January 2009... End of an Error

This is the last day of the year 2008. A year when the effects from the missteps, failures and duplicities of the tumultuous eight years of the Bush administration came home to roost. Or, should we say, were flung at him.

As Bob Herbert laments today in "Add Up the Damage" (NYTimes).... "This is the man who gave us the war in Iraq and Guantánamo and torture and rendition; who turned the Clinton economy and the budget surplus into fool’s gold; who dithered while New Orleans drowned; who trampled our civil liberties at home and ruined our reputation abroad; who let Dick Cheney run hog wild and thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job."

The invasion of Iraq is a good example of the wrecking ball the White House mafia took to our country. Herbert reflects on the devastation.... "The Bush administration specialized in deceit. How else could you get the public (and a feckless Congress) to go along with an invasion of Iraq as an absolutely essential response to the Sept. 11 attacks, when Iraq had had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?

"Exploiting the public’s understandable fears, Mr. Bush made it sound as if Iraq was about to nuke us: 'We cannot wait,' he said, 'for the final proof — the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.'

"He then set the blaze that has continued to rage for nearly six years, consuming more than 4,000 American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.... The financial cost to the U.S. will eventually reach $3 trillion or more, according to the Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz."

So just how does The Decider view this sorry Iraq-war chapter in his catalog of horrors?

"A year into the war Mr. Bush was cracking jokes about it at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association. He displayed a series of photos that showed him searching the Oval Office, peering behind curtains and looking under the furniture. A mock caption had Mr. Bush saying: 'Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.' ”

Couldn't you just die laughing.

Now The Decider is trying to tidy up the record of his apocalyptic reign by rewriting history. But, we were given a more accurate image to remember him by in the form of a size 10. No, not the measurements of his ego-inflated all-hat-and-no-cattle Stetson, but the shoes of an irate reporter flung at his head during his recent legacy-burnishing trip to Iraq.

For a Bush legacy summation after eight years of pent-up frustrations, for a you-deserve-no-breaks-today job evaluation.... on the your-place-in-history scale of 1 to 10, this shoe-fly moment was a ten plus.

On January 22 Barack Obama will right the national course and restore the forward momentum our nation enjoyed before we were so rudely interrupted.

That most of all is why we celebrate the arrival of 2009, a Happy New Year!

Iraq Corruption By "Western Standards"

Oh, this is rich.... "Premier of Iraq Is Quietly Firing Fraud Monitors" (NYTlimes)

"BAGHDAD — The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here."

Western standards! Western standards! You mean like Wall Street robber barons who Ponzi-schemed trash loans, driving the world into a financial abyss? You mean like lobby-ridden D.C. with legislators on the take and worse.... like Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens convicted of 7 counts of fraud but still in office (for now). Those Western standards?

The Iraq crimes.... "One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials."

This sounds like business as usual, Western standards.

After all, we gave our Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion plus dollars to "rescue" our economy. It's estimated he has probably spent half of if, or about $350 billion. Why "estimated?" Because Paulson won't tell anyone how the money was allocated! Even Congress! Western standards.

"...Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who leads an independent oversight office in Washington, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and who is currently working in Iraq, said he knew of six of the dismissals. He said the inspectors general were vulnerable because once their offices were created, the United States provided little support and training for what was a startling concept for the bureaucracy, which was shaped by the secrecy and corruption of the Saddam Hussein era."

Look, why is anyone surprised that the Bush administration provided little support and training, they can't govern here. After legislating strict oversight for the $700+ billion bailout, that oversight was never made operational.

Secrecy?... you mean like the way Undisclosed Location Cheney and Executive Privilege Bush operate?

Really, what can we expect unless we set the example? Let's just quit throwing good money after bad in Iraq.... let's no longer "occupy" ourselves with their corruption of our billions and concentrate on cleaning up our own act.

No more U.S.-made Baghdad billionaires! Bring our troops home.

Bush's Final Insults

The hotly-contested presidential campaign is sucking all of the attention-oxygen from the public discourse.

And The Decider is taking full advantage of the electorates' distraction.... rushing to fill the vacuum with goodies for his corporate buddies and more power for the executive.

