February 5, 2004
How He Detests Democracy
et cetera
On December 18, 2000, less than a week after a corrupt, right wing-dominated "Supreme" Court brought an iron fist down on the democratic process in Florida and installed George W. Bush as president, CNN quoted the boy as saying, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." There was no humor in this line, especially coming a few days after his junta seized power by stopping the counting of votes. And there's no reason to think Dubya was expressing anything but his true feelings about the subject, especially in light of his conduct since that time. Now we are entering an election year, and we are getting a dramatic display of why Bush loathes democracy so much.To one born into power who believes he is entitled to rule, elections are just a pain in the ass. Even though elections are largely fixed by media manipulation, voting machine manipulation, voter roll wiping, intimidation, moving of polling places at the last minute, introducing false requirements to voters, and many more things in the bouquet of voter fraud that we saw displayed in Florida in 2000, there is still a measure of accountability that is introduced into the political scene in an election year. We are seeing it now, and it's not making Georgey happy at all.
Suddenly we see the Bush regime giving in to pressure in several ways. Things are not looking good. The regime had to give in to allowing the 9/11 commission more time, and to allowing an inquiry into the "intelligence problems" that cause the country to go to war on false pretenses.
Things are so disastrous in Iraq, Bush is trying to get help from that organization that he scorned so arrogantly back when he had hot pants for war. If the UN wants to be relevant, he said, it better get with the program, because we don't need no stinkin' permission slip from no stinkin' UN. He's sure changed his tune now.
What is at the root of all this trouble for Bush is the impending election. It's causing him all kinds of trouble. Having to be accountable for one's actions is just too much. So you can bet that if he somehow manages to seize that presidency again, one way or another -- through whatever trick they pull out of their bag this time, he'll make sure we don't have none of them stinkin' elections no more.
Now with all this political pressure, probes breaking out all around into his nefarious affairs, Bush is not happy. Just wait until after the election. If he gets in again, he'll get even.
And Furthermore:
That foul son of a lying Powell, whose life purpose at the FCC up to now seems to have been trying to secure greater media monopolization for Ruppert Murdoch and the three or four others who own virtually all the American broadcast airwaves, has now come up with one of the most absurd wastes of taxpayer money yet devised. He's launching some kind of "probe" into the Super Bowl Half Time show because of the unfortunate and glorious accident involving Janet Jackson's right breast. Is this for real? Is this obese drone really bizarre enough to launch an investigation over this? Is he really that offended? Give us a break. The general's son seems a bit timorous. Ugh. Michael Powell, crawl back into your hole please! Michael Powell's only claim to fame, besides being the corporate errand boy who controls the FCC, is to be the son of the former general now secretary of state of the illegitimate Bush junta who lied to the United Nations to trick them into signing a resolution supporting war against Iraq. I received the following note. I can't even vouch for its authenticity in an Internet world in which nothing is real. So take it how you will. If it is real and true, then it is of vital importance. If, for sake of argument, it is not real, it is still an eventuality that must be considered, because it is not out of character with a great many other examples of how power is exercised in America at the highest levels today. Here is the message: John just called after being interrogated by the US Secret Service for 2 hours. When the plane landed in Washington it was boarded by the Secret Service and "passenger John Buchanan" was summoned on the intercom. He was taken to a secret interrogation room, locked in, and questioned and humiliated for 2 hours. He stated that the questions involved sexual deviant questions, personal habits, family questions relating to parents and experiences as a child as well as being questioned about his candidacy and what he was doing in NH and now Washington. John was completely open and honest and gave out references and phone numbers to verify the answers to his interrogation. He said the Secret Service released him saying that they would check his story and if it is true then he has nothing to worry about. John said he will be giving the speech tonight and nothing will stop that because this speech is important to the people. I told John that I sent out his request concerning our calling C-Span and he is counting on all of us now to do our part and help him as much as we can. The time is short--John is in this for keeps. Send this message out to all parts of the globe and let the truth ring out!!!! Bob Herbert has written a mighty piece for the New York Times about Halliburton, the greatest thieves in the history of the world. "Can you spell Halliburton?" Herbert asks. "R-i-p- o-f-f. War-torn Iraq has been a gold mine for Halliburton, yet another treasure trove of U.S. taxpayer dollars for a company that has no peer in the fine art of extracting riches from the government." Fate had me reading a story by H.G. Wells from 99 years ago called "A Dream of Armageddon" -- a pre-World War I vision of a future cataclysm -- I came across some paragraphs that rang with hideous resonance. In one piece the narrator refers to "The Gang", which sounds eerily like the Bush administration. "...the Gang -- you know it was called the Gang -- a sort of compromise of scoundrelly projects and base ambitions and vast public emotional stupidities and catchwords -- the Gang that kept the world noisy and blind year by year, and all the while that it was drifting, drifting towards infinite disaster." One of the best things about a Kerry candidacy is that it has forced the issue of Bush's military record, it has forced a reluctant mainstream press to raise the question. The Boston Globe is one of the few major papers that has run coverage of Bush's apparent dereliction of duty during his obligation to the National Guard. But now even the AOL-Time Warner evil empire is actually bringing up the question. Now we have a poll from CNN, USA Today and Gallup, that shows Kerry ahead of Bush by seven points in a hypothetical election. There are always aspects of these polls that are rather Wonderlandish. This one is supposed to give us some sort of valid, scientific measure of how "we" Americans feel about this matter, who we would vote for if the election were held today. But this poll, the article says, was "based on interviews with 1,001 adult Americans, including 562 likely voters." So we are being told this represents what would happen in an election, and barely half of this tiny selection are even considered "likely voters." What difference does it make who they would vote for if they aren't even likely to vote? Out of a thousand, nearly six hundred are eliminated -- or should be because they are by definition not relevant to what is supposedly being tested. Now we are left with another 439 or so, who are supposed to represent the 200 million or so people in the U.S. What they say is supposed to tell me how the election will go, or would go if it were held today. The idea that 439 people could represent a couple hundred million is based on the theory that they are "scientifically selected." Oh, that's very impressive. But in this scientific selection, less than half are even likely voters. Doesn't that cast a little doubt on the method of scientific selection? Joe Conason says Bush's stories about his military career don't add up: "In light of what journalists and other researchers have learned since the publication of Mr. Bush’s book, his account is unmistakably fraudulent."
