The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

I'm glad the nation's attention is focused on the disaster in the Gulf States, but we also need to remember that we still have troops in Iraq who are getting killed by IEDs and civilians who are caught in the crossfire between our guys and the freedom fighters.

If you care, here is a lengthy synopsis of all the events that led us to invade Iraq. All of it has come out in memoes and speeches, so it all can be confirmed as being factual.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

Like Mother, like son. It's no wonder that the Prez turned out the way he did. Check out the comments his sainted Mom, Barbara Bush, uttered as she toured the Astrodome with her husband Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton:

"...Barbara Bush, who accompanied the former presidents on a tour of the Astrodome complex Monday, said the relocation to Houston is "working very well" for some of the poor people forced out of New Orleans.

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said during a radio interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Her comments came as the two former presidents visited with hundreds of the 23,600 hurricane refugees and announced the creation of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. ..."

The nut certainly didn't fall far from that tree.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Baltimore Sun calls for Bush Administration removal

The Baltimore Sun, in an editorial today, calls for the removal of the Bush Administration now because of its handling of the Hurricane Katrina situation. This view runs contrary to the results of popular polls which indicate the majority of people don't believe we should hold the President accountable for the screwups that his underlings caused in the relief efforts.

If George W. Bush was the CEO of a multibillion dollar company, would the shareholders of that company think that he was not ultimately responsible for anything that happened on his watch? And if the people who think that CEO should be removed, why don't they think George Bush is ultimately responsible for the debacle that is the Katrina relief effort?

Miulang

[Miulang]

FEMA chief is reassigned

One down how many to go??? Mike Brown, embattled director of FEMA, has been reassigned back to Washington. Now mind you, he hasn't been fired; he has been reassigned. This is what friends do for friends to get them out of the hot seat.

Miulang

P.S. More info on Brown's removal as head of FEMA

[Miulang]

Karen Hughes, Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy

Karen Hughes, longtime confidant of the President, was sworn in today as Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy. HUH???? Her primary role will be to project a more positive image to people in Muslim countries.

Does the President think that by sending a woman into the field who is his closest confidante and who is also gregarious and personable that it will negate ill will already created by all the killing of innocent civilians going on because we occupy Iraq?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Mark Brown has no clue

AP says that Mike Brown, ex-FEMA chief, has no clue why he was canned. Can you say "DUH???" I wonder what he's been smoking.

"A beleaguered Michael Brown said Friday he doesn't know why he was removed from his onsite command of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, but he does know the first thing he'll do when he returns to Washington....

""I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep," Brown told The Associated Press. "And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims."...

And that debit card program FEMA started to give each evacuated adult in the Astrodome a $2,000 debit card? Well, they've canned that program (too cumbersome and complicated) and are going to be depositing funds into checking accounts...one eency problem...many of the evacuated people, who are poor, don't HAVE checking accounts. What is the federal gubmint smoking?

"...The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will scrap the program once officials finish distributing cards this weekend at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. No cards will be issued to victims in other states.

Hurricane victims at other locations will have to apply for expedited aid through the agency's traditional route — filling out information on FEMA's Web site to receive direct bank deposits, FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule said..."


Miulang

[Miulang]

FEMA scandals everywhere!

One of the positive outcomes of the tragedy in the Gulf States is it's forcing cities all over the country to re-examine their disaster plans.

The Pacific NW region has its own tempest in a teapot brewing. It appears that the Regional Director, was a 4-term Republican state representative who was nominated to the post by a former Republican congresswoman.

John Pennington has a little more "disaster" experience than Michael Brown did:

"...Pennington said he has had an interest in disaster management since the mid-1990s, when floods and landslides wreaked havoc in Cowlitz County, in southwest Washington.

"We had three federally declared disasters in three years," he said — floods in 1995 and '96, and a massive mudslide in Kelso in 1998.

The turning point for Pennington was the Kelso slide, which destroyed 141 structures. Initially, he said, FEMA had declined to designate the slide as a federal disaster. Pennington, then a two-term state representative, said he lobbied then-FEMA Director James Lee Witt and later President Clinton to have that decision overturned.

