1/13/2009 11:06:47 PM

Quote :

"From President George Bush's press conference Monday: "I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best." "

http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2009/01/last-bushism.html

1/14/2009 1:18:04 PM

Quote :

"I remember when Bush was "elected" in 2000, and thinking, wow I can't believe they let this buffoon become president. I remember when Bush was "re-elected" in 2004 and thinking, wow I can't believe they let this buffoon become president, again. "

to be fair...its not like the Dems put up much of a fight with their nominees. kinda like the cons this year.

when was the last time there was an election that both sides felt they had a champion to rally behind?

1/14/2009 4:14:09 PM

Quote :

"when was the last time there was an election that both sides felt they had a champion to rally behind?"

1876.

Rutherford B. Hayes vs. Samuel J. Tilden.


that shit was EPIC, son.

1/14/2009 6:40:25 PM

like jets v sharks epic?

SWEET

1/15/2009 10:23:36 AM

Quote :

"uhhh, sorry i fucked up america. i REALLY thought there were WMDs in iraq. and i was flipping positive that saddam was in cahoots with al queda. well at least the war was easy. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BITCHES. damn was i ever wrong. who knew they were gonna get all insurgent on our asses. really, who knew...you can't predict that shit. and yeah, i know the dudes that attacked us were saudi born and based out of afganistan, but afghanistan is all mountainous and shit, iraq is flat. ya feel me? well, at least we got to blow some shit up...and in the end, isn't that what we all want? and yeah i know north korea was a bigger threat, but i just hate them a-rabs cause they're always talkin' some allah shit and hatin' on our successes. fuck em. i say bring it on. and who gives a fuck about katrina? there aint no white people in new orleans, get off my back. well hey at least we had some good times. remember that time my boss shot the shit out of that old dude? ahhh, i was cracking up for MONTHS over that shit. well i'm outta this piece. ya'll enjoy this shitstain of an economy. sorry for everything, my bad. BUSH OUT "

1/16/2009 1:19:33 AM

Myths & Facts About the Real Bush Record

Quote :

