IPEA is back...

The Intellectual Property Enforcement Act, or PIRATE Act, is back… and this time it’s personal.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (r-TX) introduced the bill earlier this week and, like it’s predecessors, this incarnation of the PIRATE Act wants the DOJ to bring suits against individual file-swappers, thus freeing-up the RIAA to do their real job… whatever the hell that might be by giving the Department of Justice the authority to bring not only criminal cases but civil as well against people swapping files while at the same time imposing limits on the penalties that could be imposed.

Said Leahy; “Copyright infringement silently drains America's economy and undermines the talent, creativity and initiative that are a great source of strength to our nation. When we protect intellectual property from copyright infringement, we protect our economy and our ideas.”

Uh-huh…

This bill sounded like a bad idea the first few times we heard it and it has NOT gotten any better with age.

In fact, it’s also redundant since the No Electronic Theft Act states that the DoJ already has the authority to bring criminal cases against file-swappers under certain situations… it’s of importance to note that, to date, the DOJ has not filed a single charge, probably because they’re too busy torturing terrorism suspects and lying for their former boss…

Hearing this makes me feel good knowing that Congress has ended terrorism, cured cancer, ended the Iraq war, stopped Iran from developing nuclear weapons and eliminated global warming so they have time to worry about this earth-shattering crap…

The Weekly Rewind

Applaud: to Congress for finally growing a set and standing up to “President” Bush. Last week he vetoed a water projects bill, but Congress overrode it, making it the first time they’ve mustered enough votes to override Bush. (About time… how about we make it a frequent thing?)

Heckle: we applaud irony, but not like this. During a White House press briefing earlier this week, spokeswoman Dana “God I miss Tony” Perino condemned Pakistan President’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of “emergency rule”, saying that the Bush(whacked) Administration is “deeply disappointed” by the measure and believes it is never “reasonable” to “restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism”… yes, she actually said that. (The Heckle is for the two-facedness of the administration and the fact that they don’t see the irony in her statement…)

Applaud: to having the guts to tell the truth about something many of us saw coming weeks, if not months ago. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the economy was “going to get worse before it got better” and was going to “slow noticeably.” He also said that inflation was likely to “increase overall”, meaning all those republican lemmings who keep saying the economy is strong are as full of hot air as our current Commander in Chief…

Heckle: to the Senate for confirming, in a 53-40 vote, retired Judge Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. Yes, he was confirmed… despite the fact he refused to call waterboarding torture… six Dem voted for Mukasey… meaning, in my mind, that they should be targets for ousting in the next election cycle…

Applaud: to Barry Richard. For those who don’t know the name, he was the lawyer that “achieved fame for his successful representation of George Bush in the Bush v. Gore recount suits.” Now, he’s set to give a speech blasting the administration at the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys’ (NAFUSA) annual conference. His beef? He told the National Law Journal that, as a constitutional lawyer, he’s “concerned with the Bush administration’s assault on American liberties … how the administration deals with habeas corpus and the administration’s posture on electronic surveillance. This administration has gone farther than any other.” (Excellent… blast away Mr. Richard, blast away…)

Heckle: to ruining the nation’s credit rating. The amount of publicly held U.S. debt is now at $9 trillion, marking the “first time ever” that the amount has breached $9 trillion, and we have Dumbya to thank for it as, back in September, he signed a measure to increase the debt limit ceiling to $9.815 trillion from $8.965 trillion… (God, he’s like a college student with a credit card…)

Applaud: to a majority of the American public. 75% of Americans are “eager for a change in direction” from the agenda and priorities of “President” Bush. The results come from a Washington Post/ABC News poll that also shows a scant, and apparently insane, 24% believing that Bush and his cronies are leading the nation on the right track. (Fab.U.Lous.)

