Bush blows it again

The Ghailani verdict proves that GW Bush was a bungling idiot who followed Cheney's lead, which led to us being unable to use evidence against a terrorist. Had this been done right from the start, we would have gotten more convictions on this guy. Instead we had a bunch of people who thought they were above the law--that they could torture people and get away with it. Oh, wait, they did. But now we have to pay the price.

Rule of law, folks.

in reference to:

"there was a lag of over six years between Ghailani’s apprehension and his trial—that resulted from a political decision. During that time, two key witnesses for the government died, undermining their case. So it’s clear this case was not handled in the best or most efficient way, but the blame for that rests with the Bush team and not their successors."
- The Verdict on Ghailani—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Talk about your takedowns

Like a slow-motion car wreck, I just can't take my eyes off the fabulous take-downs of GW Bush that have been scorching the presses since Decision Points came out. This piece, though, really hits the dry drunk on the nose.

His obliviousness to the contradictions in his own logic--if one can really call it that--make me want to scream in his face, but what could I scream that he would understand? He wouldn't get it if you branded it on his ass.

Maybe that's the ultimate insult from this man. You could make him read this critique and he would just sit there with a blank stare, not really understanding any of it. It's like trying to be mad at a retarded child.

in reference to:

"His paramount distress over Iraq is not over the loss of life, civilian and military, but how that banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" on the aircraft carrier came to make him look naive and vainglorious. He reveals his shallowness and vapidity with these reflections in the most crystalline of clarity, and hasn't a notion he is doing so."
- Matthew Norman: How did this wastrel ever find his way to the White House? - Matthew Norman, Commentators - The Independent (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bush Wrote a Book!

I've been sickened by Bush for years now, and here he is again to put me off food for weeks. First he admits to committing a war crime ("Damn right") when ordering waterboarding. Then he calls Scooter Libby a loyal American (outing CIA agents used to be called treason). And now he says, hey, Olmert wanted me to bomb Syria but I said no. Small favors.

So, I'd been thinking of ways to encourage people to deal with Bush's book, and today I stumbled on Bill's Cheers and Jeers, which hits the nail on the head.

A Brief Publisher's Message

Dear Reader,

Tomorrow, November 9, 2010, we are officially releasing former president George W. Bush's new book, Decision Points, and we would like to make the following request:

> Please do not take copies off the shelf, open them to a random page, insert a quantity of spit, nasal discharge or chewing gum, slam them shut and put them back on the shelf.

> Please do not draw horns on Mr. Bush's head---be they a ram's, a goat's or Satan's. Please also no forked tails or thought-bubbles that say "Heckuva Job."

> Please do not throw the book to the ground and stomp on it while yelling, "You suck!"

> Please do not knock over the bookcase on which Decision Points is displayed, as this could result in a domino effect on the other bookcases and cause damage and/or injury to other customers.

> Please do not attempt to move copies of the book from the Non-fiction section of the store to the Humor or Fantasy sections.

> Please do not whip out a Sharpie and add "Awesome book---if properly shredded" to the list of testimonial blurbs on the back cover.

We know you're upset at how badly he screwed you over, but please: let's be civil.

Thank you,

Your Friends at Crown Publishing

P.S. Democrats, this letter applies to you, too.

Do these people even know about Pat Tillman?

I don't think the Republicans who glorify Tillman even know about the man, much less the shame behind his death: Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld covered up the facts surrounding Tillman's death, and yet Republicans keep milking Tillman's patriotism for every last dollar and vote they can get. This is particularly galling when they mix war and God.

in reference to:

"“He’s not with God, he’s fucking dead,” asserted Mr Tillman. “Thanks for your thoughts but he’s fucking dead.” Mr Tillman, who has a low tolerance for lies was clearly offended by the sentiments, stating that his deceased brother “was not religious.”"
- Propaganda Tool Sarah Palin Uses Pat Tillman to Glorify War (view on Google Sidewiki)

So many weren't

Can't help but think of all the people that weren't so lucky as to survive Dick Cheney's attack. This is why I don't say the pledge; there is no justice for all.

in reference to:

"The lawyer shot five years ago by then vice-president Dick Cheney told the The Washington Post Thursday that his injuries from the hunting accident were more extensive than revealed at the time."
- Man shot by Cheney 'lucky' to escape death - U.S. news - Life - msnbc.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Pro-Bush Supreme Court Strikes Again

I remember hearing Republicans say that this is a pro-speech court. Ha. Apparently it's only free speech if you're a corporation.

