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!

The Crawford Crawl

Here's a little ditty to set your foot to tappin', and your spirits soaring. Listen here to.... "Crawl Back to Crawford" (YouTube) by Matt Farmer, performed by the Blue State Cowboys:

CRAWL BACK TO CRAWFORD

VERSE
Well, for eight long years
We've been payin' your rent
But now your lease done run
And all our money's been spent
So pack up your bags and take a last look around
At how you drove a great nation straight into the ground

CHORUS
And don't let the door
Hit you in the ass on the way out
Don't bother with the goodbyes
Just make sure that you stay out
There ain't no need to call
No need to write
We don't even need you to turn out the light
Just crawl back to Crawford, brother
Promise that you'll leave us alone

VERSE
Every step of the way, your story's been the same
Just cruisin' through the world
On your daddy's name
You had the oilmen friends
You had the Skull and Bones
But it never would have happened if your name was Jones

BRIDGE
Slam dunk, privatize, deregulate
Tax cuts, trickle down
The politics of hate
Flag pin, waterboard
Intelligent design
You were handed your throne by just five of the nine.

Thanks, Matt and the Blue State Cowboys, we needed that!

Matt and the Cowboys are from Chicago and, as Matt said, they wanted to "offer our musical tribute to W's 'legacy.' "

Many of us will admit to suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome... and while this musical gem offers some respite, we'll only find lasting relief when The Decider crawls back to Crawford!

After eight long years.... just 41 more agonizing Bush-days to get through.

Lame Duck Dines on Quail

The world economy is in meltdown mode. People are losing jobs, homes, life savings, pensions and more. The backbone of the U.S. economy, the automobile manufacturer's Big 3, are tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, bankruptcies whose shock waves would ripple out to millions of households.

So, last night visiting heads of state of 20 countries met at the White House for a dinner held on the eve of a financial summit prompted by global economic distress. There was a "Full Plate at White House for G20: Economic Talk and Quail." (WaPo)

And quail? Is this a meeting of AIG bailout-billionaires?

No, it's a meeting of twenty world leaders, representing 90% of the world economy, meeting to discuss "global economic distress," who at their "working dinner" are dining on, among other delicacies: "... fruitwood-smoked quail, thyme-roasted rack of lamb and baked Vermont brie with walnut crostini, along with three wines."

The theme of the meeting is "Let Them Eat Cake."

These heads of state who allowed or fostered the deregulated "globalization" of the world economy have no shame. Especially the host, The Decider, who will happily dine on lame-duck until he dumps his eight years of garbage on Barack Obama on January 20.

Broder's McCain

Today David Broder wrote a thoughtful op-ed entitled "What We've Learned About McCain." (WaPo)

He reviewed what we already know about John McCain.... his military service and Senate history.... and then he zeroed in on his current performance as wanna-be president.

Broder opines, "We suspected, and soon had confirmed, that he had limited interest in, and capacity for, the organization and management of large enterprises. His first effort at building a structure for the 2008 presidential race collapsed in near-bankruptcy, costing him the service of many longtime aides. From beginning to end, the campaign that followed has been plagued by internal feuds and McCain's inability to resolve them.

"The shortcoming was intellectual as well as bureaucratic. Like Jimmy Carter, the only Naval Academy graduate to reach the Oval Office, McCain had an engineer's approach to policymaking. He had no large principles that he could apply to specific problems; each fresh question set off a search for a 'practical' solution. He instinctively looked back to Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive era, with its high-mindedness and disdain for the politics of doling out favors to interest groups. But those instincts coexisted uneasily with his adherence to traditional, Reagan-era conservatism -- a muscular foreign policy, a penchant for tax-cutting and a fondness for business."

Considering Broder's long friendship and support of both George W. Bush and his political guru Karl Rove, this is quite a startling analysis. In fact, it reads like The Decider's approach to governing.... McCain has "limited interest in, and capacity for, the organization and management of large enterprises".... McCain's "shortcoming was intellectual as well as bureaucratic." Wow!

And, he truthfully notes, that while McCain's instincts are high-minded, his actions support Reagan-era conservatism including "a fondness for business."

