So here we are arguing back and forth – pull out with a timetable, pull out without one. McCain, and Palin ridiculed Obama for wanting to set a timetable and said it showed his lack of experience in such matters and they endorsed Bush’s inane view that pulling out with a timetable was equal to defeat.
Defeat of what I ask? Because no one has won anything in Iraq and no one is likely to win anything in Iraq. Iraq is pretty much as it was except about a million more dead, a completely destroyed infrastructure and the loss of most of its academics. Other than that – yes, Saddam Hussein is no more, but what difference does that make in a country where people are still being blown to bits and tortured on a regular basis?
Setting a timetable for withdrawal is hardly likely to make things worse. But the Bush Administration won't have any of it because they still hope for some kind of miracle when they can pull out with clean hands and demonstrating strength and control.
So it’s slightly more than laughable, that the latest draft for the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement on the U.S. military presence states unequivocally that US forces are to withdraw by the end of 2011 as reported by Gareth Porter of IPS. It is unambiguous and clear. What is also clear is that even a non-combat US presence in that country is not wanted and will not be tolerated.
I’m laughing my socks off because here’s McCain and his hound dog Palin pretending like they’re going to make the rules.In fact, the only thing standing in the way of this agreement being ratified, is that the Shiites under Moqtada El Sadr, remember him, are revolting against it because they consider the pullout date for US troops to be too late.
This development signifies the entire loss of not only bargaining power but also legitimacy of the Bush regime with regards to Iraq. Here they were pontificating about how they would decide when to pull out the troops when in fact, it had already been decided by the Iraqis:
When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad Aug. 21, the United States accepted for the first time a firm date of 2011 for complete withdrawal
The Oct. 13 final draft, a translation of which was posted by Raed Jarrar on his website Oct. 20, reveals that the Bush administration has been forced to give up its aims of softening the deadline for withdrawal and of a residual non-combat force in the country.
The collapse of the Bush administration's ambitious plan for a long-term U.S. presence in Iraq highlights the degree of unreality that has prevailed among top U.S. officials in both Washington and Baghdad on Iraqi politics. They continued to see the Maliki regime as a client which would cooperate with U.S. aims even after it was clear that Maliki's agenda was sharply at odds with that of the United States.
"The degree of unreality.....
"Vote for McCain if you want another four years of a few more degrees of unreality. Barack got it right again.
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Record Setter
He has set another new record: George W. Bush has obliterated past deficits, except his own personal best of 2004 which still stands at $512 billion. The budget deficit for 2009 will be a whopping $482 billion, dwarfing the records to date held by none other than Ronald Let’s-Spend-All-Our-Money-And-Only-Tax-The-Poor Reagan, which topped out at a paltry $116 billion in 2003.
Still, the Bushies are scrambling and say that in the overall scheme of things, Ronald is still king, having managed to overspend by a blistering 6.8% whilst Bush’s overdraft stands at only 3.3% of GDP.
Nevertheless, CNN reports that Dan Perino defends the stimulus package (or was it The Surge) which cost the government $170 billion and which the Democrats did blindly sign off on for fear of being hated.
"I remember that back when we were discussing the stimulus package, both parties recognized that the deficit would increase, and that would be the price that we pay in order to help improve the economy," Says Perino.
Improve the economy? Hello? Last time I was at Best Buy people were lined up virtually with their stimulus package checks in hand, waiting to buy the latest flat screen HD 50” Plasma TV from Toshiba, Sanyo, Sharp or Sony. A small percentage of that money may actually end up in the USA I agree. But most of it, designed to give Average Joe a small adrenal boost, a quick pecuniary handjob to make us feel better whilst the United States economy plunges downwards at an unstoppable rate, will travel overseas to feed the countries manufacturing the toys that people buy here as a temporary relief against the deppressing fact that this economy, our economy is in tatters.
Not satisfied with that of course, the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae $300 billion Social Help Package has been approved by Congress and will probably be signed off by Bush so that Freddie Mac Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd, president and chief executive of Fannie Mae can continue to pocket their monstrous benefit bonus packages of $20 million and $13 million respectively.
Bush needs to get fired and the current Democratic leadership needs to be canned. This country is so ready for something new or it will go to the dogs. The existential threat the current Administration represents for this country far outweighs anthing any terrorist can think up.