Ponder this.... in the entire history of the United States, all presidents combined have signed about 600 executive orders. Those are statements made at signing saying that the executive will not comply with.... or enforce.... certain provisions of laws passed by Congress with which they disagree.

I-decide-what's-law George has used the executive order signing statements to assert a right to bypass sections of laws.... are you ready for this.... a staggering 1,100 times. Double the amount of all of the executive orders of all the presidents who preceded him!

Just last Tuesday, Bush asserted "that he had the executive power to bypass several parts of two bills he was signing: a military authorization act and a measure giving inspectors general greater independence from White House control.' (NY Times)

The Decider challenged four sections in the authorization bill, one challenge would enable the U.S. to exercise control over Iraq oil resources. We're leaving when....

In the other bill, Bush challenged two sections that strengthen legal protections against political interference with the internal watchdog officials at each executive agency. Bush challenged the inspector general's right to counsels who report directly to them. Instead, such lawyers would be bound to follow the legal interpretations of the politically appointed counsel at each agency.... leaving the agencies the unfettered freedom to exercise their will, public good be damned.

While the White House defends The Decider's actions, the American Bar Association called executive orders "contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers."

The Bush administration is flexing their will in other ways while the presidential campaign in the center ring entertains and distracts.

For example, as Tom Kenworthy laments today in "Saving the Desert Southwest," (WaPo) .... "as Bush prepares to leave office, the administration is working quickly to hand over much of southern Utah to the oil and gas industry and off-road-vehicle enthusiasts."

In less than two months this summer, the federal Bureau of Land Management released six new proposals for managing 11 million acres of public land in Utah.... 80 percent of some of the Southwest's most spectacular treasures will be open to oil and gas development.

And this gift to Bush and Cheney's oil buddies is just the tip of The Decider's "Last-Minute Mischief." (NYTimes)

Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, is trying to revoke the rule that gives Congress and the interior secretary emergency powers to protect public lands when commercial development seems to pose immediate dangers.

Kempthorne decided on this move after members of the House Natural Resources Committee ordered him to withdraw about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims to give officials time to assess potential damage to the air and water.

Kempthorne not only refused to obey the committee’s order, but proposed to rescind the departmental rule requiring him to obey it. The public has been given 15 days to comment, after which Kempthorne will be free to jettison the rule.

And, it's not just the environment under attack. Labor protection laws are in the Bush administration's mischief-making cross hairs.

In "Last-Minute Mischief for Labor," the New York Times finds that "under the Bush administration, the Department of Labor has shirked its responsibility to upgrade workplace safety. In seven years, it has issued but one major rule change protecting workers against a chemical toxin — and that was forced on it by court order.

"Now, it’s taken a giant step beyond benign neglect. Political appointees at the agency have been discovered in a rush to duck public disclosure and jimmy into place a pro-industry rule making it more difficult to limit workers’ exposure to poisonous chemicals."

It’s pathetic to discover Bush's agencies investing their closing months on one more sop to industry. It signals that the regulatory mess facing the next president continues to grow, since the stealth games at Labor are likely being duplicated in other agencies.

The next president must not be another George Bush. Another corporations first, trickle-up ravaging of our country. Must not be another arrogant good ol' boy administration..... tilted to the interests of oil and run by lobbyists.... like McSame's campaign.

November 4. Vote. It matters!

Bush Spinning in Place....

The Bush administration, and their heir-abhorrent John McSame, are now saying that we are overcoming al Qaeda in Iraq.... of course they fail to mention that al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until we invaded and set the stage for them.

McCain is loudly trumpeting that our troops are at pre-surge levels. Well, actually we have 155,000 troops on the ground in Iraq... the pre-surge level was 135,000.

What to believe.

As Scott McClellan, former Bush White House press secretary, makes clear in his just-published memoir, the Bush White House operates in constant campaign mode, spewing propaganda steadily in order to manipulate public opinion.

