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This cartoon was initially written back in Summer of 2007.
All cartoons here and at http://www.resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com/ are original to this author, lawlessone. They were created using the free software and clipart available at http://www.funnytimes.com/playground/.
Create some yourself.
In the Bible there were seven plagues. We need to add an eighth – Bush.
Yes, the US may have survived a lot of blunders, but I am starting to believe the country may not survive disastrous wholesale re-fabrication of the country by Bush/Cheney, certainly not as the country it once was.
Ever notice how ever since Custer, those most responsible for our military stupidities are least likely to suffer any harm?
It is approaching five years since that day. Since so little of value seems to have actually been accomplished, isn’t it about time we finally started to ask, what was the REAL mission?
We already have had a President who seems to think a multi millennium old collection of conjectures scribed by men is the immutable “truth,” more trustworthy than any subsequent facts to the contrary, and who believes he is one of a select few privileged to exclusive conversations with the Creator.
Of course, it easy to see how Bush has managed to delude himself into believing he is not only on a Mission From God, but actually much better than Jesus himself. After all, Bush wasn’t forced to be born in a stable and was never punished for any of his sins. He had one of the rich self proclaimed Magis for a father. While others were selected to die in the crucifix of war, Bush got to guard a county club. Instead of starting as a lowly carpenter, he was handed large companies to play with where he promptly turned huge piles of proverbial loaves and fishes into small stinking messes for the shareholders. He was promoted to the White House by chicanery and never thereafter had to listen to anyone or forgive anyone. Instead of chasing money lenders out of the temple, he gets a large share of the gold they take from the poor. Instead of turning water into wine, he turns clean water and air into polluted mud. He did consume a lot of wine earlier, but now he just whines constantly. Whereas Jesus turned the other cheek, Bush says “bring ‘em on.” In essence, all the temptations that Jesus turned down when offered by a Devil, Bush greedily grasped and, from his perspective, got away with it. That would delude anyone, especially anyone weak minded or lacking a conscience.
So, do we really need a new advocate in the Oval Office who recites that the Christianity must be obeyed, but who refuses to do any of the things the person the religion was named after actually wanted accomplished?
One of the greatest tragedies of the past several years for our democracy is that a large percentage of the public, with good reason, now not only believes almost everyone running the government is a purposeful liar, but that the professional journalists who were supposed to be reporting and revealing it turn out to be liars too. Or perhaps worse, utterly incompetent and ineffectual.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the only thing less competent than reporters and the Bush Administration officials is pollsters.
Have pity on O’Reilly. He is a bitter, apparently mentally ill, old man who has never proven to be right (or, more accurately, “accurate”) on any subject in his entire life. He is becoming increasingly irrelevant and can’t help the fact he is a total idiot and a symbol of all that is wrong with the America “Right” today.
Ever notice that the language the Christian Conservatives use to trumpet their current crusade against Muslims is almost identical to their crusades in earlier decades against Russia, China, North Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, etc. (except of course for the single word “godless” which isn’t used quite as much). It’s the same ol’ never ending “us versus them” rhetoric.
Yet, they never actually conquered or even much reformed any of those countries. More interesting yet, today (with the exception of Cuba) the same loud mouthed war mongers are happily giving those former (and future) adversaries favored nation status so that they can personally pocket huge profits wheeling and dealing with them. Even as to Cuba, all the Christian Capitalists outside of South Florida seem to eagerly want to open the door.
Say, do you suppose those Evangelists will ever learn that those they hated most tend to make them the most money? Nah, probably not. Any history lesson that contradicts whatever their preachers are saying at the moment doesn’t seem to be noticed.
Maybe if John Edwards doesn’t make the cut at the Democratic Convention, we can persuade him to go back and be a successful trial lawyer suing Bush and his buddies for a few trillion in malpractice damages to recover what they have cost us and our great grandchildren. What a shame politicians can’t really be held financially liable for their thefts and utter incompetence.
Maybe Bush is a clone. He certainly seems to have the combined DNA of Harding, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton. In that order – contemptible, criminal, clueless, and too cowardly to brave bullets in wartime.
As a former staff sergeant with the 101st Airborne who volunteered for the Army and service in Vietnam, I continue to be horrified at what Bush has done and continues to do in harming our military. The very best thing I can conceive of to actually support our troops would be to impeach the SOB before he can do still more lasting damage.
Survival of democracy depends on the existence of an intelligent, well researched, ethical, aggressive, aggressive and dogged, press, independent of both parties and big business as well and more interested in serving the public than in ratings, perks, or access. The rapacious, greedy, power hungry politicians have always let us down, but in the past we have been able to rely on the press to save us. The biggest tragedy of the last three decades has been the disappearance of the press as a vital force for democracy. With good cause, the few remaining reporters are now perceived as untrustworthy, fearful, lazy, self serving, indifferent, biased, and more interested in preserving their perks and star status or, for the lower echelons, preserving their jobs. Worse, they seem to be active participants in dismantling the Constitution and emboldening Presidential tyranny. They no longer deserve respect and need to dig themselves out of this hole before all is lost.
