July 02, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
HOLD BUSH AND CHENEY ACCOUNTABLE
Some people don't believe that impeachment is practical. After all, they'll point out this horrible administration is winding down. They have a year and a half left. But I would point out that murder has no statute of limitations. The multitude of crimes committed by this administration can not go unnoticed and unpunished. They have defiled the Constitution and the reputation of the United States. They have murdered and tortured in our names. They have desecrated the entire premise of civil liberties. Even if they can't be impeached before leaving office, I believe they should be held accountable after leaving office. Bush showed his contempt today for the law by commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby. It's one standard for Bush and his tribe and a different standard for the rest of us. This commentary by Timothy Gatto is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Some people might think that people who want Bush and Cheney impeached are “overreacting”. I don’t believe that is the case. Let us look at the facts here. Bush purposefully lied to the Congress and to the American people in the case for war against Iraq. He lied about Saddam possessing a nuclear capability or even an active chemical capability. From reports we are getting now from people that used to be in his “inner circle” such as George Tenet and others, Bush knew all along what capabilities Saddam did or didn’t have! So let me ask anyone that is reading this, is that not grounds for impeachment? Is the fact that he told outright lies to further his personal belief that we should be at war with Iraq not grounds for impeachment? Is this the kind of man that you want making decisions again regarding Iran or some other nations for the next 19 months?
The war and the lies leading up to it, while being more than enough to warrant impeachment, aren’t the only reasons Cheney and Bush need to go. In the time that they have been in power they have actively and maliciously subverted the Constitution of The United States of America. Some of it was done with the blessing of Congress, and some of it was done unilaterally by the President. Since this man has been in power, he has continued to write signing statements that excludes him from obeying laws he doesn’t want to obey by using what he calls the “Unitary Power of the Executive Branch”. Since Bush has been President he has put his name to more signing statements than all prior Presidents combined! Let’s face it, this man has demonstrated that he feels that because he is the President of the United States, that he is above the law! I believe that he is not and I also submit to you that these actions alone warrant impeachment and removal from office.
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
June 27, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S OILY HANDS
When the history of the Bush administration is written Bush and Cheney's connection to the oil industry should figure prominently. The Iraq war was mostly about oil. Domestic policy has been driven by policies to favor the oil and gas industry, even at the expense of the environment. The resistance to doing something about global climate change is also connected to the oil and gas industry. This article by Bob Burtman is at www.motherjones.com:
Four months after former oil executives George W. Bush and Dick Cheney took office, the administration issued an executive order calling on all federal agencies to "expedite energy-related projects." Since then, officials have been speeding approval of oil and gas wells throughout the Rocky Mountain states. In Colorado, the BLM is revising land-use plans on 77,000 undeveloped acres in Vermillion Basin, the first step before drilling can be approved on land the agency previously recommended for wilderness status. In New Mexico, similar revisions could open up 160,000 acres of grasslands in the Otero Mesa region, threatening the habitat of pronghorn antelope, falcons, hawks, and bobcats. And in Wyoming and Montana, the administration supports plans to develop 51,000 wells to extract methane gas from shallow coal beds in the Powder River Basin -- a process that even the BLM's own studies conclude could poison wildlife, kill vegetation, and crisscross the area with 20,000 miles of pipeline, 5,300 miles of power lines, and 17,000 miles of roads.
"The president, vice president, and their corporate friends are trying to drill into everything," says Ken Sleight, a longtime environmental activist who runs a guest ranch in the foothills of the snow-capped La Sal Mountains outside Moab. "They don't care about the value of wildlands. Bush has zeroed in on southern Utah, but he has no idea what he will destroy."
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S OILY HANDS
When the history of the Bush administration is written Bush and Cheney's connection to the oil industry should figure prominently. The Iraq war was mostly about oil. Domestic policy has been driven by policies to favor the oil and gas industry, even at the expense of the environment. The resistance to doing something about global climate change is also connected to the oil and gas industry. This article by Bob Burtman is at www.motherjones.com:
Four months after former oil executives George W. Bush and Dick Cheney took office, the administration issued an executive order calling on all federal agencies to "expedite energy-related projects." Since then, officials have been speeding approval of oil and gas wells throughout the Rocky Mountain states. In Colorado, the BLM is revising land-use plans on 77,000 undeveloped acres in Vermillion Basin, the first step before drilling can be approved on land the agency previously recommended for wilderness status. In New Mexico, similar revisions could open up 160,000 acres of grasslands in the Otero Mesa region, threatening the habitat of pronghorn antelope, falcons, hawks, and bobcats. And in Wyoming and Montana, the administration supports plans to develop 51,000 wells to extract methane gas from shallow coal beds in the Powder River Basin -- a process that even the BLM's own studies conclude could poison wildlife, kill vegetation, and crisscross the area with 20,000 miles of pipeline, 5,300 miles of power lines, and 17,000 miles of roads.
"The president, vice president, and their corporate friends are trying to drill into everything," says Ken Sleight, a longtime environmental activist who runs a guest ranch in the foothills of the snow-capped La Sal Mountains outside Moab. "They don't care about the value of wildlands. Bush has zeroed in on southern Utah, but he has no idea what he will destroy."
Sunday, June 24, 2007
June 24, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
MAKING THEIR OWN REALITY
The Bush administration has been an astounding mix of arrogance, incompetence, hypocrisy, and greed. The administration didn't like the reality about Iraq, so they created their own reality, even using forged documents to suggest Iraq was buying enriched uranium from Niger. They didn't like the fact Al Gore really won the election in 2000, so they used the Supreme Court to invalidate the will of the American people. If they don't like legislation, Bush will sign the bill and then use a "signing statement" to say he's not really going to enforce the legislation. We have Dick Cheney making the astonishing claim that the Vice President is not a part of the executive branch and not subject to the laws governing the executive branch. This editorial is from www.newyorktimes.com:
President Bush is notorious for issuing statements taking exception to hundreds of bills as he signs them. This week, we learned that in a shocking number of cases, the Bush administration has refused to enact those laws. Congress should use its powers to insist that its laws are obeyed.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, investigated 19 provisions to which Mr. Bush objected. It found that six of them, or nearly a third, have not been implemented as the law requires. The G.A.O. did not investigate some of the most infamous signing statements, like the challenge to a ban on torture. But the ones it looked into are disturbing enough.
In one case, Congress directed the Pentagon in its 2007 budget request to account separately for the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a perfectly appropriate request, but Mr. Bush issued a signing statement critical of the rule, and the Pentagon withheld the information. In two other cases, federal agencies ignored laws requiring them to get permission from Congressional committees before taking particular actions.
OVERWORKED AMERICANS
In one of his more infamous gaffes George W. Bush told a woman who was working two jobs, "How uniquely American." Bush seemed to think that having to work multiple jobs was a good thing. While right-wingers chirp about "family values," they have no problem with people working weeks more in the United States than workers do in other industrialized countries, often being denied paid vacation time or sick leave or holidays. Right-wingers even objected to unpaid family leave so people could attend to family emergencies. The United States needs to start treating working people humanely with better wages, health care, vacation time, and holidays. This article by David Moberg is at www.inthesetimes.com:
Why do workers in other rich countries have more paid time off? Mainly because laws demand employers provide it. The European Union requires its members to set a minimum standard of four weeks paid vacation (covering part-time workers as well). Finland and France require six weeks paid vacation, plus additional paid holidays. Most countries require workers to take the time off and employers to give them vacation at convenient times. Some governments even require employers to pay bonuses so workers can afford to do more than sit at home on vacation. On top of that, unions in Europe and other rich industrialized countries—whose contracts cover up to 90 percent of the workforce—typically negotiate additional time off. Meanwhile, the standard workweek is slightly shorter in many European countries, and workers retire earlier with better public pensions.
Until the early ’70s, European and American workers logged similar hours. But the pattern then drastically diverged, with Europeans getting more vacation time, around the same time that U.S. income inequality began growing. In the United States, corporations gained the upper hand against workers and their declining unions, and the Democratic Party started shifting away from working class concerns. In Europe, stronger unions and left political parties pushed for shorter work hours. In some cases, as jobs were lost when traditional industries restructured or work was outsourced, unions saw reduced work time as a way to share work. But more often, unions were continuing the battle to share wealth in the form of more leisure, which had started a century earlier with the movement for an eight-hour day—the goal of Chicago protestors in May, 1886, that ended in the Haymarket Massacre, repression of the labor movement, and creation of May 1 as the international workers’B holiday.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
MAKING THEIR OWN REALITY
The Bush administration has been an astounding mix of arrogance, incompetence, hypocrisy, and greed. The administration didn't like the reality about Iraq, so they created their own reality, even using forged documents to suggest Iraq was buying enriched uranium from Niger. They didn't like the fact Al Gore really won the election in 2000, so they used the Supreme Court to invalidate the will of the American people. If they don't like legislation, Bush will sign the bill and then use a "signing statement" to say he's not really going to enforce the legislation. We have Dick Cheney making the astonishing claim that the Vice President is not a part of the executive branch and not subject to the laws governing the executive branch. This editorial is from www.newyorktimes.com:
President Bush is notorious for issuing statements taking exception to hundreds of bills as he signs them. This week, we learned that in a shocking number of cases, the Bush administration has refused to enact those laws. Congress should use its powers to insist that its laws are obeyed.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, investigated 19 provisions to which Mr. Bush objected. It found that six of them, or nearly a third, have not been implemented as the law requires. The G.A.O. did not investigate some of the most infamous signing statements, like the challenge to a ban on torture. But the ones it looked into are disturbing enough.
In one case, Congress directed the Pentagon in its 2007 budget request to account separately for the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a perfectly appropriate request, but Mr. Bush issued a signing statement critical of the rule, and the Pentagon withheld the information. In two other cases, federal agencies ignored laws requiring them to get permission from Congressional committees before taking particular actions.
OVERWORKED AMERICANS
In one of his more infamous gaffes George W. Bush told a woman who was working two jobs, "How uniquely American." Bush seemed to think that having to work multiple jobs was a good thing. While right-wingers chirp about "family values," they have no problem with people working weeks more in the United States than workers do in other industrialized countries, often being denied paid vacation time or sick leave or holidays. Right-wingers even objected to unpaid family leave so people could attend to family emergencies. The United States needs to start treating working people humanely with better wages, health care, vacation time, and holidays. This article by David Moberg is at www.inthesetimes.com:
Why do workers in other rich countries have more paid time off? Mainly because laws demand employers provide it. The European Union requires its members to set a minimum standard of four weeks paid vacation (covering part-time workers as well). Finland and France require six weeks paid vacation, plus additional paid holidays. Most countries require workers to take the time off and employers to give them vacation at convenient times. Some governments even require employers to pay bonuses so workers can afford to do more than sit at home on vacation. On top of that, unions in Europe and other rich industrialized countries—whose contracts cover up to 90 percent of the workforce—typically negotiate additional time off. Meanwhile, the standard workweek is slightly shorter in many European countries, and workers retire earlier with better public pensions.