"As the year draws to an end and President Bush enters his final month in office, there is much commentary about the Administration's record over the past eight years. Unsurprisingly, many of these stories assail and distort the President's record and recycle myths and unfounded allegations that have been leveled for the better part of his two terms. Historical accuracy requires a response to the litany of attacks leveled against President Bush, and while there's not enough space to respond to all of them, here are five of the most egregious: Myth 1: The last eight years were awful for most Americans economically and President Bush's deregulatory policies caused the current financial crisis. Reality: President Bush's time in office is ending as it began, with our economy under stress. The recession President Bush inherited as he entered office ran through the attacks of September 11, 2001, but during the recovery that followed, and due in no small part to the tax relief President Bush worked with Congress to provide, this country experienced its longest run of uninterrupted job growth - 52 straight months, with 8.3 million jobs created. This reflected six consecutive years of economic growth from the Fourth Quarter of 2001 until the Fourth Quarter of 2007. From 2000 to 2007, real GDP grew by more than 17 percent, a remarkable gain of nearly 2.1 trillion dollars. This growth was driven in part by increased labor productivity gains that have averaged 2.5 percent annually since 2001, a rate that exceeds the averages of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. In the same period, real after-tax income per capita increased by more than 11 percent, and there was a 4.7 percent increase in the number of new businesses formed. The current economic challenges, which the President and his Administration have responded to aggressively, threaten to reverse some of these gains - but the gains cannot be denied. As for the current crisis, the President and his economic team have taken unprecedented actions to stabilize the financial sector and avert a collapse. While there are a number of causes of the housing and credit crises that are at the root of our current economic troubles, deregulation by the Bush Administration is simply not one of them. In fact, one of the circumstances that contributed to the crisis was the failure of the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which President Bush long tried to subject to greater regulation. In April 2001, three months after taking office, the President warned in his first budget that the size of the two GSEs were a "potential problem" that "could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity." In 2003, the Administration began calling for a new GSE regulator, and over the next five years, the Administration continued to call for GSE reform only to be accused by Democrats in Congress of creating artificial fears and advocating for ill-advised proposals. By the time Congress finally acted in 2008 to provide the oversight the President requested, it was too late to prevent systemic consequences. Had the Administration's initial reform proposals been adopted, some of today's turmoil in our financial markets may have been averted. Myth 2: President Bush's tax cuts only benefitted the wealthy and were paid for by sacrificing investments in health care and education. Reality: There are not 116 million "wealthy Americans," but that's how many taxpayers benefited from the President's tax relief. The across-the-board tax cuts provided tax relief to every American who pays income taxes, created a new bottom 10 percent bracket rate, doubled the child tax credit to $1,000, and actually increased the share of the Federal income tax burden paid by the top 10 percent of individual earners from 67 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2005. Furthermore, this Administration removed 13 million low-income earners from the income tax rolls completely. The economic growth spurred by tax relief also spurred growth in Federal tax receipts. In fact, the Federal Treasury realized the largest three-year increase of revenue in 26 years, and tax receipts grew more than $542 billion between 2000 and 2007. And yes, much of that money went to investments in health care and education. President Bush provided more than 40 million Americans with better access to prescription drugs by creating the market-based Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. And it is one of the rare government programs that actually costs less than expected. Projected overall program spending between 2004 and 2013 is approximately $240 billion lower, nearly 38 percent, than originally estimated, thanks to the market-oriented principles included at President Bush's insistence. Despite the heated rhetoric over children's health insurance (S-CHIP) legislation last year, estimates from a 2007 Federal survey show that the number of uninsured children under the age of 18 actually declined by 800,000 from 2001 to 2007. From 2007 to 2008, the number of people covered by affordable and portable Health Savings Account-eligible plans increased 35 percent. Additionally, since President Bush took office, more than 1,200 community health centers have opened or expanded nationwide, which has helped provide treatment to nearly 17 million people. Federal spending on education has increased nearly 40 percent under President Bush. Additionally, Pell Grant funding nearly doubled during the Administration, which is expected to help more than 5.5 million students attend college in the 2008-09 school year, 1.2 million more students than were assisted by Pell Grants in the 2001-02 school year. This financial aid assistance also helps account for the fact that 66 percent of high school graduates from the class of 2006 enrolled in colleges, compared to 63 percent in 2000. Perhaps more importantly, the President's No Child Left Behind Act has delivered tangible results to students. Since the law was enacted, fourth-grade students have achieved their highest reading and math scores on record, eighth-grade students have achieved their highest math scores on record, and African-American and Hispanic students have posted all-time high scores in a number of categories, narrowing the gap between minority students and white students. Myth 3: The President's "go it alone" foreign policy ruined America's standing in the world. Reality: Rarely can one see revisionist history occurring in the present, but this charge is nothing short of that. The United States acted with a multilateral coalition of partner nations to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq after he failed to comply with the will of the international community, including numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions. To ignore this fact is not only a distortion of history, but it is also an insult to the service members of our coalition partners who sacrificed their lives to contribute to the success we are now witnessing in Iraq. And in Afghanistan, approximately forty countries are currently deployed with American forces, including every one of our NATO allies. The President also created a worldwide coalition of more than 90 nations to combat terrorist networks by sharing information, drying up their financing, and bringing their leaders to justice. To date, we have captured or killed hundreds of al-Qaeda leaders and operatives with the help of partner nations. Furthermore, the Administration established the Proliferation Security Initiative, which now includes more than 90 nations, and other multilateral coalitions to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The President successfully pushed for expanding NATO membership, generated international pressure on Iran to stop it from developing nuclear weapons, and organized the Six-Party Talks, which have resulted in North Korea committing to give up its nuclear weapons and abandon its nuclear programs. Verifying North Korea's commitment will be a challenge, but at the most recent Six-Party Talks meeting, there was strong consensus among the five parties that North Korea must submit to a comprehensive verification regime that accords with international standards. U.S. ties in Asia have been strengthened over the past eight years, and the Administration has built strong relationships with China, Japan, and South Korea, among others. We have signed an historic civilian nuclear power agreement with India, reflecting a fundamental change in our relationship. Pro-American leaders have been elected in Germany, France, and Italy. Eastern European countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, and Kosovo treasure their relationships with the United States, and no president has done more to improve health and security in the nations of Africa. We have also strengthened cooperation with Latin America, including initiatives with Brazil on biofuels and with Mexico and Central America on fighting organized crime. Finally, when the President took office, America had trade agreements in force with only three countries, versus 14 today - with three additional agreements approved by Congress but not yet in force and agreements with three countries that are awaiting Congressional approval."

