Bush vs Aristide

Aristide Flees Haiti:

Haiti's beleaguered President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and flew into exile Sunday. Gunfire crackled throughout the capital as it fell into chaos, and the United States said international peace keepers, including Americans, would be deployed soon.

The hypocrisy of the Bush administration in all this is blatant and disgusting. While professing concern for Haiti and calling for a "diplomatic" solution, Bush has deprived the Haitian government of needed aid, refused to openly support the legally elected government, and made clear that the U. S. would not intervene until there was some resolution to the ongoing violence - thus giving the green light to the armed rebels to continue fighting against the out-armed Haitian police - knowing that they would not be interfered with in any way. This is, especially after centuries of U. S. interference and exploitation, shameful. Let's hear again how commited Bush is to promoting "democracy."

Bush vs History of Gay Marriage

Gay unions accepted as routine in cultures for centuries

President Bush has recently said on multiple occassions that for thousands of years marriage has only been between one man and one woman, and that activist judges were redefining the marriage institution by saying that gay marriages should be allowed. All this statement proves is that Bush never took an anthropology course, knows nothing about social and cultural history, and very little about most cultures outside the United States. In fact, in the muslim world, marriages of one man to multiple women are not uncommon and in other societies - often described as "primitive" - marriages of one woman to multiple men may be found. And certainly, when one looks at history, there is no support for Bush's narrow view of what has "always" been:

Much of the current debate over same-sex marriage reflects a relatively new tradition of fear and hatred of homosexuals in American culture. The concept of homosexuality only appeared in European medical literature in the late 1860s and reached the United States by 1892, but it was the sodomy trial of British poet Oscar Wilde in 1895 that introduced the concept to popular culture. . .

Rather than treat gay people as social outcasts, many cultures integrated men and women with transsexual natures into their societies. When French Jesuit missionaries found men among the Iroquois who dressed and acted as women, they called them berdache, incorrectly equating them with male prostitutes.
Many scholars now prefer the term "two-spirit." American Indian languages had a variety of terms -- winkte (Lakota), nadleeh (Navajo), hemanah (Cheyenne), kwid-(Tewa), tainna wa'ippe (Shoshone), dubuds (Paiute) and lhamana (Zuni) to identify "a person who has both male and female spirits within," notes Lakota scholar Beatrice Medicine.
Anthropologists such as Elsie Parsons long ago observed that two-spirited men often married other men. Even earlier, William Clark told the first editor of the Lewis and Clark journals that Hidatsa boys who showed "girlish inclinations" were raised as women and married men.

Since much of the criticism of homosexual behavior has been directed at promiscuity and unsafe sex, it seems very peculiar to actively oppose an effort by gays to formalize long term, loving relationships. People who find the idea of gay marriage threatening must be insecure in the extreme.

Bin Laden in a Box?

U.S., Pakistan Deny Bin Laden Was Captured

Despite the denials, this story continues to be reported from multiple sources. This time from Iranian State radio.

So, is he being kept on ice for a near election (perhaps Republican National Convention) moment?

Bush vs the Unemployed

Extra Unemployment Benefits Lose in Senated:

A Senate measure to extend federal unemployment benefits failed by two votes Thursday despite the election year support of 12 Republicans from states hit hard by layoffs.

Democrats tried to attach the amendment to a gun liability bill, but it failed 58-39 in the GOP-controlled Senate. The margin was two votes shy of the 60 needed to overcome a procedural objection.

The measure would have extended the emergency benefits program for six months, providing 13 weeks of extra unemployment benefits to people who exhaust their state benefits — usually after 26 weeks.

Here's the reality of "compassionate" conservatism. The Republicans just can't bring themselves to keep giving assistance to ordinary citizens who have lost their jobs - even though they continue to reward the super rich who are responsible for moving hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries even while they manage to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Thus impoverishing Americans in two ways - depriving them of income and increasing their share of the tax "burden."

Here's what Republicans really feel about workers who have lost their jobs and can't find another:

Sen. Don Nickles said jobless workers have more incentive to find a job when the extra unemployment benefits stop. "The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work," he said.

Conversely, one might ask, what incentive do billionaire businsessmen have for keeping American workers employed and for protecting communitie straditionally dependent on their local manufacturing base? If the answer is "None", shouldn't we be doing something about that? NOW?

Bush vs Haiti

Kerry says U.S. fueled conflict in Haiti

Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry accused President Bush's administration Thursday of fomenting conflict in Haiti out of ideological opposition to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Kerry called on Bush to name Florida Sen. Bob Graham, one-time rival for the Democratic nomination, to be a special envoy to the Caribbean nation to negotiate a peaceful resolution between Aristide and the rebels threatening to oust him from power.

Debating his Democratic rivals Thursday night in Los Angeles, Kerry accused the White House of withholding aid to Haiti until the opposition reached a power-sharing agreement with Aristide -- an approach that he said ensured the rebels would keep fighting.

This is an important thing for a couple of reasons:

1. None of the mainstream media is doing anything to make sense of the Haitian conflict. The average American would have no idea from reading what is in the newspaper or on CNN what is actually going on, who the players are, what the stakes are, what the history of the situation is, and the extent to which the U.S. (and especially the CIA) are complicit in the ongoing misery of this, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Kerry is pointing the finger at part of the problem and maybe it will cause more of the public to pay attention and try and make sense of this bloody mess.

2. By taking this position - unusual for any American politician (that is, placing any blame for troubles in Haiti on American shoulders), Kerry proves that he may be up to the job of bringing the fight to the Bush administration all down the line. If he can just get to the place where he is comfortable proclaiming that the Global War on Terror is a crock - a divisive misleading sham - and that our attentions need to be addressed to preventing the ugly situations (like Haiti) that cause America to be both hated and feared throughout the world - then I will know we have a real candidate.

Dallas vs Bush

Dallas council votes for resolution denouncing federal Patriot Act:

In approving the resolution, Dallas joins three states and 225 local governments that have taken stands against the Patriot Act.

Bush vs Public Health

Depleted uranium: the war crime that has no end

The mounting evidence from the invasion of Iraq establishes what many Americans may not want to face: that the highest leaders of our land violated many international agreements relating to the rules of war. Unless we address the war crimes of the Bush administration—and the prima facie evidence is overwhelming—we betray our conscience, our country, and our own faith in democracy.

The United States is bound by customary law and international laws of war: the Hague Conventions of 1889 and 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the Nuremberg Conventions adopted by the United Nations, December 11, 1945—all of which set limits beyond which, by common consent, decent peoples will not go. Under the Constitution, all treaties are part of the supreme law of the land. Humanitarian law rests on a simple principle: that human rights are measured by one yardstick. Without that principle, all jurisprudence descends into mere piety and power. Nor do violations of the laws of war by one belligerent vindicate the war crimes of another.

Of all the violations of the laws of war by the highest officials of our country, none is more alarming or portentous than the widespread, premeditated use of depleted uranium in Iraq.

Bush vs His Own Standards

Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage

President Bush said today he supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, declaring that such a measure was the only way to protect the status of marriage between man and woman, which he called "the most fundamental institution of civilization."

What is interesting about this is his insistence that he is just following the will of the people.

"The voice of the people must be heard," Mr. Bush said.

But, gee, wouldn't this be like governing by "focus group?" Or am I just being picky to expect that some common standard of judgment be applied to the president's responsibility to the electorate? I guess I'm just cynical to think that he wants the voice of the people to be heard only when it confirms his preconceived opinions. Otherwise, he will stand like a statesman above the common clamoring.

But for all the public mention, the reality is that Congress Not Rushing Gay Marriage Ban:

President Bush (news - web sites) wants quick election-year enactment of a constitutional amendment prohibiting gays from marrying each other, but Republicans in Congress are not rushing to heed his call.

After Bush's announcement Tuesday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said it would take time to gauge the level of support in Congress for a constitutional amendment. He suggested the difficulty of passing one may cause lawmakers to take a different approach to preserving marriage as a solely man-woman union.

"We don't want to do this in haste," DeLay said.

Bush vs Cold, Hard, Facts

Bush Administration forecasts are b.s. (and that's the nicest thing we can say about them):

President Bush last week caused a stir when he declined to endorse a projection, made by his own Council of Economic Advisers, that the economy would add 2.6 million jobs this year. But that forecast, derided as wildly optimistic, was one of the more modest predictions the administration has made about the economy over the past three years.
Two years ago, the administration forecast that there would be 3.4 million more jobs in 2003 than there were in 2000. And it predicted a budget deficit for fiscal 2004 of $14 billion. The economy ended up losing 1.7 million jobs over that period, and the budget deficit for this year is on course to be $521 billion.

These are not isolated cases. Over three years, the administration has repeatedly and significantly overstated the government's fiscal health and the number of jobs the economy would create, but economists and politicians disagree about why [...]

Bush has since said that his optimism about budget deficits was based on the assumption that the economy would not hit a "trifecta" of trouble: recession, national emergency and war. But in February 2002 -- after the recession was declared, the terrorist attacks had occurred and war had begun in Afghanistan -- the administration continued to have upbeat predictions. Although it forecast a $106 billion deficit in 2002, it saw the deficit shrinking to $80 billion in 2003, $14 billion in 2004, and becoming a surplus of $61 billion in 2005. Those figures, too, quickly became seen as overly optimistic, as tax receipts continued to come in lower than expected. A year later, in 2003, the administration predicted a deficit of $304 billion for 2003 and $307 billion for 2004. In reality, the 2003 deficit was $375 billion, and the White House now expects a deficit of $521 billion for 2004.

Tom Delay vs Bush?????

Tom Delay Backs Off Supporting Bush On Gay Marriage Ban!:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said he appreciated Bush's "moral leadership" on the issue, but expressed caution about moving too quickly toward a constitutional solution, and never directly supported one. "This is so important we're not going to take a knee-jerk reaction to this," Delay said. "We are going to look at our options and we are going to be deliberative about what solutions we may suggest."

This is pretty amazing. Bush is sort of out there all by himself.

Bush vs the Economy

Bush Economic Team Screwups Worry Conservatives

And scare the hell out of everyone else.

Bush vs Peace

Bush Signs Secret Directive For Iraq War In February 2002:

George Bush set the US on the path to war in Iraq with a formal order signed in February 2002, more than a year before the invasion, according to a book published yesterday.

The revelation casts doubt on the public insistence by US and British officials throughout 2002 that no decision had been taken to go to war, pending negotiations at the United Nations.

Well, duh.

Bush Friends vs the Law

Halliburton faces criminal probe

It's about time.

