Democrats: what WMD?
The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia,
expressed concern that the searches are being diverted away from finding actual weapons.
"Signs of a weapons program are very different than the stockpiles of biological and chemical
weapons that were a certainty before the war," Rockefeller said. "We did not go to war to disrupt
Saddam's weapons program, we went to disarm him."
"It's looking more and more like a case of mass deception," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said
after Kay briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites). "There was no
imminent danger, and we should never have gone to war."
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Morons.com:
Satire: Sharpie Takes Blame for Flag Desecration
Posted by spatula on Jul. 28, 2003
(22 comments from readers)
The company that manufactures Sharpie permanent markers has
stepped forward to take the blame for Bush's flag desecration...
Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, maker of
the Sharpie™ permanent marker has stepped
forward to take the heat for Bush's recent flag
desecration. Pictured to the right you can see Bush
using a Sharpie™ to pen his signature over the
stars and bars in a display of supreme arrogance.
Satire: Sharpie Takes Blame for Flag Desecration
Posted by spatula on Jul. 28, 2003
(22 comments from readers)
The company that manufactures Sharpie permanent markers has
stepped forward to take the blame for Bush's flag desecration...
Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, maker of
the Sharpie™ permanent marker has stepped
forward to take the heat for Bush's recent flag
desecration. Pictured to the right you can see Bush
using a Sharpie™ to pen his signature over the
stars and bars in a display of supreme arrogance.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Anticipation of W press conference - posted by Flash Harry on DU:
Mr. President, how much does America kick ass?
Thank you for asking, David. Well, uh.. u... 'Murka's like a baseball player all hopped up on the juice. Nuthin' can stop us swingin' for the fences. Plus, you'd better not piss us off. That stuff messes with our head, somethin' fierce. And remember, we're at bat for freedom. Facing the pitcher of hatretude. We are the haters of the haters of freedom, and we will prevail.
Mr. President, how much does America kick ass?
Thank you for asking, David. Well, uh.. u... 'Murka's like a baseball player all hopped up on the juice. Nuthin' can stop us swingin' for the fences. Plus, you'd better not piss us off. That stuff messes with our head, somethin' fierce. And remember, we're at bat for freedom. Facing the pitcher of hatretude. We are the haters of the haters of freedom, and we will prevail.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
U.S. Fights Verdict Backing Ex-P.O.W.'s
By ADAM LIPTAK
hen 21 freed American P.O.W.'s returned home from the Persian Gulf war in March 1991, Dick
Cheney, then secretary of defense, welcomed them at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
"Every man and woman who cares for freedom," Mr. Cheney said, "owes you a very special
measure of gratitude."
Of those 21 former prisoners of war, 17, who had been tortured by their Iraqi captors, would like
something more tangible. This month they won a court award of almost $1 billion against Iraq,
and a federal law says they may be paid from frozen Iraqi funds.
The Bush administration has expressed sympathy for the plaintiffs over what they endured but
is fighting them about the money, saying it is urgently needed to rebuild Iraq.
By ADAM LIPTAK
hen 21 freed American P.O.W.'s returned home from the Persian Gulf war in March 1991, Dick
Cheney, then secretary of defense, welcomed them at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
"Every man and woman who cares for freedom," Mr. Cheney said, "owes you a very special
measure of gratitude."
Of those 21 former prisoners of war, 17, who had been tortured by their Iraqi captors, would like
something more tangible. This month they won a court award of almost $1 billion against Iraq,
and a federal law says they may be paid from frozen Iraqi funds.
The Bush administration has expressed sympathy for the plaintiffs over what they endured but
is fighting them about the money, saying it is urgently needed to rebuild Iraq.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Mark Morford:
== Bush Says Yo 'Sup Homies I Be Down Wid Dat ==
BushCo is making a rare appearance before a group that represents black
Americans, part of an effort to build ties to a demographic group that
overwhelmingly voted against him in 2000 and pretty much thinks he is
the niddering dinkwad spawn of a hollow WASP mafia empire that pretty
much thinks black people are a scourge and a menace just like gays and
Latinos and Asians and dogs and ferrets and small European cars and
solar power and organic foods and love. Bush was to travel to
Pittsburgh on Monday to address a conference of the National Urban
League, a group less critical of his policies than the NAACP, which he
has shunned during his 2 1/2 years in office. Bush was planning on
testing out some of his new humorous zingers about smackin' up some
skank-ass crack ho's and dazzling the crowd with the story of the time
he was snorting blow off Beyonce's ass while "schwizzling the whizzle"
to 50 Cent wid Da Krew, cuz he's down with it. Black people everywhere
were preparing to recoil violently at the very thought of Bush coming
anywhere near an organization of black people and daring to pretend to
care about anything resembling racial outreach. Bush also planned on
trotting out the old chestnut that Condoleeza Rice was rumored to be
black, when in fact everyone knows she is a freakishly rigid spinster
automaton who scares small children and whom the black race officially
disowned roughly two decades ago.
== Bush Says Yo 'Sup Homies I Be Down Wid Dat ==
BushCo is making a rare appearance before a group that represents black
Americans, part of an effort to build ties to a demographic group that
overwhelmingly voted against him in 2000 and pretty much thinks he is
the niddering dinkwad spawn of a hollow WASP mafia empire that pretty
much thinks black people are a scourge and a menace just like gays and
Latinos and Asians and dogs and ferrets and small European cars and
solar power and organic foods and love. Bush was to travel to
Pittsburgh on Monday to address a conference of the National Urban
League, a group less critical of his policies than the NAACP, which he
has shunned during his 2 1/2 years in office. Bush was planning on
testing out some of his new humorous zingers about smackin' up some
skank-ass crack ho's and dazzling the crowd with the story of the time
he was snorting blow off Beyonce's ass while "schwizzling the whizzle"
to 50 Cent wid Da Krew, cuz he's down with it. Black people everywhere
were preparing to recoil violently at the very thought of Bush coming
anywhere near an organization of black people and daring to pretend to
care about anything resembling racial outreach. Bush also planned on
trotting out the old chestnut that Condoleeza Rice was rumored to be
black, when in fact everyone knows she is a freakishly rigid spinster
automaton who scares small children and whom the black race officially
disowned roughly two decades ago.
Just War to sue bush for defamation of character
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) said Monday the Bush administration's lack of planning for a post-Saddam Iraq (news - web sites) and its unclear handling of intelligence claims threaten to "give a bad name to what really was a just war."
The Connecticut senator said on NBC's "Today" show that he is also troubled with members of his own party, many of whom supported the war, "who now seem to be raising so many question that they're leaving the impression that they don't think this was a just war."
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) said Monday the Bush administration's lack of planning for a post-Saddam Iraq (news - web sites) and its unclear handling of intelligence claims threaten to "give a bad name to what really was a just war."
The Connecticut senator said on NBC's "Today" show that he is also troubled with members of his own party, many of whom supported the war, "who now seem to be raising so many question that they're leaving the impression that they don't think this was a just war."
What Geneva Convention? We take hostages, cuz...God is with us!(from Eschaton)
Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.
Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.
Mishun Accomplished - the Spin:
MR. RUSSERT: Let me go back to May 1. And this was the scene on the USS Lincoln. President Bush arrived on it. And as he is walking to the podium, you see that banner, “Mission Accomplished.” Since that date, 400 U.S. soldiers have been wounded or injured, 107 killed, 48 from hostile fire. Was the president too premature in suggesting that the mission in Iraq has been accomplished?
DR. WOLFOWITZ: Look, the mission for those Navy pilots, and it was a magnificent mission, was accomplished, because, as the president said, major combat operations were over.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me go back to May 1. And this was the scene on the USS Lincoln. President Bush arrived on it. And as he is walking to the podium, you see that banner, “Mission Accomplished.” Since that date, 400 U.S. soldiers have been wounded or injured, 107 killed, 48 from hostile fire. Was the president too premature in suggesting that the mission in Iraq has been accomplished?
DR. WOLFOWITZ: Look, the mission for those Navy pilots, and it was a magnificent mission, was accomplished, because, as the president said, major combat operations were over.
Friday, July 25, 2003
Are for Cars, Not California Governors
by Bill Maher
Excerpt:
Here's why the economy turned: The dot-com bubble burst. (Obviously on the orders of Gray Davis.)
The airline industry collapsed. (Just as Gray Davis planned.) We fought two wars. (Playing right into Gray Davis' hands.)
And Dick Cheney's friends at Enron "gamed" the energy market and ripped off the state for billions.
So you can see the problem: Gray Davis.
And the obvious solution: A Viennese weightlifter. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Finally, a candidate
who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German.
by Bill Maher
Excerpt:
Here's why the economy turned: The dot-com bubble burst. (Obviously on the orders of Gray Davis.)
The airline industry collapsed. (Just as Gray Davis planned.) We fought two wars. (Playing right into Gray Davis' hands.)
And Dick Cheney's friends at Enron "gamed" the energy market and ripped off the state for billions.
So you can see the problem: Gray Davis.
And the obvious solution: A Viennese weightlifter. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Finally, a candidate
who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German.
Mark Morford:
== Watching BushCo Crumble ==
Ratings slipping, economy tanking, lies spiraling, credibility shot.
Try not to cheer
(By Mark Morford)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2003/07/25/notes072503.DTL&nl=fix
This is what happens when it's all a house of cards.
This is what happens when you build your entire presidency on an
intricate network of aww-shucks glibness and bad hair and cronyism and
corporate fellatio and warmongering and sham enemies and
economy-gutting policies and endless blank-eyed smirks that tell the
world, every single day, whelp, sure 'nuff, the U.S. is full of it.
Shrub's ratings have dropped below 50 percent for the first (and
probably not the last) time since they surged hugely right after 9/11
and he was hoisted in front of a wary America and puffed out his chest
and pretended like he could find Afghanistan on a map and promised he
would bomb every damn country on the planet that didn't have a
McDonald's or an Exxon or a secret U.S. chemical-weapons deal.
== Watching BushCo Crumble ==
Ratings slipping, economy tanking, lies spiraling, credibility shot.
Try not to cheer
(By Mark Morford)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2003/07/25/notes072503.DTL&nl=fix
This is what happens when it's all a house of cards.
This is what happens when you build your entire presidency on an
intricate network of aww-shucks glibness and bad hair and cronyism and
corporate fellatio and warmongering and sham enemies and
economy-gutting policies and endless blank-eyed smirks that tell the
world, every single day, whelp, sure 'nuff, the U.S. is full of it.
Shrub's ratings have dropped below 50 percent for the first (and
probably not the last) time since they surged hugely right after 9/11
and he was hoisted in front of a wary America and puffed out his chest
and pretended like he could find Afghanistan on a map and promised he
would bomb every damn country on the planet that didn't have a
McDonald's or an Exxon or a secret U.S. chemical-weapons deal.
On the photos of the dead Saddam sons - posted on DU by Gratuituous:
More Republican Pornography
Put it on the shelf with HUAC, McCarthy, Watergate, the Starr Report, and Election 2000. The boxed set will come out this Christmas for the knuckle-dragger on your list who has absolutely nothing, but votes for Republicans because they'll repeal the estate tax.
More Republican Pornography
Put it on the shelf with HUAC, McCarthy, Watergate, the Starr Report, and Election 2000. The boxed set will come out this Christmas for the knuckle-dragger on your list who has absolutely nothing, but votes for Republicans because they'll repeal the estate tax.
Wall Street Journal on the 9.11 report(26 missing pages)
The gaps could fuel the already-roaring controversy over how the Bush administration uses intelligence. The White House has been shaken by revelations that presidential aides were warned by the Central Intelligence Agency not to publicize a discredited report on alleged Iraqi efforts to obtain nuclear material. In his January State of the Union address, Mr. Bush nonetheless used the report to justify invading Iraq.
The gaps could fuel the already-roaring controversy over how the Bush administration uses intelligence. The White House has been shaken by revelations that presidential aides were warned by the Central Intelligence Agency not to publicize a discredited report on alleged Iraqi efforts to obtain nuclear material. In his January State of the Union address, Mr. Bush nonetheless used the report to justify invading Iraq.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
EMINEM DEEMED MORE TRUTHFUL THAN BUSH
Rap superstar EMINEM has been deemed "more truthful" than American President GEORGE W BUSH by a new survey.
The poll quizzed 1,016 Americans on issues of trust and gossip amongst other topics. And 53 per cent of those asked found the LOSE YOURSELF hitmaker's rhymes more credible and believable than Bush's speeches.
Almost two thirds of those polled in the 18-24 age bracket preferred SLIM SHADY to Bush, and even 55 per cent of 35-44 year-olds thought the same.
The survey was conducted by advertising agency EURO RSCG.
Rap superstar EMINEM has been deemed "more truthful" than American President GEORGE W BUSH by a new survey.
The poll quizzed 1,016 Americans on issues of trust and gossip amongst other topics. And 53 per cent of those asked found the LOSE YOURSELF hitmaker's rhymes more credible and believable than Bush's speeches.
Almost two thirds of those polled in the 18-24 age bracket preferred SLIM SHADY to Bush, and even 55 per cent of 35-44 year-olds thought the same.
The survey was conducted by advertising agency EURO RSCG.
Seymor Hersh: bushco ignores info on AlQuaeda:
“There is no security relationship now,” a Syrian foreign-ministry official told me. “It saddens us as much as it saddens you. We could give you information on organizations that we don’t think should exist. If we help you on Al Qaeda, we are helping ourselves.” He added, almost plaintively, that if Washington had agreed to discuss certain key issues in a back channel, “we’d have given you more. But when you publicly try to humiliate a country it’ll become stubborn.”
“There is no security relationship now,” a Syrian foreign-ministry official told me. “It saddens us as much as it saddens you. We could give you information on organizations that we don’t think should exist. If we help you on Al Qaeda, we are helping ourselves.” He added, almost plaintively, that if Washington had agreed to discuss certain key issues in a back channel, “we’d have given you more. But when you publicly try to humiliate a country it’ll become stubborn.”
