Tag: Bush

Editorial: Answer to a very stupid Question

Tom Blumer at Pajamas Media asks this question.

Quote:

The current president has done more than any other to combat the spread of AIDS in Africa. Why haven’t the media noticed?

 

Two Reasons, for one there is an election taking place, just in case you forgot, and the main stream media is also too busy covering our President ripping our Constitution to shreds and violating the various Geneva conventions.

 

Let me give you some working examples…:

 

These Videos come from one of the best political shows on American television, his reporting transcends political parties and appeals to Americans who still believe in that Constitution and the values it stands for.  

 

The Videos:

 

 

 

and finally, one of the most telling of videos ever to be broadcast on National American Television, This Commentary, by one of the highest rated Political Television Commentators out there:

 

 

Now as to your question about AIDS, While I know and personally believe AIDS is a horrible and dreadful disease, it is being over shadowed by a Presidency that is, in the most Conservative of terms, shameful. George W. Bush and his clan of Neo-Conservative, war-mongering, thugs have disgraced America, Disgraced the Republican Party, possibly to the point of never, ever, being able to gain access to the White House, for the next four to six years or possibly and quite frankly, hopefully, for longer than this. Why? All because a very simple minded man, who felt he needed to out accomplish his Father, and in the process has put the United States of America in one of it’s worse positions in foreign relations, in it’s many years of existence as a Nation.

 

Now it would be easy, to dismiss me as some disenfranchised, Anti-American, Liberal with an attitude, but allow me to make some very valid points here. When the John Birch Society, Writers at NewsWithViews.com, WorldNetDaily, like Dr. W.R. Marshall, Ph.D, Cliff Kincaid, Chuck Baldwin, Devvy Kidd, Joseph Farah, Ilana Mercer are saying that the President of the United States of America has abused his powers, disgraced the Nation and totally ignored the Constitution all for his perverted and rather narrow sighted political view, then something is very wrong.

 

And yet, the Republicans just continue to sit, like mindless trolls and continue to allow this man to completely and abjectly, lie to them and tell them that he is protecting America.  All because of a now dead, half baked, Former Democrat, Former President told some reporters, "Thou Shall not speak against thy fellow Republicans".  I am sorry, But I do not, for one second, believe that Ronald Reagan meant that you should sit idly by and watch as some criminal warmonger destroys America, the values it was based upon and the Constitution that serves, as the very underpinnings of founding principles of this Nation.

 

I will end this rather lengthy Blog entry, turned editorial with this thought, if the Republican Party and Conservatives in America do not wake up to the fact that they have been betrayed, lied to, and double crossed by the most evil of persons, within the Conservatives and within the Republican Party. The Republican Party will, in fact, go the way of the Whig Party of old.

 

I truly hope that they awake from their slumber before then.

Republicans Reportedly "transitioning" away from the FISA Telecom Immunity fight….

Glenn Greenwald Reports that The Hill is reporting the following:

I’m still traveling and so have only a little bit of time to comment, but The Hill is reporting that the GOP is de-prioritizing their efforts to enact the Rockefeller/Cheney FISA bill:

"House Republicans are poised to shift their focus from national security to the economy, hoping to rally opposition to what they claim are Democratic plans to raise taxes amid the economic downturn.

 

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Thursday that the House GOP floor emphasis will transition away from passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and earmark reform to "stop the tax hike.""

I tend to think that the Republicans, at least the ones in the Senate realize that they are not going to win this fight and that it could cost them some serious votes in the coming election. So, I tend to think they’ve changed their priorities. 

 

Unlike some of the more of the ardent Right Wingers or as the rest of the World calls them, the Right Wing Lunatic Fridge, I know that if these companies get immunity, America’s Justice system would be totally undermined. Now, do I believe that the Bush Administration broke the law? I do not know that, as I have zero proof of such claim. 

 

My feelings are, if the Bush Administration has done nothing wrong, then what do they have to hide? If they’ve done nothing wrong, they should not have a problem with the investigations or lawsuit, because they would be vindicated.

 

Unlike some of the more far right Conservatives, I do not believe that Corporate power should be protected. Every American, of any Religious persuasion, and yes, that does include Muslim, have the right to legal recourse, if they feel that they’ve been unfairly investigated. That is one of our Nation’s founding principles.

 

Others: Think Progress

Did Petraeus Overplay His Hand?

Philip Carter thinks so… 

 

The Article: Petraeus Overplays His Hand (Via Intel Dump @ WaPo)

Except that in making this pitch, Petraeus and Crocker overplayed their hand. They overstated the threat posed by al-Qaeda in Iraq in an effort to justify the mission — a mindset that has generated a deeply flawed strategy. They also overplayed the surge’s success — downplaying or discounting factors that likely did more to create today’s improved security conditions. While their "Anaconda" strategy looks cool on a PowerPoint slide, it confuses the issues of control and influence, putting too much stock in America’s ability to engineer success in Iraq. And, perhaps most tellingly, the two men made the case for perseverance without placing Iraq in the context of vital U.S. national interests, offering only apocalyptic predictions of what would happen if we don’t stay the course.

