Jason Linkins
The Huffington Post
Asia Times Report: 'Air Strikes Against Iran' Coming 'Within...Two Months'
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May 28, 2008 11:55 AM
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About Jason Linkins
Jason Linkins is a Political Reporter at the Huffington Post, covering media and politics. He's based in Washington, DC. Previously, he wrote for HuffPo's Eat The Press, and has also contributed to DCist and Wonkette.
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A story in today's Asia Times reports that the "Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months." The source of the report is a "retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community," who, speaking under condition of anonymity, asserted that "the U.S. plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps," that would "target the headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force." [h/t ThinkProgress]
The source said the White House views the proposed air strike as a limited action to punish Iran for its involvement in Iraq. The source, an ambassador during the administration of president H W Bush, did not provide details on the types of weapons to be used in the attack, nor on the precise stage of planning at this time. It is not known whether the White House has already consulted with allies about the air strike, or if it plans to do so.
The same source asserted that a New York Times op-ed piece condemning the planned attack, co-written by Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), is forthcoming, though, at the time of the report, neither were available to confirm via comment.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Vincent Bugliosi: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder - Politics on The Huffington Post
Vincent Bugliosi: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder - Politics on The Huffington Post
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
Read More: Bush, Bush Impeachment, Bush Lies, Bush War Crimes, Impeachment, Iraq Casualties, Iraq War, Murder, Prosecution Of George w Bush, War Crimes, Politics News
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The Legal Framework for the Prosecution
That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution. -Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765
No living Homo sapiens is above the law. -(Notwithstanding our good friends and legal ancestors across the water, this is a fact that requires no citation.)
With respect to the position I take about the crimes of George Bush, I want to state at the outset that my motivation is not political. Although I've been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for "the little guy"), my political orientation is not rigid. For instance, I supported John McCain's run for the presidency in 2000. More to the point, whether I'm giving a final summation to the jury or writing one of my true crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. Therefore, my only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others. This is why I can give you, the reader, a 100 percent guarantee that if a Democratic president had done what Bush did, I would be writing the same, identical piece you are about to read.
Perhaps the most amazing thing to me about the belief of many that George Bush lied to the American public in starting his war with Iraq is that the liberal columnists who have accused him of doing this merely make this point, and then go on to the next paragraph in their columns. Only very infrequently does a columnist add that because of it Bush should be impeached. If the charges are true, of course Bush should have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office. That's almost too self-evident to state. But he deserves much more than impeachment. I mean, in America, we apparently impeach presidents for having consensual sex outside of marriage and trying to cover it up. If we impeach presidents for that, then if the president takes the country to war on a lie where thousands of American soldiers die horrible, violent deaths and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, even babies are killed, the punishment obviously has to be much, much more severe. That's just common sense. If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he'd still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did.
Let's look at the way some of the leading liberal lights (and, of course, the rest of the entire nation with the exception of those few recommending impeachment) have treated the issue of punishment for Bush's cardinal sins. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote about "the false selling of the Iraq War. We were railroaded into an unnecessary war." Fine, I agree. Now what? Krugman just goes on to the next paragraph. But if Bush falsely railroaded the nation into a war where over 100,000 people died, including 4,000 American soldiers, how can you go on to the next paragraph as if you had been writing that Bush spent the weekend at Camp David with his wife? For doing what Krugman believes Bush did, doesn't Bush have to be punished commensurately in some way? Are there no consequences for committing a crime of colossal proportions?
Al Franken on the David Letterman show said, "Bush lied to us to take us to war" and quickly went on to another subject, as if he was saying "Bush lied to us in his budget."
Senator Edward Kennedy, condemning Bush, said that "Bush's distortions misled Congress in its war vote" and "No President of the United States should employ distortion of truth to take the nation to war." But, Senator Kennedy, if a president does this, as you believe Bush did, then what? Remember, Clinton was impeached for allegedly trying to cover up a consensual sexual affair. What do you recommend for Bush for being responsible for more than 100,000 deaths? Nothing? He shouldn't be held accountable for his actions? If one were to listen to you talk, that is the only conclusion one could come to. But why, Senator Kennedy, do you, like everyone else, want to give Bush this complete free ride?
The New York Times, in a June 17, 2004, editorial, said that in selling this nation on the war in Iraq, "the Bush administration convinced a substantial majority of Americans before the war that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked to 9/ 11, . . . inexcusably selling the false Iraq-Al Qaeda claim to Americans." But gentlemen, if this is so, then what? The New York Times didn't say, just going on, like everyone else, to the next paragraph, talking about something else.
In a November 15, 2005, editorial, the New York Times said that "the president and his top advisers . . . did not allow the American people, or even Congress, to have the information necessary to make reasoned judgments of their own. It's obvious that the Bush administration misled Americans about Mr. Hussein's weapons and his terrorist connections." But if it's "obvious that the Bush administration misled Americans" in taking them to a war that tens of thousands of people have paid for with their lives, now what? No punishment? If not, under what theory? Again, you're just going to go on to the next paragraph?
I'm not going to go on to the next unrelated paragraph.
In early December of 2005, a New York Times-CBS nationwide poll showed that the majority of Americans believed Bush "intentionally misled" the nation to promote a war in Iraq. A December 11, 2005, article in the Los Angeles Times, after citing this national poll, went on to say that because so many Americans believed this, it might be difficult for Bush to get the continuing support of Americans for the war. In other words, the fact that most Americans believed Bush had deliberately misled them into war was of no consequence in and of itself. Its only consequence was that it might hurt his efforts to get support for the war thereafter. So the article was reporting on the effect of the poll findings as if it was reporting on the popularity, or lack thereof, of Bush's position on global warming or immigration. Didn't the author of the article know that Bush taking the nation to war on a lie (if such be the case) is the equivalent of saying he is responsible for well over 100,000 deaths? One would never know this by reading the article.
If Bush, in fact, intentionally misled this nation into war, what is the proper punishment for him? Since many Americans routinely want criminal defendants to be executed for murdering only one person, if we weren't speaking of the president of the United States as the defendant here, to discuss anything less than the death penalty for someone responsible for over 100,000 deaths would on its face seem ludicrous.** But we are dealing with the president of the United States here.
On the other hand, the intensity of rage against Bush in America has been such (it never came remotely this close with Clinton because, at bottom, there was nothing of any real substance to have any serious rage against him for) that if I heard it once I heard it ten times that "someone should put a bullet in his head." That, fortunately, is just loose talk, and even more fortunately not the way we do things in America. In any event, if an American jury were to find Bush guilty of first degree murder, it would be up to them to decide what the appropriate punishment should be, one of their options being the imposition of the death penalty.
