It is not news to us, but I just had to put some things down in writing as sort of a cleansing for myself. For this to make some sort of sense, you may need to look at parts I and II. Happy reading and viewing.
Part I
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Maestro/41Part II
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Maestro/43Foreign Relations
Thanks for bringing back my pride in America. I never knew that American style democracy could be set in place in foreign lands even though those lands and peoples have their own core set of values, history and culture.
The neo-con wet dream in Iraq is moving along swimmingly, eh Bushy boy. Even Maliki says there is no civil war in Iraq. You guys suffer from blissful ignorance.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20060725-1508-bush-iraq.htmlSeriously, they said there is no civil war.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1183936.php/At_least_25_civilians_dead_in_ongoing_Iraqi_violence__Roundup_http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=16379 :eyes:
I never voted for these guys. But in all honesty I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined how completely ignorant and arrogant these neocons are. I should have seen it coming reading the PNAC manifesto though. It also seems that the administration’s unwillingness to seek peace in the current Lebanon/Hezbollah/Israel plays right into the hands of the PNACers.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/17/neocons-middle-east-war/David Gregory from NBC at a recent news conference nailed President Morans by demonstrating to Mr. Morans what a failure his foreign policy is!
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/28/manage-calmBut again, even though the Great Moran’s response was pathetic, it is totally acceptable to the PNACer. Politics be damned. We will fight, fight, fight! Unfortunately this does nothing to do with actually bringing peace to the region as pretzelnut originally said he wanted.
These assholes will even lie to the American public about their foreign relations dealings.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/39452/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.htmlhttp://www.downingstreetmemo.com/To top it all off, the key neocon puppet in Iraq in the run-up to war was actually spying for Iran it would seem and the allegations go back several years!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1230314,00.htmlhttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ahmed_Chalabi:_Fall_from_GraceI am so very glad that Shrub is respected internationally. He is such an esteemed guy.
Ooops, wrong. Actually most of the world doesn’t like him. He projects an image that is harmful to the US. We are a laughing stock, period.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/26/opinion/polls/main1838662.shtmlWith John Bolton in the U.N. I am not sure if we will be respected ever. The damage that this guy does might take decades to fix.
He wants a new world order where the U.S. is on top and the rest of the world had better start following or else. This sort of arrogance will do nothing to foster good relations with the rest of the world but he does not care.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20050831.htmlHere is another good political bio of Bolton.
http://www.irc-online.org/content/commentary/2005/0503bolton.phpIt is pretty scary and I can not believe this U.N. hating guy is representing us in the very institution in which he finds no credibility.
Domestic policy
And of course they would never illegally wire-tap Americans. Really, c’mon, what’s the big deal. I will answer my own stupid question. It has something to do with what the framers of the Constitution put in place; a government with three branches with checks and balances.
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/feature/2005/12/20/spying/index.htmlWhen you have lackeys like this in the Congress, there will never be any accountability for the domestic spying and other scandals of this administration. Senator Pat Roberts, a repuke from Kansas, will just stall and kill whatever investigation could have taken place. Here is a great article about this jerk.
http://thinkprogress.org/roberts-coverup/The neocons have attacked the separation of church and state. The fundies, a core base for neocons, is salivating and I say actually welcomes all the strife in the ME because this to them is the end times. Charlatan type tele-evangelists and religion crooks like Falwell love this because they can fill their coffers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YLzSjXmbk8All this English only crap is just stupid and not even needed. It’s a byproduct no doubt of the xenophobic right as they feel more encouraged to try this sophistry with all this immigration hating going on. I’ve been involved in several discussions here where I found myself trying to explain that legislating English or any language for that matter is a bad idea. Just recently an acquaintance of mine spoke to the House Subcommittee on Education Reform and it pretty much sums up very eloquently why this is a bad idea. I am linking to a 22 page PDF buy the first page and a half gives a good summary.
http://users.rcn.com/crawj/Crawford_Official_English_testimony.pdfSpeaking of the immigration wedge issue, the fact still remains that these workers seeking economic and/or political asylum come here because there is work. Shrub does not punish those who employ these people, cheap labor conservatives for the most part. In contrast, the Clinton administration fined hundreds of these companies. To date, I can count on my fingers the number of companies Shrub has fined. Anyhow, now defense contractors are biting at the bit to build high-tech surveillance of the borders which still does not solve the problem. See this fine article for more info. Oh and does it surprise you that Halliburton is involved and has already been given a contract for building a detention facility? :eyes:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13845As of 2004, Shrub had appointed over 100 former lobbyists to run or oversee programs for which they once worked. I smell of huge of conflict of interest here, but it doesn’t matter to Shrub. You have to help your friends and screw the public.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htmShrub’s cabinet is just like corporate America. There is no one there that really cares about the little guy. It is all made up of selfish, egotistical execs whose only allegiance is to the dollar.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11458An updated cabinet is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.htmlOf particular interest is Stephen Johnson who apparently doesn’t mind testing pesticides on humans. Hey but the humans are compensated. :eyes:
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?file=article&name=News&op=modload&sid=1037However, at least this guy has no immediate ties to big business.
http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2005/03/08/little-johnson/The Secretary of Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, is not as well received.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/060317a.aspSnippet:
“Kempthorne amassed a dismal environmental record during his six years in the U.S. Senate in the 1990s, scoring a "0" on the League of Conservation Voters legislative scorecards for every year except 1993, when he scored a 6 percent rating on the basis of one minor vote.”
That is encouraging. :sarcasm:
The newest Department of Energy Secretary you would think would be an expert in energy related issues as energy is playing such an important role in our lives. Uh, well not quite, Bushler nominated Sam Bodman, a financial expert really.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121704_sam_bodman.shtmlSnippet:
“Sam Bodman was recommended for the position by outgoing Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. Evans, of course, is a Texas oil man and one of George Bush's closest friends. Sen. Pete Domenici, a Republican from New Mexico and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that will consider Bodman's nomination, has predicted an easy confirmation.”
I won’t even attempt to go over the idiocy of Condosleeza Rice, Darth Cheney, Don “You are all a bunch of Nazi appeasers” Rumsfeld and Alberto “Let’s cover up Dumbya’s past” Gonzalez.
Of course, in general, this current crop of neocons have just ignored the Constitution in all aspects, domestically and internationally speaking.
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2.htmlOf course, no Democrat has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected if electronic voting machines are used in elections. These machines are hackable and the CEOs of these companies have strong ties to the rethugs. A recent study concluded that electronic voting machines are a security risk.
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6369Of course, the spin at Diebold is that all is fine.
http://www.diebold.com/dieboldes/In the end it is imperative that we get these people out of decision making places and place them back under the rock from whence they came!
Hey, even Joe Scarborough is questioning Doughboy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whhbPVrb5KM Don’t forget to check out some of the responses by our wonderful freeper friends.