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Monday, January 12, 2009
DW&F: One Week and The Last Press Conference
Hello everyone!
I'm tired and grumpy, so let's get right to it:
Daily Win and FAIL!
Win: One week
That's right. There's only one more week left of the disastrous Bush regime. One week. It's a sort of light at the end of the tunnel thing...
Something tells me this week is going to seem like several months.
Nevertheless, while I know the next four years will be light years ahead of the last eight in terms of leadership, I do realize that there's really nowhere to go but up. Whether or not Obama does a good job remains to be seen, but, while he certainly is a skilled politician, I don't think even he can do worse than Bush even if he tried. The scary thing is I don't think Bush was trying to suck so badly.
Of course, anything can happen in one week, particularly with this idiot and his cabinet. So we're not in the clear just yet. Still, the end is nigh! Win!
FAIL: The Press Conference
Just go here. If you want to see clips, just Google it. I'm too tired and exasperated to seek it out for you.
Where to begin? 9/11. According to Bush, it didn't matter what he did, the pundits would've been critical. So he decided to bomb the wrong country and leave one hundred thousand to one million or more dead. Gee, for some reason I think the press would've been less critical if he hadn't done that.
Then there's Katrina, which left almost 2,000 people are dead and over $80 million in damages, not to mention a major city was almost completely destroyed. Heck of a job, Brownie, right? But Bush decides to talk about how he was criticized for flying over the city and not landing, and how if he would've landed, it would've diverted crucial resources. Now, I've had many beers since 2006, but as I recall, the problem wasn't so much that Bush flew over New Orleans, but that people were dying while Bush celebrated John McCain's birthday and acted like a fool with a guitar. But what do I know?
And of course, there's the whole economy in the crapper problem. This one is a bit personal to me since I'm looking for a job and hardly anyone is hiring. According to Bush, this whole thing isn't his fault because there was a recession when he came into office and there is a recession now. Today, I heard that we're on track to have the longest recession since World War 2. I know Bush has been around for a while, but I didn't realize he was elected during World War 2. I guess time flies when you're out of work!
Besides these three issues, Bush's press conference was essentially about how he's the greatest president since Lincoln and that we're so fortunate that he's been our president because things are so much better now than they were eight years ago. Unfortunately for Bush, he is the only one left so delusional to believe that, including his staff.
But hey, it can't be that bad for him. I doubt the Democrats will have the spine to prosecute him, as well as Cheney, Gonzales, etc. for their war crimes. So the lesson here is that you shouldn't break the law unless you are the president or have political connections (but don't have sex with an intern). And that's a shitty lesson for the president to be teaching. FAIL!
In fact, everything about this administration has been a FAIL!
DW&F: Being Official and Bush Says the Dumbest Things
Hello everyone!
In the process of writing holiday cards, resumes, cover letters, and grocery lists, I've realized that I don't feel like doing much more writing today. So let's cut the crap and get down to brass tacks!
Daily Win and FAIL!
Win: Being official.
I finally got the official word from University of Nike Oregon that I have indeed met all my requirements and will get my degree. I knew this would happen, but it's still nice to finally have it be all official. Now the last thing for me to look forward to nervously obsess about is the wait for my diploma to arrive in the mail. Unfortunately, they supposedly aren't going to mail it until sometime in March. But when I get it, the first thing I'll do is frame it, so I can hang it in the bathroom, and stare at it while I sit on the toilet. Win!
That's right. Sometimes doing what's right is not very popular. In fact, sometimes it's only popular with about 25% of the public. But apparently, if you're the president, there's no reason to do what the people want you to do. It's not like you're accountable to them or anything. Let's be real--the people are obviously all a bunch of idiots who can't see what a great president Bush is. That's basically what he's saying.
Here's a quote from the article that sums his presidency perfectly:
"What do you expect? We've got a major economic problem and I'm the president during the major economic problem. I mean, do people approve of the economy? No. I don't approve of the economy. ... I've been a wartime president. I've dealt with two economic recessions now. I've had, hell, a lot of serious challenges. What matters to me is I didn't compromise my soul to be a popular guy."
