(5/23/2005) The Bush administration's filibuster trial balloon went down in flames tonight as small group of Republicans in the Senate joined all the Democrats to send the Bush administration a clear message. That message is: The Bush administration will no longer have a blank check to ram its extremist right-wing agenda down the American people's throats.

The filibuster fight over a small number of Bush's federal court nominees was just the GOP's test case. It was also just a smoke-screen distraction from the real problems facing this country.

The Republican leadership was running its legislation up the flag pole to see who would salute. That way when they raise their legislation for an issue they really do care about, like killing the estate tax, they would know who's support they could count on.

The Republicans were also using this filibuster fight to distract the American people's attention away for the big problems the Bush administration has created, and is ignoring. For example, the huge and growing federal deficit, the astronomical trade deficit, the ever increasing number of U.S. casualties in Iraq, and the fact that Bush's 2005 budget cuts funds for veterans, education, police, fireman, children's health care, and almost all other social programs that benefit the middle class.

The fascist wing of the GOP, with their Republican majorities in the House and Senate, could smell blood and they were going in for the kill. They really wanted a nuclear Armageddon in the Senate, in just those religious terms, so that they could kill the final obstacle to their total control over our government, the U.S. Constitution.

The Republicans wanted to supersede the Constitution so that they could have installed a totalitarian regime led by their corrupt fascist Dictator, George W. Bush. But instead they have received a scolding with a rolled up newspaper across their noses, and they ran away with their tails between their legs.

The ability of the Republicans to break the Democrat's filibuster was critical to the small number of mega wealthy families who have the Republicans in Congress chasing after a wad of dollar bills dangling from a string in front of their noses. These few mega rich families are facing a $500 billion estate tax liability, and they know that if they can break the Democrat's ability to filibuster this GOP tax legislation, that just passed in the House of Representatives, they could get that legislation passed in the Senate. This legislation would have reduce their estate tax liability to zero, and would have made our tax system much more regressive than it already is.

The Democrats know that repealing of the estate tax is a democracy killer. They know that if America's multi-billionaires are able to pass all that wealth onto their kids tax-free generation after generation it would destroy our democracy, the middle class, and our economy. They also know it would concentrate wealth and opportunity into the hands of a bunch of inheritance rich spoiled rotten kids and their shyster trust fund managing lawyers.

The Republicans in Congress are also drooling over the idea of completely repealing the AMT, just like they want to do with the estate tax, and for the benefit of the same group of multi-billionaires. The repeal of the AMT could cost as much as $1 trillion in lost revenues over the next ten years, and it's legislation that the Democrats are likely to fight against. That is why the GOP was so determined to kill the ability of Democrats to use the filibuster.

I believe that Bush's real focus and primary mission as president is to reduce the tax liability for billionaires. And America's billionaires biggest potential liability is the estate tax, followed by the AMT.

That is why the first thing Bush did after he was appointed president by the Supreme Court in 2000 was to pass a huge tax cut that went primarily to the richest people in our society. This legislation included repealing the estate tax, but it sunsets in 2010. So Bush has been itching to get these tax cuts made permanent, and he has spent a lot of time trying to sell this idea. But the truth is that Bush lied about this legislation before he signed it into law, and he has been lying about it ever since.

Besides Bush's myopic focus on tax cuts for billionaires he has also been doing some other horrible things. He has rolled back our legal system with tort reforms. He has undermined Medicare, and he is attempting to undermine Social Security through his corrupt privatization scam. He has cut corporate regulations resulting in a huge energy scam in California and large corporate bankruptcies. He has  infringed on our rights with the Patriot Act. He has rolled back environmental protections. He has weaken the power of the American people through tort reforms that limit what juries can award. He has started a totally unnecessary war in Iraq based on a lie that has cost over $350 billion, and over 1,700 American boy's lives. And he has weakened the power of our federal government through giant deficits and a devaluation of the dollar.

Everything else Bush has said or done while in office are just minor peripheral issues and distractions to help him achieve tax cuts for multi-billionaires. Which he has already done quite effectively by cutting the top tax rates, reducing the number of tax brackets, cutting the tax on dividends, and cutting corporate taxes.

In fact, I'm quite sure that if Bush had his way billionaires wouldn't have to pay any taxes, and all the taxes the middle class pays would flow right into the pockets of his rich friends and their multi-national corporations.

Bush is such a dirty little lying money whore I'm surprised he hasn't legalized prostitution, larceny, fraud, and treason so that he can drag the rest of us down to his disgusting level of immorality.