Still, the Bushies are scrambling and say that in the overall scheme of things, Ronald is still king, having managed to overspend by a blistering 6.8% whilst Bush’s overdraft stands at only 3.3% of GDP.
Nevertheless, CNN reports that Dan Perino defends the stimulus package (or was it The Surge) which cost the government $170 billion and which the Democrats did blindly sign off on for fear of being hated.
"I remember that back when we were discussing the stimulus package, both parties recognized that the deficit would increase, and that would be the price that we pay in order to help improve the economy," Says Perino.
Improve the economy? Hello? Last time I was at Best Buy people were lined up virtually with their stimulus package checks in hand, waiting to buy the latest flat screen HD 50” Plasma TV from Toshiba, Sanyo, Sharp or Sony. A small percentage of that money may actually end up in the USA I agree. But most of it, designed to give Average Joe a small adrenal boost, a quick pecuniary handjob to make us feel better whilst the United States economy plunges downwards at an unstoppable rate, will travel overseas to feed the countries manufacturing the toys that people buy here as a temporary relief against the deppressing fact that this economy, our economy is in tatters.
Not satisfied with that of course, the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae $300 billion Social Help Package has been approved by Congress and will probably be signed off by Bush so that Freddie Mac Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd, president and chief executive of Fannie Mae can continue to pocket their monstrous benefit bonus packages of $20 million and $13 million respectively.
Bush needs to get fired and the current Democratic leadership needs to be canned. This country is so ready for something new or it will go to the dogs. The existential threat the current Administration represents for this country far outweighs anthing any terrorist can think up.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Torture Approver in Chief
A new book due to be released next week will publish findings of a Red Cross report that states categorically that the United States used and approved methods of interrogation that constitute torture. Full Stop.
I wrote ‘full stop’ because the idea has been disseminated by the Bush Administration that the methods used are in debate as to whether they constitute torture or not. The Bush Administration along with hacks like Supreme Court Justice Scalia have successfully infused the American public with the idea that waterboarding and other torture methods are “perhaps in some cases, but not necessarily always” torture.
This is wrong. The International Committee of The Red Cross is the world's pre-eminent institution on the subject and they leave no doubt as to the fact that the interrogation tactics used by the CIA in Guantanamo and elsewhere constitute torture.
The book entitled "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," is written by Jane Meyer and cites sources which have read the report which was released last year. These sources say "that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who called Bush a "torture-approver-in-chief who has yet to be held to account for anything" interviewed law expert Johnathan Turley about these developments. Turley replied: "I'd never thought I would say this, but I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that," as The Raw Story reports where the accompanying video can be viewed.
I wrote ‘full stop’ because the idea has been disseminated by the Bush Administration that the methods used are in debate as to whether they constitute torture or not. The Bush Administration along with hacks like Supreme Court Justice Scalia have successfully infused the American public with the idea that waterboarding and other torture methods are “perhaps in some cases, but not necessarily always” torture.
This is wrong. The International Committee of The Red Cross is the world's pre-eminent institution on the subject and they leave no doubt as to the fact that the interrogation tactics used by the CIA in Guantanamo and elsewhere constitute torture.
The book entitled "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," is written by Jane Meyer and cites sources which have read the report which was released last year. These sources say "that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who called Bush a "torture-approver-in-chief who has yet to be held to account for anything" interviewed law expert Johnathan Turley about these developments. Turley replied: "I'd never thought I would say this, but I think it might in fact be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought in my lifetime I would say that," as The Raw Story reports where the accompanying video can be viewed.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The One That Takes The Biscuit
Richard T. Race is the kind of guy you would hope was squeaky clean. He was after all George W. Bush’s specially appointed special Chief Investigator to the Pentagon’s Inspector General. His job description: “investigating fraud and official misconduct.”
Let’s hear that again: investigating fraud and official misconduct. Well, this is going to hurt: Richard T. Race has been arrested and charged with nothing less than fraud and attempting to violate the country’s banking regulations as Bloomberg reports:
Race, 61, admitted he made cash deposits at the Pentagon's credit union on three straight days in March 2007 that were designed to evade laws that track large currency transactions.