The Bush Five still have their lips planted firmly on Bush's flight-suit pants.

in reference to: Justices Turn Down Appeal Over Speech Ejections - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bush Did Not Support The Troops

Laurence Lewis created this handy list that proves that, contrary to Obama's statement that George W Bush supported the troops, he did not...

Overused and over-extended.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: By the middle of 2005, Stop-Loss policy had prevented at least 50,000 troops from leaving the military when their service was scheduled to end.

USA Today: Multiple deployments were adding to the troops' stress.

CNN: In April 2007, tours of duty were extended from 12 to 15 months.

New York Times: Republicans killed Democratic Senator Jim Webb's attempt to give troops more down time between deployments.

Associated Press: Deployed single parents were having to fight to retain custody of their children.

International Herald Tribune: The bipartisan National Governors Association warned Bush that use of National Guard troops for his Iraq escalation was overburdening already overburdened units, and undermined the Guard's ability "to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies."

CBS News: To accommodate Bush's Iraq escalation schedule, two Army combat brigades had to skip their planned desert training.

Agence France-Presse: Nearly two-thirds of polled veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars considered the military over-extended.

Inadequately protected and inadequately cared for.

New York Times: A 2006 study showed that 80 percent of marines killed from upper body wounds would have survived, if they'd had adequate body armor.

Newsweek: Troops were forced to improvise their own vehicle armor because the military wasn't providing the real thing.

Washington Post: Even as the Iraq escalation began, thousands of Army Humvees still lacked FRAG Kit 5 armor protection.

TXCN News: Soldiers were provided such inadequate supplies of water on the battlefield that it was literally making them ill.

Salon: The Veterans Administration knew as early as 2004 that there were serious problems with the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center- and did nothing.

Salon: The Department of Defense also knew about the problems long before public exposure, and the resulting outcry forced them actually to do something about it.

NPR: Veterans were receiving fewer medical disability benefits than before the war

MSNBC: Up to 20 percent of Iraq vets may have been suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Washington Post: A Pentagon task force concluded that the available medical care for those troops suffering psychological problems was "woefully inadequate."

Salon: Wounded soldiers classified as medically unfit for battle were being reclassified as fit so they could be sent back into battle.

Salon: These reclassifications were done to provide enough manpower for Bush's escalation.

Salon: Even soldiers with acute Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder were being sent back to Iraq.

Understandably, morale deteriorated

Spiegel Online: Troops stationed in Germany were increasingly going AWOL rather than be used as cannon fodder for Bush's insanity.

New York Times: The army had to revise upwards its understated desertion rate.

Boston Globe: West Point graduates were leaving the military at the highest rate in three decades, as repeated tours of Iraq drove out some of the army's best young officers.

Associated Press: The Army had its highest desertion rate since 1980.

Psychological trauma and suicide.

Associated Press: By July 2007, some "38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report psychological conditions such as brain injury and PTSD after returning from deployment. Among members of the National Guard, the figure is much higher — 49 percent — with numbers expected to grow because of repeated and extended deployments."

Journal of the American Medical Association:

The prevalence of reporting a mental health problem was 19.1% among service members returning from Iraq compared with 11.3% after returning from Afghanistan and 8.5% after returning from other locations (P<.001). Mental health problems reported on the postdeployment assessment were significantly associated with combat experiences, mental health care referral and utilization, and attrition from military service. Thirty-five percent of Iraq war veterans accessed mental health services in the year after returning home; 12% per year were diagnosed with a mental health problem. More than 50% of those referred for a mental health reason were documented to receive follow-up care although less than 10% of all service members who received mental health treatment were referred through the screening program.

Stacy Bannerman in Foreign Policy In Focus:

Soldiers who have served -- or are serving -- in Iraq are killing themselves at higher percentages than in any other war where such figures have been tracked.

Associated Press: The Army experienced the highest suicide rate in 26 years.

New York Times: By January 2008, traumatized Iraq veterans were leaving "a trail of death and heartbreak in U.S."

Washington Post: Suicides among active-duty soldiers had reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records.

Washington Post: In April 2008, 300,000 veterans of the Bush wars were reported to be suffering from PTSD or major depression.

The Oregonian: In July 2009, a report showed a dramatic jump in the rate of mental illness, among veterans of the Bush wars.

Boston Globe: By July 2009, homelessness was rising among female veterans of the Bush wars. Many are single parents.

Science Daily: By November 2009, the rate of PTSD among Iraq troops was reported to be as high as 35 percent.

