Did you hear that?

No, listen closely ....

That's right ... Nary a word on the upcoming production of Bush Fatigue, otherwise known as the State of the Union Address.

Boy, what a difference a Democratic-controlled Congress, 31% approval rating, the still ongoing Iraq disaster and, now, a tanking U.S. economy makes ...

I had been thinking about it, just vaguely, as this month as rolled on.

Isn't it time for the SOTU?

Turning a Party into a Joke

Generations of children have told elephant jokes. My favorite was:

Why do elephants paint their toenails red? So they can hide in cherry trees. Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?     It works, doesn’t it?

Being aware that the elephant is the symbol of the Republican party, makes the jokes take on new meaning.

How do you stop a charging elephant?                 Take away its credit cards.

It is foolish to believe that a huge deficit will not hurt the US. Bush continues to claim that our economy is booming. A boom based on credit can turn into a big bust!

The biggest jokes are those who claim that Bush is a good president and that the war in Iraq was a great idea. I’ve illustrated this one after the fold:

What’s huge, gray, and goes around in circles?         An elephant stuck in a revolving door.

(Cross-posted at Newsfare.)

Released Wednesday, May 9, 2007 by the White House, this executive order, the National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51, uses the principle of the Unitary Executive, as propounded by Dick Cheney, to seize absolute power in the U.S. any time the president feels like putting the plan into effect.

In what follows, italicized text represents my paranoid ideas. I hope all such stupid, alarmist fantasies turn out to be entirely unjustified.

Get ready for a catastrophic terrorist attack in October of 2008, with the unfortunately necessary indefinite postponement of elections after a Presidential declaration of the state of emergency due to the current devastating circumstances.

More after the jump...

So I'm admittedly conspiracy minded when it comes to this administration, but with that said, I read something just now that makes my blood chill.

Seems that there has been a plan since the Regan administration to maintain a distributed "shadow" government that would set itself up in the event of a "decapacitating" attack on Washington, i.e., a nuclear attack.

Follow me to the flip and I'll tell you how I think this plan is being reworked to provide the mechanism to end democracy in the United States . . .

For decades the USA has kept a shadow government function incase we were hit by a first strike from someone like the Soviets.  

Now Bush has taken control of the shadow government from DHS.

President Bush issued a formal national security directive yesterday ordering agencies to prepare contingency plans for a surprise, "decapitating" attack on the federal government, and assigned responsibility for coordinating such plans to the White House.

WHY?

Bush and we Americans are getting seriously played by Iran.  Bush is constantly saber rattling at Iran an the same time our troops and taxpayer money is being used to build a Shia Islamic State in Iraq.

This just in from CNN:

Shadowy office accused of partisan agenda

   President George W. Bush has created an entity within his administration that U.S. members of congress say is being used behind a smokescreen to carry out an extreme right-wing agenda that is worsening the country's partisan divide.

   The "Office of the Commander in Chief" has the power to overrule other government agencies, according to U.S. government and congressional sources.

Dynasty or Democracy?  I am shocked that the country accepts the re-appearance of George H.W. Bush on the scene of working government as if it's a perfectly acceptable state of affairs.

When little Dubya took the White House, was he taking it for the entire Bush Family?

Here are some evidently not-so-obvious questions regarding the appearance out of the shadows and onto the cover of NEWSWEEK magazine of the UnPresident George Dubya Bush's father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush.

1/  What is he doing here again?

2/  What right does he have to call any shots?

3/  Who elected him to another term?

I hate to rain on the Democratic victory parade, but it needs to be done.  The celebration confetti may be blinding many Democrats into believing that all is well now that the party has gained some Congressional power.  No way.

The power brokers who run the US come in many disguises and claim many identities. Did they lose any power yesterday or did they, in fact, step out of one disguise and don another, while the unwitting voters cheered them on?

This is an important editorial that should be read before complacency and smug satisfaction takes over.  There may be far more to this election than we see, than we suspect, and that we could even imagine.

The recent US Supreme Court decision was not only a loss for George Bush: it was a rejection of the COG policies of Dick Cheney.

However joyful may be the news that President Bush's ratings are in the toilet, that Republicans are mistrusted by the majority of Americans, and that individuals as politically canny and astute as Jessica Simpson are treating Republicans like the pariahs they are - this is a dangerous time for America; perhaps one of the most dangerous ever.

