Turn Left @ hypocrisy.com

I hate to disappoint Pit Bull Palin, but I’m taking one day off the campaign trail today to take a look back. (You will remember, of course, that she reprimanded Joe Biden for looking back instead of looking forward.) At the time of this posting, there are 98 days, 16 hours, 45 minutes, and 11.5 seconds left in George Bush’s disastrous turn. That’s plenty of time to do more harm to this country. Nevertheless, it’s not too soon to outline the events that make George Bush the worst president in American history. While there are many, many reasons to label Bush the worst, there are four watershed moments in his administration that cement his place in infamy: The 9-11 terrorist attacks, the ill-advised wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the economic meltdown presently taking place in America (and spreading around the world).

September 11, 2001

First, the 9-11 attacks. No matter how Bush tries to blame the Clinton administration, this attack happened on his watch. George Bush assumed the presidency on January 20, 2000 and the terrorist attacks happened on September 11, 2001. The Clinton administration had left the Bush administration a comprehensive report on the subject of al Qaeda, including a plan to thwart its efforts. George Bush ignored it. It’s now common knowledge that he also ignored repeated warnings between April and September of 2001. Not only was he warned of potential terrorist attacks taking place on our soil, but he was warned that the terrorists might use airplanes as weapons. The administration was warned by Israel’s Mossad, as well as by Jordan and Moroccan intelligence. How did he spin his administration’s failure to act? Bush and Cheney stated that, had the domestic wiretapping authorization been given in 2001 instead of 2002, it would have prevented the terrorist attacks. As usual, this is a bald-faced lie. The memo he received a month before the attacks warned that Bin Laden was determined to hit targets inside the United States. He didn’t need wiretapping. If the memo could not move him to action, there is no way that wiretapping would have prevented the attacks. You simply have to question why he ignored it. In fact, you simply have to question the official version of 9-11 being fed us by the Bush administration.

You have to wonder why the US military was on “stand down” that day. Why were 140 Saudis safely flown out of the United States during the week after 9-11, when even Bill Clinton and Al Gore, both out of the country at the time of the attack, were not even allowed to fly back home? Many were members of the royal House of Saud, and at least 24 were direct members of bin Ladens family. Why weren’t they detained for questioning instead? This would have been a logical step, given the fact that 14 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and it was Saudi money backing al Qaeda? In fact, Osama bin Laden is a Saudi national.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

Then, we have two ill-advised, ill-planned wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. The justification for these two wars, of course, was to fight terror. In fact, the 9-11 terrorist attacks became the excuse for just about every crime the Bush administration has committed. According to our truth-challenged leader, we were going to take the war to the terrorists by invading Afghanistan and capturing Osama bin Laden. In fact, George Bush vowed we would get him “dead or alive” during one of his post 9-11 speeches. New information from former US officials, however, shows that George W. Bush never had any intention of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. The only question that remains is why? Is this because of the close business ties between the Bush and bin Laden families? Or is it because bin Laden had nothing to do with the attacks at all? According to sources, George Bush was more interested in attacking Iraq than finding Osama bin Laden. Of course, President Bush justified the invasion of Iraq by lying to Congress and the American people about Saddam Hussein being involved in the 9-11 terrorist attacks. We now know that was a lie and that George Bush invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses.

The president landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 and announced that the Iraq war was over. There was a huge ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner behind him. It is now 2008 and there’s no end to the war in sight. In fact, our Republican presidential wannabe (John McCain) says he’ll stay in Iraq for 100 years if that’s what it takes to win the war (whatever ‘win’ means). At the five-year mark, we have lost 4,180 US troops. More than 1.2 million innocent Iraqis have died. At a cost of $12 billion per month, the mission is anything but accomplished. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, it remains a black hole for the mainstream media. Nobody even talks about it. Estimates from one web site provide these numbers: 8,587 Afghan troops killed; 3,485 Afghan civilians killed; 513 US troops killed; and 433 other coalition troops killed. Either way, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff predict a gloomy future for the Afghanistan war: Next year will even be worse than this year.

Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005

The third watershed event was Hurricane Katrina and our government’s disgustingly feeble efforts both before and after the storm. Katrina first made landfall at 7 a.m. on August 29 as a category 4 hurricane. At 7:30 a.m., the White House was warned that the levees were failing. In fact, before the storm was over, nearly all of the levees would be breached. Documents show that the White House had ample warning about the severity of Katrina, even though George Bush went on Good Morning America on September 1, 2005, to state, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” There’s yet another outright lie. While still on a month-long vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush was told about the levees and then some. He had a report that predicted that the levees would be breached and that Katrina could potentially destroy 90% of the city structures. It also described the depth and breadth of the search and rescue effort that would be required, and predicted the displacement of more than 1 million residents. The president asked no questions. Instead, he told New Orleans officials, “We are fully prepared.” That, too, was a lie.

Washington was anything but prepared. Why is that? Because, our government officials were all on vacation when Katrina hit. George Bush, in spite of the warnings, stayed on vacation in Crawford, Texas. Meanwhile, Dick Cheney stayed on vacation in Jackson, Wyoming. Condoleeza Rice went to New York during the storm to see a Broadway play and buy herself some expensive new shoes. In spite of the devastation overwhelming the Gulf states on August 29, President Bush did not rush back to Washington. Instead, he spent his Tuesday playing golf. After that, he played guitar with some country and western singers. Think Progress has put together an incredible time line documenting Katrina’s devastation and our president’s response. It’s clear that Bush had other business on his mind.

Unfortunately, President George W. Bush showed no greater leadership after the disaster than he did before and during the disaster. Two weeks after the storm, Bush pledged a homesteading plan to help residents of New Orleans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a complete plan and left many homeless people without assistance. The Baker Plan (named for its Republican sponsor Representative Richard Baker) was a much more complete plan, and it received the backing of Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat.. It would provide compensation to victims right away and give them a choice of how to rebuild their homes. It even allowed people to walk away with compensation without rebuilding if they wished. The White House, of course, opposed the plan, mostly because it made George Bush’s plan look as anemic as it actually was. The most decisive action President Bush took was to make sure he helped businesses profit from the Katrina disaster. First, he suspended federal rules and authorized FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to extend no-bid contracts to corporations participating in the rebuilding. He also suspended the federal Davis-Bacon Act which requires contractors utilizing federal funds to play local prevailing wages on construction projects. You’ve just got to love those compassionate conservatives.

The Economic Meltdown of 2008

George Bush isn’t the only Republican proponent of deregulation. Our ‘deregulation nation’ was actually launched during the Reagan Administration. However, it was carried to new heights under the Bush administration. Over the last eight years, corporations of all types have been given unprecedented powers to police themselves. Take a look at Wall Street. It’s much more than a ‘free market’ playground. It is synonymous with corruption, deception and greed. How does the Bush administration respond? By giving the perpetrators a $700 billion infusion of new monopoly money to play with, ignoring Americans facing foreclosure and fleecing the American taxpayer. The White House employed its usual fear-mongering and strong-arm tactics to get the bail-out package passed, telling members of Congress that the stock market would suffer a devastating drop. When that didn’t work, several Senators were threatened with martial law, the final step of our descent into fascism.

The package has finally passed, and Wall Street continued its free fall. Credit is pretty much frozen. People are losing their homes and their jobs at an alarming rate. According to Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, and now at UC Berkeley, the US has lost 1 million jobs since last year. In the meantime, some of the bail-out money has been used for, of all things, pleasure junkets. The AIG sales force, for example, took a trip to a resort in California where they spent $120,000 alone on spa treatments. Another $150,000 was spent on food. This is what happens when there is no oversight, a little detail left out of the plan. In the meantime, state governments are trying to get financial help from the federal treasury just to meet payroll. What’s wrong with this picture?

