April 30, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


STEPHEN COLBERT LAMPOONS BUSH

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert spoke at the White House Correspondent Dinner and blasted Bush, via comedy, for the multitude of lies and incompetence we've seen during the past five years. Bush and wife Laura reportedly weren't amused. Maybe they can get a sense of how the rest of us feel. This story is at www.editorandpublisher.com:

A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

Earlier, the president had delivered his talk to the 2700 attendees, including many celebrities and top officials, with the help of a Bush impersonator.

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged the Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

BUSH DOESN'T GET CHECKS AND BALANCES

The Founding Fathers deliberately designed a government of checks and balances because they feared the autocratic power of an unchecked executive. George W. Bush has chosen to ignore at least 750 laws because he claims that the "powers of his office" allow him to do so. Tell me why this is not impeachable. This article by Charlie Savage is at www.boston.com:

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 2006

This article is about the 40th anniversary of Senator Robert Kennedy's walk with disenfranchised farm workers in Delano, California, right here in the Central Valley. It's also about the terrible wages and working conditions for tomato pickers in Florida. The workers pick tomatoes for big corporations like McDonald's and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Pay for the tomato workers hasn't increased in decades. Some workers are, in effect, slaves of labor contractors. This article by Todd Howland is at www.commondreams.org:

But forty years later, pay and conditions have not improved for farmworkers. The struggle for dignity and rights for farmworkers still continues, and groups like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) have picked up the torch. A farmworker picking tomatoes in Immokalee earns only 40-45 cents for each 32 pound bucket he or she picks, a rate that has remained stagnant for almost 30 years. This translates to a 65% real wage decrease due to inflation. In order to bring home $50 a worker must pick nearly two tons of tomatoes. The average farmworker income, $7500, is well below the federal poverty line. In Immokalee, Florida, farmworkers are forced to live in decrepit living quarters with floors completely covered with mattresses, paying as much as $160 a week for the privilege to live as CIW leader, and winner of the 2003 RFK Human Rights Award, Lucas Benitez put it, “like sardines.”

Since 1997, thanks largely to investigations by the CIW, the FBI and US Justice Department have prosecuted six slavery cases in Florida’s produce fields in recent years—freeing over 1,000 workers held against their will.

April 29, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


BIG OIL'S OBSCENE PROFITS

George W. Bush says he doesn't see any indication of price gouging by the big oil companies as we see gas prices climb and climb. I paid $3.19 a gallon for regular today. We hear all the excuses. We can't build new refineries because of those darned environmentalists! Gas taxes increase the costs! The profit margins aren't really all that good! This article by Daniel Gross is at www.slate.com:

Ordinarily, earnings announcements are an occasion for shameless executive preening. Exceeding analysts' estimates, by even the slimmest margin, is cause for chest-thumping, back-patting, and high-fiving. Good results are touted as evidence of the management team's brilliant strategy, flawless execution, and unwavering commitment. Any negatives, if not ignored entirely, are generally chalked up to things beyond human control.

But not this week in the oil industry. On successive days, the three largest U.S. oil companies, ConocoPhillips (Wednesday), ExxonMobil (Thursday), and Chevron (Friday), have reported huge, blowout quarters. Among them, the trio earned a stunning $15 billion in the first quarter alone. But rather than blare the news, the firms have tried to soft-pedal their record earnings. After all, the timing is less than optimal. Congressmen in Washington are stumbling over themselves trying to do something—anything, by gosh!—about higher gas prices: calling for windfall profit taxes, proclaiming war on price-gouging, and foolishly proposing a $100 tax rebate to help with gas payments. (In other words, taxpayers would borrow money from foreigners like the Saudis in order to send $100 checks to Americans so they can buy more gas from foreigners like the Saudis.)

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BUSH'S NICKNAMES

The media have tried to portray George W. Bush as an ordinary Joe. He's the guy you'd allegedly want to have a beer with. Part of the false charm conveyed by Bush is his proclivity for nicknames. He called Russian Premier Putin "Pootie-Poot." He called former FEMA head Michael Brown "Brownie" and the prince of political darkness, Karl Rove, got dubbed "Turd Blossom." This article by a psychiatrist looks at the dominion implied by someone bestowing nicknames on others. It's another example of Bush's arrogance and sense of superiority. The article by Ronald Pies is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Such naming rituals go back at least as far as the Hebrew Bible or Tanach, usually called The Old Testament. A change in name, in this ancient biblical context, usually signifies a change in spiritual status or moral character. In the Book of Genesis, we find that after Jacob wrestles with an "angel" or divine messenger, his name is changed to Israel--variously translated as "one who struggles with God" or "turns the head of God." Notably, it is God who changes Jacob's name, as is the case with Abram (re-named Abraham) and Sarai (re-named Sarah). There is a message in this: changing someone's name is a sign of dominion over that individual. Our children do not name us (though they may use unkind nicknames behind our backs)--we name them. The knight does not "dub" the King, Sir So-and-So--it is the king's dominion that allows him to christen the knight.

The rabbis of the Talmudic era were aware that, when mortals misuse such powers, the results can often be destructive. These sages were especially disturbed by the use of derogatory nicknames. The Talmud tells us, "All who descend to Gehenna [Hell] will come [back] up, except three...one who sleeps with a married woman; one who shames his friend in public; and one who calls his friend by a cruel nickname." [Bava Mezia 58b]. Any child who has come home from school in tears, having been taunted with a nickname like "Fatso" or "Butthead", understands the destructive power of such nicknames.

