The World's Stupidest Pundit

I thought he couldn't get any stupider after saying that Fitzgerald should pack up and go home. I was wrong:

Maybe because Bush is a Bush -- son of a president who got to know many Arabs -- or maybe because he just naturally recoils from prejudice, his initial stance on this controversy has been refreshingly admirable. Whatever the case, the president has done the right thing. Attention must be paid.

That's right, call your opponent a racist because he opposes the UAE port deal on security grounds and exonerate Bush because he talks about bigotry. That's... uh, a rebuttal?

Yglesias and Atrios weigh in.

A War by Any Other Name

Would still be called a war. So why are we not calling the conflict in Iraq for what it is - a civil war.

Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday -- blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound -- and many of them had wound up at the morgue after what their families said was their abduction by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

At the outset of the war this was everyone's worst case scenario - one that the Bush administration refused to acknowledge. Over the course of the war it became more and more inevitable. Finally we have arrived at the sad conclusion to this pathetic and disgusting "war" we waged. Iraq has descended into civil war, and civil wars are the bloodiest and fiercest of all wars. There is no one who bears more blame for this outcome than Bush. The buck stops with him this time, whether he likes it or not. This was not nation building, this was nation wrecking. Both for Iraq and for the U.S.

Public vs. Private Enterprise

I remember when Bush triumphantly declared that Katrina showed the limits of federal government and that these disasters had to be handled through donations and private enterprise. Under our Presidenter's leadership the results are nothing short of expected.

Six months after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast, charities have disbursed more than $2 billion of the record sums they raised for the storm's victims, leaving less than $1 billion for the monumental task of helping hundreds of thousands of storm victims rebuild their lives, according to a survey by The Washington Post.

It has only been six months, yet we are already running out of funds to help support victims of mass destruction (VMDs) because the federal government is not pulling its weight. I wonder what Bush's answer will be when private companies and charities cannot complete the job. I am pretty certain it will be along the lines of "this is not a job for people, only Jesus can save us."

Only an entity as big and powerful as a national government can overcome the problems we have seen as a result of Katrina and provide the necessary services that are not in the interests of private companies and individuals to perform. Only working together as a nation can we overcome hardship, not by selling out to the highest bidder and going it alone.

Joementum

For Republicans?

Lieberman forced the entire Connecticut political establishment to stage a "we love Joe" rally last week. He didn't lend any of his "political capital" to help the local House candidates. Rather, he forced them into the unenviable position of publicly backing him when the state's Democratic Party base is restless and unhappy with his performance.

We need someone who will stand by the party, not someone who will make it stand by him.

Half Baked

Bush to America: Fuck you.

The Bush administration said Friday it won't reconsider its approval for a United Arab Emirates company to take over significant operations at six U.S. ports. The former head of the Sept. 11 commission said the deal "never should have happened."

Bush to Congress: Fuck you.

A Dubai company's offer to delay taking control of terminal operations at six U.S. ports, combined with aggressive White House lobbying, has tempered a rush by congressional GOP leaders for quick action next week to block the $6.8 billion transaction, which has triggered a political furor.

Bush to rich oil emirate: You're cool.

At issue is a 1992 amendment to a law that requires a 45-day review if the foreign takeover of a U.S. company "could affect national security." Many members of Congress see that review as mandatory in this case.

But Bush administration officials said Thursday that review is only triggered if a Cabinet official expresses a national security concern during an interagency review of a proposed takeover.

"The structure of the deal led us to believe there were no national security concerns," said Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael P. Jackson.

Bush to national security: Fuck you.

– The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

– The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.

– According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system.

– After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden’s bank accounts.

Bush: I'm out - taking a vacation and a nap.

Bush on Port Security

"And so people don't need to worry about security. This deal wouldn't go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America."

Heeeeee.

States Rights and Roe

I love how so many people's take on abortion is "Roe is a bad decision, let's leave it up to the states to decide." Look, it just aint so. We're not talking about taxes, we're talking about giving a woman, and not random men, control over her body and her life. Every woman in this country has that right; it's not something that should be unique to living in a blue state. So many of the states are populated by batshit crazy wingnuts that they would gladly take her rights away were it not for Roe. Furthermore, if Roe were overturned, do you really think the nutjobs would stop there and not try to pass a federal law outlawing abortion?