Although I have never heard before what I am suggesting -- that Bush be prosecuted for murder in an American courtroom -- many have argued that "Bush should be prosecuted for war crimes" (mostly for the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo) at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. But for all intents and purposes this cannot be done.
*Even assuming, at this point, that Bush is criminally responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 people in the Iraq war, under federal law he could only be prosecuted for the deaths of the 4,000 American soldiers killed in the war. No American court would have jurisdiction to prosecute him for the one hundred and some thousand Iraqi deaths since these victims not only were not Americans, but they were killed in a foreign nation, Iraq. Despite their nationality, if they had been killed here in the States, there would of course be jurisdiction.
**Indeed, Bush himself, ironically, would be the last person who would quarrel with the proposition that being guilty of mass murder (even one murder, by his lights) calls for the death penalty as opposed to life imprisonment. As governor of Texas, Bush had the highest execution rate of any governor in American history: He was a very strong proponent of the death penalty who even laughingly mocked a condemned young woman who begged him to spare her life ("Please don't kill me," Bush mimicked her in a magazine interview with journalist Tucker Carlson), and even refused to commute the sentence of death down to life imprisonment for a young man who was mentally retarded (although as president he set aside the entire prison sentence of his friend Lewis "Scooter" Libby), and had a broad smile on his face when he announced in his second presidential debate with Al Gore that his state, Texas, was about to execute three convicted murderers.
In Bush's two terms as Texas governor, he signed death warrants for an incredible 152 out of 153 executions against convicted murderers, the majority of whom only killed one single person. The only death sentence Bush commuted was for one of the many murders that mass murderer Henry Lucas had been convicted of. Bush was informed that Lucas had falsely confessed to this particular murder and was innocent, his conviction being improper. So in 152 out of 152 cases, Bush refused to show mercy even once, finding that not one of the 152 convicted killers should receive life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Bush's perfect 100 percent execution rate is highly uncommon even for the most conservative law-and-order governors.
The above is an excerpt from the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi Published by Vanguard Press; May 2008;$26.95US/$28.95CAN; 978-159315-481-3
Copyright © 2008 Vincent Bugliosi
Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. His forthcoming book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder, is available May 27.
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
 | About the book |
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
GORE WON FLORIDA !!!
Gore Won Florida!
On November 27, Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris officially certified George W. Bush as the "winner" in Florida by 537 votes.
Since that date, independent investigations by the media have revealed that many illegal votes were counted - while many legal votes were not.
If the votes in Florida had been counted by non-partisan election officials in compliance with the law, Gore would have won Florida.
Unfortunately, George W. Bush, his brother Governor Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a partisan Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Republican-owned media did everything in their power to prevent a fair and legal count of the votes.
In other words, these Republicans used their enormous power to steal the Presidency of the United States. Indeed, the untold story of Floridagate is as chilling as Watergate.
This is a crime against American democracy. Democrats.com demands a thorough investigation and the prosecution of all criminal actions.
And because he is ultimately responsible for the Theft of the Presidency, we call upon George W. Bush to resign.
Note: To read all of the coverage on Democrats.com of Election 2000 and related stories, click the following links:
- Theft of the Presidency (major revelations)
1. Media Consortium Statewide Count of "Undervotes" and "Overvotes" Proves Gore Won Under ANY Standard
The Media Consortium hired the National Opinion Research Center to examine 175,010 ballots that were never counted in Florida. The investigation took 8 months and cost $900,000. No matter what standard for judging ballots is applied, Gore wins.
| Gore Gain | Gore Deficit or Lead | |
| -537 | ||
| Valid votes found after certification | +59 | -478 |
| Correctly marked paper ballots | +493 | +15 |
| Full punches | +100 | +115 |
| Poorly marked paper ballot | +309 | +424 |
| 3-corner chads | -208 | +216 |
| 2-corner chads | -111 | +105 |
| 1-corner chads | -45 | +60 |
| Dimples with sunlight | +88 | +148 |
| Dimples | -41 | +107 |
Unfortunately, the members of the Media Consortium insisted on distorting the analysis of their own clear data (see "Spin Control" below).
2. Miami Herald Statewide Count of "Undervotes" and "Overvotes" Proves Gore Won by 662
Without counting a single hanging or dimpled chad, Gore won by 662, according to the Miami Herald. The votes below were crystal clear votes as determined by the Herald's accounting firm, BDO Seidman. Under Florida law, all of these ballots should have been counted by election officials on Election Day. Their failure to do so is Official Misconduct, not "Voter Error"!
| Gore Gain | Gore Deficit or Lead | |
| -537 | ||
| Clear "Undervotes" (optical scan) | +319 | -218 |
| Clear "Undervotes" (punch card) | +198 | -20 |
| +682 | +662 |
Unfortunately, the Herald insists on distorting the analysis of its own clear data (see "Spin Control" below).
3. Other Media Counts Lead to the Same Conclusion
You can see the same data in greater detail here:| Date | Event | Gore Gain | Gore Deficit or Lead |
| 11/27/00 | Certified by Katherine Harris | -537 | |
| 12/8/00 | Florida Supreme Court ruling | +383 | -154 |
| 12/18/00 | Lake County (Orlando Sentinel) | +130 | - 24 |
| 12/19/00 | Broward (Palm Beach Post) | +164 | +140 |
| 12/29/00 | Hernando (Hernando Today) | +4 | +144 |
| 12/30/00 | Hillsborough (Tampa Tribune) | +120 | +264 |
| 1/3/01 | Gadsden (Democrats.com) | +40 | +304 |
| 1/14/01 | Miami-Dade #1 (Palm Beach Post) - minus prior recount included in 12/8 | -6 +11 -209 | +100 |
| 1/20/01 | Collier (Naples News) | -226 | -126 |
| 1/27/01 | Palm Beach #1 (Palm Beach Post) | +682 | +556 |
| 1/28/01 | 15 County (Orlando Sentinel) -minus prior recounts in Lake and Gadsden | +366 -170 | +752 |
| 2/10/01 | Orange (Orlando Sentinel) | +203 | +955 |
| 2/15/01 | Seminole (Orlando Sentinel) | +13 | +968 |
| 2/26/01 | Miami-Dade #2 (Miami Herald) also: how the media twisted this recount into a "Gore lost" story | +49 | +1,017 |
| 3/8/01 | Osceola (Orlando Sentinel) | +25 | +1,042 |
| 3/10/01 | Palm Beach #2 (Palm Beach Post) | +102 | +1,144 |
| 3/10/01 | Martin, St. Lucie (Palm Beach Post) | +92 | +1,236 |
| Total Gore Gain from Recounts | +1,773 |
4. Overvote Analysis - Gore's True Margin of Victory
If every county in Florida - not just the Republican ones - had state-of-the-art voting machines that allowed voters to correct their mistakes, Al Gore would have won by 46,466.