So..... let's step back. Instead of listening to the tornadic spin from those who have everything to lose if Iraq and the fight against terrorism isn't a rosy picture, and be informed by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Donald M. Kerr, and his national intelligence analysis delivered in a speech Thursday evening.

As reported in "Intelligence Official Sees Little Progress Before Bush Exits" (WaPo), Kerr "predicted that the Bush administration would make little progress before leaving office on top national security priorities including an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, political reconciliation in Iraq and keeping Iran from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

"A regenerated al Qaeda will remain the leading terrorism threat... "

As the White House issues it lies and distortions, and McCain promises more of the same, Kerr soberly warns against making intelligence a partisan issue, "The Middle East threats and challenges I've laid out.... are nonpartisan in nature and will confront our nation regardless of who is in the Oval Office..." to receive intelligence briefings.

But, as The Decider made clear about his approach to governing as revealed in a statement as governor of Texas.... "I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican."

And, John McSame promises to slip into Bush's Decider boots and march off the cliff....

McClellan Purges WH Kool-Aid

For three years, until April of 2006, a power-trusting White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, drank the Karl Rove-brewed Kool-aid.

McClellan bellied up to the bar as front man to the White House press corps for the selling of the Bush administration's outrages..... the Iraq war, the evasion of responsibility for outing covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, and even the inept administration response to the hurricane Katrina disaster.

It was the perfect political storm.... the leveraging of McClellan's idealism to further the White House's deceptive political agenda.... "Trot out Scottie, he'll say it.... he even believes it. Ha, ha, ha."

Now, given the distance to decompress and reflect on those years, McClellan has purged himself all over the administration's master puppeteers.... Rove, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and even his formerly idealized president Bush in his forthcoming book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception."

In McClellan's memoir.... part confession, part apology....he describes a White House driven by unrelenting campaign-mode political propaganda, led by an incurious, self-deceiving, and finally off-the-track Bush.

Of course, because of the immediate, and predictable campaign to discredit the book by minions of the Bush administration, an under-siege "McClellan Defends Memoir." (WaPo)

Rove compared McClellan to (gasp) a "left-wing blogger," and Dan Bartlett, former counsel to the president said on the Today show... "He talks about wanting to change the tone in Washington, and yet uses inflammatory terms like 'propaganda machine,' and 'shading the truth.' "

In his defense, McClellan said it took him some time after leaving the White House to come to terms with his experience there. When the Iraq war started, "my beliefs were different" he said in a Today show interview. "I trusted the president's foreign policy team, and I believed the president when he talked about the great and gathering danger from Iraq. I believe the president believed it too. He had convinced himself.... I struggled to come to grips with how things went so badly off course."

As a Bush loyalist, McClellan wanted to believe.... but when he started stonewalling reporters because even he was confused as to the facts of the Plame case, and then lied to by Rove and Libby about their involvement.... he found himself unceremoniously dumped on the front lawn with vague promises from The Decider about sitting in rockin' chairs on his porch in Texas in the years to come while reflecting on the good ol' days.

But, a funny thing happened on the way to the rockin' chair.... McClellan found his moral compass.

And wrote a book about his miraged-wanderings in the ethical-desert of the Bush White House.

Bush's Golf Story....

Oh boohoo. The Decider's big sacrifice for the troops in Iraq.... he gave up golf. (Huffington)

But did he?

In an interview with Politico last week President Bush laid the heavy one on us.... "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf." He said he made the decision in August 2003 after the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Well.... he almost gave it up. He played a round on October 13 of that year. Maybe he forgot.

Or, maybe it's another nose-growing Bushism. You see, Boy George suffered a minor muscle tear in his right calf which had healed by August 2003, but he was still having problems and said he suspected he had a tear in September of that year.

It hurt him to run.... he gave that up.... his calf hurt, his knees ached. Gave up golf for the troops.... tell us another one.

If only The Decider had quit the presidency and taken up golf....

Campaign Portends Governance

Thought for the day.... heck, the entire campaign season! "Presidents tend to govern the way they campaigned." Great insight from Peter Beinart in "Obama at the Helm." (WaPo)

Beinart opines that Hillary Clinton goes after Barack Obama by asking of his experience "whether he's too green." If Obama is the nominee, John McSame will take up the same banner. But Obama can point to something more germane: "the way he's run his campaign."