"I got an in-depth working knowledge of Region 10 in that process," he said..."

The reason for the raised eyebrows over Pennington's tenure in the $138,000/year job is he has a college degree from California Coast University, which for years was a diploma mill. His excuse? His parents were too poor to send him to college in Tennessee. His official bio says he obtained a bachelor's degree, but doesn't specify which institution of higher education awarded that degree. He claims his staff modified his bio without his knowledge. I wonder if he can be nailed for either getting a degree from a diploma mill or for having a somewhat fake public biography?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

If the analysts are correct and it costs us the equivalent of 2 Iraq wars to rebuild the Gulf Coast, where will the money come from? Rather than cut back further on government programs, maybe the Bush Administration and Congress should think about freezing the tax cuts that have been granted to the richest people in our country so that the rest of us don't have to see more taken out of our own paychecks. The only other alternative is to start withdrawing troops from Iraq now and redirect the funds saved to the reconstruction efforts, but the White House is loath to do that, so the only other thing available is to get rid of the tax cuts to the rich. I'd prefer to have whatever money I'm contributing to the federal pot to help people in this country, not finance a terrorist training ground.

Miulang

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

I try not to rant about GWB too much, because if I did then I'd just be a seething mass of rage and despair all the time. But I ran across a bit of news that was amazingly telling. At a recent press conference, Bush was taking questions. He'd call upon reporters by name, and they'd ask their questions. Then:

THE PRESIDENT: Bianca. Nobody named Bianca? Well, sorry Bianca's not here. I'll be glad to answer her question.

Q I'll follow up.

THE PRESIDENT: No, that's fine. (Laughter.) Thank you though, appreciate it. Just trying to spread around the joy of asking a question.

Q How is the strategy outlined today by General Casey different from what the United States was doing in the past? What lessons would you say have been incorporated in it? And based on that, how much closer do you think we are to being able to turn over full control of the security situation?

THE PRESIDENT: It's going to be a while to turn over full control. Full control says that the Iraqis are capable of moving around the country and sharing intelligence and they got a command control system that works like ours, and that's going to be a while. Turning over some control to Iraqis is now taking place. As I told you, there are more Iraqis in the lead -- Iraqis are in the lead in this mission for the first time on a major operation.

What General Casey briefed us on was how our strategy of cleaning out the terrorists out of a city and being able to fill in behind, or leave behind Iraqi forces, is beginning to pay off. And what hadn't happened in the past was the capacity to fill that void with a capable force that would prevent the terrorists from coming back in.

Q Mr. President, could we talk more about --

THE PRESIDENT: Are you Bianca?

Q No, I'm not. Anita -- Fox News.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

Q Just a quick question --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. I was looking for Bianca. I'm sorry.

Good god. I hadn't fully appreciated how entirely scripted his press conferences really are.

[shaveice]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

i hear you, glenn. there have been so many stories that could be highlighted but i've kinda given up. not sure how many people read this thread or care. of course, i still read stories and roll my eyes and my blood pressure goes up but if the administration is having its way and other professional politicians are too cowardly to challenge bush, i just throw my hands up and acknowledge that the world is how it is (and i'm not motivated to spend my energy trying to change it).

still, if anyone's interested, arianna huffington wrote a pretty funny but right on article recently about bush's war on porn:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariann...ve_b_7704.html

also, there's an interesting article about how a 36-year old administration lawyer with no immigration experience has been nominated to head up the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. http://talkleft.com/new_archives/012456.html

glenn, if you or anyone wants to see the bianca episode you referred to, you can download it here:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/22.html#a5065
in windows media player or quicktime format....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/ and
http://www.crooksandliars.com/ are full of stories that highlight the madness on a daily basis.....

[kevin_jay]

Barbara Bush's remark

Can you believe this quote....

While Barbara Bush was visiting refugee's at the Houston AstroDome, she made some insensitive remarks...

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." (Barbara Bush)


Talk about callous....

-kevin_jay

[kimo55]

Re: Barbara Bush's remark

the nerve of her vocalising standard cocktail party chatter, publicly like that.