| Date | Event | Gore Gain | Gore Deficit or Lead |
| 1/28/01 | Analysis of overvotes in 8 counties by the Washington Post | +28,510 | +28,510 |
| 1/28/01 | Analysis of overvotes in 15 counties by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel | +944 | +29,454 |
| 2/8/01 | Gore-Libertarian overvotes in 16 counties by Orlando Sun-Sentinel | +797 | +30,257 |
| 3/10/01 | Analysis of overvotes in Palm Beach County by the Palm Beach Post (overlaps Washington Post analysis above) | +6,607 | |
| 5/11/01 | Analysis of overvotes statewide by the Miami Herald (overlaps with all of the above) | +46,466 |
5. Disputed Votes
There are several categories of votes that have been widely disputed. Unlike the votes above, these disputed votes could not have been resolved by county canvassing boards, either on election night or during the subsequent recounts.
It is impossible to quantify most of these categories, but we can try to give our best estimates.
Categories favoring Gore
- Absentee ballots cast statewide by Republican voters following the illegal solicitation of absentee ballots by the Florida Republican Party: 50,000?
- Absentee ballots that could not be read by voting machines, but were illegally "duplicated" by county election officials: 10,000 (60% Bush?)
- Legal voters who were disenfranchised by Katherine Harris through the criminally inaccurate purge of "felons": 1,100 (90% Gore)
- Absentee ballots cast in Seminole and Martin counties by Republican voters following the criminal alteration of defective ballot applications by Republican operatives: 5,000 (99% Bush)
- Votes meant for Gore but cast for Buchanan because of the "butterfly ballot" in Palm Beach: 3,000 (100% Gore)
- Voters who went to the polls but were unable to cast a vote because of language problems (and no translators) or physical disability: (70% Gore)
- Registrations submitted from black colleges but not processed: (90% Gore)
- Overseas military ballots that were not legal, but were counted because of massive pressure from the Bush campaign: 680 (71% Bush)
- Police checkpoints near black precincts: 0
Categories favoring Bush
- Illegal votes by felons: 5,600 (90% Gore?)
- Premature network projections for Gore 10 minutes before polls closed in the Panhandle: 10 (60% Bush?)
6. Racial Discrimination
Florida voters were not treated equally. If you were black, your vote was significantly less likely to be counted. This was not because blacks were less experienced voters - this was due to institutional racism.
7. The Untold Story
A wide range of suspicious activities were reported by eyewitnesses and the news media. Many of these activities have still not been investigated.
- Questions the U.S. News Media Refuses to Ask about the Stolen Florida Election
- Oral Majority: The Evidence Room
- The Florida Overvote: Tragic Mistake, or Katharine Harris with Tweezers?
- "Lost" Votes and a Stolen Election
- Bush Never Won Florida
- 13 Myths About The Results Of The 2000 Election
- The Florida Disaster: Before, During, and After
- Scary Facts about the Florida Vote
- Al Gore's Margin of VICTORY in Florida
- How Did This Happen?
- Election 2000 FAQ
- The Five Worst Republican Outrages
- Democracy Subverted - November 2000 Election Irregularities
8. Spin Control - Media Distortion of the Stolen Election
Each new revelation about the Stolen Election has been accompanied by articles that were deliberately distorted by editors and reporters to deny the reality that Gore Won Florida.
- Miami Herald Distorts Florida Recount Analysis to Hide the Terrifying Truth: Its Own Data PROVE Al Gore Won Florida
- Media Lies Once Again to Declare Bush the Winner
- The Bush Propaganda Machine Strikes Again in Florida
- Now its Unofficial: Gore Did Win Florida
- Gore Moves Ahead in Florida Recount
9. Republicans Would Never Accept a Gore Victory
10. The Republican Criminals Who Shut Down the Miami-Dade Recount
These are some of the thugs who staged a riot at the Miami canvassing board and shut down the recount. Most of these thugs are present or past employees of Congressional Republicans. The riot was led by Rep. John Sweeney of upstate NY. All of these thugs - and their Congressional bosses, led by Tom DeLay - should be prosecuted for criminally interfering with a federal election.
2005 Update: (Al Kamen, Washington Post 1/24/05)
No. 1. Tom Pyle, who had worked for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), went private sector a few months later, getting a job as director of federal affairs for Koch Industries.
No. 2. Garry Malphrus, a former staff director of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, is now deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
No. 3. Rory Cooper, who was at the National Republican Congressional Committee, later worked at the White House Homeland Security Council and was seen last week working for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
No. 6. Matt Schlapp, a former House aide and then a Bush campaign aide, has risen to be White House political director.
No. 7. Roger Morse, another House aide, moved on to the law and lobbying firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds. "I was also privileged to lead a team of Republicans to Florida to help in the recount fight," he told a legal trade magazine in a 2003 interview.
No. 8. Duane Gibson, an aide on the House Resources Committee, was a solo lobbyist and formerly with the Greenberg Traurig lobby operation. He is now with the Livingston Group as a consultant.
No. 9. Chuck Royal was and still is a legislative assistant to Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a former House member.
No. 10. Layna McConkey Peltier, who had been a Senate and House aide and was at Steelman Health Strategies during the effort, is now at Capital Health Group.
(We couldn't find No. 4, Kevin Smith, a former GOP House aide who later worked with Voter.com, or No. 5, Steven Brophy, a former GOP Senate aide and then at consulting firm KPMG. If you know what they are doing these days, please e-mail shackelford@washpost.comso we can update our records.)