Jimmy Carter ran as a "moralizing outsider in 1976" and governed as an outsider to the Washington establishment he distrusted. "Ronald Reagan's campaign looked harsh on paper, but warm and fuzzy on TV."

Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign was "brilliant and chaotic, with a penchant for near-death experiences. And the 2000 Bush campaign.... disciplined, hierarchical, loyal and ruthless."

OK.... Beinart makes the case.... a candidate's campaign presages how they will govern.

So we come to the current crop of presidential wanna-bes. McCain's campaign was a "top-heavy, slow-moving, money-hemorrhaging Hindenburg that eventually exploded, leaving the Arizona senator to resurrect his bankrupt candidacy through sheer force of will.

"Clinton's campaign has been marked by vicious infighting and organizational weakness, as manifested by her terrible performance in caucus states.

"Obama's, by contrast, has been an organizational wonder, the political equivalent of crossing a Lamborghini with a Hummer."

The key to Obama's successful campaign may be that it "married Web energy with professional control. It has used the Web masterfully" but unlike John Dean's 2004 manic approach, "sees it as a tool, not a philosophy of life."

And, should Obama become our next president, it will be his amazing capacity to communicate and inspire that will mobilize the energy needed to turn the country from the path of a chaotic and ruthless past, to "fuse exuberance with discipline".... toward a future with the "audacity of hope" and accomplishment.

Iraq War... Check the Expiration Date!

As public opinion increasingly sours on the war in Iraq, the war itself is fast approaching it's expiration date.... it will become illegal on January 1, 2009. (WaPo)

There are two conditions which must be met to continue the war..... defense of the national security, and enforcement of relevant UN Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

The first condition was met when Saddam's "security threat" government was overthrown in 2003.

And, the most recent UN resolution regarding Iraq expires on December 31, and "the administration has announced that it will not seek one for 2009. Instead, it is now negotiating a bilateral agreement with the Iraqi government to replace the UN mandate."

But, the Bush administration isn't going to submit this new agreement to Congress, they are going to try to substitute the Iraqi government's consent for the Constitutionally-required consent of the U.S. Congress.

The many maneuvers the White House is employing to bypass Congress is nothing short of "lawless unilateralism".... and just the latest arrogant abuse by The Decider of what he calls "just a piece of paper".... our Constitution.

Is GOP Picking Dem Candidate?

Where is the "mean"-stream media's reporting on the Canadian NAFTA memo leak that undoubtedly hurt Barack Obama in the March 4 primaries, especially in job-devastated Ohio.

We turn to Michal Blanchfield of The New Republic to give us the lowdown about the NAFTA discussion in Chicago between Obama's economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee who was asked for the meeting by Canadian diplomat, Ian Brodie.

It was Brodie who leaked the diplomatic cable reporting on the meeting, alleging that Obama's public tough position on renegotiating the NAFTA treaty was a wink-wink. This was later denied and retracted by the Canadian government.... but not before the damage was done to Obama.

Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's denial said that neither he nor anyone in his office had anything to do with the leak, and called it regrettable and "blatantly unfair" to Obama's campaign and promised a full internal investigation. Yeah. Like that will happen.

Why the cynicism? Harper's domestic foes think "Harper was trying to do a favor for the GOP by tossing a piece of political dynamite in front of Obama's train as it was barreling down on Ohio..... leaks from the Harper government are rare. It is well known that Harper's office keeps cabinet ministers--not to mention diplomats abroad--on a tight leash."

Have you noticed that Brat Bush is doing a lot of dancing these days. He's obviously happy. He loves frat-boy pranks, especially against the Democrats. Here's why.

Besides NAFTA-gate, conservative shill Rush Limbaugh was urging his ditto-heads to vote for Hillary Clinton last Tuesday to throw a monkey wrench into Obama's campaign. GOP crossovers to Clinton were uncharacteristically high in the Texas primaries, and Obama's very narrow loss there gave Clinton bragging rights.