April 28, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


BUSH AND BIG OIL

George W. Bush is displaying his incredible arrogance and lack of concern with ordinary Americans once again. As gas prices climb through the roof, Bush says he doesn't support a windfall profits tax on the big oil companies. This is at a time when oil company profits are setting records. He also continues to lie and claim that we have a strong economy. It's not that strong from where I sit. This article by Jennifer Loven is at news.yahoo.com:

Bush's remarks suggested the former Texas oilman is unlikely to take harsh action against oil companies despite public anger about the rising cost of fuel. Gasoline is averaging $2.92 a gallon across the country, up 69 cents from a year ago, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report.

With politicians concerned the issue could tilt what are expected to be close midterm elections this fall, the president and many in Congress have been rushing to offer solutions, most of which would offer little immediate relief.

BUSH'S AMAZING ENVIRONMENTAL HYPOCRISY

Everything that sounds progressive from the Bush administration is just the opposite. "The Healthy Forests Initiative" was anything but. "The Clear Skies Initiative" tells polluters to continue to pollute. "No Child Left Behind" does exactly that. Now with soaring gas prices Bush talks about the need to conserve. This column by Mark Morford is linked at www.commondreams.org:

Bush is, after all, a failed oilman. He has done all he can to ensure we will be dependent on the black death for the next two decades, minimum, which is, not surprisingly, the average remaining life span of his favoritest CEO cronies in the oil business. Serve the masters first, the Saudi sheiks second, the American people about, oh, 157th. It is the BushCo way.

No matter. Up in Napa, the president talked about connecting with nature, about getting his heart rate up by getting out there and challenging himself against the rugged terrain. Nature, of course, was unimpressed, sort of neutral on the whole thing, Bush just another animal scratching tracks on her incredibly resilient skin. Nature has a Zen-like quality about such things -- or perhaps more like Vishnu-Brahma-Shiva, creator and preserver and destroyer, watching it all, shrugging, sighing, taking the long view. If nature could talk, she would tell Bush he will be worm food very soon, and by the way, the worms are furious. She would then go back to watching the baby giraffes play in Africa.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND INEFFECTIVE

George W. Bush has used the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to justify almost everything his vile administration wants to do. Among the worst things Bush has done has been to trample civil liberties. Bush claims he needs vastly expanded powers to fight the "war on terror." Never mind that no Americans were involved in the attacks on 9/11. Never mind that the hijackers were all in the country legally. Never mind that Bush had numerous warnings, but failed to act. Jim Hightower has a good column linked at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Ironically, this Bush push to place himself above the law is centered on a failed program. The agents who are having to sift through piles of our calls and emails say that nearly all of the sifting is worthless, finding fewer than 10 citizens a year who even warrant further checking. In fact, the Bushites can point to only two "successes." They brag that the spying uncovered a plot to detonate fertilizer bombs in London -- but British officials deny that NSA spying helped uncover the plot. Their other "success" is ludicrous -- they claim to have found a guy who was going to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge. His weapon? A blowtorch. In response to Bush's illegal spying, Congress has been almost comical. After huffing and puffing about doing a deep investigation into the criminality of the program, Senate Republicans abruptly cancelled their plans for public hearings and ran to the White House waving surrender hankies. Last month, they announced that they had negotiated with Cheney, who graciously gave the Senate a grand oversight role. What did they get, specifically? A new subcommittee. TAH-DAH! Now seven senators will be allowed an occasional peek at whatever documents the White House is willing to send to them. In turn, Congress will sanction Bush's secret spying on Americans, letting him snoop on someone for 45 days without having to bother getting a warrant from that pesky FISA court. You can just hear Cheney guffawing back in his cave. Bush's assertion of extraordinary authority has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with his and Cheney's mad intent to enthrone the American presidency with "plenary" power -- i.e., unqualified, absolute power.

April 27, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


BUSH'S RED HERRING

A few years ago California went through the miserable experience of rolling electrical blackouts. Right-wing pundits were quick to put the blame on environmentalists. Environmentalists, they said, wouldn't allow the construction of new power plants. It turned out it wasn't environmentalists who were responsible, but the crooks at Enron who jobbed the electrical market. Now we have George W. Bush and right-wing pundits blaming environmentalists for soaring gas prices. It's the same old lie all over again. This article by Frank O'Donnell is at www.alternet.org:

Bush says:

There has not been a new refinery built in America in 30 years.

The reality is:

In declaring that part of the problem is that we haven't built new refineries in the U.S. in decades, the president is being simply disingenuous. As he well knows from his days in the business, the big oil companies decided for economic reasons that it was more cost-effective to expand existing refineries than build new ones. In fact, they have managed those expansions to avoid a gasoline glut that could lead to lower prices.

MILLIONS OF US WITHOUT HEALTH CARE

Our health care system is a debacle. Most of us depend on getting health care coverage through our jobs. But if you lose your job you also lose your health care unless you can afford to pay into COBRA, which is horrendously expensive. I was downsized for the second time in four years and I'm now one of those millions without health care. Health care is not a privilege; it's a right. If right-wingers want to fulminate about "socialized medicine," so be it. This article by Theresa Agovino is at www.lasvegassun.com:

The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.

Moreover, more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or had incurred debt to cover their expenses, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based private, health care policy foundation. The study of 4,350 adults also found that people without insurance were more likely to forgo recommended health screenings such as mammograms than those with coverage, and were less likely to have a regular doctor than their insured counterparts.

APPALLING STORIES OF FEMALE IMMIGRANTS

This story talks about the dangers faced by women who seek to illegally immigrate to the United States from Central America or Mexico. According to this story, there is a 99% chance a woman will be raped. Women take birth control pills in advance to avoid getting pregnant as the result of rape. It's absolutely despicable that we have a global economic system that forces anyone to go through these horrors to try for a better life. This story from the Associated Press is at www.nytimes.com:

The increase in women migrants comes as beefed-up border security has funneled migrants through one of the world's most forbidding deserts, and as smugglers adopt increasingly violent tactics.