Bush vs Osama?

Bin Laden 'surrounded':

A BRITISH Sunday newspaper is claiming Osama bin Laden has been found and is surrounded by US special forces in an area of land bordering north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Sunday Express, known for its sometimes colourful scoops, claims the al-Qaeda leader has been "sighted" for the first time since 2001 and is being monitored by satellite.

The paper claims he is in a mountainous area to the north of the Pakistani city of Quetta. The region is said to be peopled with bin Laden supporters and the terrorist leader is estimated to also have 50 of his fanatical bodyguards with him.

The claim is attributed to "a well-placed intelligence source" in Washington, who is quoted as saying: "He (bin Laden) is boxed in."

The paper says the hostile terrain makes an all-out conventional military assault impossible. The plan to capture him would depend on a "grab-him-and-go" style operation.

"US helicopters already sited on the Afghanistan border will swoop in to extricate him," the newspaper says. It claims bin Laden and his men "sleep in caves or out in the open. The area is swept by fierce snow storms howling down from the 10,000ft-high mountain peaks. Donkeys are the only transport."

The special forces are "absolutely confident" there is no escape for bin Laden, and are awaiting the order to go in and get him.

"The timing of that order will ultimately depend on President Bush," the paper says. "Capturing bin Laden will certainly be a huge help for him as he gets ready for the election."

Maybe bullshit - maybe not. Only time will tell.

Bush vs the Truth

Mark Green has this neat summing up of Bush's problem with telling the truth - W's Reality Gap:

George W. Bush is different, very different. Other presidents have misled, deceived, even lied. When Ike was asked his worst mistake, he candidly said, "The lie we told [about the U-2]." LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin were examples of both deception and self-deception.


The problem today is not simply that "Bush is a liar." While only he knows whether he's intentionally saying untrue things, it is a provable fact that he says untrue things, again and again, on issues large and small, day in and day out. The problem is not "16 words" in last year's State of the Union but 160,000 words on stem cells, global warming, the "death tax," the Iraq-9/11 connection and the Saddam-al Qaeda connection, the rise of deficits, cuts to Americorps, the air in downtown Manhattan after 9/11. On and on. It is beyond controversy that W "has such a high regard for the truth," as Lincoln said of a rival, "that he uses it sparingly."

Why this penchant for falsehoods?

Green's answer to this question makes for insightful commentary and useful perspective on the battles soon to come.

Nader vs Bush (and the Democrats)

So Nader is going to run after all - as an independent and not affiliated with the Green Party this time. What it actually means to the Democrats is anyone's guess, but Tom Tomorrow, a Nader supporter in 2000, offers this analysis:

In more ways than one. I could surely be wrong, lord knows, but I don't think Nader will be much of an issue, in terms of the actual vote. I know there's a poll that says he'd get 4% if the election were held tomorrow, but that's nonsense. He didn't even pull 3% in 2000, and that was before--everything.

But here's the thing: I think the damage he will do is in re-igniting the liberal/left Civil War of 2000. To expand on something I wrote a few days ago: Nader's critique is, essentially, that there is a cancer on the body politic--and he's right about that. The problem in the year 2004 is that the body politic is also suffering from multiple wounds and blunt force trauma, we're in the emergency room and it's a damn mess and there's blood everywhere and the doctors are working furiously but it's anybody's guess how things are gonna turn out. We are in triage, and we have to deal with the immediate problems, or the long-term ones won't matter anyway.

Amen.

Bush Team vs Bush

Gaffes by Bush Economic Team Worry Conservatives:

More than a year after President Bush revamped his economic team, none of the current players has emerged as a leading spokesman on the economy and conservatives are fretting over a series of election-year gaffes.

The lack of a clear economic voice was underscored last week when officials were forced to back off a jobs forecast unveiled in the Feb. 9 Economic Report of the President.

The forecast called for average job growth of more than 300,000 jobs a month this year -- a figure that exceeds most private forecasts and prompted a slew of Democratic criticism.

Treasury Secretary John Snow, touring the hard-hit Pacific Northwest, was the first to pull away from the figures. White House spokesman Scott McClellan followed suit.

That forced Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Gregory Mankiw, lead author of the report, to row back, even though he had defended the numbers in a Capitol Hill hearing.

Mankiw was already in hot water for remarks that seemed to show approval of the outsourcing of jobs to cheaper labor markets overseas -- a sensitive issue at a time when the factory sector is hemorrhaging jobs.

The controversies had many conservatives cringing over what they saw as public-relations missteps with the economic report, a collaboration of officials from across the economic team.

The comforting thing here is that even Bush's own team is no longer willing to stand behind the utter horsehit the White House puts forward as policy and forecast. And this presents Bush with a major problem; during his first couple of years in office he fired any staffer who dared to take issue with his official position, and they were frequently later shown to be right and Bush wrong. So it's doubtful that he would be willing to continue firing skeptics in his administration. Especially since there are now so many of them.

Bush Friends vs Gay Marriage

Jerry Falwell Forms Anti-Gay Marriage Coalition:

The Rev Jerry Falwell announced Wednesday that he is putting aside everything to devote his time to passage of a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

"I am dedicating my talents, time and energies over the next few years to the passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which will protect the traditional family from its enemies who wish to legalize same-sex marriage and other diverse "family" forms," Falwell said.

It's bad enough that the constitution guarantees that every psycho in the country can own a lethal weapon - or as many such as they desire, but it is criminal to want to change it so that it guarantees that gays will forever be second class citizens.

It's just my personal opinion, but I think the last thing we need is more bigoted, narrow minded, divisive laws that restrict personal choice and limit behavior to conform to some specific group's religious beliefs - especially when those religious beliefs border on the insane. Remember, it was Jerry Falwell who proclaimed that God allowed the 9/11 attack to take place because he was angry about America tolerating gays and feminists. Couldn't God just as likely be ticked at pompous, hypocritical, fat assholes like Falwell pretending to speak for her?

Bush vs Jobs

As jobs vanish, U.S. is an agricultural colony:

With the markets soaring, the Bush recovery is being called a jobless recovery. Not so. We are creating millions of jobs overseas -- even as we are destroying manufacturing jobs at a rate of 77,000 per month in the United States.

Consider: Last year, we bought $958 billion worth of foreign-manufactured goods and our trade deficit in manufactures alone was more than $400 billion, more than $1 billion a day. Millions of foreign workers now labor in plants that manufacture for America, doing jobs that used to be done by American workers.

Not so long ago, Detroit was the auto capital of the world and the United States was the first nation in the production of TVs.

We don't make TVs anymore. Our trade deficits in cars, trucks, TVs, VCRs, automatic data processing equipment and office machines added up last year to $218 billion. We retain a trade surplus in airplanes and airplane parts, but, because of the competition from Airbus, that is shrinking.

After airplanes, our No. 1 export in terms of a trade surplus is . . . soybeans. Corn is next, followed by wheat, animal feeds, cotton, meat, metal ore, scrap, gold, hides and skins, pulp and waste paper, cigarettes, mineral fuels, rice, printed materials, coal, tobacco, crude fertilizer and glass. Airplanes aside, the United States has the export profile of an agricultural colony.

That is really a sobering thought.

Bush Adviser Tries To Cover His Ass

`Heads should roll' over Iraq:

Richard Perle, a chief proponent of last year's U.S. invasion of Iraq, yesterday called for the chiefs of the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. defense Intelligence Agency to step down because of their faulty conclusions that Saddam Hussein possessed mass-killing weapons. . . Perle, the former chairman of — and current member of — the defense Policy Board, a senior level advisory panel to Rumsfeld, was an advocate for overthrowing Saddam, asserting in the months leading up to the war that the Iraqi dictator's weapons stockpiles posed a grave threat to the United States.

In the lead-up to the war, Perle regularly warned about Saddam's reputed arsenal and the danger that would follow if the United Nations failed to get the Iraqi dictator to disarm.

In other words, Perle wants to punish the CIA for advocating the same position he advocated. The odd thing is, however, that the CIA was much more conservative than Perle and in this case much closer to the truth. If any head should roll it should be Perle's and his friends in the various anit-Iraq organizations that have worked so hard for this ugly and unnecessary war.

Amazing

Daley on gay marriage: 'no problem':

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he would have "no problem" with County Clerk David Orr issuing marriage licenses to gay couples -- and Orr said he's open to a San Francisco-style protest if a consensus can be built.

"They're your doctors, your lawyers, your journalists, your politicians," the mayor said. "They're someone's son or daughter. They're someone's mother or father. . . . I've seen people of the same sex adopt children, have families. [They're] great parents.

"Some people have a difference of opinion -- that only a man and a woman can get married. But in the long run, we have to understand what they're saying. They love each other just as much as anyone else.''

A devout Catholic, Daley scoffed at the suggestion that gay marriage would somehow undermine the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

"Marriage has been undermined by divorce, so don't tell me about marriage. You're not going to lecture me about marriage. People should look at their own life and look in their own mirror. Marriage has been undermined for a number of years if you look at the facts and figures on it. Don't blame the gay and lesbian, transgender and transsexual community. Please don't blame them for it," he said.

Daley said he has no control over marriage licenses in Cook County. But if Orr wants to take that bold step, the mayor has no problem with it.

Orr said he was "game to looking at options" provided a consensus could be built.

"I'm fed up with people being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. We can't even pass a law that eliminates discrimination against gay couples.

Who would have ever expected this of Chicago? Especially remembering Daley's father's regime. This is so cool - to use a 1968 turn of phrase.

Bush vs Ordinary Soldiers

Iraq Casualties MUCH Greater Than Acknowledged:

"The first Iraq war produced four classes of casualties--killed in action, wounded in action, killed in accidents (including "friendly fire"), and injuries and illnesses that appeared only after the end of hostilities. During 1990 and 1991 some 696,778 individuals served in the Persian Gulf as elements of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Of these, 148 were killed in battle, 467 were wounded in action and 145 were killed in accidents, producing a total of 760 casualties, quite a low number given the scale of operations. As of May 2002, however, the Veterans Administration reported that an additional 8,306 soldiers had died and 159,705 were injured or ill as a result of service-connected "exposures" suffered during the war. . . . In light of these deaths and disabilities, the casualty rate for the first Gulf War may actually be a staggering 29.3 percent."

Needless to say, this is not a topic the mainstream media wants to discuss. Especially in an environment when military benefits are being cut.

The estimate above is from Chalmers Johnson's great book, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. This is a followup to his groundbreaking book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, a book that could have predicted 9/11 if only the right people had paid attention to it.