It's to the GOP's benefit to keep the Democratic nominating fight going, so.....Florida's GOP Governor Crist is promoting another Democratic primary there in order to seat the rule-breaking Florida delegation at the Democratic convention.... all these moves help Clinton and keep the Democrats from focusing their fire on GOP nominee John McCain.

After all, Billary is much more beatable in the general election as she would galvanize turnout for the GOP. And, McSame is viewed by many of the conservative faithful with distrust, so he needs all of the help he can get. A poll yesterday showed Obama would beat him by 12 points, but Clinton only 6 points.

Brat Bush will throw everything including the White House sink at Obama to put Billary on the ballot. His legacy depends on McSame winning the general election to carry on, and justify, his monstrous policies.

So the question remains, are the Democrats going to allow Republican dirty tricks to define and name their candidate.... Billary. If so, they're more likely to be subjected to Brat Bush's dancing at McSame's inaugural ball.

Cartoon of the Week....

A Bush-Eye View...

With his abysmal legacy staring him in the face, what's a failed president to do but disagree with all truth-telling.... "Conflicting Assessment of War in Afghanistan." (WaPo)

In a recent report to The Decider on Afghanistan, Gen. James L. Jones first line cut to the chase: "Make no mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan."

Yet, in a speech Friday to the hawkish Conservative Political Action Conference, Bush said of Afghanistan: "The Taliban, al-Qaeda and their allies are on the run...."

....and our trickle-down economy is healthy, the deficit will disappear and global warming is a liberal myth.

Bush Signs Away Rule of Law

Consider this.... we now live under a new form of government.... The Decider's dictatorship.

George W. Bush is the one who decides which laws to follow and which to ignore.

If you don't believe this, just read "Bush not shy in asserting right to defy law." (DallasMorningNews)

"President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution."

To do this, Bush just appends to new legislation sent to him from Congress for his signature so-called "signing statements" indicating which part of the law he believes he is under no obligation to enforce.

"Among the laws Mr. Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, whistle-blower protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally financed research."

Bush's latest exercise of his self-anointed dictatorial "Decider" powers is spelled out in "Congress: Left Behind." (DallasMorningNews)

When The Decider signed the Defense Reauthorization Bill into law late last month, he decided he is under no obligation to enforce the following parts of the law:

~"A provision forbidding the use of U.S. funds to establish a permanent military base in Iraq. Mr. Bush believes Congress has no business telling him how to spend taxpayer dollars there.

~"A provision requiring the intelligence services to respond within 45 days to document requests from either House or the Senate Armed Services committee.... The president apparently doesn't want that oversight.

~"Provisions creating an independent, non-partisan commission to investigate waste, fraud and abuse allegedly perpetrated by private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan and protecting whistle-blowers working for government contractors."

Thus The Decider allows corporations to continue their unfettered, no-bid rampage while not protecting those who would try to expose them. Disgusting.

The Dallas Morning News editors ask: "What's the point of having a Congress if the president believes he can pick and choose which of its laws apply to him?"

Indeed. For over seven years our reckless president has taken unprecedented executive powers unto himself.... and in doing so is thumbing his nose at the rule of law.

Why has Bush been allowed to pursue his arrogant disregard for the balance of powers between the executive, judiciary and legislative that insures a government by and for the people?

That's the question the GOP and Congress will have to answer in November.

Here "Lies" Bush's Nation

A grateful nation breathes a sigh of relief.... last night was the last time they'll have to endure The Decider's Misstatement of the Union.

The Washington Post unravels some of the untruths and half-truths in Bush's speech in "Fact Checking Key Assertions in the State of the Union." Here are a few examples.....

Bush asserted that "The Iraqis launched a surge of their own.... and today, this grass-roots surge includes more than 80,000 Iraqi citizens who are fighting the terrorists.

The "grass-roots" surge by citizens are actually Sunni neighborhood-watch groups that have been hired by the U.S. military for $300 a month. Officials aren't sure what will happen when these "citizens" are no longer paid.