Dear Senator Feingold: You blame the Republicans for not allowing you to remove some portions of FISA. As far as I am concerned, it is actually the current Democrat leadership that is the problem with FISA. Because, it should NEVER have been passed in the first place and yet you keep extending it.
Don’t you understand that no amount of fiddling with it will make it acceptable? Your proposals to “fix” it are the equivalent of attempting to polish a pile of defecation. It is not needed. It was never needed. It has not proved worthy of the cost to our civil rights. Worse, it is an unconscionable, probably unrestrainable, assault on the Constitution and everything this country once stood for.
All you would have to do is do nothing and this terrible abomination automatically dies of old age and no adverse consequences to your re-election. Your fear that you will be perceived “weak” on terror if you don’t cave in is absurd.
And, it if it did make you lose the perks of power, What happened to your courage and your promise to serve the public? Have you forgotten your oath of office to defend the Constitution? Did that become irrelevant or quaint? Did Bush in his illegal spying somehow manage to find some useful blackmail to use on you?
Frankly, you had better start worrying more about us, the growing majority of liberal and progressive voters because I promise you something. If you and the other present Democrats in Congress allow any version of FISA to continue, I will work as hard to remove you as I am already doing to remove Bush and his cadre of criminals.
Think about it. If you are so incompetent as to be unable to stop that FISA bill when all you have to do is to refuse to bring it to a vote, then we have no confidence in your abilities. You should resign in embarrassment due to gross incompetence.
You are wasting your time sending anything to W given his unfortunate birth defects and other afflictions.
His ears stopped functioning long ago, possibly from alcohol abuse and rampant cronyism. His eyes certainly have no peripheral vision, especially when he is focusing on his current misperceptions. His nose is incapable of detecting stench. Plus whatever conscience he may have had either arrived stillborn or has long since metastasized into a sociopathology.
The current Democrat leadership is extraordinarily lucky that there is someone around more visibly incompetent than they are. But for bumbling Bush, scary Cheney and their cohort of crooks, the mediocre Democratic Party functionaries squatting in the halls of Congress for the moment would quite rightly be thrown out of office exposed as unworthy of the public trust. It is only in comparison that they survive. What a sad, sorry state of affairs for the voters to be relegated once again to voting for the less of two evils. What is even more tragic is that the titular Democrats would actually be worth following if they would merely follow their own party’s tenets and the wishes of the majority of their membership.
I don’t think it is possible for me to hold the Democrat leaders of Congress in greater contempt than I already hold them. They are entirely deserving of contempt. The only people I hold in greater contempt are the Republicans, Independents who still vote for Republican, everyone ever appointed to office by the Bush Administration and the timid, lazy, incompetent,self serving journalists who have allowed it to come to this sorry state of affairs.
I find it hard to believe any President would be so ill advised as to initiate yet another war without a Congressional Declaration of War, but then again, I continue to be dumbfounded as to how dangerously incompetent Bush has already proven to be. He is scary, particularly about incurring huge costs with no benefits. Please exercise the oversight you are charged with by the Constitution.
No wonder I have been feeling both disgusted and distrustful of the top Democrats. None of them seems to believe in the principles of the Democratic Party, the Constitution, its Bill of Rights or their own oath of office. We desperately need a “none of the above” option when voting.
“Lawyer of the Year” for Gonzales??? The ABA has got to be kidding. Pick some other title.
Gonzales deserves an ABA Journal cover story or editorial alright, but it should be for his disgrace and disbarment. Frankly, his law school should be revoking his diploma since it sure looks like he never attended a Constitutional Law class. Certainly, his oath of office seems to have meant nothing to him.
It is embarrassing enough at times to be a licensed lawyer with the likes of Gonzales and his cronies claiming the title. To have the primary collective voice for our profession naming him “Lawyer of the Year” is disgusting.
In Pakistan, the legal community is on the picket lines literally throwing everything including rocks to help oust a dictator. In contrast, in this country, the legal community names our own dictator’s henchman first “Lawyer of the Year” and now apparently “Newsmaker of the Year.” Too bad America doesn’t have a Constitution of its own which the local lawyers would care enough about to protect.
You might as well stop writing me. I am an unabashed liberal/progressive which means I am completely disgusted with the collection of weak, cowardly, gutless, spineless, not to mention utterly ineffective, Democrats presently occupying space in Congress. They should all resign and let some more courageous replacements take their place so that the President can be impeached for his High Crimes, the Error in Iraq can finally be ended, the Constitution can be defended, non-fossil fuel sources of energy can be promoted, conservation can be encouraged, national health service can be installed, and the treasury transfers to the ultra rich can be reversed. Until then, you have nothing worthwhile to say to me.
The complaint I am filing is against the FCC and, in particular, those Commission members who voted to allow further consolidation of the broadcasting industry. The sources of information, whether tv or radio or newpapers or magazines, are already in far far too few hands. It is almost becoming a monopoly not too dissimilar to the “Robber Baron” history of the late 19th Century where only the uber rich controlled certain industries.