You're right, Bush. The craptastic economy and the two disastrous wars aren't important. What's important is that you stuck by your principles. Your terrible, idiotic, destructive principles that directlyled to the two wars and the tanking economy.
What an obnoxious, arrogant assclown. In order to get by, I have to keep reminding myself that we only have to deal with this crap for 33 more days. FAIL!
Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Even Still More Lowererer...
Hello everyone!
This crap has got to stop. First off, I'm running out of comparatives to add to my titles, but I'm not prepared to switch to superlatives because the cynical part of me knows we haven't bottomed out yet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go here and here to get caught up. I'll wait.
Now that you're back, here's the latest. This video features not some kooky tinfoil hat wearing village drunk loudmouth, nor some right-wing radio/Fox News host (although it is a fine line between the two), but United States Representative Michele Bachmann on Hardball. Take a look:
This is what it's come to. Anyone who has a "leftist" or "liberal" political ideology (or ostensibly can be accused of such) hates America. That includes the majority of both houses Congress and a huge segment of the general population. It also includes people such as me, someone who "you'll find on college campuses." (Well, only two, and one is a community college, and I don't teach but tutor and take classes, but you get the point)
So what exactly is your garden-variety, patriotic, average American supposed to do with this information about America haters? If a hypothetical American patriot truly believes that ours is "the greatest country in the world," and if that person truly believes it's his or her duty to defend the country against its enemies, then what should be done? I mean, America haters are clearly America's enemy, right? So, what is our patriotic duty? Should we go shopping? Should we hide under the bed and hope the brave Republicans protect us? Should we vote? Should we write our Congressperson? What if we live in Michele Bachmann's district? Should we blog about it? What's a blog?
Maybe we should just solve the problem ourselves, "southern justice" style, like they did in the "good old days."
Regardless, Michele Bachmann is either starting early with her scary Halloween stories or she's not-so-indirectly inciting violence. She's certainly not criticizing Obama's policies (which should be relatively easy enough to do) or anything civil like that. No, she's using flimsy, circumstantial evidence based on extremely loose connections to some guy she calls a terrorist.
I think it's important to note that Bill Ayers committed some acts that, while very much misguided, killed nobody. So it's quite a stretch to call him a terrorist, but that's essentially what Representative Bachmann has been doing, as have most of the pundits and "media figures." But I guess that makes a better news story than this: "A young activist becomes overzealous and commits a few property crimes out of protest...other activists get assassinated so he hides out for a while...later he turns himself in...the case gets thrown out because the evidence was obtained illegally...he then becomes a model citizen and is now a well-respected educator."
Anyway, I would argue that Congresswoman Bachmann has a low opinion of Americans, and maybe even hates Americans. She seems to be counting on a whole lot of ignorance throughout the our country. Apparently, all we have to do is hear is the word "terrorist," and then we'll all remember that Obama has a scary, foreign-sounding name, which means he also must be a terrorist pal-arounder! 9/11, 9/11!
This is the same old tired act to play on people's fears, prejudices, and xenophobia. "We don't know anything about Obama," essentially means, "He's different." But in reality the average person probably knows more about Obama than John Kerry, George Bush, or Bill Clinton at this time in their respective campaigns. The only difference is that Obama is black and has an African-sounding name, but the others are white and have European-sounding names.
What Representative Bachmann does not only plays on racist, xenophobic fears, but accentuates them. Unfortunately, people respond to fear with violence. So that means that either she's incredibly stupid or she's incredibly cold-hearted.
Luckily, after she appeared there was a rebuttal from The Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel:
Hell, even Pat Buchanan disagreed with Bachmann. It's pretty sad when your right-wing views are too extreme for Pat Freakin' Buchanan.
As for Katrina (the publisher, not the hurricane), I'm going to keep renewing my Nation subscription until she retires just to help make sure she can continue to have a job. We need more people like her on TV news shows and less people like that horrible excuse for a human being, Michele McCarthy Bachmann.