More and more the truth of our world is hidden in plain sight, and even the most hard headed "realists" are looking in the wrong direction most of the time.

Bush vs American Families: Pain is Good for You

Whose Family Values?

Linguist George Lakoff discusses his theory that the conservative's idea of "family" is only one particular type - built around a "strict father." In this view of families, the liberal's "nurturing mothers" get short shrift.

"This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you." No it won't. See? Just another lie.

War Profiteering Comes of Age Under Bush

Recruiting Uncle Sam: The Military Uses a Revolving Door to Defense Jobs
The secret to a successful long term policy of stability in the cut-throat arena of military procurement where government-military-private complicity is important at every step of the way, is to insure that like a good Mafia arrangement, everyone gets a taste of the profit.

And it isn't just Americans who cash in; we're even so generous we can reward convicted felons - as long as they have done our bidding.

Start-up Company With Connections: U.S. gives $400M in work to contractor with ties to Pentagon favorite on Iraqi Governing Council
And don't forget, Chalabi was the source of most of what turned out to be the bad intelligence about WMD. What a new concept, massive pay for fraudulent info. Sounds like the Bush administration to me.

Bush vs Free Speech

FEC Moves to Regulate Groups Opposing Bush
No doubt panicked at players like financier George Soros who has declared that nothing he can do with his billions of dollars is more important than defeating Bush in 2004.

Bush vs Modern Science

Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts:

The Bush administration has deliberately and systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad, a group of about 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement issued today.

Hallibuton Investigation: Another Inside Job for the Bushies

BUSH FAMILY LAWYER JAMES DOTY HIRED TO CONDUCT INTERNAL PROBE OF HALLIBURTON INVOLVEMENT IN NIGERIA PAYMENTS:

Halliburton Co. has hired Bush family lawyer James Doty to investigate allegedly corrupt payments made in Nigeria at a time when Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of the company, the Corporate Crime Reporter has learned.

Doty is lead partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Baker Botts. Halliburton announced earlier this month that it had hired an outside law firm to conduct an internal investigation into the brewing scandal, but the company refused to name the law firm or the lawyer conducting the inquiry.

That might be because of the law firm’s and the lawyer’s close ties to the Bush family and administration.

These people are so brazen. This guy served as chairman of the securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Bush Sr and was the one in charge when the SEC "looked into" the shady financial transactions of George W Bush when he was accused of insider trading. That investigation was closed with no decision and no action and Bush has always maintained since that he was vindicated, but in fact the SEC just dropped the case like a hot potato.

When the National Guard controversy cools down, maybe we should revive the Bush insider trading story. I think it is time. Especially when the players in that travesty are brought out and given roles in the current ugliness.

Bush Only Kidding About All Those Jobs

Bush Officials Offer Cautions on White House Jobs Forecast:

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow distanced himself on Tuesday from the Bush administration's official prediction that the nation would add 2.6 million jobs by the end of this year.

That prediction, which is far more optimistic than that of many private sector forecasters, was part of the annual economic report released last week by the White House Council of Economic Advisers and was immediately echoed by Mr. Bush himself.

But on a tour through Washington and Oregon to promote the president's economic agenda, Mr. Snow and Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans both declined to endorse the White House prediction and cautioned that it was based on economic assumptions that have an inherent margin of error.

You know things are bad when even those picked to pitch the president's vision can't bring themselves to do it. Snow best be careful - contradicting the boss got his predecessor fired. But for any of us needing to believe that all sanity hasn't departed the government, hearing that some members of this administration actually don't buy into the rosy fantasy Dubya is peddling is kind of encouraging.

Bush vs Peace in Iraq

Iraq may be slipping into civil war:

"The potential for a civil war is already in place," said Stansfield of Exeter University. "It does not need al-Qaida to encourage it."

The Kurds, believed to form 15-20 percent of the population, remain fixated on a single goal -- preserving and expanding the self rule they have enjoyed in their northern regions since 1991.

Kurds are locked in a power struggle with Sunni Arabs over the limits of federalism in the new Iraq. Kurdish claims to Kirkuk have served to unite the oil-rich city's Arab and ethnic Turkish residents against them and have raised alarm bells here and in neighboring countries over the possible dismemberment of Iraq.

Worsening tensions come at a time of increased suicide attacks against Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S.-led coalition. Such attacks cast doubt on U.S. claims that Iraqi security forces can maintain order after the handover of sovereignty this summer.

Those doubts have encouraged key Iraqi groups to resist coalition demands to disband armed militias such as the Kurdish peshmergas, who fought with U.S. troops against Saddam's military last year, and the Shitte Badr Brigade.

Moderate Islamic writer Fahmi Howeidi has warned the power transfer could provide the catalyst for civil war.

"The possibility of a civil war breaking out cannot be ruled out if the withdrawal goes ahead against this backdrop of a huge void in central authority," he wrote in a recent article published in the London-based, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Since Bush is desperate to exit in time to claim a victory before the election, things don't look good for the average Iraqi.

The Voters vs Bush Policies

Democrat defeats Bush Republican in Kentucky 6th District Congressional election:

This was the first federal election of the 2004 cycle. Kerr based her campaign almost exclusively on her strong support for the Bush agenda. And the AP is now reporting that Chandler has beaten Kerr decisively. That marks the first time since 1991 that a Democrat has won a Republican seat in a special election.

I don't want to get cocky, but this is VERY encouraging for those of us who believe that Bush's policies are not supported by a majority of Americans.

Bush vs Competence

Prosecutor in terror case controversy sues Ashcroft:

A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.
. . .
The suit is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism prosecution, which is now in danger of unraveling over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Convertino came under internal investigation last fall after providing information to a Senate committee about his concerns about the war on terror. His testimony came just months after he helped convict some members of an alleged terrorism cell in Detroit.

The government now admits it failed to turn over evidence during the trial that might have assisted the defense, including an allegation from an imprisoned drug gang leader who claimed the government's key witness made up his story.

This is about what I would expect of Ashcroft - exaggerate, cut corners, and then sue anyone who calls you on it. He must be really at home in this administration.

Bush vs Winning Hearts and Minds in Iraq

U.S. May Veto Islamic Law in Iraq:

The top U.S. administrator in Iraq suggested Monday he would block any interim constitution that would make Islam the chief source of law, as some members of the Iraqi Governing Council have sought.

L. Paul Bremer said the current draft of the constitution would make Islam the state religion of Iraq and "a source of inspiration for the law" - as opposed to the main source.

But what's the problem? It would be faith based. Isn't that what this administration wants? Oh, right. Wrong faith. With Bush it's always "my way or the highway."

Looks like a long road for the Iraqis.

Bush vs Presidents Past

President's Day:
According to South Knox Bubba, this is what today is all about - "Today is the day we honor great American presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. George W. Bush is working furiously to secure his place in history alongside the greats. Here's his updated list of accomplishments so far:

Rigged an election in conspiracy with brother Jeb in Florida to take office.

Appoints administration made up of former executives and government officials who helped Saddam develop WMD, were involved in illegal arms sales, traded with the enemy in violation of U.S. law, and whose companies now profit from war.

Stonewalled GAO and Congress request for documents relating to Enron influence of Federal Energy Policy.

Representing party of smaller government and less Federal spending, creates largest bureaucracy in U.S. history and signs largest entitlement spending program in U.S. history.

Although recovering now, presided over a 30% loss in Dow Jones Industrial Average, nearly a 50% loss in NASDAQ, and a 33% loss in S&P 500, wiping out trillions in wealth. Despite a recent extended bull market, the markets have yet to recover back to where they were the day Bush took office.

Presided over an increase in consumer debt to all time record high of over $2 trillion and an increase in personal bankruptcy filings to an all time high of 1.6 million households in 2003.

Despite taking over after the longest and largest economic expansion in U.S. history, presided over the loss of more than three million jobs, with the highest unemployment in a decade and nearly nine million people out of work.

Presided over the largest trade deficit in U.S. history, a record $489.4 billion in 2003, while the value of the dollar has reached an all time low against the Euro and the Yen.

Presides over illegal arrest and detention and physical abuse of criminal suspects, who are held in secret without benefit of counsel without any charges.

Signs "Patriot Act" that limits civil liberties and violates the Bill of Rights contained within the Constitution he took an oath to protect and defend.

Despite inheriting an $80 billion surplus from the Clinton administration, turns it into a $2 trillion deficit with tax cuts, war, and out of control spending.

Bush tax cuts could pay for hiring all nine million people out of work and pay them $40K for two years instead of benefiting wealthy.

Gutted clean air regulations, allowing utilities and factories to continue polluting the atmosphere, calling it "Clear Skies".

Rolls back environmental reviews and opens national forests up to the logging industry, calling it "Healthy Forests".

Rolled back wetlands protection, reducing or eliminating regulations prohibiting pollution of wetlands, calls it "Clean Water Act".

Rolled back wilderness protections, opening up wilderness areas to logging, mining, other development.

Promotes school vouchers to take taxpayer money away from public education and give it to wealthy families to send their kids to private and mostly religious schools.

Adopts the Project for a New American Century's strategy paper on Rebuilding America's Defenses as the official U.S. National Security policy, a policy that calls for imperialist expansion in the middle east and hopes for a national catastrophe "on the scale of Pearl Harbor" to awaken the public to the dangers posed by not adopting this policy. Hires most of its authors to run the Pentagon and develop defense policy.

Worst terrorist attack in history, and the worst attack on U.S. soil occurred on current administration's watch, and Bush undermines efforts to investigate mounting evidence of numerous warnings that could have prevented it.

Made speeches and signed laws promising more funding for shipping container inspections at U.S. ports to look for nukes and other WMD, then eliminated funding from budget.

Allowed North Korean sale of Scud missiles to Yemen.

Made deal with Iranian terrorist organization.

Conducted preemptive unprovoked military invasion of sovereign state resulting in hundreds of military casualties and thousands of civilian deaths, deceived Congress and UN Security Council using "sexed-up" intelligence to justify.

Claims two trailers used to make hydrogen for balloons, a vial of botox in some guy's refrigerator, and some junk buried in some guy's rose garden are "proof" of Iraqi WMD "programs", or as they are later termed in his State of the Union, "weapons of mass destruction related program activities".

When U.S. weapons inspectors cannot find 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent, tens of thousands of chem/bio warheads, and an advanced nuclear weapons program in Iraq and say that in fact they probably never existed despite Bush telling Congress and the American people they posed a "grave danger" and Rumsfeld saying "we know where they are" and Powell showing the U.N. pictures of them, Bush says "What's the difference?" and blames it on faulty intelligence.