San Francisco Chronicle: Homelessness, overall, was rising among veterans of the Bush wars.

Shove that in the face of anyone who tells you that Bush, or Republicans in General, support the troops.

Oh, what a shame, we lost those emails...

More evidence of massive covering up at the Bush White House has me convinced that what we don't know about must have been really bad, since what we do know about is so blatantly awful. While they were supposed to be finding and preserving their email, they were losing it, and they didn't care. Of course, this was a direct violation of the law. Of course this was a blatant attempt, especially in the case of the Plame affair, to cover up and protect senior members of the administration.

And, of course, nothing will be done about it.

Job losses pre- and post-Obama policies

Via Ezra, nuff said.

Creating More Stateless Refugees

This is what the xenophobic right wants to create: a country that denies citizenship to people born here. This will create stateless refugees--people with no nation, no rights, no protection of law, and no place to call home.

I'm sure this doesn't matter one bit to the people who want to deny birthright citizenship. Would they give a damn, I wonder, about Palestinians or even Jews and Gypsies under Hitler? Do they care about huddled masses yearning to breathe free?

But, hey, people who want to mess with the 14th amendment won't bother reading this Wikipedia page because they're convinced we should deny citizenship to people born here. Wouldn't want to cloud up your world view on citizenship with these kind of unintended consequences.

The right will just ignore the facts, or make up their own (like, is there really an invasion of pregnant Mexican women struggling through miles of hot desert to have their babies here?). They will plow on into this like they did with Iraq, unintended consequences be damned.

We are a nation of immigrants. We give chances to people who don't otherwise have them. In this case, we ruined small subsistence farming in Mexico with NAFTA and Monstanto, we have a whole bunch of businesses here that love the cheap illegal labor and hardly ever get busted for it, so what do we expect but a bunch of displaced people looking for work? Until we solve the problems of small farmers in Mexico and start punishing the companies that hire illegals here in the US, we will never stop or slow illegal immigration.

If the Xenophobes on the right get their way, we'll just create more problems, like statelessness, and never get to the core problem of poverty and joblessness that drives the immigration engine. Even George W Bush understood that.

"...when men are desperate no one can stand up to them." --Xenophon

in reference to: 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Electoral College is Tried and True

Well, of course some Republican would say that. They love George W. Bush. If enough states had passed this bill before 2000, we wouldn't be in this mess. As I point out at on my web site, people in Massachusetts had, in 2000, a vote that counted for about half of what the people of Wyoming have.

And if you really delve into it, you'll see why Republicans love the un-democratic method of choosing an executive: The little states that get a vote bonus are almost all Republican.

At its heart, though, this is an issue of fairness. If we keep using the Electoral College, then we are not democratically electing our Presidents. Simple as that.

So, whine away Republicans. This idea is going to win, and you'll just have to live with it.

in reference to:

"Senate minority leader Richard Tisei said the state was meddling with a system that was "tried and true" since the founding of the country."
- Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College - Local News Updates - MetroDesk - The Boston Globe (view on Google Sidewiki)

Indict Bush and Cheney

And the rest of their Junta. I thought all you fucking Republicans were for law and order?

IOKIYAR...

But, wait. This was on Fox? Huh? I guess none of the drooling hordes looking for what they're supposed to think were actually watching this particular program.

in reference to:

"Nader: What should be the sanctions? Napolitano: They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I'd like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you're under oath, lying is not a crime. At least not an indictable crime. It's a moral crime."
- Andrew Napolitano: Bush and Cheney Should Have Been Indicted for Torturing, for Spying and Arresting Without Warrants | Video Cafe (view on Google Sidewiki)

The woman Dick Cheney wanted

More proof that these fucks didn't give a damn about the environment, future generations, or anything else but profit. This Cheney crony set up the MMS to be a rubber stamp on anything the oil industry wanted. And now they have it, and the disaster capitalists will profit from the spill, and all will be right in Cheney world.

And any fucking Republican who says this is Obama's fault can shove it.

in reference to:

"Burton was in charge during the development of the offshore drilling plan that expanded drilling to the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
- Bush MMS director defends tenure: “When I was there it seemed to work well” « Climate Progress (view on Google Sidewiki)

Damn Right It Is Bush's Fault!