* * *
On a lighter note, I made a relatively important discovery today. I had been preoccupied with this photo for quite some time:
I wasn't sure why, but something about it looked eerily familiar. I mean, sure, it's a photo of Sarah Palin, and everyone who has remotely been paying attention lately has certainly seen plenty of Sarah Palin photos. Well, almost everyone.
Anyway, there was something specifically familiar about this particular shot and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. I knew there was something there that I had seen before. Finally, this morning while I was in the middle of my morning constitutional, I realized what the photo reminded me of. This photo:
How do they do that? I tried to make that upside-down smiley face all morning, and I couldn't do it. Between this and John McCain's tongue gyrations, I'm convinced that they're sending secret mouth signals to their alien brothers and sisters from Planet Reagan that Earth is about ready for the invasion.
These days, it's really easy to compile a list of reasons to vote for someone. It's also easy to compile a list of reasons to not vote for someone. But I've discovered it's a bit challenging to compile a list of stupid reasons to not vote for someone! Yet that's what I did. So without any further ado, here is my list of 10 stupid reasons to not vote for Barack Obama:
Reason #1: He's a Muslim!
No he's not. But the bigger question is "So what if he was?" The assumption here is that Muslim=evil or Islam=terrorist.
I won't even get into whether or not Islam is evil because it's a stupid argument. If you think the whole religion is any more evil than any other religion, or that its followers are inherently evil, then you're blinded by your beliefs and are incapable of rational thought, and you might as well stop reading this. I'm sorry, but this whole "My God is better than yours argument" is idiotic, and it only leads to lots of dead people. You can believe all you want, but you don't know, and so it's stupid to argue about it. Even stupider is to make blanket statements about all the followers of a particular religion, especially when your religion has no shortage of skeletons in its closet. This is why I'm fanatically agnostic.
As far as equating Islam to terrorism, that's a fair comparison, but only if you ignore all the non-Muslim terrorists in recent history, such as the IRA, abortion clinic bombers, Timothy McVeigh, so-called eco-terrorists, Ted Kaczynski, the CIA, the Chinese government, the Soviets, etc.
But then there's the whole illogic of equating the actions of a few to an entire religion.
I know some people would say that there are more than a few. Well, think about this for a moment. There are about 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, give or take a few hundred million. That's 1,500,000,000 people. Compare that with the population of Phoenix, AZ, which is about 1.5 million, or 1,500,000 people. If there were 1.5 million Muslim terrorists worldwide (there is no way to come up with a number, but still, this is an insanely huge number, and I really doubt it's anywhere near this high under most definitions), that would still only be 1 of every 1,000 Muslims, or less than 0.1%. Put it this way: it's about 1,000 miles from Chicago to Denver. Only one mile would be the "terrorist mile". So it's hardly fair to assume every follower of Islam is a terrorist, unless you're an ignorant, reactionary idiot.
Now, that's not to say that 1.5 million terrorists couldn't cause a whole lot of damage (and they aren't, which is why I think this number is way too high). But if you had to fight them, wouldn't you rather have the other 1,498,500,000 on your side?
Moreover, the definition of terrorist is so vague that anyone can be called a terrorist. I'm sure I could be called one simply for writing this blog. But don't worry, you're reading it, so that makes you a terrorist, too.
Regardless, none of this has anything to do with Barack Obama, so let's move on.
Reason #2: He was raised in a Muslim terrorist madrassa!
Wrong again. I've already talked about the Muslim-terrorist claim. As for the bogus madrassa claim, my guess is that a vast majority of people who keep repeating this have no idea what a madrassa is. I didn't until I first heard this.
I suppose "madrassa" is a scary foreign-sounding word to some. But really, madrassa (madrasah) is simply the Arabic word for school. But I could see how people who are afraid of foreign-sounding words that they don't understand would also be afraid of school, or at least education.