It Doesn’t Stop Here

I’m mystified by those who consider George W. Bush a good president. I’m wondering what channel they’ve been watching for the past eight years. The four events featured in this article are huge, but there are so many more that have been left out. For example, the Bush administration has turned the United States into a torture state. Condoleeza Rice recently revealed that ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ (a polite term for ‘torture’), including waterboarding, were discussed at the White House among the highest officials of the Bush administration. Bush has approved the imprisonment of scores of ‘enemy combatants’ for years without bringing specific charges or allowing prisoners access to lawyers. He has sent others to countries where torture is routinely practiced under his ‘extraordinary rendition’ program. In short, he has violated articles of the Geneva Convention and he has broken both US and international laws.

George Bush has run roughshod over the US Constitution. Many view the illegal wiretapping of American citizens as his most egregious Constitutional violation. However, he also took advantage of a nation in shock from the 9-11 terrorist attacks to rush through passage of the USA Patriot Act, specifically designed to diminish our rights and expand the powers of the executive branch.

I could go on and on, but this article would become a tome. I’ll save the fine points for my online George Bush Library. In closing, do not to get comfortable just because his reign is coming to an end. With just slightly more than three months left to go in this regime, there’s plenty of time to do more damage. George Bush isn’t just any lame duck president. He wants his name to go down in history, even if it is as the worst president this nation has ever seen.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. John McCain is using distraction and drama to try to win the 2008 presidential election because he’s got precious little else to run on. That’s what this whole “suspending my campaign” propaganda is all about. That McCain has told lies since this campaign’s inception is hard to argue. The facts are the facts, and he has been caught in every single one because, frankly, he’s not a particularly good liar either. The night he stood up David Letterman, he was supposed to be putting his country first and flying back to Washington because this whole bail out issue had to be resolved right now. This minute. Instead, he was displaying his incredible lack of judgment by being in the very same studio as David Letterman being interviewed by Katie Couric. To Letterman’s credit, he rightfully embarrassed the Senator. Someone called it a ‘hissy fit’ on Letterman’s part but, let’s face it, John McCain is a liar and got what he deserved.

He’s a liar because the next morning he was still in New York speaking at Bill Clinton’s feel good Global Initiative. He wasn’t in Washington building bi-partisan consensus, which is the outright garbage he tried to feed the American people. John McCain has absolutely no expertise in money and markets. In fact, he has not even demonstrated that he understands the Wall Street problem. He has very little to offer in the way of help and members of his own party said that, when he finally did show up, he was more of a hindrance than anything else. As of Tuesday night, McCain admitted in an interview that he hadn’t even read the two-page requisition for slimy Hank Paulson’s $700 billion dollar blank check. How does it take to read something like that? If you’re challenged, maybe ten minutes. Yet, he wants us to believe he put country first and had to rush back to Washington to solve the problem. He flatters himself because John McCain has proven that he’s not the solution to anything.

John McCain is a liar because he looked the American people in the eye and told them he was “suspending” his campaign. He did not suspend his campaign. The bash Obama ads continued to run. His campaign staff continued to go on air with interviews throughout the day touting their selfless maverick candidate. Suspending a campaign means everything stops. What John McCain should have said to the American people was, “I’m down in the polls and I’m a disorganized candidate. I’ve picked an uniformed, unqualified vice presidential candidate who is embarrassing my candidacy with the interviews she’s giving. So, I’m going to go to Washington to try to get some attention and see if I can get this train wreck back on track. Oh, yeah, I also want to try to avoid the debate if I can.” That would have been much more accurate. I mean, if he’s honest John McCain, let’s just be honest here.

The one thing Senator McCain has done is prove that he lacks judgment on all fronts, particularly in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. Most inexperienced people get better as time goes on, but Sarah Palin gets worse. Why? Because it isn’t simply lack of experience. She really isn’t all that intelligent. She cannot speak to the issues because she doesn’t understand the issues. She barely has command of the English language. If anybody thinks her interview with Katie Couric was coherent and lucid, I want some of what they are smoking. It was painful to watch from my perspective. I thought Dan Quayle was just about the worst. I was wrong. It can get much, much worse. Oh, by the way, this notion that Sarah Palin represents everyone in small-town America is an insult to those who proudly live there. The American people are much smarter and much more aware than Sarah Palin.