Until the early ’70s, European and American workers logged similar hours. But the pattern then drastically diverged, with Europeans getting more vacation time, around the same time that U.S. income inequality began growing. In the United States, corporations gained the upper hand against workers and their declining unions, and the Democratic Party started shifting away from working class concerns. In Europe, stronger unions and left political parties pushed for shorter work hours. In some cases, as jobs were lost when traditional industries restructured or work was outsourced, unions saw reduced work time as a way to share work. But more often, unions were continuing the battle to share wealth in the form of more leisure, which had started a century earlier with the movement for an eight-hour day—the goal of Chicago protestors in May, 1886, that ended in the Haymarket Massacre, repression of the labor movement, and creation of May 1 as the international workers’B holiday.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
June 17, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
THE LIBBY LOVE LETTERS
People who wrote letters to the judge in support of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby weren't counting on the letters becoming public. Even James Carville, for heaven's sake, signed a letter supporting Libby. Libby played a major role in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, as an act of political revenge against her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson. The people who wax eloquent over Libby don't seem to care in the least about the death and destruction in Iraq that Libby, among others, has perpetrated. This column by Frank Rich is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com:
As a weary nation awaited the fade-out of "The Sopranos" last Sunday, the widow of the actual Mafia don John Gotti visited his tomb in Queens to observe the fifth anniversary of his death. Victoria Gotti was not pleased to find reporters lying in wait.
"It's disgusting that people are still obsessed with Gotti and the mob," she told The Daily News. "They should be obsessed with that mob in Washington. They have 3,000 deaths on their hands." She demanded to know if the president and vice president have relatives on the front lines. "Every time I watch the news and I hear of another death," she said, "it sickens me."
Far be it from me to cross any member of the Gotti family, but there's nothing wrong with being obsessed with both mobs. Now that the approval rating for the entire Washington franchise, the president and Congress alike, has plummeted into the 20s, we need any distraction we can get; the Mafia is a welcome nostalgic escape from a gridlocked government at home and epic violence abroad.
BUSH HOLDS US IN CONTEMPT
George W. Bush and his neocons have consistently shown their contempt for working class Americans. Bush's tax cuts benefited the already enormously wealthy, but did little for most of us. While doing photo-ops with the troops, most of whom are working class, Bush plays his commander in chief role. But he cuts benefits for the military. We have deplorable conditions at Washington's Walter Reed Hospital exposed and it's quickly forgotten in the next wave of scandals. We can only hope that Americans for generations to come will remember this filthy deplorable administration and absolutely refuse to buy into the phony talking points of right-wing Republicans. This article by Sherwood Ross at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Low- and middle-income Americans are finding it harder and harder to make a buck and hold onto a buck. More and more families can't afford to send their kids to college. Interest rates on credit cards and payday loans today approach vigorish levels that would have gladdened the heart of a Mafia don. And under the Bush Administration, non-business bankruptcies hit an all-time record of 2 million in 2005. Writing in Business Week magazine, Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution noted millions of Americans continue to live in inner city neighborhoods afflicted by "failing schools, unsafe streets, run-down housing, and few local jobs." One hears of the Bush Administration struggling to find jobs for unemployed Iraqis but who recalls President Bush expressing concern for inner city neighborhoods where 72% of black male high school dropouts are unemployed? Where are the make-work and training programs for them and for the rural poor, white, black, and Hispanic? And what happened to all the summer jobs this year? Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston writes the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University "projects this summer will have the lowest teen employment rate in the past 60 years."
In his proposed $2.9-trillion budget for fiscal 2008, President Bush calls for $80 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and for seniors to pay more for doctor's visits and prescription drugs. The Administration is devoting considerable time to its plans for a major attack on Iran but where is its plan to provide health care security for 45-million uncovered Americans? According to the AFL-CIO, "On the jobs front, Bush cuts more than $1 billion in job training and employment programs...(and) eliminates current job training for unemployed adults and at-risk youths..." The Bush Administration is even cutting back on "food stamps and other social programs," according to an article in the June 25 issue of "The Nation" magazine. "The number of children receiving lunch during the summer has steadily gone down in recent years dropping to 2.8 million in 2005 from a high of 3.1 million in 2000, even though the number of needy children has gone up by 1.3 million during those years, as poverty levels have risen," writes law professor Herman Schwartz, of American University. By some estimates, one out of every eight Americans lives in poverty, a figure approaching 40 million people.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
THE LIBBY LOVE LETTERS
People who wrote letters to the judge in support of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby weren't counting on the letters becoming public. Even James Carville, for heaven's sake, signed a letter supporting Libby. Libby played a major role in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, as an act of political revenge against her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson. The people who wax eloquent over Libby don't seem to care in the least about the death and destruction in Iraq that Libby, among others, has perpetrated. This column by Frank Rich is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com:
As a weary nation awaited the fade-out of "The Sopranos" last Sunday, the widow of the actual Mafia don John Gotti visited his tomb in Queens to observe the fifth anniversary of his death. Victoria Gotti was not pleased to find reporters lying in wait.
"It's disgusting that people are still obsessed with Gotti and the mob," she told The Daily News. "They should be obsessed with that mob in Washington. They have 3,000 deaths on their hands." She demanded to know if the president and vice president have relatives on the front lines. "Every time I watch the news and I hear of another death," she said, "it sickens me."
Far be it from me to cross any member of the Gotti family, but there's nothing wrong with being obsessed with both mobs. Now that the approval rating for the entire Washington franchise, the president and Congress alike, has plummeted into the 20s, we need any distraction we can get; the Mafia is a welcome nostalgic escape from a gridlocked government at home and epic violence abroad.
BUSH HOLDS US IN CONTEMPT
George W. Bush and his neocons have consistently shown their contempt for working class Americans. Bush's tax cuts benefited the already enormously wealthy, but did little for most of us. While doing photo-ops with the troops, most of whom are working class, Bush plays his commander in chief role. But he cuts benefits for the military. We have deplorable conditions at Washington's Walter Reed Hospital exposed and it's quickly forgotten in the next wave of scandals. We can only hope that Americans for generations to come will remember this filthy deplorable administration and absolutely refuse to buy into the phony talking points of right-wing Republicans. This article by Sherwood Ross at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Low- and middle-income Americans are finding it harder and harder to make a buck and hold onto a buck. More and more families can't afford to send their kids to college. Interest rates on credit cards and payday loans today approach vigorish levels that would have gladdened the heart of a Mafia don. And under the Bush Administration, non-business bankruptcies hit an all-time record of 2 million in 2005. Writing in Business Week magazine, Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution noted millions of Americans continue to live in inner city neighborhoods afflicted by "failing schools, unsafe streets, run-down housing, and few local jobs." One hears of the Bush Administration struggling to find jobs for unemployed Iraqis but who recalls President Bush expressing concern for inner city neighborhoods where 72% of black male high school dropouts are unemployed? Where are the make-work and training programs for them and for the rural poor, white, black, and Hispanic? And what happened to all the summer jobs this year? Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston writes the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University "projects this summer will have the lowest teen employment rate in the past 60 years."
In his proposed $2.9-trillion budget for fiscal 2008, President Bush calls for $80 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and for seniors to pay more for doctor's visits and prescription drugs. The Administration is devoting considerable time to its plans for a major attack on Iran but where is its plan to provide health care security for 45-million uncovered Americans? According to the AFL-CIO, "On the jobs front, Bush cuts more than $1 billion in job training and employment programs...(and) eliminates current job training for unemployed adults and at-risk youths..." The Bush Administration is even cutting back on "food stamps and other social programs," according to an article in the June 25 issue of "The Nation" magazine. "The number of children receiving lunch during the summer has steadily gone down in recent years dropping to 2.8 million in 2005 from a high of 3.1 million in 2000, even though the number of needy children has gone up by 1.3 million during those years, as poverty levels have risen," writes law professor Herman Schwartz, of American University. By some estimates, one out of every eight Americans lives in poverty, a figure approaching 40 million people.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
June 10, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
President Theodore Roosevelt talked about "malefactors of great wealth" and in his day there was an effort to break up the big monopolies. In the Bush era, however, it appears that anti-trust enforcement is a bad thing. This article talks about how the Microsoft company has found an ally in the Bush Justice Department. The article by Stephen Labaton is at www.nytimes.com:
“With the change in administrations there has been a sharp falling away from the concerns about how Microsoft and other large companies use their market power,” said Harry First, a professor at the New York University School of Law and the former top antitrust lawyer for New York State who is writing a book about the Microsoft case. “The administration has been very conservative and far less concerned about single-firm dominant behavior than previous administrations.”
Ricardo Reyes, a spokesman for Google, declined to comment about the complaint.
Bradford L. Smith, the general counsel at Microsoft, said that the company was unaware of Mr. Barnett’s memo. He said that Microsoft had not violated the consent decree and that it had already made modifications to Vista in response to concerns raised by Google and other companies.
He said that the new operating system was carefully designed to work well with rival software products and that an independent technical committee that works for the Justice Department and the states had spent years examining Vista for possible anticompetitive problems before it went on sale.
THE PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY
George W. Bush and his cronies mouth pieties about democracy all the time. We went into Iraq and started an unjustified war, but we were going to give them "democracy." We've heard about how terrible Cuba is or how bad Hugo Chavez is in Venezuela. But we don't hear about the Saudis, good friends of the Bush family, although the Saudis are one of the most repressive regimes in the world. This article by Chris Floyd is at www.chris-floyd.com:
If a nation is not compliant with Washington's will -- why, then, it is no longer a legitimate democracy. Venezuala, for example, is often referred to in Establishment circles as a "dictatorship," despite the several open elections won by Hugo Chavez and his coalition -- and despite the fact that remains immeasurably freer in every regard than, say, Saudi Arabia.
Which brings us to the second point of the Establishment's true attitude toward democracy: if a regime plays ball with Washington, it doesn't matter in the least how tyrannical and un-democratic it is. Bandar Bush's Saudi Arabia again stands as the prime example of this. Bush will quite literally kiss Saudi leaders on the lips and stroll with them hand-in-hand, and never say a word about the regime's Venezuela strictures, which give the Taliban a run for their money. Why? Because the Saudis play ball -- and because they enrich the Bush Family and the American elite. Is there any doubt that if Vladimir Putin cut the Bushes or other Establishment elites in for a juicy slice of Gazprom, he too would find his "democratic" credentials miraculously restored?
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
President Theodore Roosevelt talked about "malefactors of great wealth" and in his day there was an effort to break up the big monopolies. In the Bush era, however, it appears that anti-trust enforcement is a bad thing. This article talks about how the Microsoft company has found an ally in the Bush Justice Department. The article by Stephen Labaton is at www.nytimes.com:
“With the change in administrations there has been a sharp falling away from the concerns about how Microsoft and other large companies use their market power,” said Harry First, a professor at the New York University School of Law and the former top antitrust lawyer for New York State who is writing a book about the Microsoft case. “The administration has been very conservative and far less concerned about single-firm dominant behavior than previous administrations.”
Ricardo Reyes, a spokesman for Google, declined to comment about the complaint.
Bradford L. Smith, the general counsel at Microsoft, said that the company was unaware of Mr. Barnett’s memo. He said that Microsoft had not violated the consent decree and that it had already made modifications to Vista in response to concerns raised by Google and other companies.
He said that the new operating system was carefully designed to work well with rival software products and that an independent technical committee that works for the Justice Department and the states had spent years examining Vista for possible anticompetitive problems before it went on sale.
THE PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY
George W. Bush and his cronies mouth pieties about democracy all the time. We went into Iraq and started an unjustified war, but we were going to give them "democracy." We've heard about how terrible Cuba is or how bad Hugo Chavez is in Venezuela. But we don't hear about the Saudis, good friends of the Bush family, although the Saudis are one of the most repressive regimes in the world. This article by Chris Floyd is at www.chris-floyd.com:
If a nation is not compliant with Washington's will -- why, then, it is no longer a legitimate democracy. Venezuala, for example, is often referred to in Establishment circles as a "dictatorship," despite the several open elections won by Hugo Chavez and his coalition -- and despite the fact that remains immeasurably freer in every regard than, say, Saudi Arabia.