1/16/2009 1:28:54 AM

Quote :

"Myth 4: The war in Iraq caused us to "take our eye off the ball" in Afghanistan and with al Qaeda. Reality: Iraq and Afghanistan are two fronts in the same war, and while the success of the surge in Iraq has been visible, we have also had a quiet surge in Afghanistan. The U.S. has continuously and aggressively fought side-by-side with Afghans and our allies to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The United States has provided nearly $32 billion for security, political, and economic development assistance and the international community has provided more than $55 billion to Afghanistan since 2001. An additional U.S. Marine battalion deployed to Afghanistan in November and they will be followed by an Army combat brigade of about 3,400 troops in early 2009. U.S. forces now total approximately 31,000, and are joined by nearly as many coalition troops. The United States and our allies are working with Afghanistan to help it nearly double the size of the Afghan National Army over the next five years, from 79,000 now trained to 134,000 in 2014. We have also deployed Provincial Reconstruction Teams to ensure security gains are followed by real improvements in daily life, and we have helped local communities strengthen their economies and create jobs, deliver basic services, improve governance and fight corruption, and build or repair key infrastructure such as roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools. More than six million children, approximately two million of them girls, are now in Afghan schools, compared to fewer than one million in 2001. In this Global War on Terror, we do not have the luxury to fight on one battlefront at a time. To defeat the terrorists, we must fight them overseas so we don't have to fight them here at home. Since 9/11, we have successfully captured or killed dozens of al-Qaeda's senior leadership and hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives in two dozen countries, removed al-Qaeda's safe-haven in Afghanistan and crippled al-Qaeda in Iraq, and disrupted numerous al Qaeda terrorist plots against the U.S., including a 2006 plot to blow up passenger planes traveling from London. Myth 5: This Administration has been bad for the environment and ignored the problem of global warming. Reality: Given the liberal media's failure to acknowledge this Administration's true record on alternative energy, conservation, and climate change, it's not surprising this charge has stuck. But here are some irrefutable data points: From 2001 to 2007, air pollution decreased by 12 percent, and fine particulate matter pollution is down 17 percent since 2001. Ethanol production quadrupled from 1.6 billion gallons in 2000 to 6.5 billion gallons in 2007, wind energy production has increased by more than 400 percent, and solar energy capacity has doubled. In 2007, solar installations increased more than 32 percent and the U.S. produced 96 percent more biodiesel (490 million gallons) than in 2006. The Administration also provided nearly $18 billion to research, develop, and promote alternative and more efficient energy technologies such as biofuels, solar, wind, clean coal, nuclear, and hydrogen. This Administration has improved and protected the health of more than 27 million acres of Federal forest and grasslands, protected, restored, and improved more than three million acres of wetlands, and established the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, the world's largest fully protected marine conservation area (nearly 140,000 square miles). Much of the misperception about the President's environmental record is born out of the President's withdrawing the United States from the Kyoto Protocol, which did not include the effective participation of major developing countries such as India and China. Instead, the President worked to address climate change by launching the Major Economies Process, which convened the leaders of the world's major economies, both developed and developing, to work on ways to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security without harming our economies or giving any nation a free ride. Finally, the President set the country on course to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions below projected levels by 2025 and invested more than $44 billion in climate change-related programs. Some other items that are infrequently mentioned about the real record of the Bush Administration but are worth noting: Teenage drug use has declined 25 percent; in 2007, the violent crime rate was 43 percent lower than the rate in 1998; between 2005 and 2007, the chronically homeless population decreased approximately 30 percent; funding for veterans' medical care has increased more than 115 percent; and as of 2005, the most recent abortion rate is at its lowest since 1974. And one last fact: Our homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. That, too, is part of the real Bush record. Ed Gillespie is the Counselor to President George W. Bush."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/myths_and_facts_about_the_real.html

1/16/2009 1:30:32 AM

Quote :

"Ed Gillespie is the Counselor to President George W. Bush"

wow, great. from Bush's right-hand spin-man himself.

1/16/2009 9:09:07 AM

^ Sorry. Chris Matthews was unavailable--he was at an Obama speech and something started running down his leg.

1/16/2009 9:40:05 AM

whoops, i thought you were serious until i noticed your
Thanks for clarifying that

1/16/2009 9:49:41 AM

I think that article glosses over a lot of issues but also makes some good points. Bush has been painted as the anti-christ himself which is not fair.