Senator McCain is no leader. Apparently, he has a problem multitasking. He has to suspend a campaign (lie) to go back and deal with the Wall Street debacle? How is he going to run the country? Take a look at the mess his friend, George Bush, is leaving him. We have two wars going absolutely nowhere and people dying every day. Now, we’re fighting the Pakistanis, our supposed allies in the war on terror. We have economic disaster everywhere, not just on Wall Street. People are losing their homes and jobs at alarming rates. We clearly have an energy crisis going on that will need a lot more than the childish “drill, baby, drill” antics on display at the Republican convention. So, how is John McCain going to run this country? I think that’s a valid question at this point. John McCain should show up at the debate to night and put his ideas in front of the American people. Let’s see if he can win their hearts and minds. Let’s see if he has any ideas. Let’s see if he has any solutions to the challenges facing this nation. At this point, make him prove he deserves the job.

Drama after distraction after drama. From the ‘postponement’ of the Republican Convention because of Hurricane Gustav, to choosing Sarah Palin, to calling for the firing of the SEC Chairman, to suspending his campaign so he can fly back to Washington and save Wall Street, to not being able to commit to tonight’s debate…that’s what John McCain is all about. He’s like a child who will do anything for attention, even if it’s negative attention. It’s one thing for a five-year-old to do it. It’s another thing for a 72-year-old who wants to be president of the United States to do it. At McCain’s age, there’s usually something psychologically pathological about it.

One thing became abundantly clear this week: George Will was right. John McCain is not fit to be president of the United States.

I’m back again. I wanted to share this article with you. I subscribe to a site called OpEdNews and it’s excellent. I happened to be checking out the daily writings there after getting home from Thanksgiving dinner and found the article below. I think it’s right on and I wanted to share it! Please let me know what you think.

November 23, 2006 at 09:53:36 Wow, Do We Have a Lot to Be Thankful for This Year. Now , About 2007…. by Rob Kall http://www.opednews.com

We could have faced a dark thanksgiving where the elections were totally stolen instead of just partially stolen.

WE could have faced a dark thanksgiving where right wing extremists had consolidated their power, probably permanently, taking the US inevitably down the path to fascism.

We could have faced a dark thanksgiving where corporatists had finally broken the will of the American voter.

But instead, we now face a hopeful future, not a sure one, not one that we can be certain is rosy for the USA and its great masses of regular people.

But we have a chance. The congress has a chance.

We can’t be sure about the congress. They will surely be subjected to temptations by the K street lobbyists.

Maybe today is a good day to pray for them, however you connect to the universe, to put some thought forms and energy into the idea that our new majority of legislators, and the Republicans who survived, with and without the help of election e-vote rigging, will all find, in their hearts and spirits the vision and integrity to do what’s right for We The People, instead of what’s good for big corporations and millionaires.

Call them prayers, hopes, wishes, even ultimatums… here are some ways the incoming congress could give us reason for thanks in 2007.

-Investigate, investigate, investigate and follow up with whatever legal mandates the investigations lead to, including impeachment.

-Pass a lot of legislation. Show that a congress can get things done, not just posture on wedge issues like gay marriage and flag burning.

-Revoke the war-making authority the congress gave to Bush/CHeney. Make it clear that the legislation passed after 9/11 is no longer alive. The revocation should make it clear that the original war authorization was based on a massive collection of lies. Make sure Cheney or any of the other misguided Neocon fools are not able to drag us into Iran. This should be the first step the new congress takes.