Sources say the "rioters" proudly note their participation on résumés and in interviews.HBO Films: Recount - Synopsis
HBO Films: Recount - Synopsis
Starring Kevin Spacey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Laura Dern, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bruce McGill, and Tom Wilkinson, Recount brings viewers behind the scenes at the controversial Florida recount. This illuminating, hugely entertaining film pulls back the veil on the headlines to explore the human drama surrounding the most controversial presidential election in U.S. history. Mixing news footage and verbatim dialogue into fictionalized re-creations, Recount examines the torturous process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore. The Republicans, led by charismatic Texan James Baker, seize the initiative as the case is tried in the judicial system and the court of public opinion. The Democrats play catch-up until Ron Klain, Gore's former chief of staff, takes over and starts matching Baker's political hardball with tough moves of his own. Mutual respect forms between the two as the fate of the presidency plays out among a colorful cast ranging from the impressive (appellate lawyer David Boies) to the maligned (Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris). Recount recreates many of the movers and shakers in the Florida fight. Among the Democrats are Ron Klain (Spacey), soldiering on despite being demoted as Gore's Chief of Staff; Michael Whouley (Leary), Gore's Chief Field Operative; Warren Christopher (Hurt), the onetime Secretary of State whose passivity eventually yields to Klain's more forceful tactics; and David Boies (Begley), an appellate lawyer recruited to articulate the Democrats' message. Republicans include James Baker (Wilkinson), another former Secretary of State with a will to win to match Klain's; Ben Ginsberg (Balaban), the campaign's Lead Counsel; Katherine Harris (Dern), Florida's Secretary of State, remembered as much for her makeup as for her role in determining the winner; and Mac Stipanovich (McGill), a lobbyist with the moniker "Mac the Knife." Recount is directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers, Austin Powers films), and written by Danny Strong (best-known as an actor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls). It was executive produced by Roach, Emmy® winner Paula Weinstein (HBO's Truman), HBO Films exec Len Amato (Blood Diamond), and Oscar® winner Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa). The producer is Michael Hausman (Brokeback Mountain). |  | |    |
Monday, May 26, 2008
The Uphill Battle ...by Cindy Sheehan
MichaelMoore.com : The Uphill Battle ...by Cindy Sheehan
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
The Uphill Battle ...by Cindy Sheehan
A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes
When one reflects on ones life, there are several ways to do it. We can look back in a linear fashion and say, for example: "When I was 11, my beloved grandmother died." "In 1975, I graduated from high school." "In 1977, I got married." "In 1979, I gave birth to my first child, a son." "In the 1980's, money was tight." You get the picture.
Or, we can look at life as a journey or path we are on. The road has been smooth, rocky, windy, narrow, or wide; we have descended into deep, dark valleys, or we have sailed along on cruise control, until an unexpected obstacle arises and there's either a crash or a near miss.
Since my son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, on April 04, 2004, I feel like I have been pulling myself inch, after painful inch out of a deep dark Valley. Some days the going felt almost effortless; but on some days it seemed like I fell back to the Valley floor and had to start the laborious journey over. Now after four years of the most grueling struggle, I feel like I have finally climbed out of that Valley only to be faced with a tall, steep mountain.
My Independent candidacy for Congress against House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi has been termed by most of the punditocracy as not winnable, but certainly as an "uphill battle." Like I just said, everyday since April 04, 2004, has been an "uphill battle" for me climbing out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, which I was thrown into by BushCo and their shadowy puppet-masters: The Military Industrial Complex. Along the way out of the Valley there have been ledges or plateaus where real healing occurred and where I have gained strength for the rest of the climb, I am not afraid of valleys, or mountains anymore. I know the reinforcements will appear when needed and the top of the mountain can be achieved.
The mountain I am facing now has a name: The System. The System in this country is a corporately-controlled, fascistic-capitalism that has taken over our government and media and, as active, dues paying members of The System holds our politicians in a prison of slavery. The System is ravenously greedy and morbidly violent. The System feeds its own by starving the rest of us or murdering children to keep its coffers filled and its wheels greased with the blood of innocents. The System must feed on us or it will die. The System resists change and will do anything it must to maintain its status quo. Climbing this mountain is fraught with danger and unbelievably hard work but I know what is on top of that mountain. I have seen it like my brother Martin and at the summit is everything that is good and worthy of the ascent.
On the top of that mountain is peace, and with true peace comes prosperity for everyone. The top of that mountain is green with clear running rivers and sweet air to breathe. On my mountain we are ALL fed adequately, clothed appropriately, educated soundly and we all have health care, are paid livable wages and a dry roof over our heads. On the top of my mountain, problems are solved without violence whether between family members or between nation states.
At the base of the mountain, violence is the solution to all problems and no amount of death or destruction is too horrendous, even when problems are imaginary. The System sucks our communities dry to feed the war machine so our children go cold, hungry and improperly educated. Both the air and water are poisoned at the base of the mountain and The System doesn't care who is exploited as long as The System survives, unchallenged.
I could choose not to challenge The Queen of the System and live in my own world at the base of the mountain where my newborn grandson, Jonah, may face the same untimely and needless death as his Uncle Casey if I choose the easy path. It would be easier in the short run, but the cost in the long run is a price that is too steep to pay. The cost for our apathy and laziness will be paid by all of our children and grandchildren.
The best thing at the Summit of my mountain is Hope. I know if The System is challenged and defeated, the healing that begins with the death of The System will proceed and we can all be integrated into a society that cares for what Jesus of Nazareth called the "Least of These" and does not exist to perpetuate itself ad (destructive) nauseum.
When I was climbing out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I did not do it alone. I had plenty of help. Some people voluntarily came into the Valley to help rescue me, others were there for the same reason I was: The System tossed them there like garbage. We climbed out together.
I need your help to climb the mountain ahead.
Next to watching my son's coffin being lowered into his too-early grave, this is the most difficult challenge I have ever faced and I cannot do it, and I must not even be allowed to, do it alone.
If we face it together, bonded by the "fierce urgency of now" and our mutual love for all humankind then the ascent will be smoother and the victory much more sweet. We will achieve.
Please go to www.CindyforCongress.org to join us in the struggle against The System.
To reach the Summit of Hope, we need money and volunteers!
Condoleezza Rice: Teflon No More? - The Board - Editorials - Opinion - New York Times Blog
Condoleezza Rice: Teflon No More? - The Board - Editorials - Opinion - New York Times Blog
April 23, 2008, 4:03 pm
Condoleezza Rice: Teflon No More?
For years, Condoleezza Rice has largely escaped the kind of criticism heaped on others in the administration — especially President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — for the foreign policy disasters of the last seven years, including the Iraq war and the failure to halt the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.
Obviously, no one bears the same responsibility as Mr. Bush, or even — in the case of Iraq — Mr. Rumsfeld. But as national security adviser and now as secretary of state, Ms. Rice has been central to policy formulation and execution. Yet, while Mr. Rumsfeld was almost run out of Washington on a rail, her name still surfaces now and again as a potential vice presidential candidate.
That unearned coating of teflon may be flaking away.
With reports recently by ABC News and Associated Press that Ms. Rice, as national security adviser, chaired White House meetings during which top officials selected specific torture techniques, several liberal groups have launched a campaign to force her out as secretary of state.