Killing your enemy's family - consistent con policy:
http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire021501.shtml
Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law,
in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of
the past — I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew
how to deal with potential trouble — recognized that the families of
objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a
crime to be the wife or child of an "enemy of the people". The Nazis used
the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, "clan liability". In
Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished "to the ninth degree":
that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed, and
everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and
four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed.
(This sounds complicated, but in practice what usually happened was that a
battalion of soldiers was sent to the offender's home town, where they killed
everyone they could find, on the principle neca eos omnes, deus suos - let God sort them out
http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire021501.shtml
Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law,
in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of
the past — I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew
how to deal with potential trouble — recognized that the families of
objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a
crime to be the wife or child of an "enemy of the people". The Nazis used
the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, "clan liability". In
Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished "to the ninth degree":
that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed, and
everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and
four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed.
(This sounds complicated, but in practice what usually happened was that a
battalion of soldiers was sent to the offender's home town, where they killed
everyone they could find, on the principle neca eos omnes, deus suos - let God sort them out
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
"The Republican U.S. Congress impeaches the elected president. The Republican Supreme Court
hands the presidency to an unelected candidate. Now a Republican congressman pays to unseat
California's elected governor. If you've got Republicans, who needs elections?"
-- M Lipton, letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times
hands the presidency to an unelected candidate. Now a Republican congressman pays to unseat
California's elected governor. If you've got Republicans, who needs elections?"
-- M Lipton, letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times
Posted by PanchoV on BC forum (on Clinton's betrayal):
The poor boy from Arkansas is part of the Empire he shouldn't have ever had a chance to join from his humble beginnings-he's sniffing rare air with the old gentry on L. I.. I miss what he tried to be, am grateful for what he did do, and there are thousands of things he's not(racist, homophobic) that I appreciate.
The poor boy from Arkansas is part of the Empire he shouldn't have ever had a chance to join from his humble beginnings-he's sniffing rare air with the old gentry on L. I.. I miss what he tried to be, am grateful for what he did do, and there are thousands of things he's not(racist, homophobic) that I appreciate.
Posted on DU by gratuituous:
What? Are you saying mission still not accomplished?!
You liberals are really starting to piss Chimpy off! He called "Mission Accomplished" and the mission is by God accomplished!! We got two charred bodies, what more evidence do we need? Soon, water will flow in the desert, the troops will come home, and western-style democracy (not that fuckin' Old Europe-style parliamentarianism) will be bustin' out all over!
And when it does, you liberals will all have egg on your face, and me and Ann Coulter will have a big laugh. Ha, ha. (That's how we'll laugh.) Then, we start the executions.
What? Are you saying mission still not accomplished?!
You liberals are really starting to piss Chimpy off! He called "Mission Accomplished" and the mission is by God accomplished!! We got two charred bodies, what more evidence do we need? Soon, water will flow in the desert, the troops will come home, and western-style democracy (not that fuckin' Old Europe-style parliamentarianism) will be bustin' out all over!
And when it does, you liberals will all have egg on your face, and me and Ann Coulter will have a big laugh. Ha, ha. (That's how we'll laugh.) Then, we start the executions.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Ted Baxter bush didn't read the part about info being "Highly dubious":
WP:"The official said Bush was "briefed" on the NIE's contents, but "I don't think he sat down over a
long weekend and read every word of it." Asked whether Bush was aware the State Department
called the Africa-uranium claim "highly dubious," the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the
Union address, said: "He did not know that."
WP:"The official said Bush was "briefed" on the NIE's contents, but "I don't think he sat down over a
long weekend and read every word of it." Asked whether Bush was aware the State Department
called the Africa-uranium claim "highly dubious," the official, who coordinated Bush's State of the
Union address, said: "He did not know that."
Friday, July 18, 2003
MWO quotes - where does the buck stop?
JAN HOPKINS: But you know, a lot of people say that the buck stops with the president.
SEN RICHARD SHELBY: Well, I disagree with that.
CNN Moneyline
...as does Ari Fleischer:
DAVID LETTERMAN: Who's ultimately responsible for the words that come out of the President's mouth?
ARI FLEISCHER: It's a team approach
JAN HOPKINS: But you know, a lot of people say that the buck stops with the president.
SEN RICHARD SHELBY: Well, I disagree with that.
CNN Moneyline
...as does Ari Fleischer:
DAVID LETTERMAN: Who's ultimately responsible for the words that come out of the President's mouth?
ARI FLEISCHER: It's a team approach
Also in March 2001 (when Iraq oilfields maps in Cheney's energy commission) - Posted by texas Zan on DU:
MARCH 2001
-March 2001 - Sherron Watkins later testified before the House of Representatives: "I had also heard from one of Mr. Baxter's close friends that he had a conversation with Mr. Skilling in March of 2001. Mr. Baxter's recollection of the meeting was that he told Mr. Skilling 'we are headed for a train wreck, and it is your job to get out in front of the train and try to stop it.'
- March 2001 - Peabody Energy chairman Irl Engelhardt and other energy executives meet with two Cheney task-force members, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey. Cheney's group also hears from officials from the nuclear-energy industry-whose trade association, the Nuclear Energy Institute, will contribute $100,000 to the Bush event on 21 May 2001. Both coal and nuclear power will get major endorsements in the task-force report. Peabody Energy is a coal behemoth whose holding company and top officer have given nearly $200,000 to the President and his party since Bush took office, including $25,000 for the May gala.
- March - "I would love to meet with Ken," writes Florida Governor Jeb Bush in an email reply to Bill Bryant, a lobbyist for a Tallahassee law firm representing Ken Lay. Lay had asked to set up a meeting with the governor, and Bryant e-mailed Bush to say that Lay "has asked if it would be possible to visit you in Tallahassee in the near future. The topic would be the energy deregulation bill pending in Congress and Enron's plan for a national media campaign promoting the benefits of a competitive electric energy market. When the bill now pending in Congress becomes law, a competitive wholesale market will soon follow. Mr. Lay would like to discuss this with you and explain how it would affect Florida." Instead of an actual meeting, a 30-minute phone call between Lay and Bush will be set up April 17. Governnor Bush will deny any memory of the phone call on 7 Feb 2002.
- March 1 - Haley Barbour, former RND chairman, writes a memo to Cheney, on behalf of the coal industry, suggesting the president must provide a sound energy policy by not taking action against carbon dioxide. "A moment of truth is arriving. The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore," Barbour wrote. Among Barbour's 50 lobbying clients are the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, an industry coalition. The lobbying group - which paid Barbour's firm a half-million dollars last year - was set up by power-generation companies including FirstEnergy, Duke Energy and the Tennessee Valley Authority. FirstEnergy was a top contributor to the Bush campaign.
- March 4 - Tests in recent days confirm the world's largest oil find in three decades in the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. Kashagan is a single reservoir at least 25 miles across, and two-and-a-half times the size of the nearby Tengiz field.
