Sunday, October 30, 2005

NOTABLE QUOTES

"According to some estimates
we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions"
—Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
CBS News, January 2002

"This one company that had access to the computers at the FAA and the Pentagon and the FBI and Secret Service on 9-11-2001 was on a terrorist watch list, because of the supposed links to terrorist organizations. Michael Chertoff, who is now the head of Homeland Security, was the head of the Department of Justice's Criminal Investigation Division on 9-11. He refused permission to any FBI agents to raid the offices of this company that had access to the computers which allowed the second and third planes to hit their targets. This despite the links to "Arab terrorists" by their board of directors."
Anonymous, 10-31-05


"The dream of the one-power world may have expired in intractable Iraq, but the dream of the one-party state at home is not yet dead. Bush's difficulty is that his chief opposition is not the weak-kneed Democrats, unable to mount effective opposition even to the Iraq War, but the neglected stuff of the real world. What is currently "voting" against Bush, you might say, is not so much the bloc of independents or security moms or any of the other slices of the demographic pie that public opinion pollsters examine but the molecules of carbon dioxide heating up the global air, the collapsed water purification system of Iraq, the dollars fleeing our Treasury, the wages emptying out of people's pockets." Jonathan Schell,
"Faith and Fraud", The Nation, 11-2-05


"The Fitzgerald indictment makes perfectly clear that the White House misled the public as to its involvement in sliming Wilson and talking about Plame."

"Bush needs to tell the public -- yes, the old phrase still applies -- what he knew about the operation to discredit Wilson and when he knew it. And he shouldn't hide behind those "legalisms" that Republicans were so eager to condemn in the Clinton years."

"The obligation to come clean applies, big-time, to Cheney, who appears at several critical points in the saga detailed in the Fitzgerald indictment. What exactly transpired in the meetings between Libby and Cheney on the Wilson case? It is inconceivable that an aide as careful and loyal as Libby was a rogue official. Did Cheney set these events in motion? This is a question about good government at least as much as it is a legal matter."
E.J. Dionne Jr.,
What the 'Shield' Covered Up, Washington Post, November 1, 2005


"To protect a war spun from fantasy, the Bush team played dirty."

"This administration's grand schemes always end up as the opposite. Officials say they're promoting national security when they're hurting it; they say they're squelching terrorists when they're breeding them; they say they're bringing stability to Iraq when the country's imploding. (The U.S. announced five more military deaths yesterday.)"

"And the most dangerous opposite of all: W. was listening to a surrogate father he shouldn't have been listening to, and not listening to his real father, who deserved to be listened to."

Maureen Dodd,
"Who's On First?", NYT, October 29, 2005


"Legally, there are no significant differences between the investor fraud perpetrated by Enron CEO Ken Lay and the prewar intelligence fraud perpetrated by George W. Bush. Both involved persons in authority who used half-truths and recklessly false statements to manipulate people who trusted them. There is, however, a practical difference: The presidential fraud is wider in scope and far graver in its consequences than the Enron fraud. Yet thus far the public seems paralyzed."

"In response to the outcry raised by Enron and other scandals, Congress passed the Corporate Corruption Bill, which President Bush signed on July 30, 2002, amid great fanfare. Bush declared that he was signing the bill because of his strong belief that corporate officers must be straightforward and honest. If they were not, he said, they would be held accountable."

"Ironically, the day Bush signed the Corporate Corruption Bill, he and his aides were enmeshed in an orchestrated campaign to trick the country into taking the biggest risk imaginable--a war. Indeed, plans to attack Iraq were already in motion. In June Bush announced his "new" pre-emptive strike strategy. On July 23, 2002, the head of British intelligence advised Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the then-secret Downing Street Memo, that "military action was now seen as inevitable" and that "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." Bush had also authorized the transfer of $700 million from Afghanistan war funds to prepare for an invasion of Iraq. Yet all the while, with the sincerity of Marc Antony protesting that "Brutus is an honorable man," Bush insisted he wanted peace."

"In an Ipsos Public Affairs poll, commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org and completed October 9, 50 percent said that if Bush lied about his reasons for going to war Congress should consider impeaching him. The President's deceit is not only an abuse of power; it is a federal crime. Specifically, it is a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, which prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States."