While giving McCain credit for being engaging and a survivor, Broder still worries that with a McCain presidency, "the country will have to hope this campaign has honed his leadership skills."

The country doesn't have to "hope"..... with Barack Obama in the White House we'll have a president with demonstrated intellectual acuity, and the management and leadership skills necessary for this critical time in the country's history.

Vote. It really matters!

McBush's Fundamentals Weren't Strong

Listening to the debate going on in the House right now on the $700+ bailout bill, the refrain (excuse) repeated over and over is.... it would be a better bill if only we had more time.

It's true, time has run out on dithering. Credit, the grease that keeps the economy moving, has dried up.

But, no one is acknowledging the elephant in the room.... there would have been more time to keep our economy off of the shoals if The Decider and John McCain hadn't kept assuring the country that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Even though the country was drowning in debt, the middle-class was losing jobs, wages were declining, and housing bankruptcies reached historic proportions.

Just hours before Treasury Secretary Paulson crashed the corporate profiteering party with his emergency proposal, McSame was still mindlessly parroting the administration's talking point.... the "fundamentals of our economy are strong."

The reason this is a lousy bill is because the country has lousy, manipulating leadership who wouldn't acknowledge that their "trickle down" Reaganomics didn't work for anyone but bloated, and now bailed-out, corporations and what trickles down is pain to the middle class.

Never again.

November 4.

Bush's "Hoovering" Legacy

One thing that can rouse The Decider to action.... his legacy.

He was trying for Compassionate Conservative. But, history may tag George as the Latter-Day Hoover.

The fate of our economy, and George's legacy, rests on the politically shifting shoulders of lawmakers and the fleet footwork of George's financial cavalry who arrived only after investment banks started to topple from their own excesses, taking credit pipelines down with them.

After a failure to launch the original $700 bailout plan in the House, "Lawmakers Revise Rescue Plan," (WaPo) as the Senate aims for its first vote on a plan tonight.

But, passage isn't certain, especially in the House, as the GOP have successfully inserted corporate welfar.... uhhh.... tax credits into the proposed legislation, without a corresponding tax increase or a way to recover the lost income.

Isn't this how we got here?

It may now be the "Blue Dog" bloc of 47 fiscally conservative House Democrats who oppose the new plan. They may dig in against extending tax credits unless there are other spending cuts or a way to pay for them.

There is one thing everyone seems to agree on.... there is a tremendous financial crisis that must be dealt with.... but, the devil is in the details.

The Decider should be grateful that Bush 41 and Babs didn't stick him with dad's middle name.... Herbert. But, George Herbert Hoover Bush does have a certain authentic ring, doesn't it.

The Decider is Denied

It turns out The Decider can't after all.... decide, that is.

The reason is glaringly clear, to everyone except those so blindly partisan they still think "trickle down" Reaganomics works.

In the face of a tanking dollar; monstrous and growing debt; historic loss of jobs; increase in poverty; trade deficits to the moon; obscene increases in entitlements and bureaucracy; corporate deregulation and tax benefits; and binge spending by a 6-year-GOP-majority Congress in the grip of corrupting lobbyists .... two men who both finished near the bottom of their class, The Decider and his sidekick McGoo McCain kept parroting their talking point. "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

And, they kept saying it as bankruptcies and home foreclosures grew into the tsunami that finally engulfed Wall Street and threatened to drown the entire U.S. economy as credit dried up and large investment firms, banks and credit-reliant companies rolled over and sank.

Then, like the spoiled brat he is, Bush stamped his foot and demanded to be bailed out of his misjudgements.

He presented a 2-1/2 page bill to Congress, for 700 billion dollars. To be administered at the sole discretion, without oversight or accountability, by his appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson.... a former CEO of investment firm Goldman Sachs who finally understood the financial danger when it hit his street. Wall Street.

What followed was a balky negotiating process brought to a halt by McCain who thought he saw a chance for taking rescue credit.... rushing to D.C. to interject presidential politics, and the process ran into a wall.