I know, the Democrats have these people too, what with William Jefferson and Eliot Spitzer. But I think Race is in fact the 58th Republican Bushie being nailed in a hypocritical scandal in the past 16 months if my memory serves me well. In fact, in 2007, there was a new Republican under investigation pretty much every single week of the year.
What makes it even more palatable is the fact that this is the man that George W. Bush personally chose to trust with the investigation of financial wrongdoing. A man who stoops so low as to try and hide a $20,000 transaction. It’s pathetic. Very, very funny, but pathetic all the same. It is the most succinct and condensed representation of Bush’s presidency I’ve seen so far.
Let’s hear that again: investigating fraud and official misconduct. Well, this is going to hurt: Richard T. Race has been arrested and charged with nothing less than fraud and attempting to violate the country’s banking regulations as Bloomberg reports:
Race, 61, admitted he made cash deposits at the Pentagon's credit union on three straight days in March 2007 that were designed to evade laws that track large currency transactions.
I know, the Democrats have these people too, what with William Jefferson and Eliot Spitzer. But I think Race is in fact the 58th Republican Bushie being nailed in a hypocritical scandal in the past 16 months if my memory serves me well. In fact, in 2007, there was a new Republican under investigation pretty much every single week of the year.
What makes it even more palatable is the fact that this is the man that George W. Bush personally chose to trust with the investigation of financial wrongdoing. A man who stoops so low as to try and hide a $20,000 transaction. It’s pathetic. Very, very funny, but pathetic all the same. It is the most succinct and condensed representation of Bush’s presidency I’ve seen so far.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Justice Slime Bag
It’s hard to believe that a Supreme Court Justice can have such a poor understanding of his own country’s Constitution that he professes that the 8th amendment doesn’t apply to foreigners. Actually, what am I saying? Justice Scalia, Dick Cheney’s hunting buddy and probably Darth Vader’s ugly aborted twin is the pinnacle of Neoconservatism and by whom has the Constitution of the United States been completely forgotten, ignored, trashed and otherwise trampled over other than by the Neocons?
In a recent BBC Interview, Antonin Scum-Bag Scalia actually argues that torture may be legal! I’ll repeat that just to make sure we got it: Justice Scalia, a Supreme Court Judge, says that it may be legal to torture someone. Then please, can someone, somewhere, explain to me why we in the West have railed for years about other countries doing it and have invoked something called ‘Human Rights?’ I mean, what rights do humans have if it is permissible to torture them?
The first line of the German Constitution reads: “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.”
A human being’s dignity is untouchable.
It is one of the most powerful lines of prose I have ever read and was written into the new German Constitution following WW II and as a result of the horrors that the Nazi regime inflicted on people. Untouchable. Not: untouchable except when you are drowning them. Not untouchable except when you are forcing them to wear women’s underwear on their heads and to make naked human pyramids although they haven’t done a thing to deserve it. Just ‘untouchable.’
Someone really needs to bang that phrase into the heads of Bush, Cheney, Scalia and the rest of the bizarro, uneducated, incompetent, ignorant as a pig’s bottom and generally uncivilized neoconservative pack.
In a recent BBC Interview, Antonin Scum-Bag Scalia actually argues that torture may be legal! I’ll repeat that just to make sure we got it: Justice Scalia, a Supreme Court Judge, says that it may be legal to torture someone. Then please, can someone, somewhere, explain to me why we in the West have railed for years about other countries doing it and have invoked something called ‘Human Rights?’ I mean, what rights do humans have if it is permissible to torture them?
The first line of the German Constitution reads: “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.”
A human being’s dignity is untouchable.
It is one of the most powerful lines of prose I have ever read and was written into the new German Constitution following WW II and as a result of the horrors that the Nazi regime inflicted on people. Untouchable. Not: untouchable except when you are drowning them. Not untouchable except when you are forcing them to wear women’s underwear on their heads and to make naked human pyramids although they haven’t done a thing to deserve it. Just ‘untouchable.’