Heckle: to cronyism continued. republican Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani refused to say earlier this week if he would pardon his old friend Bernie Kerik if he were elected President, saying; “It wouldn’t be fair to ask that question at this point.” (Sigh… at least he didn’t mention 9/11 when discussing it, oh wait – he did…)
Applaud: to a seemingly spark of a soul within this administration. Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh wrote this week that “Condoleezza Rice is, by her own admission, not ‘that self-reflective.’ But in an interview in her office on Thursday the secretary of state took a moment to contemplate the improved security situation in Iraq. ‘I’m sure there are lots of things we might have done better,’ she said.” (Wow… first Powell, now it appears that even Rice is getting tired of her employers inability to do anything. The question is, will we see her jump ship before the end of their reign of terror? Stay tuned…
Heckle: to the White House for impeding investigation of their “evisceration” of congressional testimony by CDC President Julie Gerberding on the “Human Impacts of Global Warming.” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote to President Bush last week requesting a “full accounting” of what occurred during the review process, but the administration is stonewalling her efforts by whining claiming executive privilege. (And once again the Bush(whacked) Administration thumbs their collective noses at the law... and no one seems to want to challenge them on it…)

Applaud: to House leaders that are pushing Senate Democrats to force tepublicans to stage more filibusters in order to give Americans a clear view of who is obstructing change,” (That’s all fine and good, and I believe that republicans are a primary component of the obstruction… but to fully excuse the Democrats is something I can not do… they must shoulder part of the blame and do whatever they can, even this, to combat it…)

Heckle: to disingenuous people, specifically “President” Bush. During his joint press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy earlier this week, a reporter asked Bush where he stood “on Iraq and your domestic debate on Iraq.” Bush insisted that “freedom’s happening” and said; “If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you’d be saying: God, I love freedom.” (God I love freedom?? You can’t do that to the English language… but of course that’s never stopped Bush before, so why should it now…)

Applaud: to news that REALLY shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. A study bu a nonpartisan group shows that programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenage sexual behavior. (what was the line from The West Wing, you show a teenage boy a lug wrench and they’ll think about sex… seems to sum up my feelings pretty well…)

Heckle: to former President George H.W. Bush, who gave an interview this week on Fox “News” where he said warned that more Bushes may run for public office in the future… God help us!!!

Applaud: it’s the economy stupid… ‘nuff said.

Heckle: to piss-poor comments. In an interview earlier this week, former UN Ambassador John Bolton complained about the tone of the battles raging in DC right now, citing the opposition to Michael Mukasey. Bolton then described the confirmation process for Mukasey as a “kind of torture.” What a fucking tool…

Applaud: a posthumous honoring this week to President Gerald Ford for questioning Bush’s warrantless surveillance program, saying “I would never do it. […] It surprises me they worry that they think they have to do it. I was dumbfounded when I heard they were. I didn’t think it was necessary. Where does he get his advice?” (A lot of people have been asking that Mr. Ford… my guess is an alien visible only to him by the name of Gazoo…)

Heckle: to losing more conservative allies as republican political strategist Frank Luntz wrote to Bush White House official Scott Arogeti saying that he wants to get his name removed from the White House mailing list because he’s irritated with, well, with everything Bush does really…

Applaud: to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)… wow, never thought I would write that, for his resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Yes, it’s all for show, but it still makes for some interesting theater…

Heckle: to the Democrats for having no balls. Notwithstanding their rhetoric about not wanting to hand President Bush another ‘blank check’ for the Iraq War, odds are they will give him another blank check with no strings attached. (Pathetic… absolutely pathetic…)

And a personal message to Bill O’Reilly; maybe the war on Christmas isn’t a reaction to the religious aspect of the holiday but more so a reflection on the fact that we’re sick of being inundated with Christmas stuff before Halloween is over. At least that’s my feeling…

This week’s gop tool of the week has an added bonus, the Democrats are included. This week we give it to the republican national committee for, as I said in this morning’s Daily ‘BushWhack’ing, acting like children on a playground. The rnc is going to penalize five states, New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming, for holding presidential primary elections before February 5, 2008. The Dems merit a mention here because they will likely follow suit. Both parties should be ashamed of themselves for this incredibly stupid idea… and the reasoning behind it is as idiotic as the action itself. If we want to eliminate the states’ whining about their place in the presidential primary process, go to a National Primary and be done with it. Otherwise, let the states decide themselves when they should hold their specific primaries. I’ll ignore for now the fact that the republicans, supposedly bastions of small government not interfering with how states operate, are acting to stop states from operating on their own.