Some cross with their children. Others leave them behind with relatives. Pregnant women, like Maria Perez, the 18-year-old who gave birth this week, walk for days through the desert in the hope that their children will have a better life as U.S. citizens.

Rape has become so prevalent that many women take birth control pills or shots before setting out to ensure they won't get pregnant. Some consider rape ''the price you pay for crossing the border,'' said Teresa Rodriguez, regional director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women.

April 25, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH

IMPEACH CHENEY


IN TEMP WORLD

Today I got to visit another insurance company. This one is a third party administrator. One thing I've learned in recent weeks is that insurance companies love paper. You have brochures and forms inside brochures and forms.

It's ironic that I don't have health insurance, but I'm helping send out information about health insurance to people who have it through their jobs.

Today the boss lady was miffed that corners on this mass of paper got bent when I tried to get it into an envelope that was a little small. It was a little like trying to get into shoes that are a size too small. We know that the fate of western civilization depends on pristine corners.

Anyone who wants to tell me what a swell economic system we have should have to work as a temp for a just a little while. Try doing these incredibly boring, soul-destroying jobs for no money and then tell me how wonderful our system is.

THEY'RE TIRED OF HEARING BUSH CALLED A LIAR

Today's right-wing screed in The Fresno Bee was about the writer being tired of hearing George W. Bush called a liar. The writer talked about being "nauseous." My response: tough.

Their guy stole the presidential election in 2000. He campaigned as a moderate and has governed as a reactionary. Everything about Bush screams "liar."

What's worse, Bush has the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands. He was willing to do anything to carry out his his vendetta against Saddam Hussein, including killing thousands of civilians in Iraq, getting thousands of U.S. military killed, and looting our treasury. To me, that's far more reason for nausea.

SHREDDING THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Since the New Deal there has been a social contract in effect between Americans and the government. There has also been a social contract between working people and corporations, mostly in the form of pensions. With right-wing ideology on the march, we're seeing more of a predatory system developing. The government doesn't want to fund social programs and corporations don't want to pay decent wages or fund pension plans. This is Social Darwinism in action. This article by Beth Shulman is at www.tompaine.com:

General Motors’ announcement that it would no longer provide traditional pensions to its employees hired after 2001 was stunning because of its size. Yet GM is hardly alone in trying to pare down or eliminate conventional pensions. Every day, from healthy companies like Verizon to bankrupt firms like Delphi, there seems to be a new announcement. United Airlines, Bethlehem Steel, Motorola, Lockheed Martin, IBM, Hewlett Packard, along with many other pillars of our economy, have frozen their pension plans, insisting they cannot afford to keep their promises.

The impact of simply wiping out traditional pensions resonates far beyond corporate boardrooms and company shareholders. It’s a unilateral move to cut out a main clause of our social contract, the model that a majority of Americans and their families have relied on for nearly three quarters of a century.

Are we really ready as a society to declare the end of retirement as we know it? In order to retire, must employees now bear all the costs and take all the risks? And at the very least, shouldn’t we have a serious, national conversation before we simply accept a major shift that will have such a significant impact on our economy and the quality of life in our country for generations to come?

April 24, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


GOOD QUESTIONS


This commentary asks some good questions of George W. Bush. I've often wondered if Bush has any remorse whatever for the death and destruction he has caused in Iraq. I've wondered if he has any feelings at all for the deaths and maimings of so many members of the U.S. military. I've wondered if he thinks about the long-term consequences of attacking Iraq, that he has recruited generations of people who hate the United States. This article by John Brown is at www.commondreams.org:

Mr. President: Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night? Do you? Do you ever wake up sleepless in the middle of the night?

What have you done in Iraq? Do you ever realize, in the middle of the night, what you've done? Do you?

1. You've caused over 2,370 American soldiers to die in an impoverished land that never attacked us. Was that the right answer to 9/11 or the "threat" from Iraq? Do you ever ask yourself that question?

2. Because of your Iraq invasion, thousands of U.S. enlisted personnel are maimed, physically and mentally, for life. What can you tell these victims of your war? That you're honored by their duty towards you, our "mission-accomplished" commander-in-chief?

3. Your decision to go to war has led to the death of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Do you have any remorse for this, Mr. President? Or was it that, for you, Iraqis only really deserved to serve as props in "shock and awe" -- your name for your made-for-TV porno/violence program at the beginning of the war, produced and distributed directly into our living rooms by the mainstream media? (Thank you, Fox News.)

PERPETUAL WAR

The war drums are beating again. The Bush administration has been making threatening noises about attacking Iran, including using tactical nuclear weapons. Bush has already launched two wars, and war seems to be to his liking. In this article Arthur Schlesinger Jr. talks about the dangers of "preventive war." The concept flies in the face of American history. The only problem I have with this essay is the reference to Bush as "humane" man. I don't think Bush is the least bit humane. This article is at www.washingtonpost.com:

The Hundred Days is indelibly associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Thousand Days with John F. Kennedy. But as of this week, a thousand days remain of President Bush's last term -- days filled with ominous preparations for and dark rumors of a preventive war against Iran.

The issue of preventive war as a presidential prerogative is hardly new. In February 1848 Rep. Abraham Lincoln explained his opposition to the Mexican War: "Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure [emphasis added]. . . . If, today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us'; but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.' "

April 23, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


THE BUSH TRAIN WRECK

Reality is coming home in Bush world. The administration is making personnel changes, which are akin to putting a Band-Aid on a gaping head wound. Scott McClellan is gone as the presidential spokesliar. Karl Rove has had his duties changed. This administration is the worst combination of arrogance, incompetence, and corruption. It's like the levees breaking in New Orleans. You can only plug so many holes. This article by Mike Carlton is linked at www.makethemaccountable.com:

SYDNEY, NSW, is a long way from Washington DC but, even at this distance, it is clear that the Bush Administration is falling to pieces.