The multi-pronged effort — including a web site CondiMustGo.com, a television ad and a petition drive — is spearheaded by TrueMajority.org founded by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream founder Ben Cohen; Democracy for America, founded by Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean; and Brave New Films, headed by producer and political activist Robert Greenwald.
Ms. Rice’s direct involvement in the torture decisions is “an embarrassment to our nation” and “her shameful tenure as secretary of state must come to an end,” said Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America.
However energetic their campaign, it’s unlikely to work.
Ms. Rice is one of Mr. Bush’s closest aides and confidantes, and the president is known for two things: he doesn’t care what his critics have to say, but he does care a great deal about loyalty.
Still, Ms. Rice’s critics are hoping that they can at least thwart or damage any political aspirations she may have. While Mr. Bush’s political career will end in January 2009, Ms. Rice could well be asked to serve in a future government. As Mr. Bush proved by tapping Republican retreads like Vice President Dick Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld for his administration, “people come back who you thought you were done with,” said Matt Holland of TrueMajority.org.
Monday, May 12, 2008
BEHIND THE BUSHES: Chronology of a family KEY WORDS: George W. Bush
BEHIND THE BUSHES: Chronology of a family KEY WORDS: George W. Bush
BARTCOP
Behind the Bushes
GALLERY OF CRIMINALS FOLLOW THE IMPEACH CHENEY EFFORT The first 80 years behind the Bushes
Bush at the Harvard Business School
List of Bush administration scandals
Bush art: the graphics of despair
Bush's drug and other problems
George Bush has always liked torture
George Bush debates George Bush
DSL: Dubya as a second language
Bush book the media didn't want to hear about
Daddy Bush and Clinton and BCCI
What happened to Geronimo's skull?
Sarcasm, satire, and matters not worth responding to
[From the blog of Marc Perkel, 2004]
Past work experience
- Ran for Congress and lost.
- Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
- Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
- Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox
- With father's help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas. Accomplishments: Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union. Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.
- Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes with the help of the Supreme Court.
Accomplishments as president -
- Either lied or used extremely flawed intelligence against the advice of many of our own military, most of our allies, and most of the church leaders of America to waste much of our wealth and many of our soldiers lives on an unwise and unjust war.
- Spent the huge surplus left by the Clinton administration and bankrupted our nation's treasury.
- Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.
- Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
- First president in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
- First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history (25%).
- After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.
- Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in U.S. history.
- In just two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
- Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in U.S. history.
- Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.
- Presided over a 45% increase in the loss of home ownership in America since the year 2000.
- Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in U.S. history.
- Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
- Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in U.S. history.
- Presided over the biggest energy crises in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
- Presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
- Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
- Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest against any person in the history of mankind.
- Dissolved more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
- The most secretive and unaccountable administration in U.S. history.
- The wealthiest cabinet ever in U.S. history. (the poorest multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice had a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
- Presided over the biggest corporate stock market frauds of any market in any country in the history of the world.
- Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
- Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in U.S. history.
- First president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the human rights commission.
- Withdrew from the World Court of Law.
- Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in U.S. history.
- Made the United States the least respected member of the entire United Nations.
- Refused to allow independent inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
- First president in U.S. history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. elections).
- All-time U.S. (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
- George W. Bush's biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
-Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in U.S. history.
- First president in U.S. history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
- First president to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack
- Took the biggest world sympathy for the U.S. after 911, and in less than a year made the U.S. the most detested country in the world
- With a policy of 'disengagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.
- Changed U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
- Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
- In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the U.S. has ever been since the Civil War.
- Entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
Records and References
- At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)
- AWOL from National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
- Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
- All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
- All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
- All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.
- Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public review.
GREAT THOUGHTS OF THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF You can't be president and head of the military at the same time - President Bush to Pakistan President Musharraf
You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket -- in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it -- they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building, somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded, it prevented additional opportunities for people to work.
GOP LAWYER SUES BUSH FOR WRONGFUL ARREST AND ABUSE
THE BUSH WAR ON WHISTLEBLOWERS
SMOKING GUN ON BUSH REGIME AND TORTURE
COULD BUSH PARDON HIMSELF?
YAHOO ANSWERS - Let's say it was a Capital crime. And let's say the whole cabinet was in on it. Could the president pardon his whole cabinet, resign, and then the Vice-President (now president) pardon him?
No one really knows the answer because it has never happened and been litigated. However, the majority view is that a president can pardon himself (assuming he does so prior to impeachment). Art. II Sec. 2 of the Constitution states, in part, that the president "shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." The purpose of this clause was to insure the separation of powers by preventing the courts from using the law as a legal blackmail against the president. . . There is a minority view that the president cannot pardon himself.
A FEW REASONS TO JOIN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
JON CARROLL, SF CHRONICLE - I really, really want to be a member of the Bush administration. I wish I'd realized what a cool job it was earlier, but there's still time. Let's look at the perks.
For one thing, I could get a nickname. I've never had a nickname. It could be Jon-Boy or Mr. Toasty or Smallfoot . . .
That's another thing I could do as a member of the Bush administration: I could lie. I could lie to Congress and the FBI and pretty much everybody, knowing the president had my back. . .
And, if all that fails, I'd still have the Supreme Court on my side. . .
If I were a lawyer, I might worry that a felony conviction would hamper my ability to practice law. . .
Another advantage of being a member of the Bush administration: ill-gotten gains.
And suppose I were to invite a pig to a meeting of my top aides. If some disaffected ex-employee mentioned my habit of bringing pigs into the room, I could say that I have no recollection of any pig in the room. . .
Eventually, I might have to resign to spend more time with my family. But I like spending time with my family. It's pretty much a win-win for me.
FORMER US SURGEON GENERAL TELLS HOW BUSH MUZZLED HIM
REUTERS - The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee. . .
Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration's embrace of "abstinence-only" sex education. . .
Carmona said he was politically naive when he took the job, but became astounded at the partisanship and manipulation he witnessed as administration political appointees hemmed him in. . .
Carmona testified with two predecessors, Dr. C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan, and Dr. David Satcher, named by Clinton but whose term ended under Bush.
Carmona said some of his predecessors told him, "We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as mean-spirited as it is today, and you clearly have worse than anyone's had."
BUSH DIDN'T THINK ATHEISTS WERE COVERED BY THE CONSTITUTION
POSITIVE ATHEIST - When George Bush was campaigning for the presidency, as incumbent vice-president, one of his stops was in Chicago, Illinois, on August 27, 1987. At O'Hare Airport he held a formal outdoor news conference. There Robert I. Sherman, a reporter for the American Atheist news journal, fully accredited by the state of Illinois and by invitation a participating member of the press corps covering the national candidates, had the following exchange with then-Vice-President Bush.
Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?
Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me.
Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?
Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?
Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists.
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/ghwbush.htm
JUNE 2007
BUSH REPORTED ACTING STRANGELY IN MEETINGS WITH FRIENDS
THINK PROGRESS - Anne Geyer writes in the Dallas Morning News about President Bush's strange behavior during a recent meeting"
"Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated 'I am the president!' He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of 'our country's destiny.'"
This is the second time in recent weeks that accounts have surfaced of Bush lashing out or "ranting" in private meetings when responding to criticism of his Iraq policy. Chris Nelson of the Nelson Report offered a similar account earlier this month:
"Some big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he's doing things would be OK. . . etc., etc."
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/31/bush-wild-eyed/
BUSH NAMES ANTI-GAY SURGEON GENERAL
ART JESTER, HERALD-LEADER, KY - The nomination of University of Kentucky professor Dr. James W. Holsinger as U.S. surgeon general has come under fire from groups that fear his actions as a high-ranking official in the United Methodist Church indicate he is anti-gay. Holsinger, 68, who holds UK's Charles T. Wethington Jr. Chair in the Health Sciences and is a former chancellor of UK's Chandler Medical Center and a former state Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, is being challenged for his role in decisions by the United Methodist Judicial Council. That highest "court" rules on disputes involving church doctrine and policies in the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination.
In his role on the nine-member Judicial Council, Holsinger has opposed a decision to allow a practicing lesbian to be an associate pastor, and he supported a pastor who would not permit an openly gay man to join the church. . .
"Dr. James Holsinger has demonstrated in the past that he harbors religious-based prejudice towards homosexuals," said Jamie McDaniel, coordinator of Soulforce Lexington, the local chapter of a national organization that opposes the use of religion to oppress lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. . .
Holsinger's pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun of Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, is one of the doctor's friends and supporters who said his interpretations of church policy have been correct and reflect longstanding majority opinion within the denomination. . .
Calhoun, a United Methodist pastor, noted that Holsinger and his wife, Barbara, were members of Lexington's First United Methodist Church, which asked them to set out and start a new congregation. They founded Hope Springs Community Church in a warehouse at 1109 Versailles Road. Calhoun called it a socially diverse congregation with a "very vital recovery ministry." It serves the homeless and those with addictions to drugs, alcohol and sex; and it has a Spanish-language Hispanic congregation with its own pastor. . . Hope Springs also ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian, Calhoun said. "We see that as an issue not of orientation but of lifestyle," he said. "We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle."
http://www.kentucky.com/454/story/85442.html
MARCH 2007
DUBYA ON THE ROAD
We can never replace lives, and we can't heal hearts, except through prayer. - Enterprise, Alabama, Mar. 3, 2007
You know, it's interesting to come back down here to the Gulf Coast. I tried to think back about what it was like the first time I came after the storm hit. And I guess the -- my most vivid recollection is the piles of rubble, literally debris stacked upon debris. It was -- it's hard to believe then that I would be -- I had faith that I'd be able to come to a home, but I had trouble visualizing. And then I kept coming down and I watched the improvement, because of the hard work of the local citizens, people like the Mayor here and the Governor, who set a vision that was a hopeful vision. The federal government's role has been to write checks. The Governor's role and the Mayor's role is help to expedite the federal money to the local folks. And today, we are able to sit in a homeowner -- the word is home. Again, one of the things I like to say is, when somebody walks in, welcome to my home. And it has a special ring to it here in the Gulf Coast, because there was a time when their home was totally destroyed. -- This entire passage has a "special" ring to it - Long Beach, Mississippi, Mar. 1, 2007
I'm a strong proponent of the restoration of the wetlands, for a lot of reasons. There's a practical reason, though, when it comes to hurricanes. The stronger the wetlands, the more likely the damage of the hurricane. - New Orleans, Louisiana, Mar. 1, 2007
In return for federal money, we expect local districts and states to measure, to have tests. The principal, the good Doc asked me to go into the 4th grade class and say to the kids, good luck on the test tomorrow. That was music to my ears, because you don't know whether or not a child is reading unless you test. -- Does he actually believe that? New Orleans, Louisiana, Mar. 1, 2007
http://www.dubyaspeak.com/freshdubya.phtml
JANUARY 2007
GREAT THOUGHTS OF GEORGE BUSH
"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." - at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002
"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." - Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001
"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.'' - Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001
"I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves." - Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003
"I'm the commander - see, I don't need to explain - I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." - quoted in Bob Woodward's Bush at War
"I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." - Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001
"Do you have blacks, too?" - to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." - as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002"It is white." - after being asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001
"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." - at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001
"I'm the master of low expectations." - aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003
"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you." -Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002
"I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it…I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet. . . - President George W. Bush, after being asked to name the biggest mistake he had made, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2004
- "My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we're going to run out of debt to retire." - radio address, Feb. 24, 2001
- "I try to go for longer runs, but it's tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It's sad that I can't run longer. It's one of the saddest things about the presidency." -interview with "Runners World," Aug. 2002
- "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job." - to a group of Amish he met with privately, July 9, 2004
-. "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." - Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
-. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." - Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
- "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -ashington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
FIFTY BEST QUOTES
http://www.billclevlen.com/bushisms.htm~Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman
AT LEAST 90% OF ALL BUSH VOTERS HAD PRE-MARITAL SEX
[We have extrapolated this fact by assuming that all of the 5% of the American public that did not have pre-marital sex were Bush voters, which leaves 90% of those casting a ballot for Bush having violated the sanctity of marriage and the abstinence only principles promulgated by their leader]
AP - More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past. . . Even among a subgroup of those who abstained from sex until at least age 20, four-fifths had had premarital sex by age 44, the study found.
The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people -- about 33,000 of them women -- in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to [the] analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage.
[A researcher] said the likelihood of Americans having sex before marriage has remained stable since the 1950s, though people now wait longer to get married and thus are sexually active as singles for extensive periods. The study found women virtually as likely as men to engage in premarital sex, even those born decades ago. Among women born between 1950 and 1978, at least 91 percent had had premarital sex by age 30, he said, while among those born in the 1940s, 88 percent had done so by age 44.