1/16/2009 10:13:15 AM

Quote :

"The United States acted with a multilateral coalition of partner nations to remove Saddam Hussein "

true Morrocco sent some monkies to help blow up land mines

Argentina sent 50 soldiers



and Poland sent some polish sausages to feed our troops

1/16/2009 10:50:44 AM

you're a real fucking piece of shit, you know that, you little Eddie Munster-looking cuntstain?





[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 11:21 AM. Reason : ]

1/16/2009 11:19:53 AM

Quote :

"wow, great. from Bush's right-hand spin-man himself."

Feel free to show that the article's wrong. oh yeah, you can't.

HATE HATE HATE

Below is a good read about Bush's legacy from the WSJ:

Quote :

"The 9/11 Presidency Article Long after George W. Bush boards Marine One next Tuesday bound for Texas, the enduring image of his epochal eight years will be the September 20, 2001 evening a relatively new President stood before a nation traumatized and in mourning. AP"We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network," Mr. Bush told a Joint Session of Congress. "I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people." In that moment, he set the standard for the Bush Presidency: To protect Americans from another 9/11 and hit Islamist terrorists and their sponsors abroad. Whatever history's ultimate judgment, Mr. Bush never did yield. Nearly all the significant battles of the Bush years -- the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Guantanamo and wiretapping, upheavals in the Middle East, America's troubles with Europe -- stemmed directly from his response to the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon that defined his Presidency. By his own standard, Mr. Bush achieved the one big thing he and all Americans demanded of his Administration. Not a single man, woman or child has been killed by terrorists on U.S. soil since the morning of September 11. Al Qaeda was flushed from safe havens in Afghanistan, then Iraq, and its terrorist network put under siege around the world. All subsequent terror attacks hit soft targets and used primitive means. No one seriously predicted such an outcome at the time. The Administration's achievement goes beyond lives saved to American confidence restored. Memories fade fast. Recall the fear about imminent strikes, the anthrax panic and the 98-1 Senate vote for the Patriot Act in the weeks after 9/11. Americans yearned for leadership that this President provided. He calmed the fears and urged tolerance at home, saying on that memorable evening, "We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them." A measure of the Administration's success is the criticism it has drawn as the threat has seemed more remote. Bush-bashing, whether from the netroots, David Letterman or the French, would have no resonance in a country that still feared a terrorist attack. Mr. Bush made a conscious choice to take no chances with American lives, and to live with the liberal backlash over waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. His most controversial and difficult decision, the war in Iraq, was consistent with his post-9/11 doctrine to regard "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism . . . as a hostile regime" and pre-empt threats to America from rogue regimes and proliferators. The failure to discover WMD gave opponents the opening to claim the war was fought on false premises, but Bill Clinton, Democrats on Capitol Hill and every major intelligence service also believed Saddam had WMD. Other mistakes were inevitably made, and not merely that "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Persuasion matters in politics, and Mr. Bush lacked the communication skills to explain his policies well. The Administration botched the early job in post-Saddam Iraq, taking too long to empower Iraqis and failing to anticipate the insurgency. But the successful "surge" -- a decision made against almost universal opposition in Washington -- prevented a U.S. defeat and leaves to Barack Obama a democratic ally gaining strength in a crucial region. The slow but indisputable emergence of a free Iraq also shook up an untenable status quo in the Middle East, the root source of the terrorist threat. Though Saddam bluffed about his WMD, the U.S. intervention signaled its seriousness to other proliferators. A.Q. Khan's nuclear network, which flourished in the 1990s, was rolled up in the wake of Iraq. Moammar Gadhafi gave up Libya's nuclear program, which was far more advanced than previously thought. Mr. Bush's Afghan campaign started brilliantly, toppling the Taliban despite warnings in Washington that such "regime change" was dangerous. The ability of al Qaeda to reconstitute itself to some degree along the Afghan-Pakistan border is mainly due to unstable governance in Pakistan -- and will be no easier for Mr. Obama. Mr. Bush's engagement with Islamabad did ease Indian-Pakistan tensions, helped to capture KSM and others, and has allowed U.S. Predators to strike at terror targets inside Pakistan. In his second Inaugural, the President declared the U.S. would "seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world." Lebanon's Cedar Revolution came a month later. But the "freedom agenda" ran aground against the Hezbollah, Hamas and Iraq setbacks of 2006 and has never recovered. Still, the idea that freedom and Islam are compatible has been planted and will not be forever contained in the region. On his own post-9/11 terms, Mr. Bush's biggest failure has been Iran. He outsourced diplomacy to the Europeans and U.N. -- despite his caricature as a go-it-alone cowboy. But these efforts merely gave the mullahs cover and years to build their bomb. The President also indulged Condoleezza Rice's illusion that some grand bargain could be found with Tehran's revolutionary regime. The same could be said for his diplomatic dead end in North Korea. The President tried smooth talk on Vladimir Putin, with equally poor results. His famous misreading of the man gave the Kremlin confidence to repress its own people and intimidate its neighbors without fear of serious U.S. rebuke. Mr. Bush did stay a stalwart ally to the young democracies in that region, helping keep Ukraine and Georgia, so far, out of Moscow's reconstituting empire. For a President charged so often with tarnishing alliances, the state of our friendships is also worth revisiting. The world didn't gang up against the "unilateral" U.S., Jacques Chirac's efforts notwithstanding. On the contrary, though you won't hear this from the media, relations with Europe are stronger than at the beginning of the Bush years. France, Germany and the U.K. -- aware of the rising threat from Russia and their own shortcomings -- are eager for U.S. support and leadership, out of self-interest if not any deep love. In Asia, the Bush Presidency began with a crisis with China over the downing of a military aircraft, but U.S.-China ties have since been friendly and stable. Mr. Bush's biggest achievement, also overlooked, is the new alliance with the continent's leading democracy, India. This relationship will help future Administrations check Chinese ambitions -- as will strengthened friendships with Japan, South Korea and Australia. The postmortems on Mr. Bush's foreign policy inevitably note his comment in the 2000 Presidential debate about "a humble nation," disinclined to act abroad, to paint him as the unlikely revolutionary. The future President's more telling statement in that debate came in response to a question about what principles would guide him. He said he'd ask himself: "What's in the best interest of our people?" A clear conception of national interest shaped his response to the great security challenge of the early 21st century. After the Clinton decade in which al Qaeda and proliferation went unchallenged, the Bush Presidency had to scramble to defend against a terror threat that with WMD could kill millions of Americans. His decision to fight this as a "war," and to marshal the means attendant to war, has been controversial and expensive. But like Harry Truman's decisions at the onset of the Cold War, we suspect more of his policy will survive than his many critics now admit. (See here, for starters.) The world remains a very dangerous place. Yet thanks to Mr. Bush's post-9/11 willingness to act decisively, and at the risk of his own popularity, Americans are safer today than on September 10, 2001."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123206685391388221.html