I do not believe that those commissioners read the Constitution, read their mandate, remembered their oaths of office or remembered their ethical need to be open, honest, fair, balanced and not swayed by party affiliation.
Rescind your decisions that further consolidation, especially allowing the already rich to own more. Rescind anything that directly or indirectly limits the competition, especially if it puts non-broadcast media into ownership of print media or vice versa. Remember for once that you are here to protect the public, not the biggest campaign contributors to the Republican Party.
Why don’t we round up the entire Administration, thank them for their use of torture interrogations which no doubt saved us from the evil Muslim horde, give them a Medal of Freedom for their heroic work and then lock them in jail for the rest of their lives since they have proven themselves to be sociopaths too dangerous to leave loose in society?
My only hope is that our Congressmen remember their oaths of office to defend the Constitution since it has become fairly obvious that the a majority of the FCC Commission members don’t.
How wonderfully self serving. The same magazine that helped put our own American dictator in power and keep him there is seeking to rationalize its own malfeasance by loudly touting the re-installation of dictatorship in Russia. This should be a “time out” for Time.
Maybe we should be like the Republicans on at least one tactic and start re-labeling things. If for instance “Estate Taxes” applicable to only the uber rich can be morphed into so-called “Death Taxes” to prevent their continuation, then hereafter instead of calling war related mental illness the innocuous sounding “PTSD,” it should be called “Republican Inflicted Wounds” or “Unfriendly Ire.”
In any event, would someone please, please, please explain to me how the Republican policies of wasting troops to fight under strength with little respite in ill advised wars continued eternally primarily to save politicians from embarrassment and then not providing those overused troops with adequate pay, equipment, family housing or even useful post trauma medical care is somehow “supporting the troops”? Would someone please explain why such policies shouldn’t get Republicans “waterboarded” and exiled in perpetuity to “Gitmo” for being Al-Qaeda sympathizers?
I just wish the rest of us could do the same.
Congratulations Bush! We knew you could do it. AND, you managed to get rid of all those dirty dollars in just a quarter of the time it took to obtain “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam. You didn’t even have to pull out like he did. With the way the Democrats caved, you can keep the flow going forever or at least until the Treasury is finally empty.
You sure managed to make your fellow Texan, Lyndon Johnson, look small when it comes to spending. Shoot, he was a just piker in comparison. Bet ya he’s turning over in his grave in jealousy.
Better yet, you managed to divert most of the money for your Wars against Terrorist to your Republican campaign contributors instead of having to spend it all on unnecessary things like – - – up to date equipment and pay and post trauma medical treatment for the troops.
Yessiree. You’re Number 1. You’re Number 1.
Given how hilariously terrifying Bush and Cheney and their assorted minions are when anything comes out of their mouths, all Jon Stewart need do is show photo clips of all the things what the main stream media won’t. Between what our Klutz-in-Chief utters and his Vice Torquemada does, no voice over comment is needed.
Fundamentalist leaders blamed Katrina on the supposedly debauched folks from Louisiana and the recent fires in California on the heathens from Hollywood. Does that mean our continuing debacle in Iraq and our savaged economy on the sociopath Fundamentalists who have been taking over the military? One thing is clear. If Christ were alive today and saying the same things he apparently said back then, Fundamentalists would surely hate him.
The only one dangerously diverting lawmakers’ attentions away from important national concerns is George Bush himself, the biggest danger to American Democracy in decades.
Our country got in serious trouble by not realizing that Bush was as much a demented, dangerously destructive demagogue as Osama bin Laden. If you looked at what Osama desired regarding the fortunes of America and what George delivered, the only real difference in ultimate effect seems to be that one thinks scowling beards and turbans are the height of fashion while the other favors fake cowboy hats and smirks.
The same seems to be true of those in office like Feinstein, Schumer and Pelosi who allege they are Democrats. They give Bush everything he wants to continue our wasting wars in the Middle East. They refuses to even consider impeachment which might save us from him and Cheney. They repeatedly allows his various bills destroying our rights to be re-enacted when all they had to do was to keep them from a vote. In their most recent repudiation of basic Democratic Party principles, they have come out in favor of an Attorney General candidate who won’t even halt torture tactics. They are proving more helpful to the Neocon conning cause than if they declared themselves to be one.
With enemies to our Constitution like Bush, Cheney, Schumer, Feinstein and Pelosi, who needs Osama? We need to stop listening to what menaces say and concentrate on what they actually do.
With Pakistani President Musharraf declaring Marshall Law and suspending the Constitution, we can only his bosom buddy Bush doesn’t get any ideas.
Two bits says the gutless Democrats do nothing with their “threat” to issue Contempt of Congress citations to anyone hired by the White House. Six bits says that even if they do find the balls to actually deliver any citations, nothing of consequence will ever happen.