But I guess if you're a complete moron, you can buy the line of reasoning that forty years ago, some grade school teachers somewhere in Indonesia concocted this great plan to select one of their students to be a sort of Manchurian Candidate who would one day become President of the United States so that he could singlehandedly destroy the whole country and convert us, as well as the whole Western World, into a bunch of freedom-hating Muslims. You'd also have to believe that they then thought, "You know, this plan is too easy. Instead of having a white guy with a name like John Smith, let's choose a black man named Barack Hussein Obama! They'll never suspect him!"
Of course, this also supposes that our country is so fragile that one guy can tear it all apart without any trouble. I guess if you have a low enough opinion of this country, you might think that. But that would mean you hate America.
Now I know some people might ask, "Hey, isn't one guy singlehandedly destroying this country right now?" No, he isn't. He hashadlotsof help.
Anyway, let's move on to reason #3.
Reason #3a: But he's Muslim! Look at his middle name: Hussein! What does that tell you?
...and...
Reason #3b: But he's Muslim! Look at his last name: Obama! You know, it sounds like Osama! What does that tell you?
Nothing. Neither tells me anything. And it shouldn't tell anyone else anything, either. Shall we play, "What's in a name?"
Joseph Lieberman and Joseph Biden would be horrible choices for president because their name is Joseph, and we all know Joseph Stalin was one of the most brutal dictators in history. Therefore, Lieberman and Biden would become dictators if elected president.
John McCain, John F. Kennedy, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, John Edwards, John Kerry, John Negroponte, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, John Lennon, Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Rotten, Johnny Walker, John Deere, Elton John, Johnson & Johnson, Trapper John, MD, Johns Hopkins, and Olivia Newton-John are all unqualified to be president because they all have "John" as part of their name. Who can forget another "John", John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. You wouldn't want to vote for someone with connections to a notorious assassin, would you?
Hillary Clinton is out of the question, too. Look at her initials: H.C. You know who else had H.C. in his initials? H.C.M., aka Ho Chi Minh, that's who. And Rodham? That's like Rodman, as in Dennis Rodman, the cross-dressing basketball player. And if that weren't enough, "Hillary" starts with an "H", and so does "Hitler". That would make her a cross-dressing, VietCong, Nazi secret agent! Well, your secret is out, Hitlery Nguyen Rodman Clinton!
Reason #4: Obama associates with people who hate America! That means he hates America!
Oh, brother. I have friends who used to do a lot of meth. Does that mean I used to do a lot of meth? I have friends who are gay. Does that mean I'm gay? I have friends who have been in jail. Does that make me a criminal? I associate with many women. Does that make me a woman?
Note: I'm not equating being gay and/or being a woman to doing a lot of meth and/or being a criminal. They're just all things I can't say about myself.
Then there's the whole exaggeration or complete misrepresentation of what was said in the first place. Here's a good comparison of the sound bites and the context of what Jeremiah Wright said. I mean really, he never said anything that was untrue. But I guess a loud, angry black man is too scary to some people. We can also get into whether or not the guy truly hates America, but then we'd have to look at his military service history in Vietnam and how he attended to Lyndon B. Johnson after the president had surgery, and that wouldn't make for a good sound clip.
At the same time as all of this, John McCain was endorsed by John Hagee, a guy who essentially said that New Orleans got what it deserved in Hurricane Katrina because of gays. I guess "God damn New Orleans" is OK, but "God damn America" is not. Either way, hardly anyone is saying McCain is unfit to be president because he sought out Hagee's endorsement, though that could be because there are plenty of other reasons McCain is unfit to be president.
Or there's Pat Robertson, a guy who agreed with another nutcase, Jerry Falwell, when two days after 9/11 he said, "I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen." Robertson also called for Hugo Chavez's assassination. He endorsed Rudy Giuliani, but nobody blamed Giuliani for it.
These televangelist types are doing a great job at arguing for a separation of church and state, though I doubt that's what they have in mind.
Reason #5: But Rev. Wright is his "spiritual adviser"!