The "coming together" of Sunnis, Shia and Kurds doesn't exist. In Baghdad, once heterogeneous, the Sunnis and Shia now live in separate enclaves while the Kurds have congregated in northern Iraq as an almost separate state.

The new de-Baathification law The Decider bragged on as one of the "encouraging signs" of reconciliation in many ways is more punishing to former Baath Party members than the much-criticized earlier law.

On the economy The Decider proclaimed that "Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase. Try explaining that to 116 million American taxpayers who would see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800... This budget will keep America on track for a surplus in 2012."

Of course, since the tax cuts targeted the wealthy, they would be the ones most impacted by letting the tax cuts expire. Actually, the median American household would pay less than half of Bush's "average" $1,800 in 2011, while the richest 1 percent would pay an extra $64,154.

In truth, the Congressional Budget Office this month projected that the budget deficit will grow worse. In projecting a surplus by 2012 with his budget, Bush isn't counting the long-term cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which his administration has repeatedly underestimated. In 2009 it has budgeted $70 billion, just one-third the cost this year.

What was most discouraging about Bush's performance, was his lack of new ideas or a call to action. The closest he came was his repeated assertion that the border cannot be secured against illegal crossers unless the U.S. increases channels for foreign workers to enter legally.... but he didn't make any new specific proposal for them to do so.

Aside from the medoicre content and hectoring-Congress tone, Bush's lackluster performance didn't even attempt to energize a dispirited nation. This stood in sharp contrast to the stirring speeches earlier in the day by Patrick, Caroline and Sen. Ted Kennedy with their endorsement of an inspiring Barack Obama for president.

The Decider's I'll-show-you-daddy plans lay in disarray at his feet. Shattered by his own misconceptions, arrogance and mismanagement. All he has left are lies.

Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt.....

A cartoon is worth a thousand words, and Tom Toles of the Washington Post said a mouthful about the Bush administration's selling of America upon The Decider's return from his trip to the Middle East where unbelievably he told Saudi entrepreneurs "It's important for the president to hear thoughts, hopes, dreams, aspirations, concerns from the folks that are out making a living."

He must mean the "folks" currently losing their homes, jobs and way of life under his watch.

The Decider's latest financial boondoggle is the $145 billion emergency stimulus package the form of "checks" to taxpayers and businesses.

Maudeen Dowd of the New York Times today laments over this selling of the American economy in "Red, White and Blue Tag Sale." She paints a clueless Bush last week doing his sword dances, Arabian stallion inspections and lounging in his fur-lined George of Arabia robe in the Saudi king's tent before he came home.... or, "what was left of home."

David Ignatius chimed in today with his opinion piece in the Washington Post, "Too Late To the Downturn". He points out that it's not that we didn't know about this looming financial crisis heralded by the housing subprime mortgage collapse.

As Ignatius points out, "What's infuriating is that the problems in the housing market were clear to everyday folks long before they registered with the geniuses at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department....."

Now Congress and the Bush White House are jostling over the size and shape of an emergency stimulus package to reduce the impact of the coming recession. But the economic hurricane has already done it's damage, and issuing checks on yet more borrowed money is nothing more than the "Katrina effect."

Heck of a job, Georgie!

More Bush "Voodoo Economics"

The tax cuts for corporations and the rich along with an unprecedented spending spree.... the "trickle down" economic policies of the Bush administration.... have brought the country to an economic cliff, teetering on financial collapse, our dollar in free-fall.

Does Bush consider a targeted increase in taxes, pulling back from overspending? No. "Bush Proposes $145 Billion Stimulus Plan" (WaPo). King George wants to give us cake.... up to $800 per qualified taxpayer.

Ramp up the printing presses, Bush needs more money!

Discouragingly, both parties on the Hill praised this short-sighted plan.... but Wall Street wasn't impressed. They know investors are fearful of a "recession amid a severe housing crunch, high energy prices and stagnant job growth."

Some Democrats assailed the plan for leaving out the very poor 50 million low-income workers who do not pay income taxes... while Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards clear-sightedly warned that such a plan is "making matters worse."