Well, here's the latest on states rights - South Dakota has just made abortion illegal. It's time to see if Roe can stand against Roberts and Alito.

O'Wingnut

O'Reilly says it's time to leave Iraq.

"But what about when we said that 2 yea-"

"Shut your fucking piehole!!!!"

Oh Fox News, how you make me chortle. With lung cancer.

Port Corruption

I knew there was cronyist corruption involved in this port deal somewhere, and now, the proof:

Washington - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

In the end Bush only really cares about himself and his money, and will do anything to sell out our national security to the highest bidder. By the by, I hear Osama's pretty loaded and well connected to the UAE's royal family. Maybe he could offer us an extra million or two.

The End of Bush's Reason To Be

The port scandal should be a tipping point in Bush's credibility, or at least the point where even the afraid-of-their-own-trying-to-be-objective-shadows established media as well as many Bush supporters with a decent amount of intellect can no longer defend Bush's actions.

To sum up, the Bush administration has decided to outsource our port security to Dubai Ports World, a UAE based company. This company would administer port security in major ports up and down the east coast as well as New Orleans. Now I am all for outsourcing, but not when it affects a critical security concern. This is not a racist argument against an Arab country - I do not think any foreign country should be handling our port security. Furthermore, while DP World might be a stand-up, squeaky clean company, the UAE is not its counterpart of a government.

This is a government that formally recognized the Taliban. One of the emirates in the UAE was essentially the center for al-Qaeda's illegal financial dealings, with hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing from the UAE to the 9/11 hijackers. (For a comprehensive list of UAE-9/11 links, click here). On the one hand, Bush never fails to remind us of the 9/11 hijackers, and on the other hand, he wants America to forget that some of those hijackers were UAE nationals. Of course, no one is implicating the government that controls DP World as having been aware or facilitating these connections. The truth is that since 9/11, that government has dramatically clamped down on terrorism and suspicious financial dealings within its borders.

At best we now have a reckless security policy that is taking our safety out of our hands. This move makes no sense and is nothing more than Bush shirking his responsibilty to fund port security with the proper amount of money. It is a bad move by all accounts, and Democrats as well as Republicans have risen to the occasion to slam Bush for it. King George, however, is not amused:

President Bush yesterday strongly defended an Arab company's attempt to take over the operation of seaports in Baltimore and five other cities, threatening a veto if Congress tries to kill a deal his administration has blessed.

As an aside, I think it is pretty funny that the Washington Post decided to use the word "blessed" in that sentence; it certainly describes best how Bush thinks about himself. They could have also said "divinely ruled upon." It also shows how Bush feels about Congress and the Supreme Court - they are to be nothing more than a rubber stamp and a kangaroo court for King George to play with as he pleases. Bush understands neither how this government works nor his own role in it. His deliberate undermining of our system of government should be met with impeachment.

The real point here, however, is that Bush has shown that his own self-proclaimed mission is nothing more than bunk. What happened to protecting the American people? What happened to 9/11? 9/11, bitches!!!!!! Hekebolos at Kos puts it best:

Regardless of whether DPW is a national security threat, the fact that Bush for whatever reason has not taken the same "whatever it takes to defend the American people" approach on this issue that he has taken on Iraq, domestic surveillance, the Patriot Act and torture--that fact paves the way for questioning the motives of the other activities I mentioned--because if Bush really took the "you can never be too careful" approach to everything, why didn't he stop the DPW deal? Bush has reneged the entire premise of his presidency. And it's now time for us to capitalize.

Amen.

Honey, Could You...

Gross.

Quick, to the Spinmobile!

Pandering? Grandstanding? No, not Schumer about port security, but the Preznit.

President Bush visited one of the nation's leading producers of energy-efficient technologies on Monday and hailed the company's innovations as proof that the United States can one day wean itself off foreign oil.

Speaking at Johnson Controls, a Fortune 500 company that produces batteries for hybrid vehicles and energy-saving devices for buildings, Bush said, "In order to seize the moment, this country needs to remain technologically advanced."