- March 7 - Enron officials meet a second time with Cheney to discuss energy policy.
- March 13 - Bush, in a policy reversal, declares that his administration will not seek to regulate power plants' emissions of carbon dioxide, citing an Energy Department study that regulating these emissions could result in higher electricity prices.
- March 15 - United States Secretary of Energy Abraham testifies before Congress that power blackouts in California this summer are "inevitable." However, he does not argue for any federal government action to avert this outcome.
- March 19 - The second set of rolling blackouts hits California, affecting southern California for first time.
- March 20 - An official from the American Petroleum Institute sends an e-mail to Joseph Kelliher, a Department of Energy policy adviser, proposing language for a presidential directive governing energy regulations. API calls it "a suggested executive order to ensure that energy implications are considered and acted on in rulemakings and other executive actions." Bush will issue Executive Order 13211 on 18 May 2001, using nearly identical language to that supplied by API.
- March 22 -A low-level Energy Department staffer calls Grenpeace and and gives the environmental organization 24 hours to provide any input it has on energy policy. Greenpeace decides not to scramble to meet the tight deadline. "If they were serious about getting input," says Greenpeace spokesman Gary Skulnik, "that was certainly not the way to go about it."
- March 26 - Sen. Dianne Feinstein sends the second of three letters to Bush requesting a meeting to discuss California's dire energy situation. These requests are denied.
- March 29 - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham meets with Enron executives Joe Hartsoe and Linda Robertson.
MARCH 2001
-March 2001 - Sherron Watkins later testified before the House of Representatives: "I had also heard from one of Mr. Baxter's close friends that he had a conversation with Mr. Skilling in March of 2001. Mr. Baxter's recollection of the meeting was that he told Mr. Skilling 'we are headed for a train wreck, and it is your job to get out in front of the train and try to stop it.'
- March 2001 - Peabody Energy chairman Irl Engelhardt and other energy executives meet with two Cheney task-force members, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Bush economic adviser Larry Lindsey. Cheney's group also hears from officials from the nuclear-energy industry-whose trade association, the Nuclear Energy Institute, will contribute $100,000 to the Bush event on 21 May 2001. Both coal and nuclear power will get major endorsements in the task-force report. Peabody Energy is a coal behemoth whose holding company and top officer have given nearly $200,000 to the President and his party since Bush took office, including $25,000 for the May gala.
- March - "I would love to meet with Ken," writes Florida Governor Jeb Bush in an email reply to Bill Bryant, a lobbyist for a Tallahassee law firm representing Ken Lay. Lay had asked to set up a meeting with the governor, and Bryant e-mailed Bush to say that Lay "has asked if it would be possible to visit you in Tallahassee in the near future. The topic would be the energy deregulation bill pending in Congress and Enron's plan for a national media campaign promoting the benefits of a competitive electric energy market. When the bill now pending in Congress becomes law, a competitive wholesale market will soon follow. Mr. Lay would like to discuss this with you and explain how it would affect Florida." Instead of an actual meeting, a 30-minute phone call between Lay and Bush will be set up April 17. Governnor Bush will deny any memory of the phone call on 7 Feb 2002.
- March 1 - Haley Barbour, former RND chairman, writes a memo to Cheney, on behalf of the coal industry, suggesting the president must provide a sound energy policy by not taking action against carbon dioxide. "A moment of truth is arriving. The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore," Barbour wrote. Among Barbour's 50 lobbying clients are the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, an industry coalition. The lobbying group - which paid Barbour's firm a half-million dollars last year - was set up by power-generation companies including FirstEnergy, Duke Energy and the Tennessee Valley Authority. FirstEnergy was a top contributor to the Bush campaign.
- March 4 - Tests in recent days confirm the world's largest oil find in three decades in the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. Kashagan is a single reservoir at least 25 miles across, and two-and-a-half times the size of the nearby Tengiz field.
- March 7 - Enron officials meet a second time with Cheney to discuss energy policy.
- March 13 - Bush, in a policy reversal, declares that his administration will not seek to regulate power plants' emissions of carbon dioxide, citing an Energy Department study that regulating these emissions could result in higher electricity prices.
- March 15 - United States Secretary of Energy Abraham testifies before Congress that power blackouts in California this summer are "inevitable." However, he does not argue for any federal government action to avert this outcome.
- March 19 - The second set of rolling blackouts hits California, affecting southern California for first time.
- March 20 - An official from the American Petroleum Institute sends an e-mail to Joseph Kelliher, a Department of Energy policy adviser, proposing language for a presidential directive governing energy regulations. API calls it "a suggested executive order to ensure that energy implications are considered and acted on in rulemakings and other executive actions." Bush will issue Executive Order 13211 on 18 May 2001, using nearly identical language to that supplied by API.
- March 22 -A low-level Energy Department staffer calls Grenpeace and and gives the environmental organization 24 hours to provide any input it has on energy policy. Greenpeace decides not to scramble to meet the tight deadline. "If they were serious about getting input," says Greenpeace spokesman Gary Skulnik, "that was certainly not the way to go about it."
- March 26 - Sen. Dianne Feinstein sends the second of three letters to Bush requesting a meeting to discuss California's dire energy situation. These requests are denied.
- March 29 - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham meets with Enron executives Joe Hartsoe and Linda Robertson.
Judicial Watch - Cheney's task force - plans for world domination
udicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said today that documents turned over by the Commerce Department, under court order as a result of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force, contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.” The documents, which are dated March 2001, are available on the Internet at: www.JudicialWatch.org.
The Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) documents likewise feature a map of each country’s oilfields, pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. There are supporting charts with details of the major oil and gas development projects in each country that provide information on the projects, costs, capacity, oil company and status or completion date.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.b_PR.shtml
udicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said today that documents turned over by the Commerce Department, under court order as a result of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force, contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.” The documents, which are dated March 2001, are available on the Internet at: www.JudicialWatch.org.
The Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) documents likewise feature a map of each country’s oilfields, pipelines, refineries and tanker terminals. There are supporting charts with details of the major oil and gas development projects in each country that provide information on the projects, costs, capacity, oil company and status or completion date.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/071703.b_PR.shtml
He actually said that:
I had the opportunity to go out to Goree Island and talk about what slavery meant to America. It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America. America is what it is today because of what went on in the past..."
I had the opportunity to go out to Goree Island and talk about what slavery meant to America. It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America. America is what it is today because of what went on in the past..."
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
WaPo actually lists W's latest lies (yesterday's):
Bush's position was at odds with those of his own aides, who acknowledged over the weekend that the CIA raised doubts about the Africa allegation more than four months before Bush's speech.
The president's assertion that the war began because Iraq did not admit inspectors appeared to contradict the events leading up to war this spring: Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because he did not believe them effective.(snip)
Bush's position was at odds with those of his own aides, who acknowledged over the weekend that the CIA raised doubts about the Africa allegation more than four months before Bush's speech.
