2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the BilgeBucket Gazette. Our first issue was on May 19, 2003 and we’ve been shoveling it to the public, just like the corporate media, ever since. We changed our format to a WordPress blog in 2011 so all of our earlier material was archived. We’ve been reposting many of those archived articles, headlines, photo-toons, BilgeBucket Lists and other content over the past twelve years. In honor of our 20th, and because we’re sick of the current state of affairs in the world, we’ll be reposting more items from 2003 through 2009 throughout this year.
Back in August 2011 there was talk about doing a fifth Indiana Jones movie which prompted us to post a BilgeBucket List we did originally in our September 10, 2007 issue listing the top rejected movie titles for the fourth Indiana Jones movie which was subsequently released in 2008 as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and predictably made zillions of dollars. And this was when Harrison Ford was a spry and youthful 69 years old. Now he’s 80 and the fifth Indiana Jones movie has come to fruition with the name Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Quite frankly, our list of titles is a lot funnier and more age appropriate so here’s a repost of the top rejected Indiana Jones movie titles featuring super senior citizen Harrison Ford.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of Social Security
Indiana Jones Has Fallen and He Can’t Get Up
Indiana Jones and the Jewels of the Senile
Indiana Jones Adventure at Luby’s Buffet
Indiana Jones: Prostate of Fury
Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Medicare Form
Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Car Keys
Indiana Jones and the Dentures from Hell
Indiana Jones and the Diaper of Doom
Indiana Jones: Dude, Where’s My Preparation-H?
Indiana Jones and the Quest for Low Cost Health Insurance
The 2022 elections are on Tuesday, November 8th and the choice couldn’t be clearer in our opinion. Of course, we’ve been thinking that for the last twenty years and somehow the Republicans are still not the permanent minority party which they should be.
The Republicans are openly embracing white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism. They are attacking the fundamental principles and laws of our constitution. Under the TFG regime, the GOP dismantled our government giving enormous tax cuts to the plutocrats in our society, which basically gave complete and absolute power to a handful of corporations and the richest of the rich while saddling future generations with debilitating debt. Those greedy CEOs and corporate elite are now the leading cause of inflation in the U.S., grabbing record profits while the American people struggle to just buy food. They have used deceitful shenanigans to stack the Supreme Court with regressive, religious ideologues who have already taking away a woman’s right to make her own reproduction decisions despite saying under oath during their confirmation hearings that they wouldn’t. The extremist Court is setting its sights on voter rights and basic rights for the LGBTQ community. Many Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare which they call ‘entitlement programs’ but have no problem with entitlement programs for the corporate fat cats who purchase legislation through slimy lobbyists with corrupt donations and other monetary influences. The Republicans have openly suggested civil war and locking up opponents if they don’t get their way. TFG even instigated his rabid MAGA moron followers to mount an insurrection attempt at a coup at the Capitol on January 6th, 2020 because TFG claimed the 2020 election was rigged and stolen despite no evidence of fraud. Now, insane MAGA and QAnon election deniers are poised to win seats in many states including our state of Arizona which would effectively guarantee that Republicans will win all future elections and the will of the people will be ignored thus ending democracy as we know it. As we have said before, under TFG, the Republicans are no longer a party; they are a crime syndicate.
If you truly believe in a representative democracy, by the people, for the people, and where every vote counts, there is only one way to vote: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.
Since the Republicans have completely embraced white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism, the choice in the 2020 elections is clear: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.
A few posts ago we commented on the newsreader who wants to be guvnah in Arizona, the woefully unqualified Trump acolyte Kari Lake. In this post, we’ll discuss the AZ GOP’s candidate for Senator, another Trump Humper named Blake Masters.
We’ve mentioned before about America becoming a corporate theocracy; a Holy Corporate Empire, if you will – and Blake Masters is one hundred percent on board with this kind of transformation. Corporations are authoritarian environments. Corporations are like little dictatorships. The corporation has a CEO and small board of advisers who make all the decisions for the company. If you don’t like the decision, you’re fired. Churches are authoritarian environments. The church has its leader who claims infallibility because he or she talks to God. If you don’t like what the leader has proclaimed, you are evil and one with the devil. Both institutions have very fascist tendencies – do what the leaders say or else. It’s no surprise that the Republican party is filled with these corporatist and religious zealots. They’ve been pushing since the Reagan administration to try and make the government like a corporation. The evangelicals have pretty much taken over the Republican party with their embrace of TFG and planting right wing zealots on the Supreme Court to overturn abortion. We have no doubt if given the chance, Masters would do everything possible to join church and state and corporate America together into a modern day feudal society because . . . you know . . . the Middle Ages were so enlightening and full of freedom for everyone. That’s right, you work during the day, go to church on Sunday and don’t ask questions like good little sheeple until the day you drop dead. Maybe, just maybe, our autocrat overlords will throw a pittance your way as a reward for allowing them to buy yet another car, boat or luxury property. Ahhhh! Unregulated capitalism!