How sad it is to have the fate of our democracy resting in the hands of spineless cowards afraid to confront a power grabbing dictator and his bullies like Cheney. At least the Roman senators who knifed that other dictator, Caesar, weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Granted they ultimately lost and a millennium of tyranny followed, but at least they went down fighting. The despicable current leadership of the Democratic Party seems more afraid of mere mudslinging Fox News pundits than the justifiable outrage of their own rank and file members.
Too bad there isn’t the faintest chance that any elected Democrat will ever read any of these comments or act on them if they did.
I have long suspected that Osama bin Laden shaved his beard and is hiding in the White House doing massive damage to our economy, our military and our principles. I am now starting to also suspect either that a sizable portion of the Democrat “leaders” are either closet Republicans or got caught in the illegal domestic surveillance by the White House and are being blackmailed into doing whatever Republicans want.
Out here in Oregon, the rich Republicans owning the cable network have decided to banish Mr. Olberman’s MSNBC network to a triple digit channel number where it can’t be easily found. That might seem like coincidence except that Fox NEWS, the semi official Republican Party PR agency, gets to keep its cozy low digit number. So much for “fair and balanced” on the cable operator monopolies.
Any lawyer who insists that torture is legal or that simulated drowning, beatings, electrocution, anal probes, and similar tactics are somehow not “torture” should never have been awarded a law degree because he obviously did not pass his Constitution Law courses. Moreover, he should have his head examined by a psychiatrist because advocating such tactics on another human being sure sounds like a symptom of a dangerous sociopath deserving of incarceration to protect the rest of society from him.
By the way, you personally can do something about it, even as to the newly minted federal attorney generals being inflicted on us by the Bush Administration. It’s easy and free. Contact your state’s lawyer grievance or ethics committee and ask for the forms to file a grievance. Seek disbarment or sanctions for any such lawyer practicing in your state. Or, if he is not licensed in your state, at least seek a ruling by the state bar or licensing board forbidding him to supervise other lawyers who are licensed there. Surely there must be at least one state with a sufficiently courageous licensing authority to revoke the ability of these miscreants to practice law. After all, not only is torture criminal and unethical, it is a violation of his oath of office which is to defend the Constitution. It is not the President.
P.S. I might be willing to concede as to any particular tactic if, but only if, the President, the VP, and the Attorney General publicly undergo such abuse themselves first to prove it is not torture. If these cowards do and survive, then they might have an argument. Which leads to an interesting thought. If that ever happens and the tactics are declared not to be cruel and unusual, then there might be some merit in using such tactics in Senate Confirmation Hearings when questioning candidates for such offices.
In any event, torture is or should be a bipartisan issue.
The one good thing about Gonzales and most of Bush’s lackey appointments is that they have been incompetent. Thank goodness because if they had even a modicum of intelligence, they would have gotten away with their determined destruction of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Democrats seem too stupid to realize what a threat Makasey could be. Bush might accomplish his overthrow of democracy yet.
He probably said, “Good thing there’s plenty more where these came from.”
Shame on the voters of their states for putting them in office. More shame for not recalling them from office once it was discovered they are closet Neocons.
It brings to mind a “joke.” Question: What is the difference between a terrorist and a torturer? Answer: Not every terrorist is a torturer, but every torturer is a terrorist.
And, we know where 54 are. Fifty-three are apparently casting votes in our Senate and one now can be found putting family photos on a desk in the largest office at the newly renamed federal Department of Injustice.
Is it that Bush can’t find any candidate for Attorney General who actually believes in the oath for that office during which they swear to defend the Constitution or that he doesn’t want to?
Maybe instead of having newly elected officials swear in their oath of office to “defend the Constitution,” we acknowledge what appears to be the new reality for almost everyone running these days and allow them to just swear AT the Constitution. I swear, at least that way, we might learn which ones want to swerve us into the abyss while supposedly “serving” us.
I gleefully chuckled at your idea Bush is really just a jinx who inadvertently causes disasters for all those around him. If I was superstitious or believed in Fate, I would likely find that suggestion a welcome explanation for incredible tidal wave of trouble Bush and his buddies continue to immerse us.
Your image of Biblical Jonah in the White House, couldn’t help but conjure up for me other walking disasters from literature. I even wondered if instead of Jonah, perhaps the reference shouldn’t be to the eternally wrong optimist, Candide, or maybe Joe Btfsplk, the sad character in Little Abner who was constantly followed by a cloud of rain. Thanks for the mental fun.
Ultimately though, I realized that none of them, not even Jonah of whale fame, really apply here since in each case including Jonah, the characters were essentially innocent victims. They did not bring the vortexs of troubles upon themselves. Incompetence, ignorance, ego, hubris, laziness and extremely questionable motives played little or no part in their particular pitfalls. With Bush however, all those are present in unending supply.
Moreover, Bush suffers little or not at all, the calamities that he sows. Other than the occasional disparaging word or image which he probably never sees or hears anyway, there are few consequences. Unlike Custer, our current leaders are the ones least likely to suffer from their idiocies.
Worse, we are not innocent victims ourselves. After all, although we did not put this putz in power, we allow him to remain there where he can harm us and our descendants. Consequently, we probably deserve what misfortunes befall us. This story unfortunately is a tragedy, not a comedy.