Number 41*

President number forty-one George H.W. Bush has been busy this week.

Earlier this week he said that there are more Bush family members waiting in the political wings (eep).

He’s followed that up by espousing his son’s decision to invade Iraq.

Not only does he support his son’s invasion, he also goes on the offensive and attacks critics of the Iraq war by saying they are advocating Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule…

Excuse me??? Because we don’t support the reasoning for invasion… because we don’t support a war that has cost thousands of American lives… because we don’t think the war on terror went through Iraq we’re supporting Hussein’s rule?That has to be one of the most idiotic, moronic and offensive statements Bush Sr. has ever muttered… and considering the source, that’s saying a lot.

This country was founded on the principles of freedom, including the freedom to disagree with our elected leaders. But when you start attacking those that disagree with you while accusing them of supporting a leader who slaughtered thousands, if not millions, of his own citizens… then you have taken a huge step over the line and, in Bush Sr.’s case, seemingly lost your mind.

Consider this; in his book, A World Transformed, Bush Sr. wrote;

“incalculable human and political costs would have resulted from an Iraq invasion in 1991. […] We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect rule Iraq. […] Going in and thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations mandate would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish. […] Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different - and perhaps barren - outcome.”

Very interesting…

Also consider that eleven years ago, Bush Sr. wrote about Saddam Hussein and said that “removing [him] from power might well have plunged Iraq into civil war, sucking U.S. forces in to preserve order. Had we elected to march on Baghdad, our forces might still be there.”

That same year he also spoke against going into Baghdad by saying that “our forces could well have bogged down in an urban guerrilla conflict in the streets of Baghdad. […] We would have instantly handed Saddam a victory out of the jaws of a humiliating defeat.”

Again, very interesting… It seems to me that the way in which the war in Iraq has progressed, or regressed, itself validates Bush Sr.’s original concerns about marching into Baghdad… and now, by championing his son’s decision to invade while ridiculing those that think differently, he seems to be grossly undermining his legacy…

God help us if there are indeed more Bush’s in the political wings… lest our country never recover.

The Friday Presidential Race ‘BushWhack’ing

With the presidential election less than a year away, we present a new feature on TBWA; Friday’s version of The Daily BushWhacking will focus on the presidential race, so let’s get to it...

• With the presidential race heating up, expect to see an increase in polling… for example, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll shows that the public is incredibly unhappy with Congress’ performance and that most do not merit being re-elected. BUT; the poll did show that Democrats faired better than republicans with Democrats getting 53% of the vote compared to republicans getting 42%...
• Former NYC Police Commissioner, and Rudy Giuliani (r-NY) protégé/friend, Bernard Kerik has turned himself in order to face arraignment on federal corruption charges… Rudy continues to stand by his friend… and will continue to do so until it no longer will serve his campaign, then he’ll cut ties to Kerik faster than you can say 9/11…
• Mitt Romney (r-MA) is winning-over conservatives in South Carolina… take that as you will…
• It IS the economy stupid…
• Giuliani and McCain both picked-up endorsements this week… from members of the religious right and Sam Brownback… yeah, that’ll win them the election…
• Doing his husbandly duty, former President Bill Clinton said this past week that he is to blame for his administration's failed health care plan and no Hillary… how gallant of you Bill…
• Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) took on his two main rivals earlier this week. With fists swinging, he made an argument that Clinton can’t appeal to independents and republicans as well as he can. He then took a swipe at John Edwards's populist message and the fact it doesn’t match-up with his record…
• A new poll of Tennessee voters shows republican homeboy Fred Thompson with a very-narrow lead over primary Democrat rival Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical presidential match-up… so much for her being unelectable…
• Rep. Ron Paul (r-TX) is giving credit for his growing presidential campaign to his grassroots supporters… wow, I never thought I would type that
• The flap over Hillary Clinton’s performance in the last Democratic debate just will NOT go away… and she’s partially to blame. Drop it already!
• And have we mentioned? That the rnc is acting like children on a playground? The republican party is going to penalize five states for holding presidential primary elections before February 5, 2008. New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming will be slapped on their hands stripped of half their delegates to the party's September convention… expect the Dems to follow similar suit. (This is absolutely preposterous – by doing this the parties are essentially giving in to Iowa’s incredibly misplaced egotism… the state is NOT a good cross-section of the country and their time, as well as New Hampshire’s for that matter, as the premier presidential testing ground has passed… get over it)

Sure they will

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said today that the House will vote on legislation that would spend $50 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as early as Friday… but with a caveat that would require “President” Bush to start bringing troops home.