More evidence that this oil gusher is Bush and Cheney's fondest wish (drill, baby, drill) come back to bite them on the ass. Of course, to the 29% of Americans who aren't sure if the President is an American, this won't matter one bit. The earth is 6000 years old, we did not evolve, we faked the moon landing, global warming is a hoax, Iraq had WMD, and the oil spill is Obama's fault...

in reference to:

"The Bush administration agency charged with assessing the impact of new deepwater drilling on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico based its 2007 conclusion that expanded drilling was "not likely" to "destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat" on a worst-case scenario that a single spill would dump no more than 630,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf."
- Daily Kos: In 2007 review, Federal agency vastly underestimated deepwater spill risk (view on Google Sidewiki)

When something burrows in my garden...

I put out traps and catch the little fuckers.

This is one more example of the kind of crap Cheney and Bush were doing that is improper, unethical, and possibly illegal. And yet Republicans go around claiming the moral authority crown, and beating hippies with it.

in reference to:

"In one of seven cases where the GAO found improper burrowing, a special assistant in the Office of Congressional & Legislative Affairs of the Department of Veterans Affairs -- who worked in that position from January 2001 to May 2007 -- became a program analyst in the Office of Information and Technology, despite "limited qualifications and experience.""
- GAO Study Finds Improper Burrowing During Bush Years | TPMMuckraker (view on Google Sidewiki)

Damn right it's still Bush's fault...

source

It's Water Weight You Bastard!

This news on raggedy-Dick:

Cheney was admitted to George Washington University Hospital on Friday as a result of "progressive retention of fluid related to his coronary artery disease," Cheney's office said.

 If he blew up like Violet Beauregard and had to be rolled by the ghosts of dead Iraqi civilians to the juicing room, it wouldn't be enough to make up for all the horrific trail of shit that's spewed out of Dick "Last Throes" Cheney.

Set Yourself on Fire

David Weigel lost his job because he said Drudge should "handle his emotional problems more responsibly and set himself on fire." Wow. If right wingers lost their job because they advocated violence in private emails, none of them would have jobs. Shit, just look at the kind of stuff they say in public ("Nuke them all, let God sort it out" kind of sums it up).

My problem with Weigel is that he didn't go far enough. I think Drudge should light himself on fire while standing next to a kerosene soaked Dick Cheney, while both of them are in the Fox News control room, with tape running, so all the relatives of the people who died because of Dick Cheney can watch.

Then I hear this morning that Dick's in the hospital again, where apparently the molten mass of lead they call his heart is acting up again. Oh, the tirade I could go on about how dying of a heart attack is too fucking good for the likes of this monstrosity of  a human, but then I would sound like all the fuckers who have sent me hate mail over the years (inevitably involving decapitation and the shoving of something down the neck hole). While I love the Rude Pundit, I just can't generate enough trash talk to ever come close to what Deadeye Dick deserves. So I'll just wait to hear that his latest "heart" attack was painful, extremely so, and that will have to do.

Someone's Been Misunderestimating the Size of This Thing

Where the hell is Dick Cheney? I have some questions.

George Bush's Giant Balls Have Damaged His Brain

If ever there was a man who should just shut the fuck up...

Here we have GW, in the kind of massive irony (that could only be topped if he was giving this speech in the Gulf of Mexico) that only he could muster, lecturing someone (albeit deservedly in this case) for wasting resources while millions of gallons of the precious crude is being wasted in the gulf because he and Dick Cheney didn't give a shit about regulation or oversight. Wonder how much all the oil is worth, Dumbya?

Here we have GW lecturing on wasting resources while the fish, shrimp, crabs and other valuable life in the Gulf are lost, perhaps forever, because of his administration's greed and blatant preference for oil companies over life, jobs, and nature.

Here we have a man whose whole raison de etre is the mindless destruction of America's bounty for the profit of a few, extremely wealthy plutocrats, and he has the balls to lecture some petty dictator over "wasting" resources. George Fucking W Bush wasted more resources to help Halliburton in one day than the Dear Leader could waste in a year.

I was glad to see that someone had the guts to point out that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were at the very least not exactly "Christian." I hesitate to think how many resources were wasted in Iraq over Bush's bullshit lies. We can't even accurately count how many people died...

George W Bush is the last man on earth who should be talking about wasting resources.

in reference to:

"But some local Christian organisations, including the Christian Alliance for Church Reform, criticised Bush's presence at a time when cross-border tensions are high."It is just nonsense to bring to the Korean War prayer meeting the former US President Bush, who started the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and have him give testimony," they said in a joint statement."
- AFP: Bush blasts N.Korea's Kim for wasting resources (view on Google Sidewiki)