmm, *this* Communist served 8 years in the US military

I wonder how long he served? :eyes:

[leesa]

31. Well, I'd rather be a communist than a fascist. These people do not have

the slightest idea what a communist is. Just 1950's rhetoric.