"The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds," Finer said. Under the Bush administration, such programs have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
JOHN MCCASLIN, WASH TIMES - For several years, Inside the Beltway has observed the mysterious bike-riding habits of President Bush. Members of the White House press corps, who regularly accompany the president deep into the woods of suburban Maryland or else onto the dusty terrain of his Texas ranch, seldom if ever actually see Mr. Bush atop a bicycle. The big question is why? Could something secretive or covert be taking place that doesn't involve two wheels? For instance, did Mr. Bush in 2004 really fall off of a bicycle and cut his chin, upper lip, nose, both knees and right hand (when his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, inquired: "Did the training wheels fall off?"), or did something more unusual cause his injuries? Was the president actually "enjoying" a bike ride so much during a major terrorist scare in Washington that the Secret Service, or so we were told, didn't bother to tell him that his own wife, Laura, and Vice President Dick Cheney had been rushed into a secure bunker? And how about the Sunday morning not long ago when Mr. Bush's church attire was unusually "bulky"? Immediately after the sermon, the president in the space of seconds had shed his suit of clothes and appeared in a brightly colored outfit that the White House insisted was "bike-riding gear." 'I've never seen a man who hasn't been drinking get out of a suit faster," noted Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle. Now, we learn of yet another bizarre twist involving a presidential biking trek this past weekend. Mr. Bush had been participating in an "extended" intelligence briefing in the Oval Office with his national security team, when suddenly a half-dozen young men and women showed up dressed in the same colorful gear worn by Mr. Bush. The entire group, including the president, immediately climbed into several heavily protected vehicles and sped off. But wait, there's more, discovered in the official White House pool report: "Four of them carried rakes and brooms along with their riding gear; why they had the rakes and brooms with them was unclear."
NOVEMBER 2006
BUSH'S SECRET HIGHWAY
JEROME R. CORSI, HUMAN EVENTS - Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn. Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman's Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation's most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in fast lanes, checked only electronically by the new "SENTRI" system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. . . A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497&this=stupid
PSYCHOTICS MORE LIKELY TO SUPPORT BUSH
ANDY BROMAGE, NEW HAVEN ADVOCATE - A collective "I told you so" will ripple through the world of Bush-bashers once news of Christopher Lohse's study gets out. Lohse, a social work master's student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush. . .
The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse's study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person's psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.
But before you go thinking all your conservative friends are psychotic, listen to Lohse's explanation. "Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader," Lohse says. "If your world is very mixed up, there's something very comforting about someone telling you, 'This is how it's going to be.'". . .
"Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry," the study says. Lohse says the trend isn't unique to Bush: A 1977 study by Frumkin & Ibrahim found psychiatric patients preferred Nixon over McGovern in the 1972 election. . .
For his part, Lohse is a self-described "Reagan revolution fanatic" but said that W. is just "beyond the pale."
GEORGE BUSH WOULD LIKE TO HAVE US STILL FIGHTING VIETNAM WAR
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - US President George W. Bush, making his first visit to Vietnam, said that one lesson of the bloody US military defeat here a generation ago was that the United States must be patient in Iraq. "We'll succeed unless we quit," promised Bush, the second US president to visit post-war Vietnam, after talks with close ally Australian Prime Minister John Howard on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific summit in Hanoi. . . Asked whether the US defeat in Vietnam offered lessons, the US president replied: "We tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq is going to take a while.". . .
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/17/061117134723.b5pa72t9.html
DON'T LET YOUR KIDS GROW UP TO BE BUSHES
THE BUSH BOYS illustrate the danger of raising families on welfare. In fact, they are among the nation's most successful public welfare spongers including:
- George, who has lived much of his life on insider trading of one sort or another - some of it just costly to family and friends as he stumbled from one failed deal to another and but some of it - like the Harken affair - raising the possibility of public fraud as well. Then there is the cost to the people of Texas who helped finance Dubya's baseball team with a sweetheart rental and purchase option agreement as well as the use of eminent domain in order to make little Bush rich.
- Jeb, whose failed S&L deal cost us all $4 million.
- Jonathan, whose east coast brokerage was fined in two states for violating laws with Jonathan barred from public trading in Massachusetts.
- Neil, who joined the board of the Silverado S&L, which eventually went bankrupt at a cost of $1 billion to the American taxpayers.
So if you want your kids to grow up straight and save some money, keep them away from that Bush family.
BRITAIN HOLDS SECRET TRIAL TO AVOID POSSIBLY REVEALING BUSH WAR CRIME
RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR, GUARDIAN UK - Two men are to be tried behind closed doors in an Old Bailey courtroom in a move that will stop the public finding out whether George Bush proposed what would have been a war crime and how Tony Blair reacted. The evidence the government does not want us to hear is in an official record of a meeting in Washington in April 2004, when the situation in Iraq was deteriorating fast. The memo, it has been reported, refers to Bush's alleged proposal to bomb the Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera, and is said to reveal how far Blair went in criticising US military tactics in Iraq at a time when troops were bombarding Falluja.
David Keogh, a former civil servant, is charged with unlawfully disclosing the memo. Leo O'Connor, a former Labor researcher, is charged with disclosing a classified document. The way the government went about demanding a private trial, and the arguments used by the judge to allow it, are deeply disturbing.
Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Blair's foreign-policy adviser, who was present at the Washington meeting, told government lawyers that the disclosure of the memo "could have a serious impact upon the international relations" of the UK, and was likely to have damaged the "promotion or protection" of British interests, including those of British citizens in Iraq.
Sheinwald signed a certificate necessary to persuade the judge that the trial should be held in secret before Keogh and O'Connor were charged at the end of last year. We now know that, soon after the men were charged, government prosecutors requested an adjournment of the pre-trial hearings until April 2006. They said they needed a certificate from the foreign secretary. Two weeks later Margaret Beckett replaced Jack Straw. In June she signed the required certificate. The government has not explained why Straw failed to sign one when he was foreign secretary.
Beckett claims that the disclosure of the memo would be as harmful now as when it was first drawn up: disclosure would have a "serious negative impact on UK/US diplomatic relations. The ultimate consequence ... would be a substantial risk of harm to national security." Beckett continues: "My assessment is that this risk is of such magnitude to outweigh the interest of open public justice."
In his little-noticed ruling the judge, Mr Justice Aikens, elaborates on these claims. The contents of the memo would be read "throughout the world", he warns - a prospect, it seems, too awful to contemplate. . . "It is reasonable to conclude," he warns, that some individuals, parts of the media, and "even some states", might react "very unfavorably" to the memo's contents. This might be "for no other reason than the topic under discussion was US/UK policy concerning the state of Iraq at a delicate time". And he comes with a trump card. He says: "It is also legitimate, in my view, for the court to bear in mind the ever-present threat to national safety which is posed by the possibility of terrorist acts by extremists in the UK."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1921328,00.html
ASIDE FROM BEING A PROTO-FASCIST SOME OTHER WAYS GEORGE BUSH IS DIFFERENT FROM PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS
GARRY WILLS, NY REVIEW OF BOOKS - The right wing in America likes to think that the United States government was, at its inception, highly religious, specifically highly Christian, and even more specifically highly biblical. That was not true of that government or any later government - until 2000, when the fiction of the past became the reality of the present. George W. Bush was not only born-again, like Jimmy Carter. His religious conversion came late, and took place in the political setting of Billy Graham's ministry to the powerful. He was converted during a stroll with Graham on his father's Kennebunkport compound. It is true that Dwight Eisenhower was guided to baptism by Graham. But Eisenhower was a famous and formed man, the principal military figure of World War II, the leader of NATO, the president of Columbia University­his change in religious orientation was just an addition to many prior achievements. Bush's conversion at a comparatively young stage in his life was a wrenching away from mainly wasted years. . . .