Someone really needs to bang that phrase into the heads of Bush, Cheney, Scalia and the rest of the bizarro, uneducated, incompetent, ignorant as a pig’s bottom and generally uncivilized neoconservative pack.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Bush Destroyed The Republican Party
No, don’t look at me – I think George Bush destroyed America, but here I’m just the messenger. The person who actually said this is none other than the right’s beloved, iconic Peggy Noonan in today’s Wall Street Journal.
George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.
I don’t doubt Noonan’s analysis. What puzzles me is that any Republicans out there still support Bush. Do they really hate the Republican Party that much?
George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.
I don’t doubt Noonan’s analysis. What puzzles me is that any Republicans out there still support Bush. Do they really hate the Republican Party that much?
Friday, January 18, 2008
It's The Economy, Stupid
This could also be entitled ‘Denial is Not a River.’
What I want to know is where is the right? They should be on the barricades by now. But they continue to pretend that all is well and that the Bush cut-taxes-for-the-rich economy is working. Well it isn’t.
When the first indicators started appearing back in August of last year, the DOW was heading up to “another all-time-high” as the idiots on FOX News announced and with broad grins and puffed out little chests they denounced those that were more cautious and were already warning about the sub-prime crisis. But in today’s America, the real economical data is glossed over and scrapped for a superficial “everything’s great” approach. As late as December experts were still apparently oblivious to the real state of the union’s finances.
One of the major factors here is that the giant corrections that the market experienced when the tech bubble burst along with 9/11 (sorry to sound like Rudi but it really did have an effect) was that the economy slowed significantly from its Clinton days. This was, I’m sure a thorn in the Republicans’ side but their myopic approach to fixing the problem basically was to put a tax-cut band-aid on a gushing arterial wound. To move things along, the housing market was poked and jostled into action and Alan Greenspan decided, when interest rates were at a record low, to suggest ARM mortgages over fixed rate loans.
Millions of Americans were able to buy their houses for the first time as sub-prime borrowers suddenly qualified for houses which were already at utopic prices. The result is the sub-prime disaster and it has not gone away. Only to listen to FOX News or the right wing pundits, you would think it was nothing. Peanuts. But it isn’t. Merill Lynch just posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, Lehmann Bros. are axing jobs and homebuilding has seen its sharpest drop in 27 years. Building permits have dropped to levels not seen since 33 years ago as reported by CNN Money. The ensuing result is that the nations largest builders and at the same time, employers are reeling with huge losses.
That weakness has also hammered at the results of the nation's largest builders. A week ago KB Home (KBH, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 5 builder by revenue, reported a fiscal fourth quarter loss that was nearly 10 times worse than forecasts, as CEO Jeff Mezger told investors during a conference call that "As we enter 2008, we see no indication markets are stabilizing."
The DOW Jones Industrial average is almost back to where it was when Bush took office and basically, if an index doesn’t move forward, it’s going backwards against inflation.
Recession around the corner? No! The recession is here and what does FOX News report:
Bush to Lay Out Plan to Put Money in Your Pocket. President Bush to Push for Tax Rebates, Breaks for Businesses to Keep Economy Growing.
Economy growing? Growing? Guys, the economy is in free fall. Bush dropped the ball. He’s destroyed an unfathomable amount of capital, shredded the value of the US dollar and caused record foreclosures in the housing market. It’s the economy, stupid.
What I want to know is where is the right? They should be on the barricades by now. But they continue to pretend that all is well and that the Bush cut-taxes-for-the-rich economy is working. Well it isn’t.
When the first indicators started appearing back in August of last year, the DOW was heading up to “another all-time-high” as the idiots on FOX News announced and with broad grins and puffed out little chests they denounced those that were more cautious and were already warning about the sub-prime crisis. But in today’s America, the real economical data is glossed over and scrapped for a superficial “everything’s great” approach. As late as December experts were still apparently oblivious to the real state of the union’s finances.
One of the major factors here is that the giant corrections that the market experienced when the tech bubble burst along with 9/11 (sorry to sound like Rudi but it really did have an effect) was that the economy slowed significantly from its Clinton days. This was, I’m sure a thorn in the Republicans’ side but their myopic approach to fixing the problem basically was to put a tax-cut band-aid on a gushing arterial wound. To move things along, the housing market was poked and jostled into action and Alan Greenspan decided, when interest rates were at a record low, to suggest ARM mortgages over fixed rate loans.