Which brings us to the second point of the Establishment's true attitude toward democracy: if a regime plays ball with Washington, it doesn't matter in the least how tyrannical and un-democratic it is. Bandar Bush's Saudi Arabia again stands as the prime example of this. Bush will quite literally kiss Saudi leaders on the lips and stroll with them hand-in-hand, and never say a word about the regime's Venezuela strictures, which give the Taliban a run for their money. Why? Because the Saudis play ball -- and because they enrich the Bush Family and the American elite. Is there any doubt that if Vladimir Putin cut the Bushes or other Establishment elites in for a juicy slice of Gazprom, he too would find his "democratic" credentials miraculously restored?
Saturday, May 12, 2007
May 12, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S TRAITS OF A TYRANT
You get tired of Hitler analogies. Sometimes it's an almost Pavlovian response. But it's hard to ignore the similarities in George W. Bush's method of operation and those of the Nazi regime in Germany. Bush has frequently brazenly ignored the Constitution that he swore to preserve and protect. The United States has engaged in practices like torture that we have roundly condemned in the past. The level of spying by government on private citizens is chillingly like totalitarian governments. This article by Sherwood Ross is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
As public sentiment begins to build for impeachment, it might be illuminating to examine the many ways President Bush operates in a manner reminiscent of history's tyrants. Here are 10 areas that come readily to mind.
First, tyrants tend to see themselves, as Hitler did, at the head of some kind of "master race." President Bush and his backers would deny it, but their drive for a "New American Century" betrays them. They're world-beaters, and won't sign the global warming treaty or any other cooperative document. Republicans at their last Convention jeered the very mention of the words "United Nations." Those who see it differently get slandered. Recall how Bush's hatchet men impugned Senator Kerry's Vietnam War record. This was reminiscent of Nazi claims Germany's Jewish veterans of the Great War did not deserve their medals. Another manifestation is Neocons would reduce gay and lesbian Americans to second-class citizenship status. Bush's backers are convinced of their superiority at home and globally.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S TRAITS OF A TYRANT
You get tired of Hitler analogies. Sometimes it's an almost Pavlovian response. But it's hard to ignore the similarities in George W. Bush's method of operation and those of the Nazi regime in Germany. Bush has frequently brazenly ignored the Constitution that he swore to preserve and protect. The United States has engaged in practices like torture that we have roundly condemned in the past. The level of spying by government on private citizens is chillingly like totalitarian governments. This article by Sherwood Ross is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
As public sentiment begins to build for impeachment, it might be illuminating to examine the many ways President Bush operates in a manner reminiscent of history's tyrants. Here are 10 areas that come readily to mind.
First, tyrants tend to see themselves, as Hitler did, at the head of some kind of "master race." President Bush and his backers would deny it, but their drive for a "New American Century" betrays them. They're world-beaters, and won't sign the global warming treaty or any other cooperative document. Republicans at their last Convention jeered the very mention of the words "United Nations." Those who see it differently get slandered. Recall how Bush's hatchet men impugned Senator Kerry's Vietnam War record. This was reminiscent of Nazi claims Germany's Jewish veterans of the Great War did not deserve their medals. Another manifestation is Neocons would reduce gay and lesbian Americans to second-class citizenship status. Bush's backers are convinced of their superiority at home and globally.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
May 09, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH DOING WHAT AL-QAEDA WANTS
Prolonging the occupation of Iraq is playing right into al-Qaeda's hands. Our military is tied down there and will have limited ability to respond to a crisis anywhere else. People in our military are getting killed and maimed. Our treasury is being bled dry. Bush tries to claim that a withdrawal from Iraq is what the enemy wants. But internal communications from al-Qaeda have shown great concern about a U. S. pullout. This article by Robert Parry is at www.consortiumnews.com:
But one could argue that it is Bush’s open-ended war strategy that is playing into al-Qaeda’s hands.
In past articles at Consortiumnews.com, we have noted that Bush’s “listen to words of the enemy” argument was flawed because al-Qaeda’s public statements, which Bush would cite, often were at odds with its internal communications, which presumably reflected the group’s real thinking.
For instance, intercepted communiqués dating from the last half of 2005 revealed that al-Qaeda feared that a prompt U.S. military withdrawal would lead to the collapse of its operations in Iraq and that “prolonging the war is in our interest.” [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Al-Qaeda’s Fragile Foothold.”]
U.S. intelligence analysts also were keyed in to al-Qaeda’s use of reverse psychology, for instance, when Osama bin Laden released a videotape on the Friday before Election 2004 denouncing Bush and thus giving the President a boost in the final days of the campaign.
Privately, CIA analysts concluded that bin Laden wanted Bush to get a second term so his blunderbuss “war on terror” could continue for another four years and thus help al-Qaeda recruit more young terrorists.
CONSERVATISM MEANS LESS FREEDOM
The mantra of right-wingers has been to "get the government off our backs." They claim they want people to have choices (except in little things like abortion, I guess). What they really want is a predatory marketplace where big business can do whatever it wants, pay lousy wages, offer no benefits, outsource jobs, destroy the environment, offer shoddy products that you can't even sue them over, and reduce us to penury. This article by Beth Shulman is at www.commondreams.org:
Conservatism historically has seen government as a problem to overcome, an albatross. President Reagan stated it succinctly when he said, “we need to get government off our backs.” Conservatives usually justify this negative view of government in the name of freedom. They conflate freedom with unregulated markets, anti-unionism, low taxes and a rabid individualism. Without so-called government interference, people would be free to make their own choices. But what has this restricted view of government and the notion of freedom it embraces meant for America’s families today? In one word—disaster.The “you are on your own” notion of government and freedom has meant that American families must live with stagnant wages at a time of high profits and productivity without a way to get ahead no matter how hard they try. It has meant health insecurity for workers and their families as fewer and fewer jobs provide health care coverage. It has meant that workers face their older years without the means they counted on to retire, as corporations have slashed traditional pension plans. And it has meant that half of Americans don’t have the fundamental right to take a day off from work when they are sick without losing a job or a paycheck.
It has meant parents having to forgo a child’s high school or college graduation or a PTA meeting because twenty percent of America’s workers do not have any vacation or personal days. It has meant parents tag teaming their shifts to provide their children supervision leading to increased divorce rates because they can’t afford child care. It has meant families who are more stressed out as jobs become more and more insecure. And it has meant more families just struggling to get by with one out of every three workers making less than what it takes to have basic self-sufficiency. All this has been dumped on the already sagging shoulders of working families while government has stood on the sidelines.
And as parents look to provide a better future for their children, it has meant coming up short. Today, it is only the wealthy who have the resources to provide their children the tools required to move up in our society—quality early education, good public schools and a college education. The rest of America’s children just have to do without.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH DOING WHAT AL-QAEDA WANTS
Prolonging the occupation of Iraq is playing right into al-Qaeda's hands. Our military is tied down there and will have limited ability to respond to a crisis anywhere else. People in our military are getting killed and maimed. Our treasury is being bled dry. Bush tries to claim that a withdrawal from Iraq is what the enemy wants. But internal communications from al-Qaeda have shown great concern about a U. S. pullout. This article by Robert Parry is at www.consortiumnews.com:
But one could argue that it is Bush’s open-ended war strategy that is playing into al-Qaeda’s hands.
In past articles at Consortiumnews.com, we have noted that Bush’s “listen to words of the enemy” argument was flawed because al-Qaeda’s public statements, which Bush would cite, often were at odds with its internal communications, which presumably reflected the group’s real thinking.
For instance, intercepted communiqués dating from the last half of 2005 revealed that al-Qaeda feared that a prompt U.S. military withdrawal would lead to the collapse of its operations in Iraq and that “prolonging the war is in our interest.” [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Al-Qaeda’s Fragile Foothold.”]
U.S. intelligence analysts also were keyed in to al-Qaeda’s use of reverse psychology, for instance, when Osama bin Laden released a videotape on the Friday before Election 2004 denouncing Bush and thus giving the President a boost in the final days of the campaign.
Privately, CIA analysts concluded that bin Laden wanted Bush to get a second term so his blunderbuss “war on terror” could continue for another four years and thus help al-Qaeda recruit more young terrorists.
CONSERVATISM MEANS LESS FREEDOM
The mantra of right-wingers has been to "get the government off our backs." They claim they want people to have choices (except in little things like abortion, I guess). What they really want is a predatory marketplace where big business can do whatever it wants, pay lousy wages, offer no benefits, outsource jobs, destroy the environment, offer shoddy products that you can't even sue them over, and reduce us to penury. This article by Beth Shulman is at www.commondreams.org:
Conservatism historically has seen government as a problem to overcome, an albatross. President Reagan stated it succinctly when he said, “we need to get government off our backs.” Conservatives usually justify this negative view of government in the name of freedom. They conflate freedom with unregulated markets, anti-unionism, low taxes and a rabid individualism. Without so-called government interference, people would be free to make their own choices. But what has this restricted view of government and the notion of freedom it embraces meant for America’s families today? In one word—disaster.The “you are on your own” notion of government and freedom has meant that American families must live with stagnant wages at a time of high profits and productivity without a way to get ahead no matter how hard they try. It has meant health insecurity for workers and their families as fewer and fewer jobs provide health care coverage. It has meant that workers face their older years without the means they counted on to retire, as corporations have slashed traditional pension plans. And it has meant that half of Americans don’t have the fundamental right to take a day off from work when they are sick without losing a job or a paycheck.
It has meant parents having to forgo a child’s high school or college graduation or a PTA meeting because twenty percent of America’s workers do not have any vacation or personal days. It has meant parents tag teaming their shifts to provide their children supervision leading to increased divorce rates because they can’t afford child care. It has meant families who are more stressed out as jobs become more and more insecure. And it has meant more families just struggling to get by with one out of every three workers making less than what it takes to have basic self-sufficiency. All this has been dumped on the already sagging shoulders of working families while government has stood on the sidelines.
And as parents look to provide a better future for their children, it has meant coming up short. Today, it is only the wealthy who have the resources to provide their children the tools required to move up in our society—quality early education, good public schools and a college education. The rest of America’s children just have to do without.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
April 24, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
LYING ABOUT TILLMAN AND LYNCH
Propaganda and war have been companions for a long time. We know about the famous image from World War II of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima, for instance. We know that Sergeant York became an icon of World War I. But in an effort to support this illegal and immoral war the Bush administration may have covered up the truth about the death of ex-NFL star Pat Tillman, making it appear he was killed by the Taliban, when he was actually killed by friendly fire. Jessica Lynch's story was totally fabricated by the propagandists, although she has been very upfront about what happened. Pat Tillman is a hero, no matter how the Bush administration twisted the truth, but his family and the public have the right to know the truth. This story by Robert Collier is at www.sfgate.com:
Meanwhile, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, the last person to see Tillman alive, told a congressional hearing that a coverup began almost immediately after Tillman's death.
"Our squad leader told me basically, don't tell anyone anything at that time," said O'Neal.
The dramatic testimony came during a 4½-hour hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, tasked with determining whether there was an attempt to mislead the public about Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, and about a separate case during the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- that of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 21-year-old Army supply clerk who was rescued after she was captured by Saddam Hussein's defending fighters in April 2003.
The military's initial account of the incident and its claims of her heroism were subsequently shown to be false.
"The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don't need to be told elaborate lies," Lynch told committee members.