Andrew Sullivan weighs in:

But that was their carefully prescribed task. I don’t fault them. They’re not responsible for overall strategy. At one point last year, I was worried that Petraeus was being used politically. I was wrong. He’s been a magnificent general, in a near-impossible situation. Ditto Crocker. Along with Patrick Fitzgerald, they strike me as among the most impressive public servants of our time.

 

Now that is a bit overstated, I think, Because I personally believe that General Patraeus is, in the Bush Administration’s eyes, a pawn. A Pawn in a Neo-Conservative chess game.

 

While I admire Patraeus for doing his job, I think he knows what he is doing. He’s keeping his head down, and doing his job, and when the President is out of office. He will write a book, that will basically indict his bosses. I could be wrong, but I think General Patraeus is holding his cards to his vest and will tell all, when it’s all over with.

 

Should be interesting indeed.

 

Others: Washington Post and SWJ Blog

No end in sight…

Hmmmmm… I guess that movie was correct.

The Article: Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs (via washingtonpost.com)

 

Asked repeatedly yesterday what "conditions" he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer’s scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.

"A year ago, the president said we couldn’t withdraw because there was too much violence," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "Now he says we can’t afford to withdraw because violence is down." Asked Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): "Where do we go from here?"

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said: "I think people want a sense of what the end is going to look like."

But the bottom line was that there was no bottom line. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker echoed what they said seven months ago in their last update to Congress — often using similar words. Iraq’s armed forces continue to improve, overall levels of violence are lower than they were last year, and political reconciliation is happening, albeit still more slowly than they would like.

That’s because with this Presidential Administration, there is no exit sign!

 

That’s the way his Neo-Conservative planners wanted it. To keep us in that war forever! That’s because Neo-Conservatives believe in perpetual war! Even at the expense of the Nation’s Military.

 

That’s Neo-Con Game, and we’re playing it…. At our Tax Expense.

 

A good Movie:

 

 

Buy the Movie:

 

Others: Washington Wire, Slate, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Real Clear Politics, New York Times, SWJ Blog, Sister Toldjah, New York Post, Connecting.the.Dots and Intel Dump and more via Memeornadum

White House does John Conlee?

Seems so…

Via Think Progress:

During today’s White House press briefing, deputy spokesman Tony Fratto admitted that the White House has, at least up until recently, been looking at Iraq through “rose-colored glasses.” Responding to a question about the rising violence in Iraq, Fratto said, “I think we have thrown out all of the rose-colored glasses in how we look at Iraq and try to look at it through clear lenses as to what is going on in the country.” Fratto later added: “Like I said, we threw out the rose-colored glasses. I think we have a clear-eyed view of what’s happening in Baghdad.”

Think Progress has the video.

Cue John Conlee:

 

But then again, hasn’t George W. Bush’s Presidency been served by looking through those glasses? 

Others: Salon and The Carpetbagger Report

Attack of the Lesbian Lawyers!

No, not her! She’s getting married. Rolling on the floor

Go read the story over on NPR:

The Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating whether a career attorney in the department was dismissed from her job because of rumors that she is a lesbian. The case grew out of a larger inquiry into the firings of U.S. attorneys and politicization at Justice under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Several people interviewed by the inspector general’s staff described the case to NPR and said they came away with the impression that the Attorney General’s office decided not to renew Leslie Hagen’s contract because of the talk about her sexual orientation. Hagen received the highest possible ratings for her work as liaison between the Justice Department and the U.S. attorneys’ committee on Native American issues. Her final job evaluation lists five categories for supervisors to rank her performance. For each category, a neat X fills the box marked, "Outstanding." And at the bottom of the page, under "overall rating level," she also got the top mark: Outstanding.

The form is dated February 1, 2007. Several months before that evaluation, Hagen was told her contract would not be renewed.

Here’s where Goodling gets into the Picture:

The official line on Hagen’s dismissal was that contracts like hers are a privilege. Rotating new people through the job each year gives more people a chance to serve.

But what happened next seems to undermine that explanation. Internal Justice Department documents obtained by NPR show that soon after Hagen was let go, two people in her office had their contracts renewed for another year.

And Hagen’s post remained vacant months after she left.

Justice Department e-mails obtained by NPR show that Gonzales’s senior counsel Monica Goodling had a particular interest in Hagen’s duties. A few months before Hagen was let go, according to one e-mail, Goodling removed part of Hagen’s job portfolio — the part dealing with child exploitation and abuse.

Goodling, who left the Justice Department last year, declined through her lawyer to comment on the matter.

Well, I would guess so! Especially if she did do this. It could come back to haunt her.

Should be interesting to follow….

I could go one and rant and rave about how this Administration was corrupt from the ground up. But what more can I say, that hasn’t been said by people who get paid much better money then me? Not much at all.

 

Others: DownWithTyranny!, Wonkette, Law Blog, Pam’s House Blend, The Carpetbagger Report, Salon and A Spork in the Drawer and more via Memeorandum

As if President Bush needed any more troubles, Now this….