No one in Congress wanted their fingerprints on this legislation to bail out the greedy raiders and failed policies. But the problem was presented as a choice between financial Armageddon and the possibility of a lifeline back from the edge of the abyss. After long negotiation, arm-twisting and compromise, legislation was finally presented to the House.... and failed.

There is a lot of finger pointing from all sides on why it failed... but the buck stops with The Decider. The Vote Underscores Bush's Loss of Influence. (WaPo)

"The plan had gone down to a stinging defeat in the House, in large part the result of opposition from more than 100 members of Bush's Republican Party.

"The vote marked the biggest legislative defeat of Bush's tenure and underscored the vanishing influence of a president who could once bend a pliant Congress to his will on wars, taxes, surveillance and a host of other high-profile initiatives.

"The defeat also brought into focus some of the key characteristics of Bush's troubled second term, including his weakened hold on his party, his tendency to delegate major responsibilities to aides and his continued reliance on alarmist rhetoric in an effort to get his way. Bush left much of the sales job for the rescue plan to Treasury Secretary Paulson., and his last-minute warnings that 'our entire economy is in danger' appeared to have little impact on the debate."

This entire mess is nothing short of a massive failure of Reaganomics. By voting for this gigantic economic-socialization bailout package, GOP conservatives would be admitting this.

And, many Democrats feel the very perpetrators of the crisis, the greedy Wall Street financiers and Bush administration enablers, would benefit more than the victimized taxpayers and resist the bailout.

So we're in the financial doldrums, drifting on the currents of panic. The ship of state is in uncharted territory without a captain.... just The Decider, thrown into the hold by his mutinous crew.

McGoo and his Fatuous First Mate are on deck, campaigning to take the helm to continue The Decider's destructive course....

November 4!

Bush Gets No Respect

As George W. Bush's ratings drop, and the Iraq war becomes increasingly unpopular for the majority of Americans, he did what he does best.... "give another chest-thumping victory speech."

As Dana Milbank points out in, "Commander in Speech," (WaPo) Bush rolled out his latest version of "Mission Accomplished" before a White House-assembled audience of a few hundred officers from the National Defense University at Ft. McNair.... to almost thundering silence.

"Bush got to his payoff line -- 'the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that we move forward with additional force reductions, and I agree' -- but only one guy near the back of the room clapped. He stopped quickly when he realized nobody was joining him."

Bush's nodding acquaintance with the truth has caught up with him. The officers assembled knew that seven years after 9/11, and over five years after the invasion of the wrong country, a shift of some troops from Iraq to the real al-Qaeda hotbed in Afghanistan next February is disastrously overdue.

They knew as Bush presented the move as a product of the surge's success saying, "As al-Qaeda faces increased pressure in Iraq, the terrorists are stepping up their efforts on the front where this struggle first began," that in reality, the growing violence in Afghanistan came about largely because the United States was distracted in Iraq.

The stony audience knew that when their Commander in Speech was thanking the Coalition of the Willing for sending more than 140,000 troops to Iraq that there were, as Milbank notes, "only 7,330 foreign troops helping U.S. forces in Iraq; the number of troops apparently dropped so low this week that, for the first time, the State Department omitted the tally entirely in its weekly Iraq status report."

As Milbank points out, "There was a time, not long ago, when such a major presidential speech would draw 15 television cameras; yesterday there appeared to be only four, including Japan's NHK.

"The hosts set aside 24 seats for reporters, but there appeared to be only three reporters in the press section. Only two members of Congress -- both backbench House Republicans -- showed up for the talk.

"And Marine Lt. Gen. Frances Wilson, the university president, was comically brief in her introduction. She opened by saying she was 'honored to welcome our commander in chief,' then immediately closed by adding 'without any further ado, the president of the United States.'

" 'Thank you, General, for your kind and short introduction,' Bush replied."

The Decider has become the Rodney Dangerfield of presidents.... he gets no respect.

Deservedly so.

As Bush exits stage left in a few months, we can only hope that John McSame doesn't enter stage right to reinforce and continue Bush's failed policies. After all it was Barack Obama who years ago called for a shift in focus to Afghanistan and the terrorist strongholds in Pakistan.