In order to believe this means anything, one must first have to be so ignorant to not know what the word "adviser" means. The word adviser means, "One who advises, or one who gives advice." It does not mean, "One who brainwashes." I can understand why there would be a mix up since it does involve religion, an institution whose leaders have been known from time to time to try to brainwash its followers.
Nevertheless, the idea that Obama naturally agrees with everything Jeremiah Wright says is bunk, especially given that Obama has clearly on a number of occasions come out and said he disagreed with many of the things Wright said.
None of this matters anymore, anyhow, since Obama left his church this weekend.
Reason #6: Obama doesn't put his hand on his heart during the National Anthem and refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance!
Sigh.
This is based on one photo that appeared in Time magazine. Here's video of the "offending" incident:
So instead of putting his hand on his heart, he sings along. What an America-hater! Too bad he didn't sing louder in order to drown out that awful-sounding woman with a microphone.
Was he "supposed to" put his hand over his heart? According to USflag.org (yes, there is such a site):
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.
Well, there you go. Since they didn't remove their "headdress", I say they're all guilty of hating America. Except Hillary and that other woman as the rule apparently only applies to men.
Oh, and here's some video that I copied and pasted from snopes.com of Obama leading the Pledge of Allegiance in the Senate. Notice the hand over heart:
Ah, but who cares about the truth when there are plenty of half-truths to go around?
Reason #7: Obama clearly hates America. This is why he refuses to wear a flag pin!
Good! The flag pin was most likely made in China!
Frankly, I think we've had way too much of this bogus, superficial patriotism and not enough real concern and care for this country. Anyone can wear a pin or put a magnetic ribbon on an SUV (one of the most unintentionally ironic statements a person can make), but instead of hollow gestures, maybe we should try doing something that actually helps the country, such as providing health care, working to pay off our national debt, or simply not fighting unnecessary wars.
Reason #8: Michelle Obama clearly hates America. She said she was proud of America "for the first time." I've always been proud of America!
Really? You've always been proud of America? Were you proud when we were committing genocide against native people? Were you proud when slavery was legal and blacks were considered 3/5 of a person for congressional representational purposes? Were you proud when we had segregation? How about when we passed the Chinese Exclusion Act? Or when we interned Japanese-Americans during World War II? What about when we dropped two nuclear bombs (the only country to ever do so) on Japan, or when we firebombed and leveled German cities? Were you proud of that? Or does that not count because it was a long time ago?
How about more recently? Are you proud that we started detaining prisoners Soviet-style: overseas, indefinitely, and without charging them with a crime? Are you proud when thousands of people were dying in New Orleans during Katrina while the president laughed and strummed a guitar? How about when the previous president was impeached because he lied about having receiving sex? Or how about when the two presidents before him authorized arming Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden?
Mentioning any of this does not mean a person hates the America. Nor does it mean that a person is not proud. But if we ever want this country to get better, we first have to come to terms with the fact that we're not perfect. If this country were a person, it would be a John Wayne-type character, strutting around completely oblivious to its faults, which everyone else can clearly see.
No, it's not hate if you believe the country can do better and expect it to do so.
Reason #9: He has no foreign policy experience!
Well, how well do people with foreign policy experience stack up?
Dick Cheney: Assistant to the President and then White House Chief of Staff under Ford, five terms as US Representative At-Large from Wyoming, House Minority Whip, Secretary of Defense under Bush I, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Halliburton, Vice President under Bush II, shot a guy in the face.
Donald Rumsfeld: Four terms as US Representative from Illinois's 13th district, Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon, White House Chief of Staff and then US Secretary of Defense under Ford, Special Envoy to the Middle East under Reagan, Secretary of Defense again under Bush II, Architect of the Iraq Quagmire, used a machine to sign letters of condolences to families of soldiers killed in said quagmire, resigned in disgrace in 2006.