 Like Wow! It must be open season on his Administration.

Article: Report Says HUD Secretary Will Resign (via New York Times)

Housing Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson is expected to resign Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night.

Mr. Jackson has scheduled a news conference for 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes before Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. is supposed to outline plans for dealing with the financial crisis set off by the risky mortgage lending.

If Mr. Jackson steps down, it would remove a key player from the administration team dealing with the problem.

It is an interesting read. Corruption at the highest level.

Other Bloggers via Memeorandum

Funding the very terrorists we're supposed to be fighting against

That’s right folks.

Via WorldNetDaily:

Just days after it was announced the U.S. would transfer $150 million directly to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ government, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the declared military wing of Abbas’ Fatah party, were told they would receive cash grants, WND has learned.

According to Palestinian militant sources familiar with the issue, earlier this month, 20 members of the Brigades leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah complained to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad they did not have enough money to pay their bills, including, for many of them, rent for their apartments.

Last week, according to the informed sources, Fayyad told the complaining Brigades leaders he would provide them with a one-time grant of $3,000 each, or $60,000 to the Ramallah-based Brigades leadership.

The sources said after Brigades leaders in other West Bank cities, including Hebron and Nablus, heard of the grants, they also demanded pay increases.

"Some of the other fighters accused Fayyad of favoring the Brigades leaders in Ramallah since that’s where Fayyad lives," said a militant source. "So he gave grants also to other cells."

Unreal. Can the lies and deceptions, from this feckless administration, be any clearer?

I guess Ron Paul was correct. Rolling Eyes

The Left is being played like a fiddle….

A sad, but true fact.

The story, Which comes via Newshoggers, who saw it at Rising Hegemon. A story that appeared in the Village Voice, the story of how the Republican Operatives are strongly trying to weaken the chances of a Democratic Nominee of winning in November.  Now in the interest for fairness, this is really nothing new, this sort of Political underhandedness has been going on for years. Nixon did it, as did others. But the reason why it is so bad in this race, for one, is because there is no fairness doctrine anymore, opening up the ability to editorialize the coverage of the election process, another factor is, that you have a Republican propaganda machine, known as Fox News, or as I like to call it, Faux Noise. But, because I am fair, Fox News is not the only ones that do this sort of thing. MSNBC does it, CNN does, even the so-called NPR, which is supposed to be a-political, has a noticed liberal slant to it. So, all in all, the Bias is on both sides of the camp.

Anyhow, on with the story….

Quote:

The prime movers of both political parties have long tried to game the presidential nominating process—not only to choose their eventual winner, but also to pick their November opponent. And in this landmark election without incumbents, the media wing of the Republican Party, in particular, has quite visibly been playing that game. Right-leaning pundits for months now have very openly not just called for Hillary Clinton’s head, but also coddled and promoted Barack Obama, salivating over the prospect of facing him in November.

Meanwhile, voters have been echoing that program: Barack Obama has been beating Hillary Clinton in part because Republicans are helping him.

Sixteen of the 45 Democratic primaries and caucuses held before this week were open affairs, allowing Republicans and independents to take part, and Barack Obama has won 11 of those contests. He almost invariably carried the Republican vote, which accounted for as much as 9 percent of the total in Wisconsin and Texas, and frequently ran even stronger among independents, who represented a fifth or more of Democratic primary voters in state after state. The 75 percent of the Republican vote that he won in Missouri, for example, may have pushed him over the top, and certainly, when combined with his 67 percent of the state’s much larger independent vote, it delivered many of the district-apportioned delegates to him. Republicans in Obama states like Washington, Wisconsin, and Virginia were even freer to cross the aisle, since by the time they voted, John McCain had already sewn up the GOP nomination. While Obama often won some of these states so handily that Republicans and independents could not have provided his margin of victory, there is no way to know how many delegates in close congressional-district contests will wind up in Denver because of the impact of Republican or independent voters. And there is no exit-poll data to measure their impact on the caucuses.

I highly recommend that you read the rest of this story, as it paints a tale of how the Republicans are attempting to destroy the Democrat nomination in November. The sick and sad part is, they are doing by using the old, outdated system of nomination and voting.

Cernig at Newshoggers weighs in:

In every case, these rightwing mouthpieces have ignored their own previous overt race-baiting to accuse the Clintons of being closet racists, have ignored their own open misogyny to accuse Obamites of sexism and generally muddied the waters every way they could.
Limbaugh, Novak, Kristol, Bennet, York, Hannity, George Will – all have their gamesmanship exposed by this must-read column. They’re all on the same page of the GOP playbook. It’s the page headed "Divide and Conquer".

Truly, this is a sad case, I just hope that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton have the ability to overcome the negative press coverage and can be elected. Because we do not need four to six more years of the Neo-Conservative nightmare in this country. Now, if McCain nabs the Presidency, I won’t jump off a building or anything. But it will set this Country a great deal if he does. Not to mention, it will be the biggest embarrassment to the Democrat Party.

Here is hoping that things will work out, and the underhanded folk, on both sides, will be exposed, for what they are.