Does This Sound Familiar?

"They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other...This is an evil man that we're dealing with, and I wouldn't put it past him to develop evil weapons to try to harm civilization as we know it...You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror" Bush shortly after 911

"They hate our people because it isns to try to harm civilization as we know it... decent, brave, industrious, hardworking and intelligent. They hate our views, our social policies, and our accomplishments. They hate us as a Reich and as a community. They have forced us into a struggle for life and death. We will defend ourselves accordingly. All is clear between us and our enemies." Goebbels 31 December 1939

Other Things You should know:

1. 43% of all Iraqis now live in absolute poverty according to a NY Times article this morning. 70% do not have access to adequate water, substantially worse than the 50% who did not have clean water in 2003. Two million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes.
2. On the other hand, Halliburton and subsidiary KBR have posted record profits and KBR has been paid $20 billion for its work in Iraq. Meanwhile, KBR employees have been convicted of a massive bribery network that overcharged the American taxpayer millions of dollars.
3. A one-sentence provision buried in the Senate's recently passed energy bill, inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, makes nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees.
4. The Iraqi Parliament began a monthlong recess because of the heat without completing any of the legislative benchmarks that they have agreed are important to stabilizing the country. Too bad our soldiers can't take a break also.
5. The Bush administration wants to sell billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the country of origin of most of the 911 attackers.

On a Brighter Note:

Kiva.org, at their fun and easy to use website, allows internet users to make mircroloans to small entrepreneurs in the developing world - helping people to lift themselves out of poverty. I made some loans in March 2007, some of which have been completely repaid, giving me "Kiva credit". The website made it easy for me to use that money to make another loan or I could have just as easily had the money sent to me.