In recent weeks, scanning the political coverage in the mainstream US media and sampling the blogs has been to watch a flood tide ebbing to reveal a rotting, skeletal hulk. It is the George W. Bush ship of fools, stuck in the mud for the world to see in all its mendacity, its incompetence, its faith-based stupidity.

It is possible, at this late stage, that even Bush himself has begun to realise something is wrong. That oddly simian face is ashen, the eyes leaden. The voice is shrill and its tone defensive…

THEY JUST CAN'T HELP THEMSELVES

The Bush administration has talked a good game about national security, but it seems they just can't help themselves when it comes to leaks, especially if the leaks further their agenda or damage political opponents. We see the most dramatic evidence of that with the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame to retaliate against her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson. Lots of major administration figures are implicated in that leak, most notably I. Lewis Libby and Karl Rove. Even Bush himself has been implicated. Now we learn that Condoleezza Rice is allegedly a part of the Leak Club. This article by Matthew Barakat is at www.makethemaccountable.com:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.

Prosecutors disputed the claim.

The allegations against Rice came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas sought by the defense for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. The two are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are charged with receiving and disclosing national defense information.

Defense lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss the charges because, among other things, they believe it seeks to criminalize the type of backchannel exchanges between government officials, lobbyists and the press that are part and parcel of how Washington works…

April 21, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


SANCTIONING TORTURE

A practice I never heard of before the George W. Bush administration is "extraordinary rendition." It's a way of skirting around U.S. laws against torture. Instead, people are kidnapped, spirited away to regimes that have no objection to torture, and held there. This would be a crime against humanity even against legitimate suspects, but some of these people are innocent. Some people have disappeared entirely. This column by Bob Herbert is linked at www.topplebush.com:

In past years, stories about torture and "the disappeared" have been associated with sinister regimes in South and Central America. The attitude in the United States was that we were above such dirty business, that it was immoral and uncivilized, and we were better than that.

But times change, and we've lowered our moral standards several notches since then. Now people are disappearing at the hands of the U.S. government.

"Below the Radar: Secret Flights to Torture and 'Disappearance' " is the title of a recent Amnesty International report on the reprehensible practice of extraordinary rendition, a highly classified American program in which individuals are seized -- abducted -- without any semblance of due process and sent off to be interrogated by regimes that are known to engage in torture.

OIL COMPANY PROFITS

Gasoline prices in Fresno are soaring again. Prices for regular are back to the level they were after Hurricane Katrina. This would be a burden even if the price hikes were legitimate, but there is evidence the oil companies are deliberately raising prices to increase their already obscene profit margins. Never mind that they're destroying middle class and poor families. This story comes from www.consumerwatchdog.com:

Independent petroleum consultant Tim Hamilton analyzed gasoline price increases from January to April to find that:

* Increases in the "spot" market price of crude oil -- which is the highest price a major oil company would pay for crude oil -- accounted for only 12 cents per gallon. California's percentage sales tax increased fuel prices by another four cents per gallon. More than 40 cents of the 60-cent increase in gasoline prices over 3 1/2 months is attributable to increased refinery and marketing profit margins for the oil companies;

* Neither the MTBE phaseout nor the substitution of ethanol is a serious part of the increase. If the MTBE phaseout or ethanol blending specifically increased costs for oil companies in California, other states in the West using conventional unblended gasoline should be much less affected. Yet Washington State, which uses only conventional gasoline and has similar refinery capacity and crude oil sources, mirrored California's increase;

* The profit increase of 42 cents, on top of record profits last year, means California gasoline will cost consumers approximately $546 million more in April 2006 than in April of last year.

ACTIVE/NEGATIVE PRESIDENTS

Former White House counsel John Dean has an interesting article about the classes some presidential historians use to describe presidents. The worst class is the active/negative presidents. It's no surprise that George W. Bush belongs to that class. This article by John Dean is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

President George W. Bush's presidency is a disaster - one that's still unfolding. In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive and most troubling traits among those that political scientist James Dave Barber has cataloged in his study of Presidents' personality types.

Now, in early 2006, Bush has continued to sink lower in his public approval ratings, as the result of a series of events that have sapped the public of confidence in its President, and for which he is directly responsible. This Administration goes through scandals like a compulsive eater does candy bars; the wrapper is barely off one before we've moved on to another.

Currently, President Bush is busy reshuffling his staff to reinvigorate his presidency. But if Dr. Barber's work holds true for this president -- as it has for others - the hiring and firing of subordinates will not touch the core problems that have plagued Bush's tenure.

That is because the problems belong to the President - not his staff. And they are problems that go to character, not to strategy.

April 20, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


NO DOUBT -- WORST PRESIDENT EVER

I really didn't need a group of presidential historians to tell me the obvious, that George W. Bush is the worst president in our history. But historians do have a perspective that many of us don't have. They know far more about past presidents such as James Buchanan than I know, for instance. But the consequences of a really bad president are even worse now than in the time of James Buchanan. In a world bristling with nuclear weaponry, religious and sectarian divisions, economic injustice, and ecological calamity we need a brilliant president in touch with reality. George W. Bush is neither of those things. This article by Sean Wilentz is at www.rollingstone.com:

No previous president appears to have squandered the public's trust more than Bush has. In the 1840s, President James Polk gained a reputation for deviousness over his alleged manufacturing of the war with Mexico and his supposedly covert pro-slavery views. Abraham Lincoln, then an Illinois congressman, virtually labeled Polk a liar when he called him, from the floor of the House, "a bewildered, confounded and miserably perplexed man" and denounced the war as "from beginning to end, the sheerest deception." But the swift American victory in the war, Polk's decision to stick by his pledge to serve only one term and his sudden death shortly after leaving office spared him the ignominy over slavery that befell his successors in the 1850s. With more than two years to go in Bush's second term and no swift victory in sight, Bush's reputation will probably have no such reprieve.