[Miulang]

Re: Barbara Bush's remark

Can you believe this quote....

While Barbara Bush was visiting refugee's at the Houston AstroDome, she made some insensitive remarks...

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." (Barbara Bush)


Talk about callous....

-kevin_jay

"The nut doesn't fall very far from the tree..."

Miulang

[Miulang]

Ding dong, Delay is Gone!

Tom Delay, maker of deals and perpetrator of campaign fraud, has been indicted in Texas along with 2 of his cronies. He has also had to step down "temporarily" from his position as House majority leader. Ya know, I'm glad I believe in cosmic justice, because I think this is just the tip 'o the iceberg as far as getting to the truth about the relationship between certain Republicans, Big Business, and the White House. The Democrats had better watch out, too, because they have a few skeletons in their closet as well.

"... The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to "knowingly make a political contribution" in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account.

The PAC then wrote a $190,000 check to an arm of the Republican National Committee and provided the committee a document with the names of Texas State House candidates and the amounts they were supposed to received in donations.

The indictment included a copy of the check.

"The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code," says the four-page indictment. "The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election."

The indictment against the second-ranking, and most assertive Republican leader came on the final day of the grand jury's term. It followed earlier indictments of a state political action committee founded by DeLay and three of his political associates.

In defending his action against complaints that it was politically drived, Earle told a Texas news conference: "Our job is to prosecute abuses of power."

The grand jury action is expected to have immediate consequences in the House, where DeLay is largely responsible for winning passage of the Republican legislative program. ..."


Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The Bush Watch - Chapter 2

This is getting really scary...everyone has heard about the potential of an international pandemic of avian (bird) flu. Today, the White House is holding a conference with other world governments to discuss ways to prevent this particularly virulent type of flu from spreading and causing many unnecessary deaths.

Besides encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to make more vaccine, our President is now suggesting that he be given the power to quarantine whole communities under martial law. What this means is, he will use the Army and Marines to seal off any community that has been infected with the virus, rather than using the National Guard for such duty.

There has always been a clear delineation of when and where the National Guard and the regular armed forces could be used (the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878); the National Guard was created to be our at-home defense, while the regular armed forces were to be used overseas and only in this country during times of natural disaster. Now the Prez wants to blur that line so that in any national emergency, the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force could also be used in martial law situations.

Allowing this to happen would seriously erode our rights as American citizens and basically put us under the possibility of being confined to our homes or shot on sight if we fail to heed the orders of the government.

"...On Tuesday, President Bush warned the nation that outbreaks of Bird Flu may require massive quarantines enforced by the US Military. He said that the military would be better able "to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the flu", although he failed to explain why that task couldn't be carried out by the National Guard. Bush's comments echoed the same themes we've heard repeatedly since Hurricane Katrina, that the president needs the power to deploy troops within the country at his own discretion and without any legal restrictions. It is a conspicuous attempt to militarize the country and declare martial law, although the media has scrupulously avoided the obvious conclusions.

Bush now claims that he will need to deploy the military following a terrorist attack, a national disaster, or after the outbreak of a flu-epidemic. "Sending in the troops" has seemingly replaced "tax-cuts" as the one-size-fits-all answer for every question asked of any member of the hard-right administration. ...

"...The main obstacle to Bush's militarization-scheme is the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The Act bans the military from participating in policing activities on US soil. It does not, however, prevent the military from helping out in national disasters. This is what is so troubling about Bush's request to change the law; it shows a clear intention to assert military authority wherever the troops are deployed. It is clearly not an attempt simply to help out.

A careful look at New Orleans shows the danger of this. The military presence has been used to establish order and to set the precedent for future deployments. Blackwater mercenaries are not really part of the relief effort at all, but are employed to harass and intimidate the locals and to protect private property. One of their many functions was to force the evacuation of local homeowners and to strip them of their legally registered firearms; a clear violation of the 2nd amendment. Their presence is intended to soften the attitudes of citizens to seeing military personnel on their streets and to help them adjust the effects of a transformed America. ..."

Miulang