Millions of Americans were able to buy their houses for the first time as sub-prime borrowers suddenly qualified for houses which were already at utopic prices. The result is the sub-prime disaster and it has not gone away. Only to listen to FOX News or the right wing pundits, you would think it was nothing. Peanuts. But it isn’t. Merill Lynch just posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, Lehmann Bros. are axing jobs and homebuilding has seen its sharpest drop in 27 years. Building permits have dropped to levels not seen since 33 years ago as reported by CNN Money. The ensuing result is that the nations largest builders and at the same time, employers are reeling with huge losses.
That weakness has also hammered at the results of the nation's largest builders. A week ago KB Home (KBH, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 5 builder by revenue, reported a fiscal fourth quarter loss that was nearly 10 times worse than forecasts, as CEO Jeff Mezger told investors during a conference call that "As we enter 2008, we see no indication markets are stabilizing."
The DOW Jones Industrial average is almost back to where it was when Bush took office and basically, if an index doesn’t move forward, it’s going backwards against inflation.
Recession around the corner? No! The recession is here and what does FOX News report:
Bush to Lay Out Plan to Put Money in Your Pocket. President Bush to Push for Tax Rebates, Breaks for Businesses to Keep Economy Growing.
Economy growing? Growing? Guys, the economy is in free fall. Bush dropped the ball. He’s destroyed an unfathomable amount of capital, shredded the value of the US dollar and caused record foreclosures in the housing market. It’s the economy, stupid.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Toeing The Line
Michael B. Mukasey is toeing the line as expected. Congress’ attempt to investigate the destruction of the CIA tapes showing the waterboarding of prisoners has been blocked by the Justice Department as reported in The Washington Post. Why aren’t we surprised?
Congressional leaders from both parties alleged that Justice is trying to block their investigation and vowed to press ahead with hearings.
…..
"We are stunned that the Justice Department would move to block our investigation," Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.) and Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said in the statement. "Parallel investigations occur all of the time, and there is no basis upon which the Attorney General can stand in the way of our work."
But there is a basis. It’s called the Bush basis, which is that the demarcation lines between the executive branch and the Justice Department no longer exist. It makes the Justice Department an extended arm of the White House and the Attorney General a lap dog of the President.
As Alberto I-can’t-recall Gonzalez before him, Mukasey is bowing to pressure from the White House to prevent any investigation into this affair.
Bush, who turned the United States into a country that tortures, has also turned it into a country that dissembles the truth on par with the worst of the world’s dictatorships.
Congressional leaders from both parties alleged that Justice is trying to block their investigation and vowed to press ahead with hearings.
…..
"We are stunned that the Justice Department would move to block our investigation," Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.) and Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said in the statement. "Parallel investigations occur all of the time, and there is no basis upon which the Attorney General can stand in the way of our work."
But there is a basis. It’s called the Bush basis, which is that the demarcation lines between the executive branch and the Justice Department no longer exist. It makes the Justice Department an extended arm of the White House and the Attorney General a lap dog of the President.
As Alberto I-can’t-recall Gonzalez before him, Mukasey is bowing to pressure from the White House to prevent any investigation into this affair.
Bush, who turned the United States into a country that tortures, has also turned it into a country that dissembles the truth on par with the worst of the world’s dictatorships.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The Greatest Criminals Known to Man
Which government wishes to govern with fear? Which government wishes through fear, to intimidate its citizens into toeing the line? What type of government would want to cow its citizens into a behavioral pattern?
Why would anyone threaten World War III when they knew it wasn’t on the cards?
"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,"
President Bush, 10/17/2007
Why would anyone threaten war without cause? The answer is someone who avoided military service because of a butt boil:
US Vice President Dick Cheney says Washington considers military action against Iran as a possible solution to Tehran's nuclear standoff.
What does it mean when the drums of war are beaten to the tune of an unconfirmed rumour?
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Bolton said if Tehran does not voluntarily stop its nuclear program, the US has to use force.
That was this morning. This afternoon, the absolute slap in the face for the crippled and morally bankrupt Bush Administration: according to a NIE Report on Iran’s nuclear program, Iran halted work on the development of nuclear weapons FOUR YEARS AGO as reported by Yahoo News!