IT'S ALWAYS CLINTON

One of my favorite scenes in the movie "Bull Durham" deals with a veteran pro baseball player played by Kevin Costner telling an up and coming pitcher that the pitcher needs to "learn his cliches." In essence, if you've heard one sports interview you've heard them all. It's pretty much the same with right wing letters to the editor. Any criticism of George W. Bush can be deflected by reverting back to Bill Clinton's fling with Monica. You know, Clinton lied, etc.

Today's conservative classic in The Fresno Bee asserts that letters critical of Bush, Cheney, and Torture Guy Alberto Gonzalez were "taken off the moveon.org website." The correspondent goes on to claim that no substantiation is provided for the lies of the Bushites.

Our writer has obviously heard of the Internet (the reference to moveon.org), but hasn't bothered to check out the mountain of evidence that Bush and company have lied about darned near everything. You could start with the books by former administration insiders Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke. You could check out the Downing Street Memos. You could follow the story of the Valerie Plame leak. But, of course, all of that is insignificant when compared to the story of Bill and Monica.

FASCISM IN AMERICA

Advocates of the "free market," who typically decry government regulation and oversight, never seem to notice that the "free market" really isn't all that free. A few big players always seem to wind up with the lion's share of the market. President Theodore Roosevelt talked about the "malefactors of great wealth" in his day. For a long time, government put a rein on big corporations and big money. But since the Reagan administration the reins have been loosened. It's disturbing to see an alliance between big business and the government. It means a concentration of wealth that endangers democracy, it means less consumer and worker protection regulation, and it means a government totally unresponsive to the needs of its citizens. This article by Gary Alan Scott is linked at www.makethemaccountable.com:

The influence of Big Money on U.S. elections cannot be underestimated. (See, for example, Greg Palast’s “Jim Crow in Cyberspace” in The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, the work on election fraud by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, and the recent articles by Warren Stewart “Do You Know How Your Vote Will be Counted?” and Fred Grimm “Election Official Hammered for Telling the Truth”. The problem with the role of money in a supposedly democratic country is not restricted to the many and all-too regular scandals—such as the Abramoff affair or the conviction of Randy “Duke” Cunningham—nor is the problem restricted to the corruption that has ensnared elected officials and exposed lobbyists as little more than bribes makers and bagmen. (See Geov Parrish, “That Old-Fashioned Corruption,” and Katrina vanden Heuvel’s, “Annals of Outrage I, II, and III) It is, rather, that money, as John McCain famously said, “is the mother’s milk of politics” (at least in the U.S. political system.) The need to raise money at every level, from city to state to federal offices, pollutes and perverts the democratic process.

April 19, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


ONE DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER

When you look back over the past five years you see just one Bush administration disaster after another. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy have increased poverty rates and created record deficits. We are also at risk because of all the money we borrow from countries like China and Japan. Bush has ignored the reality of global climate change, possibly setting us back years in addressing a problem that is threatening all life on earth. Bush was totally irresponsible in failing to prevent the attacks on 9/11. Bush diverted resources that could have captured Osama bin Laden to attacking Iraq, a country that didn't threaten us. There are tremendous holes in our security, according to the report issued by the 9/11 Commission. This article by Robert Scheer is at www.commondreams.org:

Cozying up to the Shiite fundamentalists in Iraq is a bargain with the devil, born of weakness, the pattern for this president. To find another example, look no further than the source of Iran’s latest claimed breakthrough in the pursuit of weapons-grade uranium. Last week, Iran’s confrontational president disclosed that his regime is “presently conducting research” on P-2 centrifuge technology that would allow quicker uranium enrichment. Nuclear experts, according to the New York Times, fear this is a serious indication that Tehran, as long suspected, has obtained P-2 technology from Pakistan, thanks to the global black-market nukes operation run for years by Abdul Qadeer Khan, “the father” of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. U.N. inspectors in Iran also found instructional bomb-making sketches thought to have been supplied by Khan, who is now under “a loose form of house arrest,” according to the Times.

The grim irony in all this is that Pakistan never has been held accountable by the United States for Khan’s black-market nuclear proliferation racket, even though such a bold scheme could not have thrived without significant support from Pakistan’s powerful military leaders. Of course, Khan, who was pardoned by Pakistan’s military dictator, doesn’t have to worry that Bush is going to order the CIA to spirit him to Guantanamo Bay for some rough Dick Cheney-approved interrogations. Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, is a tight ally of the White House, despite having previously supported Bin Laden’s old Afghan friends, the Taliban. Indeed, the Bush administration was so eager to secure the friendship of Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, it perversely ended the boycott imposed on that country in response to its development of a nuclear weapon.

TAX SYSTEM RIGGED AGAINST LITTLE GUY

Right-wingers will practically froth at the mouth when you talk about the tax system. They'll parrot someone like Rush Limbaugh about "punishing the achievers." An "achiever" is someone with a big bank account, no matter how it was acquired. They'll tell us that the very rich pay most of the income taxes. They don't mention that the very rich also have most of the income. Another tidbit that gets left out is how much of the wealth of the very rich is exempted from taxation, leaving the burden to be dumped on the middle class and the poor. This article by Randolph T. Holhut is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Twenty-five years of tax cutting and jiggling the federal tax code is the reason why. The 70 percent of Americans with taxable income under $50,000 a year have been paying more and more in taxes while the top 0.4 percent, those earning more than $500,000 per year, are paying less and less.