The boy blunder is at it again. Bush can publicly talk about alternative energy all he wants, and the media can ooh and aah over him like a parent watching his child play with a new toy, but reality speaks for itself. When all of the President's budgets have cut funding for alternative energy and given windfall tax cuts and profits to old energy - coal and oil - companies, when only a day after the State of the Union, in which Bush gave line about oil addiction and the U.S. would decrease its dependency on foreign oil by 75%, the administration had to publicly retract that statement, when Bush continues to deny that global warming is happening, these all point to the fact that Bush is full of shit.

America needs leadership to switch to a new model of energy production and consumption, but saying Bush is the one to do it is like saying Tom DeLay should lead ethics reform. This is nothing more than a PR stunt to make Bush forward looking, and "oil addiction" is some cheap marketing phrase designed to play well with audiences. We all know that this administration does not lead, all it does is give the appearance of leading. That is what this latest marketing ploy is about. It is nothing more than this year's version of Mars.

Update: Ooops - those renewable energy analysts were not supposed to be laid off, were they?

Politics, Economics, and Everything

Stirling Newberry.

Get ready for your head to hurt.

Trusting the Fox with the Henhouse

It just dawned on me that probably many in the established media actually believed Republicans were going to clean up their own corruption. I am still amazed that I could have been that trusting, but at least the media - minus Faux News - is starting to come around.

But Boehner and many rank-and-file Republicans objected to his recommendations and have said they would prefer beefing up disclosure of lobbyists' activities rather than imposing new restrictions.

Funny, that Blount would have been more pro-reform in an effort to distance himself from DeLay, but Boehner, who was not tied as much to DeLay, sees no reason to stop the corruption from which he benefits.

Meet the new boss! Same as the old boss!

Link.

War?

Oh yeah. That war.

At least 20 people were killed in insurgent attacks today, including a Marine, as Iraq's political factions remained at odds, and the American ambassador renewed warnings against the formation of a government based on militias and sectarian movements.

I'm so glad that our government heeded advice that was given to it time and time again by experts about what would happen in Iraq if we invaded and brought democracy to the Middle East. I'm so glad we fought this war without a single casualty and have put an end to terror. Yep, no one has a handle on reality like George W. Bush.

Fucker.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

The NYT:

In his new book about Mr. Bush, "Rebel in Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush," Fred Barnes recalls a visit to the White House last year by Michael Crichton, whose 2004 best-selling novel, "State of Fear," suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat.

So the NYT really knows how to convey the gravity of global warming and Bush's blatant denial of reality - by reporting that environmentalists are angry about Bush meeting with Crichton. Not only is this shoddy and lazy reporting - if you wanted to do a piece on global warming, talk about the facts of global warming - but the piece also paints environmentalists - you know, those of us who like this place called Earth - as whackjobs who are frothing at the mouth because Bush met with Crichton.

A message to the NYT: Here is some information that you should report on if you are doing a piece on global warming.

ST. LOUIS -- Humans are burning fossil fuels so rapidly that Earth is headed toward its warmest period in 55 million years, a panel of scientists warned yesterday.

If that sounds bad, James Zachos, a researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, would agree.

"It's a threat to life as we know it," said Zachos, who joined a panel of researchers discussing global climate change at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.

And just for your reference, just because the Bush administration will say it is not so does not make it a separate but equal position. An overwhelming majority - I think it is above 90% - of scientists agree about what is happening to the planet. The Bush administration, and its couple hack scientists that are on its payroll, dissents. If you cannot figure out which position is correct, you need to get out of the business of reporting facts and truth to people.

Mea Culpa

Cheney on Fox News?

I don't think so.

Neither do Susan G and a whole lot more.

How about he resigns. For a start.

Go Cheney Yourself

This deplorable incident of Cheney shooting a man in the face is really getting out of hand. All they had to do was rush him to a hospital, and notify the public of what happened (no doubt it was accident).

Instead, we have a he said/she said between Dick and Katherine Armstrong about who was going to notify the press, when and about what, Scott McClellan making jokes, lying and stonewalling the affair, as well as the secret service preventing the local police from getting to and assessing the scene and the White House sitting on the information for half a day. Harry Whittington has been in the ICU for days and has suffered a minor heart attack. This is fucking ridiculous.