November.

McCain: Who ARE You?

Frank Rich in his Sunday op-ed in the New York Times, "The Candidate We Still Don't Know," takes a sober look at the myth.... GOP candidate John McCain.

The fairy tale.... once upon a time McCain "strenuously opposed the execution of the Iraq war; he slammed the president's response to Katrina; he fought the 'agents of intolerance' of the religious right; he crusaded against the G.O.P. House leader Tom Delay, the criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and their coterie of influence-peddlers."

Not!

As Rich points out, thanks to "both the excessively genteel Obama campaign and a too-compliant press," most Americans don't know McCain, they just hear Karl Rove's resuscitated "hackneyed script" casting McCain as a maverick and renegade, raising McCain Lazarus-like from the campaign death-throes of association with the wreckage.... of country and party.... wrought by The Decider.

So, U.S. voters don't know that on the campaign trail McCain is frequently confused about policy, countries and forgets things he said only hours or days before. McCain's Straight Talk Express has detoured into the "no access" lane as the press is no longer allowed unfettered access to the increasingly muddled candidate.

It's time to separate the candidate from the myth, and discover the true McCain before we find ourselves being governed by Puff the Magic Dragon.

A Nation Led Astray....

Eugene Robinson names one of the twisted paths the Bush administration trod in his op-ed "A Torture Paper Trail." (WaPo)

Robinson decries The Decider's eight years of moral blindness, finding it hard to believe "that George W. Bush, to his eternal shame and our nation's great discredit, made torture a matter of hair-splitting, legalistic debate at the highest levels of the U.S. government. But that's precisely what he did.

"Waterboarding, a technique of simulated drowning, is considered torture virtually everywhere on Earth except in the Bush administration's archive of self-exculpatory memos, directives and opinions."

These directives are typical of this administration's smokescreen maneuvers to hide the awful truth of their monstrous policies and nation-rending failures. Like, a strangling national debt that doesn't even include the almost trillion dollar cost of the invasion of Iraq. Or, reported growth-crippling inflation that doesn't even include energy and food costs.

The Bush government needs money?.... print some.

After eight years of this fiscal recklessness, Bush's U.S. dollar is the Monopoly currency of world markets.

The Decider mouthed "family values" and rattled terrorism bones, hiding behind religious zealots as his bully boys picked our pockets, enriching themselves and their corporate buddies, leaving taxpayers to absorb their financial mess.

As we dig ourselves out of the morass of the Bush legacy, we need to also rescue our sewer-soaked standards of integrity. Justifying torture is just the tip of the Bush administration's moral-failings iceberg, but it's the one all the world can measure us by.

Robinson calls for accountability, asking the next president to expose the Bush administration's torture policy.... "Only when we learn the full story of what happened will we be able to confidently promise, to ourselves and to a world that looks to this country for moral leadership: Never again."

Iraq: Yankees, Go Home!

The GOP is desperate to put a happy face on the sad reality of the Iraq occupation.

George Bush trumpets that things are getting better, we're planting Democracy there.

John McCain proclaims we're winning and he would keep our troops there maybe a 100 years, just like in Korea.... bringing them home isn't that important.

So how to explain "Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U. S.... Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia." (WaPo)

"The Bush administration's Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday, when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence and anti-American shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a new militia offensive against U.S. forces."

Maliki said negotiations over U.S. proposals for bilateral political and military agreements had reached "a dead end,".... and that he was "astonished by those who are talking about how close the agreement is to being signed."

Meanwhile.... al-Sadr "called for a new armed wing of his Mahdi Army militia to fight U.S. troops." It would operate in total secrecy and attack only American forces.

The actions of Iraq's two most powerful leaders reflect the attitude of Iraqis "across the political spectrum" who have grown intolerant of the U.S. presence.

So once again U.S. citizens are being subjected to a stepped-up propaganda blitz in the face of the November elections. The Decider lied us into the war.... and now he, and John McSame who supports administration policy.... are lying to keep us there.