Riiiight…

The bill would not only set a requirement to make troop withdrawals begin immediately, it would also ensure that Marines and soldiers spend an amount of time at home equal to their time in combat and would set a goal that combat ends by December 2008… even though “major combat operations” ended a long, long time ago… but let’s not nitpick right now…

The aggressive bill would also require the government to rely on the Army field manual when conducting interrogations… which doesn’t mention waterboarding, anywhere.

Uh-huh… seems to me we’ve heard this before… and absolutely nothing came of it… what makes this any more different?

Sure, a new CNN poll finds that support for the war has plunged to 31% with a staggeringly high 68 % opposing it… but why should we believe that the Democrats have suddenly grown a set and are doing something about it?



I’ll believe it when I see it…

The Thursday 'BushWhack'ing

You know the drill...

• Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is on Capitol Hill today and has said that the economy may slow significantly… media-induced panic in five, four, three, two…
• The number one issue coming to the foreground for voters is the economy… making James Carville’s 1992 phrase; “It’s the economy stupid” relevant once again. A recently conducted CNN/Opinion Research Corporation's poll shows that the economy tops the list of voter’s issues at 825, followed closely by the Iraq war at 80% then health care, 76%; terrorism, 76% and the situation in Iran, 73%... (The election is a little less than a year away, so stay tuned and do your duty and stay abreast of issues facing the country…)
• The Senate is expected to follow-suit with yesterday’s House veto override on the Water Resources Development Act… proving once again just how far out of touch Bush is not only with the American people, but elected officials within his own party…
• Giuliani (r-NY) and McCain (r-NM) both picked up endorsements yesterday… television evangelist and religious right tool Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy while former gop presidential candidate Sam Brownback (r-KS) endorsed McCain and, meh who cares...
• The House passed a bill aimed at banning on-job discrimination against gays, lesbians and bi-sexuals… though “President” Bush has promised a veto (I know – you’re shocked) if it reaches his desk…
• Let me see if I have this straight; the person who dressed up in the offensive costume gets suspended because the costume was offensive, but the boss who was on a panel that gave said person the award for best costume doesn’t... alrighty-then…
• And have we mentioned? That another FEMA employee has resigned because of the make-believe presser? Press secretary Aaron Walker resigned yesterday, days after helping the head of the agency’s public affairs department stage a press conference about the California wildfires, making him the second FEMA press official to resign after last month’s stunt… (Good…)

The Wednesday ‘BushWhack’ing

Wednesday, we’re halfway done...

• I think it’s safe to say that, unless you’ve been living under a rock, that everyone knows that the gop ‘brand’ is damaged (heh heh heh)… and now, with under a year until a presidential election that has no clear-cut republican favorite, the gop are desperately trying to save themselves. Problem is, the brand itself is threatened due to the likes of conservatives like Rudy Giuliani who may not always see the conservative side of things. Having said all that, stay tuned – the next year should be one helluva ride…
• The House of Representatives has voted to override a Bush veto… no, not for SCHIP, but for a water bill that authorized $23 billion in various water projects that would, among many other things, restore the Everglades and Great Lakes fisheries, help rebuild post-Katrina Gulf Coast and a slew of other things… like REBUILDING THE NEW ORLEANS LEVEES!! The fact that Bush vetoed this thing shows just how out of touch with the will of the American people he is…
• “Analysis” from CNN shows that we shouldn’t put too much stock into polls a year before the election… (wow, crack analysis there guys… I never would have known that… he types as he rolls his eyes…)
• After the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to send it to the Senate floor, Bush’s Attorney General nominee is that much closer to being confirmed...
• The gop had a hard time of it in yesterday’s elections; losing the Kentucky governor’s seat and losing the Virginia state house (for the first time in 12 years). Yes, the gop did win the governor’s race in Mississippi, but overall; it was NOT a good day for them (heh heh heh)
• And have we mentioned? That on the day the U.S. military announced the deaths of six soldiers, Dumbass Supreme Joe LIEberman (I r-CT) said that the tide in Iraq was turning? It’s true, the most pathetic excuse for an Independent EVER said; “I’m proud to say that the tide has turned in Iraq and we’re winning that war…” And have we mentioned that, with the six deaths, the number of deaths this year rose to 851 and makes 2007 the deadliest year of the war for American troops… with two months left… but he says the “tide has turned.” What a fucking tool…