Proposes sweeping cuts in veteran's benefits, instructs Veteran's Administration to deceive veterans with regard to benefits available.

Dressed in fighter pilot costume and flew military jet to aircraft carrier for stunt landing and political fundraising/campaign event despite having ticket pulled and being grounded for failing to take required physical and drug test and being curiously absent from his post during Vietnam conflict .

Declares victory in Iraq, yet soldiers die in Iraq every day, half the country has no electricity or water, attempts to install democracy failing miserably, WMD cannot be found, neither can Osama.

Has destroyed American respect and credibility around the world. Unable to get assistance from France, Germany, or India to provide troops for additional security and peacekeeping in Iraq.

Administration under investigation for illegally leaking the name of a covert CIA agent in retaliation for her husband exposing lies about Iraq's nuclear weapons program. The CIA demanded an investigation after Bush's denials.


Proposes development of tactical nuclear weapons in violation of 1992 Senate ban which Bush worked to repeal.

Begins privatization of Medicare disguised as prescription drug benefit.

Tax cuts would fund health insurance for all 43 million uninsured Americans, including nearly ten million uninsured children.

Pushes legislation to eliminate overtime pay for up to eight million American working people.

Pushes legislation to limit medical malpractice claims to $250K, even if an incompetent doctor kills your wife or cuts off your legs instead of removing your appendix.

Installs new Senate majority leader with ties to health care industry to shepherd through legislation benefiting corporate insurance and pharmaceutical pals.

Pushes legislation to limit bankruptcy protections for consumers targeted by predatory lenders, but proposes no reforms for rogue corporations such as Enron that blow off creditors, employees, and investors at pennies on the dollar.

According to a biographer, believes that he was selected by God to lead America and had preachers come to the Governor's mansion in Texas to "lay hands" on him and pray for his future during his campaign.

Appoints as U.S. Attorney General a fundamentalist Christian who believes he receives divine guidance directly from God and anoints himself with Crisco and who was defeated by a dead man in his failed U.S. Senate election campaign.

Pushes legislation to fund faith based social programs, Congress rejects it, Bush issues executive order to allow Federally Funded local and state programs to hire or fire based on religion or ideology and to promote religion as part of delivering services.

Declines invitation to NAACP convention, but addresses Southern Baptist Convention by satellite, calling them faithful servants and praying for them, while they adopt a policy that "homosexuals can find freedom from this sinful, destructive lifestyle" by accepting Jesus as their savior.


Comments on Supreme Court homosexual rights decision, declares "marriage should be between a man and a woman", proposes constitutional amendment in State of the Union address.

Sends letter to Supreme Court urging them to strike down Affirmative Action programs, celebrates Strom Thurmond's "remarkable life" and says he was a friend.

Despite being at war around the world and under constant threat of terrorist attack at home, Bush has spent 27% of his presidency on vacation, taking more vacation days in his first three years than Clinton took in seven years.

Plans on spending $200 million plus to get re-elected against challengers the GOP says are unelectable.

On the other hand, he captured Saddam, so we should all be proud to call George W. Bush our president on President's Day. But if people are paying attention, he probably won't be president on President?s day 2005."

Amen!

Bush vs His Own History

The real question is how did the young man with marginal test scores get the plum wartime assignment:

Rather than only asking how a young George W. got out of the National Guard, we ought to ask how he got in when 350 American men were dying each week in Vietnam and 100,000 were on National Guard waiting lists across the country. For years the talk in Austin political circles had Bush using his father’s stroke as a Republican congressman from Houston to secure one of two or three rare open billets in an Air National Guard Unit — after scoring in the 25th percentile on the standard test given to flight-program candidates.

And then there is this interesting and related story about how Bush's Test for Pilot Training Was Altered:

Bush's AFOQT record shows that the "Pilot Aptitude" score was blacked out and the value "25" entered and initialed by "RJD". One possible meaning is that a value lower than "25" was blacked out and replaced with the value "25".

Is "25" the lowest score for anyone to be admitted to flight training?

Bush vs Due Process

A Life Sentence Without a Trial?:

Senior U.S. defense officials have told The New York Times that they are planning to keep many of the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees there for many years, maybe "indefinitely," which presumably means for life.

So tell me again what is supposed to be so great about the American system. If we can just let the president and his good buddies get away with pretending that the constitution - not to mention international treaty obligations - don't mean anything if he chooses to ignore them, we have no democracy at all. It is all a sham. Why aren't the papers full of outrage at this kind of ugly, tyrannical overreach?

Bush vs Public Health

Dubya Dumped MTBE Ban To Aid Campaign Donor:

The Bush administration quietly shelved a proposal to ban a gasoline additive that contaminates drinking water in many communities, helping an industry that has donated more than $1 million to Republicans.
The Environmental Protection Agency's decision had its origin in the early days of President Bush's tenure when his administration decided not to move ahead with a Clinton-era regulatory effort to ban the clean-air additive MTBE.

The proposed regulation said the environmental harm of the additive leaching into ground water overshadowed its beneficial effects to the air.

The Bush administration decided to leave the issue to Congress, where it has bogged down over a proposal to shield the industry from some lawsuits. That initiative is being led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Bush vs America's Real Interests

Electoral arithmetic that binds Bush to bin Laden:

Americans have not yet understood that Bush is spending their children's money, and haven't yet felt the catastrophic fall in the dollar's value. What they do know is that they are paying less tax and that they can borrow cheaply. To hell with talk of inflation. That's a European thing, ain't it?

All this - liberal outrage, swing voters, gun clubs, the economy even - counts for nothing in the face of the country's Number One Foe - Osama bin Laden.

In a very real sense, he is Bush's greatest electoral asset. If he is captured or killed in the next nine months, Bush is probably a shoo-in. If he remains at large, Bush doesn't really need to present a case other than the one he made on Meet the Press last Sunday, when he said: 'I'm a war President. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind.'

The rather chilling thing is to consider how bin Laden and his al-Qaeda lieutenants view the election. Would they rather have a President Kerry or Edwards, who would make overtures to Islam, embrace the UN and heed world opinion, or would they prefer four more years of a man who had done so much to isolate America from the rest of the world?

Osama needs George, and to a degree George needs the mystical fear that Osama evokes. And it is this fear that will see this second-rate, isolationist, spendthrift President re-elected to the White House.

Bush vs An Understanding of What 9/11 Was About

IRAQ AND AL-QAEDA
Part 1 - The usual suspects:

With full exposure of the weapons of mass destruction sham, the official Washington excuse for the Iraq war has changed: now the spin is that Saddam was a bad guy, and terrorism in Iraq (which did not exist in the first place) must be fought. The ever-elusive bin Laden remains the main justification for the Bush administration.

Yet what is qualified as "terrorism" in Iraq is being conducted by a cluster of the so-called "unaligned mujahideen", with only marginal input from al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups. The American non-governmental organization Iraq Body Count, in a still partial investigation that has not covered the whole country, has stated that there have been more than 10,000 civilian deaths in the Iraq war. As the number of seriously wounded in such wars is usually four times bigger than the number of fatal casualties, there may be 40,000 injured civilians. Russian observers estimate Iraqi military losses at 30,000 deaths and 120,000 seriously wounded. This means that many Iraqis now know that in the name of their "liberation", the Americans have killed or maimed 200,000 people. When something like this happens, you don't need any help from al-Qaeda to fuel your anger.

Part 2: Why al-Qaeda votes Bush:

While it's generally acknowledged that political Islam retains its vibrancy, some observers contended that Arab nationalism was already on life support, and now identify April 9, 2003, the day Baghdad fell, as the official time of death. The veracity of their post mortem matters, because American soldiers now occupy a historical center of Arab aspirations. And the aspirations of the Arabs have been embodied largely by Arab nationalism - the political ideology that privileges the unity of Arabic-speaking peoples and which coalesced into "the Arab awakening" after World War I.

As the United States attempts to impose democracy US-style in Iraq and beyond in the Middle East, it may find that indigenous ideologies, like Arab nationalism, are more resilient than it had expected.

Hentoff vs Ashcroft

In The Village Voice, Nat Hentoff reports on The Diminishing of John Ashcroft

CBS vs Bush

In a pale fit of fairness (after rejecting the MoveOn.org ad about Bush's budget) CBS Pulls Advertisement on Medicare Prepared by Administration:

CBS said on Friday that it had stopped running a television advertisement for the new Medicare prescription drug law while Congress investigates its accuracy.

The 30-second advertisement, prepared by the Bush administration, assures Medicare beneficiaries that the program is not changing in any way except to provide "more benefits." Democratic members of Congress and some liberal advocacy groups say the advertisement amounts to a taxpayer-subsidized political commercial for the administration.

Bush Hypocrasy

It seems that George W. Bush has a nuclear credibility problem:

President Bush's call for a crackdown on nuclear proliferation is the right message from a flawed messenger. The first step for the president in achieving his goals is conducting a fundamental reassessment of his own excessively confrontational foreign policy.
The speech Bush delivered Wednesday at Washington's National Defense University was welcome but years late. The threat of nuclear proliferation has grown more dire since he took office, and much of the problem can be traced to the leader of the world's premier nuclear power.

Always a case of do as I say, not as I do.

Bush Administration vs Real Security

Pentagon Regularly Shortcuts Operational Testing of Weapons, Report Says:

The Air Force has spent $32 billion on its new F-22 supersonic stealth fighter. Twenty aircraft have come off the production line and hundreds more are planned.

But rigorous, independent field testing -- to find out if the F-22 actually works -- hasn't yet begun.

Every Day in Every Way Iraq Is Getting Better and Better. NOT.

Security compound and police station attacked in Iraq:

Guerrillas shouting 'God is great' launched a bold daylight assault on an Iraqi police station and security compound west of Baghdad on Saturday, freeing prisoners and sparking a gunbattle that killed 20 people and wounded 30, police and hospital officials said.

The same security compound was attacked two days earlier by gunmen just as the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, was visiting the site in Fallujah. Abizaid escaped that attack unharmed.

And then there is this; Insurgents attack five sites, kill 17 Iraqi policemen :

Insurgents here staged simultaneous morning assaults on three police stations, a civil defense base and the mayor's office Saturday in what one Iraqi military leader called a "well-coordinated and well-financed attack."