Fortunately, at least for Arizona, he’s running against centrist Democrat Mark Kelly who’s about as likable as they come. Independents love him and moderate Republicans do, too. And what’s not to like; he’s an ex-Navy pilot, an engineer and he’s an ex-astronaut. Not only that, he’s done an impressive job in his two years as Senator helping get many legislative packages through Congress. And he’s voted with Republicans enough so that he’s not viewed as completely partisan.
Masters is behind in the polls and he’s desperately trying to backtrack on his abortion , election fraud and social security comments. With the DOJ’s case against TFG becoming more evident, it looks like his attraction to the crooked and traitorous Trump could sink him like a stone. Of course, there are a lot of MAGA morons here in Arizona which could make the race closer than it should be. Hopefully, there are enough competent election officials with ethics and morals who will make sure that radical right wing Republicans don’t try some kind of Trumpf*ckery to get MAGA candidates elected.
Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters states America should be a corporate theocracy, a.k.a. a Holy Corporate Empire, so that we can all make money for our capitalist masters until the day we drop dead.
Once again, an Arizona politician is embarrassing the state on a national level and this time it’s not a Republican. In a valiant bipartisan effort to be just as bad as Arizona’s GOP, Democrat Krysten Sinema has pretty much ended the Voting Rights Bill which Joe Biden and the Democrats have been pushing that will preserve the right to vote for all Americans, not just rich white ones. But Ms. Sinema and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin have decided that defending the filibuster is more important than protecting democracy, much to the delight of the Republicans, most of whom still think the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden.
So, what’s the fricking deal with Ms. Sinema? We were psyched when she got elected in 2018. She had built herself up as a liberal and her credentials were solid. She had protested the Iraq War and had solidly supported Democratic causes. She’s even a member of the LGBTQ community. Basically, she checks all the boxes you want for a Democrat. To be fair, she has voted in favor of most of the bills Biden and the rest of the Democrats have pushed through. But she also supported several pieces of legislation during the TFG’s administration that the pro-Trump Republicans favored. So, again, what’s the deal?
Ms. Sinema seems to be under the delusion that she is some sort of master of bipartisanship. Somehow, only she has the grrrl power ability to reach across the aisle and sing Kumbaya with the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz. And predictably, the Republicans like Turtle Boy love her, but only because she is being such a tool. Did Ms. Sinema not see the Capitol riots? The Republicans attempted a coup to overthrow a legitimate election! The 21st century GOP cannot and should not be trusted on anything! The voting rights bill needs to pass urgently – NOW – or the Republicans will absolutely put an end to democracy if they ever get power back. This is obvious! They had no problem obstructing Obama’s Supreme Court nomination in 2016, claiming it was an election year, and then hypocritically pushing their right wing nomination through in 2020, which was an election year.
But Ms. Sinema has some kind of strange attraction to the filibuster which she sees as a means of bipartisanship but in actuality is a ugly method of obstructionism. During the Civil Rights Era, Martin Luther King said this about the filibuster: “I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.” The filibuster has an awful history, especially in the last forty years, which is right about the time that gridlock seized Congress. Yes, if you want to blame the lack of progress on any meaningful legislation for the last forty years, you can blame the embrace of the filibuster or filibluster or Phil E. Buster or whatever you want to call this piece of rancid piece of obstructionism, by both parties (or corporate ass-kissing syndicates as we call them here at the Bucket). A common excuse by Democrats for not voting in elections is “what’s the point”. They claim that there’s no difference between the two parties and that both worship at the altar of capitalism, which is true. But the Democrats have pushed forth legislation in the past like Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and Medicare which has truly helped millions of Americans. Biden’s Build Back Better program and the Voting Rights Act are important pieces of legislation that will help millions. The American people overwhelmingly support these bills, especially the ones for infrastructure. But for some strange reason, Ms. Sinema wants to preserve the vile, obstructionist wrench that is the filibuster. If we get rid of it and pass the bills, Sinema opines that when the next election comes around and Republicans take back the House and Senate, then they will pass all their right wing legislation and do whatever they want – just like they did to put Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court with a simple majority vote – with no consequences. But if the Democrats actually PASS THE BILLS AND DO SOMETHING, then maybe they won’t lose the elections. Maybe the electorate will realize the Democrats mean business and won’t roll over and play dead every time the GOP clear their throats like they’ve done for the past twenty years.