Poll Positions

‘Tis the season for polling, so here’s some nice polling data to help you get through the rest of your Tuesday.

Did you know that we are a “nation of discontent”… at least that’s the findings of a recent USA Today/Gallup poll shows, with 72% of Americans saying they’re dissatisfied with how things are going in the US, as opposed to the slight 26% that say they’re satisfied with the direction the country is heading.

Splendid… though it still begs the question as to what the hell the 26% are smoking.

And lest you think it’s only one poll that shows discontent, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll says that 75% of Americans are “eager for a change in direction from the agenda and priorities of President Bush”, with a paltry 24% of those polled believing that the Bush(whacked) Administration is leading the nation on the right track, which is the “lowest public assessment of the direction of the country in more than a decade.”

Nice…

And to pile on Bush, another new Gallup poll shows that 64% of Americans disapprove of the job he’s doing, and, for the “first time” ever in Gallup poll history, 50% say they “strongly disapprove” of Bush.

The previous high? The 1974 version of Richard Nixon, who scored a 48% mere days before an impeachment inquiry was launched.

Nice company for Bush to have, isn’t it?

Have some more polling info:

• 69% of Americans favor withdrawing U.S. forces, compared to 9% favoring an increase in troop levels.
• A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released yesterday shows, with a year until election day, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) remains the person to beat
  Another new CNN poll shows that 69% of Americans believe that waterboarding is torture and an additional 58% say that the U.S. government should be barred from using the procedure.
• All these numbers have one constant running through them, George W. Bush… his years of pathetic governing are the cause of this… and we still have a little under one year before we head to the polling booths to select who the Supreme Court will instill as our next President (sorry, I need to learn to let that go), and a large majority of Americans are distraught about the direction our nation is heading…

Bush and his cronies aren’t doing anything...

Congress isn’t doing anything...

Where in God’s name is this country headed?

The Tuesday ‘BushWhack’ing

Somewhere in the blogging cosmos is another post I wrote yesterday…it disappeared somewhere between typing it and publishing it, so please be on the lookout for it out there; thanks.

• Today is Election Day, and there are a few races to keep an eye on as the day progresses; there are state elections in Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia… there’s a special Congressional election in OH-05, a solidly republican district… and a handful of others… all that could have far-reaching results – so stay tuned.
• A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released yesterday shows, with a year to election day, Sen. Clinton (D-NY) remains the person to beat… more on this later.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve “President” Bush’s Attorney General nominee, Michael Mukasey, after he promised, if one was enacted by Congress, to enforce a law against waterboarding. That promise won him the support of Sens. Feinstein (D-CA) and Schumer (D-NY), a promise that committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said was ‘disingenuous.’ (And the Democrats continue to show no balls whatsoever…)
• AttorneyGate just won’t go away… and it shouldn’t, especially since the White House is the primary reason it’s not going away. By constantly ignoring subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, the White House seems to be forcing the hand of Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) into calling for a vote on contempt of Congress citations against COS Joshua Bolten and former legal counsel Harriet Miers. (all fine and good… but the White House’s ignoring of the subpoenas has been going on for far too long now, and the power of calling for a contempt charge is diminishing…)
• And have we mentioned? That the Bush(whacked) Administration is into irony? It’s true. Not only are they “deeply disappointed that Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared Marshall Law, they went on to say that it is never “reasonable” to “restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism”… (Ya know, sometimes the irony is so damn rich, that nothing you can say would add anything…)

