I see that The Truth Laid Bear has added this site’s updated URL to its rankings. The “new” Resonance debuts as a Slithering Reptile at No. 1124.

If only the founding fathers could have drawn from One Hand Clapping’s comment section:

My proposal: One dollar, one vote!
Eliminate all taxes. On election day, it costs you a dollar to vote. You get to vote as many times as you want, as long as you pay a dollar each time.

Interesting:

The book also shows that in the lead-up to announcing his candidacy for the presidency, Bush told a Texan evangelist that he had had a premonition of some form of national disaster happening.
Bush said to James Robinson: ‘I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen. . . . I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.’

Fits right in with point one in the prior post.

Sunday’s “Booknotes” on C-SPAN featured James Bovard, author of Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil. Mr. Bovard and I see differently on many domestic issues. But I thought he made a number of interesting points in the interview, including:

• “Since 9/11, Bush often seems blinded by the glare of his own halo.  The moral self-adulation at the heart of the war on terrorism is a danger both to America and to the world.” (p. 349)
• President Bush (and other politicians’) constant reference to the “goodness” of America inspires a sense of blind righteousness–a feeling that we can do no wrong. This mindset can lead a nation down a dangerous policy road.
• An effective technique employed by politicians is to flatter those whom they wish to control. Note how often those in power talk about Americans being the greatest people on earth.
• In his address to the nation the evening of 9/11, Bush claimed that the reason we had been attacked was because America is a symbol of freedom.  This assertion of motive was curious, because at that point the FBI wasn’t even sure who the attackers were.
• In July, 2001, the CIA issued a warning that Osama Bin Laden would launch a “significant” and “spectacular” terrorist attack in the coming weeks against the U.S. or Israeli interests designed to inflict mass casualties.  The Bush administration’s insistence following the attack that they had no prior warning contributed to a greater level of faith in the government, which allowed the administration to push through the PATRIOT Act.  Had America known at that time how many warning signals were out there, we would have been a a lot less flag waving and a lot more tough questioning.
• In October, 2001, many members of Congress voted in favor of the PATRIOT Act even though they didn’t have time to read it.
• Since 1948, the U.S. has spent $240 billion (figures in 2001 dollars) on foreign aid to Israel. Since 1978 we have sent $117 billion to Egypt and $22 billion in Syria. We are supporting nations such as Pakistan, even though they terrorize their own people.
• Although Bush said no FBI or CIA agents were to blame for 9/11, he did blame U.S. drug users for funding terrorism. This despite the fact that a vast majority of drug users smoke marijuana, which has no financial link to terrorism. Since the U.S has invaded Afghanistan, opium production has increased 2,000%.
• In the buildup to the invasion war, Bush kept using the phrase “if war is thrust upon us.” He then proceeded to launch an unprovoked attack against a country which posed no threat to America.

Sounds like an interesting book.

I see that over at Talking Points Memo Josh Marshall has posted his advertising policy, so I thought I’d follow suit:

Resonance is a writer-supported website with no paid advertising. If you’re not sure who to vote for or where to spend your money, let me know and I’ll try to help you out.

As always, this policy is subject to change without notice.