They Don't Trust Him Either

From Crooks and Liars...a little late.

George Bush Countdown: 3 Days

#3: The "War on Terror", a crazy illegal, aggressive, failed cluster f*ck.

Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, Abu Ghraib prison, torture, wire-tapping, extraordinary rendition, racial profiling, etc. If you don't know or understand how the ideas of civil liberties and American integrity have been devastated as a result of the "War on Terror" do yourself a favor and check it out.

George Bush Countdown: 4 Days

#4 in the memories we'd rather not have of Bush...September 11th.

The root causes of 9/11 go too far back for it to be all Bush's fault, clearly. However, there are some things he and his administration missed and some things they could have done afterward. First of all, there was the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) that said (in fact it was titled) Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. from August of 2001.

More damning, I think, is the response. Bush was not quick to act. He stayed in a classroom reading to children, then he flew around in Air Force One for a while before returning to Washington D.C. and speaking on television. Action against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was necessary but military action may not have been the best way to go. Some have suggested that a smaller scale police action may have been more effectve in capturing the heavies in al-Qaeda. In any case, Bin Laden is still somewhere out there.

There are more issues that arise out of the subsequent "War on Terror" (hello torture, Iraq, etc.) that just my appear soon in this countdown.

George Bush Countdown: 6 Days

Still counting down to the 20th. The #6 thing we'll remember about Bush is the Pretzel.

We almost lost our first President to choking. It was 2002, Bush was watching an NFL playoff game and he choked on a pretzel, passed out, and busted his face. It's not as important as the other 9 in the countdown, but come on, he could of died from choking on a pretzel!

George Bush Countdown: 7 Days

#7 in the countdown of things we'll remember about George Bush...the Federal Court System.

This may be the longest lasting legacy of the Bush Presidency. He has appointed a slew of conservative justices all throughout the Judicial branch. He was also able to appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court. While Justices of the Supreme Court do, sometimes, change their point of view over time, Justices Alito and Chief Justice Roberts seem to be two pretty strong conservatives and they're young so they'll be around for while. It's one last little F.U. that will out last a lot of people's memories of the President himself.



Oh, and Bush tried to appoint the woefully unqualified Harriet Miers to the Court, you know Miers, the White House Counsel and good friend to the President. No one was falling for that one, luckily.

George Bush Countdown: 8 Days

#8 in the countdown of issues we'll remember about George Bush and his soon to be over Presidency...Dick Cheney, VP of your Universe. He helped expand the power of the VP and the Executive branch in general (aka moved the Executive branch more towards a dictatorship), he shot a man in the face, hid in undisclosed locations, has an awful approval rating, and probably had a lot more power than the actual President.

George Bush Countdown: 9 Days

Nine days to go in the countdown, ten issues we'll remember about W.

#9: The 2000 and 2004 elections and disenfranchisement.

The 2000 election will be remembered for sometime not only as the election of one of the worst Presidents of all time but one that seems to have been stolen. The conservative leaning Supreme Court declared an end to the recount in Florida that seemed to be heading toward a win in the state (and thus nationally) for Al Gore. There were a number of irregularities that if noticed, or fixed, would have resulted in an Al Gore victory. To just name a few, the confusing butterfly ballot in South Florida resulting in many intended votes for Gore going to conservative Pat Buchanan, many African Americans and other Democrat leaning voters being purged from the voting rolls because their names matched or were close to those of felons who are not allowed to vote in the state, and the extreme conflict of interest in the roles of Governor Jeb BUSH and Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

2004 gets less pub but there were serious issues in Ohio, specifically incredibly long wait times in certain districts of the state with high concentrations of African-Americans and the purging of many likely Kerry voters in the state.

This doesn't even touch on the dirty campaign tactics of the Bush campaigns. In 2000 the campaign was linked to accusations that John McCain fathered an illegitimate black child and in 2004 Senator John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran was painted as a traitor.

The George Bush Countdown: 10 Days

What ten issues will we most remember about George Bush? With ten days to go until he's out, and Obama is in, here is one thing I'll surely remember: The role of religion and science. Here are some of the Religion/Science greatest hits.

• Grand Canyon National Park officials not allowed to reveal actual age of the canyon due to pressure from Bush appointees.
• Bush places federal funding restrictions on stem cell research.
• Bush proclaims his favorite philosopher is Jesus Christ.
• Bush says he talks to God about foreign relations.
• Oh, and he didn't do too much about Global Warming either...
  

Farewell.

Bush Loves Fishes

President Bush has declared more ocean to be national marine monuments. The shockingly rational move should provide much needed protection to the areas by denying various industries access to the areas.

I say instead of the Presidential Library Bush is trying to set up in Texas, which by the way has been met with some problems apart from the oxymoronic aspect of it all, the first Presidential Aquarium should be established. Maybe we could just name one of the dolphin shows at Sea World after him. The 1p.m. show maybe?

1968

1968 is a pretty pivotal year in the history of the United States, especially pivotal in light of the current (soon to be former) administration in Washington. That President (Nixon) and his gang were (arguably, perhaps) even more corrupt and unethical than the current Bush gang. I think what is not up for argument, however, is the long term negative impact the current administration will have. Nixon, who's crimes were large and who's impact on the public perception of politics and politicians is long lasting, at least had a few (again, arguably) successful moments. Bush has almost literally had no success. The one important exception being that he did oversee a large increase in AIDS help to Africa. Virtually every other area of his Presidency was blighted by some serious failing.

1968 was extremely tumultuous. There were violent war protests, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, thousands of Americans dieing in Vietnam, the election of Nixon.