1/16/2009 11:35:47 AM

Quote :

"Bill Clinton, Democrats on Capitol Hill and every major intelligence service also believed Saddam had WMD."

its amazing to me how lost this remains on most. sure the buck stops with the CIC but I argue any sitting President, from Bush to Clinton to Man-Bear-Pig would've proceeded the same way based on the intel received.

where Bush and the boys fucked up was in the management of a post-Saddam Iraq.

1/16/2009 11:41:56 AM

^totally agreed.

Oh and what is this?!?!

Quote :

"The Wiretap Vindication - FISA sets the record straight. Ever since the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program was exposed in 2005, critics have denounced it as illegal and unconstitutional. Those allegations rested solely on the fact that the Administration did not first get permission from the special court created by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Well, as it happens, the same FISA court would beg to differ. In a major August 2008 decision released yesterday in redacted form, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, the FISA appellate panel, affirmed the government's Constitutional authority to collect national-security intelligence without judicial approval. The case was not made public before yesterday, and its details remain classified. An unnamed telecom company refused to comply with the National Security Agency's monitoring requests and claimed the program violated the Fourth Amendment's restrictions on search and seizure... For all the political hysteria and media dishonesty about George W. Bush "spying on Americans," this fight was never about anything other than staging an ideological raid on the President's war powers. Barack Obama ought to be thankful that the FISA court has knocked the bottom out of this gambit, just in time for him to take office."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123206822799888351.html

I don't get it, Bush is evil!!!!! right?!?

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 11:47 AM. Reason : bush is evil!]

1/16/2009 11:45:56 AM

^ Hey look. It's the dude who wished me dead. Shocker that you support Bush.