The president's assertion that the war began because Iraq did not admit inspectors appeared to contradict the events leading up to war this spring: Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because he did not believe them effective.(snip)
Monday, July 14, 2003
Shrub admits he put the Uranium BS in the speech:
"...thing it's important to realize is, we're constantly gathering data,
(this is hard as hell to do, gotta keep pausing the VCR), "subsequent to the speech the CIA had some doubts, but when I gave the dabuda, badauba,
haba (lots of stutter/babble here) "when they looked at the speech it was cleared, otherwise I wouldn'a put it in the speech".......
"...thing it's important to realize is, we're constantly gathering data,
(this is hard as hell to do, gotta keep pausing the VCR), "subsequent to the speech the CIA had some doubts, but when I gave the dabuda, badauba,
haba (lots of stutter/babble here) "when they looked at the speech it was cleared, otherwise I wouldn'a put it in the speech".......
Friday, July 11, 2003
Mark Morford:
== Hey Suckers Suck My Bogus Suckwad War Ha Ha Suckers Whee ==
Pleading for patience, Shrub said the US will "have to remain tough" in
Iraq despite attacks on U.S. soldiers that killed at least two more
Americans on Thursday, for a grand total of 70 U.S. soldiers killed
*after* ShrubCo declared the war essentially over, isn't that nice, oh
you simpering jackass. A group of arms control experts accused the
administration of misrepresenting intelligence information to justify
the war. "It's going take more than 90 to 100 days for people to
recognize the great joys of freedom and the responsibilities that come
with freedom," Bush actually mumbled, as the universe somehow
restrained itself from striking him dead on the spot with seventeen
bolts of lightning and a very well-placed meteor. "It's very important
for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course." Translation:
We lied about everything, you know we lied about everything, we don't
really give a damn that you know we lied about everything, and we're
gonna stay in Iraq for years in not decades because my goddamn
petrochem and military and political cronies are positively orgasming
over the newfound power and money to be made at your expense so please
just shut the hell up about all the flagrant lying and the fraud and
the utter ass-polishing shamelessness with which we are gutting this
nation, OK?
== Hey Suckers Suck My Bogus Suckwad War Ha Ha Suckers Whee ==
Pleading for patience, Shrub said the US will "have to remain tough" in
Iraq despite attacks on U.S. soldiers that killed at least two more
Americans on Thursday, for a grand total of 70 U.S. soldiers killed
*after* ShrubCo declared the war essentially over, isn't that nice, oh
you simpering jackass. A group of arms control experts accused the
administration of misrepresenting intelligence information to justify
the war. "It's going take more than 90 to 100 days for people to
recognize the great joys of freedom and the responsibilities that come
with freedom," Bush actually mumbled, as the universe somehow
restrained itself from striking him dead on the spot with seventeen
bolts of lightning and a very well-placed meteor. "It's very important
for us to stay the course, and we will stay the course." Translation:
We lied about everything, you know we lied about everything, we don't
really give a damn that you know we lied about everything, and we're
gonna stay in Iraq for years in not decades because my goddamn
petrochem and military and political cronies are positively orgasming
over the newfound power and money to be made at your expense so please
just shut the hell up about all the flagrant lying and the fraud and
the utter ass-polishing shamelessness with which we are gutting this
nation, OK?
And also from the memory hole:
T
e Demise of the Nuclear Bomb
Hoax
Imad Khadduri writes: "On
February 14, 2003, Mohamed
ElBaradei, Director
General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
submitted, in
accordance with U.N. Resolution
1441, his second report to the
Security
Council on Iraq's nuclear
non-capability. Much to the
chagrin of
Resident Bush and Colin Powell,
the nuclear inspection chief's
findings
not only cleared the smoke from
the imagined 'smoking gun,' but
also
dissipated the smog of
misinformation with which the
American
government, hungry for war, has
surrounded this issue...What is not
generally known is that when Hans Blix, a month ago, challenged Bush and
Blair to put up or shut up, in effect challenging them to produce their
'sensitive' intelligence on suspected sites in order to allow the
inspectors to verify the vociferous claims of the likes of White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer's 'we know they have it,' a list of 25 sites was
quietly provided. The inspectors visited each one of these sites and
found nothing."
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1073©2003
T
e Demise of the Nuclear Bomb
Hoax
Imad Khadduri writes: "On
February 14, 2003, Mohamed
ElBaradei, Director
General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
submitted, in
accordance with U.N. Resolution
1441, his second report to the
Security
Council on Iraq's nuclear
non-capability. Much to the
chagrin of
Resident Bush and Colin Powell,
the nuclear inspection chief's
findings
not only cleared the smoke from
the imagined 'smoking gun,' but
also
dissipated the smog of
misinformation with which the
American
government, hungry for war, has
surrounded this issue...What is not
generally known is that when Hans Blix, a month ago, challenged Bush and
Blair to put up or shut up, in effect challenging them to produce their
'sensitive' intelligence on suspected sites in order to allow the
inspectors to verify the vociferous claims of the likes of White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer's 'we know they have it,' a list of 25 sites was
quietly provided. The inspectors visited each one of these sites and
found nothing."
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1073©2003
Wargte is on!
CBS broke it yesterday by revealing that CIA personally told W that the Niger info is wrong (but not Tenet"). WH said : The brits are going with it, we will too" Condi whined today: "Tenet didn't say it was phony" WaPo wrote that CIA told the brits last year that the Niger info is wrong (but not W?)
From the memory hole I rescued this:
> Sept. 7 ó President Bush,
citing a report by the U.N.Ãs
atomic weapons
> agency as evidence of pending
Iraqi rearmament, said Saturday
that there was
> proof that Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein was developing
weapons of mass
> destruction. But a source at
the U.N. agency told NBC News
that there was no
> intelligence to indicate that
Iraq had restarted its nuclear
weapons
> program.
>
> Article at:
>
http://www.msnbc.com/news/802167.asp
>
CBS broke it yesterday by revealing that CIA personally told W that the Niger info is wrong (but not Tenet"). WH said : The brits are going with it, we will too" Condi whined today: "Tenet didn't say it was phony" WaPo wrote that CIA told the brits last year that the Niger info is wrong (but not W?)
From the memory hole I rescued this:
> Sept. 7 ó President Bush,
citing a report by the U.N.Ãs
atomic weapons
> agency as evidence of pending
Iraqi rearmament, said Saturday
that there was
> proof that Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein was developing
weapons of mass
> destruction. But a source at
the U.N. agency told NBC News
that there was no
> intelligence to indicate that
Iraq had restarted its nuclear
weapons
> program.
>
> Article at:
>
http://www.msnbc.com/news/802167.asp
>
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Letter to the editor
"GOP rule-breaking seems to be SOP
by Dean Everman, West Palm Beach
It seems to me that Republicans will stop at nothing if the ends justify the means.
If the vote counting in Florida doesn't go as planned, make the ballot counting stop.
If Texas Democrats won't vote on a strictly partisan redistricting bill that favors only
Republican lawmakers, send Homeland Security agents to arrest them.
If you can't win an election against a Democratic governor in California,
begin a recall petition and demand the right to vote again.