And the BBC reports Iraq's police under fire:

Iraq's civilian security forces have suffered a week of devastating attacks with a deadly gun battle outside a police station in Falluja following bomb blasts outside police and army recruiting centres.
. . .
More than 300 officers have been killed since the new police force was established after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

There have also been incidents where US soldiers have shot and killed police officers, in cases of apparent mistaken identity.

Sounds like the basis for a solid democracy to me.

California Gays vs Bush

Gay nuptials for hundreds

A San Francisco judge Friday refused to stop the city's unprecedented gay marriage spree, prompting elated officials to declare they will keep City Hall open through the three-day weekend so more same-sex couples can tie the knot.

The People vs Bush's War

The Christian Science Monitor reports that for the first time since the United States invaded Iraq a year ago, the nation is evenly divided over the war.

Pat Buchanan vs Bush

This is conservative Pat Buchanan's take on Bush and the war with Iraq - he sees it as a A Matter of Trust:

Most Americans yet believe President Bush did the right thing in ridding Iraq and the world of Saddam Hussein. Yet, how we were persuaded to go to war raises grave questions about the character and competence of those who led us into it.

As we now know, Iraq had no tie to Osama, no role in 9-11, no nuclear program, no weapons of mass destruction, no plans to attack us. Its people did not threaten us and did not want war with us.

When a conservative Republican of Buchanan's stature starts to publicly question and criticise the president and his administration's war policies you know they are in real trouble.

History will record this as Bush's War. And he seems content with that judgment. But the price of victory has been the lost trust of many of his countrymen and of much of the world. The credibility of yet another administration has been compromised. Was it worth it?

And if it was not the weapons, what was the real reason America went to war on Iraq?

What indeed? If Buchanan is asking these questions you know Rove is sweating.

Bush vs Cheney?

What will happen if - as seems likely - there are indictments against one or more of Dick Cheney's staff in connection with the Valerie Plame investigation? Some think it may mean Cheney will have to fall on his sword:

As the grand jury exploring the leak of Valerie Plame's identity edges ever closer to Cheney's office, the voices wondering whether Dick will be out of work come November grow louder. The fact that 3 of the 5 suspects in the case are either past or present employees of the VP isn't helping to boost his flagging popularity in White House polls which, according to the Guardian U.K., suggest that Cheney as a running mate might make for a losing ticket. Terry McAuliffe, head of the DNC, wrote in a not too subtle statement: "we hope that President Bush will keep his word and hold accountable those responsible for the White House leak - no matter how high their post."

The Guardian report goes on to cite the litany of Cheney woes including a parallel grand jury looking into the purchase of uranium in Niger, and the possibility of Halliburton bribes during Mr.Cheney's tenure as CEO. He, of course, still receives 'deferred compensation' from Halliburton. But that's just a tax write-off.

Bush Under Seige

In an excellent review of recent hardships, Calpundit summarizes the newest issues to confront the Bush administration:

BAD TIMES....It's been a rough few weeks for President Bush, hasn't it? Let us count the ways.
David Kay says "We were all wrong." The administration's near panic to pull out of Iraq has become almost palpable. The State of the Union speech was met with a combination of yawns and derision. (Steroids?) The 2005 budget was immediately mocked as a new low point in numerical mendacity and/or self-delusion. Democrats are regrettably poised to nominate someone other than Howard Dean. Job growth is sluggish to nonexistent. Indictments at very high levels seem imminent in the Valerie Plame case. The State and Defense departments are close to open warfare. Approval ratings are in free fall.

And to top it all off, we have the National Guard media frenzy, surely a shock to a bunch of political pros who figured that stonewalling had worked just fine in 1994 and 2000 and would work just fine again. When it didn't, they inexplicably decided that releasing a bunch of pay records would shut everyone up and were shocked yet again when it didn't. Then, in an example of self-imposed Chinese water torture unparalleled in modern politics they decided to release a single presidential dental record while admitting that they also had a big pile of other medical records but weren't going to release any of them. Yet.

It almost makes you feel sorry for them, doesn't it? Almost.

Bush Support Slipping Away in Congress

In an unusual situation for the current administration, Republican Senators are breaking ranks to support an investigation into how a staffer of Majority Leader Bill Frist hacked into computer databases used by Democrats.

Bush Plans Slipping Away in Iraq

U.N. Envoy Backs Iraqi Vote

The Public vs Bush's War

According to a new Washington Post - ABC News Poll, Most Think Truth Was Stretched to Justify Iraq War.

Will the Real George W. Bush Please Go Away

Paul Krugman says the reason the Texas Air National Guard controversy is so important is because it goes to the heart of the question of who George W. Bush really is; The Real Man:

To understand why questions about George Bush's time in the National Guard are legitimate, all you have to do is look at the federal budget published last week. No, not the lies, damned lies and statistics — the pictures.

By my count, this year's budget contains 27 glossy photos of Mr. Bush. We see the president in front of a giant American flag, in front of the Washington Monument, comforting an elderly woman in a wheelchair, helping a small child with his reading assignment, building a trail through the wilderness and, of course, eating turkey with the troops in Iraq. Somehow the art director neglected to include a photo of the president swimming across the Yangtze River.

It was not ever thus. Bill Clinton's budgets were illustrated with tables and charts, not with worshipful photos of the president being presidential.

The issue here goes beyond using the Government Printing Office to publish campaign brochures. In this budget, as in almost everything it does, the Bush administration tries to blur the line between reverence for the office of president and reverence for the person who currently holds that office.

Why Did Bush Miss That Required Flight Medical Exam?

According to the book "Fortunate Son" by J. H. Hatfield
Bush was arrested for cocaine in 1972:

Hatfield quotes "a high-ranking advisor to Bush" who confirmed that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in Houston in 1972, and had the record expunged by a judge who was "a fellow Republican and elected official" who helped Bush get off "with a little community service at a minority youth center instead of having to pick cotton on a Texas prison farm."

Hatfield quotes a former Yale classmate who told him: "George W. was arrested for possession of cocaine in 1972, but due to his father's connections, the entire record was expunged by a state judge whom the older Bush helped get elected. It was one of those 'behind closed doors in the judges' chambers' kind of thing between the old man and one of his Texas cronies who owed him a favor ... There's only a handful of us that know the truth."

Another source named only as "a longtime Bush friend" described the situation this way: "Say you get a D in algebra ... and now you're going to be required to repeat the class the following year, but your teacher says if you promise to be tutored during the summer by a friend of hers who's good in math, she'll change the D to a C. You spend a few hours a week during the summer vacation learning all about arithmetical operations and relationships, and then the teacher issues you a new report card, replacing the old one on file in the principal's office ... Something akin to that scenario is what happened with Bush in 1972."

Hatfield also says that when he asked Scott McClellan to comment on the allegation of a former Yale classmate of Bush's that the presidential hopeful was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972 and had his record expunged in exchange for community service at Project P.U.L.L., the Bush campaign spokesman said, sotto voce, "Oh, shit," followed by, "No comment."

McClellan denies that the exchange ever occurred.

For those who don't remember, Hatfield, the author of these charges, claimed, after the publication of his book, that he was receiving threatening phone calls from Bush friends and supporters and was later found dead in a hotel room under suspicious circumstances.

The Bush National Guard Story Gets Stranger and Stranger

Bush moved to Alabama unit without Air Force permission

George W. Bush left his Texas Air National Guard assignment and moved to Alabama in 1972 even though the Air Force denied his request for a transfer, according to his military records.

In fact, Bush did not even ask for an official transfer until nine days after he moved to Alabama in May 1972.

The Air Force quickly rejected Bush's request, saying the fighter pilot was "ineligible" to move to the Alabama unit Bush wanted - a squadron of postal handlers.

Nevertheless, Bush stayed in Alabama until his Texas commanders finally gave him written authorization five months later to train there.

Gee, the delays and evasions here sound a lot like those that attend his failures to conform to SEC regulations in his stock sales and other questionable "investment" incidents. A man who has always felt entitled to do whatever he wants - and is answerable to no one.

The Real Question About Bush's Time in the National Guard

Why Wasn't George Flying?

This whole story of Bush's National Guard Service or lack of same is very interesting and does seem to have the President (and his credibility) on the run. But I am afraid that both Russert and Moore are missing the important question. The question is not "Where was George?" as Sen. Edward Kennedy so famously asked. Unfortunately the President and minions have that one covered. You have to admit that a charge of desertion is not going to stick to someone who got an honorable discharge. Trying to piece together the part time service of a Guardsman is probably difficult at best.

But there is a question that is unanswered and frankly more important. Perhaps we can get Ted to ask "Why didn't George fly again?" The fact of the matter is no matter how many hours George put in after 1972 none of them were as a pilot. Apparently he refused to take his flight physical. He has come up with some Bushwa about his personal physician being in Houston while he was in Georgia, yadda, yadda, yadda, but he didn't get a physical when he got back to Texas either. Apparently he never did.

In his biography, Dubyah claims to have continued flying until his discharge. Obviously he didn't. Training a pilot is an expensive proposition. I don't think the country got its money's worth.

Ooops

Why isn't this a national story?

Retired National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett said Tuesday that in 1997, then-Gov. Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, told the National Guard chief to get the Bush file and make certain "there's not anything there that will embarrass the governor."

Col. Burkett said that a few days later at Camp Mabry in Austin, he saw Mr. Bush's file and documents from it discarded in a trash can. He said he recognized the documents as retirement point summaries and pay forms.

Bush vs Working People

Bush Supports Shift of Jobs Overseas:

The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said Monday.

New York Times Editorial vs Bush

In a major departure from recent pandering, the editorial page of the Times takes a hard line on George W. Bush's performance on "Meet the Press":

Some of Mr. Bush's comments yesterday raise questions even more disturbing than the idea that senior administration members might have misled the nation about the intelligence on Iraq. The nation obviously needs a leader who is always alert to the threat of terrorism from abroad. But it cannot afford to have one who responds to the trauma of 9/11 by overreacting to the possibility of danger. In the coming campaign, Mr. Bush, who described himself as a "war president," is going to have to show the country that he is capable of distinguishing real threats from false alarms, and has the courage to tell the nation the truth about something as profound as war. Nothing in the interview offered much hope in that direction.

Chris Matthews vs Bush

Amazing. I'm watching Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball", and the criticism of Bush's performance on "Meet the Press" is pretty severe - including speculation that Bush's National Guard record is a story with legs. IT'S ABOUT TIME, DAMNIT! The facts have been out there since Dubyah first ran for Governor of Texas. You'd think the press would be more aggerssive than that.