The draconian punishment and labels of “treason” being imposed on a few individuals exercising a truly mild form of free speech during a supposed amusement like playing cards is probably proof positive that the Bush/Cheney philosophy is in reality a nasty disease or toxic waste capable of infecting or contaminating all in sight. It also suggests that if our fearless leaders are not certifiably insane themselves, than they are surely making us mentally ill. It is long past time for the inoculation of impeachment.
I didn’t know that Adolf was a bridge player. His brown shirted descendants though apparently are and control the so-called “United States” Bridge Federation. I wouldn’t mind if they demand all members of their little private group act like mind controlled Nazi party members. After all, even the KKK is entitled to hold opinions contrary to the Constitution. However, for the same reason that I would not want the KKK representing us internationally, I wish they would stop insisting they are smashing free speech in the name of the United States.
Unbelievable! I understand Editorial Pages and welcome them, but is Newsweek planning to now feature a Liar’s Page in the publication? Why is Newsweek planning to fund someone totally discredited (and should have been indicted) like Karl Rove giving him a (used to be) respectable forum in which to do his dissembling? Is the publication going to relabel itself Foxweek?
Unfortunately, this is more proof positive that journalism no longer has any likelihood of being the instrument that might save our democracy.
Tobacco companies are right about Measure 50. Smoker’s shouldn’t be required to pay for children illnesses having nothing to do with smoke. Instead, let’s tax tobacco company shareholders for 100% of the costs of every smoke-related illness. Bet ya, that’s run the tab a lot higher.
It’s embarrassing when only a Republican seems to be talking about the real costs of Iraq.
No, you should encourage Bush and Cheney to eat as much high colesterol, high fat, probably toxic chemical infused, (hopefully negligently raised in China), turkey meat as they can stuff down their gullets. Given the pitifully understaffed, underfunded USDA inspection department, there is an excellent chance that if you give them the bird, they might die. Too bad a lot of us will while we are waiting for them to do so.
Perhaps it is time for the Democratic candidates for President to vow that they will seek to prosecute Bush themselves once he is out of office or turn him over to the International Court of Justice to let them do it.
Those who think Fox “News” is the fanatically partisan, slipshodly unethical, PR department for the Republican Party have been proven wrong once again. Apparently, Fox “News” is only the partisan, unethical PR department for SOME Republicans.
I have come to the conclusion that democracies are short lived. Athens, the historical prototype, only lasted about a century and a half at best. It seems that success contains the seeds for its own failure. It is success that makes us lackadaisical, lazy, lethargic in protecting what we accomplished.
Good. Someone please please take him up on it. Be sure to do it on CNN so the Republicans can watch. And, as long as we are doing such a test, let’s ask him some questions about what information he might like to share on things like redacting, spying on Americans without warrants, whether he taps toes in restroom stalls, etc.
ATTENTION: CONGRESSMEN, the WHITE HOUSE and the OREGONIAN’S EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS. Have you ever stopped to realize that if the genuine patriots who initially drafted the US Constitution were asked to define the relationship between today’s so-called “Patriot Act” and the word “patriotism,” they probably would declare they were antonyms? If the founding fathers were asked to comment on the efforts to renew the odious domestic surveillance act, they would probably reply, “What part of the unambiguous prohibition in the Constitution against warrantless searches do you not seem to understand?” The Constitution is an amazing document and one that everyone mentioned above except the Oregonian editors swore an oath to defend. Too bad none seem to have read it or believed it.
Daily, I wake up believing it is not possible for the Democrats, the Journalists, the Judges, the Regulators and the Electorate trusting in all four to be more gullible, more cowardly, more craven, more lazy, or more lacking in common sense and general ethics than the day before. Each day, I am disappointed as I discover they each have sunk to new depths.
The Republic can survive degeneracy of the White House and perhaps two or three of the “watchdog” groups, but not all of them at the same time, especially since coordinated protest among the Electorate has almost vanished. I fear for our future.
I am not a Democratic Party member and frankly I am disgusted with the spinelessness and ineffectiveness of the present party leadership. Their inability to reign in Bush suggests they should all be replaced with someone who could do the job needed. Nevertheless, I have tremendous respect for Al Gore, the man who should have been President of this county. Congratulations to him at least are well deserved.
Would someone please explain why anyone, particularly anyone with cognitive abilities intact, listens to anything said by any Republican. They seem almost the dictionary definition of pathological liars. Even if some actually believe the nonsense that spouts from their mouths, how many years must they be repeatedly proven dead wrong on damn near everything they say before they start to lack credibility? A broken clock is right more often than Republicans.
Apparently the only thing less useful, less effective, less wooden headed than a bush is the forest of Congressional Democrat office holders. If they genuinely cared about this country’s future, you would think they would resign in disgrace and let someone else in office so that the lunatics in the White House who are systematically destroying our future can finally be stopped. It utterly amazes me how incompetent the current Democrat “leadership” (an oxymoron if I ever saw one) are at doing anything that might reign in, or preferably buck off, the Cowboy Impersonator-in-Chief.