THE IRRELVANCE PUSHED BY RIGHT-WINGERS
The 1988 presidential campaign between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis was one of the dirtiest on memory. The Bush campaign ran mostly on irrelevant issues like Willie Horton and the flag salute. Things have only gotten worse since then because there is the vast right-wing echo chamber on AM talk radio and on the talking head shows like Bill O'Reilly. They take some molehill and build it into a mountain. Remember the "war on Christmas"? Remember Al Gore's earth tones? One of the latest is the attack on John Edwards because Edwards supposedly gets $400 haircuts. Oh, the outrage! There was a jerk who wrote The Fresno Bee and parroted the right-wing talking points. But where is the concern and the outrage over real issues, things like poverty, the Hurricane Katrina victims, the quagmire in Iraq, global warming, genocide in the Sudan, and our crumbling infrastructure? Haircuts are more important, I guess. This commentary by Dave Johnson is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Well, this past week, we have seen clearly, that the Right Wing doesn't want to talk about these issues. Let's break them down briefly:
End the war in Iraq? No, the Right wants to continue the escalation in Iraq and potentially expand the conflict to Iran.
Fight global warming? No, the Right as best shown by Exxon-funded Media Research Center and their attacks on Laurie David and Sheryl Crow's global warming concert tour insist on putting profit before morality. They know the science as well as anyone but the scientific facts conflict with the profits of their top donors, ergo, their denial program continues.
Guarantee affordable health care to every American? Absolutely not. The cost to corporate donors makes it a necessity to stop this in its tracks. Tens of millions spent fighting and lobbying against health care reform is money well spent by those wishing to block this from becoming a right of every American.
Eliminate poverty in America? No, the programs that would facilitate this, such as the raising of the minimum wage, conflict with the goals of the Right's corporate base.
Revitalize rural America? Again, the programs that would facilitate this would cost large corporations money, no.
Restore America's moral authority in the world? The Right sees this differently. They don't mind torture, choosing war over peace and the death of civilians. It's a fundamental difference of morality.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
LYING ABOUT TILLMAN AND LYNCH
Propaganda and war have been companions for a long time. We know about the famous image from World War II of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima, for instance. We know that Sergeant York became an icon of World War I. But in an effort to support this illegal and immoral war the Bush administration may have covered up the truth about the death of ex-NFL star Pat Tillman, making it appear he was killed by the Taliban, when he was actually killed by friendly fire. Jessica Lynch's story was totally fabricated by the propagandists, although she has been very upfront about what happened. Pat Tillman is a hero, no matter how the Bush administration twisted the truth, but his family and the public have the right to know the truth. This story by Robert Collier is at www.sfgate.com:
Meanwhile, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, the last person to see Tillman alive, told a congressional hearing that a coverup began almost immediately after Tillman's death.
"Our squad leader told me basically, don't tell anyone anything at that time," said O'Neal.
The dramatic testimony came during a 4½-hour hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, tasked with determining whether there was an attempt to mislead the public about Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, and about a separate case during the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- that of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 21-year-old Army supply clerk who was rescued after she was captured by Saddam Hussein's defending fighters in April 2003.
The military's initial account of the incident and its claims of her heroism were subsequently shown to be false.
"The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don't need to be told elaborate lies," Lynch told committee members.
THE IRRELVANCE PUSHED BY RIGHT-WINGERS
The 1988 presidential campaign between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis was one of the dirtiest on memory. The Bush campaign ran mostly on irrelevant issues like Willie Horton and the flag salute. Things have only gotten worse since then because there is the vast right-wing echo chamber on AM talk radio and on the talking head shows like Bill O'Reilly. They take some molehill and build it into a mountain. Remember the "war on Christmas"? Remember Al Gore's earth tones? One of the latest is the attack on John Edwards because Edwards supposedly gets $400 haircuts. Oh, the outrage! There was a jerk who wrote The Fresno Bee and parroted the right-wing talking points. But where is the concern and the outrage over real issues, things like poverty, the Hurricane Katrina victims, the quagmire in Iraq, global warming, genocide in the Sudan, and our crumbling infrastructure? Haircuts are more important, I guess. This commentary by Dave Johnson is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Well, this past week, we have seen clearly, that the Right Wing doesn't want to talk about these issues. Let's break them down briefly:
End the war in Iraq? No, the Right wants to continue the escalation in Iraq and potentially expand the conflict to Iran.
Fight global warming? No, the Right as best shown by Exxon-funded Media Research Center and their attacks on Laurie David and Sheryl Crow's global warming concert tour insist on putting profit before morality. They know the science as well as anyone but the scientific facts conflict with the profits of their top donors, ergo, their denial program continues.
Guarantee affordable health care to every American? Absolutely not. The cost to corporate donors makes it a necessity to stop this in its tracks. Tens of millions spent fighting and lobbying against health care reform is money well spent by those wishing to block this from becoming a right of every American.
Eliminate poverty in America? No, the programs that would facilitate this, such as the raising of the minimum wage, conflict with the goals of the Right's corporate base.
Revitalize rural America? Again, the programs that would facilitate this would cost large corporations money, no.
Restore America's moral authority in the world? The Right sees this differently. They don't mind torture, choosing war over peace and the death of civilians. It's a fundamental difference of morality.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
April 18, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S TOKEN VIRGINIA TECH APPEARANCE
After the devastating mass murder at Virginia Tech George W. Bush made a trip and made a speech and said essentially nothing but the usual homilies. While he was talking about the deaths and misery in Virginia, I couldn't help thinking of the death and misery he has wrought in Iraq. The murders in Virginia were senseless and tragic and the deaths of Iraqis and our military members in Iraq are senseless and tragic. This article by Timothy Gatto is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
The only thing that George W. Bush will be remembered for is that he “almost” did something right. He “almost” got Bin Laden, he “almost” got elected President legitimately, he “almost” destroyed the nation, and he “almost” finished his term before he got himself impeached with a little help from Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales.
The last almost is a work in progress. I hope that he realizes that going to Virginia Tech and making that heartfelt , emotional speech wasn’t fooling anyone. This man doesn’t understand the concept of needless death. He doesn’t really understand the pain a loved one feels when they are told that they will never see their child again, for no matter what the age of a person, to their mother and father they will always be “their child”. If he truly knew the meaning of needless , wanton death under cruel circumstances, he would never have began his failed war in Iraq.
He went to Virginia State but he never went to see Cindy Sheehan camped out in his driveway. He minimizes the death that manifests itself in Iraq day after day. The government won’t allow pictures of caskets with the flag over them loaded into C-5A Galaxy’s. God forbid that our people see those caskets and understand the true meaning of war.
There was good reason to go to Virginia Tech. The parents and friends of those students senselessly gunned down by another maniac this society has produced are more important to his political standing than the parents of the soldiers that die in Iraq. The soldiers that die in Iraq in the most part didn’t come from wealthy families and could probably not pay for tuition, which was probably the biggest reason they joined the service. This is something I know a little about, for I was a recruiter when we had a more sensible government.
A TRULY TERRIBLE SUPREME COURT DECISION
Today's decision by the Supreme Court upholding a national ban on so-called "partial birth abortion" procedures may go down with other truly awful Supreme Court decisions such as allowing legal segregation or Bush v. Gore. It's a major step backward and a concession to the right-wing zealots who are "pro life" except when it really matters--for living and breathing and walking around people. This commentary is from www.motherjones.com:
Before we get into the Supreme Court decision that will allow a ban on late-term abortions, let's get one thing clear: there is no such thing as a "partial birth abortion." This term was born of the clever marketing of the anti-choice movement (or "pro-life" as they like to be called) and has no medical foundation whatsoever.
Still, today the high court ruled today that the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority opinion said that the bill's opponents "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases."
The case is the very move that choice advocates have feared since the ascendancy of a conservative court under President Bush. Of the million or so abortions that happen each year in this country, 90% happen within the first trimester and are not affected by this ruling. It's the other 10%, the women who, whether it be after moving through the hoops of waiting periods, parental notification, or the lack of clinics, who will be impacted. What will become of these vulnerable women, who have already made what's likely the hardest decision of their lives? Doctors may spurn the ruling and go ahead with the abortion anyway, but those who do face fines and jail time. For all involved, what is considered a safe procedure just got more dangerous.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S TOKEN VIRGINIA TECH APPEARANCE
After the devastating mass murder at Virginia Tech George W. Bush made a trip and made a speech and said essentially nothing but the usual homilies. While he was talking about the deaths and misery in Virginia, I couldn't help thinking of the death and misery he has wrought in Iraq. The murders in Virginia were senseless and tragic and the deaths of Iraqis and our military members in Iraq are senseless and tragic. This article by Timothy Gatto is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
The only thing that George W. Bush will be remembered for is that he “almost” did something right. He “almost” got Bin Laden, he “almost” got elected President legitimately, he “almost” destroyed the nation, and he “almost” finished his term before he got himself impeached with a little help from Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales.
The last almost is a work in progress. I hope that he realizes that going to Virginia Tech and making that heartfelt , emotional speech wasn’t fooling anyone. This man doesn’t understand the concept of needless death. He doesn’t really understand the pain a loved one feels when they are told that they will never see their child again, for no matter what the age of a person, to their mother and father they will always be “their child”. If he truly knew the meaning of needless , wanton death under cruel circumstances, he would never have began his failed war in Iraq.
He went to Virginia State but he never went to see Cindy Sheehan camped out in his driveway. He minimizes the death that manifests itself in Iraq day after day. The government won’t allow pictures of caskets with the flag over them loaded into C-5A Galaxy’s. God forbid that our people see those caskets and understand the true meaning of war.
There was good reason to go to Virginia Tech. The parents and friends of those students senselessly gunned down by another maniac this society has produced are more important to his political standing than the parents of the soldiers that die in Iraq. The soldiers that die in Iraq in the most part didn’t come from wealthy families and could probably not pay for tuition, which was probably the biggest reason they joined the service. This is something I know a little about, for I was a recruiter when we had a more sensible government.
A TRULY TERRIBLE SUPREME COURT DECISION
Today's decision by the Supreme Court upholding a national ban on so-called "partial birth abortion" procedures may go down with other truly awful Supreme Court decisions such as allowing legal segregation or Bush v. Gore. It's a major step backward and a concession to the right-wing zealots who are "pro life" except when it really matters--for living and breathing and walking around people. This commentary is from www.motherjones.com:
Before we get into the Supreme Court decision that will allow a ban on late-term abortions, let's get one thing clear: there is no such thing as a "partial birth abortion." This term was born of the clever marketing of the anti-choice movement (or "pro-life" as they like to be called) and has no medical foundation whatsoever.
Still, today the high court ruled today that the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority opinion said that the bill's opponents "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases."
The case is the very move that choice advocates have feared since the ascendancy of a conservative court under President Bush. Of the million or so abortions that happen each year in this country, 90% happen within the first trimester and are not affected by this ruling. It's the other 10%, the women who, whether it be after moving through the hoops of waiting periods, parental notification, or the lack of clinics, who will be impacted. What will become of these vulnerable women, who have already made what's likely the hardest decision of their lives? Doctors may spurn the ruling and go ahead with the abortion anyway, but those who do face fines and jail time. For all involved, what is considered a safe procedure just got more dangerous.