Bush Administration vs "Old" Europe

I find this kind of thing so very puzzling. It seems that the administration's various mouthpieces are still speaking the same old discredited propaganda about Iraq that got us into this mess, despite everyone knowing it is untrue:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Saturday offered an impassioned defense of the American-led war against Iraq to some of Europe's fiercest critics of the conflict.

Mr. Rumsfeld placed the blame for the war squarely on Saddam Hussein for his "deception and defiance," and refusal to abandon his illegal weapons program, as Libya did recently.

"It was his choice," Mr. Rumsfeld said in a speech here to 250 government ministers, lawmakers and national security experts from 30 countries, most of them in Europe. "If the Iraqi regime had taken the same steps Libya is now taking, there would have been no war."

So, let's get this straight, even though Saddam claimed to have no WMDs and did, in fact, allow the U. N. inspectors in, and did grant them unlimited access, and even though they reported that there was no evidence of either stockpiles of WMDs or any ongoing production of WMDs, and even though he did allow the destruction of his "illegal" missiles that could fly a few kilometers further than their legal limit, he was judged - by the paranoid Bush administration - to be a terrible threat that had to be dealt with immediately. And Lybia is doing what, exactly, that is better? Rumsfeld complains that Saddam refused to "abandon his illegal weapons program" - which our own chief weapons inspector Dr. David Kay said he had abandoned a decade ago. What kind of fantasy land do these people live in? And do they think no one else notices?

Some European participants said they were stunned by what they called Mr. Rumsfeld's arrogance, especially in light of the apparent intelligence failures in Iraq. "His view is, `We're right, they're wrong, and we'll continue to be right,' " said Christoph Bertram, director of the German Institute for International Politics and Security in Berlin. "It was a performance of `We know better.' "

We are very far down the rabbit hole and it just gets crazier and crazier.

Bush Bashing For Fun: Animation

Bush in 41.2 Seconds

Bush vs the War on Drugs

Record Afghan opium output forecast

KABUL (Reuters) - Opium output has hit a record high in Afghanistan in 2003, with another increase expected this year in the war-torn country that does not have any other real exports, a conference has been told.

Two years after the ruling Taliban were ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition, opium production has skyrocketed as farmers in lawless provinces crank up output, threatening efforts to strengthen the government and establish a proper economy.

Doesn't it just make you feel so proud? We have "liberated" the Afghan people not only from the Taliban but from any meaningful legal economy as well. Having a president who is a former consultant for UNOCAL and who wants to sell the country's future to big oil companies is no substitute for an economy that supports ordinary people.

Of course, we are doing the same thing in Iraq, where all the contracts and big money are going to foreign contractors and big businesses and the ordinary Iraqi goes wanting. What is the rationale for importing laborers from Asia and elsewhere when unemployment in Iraq is at record levels? It is almost as if our imperial planners want to instill the maximum amount of resentment and anger against us. It seem so unnecessary and self-defeating in the long run.

At least next time we won't have to ask "Why do they hate us?" We will know why; we asked for it.

Bush Supports Nukes For Rogue States

Saddam gets bombed because he had the desire to build "a weapon" but our good friend Pervez Musharraf, military dictator of Pakistan, gets millions in aid while allowing his chief scientest to profit from the sell of nuclear technology to rogue states:

President Pervez Musharraf has pledged that the disgraced founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program can keep the vast wealth he accumulated selling bomb-making technology to rogue states around the world.
. . .
"He can keep his money," Musharraf said, adding there had been good reason not to investigate the origin of Khan's suspicious wealth before 1998, when Pakistan successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. "We wanted the bomb in the national interest, and so you have to ask yourself whether you act against the person who enabled you to get the bomb."

This is beyond disgusting. And where is the outrage from the Bush administration?

A couple of days ago in his speech at Georgetown University, CIA Director George Tenet gave his agency credit for exposing this sale of nuclear technology but if they really knew what was going on and allowed it to happen - for whatever reason - he should be fired. Who else knew what was going on? When did they know? Why was nothing said publicly before last week? The CIA has a very long and dangerously close relationship with the ISI, Pakistani's intelligence outfit, strongly Islamist in orientation, an early and longterm sponser of the Taliban and al Queda - and we trust these people? Does the public look totally stupid to the Bushies?

A lot of people have some serious explaining to do. Will they? Will the press insist? Will congress?

The Liquid List has this very interesting take on the Pakistani question.

Bush Lays An Egg

Numerous reviews of the lame Bush appearance on Meet the Press, including this interesting piece from Calpundit where he highlights even conserevative National Review Online criticisms of the interview:

Michael Graham: President Bush looks like he's afraid of Tim Russert. He's stammering and unsteady. For the first time, I've felt a twinge of fear myself about the November election.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Not to pile on here, but I think lots of eyebrows legitimately raise re: the March 2005 commission deadline. I'm not sure he sufficiently answered that?

Kathryn Jean Lopez: A pundit-type just said to me: "If he loses this year, this will be the day he lost it."

Rod Dreher: I'm afraid I have to side with Michael on the Bush interview. I kept wincing as the president bobbled his answers....He had better get his act together....

John Derbyshire: Just got through watching the President on Meet the Press. I thought it was a pretty dismal performance. I'll be voting for GWB in November, but let's face it, the Great Communicator he ain't. The tongue-tied blather was coming thick and fast. At times, he looked like Al Sharpton on the Federal Reserve.

Russert: "Why didn't you establish the intelligence commission earlier?"
GWB: "Blather blather blather. No answer."

Russert: "Will you yourself testify before the commission?"
GWB: "Blather blather blather. No answer."

The Center for American Progress has a take on the interview. This deserves to read in detail:

Statement of John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress

"President Bush wouldn't have agreed to an hour long network interview without a good reason and today he had one: in the span of a week he's faced the dual challenges of a loss of credibility on the war in Iraq and his management of the economy.

"His statement this morning that he would cut the deficit in half is simply laughable. Analyses by independent organizations like Goldman Sachs, the Concord Coalition, the Committee for Economic Development, and Decision Economics all project deficits of about $5 trillion over the next decade, even assuming a return to strong growth."

"The President's statement that there is 'good momentum' on the job creation front is dishonest: while we are averaging 72,000 new private sector jobs created per month, at that pace, it would not be until May 2007 that this President would have created his first net job. President Bush is well on his way to having the worst job creation record since the Great Depression. His bragging today only served to reinforce his lack of credibility on managing the nation's economy.

"And what the President referred to as a "word contest" regarding the threat from Iraq is, in fact, his attempt to change the rationale for going to war and rewrite the history of what has occurred. His argument today that Iraq had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction and pass them into the hands of shadowy terrorist networks is inconsistent with the intelligence provided to him.

President Bush sought to restore his credibility today and he clearly failed to do so."

Another set of responses can be found at the DNC's website:

President Bush's February 8 campaign stop on Meet the Press failed to answer the questions the American people deserve to hear about his failed policies. Instead, Bush took the opportunity to spin the facts and continue misleading the American people.

The complete DNC report addressing each issue in detail can be found here.

Bush vs the Press: Meet the Press Transcript

Meet the Press: Interview with George W. Bush

Russert is lapdog, not bulldog. OK questions generally but Bush evades and Russert doesn't bother to follow up. Pathetic.

George McGovern Provides Some Perspective

Someone we haven't heard from in a while, but hear about daily as candidates are compared to him, George McGovern provides a bit of perspective on who he is and what his candidacy meant:

I bested 16 other contenders in winning the nomination, with primary election victories in 11 states, including New York and California. Critics overlook the shooting of Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, who otherwise would have run as an independent, taking perhaps 20 million votes from Nixon. The formula for Nixon's landslide victory was the Wallace vote added to the Nixon vote. Critics also overlook my opponent's unprecedented campaign spending. Most of his negative television ads were designed to paint me as an extreme radical uninterested in the defense of the country. This even though I was a decorated combat bomber pilot in World War II, while Nixon was stationed far from battle.

Read the rest of his essay. It deserves to be heard.

Bush vs Himself

Better AWOL Stuff still coming out

Bush vs Our Traditional Allies

"Old Europe" cools US hopes for NATO in Afghanistan, Iraq:

France and Germany, firm allies in opposing the US-led war on Iraq, put a damper this weekend on US hopes of pressing NATO to boost its roles there and in Afghanistan.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer voiced his scepticism on Iraq, urging the alliance to think very hard before agreeing to an expanded role.

Isn't it amazing how arrogant we were a year ago? We thouht we didn't need the help of any of our traditional allies. Now we are begging and they aren't buying. Where this will go is anyone's guess, but the Bush administration has made us so vulnerable financially that "old" Europe and "new" Asia has to be giddy at the power they can potentially exercise over us.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Bush vs Sanity

Calpundit points out the peculiar situation of Pakistan being our good ally when it has been busy spreading nuclear technology to dangerous states such as North Korea and Lybia:

A FOREIGN POLICY TEST....David Kay is off the reservation again. Apparently he's not very impressed with the Bush administration's reaction to the pardon of Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's nuclear-proliferator-in-chief:

"I can't think of any[one] who deserves less to be pardoned than A.Q. Khan...," said David Kay, the former chief U.S. weapons hunter in Iraq.

In reality, according a "senior administration official," our subdued reaction to Khan's pardon is merely a measure of the nuanced and thoughtful approach to foreign policy that George Bush favors: "It's just another case where you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," he said, apparently while keeping a straight face.

The whole article is worth reading, because beyond the snark it lays bare the divide between the "moral clarity" crowd and the foreign policy realists. The plain fact is that Pakistan is an enormously difficult country to deal with, and it really does require some nuance and subtlety.

But it's a problem for the Andrew Sullivans and Glenn Reynolds of the world, who insist that good is good and evil is evil and anyone with any moral sense — like, say, George Bush — should refuse to compromise with evil. But here we have an Islamic country whose public is violently anti-U.S.; that has developed and tested nuclear weapons; that has traded nuclear technology with Iran, Libya, and North Korea; and that apparently continued to do so until only a few months ago. Surely if any country should be deemed a member of the Axis of Evil, it is Pakistan.

And yet, Pakistan has been an ally off and on for years. They were instrumental in helping our covert war against the Soviets in the 80s and have been helpful in our war against the Taliban since 9/11. Keeping them helpful is surely a strong imperative.

But if you truly believe that it's the compromises of the past that have brought on the problems of today, if you truly believe that the only answer to 9/11 is to stop compromising with terrorist supporters, and if you truly believe that military force is the appropriate weapon for this fight — then you should be appalled by the Bush administration's coddling of Pakistan.

If you aren't, then you're a foreign policy realist. It's a pretty simple test.