Fool us once, shame on them.... fool us twice, shame on us!

Hillary and OPEC... Energy Vampires

What do Hillary Clinton and oil sheiks have in common?

Energy.

Hillary is sucking the energy out of the Democratic nominating contest.

And, energy prices are sucking our economy dry.

Hillary, the monster energy-rabbit.... is evidently determined to beat her "popular vote" drum into Denver, drowning out Barack Obama's voice as John McCain's marches to the White House.

Jonathan Alter explains this in "Popular Vote Poison... How Hillary's latest math hurts the party." (Newsweek) "Clinton has continued with one claim that could have a pernicious effect on the Democats' chances in November. While she knows that the nomination is determined by delegates, Hillary insists on saying at every opportunity that she is winning the popular vote."

Alter says "popular-vote pandering is poison for Democrats..." after the experience of 2000, "this argument is sure to make it harder to unite and put bitter feelings aside.

"Oh, and it's not true."

Regardless of the destructive effect of her popular-vote drumbeat, the "shorthand many Clinton supporters are already taking into the summer is that she won the popular vote but had the nomination 'taken away' (as Joy Behar said on 'The View') by a man."

Voters wilting under Hillary's constant and distorting thrumming are also being thrashed at the gas pump as "Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts." (WaPo) Everyone blames someone else.... oil executives blame financial speculators, speculators blame supply and demand, Congress looks to OPEC but they blame everyone including wasteful U.S. consumers.

Really? Experts don't have a clue?

Could it be because oilmen Cheney and Bush DIDN'T PUT IN PLACE AN ENERGY POLICY... except to give their oil buddies tax breaks without insisting on the development of production capacity.

"Whatever the causes, one of the most dizzying runs in the history of oil prices picked up pace yesterday - again - as crude oil prices jumped to settle at more than $133 a barrel, up $4.19 in one day...."

Whatever the causes? How about when The Decider invaded Iraq the price for a barrel of oil was $25. And, the Bush administration policy of giving manufacturers tax incentives to ship manufacturing abroad.... leading to China gorging on our economy, fueling China's growing appetite for oil.

China is now binging on oil as the result of it's "need for extra fuel to run generators to compensate for disruptions in coal deliveries and hydropower resulting from the recent earthquake."

Energy.... it's in short supply.

Sit down Hillary.

And, no more useless begging trips to Saudi Arabia for The Decider. No more closed-door confabs with energy tycoons for Cheney. No more finger-pointing by profit-bloated OPEC.

Patience is also running on empty.

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....

Hillary's "Voodoo" Math

We've watched The Decider shred the Constitution.... "just a piece of paper".... and write executive orders for any parts of legislation he didn't want to follow.

Through a series of Attorney General enablers, the Bush administration has thumbed its nose at laws, and the enforcement of laws.... lying, destroying evidence, perverting justice.... an ends-justify-the-means mentality.

Now, Hillary Clinton is trying to foist the same convoluted moves on the Democratic electorate as Newsweek points out in "What's the Magic Metric?"

"Talk about playing the numbers. The morning after her Pennsylvania primary win, Hillary Clinton's aides staked out the aisle of the press plane and proclaimed that with Pennsylvania's big victory, Clinton had surged ahead of Barack Obama in the popular vote total..." if they count the Michigan and Florida votes even though the Democratic party stripped them of their delegates for violation of party rules, and if the caucus states aren't counted.

The nominating contest winner according to the agreed-upon rules is the one with the winning number of delegates, the popular vote isn't in play although this is now Clinton's metric.

Since Clinton can't overtake Barack Obama's insurmountable lead in elected delegates.... which are the measure of the winner.... she's trying to move the goal posts by disregarding the rules and with voodoo math declaring she's ahead in the popular vote.

Clinton is using this ignore-the-rules tactic in an effort to convince the superdelegates to go against the delegate outcome of the primaries and caucuses and vote for her. Anything goes as long as she wins. And, the first thing to go is playing by the rules.

Hillary's rude elbowing aside of the established Democratic party nominating process is just more my-way-or-the-highway manipulative Bush arrogance in a pants suit.

