Can I get Freedom Fries with that?

Hopefully, members of the Bush Klan... oops, I meant 'clan'.... ok, maybe I didn't..... members of the Bush Klan (also known by their Greek name of I Tappa Kegga) will forever fade from the political scene of America. And, hopefully, the U.S. now understands that it isn't too cool being governed by a bunch of silver spooned, faux southern, frat boys who can't manage to distinguish the difference between their asshole and elbow.

P.S. Who am I? Wahhhh-wuh, wuh Waaaaaahhhhhh:

Clift: Bush and the Family Franchise:

"Dec. 8, 2006 - On the eve of a report that repudiates his son’s leadership, former president George H.W. Bush broke down crying when he recalled how his other son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lost an election a dozen years ago and then came back to serve two successful terms. The elder Bush has always been a softie, but this display of emotion was so over the top that it had to be about something other than Jeb’s long-ago loss."

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Economic news is always a good read, isn't it? Ok, maybe not, but Krugman just penned one of those rare economic pieces that are a must read to understand how we're losing the oh-so-important middle class. Read the entire article, but below are some choice bits:

Rolling Stone : Paul Krugman on the Great Wealth Transfer:

"Why doesn't Bush get credit for the strong economy?'
.....

Are people just ungrateful? Is the administration failing to get its message out? Are the news media, as conservatives darkly suggest, deliberately failing to report the good news?

None of the above....."

Here's some good perspective for ya:

In 1969, General Motors was the country's largest corporation aside from AT&T, which enjoyed a government-guaranteed monopoly on phone service. GM paid its chief executive, James M. Roche, a salary of $795,000 -- the equivalent of $4.2 million today, adjusting for inflation. At the time, that was considered very high. But nobody denied that ordinary GM workers were paid pretty well. The average paycheck for production workers in the auto industry was almost $8,000 -- more than $45,000 today. GM workers, who also received excellent health and retirement benefits, were considered solidly in the middle class.

Today, Wal-Mart is America's largest corporation, with 1.3 million employees. H. Lee Scott, its chairman, is paid almost $23 million -- more than five times Roche's inflation-adjusted salary. Yet Scott's compensation excites relatively little comment, since it's not exceptional for the CEO of a large corporation these days. The wages paid to Wal-Mart's workers, on the other hand, do attract attention, because they are low even by current standards. On average, Wal-Mart's non-supervisory employees are paid $18,000 a year, far less than half what GM workers were paid thirty-five years ago, adjusted for inflation. And Wal-Mart is notorious both for how few of its workers receive health benefits and for the stinginess of those scarce benefits."

And to make it more clear:

"Start with 1973. If you assume that a height of six feet represents the average income in that year, the person on the far left side of the line -- representing those Americans living in extreme poverty -- is only sixteen inches tall. By the time you get to the guy at the extreme right, he towers over the line at more than 113 feet.

Now take 2005. The average height has grown from six feet to eight feet, reflecting the modest growth in average incomes over the past generation. And the poorest people on the left side of the line have grown at about the same rate as those near the middle -- the gap between the middle class and the poor, in other words, hasn't changed. But people to the right must have been taking some kind of extreme steroids: The guy at the end of the line is now 560 feet tall, almost five times taller than his 1973 counterpart."

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My friends over at Wheelhouse Productions worked very closely with Mr. Galloway and forged a great friendship with him. I was very happy to see this article as this man knows what he's talking about and should be listened to:

Joe Galloway: 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, But Only One Way to Exit Iraq:

"NEW YORK Last week's Iraq Study Group recommendations are being hit from all sides, by those who claim they go too far -- or don't go nearly far enough. Among those now weighing in with the latter view is legendary war reporter Joe Galloway.
.....

Galloway, who has been a persistent critic of the war for three years and early on called for the firing of Donald Rusmfeld, retired earlier this year from Knight Ridder but continues his weekly column for McClatchy and others. He has covered more than half a dozen wars, from Vietnam to Iraq, with distinction, and co-authored the book, 'We Were Soldiers Once...and Young' (he is now penning a sequel).

A excerpt from Galloway's column follows."

***

All the politicians paid the customary lip service in praising the troops and commending them for the terrible sacrifices they must continue to endure while the wrangling and dithering over a futile war goes on with no end in sight.

How can they look at themselves in the mirror every morning?

Some even suggest sending additional U.S. forces to Iraq -- 20,000 to 30,000 more to try to clean up Baghdad, or as Sen. John McCain suggests, 100,000 more to achieve a victory of some kind.

What are they thinking?

If we don't listen to a man like Mr. Galloway, then we'll just spend more time watching these numbers go way up. Check you state:

Iraq Coalition Casualties US Fatality Map