Dick Cheney shot a man in the face.

To ask a rhetorical question, why is this playing out like everything else the administration does? This is not about WMD, the budget or Katrina, yet the White House treats it as such. If this country has regressed to the point where our kings - er, elected nobility - um, vice president can shoot a man and not have to come clean about it then we have a lot of work to do.

All the blogs have been great on spot about this, but Firedoglake in particular has been fantastic. Go and read it.

Blogger Self-Evaluation

By Digby.

The Impending Diseconomy

Jerome sums up the bulls' arguments very well:

The logic is as follows:

• your arguments are rational and make a lot of sense, it's worrying
  
• but US growth and unemployment are doing great!
  
• therefore all is fine, and your points are not valid

  and the kicker:

• we're in a new kind of economy: financial markets are behaving differently, and the US economy is in a new kind of phase.

  sometimes accompanied by the grand finale

• with your stagnant economies, high unemployment and Muslim rioting, you'd better be happy that the US economy is growing, we're pulling you and it would be even worse if it stopped (and you'd better be grateful that we are waging war on the infidels for you, also).

The most extravagant example of the above kind of thinking has been the new theory of "dark matter" to explain away the fact that the US still earned, until recently, net positive income on its international investments, despite having become a net debtor to the world.

I could not agree more. I have been saying for a while that the current U.S. economy is a diseconomy - it is unreasonable and unsustainable. The world is not going to continue to finance U.S. debt forever and ever - it has to end at some point, and when it does, the U.S. economy will begin to contract. Big business might pull out decently; it usually manages to, but those numbers do not tell the story of how average people are finding themselves in worse and worse situations. Optimism is comforting, but never at the expense of reality.

Read the full post for more.

Cult of Bush

Read Glenn Greenwald.

Then read his followup.

McCrazy

Just in case you're still under the impression that John McCain is an independent or a maverick, think again. Since losing in the 2000 primary to Bush, McCain has been nothing but a patsy. He toes the party line, and although he likes to give an air of bipartisanship - we need to put an end to Fox News Democrats like Schmoementum - is certainly another Republican buttboy. Take, for example, his latest spat with Obama about campaign finance - which Lieberman endorsed McCain over Obama - and how he refused to accede to any meaningful reform. His torture amendment did not do anything to stop torture in Gitmo. Now we hear this:

McCain's early strategy includes an effort to build links to party conservatives, or at least minimize their antagonism to him. He made an early endorsement of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, who is running for governor; held a 90-minute meeting last fall with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, whom he had attacked during the 2000 campaign; and attended a private dinner with conservatives, hosted by the American Spectator magazine.

...

While in Austin, McCain, mindful that Bush and the current governor have not always been on the closest of terms and that sitting governors can be helpful in nomination battles, took time for breakfast with Gov. Rick Perry (R), the second private meeting between the two in a matter of months. McCain also met with former governor William P. Clements in Dallas.

From Texas, McCain flew to Florida for a scheduled book-signing in Jacksonville Beach. En route, however, he found time for a strategic stop in Tallahassee, where he had lunch with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R). Traveling with McCain that day was Mark McKinnon, Bush's chief media consultant, who already is signed up to help McCain in 2008 -- unless the president's brother or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unexpectedly enters the race.

This man needs to be accurately portrayed as wingnut gold.

Link.

Miserable Failure

George W. Bush.

Platform

Saw Dean on CNN this morning, and he gave a good sense of what the Democratic platform is shaping up to be.

1. Honesty and open government
2. Defense policy that requires telling the truth to the military and the public
   
3. Jobs in America that will stay in America
   
4. Universal healthcare
5. Public education system that restores optimism and opportunity
   

I'd say that's a pretty good start at a platform. It's short enough to not be a laundry list and does a good job of articulating what the party stands for. However, in my opinion there is a glaring omission from this list - energy policy. Energy is an issue that affects every single person in this country - young or old, male or female, rich or poor - and is tied to the country's environmental well-being. It is an issue that Republicans have consistently sold this country out on to big oil and coal special interests (see latest energy bill), and one on which Democrats can easily take the ideological and pragmatic high ground.