Bush was a saved alcoholic - and here, too, he had no predecessor in the White House. Ulysses Grant conquered the bottle, but not with the help of Jesus. Other presidents were evangelicals. Three of them belonged to the Disciples of Christ - James Garfield, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan. But none of the three - nor any of the other forty-two presidents preceding Bush (including his father)­would have answered a campaign debate question as he did. Asked who was his favorite philosopher, he said "Jesus Christ." And why? "Because he changed my heart." . . .
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19590BUSH REPORTED TO HAVE PURCHASED 99,000 ACRES IN PARAGUAY
Why might the president and his family need a 98,840-acre ranch in Paraguay protected by a semi-secret U.S. military base manned by American troops who have been exempted from war-crimes prosecution by the Paraguayan government? - Wonkette
PRENSA LATINA - The land grab project of US President George W. Bush in Chaco, Paraguay, has generated considerable discomfort both politically and environmentally. The news circulating the continent about plans to buy 98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay) is the talk of the town in these countries.
Although official sources have not confirmed the information that is already public, the land is reportedly located in Paso de Patria, near Bolivian gas reserves and the Guarani indigenous water region, within the Triple Border. . .
Concern increased last week with the arrival of Bush" daughter, Jenna, and a source from the Physical Planning Department saying that most of the Chaco region belongs to private companies.
Luis D'Elia, Argentina´s undersecretary for Land for Social Habitat, says the matter raises regional concern because it threatens local natural resources.
STEVE O - It has been reported that George W. Bush has recently purchased a 98,842 acre farm in Northern Paraguay. What on earth does the President of the United States need a 98,000+ acre farm in Northern Paraguay for?
On the surface it looks all very innocent, but let's add the very quiet trip that Jenna Bush made to the country earlier this month in which she met Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and his family at their official residence. She also met with U.S. Ambassador James Cason. Could it be that our little drunken Jenna is all grown up and playing diplomacy?
This all still seems very innocent on the surface, but now let's add the five hundred U.S. troops that arrived in Paraguay with planes, weapons and ammunition in July 2005, shortly after the Paraguayan Senate granted U.S. troops immunity from national and International Criminal Court jurisdiction. Neighboring countries and human rights organizations are concerned the massive air base at Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay is potential real estate for the U.S. military.
Does Bush plan on being charged with something in the future? Does Bush foresee a collapse of the United States and feels a strong need to have a place to cut and run to, or does Bush just need a nice secret little place other than Gitmo where he can send people he doesn't like?
http://www.teambio.org/2006/10/bush-family-98842-acres-and-a-mule/
BRING IT ON - Jenna Bush paid a secret diplomatic visit to Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and U.S. Ambassador James Cason. There were no press conferences, no public sightings and no official confirmation of her 10-day trip which apparently ended this week. . .
And Jenna's down there having secret meetings with the president and America's ambassador to Paraguay, James Cason. Bush posted Cason in Havana in 2002, but last year moved him to Paraguay. Cason apparently gets around. A former "political adviser" to the U.S. Atlantic Command and ATO's Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, Cason has been stationed in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama … basically everywhere the U.S. has run secret and not-so-secret wars over the past 30 years.
Here's a fun question for Tony Snow: Why might the president and his family need a 98,840-acre ranch in Paraguay protected by a semi-secret U.S. military base manned by American troops who have been exempted from war-crimes prosecution by the Paraguayan government?
WONKETTE - Here's a little background on the base itself, which Rumsfeld secretly visited in late 2005: U.S. Special Forces began arriving this past summer at Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982 during the reign of dictator Alfredo Stroessner.
Argentinean journalists who got a peek at the place say the airfield can handle B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes. It also has a huge radar system, vast hangers, and can house up to 16,000 troops. The air base is larger than the international airport at the capital city, Asuncion.
BUSH PARAGUAY LAND DEAL RUMOR UPDATE
TOM PHILLIPS, GUARDIAN - Meeting the new couple next door can be an anxious business for even the most relaxed home owner. Will they be international drug traffickers? Have they got noisy kids with a penchant for electronic music? As worries go, however, having the US president move in next door must come fairly low on the list.
Unless of course you are a resident of northern Paraguay and believe reports in the South American press that he has bought up a 100,000 acre ranch in your neck of the woods.
The rumors, as yet unconfirmed but which began with the state-run Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, have triggered an outpouring of conspiracy theories, with speculation rife about what President Bush's supposed interest in the "chaco", a semi-arid lowland in the Paraguay's north, might be.
Some have speculated that he might be trying to wrestle control of the Guarani Aquifer, one of the largest underground water reserves, from the Paraguayans.
Rumors of Mr Bush's supposed forays into South American real estate surfaced during a recent 10-day visit to the country by his daughter Jenna Bush. Little is known about her trip to Paraguay. . . Reports in sections of the Paraguayan media suggested she was sent on a family "mission" to tie up the land purchase in the "chaco".
Erasmo RodrÃguez Acosta, the governor of the Alto Paraguay region where Mr Bush's new acquisition supposedly lies, told one Paraguayan news agency there were indications that Mr Bush had bought land in Paso de Patria, near the border with Brazil and Bolivia. He was, however, unable to prove this, he added.
Last week the Paraguayan news group Neike suggested that Ms Bush was in Paraguay to "visit the land acquired by her father - relatively close to the Brazilian Pantanal [wetlands] and the Bolivian gas reserves".
The US presence in Paraguay has been under scrutiny since May 2005 when the country's Congress agreed to allow 400 American marines to operate there for 18 months in exchange for financial aid.
At the time many viewed the arrival of troops as a sign that Washington was trying to monitor US business interests in neighboring Bolivia, after the election of Evo Morales, a leftwing leader who promised to nationalize his country's natural gas industry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1928928,00.html
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Reggae Rising
Posted May 19, 2008 | 11:48 AM (EST)