"So what do citizens do? First, they must insist that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence complete Phase II of its investigation, which was to be an analysis of whether the Administration manipulated or misrepresented prewar intelligence. The focus of Phase II was to determine whether the Administration misrepresented the information it received about Iraq from intelligence agencies. Second, we need to convince Congress to demand that the Justice Department appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Administration's deceptions about the war, using the same mechanism that led to the appointment of Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the outing of Valerie Plame. (As it happens, Congressman Jerrold Nadler and others have recently written to Acting Deputy Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr. pointing out that the Plame leak is just the "tip of the iceberg" and asking that Fitzgerald's authority be expanded to include an investigation into whether the White House conspired to mislead the country into war.)"

"Third, we can no longer shrink from the prospect of impeachment. Impeachment would require, as John Bonifaz, constitutional attorney, author of Warrior-King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, has explained, that the House pass a "resolution of inquiry or impeachment calling on the Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into whether grounds exist for the House to exercise its constitutional power to impeach George W. Bush." If the committee found such grounds, it would draft articles of impeachment and submit them to the full House for a vote. If those articles passed, the President would be tried by the Senate. Resolutions of inquiry, such as already have been introduced by Representatives Barbara Lee and Dennis Kucinich demanding that the Administration produce key information about its decision-making, could also lead to impeachment."

Elizabeth de la Vega, "The White House Criminal Investigation",
The Nation, November 14, 2005 issue.


"...the choices made by--or stolen from--the American people in the 2000 election have gained a momentum that will run and reverberate through the history of the next 30 years. The dangling chad high jinks of 2000 has put into power a bellicose and internationally unilateralist, interventionist administration. Bush Corp. consists of former movers and shakers of the fossil fuel industry--the very industry responsible for producing the key ingredient for runaway climate change. Current American policy and fossil fuel consumption are in effect throwing gasoline on the fires of global warming. And, it is a prescient fact that hundreds of prophecies from around the world--including even those recently published by the Pentagon--point to climate disruption as the key trigger for apocalyptic global warfare in the near future."
John Hogue

"If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or a major pandemic you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that'll take you back to the Declaration of Independence." Col. Larry Wilkerson [Chief of staff for Colin Powell in Bush 2 administration and former director of Marine War College]

"Beginning in 1984, the Centers for Disease Control began providing Saddam's Iraq with biological materials--including viruses, retroviruses, bacteria, fungi, and even tissue that was infected with bubonic plague."
As Craig Unger reported in his 2004 book,
House of Bush, House of Saud

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity,"
Bush said October 6 at a meeting of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

"Martial law, that's next. Bush is like a plane of glass. You can see all the worms turning around in his head at any moment. The first giveaway of what's on his mind--or the junta's mind."
Gore Vidal [10-20-2005]

"...the US occupation force which last week distinguished itself by burning two bodies of men who attacked some of them and then having Sergeant Jim Baker, "a member of a psychological operations unit", bellowing on his loudspeaker to Afghan villagers "Attention Taliban, you cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be." This was all recorded by an Australian television team." Brian Cloughley,
"The Fifth Afghan War"

Saturday, October 29, 2005

N-U-C-L-E-A-R

N-U-C-L-E-A-R.
The word is used as liberally as the air we breathe.
A Congressional filibuster is called the
nuclear option.
The investigation of the CIA leak produced the shibboleth
nuclear bomb to refer to potential indictments.
As we all know, the word nuclear can refer either to the peaceful or the military application of nuclear energy.
Peaceful Energy or Violent War?
I believe it was Albert Camus who wrote “Violence has been made comfortable.”
Is the United States making nuclear bombs and nuclear war comfortable, and what is worse…
Acceptable?
Our violent movies…
Our violent video games…
Our violent wars (which use Depleted Uranium Radioactive Bullets & Bombs!).
Yes,
VIOLENCE HAS BEEN MADE...TOO COMFORTABLE!!