A new U.S. intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted since the fall of 2003 because of international pressure — a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies drew just two years ago.
Is anyone, anyone at all, going to assert that Bush, Bolton and Cheney actually didn’t know this?
It’s unbelievable that they are going to get away with this and it’s unbelievable that there’s a single American citizen with half a brain left, who’s willing to back these bozo’s. With many of us doubting the rumours of Iran's nuclear arsenal, so many still believed that the threat was real because they are driven by fear, blindly hanging on to any piece of news that will confirm that this is the state to be in. It's a political disaster for Israel and a phenomenal, brutal denunciation of the Bush regime's ultimate and continued efforts to sow seeds of hatred and dissent and their willingness to destroy the world for their own ends.
Impeach, impeach, impeach. It’s not too late and it certainly couldn’t come soon enough. Impeach, try, imprison and throw away the key. There is no single greater danger to peace and the good of humanity than these people. They are the epitome of evil and the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
Why would anyone threaten World War III when they knew it wasn’t on the cards?
"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,"
President Bush, 10/17/2007
Why would anyone threaten war without cause? The answer is someone who avoided military service because of a butt boil:
US Vice President Dick Cheney says Washington considers military action against Iran as a possible solution to Tehran's nuclear standoff.
What does it mean when the drums of war are beaten to the tune of an unconfirmed rumour?
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Bolton said if Tehran does not voluntarily stop its nuclear program, the US has to use force.
That was this morning. This afternoon, the absolute slap in the face for the crippled and morally bankrupt Bush Administration: according to a NIE Report on Iran’s nuclear program, Iran halted work on the development of nuclear weapons FOUR YEARS AGO as reported by Yahoo News!
A new U.S. intelligence report concludes that Iran's nuclear weapons development program has been halted since the fall of 2003 because of international pressure — a stark contrast to the conclusions U.S. spy agencies drew just two years ago.
Is anyone, anyone at all, going to assert that Bush, Bolton and Cheney actually didn’t know this?
It’s unbelievable that they are going to get away with this and it’s unbelievable that there’s a single American citizen with half a brain left, who’s willing to back these bozo’s. With many of us doubting the rumours of Iran's nuclear arsenal, so many still believed that the threat was real because they are driven by fear, blindly hanging on to any piece of news that will confirm that this is the state to be in. It's a political disaster for Israel and a phenomenal, brutal denunciation of the Bush regime's ultimate and continued efforts to sow seeds of hatred and dissent and their willingness to destroy the world for their own ends.
Impeach, impeach, impeach. It’s not too late and it certainly couldn’t come soon enough. Impeach, try, imprison and throw away the key. There is no single greater danger to peace and the good of humanity than these people. They are the epitome of evil and the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Fizzle
The boom’s over. Boom? More like a pop. The artificial high caused by the Bush Administration’s tax decreases coupled with a fortuitous development of markets abroad in which US companies were increasingly vested, gave first the stock exchange a good old heave-ho upwards and with it, the housing market.
Only you can’t build an economy on hot air and promises and soon, the housing bubble burst and the age of “more-people-owning-their-homes-than-ever-before-in-the-USA” as touted by FOX News came to a crashing end. It was followed by an almost 10% correction in the stock market which started just two weeks after Peter Barnes and Jenna Lee also of FOX News fame said:
“We don’t know why everyone’s worried – things are looking great!”
This isn’t about FOX News, but they embody the Bush Administration’s hear, see and speak no evil mentality. Everything is swell all of the time. But it isn’t, as the New York Times reports today:
Credit flowing to American companies is drying up at a pace not seen in decades, threatening the creation of jobs and the expansion of businesses, while intensifying worries that the economy may be headed for recession.
Outstanding commercial and industrial bank loans, and short-term loans are both down by 9% since August. It’s the first time that this source of cash has shrunk so rapidly since – well ever actually, since the Fed started tracking such things back in 1973. Ironically, this development which has alarmed the Fed, caused them to make a statement hinting that interest rates would be cut again in the near future which sent the stock market soaring.