When Democrats in the U.S. Senate refuse to confirm right-wing conservative judicial
nominees, try to change the rules so they can't filibuster any more.
Why can't Republicans (the self-proclaimed moral high-grounders) compete on a level
playing field? It seems they either must cheat, undermine or change a longstanding
precedent to favor their objectives
"GOP rule-breaking seems to be SOP
by Dean Everman, West Palm Beach
It seems to me that Republicans will stop at nothing if the ends justify the means.
If the vote counting in Florida doesn't go as planned, make the ballot counting stop.
If Texas Democrats won't vote on a strictly partisan redistricting bill that favors only
Republican lawmakers, send Homeland Security agents to arrest them.
If you can't win an election against a Democratic governor in California,
begin a recall petition and demand the right to vote again.
When Democrats in the U.S. Senate refuse to confirm right-wing conservative judicial
nominees, try to change the rules so they can't filibuster any more.
Why can't Republicans (the self-proclaimed moral high-grounders) compete on a level
playing field? It seems they either must cheat, undermine or change a longstanding
precedent to favor their objectives
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Rummy on WMD:
Carl Levin elicited this from Rummy today:
Question:
Mr. Rumsfeld, the day after the President's SOTU you repeated the claim that Iraq was attempting to obtain Nuclear materials from Nigeria. Were you told by the CIA, before or after, that these documents were in fact forgeries?
Answer:
I can't give an answer to that at this time.
Also, the Capitol Hill Blue story has been discredited.
Carl Levin elicited this from Rummy today:
Question:
Mr. Rumsfeld, the day after the President's SOTU you repeated the claim that Iraq was attempting to obtain Nuclear materials from Nigeria. Were you told by the CIA, before or after, that these documents were in fact forgeries?
Answer:
I can't give an answer to that at this time.
Also, the Capitol Hill Blue story has been discredited.
Morford on Savage:
The TV version of "The
Savage Nation" began March 8 but pretty much sat there like a reeking
little boil on the ass of Major Media, festering and hissing and pretty
much proving what every sentient creature anywhere knew all along, that
Savage himself is a terribly sad and homoerotically repressed and
pathetic little figure quite possibly deserving of warm-hearted and
forgiving pity from us all, but then again not really.
The TV version of "The
Savage Nation" began March 8 but pretty much sat there like a reeking
little boil on the ass of Major Media, festering and hissing and pretty
much proving what every sentient creature anywhere knew all along, that
Savage himself is a terribly sad and homoerotically repressed and
pathetic little figure quite possibly deserving of warm-hearted and
forgiving pity from us all, but then again not really.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Eric Alterman (Altercation):
This kind of meaningless BS is often considered obligatory by U.S. journalists, but excuse me, by exactly what normative criteria is this "the world’s finest democracy"? Voter turnout? We’re just about the worst. Turnover in leadership? We rank below the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Quality of debate? Again, not as easy to measure as a date point, but my own assessment is that we’re in last place in our division and sinking fast. What does our system do best? That’s easy. We have the democracy where money counts for the most and honesty counts for the least, and we most definitely lead the world in self-congratulation.
MWO:Why does Eric hate American democracy?
This kind of meaningless BS is often considered obligatory by U.S. journalists, but excuse me, by exactly what normative criteria is this "the world’s finest democracy"? Voter turnout? We’re just about the worst. Turnover in leadership? We rank below the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Quality of debate? Again, not as easy to measure as a date point, but my own assessment is that we’re in last place in our division and sinking fast. What does our system do best? That’s easy. We have the democracy where money counts for the most and honesty counts for the least, and we most definitely lead the world in self-congratulation.
MWO:Why does Eric hate American democracy?
CIA strikes back: bush DID KNOW the Niger story was false
An intelligence consultant who was present at two White House briefings where the uranium report was discussed confirmed that the President was told the intelligence was questionable and that his national security advisors urged him not to include the claim in his State of the Union address.
"The report had already been discredited," said Terrance J. Wilkinson, a CIA advisor present at two White House briefings. "This point was clearly made when the President was in the room during at least two of the briefings."
An intelligence consultant who was present at two White House briefings where the uranium report was discussed confirmed that the President was told the intelligence was questionable and that his national security advisors urged him not to include the claim in his State of the Union address.
"The report had already been discredited," said Terrance J. Wilkinson, a CIA advisor present at two White House briefings. "This point was clearly made when the President was in the room during at least two of the briefings."
More James Caroll:
But there's the problem with President Bush. It is not the moral immaturity of the texts he
reads. Like his callow statement in the National Cathedral, they are written by someone else.
When the president speaks, unscripted, from his own moral center, what shows itself is a
bottomless void.
To address concerns about the savage violence engulfing ''postwar'' Iraq with a cocksure ''Bring
`em on!'' as he did last week, is to display an absence of imagination shocking in a man of such
authority. It showed a lack of capacity to identify either with enraged Iraqis who must rise to
such a taunt or with young GIs who must now answer for it. Even in relationship to his own
soldiers, there is nothing at the core of this man but visceral meanness.
No human being with a minimal self-knowledge could speak of evil as he does, but there is no
self-knowledge without a self. Even this short ''distance of history'' shows George W. Bush to be,
in that sense, the selfless president, which is not a compliment. It's a warning.
But there's the problem with President Bush. It is not the moral immaturity of the texts he
reads. Like his callow statement in the National Cathedral, they are written by someone else.
When the president speaks, unscripted, from his own moral center, what shows itself is a
bottomless void.
To address concerns about the savage violence engulfing ''postwar'' Iraq with a cocksure ''Bring
`em on!'' as he did last week, is to display an absence of imagination shocking in a man of such
authority. It showed a lack of capacity to identify either with enraged Iraqis who must rise to
such a taunt or with young GIs who must now answer for it. Even in relationship to his own
soldiers, there is nothing at the core of this man but visceral meanness.
No human being with a minimal self-knowledge could speak of evil as he does, but there is no
self-knowledge without a self. Even this short ''distance of history'' shows George W. Bush to be,
in that sense, the selfless president, which is not a compliment. It's a warning.
James Caroll - Boston Globe:
"
Having forthrightly set out to rid the world of evil, first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, has the United States, willy-nilly, become an instrument of evil? Lying (weapons of mass deception). Torture (if only by US surrogates). The killing of children (''collaterally,'' but inevitably). The vulgarization of patriotism (last week's orgy of bunting). The imposition of chaos (and calling it freedom). The destruction of alliances (''First Iraq, then France''). The invitation to other nations to behave in like fashion (Goodbye, Chechnya). The inexorable escalation (''Bring 'em on!''). The made-in-Washington pantheon of mythologized enemies (first Osama, now Saddam). The transmutation of ordinary young Americans (into dead heroes). How does all of this, or any of it, ''rid the world of evil''?