1/16/2009 11:55:11 AM

Quote :

"Feel free to show that the article's wrong. oh yeah, you can't."

from the article:

Quote :

"Rarely can one see revisionist history occurring in the present"

it's ironic that a large portion of that article is revisionist history, occurring in the present. Of course, the author surely learned something from the greatest history revisionist of the day, VP Cheney

1/16/2009 12:08:24 PM

The article also didn't address the other 400 Bush scandals.

1/16/2009 12:12:33 PM

Quote :

"you're a real fucking piece of shit, you know that, you little Eddie Munster-looking cuntstain?"

Joe Douchebag Schmoe must not be in an unholy alliance with hooksaw

1/16/2009 12:22:26 PM

^^where'd I say I wish you dead?

^^^oh please, give it a rest. How are those little quibbles meaningful in any capacity? You deal with that shit with every presidency (which sucks but oh well).

1/16/2009 1:25:46 PM

^ I was under the major objections to FISA were that it gave government broad authority that it used to spy on Americans, and it was also potentially used for things not related to terrorism, or only speciously related.

In any case...

Quote :

"President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll..."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/16/opinion/polls/main4728399.shtml?tag=topStory;topStoryHeadline

1/17/2009 12:13:31 PM

1/24/2009 11:45:49 AM

Quote :

"Monument to Bush shoe-throwing shines at Iraqi orphanage"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/29/iraq.shoe.monument/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Look the people in Iraq have erected a new monument to honor their Hero ex-president George "Dubya" Bush. The memorial commemorates Bush for freeing them from oppression under Saddam; celebrating the bringing freedoms and democracy to the peoples of Iraq!!!

Quote :

"Al-Zaidi was jailed for his actions, and a trial is pending. But his angry gesture touched a defiant nerve throughout the Arab and Muslim world. He is regarded by many people as a hero. Demonstrators in December took to the streets in the Arab world and called for his release. The shoe monument, made of fiberglass and coated with copper, consists of the shoe and a concrete base. The entire monument is 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) high. The shoe is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) long and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wide. The orphans helped al-Amiri build the $5,000 structure -- unveiled Tuesday -- in 15 days, said Faten Abdulqader al-Naseri, the orphanage director. "

[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 10:45 AM. Reason : a]

1/30/2009 10:42:56 AM

bump by request

5/17/2009 11:34:53 AM

Quote :

" Take the one dated April 3, 2003, two weeks into the invasion, just as Shock and Awe hit its first potholes. Two days earlier, on April 1, a panicky Pentagon had begun spreading its hyped, fictional account of the rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch to distract from troubling news of setbacks. On April 2, Gen. Joseph Hoar, the commander in chief of the United States Central Command from 1991-94, had declared on the Times Op-Ed page that Rumsfeld had sent too few troops to Iraq. And so the Worldwide Intelligence Update for April 3 bullied Bush with Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Including, as it happened, into a quagmire.) What's up with that? As Draper writes, Rumsfeld is not known for ostentatious displays of piety. He was cynically playing the religious angle to seduce and manipulate a president who frequently quoted the Bible. But the secretary's actions were not just oily; he was also taking a risk with national security. If these official daily collages of Crusade-like messaging and war imagery had been leaked, they would have reinforced the Muslim world's apocalyptic fear that America was waging a religious war. As one alarmed Pentagon hand told Draper, the fallout "would be as bad as Abu Ghraib.""

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

5/17/2009 12:18:52 PM

^ eheh, that's why i got it bumped

check it out -
Our illustrious, not particularly pious or outwardly religious former Secretary of Defense was covering his top secret military reports and Iraq war updates with Bible verses and Christian scenes before giving them to our illustrious, and very outwardly religion former President. It's not too much of a stretch to see this is a kind of manipulation of Bush by Rumsfeld. Nice how each Bible verse specifically chosen to illustrate the theme of the report and was juxtaposed with a picture to indicate its relevance ("foolish men" above a picture of Saddam, "open the gates" above a picture of the gates into Baghdad, "commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" used to make sure Bush is fully committed to whatever Rumsfeld is asking for)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?&id=content_9217
http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret





















[Edited on May 17, 2009 at 12:25 PM. Reason : .]

5/17/2009 12:24:26 PM

here's the GQ article. i haven't read it all, but....YIKES



[Edited on May 17, 2009 at 12:28 PM. Reason : n/m, ^beat me]

5/17/2009 12:27:26 PM

absolutely depressing, and unfortunately, not too unbelievable...

almost... ALMOST... makes me feel bad for bush. He obviously was a little child being led around by the big boys.