It wasn't always this way.

When the federal income tax law was enacted in 1913, the tax rate was set at 1 percent for income up to $20,000 to 7 percent on income above $500,000. It exempted the first $3,000 of income for single wage earners, $4,000 for a married couple. In today's dollars, that $4,000 exemption would be worth $76,000. Only 1 percent of Americans made enough money in 1913 to pay taxes.

OUR DEFICITS ARE PERILOUS

It's hard to imagine that when Bill Clinton left office we had projected surpluses. Since George W. Bush came on the scene, those surpluses have evaporated and we've become the biggest debtor nation in the world. We're continuing to function on borrowed money. Even worse, much of the borrowed money comes from people who don't like the United States very much. This article by Stephen Pizzo is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Question: What part of the world hates America the most right now?

Answer: The Arab world. Duh.

And guess which nations have the biggest account balances? Middle East, Arab, oil producers. In 2002 those oil exporting nations had $400 billion in loose change rattling around in their account balance, account. In 2005 that had grown to $700 billion... almost as much as we will have to borrow this year. And with $70 a barrel oil, you can bet that by the end of this year those little buggers will have shoved a trillion extra bucks into their account, much of it compliments of America's drivers.

(Factoid: Americans are spending $212 million a day more for gas than they did last year. A DAY!)

April 18, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


MAJOR ASSAULTS ON PRIVACY


I think privacy is important. I don't believe my life or anyone's life should be an open book. The only time privacy should be ceded is when there is some probable cause that can result in a warrant. The Founding Fathers could not have foreseen electronic surveillance, identity theft, camera phones, red light cameras, and all the rest. But they were concerned enough even then to write the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids government snooping without warrants. AT & T, according to some, has been helping the government illegally spy on its customers. The merging of big government and big business is a very dangerous trend. This editorial comes from The New York Times at www.nytimes.com:

A former AT&T employee has come forward with documents suggesting that there may be a lot more domestic spying going on than President Bush has admitted. The AT&T documents suggest that telephone companies may be helping the government engage in wholesale interception of telephone calls, e-mail messages and Web surfing. If AT&T is violating its customers' privacy rights, it should come clean, and stop immediately.

According to Mark Klein, a longtime AT&T technician who is now retired, AT&T maintained a room at its San Francisco Internet and telephone hub where its customers' data could be mined by keywords, e-mail addresses and other attributes. Mr. Klein says the National Security Agency was given access to the room and the data. He says other technicians have reported to him that similar rooms exist at other AT&T sites.

PEOPLE OF NON BELIEF

Recently, prominent fundamentalist Christians have made the insane argument that they're persecuted in the United States. This is in a country where 85% of the people claim a belief in Christianity. People of non-belief, atheists and agnostics, are far more discriminated against than anyone claiming to be Christian. When you look at world history and when you look at the current leadership in the United States, people like George W. Bush and Tom DeLay, how can you argue that an atheist or agnostic could be worse? This article by Robert Weitzel is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

A University of Minnesota study published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review found that atheists are America's most unaccepted minority, one that parents are least willing to allow their children to marry. A telephone survey of over 2000 households revealed that Americans ranked atheists last, after Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups, in "sharing their vision of American Society."

Penny Edgell, the study's lead researcher, said, "It seems most Americans believe that diversity is fine, so long as every one shares a common 'core' of values that make them trustworthy--and in America, that 'core' has historically been religious."

Recall that the core value shared by Bush, DeLay, and Frist is a religious one. Recall also their trustworthiness.

WEALTH = INFLUENCE

We live in a time when it takes millions of dollars to run for political office. That's true for Congressional races, for Senate races, and even for state and local offices in some cases. It's especially true for the presidency. There is compelling evidence that money buys access and subverts democracy. This article by Bradford Plumer is at www.motherjones.com:

How pronounced is inequality in America? Between 1979 and 2003, the income of the richest 1 percent of Americans more than doubled, the income of the middle 15 percent grew by only 15 percent, and the income of the poorest 20 percent barely budged, according to CBO data. By the late 1990s, the richest one percent of Americans households had a third of all wealth in the economy, and took in 60 percent of the country's income—a greater share than at any point since the Great Depression. Incomes in the United States are far more unequal than in other industrialized countries, while mobility, contrary to widespread myth, is hardly much better—if you are born poor in America, you are very likely to stay that way your entire life.

In politics, this all matters very much, as the APSA findings reveal. Larry Bartels of Princeton has studied the voting record of the Senate between 1989 and 1994—a time, note, when Democrats controlled Congress. He found that Senators were very responsive to the preferences of the upper third of the income spectrum, somewhat less attentive to the middle third, and completely ignored the policy preferences of the poorest third of Americans. In one striking example, Bartels discovered that Senators were only likely to vote for a minimum wage increase if and when their wealthier constituents favored it—the views of those directly affected by the hike had "no discernible impact."

April 17, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CASH COW

Conservatives who have snarled about "big government" and welfare don't seem to get very agitated about the vast corruption in the defense industry. We saw ample evidence of that during the Reagan administration and we're seeing even more of it during the reign of King George. We've been sent into unnecessary wars, which are themselves a major benefit to defense contractors. We've seen billions wasted on "Star Wars." This story shows that defense contractors get rewarded even when projects are failures. This story by Charles R. Babcock is at www.washingtonpost.com:

In late February 2004, the Army announced that it was canceling plans to build a radar-evading helicopter called the Comanche, a project that was nearly three years behind schedule and more than $3.5 billion over budget. Those problems, however, didn't stop an Army panel a few weeks later from granting the Boeing Co.-Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. partnership running the program a $33.9 million "award fee" for their work on the helicopter, part of more than $200 million in such fees paid to the partnership over four years.