"
Having forthrightly set out to rid the world of evil, first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq, has the United States, willy-nilly, become an instrument of evil? Lying (weapons of mass deception). Torture (if only by US surrogates). The killing of children (''collaterally,'' but inevitably). The vulgarization of patriotism (last week's orgy of bunting). The imposition of chaos (and calling it freedom). The destruction of alliances (''First Iraq, then France''). The invitation to other nations to behave in like fashion (Goodbye, Chechnya). The inexorable escalation (''Bring 'em on!''). The made-in-Washington pantheon of mythologized enemies (first Osama, now Saddam). The transmutation of ordinary young Americans (into dead heroes). How does all of this, or any of it, ''rid the world of evil''?
Thursday, July 03, 2003
These are the days by Samela (posted on BC forum)
Boy the way Ted Nugent plays
Songs that make Clear Channel waves.
Guys like us we have it made,
These are the days.
And you know who you are when,
Girls are girls and men are men,
Mister we sure have a man like Herbert Hoover again.
We don't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulls his weight.
Gee our SUV runs great.
These are the days.
Boy the way Ted Nugent plays
Songs that make Clear Channel waves.
Guys like us we have it made,
These are the days.
And you know who you are when,
Girls are girls and men are men,
Mister we sure have a man like Herbert Hoover again.
We don't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulls his weight.
Gee our SUV runs great.
These are the days.
They brought it on:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 10 American soldiers have been wounded in attacks on Thursday in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials.
The attacks came a day after resident Bush -- saying he was confident that U.S. forces in Iraq were well-protected -- said to those in Iraq looking to harm American troops, "My answer is, bring them on." The remark prompted the condemnation of Democratic Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 10 American soldiers have been wounded in attacks on Thursday in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials.
The attacks came a day after resident Bush -- saying he was confident that U.S. forces in Iraq were well-protected -- said to those in Iraq looking to harm American troops, "My answer is, bring them on." The remark prompted the condemnation of Democratic Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
bush calls the enemy to attack American troops:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday challenged militants who have been killing and injuring U.S. forces in Iraq, saying "bring them on" because American forces were tough enough to deal with their attacks.
"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is 'bring them on'. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday challenged militants who have been killing and injuring U.S. forces in Iraq, saying "bring them on" because American forces were tough enough to deal with their attacks.
"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is 'bring them on'. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation."
Boy!! aWol was REALLY touchy at today's impromtu press conf.
Posted on DU by Mopaul
he was talking about how he's going to save the world from aids and boldy and uncharacteristically took a few questions from the media. bad idea. when he's off script, he's at his most dangerous.
when asked about liberia and whether or not we are going in there militarily, he was very firm and churchillian. he said colin is working on it, and the president of liberia needs to leave the country immediately. is that like a regime change?
then a reporter asked about the gray area involving w.m.d.'s in iraq and the monkeyman came unglued. he got very defensive, and leaned real hard off the podium like a drunk on a wave-tossed ship deck. he started rambling and said that saddam was gone, we took care of him, iraq is free to be a nation, he did terrible things, he knows saddam had weapons, HE USED THEM on his own people. wow, did you know that? he said saddam is no longer a threat to america, and that he definitely was a threat to us, and now the world is more peaceful that saddam is 'gone'.
he really got flustered and vaporish and snippy, that's how i like to see him best. coming apart at the seams, ready to explode, like a cornered animal, ready to strike at anything that moves to defend himself. it was the real bush at his best.
sometimes the fake sincerity and congeniality just fall away and you can see the real cockroach heart that makes him tick.
and then he reminded us that we will 'STAY THE COURSE' in regards to iraq. a phrase run into the ground by his daddy, our former nazipresident. he never mentioned that u.s. soldiers are dying daily since 'mission accomplished' was declared. so we will be providing target practice with live targets in iraq for years and years to come.
boy!! these dictator megalomaniac world conquerer in-bred types get really touchy when you ask them simple questions!
Posted on DU by Mopaul
he was talking about how he's going to save the world from aids and boldy and uncharacteristically took a few questions from the media. bad idea. when he's off script, he's at his most dangerous.
when asked about liberia and whether or not we are going in there militarily, he was very firm and churchillian. he said colin is working on it, and the president of liberia needs to leave the country immediately. is that like a regime change?
then a reporter asked about the gray area involving w.m.d.'s in iraq and the monkeyman came unglued. he got very defensive, and leaned real hard off the podium like a drunk on a wave-tossed ship deck. he started rambling and said that saddam was gone, we took care of him, iraq is free to be a nation, he did terrible things, he knows saddam had weapons, HE USED THEM on his own people. wow, did you know that? he said saddam is no longer a threat to america, and that he definitely was a threat to us, and now the world is more peaceful that saddam is 'gone'.
he really got flustered and vaporish and snippy, that's how i like to see him best. coming apart at the seams, ready to explode, like a cornered animal, ready to strike at anything that moves to defend himself. it was the real bush at his best.
sometimes the fake sincerity and congeniality just fall away and you can see the real cockroach heart that makes him tick.
and then he reminded us that we will 'STAY THE COURSE' in regards to iraq. a phrase run into the ground by his daddy, our former nazipresident. he never mentioned that u.s. soldiers are dying daily since 'mission accomplished' was declared. so we will be providing target practice with live targets in iraq for years and years to come.
boy!! these dictator megalomaniac world conquerer in-bred types get really touchy when you ask them simple questions!
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Posted on DU by justicebuilder 03, 03:24 PM (ET)
Wishing for Failure
A fancy new Republican spin-point was on display this weekend – Democrats are “wishing for failure.” Sometimes we’re “hoping for failure.” Once or twice we were “united by hoping for failure.” Hey, at least we’re united.
But as Mark Crispin Miller wrote of a bit of RNC spin from the failed 1992 campaign of Bush’s father, the charge is “designed only to sound damning, not to make a whole lot of sense.” Indeed, if the Democrats were truly hoping for failure, we would be supporting George W. Bush.
Bush’s legacy, such as it is, is a litany of abject failures. He was a poor student in high school, but his family name allowed him to go on and become a poor student at Yale, and then permitted him the opportunity, denied to many excellent students, to become a poor student at Harvard business school. He was a failure in the oil business, running a company into the ground and even failing to file the necessary paperwork with the SEC when he sold his interest in the company at considerable profit just before the enterprise crashed into the dust.
Bush’s other exploits, in no particular order, include a failed stint as CEO of a catering company owned by a group of his father’s wealthy friends, a major role in his father’s failed presidential campaign in 1992, and an aborted tour of duty in the Texas Air National Guard. This last item was a success not in that Bush earned any distinction as a pilot (though, fittingly, he seemed to have some natural talent for it) but in that it kept him away from the jungles of Vietnam, where many of his less fortunate contemporaries were busy dying in a war he and his father both supported, and continue to support to this day. As the son of an important politician, all Bush really had to do to succeed in the Guard was show up – but he failed to do even that.
As Governor of Texas, Bush succeeded in making a huge amount of money for himself and for his top financial backer, Ken Lay. By any other measure, however, Bush’s term-and-a-half as the state’s Chief Executive Officer – er, Chief Executive – was unremarkable. His greatest accomplishment was probably to compile such an atrocious environmental record that Texas is now home to several of the most polluted cities on the planet.