The Monday ‘BushWhack’ing

Another start of another week…

• CNN Headline screams; “Bush seeks to defuse tension with Turkey”. Well, not slaughtering it for Thanksgiving would help… oh, they mean the country Turkey. Um… I sustain my prior answer…
• Senator Obama (D-IL) introduced a resolution last week that says President Bush does not have authority to use military force against Iran. Well, considering he has missed almost 80% of Senate votes in the last two months it’s good to see him do something…
• Sensing that his AG nominee is in peril, “President” Bush has been fellating spinning working the Senate Judiciary vote… and it apparently worked as Senators Charles Schumer (DNY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said they would vote FOR Michael Mukasey, and Sen. Arlen Specter (r-PA) said he would also support the nomination despite being “bothered” by Mukasey’s refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture… (of course they will, why show any resolve or balls now?? You have reservations about someone, but you still agree to confirm them… pretty stupid if you ask me…)
• And have we mentioned? That former president George H.W. Bush was interviewed this past weekend on Fox “News”? And while he didn’t say anything really important (like father like son), he did mention that there may be more Bushes waiting in the political wings… to which I say; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Good God no!!!! Please Lord, make it stop….

The Weekly Rewind

It's the end of the week! What does that mean? Football? sure... drinking to an excess? ok for some of you perhaps.... However for us at The "Bush"-Whacked Administration it means a look back at some of the things that you may have missed this past week, both good and bad. Hence the Applauds (good) and Heckles (bad). Ok, let's get to it.....

Applaud: to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for a soundbite from this past week’s democratic debate. The bit isn’t nearly getting the amount of airtime it should, but it is a classic. Biden described gop candidate Rudy Giuliani thusly; “There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11.” (Nicely said Mr. Biden, well done)

Heckle: to poor campaign practices. Waking potential voters up at 2 in the morning to ask them to vote for you is probably gonna have an opposite effect. Just ask Westchester (NY) County Legislature hopeful Domenic Volpe. A firm his campaign hired, and I would imagine later fired, to dispatch recorded calls asking for their support accidentally was programmed to call voters at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m… oops

Applaud: to Dennis Kucinich (did I really just write that?) for saying what many others are surely thinking, that Bush may need his racket restrung.

Heckle: to Vice President Dick “President” Cheney and his Dan Quayle impression this morning. During a speech in Dallas, a reporter asked Cheney about his views on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cheney responded that the people of Peru “deserve better” leadership than Chavez… um, okay. Last time I looked, Chavez was the president of Venezuela and the president of Peru was Alan Garcia… but I could be wrong.

Heckle: to avoiding the US like we have a plague. The number of foreign visitors to the United States has plummeted since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington because foreigners don’t feel welcome,” according to tourism professionals. The decline has cost America “94 billion dollars in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs and 16 billion dollars in lost tax revenue.” Ok, just for the record, we like visitors, we don’t like illegal immigrants.

Heckle: to knowing that almost everyone saw this coming. While there are pockets of security where life in Baghdad is starting to get back to normal, it’s not normal by most standards. Across the city Sunnis and Shiites live in sectarian enclaves, many walled off. Sunnis fear visiting Shiite areas and vice versa, even if it is just a few blocks away. Trust has broken down so much that a stranger in a neighborhood can arouse enough suspicion to warrant an attack. Nice, someone walking to the market takes a wrong turn and ends up getting killed because they are wearing the wrong scarf…sounds like what….. that’s right, major gang areas in the US. We can’t control them here, so what makes us think we could do it in Iraq?

Heckle: to proving that he needed to go. As Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld wrote 20 to 60 “snowflakes” — his trademark missives for developing policy — each day. In a sampling of them obtained by the Washington Post, Rumsfeld “argued that Muslims avoid ‘physical labor’ and wrote of the need to ‘keep elevating the threat,’ ‘link Iraq to Iran’ and develop ‘bumper sticker statements’ to rally public support. As if we didn’t already know that the administration was burning to expand our real estate holdings in the region…oh and by the way Don, no one takes anything on a bumper sticker seriously.