Award fees are meant in theory to motivate defense contractors with extra money for performance. But a recent Government Accountability Office study found that the fees are often paid regardless of whether a project is on schedule and within its budget.

TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH ARE KILLING THE ECONOMY

It's time for Americans to grow up on issues like taxes. We have to stop buying into fantasies peddled by right-wingers like George W. Bush, fantasies such as cutting taxes for the rich will produce paradise for the rest of us. We got our introduction to "trickle down" economics during the Reagan years. We got record deficits, but not much in the way of good jobs or benefits for the rest of us. We're getting the same old snake oil from Bush, and we're seeing the same dismal results. This article by Holly Sklar is at www.commondreams.org:

Tax cuts are boosting the superrich and sales of "giga-yachts" longer than football fields, but they aren't boosting the economy. The current economic recovery has had weaker growth in employment, wage and salary, gross domestic product, consumption and investment than the typical post-World War II recovery.

Taxes are our dues for democracy. Taxes are how we pool our money for public health and safety, infrastructure, research and services -- from the development of vaccines and the Internet to public schools and universities, transportation, courts, police, parks and safe drinking water.

Without fair and adequate taxes, we cannot repair the public infrastructure inherited from past generations or meet the challenge of global warming. We cannot invest in the research and education vital for future progress.

Tax forms should come with a warning: Tax cuts for the rich are hazardous to the nation's health, economy and security.

THE DRUG BUSINESS IN AFGHANISTAN

The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible says, "there's nothing new under the sun." It seems to be that way in Afghanistan, which has long been a major source of heroin. Farmers in Afghanistan grow opium poppies, which provide the raw material for heroin. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan hasn't slowed the heroin production. Major drug kingpins are doing just fine, according to this story. The story by Declan Walsh is at www.sfgate.com:

Another bumper drug harvest is expected in Afghanistan, and kingpins who control the $2.7 billion trade appear as untouchable as ever. Afghan poppy-eradication workers for DynCorp International, a Texas company that got a $174 million-a-year contract from the U.S. State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, are chopping down poppy crops. But targeting unarmed and penniless poppy farmers is easy; rounding up those at the pinnacle of the drug trade business is much harder.

Afghanistan's top drug smugglers have been spectacularly successful at evading Western and Afghan law enforcement. Although Western drugs experts estimate there are several dozen major traffickers, just two have been arrested since the Western-funded war on drugs started four years ago -- Haji Baz Muhammad, who was extradited to the United States in October, and Bashir Noorzai, arrested on arrival in New York last April.

April 16, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

Right-wingers will often cry crocodile tears over the horrible effects of raising the minimum wage. "It's a job killer," they'll wail, or they'll claim it just kills small business. The evidence is that raising the minimum wage is beneficial to the economy. That's not to mention the moral implications of the minimum wage. People who work full time should not live below the poverty line. When the federal minimum wage is adjusted for inflation, it's at a 50 year low. This article by Froma Harrop is at www.tompaine.com:

The cheap-labor people, led by chambers of commerce everywhere, never admit that their motive is to beat down the wages of their lowest-paid workers. Their voices drip with concern as they warn that any increase in the minimum will cost the jobs of the most vulnerable, especially black, workers.

Those arguments happen to not be true. Reputable economists say that a reasonable hike in the minimum wage does not seem to job losses: It may even make businesses healthier.

A recent study by the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York confirms this view. It found that small businesses actually grew faster in states that kept their minimum wages above the federal level. From 1998 to 2003, job growth for small businesses in states with higher minimum wages was 6.7 percent, versus 5.3 percent in states stuck at $5.15 an hour.

THEOCRACY IN AMERICA

If you want to talk dictators, can you think of anyone worse than religious zealots? In human history some of the most repressive rulers have been devotees of one religion or another. Many ancient peoples sacrificed people to their gods. Women have historically been repressed. People of the wrong color have been enslaved. People have been made to feel they're worthless because of some supposed sin committed against their deity. Progress has been hindered because of superstition. Since George W. Bush stole his way into the White House, we've seen the destructive effects of religious repression in the United States. Kevin Phillips writes about it in this article at www.thenation.com:

As several chapters in American Theocracy make clear, this kind of religious excess has been a problem--indeed, a repeating Achilles' heel--of leading powers from late-stage Rome (historian Gibbon thus explained Roman decline and fall) to the militant Catholicism of Habsburg Spain and most recently the evangelical and moral imperialist Britain that saw 1914 as something of an Armageddon against the German Kaiser's Antichrist and wound up in 1917-18 crusading in the Middle East to liberate Jerusalem. But although this facet of historical decline constitutes a major caution regarding the future of the United States, this essay will concentrate on the domestic political aspects--the theocratic tendencies in the GOP and the notable "religification" of American politics across a spectrum from life and death to science and medicine to climate change and biblical creationism.

AL QAEDA THREAT OVERBLOWN

From the rhetoric of Tony Blair and George W. Bush you'd think that Al Qaeda was the equivalent of the Martians in "The War of the Worlds." We've heard solemn declarations that we're in a world war, that the terrorists who attacked on 9/11 are determined to bring down Western civilization. The Al Qaeda band is essentially a group of outlaws who are religious fanatics. They should have been treated as criminals and not elevated to the level of a Hitler. This article by Tom Porteous is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

We now know that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the London bombings in July 2005. This is the conclusion of the British government's official inquiry report leaked to the British press on April 9.

We now also know that the U.S. military is deliberately misleading Iraqis, Americans and the rest of the world about the extent of Al Qaeda's involvement in the Iraqi insurgency. This was reported in The Washington Post on April 10, on the basis of internal military documents seen by that newspaper.

