George Bush Countdown: 1 Day

No surprise here as the countdown ends:

#1 IRAQ

George Bush will be most remembered for starting the war in Iraq behind lies and misinformation. Some have said he was interested in going to war with Iraq prior to September 11th. Some say as soon as 9/11 happened he wanted Iraq to be behind it. No WMDs were ever found. He was wrong when he landed on an aircraft carrier and claimed the mission was accomplished. The war distracted attention away from the search for Osama bin Laden. Thousands (and counting) of Americans lost their lives. Many more coalition forces from other nations lost theirs. Countless Iraqi citizens died (and are dieing) as well. Billions upon billions of dollars were spent on the war and now we are in a financial crisis. Gas prices rose and fell like a roller coaster.

Prior to the start of the war protests filled the streets of many cities of the world. I went to one in my small college town in Florida. In the United States the majority seemed to be in support of the war. Yet some, ah hem, hello there, never thought any weapons would be found and if they were they would be fabricated (at least they didn't stoop that far).

So, with that the countdown ends. Tomorrow is a new day.

George Bush Countdown: 2 Days

#2 is Hurricane Katrina. The failings are well chronicled. To illustrate just how piss poor the response was, look at two of the conspiracy theories that bubbled up to the surface after the storm and lack of timely response.

1. The levees were intentionally blown up.
2. The failure to respond quickly and adequately was intentional to adjust the racial makeup of New Orleans.

Also, cronysm at is W. Bush best was on display. The head of FEMA, Michael Brown, at the time had no Emergency experience. In fact his major experience came as the head of a horse organization, from which he was forced to resign.

What was Bush doing on the day Katrina hit New Orleans? Playing the geetar.

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: 5 Days

5 days to go! Here is #5...

The Justice Department

A lot of whacky shit went on in the Justice Department, too much to cover here. First of all, the first Attorney General had just been defeated in a Senate race in Missouri by a dead man before he was appointed by Bush, and for good reason. John Ashcroft is a a little religious freak. Remember when he had the Spirit of Justice statue covered because it showed some statue boobs?

In 2004, John Ashcroft was gravely ill, some thought he could die. Around this same time the administration was trying to get approval for the domestic surveillance program that the Justice Department had previously declared illegal. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff went to Ashcroft's sick bed to get his signature to approve the program. Luckily, Ashcroft's deputy got wind of the situation, got the FBI involved, and got to Ashcroft's room in time. Ashcroft refused to sign after speaking with his deputy. Of course it wasn't too long before Ashcroft was out and Alberto Gozales was the new Attorney General.

Then...then the real fun began. Gonzales will likely be known as one of the most incompetent AGs ever, and his predecessor was pretty pathetic.

After the 2006 midterm elections 7 U.S. Attorneys were fired by the Bush administration. Such a move is not illegal at all. However, the reasons behind the firings...well, actually, they fit perfectly into this 8 year corruption and cronyism fest we've all been witness to. All of the 7 were either involved in cases investigating Republican corruption or failed to investigate alleged corruption by Democrats (keep in mind these U.S. Attorneys were all political appointees by the Bush administration and thus, presumably, Republicans).

One more thing..Monica Goodling...she was the Justice Department employee who screened potential career Federal Prosecutors (those not appointed and then expected to be replaced with new administrations). She screened out qualified candidates who had any suspected connections to Democratic or left-leaning causes.

This doesn't really even touch the DOJs role in the Patriot Act and torture...No Justice.

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.