Yes, Pelosi and the entire crew of Democrats in Congress are incompetent, lazy, gutless and naive. The entire pack deserves to be fired. We do occasionally need to keep in mind though that there is a critical difference between the Democrats in office and the Republicans. The former merely deserve to be fired. The latter deserve to be jailed.
It is ironic that the Democrats in office attempt to justify their failure to commence impeachment on the grounds that they need instead to spend their time passing their legislative agenda. Frankly, I don’t see them doing much of anything of value in that regard. Their “accomplishments” are penny ante at best especially on critical matters like health care, conservation and genuine alternative energy. Moreover, they have proven to be utterly incompetent when it comes to even slowing down the escalation of the war and our loss of freedoms, let alone getting us out of Iraq.
The Democrats in “charge” already look like jokes. So, why not at least distract the Bush/Cheney skullduggers from other mischief by forcing them to spend time defending themselves from impeachment? I have no illusion that the Keystone Koppers in Kongress will actually be successful in the critically important task of removing the worst and most dangerous administration possibly of all time. But, we might at least uncover some things in the process to convince future voters to be embarrassed that they ever voted Republican in the 21st Century.
The definition of “legal” torture should be limited to what candidates for public office are willing to undergo themselves. For instance, when such candidates are brought before Congressional committees deciding on their nomination for office, perhaps the same techniques advocated by the candidates as being fully “legal” should be used on those candidates to insure they answer committee questions truthfully. It might both provide empirical evidence as to whether or not torture actually works as well as reveal those who are genuinely willing to sacrifice as public servants as opposed to those just desiring to feed at the public trough.
I have long since come to the conclusion that selecting office holders at random out of jury pools might render a better class of candidates. Sure, that guarantees a statistical probability that some will be crooks or mental incompetents, but at least the percentage will be smaller than we have under our present system. I voted for Pat Paulsen. So, I am all for comedians running. Unlike the “real” candidates, at least they realize that what they would be doing in office is a joke. So, go for it Colbert, although I admit I would prefer Jon Stewart to be president if he would run.
We have a make-believe President, an impossible to believe Congress, and an beyond belief Court. What is wrong with a little made up “press conference “? After all, the “real” press corp has proven they believe anything they are told anyway. Besides, even when the public has proof they are being lied to, it seems to make no difference to them. They keep allowing the same old “make up artists” to retain positions of power. Unbelievable!
Maybe we should demand a “macho” test for all presidential candidates. Let’s have them all kicked hard in the crotch at the end of the next debate and vote for whoever first manages to stand tall again.
ON RUPERT MURDOCK’S PURCHASE OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TO COMPETE WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES
Murdock’s new slogan for the Wall Street Journal ought to be “All the News that’s Fit to Abuse”
WHAT IF THE DEMOS KNUCKLE UNDER TO BUSH AGAIN?
The message which ought to be conveyed to Democrat Party leaders is that if they are too incompetent, too ineffective, too lazy, too cozy with the Prez or just plain too cowardly to halt the War, then they should get out of the way or expect to be shoved out. These wrongheaded idiots got us into the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place. Now they can’t seem to get us out. We need to get them out. Once again, it suggests that we desperately need a “None of the Above” choice on ballots.
REGARDING THOMAS FRIEDMAN’S TARNISHED CREDENTIALS AND HIS OPINIONS ON WHAT TO DO ABOUT IRAQ
What a shame that reporters, pundits and self styled experts like Thomas Friedman (not to mention most of the White House Press Corp and absolutely everyone on Fox News) can’t be canned for being wrong so long so often. Isn’t being right as important in the long run as being fair and honest? Certainly, if there is no way for a journalist to lose his right to write when consistently mistaken, then Journalism does not deserve to be called a “profession” as say the licensed practice of doctors, lawyers or accountants surely is.
Perhaps we should insist on “box scores” of being right or at least a warning label in each column/broadcast/story after a certain accumulated history being proven wrong. Every dog is entitled to one free bite. Journalist would get, say, ten stupid glaring errors. Thereafter, their work has to include the tagline of “probable fiction.” That way, we would have a better chance of telling which ones are genuine seers and which ones are gullible suckers.
Unfortunately, the newspaper and other media owners have little interest in being right wing than being actually right.
ON THE UPCOMING TESTIMONY OF THE IRAQ WAR ZONE COMMANDER
Betcha General Petraeus’ll betray us.
ON THE CONTINUING COWARDICE OF ELECTED DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFICIALS
We need to impeach the entire Congressional leadership for failing to impeach Bush, Cheney and Gonzales. The Democrats currently in charge expressly swore during their oath of office to defend the Constitution. There has never been a bigger threat to the Constitution than the high crime machinations and misdemeanors of the President and his minions.