Cheney vs Everyone

GOP Hypocrite of the Week: Dick Cheney:

Ya know, anyone who buys those rumors that Cheney might be dropped from the "Bush ticket" and replaced with Giuliani or Powell is forgetting one basic fact: Cheney IS the president. Junior is just a bumbling, dry drunk cowboy prop.

Remember it was Cheney who was in charge of finding the vice-president and decided to appoint himself to the position. Talk about a warning shot across the bow of Democracy. Who'd have known Halliburton's CEO was going to storm the ship and rape the country?

More on Bush AWOL

BUSH, BARNES, AND THE NATIONAL GUARD

Bush vs Tim Russert

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! Russert scolded Dean last June. But how will he act with George Bush?:

It’s like Super Sunday two weeks in a row! This time, minus the break-away costumes! This weekend, Tim Russert sits with George Bush on Meet the Press. But we’re forced to pose two incomparable questions: Which Tim Russert will appear for the session? And will he fight against Bush’s three dodges?

Tim meets The Dub at an interesting juncture. In recent weeks, many in Russert’s media cohort have begun to show signs of flipping on Bush. Most strikingly, Don Imus has been savaging Bush every morning, criticizing his “missing year” in the Guard and accusing Bush of misleading America about the threat from pre-war Iraq. On Tuesday morning, Imus even hectored John McCain about Bush’s alleged misconduct, to the point where the affable solon seemed to feel that he had to push back against Don.

So which Tim Russert will do Meet the Press? The hectoring, “prosecutorial” bulldog whom pundits cheered for his attacks on Al Gore? (links below) Or the sleepy, somnolent friend-to-mankind who slept through a pair of Meet the Press sessions with Candidate Bush four years back?

In any case, you know the Bushies wouldn't be doing this at all except that they are VERY nervous about what Bob Novack pointed out last week - that Bus is currently lacking in credibility,and that is what did in his old man. Here are a list of questions from Buzzflash that all of us would like to have Bush answer but bet Russert isn't willing to ask:

Dear Tim Russert:

Will you be asking the President if it was appropriate for him to land on the carrier in a flight suit after he was grounded in 1972 for failing to show for his physical? Will you ask him if the mission is really accomplished?

Will you be asking the President about the famous "torn document" which supposedly shows his guard duty, yet has no name or date (just a W). If this document is a fake, it could lead to a great story.

Will you ask the President if he has asked for the person that leaked Valerie Plame's name to come forward and resign? Has he instructed his people to sign the waiver?

Will you ask him why he has not cooperated fully with the 9/11 commission and why they can't even have their own notes? Why was Condi Rice not put under oath and why is all of her testimony secret?

Will you ask the President why he has held so few press conferences in this time of war and shouldn't he keep us more informed with more of them?

Will you ask what he said that the average tax cut was $1000, yet the average worker making less than $80,000 only got about $250. Isn't this misleading the public?

Will you be asking the president about his faulty statements that his budget will cut the defecit in half over 5 years. Please play back the statements regarding the deficit from the previous years which have turned out to be far from reality.

Will you ask the President how he could take off the month before 9/11 when there was increased chatter and the AG Ashcroft had taken the step of not flying commercial that summer? Will you ask the President if he feels it is appropriate for the VP to invite Justice Scalia as his guest to go duck hunting when the Energy case is pending. Is it a conflict of interest?

Will you be asking the President about his brother's paternity problem and how he feels about his brother having sex with Asian prostitutes?

Will you ask the President if perhaps he owes an apology to Hans Blix and Scott Ritter, since they were right about Iraq.

Will you ask him why he appointed Iran/Contra convicted felons John Poindexter, Otto Reich, etc., to Administration Posts?

Will you ask him about his "ranch" which was miraculously built just in time for his presidential run. Is it nothing more than a set for photo-ops which link him to Reagan?

And finally, Ask him if he is he really afraid of horses?

Bush vs Objectivity

RE: the new Bush appointed (lack of) intelligence panel, from This Modern World:

I hear George W. Bush's hand-picked whitewashing of the Iraq intel failures will be co-chaired by Laurence Silberman.

Described simply as a retired federal judge by most news reports, Silberman was until recently one of the three judges of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which oversees sensitive domestic surveillance issues and approves of wiretaps of suspected terrorists. After 9/11, this became the judicial body which would uphold John Ashcroft's agenda in the Patriot Act and (in the words of the ACLU -- read down in the collection of articles) "rubber-stamp government applications for intrusive surveillance warrants."

In other words, Silberman hardly seems disinterested, and more like a full-fledged member of Team Death Star.

Silberman is also one of the two judges who threw out Oliver North's Iran-Contra conviction. Later, he served as a "mentor" to American Spectator writer David Brock during the years of constant character assassination against Bill Clinton.

Yeah. We're reeeeeaaally gonna get an objective report, free of any political agenda.

Bush vs the Economy: Part 2

The Bush Numbers:

Paul Krugman reminded us recently that months after September 11 (and a year after the departure of the dastardly Clenis), the Bush administration's revenue projections, which incorporate assumptions about economic growth, had us with a $14 billion dollar deficit for this year, which I believe is a bit below the actual number.

Last June, long after September 11 and the departure of the dastardly Clenis, the administration predicted that, following their tax cuts, the economy would gain an average of 305,000 jobs per month beginning in July. Since July, the economy has gained a grand total of 296,000, which means we're still 1,846,000 behind their prediction.

Bush vs the Economy

Money for Nothing:

Just as an example of what I was talking about in the previous post.

Always the Wrong Issues

Watching the news and reading the papers lately makes me want to scream. All the controversy over the missing WMDs and whether the intelligence agencies misled the administration and all the rest of that crap is just so far from reality that I find it difficult to believe most other Americans aren't equally offended. I'm probably wrong, but I just can't see how even uninformed people could believe that America, the strongest economic and military nation on earth, could be "threatened" by a defeated third world country of 24 million with a bankrupt economy and an obsolete army half way around the world from us. It was such obvious fiction - and insulting to boot!

And what most Americans have yet to wake up to is the realization that by launching an invasion of a virtually defenseless country, for no reason that made sense to the rest of the world, we have forever compromised our position as any kind of moral exemplar. We are now widely viewed as the main threat to world peace. This isn't idle talk. Numerous surveys conducted during this last year have demonstrated that America's stock has never been lower in the eyes of other countries.

If you believe we don't need to care what other countries think of us, then this is probably OK - if you were right. But if you really believe we can survive without the cooperation and support of other countries you are quite mistaken. And this is where our current lack of credibility - coupled with that ugly view of us as a threat to world peace - is going to be a problem. We are now the world's greatest debtor nation. And, we also have the largest trade deficit of any country. This is very much not a good combination. In fact, it makes us VERY vulnerable to any kind of concentrated economic pressure. That such has not been applied is of little comfort. We keep acting as if we can do whatever we want, regardless of the consequences for other people in other countries. I think that is about to end.

Consider just one scenario. If OPEC decided to start denominating petroleum transactions in Euros rather than dollars, the U. S. economy would collapse. Is it just a coincidence that Iraq had started basing its oil transactions on Euros rather than dollars just a few months prior to being invaded by the U. S.?

Consider another: what if those countries, mostly Asian, that currently buy up U. S. debt and thus support the ever increasing deficit, decided not to buy? Revenue would collapse. The government would either have to raise taxes dramatically or close down.

Face the reality. This administration has put us at the mercy of the rest of the world. They have made us more, rather than less, vulnerable. Whose idea of national defense is this? What can we do about it? Threaten to nuke any country that doesn't give us preferential economic treatment? Bush has defeated us. We will now be whittled away by the rest of the world, because we have no other option.

In his latest excellent book, The Sorrows of Empire, Chalmers Johnson makes a point that we are an empire of bases (we have military bases all over the world - hundreds of them). He asks what the point is. Why are they there? What do we plan to do with them? He doesn't answer the question and I suspect that no military authority could either. I believe that the embarrassing number of bases is partly rhetorical - they argue for American prominence (without having to actually demonstrate it). What happens when the countries hosting these bases realize that they are largely Potemkin Villages and that the "owners" cannot afford to really staff and use them for any realistic purpose?

We have, in the last few years, overreached dramatically. We cannot afford the expansionist vision that certain neocon planners have laid out for us. We are already crippled as a result of Bush's deceit, which takes us back to the original topic. The issue should not be the the missing WMDs - because they were only an excuse for a policy already in place and just looking for a justification. The issue is what, exactly, the Bush administration is doing, has done, and is planning to do, and whether we agree with it - regardless of the specious excuses they are offereing at the moment.

Old SecDef

Rumsfeld Does Not Regret Europe Remark

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday he does not regret having referred to France and Germany as "old Europe," a comment in 2003 that many Europeans took as an insult.

"I'm too old to have regrets," Rumsfeld said in an interview with several European journalists shortly before the start of a NATO (news - web sites) defense ministers meeting. "No, I don't regret it."

If there is any justice Hell will see him locked in a room with Robert McNamara for all eternity - two self-righteous, self-important "smart" guys who insist on talking but refuse to listen to anyone else.

This Is Lovely

Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe:

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.

According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were the two Cheney employees. "We believe that Hannah was the major player in this," one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president's office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.

Of course, investigating is not charging and charging is not convicting, but still, who ever thought we would get even this much of a breakthrough in this situation. This just lends credence to the suggestions that Cheney will be out as Veep in the next election. One can only hope.

Democrats vs Bush

Rising Anti-Bush Sentiment Driving Democrats to Polls:

The Democratic presidential contest went national yesterday, and what was true in Iowa and New Hampshire proved true coast to coast: Voters in these elections are deeply dissatisfied with President Bush (news - web sites), and defeating him in November is their prime issue, according to exit polls.

Bush vs Himself

Endgame for the president?:

AFTER AN excruciating delay, chickens are finally coming home to roost for George W. Bush. For over a year, critics have been pointing to the president's systematic misrepresentations of everything from Iraq to education to budget numbers. But the charge hasn't really stuck, until very lately. .

We can only hope.

Bush vs Working People

The Secretary of Labor Is the Enemy of Labor:

By law, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is required "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States." Given her record, American workers might want to make a symbolic citizens' arrest of the secretary for breaking the law.

At the moment, Chao's prime offense is promotion of changes in overtime pay rules. They would deprive an estimated 8 million workers - such as secretaries, sales representatives, and medical or legal workers - of their right to time-and-a-half premium pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. Last month, Chao testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee that only 644,000 workers would lose that protection. But Economic Policy Institute economist Jared Bernstein explained how the Labor Department ignored large groups of affected workers to come up with its inaccurate, low-ball number.
. . .
The law was originally intended to exempt a small number of executive, administrative and highly educated professional employees from the requirement that their employers pay a premium for overtime.