February 1, 2004
Bush's military record is on the table -- Introducing John Kerry, Vietnam Vet Max Cleland said, "'We need somebody who has felt the sting of battle, not someone who didn't even complete his tour stateside in the Guard,' said Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, in a reference to allegations that Bush, who stopped flying with the Texas Air National Guard in 1972, did not fulfill the last two years of his military obligation," says the Boston Globe. Bush was a no-show -- According to MSNBC, "Boston Globe reporter Walter Robinson did an exhaustive study of Bush's military service, which was published in May 2000. Robinson concluded that during Bush's final 18 months in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972 and 1973, he did not fly at all and was "all but unaccounted for," with no records to indicate that he attended any of the required drills. Bush was working for a Senate campaign in Alabama for part of the time, and was supposed to appear for duty there, but never did. After the November '72 election, Bush returned to Houston, but he was a no-show there, as well. Under the rules at the time, guardsmen who miss duty were supposed to be reported and could then be drafted. Seven months after Bush returned to Houston, two of his commanding officers filed a report noting that Bush had not been "observed" at his unit during the previous 12 months. That evidently shocked Bush into performing. Over the next three months, from May to July 1973, he spent 36 days on Guard duty, for which he was rewarded with an early discharge to attend Harvard Business School." Much as Dean was castigated for saying the capture of Saddam Hussein did not make Americans safer, he was undeniably correct. According to the Financial Times, "US combat deaths in Iraq have risen sharply during January despite a drop in the number of attacks and the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein over a month ago." Bush falls in polls -- According to MSNBC, "While Kerry is enjoying his bounce in the polls, Bush’s approval rating is at an all-time low in the Newseek poll, slipping to 49 percent (with 43 percent approving). Almost half (49 percent) do not want to see the president reelected in the fall (compared to 45 percent who do), which represents a slight improvement in his favor over last week, when 52 percent didn’t want to see him re-elected (44 percent did)." According to Kay's testimony, Powell lied up and down to the UN. New York Times Why the media turned on Dean. Joplin Independent. Where Democrats draw the line: they won't say Bush deliberately lied to fool the nation into war. WSWS The BBC fights for its life as an independent medium. Sunday Herald "Defense" spending to top $400 billion. ("Compassionate Conservatism" was the first lie.) BBC
February 2, 2004
The Super Bowl ad that CBS wouldn't air because it was too "controversial" was so mild! It was hard to believe after all the fuss. The way CBS reacted to it, I expected to see Bush with a Nazi uniform, chopping up babies with a meat cleaver. It was almost tender. Meanwhile CBS shows a halftime performance that has Justin Timberlake humping an eager-looking Janet Jackson and pulling one of the cups of her bra off in the exchange, leaving only a pastie. A little tacky, but that's okay. But why the big fuss over the "controversy" of a political ad that is guilty of no more than being opposed to George Bush's fiscal policies and his abuse of the unrich? It was sure an anticlimax seeing the ad.And in other news:
A judge ordered a DNA test of Neil Bush, Dubya's brother, one of the founding fathers of the Savings & Loan scandal of the '80s and a good buddy of John Hinckley's brother Scott. The test was requested by Neil's wife Sharon, to see if he fathered a child with another woman while he was married. AOL News Castro accuses Bush of plotting with Miami Cubans to assassinate him. Miami Herald Bushonomics: According to the Washington Post, "A record-high 375,000 jobless workers will exhaust their unemployment insurance this month and an estimated 2 million workers will find themselves in the same predicament during the first half of the year, according to an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." USNewswire says, "In Dec. 2003, the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 10.3%. The sustained double-digit rate for the past 14 months, makes the current recession the worst turnabout in the labor market faced by African Americans in more than 25 years." World unemployment has reached a record high. BostonChannel.com Wolf Blitzer interviews Scott Ritter on CNN. Blitzer: "What do you say to David Kay's bottomline report? Do you feel vindicated?" Ritter: "Well, it goes beyond any sense of personal vindication, I think we're dealing with a national issue here where all Americans need to reflect long and hard on the reason why 130,000 troops are at war. I think David Kay made the only conclusion the facts would allow him to make which is that there is no evidence to sustain the pre-war assertions made by President Bush and others that Iraq had massive stockpiles of chemical and biological agent. That they had an ongoing nuclear weapons program. That they had a ballistic missile capability. Clearly there was no substantive fact to back up the allegations and David Kay has drawn the right conclusion on that front."