One more momentous event also took place that year, an event that is still having a powerful impact on millions of Americans....Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the United States. Thanks 60 Minutes.

Yeah...

McCain to Take Political Advantage of Hurricane Gustav

Politico reports that John McCain may give his speech accepting the Republican Party nomination for President from the area that is about to be hit by hurricane Gustav. It's looking more and more like it could be New Orleans, only three years after Hurricane Katrina.

What an ass! Way to use people who my have just lost everything to give a political speech.

By the way, what was John McCain doing on the very day that Katrina hit three years ago?

Celebrating his 69th birthday with some dude of course...

One Good Reason

via Crooks and Liars from someecards.com

America is Still an Old White Man

It's true, if you were to assign a type of person to each nation of the world, America would be an old white man. As you may have noticed, the "fist bump" has become a "new" cultural phenomenon. Here's a boring story about how the fist bump is making its way through the business world.

Of course the meteoric rise of the fist bump can be traced back to an on-air FOX News reader mouthing the words of some douche-news writer's attempt to portray Barack Obama and his wife's public greeting as some sort of symbol of sympathy with Islamic terrorists.

After the "terrorist fist jab" flap the origins of the fist bump were researched and pontificated upon by people who shouldn't be talking about it. I remember reading a story somewhere about the difference between "dap" and a fist bump, as well as the geographic variations of the term for touching fists.



Is that Bush "teaching" a little terrorist boy about "dap"? Probably, yes.

Blog Agog

This is the power of blogging.

Timothy S. Goeglein, a top Bush aide, has resigned from his guest column for the Fort Wayne, Indiana News-Sentinel. Because he got caught plagarizing his column. By a blogger.

The best of part of the story comes near its conclusion. The plagarist, and may I say again, Bush aide, was caught because he lifted a sentence from an already-published paper. The author of that paper misspelled the name of a professor of philosophy from Dartmouth. Then Goeglein copied and pasted, so in turn, misspelled the name.

Genius. You can find the full article here.

Jan 20, 2009 Cannot Come Soon Enough

President Bush today unveiled his proposal for the 2009 federal budget, which includes:

• $35 billion increase for Pentagon spending (to $515 billion)
• $21 billion to the Energy Department for nuclear weapons programs
• $70 billion "bridge fund" for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• 11% increase in Homeland Security funding
• 19% increase in border security funding
• No increases in funding for domestic appropriations to account for inflation or population growth
• No increases in funding for most eduction programs ($60 billion)
• $200 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years

Bush "also seeks to eliminate or sharply slash 151 programs he considers unnecessary.

This year, the largest number of program terminations - 47 - are in education including elimination of programs to encourage arts in schools, bring low-income students on trips to Washington and provide mental health services.

Bush's budget proposes eliminating the $283 million federal program to help people make their homes more energy efficient and would cut energy aid to poor households by $500 million, a 22 percent drop over this year's spending."

God bless America.

Dose of Rage

Hey!!

Some little "Iranian" boats harassed some not little US Navy Ships in international waters this week prompting Bush and Co. to freak out and pout and spit. A video came out showing the little boats zipping around accompanied by a voice with some accent saying “I am coming to you,” and “You will explode after a few minutes". Then, Iran released a video that doesn't show the boats harassing or getting close to the ships and doesn't have the ominous threatening voice.

So, now!! The Pentagon has backed off of their claim about the threatening voice in the original video. They now say they can not confirm the voice came from the little boats!!!!

The problem is that the original news story claiming the harassment will be the story that most people will remember. The Pentagon's backtracking, can not really be explained in a 4 minute news story without explaining the whole scenario, the multiple stories, the two videos, etc., etc. So even thought the true story is coming out now the fake story, the one saying Iranians are crazy and aggressive, is the one that will generally linger. It is a perfect tactic to promote fear, immediately present the simple evil and danger and worry about the actual details later.

Impeach!

From the American Research Group,

November 13, 2007 - Impeachment

A total of 64% of American voters say that President George W. Bush has abused his powers as president. Of the 64%, 14% (9% of all voters) say the abuses are not serious enough to warrant impeachment, 33% (21% of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses, but he should not be impeached, and 53% (34% of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Mr. Bush should be impeached and removed from office.

A total of 70% of American voters say that Vice President Dick Cheney has abused his powers as vice president. Of the 70%, 26% (18% of all voters) say the abuses are not serious enough to warrant impeachment, 13% (9% of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses, but he should not be impeached, and 61% (43% of all voters) say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Mr. Cheney should be impeached and removed from office.

I'm just saying!

Congress to Override Bush Water Bill Veto

President Bush vetoed a bill yesterday that authorized funding for a number of water related projects, including funds to help restore the Everglades. Bush's reason for the veto was that it is fiscally irresponsible. He apparently made no mention of the money being spent in Iraq or the deficit the country now faces despite the record surplus he inherited as President.

Members of Congress feel that an override of the veto is a forgone conclusion.

No One Wants to Save the Everglades

What is more important: Sugar production by big corporations (Big Sugar!) or thousands of acres of sensitive wildlife habitat, including wetlands?

According to a NY Times article funding for a project to save the Everglades from endless development and destruction is in danger of losing federal funding. It is expected that the proposal for funding will make it to Bush's desk but that he will veto the bill.

The Florida State legislature has allowed the Sugar industry to continuously pollute the sensitive land of the Everglades by postponing stronger pollution restrictions.

By the way, Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson has suggested he would be open to drilling for oil in the Everglades. Right on! Sugar and Oil, yee haw!