ON THE DEATH OF TWO OF THE SEVEN SERGEANTS WHO SPOKE OUT ON HOW BAD THE IRAQ WAR IS GOING
How come those who get the data and predictions dead right about the Iraq War always seem to end up dead, demoted, banished, fired, muzzled, or slimed while those who get it horribly wrong get medals? Too bad we can’t sue Presidents for malpractice. Frankly, the toenail clippings of those sergeants were worth than Bush.
I’m surprised that OJ isn’t working for Bush. They have the same arrogance, aggressiveness, greediness, self centeredness, disconnect from reality and assumption laws do not apply to them. Maybe Bush will make OJ the replacement attorney general.
I can understand why the Neocons would want to free up the position. After all, they need some place to send all the ethically challenged, scandal ridden, subpoena ducking, political zealots and outright hacks who are being canned or forced to resign from the Justice Department and White Legal Counsel staff.
Except for running for office or becoming a corrupt lobbyist, where else can such Republicans with a law degree go to earn a living? No one who wants an honest and moral employee would voluntarily hire the Bush lawyers who routinely did things like write memos saying torture was okay and searching without warrants is legal. On a daily basis, these guys violated their oath of office to “defend the Constitution.” Apparently, when they took their oaths they quietly substituted the words “Republican Party” for the word “Constitution.”
The democratically elected Iraqi government has demanded the infamous Blackwater company’s private mercenaries get out of Iraq. Has Bush given any consideration to what he will do if (or more likely when) the current or future Iraqi government at some point suddenly demands our “official” troops also leave? Remember, polls and other evidence shows pretty clearly that the overwhelming majority of Iraqi voters want us out. Has Bush considered the fiasco that would result from us having to effect a hasty total pullout ala Vietnam? To be forced into a precipitous retreat not of our choosing would be to abandon billions, maybe trillions, in valuable assets. On the other hand, to stay in defiance would certainly put the lie to any justification that we were actually there to preserve “democracy” or Iraq “freedom.”
Actually, if we were going to do that, it probably would be in the best interest of the US to remove the current Administration BEFORE it gets another chance to drag us into yet another war without proof of the justifications.
There is a document, apparently little known among Administration officials, that actually touches on the concept of whether you punish or attack someone without adequate and reliable proof of guilt. It also discusses who has the power to declare war. Hint: it is not the White House.
That forgotten document is called the Constitution. Before the Neocons seized power, it used to espouse our governing principles.
Perhaps those in Congress ought to read it since they were sworn into office by promising to defend the Constitution. It would be especially useful if they would read the part about a preferred method for removing officials for high crimes and misdemeanors known as impeachment.
If those in charge of Congress read the Constitution once in a while, perhaps it would not require the rest of us to do their job for them. Perhaps we need to impeach first anyone who fails to impeach the President and his cabal.
In any event, it is doubtful if anything could be more disastrous to our country and our Constitution than allowing the current idiots to remain in dictatorial power.
Should this be called Blackwatergate, Bushwater, Bushwa or just more of the incredible Bushshit in which our esteemed leader has immersed us?
We should be similarly ending the immunity of Bush Cheney. Why haven’t impeachment proceedings been started on them?
There used to be a deadly game called “Russian Roulette.” It probably should be renamed Bush Roulette. You flirt with moral, economic, environmental, diplomatic and literal suicide by putting a loaded Bush at your head, allow him to spin and pull his trigger.
RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS IN WASHINGTON THAT IRAQ IS NOT DOING WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO
If Bush doesn’t happen to like what the Iraq government is doing, why doesn’t he just throw those particular elected officials out like he usually does and replace them with different puppets? After all, that’s why we peremptorily invaded that sovereign country, wasn’t it? To bring them democracy, freedom and the right to do exactly what we tell them to do?
MOVE BUSH TO IRAQ
If Bush doesn’t think the elected Iraq government is following orders or kowtowing often enough, why doesn’t he just jail or kill them like he usually does when he is bringing “peace, freedom and democracy” to the countries he invades? As he has observed many times, he don’t need no stinkin’ cooperation from anybody. He can just take what he and his fellow oil autocrats want.
Besides, Jesus’d kick Mohammad’s butt in a cage match and Jesus is Bush’s buddy.
Better yet, why doesn’t Bush just take over the Iraq government and run it personally? He could move his White House there or build a new bigger and better one from which to continue his “struggle for civilization.” Maybe call it the Green House in honor of the Green Zone. Of course, he would have to expand it since right now so much of it is within mortar distance. Maybe it would be the Green Bunker in an undisclosed location.
Once relocated, Bush could continue as President for life there once his last term is up here, assuming of course he plans to ever leave office here.
His personal touch over there no doubt would quickly solve everything. After all, his personal touch has worked so well for our own country. And, taking over power there, he wouldn’t even need his Republican moles on the Supreme Court to cheat for him. He can use the Blackwater company’s mercenary troops instead.
Say, wouldn’t it be a nice irony if either the Republican owned Blackwater or Halliburton companies renamed their troops the Republican Guard? That way when Iran is invaded, it would be the Republican Guard fighting the Republican Guard.