Friday, April 13, 2007
April 13, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH: SO MANY CRIMES
George W. Bush gives corruption a bad name. Every day there is a new scandal to add to the tidal wave of scandal we've already seen. We learn now that Karl Rove and company may have broken federal law in the misuse of email accounts. Add that to torture, lying us into war, suspending habeas corpus, spying on Americans, kidnapping people for "extraordinary rendition," funneling tax money to Bush's cronies, and the failure to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But, as this author points out, the greatest crime of all may be the failure to address global warming. In fact, the Bush administration has suppressed information about global warming and gone out of its way to lie to the American people. This article by Dave Lindorff is at www.commondreams.org:
This president has not simply denied the reality of global warming. He has actively lied to the American people about the dangers ahead, and has had his administration, through intimidation and post-hoc editing by political hacks, block the publication of government scientific reports on global warming. He has defunded projects that would help document the growing crisis, for example cutting funding for satellites that would measure the effects of climate change on the surface of the planet. He has pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol–the first global effort to confront the problem and try to limit production of greenhouse gasses. He even went back on a 2000 campaign promise to limit carbon emissions from power plants, and instead has given virtual carte blanche to power companies to build the most carbon-spewing coal-powered generating stations possible, complete with gratuitous tax breaks. He has threatened countries with trade sanctions for trying to take actions that would combat global warming, and has even had the US government go to court against state governments, like California¹s and Vermont¹s, to try to block them from acting to reduce carbon emissions on their own, by for example setting mileage standards for vehicles sold in-state.
All of this has meant that for six critical years, when the U.S.–the source of 28 percent of the world¹s greenhouse gas emissions–could have been taking decisive action to start reducing the CO2 that the U.S. is spewing into the already carbon-soaked global atmosphere, America has done nothing. In fact, America¹s contribution of carbon emissions to the global atmosphere has been rising, not falling, as average miles per gallon figures for American autos have worsened, as more dirty power plants have gone on line, and as overall energy use in the US has gone up.
STEALTH RELIGION
Graduates with questionable credentials have been sent from Pat Robertson's Regent University, allegedly a law school, to do their deeds in the Bush administration. These people are driven by a religious ideology that places their version of Christianity above secular law and the Constitution. As Paul Krugman points out, many of the major scandals of this administration have a link to people connected with Regent University. The column is linked at www.truthout.org:
In 1981, Gary North, a leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement - the openly theocratic wing of the Christian right - suggested that the movement could achieve power by stealth. "Christians must begin to organize politically within the present party structure," he wrote, "and they must begin to infiltrate the existing institutional order."
Today, Regent University, founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson to provide "Christian leadership to change the world," boasts that it has 150 graduates working in the Bush administration.
Unfortunately for the image of the school, where Mr. Robertson is chancellor and president, the most famous of those graduates is Monica Goodling, a product of the university's law school. She's the former top aide to Alberto Gonzales who appears central to the scandal of the fired U.S. attorneys and has declared that she will take the Fifth rather than testify to Congress on the matter.
The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda - which is very different from simply being people of faith - is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It's also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists.
But this conspiracy is no theory. The official platform of the Texas Republican Party pledges to "dispel the myth of the separation of church and state." And the Texas Republicans now running the country are doing their best to fulfill that pledge.
Kay Cole James, who had extensive connections to the religious right and was the dean of Regent's government school, was the federal government's chief personnel officer from 2001 to 2005. (Curious fact: she then took a job with Mitchell Wade, the businessman who bribed Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham.) And it's clear that unqualified people were hired throughout the administration because of their religious connections.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH: SO MANY CRIMES
George W. Bush gives corruption a bad name. Every day there is a new scandal to add to the tidal wave of scandal we've already seen. We learn now that Karl Rove and company may have broken federal law in the misuse of email accounts. Add that to torture, lying us into war, suspending habeas corpus, spying on Americans, kidnapping people for "extraordinary rendition," funneling tax money to Bush's cronies, and the failure to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But, as this author points out, the greatest crime of all may be the failure to address global warming. In fact, the Bush administration has suppressed information about global warming and gone out of its way to lie to the American people. This article by Dave Lindorff is at www.commondreams.org:
This president has not simply denied the reality of global warming. He has actively lied to the American people about the dangers ahead, and has had his administration, through intimidation and post-hoc editing by political hacks, block the publication of government scientific reports on global warming. He has defunded projects that would help document the growing crisis, for example cutting funding for satellites that would measure the effects of climate change on the surface of the planet. He has pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol–the first global effort to confront the problem and try to limit production of greenhouse gasses. He even went back on a 2000 campaign promise to limit carbon emissions from power plants, and instead has given virtual carte blanche to power companies to build the most carbon-spewing coal-powered generating stations possible, complete with gratuitous tax breaks. He has threatened countries with trade sanctions for trying to take actions that would combat global warming, and has even had the US government go to court against state governments, like California¹s and Vermont¹s, to try to block them from acting to reduce carbon emissions on their own, by for example setting mileage standards for vehicles sold in-state.
All of this has meant that for six critical years, when the U.S.–the source of 28 percent of the world¹s greenhouse gas emissions–could have been taking decisive action to start reducing the CO2 that the U.S. is spewing into the already carbon-soaked global atmosphere, America has done nothing. In fact, America¹s contribution of carbon emissions to the global atmosphere has been rising, not falling, as average miles per gallon figures for American autos have worsened, as more dirty power plants have gone on line, and as overall energy use in the US has gone up.
STEALTH RELIGION
Graduates with questionable credentials have been sent from Pat Robertson's Regent University, allegedly a law school, to do their deeds in the Bush administration. These people are driven by a religious ideology that places their version of Christianity above secular law and the Constitution. As Paul Krugman points out, many of the major scandals of this administration have a link to people connected with Regent University. The column is linked at www.truthout.org:
In 1981, Gary North, a leader of the Christian Reconstructionist movement - the openly theocratic wing of the Christian right - suggested that the movement could achieve power by stealth. "Christians must begin to organize politically within the present party structure," he wrote, "and they must begin to infiltrate the existing institutional order."
Today, Regent University, founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson to provide "Christian leadership to change the world," boasts that it has 150 graduates working in the Bush administration.
Unfortunately for the image of the school, where Mr. Robertson is chancellor and president, the most famous of those graduates is Monica Goodling, a product of the university's law school. She's the former top aide to Alberto Gonzales who appears central to the scandal of the fired U.S. attorneys and has declared that she will take the Fifth rather than testify to Congress on the matter.
The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda - which is very different from simply being people of faith - is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It's also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists.
But this conspiracy is no theory. The official platform of the Texas Republican Party pledges to "dispel the myth of the separation of church and state." And the Texas Republicans now running the country are doing their best to fulfill that pledge.
Kay Cole James, who had extensive connections to the religious right and was the dean of Regent's government school, was the federal government's chief personnel officer from 2001 to 2005. (Curious fact: she then took a job with Mitchell Wade, the businessman who bribed Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham.) And it's clear that unqualified people were hired throughout the administration because of their religious connections.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
April 10, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PEEPING BUSH
They've tapped our phones, they want to open our mail, they monitor email, and they want to use "sneak and peek" warrants to barge into homes without even notifying the subject of their investigation. They're George W. Bush and his cadre of peepers. Now the new head of the National Intelligence Agency, Mike McConnell, wants to weaken FISA laws even more (not that they've paid much attention, anyway.) This is all supposed to protect us from those big bad terrorists. Never mind that civil liberties get tossed into the trash heap. This article by Katherine Shrader is at www.sfgate.com:
President Bush's spy chief is pushing to expand the government's surveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attack for stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers.
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government's powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used.
Known as "FISA," the 1978 law was passed to allow surveillance in espionage and other foreign intelligence investigations, but still allow federal judges on a secretive panel to ensure protections for U.S. citizens — at home or abroad — and other permanent U.S. residents.
The changes McConnell is seeking mostly affect a cloak-and-dagger category of warrants used to investigate suspected spies, terrorists and other national security threats. The court-approved surveillance could include planting listening devices and hidden cameras, searching luggage and breaking into homes to make copies of computer hard drives.
BUSH EVEN PERVERTS LIBRARIES
George W. Bush and the gang plan to spend $500,000,000 on his presidential "library." Libraries have traditionally been sources of knowledge, but we can be certain Bush's library will be a propaganda mill. Bush has been anti-knowledge and anti-progress his entire public life. He has not accepted responsibility for his host of wrong policies and misjudgments. This article by Larry Beinhart is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Do not refer to the George Bush Library as a library.
A library is a repository of records and a resource for scholarship.
The Bush institution has no intention whatsoever of being a library.
It is intended to be a propaganda mill. And it will be one.
Keep in mind that Bush has done more than any other president in history to hide records and to keep people from getting at them. Not just his own, but his father's and Reagan's. He is the enemy of libraries, of research and of scholarship. This institution will be used to keep presidential papers from real scholars, historians and researchers.
Bush's goal is to raise $500,000,000 (five hundred million) for his memorial to himself.
Where could $500,000,000 possibly go? Part of it will pay for lawyers to keep real scholars out of the records. The bulk of it will go to paid political hacks who will churn out papers and books that will rewrite reality. Just as the Bush White House has done his entire administration.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PEEPING BUSH
They've tapped our phones, they want to open our mail, they monitor email, and they want to use "sneak and peek" warrants to barge into homes without even notifying the subject of their investigation. They're George W. Bush and his cadre of peepers. Now the new head of the National Intelligence Agency, Mike McConnell, wants to weaken FISA laws even more (not that they've paid much attention, anyway.) This is all supposed to protect us from those big bad terrorists. Never mind that civil liberties get tossed into the trash heap. This article by Katherine Shrader is at www.sfgate.com:
President Bush's spy chief is pushing to expand the government's surveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attack for stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers.
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft bill that would expand the government's powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, liberalizing how that law can be used.
Known as "FISA," the 1978 law was passed to allow surveillance in espionage and other foreign intelligence investigations, but still allow federal judges on a secretive panel to ensure protections for U.S. citizens — at home or abroad — and other permanent U.S. residents.
The changes McConnell is seeking mostly affect a cloak-and-dagger category of warrants used to investigate suspected spies, terrorists and other national security threats. The court-approved surveillance could include planting listening devices and hidden cameras, searching luggage and breaking into homes to make copies of computer hard drives.
BUSH EVEN PERVERTS LIBRARIES
George W. Bush and the gang plan to spend $500,000,000 on his presidential "library." Libraries have traditionally been sources of knowledge, but we can be certain Bush's library will be a propaganda mill. Bush has been anti-knowledge and anti-progress his entire public life. He has not accepted responsibility for his host of wrong policies and misjudgments. This article by Larry Beinhart is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
Do not refer to the George Bush Library as a library.
A library is a repository of records and a resource for scholarship.
The Bush institution has no intention whatsoever of being a library.
It is intended to be a propaganda mill. And it will be one.
Keep in mind that Bush has done more than any other president in history to hide records and to keep people from getting at them. Not just his own, but his father's and Reagan's. He is the enemy of libraries, of research and of scholarship. This institution will be used to keep presidential papers from real scholars, historians and researchers.
Bush's goal is to raise $500,000,000 (five hundred million) for his memorial to himself.
Where could $500,000,000 possibly go? Part of it will pay for lawyers to keep real scholars out of the records. The bulk of it will go to paid political hacks who will churn out papers and books that will rewrite reality. Just as the Bush White House has done his entire administration.
Monday, April 09, 2007
April 09, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
OUR MAN IN BAGHDAD
John McCain paraded through a Baghdad market to "prove" how safe Baghdad has become since George Bush's surge. McCain wore a bulletproof vest, was protected by three Blackhawk helicopters, a hundred American soldiers, and two Apache gunships. If that's what it takes to walk in Baghdad, we can safely say it's not safe. In the meantime, the war meister, George Bush, was busily doing what he does best--lying. This column by Frank Rich is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com:
As if to confirm we’re in the last throes, President Bush threw any remaining caution to the winds during his news conference in the Rose Garden that same morning. Almost everything he said was patently misleading or an outright lie, a sure sign of a leader so entombed in his bunker (he couldn’t even emerge for the Washington Nationals’ ceremonial first pitch last week) that he feels he has nothing left to lose.