It’s the same sort of superficial nonsense that will cause the spokespersons of this Administration to shrug their shoulders and ask “who’s worried.” But the truth is, we all should be. The consequences of this development will primarily affect small businesses who are already finding it very hard to get a loan form a bank. A year ago banks were throwing money at small companies but those are finding now that they cannot increase their line of credit.
It stops them hiring and stops them from investing and that is a sure sign of bad things to come. All I can do is hope that if the country plunges into a full blown recession, it at least elects a Clinton into the White House in 2008 to clear up the mess that the Republicans have left behind.
Only you can’t build an economy on hot air and promises and soon, the housing bubble burst and the age of “more-people-owning-their-homes-than-ever-before-in-the-USA” as touted by FOX News came to a crashing end. It was followed by an almost 10% correction in the stock market which started just two weeks after Peter Barnes and Jenna Lee also of FOX News fame said:
“We don’t know why everyone’s worried – things are looking great!”
This isn’t about FOX News, but they embody the Bush Administration’s hear, see and speak no evil mentality. Everything is swell all of the time. But it isn’t, as the New York Times reports today:
Credit flowing to American companies is drying up at a pace not seen in decades, threatening the creation of jobs and the expansion of businesses, while intensifying worries that the economy may be headed for recession.
Outstanding commercial and industrial bank loans, and short-term loans are both down by 9% since August. It’s the first time that this source of cash has shrunk so rapidly since – well ever actually, since the Fed started tracking such things back in 1973. Ironically, this development which has alarmed the Fed, caused them to make a statement hinting that interest rates would be cut again in the near future which sent the stock market soaring.
It’s the same sort of superficial nonsense that will cause the spokespersons of this Administration to shrug their shoulders and ask “who’s worried.” But the truth is, we all should be. The consequences of this development will primarily affect small businesses who are already finding it very hard to get a loan form a bank. A year ago banks were throwing money at small companies but those are finding now that they cannot increase their line of credit.
It stops them hiring and stops them from investing and that is a sure sign of bad things to come. All I can do is hope that if the country plunges into a full blown recession, it at least elects a Clinton into the White House in 2008 to clear up the mess that the Republicans have left behind.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Corrupt to the Core
The corruption and disease that has permeated the Bush Administration is so incredibly convoluted and pervasive, that even special prosecutors investigating Bush appointees are being investigated.
Karl Rove’s office was being investigated by Scott Bloch’s bureau amid allegations that the staff of the former used government agencies to elect Republican officials, which is a no-no. Now Bloch himself has come under fire as reported by John Wilke in the Wall Street Journal:
At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.
The real question is: is there a single person left in this corruption addled administration that yet has no mark on them and no skeleton in the closet? Inquiring minds want to know.
Karl Rove’s office was being investigated by Scott Bloch’s bureau amid allegations that the staff of the former used government agencies to elect Republican officials, which is a no-no. Now Bloch himself has come under fire as reported by John Wilke in the Wall Street Journal:
At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.
The real question is: is there a single person left in this corruption addled administration that yet has no mark on them and no skeleton in the closet? Inquiring minds want to know.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Plame Won't Go Away
That the Bush Administration lies is nothing new. However, that a former Bushie, namely Scott McClellan has come forward in a new book and said: “They lied about Plame and used me to cover it up” is.
In what is sure to be a controversial move, former White House spokesman McClellan says that his statements about the involvement of Rove and Libby in the Plame affair were simply fodder to keep the press wolves at bay. The Raw Story quotes from his new book:
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," writes McClellan. "So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby."
………..
"There was one problem. It was not true," he writes. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."
This was what George Bush said on February 11, 2004:
"If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,”...“If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of."
Only George already knew and sure enough, he did take care of them. He took care that they were never prosecuted.
Anyone who still supports Bush still care to bleat “where are the lies?”
In what is sure to be a controversial move, former White House spokesman McClellan says that his statements about the involvement of Rove and Libby in the Plame affair were simply fodder to keep the press wolves at bay. The Raw Story quotes from his new book:
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," writes McClellan. "So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby."
………..
"There was one problem. It was not true," he writes. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."
This was what George Bush said on February 11, 2004:
"If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,”...“If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of."
Only George already knew and sure enough, he did take care of them. He took care that they were never prosecuted.
Anyone who still supports Bush still care to bleat “where are the lies?”
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