GETTING OUT OF IRAQ
An open letter to the candidates and especially Hillary Clinton:
Please please stop playing coy about getting out of Iraq. I realize you covet the presidency and would do almost anything to get elected, but please think of the country before satisfying your personal desires.
We desperately need to get out of Iraq and immediately. We need to do so while we are still able to make that choice on our own. We need to get out before there is a repeat of the awful Embassy evacuation from Saigon.
Your voice in speaking out for immediate withdrawal would help, especially if you speak out now before it is seen as a mere unconvincing political ploy. Besides, most of the voters favor prompt withdrawal anyway. But, whether they do or not is irrelevant to an intelligent cost/benefit analysis of going NOW versus staying indefinitely.
It is sucking our military and treasury dry. It has already cost us our friends, our ideals, our honor and gained us what? It is diverting us from other more important goals and needs.
The war, started because of ego and arrogance, was based on lies from the very beginning. Why believe the latest lies as to the supposed and exaggerated costs of getting out?
The terrorists’ll follow us home? Right. When was the last time a Viet Cong suicide bomber bothered us in the continental United States? Heck, when was there ever a terrorist incident here originating in SE Asia? Come to think of it, Bush is buddy buddy with communist Vietnam now as a favored nation trading partner.
A blood bath in Iraq? Yeah, Cambodia had one, but if you check history, you’ll discover that the Vietnamese were the ones to ultimately stop it. In any event is not worth anymore of our lives even if it does. This sad sorry episode has taught us once again that we are not equipped to be occupiers or settle civil wars.
Big embarrassment from “cutting and running”? Okay, ya got me on that one, but aside from the question of actually deserving it for abandoning our principles so much and peremptorily invading someone who wasn’t attacking us, the question becomes embarrassment for whom?
Have you considered the cost and embarrassment if we are later forced out? In other words, told to leave by the elected parliament? Perhaps more importantly to you, have you considered the cost to your own administration if we are not out before inauguration day? Once you are in office kiddo, the war is yours. Totally. You get tagged with the loser label at that point as Nixon did even though Johnson really started it, again based on lies.
It is true there is no honor in leaving. But there was no honor in invading in the first place and even less honor in staying, especially when any worthwhile goal is no longer realistically achievable at an acceptable price thanks to the monumental blunders of Bush and his cabal.
It is also true there will be costs to both us and the Iraqis if we leave immediately, but less than if we stayed. Surely you do not think the war is “winnable” as Bush proclaims. Surely you are not still afraid of him and his neocon-victs and loud mouthed pundits. If you are, then you should not be president.
Written by a Vietnam combat vet who is not now and has never been a pacifist.
REGARDING THE RESIGNATION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES
We should not be cheering merely because Gonzales walked away from the Attorney General job. It would have been far better for Gonzales to have faced impeachment so that he could be investigated under oath. That way we might have gotten a perp walk and disbarment instead of the usual Rose Garden photo op.
Besides, remember how glad we were when conservative zealot Ashcroft finally left? We didn’t think it was even possible to get someone worse. Yet, it turns out Ashcroft was a paragon of virtue, honesty and competence in comparison to Gonzales.
Once again I find myself assuming it is simply not possible for Bush to dig up a replacement this time around that would be more antagonistic to the Constitution, the oath of office, human decency, integrity and the rule of law than Gonzales was. I find myself hoping Congress will not do its usual weak protest and then promptly cave in to Bush’s choice as it usually does. Yet, given how horribly surprised I was last time at how depraved Bush’s preference for that job turned out to be, I am no longer sanguine as to the outcome.
REGARDING WHY IMPEACHMENT IS STILL OFF THE TABLE
Once you start counting trees, it is pretty clear it’s a forest
Would someone please explain to me how many exposures and admissions of violations and illegal acts does it take before Congress is finally forced to impeach and hold Bush/Cheney to their oaths of office? Hell, Bush/Cheney stampeded Congress into both a complete surrender of it’s own duties and a paralyzing fear of a sixth of the world’s population by conflating less than a single handful of terror incidents involving less than a bus full of cadre total. In contrast, there are thousands upon thousands of almost hourly assaults against the Constitution. It is already metaphorically rivaling the Great Wall of China and could probably be seen from space. Yet, Congress does not seem to see it. How much evidence must be piled up before it is impossible for Congress to ignore?
The attacks on the Constitution are so unrelenting, so broad, so thorough, and so far reaching as to amount to a repeal or repudiation of everything this country once stood for. Yet nothing, not even admitted torture and murder by the present Administration, seems to motivate Congress to reconsider whether what has been done and whether it was necessary, prudent, or even actually useful for any purpose other than creating a risable dictatorship.
Almost everything has been given up in return for little or nothing of value. Is everyone in Congress ignorant, craven, fearful, weak, lazy, ineffective, indifferent or some combination thereof? Or, worse yet, has BushCheney used the illegal spying on Americans primarily to uncover blackmail on the Congress members which keeps them from acting?
Those are important questions. Why aren’t a majority of our representatives asking them?