... Blitzer: "Let me interrupt you, Scott. What happened was 9/11." Ritter: 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq and now we come down to the crux of the matter here. This isn't an intelligence failure, this is a policy failure. This is policymakers like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice and others who used 9/11 to pursue their own agenda on Iraq when they knew there was neither substantive factually based information to sustain Iraq's weapons of mass destruction threat or links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. We have to go back to Harry Truman's old adage. The buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I agree, there has to be a full investigation but not just of the intelligence community but of the policymakers who made the decision to go to war based upon faulty (UNINTELLIGIBLE)." "Security" of Diebold voting machines is a joke. Arab Americans who previously supported Bush are deserting him. WND.com Site for Free Minds -- LibertyThink.com, Cognitive liberty in an age of statist propaganda.
February 3, 2004
I get a lot of e-mails about penis enlargement, but none for penis reduction. Now Bush has finally given in to pressure to set up an "independent commission" to look into his problems with intelligence. Looks like Bush gets to hand pick the participants. How convenient for him!. Bush says he "want[s] all the facts". MSNBC John Dean keeps us up on the Outing of Plame Investigation. Findlaw It's made it to the New York Times! Hurray! "Given the growing body of evidence, it is clear that electronic voting machines cannot be trusted until more safeguards are in place."
February 4, 2004
Bush is going to select the committee to investigate the supposed intelligence problems that caused the country to invade Iraq on false information. The false information came from Bush. So it's hard to see why he should be the one to control the investigation. It is said to be modeled on the Warren Commission, a blatant fraud. That's almost as much of an insult as picking Killer Kissinger to head the 9/11 commission. It's not without its humorous aspect. Boston Globe, Myway.com The White House has also confiscated the notes of the congressional inquiry into 9/11 and is keeping them from the independent commission to investigate 9/11, which it stalled at every step of the way in its creation and its operation and is now trying to terminate as soon as possible. Washington Post. Bush fits the profile of a bully. bullyonline.org Some of what few dared to whisper in public a couple of years ago is now trickling upward to major corporate media. Phil Berg, the attorney for 9/11 widow Ellen Mariani, who is suing Bush over 9/11, said on MSNBC, "I think that there is no question that Bush knew about it ... was very complicit in the events of 9/11 ... if there was nothing to hide, why would Bush be hiding everything? He didn't want the 9/11 Commission. He has been stonewalling the 9/11 Commission. They want to extend the 9/11 Commission. The word is now that the president and the White House doesn't want to do it ... Think about it. For the events of 9/11 to have occurred, 116 governmental agencies and fail safe systems would have had to fail on that day. The odds of that happening are one in four million.'" The Bible says it, and the Bible is God's Word. Jerry Falwell quoted scripture to justify Bush's invasion of Iraq. wnd.com Interesting 9/11 site. greatdreams.com NOTES
February 6, 2004
It seems evident that the surge for Kerry is a reflection of a tremendous desire to get Bush out, and to pick someone who will look very good in a matchup with Bush. (Chicago Tribune) Certainly issue for issue, Kerry outclasses Bush and represents a better way for Americans than the Bush insanity. Dean was more courageous in opposing the war while others were pussyfooting around. Dean does represent a grassroots movement toward shaking up Washington. That is not something that has to die if Dean's candidacy fails. But Kerry must be shown the will of the people, he has been pushed, largely through being shown by the Dean campaign what really aroused the people, or what they were already aroused by. But people now are seeing it clearly paramount to unseat Bush, and are seeing Kerry as the best equipped to go up against Bush and the media cartel. It may not be as lively a government or as innovative a time if Kerry gets in as it would be if Dean got in. But people sense that Dean has vulnerabilities in a contest against Bush and the machine the cut Gore to pieces and spit him out every day. Kerry has the status of his military record, his Senate experience, his Vietnam Vets Against The War. It will be much harder for the Bush smear machine to destroy him. Their own man is so vulnerable. Chicago Tribune