-Raise the minimum Wage to a living wage

-Clean up the Vote. Abolish HAVA, re-write Rush Holt’s HR 550 and create a set of airtight laws that insure safe votes in all elections– all federal elections, all state elections– all local elections. Every vote is like a single cell in the body of democracy. If it isn’t done in an honest, 100% trustworthy, rigging-impregnable way, then it is a threat to the whole body of democracy. And include tough punishments, so people who commit crimes against the vote are treated as murderers of democracy, with severe sentences, including the death penalty (think Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell.)

-Provide Health Care for Every American take the VA health system, medicare and medicaid and create a hybrid that uses the best of these already existing national health care systems and bring the USA into the first world, like the rest of the wealthy nations on this planet, who care for all of their citizens. While we’re at it, we’ll be giving a real boost to the remaining industries surviving in the US, that have had to compete against companies in other countries, where health care provision was not a cost of doing business.

-Dump our Current Model of Economic Globalism it is designed for the few hundred largest corporations– not for the people of the world. It is destroying industries in first world nations and enslaving and exploiting workers in third world nations, while privatizing what should be owned by the people, like oil, natural resources, water, land… We need a new, organic model of globalism, that recognizes that nations, like living organisms, must have “skins” to protect them, otherwise, they die. The US should either withdraw from WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA, etc., or insist on major changes.

-End Corporate Personhood corporations currently claim to have the same rights as people– to privacy, to influence elections. This was not always the case. One fast way to clean up a lot of the probelms we currently face in this country is to pass a law making it clear that corporations do not have the right of corporate personhood. Make it clear they can not influence elections, have no right to privacy, and are subject to termination for illegal and unacceptable behaviors and actions.

-Take Back Control of the US Economy from Global Forces Business week reports,in an article, Can Anyone Steer This Economy? “Global forces have taken control of the economy. And government, regardless of party, will have less influence than ever.” If the FEd raises interest rates, global lenders can come in and loan money at lower rates, minimizing the effects of interest rate rises. Even cutting taxes has been shown to have a minimal effect on the economy. We need to insulate the US or it will be at the mercy of outside influences. The number one contributor to Republican campaigns was the banking and finance industry. Look to the money for the solution. Start putting tariffs on money that comes into this country seeking interest.

-Get Tough With Corporations That Offshore too many US corporations have played the shell game, setting up offshore headquarters to avoid taxes. Or they’ve been acquired by international conglomerates. If we don’t play hardball with both groups, they will become more powerful than the US, if they haven’t already done so.

-Make college Education free for US Citizens We’re falling far behind in competitiveness. An educated middle class is essential to a democracy. Even though college grads tend to vote republican, do it. That statistic is probably because currently, the wealthy “haves” are the ones who get access to college.

-Develop Strategies to Continue the Purge of Right Wing extremists from Washington Plan to take another 9 additional senate seats, another 50 congressional seats and the presidency. Make it a bigger route than the 2006 tsunami.

Develop and Implement Strategies to take back the media When Bush took office, the mainstream media received a message. “Cover us in a conservative friendly way, or lose access.” The Dems need to do the same, and reward friendly media. Fox shouldn’t get access to Dem leaders without hiring non-conservative anchors.

-Research, identify and revoke the bad laws the Right wing extremist congress passed. Assemble a congressional team to study all the legislation signed into law since Bush was inaugurated. Make a big list of the abuses of power. Make sure it is well publicized. Then reverse them.

-Research, identify and re-instate the good laws and regulations Bush and his right wing cronies revoked that protected we the people, workers, the environment, the constitution… Start with Habeus corpus and the Military Commissions ACt. Then move on to phone tapping and the other abuses of the Patriot Act.

-Reject Bush’s signing statements. make it clear they are illegal and unacceptable. Investigate how he has perverted and criminally abused legislation.

-Take Control of US Energy Needs Take a stand for energy independence. Fund research, to be owned by the US and licensed to US companies, not transnational parasites and corporate thieves, like we have with medical and pharmaceutical research, and invest what it takes to preserve our petroleum resources for what they should be used for– high tech organic compounds, plastics, etc. Let the rest of the world (except Brazil, which has already wised up) burn up their hydrocarbons as fuel and then come to us to license our renewal and alternative energy options, at a price that aggressively reverses the balance of trade.