Incredibly, he chided his adversaries on the Hill for going on vacation just as he was heading off for his own vacation in Crawford. Then he attacked Congress for taking 57 days to “pass emergency funds for our troops” even though the previous, Republican-led Congress took 119 days on the same bill in 2006. He ridiculed the House bill for “pork and other spending that has nothing to do with the war,” though last year’s war-spending bill was also larded with unrelated pork, from Congressional efforts to add agricultural subsidies to the president’s own request for money for bird-flu preparation.
Mr. Bush’s claim that military equipment would be shortchanged if he couldn’t sign a spending bill by mid-April was contradicted by not one but two government agencies. A Government Accountability Office report faulted poor Pentagon planning for endemic existing equipment shortages in the National Guard. The Congressional Research Service found that the Pentagon could pay for the war until well into July. Since by that point we’ll already be on the threshold of our own commanders’ late-summer deadline for judging the surge, what’s the crisis?
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
OUR MAN IN BAGHDAD
John McCain paraded through a Baghdad market to "prove" how safe Baghdad has become since George Bush's surge. McCain wore a bulletproof vest, was protected by three Blackhawk helicopters, a hundred American soldiers, and two Apache gunships. If that's what it takes to walk in Baghdad, we can safely say it's not safe. In the meantime, the war meister, George Bush, was busily doing what he does best--lying. This column by Frank Rich is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com:
As if to confirm we’re in the last throes, President Bush threw any remaining caution to the winds during his news conference in the Rose Garden that same morning. Almost everything he said was patently misleading or an outright lie, a sure sign of a leader so entombed in his bunker (he couldn’t even emerge for the Washington Nationals’ ceremonial first pitch last week) that he feels he has nothing left to lose.
Incredibly, he chided his adversaries on the Hill for going on vacation just as he was heading off for his own vacation in Crawford. Then he attacked Congress for taking 57 days to “pass emergency funds for our troops” even though the previous, Republican-led Congress took 119 days on the same bill in 2006. He ridiculed the House bill for “pork and other spending that has nothing to do with the war,” though last year’s war-spending bill was also larded with unrelated pork, from Congressional efforts to add agricultural subsidies to the president’s own request for money for bird-flu preparation.
Mr. Bush’s claim that military equipment would be shortchanged if he couldn’t sign a spending bill by mid-April was contradicted by not one but two government agencies. A Government Accountability Office report faulted poor Pentagon planning for endemic existing equipment shortages in the National Guard. The Congressional Research Service found that the Pentagon could pay for the war until well into July. Since by that point we’ll already be on the threshold of our own commanders’ late-summer deadline for judging the surge, what’s the crisis?
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
March 14, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
OPEN THE WORM CAN
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has written that the Bushes and their cohorts would do anything to stay in power. Part of that determination is that so many scandals are ready to emerge about this administration. It's hard to imagine that there could be even more when you consider the already staggering list of crimes and incompetence. But there are undoubtedly things we still do not know. Many distinguished people are opposed to the idea of impeachment because of its almost certain failure in the Senate. This article makes a good case for impeachment, even if it fails in the Senate, because it will reveal the scope and magnitude of the crimes by this administration. I agree. The article by Ernest Partridge is at www.crisispapers.org:
These skeptics would have a point if Senate conviction and removal from office were the sole objective and consequence of impeachment, as the Republican regulars and their compliant enablers in the mainstream media would have us believe. Once again, by assuming that removal from office is the be-all and end-all of impeachment, the Democrats and many of their progressive supporters and commentators have carelessly consented to play the GOP game by the GOP rules. They have, as George Lakoff might put it, thoughtlessly adopted their opponents’ “framing” of the impeachment issue. They have, to put it bluntly, been suckered again, as they have all too many times in the past. When will they ever learn?
These Democrats, et al, seem to pay little attention to the potential benefits of an unsuccessful impeachment. These benefits include the uncovering and publicizing of the Bushevik crimes and the consequent educating of the public. This would, in turn, lead to the discrediting of the mainstream media and the devastation of the Republican Party, resulting in a Democratic landslide in the next election. In short, a loss in the Senate trial might be far outweighed by the benefits of the investigations leading up to a House bill of impeachment and the subsequent debate in the Senate trial. A “win” via a loss.
The Republican stalkers of Bill Clinton were well aware that the process of impeachment might well be more significant than the outcome of conviction and removal. After all, the Clinton impeachment was launched with a full expectation that the effort would fail in the Senate. But even so, the House Republicans anticipated that there would be sufficient mischief to be gained by proceeding with a bill of impeachment that they went ahead anyway. What they did not anticipate was that the public at large would be more put-off by the GOP’s partisan shenanigans than by “Slick Willie’s” unrestrained libido.
The Democrats must stop fretting about a likely failure in the Senate and put their eyes on the prize of the results of Congressional investigation, of testimony under oath, and of the unavoidable publicity that would result therefrom. Once the worm-can of Bushevik crimes and treason is opened, those worms will never be re-canned. And who knows, once the high crimes and misdemeanors are exposed to the sunlight of open and public Congressional hearings and debate, the “impossible” Senate conviction just might turn out to be quite possible. After all, all that isB required is the defection of seventeen GOP senators. And bear in mind that twenty-two Republican Senators are up for re-election in 2008. They might find themselves very hard-pressed in their re-election campaigns to justify a vote for acquittal.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
OPEN THE WORM CAN
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has written that the Bushes and their cohorts would do anything to stay in power. Part of that determination is that so many scandals are ready to emerge about this administration. It's hard to imagine that there could be even more when you consider the already staggering list of crimes and incompetence. But there are undoubtedly things we still do not know. Many distinguished people are opposed to the idea of impeachment because of its almost certain failure in the Senate. This article makes a good case for impeachment, even if it fails in the Senate, because it will reveal the scope and magnitude of the crimes by this administration. I agree. The article by Ernest Partridge is at www.crisispapers.org:
These skeptics would have a point if Senate conviction and removal from office were the sole objective and consequence of impeachment, as the Republican regulars and their compliant enablers in the mainstream media would have us believe. Once again, by assuming that removal from office is the be-all and end-all of impeachment, the Democrats and many of their progressive supporters and commentators have carelessly consented to play the GOP game by the GOP rules. They have, as George Lakoff might put it, thoughtlessly adopted their opponents’ “framing” of the impeachment issue. They have, to put it bluntly, been suckered again, as they have all too many times in the past. When will they ever learn?
These Democrats, et al, seem to pay little attention to the potential benefits of an unsuccessful impeachment. These benefits include the uncovering and publicizing of the Bushevik crimes and the consequent educating of the public. This would, in turn, lead to the discrediting of the mainstream media and the devastation of the Republican Party, resulting in a Democratic landslide in the next election. In short, a loss in the Senate trial might be far outweighed by the benefits of the investigations leading up to a House bill of impeachment and the subsequent debate in the Senate trial. A “win” via a loss.
The Republican stalkers of Bill Clinton were well aware that the process of impeachment might well be more significant than the outcome of conviction and removal. After all, the Clinton impeachment was launched with a full expectation that the effort would fail in the Senate. But even so, the House Republicans anticipated that there would be sufficient mischief to be gained by proceeding with a bill of impeachment that they went ahead anyway. What they did not anticipate was that the public at large would be more put-off by the GOP’s partisan shenanigans than by “Slick Willie’s” unrestrained libido.
The Democrats must stop fretting about a likely failure in the Senate and put their eyes on the prize of the results of Congressional investigation, of testimony under oath, and of the unavoidable publicity that would result therefrom. Once the worm-can of Bushevik crimes and treason is opened, those worms will never be re-canned. And who knows, once the high crimes and misdemeanors are exposed to the sunlight of open and public Congressional hearings and debate, the “impossible” Senate conviction just might turn out to be quite possible. After all, all that isB required is the defection of seventeen GOP senators. And bear in mind that twenty-two Republican Senators are up for re-election in 2008. They might find themselves very hard-pressed in their re-election campaigns to justify a vote for acquittal.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
March 13, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
AN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINALS
In a just world someone like George W. Bush and the thugs around him would never achieve high positions in the United States government or anywhere else. These are people who parade around like paragons of virtue while they cheat, lie, torture, and kill. The irony is that they can get away with it because this is the United States, the strongest military power in the world, and it would be difficult to ever try Bush and company for the war crimes they've committed. But maybe they should still be tried, even if it's in absentia. It should be on the record for world history. In this article Bill Gallagher takes a look at the criminals that comprise this administration. The article is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
All the media frenzy about pardoning Scooter Libby is missing a broader issue. Many others in the Bush administration are in need of pardons, and for far more serious crimes. They'll get pardons or head to Canada begging for asylum.
Scooter was caught lying and obstructing justice to protect his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney. It's as simple as that. Cheney ordered the hit on former ambassador Joe Wilson because he dared to speak the truth about the lies used to sell the war in Iraq.
For a political thug like Cheney, Libby taking the fall for him is business as usual. Libby will never spend a single night in prison because President George W. Bush will pardon him right after his sentencing.
There will be howls that the move is aimed at buying Libby's continued silence, but frankly, folks, Bush doesn't give a damn. His failed presidency cannot lose any more support.
PLAYING WAR
I liked the section of this story about a guy who wanted to give Bush toy soldiers so Bush could play war and leave the rest of the world alone. He also wanted to give the Mexican president a mat so the Mexican president could kneel without hurting his knees. The story is mostly about Bush's fixation on food. It reminds you of the incident in Europe where Bush uttered a profanity over a microphone and was obsessed with roast pig. What a leader! This story by Traci Carl is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
Gerardo Fernandez flew to Merida to deliver gifts to Bush and Calderon. But he wasn't exactly welcome.
The spokesman for Mexico's leftist Democratic Revolution Party brought a bag of toy soldiers for Bush so that the U.S. leader "can play war and leave the world alone." For Calderon, he brought a door mat so the Mexican president "can kneel without hurting his knees."
He tried to deliver the soldiers to Bush's hotel on Monday evening, just before Bush arrived, but wasn't allowed past security. So he climbed the rusty, 10-foot-high metal barrier and tossed the plastic toys over, to the puzzled looks of security guards on the other side.
On Tuesday, he was still carrying the door mat, leading a one-man quest to the hacienda where Bush and Calderon were meeting. He soon hit another security barrier there.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
AN ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINALS
In a just world someone like George W. Bush and the thugs around him would never achieve high positions in the United States government or anywhere else. These are people who parade around like paragons of virtue while they cheat, lie, torture, and kill. The irony is that they can get away with it because this is the United States, the strongest military power in the world, and it would be difficult to ever try Bush and company for the war crimes they've committed. But maybe they should still be tried, even if it's in absentia. It should be on the record for world history. In this article Bill Gallagher takes a look at the criminals that comprise this administration. The article is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
All the media frenzy about pardoning Scooter Libby is missing a broader issue. Many others in the Bush administration are in need of pardons, and for far more serious crimes. They'll get pardons or head to Canada begging for asylum.
Scooter was caught lying and obstructing justice to protect his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney. It's as simple as that. Cheney ordered the hit on former ambassador Joe Wilson because he dared to speak the truth about the lies used to sell the war in Iraq.