5/18/2009 3:02:50 PM

Wow... that's just... pathetic.

Does not make me proud to be an American. Not in the least.

5/18/2009 3:16:39 PM

For awhile i though maybe Bush was playing dumb and letting Cheney be is Cats Pawl.

I really though just think he was the puppet man for various interests all of which encircled Bush. I am sure Bush saw himself as Commander and Chief; where the Buck stops with him. This though does not make him immune to influence, persuasion, or unnoticed manipulation.

5/18/2009 6:28:36 PM

^ DEY TUK URR BUSH! FUCK BUSH IN ABSENTIA!!!1

5/19/2009 8:00:30 PM

Bush's legacy? Well, part of it appears to be that his policies weren't so bad after all--you know, since Obama's adopting many of them.

Obama's embrace of Bush terrorism policies is celebrated as "Centrism"

Quote :

"I wonder how many people from across the political spectrum will have to point this out before Obama defenders will finally admit that it's true. From Harvard Law Professor and former Bush OLC lawyer Jack Goldsmith, systematically assessing Obama's 'terrorism' policies in The New Republic: Many people think Cheney is scare-mongering and owes President Obama his support or at least his silence. But there is a different problem with Cheney's criticisms: his premise that the Obama administration has reversed Bush-era policies is largely wrong. The truth is closer to the opposite: The new administration has copied most of the Bush program, has expanded some of it, and has narrowed only a bit. Almost all of the Obama changes have been at the level of packaging, argumentation, symbol, and rhetoric. . . . [A]t the end of the day, Obama practices will be much closer to late Bush practices than almost anyone expected in January 2009."

Quote :

"What's most striking about the denial of so many Obama supporters about all of this is that Obama officials haven't really tried to hide it. White House counsel Greg Craig told The New York Times' Charlie Savage back in February that Obama 'is also mindful as president of the United States not to do anything that would undermine or weaken the institution of the presidency.' It was in that same article where Savage -- a favorite of Bush critics when Bush was president -- warned that after the first week of Executive Orders, 'the Obama administration is quietly signaling continued support for other major elements of its predecessor’s approach to fighting Al Qaeda.'"

Quote :

"What is most damaging about all of this is exactly what Goldsmith celebrated: that Obama's political skills, combined with his status as a Democrat, is strengthening Bush/Cheney terrorism policies and solidifying them further. For the last eight years, roughly half the country -- Republicans, Bush followers -- was trained to cheer for indefinite detention, presidential secrecy, military commissions, warrantless eavesdropping, denial of due process, a blind acceptance of any presidential assertion that these policies are necessary to Keep Us Safe, and the claim that only fringe Far Leftist Purists -- civil liberties extremists -- could possibly object to any of that. Now, much of the other half of the country, the one that once opposed those policies -- Democrats, Obama supporters -- are now reciting the same lines, adopting the same mentality, because doing so is necessary to justify what Obama is doing. It's hard to dispute the Right's claim that Bush's Terrorism approach is being vindicated by Obama's embrace of its 'essential elements.' That's what Goldsmith means when he says that Obama is making these policies stronger and more palatable, and it's what media stars mean when they describe Bush/Cheney policies as Centrist: now that it's not just an unpopular Republican President but also a highly charismatic and popular Democratic President advocating and defending these core Bush/Cheney policies, they do become the political consensus of the United States."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/19/obama/

[Edited on May 25, 2009 at 9:20 AM. Reason : LOL! ]

5/25/2009 9:20:06 AM

anatomy of a hooksaw post:

bold assertion!

Quote :

"quote italic claim underline statement Bold, underline, italic callout! "

rolly eye

Quote :

"out of context quoet[sic]"

EDIT: LOL rolly-eye

[Edited on May 25, 2009 at 7:33 PM. Reason : ]

5/25/2009 7:26:16 PM

^^

It doesn't really benefit the Republican party to go on with this "Obama is just like Bush now!" schtick. It's self-defeating. It sends the implicit message that Bush was a great President who made sensible decisions, and Obama is emulating him, therefore Obama is a great President who makes sensible decisions.

Well, if that's the message the GOP wants to send, then ... sure. Don't be surprised when 2012 is a bigger landslide.

5/26/2009 1:27:11 AM

^^ Do you have anything to offer other than that trinket?