-Start Balancing the Budget– by reinstating Taxes of the wealthy and investors do it retroactively.

-b>Drain the swamp; incompetents of all the incompetents Bush has installed in position of power, where they are dangerous to the safety of Americans.

-Drain the swamp; corruption investigations will identify hordes of criminals. Start things off by offering reduced sentences and clemency for early whistleblowers– in all branches of government. And clean up the justice department. Can the GOnzalez be impeached or removed?

-Get Serious about Protecting America enact all the recommendations of the 9/11 commissions and stop giving pork to states that are very low risk for terrorism.

-Get Serious about the roots of terrorism start outreach programs to counter the hate teachings of the tens of thousands of madrassas the Saudis and others fund. Provide education, food, healthcare to people who are being taught we are evil. Prove with our actions that we are worthy of love, not hate. And stop the offensive, insulting evangelistic efforts in places where they are so unwanted.

-Get Serious about peace Start the Department of Peace that Kucinich has called for. Fund it with one tenth what the military receives. Charge the department with finding ways to bring America together, as well as ways to prevent or end war.

-Reform the media Use legislation and the power of the majority to force the media to become more balanced, to stop trying to influence elections. Require that all qualified candidates get FREE air time for ads on appropriate media. That will take the biggest expense out of elections. Radio and TV stations get free licenses for the airwaves. Charge them by requiring free ads for candidates, which is what the majority of voters want.

-Reform elections. Get the money out of them. The majority of voters want this.

-Change tax laws to favor small businesses over large businesses. Small businesses employ locally. They support the local economy. They innovate. It takes a robust government infrastructure to enable aggressive investment and support of small business. Taxes should be re-structured so even megacorporations are given incentives to spin off small businesses that have relationships with the big corporations, but operate locally, as smaller businesses.

-End the Iraq Occupation bring in all the countries that will be touched by the USA’s exit. Set some rules– no stealing, no war, and let them get involved in dealing with our exit. Then leave.

Yeah, I’m afraid those pesky barnyard turkeys are a tad smarter than our illustrious president. Plenty of good birds are sitting on the table as someone’s meal on Thanksgiving. In the meantime, this turkey is still walking and talking nonsense.

I hate to admit it, but when he speaks I hear nothing but “blah, blah, blah, blah.” That’s because this dunce hasn’t had anything constructive to say in, oh, the past six years.

So, on this Thanksgiving, let’s all give thanks that George W. Bush cannot possibly be re-elected. Let’s also pray that he can’t do too much more damage than he already has in whatever time he has left.

Oh, yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Ah, yes, the definition of liberal. And look at what the opposite is — stingy, mean, bigoted or conservative. I think that’s appropriate, don’t you?
Yes, I’m a liberal and I’m proud of it. I’m also a fan of the guys in Congress who are unabashedly liberal, like Ted Kennedy, for example. You know, my philosophy is that this is America, man. And we’re supposed to be the land of the free, and not the land of the free just for those who happen to stand in the middle of the road and think in the status quo. We’re all different. And, contrary to some folks’ opinion, we’re not here to police one another in terms of our private lives. And, by the way, one of the basic cornerstones of American philosophy is that there is a clear separation between church and state. That line has become extremely, frighteningly blurred with Dubya in office.

Now, the last I heard, priests and bishops and cardinals (and all the rest of these guys in the funny hats) should be tending to the individual needs of their flock. You know, helping them one-on-one with problems of faith, etc. They weren’t put here to stump for political candidates (whether Democrat or Republican) or political causes (whether conservative or liberal). If they want to do that, or if they’ve since redefined their roles, then I say take the gloves off and eliminate the churchs’ no-tax status across all faiths.

And, while we’re at it, let’s talk about the logic of going to your parish priest for advice on how to improve your marriage: They can’t even get married. How the hell do they know what to do? Ah, but that’s another sore spot for another visit. Ta. And have a great night.