So combine #'s 1 & 2 on Dean's list (they're a little repetitive), and add energy policy. That's economic and social responsibilty for you.

Anger Management

Looks like Dick Cheney could use some.

Adding Insult to Injury

Literally:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans.

But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.

Fuckers. It wasn't enough for the Bush administration knowing that tens and hundreds of people were going to lose their homes and daily lives, and too many people were going to lose their lives for good, and to not act on that information. No, they had to go and lie about whether they knew it or not. This is disgusting.

Time after time this Bush Republican administration has shown us with contempt how they are classist and racist, and do not give a fuck about dereliction of their duty and anyone else in this country but themselves. This is disgraceful and this administration needs to be kept apart from society for the rest of their sad, pitiful lives.

The Flip Side of the Coin

You know Republicans control the agenda and the press when there is only mention of how much we need to cut back on investment:

To meet the goal of halving the federal budget deficit by 2009, White House documents say that significant cuts would be needed throughout the decade in even some of President Bush's favored domestic programs.

While several of these programs, such as veterans health care and National Institutes of Health funding, are slated for increases in the budget Bush submitted to Congress this week, they actually would be cut through the end of the decade, a 673-page computer printout that details spending levels for each of the next five years for every federal program shows. The president's publicly released budget blueprint shows only his 2007 requests for federal programs that Congress funds annually.

Although I realize that this piece is about Bush's budget cuts, why is it that no one bothers to point out the other way to balance the budget - raise taxes. The analysis that I would like to see done is a study on by how much we would need to raise taxes to cut the deficit in half - or even balance the budget. I have a feeling it's not an oppressive amount. And while people shudder at the thought of tax hikes, the benefit of the programs that the government would be able to offer most Americans should outweigh the tax increase.

All of Bush's tax plans and budgets have hurt the lower and middle classes while benefitting the upper class. Let's see a tax plan and a budget that will help all Americans and make this country whole again.

Dirty Little Secret

Of all the things at which the Bush administration is inept, keeping secrets is not one of them.

Twice in the past four years, a top Justice Department lawyer warned the presiding judge of a secret surveillance court that information overheard in President Bush's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to obtain wiretap warrants in the court, according to two sources with knowledge of those events.

The revelations infuriated U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly -- who, like her predecessor, Royce C. Lamberth, had expressed serious doubts about whether the warrantless monitoring of phone calls and e-mails ordered by Bush was legal. Both judges had insisted that no information obtained this way be used to gain warrants from their court, according to government sources, and both had been assured by administration officials it would never happen.

Of course, there is nothing the judges could actually do about it. The established media needs to stop playing a balancing act - lawyers for the ACLU say it is illegal while lawyers for the Bush administration say it is legal - and provide us with the truth. Just like Stephen Colbert. If the media does not know how to accurately report on fact and fiction, then at the very least it should stop hurting this country. Like Tucker Carlson's bowtie.

The pain!!!

Pile of Dog Shit

Kate O'Beirne.

Newsworthy

As we are fighting a war and the administration is bogged down in at least a dozen major scandals, I'm glad to know the NYT realizes what is really newsworthy:

Democrats are heading into this year's elections in a position weaker than they had hoped for, party leaders say, stirring concern that they are letting pass an opportunity to exploit what they see as widespread Republican vulnerabilities.

That's right folks, Democrats in disarray. That is all you need to know. This is what matters. That Democrats are spineless and hopeless and therefore are completely incapable of governing or doing anything correctly.

Although the media is partly to blame, so are our elected party officials who keep fueling this meme.

"We seem to be losing our voice when it comes to the basic things people worry about," Mr. Dodd said.

Mr. Obama said the Democratic Party had not seized the moment, adding: "We have been in a reactive posture for too long. I think we have been very good at saying no, but not good enough at saying yes."