Yes folks, Ms. Sinema seems to have pulled the bait-and-switch with all us Arizonans who voted for her thinking she would pursue progressive values. But it appears she’s given in to pressure from corporate interests. Since we’re her constituents, we regularly receive email correspondence from her office proudly touting her work for Veteran’s Rights, which is good. But it’s also not controversial at all. We know of no one who is against giving Veterans aid or assistance. This is like saying that you support breathing. But yet on the vital issues like preserving the right to vote for every American, Ms. Sinema seems to be clueless or bought out by corporate interests or bought out by the GOP or all three. At least the Arizona Democratic Party has announced they are very upset with her support of the filibuster and are looking to other candidates like Ruben Gallego in 2024 when Sinema’s term expires. Her poll numbers are in the toilet and good luck getting the Republicans support if she switches parties. Sinema is just a sassy fool and useful tool right now for the GOP’s fascist agenda. One thing’s for sure: Ms. Cutesy Pie Bait-and-Switcher won’t be a Senator too much longer. Arizonans are already sick of her schtick . Citizens from across the nation are sick of her schtick . But at least she’ll have a job at Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network, when she’s handed her walking papers in 2024. Then she can sip her sangria, buy more sassy grrrl clothes, count all her money and swoon at the thought of Phil E. Buster.
For some strange reason, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema seems to be enamored with the ugliest of Senate procedures, the filibuster (or Phil E. Buster) which prevents progress of any kind for the Democrat’s Build Back Better and Voting Rights Act legislation. But at least this cheeky grrrl has sangria, sassy clothes, lots of money from corporate donors and new friends in the GOP.
Honestly, we prefer the Warren-Sanders wing of the Democrat Party. However, although we here at the Bucket are progressive independents, we are voting for whomever the Democratic nominee is, just like we have for the past twenty-eight years. Just look at the Trump administration in addition to the Bush administration (not to mention the first Bush and the Reagan administrations) and you’ll understand why we’ll never vote for another Republican as long as we live. But we’ve been around long enough to know that Joe Biden is not the perfect candidate. Let’s face it, folks; Biden likes to bullshit and he’s a big time gaffe master. If there’s a chance he’ll stick his foot in his mouth or tell embarrassing tall tales, he will. Back in 2008 when Obama named Biden his VP, we collectively slapped our foreheads and said “Oh, oh!” But thankfully, Biden turned out to be a commendable Vice President. He is a good, honorable man who will do the right thing for all Americans. But, he will also do and say some stupid things along the way, guaranteed. So, don’t let the conservative corporate media or Fox News Republican propaganda machine fool you. Yes, Biden’s having senior moments, but then again Trumpty Dumpty is outpacing Uncle Joe on that front by a country mile. Donald Trump is by the far the WORST choice for America and the world and he proves it on a daily basis.
Here’s a photo-toon from our March 7, 2009 issue, where Obama assures the American populace that Biden will not insert his foot into his mouth while Uncle Joe has some reservations about that prospect.
President Obama may have made one promise he can’t keep.
Wow! Two posts in a row on Martha McSally. Well, it’s election season here in Arizona and the GOP is at it again. We noted on our last post on how Martha McSally, who originally distanced herself from America’s CEO, Donald Trump, after his inauguration, has now drank the fascist Kool-Aid and is fully embracing the right wing crazy that is the modern Republican party.
Of course, Republicans are the masters of being irony impaired. McSally called Sinema’s actions treasonous while completely turning a blind eye to Donald Trump’s colluding with Russia during the 2016 elections and his open support for that ‘strong and powerful’ Russian president Vladimir Putin. We think McSally’s statements have earned herself a tin foil hat worthy of other Arizona wack jobs like former governor, Jan Brewer and former Maricopa County Sheriff, Joe Arpaio. That’s right, Ms. McSally: keep drinking that crazy, right wing, Trump Kool-Aid.
What’s also interesting is that not only is Trump supporting McSally but also Trump’s supposed Arizona nemesis, phony, feckless Jeff Flake has endorsed her as well. Yet, the Republicans are trying to con everyone that there are differences within the ranks of the GOP. Now that’s fake news.