For a political thug like Cheney, Libby taking the fall for him is business as usual. Libby will never spend a single night in prison because President George W. Bush will pardon him right after his sentencing.
There will be howls that the move is aimed at buying Libby's continued silence, but frankly, folks, Bush doesn't give a damn. His failed presidency cannot lose any more support.
PLAYING WAR
I liked the section of this story about a guy who wanted to give Bush toy soldiers so Bush could play war and leave the rest of the world alone. He also wanted to give the Mexican president a mat so the Mexican president could kneel without hurting his knees. The story is mostly about Bush's fixation on food. It reminds you of the incident in Europe where Bush uttered a profanity over a microphone and was obsessed with roast pig. What a leader! This story by Traci Carl is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
Gerardo Fernandez flew to Merida to deliver gifts to Bush and Calderon. But he wasn't exactly welcome.
The spokesman for Mexico's leftist Democratic Revolution Party brought a bag of toy soldiers for Bush so that the U.S. leader "can play war and leave the world alone." For Calderon, he brought a door mat so the Mexican president "can kneel without hurting his knees."
He tried to deliver the soldiers to Bush's hotel on Monday evening, just before Bush arrived, but wasn't allowed past security. So he climbed the rusty, 10-foot-high metal barrier and tossed the plastic toys over, to the puzzled looks of security guards on the other side.
On Tuesday, he was still carrying the door mat, leading a one-man quest to the hacienda where Bush and Calderon were meeting. He soon hit another security barrier there.
Monday, March 05, 2007
March 05, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
KATRINA AND WALTER REED
There are so many scandals and such gross incompetence in the Bush administration you almost find yourself with outrage fatigue. But we should let the fire continue to build. We need to oust this filthy administration and remember all the lessons from the past six years. As Paul Krugman points out, the treatment of the wounded Iraq veterans at Walter Reed is very much like the way the administration treated the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This administration pinches pennies for people like you and me, but showers largesse on the rich and powerful. This column is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.com:
Yet even now it’s not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed’s outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of “support the troops,” the Bush administration has treated veterans’ medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can.
What makes this a particular shame is that in the Clinton years, veterans’ health care — like the Federal Emergency Management Agency — became a shining example of how good leadership can revitalize a troubled government program. By the early years of this decade the Veterans Health Administration was, by many measures, providing the highest-quality health care in America. (It probably still is: Walter Reed is a military facility, not run by the V.H.A.)
But as with FEMA, the Bush administration has done all it can to undermine that achievement. And the Walter Reed scandal is another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration’s misgovernment became obvious to everyone.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
KATRINA AND WALTER REED
There are so many scandals and such gross incompetence in the Bush administration you almost find yourself with outrage fatigue. But we should let the fire continue to build. We need to oust this filthy administration and remember all the lessons from the past six years. As Paul Krugman points out, the treatment of the wounded Iraq veterans at Walter Reed is very much like the way the administration treated the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This administration pinches pennies for people like you and me, but showers largesse on the rich and powerful. This column is at www.welcome-to-pottersville.com:
Yet even now it’s not clear whether the public will be told the full story, which is that the horrors of Walter Reed’s outpatient unit are no aberration. For all its cries of “support the troops,” the Bush administration has treated veterans’ medical care the same way it treats everything else: nickel-and-diming the needy, protecting the incompetent and privatizing everything it can.
What makes this a particular shame is that in the Clinton years, veterans’ health care — like the Federal Emergency Management Agency — became a shining example of how good leadership can revitalize a troubled government program. By the early years of this decade the Veterans Health Administration was, by many measures, providing the highest-quality health care in America. (It probably still is: Walter Reed is a military facility, not run by the V.H.A.)
But as with FEMA, the Bush administration has done all it can to undermine that achievement. And the Walter Reed scandal is another Hurricane Katrina: the moment when the administration’s misgovernment became obvious to everyone.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
February 25, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S BLUNDERS ON TERRORISM
A consistent right-wing talking point these days is that we have to fight terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to fight them here. The implication is that the war in Iraq is reducing incidents of terrorism. A new study published by Mother Jones magazine shows the contrary. Since the invasion of Iraq, there has been a dramatic increase in terrorism around the world. This article by Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank is at www.motherjones.com:
Our study draws its data from the MIPT-RAND Terrorism database (available at terrorismknowledgebase.org), which is widely considered to be the best publicly available database on terrorism incidents. RAND defines a terrorist attack as an attack on a civilian entity designed to promote fear or alarm and further a particular political agenda. In our study we only included attacks that caused at least one fatality and were attributed by RAND to a known jihadist group. In some terrorist attacks, and this is especially the case in Iraq, RAND has not been able to attribute a particular attack to a known jihadist group. Therefore our study likely understates the extent of jihadist terrorism in Iraq and around the world.
Our study yields one resounding finding: The rate of terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups and the rate of fatalities in those attacks increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the average fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, which accounts for fully half of the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks in the post-Iraq War period. But even excluding Iraq, the average yearly number of jihadist terrorist attacks and resulting fatalities still rose sharply around the world by 265 percent and 58 percent respectively.
And even when attacks in both Afghanistan and Iraq (the two countries that together account for 80 percent of attacks and 67 percent of deaths since the invasion of Iraq) are excluded, there has still been a significant rise in jihadist terrorism elsewhere--a 35 percent increase in the number of jihadist terrorist attacks outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, from 27.6 to 37 a year, with a 12 percent rise in fatalities from 496 to 554 per year.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S BLUNDERS ON TERRORISM
A consistent right-wing talking point these days is that we have to fight terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to fight them here. The implication is that the war in Iraq is reducing incidents of terrorism. A new study published by Mother Jones magazine shows the contrary. Since the invasion of Iraq, there has been a dramatic increase in terrorism around the world. This article by Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank is at www.motherjones.com:
Our study draws its data from the MIPT-RAND Terrorism database (available at terrorismknowledgebase.org), which is widely considered to be the best publicly available database on terrorism incidents. RAND defines a terrorist attack as an attack on a civilian entity designed to promote fear or alarm and further a particular political agenda. In our study we only included attacks that caused at least one fatality and were attributed by RAND to a known jihadist group. In some terrorist attacks, and this is especially the case in Iraq, RAND has not been able to attribute a particular attack to a known jihadist group. Therefore our study likely understates the extent of jihadist terrorism in Iraq and around the world.
Our study yields one resounding finding: The rate of terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups and the rate of fatalities in those attacks increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the average fatality rate (from 501 to 1,689 deaths per year). A large part of this rise occurred in Iraq, which accounts for fully half of the global total of jihadist terrorist attacks in the post-Iraq War period. But even excluding Iraq, the average yearly number of jihadist terrorist attacks and resulting fatalities still rose sharply around the world by 265 percent and 58 percent respectively.
And even when attacks in both Afghanistan and Iraq (the two countries that together account for 80 percent of attacks and 67 percent of deaths since the invasion of Iraq) are excluded, there has still been a significant rise in jihadist terrorism elsewhere--a 35 percent increase in the number of jihadist terrorist attacks outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, from 27.6 to 37 a year, with a 12 percent rise in fatalities from 496 to 554 per year.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
February 20, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
NEOCON HEGEMONY
I've started reading Stanley Karnow's history of the Vietnam war, Vietnam A History. It's amazing how many parallels there are between Vietnam and Iraq. In Vietnam our troops were in constant combat, unlike the veterans of the Second World War. You never knew who the enemy was in Vietnam and you don't know who the enemy is in Iraq until he strikes. The Vietnamese effectively used guerilla warfare, just as we see in Iraq now. We were told by the elites that Vietnam couldn't fall to the Communists because the rest of southeast Asia would fall like dominoes. Now we're told we can't lose in Iraq because it means the impending destruction of western civilization. In this article Ernest Partridge looks at the imperial dreams of neocons like George Bush and Dick Cheney and the incredible mess they've created. The article is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States became the sole remaining super-power. Many saw this extraordinary situation as an opportunity at last for world disarmament, a concerted attack on poverty and disease, and global harmony under a rule of international law.
Not the neo conservatives.
Instead, they announced, this was to be “The American Century” – a “benevolent global hegemony” imposed upon the world by the sole remaining super-power, the United States. In this new world order, the United States would renounce treaties and international law at will if they were found to be contrary to the interests of the “hegemon.” Military action by the super power would be taken “preventatively” if there was a perceived possibility that an upstart nation might resist the “order” with force. Aggressive initiatives would be taken to assure that no rival super power would arise to challenge the global hegemony.
The United States would, in short, become the kind of world empire we claimed that we were struggling, throughout the cold war, to prevent the Soviet Union from becoming.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
NEOCON HEGEMONY
I've started reading Stanley Karnow's history of the Vietnam war, Vietnam A History. It's amazing how many parallels there are between Vietnam and Iraq. In Vietnam our troops were in constant combat, unlike the veterans of the Second World War. You never knew who the enemy was in Vietnam and you don't know who the enemy is in Iraq until he strikes. The Vietnamese effectively used guerilla warfare, just as we see in Iraq now. We were told by the elites that Vietnam couldn't fall to the Communists because the rest of southeast Asia would fall like dominoes. Now we're told we can't lose in Iraq because it means the impending destruction of western civilization. In this article Ernest Partridge looks at the imperial dreams of neocons like George Bush and Dick Cheney and the incredible mess they've created. The article is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States became the sole remaining super-power. Many saw this extraordinary situation as an opportunity at last for world disarmament, a concerted attack on poverty and disease, and global harmony under a rule of international law.
Not the neo conservatives.
Instead, they announced, this was to be “The American Century” – a “benevolent global hegemony” imposed upon the world by the sole remaining super-power, the United States. In this new world order, the United States would renounce treaties and international law at will if they were found to be contrary to the interests of the “hegemon.” Military action by the super power would be taken “preventatively” if there was a perceived possibility that an upstart nation might resist the “order” with force. Aggressive initiatives would be taken to assure that no rival super power would arise to challenge the global hegemony.
The United States would, in short, become the kind of world empire we claimed that we were struggling, throughout the cold war, to prevent the Soviet Union from becoming.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
February 18, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
GETTING THE LIES STRAIGHT
George W. Bush and his administration have lied about anything and everything. The latest lie campaign is about the danger Iran presents to the United States. We're getting similar propaganda to what preceded the war against Iraq. But as Frank Rich points out, the administration is losing its "mojo." There are so many lies they can't keep them straight anymore. This column is linked at roziusunbound.blogspot.com:
Maybe the Bush White House can't conduct a war, but no one has ever impugned its ability to lie about its conduct of a war. Now even that well-earned reputation for flawless fictionalizing is coming undone. Watching the administration try to get its story straight about Iran's role in Iraq last week was like watching third graders try to sidestep blame for misbehaving while the substitute teacher was on a bathroom break. The team that once sold the country smoking guns in the shape of mushroom clouds has completely lost its mojo.
Surely these guys can do better than this. No sooner did unnamed military officials unveil their melodramatically secretive briefing in Baghdad last Sunday than Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, blew the whole charade. General Pace said he didn't know about the briefing and couldn't endorse its contention that the Iranian government's highest echelons were complicit in anti-American hostilities in Iraq. Public-relations pandemonium ensued as Tony Snow, the State Department and finally the president tried to revise the story line on the fly. Back when Karl Rove ruled, everyone read verbatim from the same script. Last week's frantic improvisations were vintage Scooter Libby, at best the ur-text for a future perjury trial.