It does the party absolutely no good when all people hear it talk about is a lack of direction and its own failings. Stop talking about yourselves in a negative sense, stop talking about what you "should" be doing, instead, get out there and say who you are, what you stand for and what you are going to do. It is just that simple - be positive and constructive. Do you ever see Republicans talk like this? The party needs to take action against any Democrat who gives into this temptation to self-flagellate himself in public.

In related news, Ned Lamont has received the 1,000 in state signatures he was looking to get. Time to replace a fake Democrat with a real one.

Update: Matt Stoller weighs in on the same issues.

Feingold

I don't care what people may say, but anyone who speaks like Russ does is completely electable.

The President's actions are indefensible. Freedom is an enduring principle. It is not something to celebrate in one breath, and ignore the next. Freedom is at the heart of who we are as a nation, and as a people. We cannot be a beacon of freedom for the world unless we protect our own freedoms here at home.

The President was right about one thing. In his address, he said "We love our freedom, and we will fight to keep it."

Yes, Mr. President. We do love our freedom, and we will fight to keep it. We will fight to defeat the terrorists who threaten the safety and security of our families and loved ones. And we will fight to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans against intrusive government power.

Well put, Senator.

Meet the New Boss

Same as the old boss, and this guy is also a dick... er, I mean Boehner.

He also does not heart lobbying reform. I wonder why.

Gonzo Blogging

Catch Georgia10 at dkos and Redhedd at Firedoglake rip into Abu. Here's just one point:

Again, if the President believes he has inherent authority to eavesdrop on Al Qaeda, why doesn't his order apply to domestic Al Qaeda calls? Why would he chose instead to implement a secret program, kept hidden even from a secret court? Gonzales has yet to provide an answer to this critical question. His lack of a proper response suggests the program may be used for a much more nefarious purpose than stopping another attack.

If Gonzo came clean he could bring down this entire sham of an administration. Which, of course, is why he'll just keep lying.

Update: to that list I'll also add Glenn Greenwald, Leah, John Aravosis, and props to Atrios for the links.

Domestic Spying Not Making Us Safer

WaPo.

Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use.

How much is nearly all of them?

Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause.

The fact that Bush has sidestepped federal law means that he is trying to hide something, or he was just too lazy to comply with the law. Both of these are grounds for impeachment. Imagine if you did not pay taxes and your defense was that you should not have to because paying your taxes was getting in the way of the rest of your life. Apparently this is how Bush thinks.

As If You Needed Another Reason

To hate Joe Lieberman.

Lamont 2006, bitches.

Oxymoron

Republican lobbying reform.

Heart of Darkness

Cheney.

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff told prosecutors that Mr. Cheney had informed him "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June 2003 about the identity of the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak case, according to a formerly secret legal opinion, parts of which were made public on Friday.

Never mind that Libby's nearly as bad as Cheney, but I'm looking forward to where this is going. I just hope it happens soon.

Fantasy and Reality

Bush the comedian:

President Bush told the nation's students on Friday that if they studied math and science they would not be joining the "nerd patrol" but helping their own futures and the economic health of the United States.

"You know, a lot of people probably think math and science isn't meant for me — it kind of seems a little hard, algebra," Mr. Bush said at a panel discussion, organized by the White House, outside Albuquerque at the Intel Corporation's largest chip-making plant. "I can understand that, frankly."

Ha ha.....

Let's just think for a second about how hilarious this actually is. This is the centerpiece of Bush's plan for education. Tell students, from an Intel plant, that they should study more math and science. For Bush, this is great leadership. Not by actually getting out there and doing something, spending more money or training more teachers, but just by pontificating. I'm sure in Bush's head his presidenting will translate into children across the country spontaneously picking up algebra books and becoming math geeks (I don't mean that in a bad way) as the words left his lips, but I'm a little unsure.

But wait, he's got an initiative:

In Rio Rancho, he pushed what the White House is calling the "American competitiveness initiative," which calls for, among other things, doubling federal spending on basic research grants in the physical sciences over 10 years, at a cost of $50 billion.