Hillary Clinton: Former First Lady, twice elected as US Senator from New York, imagined gunfire during visit to Bosnia. Oh wait, maybe she didn't imagine it:
Anyway, with these kinds of results from experienced people, I'll think I'll take my chances with the new guy.
Reason #10: We don't know anything about him!
Two words: Goo-gle!
Well, I hope you find this list of reasons not to vote for Obama useful in your voting decisions. Vote early and often!
I just finished looking up and article that I was discussing with a friend earlier tonight. He hadn't read it, so I promised to send him a link. I regularly try to read many online news outlets (including the Bonner County Daily Bee for a laugh or two), or at least scan the headlines for something that catches my attention. Because of that, I couldn't quite remember exactly where I originally saw the article, so I went to Google news to find it. Like any major story, Google gave me a list of several headlines with links to the articles. Here's the search. I'm not sure if you can link a search that might change later, so here's a reproduction with links to each original article:
Database assembles US warnings of Saddam threat Reuters -9 hours ago WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Bush administration's warnings about prewar Iraq, from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's "mushroom cloud" to Vice ...
Web Site Assembles US Prewar Claims New York Times, United States -Jan 22, 2008 By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. WASHINGTON — Students of how the Bush administration led the nation into the Iraq war can now go online to browse a comprehensive ...
935 Iraq Falsehoods Washington Post, United States -9 hours ago By Dan Froomkin A nonprofit group pursuing old-fashioned accountability journalism is out with a new report and database documenting 935 false statements by ...
Reporters count Bush team's falsities before Iraq Baltimore Sun, United States -12 hours ago by Frank James The Center for Public Integrity has a new report out this morning which it says chronicles at least 935 falsities that President Bush and his ...
Truth was first US casualty in Iraq war: study AFP -4 hours ago WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush and his top officials ran roughshod over the truth in the run-up to the Iraq war lying a total of 935 times, ...
Database lists 935 false prewar statements United Press International -10 hours ago WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The Bush administration made more than 900 false statements in the run-up to the war in Iraq on weapons of mass destruction, ...
Fighting "State of the Union" Deception Yahoo! News -6 hours ago The Nation -- President Bush has been caught lying again: [Hundreds of false statements about Iraq] were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively ...
George W Bush, White House told 935 lies after September 11 NEWS.com.au, Australia -10 hours ago By staff writers US President George W Bush and other top officials issued almost one thousand false statements about the national security threat from Iraq ...
Study: False Statements Preceded War The Associated Press -Jan 22, 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) — A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false ...
Study highlights hundreds of false claims about Iraq Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom -14 hours ago A study in the United States has found that the Bush administration issued nearly 1000 false statements about alleged security threats from Iraq in the two ...
One Lie is Okay, 935 Lies = War Seattlest, Seattle -4 hours ago Not that there's anything remarkably surprising about this. Most of us here in this hippy haven understand full well that the War in Iraq was forged under ...
Database of deception Medill Reports, DC -5 hours ago by Adam Amaro WASHINGTON -- Many critics have accused the Bush administration of misleading the public to justify the Iraq War. Now, people have a new tool ...
ThinkFast: January 23, 2008 Think Progress, DC -13 hours ago A new study by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism found that President Bush and his top officials issued 935 false ...
Today's Must Read TPMmuckraker.com, NY -13 hours ago By Paul Kiel - January 23, 2008, 9:24AM Somebody had to do it. And hooray to the Center for Public Integrity and Fund for Independence in Journalism for ...
Bush Administration Makes 935 False Statement About Iraq ... Associated Content, CO -3 hours ago Is it possible that high level members of the Bush Administration, including the President and Vice President, made 935 false statements regarding Iraq ...
Q&A: "We Are Haunted By a War Begun Under False Pretences" IPS, Italy -12 hours ago WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (IPS) - Eight key players in the George W. Bush administration, including the president himself, made at least 935 false statements in ...
New Study Finds Bush Administration Officials Made Hundreds of ... Center For American Progress, DC -8 hours ago A new study by two journalism nonprofits, the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism, found that President Bush and top ...