Arizona Senate candidate, Martha McSally, earns her moniker of being a Trump rubber stamp by turning a blind eye to Donald Trump’s 2016 election treason.
Since phony, feckless, Jeff Flake has opted out of politics for the time being, Democrats have an excellent chance to pick up a Senate seat here in usually red Arizona in the 2018 midterms. Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who has served the 9th Congressional district since 2014, is running for Senator against Republican Martha McSally, who has served the 2nd Congressional district. So at least Arizona will have it’s first female Senator.
But as you’d expect from the modern day GOP, they are slinging mud like it’s a monster truck show. McSally has been relentless in her character assassination attack ads on local tv here, spewing forth volumes of lies and misleading claims on Sinema, forcing the Democratic candidate to play defense. Unfortunately, the ads seem to be working as Sinema’s lead since earlier this year, which was substantial, has slipped in the polls. Sinema has voted many times with Republicans over the past four years because she has to walk a political tightrope since many in her district are Republicans. But like her ads state, Sinema is truly an Independent like the majority of Arizonans are and will represent the state as it is now becoming; a purple state.
It should be very interesting here in Arizona on election day. This state may not become blue, but it could become very purple November 6th which is more indicative of what this state is: Independent.
Arizona Republican candidate for Senator, Martha McSally, clarifies that she’ll be nothing more than a rubber stamp for any stupid, disastrous policy that springs forth from America’s CEO/Dictator, Donald Trump’s addled brain.
We’ve commented before about about space exploration. Sure, maintaining satellite safety and cleaning the ever growing field of space debris is important. Space.com has an excellent article about whether or not a Space Force and the militarization of space is a good idea or not. We believe the exploration of space is perfect for robots, drones and other mechanical and electronic machines. But we also think that humans are not equipped to live in space and these proposals for any country to build space stations in orbit around the moon, or colonies on the moon or Mars are a colossal waste of money and a disaster waiting to happen for any nation which chooses to pursue this endeavor. Like we’ve said before in the link referenced above, the best spaceship possible is planet Earth.
We also think that in Trump’s obtuse, non-scientific mind, the idea of a Space Force is more like Star Wars, Star Trek, The Jetsons and a dash of The Simpsons all mashed together. So, we’re looking forward to more incredible space adventures from America’s ace Space Cadet, Donald Trump of the Space Force.
American CEO/Dictator and ace Space Cadet, Donald Trump, promises his sheep-like followers plenty o’ space adventures in the future if they join the Space Force.
Of course, the Republicans are conning the nation like they’ve been since the days of Nixon; they truly put the CON in CONservative. They keep preaching that they’re the party of small government. But their actions tell a different tale. In addition to the shutdown of the government, which the Republicans didn’t really mind, just like 2013, all of Trump’s executive orders reversing the much needed regulations on industry and the generous tax bill, which pretty much kills any government income, seem to show that the Republicans don’t just want small government, they wantNO GOVERNMENT!It’s no secret they want to privatize everything including infrastructure, social security and medicare and dismantle any government agencies which may provide protection for the average American citizen, like the Consumer Financial Protection Agency or the Environmental Protection Agency. This is a complete seizure of power by corporate America and their willing lackeys in congress who will bring down the government from the inside. Ladies and gentlemen; this is what a corporate oligarchy and fascism looks like.
Thanks to the Republican party and American CEO/Dictator Donald Trump, Americans don’t have to be bothered with the burden of a democratic government and stupid things like laws and regulation.
We’ve commented ad infinitum about the Republican’s desire to cut Social Security and Medicare. Now with Trump in the White House, they’ve got the bully they want who can shove these changes through. Bernie Sanders has mounted an effort to halt the cuts, but will it be enough. Trump is assembling an absolute wrecking crew in his cabinet. The billionaires he’s picking to serve will not only weaken the government, they will destroy it and the majority of us will be left with nothing and at the complete mercy of corporate America. It seems funny that these so called christians are fine with corporate welfare, but when average, older, tax paying citizens need help paying for food, medicine and the basics for living day to day, they tell them tough luck and kick them in the teeth.
Which brings us to the prescient words of the last great Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower who stated “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” Well guess what folks: that splinter group has complete control of our government and they don’t give a damn about average Americans. Or in other words…they’re here!
The last, great Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned America in the 1950s of a faction of rich, greedy bastards who wanted to cut Social Security and eliminate the social safety net for average Americans. Guess what folks…they’re here!