Is this what we need in the White House?

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.

Romancing Iraq's Casualty Numbers

A suicide car bomber "penetrated tight security to strike an Iraqi military base on Sunday in the deadliest of a series of attacks that killed at least 42 people across Iraq." (WaPo)

And.... mortars, and airstrikes and gunmen opening fire on passengers waiting for buses.... "The attacks underscored the fragility of Iraq's security, despite a decline in violence over the past year. They also came as the U.S. military death toll in Iraq nears 4,000."

At least we're told there has been a decline in the violence, due to a large extent to a cease-fire called by the leader of the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But this is why we might wonder at the truth of the claim of a decline in violence, and the cease-fire...... some of "the violence was reported by police officials who declined to be identified because they weren't supposed to release the information."

That's right, the Bush administration has strict guidelines about what is reported as war casualties.... the small print of administrative obfuscation.

And, oh yes, the rocket and mortar attack into the U.S. "Green Zone" in Baghdad.... appeared to be fired "from areas of eastern Baghdad" where the Mahdi Army operates.

Bush's sorry war has no strategy for winning.... just tactics to try to staunch the violence.... with the Bush administration filtering the news through their own blood-rose colored glasses.

With The Decider determined to justify his monumental Iraq blunder by "winning," he'll keep our military and treasury committed to this deadly, stalemated tug-of-war until he leaves office.

Until then expect only "winning" news about Bush's proclaimed "romantic" war.

Media Steps on Obama

What happened to our country?.... the media happened to our country. Today Sen. Barack Obama was giving his seminal policy speech on the Iraq war on the 5th anniversary of the conflict when....

All three major news networks cut away to bring Sen. Hillary Clinton's circus-circus rally in Michigan in her continuing effort to steal the nomination by pooh-poohing the DNC rules with shallow, divisive Rovian-preachments.

It underlines the fact that the Billary campaign will do, and say, anything to win.... and major media will aid and abet.

Before Obama and his listening audience were so rudely interrupted, he said in part that as commander in chief he would make a clear break with the Iraq policies of the Bush administration.

Our present commander in chief proclaimed in his speech today that going to war in Iraq was the right thing to do, and Sen. John McCain makes it clear he marches in lockstep with The Decider's policies. Even though there is widespread agreement that going to war in Iraq has emboldened terrorists and made our country less safe.

McSame's "policy" for Iraq still echoes.... keeping our troops for 100 years in Iraq is fine with him.

Obama did give the new commander in the field, Gen. Petraeus, credit for improved tactics, but pointed out there still is no overarching strategy for winning. Even Petraeus points out, the necessary political reconciliation needed to end the war isn't happening.

Obama describes the unending-loop of justification for keeping troops in Iraq.... first we couldn't leave because violence was up, and now we can't leave because violence is down.

Today Obama said he would set a new Iraq goal on day one of his presidency.... end the war.

Unfortunately MSNBC, CNN and FOX would not let us hear how Obama proposes to do that.

Bush: A Laugh a Minute

This week was a beaut....

Tuesday, Admiral William J. Fallon, commander of American forces in the Middle East whose outspoken public statements on the wisdom of diplomacy in dealing with Iran put him at odds with the Bush administration, announced his early retirement.... the White House mood being "Here's your hat and coat, what's the hurry?"

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), house majority leader, called Fallon's departure "yet another example that independence and the frank, open airing of experts' views are not welcome in this administration." (NYTimes)

The Decider is in no mood to listen to those who would counsel diplomacy, after all, war is beautiful. On Thursday Bush told U. S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan by videoconference... "I must say, I'm a little envious.... I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you... in some ways romantic, you know, confronting danger." (Slate)

Spoken by someone who never put himself in danger, except to play "hot planes" with his guard unit... when he showed up.

While uttering this jaw-dropping inanity, Bush was flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates who also didn't experience combat.... serving in the Air Force at an ICBM base.... and Vice President Dick Cheney whose numerous deferments enabled him to avoid the "romance" of serving in any capacity. These are the boys playing soldier with the lives of others.