Reporters Enumerate Shocking Number of Bush’s Lies Javno.hr, Croatia -12 hours ago George W. Bush and his administration have stated a total of 935 lies within a two-year period. The research carried out by two non-profit journalist ...
Bush Lied 935 Times on Iraq says Report ShortNews.com, Germany -19 hours ago Two nonprofit journalism organizations have concluded in a report that President Bush and top White House administration officials issued hundreds of lies ...
Bush ‘faked Iraq reports’ Glasgow Evening Times, UK -17 hours ago UNITED STATES: A study by two non-profit journalism organisations says US president George Bush and administration chiefs issued hundreds of false ...
935 Falsehoods From Bush Administration Led to Iraq War ShortNews.com, Germany -23 hours ago Two nonprofit organizations have tallied up the number of false statements about the threat from Iraq made by Bush administration members between Sept. ...
Why Did We Go To War? ShortNews.com, Germany -Jan 22, 2008 The Center For Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism has verified that on 532 occasions Bush and his administration officials have ...
Bush Agrees He Lied Hundreds of Times About Iraq to Promote War The Spoof (satire), UK -6 hours ago WASHINGTON (FMLiveWire) - President Bush has acknowledged that he lied hundreds of times about Iraq in order to warp public opinion into supporting the Iraq ...
False Pretenses uruknet.info, Italy -19 hours ago Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat ...
It's amazing to me how many different versions of the "truth" there are and how easy it is for some people (presumably with an agenda) to leave out key facts.
Case in point: in both the Reuters and New York Times articles, the focus of the story is that someone made a database. Big deal, right? But that wasn't the point of the study.
The point was that the entire Bush administration deliberately spoon fed bullshit to us in order to scare the crap out of us so we'd let them invade Iraq. There were almost 1000 of them.
"In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003," and, "an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
But do Reuters or The New York Times mention that? No! Sure, a few paragraphs in they casually mention that "[m]uch of their case for war has since been discredited," or "there is now evidence that some statements contradicted even the sketchy intelligence of the time." But that's it.
You'd think that documentation that an American President and his administration repeated bogus information almost 1,000 times, which then caused a war that so far has been going on almost five years and has killed 4,000 Americans, injured tens of thousands more, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and has displaced three million more would be the focus of a news story, not the fact that a nonprofit group compiled all the statements into an easy to search database. You'd think so, but you'd be wrong.
And it doesn't matter whether or not they know it was bogus, it simply means that they're either liars or completely incompetent. Either way, they need to go.
By the way, if you think they simply made a mistake, I've got this great bridge for sale. Dirt cheap.
Besides those two articles, almost every other one uses words like "false", "deception", and "lies", and that's just in the headline.
I believe Google ranks its listings based on popularity, but I could be wrong, and if I am, I really don't need to hear about it. The Reuters and New York Times articles were numbers one and three respectively. The article I originally read was the AP one, eleventh from the top.
What's more telling is that there is no Fox News story.
So the message here is to always be suspicious of everything you read. Unless it's on my blog, of course.
I've been thinking about how some people are photogenic, while others aren't. No one emphasizes the latter more than our current "esteemed" president, George W. Bush.
Simply put: I've seen an insane amount of photographs floating around out there in which he looks like a blithering idiot.
There have been a few theories put forth as to why this is:
#1. He's simply not photogenic. I'm sorry, people say this about themselves all the time, but this just isn't a good enough explanation. There may be some truth to the statement, but it doesn't explain why he's not photogenic. It's like saying, "The reason I'm broke is because I have no money." Next...