No one has mentioned where the whopping billions are coming from.... Bush and Congress don't want to tell us that they'll have to borrow again from other countries, putting us deeper in debt and further weakening the dollar while not addressing the root causes.... corporations that "trickle up" and runaway spending.

As usual of late, most politicos take a voter-pandering stance to the Flim-Flam Man's panicky plan, ignoring the big picture.

Don't expect fiscal responsibility from anyone in the current administration or Congress.... that would take political courage and what's best for the country.... that "check's in the mail."

Disasterous Bush Beat Goes On

With the presidential primaries taking all of the oxygen from the room, you may not have heard that:

The Decider again defied Congress, allowing Mexican 18-wheelers to begin traveling freely into the United States after previously being confined at a 25-mile border zone. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who authored the provision that shut down the NAFTA Mexican trucking program, wrote to the Secretary of Transportation saying that the administration's violation of the law is arrogant and wrong.

The Pakistani government announced that it will not allow any country to conduct military operations on its territory after the New York Times reported the U.S. government was considering far more aggressive operations in Pakistan. The lawless tribal belt on the Afgan border is a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. The Pakistani forces are engaging these militants, but an alliance with the U.S. in these operations would be deeply unpopular, and viewed by Pakistanis as doing the bidding of the United States... and these are our allies.

The unemployment rate soared and job growth came to a near-halt in December. Just 18,000 net jobs were created, and it takes about 125,000 a month just to keep up with population growth. "We are on the verge of a recession," said senior economist Robert A. Dye. This is just another economic jolt felt from the housing downturn and related crises in the financial markets. So much for The Decider's supply-side economics the NAFTA-ization of our job markets.

And, in an op-ed in the Washington Post today, George McGovern opines: "Why I Believe Bush Must Go..... Nixon Was Bad. These Guys are Worse." His opening salvo.... "As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president."

McGovern's reasons: "Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of the people around the world. these are truly 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' to use the constitutional standard."

He then talks about some of these "high crimes and misdemeanors," a sad recital of "killing, immorality and lawlessness."

Still, McGovern thinks impeachment is unlikely although he insists we must still urge Congress to act. All the more reason the primaries and general election are so important.... we must cleanse our government of these criminals and those who would try to follow in their shoes.

Support change. It matters.

Scotty Beams Up....

Not only are the rats deserting the Ship of State, but some are squealing once safely away.

The latest, and maybe loudest, squeal comes in the form of a pre-publication excerpt from a memoir by former White House press secretary, Scott McClellan.... "WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington," to be published next April....

"I stood at the White House briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

"There was one problem. It was not true.

"I had unknowingly passed along false information, and five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

McClellan says he was in that position because he trusted the president: "The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Restore the credibility of The Decider and the White House by suggesting to the press day after day that Rove and Libby had no involvement in the publication of the name of covert CIA operative Valarie Plame.

While McClellan did finally take this baby step toward full disclosure.... these events happened in the summer of 2003. He's coming forward only now, after the Plame investigation and Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice, and after Bush pardoned Libby. Where's Scotty been?

This story just broke, the shock waves are just hitting. It's impact while as yet unknown could very well affect the upcoming elections and end careers. Stay tuned....

Turkey Pardons Turkey

It's sad really, The Decider spares a turkey the usual sentence of the season, while allowing two U.S. Border Agents to remain wrongfully imprisoned.... even though an enraged public has been clamoring for their pardons.

At least the Mexican drug smuggler the agents were trying to apprehend, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, is finally under arrest, and now facing charges for smuggling drugs into our country numerous times.... even during the agents' trial using the immunity border pass issued to him by U.S. Attorney Sutton for his testimony against the agents.

So, until the agents' appeal is heard, and this travesty is overturned, remember these few things to be thankful for:

"Snowflake" Defense Secretary Rummy got the axe.

Political manipulator Rove flew The Decider's coop.

Attorney General Gonzo no longer gobble-gobbles for his White House dinner.

And, be especially thankful that starting next January we set into motion the means to rid ourselves of the "foul" Bush.

Wishing all a hopeful Thanksgiving.