The Decider has just been full of himself lately, singing and dancing on the morass he'll leave behind. At the Gridiron Club dinner, attended by Washington's journalistic and political disgraces, Bush serenaded them, to the tune of "Green Green Grass of Home"....

"That old White House is behind me.... I spend my days clearing brush, clear my head of all the fuss, like that big fuss you made over Harriet and Brownie. Down the lane I look and here comes Scooter, finally free of the prosecutor. It's good to touch the brown, brown grass of home.... Down the lane I look, Dick Cheney is strolling with documents he'd been withholding, it's good to touch the brown brown grass of home." (WaPo)

And, everyone laughed and had such a good time.... while Hurricane Katrina victims still struggle, Scooter Libby got away with outing an undercover CIA agent and obscuring the White House lies that led us to war in Iraq, and Cheney was allowed to engineer the gutting of checks and balances that are the bedrock of good governance, to say nothing of the rending of citizens rights under the Constitution. Funny stuff.

Had enough?.... oh, but there's more. After repeatedly telling us "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" as home prices were dropping, mortgage loan defaults spiraling and financial markets imploding, The Decider finally fessed up yesterday admitting that the economy "is going through a tough time." (NYTimes)

As he spoke, investment bank Bear Stearns was being rescued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and JP Morgan Chase because of crippling losses on mortgage-linked investments.

How bad is this "tough time".... as Balestra Capital hedge fund president James Melcher said: "If the Fed hadn't acted this morning and Bear did default on its obligations, then that could have triggered a very widespread panic and potentially a collapse of the financial system."

In reaction to the financial tsunami coming down on us all, stocks continued their steep tumble. A panicked Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, warned of worse to come and unexpectedly cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percent.

But not to worry.... surveying what the financial havoc and ruin of The Decider's "cut taxes and spend" voodoo economic policies, his monstrously costly war, and the administration's "look the other way" abdication of oversight and regulatory restraints have wrought.... Bush boasted that the "fix" was already on the way, referring to the tax rebates scheduled to be mailed over the next few months.

That "fix" is really too silly and facile to even talk about. It's not even a finger in the crumbling financial dike.

When the country elected Frat House Bush they reasoned he would be more fun to have a beer with.... still having fun?

Hillary's Cheap Talk

An increasingly desperate Hillary Clinton says of her increasingly popular opponent, Barack Obama.... "Words are cheap".... thus giving truth to the statement, but only as reflected in her own tawdry barb.

Unfortunately for her, it's not Obama's words that bring her down, but her own cheap-shot campaign tactics as compared with the vision of hope that Obama articulates like no other. Making his presidential run more than a campaign..... but a movement.

Toward tomorrow. Toward change. Toward a newly discovered old-fashioned notion.... decency in government. And common courtesy toward those who disagree.

Nothing is working for Hillary.... not her angry, scolding, race-baiting husband's methods, nor her "35 years of experience", nor evidently her campaign manager. Making the fired Patti Solis Doyle the scapegoat for Hillay's failure as a campaigner reminds us of the seamy side of the Clinton White House years.... their quick abandonment of those they no longer find useful.

In the larger context of Hillary's charge that words are cheap, is her accusation that Obama lacks ideas and has copied her plans.

But, as Obama's campaign manager Bill Burton points out.... "Hillary Clinton should tell the people of Ohio the truth - she once bragged about helping to pass the nuclear bill she's now criticizing Obama for, she came out with her plan for green jobs one month after Obama did.... Senator Clinton may have said that attacks and distortions are the 'fun' and 'exciting' part of the campaign, but they're exactly what everyone else in America is tired of," he said. (ABCNews)

How true.

Words do matter. Words of leadership, of inclusion, of hope. Americans have had to bear the uninspiring rhetoric of The Decider which ranges from "I'm just reading this because it's part of my job" speeches to "be very afraid" manipulative warnings when attempting to stampede acceptance of his monstrous agenda.

Hillary's elbowing tactics are exactly what the electorate doesn't want. They want to turn the page. To move forward and away from "cheap" politics as usual.

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.