Friday, October 28, 2005

ROUND UP THE SCOUNDRELS

Alright, it wasn't Rove...YET...who got indicted.
It is difficult to believe that the higher-ups (Cheney , Bush, Rice & Rumsfeld) did not know about what Mr. Libby was doing on his Scooter.
The chain-of-command has always gone from Cheney down to Bush (notwithstanding the latter's brain which Mr. Rove has occupied).
But it seems unlikely that these servants of the people (The liars and enslavers of a country) did not all have the same insidious ball bouncing in each of their courts.
They all knew where the ball was and where it was going.
The tissue of lies (i.e. toilet paper) will continue to unravel.
The Democrats will use the progressive unraveling to propel their own forward motion towards the White House.
However, for the nation's welfare and its future as a Democracy, these lies must be revealed.
The scoundrels must be rounded up (Fired? Forced out? Impeached?) "Dodge" must be a cleaner city before the Bush cabal departs.
The world must know that America still has the courage and moral fiber to show that it will clean its own house and remove the rodents who have eaten its people out of their "house and home".

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE INDICTMENTS!

'Twas the night before...
INDICTMENTS!
Not a mouse stirred.
Not even a rat (or Nixon or Bush.)
America held its collective breath.
They couldn't sleep.
Alright, they slept.
But Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh couldn't.
Barbara Bush was at the World Series.
Laura was in the library.
(As usual)
Her hubbie was in the horse stable.
Cheney....we never know where Dick is.
Rove was in the toilet.
Condi was in her mushroom cloud.
Rumsfeld was counting the war profits.
It was the night before...
INDICTMENTS!
Not a mouse stirred.
Not even a rat (or Nixon or Bush.)
America held its collective breath...

Sunday, October 23, 2005

ADIOS TURD BLOSSOM

Hello. Turd Blossom? This is Dubya.
Hello Mr. President.
Just callin' to see if you've got your bags packed.
Yes, Mr. President. They're packed.
Good. Unless I fire Mr. Fitzgerald, you might have to leave the White House.
Yes, I know.
Well, my brain will miss you.
Thank you, Mr. President. I'm sorry that I am leaving you brainless.
No problem. I've got Cheney's brain...as long as his heart keeps ticking. Huh, huh.
Yes, Mr. President. Dick has a fine mind.
Well Turd Blossom, I'll let you go. I have to call Scooter Libby now, and then I need to go find my Halloween costume.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

FOWL FUNDAMENTALISTS

It has been determined that Bill Bennett of Empower America and Pat Robertson of the Christian (Whatever-in-the-hell network) both have the bird flu.
Warnings will soon be issued by the World Health Organization. The WHO will recommend that the public immediately stop watching and paying attention to these extremely sick and fowl fundamentalists.
The avian flu is reportedly a potentially larger danger to the planet than even the 1918 Spanish flu plague was at the turn of the century.

Friday, October 21, 2005

BUSH'S JOB

"The American people expect me to do my job, and I'm going to."
George W. Bush

And what exactly is (and has) been your job GWB?

1. Invading and bombing a country based on fabricated data.
2. Giving large tax breaks to the rich.
3. Gargantuan deficits.
4. Vacationing.
5. Employing cronies.
6. Blinking a lot.
7. More vacationing.
8. Smirking a lot.
9. Not reading any newspapers.
10. Milking horses.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

KARL ROVER - DICK CHICANERY-AND BACKGROUND NOISE

The top secret document was helplessly floating in mid-air when multiple reporters simultaneously grabbed the document before it hit the floor, and the reporters then pondered whether to inform the White House (Karl Rover, Dick Chicanery & Others), who already were aware that the document could bring vengeance upon Joseph Wilson for his revelation of the truth about the Niger-Iraq Uranium falsehood…if only these reporters could think of something...Ah, yes...tell the world that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA...CALL Robert Novak (everybody trusts his word) and have him write a story about Mr. Wilson's CIA spouse.
Gee, did we think of this on our own or did the White House tell us?
Then confuse and contort, disassociate and discombobulate, throw curve balls and dirt balls...say this and that, then say that and this...whirling dervishes! Wolves in sheep's clothing!
(The American public could be fooled once again!)
Then hope that the independent prosecutor will heed some subtle warnings and promises to let the White House have their evil ways again.
(But let George cover our butts if anyone gets in big trouble, because Dubya always gets his way when he lies about anything.)
Time for some pretzels!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

START A REVOLUTION!