What do these revelations tell us about the arguments of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Blair that in Al Qaeda the "Free World" faces a threat comparable to that of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, a world-wide terrorist network which seeks to build a radical Islamist empire over half the world?

That they are threadbare, to say the least. But also that they are cynical, misleading and self serving.

April 13, 2006

IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


RUDY IS NO HERO

I have to admit that for a while I thought former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani performed admirably after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. He was there bold and resilient while George W. Bush was headed west away from danger.

But a new documentary takes off Rudy's halo. He's a guy who lived openly in the mayor's mansion with his mistress, presided over a brutal and racist police department, and conducted a war on the homeless. This article by Patrick Healy is at www.nytimes.com:

Throughout the film, the Giuliani administration is rendered as a heartless and heavy-handed police state that mistreated minorities, the poor and sick, artists, people on welfare and victims of crime. The title, "Giuliani Time," is a phrase that Abner Louima initially said was uttered by a police officer involved in his beating and sodomizing in 1997 but which Mr. Louima later retracted.

The film also includes anti-Giuliani commentary by two onetime city officials with whom he clashed: William J. Bratton, the former police commissioner, and Rudy Crew, the former schools chancellor. At one point, Mr. Crew describes a voucher program supported by Mr. Giuliani as "racist" and "class biased."

GREAT ECONOMY? HA!

It's really nausea-inducing to hear George W. Bush and his supporters claim that we have a great economy. To add insult to injury, they claim our "great" economy is due to Bush's tax cuts for the rich. As one as who has been down-sized twice in four years, I'm seeing my standard of living sinking quickly, just like millions of other Americans. Millions more of are living in poverty thanks to the ruthless and greedy economic policies of this administration. This article by Ted Rall is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

Current Republican Party talking points focus on three mantras. First, there are lots of new jobs. Second, unemployment is low. Third, more people own homes than ever before. And it's all thanks to George W. Bush's cuts in the income and estate taxes, which stimulated the economy by freeing up additional capital for investment in jobs and new ventures. Things couldn't be better, they claim, but the liberal media refuses to give Bush the credit that he's due.

The trouble for Republicans is that the American people believe they're still in a recession. A new poll by the American Research Group finds that a whopping 58 percent of voters disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy while only 36 percent approve. (The figures are virtually identical to those for his overall job approval rating, which lists 57 percent disapproval and 37 percent approval.)

April 12, 2006


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY


ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSE FOR BUSH

George W. Bush is the worst president in U.S. history and no one else is even close. It's astonishing that Bush has made a mess of so many things in five years. It's not just the incompetence; it's the absolute lack of honesty or ethics. This administration lies, steals, and smears to get its way. Bush's defenders can only hurl some charge against Bill Clinton. I didn't support several of Clinton's policies, such as NAFTA, but Clinton has more integrity in his little finger than Bush has in his whole family. This item comes from www.tahlequahdailypress.com:

The usual response from Bush fans, when asked such impertinent questions about their fearless leader, is to fire another accusatory salvo at his predecessor, whose peccadilloes are not only irrelevant to the situation at hand, but pale by comparison.

Bush’s “political missteps,” on the other hand, would fill several pages, even with small type. The senior citizens are having trouble with his Medicare program, and his fence-straddling on the immigration issue is ripping his own party apart. The cronies he empowered within FEMA dropped the ball in spectacular fashion when Hurricane Katrina roared through, and the fallout on that fiasco continues. The violence goes on unabated in Iraq, and Afghanistan is lurching toward a theocracy that Western states will ultimately find as unpalatable as Iran’s government. The national deficit has ballooned to incomprehensible levels, and the wages of the average Joe are stagnant. Philosophically, Americans are polarized, and not only do our fellow countrymen from the opposing party dislike us, but the rest of the world does, too.

WEAPONS LABS ALSO A LIE

After receiving information that Iraq did not have mobile weapons labs, George W. Bush publicly made that claim. It's yet another bald-faced lie. How many innocent people have died and will die because of this monster's lies? This story from Reuters is linked at www.commondreams.org:

The Bush administration publicly asserted that two trailers captured by U.S. troops in Iraq in May 2003 were mobile "biological laboratories" even after U.S. intelligence officials had evidence that it was not true, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

On May 29, 2003, President George W. Bush hailed the capture of the trailers, declaring "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

But a Pentagon-sponsored fact-finding mission had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons, the Post reported, citing government officials and weapons experts who participated in the secret mission or had direct knowledge of it.

The Post said the group's unanimous findings had been sent to the Pentagon in a field report, two days before the president's statement.

HE'S EVEN A LOUSY CEO

For people who bought into George Bush's image, there are two important facets. The first facet is that he is supposedly a Christian. The second facet is that he would run the government like a business as the first CEO President. He has been a disaster on both counts. Christians don't lie, don't enrich the very wealthy at the expense of everyone else, don't start wars that kill innocent people, and don't try to destroy their political opponents. As a CEO, Bush had a lousy business record before he became Governor of Texas. That pattern has persisted into the White House. This commentary by Bob Burnett is at www.commondreams.org:

Whether the President actually is a Christian is controversial. Where I live, we judge people by what they do, rather than what they say. Judged by this conduct, Bush certainly isn't like the Christians I know. Whether they are "big C," bible-thumping, go to church several times a week Christians, or "little C," go to church on Easter, and think "Jesus was a good guy" Christians, they all believe in ethics like telling the truth and, at least once in a while, admitting a mistake. But there are a bunch of American Christians that believe the end of the world is coming soon, right after Bill O'Reilly goes off the air. Apparently, they are the same Christians who have absolute confidence in Dubya; that chant, "He's doin' a heckuva job."

The ones I can't understand are the non-Christian, conservative Republicans who pledge allegiance to Bush as their CEO. I must be missing something, because I keep expecting them to have more sense.