But Chao's Labor Department vastly expanded the definition of what counts as professional training. Now the training that veterans received in the military could be used as an excuse to deny them overtime pay for such jobs as engineer, accountant or medical technologist.

These compassionate conservatives are all heart. Imposing a fair share of taxes on the rich is perceived as bad for business but forcing average American workers to work longer and harder for less and less is just another miracle of the free market. How else can we compete with those dollar a day workers in China?

U. S. Cities vs Bush

Outbreak of Local Democracy Continues

Bush Has Made America Hated

U.S. Image Abroad Will Take Years to Repair, Official Testifies:

Margaret D. Tutwiler, in her first public appearance as the State Department official in charge of public diplomacy, acknowledged Wednesday that America's standing abroad had deteriorated to such an extent that "it will take us many years of hard, focused work" to restore it.

Of course, the approach that is being looked at to restore America's standing in the eyes of the world is an advertising and PR campaign. The idea that people might be influenced by overall U. S. policy and its impact on their country's is simply not considered.

Donald Rumsfeld Is An Idiot

For a supposedly smart guy, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld really says some stupid stuff:

Rumsfeld offered several examples of what he called "alternative views" about why no weapons have been discovered in Iraq, starting with the possibility that banned arms never existed.

"I suppose that's possible, but not likely," he said.

Other possibilities cited by Rumsfeld:

• Weapons may have been transferred to a third country before U.S. troops arrived in March.

• Weapons may have been dispersed throughout Iraq and hidden.

• Weapons existed but were destroyed by the Iraqis before the war started.

OK, so I'm not really a very smart person, but help me here. If we invaded Iraq because it was a threat because of its weapons of "mass destruction" and its intention to use these against us and our allies, why would it have done any of the things Rumsfeld suggests it did - as in disperse them, destroy them at the last minute, or transfer them to a third country? If it did any of these things with WMDs then it was not a threat to us. Of course, the most likely scenario is that there were no WMDs to begin with.

Why Are The Republicans Supporting Al Sharpton?

Sleeping With the GOP:

Roger Stone, the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000, is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton.

Josh Marshal Smacks Bush for Ongoing Bushit

Have you noticed it too? That sinking feeling?:

Over the past month, there’s been a subtle but unmistakable shift in the public perceptions of President Bush. And not one for the better.
. . .
What has helped turn the tide is a string of crass and clumsy political gambits ranging from the president’s immigration proposal to the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t plan for a trip to Mars and the new brouhaha over budgetary shenanigans with the prescription drug plan.

What did these three political plays have in common?

Not one of them was well thought-out on its own terms, and none had much to do with the president’s political agenda.

The clearest example was the plan to send men to Mars. This wasn’t a real policy proposal.

The whole thing was never even meant to happen. It was supposed to be a campaign sound bite to give a running start to the State of the Union roll-out and a bullet point for the president’s onward-and-upward-with-optimism reelection theme.

Had this been a serious proposal, it would have required a vast national effort costing, in all likelihood, hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet when it didn’t strike a chord with voters or the Sunday shows, it got tossed aside without a second thought.
It wasn’t a policy proposal. It was a political ploy.

And the White House cut it loose so unceremoniously that that unlovely reality was impossible to miss.

Now it seems that at least some of the mainstream media are starting to pay attention. Whether that will continue remains to be seen, but with the public increasingly unwilling to buy the Bush administration spin on things it will be increasinly difficult for CNN and FOX to continue pretending that up is down.

Bush's Military Disservice

From Deserter to Commander-in-Chief:

Dubya got into the guard by using his daddy’s influence to move to the front of a long line. Getting into the guard kept him out of harm’s way in Vietnam but it did not instill him with any sense of responsibility.

So the man who kissed off his military obligations 32 years ago and let others fight and die in his place later became President of the United States and ordered still others to fight and die.

Which is a disgrace for those young men and women who have died in Iraq.

It’s one thing to fight and die for your country. It’s something else to do it for a deserter.

Bush vs Our Future

Sex, Lies and Bush on Tape:

If we're serious about confronting threats to our way of life, we don't have to hunt them in the caves of eastern Afghanistan. We can find a serious threat in the West Wing of the White House as the Bush administration charts its fiscal policy.

Who Does Our "Representative" Government Represent?

Tauzin Quits Chairmanship, Will Retire From House:

A Democrat until he switched parties in 1995, Tauzin was widely expected to succeed Jack Valenti as president of the Motion Picture Association of America but turned down the job -- and its more than $1 million salary -- late last month.

Soon after, he received a larger offer to head the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the trade group that represents drug giants such as Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co., though no contract has been offered, sources said.

Tauzin was one of the principal authors of the Medicare prescription drug bill, which included several provisions expected to vastly expand the market for prescription drugs among the elderly. In addition to adding hundreds of billions of dollars for drug benefits, the law bars the federal government from directly bargaining down the price of drugs, a provision PhRMA pressed for.

He recused himself from participating in health care issues before his committee last week and is expected to take the PhRMA offer and leave the House before his term expires. Public Citizen, a public interest group, has called for an ethics investigation of Tauzin.

Quid Pro Quo.

Tough Questions

1. Who does the CIA work for? This is not a trick question. Their budget and actual use of that budget is information that is available neither to U.S. citizens who pay for it, nor to the people's representatives in Congress who supposedly represent our interests. So, who do they work for? Who are they accountable to?

2. How would you know if the President was insane? Is there any standard that might help here? Is there any public agency or office that could make the case? How would the public be protected if, in fact, the President were nuts? If, for example, he thought God talked to him and that he were chosen to make the world safe from evil?

People Are Nuts

Tonight, watching poll results and projections being used to discuss the multi-state Democratic primaries that are being covered, I am reminded of the many polls over the last few years that absolutely drove me nuts. One, a Harris poll reported 3/04/2003 presents these pearls of public wisdom:

68% of the public belive in the Devil

69% believe in Hell

51% believe in ghosts

31% believe in Astrology, and

27% believe in Reincarnation.

Right. If I don't go to Hell and have to deal with the Devil, I can be reincarnated as a worm and start all over.

What Would Jesus Do? Apparently Lie, Cut Taxes, and Make War

I was just reminded that our miserable failure of a President has actually said that Jesus was his favorite "philosopher" and that his actions are based on answering the WWJD question: What would Jesus do? Given what Bush has actually done in office I suspect that WWJD is pretty limited in its usefulness. For example:

1. Would Jesus deliberately start a war?

2. If so, how much "collateral damage" would Jesus accept?

3. Would Jesus take money from the poor and it give to the rich?

4. Would Jesus be willing to use profit and "free market forces" as a justification for any behavior?

5. Would Jesus put business interests ahead of protecting the natural environment that sustains life?

6. Would Jesus routinely lie about his behavior and its consequences?

7. And finally, if "those who take the sword shall perish by the sword" would Jesus be willing to be the leading arms supplier of the world?

See, one can go on like this almost indefinitely. The Bushies give us examples daily that make a lie of the WWJD standard. Maybe we should use it everyday. After all, one of the real problems with this administration is its ability to say something one day and deny it the next and never be called on it. I think it's time to match the word to the deed - daily.

Misplaced Priorities

RE: public reaction to the nipple flash during the Super Bowl halftime show, Billmon thinks the whole country is clinically insane.

Women In the New Iraq

The ever eager Washington Post lifts its skirts again this morning to satisfy the seemingly insatiable needs of the Bush administration to sew the seeds of the "New Iraq." In a typically myopic and self-serving op-ed piece by Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, he argues that one of the real values of the outcome of the war with Iraq was in helping women achieve equality. He provides such dubious tidbits as:

Substantial funding is also going to help women's groups throughout the country, including the center in Hillah. There are now 10 women's centers throughout the country and eight more are in the works. And with U.S. support, Iraqi women are being trained for the first time to serve as police officers, prison guards and security officers.

Given that in Saddam's secular Iraq women could be doctors, scientists, and college professors, it is hard to imagine that aspiring to a career in corrections - despite that being a growth industry both here and in Iraq - is something to be proud of.

Countering Wolfowitz's silly contentions about how bright the future is for Iraqi women is a current piece in David Horowitz's very conservative FrontPage magazine that says:

During my five weeks "in country" this fall, I witnessed a social, political and humanitarian disaster consume Iraqi women. Frightened by rampant crime, bullied by religious fundamentalism, pressured by increasing tribalism, they are losing their rights and freedoms before the eyes of the world. It's an unnerving spectacle, like watching people fall prey to a police state-but in Iraq's case, the despotism consists not of storm troopers and fuehrers, but customs, traditions and beliefs that command the hearts and minds of millions of people, including their victims.

As blogger Nathan Newman observes:

Let's be clear-- Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, but it is quite conceivable, given the equality for women under the old civil code, that women will be worse off now than under Hussein.

One thing is for sure, the Bushit will continue from this administration's apologists. I suspect we will be hearing self-justifying crap for decades after we finally vote these thieves and murderers out of office. Just as we heard about who "lost" China for half a century and still hear claims that Viet Nam could have been "won" if only the civilians had let the military have their way, so to we will be hearing one sad justification after another for why things didn't work out as predicted with Iraq.

After all, remember that Wolfowitz was the "expert" who claimed before a congressional hearing, that "Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction, and fairly quickly." When this guy is wrong he is dramatically - comically - so. How will it be with the future of women in Iraq? The Hartford Courant offers these observations:

When U.S. troops entered Baghdad, members of the Iraqi Women's League, a pro-democracy group suppressed under Saddam Hussein, cheered.

But these days, when members gather in their shabby office, the talk is of an unexpected consequence of the dictator's overthrow: a decision by the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council to replace the country's civic family laws with Islamic Sharia.

"We had a war with a tyrant regime, but now we have another kind of war," said Aida Ayeedi, a teacher at the College of Agriculture in Baghdad. "This war is with those religious men who think that women are just instruments to bear children and create the next generation."

Pushed through with little discussion primarily by the Shiite Muslim members of the council, the measure would put women's fates out of the hands of judges and into those of clerics, most likely chosen by their husbands, who might have little commitment to protecting their rights. For many women, that would roll back what they had under Hussein, who granted them a measure of personal if not political freedom - albeit one spiked by a constant fear for their families.

Hey, don't fret, there are always those prison guard jobs.