Heckle: to a sad reality. The number of Americans without health insurance “rose by nearly 8.6 million to 47 million from 2000 to 2006, with children and workers from every income level losing coverage,” according to the Economic Policy Institute. The increase was “driven primarily by the continued erosion in employer-provided health insurance.” I wonder how many of those 47 million voted republican in the last 2 elections. And you hope they will be smart enough to vote democrat next year. Remember the only values that the republicans care about are the values that their corporate handlers tell them to care about.

Applaud: to 67 percent: Which is the number of Americans who “support giving contraceptives to students”, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. About as many - 62 percent - said they believe providing birth control “reduces the number of teenage pregnancies.” Thank you for exhibiting common sense.

Heckle: to One in eight: Which is the number of veterans under the age of 65 who are uninsured, a finding that contradicts the assumption many have that all vets qualify for free health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Approximately 1.8 million veterans overall lack health coverage, a jump of 290,000 since 2000. This is unacceptable. These men and women risked life and limb for this nation and this nation owes them a debt of gratitude, which includes the health care promised to them.

Heckle: to being just so damned hippocritical. Lawmakers have increasingly steered federal funds to overtly religious organizations — many of which claim proselytizing or religious conversions as their primary function — using earmarks. For instance, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) tried to earmark $100,000 for a creationist organization. Since when do we get to pick and choose when church and state are separate.

Heckle: to Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Who, according to a new book on Blair’s tenure, “turned down a last-minute offer from President George Bush for Britain to stay out of the Iraq war because he thought it would look ‘pathetic,’. Well Tony, now your position looks as pathetic as ours. Nicely played.

And finally-

Applaud: to a financial wizardseeing the light. Warren Buffett this week told CNBC that he believes there is a “fairly significant” chance that the United States is headed toward a recession. Maybe Warren should take over for Bernake for a while.

Ok, all these heckles have left me tired and depressed. That’s it for this week.

Be good, stay informed….later.

More on Nord

Earlier this week I posted about the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is responsible for reviewing thousands of consumer products to look for potential health risks, and their acting chair Nancy Nord who wants less money, less staff, and less product safety rules.

Given recent events like, I don’t know, the plethora of Chinese-made toys with lead “issues”, one would think that the CPSC would want the opposite and chalk it up to Ms. Nord being yet another crony in a long line of Bush-appointed cronies.

Now with a Washington Post article today showing more questionable actions on her part, I’m going to come right out and say it; Ms. Nord needs to resign.

(Granted, so does Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gates, Petraeus and everyone else in the Bush(whacked) Administration, but let’s take it one at a time)

Today’s WaPo article;

“The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance, and children's furniture industries and others they regulate.... Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.”

Nice.

My favorite? The $11,000 junket to China and Hong Kong that was sponsored by the “American Fireworks Standards Laboratory” who said the trip was above-board because, in their words, they didn’t have “pending regulatory requests.”

The Bush cronies that run the agency said all of the industry-financed trips are routine and happen all the time… but they don’t.

And before the trolls come out and shout that the head of the CPSC under Clinton did the same thing, consider this from the article;

“The agency's travel patterns during the Bush administration, detailed in internal agency documents, differ from those of the Clinton era. Ann Brown, who served as chairman from 1994 to 2001, traveled only at the expense of the agency or of media organizations that sponsored appearances where she announced product recalls, according to the documents provided.”

(Ahhhh… the Clinton years… Remember those? The economy was growing, the debt was disappearing, the tech world was growing, things were on the right track… and then an idiot was elected by the supreme court, regardless of the will of a majority of Americans, also known as the popular vote… sorry, I think I started daydreaming there – but I digress)So for those of you who have trouble figuring out the mathematics of this, during the Clinton years CSPC officials travel on regulated industries’ dime exactly zero times.


So much for the trips being “routine.”

There are many things to get upset with the CSPC about, things like the fact that 50% of their budget is earmarked for children's products but they only have a single toy tester.

Nice.

But this, this should be the final straw. This isn’t complicated…. when a government agency is regulating an industry, that industry should not, I’ll say it again – should NOT pay for those regulators’ travel to exotic locales.