Queen Hillary's Been Bzzzzzy

In last week's Democratic presidential debate, when her opponents questioned Hillary Clinton's record, she used her most-punishing imperial disdain to accuse them of "throwing mud."

Well, she should know.

The Saturday Robert Novak column carried this tidbit, "Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed."

Talk about mud-slinging.... from ambush with unidentified sources, even an unidentified "scandal."

Of course, Novak.... who readily lent his column to the GOP outing of CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame whose husband tried to shine light on the Bush administration's murky slog toward the invasion of Iraq.... has shed any pretence of being a journalist, and is willing to be used as a plant, no matter the cost.

So we can dismiss Novak's implied "scandal," but should take seriously the skulduggery coming from the Clinton hive.

In the same underhanded, mud-slinging vein, "Truth Hunter" was push-polled Sunday.

That is the polling technique whereby among the political polling questions being asked are ones designed to throw a negative light on a candidate. In this instance after being asked a lot of leading questions about the adverse impact of trade agreements and corporate favoritism on our economy, there came this ringer, "Did you know that Barack Obama voted for a trade agreement this year...."

I can think of only one campaign that would feel a need to conduct a negative push-poll against Obama.... Queen Hillary and her busy bee operatives.

Well, Queen Hillary, here's the latest buzz. While you may be hurting Obama, you're hurting yourself more. You're reminding us of the eight nation-rending "scandalous" Clinton years, which were followed up by seven more destructive and divisive years presided over by "the ends justify the means" Bush administration.

Really, we've had enough. Enough slick campaigns with an army of handlers, planted questions and dirty tricks. Enough special-interests bought-and-sold, business-as-usual candidates.

In Iowa next January 3, Queen Hillary may feel the caucus-goers' sting.

Deadly Middle East Meddling

Here we go again!

Regime change to solve a problem.... like the U.S.-supported shah of Iran. And, we all know how that turned out. Iran now has a radical Islamic controlling party and the United States is the enemy.

Learning nothing from history, The Decider tried regime change in oil-rich Iraq. So far what that has gotten us are countless U.S. and Iraqi casualties, a virtual tsunami of national debt, and an unstable warring nation bordering on, and largely politically controlled by, neighboring U.S.-unfriendly Iran. With no good resolution in sight.

The United States had one "friend" in this Middle East cluster, military-coup president Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. He "supported" the Iraq invasion while dealing with very unstable Islamic elements in his own country.... obviously not very successfully as al Qaeda and The Taliban relocated and revitalized their command and control operations to Pakistan's mountainous northwestern region, even infiltrating and overrunning some cities.

So..... a meddling Bush twisted Musharraf's arm to allow exiled former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan in order to forge a power-sharing government. A government pleasing to the United States. This set the stage....

When those negotiations not surprisingly broke down, rather than relinquish his dual role as president and head of the military, Musharraf declared a national emergency.

You see, the "term of Pakistan's current government expires on Thursday, and it also would have been the final day of Musharraf's current stint in office had he not extended it by declaring emergency rule." WaPo

So now, this nuclear-armed nation is coming apart at the seams, and rival leaders are under detention or have been "carted off by the police." NYTimes

Opposition politician Imran Khan, a popular former cricket player, appeared at a university anti-Musharraf protest Wednesday. You probably saw the media accounts.... signs that read "No to Emergency" and "Go Musharraf, Go." Not the "Go" rallying cry of football games, but the "Go" of leave office now.

What you may not have seen were the students at the protest affiliated with the radical Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami who were chanting slogans against President Bush and the United States. Kahn was seized by students belonging to Islami Jamiat-e-Talba, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. They detained him until he was arrested by police.... obviously the radical Islamics are emboldened by recent events.

So, here is the "shah of Iran" showdown once again.... and Musharraf, by aligning himself with the United States, is the enemy of the radical Islamists, but has also alienated the Pakistani moderates with his suspension of the constitution and national-emergency strong-arm tactics....

But this Pakistan showdown is deadly different from Iran's uprising..... for whoever controls Pakistan controls a nuclear-armed nation.