There's a lot to worry about today.
A potential world-wide Bird flu epidemic is on its way.
(There goes the fried chicken and Thanksgiving turkey!)
Another monster hurricane is heading in the direction of Forida (stay tuned).
Anti-bacterial soaps might create stronger bacteria than plain old soap and hot water!
The minimum wage will not be increased. The U.S. Senate killed it today.
Let's begin and end with this last worrisome fact and ponder the following:
The U.S. Congress has given themselves a $28,000 pay raise in seven different increments since 1997.
But forget the Americans who pay taxes that gave them their pay increases. No increase has occurred in the Minimum Wage since 1997.
It has been $5.15 for eight years.
This greedy Congress couldn't even give the MW an $.85 increase to a more respectable (and palatable) $6.00/Hr.
Shame on our elected officials.
How about making them use some of their large pay raise(s) to increase the MW.
This is so revolting it ought to start some kind of revolution.

Friday, October 14, 2005

BUSH AND TORTURE


"Mr. President, will you sign the Anti-torture bill?"

"Not goin' to do it.
Won't allow any legislation that stops me from punishing and extracting information from terrorist devils.
I can torture if I have to.
Got to win this War on Terror.
As your War President, I've got to spread democracy no matter how.
Freedom, Peace and Victory are my call words.
I'll stay the course in Iraq until every drop of oil is ours.
Gotta stop those terrorists from stealing the oil that I stole.
Nope. I will veto any bill from Congress that takes away my torture authority.
Now give me some beer and pretzels."

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

BUSH AND BIRD FLU

"Mr. President, we're concerned about an impending bird flu..."

"What bird?
Flew where?"

"Sir, we are referring to the possibility of a flu pandemic caused by birds."

"Which birds?"

"Chickens, sir."

"I don't want to cry fowl on this one gentlemen
(Bush laughs the way he usually laughs)...but it looks like some chickens are coming home to roost, not roast!" (More laughing)

"Sir, we don't believe this is a laughing matter."

"O.K. O.K. No more chicken on the White House menu."

"We agree Mr. President, but we are also wondering whether you have a plan for a potential pandemic?"

"Well, our plate is pretty darn full with Iraq...then Katrina...and that other
hurricain...what was her name? Oh, yeah Iran…I mean Irene."

"Uh, sir, you mean Rita."

"Yeah, Rita. She wasn't mean like that Katrina."

"So, Mr. President, what should we do about this deadly bird flu?"

"Well, if Rove doesn't get his feathers pulled out, get him and Cheney on this chicken thing. Just make sure FEMA doesn't get involved."

"Yes sir."

"Well, time for lunch."

(Bush walks away mumbling
"Fowl is fair, fair is fowl...
hubble-bubble, toil and trouble..."


IT WAS THE OIL STUPID!

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

THE ORIGINAL LEAKER

The media is buzzing and it isn't spring.
It is autumn,
The Fall of Rove?
Unless the ORIGINAL LEAKER ( i.e., the ORIGINAL SINNER) is found in the Valerie Plame investigation, Bush's brain---Karl Rove---might get some psychosurgery.
Dubya looks cocky and confident.
The imperial (istic) regime of Bush may or may not have some of its armour impaled.
My gut feeling is that this administration has nothing to worry about.
Hush money might have quieted this particular Inquisition.
Political problems can be bought and sold.
Politicians and leaders have the lucre to hide their guilt.
In the Plame case the Bush junta has probably worked behind the scenes to erase or eschew any incrimination.
If I am wrong...
Bring out the BEER AND THE PRETZELS!

Friday, October 07, 2005

FREEDOM PEACE AND DEMOCRACY

"But the big picture, the strategic picture, we're losing. If they kill one of us for every thousand we kill -- they have over 20 million people, we have 123,000. You know, the numbers are just against us. And once one begins to look at it objectively like that, it – you’ve got to ask what this is worth, what you gain by doing this."

"I'm trying to think like a strategist, and in war, as well as in politics and diplomacy, one has to know when to withdraw and when to attack. This was a misguided act and it requires a strategic division and moral confidence to turn it around."