Has no one in these agencies heard of “appearance of impropriety”… or “conflict of interest”?

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) put it better when he responded to the news, saying;

“Now we know why Nancy Nord opposes efforts to give the Consumer Product Safety Commission more resources: Who needs more resources when the industries you regulate will pay your expenses for you? After taking dozens of trips on the industry dime, it is now time for Mrs. Nord to take a permanent vacation from her post.”

Couldn’t have said it any better myself Congressman…

The Friday ‘BushWhack’ing

Friday… ‘nuff said.

• I, personally, think too much is being made about Clinton’s performance at Tuesday’s debate. It wasn’t the train wreck that her rivals and pundits are saying it was…
• Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is on her way to Turkey to meet officials about Turkey-Iraq border tensions...
• A congressional investigation has discovered that people getting their passports have been overcharged by more than $100 million and now Sens. Dorgan (D-ND) and Schumer (D-NY) are planning to ask the Bush(whacked) Administration to account where the passport profits go…
• SCHIP has now passed the Senate and goes to Bush’s desk… stay tuned.
• And have we mentioned? That, according to internal records, Consumer Product Safety Commission chief Nancy Nord has taken “dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children’s furniture industries” that she is supposed to be regulating? Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and attorneys that represented the product producers who were linked to consumer hazards. Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called on Nord to resign because; well, read my post HERE for a better understanding of why Ms. Nord is a tool.

The Thursday ‘BushWhack’ing

While you detox from too much candy, treat yourself to today’s BushWhacking...

• Democratic presidential candidates Clinton (D-NY) and Edwards (D-SC) both picked up some sizeable union endorsements yesterday. Current ‘frontrunner’ Clinton was thrown the support of The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME, while Edwards nabbed the backing of New Hampshires Service Employee's International Union. Both are coups for the candidates and troubling to Obama (D-IL). The campaigns are gearing up, so don’t look away now…
• “President” Bush has been acting rather temperamental this week, and it continued yesterday when his railing against SCHIP continued when he said that expanding it would play a “trick” on Americans by moving the country closer to a federalized health system. (One really has to wonder how his mind works at times…)
• The confirmation of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is in peril as concerns are voiced by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including chairman Arlen Specter (r-PA), who said that Mukasey's nomination could be at risk because of his refusal to answer questions “categorically.” The committee hold its vote on Mukasey’s nomination on Tuesday, Nov. 6. (stay tuned)
• The Water War has moved to Washington DC and is threatening to engulf the Bush(whacked) Administration…
• And have we mentioned? That Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) is not backing down on calling out the White House over Iran? On the Senate floor yesterday Byrd deprecated the White House’s Iran saber-rattling saying; “Today is a fitting day to discuss the issue of Iran. Today is All-Hallow’s Eve — Halloween — a day when people don masks and costumes to frighten others. The White House has been busy unleashing its rhetorical ghosts and goblins to scare the American people, with claims of an imminent nuclear threat in Iran, as they did with Iraq.” The ‘unleashing its rhetorical ghosts and goblins’ is what makes it art…

Another Texas Crony abandons ship

One of “President” Bush’s longest-serving and most-revered cronies is leaving his administration for good.

Karen Hughes, a vital component of Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign is resigning from her post as Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department.

(I know it’s mundane when we ask this now, but I have to; will the last member of the Bush(whacked) Administration leaving please turn off the lights?)

Before taking the job at State, Hughes was a Senior Counselor to the President and her departure marks the final Texas crony to jump ship.

When the US’ standing in the world started taking a hit due to Bush’s disastrous foreign policy, he asked her to go to the State Department to not only help sell the war on terror but also to spread the word about America’s ideas about democracy.

The only problem with that is that recent polls show that there has been no improvement in the way the world views the United States since she took over.

Reports are that she plans on returning to Texas and told her staff that “improving the world’s view of the United States is a ‘long-term challenge’ that will outlast her.”

Well duh!!! After the clusterfuck that IS this administration, a baby born at this exact moment will not outlast improving the worlds view of the US.

As I’ve said many times before; January 20, 2009 can NOT come soon enough…