#2. It's not that he's not photogenic, it's just that since he's president, his picture is taken so many times that of course there are going to be some bad ones. Again, this explanation doesn't cut it. If that were the case, there should be scads of photographs of former presidents Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, etc. looking like idiots. But there aren't many. Believe me, I looked. Likewise, thanks to the paparazzi, there ought to be tons and tons of photos of celebrities looking like idiots. I'm not talking about celebrity mug shots, photos of intoxicated celebrities, worst dressed celebrities, or other pointless entertainment crap like this. I'm talking about photographs of famous people just going about their day, all the while looking like they're mentally retarded. Photos like this show up occasionally, but no one can even hold a candle to George W. Bush in terms of sheer numbers of photos. No one. Which brings us to:
#3. He looks like an idiot so often because he is, in fact, an idiot. Now, as anyone who knows me knows, I'm no fan of George Bush. Even so, my first reaction is to dismiss this theory. I mean, what does it say about us if the person we elect to represent us, the most powerful leader in the world, is dumber than dirt?
Then I think about the past seven years. I think of how much respect our country used to have in much (but admittedly not all) of the world, even though in most cases it arguably wasn't deserved. However, now we're one of the most, if not the most, hated nations in the world. And to those who don't care, well, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have friends than enemies. For one, it's safer that way. So when I think of the way Bush and his cabinet have executed our national foreign policy, a number of adjectives immediately come to mind, adjectives such as stupid, arrogant, short-sighted, cruel, idiotic, stupid, unbelievable, illogical, stupid, selfish, disastrous, stupid, mean spirited, stupid, conceited, stupid, dumb, stupid, and really, really stupid.
When I think about it, these adjectives can also be used to describe his domestic policy, or any other part of his presidency for that matter.
Then I inevitably think that maybe he's not stupid, but he just has really bad advisers. Maybe there have been a number of things that have happened that even the smartest people could not have foreseen, and maybe I'm being too tough on the guy. And then I think about how his policies were actually good for some people. Of course I'm talking about the ultra-wealthy, as well as people who work for oil companies, Halliburton, and the military-industrial complex. This makes me think that maybe he's not such an idiot after all, and maybe we're just the idiots for electing him in the first place and being surprised that the price of gasoline has tripled under a Texas oil millionaire wannabe president.
But then I remember all the idiotic things that George Bush has ever said. And then it all becomes crystal clear.
I don't claim to be a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or even a psychic. All I know is that there seems to be a mountain of evidence that, in a nation full of dumb people, one of the dumbest of them all is running the show.
And that scares the hell out of me.
I know some of the millions five or six (and growing!) of my readers might take offense to this. But as they say, the proof is in the coagulated dessert concoction.
I've taken actual photographs of our "esteemed" president (I didn't "take" the photos myself, I just stole them from other sites) and paired them with actual quotes of his. I realize that in all likelihood, each quote was uttered at a different time and in a different context than each accompanying photo. But as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't mean they're unrelated! Here they are, and keep in mind, these are actual quotes that I never bothered to verify with actual photographs that someone else may or may not have photoshopped, but probably didn't:
"You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket -- in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it -- they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work." --George W. Bush, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?" --George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006
"I think younger workers -- first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government -- promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 4, 2005
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004
"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch. As a matter of fact, the Colonel asked if I needed first aid when she first saw me. I was able to avoid any major surgical operations here, but thanks for your compassion, Colonel." --George W. Bush, after visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 1, 2006
"I don't particularly like it when people put words in my mouth, either, by the way, unless I say it." --George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Nov. 10, 2007
"Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 2006
"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red." --George W. Bush, explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005
"I have a record in office, as well. And all Americans have seen that record. September the 4th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget." --George W. Bush, Marlton, New Jersey, Oct. 18, 2004
"We stand for things." --George W. Bush, Davenport, Iowa, Aug. 5, 2004
"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection -- an election in Iraq at this point in history?" --George W. Bush, at the white House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005
"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." --George W. Bush, on the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007
"There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about." --George W. Bush. Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007
"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. You're doing a heck of a job. You cut your teeth here, right? That's where you started practicing? That's good. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me." --George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." --George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005
"I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, 'Mr. President, here's what's on my mind.' And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device, I decide, you know, I say, 'This is what we're going to do.'" --George W. Bush, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
Goodbye and good riddance!
Goodbye and good riddance!