In a moment of sober reflection, we must consider the true political consequences of having a president whose leadership is so mistrusted and whose person is so little respected.  The inevitable result will be a paralysis of government that can easily lead to dire events: an external attack, perhaps, or - more likely - a desperate move to regain political capital.

This is why the Democratic Party should and must organize a complete Shadow Government so as to direct effective strategic and policy initiatives to counter any crisis.

My in-laws have built a house in the lovely horse country of Northern Virginia just at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The land there is all rolling hills and walls made out of native rock ringing broad acres of open fields. The road to the in-laws' house is small and winding, a narrow turnpike that rolls over single-lane wood bridges. Old wood farmhouses and more ambitious homes faced with more of that native stone, sit far off the twisty road amid the hills. Sprinkled along the turnpike are several wee and very old towns - a general store, a church, and nothing more. For someone like me, from the suburbs, it's a dream. It's gentrified country.

Looking out any of the windows at the rear of my in-laws' house, you will see a small mountain standing ten or fewer miles away. It's a long ridge, and its flanks are dotted by the occasional whitewashed farmhouse, but it's mostly trees. But wait - what's that on the left there? No, farther left. It looks like a collection of buildings too big to be the farm of a country gentleman. And is that a guard tower?

When I heard that our strutting, without-doubt President had to sneak into Islamabad with the landing lights off and the shades lowered on proud, majestic Air Force One, symbol of U.S. pride and leadership, I thought, "Gosh, there's irony in there somewhere."  Stealth government. Stealth wiretapping.  Stealth Cheney.  Stealth Ports deal. Stealth landing. What goes around comes around.  

No! No. I mean it. It's time we stopped talking about the idea of 'shaping up the Democratic Leadership', it's time to end this silliness about a third party.
No.
It's time to create a whole new America. One run by just us. One inside and underneath the noses of the Far Right and buffoons in Washington DC. (No, not every one is a buffoon in Washington DC, but sometimes...)
Of course it's not to take over the real government, it's just to laugh at their antics as they pass the time.

UPDATE: Many have pointed out that Scooter Libby has had the lucky draw of Reggie Walton to be the judge presiding over the case Patrick Fitzgerald is bringing against him. Reggie Walton is the judge that, according to Sibel Edmonds, unfairly dismissed her lawsuit against the FBI over these issues - issues that seem to implicate Libby in a series of crimes against the United States. Judge Reggie Walton seems to be the go-to guy whenever the administration gets into legal trouble.

Gagged whistleblower Sibel Edmonds has verified that a comprehensive review of her public statements has provided one particularly dedicated blogger with the most accurate picture yet of the web of corruption she has long tried to expose.

More after the fold:

A US-based Philippines newspaper has reported that Plamegate prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, will reinterview a key aide to Karl Rove.  Susan Ralston, Rove's personal assistant, has already testified twice before the Grand Jury.  Fitzgerald reportedly wants to call her back in to probe Rove's Grand Jury testimony about his conversations with TIME Magazine's Matthew Cooper.

Prior to being hired by Rove at the White House, Ms. Ralston was a lieutenant to Jack Abramoff, who is himself being probed by a Grand Jury in a wide-ranging scandal involving multiple GOP figures in improper influence peddling, campaign contribution scandals, and a network of Islamic banks with alleged ties to terrorist groups. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/122311/72

Ms. Ralston now appears to be a key figure linking Rove, Abramoff and Republican strategist Grover Norquist in an international web of intrigue, dirty money, and terrorist finance.  MORE BELOW THE FOLD . . .

(my first diary post, so be kind...)

    In the UK, and possibly some other parliamentary governing systems, the party in "loyal opposition" often sets up a shadow government, with secretaries appointed by the party leadership from among their MPs to have a ready response mechanism to actions by those in power.  This has never made sense in the US system, since until recently no one party has held essentially all the power in governance. After 9/11, even though the Republicans did have a power monopoly, it would have been very unseemly to run a prominent opposition, given that the country was united in public opinion behind Bush and the Republicans.  
    Now, however, the curtain is being drawn back, and the public is beginning to realize what a royal screw-up has been foisted upon them.