This is as empty as everything else he says. This is probably nothing more than a white paper that calls for more spending. Is this going to become legislation? I doubt it. Do you think the Republican controlled Congress would pass any bill to increase spending on the entitlement of education? In the recent State of the Union, Bush said the country could not bear the cost of the entitlements it was giving out. If you still believe that such measures would pass, let's take a look at what the recently passed budget bill does:

The House yesterday narrowly approved a contentious budget-cutting package that would save nearly $40 billion over five years by imposing substantial changes on programs including Medicaid, welfare, child support and student lending.

The bill does nothing but gut the essential support and services that increase the standard of living in this country, no doubt so Bush can further cut taxes for the highest earners.

There is a difference between making cheap talk and pandering, and trying to implement proposals that will make a difference. Bush is all about the first; I'm sure he actually believes that things will change because he says so. Despite his efforts, I'm also sure that nothing will happen because reality doesn't work that way. Bush's leadership is only successful in his fantasy world. In the real world, he's a miserable failure.

Bigot at Large

Tweety.

A Bill for Everyone

It hurts just about everyone in America:

The House yesterday narrowly approved a contentious budget-cutting package that would save nearly $40 billion over five years by imposing substantial changes on programs including Medicaid, welfare, child support and student lending.

With its presidential signature all but assured, the bill represents the first effort in nearly a decade to try to slow the growth of entitlement programs, one that will be felt by millions of Americans. Women on welfare are likely to face longer hours of work, education or community service to qualify for their checks. Recipients of Medicaid can expect to face higher co-payments and deductibles, especially on expensive prescription drugs and emergency room visits for non-emergency care. More affluent seniors will find it far more difficult to qualify for Medicaid-covered nursing care.

College students could face higher interest rates when their banks get squeezed by the federal government. And some cotton farmers will find support payments nicked. State-led efforts to force deadbeat parents to pay their child support may also have to be curtailed.

Way to go GOP!

Dirty Deeds

Fitzgerald lets us know that Libby has been up to no good:

"In an abundance of caution," he writes, "we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal achiving process on the White House computer system."

Destroying evidence in a federal case? That's tantamount to even more charges, and lets us know that there's a load of incriminating evidence against Libby and the White House.

Disstate of the Union

I took pretty good notes on the SotU last night, and I was planning on taking Bush down blow by blow, but, once again, it was a fairly content-free speech.

He hit up all the usual topics: war on radical islam/iraq/iran, healthcare, culture war, energy. He just didn't sound as divisive as he usually does, probably owing to the fact that his numbers are in the gutter and his presidency is completely weakened. He couldn't say anything about WMDs, social security (besides that Democrats hate you), the deficit, or anything else, outside of hollow promises about education and at the same time saying that he was going to cut non-discretionary spending. It was so weak that he kept trying to weave national security, free trade, energy and immigration all together at the same time. There was also a whole lot about AIDS. Since when does he give a shit? Under Bush we've donated a pathetic amount of money to fighting it. It just sounded lame.

Some of my highlights:

I thought the most obnoxious moment was when Bush quoted a dead soldier's letter:

"I know what honor is. … It has been an honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to…. Never falter! Don't hesitate to honor and support those of us who have the honor of protecting that which is worth protecting."

This bothered me because it echoed what Bush has been pushing all along, in all of his dealings: let someone else make the sacrifice. As long as it's someone else who's taking the fall, it's a-ok. I'm not trying to say that it is dishonorable for the soldier to believe what he wrote, but it is craven for someone to rely on those people and purposefully send them out to their deaths. The fact that the soldier faced death so we won't have to is not an ends in and of itself. For Bush to admit that this isn't true would open him up to the simple question of "what are we doing in Iraq?"

The most unbelievable moment was when he profoundly stated that America is addicted to oil. Yeah, I can almost see him taking swigs of the stuff from his flask when he thought nobody was looking. Bush has been in bed with the oil industry long before he started in politics, and nothing has changed. The most recent energy bill was full of handouts to the oil and coal industries and barely paid lip service to alternative energy.

The best moment was when Bush said that the longer we wait to change (dismantle) entitlements, healthcare and Medicare/Medicaid, the worse things will get. He then accused Congress of not acting to save social security, which was greeted by a loud round of applause from the Democrats. Awesome.

I think this country has seen enough to know by now that Bush is nothing more than a liar and a failure. The State of the Union is nothing short of pathetic.