Yet for all the sloppy internal contradictions, the most incriminating indictment of the new White House disinformation campaign is to be found in official assertions made more than a year ago. The press and everyone else seems to have forgotten that the administration has twice sounded the same alarms about Iranian weaponry in Iraq that it did last week.
A LOT MORE DANGEROUS A FEW YEARS AGO
Today's Fresno Bee has a letter from a local Republican operative for whom I have absolutely no respect. Our neofascist was sneering at the Democrats in Congress for allegedly being like the United Nations, and suggested that the Democratic majority would be helpless to act if the United States were attacked again.
I have little doubt that the Democratic majority would act as necessary if that unfortunate event occurred. A Democratic administration and Congress won World War II in less time than we have spent in Iraq. Our neofascist would probably prefer a dictatorship because democracy is sometimes messy and inefficient, but by far the best system of government devised by humans. This article by Paul Kennedy takes us back to a far more dangerous time during the Cold War. Yes, terrorists are bad guys, but by no means the threat we faced with thousands of nuclear missiles poised to land on us. This article is linked at www.latimes.com:
We seem to have forgotten that our right-wing hawks argued passionately for "nuking" communist China during the Korean War and again during the Taiwan Straits crisis of 1954. We also have apparently forgotten — although newly released archival evidence overwhelmingly confirms this — how close we came to a nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Likewise, we've forgotten the shock of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which prompted then-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to ask, "Is this the new Sarajevo?" a reference to the outbreak of World War I. And who still remembers 1984-85, when we were riveted by Jonathan Schell's argument in the New Yorker that even a few nuclear explosions would trigger such dust storms as to produce a "nuclear winter"?
Those were really scary times, and much more dangerous than our present circumstance because the potential damage that could be inflicted during an East-West conflagration was far, far greater than anything that Al Qaeda can do to us now. No one has the exact totals, but we probably had 20,000 missiles pointed at each other, often on high alert. And the threat of an accidental discharge was high.
None of today's college-age students were born in 1945, 1979 or maybe even 1984. None lived with those triangular signs proclaiming their schools to be nuclear bomb shelters.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
GETTING THE LIES STRAIGHT
George W. Bush and his administration have lied about anything and everything. The latest lie campaign is about the danger Iran presents to the United States. We're getting similar propaganda to what preceded the war against Iraq. But as Frank Rich points out, the administration is losing its "mojo." There are so many lies they can't keep them straight anymore. This column is linked at roziusunbound.blogspot.com:
Maybe the Bush White House can't conduct a war, but no one has ever impugned its ability to lie about its conduct of a war. Now even that well-earned reputation for flawless fictionalizing is coming undone. Watching the administration try to get its story straight about Iran's role in Iraq last week was like watching third graders try to sidestep blame for misbehaving while the substitute teacher was on a bathroom break. The team that once sold the country smoking guns in the shape of mushroom clouds has completely lost its mojo.
Surely these guys can do better than this. No sooner did unnamed military officials unveil their melodramatically secretive briefing in Baghdad last Sunday than Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, blew the whole charade. General Pace said he didn't know about the briefing and couldn't endorse its contention that the Iranian government's highest echelons were complicit in anti-American hostilities in Iraq. Public-relations pandemonium ensued as Tony Snow, the State Department and finally the president tried to revise the story line on the fly. Back when Karl Rove ruled, everyone read verbatim from the same script. Last week's frantic improvisations were vintage Scooter Libby, at best the ur-text for a future perjury trial.
Yet for all the sloppy internal contradictions, the most incriminating indictment of the new White House disinformation campaign is to be found in official assertions made more than a year ago. The press and everyone else seems to have forgotten that the administration has twice sounded the same alarms about Iranian weaponry in Iraq that it did last week.
A LOT MORE DANGEROUS A FEW YEARS AGO
Today's Fresno Bee has a letter from a local Republican operative for whom I have absolutely no respect. Our neofascist was sneering at the Democrats in Congress for allegedly being like the United Nations, and suggested that the Democratic majority would be helpless to act if the United States were attacked again.
I have little doubt that the Democratic majority would act as necessary if that unfortunate event occurred. A Democratic administration and Congress won World War II in less time than we have spent in Iraq. Our neofascist would probably prefer a dictatorship because democracy is sometimes messy and inefficient, but by far the best system of government devised by humans. This article by Paul Kennedy takes us back to a far more dangerous time during the Cold War. Yes, terrorists are bad guys, but by no means the threat we faced with thousands of nuclear missiles poised to land on us. This article is linked at www.latimes.com:
We seem to have forgotten that our right-wing hawks argued passionately for "nuking" communist China during the Korean War and again during the Taiwan Straits crisis of 1954. We also have apparently forgotten — although newly released archival evidence overwhelmingly confirms this — how close we came to a nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Likewise, we've forgotten the shock of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which prompted then-German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to ask, "Is this the new Sarajevo?" a reference to the outbreak of World War I. And who still remembers 1984-85, when we were riveted by Jonathan Schell's argument in the New Yorker that even a few nuclear explosions would trigger such dust storms as to produce a "nuclear winter"?
Those were really scary times, and much more dangerous than our present circumstance because the potential damage that could be inflicted during an East-West conflagration was far, far greater than anything that Al Qaeda can do to us now. No one has the exact totals, but we probably had 20,000 missiles pointed at each other, often on high alert. And the threat of an accidental discharge was high.
None of today's college-age students were born in 1945, 1979 or maybe even 1984. None lived with those triangular signs proclaiming their schools to be nuclear bomb shelters.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
February 08, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PLAYING INTO BIN LADEN'S HANDS
Osama bin Laden couldn't have asked for a better administration than that of George W. Bush to help bin Laden achieve his objectives. Bin Laden's planned attack on 9/11 was designed to provoke the United States into an irrational and costly response. Instead of treating the attacks as a criminal matter and enlisting the help of law enforcement agencies around the world, Bush decided to make it a war. Even worse, he used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. The war in Iraq has cost the United States credibility around the world. Iraq has been a perfect recruiting ground for al-Qaeda. And the war is sucking the United States dry. This article by Adam Elkus is at www.alternet.org:
According to Atwan's analysis of al-Qaida's "20-year plan," the organization aimed to bring about the fall of the American empire by first provoking -- with the September 11 attacks -- Washington into irrationally invading Muslim lands in pursuit of revenge. Al-Qaida's grand strategists calculated that the invasion would propel the umma, the Muslim community, into joining the jihad. Following the fall of the secular socialist Hussein regime, Iraq has indeed become a training ground for limitless waves of foreign jihadis.
In this context, George W. Bush was a great boon to their efforts. Not only did he invade Iraq, which did not have a thing to do with 9/11, but he did almost everything possible to isolate America from its allies. This policy gave bin Laden ample room to target unpopular pro-American regimes from Madrid to Riyadh. Compared to the Southwest Asian battleground of Afghanistan, Iraq is a more congenial base for al-Qaida, since the language, culture, and terrain are more familiar to most Arabs. The jihadis' strategy is to get America to throw all of its resources into fighting a losing battle against Iraq's lethal patchwork of warring factions.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PLAYING INTO BIN LADEN'S HANDS
Osama bin Laden couldn't have asked for a better administration than that of George W. Bush to help bin Laden achieve his objectives. Bin Laden's planned attack on 9/11 was designed to provoke the United States into an irrational and costly response. Instead of treating the attacks as a criminal matter and enlisting the help of law enforcement agencies around the world, Bush decided to make it a war. Even worse, he used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks on 9/11. The war in Iraq has cost the United States credibility around the world. Iraq has been a perfect recruiting ground for al-Qaeda. And the war is sucking the United States dry. This article by Adam Elkus is at www.alternet.org:
According to Atwan's analysis of al-Qaida's "20-year plan," the organization aimed to bring about the fall of the American empire by first provoking -- with the September 11 attacks -- Washington into irrationally invading Muslim lands in pursuit of revenge. Al-Qaida's grand strategists calculated that the invasion would propel the umma, the Muslim community, into joining the jihad. Following the fall of the secular socialist Hussein regime, Iraq has indeed become a training ground for limitless waves of foreign jihadis.
In this context, George W. Bush was a great boon to their efforts. Not only did he invade Iraq, which did not have a thing to do with 9/11, but he did almost everything possible to isolate America from its allies. This policy gave bin Laden ample room to target unpopular pro-American regimes from Madrid to Riyadh. Compared to the Southwest Asian battleground of Afghanistan, Iraq is a more congenial base for al-Qaida, since the language, culture, and terrain are more familiar to most Arabs. The jihadis' strategy is to get America to throw all of its resources into fighting a losing battle against Iraq's lethal patchwork of warring factions.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
February 07, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PALLETS OF CASH
George W. Bush and his administration have all the traits of a banana republic. They steal elections. They start unnecessary wars. They transfer wealth to the people at the top and take from the people at the bottom. They are war profiteers. They kidnap and they torture. Now we learn that plane loads--literally--of cash were sent to Iraq. Nobody seems to know where those billions of dollars went. This article by Daniel Schulman is at www.motherjones.com:
While the impetus for the hearing was a point of contention, there was one thing everyone could agree on regardless of their political persuasion: No one — not the committee members or the distinguished panel assembled to testify — had any idea how billions of dollars in reconstruction funds were ultimately spent.
Shipped to Iraq by the ton on C-130 cargo planes laden with bricks of U.S. tender, the funding in question, held in the Development Fund for Iraq and totaling some $8.8 billion, was doled out by the CPA to Iraq’s fledgling government ministries between October 2003 and June 2004. Ostensibly, the cash went to pay for such things as salaries and overhead. Where it actually wound up is another story entirely. A 2005 audit by the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that the "CPA did not exercise adequate responsibility over DFI funds provided to Iraqi ministries through the national budget process" and sought no "assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for." The report raised the possibility that portions of the funding went to so-called ghost employees (whose only job responsibility would appear to be collecting a paycheck). It noted that though one Iraqi ministry had 8,206 on the payroll, CPA officials could confirm that only 602 of them actually worked there. Today, Waxman raised another, more ominous possibility — that reconstruction funding may have wound up in the hands of insurgents and other militant factions.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
PALLETS OF CASH
George W. Bush and his administration have all the traits of a banana republic. They steal elections. They start unnecessary wars. They transfer wealth to the people at the top and take from the people at the bottom. They are war profiteers. They kidnap and they torture. Now we learn that plane loads--literally--of cash were sent to Iraq. Nobody seems to know where those billions of dollars went. This article by Daniel Schulman is at www.motherjones.com:
While the impetus for the hearing was a point of contention, there was one thing everyone could agree on regardless of their political persuasion: No one — not the committee members or the distinguished panel assembled to testify — had any idea how billions of dollars in reconstruction funds were ultimately spent.
Shipped to Iraq by the ton on C-130 cargo planes laden with bricks of U.S. tender, the funding in question, held in the Development Fund for Iraq and totaling some $8.8 billion, was doled out by the CPA to Iraq’s fledgling government ministries between October 2003 and June 2004. Ostensibly, the cash went to pay for such things as salaries and overhead. Where it actually wound up is another story entirely. A 2005 audit by the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that the "CPA did not exercise adequate responsibility over DFI funds provided to Iraqi ministries through the national budget process" and sought no "assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for." The report raised the possibility that portions of the funding went to so-called ghost employees (whose only job responsibility would appear to be collecting a paycheck). It noted that though one Iraqi ministry had 8,206 on the payroll, CPA officials could confirm that only 602 of them actually worked there. Today, Waxman raised another, more ominous possibility — that reconstruction funding may have wound up in the hands of insurgents and other militant factions.
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