^ Um. . .the article I posted above was written by constitutional lawyer, blogger, and Bush critic Glenn Greenwald. He is number 18 on the list of "The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media."

http://tinyurl.com/rxf8uk

And when last I checked, Salon is no GOP online publication--not by a long shot.

5/26/2009 8:48:33 AM

You left the underlines out of that post.

5/26/2009 8:59:20 AM

^^salon is probably more liberal than conservative, yes. but in the last few years most of what they've been is contrarian (presumably to drive views). that said, glenn greenwald does seem to passionately care about the torture/gitmo/etc situation.

[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 9:04 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 9:03:45 AM

^ you don't have to qualify Salon by claiming it "may be more liberal than conservative." Salon is a liberal site, by design. It's not a news organization that claims to be fair or balanced. I mean, they have a weekly column called "Ask a conservative wingnut"

And yes, Greenwald is extremely committed to the idea of human rights and civil rights, and not to Obama. He supported Obama over McCain, but he was probably Obama's loudest critic on the wiretapping flip-flop last year and it now leading the charge against Obama's waffling Gitmo/military commission stance

5/26/2009 9:14:30 AM

^^ Yes, concerning the last sentence in your post, now you have it. That's exactly why I posted the article by him.

^ Yes. You have a firm grasp of the obvious.

[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 9:33 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 9:32:17 AM

d'oh. this whole time i was thinking of slate.com. never mind all i said up there

[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 10:01 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 9:55:47 AM

^ I was wondering--I think some others here may have been, too. Anyway, Greenwald is described the following way:

Quote :

"Civil liberties are his specialty, and he'll look to keep Obama 'honest' on Gitmo and the like."

It appears that this guy won't toe the party line on these issues like some others--and his type of commentary is starting to stick to Obama. As for me, I simply am not going to allow Obama to get a pass here on any of his flip-flops--I mean, he tried to make Bush out to be a war criminal during the campaign, and now he's adopted or expanded nearly all of Bush's terror-fighting policies, for Christ's sake!

And noted liberals are saying such things, not resident TSB crank hooksaw!

5/26/2009 10:10:58 AM

actually most liberals i know (and tv personalities like maddow) are railing obama for the "preventitive detention" and gitmo stuff. and i agree with them. it's abhorrent and antithetical to american values. i'm not saying this because it's a flip-flop. i'm saying it because i believe it. and i think the same is true of greenwald and maddow.

i was willing to give obama the benefit of the doubt on it for a while because i just figured he was waiting for the right time to come out with his stance. but now that he has i can't support him on this at all. i've written a note to whitehouse.gov saying as much. it's not a lot, but it's the most that i can do.

[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 10:21 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 10:20:17 AM

Quote :

"now he's adopted or expanded nearly all of Bush's terror-fighting policies, for Christ's sake!"

I fail to see how this acts as a credit to any of Bush's policies, rather than as simply evidence of how unprincipled Obama is.

I mean, imagine that - politics generating a bipartisan pedigree of hacks.

5/26/2009 10:23:37 AM

^ Part of Bush's legacy will now undoubtedly be that his terror-fighting policies weren't nearly as bad as they were made out to be by Obama et al, since Obama adopted or expanded most of them.

5/26/2009 10:38:19 AM

^ Or than Obama is a spineless wimp, who was loathe to actually rise up and oppose egregious expansions of executive power once he held the reigns.

Simply because "Obama does it tooooo!" doesn't make it right, you know. Same with Clinton, for that matter.

5/26/2009 10:58:52 AM

^ Well, I didn't need Obama's approval concerning what he now realizes needed to be done. As Cheney said, half measures leave you half exposed--absolutely goddamned right.

5/26/2009 11:08:05 AM

^ "Realizes what needs to be done" - now that's rich. Yes, Obama has selflessly decided to ratchet in the powers annexed for him by Bush at the cost of no political capital while avoiding a costly political battle if he had decided to actually give them up. How selfless of him, in following the path of political expediency!

And meanwhile, our friends like sarijoul will send angry and petulant e-mails protesting but won't be caught dead voting against the guy in 2011. It's brilliant! It's like he can have his cake... and eat it too!

[Edited on May 26, 2009 at 11:12 AM. Reason : .]

5/26/2009 11:12:13 AM

^ There's some truth in what you post, but there's also truth in this:

Quote :

"War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over."

--General William T. Sherman

5/26/2009 11:15:34 AM