It was not until he assumed the Presidency, however, that Bush was able to fully demonstrate his particular knack for failure. At the helm of the world’s lone superpower, there is no safety net of rich oil men and well-connected parents to bail Bush out when he blunders. Slick political operators are employed to hide Bush’s failures from public view, but the mistakes cannot be erased with a check and a whisper, like hush money paid to some young woman Bush has impregnated on a wild bender.
No, Bush’s presidential failures are too obvious to conceal, even for the most shameless team of propagandists ever assembled in the history of this great nation. Elected on a promise that we could afford a tax cut and still keep Social Security solvent without returning the nation to deficit, Bush has managed in three short years to rack up the highest single-year deficit in the history of the United States. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are in trouble, not because of some inherent weakness in the system but because George W. Bush failed to protect them.
After the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked, there was an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill from all over the world. We had the opportunity not only to mend tattered alliances with governments but to forge new bonds with the citizens of the world. Unfortunately, George W. Bush failed. Instead of using his position to unite all the globe's citizens, he squandered the opportunity so completely that now, less than two years later, the United States has never been more isolated among the world’s governments nor more hated among the people of the Earth.
It is telling that Bush’s supporters point to U.S. victories on the battlefield as Bush’s two major accomplishments as president. The military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have certainly been a bonanza for Bush’s contributors, who have reaped huge profits from these lethal adventures, and also for Bush himself, whose approval ratings seem to go up only when he declares war. Militarily, however, neither war achieved ANY of its stated objectives – even the ones that were added after the fact.
The Afghanistan war was originally supposed to be about getting Osama bin Laden “Dead or Alive,” but when that failed, Bush changed the objective to “getting rid of the hated Taliban.” Well, don’t look now, but the Taliban are still in charge throughout most of the country. The Karzai government Bush installed is, you guessed it, a failure.
In Iraq, we were going in to make sure that weapons of mass destruction didn’t fall into the hands of dangerous folks. Well, we’re in control of Iraq now, and unless those nuclear sites were looted by missionaries, we can safely assume that there are some dangerous people running around the Middle East with nuclear sludge as a result of our efforts. Meanwhile, it’s not clear that Saddam Hussein had any weapons that self-respecting terrorists would have wanted. The liberation of the Iraqi people from the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein is all well and good, of course, but as in Afghanistan, many of the people there are beginning to feel they have been liberated from the frying pan into the fire, since Bush failed to develop a coherent plan for the postwar occupation of Iraq, now quickly descending into madness.
I’m not sure if there really are any Democrats out there wishing for failure. If you are one of them, I’ve got good news – you can stop wishing. The failure is already here – his name is George W. Bush.
Wishing for Failure
A fancy new Republican spin-point was on display this weekend – Democrats are “wishing for failure.” Sometimes we’re “hoping for failure.” Once or twice we were “united by hoping for failure.” Hey, at least we’re united.
But as Mark Crispin Miller wrote of a bit of RNC spin from the failed 1992 campaign of Bush’s father, the charge is “designed only to sound damning, not to make a whole lot of sense.” Indeed, if the Democrats were truly hoping for failure, we would be supporting George W. Bush.
Bush’s legacy, such as it is, is a litany of abject failures. He was a poor student in high school, but his family name allowed him to go on and become a poor student at Yale, and then permitted him the opportunity, denied to many excellent students, to become a poor student at Harvard business school. He was a failure in the oil business, running a company into the ground and even failing to file the necessary paperwork with the SEC when he sold his interest in the company at considerable profit just before the enterprise crashed into the dust.
Bush’s other exploits, in no particular order, include a failed stint as CEO of a catering company owned by a group of his father’s wealthy friends, a major role in his father’s failed presidential campaign in 1992, and an aborted tour of duty in the Texas Air National Guard. This last item was a success not in that Bush earned any distinction as a pilot (though, fittingly, he seemed to have some natural talent for it) but in that it kept him away from the jungles of Vietnam, where many of his less fortunate contemporaries were busy dying in a war he and his father both supported, and continue to support to this day. As the son of an important politician, all Bush really had to do to succeed in the Guard was show up – but he failed to do even that.
As Governor of Texas, Bush succeeded in making a huge amount of money for himself and for his top financial backer, Ken Lay. By any other measure, however, Bush’s term-and-a-half as the state’s Chief Executive Officer – er, Chief Executive – was unremarkable. His greatest accomplishment was probably to compile such an atrocious environmental record that Texas is now home to several of the most polluted cities on the planet.
It was not until he assumed the Presidency, however, that Bush was able to fully demonstrate his particular knack for failure. At the helm of the world’s lone superpower, there is no safety net of rich oil men and well-connected parents to bail Bush out when he blunders. Slick political operators are employed to hide Bush’s failures from public view, but the mistakes cannot be erased with a check and a whisper, like hush money paid to some young woman Bush has impregnated on a wild bender.
No, Bush’s presidential failures are too obvious to conceal, even for the most shameless team of propagandists ever assembled in the history of this great nation. Elected on a promise that we could afford a tax cut and still keep Social Security solvent without returning the nation to deficit, Bush has managed in three short years to rack up the highest single-year deficit in the history of the United States. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are in trouble, not because of some inherent weakness in the system but because George W. Bush failed to protect them.
After the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked, there was an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill from all over the world. We had the opportunity not only to mend tattered alliances with governments but to forge new bonds with the citizens of the world. Unfortunately, George W. Bush failed. Instead of using his position to unite all the globe's citizens, he squandered the opportunity so completely that now, less than two years later, the United States has never been more isolated among the world’s governments nor more hated among the people of the Earth.
It is telling that Bush’s supporters point to U.S. victories on the battlefield as Bush’s two major accomplishments as president. The military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have certainly been a bonanza for Bush’s contributors, who have reaped huge profits from these lethal adventures, and also for Bush himself, whose approval ratings seem to go up only when he declares war. Militarily, however, neither war achieved ANY of its stated objectives – even the ones that were added after the fact.
The Afghanistan war was originally supposed to be about getting Osama bin Laden “Dead or Alive,” but when that failed, Bush changed the objective to “getting rid of the hated Taliban.” Well, don’t look now, but the Taliban are still in charge throughout most of the country. The Karzai government Bush installed is, you guessed it, a failure.
In Iraq, we were going in to make sure that weapons of mass destruction didn’t fall into the hands of dangerous folks. Well, we’re in control of Iraq now, and unless those nuclear sites were looted by missionaries, we can safely assume that there are some dangerous people running around the Middle East with nuclear sludge as a result of our efforts. Meanwhile, it’s not clear that Saddam Hussein had any weapons that self-respecting terrorists would have wanted. The liberation of the Iraqi people from the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein is all well and good, of course, but as in Afghanistan, many of the people there are beginning to feel they have been liberated from the frying pan into the fire, since Bush failed to develop a coherent plan for the postwar occupation of Iraq, now quickly descending into madness.
I’m not sure if there really are any Democrats out there wishing for failure. If you are one of them, I’ve got good news – you can stop wishing. The failure is already here – his name is George W. Bush.
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