"The invasion of Iraq I believe will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history."
Lt. General William Odom

Today I wasn't feeling well.
Then I read the transcript of the War President's speech to the National Endowment for Democracy (10-6-05).
I felt worse when I finished reading "his" words.
The first parts were inspiring.
I was impressed.
"Who’s writing this stuff?" I wondered.
But, then, my shit detector kicked into high gear.
I started recognizing the glittering, patriotic and cliché-filled sound bites, and between them, as they came at me fast and furious, I remembered that the War President and his happy warriors lied to me, to you and to the world.
It still sounded to me like a doctor who says that you are going to be fine even though your heart and lungs are in a pan under your bed.
"Son, you're almost dead, but fight on...stay the course...victory will arrive."
This speech had me swooning and believing until all of the catchwords, clichés and platitudes appeared.
I wanted to believe what the War President (was reading) repeating.
I really wanted to accept his descriptions of what & why the U.S. was fighting.
But I know too much about what has already happened.
Before, after and during this war.
Freedom, peace, democracy...these are just empty words if the people (for whom we are supposedly helping to obtain them) have been irradiated and killed with weapons that "liberated" them.
Freedom, peace & democracy are meaningless to any family who has lost a brother, a sister, an uncle, an aunt, a cousin, a mother, a father, a grandmother or a grandfather as a result of "collateral damage" during the process of their liberation and acquisition of Freedom, Peace & Democracy.
Bush and Cheney have some gifted writers writing the words which they speak.
But the War Presdident is still wrong.
Afghanistan should have been the focus of our vengeance and payback for 9-11.
The hijackers were not Iraqi---or even from Afghanistan.
They were from the Bush family's oil buddy Saudi Arabia.
Osama bin Laden should have been the enemy to be killed.
Al-Qaeda was located in Afghanistan and Pakistan---not Iraq, as it now is, and which the War President now reminds us of and scares us with.
If you were befuddled by the words that the War President read and spoke on October 6, 2004, you are not alone.
But it is always the War Presdent's delivery of his speech that finally tells us how much we can believe or accept.
Watch how he speaks.
Watch his facial expressions.
Watch his eyes.
Watch his mouth.
What did YOU see?
What do YOU believe?

Thursday, October 06, 2005

TODAY'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF BUSH

"We are winning in Iraq (And my polls are really rising).
Progress is being made (I wonder what's the opposite of progress?). We will win this war (This line is wearing thin).
It will take time (The Democrats can figure out how much time in 2008).
Spreading democracy and freedom is hard but we will prevail (This line is also wearing thin).
The terrorists can't win (But they sure have a lot of bombs).
We will defeat them (Gotta sound strong in the face of defeat).
The violence will grow as the election gets closer (Keep repeating the same reassuring propaganda).
Iraqi soldiers are becoming more and more able to protect their people (Yeah...right).
The Iraqi people are ready for freedom (But wish the U.S. would leave).
The world will be safer when Saddam is gone (Oops).
The United States will return to the Moon.
We will find those WMD.
Give me some pretzels.
I need to get my hands on a horse.
Good night and God bless America.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

GOD FORGIVE AMERICA

Americans don't like liars or losers.
Especially when the lies and losers are big.
WMD as a reason to bomb and then occupy Iraq was a big lie.
Devotees to Bush like to ignore and discount this big lie.
Right now the War President is in denial that the war is being lost.
Yes, some battles are being won, but overall the deaths and bombs increase.
The War President has just reminded us that the violence will increase.
This isn't very reassuring.
But Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney are all "singing" the same tune.
The melody and music is not that of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Taps is the melody.
The music is called shame and tragedy.
I am tired of hearing Bush say "God Bless America".
He needs to begin saying "God forgive America."

Saturday, October 01, 2005

THE MARCH TO FREEDOM

"As these milestones approach, we can expect there to be increasing violence from the terrorists," Bush said, after a briefing from US Central Command chief, General John Abizaid, General George Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers.
"We can expect they'll do everything in their power to try to stop the march of freedom," Bush warned during comments in the Rose Garden about terrorism.
Standing on the right side of the emperor-I-wish-I-were-a-dictator War president were the grim-looking twins Rumsfeld and Cheney.
Yes, Mr. War president, your Iraq war is now like a victim of violence with blood gushing out of a gaping hole in the cranium.
And the prognosis is that more and more blood is expected to pour forth until your march of freedom is won.
The War president's top generals are now telling us that fewer Iraqi battalions are ready to replace U.S. soldiers.
Is this to get the American public to accept "staying the course"?
The patient is dying, but we need to continue what we have been doing.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Love is Hate.